More than a century after the events of the show Equestria still needs it's greatest defence and Spike is tasked with finding new bearers for the Elements of Harmony.
Spike had watched them fade but they were not gone. The Elements of Harmony, long since taken back from the tree to fight off one of Equestria's enemies, now sit dormant in Spike's everfree cave. Though Equestria has ever been the peace loving center of harmony it has never been short on enemies and now that the six mares that were its greatest defence have passed away it is only a matter of time until these enemies decide to strike.
Now Spike must do his part to ensure the safety of the nation that raised him.
Sunlight. Spike had missed this; the warm radiant light shone down on him and chased a chill through his scaly hide. Slumbering away in caves for decades on end was a dragon pastime but he wasn’t a dragon, not really. After just a week he had missed the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and his friends. As much as he enjoyed sleep It just wasn’t worth what he gave up for it.
Spike stretched his wings to their maximum expanse and let out a tremendous yawn. His claws tore at the grassy earth beneath him as he did a few cat-like stretches to loosen up his muscles.
It was a beautiful day. Celestia had done well setting the sun in the sky and even the dark foreboding Everfree forest around a dragon’s cave could not help but look bright and cheery and even that dragon could not help but smile. In pony terms Spike was far too old to feel this good, of course in pony terms Spike was too old to be anything but dust.
“A bit early for contemplating mortality there Spike, you’re not even a century and a half yet,” The dragon chided himself ruefully. He padded over to a nearby stream where he took a clawful of sand and put it his mouth. He scrubbed the sand around his teeth, trying to rid himself of legendary morning breath that was his heritage. Several rinses and some admiring of his reflection later Spike was on his way. The path from his cave to Ponyville had once been nothing more than a half hidden trail through the dense forest but the passage of a dragon had opened it up into a broad road.
Ponyville had not grown significantly since Spike had first arrived; it was one of the few villages in Equestria that seemed to be content with being just a village without withering away.
Spike hovered at the outskirts of the village square for a moment as he watched ponies go by. Ponyville knew him well enough not to fear him but being among ponies like this was often jarring. Stallions and mares who were grandchildren of some of the first ponies he met were starting to show signs of age as their own children scampered around beneath them. Yet in the blink of an eye these children would be grown with families of their own.
Spike shook his head and remembered the words Celestia had told him. “Mortals will only seem to come and go faster if you step back from them. As much as you can you must be one of them, and when you are even eternity will seem too short.” Spike closed his eyes and gently shook his head to clear his thoughts. He opened his eyes again slowly, hoping that only a few seconds had passed and not years. Staring back at him were a pair of bright golden, and slightly crossed, eyes.
“Hey Spike,” The brown pegasus mare they were attached to said.
“Hey Dizzy,” Spike rumbled back.
“How was your nap?”
“Short. I thought I might get some cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner to help me wake up,” Spike said as he gently started moving forward.
The residents of Ponyville gave Spike a wide berth as he moved through the crowd. Spike didn’t like seeing others shy back from him but he know one wrong step and he could easily crush a pony beneath him. Spike’s path eventually led him to Sugarcube Corner. The gingerbread house styled building still looked good enough to eat. But as good as the building looked the treats baked inside were still that much better.
“You get in line,” Spike said to Dizzy, “I’m going to go say hi to Fruity.”
“Spike,” Dizzy said with a frown, “you know she doesn’t like it when you do that.”
The only reply Dizzy got was a smirk from Spike as he made his way around the bakery.
Through the open kitchen window Spike could see Fruit Cake, a carbon copy of her matronly grandmother Cup Cake. In a nearby cabinet gleamed a few modest piles of ground gemstones that went to decorating cakes for the shops single draconic customer. As good as they were on top of the shops legendary baked goods Spike couldn’t resist trying to sneak some as they sat.
Before he could get his head anywhere near the cabinet he wanted he was stopped by a wooden mixing spoon rapping on his snout. While Fruit Cake may have looked like her sweet grandmother she had a swing stronger than most of Equestria’s guard and a will that brought even the indomitable Pinkie Pie to behave in her kitchen.
“I know that isn’t Spike because I specifically told him that the next time a dragon tried to sneak ingredients from my kitchen that I’d dig them out of his belly with this spoon.”
Spike went cross-eyed for a moment trying to look at the spoon shaped patch of flower on his nose. Even through his thick scales Spike’s snout hurt where he had been hit. Despite that and despite her stern demeanor Spike knew she was nothing but a big softie.
“Good morning to you too Fruity,” Spike said with his usual smirk.
“It’s two in the afternoon Spike.”
“Well you try sleeping seven days straight and waking up on time,” Spike said with a huff.
His remark was met only with a raised eyebrow from the stern baker.
“Okay five and a half; I had some trouble getting to sleep after… well after doing what Twilight asked,” Spike admitted. Looking at the floor remorsefully Spike didn’t see the floury hug coming. “Hey there big guy, its okay.”
Spike moved his head slightly to return the hug but when he did a peculiar burning sensation invaded his nostrils. As quick as a snake he slipped out of the hug and withdrew his head from the bakery window. Just in time he turned his snout skyward and let loose a fiery sneeze.
“A-CHOO!”
All of Ponyville stopped to stare at the sneezing dragon for a moment, making sure that yes, it was their resident dragon and not some other beast that had sneezed and no, he had not accidentally sent a wall, tree, or some other object to one of the princesses. Hearing chuckles behind him Spike turned around to find a laughing Dizzy.
“Do you know how silly you look with your face all white like that?” she asked.
Spike reached out and grasped the laughing mare in his claws and unceremoniously wiped his face off with her fur. “Not half so silly as you do,” Spike laughed as he put her down.
“Do I have to separate you two again?” asked a stern voice from the kitchen door.
Spike and dizzy turned to see Fruit Cake regarding him and Dizzy with a stern frown.
“No,” The floury dragon and pegasus said together.
“Good,” Fruit Cake said with a firm nod. “Now do you want cherry sapphire or blueberry ruby?”
Spike brought a claw up to his chin and scratched it thoughtfully. “I actually think I might go for vanilla diamond today.”
Fruit Cake raised an eyebrow at this, “Feeling a bit fancy today are we?”
“Well Princess Celestia did say she wanted to see me in Canterlot once I woke up.”
“Spike, she’s not going to be expecting you for another year at least; she wrote the books about how dragons sleep,” Fruit Cake chided.
“She edited a paper Twilight wrote,” Spike said, “And besides, a dragon is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” Spike’s declaration about dragon punctuality was met with blank stares from his two companions. “Nopony knows the classics anymore,” he grumbled.
“Do you want anything while I’m making his cupcake, Dizzy?” Fruit Cake asked as Spike went on to bemoan the state of public education.
“Some oatmeal and brown sugar muffins if it’s not too much trouble,” Dizzy said over the rolling thunder of the dragon’s muttering.
“I’m making a dragon sized cupcake, it’s already too much trouble,” Fruit Cake groused good naturedly, “They’ll be out in a bit.” By the time the baked goods were finished Spike had reached a cadence in his lengthy spiel about the woes of the modern education system.
“Is he still going on about that?” Fruit Cake asked around the bag of muffins in her mouth. On her back was a cupcake that was bigger than most wedding cakes.
“He’s gone from public to private schools,” Dizzy offered.
“Well he has to make progress sometime,” Fruit Cake said as she traded off the bag of muffins.
“Hey, I’m trying to impart the wisdom of the ages over here, could you try not talking over me?” Spike said as he plucked the giant cupcake off of Fruit Cake’s back and began delicately peeling off the paper bottom.
“Our apologies, O Wizened One, please continue,” Fruit Cake said with a smirk.
“No matter how big or small, it’s only a cupcake if it has the paper on it,” Spike said distractedly as the last of the paper bottom came off.
“Truer words were never spoken,” Dizzy said with mock reverence between bites of muffin.
“Huh,” Spike said, spraying crumbs of the former massive cupcake in his mouth.
Fruit Cake wiped some crumbs off of herself and looked at the small flock of birds eyeing the crumbs and chirping excitedly.
“Let it never be said that Sugarcube Corner isn’t a classy place,” She grumbled with an eye roll.
With a tremendous lick to clean his face of diamond and frosting and a deep belch Spike made his satisfaction known. With a smaller belch Dizzy echoed the sentiment.
“I’m going back to work before you two barbarians start dancing around a campfire.”
In hindsight Spike and Dizzy really weren’t in the best mindset to receive such corrections. Also a dragon and a pegasus can go from 'demolishing baked goods' to 'dancing like barbarians around a campfire' in approximately the same amount of time it took Fruit Cake to realize how foolish saying that was.
“Just...so classy,” Fruit Cake sighed while returning to the kitchen. Before she could return to her work she felt a nudge on her shoulder.
“Luna’s moon, Spike if you go for those gems again I am going to kill you!”
The nudge became a crushing weight as Spike rested his head on the mare. “Back in my day ponies only ever swore by Celestia,” he said wistfully.
“I’m serious! I already have a longsword ordered and everything.”
“Me too, this is some genuine cultural development I’m observing over here.”
“I’ll develop your culture!” Fruit growled from underneath Spike’s head.
Spike relented and lifted his head with a breathy chortle. “Hey,” he said gently after Fruit had regained her stance. “Thanks for putting up with me. I know I like to joke around but it really means a lot to me.”
His sincerity was met with a mixing spoon to the snout.
“Don’t you try to sweet talk your way out of this you overgrown lizard!”
“Hey!” In hindsight Spike really should have run sooner.
“Don’t you ‘Hey!’ me you great gallumping pile of scales, I ought to skin you alive and make you sell your own scaly hide to the museum! Then I’ll ride you back home and make you slave over a hot oven while I run around making a nuisance of myself. Would you like that? Huh? HUH?” Fruit Cake punctuated every other syllable with a strike to Spike’s retreating snout; going so far as to chase him out of the kitchen, past the still-dancing Dizzy and jumping to land the last blow in his tail as he took to the air.
“And that,” Fruit said triumphantly as she turned towards Dizzy, “Is how you take care of a dragon infestation".
“Okay so let’s go through this one more time. You, a frankly scrawny example of a royal guard, are holding me, a big dragon, at swordpoint.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re doing this why?”
“Because you’re a dragon.”
“And that matters because?”
“Princess Celestia told us to be on the lookout for a dragon.”
“And she didn’t expand on that at all?”
“No.”
“No ‘he used to be a familiar face in the castle’?”
“No.”
“No ‘Number one assistant to her favorite student’?”
“No.”
“No ‘I asked him to come here’?”
“No.”
“Well I bet she thinks this is just hilarious,” Spike muttered to himself and said to the guard, “So here we sit.”
“Yes.”
Spike gave a huff as he regarded the colt before him. He was the standard white with blue mane and tail but unlike his fellow guardsponies he struggled to fill out the golden armor around him. The greatsword shook as his magic grasp struggled to hold it pointed at Spike.
“And you’re sure you don’t recognize a purple and green dragon from any stained glass windows depicting, say, the return of the Crystal Empire?”
“Yes.”
“You do realize that I could eat you, right? Like you’d think that the armor and sword would be a deterrent but they’ll actually be more nutritious than you.”
“I don’t take kindly to threats, sir.”
“You’re not terribly bright, are you?”
“I don’t know what you mean, sir.”
“We’ll I’m not that up to date on protocols but I’m pretty sure the one for taking a prisoner isn’t ‘stand there pointing your sword at him’. I’m pretty sure you should put me in a holding cell and go get one of your superiors or something.”
“Are you trying to get to my CO assassin?”
“No. I’m trying to get to Princess Celes-that came out wrong.”
The guard bristled and redoubled his grip on the greatsword.
“Right well this has been fun but I’m gonna go to the other gate and see if they’re more…not you.”
“Halt beast!” the guard called out, readying his sword for a swing.
“Dost thou call this dragonslaying!?” a voice boomed from above.
The guard stood stiffly, his eyes wide with fear, as Spike rolled his eyes.
“Guard what are a dragon’s weaknesses?” Princess Luna demanded in the Royal Canterlot Voice as she landed between them.
“Their, uh, uh…” the guard’s mouth opened and closed like a fishes a few times before he finally ventured, “their necks?”
Princess Luna seized the guard’s sword in her own magic and brought it crashing down onto the base of Spike’s neck.
“Ow! That’s gonna bruise.”
“Dragons have no weaknesses. If you are faced with one the proper procedure is to fall back and attack with overwhelming force and numbers,” Princess Luna declared. “Now that that is settled, Sir Spike is a knight of the realm, my personal guest, and a face you would do well to remember. Come Spike you have grown too fat to fit through the gate and I have gone too long without flying.” With that the Night Princess took to the skies and Spike stuck his tongue out at the guard before following.
“I’m getting too fat huh?” Spike said as they began a lazy circuit around Canterlot Castle.
“Oh hush you or next time I’ll use the sharp side,” Princess Luna laughed back at him.
“Y’know I sort of have to wonder what you do to the recruits if they’re more scared of you than they are of me.”
“I would never touch one of my guarsponies! I simply encourage certain rumors.”
Spike gave a chuckling response, “They just haven’t realized they’re all about how you play video games and not real life then.”
“Just because you never could play to save your life!” Princess Luna laughed through a particularly exuberant barrel roll.
Spike could only roll his eyes in response as he buffeted her with an unexpected downbeat.
The late Rainbow Dash would have envied the rest of the flight Spike shared with Princess Luna. The two wheeled about one another in a game of aerial chicken as they tried to drive one another to flinch. Spike’s larger size gave him a clear advantage but Princess Luna was a far more skilled flier and not above teleporting to surprise Spike.
The two eventually approached a large balcony outside the throne room, both only claiming minor victories. Princess Luna landed delicately with only a soft click of her hooves before Spike landed heavily behind her with a ‘fwump’.
Princess Luna turned and glared daggers at Spike. She brought a hoof up to her lips to signal silence and approached a window to the side of the balcony. Spike followed her over and craned his neck to see what she was looking at.
In the room below Princess Celestia sat on the throne and Discord stood before her with one hand resting on the throne as he leaned rather closely in to the Princess. The two were having a whispered conversation but a quick spell from Princess Luna made it to where they could hear.
“But you don’t really need him to, do you?” Discord asked.
“No, I suppose not. Between you, Luna, and myself I don’t think any threat will be too great but it will give him something to do. When he wakes up he will need something to keep his mind off his loss and he’s a bit too big to serve as an administrator in the castle,” Celestia answered.
“But surely you can send to get some ancient artifact or even just on some boring archeological thing. It doesn’t really have to be the elements does it?”
“Oh come now Discord, surely you aren’t that scared of being turned to stone,” Celestia teased.
“It is extremely contrary to my nature and Spike is just the one to do it.”
“Discord you’re reformed. Spike was part of reforming you. He has nothing against you.”
“Nothing that he would ever admit to you. The girls held the line but Spike held them up. Every cruel trick and impossible decision I made them face over the years he was there for and he was the one to pick up the pieces. He saw better than anypony else that for years I was just playing at being “reformed” and when my games finally turned to real friendship he was done trusting me with a chance to hurt his loved ones again. Mark my words, as soon as Spike has the elements sorted he’ll find some excuse and its back to the garden with me.”
“Then don’t give him an excuse,” Princess Celestia said simply.
Discord scoffed. “Celestia I love you, but you can be the most naïve pony in the world sometimes.”
“What, so I’m not allowed to believe good things about you?” She asked hotly.
“Good, not great,” Discord said. “Celestia I am chaos given form. The only way I could not give him an excuse is if I already were a statue in your garden.”
“Fine,” Celestia said relenting, “I’ll talk to him. You’re lucky you’re cute or I wouldn’t put up with you,” She said as she gave him a quick peck on the lips.
“I’m lucky for a lot of reasons,” Discord said as he leaned into Celestia.
Spike turned away with a blush coloring his cheeks. He had suspected that things between Discord and Princess Celestia went deeper than they let on but some things he did not need to see.
“Perhaps Luna might have better luck getting through to him though.” Discords voice brought Spike’s attention back to the throne. “Before Twilight’s health really started to go they were becoming pretty close. A message of forgiveness would mean more from a lover than from a paragon of mercy and grace.”
Spike’s cheeks flushed an even deeper red as he awkwardly adjusted his stance. While listening in to the conversation below he had put a claw up over Princess Luna and on the balcony’s railing. At Discord’s words he became very much aware of how intimate he and the Princess appeared and so he brought his claw back to the balcony flooring and made doubly sure that there was an appropriate distance between him and Princess Luna while they watched.
Princess Luna seemed to completely refuse to react. She kept her eyes firmly glued forward and did not so much as twitch as Spike readjusted himself. Spike simply assumed that after spending a century living in the same castle as him Princess Luna had grown used to Discord’s teasing. He did not see the slight blush that colored her cheeks or the shy smile she fought to hide.
When Spike looked back down at the throne room Discord and Princess Celestia were looking up at the balcony expectantly. Spike saw Princess Celestia’s lips form words but Princess Luna abruptly cut off the spell.
“It seems someone got us caught,” She said as she began moving through the arched doorway into the throne room. She paused halfway through a step and turned her head back to Spike. “Fatty,” She teased sticking her tongue out.
Spike gave a halfhearted chuckle and followed, his cheeks still somewhat flushed. Princess Celestia’s face brightened on seeing her sister but darkened when she saw Spike.
“What are you doing awake?” She demanded as Spike approached the throne.
For his part Spike looked properly abashed for all of about three seconds.
“And it is simply a pleasure to see you too Princess Celestia. My, what a lovely day you’ve made for us to enjoy,” Spike said back with a toothy grin.
“Spike, this is your health. You know how much sleep a dragon needs.”
“I know mom. You weren’t the only one Twilight muscled into editing her stuff. Besides I sleep more than I should day to day anyways, I figure it evens out.”
“Fine,” Princess Celestia said with a huff. “But when we go flying tonight if you’re even a little bit sleepy I’m going to bury you in a cave for a year!”
“And where are you dragging me to this time?” Spike groaned.
“If you must know it is tradition that I fly a circuit of Equestria every decade. You will accompany me as my guard,” Celestia said as she rose to her hooves.
“Well I suppose ‘dragon bodyguard’ was bound to find its way onto my résumé eventually,” Spike said with a chuckle. "Alright so when do we leave."
"In a few moments," Princess Celestia said turning to Princess Luna. "It is time."
Power flowed through the room as the heavens advanced along their course and day turned to night.
"Come along Spike," Celestia called as she started towards the balcony doors.
“We’re going now?”
“You just woke up after a week-long sleep, what’s a night of flying?”
“Fine,” Spike said with a long suffering sigh as he rose and started to follow.
“Play nice you two,” Princess Luna said with a laugh, “and as always I will guard the night.”
Princess Celestia and Spike took off into the night sky from the balcony. After a short bout of waving goodbye to the pair Discord disappeared.
Princess Luna took her place on the throne. For a moment she was the picture of regal beauty. Sticking her tongue out and making a rude noise at the empty room destroyed this image. As if to further degrade this she lounged across the throne and summoned her old JoyBoy to her.
Ah, there it was. Celestia didn’t need a bodyguard, Equestria’s security and prosperity were unmatched, a foal could make this flight without harm so what need did the mighty Princess Celestia have of a big mean dragon?
“I’m worried about you.”
Something to dote on.
“Why are you worried?” Spike replied.
“After Twilight passed you flew off to hay knows where, you didn’t even come to her memorial service, and you cut your first sleep short. Ignoring grief isn’t a healthy way to deal with it.”
Wind whipped past the two, filling the silence with its noise.
“I buried her,” Spike finally said. “I don’t remember where, I just flew until I ran out of tears and dug a grave under an oak tree on a hill. I didn’t want to go to Canterlot and see a bunch of preening nobles and ponies who only knew her from history books offer their empty condolences. I watched her die, what would they be able to offer as comfort.”
“Spike, I watched her die too.”
“You saw the end of her death, I saw all of it. I watched her grow grey and senile over decades. I had all but finished mourning her death long before it happened. If I cry it’s not for her, it’s for me. She gets to laugh and play in Elysium where time can never strip her friends or her mind away again, and I’m stuck here with nothing but a memory.”
“And running your health into the ground is your response to that? Spike it’s okay to miss her, we all do!”
“That’s just the thing, I’m not running my health into the ground. That study was never conclusive and I’ve finally found out why. Dragon’s don’t sleep out of necessity, they do it out of boredom. They push everypony and everything away to get more gold and jewels and at the end of the day when nothing is left to challenge their hoard they have nothing but a bunch of shiny rocks to help them pass eternity. So they sleep for decades at a time, hoping another generation will bring someone stupid enough to challenge them and a fight to pass the time.”
“Spike, that’s terrible,” Celestia said.
“We’re dragons; we’re not known for being cuddly.”
“I seem to remember a certain baby dragon that, for a time, cried every time he was not being held,” Celestia answered teasingly.
“Nurture over nature,” Spike answered flatly. “Speaking of cuddly I’ve been hearing things about you and Discord.”
Celestia stiffened. “It seems you arrived in the throne room before we heard you. Luna always did enjoy sneaking around to surprise me. How much did you hear?”
“Enough to know there’s no rush with the elements and enough to know that Discord has a pretty good understanding of things between us.”
“I take it you don’t approve.”
“I’ve seen him break the minds and hearts of ponies that just barely trusted him. I wouldn’t wish dating him on anypony,” Spike growled.
