Of Swords and Crowns
Before Story Stats:
–Spike leaves Ponyville on neither good nor bad terms.
–Mane Six continue to save the world alone.
–Spike is picked up by a former captain and is then schooled.
–Discord dies by unknown means.
–Equestria hears of many threats that later become real.
–The Sisters rule becomes questioned by most.
–Spike leaves the captain and becomes the dragon who wanders.
–The nation continues to question its strength.
–An unknown agent meets the dragon at a bar, buying his services to destroy the Elements of Harmony.
–Spike returns home.
Underneath the twilit sky on a lone dirt path walked a dragon just shy of stepping into the receding orange glow, but forever damned to walk in the darkness that was growing in mass from behind his back.
His coat began to flap in the air from the assaulting evening breeze, the sight of Celestia's orb resting behind the mountains horizon made visible from in-between his legs, while a sheath was held just before them; swaying with his every step.
Holding up a claw to protect against the last fit of wind, his eyes saw through the gaps at the town that loomed in the distance, littered with ponies of all kinds retreated to their cozy homes. That open claw slowly clenched into a fist.
Though it did ever so slightly when it went to fetch the hilt of his blade.
The rising moon shined it glow upon the land for the few moments it could, filling all those around with its superficial embrace that soon began to fleet away into the open space. The claw had been halted for a moment, but a moment no longer.
And as the dragon took a step towards the town, so too, did the moon reach its resting place. All its bright light began to shoot like beam around the moon’s circular surface, swirling around and around, more and more beams, until it all came to meet in the center of the moon.
A ball of a faint blue light formed, growing and growing, becoming thinner and thinner, until…
… the beam shot to the land.
A discharge of blue, purple, and green came out like wisps from gigantic push and floated around the space untamed. The comment of blue treked across the black wasteland that was the sky, only to grow bigger in size when it got closer to the drake.
He held out a claw to the heavens like center-fielder ready to catch the ball – the size of it elected not a single tremble out from his body as his feet split along the trail. One claw to the sky, another hovering just over the hilt of his sword.
If a comet proved to outweigh a dragon’s strength, then just cut the comet in half with a sword!
From the blazing blue trail that the comet left behind one could see the moon slowly losing all its light. Dimness began to consume its surface and takeaways its glow, all until the moon matched perfectly with the black landscape surrounding it.
The fire began to enshroud the blue comet and cover it in red. No longer shooting like a beam but falling from a good ball tossed to the sky, only the comet shrunk in size as it got closer and closer until it became known to the drake that it wasn’t a comet at all.
Still, his claw did not waver from his sword; nor did the other stray away from. For as her great wings that were duplicated by a transparent flow replicating that of the starlit indigo nighttime sky.
Those great flaps that sent grass waving back and branches to fall loose from their roots did not carry enough strength to halt the mare’s fall, as she was only so far from her face meeting the ground.
So the dragon bit his tongue and leaped into the air and took that mare into his claw, sprawling along with her to help stop their fall. With the extra granted time another flap was made with the two just landing by the skin of their noses.
The drake tossed the mare onto the grass as he himself landed onto the dirt trail, flipping his body around and taking out his sword, aiming the item just above the mare’s head.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve last met, Princess of the Night.” He rose up from the dirt and gave his coat a little push. “You sure know how to make an entrance–” he bowed forward “–though you shouldn’t have done so for a dragon like me.”
Shiny white teeth shone back the faintest of the extra blue light as they clamped over the dragon’s snout; sliding back just as maw came to a close. “Whoa! Some’s feeling feisty today.” He clapped his claws and bent forth. “Come on, Princess. Come on! I’ll even take you for a little walk.”
“You DARE mock us?”
“I was serious.” The dragon leaned back up. “Wanna go for a walk?”
The teeth retreated behind the navy furry lips. “Am I talking to the Spike that used to hail from Ponyville or the dragon that left his name behind long ago?”
The drake wagged his claw. “Tch tch. I’m the one that asked the question first, and there you go, answering it with another question. But seeing how your question has some relevance to my original question, I’ll settle asking you another question that may make me consider asking your question.”
The Princess narrowed her eyes as her head tried to shake the stupidity out from her ears lightly.
“Now then,” he began, “am I talking to Princess Luna? Or the Princess that ditched that title long ago and became Nightmare Moon?” A shit eating grin occupied the dragon lips.
A growl rumbled out from the princess.
“Is someone hungry?” the dragon teased. “You may want to go get a ham-sandwich; we wouldn’t want you eating meat now.”
Her eyes never stopped staring at his.
“Is that why you—”
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
The mare sighed the tension away with a tilted head, so much, that her crown fell forth from her head and onto the trail below. Her teeth then open and pursued to the objects adoring her hooves.
