Growing Nightmares and Strange Feelings

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“Wh-wha?” Spike groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. His body felt heavy for some reason as he could barely move his limbs. When he finally opened his eyes, a faint orange light was in front of him.

“What is that?” He thought. After a few minutes, he finally felt strength returning to his limbs and stood up. He could only make out a faint orange blob in front of him.

“What’s going on?” Spike slowly stepped forward going towards the strange blob, inching ever closer to it trying to see what was going on. The only problem, was that his footsteps felt heavy. Curious, he looks down and is shocked to find himself much taller and his form was more sleek like a serpents, as well as very sharp claws tipped each of his hands and feet. His scales on his body were a much darker shade of purple as were his spines being a much darker shade of green.

“Wh-what is this?” Spike said to himself shocked at how he looked and felt strange at the same time. He was still looking at his still sharp claws as he didn’t know what was going on. Soon as he takes a step, his right foot steps into something wet, but was at the same time warm.

“What the?” He was confused at what he stepped in and looked down to see a large puddle of red below him. ‘What is this?’ He thought to himself as he looked down to examine the puddle below. what bothered him the most was the smell of iron and death from it.

“Wait, is this... blood?” He added. Looking closer at the dark red puddle. Spike was surprised to find blood, but he didn’t know who it belonged to. He takes a few steps back and steps on something that felt like glass. Looking down, he finds some shattered remains of what was a mirror. In the reflection Spike was shocked to find that not only his body looked different but his face was changed as well, his snout was much longer and his teeth were sharper, and his eyes changed from emerald green to amber for some reason. The spines along his head were much sharper and less rounded than before, and along the end of his tail were several spikes like a mace. To Spike, it reminded of his form he changed into on his birthday only he looked very different from before.

‘Why do I…?’ Spike thought himself in confusion. After realizing this, he then looked around himself and saw blurry shapes of multi colored blobs around him. ‘What are those?’ He squinted his eyes until his vision began to clear, and what he saw horrified him. The blurry shapes began to take form and right at the dragons feet lay the lifeless, mangled bodies of ponies. Not just any ponies, but the bodies of six mares he was all too familiar with.

“No…” Spike said in a distraught tone. The bodies of Starlight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all laid bloodied, lifeless and mutilated on the ground. Each of the girls had been horribly disfigured. Rainbow dash had both of her wings torn off and her left eye appeared to be gouged out. Pinkie Pie was missing both of her legs and her throat looked like it was sliced open. Fluttershy looked like an animal attacked her,she was covered in scratches, her left arm was bitten off and her lower torso had a large bite mark of flesh missing. Applejack had her head missing from her body as it was lying some distance with a shocked look remaining. Starlight had her horn ripped out of her forehead and stabbed right where her heart was. Then Spikes heart dropped when he saw the love of his life Rarity was torn in half as only the upper part of her bloody torso was all that remained of her.

Why...why?’ Spike thought as he was in a panic from seeing all of his friends in such a deformed state. Not only that, but all of Ponyville was set ablaze as more bodies of ponies were littered in the streets looking in just as worse states as the girls were. He felt like crying but to his utter confusion and fear he couldn’t... he almost felt like he was angry...

“Wh-what happened here?” Spike said, as he was worried for the rest of the town. He wanted to see if anyone left was alive. But when he tried to move, his tree sized legs were frozen in place. He couldn’t move and panic began to fall in the pit of his stomach.

‘Why, can’t I move?’ Spike asked himself as he struggled to move his limbs again. Some time later Spike began to move, but he wasn’t in control of his actions and for some strange reason a feeling of anger was welling up inside of him, like as if he wasn’t satisfied with something but what. The scenery suddenly shifted around him and Spike finds himself in front of the Canterlot throne Room but to his shock and confusion the room was destroyed, parts of the walls were shattered or just piles of rubble. Some of the columns were either toppled over or leaning in awkward angles and the tapestries were torn and burned while he could see many holes throughout the room. He looked at the windows and the glass was completely shattered and could see outside the capital city up in flames.