“Spike that’s unfair,” Celestia admonished, “You must forgive him for his past.”
“I did, that’s why I didn’t hunt down new bearers and turn him to stone years ago. It’s his future I’m more concerned about.”
“He will not try to hurt me.”
“Maybe not for a few decades. Centuries even. But he’s older than even you know. He’s seen and done everything a thousand times over. How long until he gets bored of romance and moves on to something else? We are his friends only until it stops amusing him to be our friend and when that happens we better pray that we’re ready.”
“Spike, are you implying that my paramour will grow bored of me?”
Spike brought a claw up to his face and growled into it. “That is what you took away from this?”
Celestia giggled. “Spike, I trust him. You don’t know him like I do so please, trust my judgment on this.”
“If Discord ever breaks that trust you let him know that he’ll wish I had used the elements on him.”
After their conversation Princess Celestia fell asleep on Spike’s back only an hour into the flight. A dragon and an avatar of the sun hardly felt cold at all so Spike chose a high and gentle glide for the rest of the flight.
Throughout the night Spike had only the glittering stars and his wandering thoughts to keep him company. He had not lied to Princess Celestia, his mourning of Twilight's death was a healthy grieving process, though not as healthy as he made it sound. He had spent the first two days of his sleepweeping in his cave and remembering times a century past.
when he finally did fall into his slumber he dreamed. more vividly than he ever had in his life he dreamed of the six best friends he could ever ask for. He saw them laughing together. Sharing pains and struggles and coming out closer for it. One by one they faded from the dream. New ponies came to take their places. Some he recognized but others seemed to lack any definition. They were present yet they defied detail and description. It was as if he was dreaming of ponies he hadn't met.
As dawn’s pink lit up the eastern sky Princess Celestia began to stir on Spike’s back. “This would be much more comfortable if you were just a bit bigger,” She said as she tried to stretch.
“I’ll keep that in mind next time I hit a growth,” Spike chuckled back.
“You do that, riding a dragon everywhere will do wonders for my image.”
“Ponies will wonder alright.”
“Oh hush you, it’s time for the sunrise.”
Spike felt a strange tingling sensation run up his spine. Being in the same room as Princess Celestia or Princess Luna when they did their thing always made him feel the power in his scales but having Princess Celestia raise the sun when she was standing on his back was something else. By the time she had finished Spike was gritting his teeth and clenching his claws to keep from rolling over and scratching the spot where she stood.
The bright golden rays chased away the darkness below them. A bright reflection caught Spike’s eye.
“Looks like we’re almost there,” he called back to Princess Celestia.
“Even from afar the Crystal Empire is more radiant than I remember. Begin our descent.”
Spike toyed with the idea of going into a nose dive but this was an official visit and appearances must be kept up. He pulled into a reluctantly gentle descent while Princess Celestia summoned a mirror to check her appearance.
Spike landed outside the large dome of the Crystal Heart. Inside a group of soldiers stood ready in crisp lines.
“Huh the parade armor isn’t as nice as I remember it being,” Spike said absently.
“Spike that isn’t—“
“—I know. You may want to make an appearance sooner rather than later.”
“Well let me down then. Jumping off a dragon is hardly a dignified way to make an appearance.”
“Right,” Spike grumbled as he settled onto his belly.
Princess Celestia delicately stepped off his shoulder and onto the ground. The line of armored ponies parted and a pale blue alicorn stepped out.
“Princess Celestia?” she called out.
“Ah Princess Shimmering Heart, how wonderful to see you again! It has been far too long.”
“Princess Celestia, we are always honored by your visits but what is that?” she said gesturing to Spike.
“A friend,” Princess Celestia said before Spike could answer. “Sir Spike is a knight of Equestria but I do believe the Crystal Empire had a different title for him.”
“Spike?!” Princess Shimmering Heart exclaimed. “A thousand pardons Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious, I did not recognize you.”
“You just had to start throwing around titles, didn’t you,” Spike groaned to Celestia. “Don’t worry about it,” Spike called out, “and please, just Spike.”
“Of course. But where are my manners, please come in out of the cold,” Princess Shimmering Heart said gesturing into the protective bubble of the Crystal Heart’s magic.
As Princess Celestia entered the lines of crystal ponies opened up before her and kept a respectful distance. Spike’s entrance was met with shocked expressions and fearful murmuring as Ponies scrambled not be near him.
As the crystal princess began walking beside him Spike leaned down to talk to her. “I’m guessing you don’t get dragons popping in for a friendly visit that often,” he said.
“No,” She said blushing, “They usually want to eat my city.”
“My race may be ancient but we are not wise,” Spike said with a heavy sigh. “I wish I could do more than apologize for their actions.”
“You already have. Every time they are stopped by the Crystal Heart which you returned to us; every time your actions save us yet again. The Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious has been a legend and a hero to the Crystal Empire for more than a century and for good reason. This empire owes you a debt we can never hope to repay. I wish I could do much more than this.” She leaned in and planted a chaste kiss on Spike’s cheek. “Thank you, Spike,” she whispered to him.
Celestia’s head whipped around as Spike stumbled only to see him with a crimson blush and Princess Shimmering Heart with an impish grin.
“Has anyone ever told you that you take after a young Cadence?” Spike asked once he could walk straight again.
“I should warn you, Spike that flattery will get you everywhere.”
“That’s not exactly a good thing. She was a pretty relentless tease until she settled down into the more dignified side of her special talent.” The princess responded by sticking her tongue out at Spike.
A few minutes’ walk carried the procession through the throng of crystal ponies who gathered to see the first dragon to enter the city in years. Though they pressed eagerly into the street once the procession reached the grounds beneath the palace they kept a respectable distance.
“Heh, this takes me back,” Spike said as he approached his statue. “What do you think,” he asked as he posed beside it, “do I hold up to my former self?”
“We shall have to have a new statue made to reflect your new magnificence. The only question is what to do with the old one,” Princess Shimmering Heart declared.
“Pshaw, you don’t have to do that, the old one is just fine,” Spike said with a wave of his claw.
“Just fine is not good enough. It will not do for the citizens of the Crystal Empire to mistake our hero for any other dragon. The artisans will compete hoof and bit for the honor of carving your new likeness.”
Spike opened his mouth to protest again but Princess Celestia placing a hoof on his arm stopped him.
“Spike they mean to honor you and to deny them will offend them,” she whispered in his ear.
“You don’t understand, it’s the Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious they mean to honor, not Spike the dragon. They’ve had this idea of who I am and they’re more concerned with this idea than me.”
Princess Celestia arched an eyebrow at Spike. “Better than you I know what it’s like to have ponies look at your title and your public image more than you. Let them have their gesture of gratitude and maybe a few will get to know the real you when they unveil it.”
“Fine,” Spike said with a sigh. He turned to the Crystal Princess and said, “You honor me with your gift.”
“The honor is mine,” she replied.
A bright gleam behind her caught Spike’s eye. He excused himself and brushed past the surrounding ponies to get to a monument made of white crystal. Spike could see the distorted image of the pair locked inside, still wrapped in one another’s embrace.
Spike brought a clawed hand up and brushed it against the monument. The soft cadence of hooves behind him told him that the princesses had come to stand beside him. For a full minute he simply stood and gazed into the monument. The pony he had called brother, the knight in shining armor he had always looked up to. A single tear traced its way down Spike’s cheek.
His sister-in-law. The mare who always offered a kind word and a ready laugh. Another tear joined its counterpart on Spike’s other cheek.
‘Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor. May they rest in peace.’ The monument’s inscription read.
“Cadence,” Spike said. “She never could stand her full name. She always thought it was too long-winded and stuffy.”
Spike dried his cheeks with a scaly claw. His head turned towards the crystal princess. “Come,” he said, “if I remember correctly the Crystal Empire had the tastiest gems this side of Canterlot.”
“You sell us short,” she said back. “We have the finest gems in all the world!”
Spike carefully turned and began making his way towards the palace interior. “Is that so?” he said with a raised eyebrow. “We’ll just have to put that claim to the test.”
Spike groaned softly as he stretched out. The Crystal Empire had sent him off with as many of the world’s tastiest gems as he could carry and upon completing his flight with Celestia his self-control finally caved. Now he lay in the Royal Gardens, a victim of his own gluttony.
“Whyyyy?” he pleaded to the soft evening sky.
“Because you ate a small mountain of gemstones in just under a minute.”
“But why did they have to taste sooo good?”
This question only seemed to merit an abrupt snort in response.
“It’s that new princess,” Spike continued. “Sure she acts all nice and flirty but she just wants me to eat myself to death so she can take my power. I’ll show her! I’ll—I’ll *BUUUURP*”
Princess Luna turned her head and regarded Spike with a smirk. “Feeling better?” she asked.
Spike responded with a murmur that sounded vaguely in the positive.
“Good, now stop moving. You’re much more comfortable when you aren’t squirming.”
“When did everypony become so concerned with how comfortable I was?” Spike asked indignantly.
“When you became the only piece of dragon furniture in existence, so a half-hour ago.”
Spike grumbled incoherently as he shifted to give Luna a better surface to lean against. Once he was done moving she shifted against him in a manner that might be described as snuggling.
“So what are you reading anyways?” he asked as she settled against his chest.
“I am not reading, I am conducting an experiment.”
“Oh?” Spike said with a raised eyebrow.
“Tax codes are a kind of optical illusion, only after being stared at for hours does a form of coherency emerge.”
“Didn’t you write quite a few tax codes?” Spike snickered.
“If you must know, I allowed Celestia to credit me with a few,” Princess Luna said primly.
“O come on!” Spike laughed, “I’ve seen how hard you work, those rumors of you just taking half credit for what Princess Celestia does can’t be true.”
“They are not,” Princess Luna said stiffly. “My rule is much less visible than Celestia’s but it is no less real. The closest approximation is to the Saddle Arabian Caliphs who rule over spiritual matters.”
“You need a bigger hat if you’re gonna be Equestria’s pope,” Spike said with a laugh.
“I am no religious leader!” Princess Luna declared. “Celestia reigns over Equestria’s flesh while I reign over her spirit. I follow no deity nor do I claim to be one. I am an advocate to the very spirit of this country. Through dreams I may speak to her innermost desires and through law I may regulate how those desires become achieved. Twilight has spent her life planting the seeds of harmony and friendship and it is my duty to tend them; to see that they suffer neither rot nor parasite and to trim them if they grow too wildly.”
“You still should get a bigger hat,” Spike insisted. “You should have the biggest, most elaborate hat in all of Equestria.”
“Why would I need such a hat?” Princess Luna asked with a chuckle.
“Because you have a good excuse to wear a friggin sweet hat that’s why. Plus ponies will always know you’re in charge because you have the best hat.” “Only you would find a connection between headwear and rank,” Princess Luna said with a rueful shake of her head.
“Just for that you can’t come to my country where you can tell everypony’s rank just by their hat and nopony ever gets the sun in their eyes,” Spike said as he looked at Princess Luna in mock offence.
“You will be sorely missed, though I am sure that Celestia will give you generous tariffs on your hat imports.”
“That’s just until we steal all your milliners then we’ll control the world’s supply of fine headwear!” Spike declared with a false maniacal laugh.
Princess Luna gasped in mock horror. “How are the other nations of the world to compete at such a disadvantage?”
“Don’t worry,” Spike said, “Hatlandia will be benevolent with its power.”
Princess Luna’s composure shattered with a snort of laughter. “Hatlandia?” She turned away from her reading and looked at Spike with a disbelieving grin. “What sort of name is that?”
Spike gave a pompous sniff. “I’ll have you know that it was taken from the highest naming conventions in Equestria.”
“I am sure the founders of Ponyville are smiling in their graves that their tradition lives on.” As she spoke Princess Luna let herself fall along Spike’s chest coming to rest with her forelegs resting on one of his and her head resting against his collar bone.
Spike curled his serpentine neck around and looked at Princess Luna from over her scroll. “Yeah, I’m sure they are.”
Spike watched Princess Luna’s eyes as they slowly drifted up from the scroll. They found his own, glimmering in the moonlight and Spike’s breath caught in his throat. Luna looked at him with an open mouthed smile that was a mixture of amusement and surprise and he was sure she could feel his thundering heartbeat. Spike could feel his arm descending across her back. Just as he brushed her fur her voice caused him to jerk it back.
“It is late,” Princess Luna said, “my own duty calls and thou require at least some rest.”
Spike was vaguely aware that some response had gasped out of his lips. He remembered watching Princess Luna rise to her hooves and leave. He remembered resting his head on something white and papery that fluttered as he gave a heaving sigh of pent up breath. All of these things were pushed to the dark corners of Spike’s by the sheer force of the cold. Spike closed his arms around his chest but he could do nothing to lessen the aching, biting cold where the princess had been.
Spike snatched the blank piece of paper near his head and held it desperately to his chest as if it were some childish blanket as he slowly drifted to sleep.
Spike opened his eyes with a broad grin. Today was the best of days. It had been a week since his return from Canterlot and March had just come to an end. Princess Celestia had given him a present to mark the occasion. As he was leaving the castle she had let him know that Friendship Castle would be getting a new caretaker and that he should show her some local color.
Spike couldn't help the evil chuckle as plans upon plans took shape in his devious mind. There was a new Gryphon in town. A gryphon who didn't know about Ponyville's resident dragon. A gryphon who was expecting somepony too old to dust his castle. A gryphon with feathers that puffed out so hilariously when they were startled. A gryphon who was about to have a sudden lesson in just how seriously their new hometown took April Fools’ Day.
Spike scratched his chin and wondered. ‘Big Scary Dragon’ was usually the way to go but he’d been doing that routine for years now, it was past time to shake things up a bit. He briefly considered the ‘Pinkie Pie Special’ but that required at least three of him and a playful disobedience science’s most revered tenets.
Even thinking about it gave Spike a mild headache that was the universe’s way of telling him to watch his flank. ‘Big Scary Dragon’ it was then.
“It’s a good thing there’s always new ponies to pull it on or this shtick would get old real fast,” Spike said to himself with a sigh.
He climbed to his claws and began going about his morning routine. He once again lamented the fact that no toothbrush in existence could stand up to his fangs as he shoved a clawful of sand into his mouth. Even steel brushes didn’t survive a day of use. Spike gave a grunt as he spit, concluding that it was the price of being able to eat gems.
He slowly made his way along his path, pausing every so often to enjoy the sunshine. Winter wrap up had been more than a month ago and now even the wild Everfree was starting to show the vibrantly beautiful signs of his favorite season.
Ponyville truly was a sight to behold with wildflowers blooming along its packed earth streets and in the fields surrounding it. Canterlot could keep its groomed lawns and shaped hedges, here life was celebrated not controlled. Even the Crystal castle seemed to be in bloom with veins of ruby and amethyst running through its upper portions.
As he made his way to the village a sharp whistle above him caused him to turn his head upward. As he watched the pie fall gracefully towards him he concluded that he really should have seen this coming, Fruity was still honor bound not only to sell the Pinkie Pie Patented Face Pie on April Fools’, but to sell them for a bit a dozen. Dizzy had been camped out for two days to get first choice on the “ooeyest gooeyest, most yummyriffic face splattereyest pies in the world”.
Still, free pie.
Spike’s dexterous tongue made short work of the mess covering his face. Once his eyes were clear he saw Dizzy scooting a cloud laden with pies off to find another victim. Spike walked the rest of the way into Ponyville with a smile on his face and a spring in his step.
Passing through the town Spike was amused to see the cautious distance ponies usually kept from him had all but disappeared in a discreet frenzy of bumper stickers and hastily written marker messages. From afar a certain Pit Boss watched like a hawk to see what section of Spike’s body would be the last to gain some form of adornment.
Ponyville’s April Fools betting pool was no laughing matter.
Spike smiled confidently and pretended not to notice the quiet storm that followed in his wake. He even stopped to chat with a few ponies, giving others a chance to get to his underside while he was “distracted”. The smart, and slightly illegal, money Spike had bet via a proxy was on his face. Ponies may brave slashing claws and crushing weight for the sake of hilariously overdoing a bad joke and stacking the odds in their favor, but none of them were brave enough to get on the business end of a fire breathing monster.
He concealed a grin as he tucked his left wing in tighter. No sense in not giving some lucky pony a run for their money.
“Well that’s really interesting Spike,” Rosemary said as she craned her head up higher to try and draw his gaze.
“Is it allergy season again? I feel like I may have a rash coming on,” Spike said as he brought a foreleg up to scratch his chest.
“Oh, heh, yeah pollen everywhere with all the…flowers and stuff, yeah.” Spike felt his claw slice through a bumper sticker as the mare rambled on. He brought his claw up to his face with half a sticker still attached to it.
“Huh, somepony’s carriage doesn’t know that it brakes for long horns anymore. Y’know back in my day they cut off hooves for littering like this.”
“Hehe right, gotta crack down on that littering,” Rosmary said nervously. “I’ll see you later Spike.”
Spike waited patiently for the mare to clear his path. From the sound of things the swarm of ponies had finished their work and were dispersing. Once it was safe for him to start moving again Spike gave Pit Boss a conspiratorial wink and made his way to Friendship Castle.
He paused outside the front entrance. The castle had grown somewhat over the years but even the large doorways had quickly become too uncomfortable for him to move through. Ultimately Spike had moved out of his too-small home thirty years ago. He had stopped by from time to time to dust and clean the castle but Spike had run into the same problem, he was simply too big to get all the nooks and crannies.
Of course now there was a new gryphon who was in for some good old fashioned hazing.
He ducked into the castle, careful not to let his spines damage the doorframe. He silently padded through the entrance way until he got to the throne room. They had hated calling it that. Twilight was the only ruler and even she thought thrones were more imposing than a ruler should be. Now it was just a name, the thrones had been reabsorbed by the living castle and all that remained was a headrest that would put Spike at eye level with a pony.
And the gryphon, the gryphon was definitely new. He was young, only just breaching into his true maturity a few years ago. His lion torso transitioned into dapper black feathers that were preened and aligned immaculately. He had sharp golden eyes and two golden feathers accented the crest of feathers that was the gryphon equivalent to a mane. He carried an air of austere dignity that only a butler could truly possess.
Spike couldn’t conceal a grin as he made his way behind the cleaning gryphon. Spike brought his snout inches away from the gryphon’s head and let out a chest rattling growl. This growl was one part of Spike’s draconic abilities that he was particularly proud of for two reasons: one was that it was perhaps the most masculine sound possible(never mind that dragonesses could also make it), and two it was the one thing he could do that would consistently startle Rainbow Dash.
Time seemed to slow down as Spike watched the hairs along the gryphon’s back stand up one by one. His feathers seemed to explode outward all at once as his head jerked around. Spike could see the gryphon’s chest expand and his beak gape open as he gasped for breath.
Dizzy sat proudly atop her cloud. It had been a productive morning for her and a messy pie-filled morning for a few dozen other ponies. She had one of the projectile/treats left and was about to dig in. She lifted the pie tin up to her mouth, taking a moment to sniff of the heavenly aroma.
An eagle’s screech pierced the air like a spear, startling Dizzy and causing her to drop the pie. It disappeared through the cloud below her and she dived through the cloud to try and save her treat. She nearly caught it once but instead of saving it she caused it to start spinning as she chased it to the ground.
The pie’s slow, graceful spin looked as if it might land face up until Fruit Cake stepped into its path.
Dizzy flew down to the pie covered Cake and greeted her with an abashed giggle. “Hehe, sorry Fruit. I was eating it and it slipped.”
“I just know that somehow, someway this is all Spike’s fault.”
“Hey dweeb, what are you making all that noise for?” The voice shouting down from the living quarters of Friendship castle squeaked and groaned like an old windmill. Still something in it sparked Spike’s memory and cut off his laughter before it had a chance to start.
As his head turned up the staircase the butler was quick to scramble into his path. “You stay back monster!” he shouted.
Spike winced inwardly. As much as he’d heard that word thrown at him, as thick as his scales had gotten it still stung. He cooly regarded the gryphon before him. His black feathers stood on end and his legs quaked slightly. He was afraid and ponies, or gryphons, did stupid things when they were afraid.
“How many times am I going to have to tell you to shut up?”
Spike glanced up the staircase again. He knew that voice from somewhere but it looked like he would have to let it go until he could calm his new butler.
He slowly stepped to the side until he had made it to his spot. His neck curled partly around the room until his head settled onto his headrest. His body and tail curled around with the tip of his tail coming to rest beneath his jaw.
The gryphon had settled somewhat but he still stood defiantly at the foot of the stairs and glared at Spike suspiciously.
“Alright new guy,” Spike said, “Calm down before you start molting and let me explain how this is gonna work. My name is Spike, I’d give you a list of titles and awards but me and the girls pretty much got a blank check on all of them almost a century ago. The point is that I’m your boss.”
“S-spike?” The gryphon spoke as he visibly quaked.
“Spike The Dragon, Mister The Dragon, Sir Spike, Etcetera ad infinitum,” Spike said with a lazy roll of his hand. “The one that’s important to you is Steward of Friendship Castle, although ‘big boss man’ will also be acceptable.”
“Big Boss Man?”
“I like the reverent awe but try not to sound so scared. If you haven’t noticed the whole ‘dragon’ thing has me more than covered in the ‘fear’ department,” Spike said gesturing to himself with a claw. “Anyways being the Big Boss Man when I come through you are supposed to scramble to look like you’re working hard instead of just standing there.”