But the dragon stepped forth and unsheathed his sword, the sound of metal sliding ringing out into the empty sky. Her head was still stuck at her hooves with no time to dodge the sword falling down from above, and piercing it into the diameter of the crown.
Both objects remained unharmed and protected one another.
“Keep your shoes on – your little stunt left the moon without any light, so I wouldn’t want your hooves to step onto anything sharp.”
The mare rose from the grass and stepped onto the trail. “I can trust you will do me no harm upon this walk, like how I shall bring no injury to you?”
“Honey? I can’t even see my claws at my sides, no less get in a fight with the lady that can see in the dark.”
The two then began their joint walk.
“That is a myth – while my eyesight is adjusted to the darkness of the night, my pupils still can’t pierce thoroughly through their fog.”
“Wait. Seriously?”
She looked up and past the dragon’s shoulder. “Yes. It’s true that I can only see a little better than you, but much better than the average pony.”
“Is that your way of saying I’m above average?”
“Maybe for pony standards.” She rose a brow. “But I’m not sure sure for dragon standards.”
The drake rolled his eyes and looked away. “Wow. Thanks.”
The duo walked not to the town sheltering its inhabitants with lights, but rather allowed their souls disappeared further into the black of the night; their mouths being only decided to keep alive the small flame from within.
But questions of black blocked passage to such a flame and kept it buried under their weight.
“Dragon, back there, you never answered my question.” She drew a breath and kept her pace forth. “Just which one of you am I speaking to?”
The dragon too drew a breath in and out and only focused on what lay ahead. “You speak to both dragons. Though the one with no name is more dominant, the other still lingers somewhere inside me.”
“If that is the case, I shall then call you Spike.”
“... thank you.”
The two continued down the path with words unable to come out from their mouths. Something was to be said; something had to be done. Walking by one another and keeping their eyes ahead would leave this walk without purpose, only for an awkward fight to ensure afterward.
“So, Spike—”
“You’re the same as me, huh.”
“Wha… what is it that you mean, Spike?”
“Your height.” He held at a claw and hovered his palm downwards near his chest, just where the mare’s head held. “My childhood memories are still a bit fuzzy, but last time I checked, you weren’t nearly this tall before, only when Nightmare Moon came to play.”
He shook his head. “No. Even then, you were taller than you are now.” Swallowing back his saliva, he couldn’t bear his eyes to look into hers. “It's almost, you’re—”
“At a half point?” she finished for him with a small smile. “When I came to stop you, I knew much of your deeds outside the kingdom, meaning my Princess form might not be enough to fight you.”
“So you took on the alter ego of Nightmare Moon and borrowed from her power of hatred to stop me…” Puzzle pieces flew around in Spike’s head and collided with one another, while others began to connect.
“Yes,” the mare tilted her head to look at him, but he still refused to match eyes, “go on.”
“Use too much of that power and thoughts of the past will consume you, making it impossible to escape the confines of that alter ego.”
“A little superfluous, but on point nonetheless.” She resumed to watching the trail up ahead. “You see, if we truly are alike like you say, then we both walk on a tight-rope.”
“I’m don’t get the analogy.”
Luna giggled. “I guess some things never change.” That smile of nostalgic faded away at the remembrance that the dragon whom she used to visit in his childhood dreams and offer comfort was no longer a friend, but a possible foe that meant harm to the Elements of the town. “We carrying within use two paths that could be taken; two lifestyles that will shape us. And it is best that we take neither path and instead, walk on the grass in-between the two trials.”
Spike finally looked at her with eyes almost closing on their own. He stepped off the trail and onto the grassy field, shrugging his shoulders and raising his eyelids as he did so.
Luna rolled her eyes but couldn’t stifle the chuckle as she too joined him onto that field and walked along its length.
“You know,” Spike began, his footsteps that used to scrape against the pebbles on the trail now brushing against the threads of the grass, “I still don’t get what you were saying back there.
Luna bit the skin from inside her cheeks to prevent that nostalgic smile from forming; such efforts were in vain. “Before, you said that there were two of you: the dragon with no name and Spike.” She cleared her throat. “Just as I am both Luna and Nightmare Moon.
“I thought at first as these voices and traits as its separate personality, but now I see them more like that: I see them as paths we can take.”
The dragon looked over at her, mouth slightly agape with eyes carrying a longing in their gaze. “Paths?” he closed his mouth. “But haven’t we already walked ours? I mean, I’ve already walked mine.”
“You’ve stepped onto both road but refused to travel onward on either, or that was the case, until tonight.”
His eyes lost the sense of longing, and his feet began to drag along the grass. “If this is an attempt to stop me from destroying the Elements…”
“Would you like to know why the moon glows?”