‘What? Why am I in Canterlot?’ He asked himself as he looked around, but his surprise soon turns to shock and dread when he sees more ponies bodies on the ground. He could only stare in shock with the amount of death that filled the air, and it made him sick to his stomach. A bright orange glow from the shattered window caught his ears, and the sounds of roaring flames resounded out including the sounds of several other ponies screaming in fear and panic.

‘Wh-who... did... this?’ He asked himself, a weight of fear began to fill the drake and he felt so distraught at the scene before him that he didn’t know what to think. Was there a new threat to Equestria that was stronger than anypony could ever face? Was there an apocalypse waiting to happen? Several worse case scenarios ran through his mind as to what happened in Ponyville and in Canterlot and it only got worse as the fear grew inside him.

Then with a jerk of his muscles, Spike started to move on it’s own again. Like a puppet being pulled at the strings, Spike was helpless as his body was pulled forward and could only watch as he saw further carnage in the throne room.

‘Why… why is almost everypony here dead? What happened to them?’ Spike thought to himself and he felt his heart sank even further when there surrounding the thrones are the bodies of Shining Armor, Cadence, and Twilight, all lifeless and disfigured on the floor. There were also a few other guards on the ground badly beaten to near death and Celestia who was at the center. Spike was only heartbroken when he saw that she was barely alive and blood oozed from a gash in her forehead. Pieces of her armor was destroyed and her right wing was unusable. She was covered in wounds and her horn was broken halfway.

‘N-no…mom...’ Spike thought in sadness and horror at the state that she was in. She could barely stand as she had a spear in hand and was using it to balance herself as a look of despair was plastered on her face. Lying next to her was the broken near lifeless body of her younger sister Luna, who was bleeding to death with a spear wound in her stomach. Her left wing was broken, pieces of her armor were missing in certain places, since of her limbs were covered in deep slash marks, and her horn was fractured in several places rendering it useless.

‘Why is this happening?’ Spike said as he began to cry but mentally. ‘Why did my friends have to die? What did they ever do to deserve this?’ Spike wailed in his mind, horrified at the state his adoptive mother and aunt were in, and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“How does it feel?” Said a gruff male voice. What confused Spike was that he felt his mouth moving, but it wasn’t his words. Spike didn’t have time to think as he suddenly feels both of his arms lunged forward and grabbed both defeated princesses by their throats. “How does it feel to have everything destroyed as you ponies did to us?”

“No...please believe us...it wasn’t our fault, we are not the ones responsible for your land’s destruction.” Celestia tried to plead, only for her and her wounded sister having their throats squeezed tighter and hoisted midair to the raging dragon. Spike wasn’t sure who was talking or who was controlling him, but he wasn’t sure what to think at this point.

“SILENCE!!!” Spike and the princesses were startled at the thundering sound of the voice that was enough to shake the entire castle. “You had your chance to right the wrongs that you ponies have done to my home and my race, but you failed after his passing!”

‘What’s this guy even talking about?’ Spike asked in confusion.

“H...he’s… not… ready…” Luna tried to say, but the blood leaving her body was starting to take a heavy toll on her. “We… needed… to…”

“LIES!!!” His voice once again thundered throughout the castle, silencing the scared ponies as well as Spike when he was trying to figure what was going on and why he was doing this.

“Enough of your excuses!” He roared, silencing both mares again. “You had your chance then Celestia, and you and your sister had your chance now. You and the rest of these ponies can’t be trusted after the crimes you’ve committed! My kind was erased from this world because of you, and now it’s time I return the favor.” He added darkly as he opened his snout and raging flames started to form. Spike felt a bubbling rage well up inside of him and a sense of panic took over.

‘Please...don’t…’ Spike mentally said as tears started to well up in his eyes. ‘Please…anypony but them!’

“Goodbye...TRAITORS!” He shouted as the flames soon washed over both mares and their screams of agony and pain filled the room as their bodies burned to cinders.

*****

“NO!!!” Spike woke up with a jolt, holding his arm out in shock. He was sweating profusely and gasped for air. Looking around, he found himself back in his room in the Crystal Castle at Ponyville. Looking around his room he finds everything was as it should be.