“But…”
“Now I know I scared you and I’m—well I’m not exactly sorry about that, it was pretty funny. But if we stand around discussing it every time somepony plays a prank on you then we’ll never get anything done. Plus you’re the new guy so y’know, take your lumps. It brings us together and makes us family and all that good stuff.”
“But you’re a dragon.”
“Yes.”
“…” the gryphon said gesturing to Spike.
“…” Spike replied stoically.
“…” the gryphon said again with a broader gesture at Spike.
“…?” Spike countered with a raised eyebrow.
“But you’re a dragon,” The gryphon insisted.
“And you’re a gryphon. What’s you name by the way?” Spike asked.
The gryphon took a moment to compose himself, collecting his beak from the floor and straightening his ruffled feathers. “My name is Gregory Ebonfeather. My family has served the palace at Gryphonstone for generations and it is my honor to serve this castle while my elder siblings manage the palace.”
“That’s great new guy. I’m sure they’re a lovely bunch. Who’s upstairs?”
Gregory hardened his stance from the formal posture of his introduction into something more protective. His lion tail flicked behind him in agitation.
“Who wants to know?” the voice called from the top of the stairs.
Standing on the landing was a truly ancient female gryphon. The lion portion of her body had faded to a mottled grey with age and the snowy feathers of her eagle half held a silvery sheen. Beneath a powdery pink plume two golden eyes stared at Spike intensely. “Looks like the pet lizard finally grew up.”
“Grandmother!” Gregory exclaimed.
“I’m nopony’s pet. Now who are you?”
“Are you sure you aren’t,” The gryphon said with a smirk. “Wasn’t it that pink-maned pegasus who thought she was a bird, or maybe that flip flop, Dash. What about that purple unicorn…”
“Gilda,” Spike growled. “You’ll speak better of the dead or you’ll join them.”
Spike felt something pushing against his chest. In his anger he hadn’t realized that he had stalked across the room and up the first few stairs or that every angry breath was puffing more black smoke into the room.
“Sir Spike I insist you cease this at once!” Gregory shouted desperately as he tried again to push the dragon off the stairs. “If you take another step towards my grandmother I will be forced to ask you to leave.”
Spike looked once again around the smoke filled room. On top of the stairs Gilda looked down at him with fear and shock written across her face. Against his side Gregory still tried in vain to push him to a less threatening position even as he trembled with fear.
“I—I,” Spike stammered as he backed away. “I should leave.” He turned and bolted down the passageway. He could feel his spines gouging the ceiling as he went. After slamming through the door he spread his wings and took to the sky. He headed straight to the Everfree, where all the other monsters lived.
Dizzy and Fruit made their way towards the castle, Fruit’s face still dripping water from the quick dunk she’d put it through. It wasn’t every day a screech was heard coming from the castle and so the pair decided to investigate.
While they approached they saw Spike slam through the outer doorway. He didn’t even seem to see them as he quickly flew off towards his cave.
“Oh great,” Fruit groused. “You follow him, I’m going to make sure everything’s okay here.”
Dizzy nodded beside her before taking to the skies in pursuit of the dragon. Fruit galloped to the castle. As she was opening the doors a dark blur bowled her over.
“Oh dear,” A voice said above her as she took stock of her new position on the ground. She felt her hoof gently taken hold of by a scaly claw and briefly wondered if there was suddenly another dragon in town.
“I am terribly sorry miss. I completely failed to watch were I was going. Are you hurt?” Fruit looked up and realized that the dark shadow above her was not some long lost cousin of Spike’s but a gryphon, and a handsome one at that. From his stately black feathers to his soft yellow eyes Fruit found herself somewhat overwhelmed.
“Fine, just fine,” She heard herself sigh.
“This is absolutely inexcusable of me but there is an urgent matter I must attend to. I’m afraid I must leave you at the moment.”
Fruit watched the gryphon turn around, noticing that the charcoal fur of his lion half nicely complimented the black of his eagle half. He spread his magnificent wings and the lean muscles across his back made themselves known.
“Oh my,” Fruit said to herself as he faded into the distance.
Slowly she picked herself up and brushed the dust from her coat. She chided herself for behaving like a blushing filly as she made her way into the castle. As she neared the throne room she began to notice a slight darkening of the ceiling above her. As she entered the throne room she noticed the ceiling was stained nearly black with smoke.
“It’s a small miracle that coloring isn’t permanent,” She said to herself.
At the sound of a sniffling sob she jerked her head around. At the base of the stairs was a shivering mess of grey feathers. “Stupid,” It said to itself as it banged a scaled hand against the ground.
As Fruit approached she saw that it was another gryphon. Fruit had learned that gryphons could live decades longer than ponies but even then this one was nearing the end of its life. Her feathers were greyed but healthy. Her fur hung limply from her body with wrinkles showing across her body.
“Stupid,” the gryphon said again. “Why can’t I ever make a good impression here?”
Fruit cleared her throat gently. A pair of puffy golden eyes peered up at her.
“I’m sorry,” the gryphon said as she let Fruit help her to her feet. “My name is Gilda. I’m supposed to show ponies around their castle and keep it looking presentable but here I am crying like some birdling not even out of its nest.”
“What happened?” Fruit asked as she began guiding the elderly gryphon to a nearby sitting area.
Gilda gingerly eased herself into an overstuffed armchair before responding, “It was just supposed to be a joke.”
“This idiot holiday.” Fruit growled to herself.
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. Go on.”
“Spike has been a good friend of a good friend for as long as you’ve been alive. I just—I wanted to remind him of all the good times our friends had, all the great pranks they pulled. Instead I guess I just reminded him of how sucky this all is.”
“What is?” Fruit asked.
“Rainbow Dash may have lived half a world away but she was still my oldest and best friend. Those six ponies did so much but that dragon was always there to keep them going. At Dash’s funeral there were only a few of them left and they were all inconsolable except Spike. He just held onto the others with this look on his face like…like he was counting every second he had left with them. At least I only outlived one best friend, he outlived six.
“He had every right to want to kill me after what I did. I just wanted him to know he wasn’t alone but I only did the opposite.”
“Spike never wanted to kill anything,” Fruit admonished, “And he’s never been alone. How Princess Twilight went was hard on him but Dizzy and me have been there through all of it right by his side. He may be insufferable and childish but he’s my friend and I’m not leaving him alone anytime soon.”
Gilda squeezed Fruit’s hoof tightly in her claw. “Thank you,” she said.
Fruit eased the gryphon back into her chair. “I’ll make some tea,” she said.
Spike could sense them coming. He had learned a while ago that dragons had a certain sense of awareness in their lairs. He had known about the pegasus and gryphon following him since they landed outside his cave. Rarity would have thought it in especially poor taste not to rise and greet his guests but at the moment Spike didn’t care.
None of the lamps around the cave had been lit and so when Dizzy and Gregory walked in the lantern they held was the only source of light.
“There he is,” Dizzy said. “The rare and mysterious Grumpasaurus Rex, or Grumpious Rexious.”
“Miss Doo?” Gregory said hesitantly.
“Now the grumpasaurus can seem a right bugger at first,” Dizzy said, adopting a fake accent.
“Miss Doo please do not get any closer.”
Dizzy paused midstep and let out a breath. “Spike is not scary,” she said in an even tone. “He will not hurt me. He may be angry but that doesn’t mean he stops being Spike.”
Gregory stepped forward and put Dizzy behind one of his wings. “Miss Doo it is bad enough I let you accompany me into this cave. Spike may be friendly to you when he feels like it but the dragon I saw was just that, a dragon. I will not have you getting eaten on my behalf.”
“He’s right you know.” As he spoke Spike took a single step into the light. The lantern reflected off his emerald eyes making them shine with an intense yellow as his claws gleamed dully below. “I try so hard to be careful but what happens when I lose control?” A single brown hoof approached Spike’s snout. “What happens when I stop being Spike and I’m just ‘The Dragon’?”
“Boop!” Dizzy said as her hoof made contact with Spike’s snout.
“Dizzy, you shouldn’t…”
“Boop!”
“Dizzy!”
“Boop!”
“Stop that!”
“No,” Dizzy said before booping Spike defiantly again, “Not until grampasaourus goes away and Spike comes out to play.”
“Dizzy I can’t trust myself…”
“Boop!”
“Fine, you’re on,” Spike growled as a wing came around and scooped Dizzy up.
Spike’s wing folded in, pinning the wriggling pegasus against his side. “Alright new gu—No. Gregory? No. Greg…yeah. Alright Greg, what did you come here for?”
“Wha?” Gregory stood gaping at the dragon with a squirming pegasus tucked under his wing for a moment before answering, “Oh! Yes, my grandmother asked me to follow you and apologize for what happened.”
“Tell her that I should be the one to…”
“Boop!”
Spike let out a sigh. “I guess I should probably tell Gilda myself.”
Spike followed Gregory out of the cave. Once he had made it into the sunlight he lifted his wings and dumped Dizzy onto the ground. He turned his head and stuck his tongue out at her before lifting into the sky.
As the pegasus settled across his back midflight Spike couldn’t help but think how lucky he was to have such good friends.
Princess Shimmering Heart’s shod hooves clicked against the polished flagstones of Canterlot Castle. Her heavy gown swished against the floor with each step she took forward. Lessons drilled into her since becoming an alicorn guided her every move and expression so that nothing betrayed her demeanor.
“My niece it is truly a joy to see you here again. It has been far too long since I have seen you.”
Princess Shimmering Heart’s eyes traveled up the raised dais. Before reaching her adoptive aunt’s face they spied a JoyBoy tucked away where her aunt thought nopony could see it. No doubt it was still humming merrily away with the theme of some long forgotten game.
“Aunt Luna,” she said smiling, “it has been far too long and longer. I hope that my business will not keep me from visiting you.”
“What business would that be?” Princess Luna asked.
“Prosperity,” Princess Shimmering Heart said with a wistful sigh. “Our fields are heavy with grain as our vaults are with gold and our homes with family. My ponies lack only one thing and that is what I mean to give them.”
“You have been our strong allies for generations, ask and if this thing is within my power I will see it granted.”
“A prince. My ponies would have one who is noble and strong take up Shining Armor’s mantle and a place as my groom.”
“My niece,” Princess Luna said with a laugh, “I told you once that Equestria’s stallions would go to war for a chance to marry you but surely you must know that I was exaggerating. Declare yourself open to suitors and they will flock to you at your convenience. You need not leave your throne.”
“There is one who would not come, who would not think himself a suitor. My ponies want a prince who is noble and strong. I love them dearly and so I would give them a prince who is all they ask and more. I would give them a prince who is a hero.”
Princess Luna was the first to crack. “S-spike?”
“Sir Spike is his preferred title in Equestria I believe, but yes Spike,” Princess Shimmering heart said with a smirk.
“Shimmer this is serious, Spike has managed his instincts admirably but he is still a dragon,” Princess Luna pleaded.
“And what’s wrong with that? His list of titles rivals even yours, he holds lands and wealth and he has experience being a protector of the Crystal Empire as well as an administrator. There is no more eligible bachelor in all of the world.”
“To any other mare all of that is true, but you know better than any what a dragon’s greed can do to your city. I don’t want to see anypony get hurt.”
“He has been lauded and pampered in my city before and has never had any problems. You should have more faith in him.” Princess Shimmering Heart said.
Princess Luna hung her head. “You are right,” she said. “I see that you have given this a great deal of thought but please, do not tempt Spike’s nature. It is something he cannot hide and he cannot hide from. From what scattered dreams I can see it hurts him more than he lets on. I do not want to see him get hurt either.”
“I will try auntie, I promise. But love is a battlefield and I will have to take some risks to win him over.”
“I know you would never try to hurt him,” Princess Luna said as she descended the throne. “He is… Spike is fortunate to have caught your eye.”
“Auntie are you crying?” she asked.
Princess Luna brought her niece into an embrace. “Am I not allowed to be proud of you?” She said in a strained voice.
That morning the kitchens were ordered to leave a cart of ice cream and wine in the Night Princess’s chambers.
I’ll show you, I’m a big pony!” Shining Armor shouted back at his sister. He was a big pony, and he was named after a king -or something like that- and, and…and he wasn’t afraid to go in any stupid cave!
He squeezed himself into the narrow entrance until he finally spilled out the other side. He picked himself up, admiring how he didn’t even cry when he cut his knee and continued into the cave. The light spilling in from the entrance lasted ony a turn into the passageway. Shining Armor stood there looking at the last rock he could see. He could go back out the cave but then Gleaming Shield would make fun of him for not staying longer.
He spread his hooves and scrunched up his face. At first all that came out of his horn was a few errant sparks until it finally started to light up brightly.
Take that Gleamer! He thought to himself. I’m in the cave and I did the night light spell.
With his way now lit Shining Armor cantered proudly deeper into the cave. He came up to what looked like a pool of water. Instead of giving off a reflection or letting him see through it the pool was just black.
“What are you?” He said as he poked the pool with his hoof. At his touch it seemed to flinch. Instead of flowing back like a pool of whatever-it-was should it started building itself up until it stood taller than Shining Armor. As it kept growing up past him Shining Armor started backing away. As it grew it began changing shape. It grew legs, wings and a long tail. Bone-white teeth, claws, and spines started sticking out of it. Once he realized what it was Shining Armor could only stand and watch as every nightmare he had ever had about dragons seemed to take shape right in front of him. The beast took a single step towards him, its wickedly curved claws coming an inch away from his face, and Shining Armor’s spell fizzled and the colt bolted.
He ran back to the entrance in the dark screaming at the top of his lungs. As he squeezed himself through the narrow opening he felt something like a freezing fog settle over him. He desperately breathed the freezing and heavy air until he finally popped out of the cave and into the light.
Black fog came out of his mouth with each breath and slowly drifted back to the black cave entrance. When he finally seemed to have gotten it all out he lifted his head up to look at his sister. She stared back at him with wide, terrified eyes.
Spike stood tall and proud before the gleaming castle. He resisted the urge to adjust his bow tie. Luckily his neck had grown in length much more than girth so the red bejeweled cloth still seemed proportional. Spike smiled to himself, Rarity had only needed a passing glance at an adult dragon to make him something that lasted him longer than a lifetime. He had spent the morning polishing his scales until they shone nearly as brightly as the crystal behind him.
To his right Greg stood at stiff attention. His black suit was immaculately pressed and starched to high heavens, his black feathers were preened to perfection and his golden crest was slicked down into a neat part. Beyond him Gilda stood in her smock. The elderly gryphon only seemed to be able to stand still for ten seconds before reaching up with a claw and pulling part of her outfit back into place. When she at last seemed satisfied with her attire she faced forward with a look that could only be described as ‘frumpy’.
Spike smiled to himself. Gilda had settled into a lifestyle of service a long time ago in Gryphonstone but she looked like she had never gotten comfortable in a maids outfit. Spike briefly considered changing the dress code for the servants of his household just to pick on her.
Spike couldn’t help the proud smile that sprang to his lips. His household. It may have just been two gryphons and a dragon but it was his, and Spike found that in a few short days he had become fiercely proud of it. So much so that when Princess Shimmering Heart had sent him a letter saying that she would be dropping by the next afternoon Spike had worked himself and his staff tirelessly to ensure the castle would be in perfect condition for her visit.
Now his entire household stood outside, watching the princess’s chariot slowly descend. Spike couldn’t help but admire the seamless transition between flying and rolling as the expertly trained guards brought the chariot to a gentle halt in front of him. Princess Shimmering Heart hopped excitedly out of the chariot. She wore a pale blue formal gown that was a scant few shades off of white. her matching mane was pulled up and bedazzled in an elaborate arrangement Spike had only seen Cadence put up with a few times.
“Princess,” Spike said as he bowed.
“None of that!” the princess said back. “If I have to call you “just Spike” then you have to call me just Shimmer.”
Spike rose with a chuckle. “If you insist...Just Shimmer.”
Shimmer blew a raspberry in Spike’s direction. “Well Just Spike, aren’t you going to introduce me?”
Spike gave a chuckle as he walked behind the two gryphons. “This is Gregory Ebonfeather,” Spike said as Greg bowed. “He’s new so if you have any weird, awkward, or confusing requests he’s your bird.”
“And this,” Spike said as he turned to Gilda, “Is the castle’s other living archive and my very, very old friend Gilda.”
“Gilda…” Shimer said thoughtfully, “Gilda Gryphon?”
“Yes, your highness,” Gilda said with a curtsey.
“No,” Shimmer said taking a step back. “You shouldn’t be bowing to me.”
“Please, highness it is our way.”
“Wait what’s happening?” Spike asked.
“Spike do you know who these are?” Shimmer asked.
“Gilda and her grandson? I was busy with some other stuff for the ‘cute little tyke’ stage but he seems to have done just fine.”
Shimmer gawked at the trio standing in front of her. “Spike this is the Queen Mother and Crown Prince of Gyphonstone!”
Spike braugh a claw up to tap his chin thoughtfully. “I thought I remembered something about you getting a promotion,” he said to Gilda. “So what’s with all this servant stuff then?”
“For a Gryphon to be worthy to rule they must learn to set aside their pride and so-”
“Gilda, this is Ponyville. Friendship shenanigans is always a valid explanation.”
Gilda gave a frustrated sigh. “Alright friendship shenanigans.”
“Spike, how can you be so flippant about this? Your house servants are royalty!” Shimmer demanded.
Spike shrugged. “I’m here to keep you royal types grounded. Sometimes it means laying down the law and saying no more books until you get at least six hours of sleep and sometimes it means telling you to get my guest’s bags. Speaking of which, Greg.”
“Of course.”
“Good guy. Anyways flippancy isn’t just in the job description it pretty much is the job description.”
“So you’re a jerk to royalty?”
“Well,” Spike ventured, “If I’m a jerk then I’m a jerk. It’s just that I don’t care about them being royalty. And I at least hope I’m not a jerk. Am I a jerk Gilda?”
“It would be improper to say in front of her highness,” Gilda answered.
“...Ouch.” Spike turned back to Shimmer. “So I’m going to be working on the whole ‘jerk’ thing but in the meantime why don’t you come inside.”
“Thank you,” Shimmer said as she made her way inside. Gregory and Gilda fell in behind her. “There is something very important you and I will be discussing.”
“Surprise!!!”
Somehow the entire population of Ponyville had made its way inside the castle and was now jumping out at the surprised trio with happy smiles on their faces.
“Oh and guys,” they heard Spike chuckle warmly behind them, “Welcome to Ponyville.”
Shimmer looked around the party nervously. It wasn’t that the party made her uncomfortable, if anything this was the most relaxing social gathering she had ever been part of despite the fact that three royals were the guests of honor. It was simply that Ponyville was impossible. She had seen ponies milling about in the market square throughout her descent, the same ponies that had jumped out at her and the two gryphons not moments later.
By far more impossible was the disappearing dragon. She had just seen Spike not ten minutes ago. He had been in the room everypony called the throne room (despite its lack of chairs) curled around a wide flat stage that dominated the entire room and talking merrily with a group of ponies with a lampshade on his head. She had waited near the entrance and so she knew for fact that he hadn’t left but neither did he seem to be in any of the areas large enough to fit him.
She came to another intersection and this time heard his voice drifting from one of the corridors. Spike’s voice was certainly deep but having seen some of the greats in the Canterlot Opera she couldn’t say it was the deepest she had heard. Still Spike’s voice held a presence that nopony could match. It was most likely due to the sheer size of him. His chest easily doubled anypony’s in any given dimension and so even his softest whisper seemed to force the room into resonating with him.
Shimmer giggled to herself, perhaps it was simple physics that made her heart flutter at the sound of his voice. She shook off the silly thought, there was nothing simple about it.
His voice took her further down the corridor until it came to a large and well stocked library. She made her way through the bookshelves, each showing a genre and range of author names, until she came to a large sitting area that seemed small and cramped for the dragon in it.
Spike laid on his belly staring up at a crystal statue of an earth pony mare. The statue reared back on her hooves but unlike other statues of heroes in this great pose there was no far off look of determination or even a challenging smirk. It was only a plain and happy smile that adorned the mare’s freckled face.
“I can’t even remember what she sounded like,” an unfamiliar voice said.
Shimmer blinked. She searched the area one more time to find a wizened old mare sitting beside Spike.
“I reckon I’ll be finding out soon enough, I don’t think I have another week in me.”
“You said that last week.” Spike said dully.
“I mean it this time. My joints have stopped aching in the rain, I quit having a cough if I drink water too cold. There’s a whole bushel of things my body did to complain that it just ain’t doing anymore. It ain’t getting better it’s giving up, and it’s about time too.”
“So you’re saying your goodbyes while you still can.”
“I never did care for goodbyes. I came to make sure you were happy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Spike I have nieces, nephews, and foals, great and grand. Seeing my family spread out and grow has brought me more joy than anything in the whole world. All I can say is how much I want that for you too.”
Spike shook his head and chuckled. “You Apples are all about family. I can’t say I’d ever get as much out of it as you have. But having Gilda and Greg with me, under my roof and part of my house, it made me so proud and so happy. I’ll think about it Applebloom.”
“Call me granny, everypony else does.”
“I’ll think about it Granny,” Spike said with a laugh.