The dragon's head shook. “Wh-what?”
“The moon. Would you like to know why it glows?”
The breeze blew the grass and made the trees shake in the distance. “Twilight always used to tell me—” A twitch shook all through Spike’s body and made his eyes clenched shut. “I mean, isn’t the moon just reflecting the rays of sunlight that reach it?”
“Close,” Luna said, “but my sister only offered my orb some of her light, just enough to keep it sustained. Something tells me she still has trust issues with me, which I can’t help… but understand.”
“So if the sun isn’t the sole cause for it, then what is?”
“Then you are interested in the answer?”
Spike sat down on the grass and curled his tail to his side. “I guess I am.”
“Are you sure?” Luna sat down as well. “Once your ears hear the words speaking of the truth, your soul may never forget it; in this life and the next.”
The drake inhaled deeply a breath to battle away the tremble in his claw. “I’ll hear it.”
Luna smile a smile that was wicked yet that kept superficially kind. “The moon and the land in which we walk in is always in a state of constant hunger, and no matter how much they are fed, their desire is never quenched.
“The sole reason why the cosmos created ponies dragons and the like is to serve as food for its children – for its planets. When we die, our corpses feed the planet in which we currently sit on, and our spirit travels to the moon only to be consumed, for the moon is hungry for souls.
“On the nights in which the moon shines its brightest, it means that many had died the very same night.” Luna looked to see what the dragon’s expression may be, only find his eyes locked onto the open sky with a sadness encapsulating them.
“It's a strange sense of beauty; one that I often wonder if it is worth its cost.” Luna then went on to give a soft chuckle. “It's funny how ponies assume that Celestia and I are our Elements, that we are the embodiment of the sun and the moon, but that is as far away from the truth as it gets.
“We are mere messengers for our orbs and assist them in their duties. Only harm came to those of us who thought themselves more than that.”
Spike finally whisked his face away from the empty sky to gaze upon the mare in a state of curiosity. “There were Princesses before you?”
“Not Princesses but messengers. Tribes existed before civilization could make its roots, and many of them thought they could control the orbs – would you like to know what became of those tribes?”
Spike slowly nodded his head.
“They thought that if the moon were to glow, that its control would become there's fully. So the messengers were considered Gods at the time with everyone else beneath their hooves, ready to be sacrificed at any given time.
“Dates were assigned where the masses would gather at the town square only to become none, and the real kicker of it all, was that they couldn’t be happy to have their soul devoured by the moon.”
“How did they…”
“Yes?”
“How did the messengers… kill… the groups?”
“I suppose if you carried on with that fight back there, then you would’ve found out the answer to that.”
Spike didn’t have anything to say to that.
“But to answer your question: many ways. They were always searching for the more, efficient, way to do things. It's probably best you know not of their experiments–” she looked the drake up and down “–unless you desire that knowledge for some practical use?”
No words came out from the dragon’s mouth, as his eyes wandered along the flowing grass. “I wasn’t paid to bring them any harm,” he said almost in a whisper, “just to steal the Elements or destroy them if push came to shove.”
“And you think you wouldn’t take the latter out of joy?”
Spike whipped his eyes to hers. “I didn’t leave here on bads terms; Twilight and the rest were more than kind to a dragon like me.” He exhaled. “It was just… I didn’t belong here – it didn’t feel like I matter so much. It was simply my time to leave, so I took simply that.”
“And now you’re just back on your way to go and destroy the Elements, possibly inciting a fight between the six.” Luna rose from the grass with a fierce grace and began her approach on the drake. “Tell me as honestly as the Element itself, that you would not enjoy fighting your old friends.”
The emerald eyes kept to the grass as the mare took yet another step. “Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“And why is that?”
“For it would be a lie.” He looked up to her.
Luna rose her hoof to the sky and put into it enough force to knock the dragon well onto it’s back, with bonus energy burning within her chest. To bring harm to those whom he once love; to the ones she loves now.
Yet the anger fell into the lakes of empathy and memory, for the two are connected. The hoof fell on its own to the grass below. “Why is it that, in my head, you are nothing but a foul beast that is unable to accept the grace of others. But when I meet you, I can’t help but feel for you?”
The mare fell back into the grass and felt it tickle along her sides.
The drake slid his foot along the lawn but stopped it from fully extending, while his other curled up before him. “I’ve done some good in my life; I’ve done some bad in my life. There’s no reason for you to feel anything for me – I’m not some pity case, nor am I some destined hero like some ponies thought I was.
“I’m just Spike the dragon, and I like to wander.”
Luna leaned her muzzle in the grass to look at the drake. “Just now, you referred to yourself as Spike the dragon.”