“Oh man... that’s the eighth time in a month I had that nightmare.” Spike groaned. It was nighttime as well since Luna’s moon was out, but he wasn’t sure what happened or why he kept having the same nightmare. He gets off the bed and walks up to the mirror and finds his same old 4ft 11 look he had before. His scales and green underbelly were still the same, as were his eyes emerald green as ever, but he was still looked like the young teenage dragon despite being finally twenty-one years old. He bulked a little too thanks to some time spent working out with Rainbow Dash, helping Applejack on the farm, and the occasional odd jobs around town. That wasn’t what he was worrying about though.

“What’s been happening to me?” That’s what he was asking himself after his wings finally grew out. Ever since he got his new wings a month ago, he was having these strange nightmares that he couldn't understand. He could barely get any sleep because of them. He thought it was just hormonal changes or whatever but the nightmares have become more frequent lately. He looks at his clock next to his bed and sees that it’s at least four in the morning.

“Maybe a glass of water might help me…” He said to himself as he gets up from his bed and stretch his limbs. He then walks to the bathroom to see how he looks in the bathroom. He opens the door and gets in the step ladder to look in the mirror to see his face.

“Celestia... I’m a mess….” He groaned looking at himself.There were dark circles around his eyes, which were bloodshot and he wasn't sure what the nightmare he was having meant.

“I need to do something about this nightmare I’ve been having and what it means.” Spike thought as he stepped out of the bathroom and laid himself back in his bed trying his best to go back to sleep.

*****

Celestia’s sun rose over the horizon and several ponies were walking around getting ready for work, or opening up their shops for their first customers of the day. Some were fillies and colts going to school, while other ponies were out enjoying the beautiful day their princesses have made for their subjects. Speaking of princesses, a certain princess was lying in her bed and slept peacefully.

She had a dark purple mane with a pink highlight streaking through the left side, her fur was a lavender and she had a horn and a pair of wings on her back indicating her to be an alicorn. Soon the rays of Celestia’s sun beamed down on the pony’s face, causing said mare to wake up. She then rose up and stretched her arms and wings breathing in the morning air.

“Yawn…” The mare groaned as she woke up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She looks out the window to see a couple of birds on the windowsill, chirping happily as a brand new day started. Sitting up she gets off the bed and walks up to open the window and happily greets the birds.

“Good morning birds…” She said with a bright smile on her face. The birds only happily chirp as they fly off in the distance, staring out at the tranquil village she breaths in the fresh air and sighs in content. The mare soon walks back towards her bed and steps towards a large dresser and sits in the chair. After a lavender aura surrounds part of the mirror to adjust it, the reflection finally revealed Twilight Sparkle, resident of ponyville, Element of Magic, and the Alicorn Princess Of Friendship.

“Heh… I look quite a mess…” She smiled as she pushed part of her disheveled mane out of her face to get a good look at herself in the mirror. She was in a purple robe that Rarity customly made for her after her ascension into an Alicorn princess by Celestia. The transformation came with more than a pair of wings. It came with a more diverse magic reserve as well as a curvaceous body to boot. Her magenta horn wrapped in a lavender aura, and a brush on the dresser levitated in the air to brush her mane until it was straight and clean just the way she liked. As she was brushing her mane, there was a knock at her door.

“Who is it?” She called, turning her head to the doorway of her bedroom. Soon a female voice called out the mares name from the other side of the door.

“It’s me Twilight.” The voice called. Twilight only smiles as she knew who it was.

“It’s open Starlight.” She called back. Soon the door opened to reveal an awake lavender unicorn mare in a blue tank top and shorts walking into Twilight's room. Once their former enemy now counselor Starlight Glimmer lived with Twilight for a good three years now and she was pretty much used to being around her teacher as well as Spike.

“Morning Twilight.” Starlight said as she sat on the bed with a few books in hand.

“Morning Starlight.” She added, setting the brush down. “What’s with all the books you have?” She added, looking athe stack of books that Stalright was carrying.