“You do that,” Applebloom said as she rose to leave. “I imagine Rarity’d be mighty jealous of that princess of your’s.”
“She wouldn’t,” Spike said sadly, “but she would be happy for me. Do you want me to walk you back?”
“Naw, I can always find somepony. Shimmer’s wanting a word with you anyways,” Applebloom said as she passed by Shimmer.
“Shimmer?” Spike said in surprise as he finally saw the princess.
“I- I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I just didn’t want to interrupt,” Shimmer said.
“It’s alright. Come take a seat,” Spike said gesturing where Applebloom had sat.
Once Shimmer had settled into the spot she looked up at the dragon beside her. He stared up at the statue in front of him but rather than just a neutral or contemplative expression he seemed to be engaging in a phantom conversation with the shaped crystal until he finally hung his head with a barely audible “fine”.
“You aren’t here just for a social call are you?” Spike asked.
“Not exactly, no.”
“Not that I don’t appreciate the company but why are you here?”
Shimmer scuffed a hoof across the ground nervously. “Ever since I became an alicorn there have been rules to everything I do. Which fork to eat which course with, what posture, what tone to use when sitting on the throne. There’s some rules that are just intrusive. Did you know the senate decides when I can mary? They took a vote last week, turns out I’m old enough,” Shimmer said with an annoyed eye roll.
“So you want me to host your suitors,” Spike concluded. “Sniff out which ones might be Evil King Sombra’s in the making and scare them off.”
“No. I want for you to be one.”
Shimmer would have thought time had stopped if it weren’t for the sound of Spike’s breathing.
“I need to show you something.” Spike finally said.
Wordlessly he rose and began making his way through the shelves. Shimmer followed behind him curiously. they had almost passed completely through another sitting area before Shimmer realized there was a statue there too. She couldn’t help but stop to look at it.
It was of a pegasus mare, all but hidden behind her long, flowing mane. Standing sternly in front of her was a small crystal bunny, as if to protect the shy mare from unwanted eyes.
“C’mon,” Spike said behind her. “It’s further in.”
The next sitting area held a statue that was a night and day difference to the previous. Where the pegasus mare had shied away from the sculptor’s attention this mare shined in it. Shimmer could almost see the curled mane bouncing after a practiced flick as the statue beamed down at her with a radiant smile and sapphire blue eyes.
“This is Rarity,” Spike said simply.
“She’s beautiful,” Shimmer said without thinking.
From an empirical standpoint the statue was flawless, but there was a great deal of difference between an exact replica of a posed pony and this statue. The way her foreleg was lifted, the painstaking detail in every curve of her face and even the soft laugh lines around the eyes. Every detail was a soft plea from the sculptor to see the mare in the same loving light he did.
“She always was,” Spike said reverently as he touched a claw to the statue.
“Were you close?”
Spike gave a laugh. “I was close with all of them and I loved all of them but she, she was the one I loved.”
“I understand,” Shimmer said sadly. “After all not even a princess can compete with a memory.”
“It’s not like that,” Spike said. “There was one date that was just...pathetic. There was so much expectation we couldn’t hardly talk to each other we were so nervous. But after that she moved on and I let her go. When she brought some stallion home I gave him a few choice warnings and when she decided to marry one she even had me walk her down the aisle. When she had foals I bounced them on my knee and let them call me uncle Spike. And when she died...when she died it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I thought giving her away at the altar was the hardest thing I had ever done until I buried her.”
Shimmer felt something hot and moist near her hoof. She looked down to find a teardrop boiling away on the floor, leaving only a small crust of salt once it was gone.
“She would want me to at least take you to a dinner, to give ‘us’ a chance. They all would. Twilight might have given you the third degree but in the end she would too. But I just can’t risk that I would fall for you,” Spike said, sniffling. “I can watch the filly that was so excited to get her cutie mark be lowered into the ground with a smile on my face because I know that she had a long and happy life but I can never, never bury the mare I love again.”
“I’m so sorry Spike,” Shimmer said gently.
“Don’t be,” Spike said, sniffling once again. “It’s not every day you get asked out by a princess. I’m just sorry I was too afraid to say yes,” Spike finished the statement with a loud sniff.
“Oh, here,” Shimmer said with a light chuckle as she summoned a kerchief.
Spike filled the delicate cloth to capacity and then some.
He turned to Shimmer with a rueful chuckle. “I don’t suppose you want this back?”
“Eaugh. Find a wastebasket or something,” Shimmer said looking around for someplace to put the trash. When she turned back to Spike she found the problem disappearing out the window in a trail of green smoke.
“What did you do with it?” she asked.
“Same thing I do with all the trash I’m too lazy to find a can for,” Spike shrugged, “I sent it to Princess Luna.”
“What?” Shimmer asked, laughing.
Whatever vestiges of tears Spike had left were chased away by a smile. “She complained once that the servants pick through her mail before it gets to her so she doesn’t even get to throw out junk mail. I figured I would start helping her out with that.”
“By sending her every piece of junk you happen to pick up?”
“More or less, yeah.”
“And you say you’re not a jerk to royalty,” Shimmer said sticking her tongue out at Spike.
“Hey you should see what she sends me back.”
“Oh, and what is that?”
“She practices her long range teleporting by sending boulders to a spot about three feet above my head.”
Shimmer leaned against Spike for support as she laughed.
“You wouldn’t think it’s funny if you’ve ever woken up under a pile of rocks.”
“I’m sure the headaches are, well a headache.”
Spike waved a claw. “Nah the real headache is keeping the cave clean when you’re perpetually getting more rocks. My skull is actually about as close to indestructible as you can get.”
“Really?” Shimmer asked. “I knew dragons were durable but I didn’t think they were that strong.”
“Well that and we sorta figured out a while ago that having the dragon eat the forbidden artefacts is a pretty safe way to get rid of them, so I’m kind of a superhero now.”
“Wow, so do the artefacts taste better or worse than gemstones.”
“Considering they were mostly books, worse. Plus I had to listen to Twilight go on and on about the historical and scientific significance of my dinner. But Princess Luna can throw rocks at my head without worrying about hurting me now so it was all totally worth it,” Spike finished with a toothy grin.
Shimmer shook her head. “You enjoy it as much as her and you know it.”
“I enjoy having friends,” Spike chuckled. “Whatever we end up doing together is just Icing on the cake.” After a moment Spike gave a sigh. “Speaking of cake we should get back to the party.”
Shimmer’s face fell. “I guess you’re right,” She said glumly.
“Hey, cheer up,” Spike said as he put a wing around her. “Maybe you’ll find a colt that catches your eye. If you like the strong silent type I know Big Mac’s great grandson is here and Applebloom can always whip you up a batch of love poison.”
“Why would I want to poison him?”
“The poor guy’s so shy that he’d never get a word out without some help.”
“Doesn’t ponyville believe in alcohol?”
“Nah, too boring. It’s not really our style. Now come on Fruity said she was trying something with gravel for me and if she managed to make it taste good this could change my life.”
Princess Luna frowned at the kerchief. Luckily it had landed away from the plush carpet in her bedroom and so what she hoped was dragon snot could be cleaned up fairly easily. She tossed the kerchief, embroidered with her niece's initials and the stick she had used to pick it up in a nearby wastebin. She moved to her balcony and gave some of the large boulders along the mountainside an appraising look. Some were as large as Spike himself which, considering what he had sent her, Princess Luna judged to be an appropriate escalation.
As the spell was forming on her horn she let it go with a sad sigh. She didn’t want to ruin Spike’s date or risk hurting her niece.
Spike wandered the empty, moonlit castle. Gilda, being old, had gone to sleep almost immediately after sunset, Shimmer had retreated to her chambers, claiming exhaustion from her long flight and the celebration, and Greg was occupied reorganizing the spice rack or any one of the myriad of things a butler did while his master didn’t need him.
Spike found himself at the entrance to the library again. From above the library looked like a six pointed star with the center being occupied by the check-out desk Spike had once called his own.
Spike turned to his right, making his way through a gap in the wall of bookshelves and into the sitting area that tipped this point of the star. He found that he couldn’t meet Applejack’s stony gaze as he passed through. While everything he had told Shimmer was true, it was not the whole truth and so he had not been honest.
“That’s not fair, I’m not even honest with myself about this stuff,” He complained to the statue as he disappeared behind another row of shelves.
In the next sitting area he found that it was the statue that didn’t meet his gaze. “Don’t you give me that too Flutters, you know that was letting her down easy.” The statue’s crystal eyes still refused to meet his even as the little rabbit glared defiantly at him. Spike gave a frustrated snort as he walked off to the next section.
Rarity’s eyes caught Spike’s for the briefest of moments before he turned away. He wasn’t in the mood for pity so onward he went.
Pinkie seemed to float impossibly above her pedestal in the middle of a giddy bounce. Her laughing eyes told of cakes and streamers and balloons and for a moment Spike smiled with her.
“It really was a great party wasn’t it?” Spike chuckled to himself. “Goodnight Pinkie,” Spike said as he slipped off to the next section.
Rainbow Dash lay sprawled out on her pedestal, caught in the rapturous moment of weightlessness at the top of a loop. her head craned back to regard the sitting area with lazy eyes and a cocky grin on her face.
Spike rested his head against a nearby shelf, letting the coolness of the crystal seep into him. “Do you know how many times I wished it had worked against Discord?” he asked. “Not just so I could have your place but so I could be more like you. How did you ever decide who to be loyal to? If i’m loyal to myself then I’m a self-centered jerk but if I pick one pony then I hurt another.” Spike sighed. “Everything was always so clear to you, every choice was black or white, I envy you that more than anything else. But who am I kidding?” Spike asked with a sardonic bark of laughter. “For country and duty, am I right.” He said as he began making his way to the final section.
Here the books became thicker and dustier. They would contain absolutely no pictures but diagrams aplenty. Spike inhaled the familiar musty scent of a nonfiction section as he made his way to a final sitting area. This one was stocked with desks, spare scrolls and quills, and anything else a young scholar might need. Spike approached the lump of crystal at Its center. He still had a great deal of work to do. There was so much of that cold piece of crystal that wasn’t Twilight and still needed to be knocked away but she was in there, Spike could feel it.
“I didn’t think I would miss you so much,” Spike said as he put his arms around the Crystal block.
“Oh Spike.” Spike blinked back tears as the memory of a tuxedo clad and much younger version of himself played in his head. He had made his appearance at the reception and retreated to this very same spot to be alone.
“I gave her away Twilight. How can I ever live with myself when I gave one of my best friends away?”
Spike could almost feel the hoof rubbing softly along his back.
“She’ll always be your friend Spike. Sometimes things change and our friends can’t be with us anymore but they’re never really gone. That friendship will always be there, always keeping us together. That’s one of the most incredible things about it, even if ponies do Friendship never dies.”
High above the Everfree forest the red dragon glided along. His sharp golden eyes scanned the sea of green below him for any spot that looked likely. Although dragons often possess an ancient cunning the red dragon was driven purely by instinct. At around two centuries he, like any other dragon, abandoned his territory and began searching for somewhere he could build an even bigger hoard.
He had already been driven off of a few caves large enough to begin his adulthood in. Either an older dragon had already claimed the area’s wealth, or some other beast large enough to give the dragon pause had claimed the territory.
Now at the far western edge of the forest his senses began giving him good news. There was a dragon but one younger than him. A cruel smile spread over the dragon’s lips. There was only one dragon that age that would voluntarily live so close to pony lands. Whatever pony friends the purple wyrmling did have would have died by now. Whatever fantastic wealth the red dragon sensed would be his. It would be like taking candy from a baby.
“Garble want!” the red dragon chanted as he flew on and greed began filling his body with power.
“Corporal Star Sword reporting for duty.”
Spike raised an eyebrow at the pony before him. The chariot had come to return Shimmer to Canterlot and to everypony’s surprise a pile of skin and bones wrapped in armor had tumbled out with a sword nearly as big as him.
“What duty?” Spike asked.
Star puffed up proudly, very nearly coming within two sizes of the pony the armor was made for. “Princess Celestia herself ordered me here to assume command of this castle’s guard.”
Spike gave shimmer a questioning look. She responded with a shrug. Even when there was a garrison in the castle it had been an extension of Princess Celestia’s guard. They were only privy to the personnel decisions she decided to share and apparently this wasn’t one of them.
“Right so I’m gonna deal with you in a minute.” Spike said.
Shimmer couldn’t help but giggle at the look of terror that crossed Star’s face. She paused on her way to the chariot to whisper in his ear, “Have your orders ready, I hear he doesn’t like the taste of paper.”
He barely noticed the crystal princess passing by, the gryphon butler loaded with baggage following her or the chariot take off and carry the princess away behind him.
He could only watch in frozen terror as the dragon settled onto it’s belly before him, it’s fang filled mouth still reaching twice his height.
“This is the second time you’ve broken protocol in front of me,” Spike said.
“S-sir?”
“Oh don’t worry, Princess Luna isn’t gonna come yell at you again but you really should give me your transfer orders.”
“Sir!” Star yelped as he frantically dug out his papers.
Spike took the bundle of parchment and expertly broke the wax seal. After a minute’s reading Spike brought a claw up to rub his forhead.
“Star Sword you said?”
“Yes sir!”
“Have you ever tried telling a princess and bringer of the sun that they are not half as funny as they think they are?”
“no sir.”
“Don’t bother it’s a waste of breath and borderline blasphemy depending on who you ask. So here’s the rundown, the princess wants you to be in charge of the guard here but there hasn’t been a guard here in about forty years and Greg can only dust so fast so the barracks isn’t going to be ready for a bit. We can always put you in a guest room so that’s not much of an issue but it certainly isn’t particularly funny as far as jokes go. The second thing is actually a little bit funny, she wants me to give you “whatever rank I see fit” but the problem is I can only give you one rank that means anything to her guard. The catch is that that it involves a lot more than just being an enlisted pony and certainly doesn’t come with any of the privileges of being an officer.”
“I-if it is for the good of Equestria I will g-g-give my all.” Spike heard a small rattle as the stallion shivered in his armor.
“Kneel.”
As Star trembled on his knees Spike drew the greatsword from the sheath across his back. In Star’s hooves the weapon was comically oversized but in Spike’s claws it seemed to be little more than a long dagger.
“I Sir Spike the Dragon, Steward of Friendship Castle dub you Star Sword as my squire. Until you shall take your name as a knight I am responsible for all of your actions. I pledge myself to teaching you in warcraft so that you can stand strong to protect the weak. I pledge myself to teaching you in the ways of chivalry and valor so that you will stand strong in the protection of the weak. You said that you will give your all, when I am done with you there will be much more to give. That is my promise.”
One after another Spike tapped the stallion’s shoulders with the flat of the sword. “Rise Star Sword, as my squire and as my student.”
Star Sword rose to his hooves, he still shook with fear in armor that was several sizes too big, and he still held a sword that he could barely lift, much less fight with but Spike saw something more than that. He saw another member of his house and another part of a circle that was being drawn wide and wider still.
“Get settled in and have Greg show you around for today. I’m going back to my cave for the night so I can actually stretch my wings without knocking down any walls but tomorrow we’re going to start your training.”
Spike regarded the boulder thoughtfully. Normally any excess rocks the acquired could be crushed into gravel and scattered along the path but Spike didn’t have any hope of getting his mouth around this rock that was as big as him. Spike definitely counted it a lesson learnt about sending Princess Luna anything sticky. Getting out from under the boulder had been a gruelling task all on it’s own. He had just landed outside his cave when the boulder had appeared above him and pinned him to the earth. After minutes of struggling and straining he had finally gotten it to roll off of his back but now it had taken a position of prominence right in the middle of the path.
on the other claw it was a sizable hunk of Canterlot Marble and a statue would really liven up the place. Spike walked a slow circle around the stone, examining it from every possible angle. Every once in awhile he would stop to scrawl out some ideas in the dirt. He had just finished a sketch he particularly liked of the Cutie Mark Crusaders when a dark shadow passed overhead.
Spike’s eyes shot to the skies, scanning for anything big enough to cast the shadow. Finally he saw a dragon, descending in a sharp spiral towards him. Spike struggled to fight down territorial instincts that spread his wings and bore his fangs. He would welcome the dragon with a light snack and calmly explain that he was an Equestrian citizen and protected under no less than thirty treaties. If he could just get his lips to cover his fangs again the whole thing would be much more convincing.
By the time Spike had ducked into the cave and pulled from his stock of eating gems the red and gold dragon had landed with a triumphant roar. Spike walked outside to find his sketches scattered to the wind and the enormous slab of marble moved to the side in what he could only guess was the new dragon’s pile of plunder.
“Hello there, my name is Spike,” Spike said with a cheerful smile. “Care for some rubies?”
“Garble,” The red dragon growled breathily.
“Well that’s about par for the course,” Spike muttered to himself.
“Garble want!”
Faster than Spike could blink Garble had reached out and taken every last ruby from his grasp. Spike watched Garble throw the rubies in with the bolder. His golden eyes darted around, looking for something else to take.
“Look Garble, I’ve got some diamonds I’ve been saving for a special occasion. What do you say I break them out and we reminisce about that time I belly flopped into a pool of lava.”
“Garble want!” Garble began moving towards the entrance of Spike’s cave before Spike stepped in front of him.
“Woah there buddy! Let’s just talk for a bit,” Spike said speaking at a mile a minute. “Now I’m an Equestrian citizen, I know mamby pamby pony princesses and all. But that means if you go into my place you’ll be violating at least two dozen laws. Now I’ve seen the royal guard training with ballestas and I don’t want that for you. So why don’t you just sit tight and I’ll get you some diamonds.”
“Garble take!”
Once again Garble tried to push through and into the cave but this time Spike pushed back.
“MINE!” The word came out of Spike’s mouth as much fire as voice and before he knew it Spike was fighting for his life.
Princess Luna took to the skies around Canterlot. It was not uncommon to see her in the skies around the capitol. Princess Celestia had her gardens that she would walk in the cool of the night and Princess Luna had the open and endless skies that she flew as the sun set.
Shimmer wanted her to help make a short list of potential suitors. She had tried to be diligent with the task but for every name put forward Princess Luna only heard the name that it was not. So now she flew, trying to clear her head filled with purple scales and green eyes.
The world stretched out below her for miles in every direction. She could see the shadows of mountains slowly growing across the countryside below her. To the west she could see scattered clouds painted vibrant pinks, reds, oranges and yellows in the light of the setting sun. Even the column of smoke rising from the Everfree was transformed into something beautiful in the day’s fading light.
Princess Luna blinked. It had been millennia since Equestria had seen a forest fire. The sheer weight of earth pony magic snuffed out flames before they could lead to any real damage. But in the wild Everfree forest the magicks were not nearly so reliable and the resulting cloud of ash could strangle any of the small towns that surrounded it.
The princess pushed herself as she flew towards the endangered forest. wind peeled her mane and tail back and watered her eyes. As she pushed herself faster and faster the wind pushed back against her, tearing at her wings and forming a wave of pressure before her.
Luna caught herself and slowed her flight. It wouldn’t do to get to the fire too exhausted to put it out.
As she flew Luna watched the base of the smoke column for any growth. There was a constant orange glow as the trees within burned. Luna assured herself that the sheer quantity of puffy white smoke meant that the fire was burning through wet wood and would not be particularly fierce but then she caught a green glow against the wall of smoke. a bloody red glow responded with a bellow of rage and pain drifting up on the wind.
Princess Luna tilted into a dive and began putting on more speed. Spike was fighting something and whatever it was made him struggle enough to lose control of his flames. Another pained bellow drifted up on the wind, causing Princess Luna to redouble her speed.
“Please be okay,” She whispered as she flew.
Spike slammed through the tree with a sickening crunch. The flaming tree fell over hitting Garble with its foliage. Faster than Spike would have liked the red dragon shrugged off the blow and was upon him. The two dragons struck at each other with claws, trying to tear away the diamond-strong scales that covered them.
Spike shot a torrent of green fire and flared his wings out. His right wing went to its full length in what would have been an impressive display if not for its broken counterpart. Spike filled the air with his roar of pain.
“Garble TAKE!” The red dragon seemed to swell another size as he shouted his response.
Without bothering with any more territorial displays Spike leapt at the now much larger dragon. Spike’s rear claws dug in and dislodged some of the scales at the base of Garble’s neck while the red dragon’s claws failed to find purchase across Spike’s hindquarters and tail.
Spike felt himself fly across the clearing they had made. He barely had time to get his bearings when Garble was on him, fangs going for Spike’s neck. Spike brought a claw up in defence only to have Garble latch onto it. Spike roared in pain as fangs pierced flesh and scale. he moved his claw, gouging the other dragon’s mouth and causing it to let go of his wrist.
Garble withdrew to spit out a glob of Spike’s and his own blood. While garble was doing that Spike rose to his feet. The two dragons began circling each other. Spike was careful to keep his right side facing Garble as the two dragons went around each other.
“Do you think that greed makes you powerful?” Spike asked only to get a low growl in response.
“You were always like this.” Spike continued. “You think that just because you can’t be stopped that you have the right to take whatever you want, to do whatever you want.”
“Garble hungry.” The red dragon said in a low, feral growl as it licked its fangs still stained red with Spike’s blood.