He blinked his eyes. “I guess I did.”
The grass caressed her fur and the breezy stroked her muzzle. Such a night had Luna closing her eyes on her own: to enter the world of black and leave this dragon to whatever his fate may be.
Though her back rose off from the ground and her eyes opened wide. “Spike, remember what I said about that paths: you don’t have to take a single one, but can continue to wander upon the grass. You don’t need to become the villain that fights against the mane six that has a good chance of winning, nor do you need to become the hero that everyone barks around.
“You can be you. Choose your fate; use what powers you were born with; master the skills that you’ve begun to develop. There no longer is a need to choose one of the two extremes; you don’t need anyone else's approval but your own.”
Out from barren wasteland that was the sky came a single shine from the orb that held dominance over all. The current of wind carried along with it the faintest sound of someone screaming into the breeze.
Both eyes of Dragons and Princesses looked up to the sky where a white wisp trailed over to the moon, its presence being sucked in by a crater upon the surface. And after a few seconds, the moon began to glow.
The second scream needed not to be carried by the wind for its pitch carried itself throughout the land. Dragon and pony looked to one another as they rose up from the grass, and with a moment of hesitation, they dashed off afterward back onto the trail.
The crown protecting the sword still laid on the path. The two rushed past it with the drake extending his arm so that is claw could grip at the sword; it shuffled out from the claw and into the open air by his side.
Spike stopped running. That caused Luna to stop running and to turn around. But that only made Spike turn around to the town behind him with the will that had entrusted him the very sword in his claw.
Luna didn’t say a word. She didn’t move a hoof. Her eyes were on the dragon and they posed a simple question.
Head was shooting from between the mare and the town; breaths coming out as ragged. The sword twitched in the air.
It was then that Spike that ran on the line in-between the two grassy plains and plunged himself forth into the forest. Only, this time around, he did not enter alone.
Green balls of fire did not burn the wooden orbs that they occupied but instead brought life to the wooden structure in its desire to feast upon the living. So was the case of the stallion clutched in-between the teeth of the beast, and spat with spiraling blood to the ground below.
The body plopped before the mare holding up a hoof to her mouth with tears glistening down her cheek. Was she crying at the fate of her friend or of the fate of herself? Such was the thought rolling along with Spike in his head as he spiraled above the beast’s head with a sword over his shoulder, which soon graced downwards over the wolf’s neck.
Two thumbs of a head and a pair of feet caused the dirt below to kick up. “Guess I could use some exercise before my task.” His eyes caught sight of the mare and the corpse, causing his lips to recoil back. “Oh. Guessing the forest at night isn’t the best place to have a dinner date?”
The mare only squeaked as her back pushed against a tree, her hoof shooting to behind the drake. Just as he turned his head, soon a darkness enveloped half his body and rose it up from the ground.
Spike’s sword hung just outside the beast’s mouth, which then twirled about to aim itself at those green orbs. As it flung forth, those pesky teeth bit into the dragon’s arm.
A third scream rang out that night.
As did more blood.
From the resulting bushes leaped forth a mare with a flowing mane and a glowing horn, its size turning into a ball as it was shot towards the beast; hitting in-between it's eyes causing all that wood to shambles and disintegrate.
The dragon flew up in the air and reached out desperately for his blade, taking hold of it as gravity came to pull his frame down the branched and to flop on the dirt below. But hey, at least he had his sword.
“Thanks…” Spike coughed out blood onto the sticks of the land, clutching at his side as he slowly rose. “Thanks for the save.”
Luna came up next to him and nudged his claw onto her frame. He took the offer and slowly rose up, with his claw traveling a bit downward.
A hoof put the claw back where it started with eyes that bore into the dragon’s guilt.
He only had a sheepish smile to give.
She groaned. “There’s no point in staying in this forest for any longer; my power is weak, and your arm is bleeding.”
“Isn’t your power only weak because of that trick with the comet?”
Luna did not reply to that comment. The two instead walked side by side back to the mare cowering by the tree. “It is no longer safe to stay here, my dear little pony: please come along with us.”
“But…what about him!?”
“Him?” Spike quirked up a brow and gave a little smirk. “I’m pretty sure he’s—”
The hoof crawling up the broken foot answered otherwise to the unfinished question. Spike turned his head to the stallion with blood running down his mouth and gnash present in his chest.
His eyes burned opened and took his claw off the mare to offer it to the stallion, only to fall forward next to him. The world was becoming heaving around him; the trees looked to be taller, and the air was too much of weight to lift.
Twisting his head in the first, the drake noticed that the purple blood was pouring out from a blue wound.
Luna came up next to him and prepare her mouth to speak, but upon seeing the dragon’s face she knew she had no words to speak, but only a horn to charge up. The blue faded back into purple, and the blood remained as chunky as ever.
Spike sat up with the pain of the swinging arm.
“It’s no good, I cleared out the effect the Timberwolves bite had, but I don’t have enough power to close the wound fully.”
Spike grunted as he tore off the sleeve to his jacket. “Don’t worry about it.”
His eyes clenched closed with his teeth grinding against one another. The fabric wrapped around the wound adding more pressure to the pain, and that lovely green color was given a shade of red.
Tying a knot and tighten it with a pull from the teeth, the dragon looked to the stallion next to him, whose eyes began to close. Shaking him did no good to prevent that effect. “Come on. Don’t do this to me now.”
A claw scooped underneath the dragon’s frame and lifted him up onto the dragon’s shoulder, weighing down his knee to the dirt. With a massive groan the drake lifted up, his chest feeling hard, and his footsteps ready to collapse with each step.
“Spike,” Luna began, “are you alright? Can you manage the pain?”
Another grunt was the response.
“Shall I carry him for you?” she tried once more while coming to his side.
“No,” Spike said back. “I wouldn’t want, ugh! To get that beautiful coat of yours ruined.”
Luna rolled her eyes as she left to go meet up with the ashen mare. The two shared a few words while looking in Spike’s direction, before leading the way forward. Blood began to pat the dragon’s shoulder.
It wasn’t an issue that barely any light came from the moon, for the towering trees block any light from entering. The footsteps were made without hesitation for one of the mares horn’s lit up the path ahead.
“Say, bud.” The dragon started. “You doing alright back there?”
“Hnnngh.”
“Guess that’s a no.”
A trickle of blood landed onto his claw and was split down along its length, prompting a pair of eyes to look to the stallion. “Ah no.”
The two mares up ahead and stopped in their tracks, turning to see the dragon resting the stallion against a tree branch.
“Spike, what is—”
“He won’t make it out of the forest this way,” Spike stated, hovering just over the gnash. “He’s bleeding out too fast, and he’s prone to get an infection if it's not treated.”
Luna came up next to him and too hovered over the stallion. “There’s no much we can do for him: I’ve barely enough magic as is if anymore wolves come up. I don’t think I even have to save him regardless.”
“Well, it's pointless to have carried him this far and dirtied and coat if he’s just going to kick the bucket now.” Spike sighed, rubbing his face. “I’m going to try treating his wound with a bit of my fire, and you’ll use what’s left of your magic to close it up.”
“You can’t burn him!” The ashen mare shouted from behind Luna, walking in-between both them and the stallion. “You’d hurt him more than what he’s already suffering–” she shot her head away “–and I can’t trust a dragon to be careful with a pony. Why burn him anyway? Need him all nice and roasty to feast on?”
“Sorry, but I’m not the kind to eat stallions out.” Spike bit his tongue upon saying that. “And to answer your question, burning the wound is called cauterization: it helps stop bleeding.”
The mare finally looked at him with that shade of contempt, but more so a face full of worry. Any hatred at her comment died away at Spike upon seeing that the mare was only scared for hers and his life.
“Look, I’ve had it roughed out there in the field; faced monsters far worse than Timber Wolves. Hospitals don’t exist out in the wastelands, so I’ve been forced to operate on myself numerous times.”
His stare soften into a gaze. Tense shoulders lowered. And his voice became light. “Let me treat him so I can stop the bleeding, and let you two get back to Ponyville safely.”
The mare bit her lips as she looked back to the dying stallion behind her, who had his hoof covering his wound, and breaths as ragged as Spike’. She then looked to Luna who already had her head nodding.
“Okay,” she said. “You saved us before, and I think you want to save us again, even if you are a dragon.”
Spike clenched his eyes at the comment and calmed the flame within his claw. “Thank you.”
A great way to blow off some steam is to develop a flame within a being, storing everyday tension and fears in it, then letting it all escape through the mouth.
Like meditation only with fire. And it's breathed onto a stallions open chest.
Quite the times these ponies and dragons live in.
Flames warmed the chest and brought about its presence on the fur, but it worked itself and cooled the wound and patching up the bloodied lips. And with the assistance of blue areas that gnash began to shrink, all until the lips became one with the body.
Spike fell back from his work and Luna too took a deep breath. And, for no reason, the two began to give a small laugh, just as the mare began to hug that stallion.
Then came the many growls and steps from all behind their backs. A fire of green warming, but it was not coming from the dragon. Turning his head, Spike met three Timberwolves, all the more likely pissed about their friend.
“I take it your three aren’t here to let us ride up on your backs?” Spike said as he rose from the ground, lifting the sword along with him.
You know, I should’ve just Luna use that extra little bit of magic on my arm; I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take three of them at once.