Spike shivered with revulsion. “You make me sick to be a dragon, you know that? Your nothing but greed and arrogance at your own power. Well let me tell you a thing or two about power. I was hatched from a dead egg in a flare of magic powerful enough to grow me a hundred feet tall in a second. I studied under two princesses and learned breath magic that even most ancients don’t know, and when the element of magic herself decided something was too dangerous, too corrupt, too powerful to exist anymore she fed it to me. I’ve seen, I’ve felt, I’ve tasted more of what you would call power than you can ever imagine. Even if I was fighting alone do you think for a minute that greed would be enough to beat me?”
Garble gave a low and threatening growl in response. It lasted a few seconds until his feral mind processed what Spike had said. By the time he had turned his head Princess Luna had slammed into his back.
Garble turned and struck like a snake at the mare on his back. His teeth pierced through the ethereal blue plates that made up her armor, only just breaking skin underneath. The brief moment it took for Garble to redouble his crushing bite on the mare was all it took for Spike to pounce.
Princess Luna could see the exact moment Garble’s scales gave way to Spike’s fangs and for the first time in his life the purple dragon tasted blood. She watched his pupils all but disappear as his emerald eyes were replaced by something cold, green and feral. She heard his heavy breathing devolve into short panted growles.
The red dragon turned slowly over, careful not to jostle Spike’s death grip on its neck and exposing his belly in a silent plea for his life. With a snort of green fire Spike violently shook his head. Any lesser animal’s neck would have snapped like a twig.
As garble began moving the lower half of his body away in an attempt at retreat Princess Luna ran over and put herself directly in Spike’s vision.
“Spike,” she called out to him only to get a threatening blast of fire in response. as Princess Luna hesitated Spike brought a claw up and put it under Garble’s chin, pinning the larger dragon to the ground and stretching its neck out before him.
“Spike let him go, please. There will be no turning back from this once you start.”
Spike pulled back, ripping several of Garble’s protective scales away and exposing bloody flesh underneath.
Princess Luna rushed to put herself between Spike and his prey. At his low growl she could feel the hair along her back stand on end and her knees start to tremble. “S-spike, I know you are still in there. You must fight this. You must come back to me. Please…”
Slowly Spike’s eyes closed. His violent and short breaths released green sparks and even short tongs of fire as he waged his internal war. Princess Luna stood defiantly between him and Garble’s exposed neck as the red dragon waited for his fate to be decided.
“Luna,” Spike finally said. He lifted his claw off of Garble’s neck, allowing him to run. “Get away from me,” Spike growled.
He slowly padded away, regarding the destruction around him with sad eyes. Without two dragons giving it strength the forest fire had all but burnt out on the wet wood of the Everfree. Not without a price though. The curtain of trees that separated Spike’s cave from Ponyville had burnt down, leaving nothing but a few charred trunks where there once a sunny little grove.
The bloody stains and stench of rage from the fight would linger for weeks. The grove would take decades to recover.
“Spike,” Princess Luna said beside him.
“I told you to get away from me,” Spike growled.
“Spike if we don’t set your wing you may not fly again.”
“Good,” Spike said grimly. “I can do less of this if I’m grounded.” Spike gestured to the charred and trampled forest around him and to a small pool of blood nearby.
“Do not do that to yourself. Do not try and protect everypony around you from yourself. That is not a happy story,” Princess Luna said as Spike approached a blackened stream.
At the sight of his blood covered reflection in the fading firelight Spike gagged. He dipped his head into the riverbed, coming up with soot and sand falling in clumps from his mouth. He brought both claws up to his mouth and scrubbed frantically. After a minute of desperate scrubbing Spike spat the unpleasant mouthful out in a gob of green fire.
“I can’t get the taste out,” he said brokenly. “And I can’t help but think how hungry I am.”
“Drink this,” Princess Luna said, handing Spike a bottle of clear liquid she had summoned.
Spike tossed the whole bottle into his maw and crunched down. With a startled shout he spit the substance onto the ground where an errant spark caused it to burn with a near-invisible blue flame.
“What the hay was that?” he demanded as he spit out more of the offending liquid.
“My last bottle of moonshine.”
“Eugh you drink this stuff on purpose?”
“Very occasionally. It is one of the few liquors in the world that can affect me. It is also a powerful solvent and a vile substance in its own right. If anything can get the taste of dragon out of your mouth that is it.”
Spike brought a clawful of silt up to his mouth and began scrubbing again. “Yeah but how do you get the taste of it out of your mouth?” Spike asked around his claw.
Princess Luna stifled a laugh. “Sister’s preferred method is a disgustingly greasy breakfast. Coffee of extremely poor quality is generally what does it for me though.”
Spike gave her a wide-eyed stare. “I still get hay nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs sometimes.”
After a peal of laughter Princess Luna spoke in a somber tone, “I do wish you would have swallowed, it would dull the pain and make you less tense.”
“Wha-AGGGH!” With a loud snap the blue glow around Spike’s broken wing pulled the two halves of the broken bone apart and realigned them. Spike pounded the earth below him and his other wing beat frantically in agony until a splint of wood and vine tied itself around the joint and he was released.
Once he was released Spike walked away, huffing fire and snapping at the air as he paced a circle. Finally after three passes Spike calmed himself.
“You’re bleeding,” he said to Princess Luna.
“It’s just a scratch.”
“Come on, I’ll get the first aid kit,” Spike said with a weary roll of his eyes as he started towards the cave.
“The wounds will heal on their own in a day at most.” Despite her protests Princess Luna followed after Spike into his cave.
Inside Spike pulled out an old battered metal box, with only remnants of a red cross painted on the front telling of its function. He gestured to a pile of nearby cushions and with a long suffering sigh the princess obliged. Spike settled beside her and chuckled as he began pulling supplies out of the well stocked box.
“What is so funny?” Princess Luna asked.
“You princess types,” Spike said, “Twilight refused to set hoof in a hospital after her ascension and she was always stubborn about letting me bandage her too. Come to think of it I was pretty much the group medic for all of them. This’ll sting just a bit,” Spike warned before disinfecting Princess Luna’s wounds.
She hissed through her teeth as the the wounds were cleaned. “I never thought they came to any harm on any of their missions.”
“They always bounced back pretty quick,” Spike said as he began unrolling a bandage. “And Twilight was always good at keeping up appearances even if she did attend a few meetings with invisible bandages.”
“When I saw them fight, their battles always seemed to be more spiritual in nature. I never imagined they would come home wounded.”
“They were spiritual, It’s just that sometimes they had to take a few hits before they did the orbital friendship laser thing. Other times they would just stand and take whatever the villain dished out while they convinced them to give friendship another shot. Those were the worst, they would come home beaten black and blue, smiling about how they had made a new friend.” Spike gave a far off chuckle. “They always made the best of it. Sleepovers at the castle until the bruises faded enough for makeup to cover. I remember one time Pinkie broke a leg and I had to put her in a full body cast just to keep her still long enough for it to heal.”
While he was talking Spike had finished bandaging Princess Luna’s wounds and began running a claw along where the bandages wrapped around her shoulder to ensure her coat would lay down properly under the bandage.
She gave a pleased hum, resisting the urge to lean into his touch. She flinched slightly when he began combing her mane by running his claws through it.
“Everything was so much simpler back then,” Spike continued. “I just helped Twilight. I enjoyed being her number one assistant and I was good at it too. It’s almost like she was my cutie mark. I didn’t have to worry about if I could find more ponies for the elements or even if we would need the elements again. I never worried about anything because I knew that she would always be there to help me out. I was never afraid of myself because I knew that she could keep me in line.”
Spike drew a trembling breath. Princess Luna could feel the claw running through her mane stop and shake slightly.
“I’m terrified of myself without her. If you hadn’t stopped me I would be cannibalizing Garble right now. I would be trapped inside, screaming at myself to stop. I’m so scared because I’m one half sentient and one half feral, and whenever something new comes up I can never know which half is going to respond.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Princess Luna said. “At least not as much as you think. Any sentient being will make mistakes, especially when they are forced to react without thinking. The mistakes are a passing thing, and forgivable. What truly matters is who we are after the mistakes are said and done. Your first thoughts are always for the safety of others. You ensured that the fire would not spread and you insisted on treating my wounds, even if they were nothing. That vigilance, that Loyalty is who you truly are Spike, and that is something to be proud of.”
“Not Loyalty. I don’t think I’m any of them but I know I’m not Loyalty.”
“Then Kindness or Generosity. Give whatever word you want to the goodness inside you but do not deny it.”
“Can- can we just talk about something else please? I don’t like this discussion.”
Princess Luna turned her head away and gave a huff. tentatively Spike’s claw resumed combing through her mane.
“Why did you turn Shimmer away?” Princess Luna could feel Spike’s claw tense, scratching her scalp lightly as he made a few startled sounds and devolved into a coughing fit.
“You just love sensitive topics don’t you?” Spike asked wryly once he had recovered.
“You’re avoiding the question.”
Spike sighed. “No chance I could get you to drop this question too is there?”
“When I adopted her as my niece I swore I would protect her from all things. It is my duty to ensure that you had a reason for turning her away and hurting her.”
“She’s mortal,” Spike said hollowly. “She’s mortal and I’m a coward. I’m too afraid to ever let myself feel that for a mortal ever again.”
“So you would spend the rest of eternity alone for fear of pain.”
“You princesses seem to manage. Hay, in another couple of centuries I may see Discord as a brother. Plus I’m the steward of friendship, it may not be the most romantically fulfilling gig in the world but it’s anything but lonely.”
“So that is it? The grim resignation that you will never know a lover’s touch.”
“You can be a real downer sometimes Princess.”
“Shut up and keep combing.”
The next morning ponies gathered at the edge of their small town. It had been a troubled night’s sleep at best. They had heard the angry bellows of dragons fighting for hours the previous night and now in the bright light of day they saw the true extent of the damage. The sight of Spike brought up a rampant wave of whispered speculation. Even the Night Princess giving him a friendly farewell before flying off to Canterlot did little to curb it.
The sight of large puddles of dragon blood and trees that had obviously been knocked over before fire had consumed them was all the proof many in the small town needed.
By midafternoon Dizzy flew out to Spike’s cave on heavy wings. Officially whenever the town passed a new ordinance they would be required to make a copy for every household within Ponyville and a few for various archives around Equestria. Really they had needed only one.
“I’m sorry Spike,” Dizzy said sadly as she landed beside the dragon. “We did everything we could but they were just so scared they passed this without even thinking about it. I’m sure it’ll get overturned once anypony in Canterlot sees it. It has to go against every discrimination policy there is.”
“Dizzy,” Spike said. “Just… what does it say.”
“Dragon’s aren’t allowed in Ponyville anymore.”
Spike blinked in surprise. That was really the least of what he expected. He had already thought through several different caves throughout Equestria. Everything from the relative luxury of Canterlot’s dungeons to a spartan offshoot of the Pie family’s quarry.
“We’ve already started fighting back. Gilda, Star, ad Fruit are rearranging the library so that local histories are up front and everyone will know what a big hero you are. Gregory is already writing to everypony in Ponyville. Once I get back I’m going to deliver them personally.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Spike said. “If they don’t want me in town then I won’t go in town. With Gilda and Greg in the castle I don’t need to anyways.”
“Spike you have rights just like anypony in Ponyville. They can’t do this to you!”
“They can’t,” Spike agreed. “One letter and I could get that ‘no dragon’ policy overturned and a few of them even brought under charges. If they push it any further I just might. But they’ve made it pretty clear that they don’t trust me to be in Ponyville and I’m not going to put a claw in the city limits if they don’t.”
“Fine,” Dizzy said in a huff. “If you want to give up before even trying that’s your decision but at least send this to one of the princesses so we can get this overturned on paper.”
“Dizzy even if I did go to town with this ordinance in place who would enforce it? Star is the only guard in Ponyville and as of yesterday he is squired to me. Even if he raised his sword to me I would just eat it and go around. This is all just on paper. I’m the only one it affects and I’m the only one that seems to realize that it doesn’t matter.”
“Don’t be so selfish Spike! This means I can’t go with you to get muffins anymore. This means that Fruit doesn’t have anypony to yell at and threaten.This means Greg has to fly all the way out here if he ever wants to ask you something. This means Pit Boss loses his most profitable day and Ponyville loses one of it’s favorite traditions. This means that Ponyville becomes a place where you can just get away with running somepony off. Now get off of your lazy butt and help us because this is about more than just you.”
Spike blinked in surprise. Dizzy was always the first to treat any situation with humor. Spike half expected her to come and laugh at the situation with him like it were some bad joke. Of all the things Spike expected the absolute last was for Dizzy to be legitimately angry.
It took Spike a moment to find his voice and ask Dizzy to write a quick note on the back of the paper, asking Princess Celestia to pass a copy to Princess Luna and Discord.
“I thought you didn’t like Discord,” Dizzy said.
“Not really,” Spike said. “But if Ponyville is special to him too and if they’re going to start telling creature’s they aren’t welcome he deserves to know.”
“Plus,” Spike added as an afterthought, “if I’m going to start touting connections I might as well use them all.”
Spike stretched his wings, letting his glide fall a little bit as he did. The afternoon sun warmed his scales pleasantly as he circled lazily through the sky. Adrenaline fueled stunt flights were exciting, but in Spike’s mind nothing beat a nice glide through a warm summer sky. Spike pushed a claw out in front of him, letting stiff muscles along his back stretch pleasantly. His neck twisted like a snake until a satisfying series of pops worked its way through his spine.
“Ahh,” Spike sighed pleasantly.
A ragged cadence of hoofbeats below him drew Spike’s attention back to the ground.
His squire galloped below him, his armor bobbed heavily and his head was bowed in exhaustion and sweat pouring off of him. Spike chuckled to himself ruefully. Galloping a circuit around Ponyville twice would have left anypony winded but Spike had to say that he was impressed with his little knight-to-be. Spike slowly circled down to land while Star flopped on the ground and panted.
Once he had landed Spike approached the stallion with a smirk on his face. “Are you ready for lap three?”
Spike couldn’t help but laugh as the stallion struggled to his hooves in his cumbersome armor.
“I’m kidding,” Spike said as he reached out and took a hold of Star. “I’ll show you the best place to cool off after a workout.”
Star gave a halfhearted protest that was lost in Spike’s wingbeats as he took off. As they landed beside a small pond Star couldn’t tell if it was that his body was so very overworked or the sheer terror at being carried through the sky by a dragon who may drop him as a joke that made his legs tremble so badly he couldn’t stand and his stomach do uncomfortable flips inside of him.
His canteen slid to a stop on the grass in front of him with water audibly sloshing inside.
“You have an hour to do whatever you want,” Spike said “But that armor has to be cleaned and put away before you can swim.”
Spike idly played with a few sprigs of long grass as he watched his squire. Star gulped down the water in the canteen, draining at least half of it before pausing to take a breath. Spike chuckled quietly to himself, his squire was not one for moderation. Whatever he did he gave himself completely to. That drive would take him far in life.
That near obsessive nature was something Spike had grown up around. Princess Shimmer had wanted a replacement for Shining Armor, but she only knew him as the strong prince who stood tall in defence of his empire. To Spike Shiny would always be the nerd who loved playing the paladin.
Spike barely kept himself from laughing out loud. His gangly squire with an oversized sword had more in common with Prince Shining Armor than any noblepony ever would. Once Spike was done with him he would look and act the part. Star set to removing and polishing his armor and once again Spike was reminded of Shiny.
The day he had come home from boot camp he was nearly a stranger to Spike. His usually shaggy mane was cropped so close he was nearly bald. He sat straight as a rail at the dinner table, calling his parents ma’am and sir, even going so far as to help with the dishes after. After bedtime Spike had snuck out of Twilight’s room, intent on finding out more about this BBBFF she spoke so highly of. He found Shiny polishing his helmet with the same intense scowl that Star now wore.
Shiny had jumped when he finally noticed Spike standing in his doorway. After a startled greeting Shiny invited Spike to sit beside him on the bed while he worked. For a few minutes the young dragon had looked on in silent wonder as Shining Armor worked away. In a moment of curiosity Spike had grabbed at the oil soaked cloth, to his wide eyed wonder it had left his claws gleaming brightly in the light of Shiny’s bedside lamp.
“You want me to show you how to really polish your scales up?” Shining Armor had asked with a kindly chuckle.
Spike shook his head to clear the memory. He swung his neck around to hover over his squire, still scrubbing furiously away at his helmet.
“Here,” Spike said as he grabbed a spare cloth and a piece of armor. “Move the cloth in circles, it keeps you from getting those lines in it.”
Spike held up the freshly polished piece of armor for Star to see, admiring his reflection in its mirrored surface as he did. Spike wondered if this was how Princess Celestia had seen him when she had chosen to send Star to him, as a mirror, reflecting back the knowledge that had been shown to him.
“Hey did I ever tell you about the prince?” Spike idly asked Star.
“Which prince?” Star asked.
Spike angled the piece of armor so that it caught the sun’s light and reflected it right into his squire’s eye. “Shining Armor of course,” Spike said, laughing at his own joke.
The ornate crystal doors came to a close, allowing Princess Shimmering Heart a moment to compose herself before the next petitioners. She made her way down the raised dais and gave her wings a few flaps to loosen them up and get the blood flowing properly again. after a quick circuit of the throne to stretch her legs she gave the guard by the door a nod.
The large doors swung soundlessly open on well-oiled hinges, revealing a unicorn mare and her two children. The mare was hovering over the colt attacking his mane with a spray bottle and a brush. The little colt endured his mother’s ministrations with a displeased pout.
The filly, who seemed a few years older than the colt, gave a startled squeak as the doors opened and set about trying to get her mother’s attention.
“Mom,” She said.
“Just a minute honey,” Her mother said absently as she worked, “I need to get Shiny’s mane presentable for the princess.”
Mom,” the filly said tapping her mother on the shoulder.
“I said just a minute Gleaming.”
“But mom…”
“...I told you to wait young lady! Now if you had helped your brother with his mane this morning like I told you, you wouldn’t be waiting.”
Shimmer cleared her throat, gently alerting the mare to her presence.
The mare gave a surprised gasp. She quickly stowed the brush and spray bottle before ushering her two foals forward with her. When they had reached the throne she pushed her foals into a deep bow. Shimmer covered her mouth with a hoof to hide her adoring smile. The colt’s orange mane dripped with the water his mother had been attacking it with and while the front half of it was slicked down and neatly put into place and parted around his yellow horn the back half as well as his tail was an unruly mop of hair sticking out in all directions.
The filly’s simple if somewhat short blue mane fell nearly to her pale grey shoulder with only a hint of curl at its end. The mother’s blonde mane sat atop her head in a somewhat frazzled bun. Her brown coat too was affected by the slight, almost imperceptible, disorder that children brought to everything around them. In short they were three quarters of a happy and healthy, if somewhat overworked, family.
“Rise,” Shimmer said as she schooled her face into a more restrained smile.
“Good morning your highness,” the mare said with another shallow nod, “My name is Home Front these are my foals Gleaming Shield” -the filly gave a short curtsy- “and Shining Armor.”
The colt looked away with a stubborn pout and Shimmer could just barely hear a mumbled “I’m not a foal”.
“Good morning Mrs. Front,” Shimmer said trying to keep from laughing at the not-a-foal’s antics. “If I remember correctly you are reporting a dangerous cave within the city.”
“Yes Highness. We live in the southwest quarter and just inside the Shield there is a cave that somepony can’t keep from playing in.”
Shimmer looked at the two foals, the filly looked smugly down at her younger brother and Shimmer could swear she heard hes sing-songing “You’re getting in trouble” Over and over again.
“Two someponies.” Home Front said shooting what Shimmer guessed was a stern glare back at the two foals.
Home Front turned back to Shimmer with a somewhat embarrassed smile. “Normally my husband and I wouldn’t turn to the crown for something like this but I finally got it out of them that they saw a monster the last time they were there. I’m sure it was nothing more than a pest and an overactive imagination but I’m asking that the cave be sealed off just in case.”
“It wasn’t a rat it was a dragon!” Shining Armor said indignantly.
Home Front turned back on the poor colt. “Shining!” she said in a harsh whisper, “You are embarrassing me in front of the princess now stop it!”
Home Front once again turned to Shimmer with an even more embarrassed look in her face. “I’m sorry your highness, Ever since the Great and Noble Spike the Brave and Glorious came through town every shadow that moves is a dragon. Night Watch has been meaning to talk to him about it but his shifts don’t make a lot of time to talk.”
“I’m sorry,” Shimmer said, “I know being a guard’s wife can be difficult and being a night guard’s wife can be doubly so. Would you mind if I spoke to Shining Armor for a moment?”
“I would be grateful.”
Home Front gently brought the colt forward and Shimmer put on her best disarming smile. All his stubborn sullenness gave way to nervousness as he looked up the imposing throne with wide eyes.
“Hello my little pony,” Shimmer said gently, “I would like to talk to you about my friend Spike.”
“The dragon?” the colt asked.
“Yes , Spike The Dragon. Did you know that his last name is actually ‘The Dragon’?”
“That’s silly,” The colt giggled.
“Well Spike is a very silly dragon. Did your parents ever tell you about Princess Twilight Sparkle?”
“Her and her friends helped save everypony like a zillion times!”
“They did, but did you know that Princess Twilight also hatched Spike’s egg.”
“But wouldn’t sitting on an egg that big hurt?”
It was all Shimmer could do to keep her laughter to a restrained giggle. “It would but she didn’t hatch Spike that way, she hatched him with magic.”