Swirling his sword, Spike was careful with his steps on approaching the beasts. One lurked their head forward and its teeth almost clamped town on the dragon’s tail, but his feet had already slid across the dirt.
“Spike!”
The drake leaned back as far as he could while another pair of teeth plunged past him, latching on to the neck of its fellow Timber brother. It yelped out in pain and yanked its neck about, all while the eyes of the other grew.
And before it could unlatch its teeth, a mare had flown up to nestle with the tree branches and shot down like a bullet into the maw – falling along with her many branches. It became like rain as the Timberwolves were whacked about and brought down to the ground.
Luna’s landing forced the maw to shut and chop off the neck of its brother. And just as the head landed onto the ground, Spike already had his sword raised, and with a single stroke, a line split apart those green eyes.
The beast cried out from under the tree branches with ripples stirring throughout the green orbs of light. Dirt began to fall from their backs as their legs trembled when they lifted off the weight from their back.
Luna backflipped off the snout and next to Spike’s side, looking up to him with a slight smile. “Only one hit to foul the beast; think you can take two more?”
The two beast threw off all the logs from upon their backs and unleashed a roar that stirred up the leaves and rumbled the ground. They didn’t hesitate to start walking forward.
“Only if my claw doesn’t give out,” Spike said as he stepped forward. “But you had things covered back there, so we should be fine regardless.”
The mare too stepped forward with a grin. “My my! Does Spike still posses the ability to confide in ponies?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t push your luck.”
The dragon looked down to the Princess who proved herself to be a mare of character.
The Princess looked up to the dragon who was not completely beyond hope.
And together, with sword and horn, they slashed against the beast with a battle that rang out into the night.
Small rays of light trickled down to the edge of the forest from the moon regaining its light. The footsteps of the talons were basked in this light when they left the forest this time around. Only, the brightness of the moon no longer brought the drake happiness.
Pulling the cloak out from his back to over his head, the fabric caused a shadow upon his face. “So we made it out outta that one.”
Luna came up next to him, moving her lips left at being unable to see the dragon’s face. “Indeed.” She turned to watch the couple leave the forest as well, the stallion leaning upon the mare as they walked through the pain together. “And all are accounted for as well.”
The couple approached the duo with tired faces yet glistening eyes. “Thank you,” the stallion breathed out, struggling to crane his neck up. “Me and her were out in the forest, doing something stupid – and if it weren’t for you, we would’ve died stupidly.”
“It is not a problem, my loyal subjects,” Luna commanded their attention with a soft smile. “But I do ask that you stray away from the forest at night – Timberwolf activity has becoming more frequent near the edge of the forest, and the Element of Kindness is still trying to find out why.”
The mare bowed her head while the stallion tried to dip his. “Of course. Thank you, Princess.”
Luna nodded her head. “Will you two be able to make it back to Ponyville alright?”
The stallion hesitantly brought a hoof to his chest, recoiling it back as soon as it touched the wound. “It still feels like I’m being chewed on, but I’ll manage. That dragon managed to stop the bleeding with his fire.”
His eyes stretched open. “Oh! Thank you again, Mr. dragon, for helping save us...and for not eating us. Heh, I sure thought I was a goner when your fire spread across my chest.”
“Are you sure you didn’t feel that when a Timberwolf had you in its maw?” Luna snarled, stepping forward.
“Er… umm…” The stallion sighed and dropped his head forward. “Sorry I misjudged you, Mr. dragon.”
Spike kept silent as the breeze swayed up the ends of his jacket. “Don’t worry about it; Timberwolves and dragons both tend to have bad breath, so I see how you classify us both as dangerous.”
He bent his knees forward so that he was eye level with the stallion. “But when you tell your tale with your buddies at a bar, please tell them that the dragon setting you on fire was doing a good thing?”
The stallion rose his head and gazed onto the dragon with a smile. “I’ll try.”
Spike chuckled as he rose back up, the cloak covering his face once more.
“But I’d much prefer you being there when I tell this funny little tale; you will be coming into town today, no? I mean, after such a fight, wouldn’t you—”
“Unfortunately,” Spike injected with a soft yet stern voice, “there’s some things I still need to take care of here.” He sighed as his shoulders slumped. “But who knows. If I ever do stop by town, I’ll have you buy me a milkshake.”
The stallions laughs soon turned into coughs, a hoof stretching to caress his wound. A nod to the mare, and the two were on their way to the light-filled town of Ponyville. The Princess and the dragon stood together and watched as the couple shrink smaller and smaller down the path, until they could no longer be seen over the small hills.
“So,” Luna began, turning to look up at the dragon. “You’re not going to visit Ponyville?”