The colt’s eyes grew big in amazement. “That must have been a lot of magic!”
“It was a lot of magic, and Princess Twilight was a very magical pony, but do you know what else she was?”
“What was she?”
“She was Spike’s friend. He knew all those ponies from all those stories and he was friends with all of them, but now they’re gone. Spike might look big and scary but really he - he just wants some friends, and I bet that if you wrote him a letter and asked him he would want to be friends with you too.”
“Really?!” the colt asked hopping excitedly.
“Really.”
“Maybe he could chase out the scary dragon and we could play in the cave again!”
Shimmer almost mirrored Home Front’s frustrated groan at the comment. “Two things,” she began patiently, “You and your sister are not to play in that cave any longer. I don’t want any of my little ponies getting hurt someplace where they are too far away to call for help. Now what is this scary dragon you’re talking about?”
The poor colt visibly shrank and shivered in fear. “It was in the cave last time I went in there. He was black and mean with teeth that were too big for his mouth to close so he was always drooling. He chased me out of the cave but once he got into the sun he stopped being a dragon. It was like he melted but what he melted into was still pitch black.”
Shimmer descended the throne and wrapped a wing around the trembling colt. “Spike is all the way in Equestria still but I happen to be very good at chasing away dragons. Do you want me to come and chase away the scary dragon for you?”
“Yes please.”
“You have to promise that you won’t go into that cave anymore.”
“I promise.”
Princess Cadence had insisted that Shimmer get her start in much the same way she did, babysitting. She had never stayed with a family permanently like Cadence had hoped (maybe one with a cute older brother *nudge nudge*). She had picked up several important skills in dealing with difficult ponies but she had also found that she was excellent at chasing monsters out of closets and out from under beds. Now that she was a full princess in her own right her tools had gotten much better than a mean face.
Her attendants buzzed around her like a swarm of bees buckling plate after plate of her armor on. The defensive enchantments buzzed as they searched for the pieces that were yet to be put on her. Shimmer knew each and every one of them. Princess Luna had had her cast each one of them over and over again until even in the heat of combat replacing them was second nature.
The armor was pristine. Aside from a few full contact sparring matches it had never seen any use, and now it would be nothing more than a set piece in the grand drama of Princess Shimmering Heart versus the big scary dragon that lives in the cave. Princess Luna had shown herself to be something of a living contradiction when Shimmer had studied under her. She insisted that rules and decorum be learned and abided right up until she broke them herself and although she her views on maintaining one’s equipment were absolute she would be donning her armor alongside shimmer to fight off the monster.
The attendants gave Shimmer a questioning look as she laughed to herself. Luna would scuff and ding their armor in the cave and come out with a grand tale of a well fought battle. One that would only grow grander and more elaborate with each telling. To any adult the fiction would be obvious but Luna never concerned herself with what adults thought of her. One of the poorer kept secrets of Canterlot Castle was that Luna adored children of any kind and often caused more trouble while watching them than any unsupervised foal could dream of.
Shimmer closed her eyes as her helmet was lowered over her horn. Once it was in place the enchantments came to full power with a satisfying humm. Enclosed within this armor she was all but untouchable from any attack, be it physical, magical, or otherwise. The armor would keep her alive and well no matter what.
She briefly considered parading through the city and advertising her grand quest to chase monsters from under the bed but decided against embarrassing the poor family so. Outside of her bedchamber Home Front and her two foals waited along with a sleepy eyed, dark coated stallion.
“Princess,” He said as he jumped to attention and saluted her.
“At ease Night Watch. You’re off duty and with your family.”
He let his posture relax with a quick nod.
“Come closer,” Shimmer said, gesturing with her wings, “I’ll teleport us to the cave.”
In a flash of magic they were outside near the edge of the Crystal Heart’s shield. Cheery blue skies vaulted upwards and green fields stretched around them until the outer buildings of the city proper.
At the base of a small grass-covered hill was a rocky cave opening. Shimmer looked doubtfully at the opening. Anything larger than a foal would find it nearly impossible to fit through the opening. With a frown Shimmer ignited her horn. The cave would be sealed off anyway, enlarging the opening wouldn’t do any harm.
A small pile of rubble floated out and deposited itself in a neat pile. With a satisfied nod Shimmer summoned an orb of light and made her way into the cave.
Shimmer had never been a fan of tight places but the cave seemed designed to encourage claustrophobia. The walls were constantly brushing against either wing and making every Pegasus instinct within Shimmer scream for her to get someplace open, someplace with sky. With a sigh Shimmer pressed onward. Her armor was great for putting on a show but in the tight passage it was bulky and cumbersome. If the colt saw a dragon then surely there must be a place wide enough to turn around further on and so Shimmer pressed on until she came to an open place. It wasn’t that she came to a cavern or a noticeable opening of the cave, the ever-present scrapes against her wings simply stopped.
Turning her head one way and then the other Shimmer saw only blackness. She frowned pumping more power into her light spell. She should easily be able to see the walls of a cavern of any size but the darkness around her seemed to thicken and fight back against the light.
“You are afraid.” The voice seemed to come from all around her at once. It was not loud, but deep and thrumming.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“You are not,” the voice agreed. “You do not fear death as does a fool or a foal but you are afraid.”
Shimmer gave a frustrated sigh. This encounter was quickly testing her nerves. “Fine then, what am I afraid of.”
There was a breathy chuckle. “What do the wise know to fear? One was afraid that she would be outshone by her brighter sister. She was afraid that while her sister was the light of every filly and foal’s dreams she was the lesser light of their nightmares. There was another, a stallion who had been trusted with much. He feared that he would fall and fail. There have been countless others each of them were afraid of the same thing you are afraid of. That you have fooled yourself, that the few you do call friend do not truly call you the same, that you will fail and when you do you will find that you are and always have been alone.”
Shimmer resisted the urge to groan as she rolled her eyes. “Alright mister ‘you are afraid’ or whoever you are I’m going to have to ask you to leave my Empire right now.”
as the dark voice chuckled Shimmer overcharged her light spell so that it would burn away the darkness around her and let it loose. Even through closed eyelids the light was blinding but when Shimmer had rubbed away the spots from her vision and relit the cavern the same pressing darkness was all around her.
“Hope is such an amusing concept,” The voice laughed contemptuously. “You ponies always believe that the light will chase out the darkness but what happens when the darkness can fight back?”
Shimmer felt a strange phantasmal pressure as the sphere of horn light around her shrank in. Black tendrils reached at her from all angles going for seams in her armor. Enchantments buzzed angrily as they burned away the invading magic.
“What are you supposed to be anyway?” Shimmer asked through gritted teeth as she struggled against the darkness around her.
“Very well little princess,” the voice laughed. With each word the darkness pressed in on Shimmer threatening to suffocate her, “I am the darkness that turned Luna into Nightmare moon. I am the shadow that made Sombra into a tyrant king. I am Corruption.”
Shimmer clenched her eyes and pressed back against the darkness around her. Her armor glowed with the weight of magic being channeled through it and the light crystal plates shook violently as they quickly came to the limit of power they could channel.
“If you’re supposed to be corruption,” Shimmer grunted, “then why do you care so much about what I’m afraid of?”
“Oh my dear.” The darkness pressed in on Shimmer with redoubled force and slowly the alicorn’s magic began to recede. “What corrupts half so well as fear?”
Shimmer gasped for breath as she strained against the suffocating darkness around her. She pushed back, desperate to simply get room to breathe. With sharp ‘pop’s some of the plates in her armor exploded and released the magic forced into them. Shimmer gave a shout of pain as a shard buried itself in one of her legs. The leg gave out beneath her and Shimmer looked desperately back over her shoulder for a way out.
The choking darkness around her shifted and just for a moment Shimmer caught a glimpse of sunlight streaming into the cave. With a shout Shimmer forced the last of her magic out. Almost every piece of her armor exploded, sending tiny crystal shards into her coat. The black mist around her retreated for a bare moment at the force of the magic.
Shimmer sprinted for the gap, stumbling on bloody and weakened legs as she ran. The black mist was quick to recover and soon came flowing into the narrow passage behind her. Only a few steps away from the exit it began to catch up with her. The ponies outside gave a collective gasp as their bloodied princess wrestled her way out of the cave with a thick cloud of black mist around her.
Night Watched was at her side in a flash. Shimmer could just barely see the guard’s concerned face through her narrowing vision.
“Equestria,” She fought to say as she felt Corruption's grip clamping down on her mind, “Luna. Get help.”
Night Watch saw his princess’s eyes clench shut in strain and gasped in horror when they opened again. A slitted green pupil glared at him with disdain.
“Unhand your empress fool!” She spat. Shimmer gave a shout of pain as she fell to the ground. As Night Watch reached down to help her back to her hooves Shimmer lept up and sprinted past him without a word. Her wings shout out to give some stability to her broken, stumbling gait before she simply took to the air flying straight outside the Shield.
The harsh winter storm that raged outside the shield sent Shimmer into a painful crash almost immediately. The ungainly heap of limbs and feathers rose slowly up into the air. Black mist once again swirled around her and as it closed around her she gave one last desperate look to her subjects inside the Crystal Heart’s shield.
Night Watch galloped to the edge of the shield but by the time he even came near his fallen princess it was too late. from the bubble of darkness a mare stepped out. She stood as tall as Princess Luna with a coat as black as night and her mane hung in pale, bone white locks from her neck.
The dark creature that was once Princess Shimmering Heart regarded the shield before her with a cruel grin. “Faol,” she said to herself, “Now my subjects must endure a siege rather than a coup.”
“There were six of us.”
In general Spike was always happy to see Princess Luna. She was one of his oldest friends and he had come to enjoy the playful banter between them immensely. In a single sentence all the happiness he felt at seeing her was dried up into frustration.
“Can we not,” Spike said with a heavy sigh.
“Spike the subject will not be avoided forever and sooner is preferable to later.”
Spike snorted a small cloud of smoke that glowed orange in the light of the setting sun. “Or what, the townsponies will keep being nervous around me? I’m a dragon, Princess. Some things are just a part of biology.”
“This is not only about you, Spike. You are only the tip of the iceberg and this fear that is Spreading throughout Equestria threatens to tear us apart. The nation, my nation needs heroes if for nothing more than to reassure them.”
“I had never regretted my vows,” Spike said refusing to meet the princesses eye, “It had always been my pleasure to serve and now it was my duty. I wanted to show everypony that a dragon could be good. I wanted to show myself that a dragon could have a place in Equestria. But if time finally taking six mares who lived rich, full lives is enough to send ponies running for their ballistas...It becomes easy to doubt.”
“Cowards will run before they even know what from. At the merest shadow of danger they will fly as fast and as far as they are able. Such cowardice is beneath our contempt but their lives are ours to protect. That, Sir Spike of Equestria, is your sworn duty. Your place is between them and danger. In that there is no room for doubt.”
Spike huffed a small cloud of smoke through his nostrils. “Come in then. No use arguing outside when we could be inside.”
“Go,” Princess Luna said. “I will meet you inside. It is almost time.”
Spike took the opportunity to go into his cave and straighten up. His sitting area was nothing more than a pile of cushions and pillows and would never really look orderly. The best he could do was to pile them all together so that it at least seemed picked up. He had done much more to prepare for guests and his kitchen was actually stocked enough to make a meal for somepony that didn’t eat gemstones. His counter was decorated with a pink vase that had a few lily blossoms in it. Spike briefly considered plucking one for the princess to put behind her ear but that would have been far too forward.
Spike may have boasted close ties with royalty from Equestria and beyond but that only made him more aware of where the bounds of friendship ended and station began.
Even from outside the cave Spike could feel the surge of the princess’s magic as she rose the moon. Princess Celestia’s magic had felt something like an intense sunburn to Spike when she was on his back but Princess Luna’s was different. Through the insulating walls of his cave it had a much lighter touch. If Spike had not known that she was outside raising the moon he would not have even noticed it. It was an almost tickling cool feeling across his scales that reminded Spike of sliding into a bed of luxurious silk sheets.
As the feeling of Princess una’s magic slowly faded away Spike couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to be nearer her when she raised the moon. Would the soft feeling of coolness slowly grow warm as if there were somepony sharing that silken bed? Spike settled onto his stomach in the sitting room and shook his head to clear his thoughts. A flower was too forward these thoughts were simply inappropriate.
The night Princess made her way into the room. A few cushions floated from the pile and fluffed themselves beside him.
“You are loyalty,” She said.
Spike growled. “Princess there are six hundred possible combinations that don’t involve me being loyalty. If we have to have this conversation can we at least start with one of them.”
“Six hundred, truly?”
“Assuming there are six bearers and no repeats, yeah. It’s just some simple statistics.”
“Why wouldn’t there be six bearers?”
Spike gave a toothy grin. “The average is four and systems usually trend towards the mean. We really should be asking who has two.”
The princess looked away. “What if you were magic?”
Spike gave a snort of laughter. “You mean friendship? That’s preposterous.”
Princess Luna rolled her eyes. “That has been a rather inconvenient translation oddity from the language of The Ancients. They saw no difference between the magic they wielded and the relationships that powered it. Assumptions and context were the only differences between the words magic and friendship in many translated texts. Be thankful that they are not the Elements of Perfect Fifths.”
Spike brought a claw up to scratch his chin. “I don’t know. The girls were involved with a lot of spontanious musical numbers and I feel like I could pull off a mean Key of B-flat Major.”
Princess Luna giggled. “You are terrible,” she said.
“Aww, now I’m feeling all diminished.”
The Princess swatted Spike’s shoulder playfully as the two laughed. After the laughter had dried up and a few moments of silence had passed she spoke again, “Why is it so preposterous for you to bear Friendship, or any of them for that matter? You seem resistant to the very idea.”
“That’s a...sensitive topic.”
“It will grow no less sensitive as you guard it Spike.” Luna craned her neck to catch Spike’s eye but his head turned away from her’s.
She sighed. “The average is three. My sister once had to wield them alone and to this day I expect some vestige of my former self in every nightmare I calm. I know what it is to be feared but you must believe that you have done nothing to earn the fear some ponies will have for you.”
The Princess leaned in closer. She could hear Spike’s heart hammering inside his chest but she could see no sign that he had heard her.
“We have known each other for more than a century. I have considered you a friend for longer than most ponies live. I watched you stand by your friends for all their lives. You were steadfast and true in your devotion to them. You were always ready to lend a claw and a smile. You hate the idea but you have shown more loyalty than anypony I can think of.”
Princess Luna gave a start as Spike rose sharply to his feet. The question of what he was doing died on her lips. He was out of the cave before she could utter a single word.
She followed after him. She could see the muted green glow of dragonfire through clenched teeth ahead of her and she could hear Spike crashing through what remained of the underbrush around his cave.
“Spike!” She called out. He kept going, only slowing for the denser growth away from the fire damage.
Nearly on him Princess Luna called out again, “Spike, wait!”
He pressed on uprooting smaller trees and tearing vines that got in his way. She easily caught up and was beside him.
“Please Spike.”
He turned to her, each huff of breath sent out a billow of fire that illuminated his tearstained face. He uprooted a sapling with one claw, throwing it past the princess and down his path of destruction as he drew in a deep breath.
Long and loud, Spike’s roar split the night fading to a growl at the end. To her credit Luna did not flinch. A half dozen spells around Spike’s neck ensured that if he made any more of a threat he would not be able to follow through but Luna did not flinch.
“You don’t get it do you? I am not a pony! I spent the better part of a lifetime trying to convince myself I was; that I could be a part of everything around me instead of looking from the sidelines, but I can’t. I can only hole up in my cave with what few friends that aren’t afraid of me and hope. Hope that I’m not really a dragon either, hope that the beast inside doesn’t come out, hope that I don’t fall to the same bestial greed that made my parents leave an unhatched egg to be found by ponies. Because I don’t get to be a dragon. I don’t get to smash eggs and eat other animals because instead of leaving me to the wild to live as another animal Princess Celestia gave me to the smartest and most caring pony she knew.
“I don’t get to be a dumb animal because Twilight taught me better and I don’t get to have loyalty because I never had a choice. Rainbow was so talented, she could have made a living for herself anywhere, she could have been famous as the youngest wonderbolt captain ever by the time you came back, but instead she chose to come to Ponyville and look after Fluttershy because she thought she needed her. At every turn she could have chosen to run away and leave us and she would have gotten away but she didn’t, she chose to stay.
“I never had a choice. It was taken from me when my parents abandoned my egg, when ponies found it, when Twilight hatched it, when Celestia didn’t put me in the garden with the rest of the animals. I tried going with the other dragons but it was less than a day before I couldn’t stand the stupid uncaring beasts. I tried living on my own but it wasn’t an hour before I realized that friendship is addictive, I needed it.
“So I went back to my place at Twilight’s side, the only place I had. Tell me where, in all of that, did I ever choose to be loyal? Where did I ever choose anything? Rainbow was loyal because she had a choice; I was loyal because I didn’t. So now you ask me, something that doesn’t get to be a dragon, not just to hold on to but to own one of the most valuable and powerful artifacts ever.
“You only remind me of what a dragon’s greed can do, how dangerous I am to everypony around me, that I never get to be one of the six, only a seventh hanger on, on the outside looking in. There were six of us but there were only five of you.
“You only rub salt in the wound that is the fact that I will never fit in.”
The Princess’s hoof struck Spike’s cheek with enough force to rattle his jaw and leave his ears ringing. Spike turned back to see Princess Luna, her hoof still raised and fresh tears glimmering in her moonlit eyes.
“Princess, I-“
“Art thou truly so stupid as to believe that? Then allow me to give you a choice Spike, in fact I insist,” her horn glowed white and magic began reshaping the dragon. Scales hard enough to turn any attack became soft fur, fangs sharp enough to pierce diamond turned to dull molars, a dragon that towered over the Night Princess turned to an earth pony stallion a head shorter than her. “Now you can choose. Permanence is an easy spell. Any mage of skill can make your new form last a lifetime, long enough for it to die of old age.
“The choice should be easy if you truly believe that you do not belong, that I do not- That I am not your friend. Choose, Spike.”
For the first time in a long time Spike looked up at the pony before him. She regarded him with a glare that demanded answers but Spike had known her long enough to see the nervousness underneath, to see that it was more than anger that colored her cheeks even as a single tear fell down them.
“Luna,” he said bringing a claw-made-hoof up to her shoulder, “how can I choose to be anypony, anydragon, anything but me?” She wrapped Spike in a stiff embrace. It had been ages since she hugged one of her subjects and he, in a borrowed body, could only awkwardly return the gesture as he spoke, “I am happy with what I am, it took me a while but I’ve finally accepted that I won’t get to have a family or settle down. That I’m going to watch generation after generation come and go and I’ll never really get to be a part of that. When they try and draw me in, make me a pony in all but body I have to draw that conclusion all over again and it hurts and frustrates me.
“I’m sorry, Princess. I shouldn’t have lost my temper, at you most of all. You watched me when I couldn’t look at my reflection without gagging and you still are okay with me. I just need a break from all this.”
Princess Luna pulled back from the embrace and looked Spike in the eye. “Very well,” She said as her form glowed white and shrunk down, “For tonight we will pretend that you are not a dragon and I am not a princess.”
Spike could only smile at the blue pegasus with a pale blue mane and tail before him. She delicately proffered a hoof to Spike and spoke in a voice much less regal but still refined, “Sir Spike, you may escort me to Ponyville. I believe it is past time we had our evening meal.”
“Yes m’lady,” Spike said with a smile as he took her hoof in his and began making his way towards the well-worn track to Ponyville.
The two walked slowly down the path in a companionable silence, listening to the nighttime songs of the Everfree. As they walked they drew closer together and by the time they caught sight of Ponyville they were leaning gently into each other. Spike was tempted to slow down until they had stopped and spend the rest of the night just standing with each other. It had been a very long time since he had felt the warmth of a pony beside him.
Seeming to share his idea Luna slowed her pace and rested her head on his shoulder. Spike smiled down gently at her. As the Night Princess she was undeniably beautiful but this form had its own appeal. It wasn’t in the mystery and power her other form held it was in the lack of it. She seemed trusting, guileless, and… vulnerable.
A loud gurgle from Spike’s stomach ended that train of thought and brought a snicker from the mare beside him. Spike was thankful it gave a good excuse for the blush creeping up on his cheeks.
“Best not to keep the brave knight from going hungry,” Princess Luna laughed.
The two resumed their original pace and for the rest of the walk kept a bit of distance between them. She was still close enough that Spike felt the warmth coming off of her but part of him still longed to feel her side against his, her head resting on his shoulder.
Once they reached Ponyville the rest of the night passed as a blur. Electric lights had been strung all across town square and open air restaurants buzzed with warm chatter. Spike remembered sharing jokes over dinner and laughing so hard his sides hurt. He remembered staying in the arcade passed closing and getting good naturedly kicked out by the aging proprietor. He remembered finding a dance floor still lit by the yellow glow of the lights. He remembered Princess Luna and him laughing together as they stumbled over one another and held onto each other to keep from falling.
As dawn turned the east a soft blue they sat together on the hill overlooking Sweet Apple Acres. As the predawn chill nipped at them they edged closer and closer until they leaning into each other as they were in the Everfree. Princess Luna’s head came to rest on Spike’s shoulder and for a few minutes Spike could not think of any way for him to be happier.