The dragon’s response was to start walking forward. “Let’s continue our walk.”
Wisps of different colors trailed over to the moon’s surface where their very presence was devoured. The moon would never brighten the world like its sister, but it was unaccepting of this fact, for it put itself in a state of constant hunger to attain the achievable.
Instead of accepting its beauty, the moon devoured away in a state of constant misery. So preventing two souls from being fed to the greedy cunt didn’t weigh much on Spike’s conscious. Though a twinge of pain struck at his heart, for now, he had to bore witness to every time the moon became brighter.
“No point in saving them all,” Spike said to himself, earning Luna’s gaze and attention.
“How do you mean?”
Spike glanced down at her. “It’s just, I’m thinking about you – you and the moon.”
Words floated around in the cavern of Spike’s mouth as his tongue tried to pick out the right ones to say, while Luna afforded him the time he needed with her silence.
“Luna.” Spike began, keeping his hidden eyes on the path ahead. “Mare of the moon and Princess of Equestria… I can’t help but feel the burden you must carry every waking day. Your power far exceeds mine, and you possess knowledge that is worth a thousand years.
“The secret of the moon has me feeling the sadness I cannot explain, yet I am glad that the moon chooses not to bear its weight down on me. For you, I cannot even begin to lie and say I understand your pain.
“But I have to ask, on walking the line of those two paths, that perhaps you are going about it wrong.”
Luna dashed in front of the drake and forced his steps to cease; her glare piercing well past that shadow he hid behind. “I warn you, dragon, if what you are about to speak is some scheme.”
“Have faith in the Spike who has been more than present throughout the night, whom you offered words he will deeply consider for himself. It’s just, I don’t think the same words can apply to someone so high in power.”
Luna’s stare never broke away and the conviction in her eyes never wavered, but neither did the shadow protecting the dragon’s identity. “I’ll hear what you have to say, and I may just leave it at that.”
“I think posing on the field of Nightmare Moon may be a good idea.”
Luna turned around and began to walk, not even taking a moment to look behind her.
“This is coming from the dragon that Spike has become, the one that has seen much of your land!” The caused the Princess to stop, but not to turn around. “I’m not strong enough to play across those two fields; my will is weak that I have to indulge in one, and cage up the other fully.
“I’m the one that has to walk in between the line.” His voice became louder. “But I think you’re stronger than that.”
Luna turned her head around with an unreadable expression.
Spike took his chances and stepped forward. “The moon isn’t entirely a threat, but neither is it a friend that we all think it is. The sister's rule has been peaceful so far, with many of your subjects coming to love you, but I’m starting to think this may not be a good thing.”
The mare finally turned around. “And how would you know the best way to rule a country?”
“I wouldn’t,” Spike answered, taking yet another step. “But I can tell you about the creatures becoming more savage; the dragons getting closer to the border than they shoulder, and the ponies commit crimes who think, that all their going to get is a slap on the wrist.”
Luna took a few step forward and opened her mouth, but Spike already raised both his palms to before his face. “Easy, I know nothing on how hard it is to rule. All I’m trying to say is that you may be neglecting a better option simply because you don’t trust yourself.”
“And what would that better option be?” Luna barked as she came before his feet.
“Play as Nightmare Moon, but truly be Luna on the inside.”
Luna blinked and took a few steps back.
“There’s been a lack of fear coming from Canterlot; there’s no one to scare little fillies and colts into being good. The reason why ponies, dragons, and most creatures don’t mess with me is that of the thing on my back.
“Canterlot doesn’t have the symbol of fear.”
“So I should become one to harm my sister and my subject to bring out an eternal night?”
“Not at all.” Spike waved a talon. “But you should make them think that. You should superficially play on the fields of Nightmare Moon, to pose as this villain with a lot of power, but in reality, you’re indulged on the field of Luna and trying to bring about good by any means.
“Ponies may view you as a villain, when, in reality, you’re actually a hero at the end of the story. And ponies will start to notice it too, when the world starts to become a lot safer.”
Spike bent a knee forth. “You don’t have to do anything that I say. But I do think you have the will that I don’t. I think you can take on the form of Nightmare Moon and be able to resist her temptations, yet clever enough to have the world believe that you mostly are in her control.
“You’ll bring about good in the fasted way possible, and when all this is over, everypony will come to know the truth, and cry in happiness for the sacrifice you made.”
Spike offered a smile as he rose back up, the shadow consume his face once more. “Just merely a thought I had, take it or leave it. For now, let’s walk, and hope the moon eats no more this night.”
The words of those ideals weighed too heavy to be spoken on Luna’s tongue, for she nodded her head and the two went on their way. To play as a nightmare but to be goodness inside was thought that couldn’t just burn up and disappear in her head, for deep in the mare’s heart, something latched onto the idea.