“If I were not a princess and you were not a dragon, how would you end this night?” Luna asked softly from Spike’s shoulder.
Spike swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat and fought back the blush on his cheeks. “I-I think I might kiss you,” he said turning to the mare at his side.
She opened her eyes and brought her face mere inches away from his. “I think,” she said, “I think I might like to be kissed by you.”
The two leaned in, slowly closing the distance between them. Their foreheads pressed softly against each other and their muzzle’s drew together but they both paused with their lips only a hairsbreadth away.
Dawn broke softly over the hilltop. The soft warm feeling of her against him was all Spike knew, even as the spell around him began to unravel without another to hold it in place. As his body expanded he shifted on the hilltop. Even as it grew and became scaly once more his now-scaly muzzle seemed to be locked in place by the soft pressure of hers and their lips still only a hairsbreadth away.
After what seemed like an eternity Spike opened his eyes. Gone were the cute pegasus mare and the purple earth pony and returned were the princess and dragon. With a scarlet blush that Spike knew matched his own Luna spoke, “Spike I must confess I share your frustrations and misgivings. I feel that I have benefitted from this night more than you could have. Thank you.”
With that she leaned in and gave Spike a light kiss on the cheek then turned around and flew away.
Spike watched her go as his claw came up to his cheek and a goofy grin drew itself on his face. “I may never wash this cheek again.”
Princess Celestia brought the tea up to her lips. she blew over the cup causing a small cloud of steam to rise from it. The tea was far too hot for anypony to drink but that was the point. The mayor, a young white mare with a pink mane and a cutie mark that seemed to be a ballot, mirrored Princess Celestia’s actions. Neither of them could possibly take a sip yet without burning their lips and tongue and so they simply waited for the tea to cool.
“Tea Diplomacy”, her sister and closer advisors had called it. It was Princess Celestia’s preferred method of addressing domestic issues, simply invite the ponies involved in for a cup of tea that is slightly too hot. None of her little ponies would dare to fight in a private audience and so they would sit and wait for the tea to cool or her to speak. More than that they would sit and think, she knew the calming effect she had on ponies. She was a female of larger stature and vastly greater experience, they almost instinctively saw her as a mother and so in her presence the fear and anger that often clogged a pony’s mind fell away. Often the problem would solve itself and she merely needed to be there to set the tone.
The mayor’s mouth opened as if to speak before the mare closed it with a shake of her head.
the princess sighed inwardly as she subtly heated the other mare’s tea. If she needed more time to work up the courage to ask the question she would have it. Princess Celestia blew over her cup again and the mayor mirrored her action a second later.
“Why is he even here?” the mayor finally asked.
Princess Celestia gave one of her soothing little smiles, reminding herself internally that the mare was young, and that things that still seemed so fresh in her mind were generations ago for this pony.
“Princess Twilight was a mare who excelled at the impossible,” Princess Celestia began with a kindly smile. “If she is not hatching a sterile dragon egg then she is reuniting the Elements of Harmony and returning my sister to me. I went from ruling alone to having three other princesses to rely on in the course of a few years. In truth she had given myself back to me, for the first time in centuries I had time to take a long bath or read one of those romance novels all the rumors say I have.
“He was there with her every step of the way, her Number One Assistant. I tried to have him released back into the wild, even as a baby he was a dragon and so he would be fine. But every time I tried there was one obstacle I had not accounted for. Spike didn’t want to go because he didn’t want to be alone. A dragon raging through a city can be driven off, even killed… my sister and I are not always proud of the lengths we go to protect our nation, but a sentient, little more than a baby, saying he doesn’t want to be told to leave because he doesn’t want to be alone. You ask why he is here, he is here because despite the blood and fire screaming in his veins for him to go and hoard everything in his reach, he doesn’t want to be alone.”
The mayor took a long sip of her tea. “I am not insensitive to that, but it is past time I stopped letting an adult dragon tromp through my village whenever he pleases. Surely you saw the devastation flying in. I will not allow that to happen to Ponyville.”
“A noble sentiment,” Princess Luna said from the doorway as she made her way into the room, “but you are a century too late. Ponyville has been demolished time and time again by accident and disaster alike. Or did you think every village was insured by the royal treasury? You may go, sister. Discord waits for you outside the castle.”
The two sisters hugged briefly before Princess Celestia left.
“What is the meaning of this?” The mayor asked.
Princess Luna closed her eyes and drew in a steady breath. These elected officials were much less concerned with title and pedigree than nobles but Princess Luna always found that they lacked a certain deference.
“I am Princess Luna of Equestria, Herald to The Moon, Shepherd of The Stars, and Seer of Dreams. You have already failed to bow in my presence, you will at very least address me as princess. Am I understood?”
Y-yes princess,” the mayor said as she hastily bowed.
Princess Luna took the chair her sister had been sitting on. the other chair and table slid against the wall. The mayor, no longer with tea or a seat could only stand awkwardly in the middle of the room.
“Do you think me a morning pony by any stretch of the phrase?” she asked the mayor. “It is sister’s way to rise and shine, not mine. So when I was pulled rudely from my sleep to learn that institutional racism had once again reared its ugly head how do you think I reacted?”
Spike regarded the hunk of molten marble thoughtfully. Really he pitied the poor former rock. Not two days ago it had been sitting peacefully on a mountainside with all of its friends but since then it had been magically thrown at a dragon from miles away, had all manner of rude things said to it by said dragon as it tried to get out from under it, been stolen by another dragon, and now this.
If rocks had feelings, spike decided, this one would be doleful. A magma bubble ‘blopped’ dolefully in agreement with Spike’s assessment. It had been sitting here, getting used to it’s new place in the world when an angry princess came by and decided to crush it to work out her frustrations.
Spike scoffed, apparently this was all his fault for not declaring martial law and forcing the ordinance overturned. Another ‘blop’ drew his attention back to the former rock.
Rocks, under a perfectly symmetrical field of pressure, did not so much crush as they heated up. the ability to break apart and move out of the way is really the only thing that made rocks breakable but even then they just became more rocks and maybe a bit of sand; nature is beautiful like that. Anyway the rock not crushing didn’t really make much of a difference to the angry princess, doing this sort of thing to poor defenseless rocks was sort of the only thing that let her flex her magical muscles so she just crushed harder and so the rock got hotter until it wasn’t so much a rock as it was a big ball of lava being held by an angry princess, which is about as scary as you think.
Spike was tempted to roll in the patch of lava. It was one of the few things that felt warm to a dragon, but he decided against it, the poor rock had been through enough and doing anything very ‘dragon-ey’ would probably just make the situation worse.
“Needless to say,” Princess Luna continued, “It became necessary for sister to occupy you so that you did not see fit to make any further decisions while I prepared myself.
“Now, sister would drink tea with you and see that you are happy with the decision she makes. I care for your happiness only so far as it brings your obedience. If I must I will have this ordinance overturned by royal edict but surely even you are not so foolish as to force that necessity. You will rescind this farce of a law and offer a public apology to Spike. Your request for the Ponyville garrison to be refitted with ballesta units has been denied. Your request for additional police forces has been denied. Your request for the castle’s garrison to be likewise refitted is denied, vehemently.
“A portion of my own guard will no doubt insist on being present for the duration of my stay but they will act only as an extension of my will to see that the rights of all Equestrian citizens are upheld.”
The princess rose to her hooves and in a brisk walk made her way out of the room only to pause in the doorway. “Your ponies are afraid. I am not insensitive to this but you must be more than a loudspeaker for their fear. You must be the voice that reminds them of their courage. The greatest evils of this world have been done, not from malicious intent, but from unchecked fear.”
It was a simple thing really, snap a claw and we’ve got picket signs, a megaphone, and even a billboard. Of course the billboard is already fading. The castle’s the only thing I feel like I can use but when it’s involved I can never get anything to stick.
I’m tempted to go recruiting in that lovely patch of forest called the Everfree and show the villagers what a real monster is; that their dragon is as much of a marshmallow as that mare he used to swoon for. I’m tempted, I’m always tempted but some things are worth resisting temptation for.
Speaking of cutest, smartest, oldest, tallest, shiniest, and all around best princess, Celestia is the first to pick up a sign and stand beside me. Luna walks by us, reminding us of what constitutes a peaceful assembly before she goes into the castle to “make arrangements”, whatever that is supposed to mean. After a while she comes out and picks up her own sign. I’m afraid the poor dear doesn’t quite know how to react to me yet. It’s always those first dozen decades after villainy that are the most awkward. You just never know how to act around your former peers.
Of course we are both reformed now so I think we really are peers. It’s just that she’s also a princess. A princess peer, but as long as she’s not a princess pear those Apples shouldn’t have a problem joining our little protest.
Granted this picket line of ours happened after she burst into the mayor’s office and informed the mare that no sort of discrimination would be tolerated anywhere in Equestria, especially not the seat of Friendship.
Now the crowns are off and we are simply here as concerned citizens. This method may be less direct. There is a great deal more power in a crown than in a sign that says ‘let Spike in’ but this isn’t some elite few wielding power only they have. Anypony can join in and we’re all equals on the picket line. It’s the magic of Friendship at work, far be it from little old me to question it.
Shimmer could have kicked herself. If Cadence were still alive she would have kicked her. She was dozily recounting the trip’s events as she flew back to the Crystal Empire. It was a passing thought really, how Princess Luna had seemed so distracted after learning that Spike had turned her away, almost as if she wanted Spike’s heart. It was a passing thought but the more she thought about it the more sense it seemed to make.
It was romantic, really. By the time Shimmer had gone old and grey they would still be moon-eyed newlyweds. That is if they ever worked up the courage to approach one another. Spike seemed to accept his lonely lot in life with grim resignation, and Princess Luna was certainly not one to let something go undone. It was almost cute that romance was the one thing that would teach her hesitation.
As her carriage passed through the Crystal heart’s shield Shimmer felt a shiver passed through her body. It was not uncommon on passing from the almost constant arctic chill outside to the balmy warmth inside, but despite her mental reassurances she could not shake the feeling of unease. Something wasn’t right in her empire.
Ponyville was not a village to retain tension. The ordinance against dragons had been overturned the same afternoon it was passed and the picket line of ponies and gryphons(and one draconequus) had gone into Friendship Castle to celebrate their victory. The parties most noteworthy guests had disappeared before the celebration had even hit its stride(Princess Luna promised dire consequences if any revelers found their way to what she had claimed as her side of the castle before moonrise.)
compared to the welcome celebrations the castle had hosted this party seemed far more subdued and almost sheepish. The snacks and music were simply pulled together from what was available, the guests were likewise drafted from those present and willing to celebrate the victory. Everypony agreed that it was not the lack of food, lack of music, or even the lack of guests that seemed to suck the life out of the party. It was the dragon in the room, or rather the lack of dragon in the room.
“Spike come on, it’s your party. Everypony wants you there.”
“Not everypony.”
Dizzy rolled her eyes with a frustrated huff. “Everypony that matters wants you there.”
“Everypony matters, Dizzy.”
“Then why are you acting like you don’t?”
Spike gave a heavy sigh and brought his head down to rest on his folded claws. “It stinks,” he said.
“Then don’t let it get the best of you. Come to the party and have some fun.”
“Literally, it stinks. It’s like a bad cross between BO and rotten eggs.”
“What stinks?” Dizzy asked.
“Fear. I could always smell just a hint of it when I passed through town. It was just everypony being nervous at something big moving, so it reminded me to watch my step. Today Ponyville reeks of it. I just showed them that not only am I bigger and stronger than them, I also have more political power within their own government than they do. Everypony that wanted me out just feels powerless and afraid, so I’m at least waiting for the situation to settle. Plus it stinks, and I don’t wear a noseplug as well as I used to.”
Dizzy laughed. “Why didn’t you tell me you could smell emotions?”
“Just fear,” Spike said. “It’s sort of a predator thing.”
“Oh,” Dizzy said and Spike’s nose turned at the all too familiar scent.
Spike gave a heavy sigh. “I wish just once my body would agree with me on the whole vegetarian thing. I mean, it’s not like I don’t feed it enough gemstones.”
“I’ve seen Gregory swooping near the lake a couple of times. You might want to let him catch you some fish. It might help keep your instincts in check.”
“Eugh. I tried fish once. It tasted alright but having Fluttershy tell you your dinner’s life story is worse than Twilight telling you its historical significance.”
“Would you rather Fruit tell you how much work it is making a dragon sized cake.”
“Absolutely,” Spike chuckled. “The more Fruity complains the more you can tell it’s not a big deal.”
“And she always complains about you,” Dizzy said with a devious grin.
Spike gave a mock gasp. “Are you suggesting that I, the Great and Noble Sir Spike the Brave and Glorious might not be a big deal?”
“Who’s suggesting anything?” a voice said. “I’m saying it.”
Spike and Dizzy looked up to find Fruit Cake, Star Sword, and Gregory heading towards them.
“Oh, and call me Fruity again and I’ll beat you into dragon paste,” Fruit added.
“Are you just going to stand there and let her talk to me like that Star Sword?” Spike managed to hold in his laughter for just long enough for the hapless Stallion’s eyes to bug out.
Fruit’s hoof somehow managed to reach up and cuff Spike behind the ear. “Don’t tease him like that, he’s been a great help for us while you just sat here on your lazy rump.”
Spike couldn’t help but chuckle and roll his eyes. So now they give out praise for reshelving the library. “So what brings you guys out here.”
“Her majesty, Princess Luna of Equestria has seen fit to remain in Ponyville to see that no more...incidents occur. She requested privacy as she broke her fast,” Gregory said.
“You guys bugged her before she had her coffee and she kicked you out didn’t she?”
“That is a rather crude way of putting it, but yes.”
“So why did you come here, There’s gotta be tons of places better to hang out than some burned out patch of forest.”
“It wouldn’t be much of a party without the guest of honor,” Dizzy said, giving Spike a pointed look.
Spike rolled his eyes. “Guys just give it a day or two, please. Having ponies terrified of you isn’t nearly as much of a power trip as it sounds like.”
“We know,” Fruit said, “that’s why we came here.”
“It would be most improper to sleep in a place where my master did not feel welcome,” Gregory said.
“Um, uh same here I guess,” Star added hopefully.
Spike looked around the circle of friends that had gathered around him. “Guys,” he said with a soft smile. His good wing came around and gathered the group up in a leathery embrace. Dizzy was the only one that seemed comfortable, the rest were a combination of nervous, stuffy, and grumpy. Still Spike’s smile only grew wider, they were his friends and so help him they would get used to dragon hugs.
Spike settled once again into the middle of the cavern. He had come to realize that he had become a very lax host. He had no chairs and only a pile of cushions to sit on. He had nothing to drink other than water from the stream that ran outside his cave and at the moment it was more black than clear. His friends were sitting in a half circle facing him and chatting merrily over the preserved fruits Spike had been able to pull together.
Spike shifted again uncomfortably, his left wing itched and ached beneath the splint. He could almost feel the bone mending itself. He idly wondered if his quickened healing was part of being a dragon or if that was unique to him. Already his wounds had closed and new scales had grown in to replace the old, only the slightly brighter purple let others know there was a scar there.
If only there were some way to keep the growing scales from itching so much though. Fruit’s glare stopped his claw midway towards a spot on his shoulder.
“I will chain your claws up if that’s what it takes to get you to stop scratching,” she threatened.
Spike gave a frustrated snort of smoke.
“You furballs and your not knowing what it’s like having scales,” Spike muttered to himself. “I wanted to talk with Garble about it over some nice rubies but nooo he wants to eat me instead.”
There was a peculiar look that crossed Greg’s face. He seemed to have become incredibly uncomfortable.
“Did you eat a bad grape or something?” Spike asked.
“It- it is nothing. Please do not concern yourself for me.”
“He thinks it would be improper to laugh at his master’s expense.” Spike turned to see Princess Luna standing at the entrance to the main cavern. “Any other master and I would be inclined to agree with him. Nevertheless,” Princess Luna continued over Spike’s indignant outburst, “your commitment to decorum is commendable Gregory. I regret that my own was lacking this morning.”
“What?” Star Sword asked aloud.
Spike leaned in and spoke to his squire in a conspiratorial whisper, “She’s apologizing. Also you should bow.”
“But you haven’t bowed.”
“Have you ever seen a dragon stand up, turn around, bow, and turn around again in a crowded room. It would be sunrise by the time I got done. Also do what I say not what I do.”
“Yes Sir!” Star squeaked as he lept to his hooves and headbutted the floor.
Spike brought a claw up to rub his temple as star’s dazed form collapsed to the ground.
“What was that,” Princess Luna asked.
“That was my squire,” Spike replied.
“Was?”
Spike brought his head down to Star’s still form until he saw the colt’s chest expand with air.
“Still is.” Spike said as he rose and made his way to the cabinet with the first aid kit.
Star groggily came to as Spike wrapped a bandage to keep an ice pack in place.
“You either need a harder head or a softer floor, I haven’t decided which yet,” Spike teased earning a disapproving glare from Fruit.
In response Spike cheekily stuck his tongue out at the mare and blew a raspberry.
“Alright Star how many hooves do you see?” Spike said holding up a limb.
“Two?”
“There are two of them but they’re claws not hooves so I’m not sure what the takeaway from that is.”
“That he’s nervous about questioning authority figures,” Dizzy said.
“I think she is very near the truth,” Princess Luna said with a chuckle. “But speaking of which I think I should look at your wing.”
“It’s still attached. See it?” Spike said, shrugging his broken wing in its splint.
Princess Luna gave Spike a flat look as she took a hold of his wing and gently opened it out. Her magic gingerly unwrapped the ties binding the wooden splint to his broken bone.
“Tell me if it starts to hurt,” Princess Luna said as she began to stretch out Spike’s wing.
“You know ponies get a private room when they’re having checkups,” Spike complained.
“Ponies, as a rule, are not as fat as you,” Princess Luna answered dryly.
“I’ll have you know I’m a slim four tons,” Spike huffed.
“Perhaps if you did not eat every gemstone within reach you would not measure your weight as one would measure freight.”
“Am I going to have to separate you two?” Fruit asked sternly.
Spike and Princess Luna looked at each other like two children who had been caught playing in the mud. “Noo,” The said together.
“How you get along with anypony when you only seem to be able to communicate by bickering is beyond me,” Fruit said to Spike.
“Fruit you do realize that you just scolded a princess of Equestria right?” Dizzy asked.
“Er, if I may,” Gregory said before Fruit could respond. “I do believe that her majesty has grown somewhat used to the occasional scolding.”
“I smell an embarrassing story!” Dizzy said.
“Fiend, thou would not dare!” Princess Luna glared at Gregory.
“I’ll hold her down. Dizzy get the details!” Spike wrapped a claw around the princess’s horn, cutting her magic off with an indignant yelp.
“Traitors and brutes all about. Star, Fruit your princess calls for aid,” Princess Luna declared as she struggled in Spike’s grip.
“Spike,” Fruit said sternly. “Put the alicorn down.”
“But what about the story.” Spike pouted.
“Fine,” Princess Luna declared “Though it may soil mine good name let the story be told and the dragons whining cease.”
“Your highness are you certain?”
“We are each allowed to tell one group of friends, that was the agreement. I simply did not anticipate being in one of those groups.”
“as you say, highness.”
“What do you mean, child?” the night princess asked the colt below her with a stern, albeit slight frown.
among adults the princess cut an impressive figure, standing a full head taller than most males of her kind. But among children she was a dark giantess with only the very tallest needing to crouch to walk under her. The colt in question could only stare up at her in wide eyed bewilderment.
“You are not sickly. I have seen how your parents fret for you. Surely they would have presented me with a list of special cares I must take for you. So tell me how it is that you do not know what a mud pie is? have you never played in the dirt?”
The poor colt finally found his voice. “Mommy says that it’s unclean and not proper for a prince.”
“Bah,” Princess Luna huffed. “It is a poor ruler that fears the soil their nation is built on. Secondly you are little more than a babe.”
The little colt puffed out his chest proudly but was cut off before he could speak.
“I know, thou art four and three quarters, and are much too old to be an infant. Forgive an old mare. While you measure your age in years and fractions I measure mine in millennia and centuries. Even so you are still a child. You are allowed to, and expected to behave improperly from time to time. Now come along children,” the princess said as she eyed the royal gardens, “I have decided what we shall do today.”
“In my defence,” Princess Luna said interrupting Gregory’s story, “Sunflowers are a noxious weed that should be scoured from existence.”
Gregory blinked owlishly before continuing his story.
It was something of a strange sight to see the night princess leading a gaggle of children from every race through Canterlot castle. Her own regal walk was somewhat offset by their childish antics, from the zebra’s childish and poorly constructed rhymes to the yaks attempts at destroying anything that was displeasing to his childish sensibilities. Each of them bore some adornment of station, golden tiaras, shoes and anything in between marked each of these children as royalty in their home country.
Following up this procession-
“-In a tiny little tuxedo that was just so adorable,” Princess Luna said halfway between teasing and gushing, “Was our little prince of gryphons here.”
“Prince?!” Fruit exclaimed.
Gregory sighed. “I am tenth in line for the throne and only in the event of my entire family passing away will I ever wield any real power. I would rather to simply remain a butler. That is why I did not tell anypony about my true identity.”
“Wait a minute,” Dizzy said, “If you’re a prince what does that make your grandmom?”
“She was the first of her dynasty. Now she would insist that she is simply retired but I believe that she is studying the histories of The Elements, to ensure that we are still ruling with their values.”
“Now wait a minute,” Spike said, “I want to hear more about this little tux. I happen to be a connoisseur of undersized formal wear.”
“He was just the cutest little birdie one could ever hope to see. He insisted on walking in the back of the group wherever he went because it was “A butler’s place”.”
“Sunflowers!” Gregory squawked. He cleared his throat and ran a claw over his plumage to settle it down once more. “Er, yes her majesty led us to a patch of sunflowers that had been recently planted in the royal gardens.”
“Hark, children! The enemy draws near, their odious and vile legion casts a long and dark shadow across the land but we shall not let them stand. Now my brave fellows, CHARGE!!”
at first less than half of the children followed the princess down the path but one by one the simple prospect of fun won over each of them and they followed after, lending their own war cry to the din of mock battle. The minotaur lowered his yet-to-grow-in horns and charged down a furrow, breaking a path for all who followed. The yak picked out a patch of flowers that were planted closer than the rest and dived in. To my shame I was among them putting my talons to the test against the thickest of the flowers.
with each section of sunflowers we cleared it seemed as if there was always another. Princess Luna was always there to call out the enemies new advance and spur us on to meet it. Finally the last of them were pulled over and her Majesty ordered a victory luncheon be brought to us there.
Once we had finished our triumphant picnic Princess Luna turned to us and declared that we would beat our swords to plowshares and we must ready the land for planting. once the remains of the sunflowers had been pulled up and taken away we set to tilling the ground. I do not remember which of was was the first to sling mud but Princess Luna was certainly the last.
A rather large glob of mud sailed over my head and before I could retaliate I heard it impact much too close behind me. I think we all knew something was amiss for we all turned to see Princess Celestia leading each and every one of our parents.
“Needless to say,” Gregory said rounding off his story, “we all received several scoldings and I do believe that Princess Luna still receives the odd complaint about her behavior during world summits.”
“Oh please,” Princess Luna said as she rolled her eyes. “‘Twas not half the fiasco as when Spike assisted Princess Sparkle in overseeing the Grand Equestria Pony Summit.”
“Turns out giving a twelve year old dragon near unlimited power while everypony who would stop him is tied up in meetings isn’t such a good idea,” Spike said interrupting the princess. “Now if you want a fiasco then you need to hear about Princess Luna’s first Nightmare Night.”
The blue alicorn shot a mischievous glare at the dragon beside her. “Do you mean the one where you waddled about dressed as a dragon.”
“Hey that was a theme, the next year I was dressed as a two headed dragon and the year after that I was dressed as a hydra dressed as a dragon.” Spike looked around seeing the confused looks on faces around him. “Hey you would find the most obscure costume you could too if you were literally an infant for the first twenty years of your life.”
“Aww I bet you were a cute baby dragon,” Dizzy cooed.
Before Spike could speak up to defend his masculinity from the dreaded ‘C’ word Star chimed in. “Some of the books I moved earlier today had some pictures of Spike from when he was younger.”
“Star,” Spike said in an even tone. “I’m going to have a suit of armor made just so I can make you polish it.”
“O-on second thought that must have been some other baby dragon in the pictures.”
Spike laughed out loud and the softly shining stars twinkled merrily in response. Princess Luna gave her own full bellied laugh. As the group had one by one gone back to Ponyville for the night the conversation turned from embarrassing stories to simple reminiscing over times long passed. They had just finished recounting the story of a wedding held the day before it was scheduled and a marriage that had more than made up for lost time.
“That cane is still floating around Ponyville somewhere,” Spike said between laughs.
“And if I know Discord that statement is quite literal.”
Spike tried to keep his body from tensing up but the furrows of earth his claws dug up were all the tell anypony needed.
“Is it true, what he said?”
Spike turned to find Luna looking earnestly up into his face. The clawful of soil being crushed in Spike’s grip was answer enough.
“Why do you not forgive him?”
“Eight hundred fifty-three,” Spike growled in response.
“What?”
“That’s how many times he made one of them cry. Eight hundred fifty-three times I held one of them and tried to dry tears while he laughed at his sick little game. I don’t trust him because eight hundred fifty three times I learned the hard way what he is capable of.”
“But it has been decades at least since he did any of that. You saw as well as I how much he came to care for them.”
“Look does this even matter?” Spike asked more harshly than he meant to. “It’s not like Discord is going around begging to be my friend.”
“Discord is not the only former villain.”
Spike looked away. suddenly the peaceful spring night had turned deathly silent. His claws tore up chunks of earth and crushed them as they kneaded nervously.
“That’s different and you know it,” Spike finally said. “You never lied about being reformed and even at your worst you were just a misguided pony that wanted to be loved and appreciated. Discord only ever wanted to be entertained.”
“At my worst I would have watched the world freeze under my uncaring rule, and who is to say I cannot be corrupted again?”
“Me.”
Princess Luna’s eyes shot up to Spike’s face and caught his eyes staring intensely into hers.
“I will never, ever let you feel so unloved, so unappreciated that you fall to the Nightmare ever again. As long as I draw breath you will always have a friend.”
“Spike…”
“You two aren’t going to kiss are you?”
The princess and the dragon looked down to find Fruit snugly pinned between the two of them.
“Hey you’re the one that insisted on separating us,” Spike said after a moment’s pause.
“You two were behaving like children! I swear you’re worse with her than you are with Dizzy.”
With a rueful shake of her head Princess Luna rose to her hooves giving Fruit some room to breathe. “If you will wait for me by the path I will escort you to your home.”
“You guys don’t have to leave if you don’t want to,” Spike said.
“Nay,” Princess Luna said. “Already you will find tomorrow difficult I will not keep you from sleep any longer.”
“Alright if you insist.”
As Fruit walked away the princess worried over Spike’s mending wing.
“I spoke with the mayor today,” she said in a low voice. “She has potential but she has much to learn about leading ponies. They are afraid without the elements and their bearers protecting them. They believe that they have seen the end of heroes before the end of evil. You must convince them they are wrong.”
“How?”
“You know how and I am convinced now more than ever that you are to bear Loyalty.”
Celestia felt Discord shift against her. He was trying and she loved him for it but he didn’t really know what to do. She wished that somepony did. The crystal heart, so dependant on the will of it’s ponies, would fall before night’s end. All it would take is the realization that it was their very own princess who was attacking.
Discord hadn’t left her side, as much for himself as her. Luna and Shimmer had always been better than him, was the only reason he gave. Celestia understood better than he knew. There were none of the warning signs, Shimmer had always been so bright and friendly. Her latest foray into romance had ended in disappointment but nothing so painful.
Shimmer had not fallen to some internal darkness she had been corrupted by force. If something were so powerful that it could corrupt one alicorn then why not two? Luna had taken a much more extreme step than simply hiding in Canterlot.
Only a few shafts of pale moonlight made it into the throne room but Celestia could still feel the Mare in The Moon’s burning gaze. For a thousand years it had accused her and now it was back. Celestia took in another shuddering breath, even hours after raising the moon she had not regained her composure. Even Luna’s reassurances that this was only a temporary measure were of no comfort.
There was shouting at the door. Somepony too dense to understand that armed guards and closed doors meant that Princess Celestia was not taking visitors. Her guards would turn them away. In times like these they protected the image of resolute strength she presented as much as her privacy.
Discord shifted again as the shouting crescendoed. Doubtless he wanted to see what the chaos was about and even participate. She was tempted to tell him to go and have his fun, that she would be fine without him for a few moments but she knew before opening her mouth that it would not come out right.
The muffled argument rose even further becoming almost impossible to ignore. It would be good for her, Celestia decided. She needed to make an appearance and the nation needed reassurance. Her nation needed an explanation and she could not afford to wallow in self pity any longer.
She took a deep breath to brace herself for the outside world when something slammed into the large double doors of the throne room. They buckled under the stress as enchantments struggled to keep splintered wood in place. Another slam and now she could see light streaming in between the doors.
A narrow jet of fire streamed in and began lowering itself towards the large wooden beam that barred the door. Wood and magic melted away before the impossible heat. The doors slowly swung open on nearly melted hinges.
The hulking purple dragon pushed it open with savage claws. Its overgrown scales each came to a sharp point and they rattled like chainmail with every step it took. Its features were all sharp angles and cruel points and its eyes seemed to glow a menacing green. At least thirty of her guard were outside trying to stop the beast but it’s scales shrugged off every attack and its thrashing tail made approach impossible.
The dragon took a step forward only for a green aura to wrap around his front claw and hold it in place. Its other claw shredded the aura off like it was spiderweb and Celestia heard one of her guard shout with the pain of magical backlash.
Another guard nimbly dodged the dragon’s tail and charged it’s neck with a raised sword. The dragon’s head shot forward and caught the sword in its jaws and wrenched it out of the guard’s grip. The dragon worked it’s jaws deliberately and with a muted ‘ping’ bit the sword in half. He turned from the stunned guard to regard the throne with cold green eyes.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told these guys,” The dragon’s voice was low and grating like a mountain being ground down into gravel. “I am Sir Spike of Equestria, savior of the Crystal Empire and Guardian of Harmony.”
Celestia blinked in shock. This dragon was nothing like Spike. She couldn’t imagine that beneath all this cruelty Spike’s bright eyes and warm smile were there.
“I have been given the right to approach, meaning that only Princess Luna herself may turn me away I exercise this right now and demand to see her!”
The throne room rang with Spike’s shout and the guard’s lined up behind the dragon, waiting for Celestia’s signal to charge. She made eye contact with the captain and slowly shook her head. Equestria had lost too much already today.
“Spike?” she asked.
He only growled in response. “What did you do to her?” he demanded.
“Spike,” Celestia began only to have Discord cut her off by teleporting between the two.
“Spike, she’s not here.”
Spike roared. Princess Celestia heard the windows rattle as instincts kicked and her heartbeat quickened. She could see green fire filling Spike’s mouth and lighting his face up with an eerie glow.
“Do not patronize me Discord!” Spike took a single step forward so that he was leaning over the draconequus with bared teeth. “I grew up under the Mare in The Moon, I know where she is!” At the end of his tirade Spike was standing over Discord, who was leaning back so that he was nearly horizontal.
Spike’s eyes rose to regard Princess Celestia with cold fury. “Why has she been sent away?”
With a ‘pop’ Discord was between them again. “The Nightmare returned, she thought it was-”
Spike shot a claw forward and wrapped it around Discord’s neck. He lifted the draconequus off his feet and slammed him down onto the marble tile.
“The only nightmare I care about,” Spike roared, “is the one she’s living on the moon!”
Out of the corner of his eye Spike saw a bright golden light and then his world went black.
He was alone. Afraid. He hated this place. Hated being alone. He wanted to go back but it wasn’t safe.
Somepony was here. He was surprised. Torn between happy and horrified. A visitor. Another prisoner. Somepony he knew. A friend! Somepony he-
Spike!
He was dimly aware that the voice wasn’t his as he wrapped himself around the friend and suddenly everything Spike felt doubled, tripled. Feelings he could not explain and a voice not his own rose until he was drowning in them.
His friend was diminishing. He was being overwhelmed. He wasn’t like her. He had never spent a thousand years fighting just to keep existing in this place like she had. She quieted herself and pulled back giving him room to find himself again.
The foreign thoughts faded away around Spike. It was empty, quiet. There was a thought nagging at the edge of him. There was somepony he needed to see. He was angry. He remembered flying, his wing hurt. It just made him more angry so when he finally landed in Canterlot he could barely see the Mare in The Moon for all the red.
Mare in The Moon.
Luna!
The desperate cry became all Spike knew. He needed to find her. To save her.
I am here Spike.
She was in the moon again, Spike could only guess what horrors she was reliving. He could only guess how she hated her prison.
He felt it at the very edge of his consciousness, a tight ball of thoughts and emotions not his own. This was how she defended herself from the nightmare. Spike didn’t know how he knew, but he was sure that she had spent a thousand years like this, curled over herself over and over again so that there was almost none of herself that had to touch the nightmare.
It made him want to hold her close and wrap himself around her until there was nothing in the world left to be afraid of.
I can hear your thoughts too you know.
Embarrassment flooded through Spike. It occurred to him that he should feel blood rushing to his cheeks in a fierce blush but he didn’t feel anything. In fact he hadn’t felt anything related to his body since he got here. No feeling, no pain, no sight. He breathed a small jet of fire and waved a claw in front of his face to see if he could even see.
At least he tried to. All he accomplished was flailing his consciousness around awkwardly as he tried to control a body he wasn’t attached to anymore. He felt her amusement as he heard the sound of her musical giggles.
Do not be afraid, you are in the moon with me.
Spike was afraid. Being banished to the moon was many ponies’ worst case scenario and one that he was currently living. Sure the company was nice but so was living in Equestria and being able to eat when he was hungry and being able to get hungry and-
Something warm wrapped itself around Spike interrupting his panicked train of thought. It felt very much like a hug.
Calm yourself Spike.
He could feel her gentle admonishment. He could feel her affection wrapping him up like a warm comforter. He could feel her joy that somepony had come for her. That Spike had come for her.
She pulled away. Spike couldn’t tell if he felt her embarrassment or his own.
This is much less awkward when one of us is simply trying to dominate the other.
Even the passing comment carried with it a thousand unspoken things. Memories of jokes they had shared before flooded Spike along with feelings of happiness and affection. She liked his smile. A lot.
I see what you mean.
Spike didn’t even want to guess what unspoken things had been passed with the thought. They had spent so long dancing around words never spoken but here there was no music. There was nothing separating his bared soul from hers. All they had to do was listen and they could hear everything they had ever left unsaid.
Princess?
Give me a moment.
The thought came with equations and patterns that Spike came to recognize as a spell.
Heh, I’ve never seen one from the inside before.
Once again the world shifted around Spike. His senses were barraged. Touch, taste, hearing and feeling assaulted him but they were drowned out by sight. There was a sea of white below him that stretched out for as far as he could see in every direction. Above him was a vast vault of black dotted with pinpricks of light and color.
“You came.”
Spike felt something heavy and warm wrap itself around his neck. Even with the princess holding on to him it still felt much more distant than they had been. Instead of a snapshot of her emotions He only got the vague impression that she was happy to see him. Probably.
Spike brought a clawed hand up to return the embrace as he settled back into comfortable confusion about the thoughts and intentions of the mare in his embrace.
“Princess-”
“-Luna,” She cut him off. “My name is Luna. Even your bared thoughts hide me behind my title. Why do you not just say my name?”
“I can’t,” Spike said. “I can’t just say your name. I try but it never comes out right. It’s always so much more breath than voice. You would have to be an inch away to even hear it. I try to just say your name but it’s always too close, too intimate.
“I call you princess to remind myself that you’re a princess and I’m a dragon and maybe a dragon and a princess can be friends but how can we be any closer than that when I’ll outgrow mountains.”
She cradled his head, almost as big as her torso and pressed her muzzle against his.
“Spike, I want you to say it.”
“Luna.” It was only two syllables whispered delicately, reverently but Spike found that he was out of breath.
She brought her head up and rubbed her cheek along his neck. “It will get easier with practice.”
Spike was shivering. Her touch warmed him to his very core but he found that he wanted more. He wrapped greedy arms around her and cradled her against his chest like a delicate treasure. He brought his head near her, seeking her lips with his, only to get stopped by her hoof.
“We are in borrowed bodies. Manifestations of magic and memory. These will hardly do justice to anything more than a hug.”
With a long exhale Spike rested his head against hers. “Why are we even here?”
“Shimmer has fallen to the nightmare.”
“What?!”
“Even now she lays siege to the Crystal Empire. It will not hold for long once they learn who truly attacks them.”
“Why didn’t you go and stop her? What were Celestia and Discord doing just sitting in Canterlot?”
“Spike,” Luna said. “I was afraid. We were all afraid. Nightmare Moon was a gradual change. It took decades, centuries even. I saw no signs of that change in Shimmer. There were no nightmares plaguing her, there was no shortage of love from her subjects. She was perhaps a bit lonely in her position but her heart was healthy. If something could force her to fall in a single day how could any of us risk facing it? Celestia is scared and it is only Discord’s love for her that keeps him on this plane.”
“Don’t you know how to fight it though?”
Luna shivered in Spikes grasp and his arms tightened protectively around her. “I know what it is to be beaten by it. The elements alone seem to know how to fight this evil.”
“There were six of us,” Spike said.
Luna gave him a skeptical look. “We have not bonded with them, we do not know who will bear which element, and besides they have already rejected me.”
“Luna that was ages ago. You’ve grown since then. You’re a better pony than you were then. Twilight didn’t even know what the sixth element would be. She ran off with five ponies she barely knew to find artifacts she had only read about and she won!”
“Yes Spike I was there.”
“Well if she won we can too. Maybe the elements just need us to take a leap of faith with them before they will bond with us.”
“Your leap of faith would risk everything on a broken wing.”
“That’s why it’s a leap of faith. I know it looks impossible but impossible is just a word for something nopony’s stupid enough to try.”
Luna rolled her eyes. “How can one argue with that lack of logic?” she said sarcastically then gave a frustrated snort. “Fine.”
“What would they say,” Spike asked, “if they were here right now, what would they say?” Celestia smiled kindly at Spike and adjusted his bow tie. “Pinkie Pie would say a whole lot of everything. She would tell you how happy she was for you and her, she would brag about everything in the reception and she would never once spoil the surprise. “Applejack wouldn’t say much, she would tell you that she was proud and she would wish you the best before Rainbow cut her off and told you how awesome this was going to be. Fluttershy wouldn’t say a word. She would hug you tighter than you thought she could and give you a little smile that said as more than enough. “Rarity would be all tears. She would delicately wipe them away and tell you that she was so happy for you; that you’d gotten over your little crush on her and found somepony to love you as much as you love her. But when she hugged you she would whisper a threat for if your bride-to-be was ever less than perfectly caring to you. And Twilight would do this.” Celestia reared up on her hind legs and supported herself with hooves on Spike’s shoulders so that she was looking him dead in the eye. The light makeup she wore was running down her face and fresh tears were ready to fall from the corners of her eyes. “I watched you grow up from nothing but an egg,” she began in a trembling voice. “I watched you struggle with who, and what, you are and I watched you come out stronger on the other side. I watched you and I’ve seen your kindness, compassion, your almost indomitable good cheer. I’ve seen your integrity, honesty, faithfulness and your generous spirit. There were a few bumps along the way but always in the end these things shined through in you and I have never been more proud.” Celestia wrapped Spike in an embrace that was equal parts warm and rib-crushing. “I love you Spike. Now get out there and get married before you make any more princesses cry.” Spike returned the embrace for a few moments before the two gradually began to release each other. Once the two were parted Celestia excused herself to go freshen up her makeup. Spike found the humble room the ceremony was to take place in and took his post at the front of the room. A more traditional ceremony would have him proceed in with the rest of the groomsponies but he was simply too large for that. He greeted the few guests as they entered but he was too nervous to make conversation and the ponies wisely concluded that a nervous dragon wasn’t exactly the safest thing to stand beside. Minutes wore on and not even the soothing string music could ease Spike’s nerves. Guests filled the room except for the area around his tail, fearing an overexcited twitch. The music transitioned into a march every romantic knew by heart and in came the bridal procession. Celestia for the first time in her life stood unnoticed beside the mare who held everypony’s attention. Beside her with eyes that glimmered with joyful tears and a smile that pierced through the veil and outshone the sun, moon, and all the stars combined was Princess Luna. The ceremony that followed was brief. Onlookers watched with tearful smiles as an exchange of vows and a kiss united the couple forever. The reception was equally brief, at least for the happy couple. A light supper that they couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other through. When the time came to cut the cake Spike, ever mindful of his size, delicately fed his new wife a bite whereas Luna made use of a separate cake she had had made by mashing it against her husband’s face. Spike responded by giving her a sloppy kiss and licking his face clean. Almost as soon as the cake was distributed and the last of the greetings were said Spike and Luna removed themselves to her tower. Spike did not see anything of the lavished bedchamber, he had eyes only for his wife. “I have a surprise for you,” He said after pulling away from a kiss. “It’s far from a surprise. I daresay I’ve wanted it for a very long time,” Luna replied with a lidded gaze. Spike turned his head away as his cheeks turned scarlet. He had been spending time with this mare for more than a century, he was married to her and she still made him feel like a nervous little colt sometimes. “I-it’s not that,” he said nervously. “It’s dragon magic. There was an old book hidden away. It had a size changing spell in it.” At this Luna’s gaze became downright lecherous. “A-anyways I’ve been practicing and I think it may make things a bit more…manageable,” Spike finished his voice rising octaves as he spoke. Spike dared not look at Luna. He knew she would be doing everything she could to show him exactly how much she approved of this and although Spike loved her dearly she could be intimidating when she was like that. Spike breathed a small puff of fire into his front claws. Instead of going out the fire clung to his claws making a fiery aura around them. Spike began rubbing the green fire across his body. It slowly spread until he was completely engulfed. The fire burned brightly for a few moments then abruptly went out. Left behind was a smaller version of Spike. He stood no taller than Luna but had a much broader and more powerfully built frame. “So, what do you think?” Spike never did get an answer but he took the way she threw him onto the bed was a good sign.