Whether that string be of white or black was unknown, though brought under light, its colors was probably that of gray.
“Spike,” Luna began with a chest full of weight, “you said your business here wasn’t done. By what of that do you mean?”
The dragon sighed as he trudged on. “When the two loves birds cried of pain, the moon gained back its light. Something tells me they had someone watching the action – thought he would get on it for free, but ended up paying the ultimate price.”
“Someone else in the forest?” Luna said, almost to herself, “but I didn’t feel the presence of anypony else.”
“Yeah, dead ponies are kinda hard to notice – they don’t give off a pulse or make much noise.”
Luna prevent the chuckle from escaping her lips but the sounds still rebounded off her cheeks. “That’s… highly inappropriate, Spike.”
“Indeed: ponies shouldn’t whack it to others without their permission.”
This time it was a sigh that was garnered as the two carried forth on the path to society, which no longer loomed far away, but just by the conventional definition of the word loomed.
A crown lay in the middle of the path.
“Back to where we started,” Spike noted, a small smile solemnly appearing. “And where we will give our–”
“Princess!” A voice cried from down the hill, slowly rising up and becoming louder. “Princess Luna!”
Both Spike and Luna looked down the path and saw the six mare becoming larger in size, all galloping with their mouths sucking in the air to replenish their over-working lungs.
The Princess of the Night stepped forward with a long awaiting smile.
The dragon who wanders stepped away from the upcoming masses with no expression at all.
Finally, the six were over the hill and stood just before the two. “Oh Princess, you are alright!” Twilight cried, a smile washing over her face, “you have had us all so worried.”
“Worried?” Luna repeated. “Why were you worried; who told you I was here?”
“Well,” Twilight began with a chuckle mixed with a pant, “it’s kinda hard to not notice a comet falling from the sky. I came alone to check it out, but there wasn’t anyone here for as far as I could fly.
“I speculated then that it was just some rock with something special in it to cause it to burn blue, so I decided to return back to Ponyville, where it turns out, I wasn’t the only one to notice the thing fall from the sky.”
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash called out. “All the girls gathered in the square of town when Twilight came back, and as we all were talking about it, a mare and a stallion limped into town! We asked them what had happened, and they told us the story – we came straight away.
“Apparently, you were fighting off Timberwolves with a dragon.”
Luna rolled her eyes. “Was I now?”
The cloaked figure from behind her took a step forward.
Dash’s eyes switched over to his frame. “Hey! Who are you, sneaking up like that?”
“I…” The dragon swallowed and turned his cloak covered head away. “Am no one of consequence; please feel free to ignore me.”
“Yeah right, tryna sneak up on the Princess like that… and with a sword!” A hoof erected in direction of the blade hanging upon his back.
The dragon looked over his shoulder down at it. “I like to carry one around for safety purposes. Way back, I used to have a wooden stick I used to fight with, but upon leaving Equestria, that no longer became an option.”
“Why’s it so big?”
“Maybe because you’re looking at it.”
Dash titled her head, and yet, that didn’t help her get the joke.
“Relax.” He rose a claw. “Bigger beast call for bigger blades. I’m just lucky I’m strong enough to wield it.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me! You actually use that thing to fight?”
“Once or twice.” Once again, his head pointed away. “Anyway, you six must be the Elements of Harmony.”
Luna looked over to the drake, yet didn’t do a thing as he began to walk forth. “I’ve heard many stories about you,” he went on, “stop many villains and helped many ponies, spreading lessons along the way.”
The talon foot hovered above the crown belonging to the princess – just a little weight and the thing would be crushed to pieces. A straight swing with the sword afterward and all that would’ve been needed to be done would be in the past.
That of course was a lie. For never was it the dragon’s mission to destroy the Element bearers, but the Elements themselves.
A knee bent before the crown and a claw picked it up. Like this, the shadow from the cloak recede to his upper lip, leaving all below exposed.
“I hope that our paths never cross,” he said with a smile, picking up the crown, and depositing it on the Princess's head. Turning around, he began to walk away.
“Wait!” Twilight called, taking a step forward. “Your voice… it's familiar. Have we met before!?”
The dragon only waved a claw as his tail started to wag.
“Purple scales… green spines… a tail like a lizard… no... like a dragon.”
Twilight snapped to the Princess. “Luna, was that—” A hoof pressed against her lips while the Princess offered a smile that disappeared as soon as her hoof returned to the ground below.
The ponies stepped back onto the grass as the Princess began to walk past.
And so, the Princess of the Night returned to the city of light with a darkness festering in her heart.
And the dragon who wanders to enter that damned forest alone, only with a light beginning to blossom throughout his being.
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