“Oh, they’re actually some history books in mind.” Starlight answered. “Basically, I was wondering on where the students would go for a field trip.”

“As a way to where they aren’t crowded in just one place.” Starlight added. “Maybe taking the students to the Crystal Empire.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea Starlight.” Twilight pointed out.

“What do you mean?”

“Knowing Smolder, if we don’t keep an eye on her she might start gnawing off the walls of the castle.” Twilight followed up with a sigh. “You know how dragons are when it comes to gems, and sending a class to the Crystal Empire. And if we lose sight of Smolder while we’re there, somepony might lose a house if she starts gnawing on it.”

“Oh...right…” Starlight added, some bad scenarios going through her mind.. “So the Crystal Empire is out then. What else can we try?” Twilight was about to say something but a noise outside cuts off what she was going to say.

‘THUD’

“What was that?” Twilight asked in confusion from the noise just outside of her room..

“It came from outside.” Curious, both mares walk out of the room to investigate the source of the sound, and find Spike, Twilight’s number one assistant leaning on a broom against the wall next to their room.

“Spike, what do you think you’re doing?” Starlight said in an annoyed tone. “Are you eavesdropping on us? Cause that’s pretty rude.”

“Wait a minute…” Twilight said, stopping Starlight from her ranting. She noticed something off about Spike as to where he was leaning. He wasn’t leaning against the door, he was actually leaning against the wall while the broom handle was pressed against his head. What also caught her attention was the fact that she could hear light snoring coming from him. Twilight walks up to him and realizes that he wasn’t eavesdropping, but was fast asleep.

“I don’t think he was eavesdropping on us Starlight.” Twilight began turning back to the confused mare.

“What do you mean?”

“It looks like he didn’t get much sleep last night.” She said, with a sigh. ‘And this wasn’t the first time I found him like this.’ Twilight thought to herself. Then a thought soon crosses her mind with a way to wake him up. It was kind of mean, but it was the best way for her to wake him up.

“Spike… it’s time to wake up…” Twilight called out and poking his cheek. Spike only groans in response as he slumps over and mumbles ‘five more minutes.’ hugging the broom like a stuffed animal. Seeing as that wasn’t going to work, she had to use the ‘other’ method. “Okay, but Rarity wanted me to tell you that she wanted to ask you out on a date later.”

Upon hearing that, Spike immediately opens his eyes and jolts up standing up making the broom clatter to the floor and turning to Twilight wide eyed. Twilight and Starlight could only smirk as Twilight’s little stunt worked.

“Huh! WHAT!?” Spike began rambling to himself. “What time is it, do I have a tux, when did she say when, do I need a shower, how long-” Spike stopped at the sound of contained laughter coming from the girls, making him blush in embarrassment.

“Finally…” Twilight remarked. “Took you long enough, otherwise Starlight and I were going douse you in ice water.”

“I was actually going to do it too.” Starlight followed up with a cheeky grin.

“You did that on purpose…” Spike grumbled. “I don’t see the point on why in the first place.”

“Well we found you leaning against the wall fast asleep with a broom in your hands.” Twilight said, then her face morphed to a look of concern.

“Spike, are you alright?” Starlight asked. “This is the fifth time this month we found you falling asleep like this, so what’s going on?”

The dragon was about to answer when his attention was directed towards somewhere else. Spike wasn’t sure what was going on, but noticed how Beautiful Twilight’s looked despite being only in a bathrobe. The alicorn princess was very pretty and so much about her had changed since she ascended and was coronated as princess. Before they came to ponyville Spike remembered that she was pretty average in the physical department, but after her ascension she had changed significantly.

Her body had shifted from being thin, short and lanky to a well muscled voluptuous form that Spike couldn’t help but appreciate looking at. He glanced down and noticed how long and firm her legs were well muscled and curved, he stared down at the sculpted pair and wondered what they would feel like in his hands. Spikes eyes then wandered up straight to her chest, which was once a C cup now they became an enormous GG cup and was currently constricting itself against her robe making a noticeable valley of cleavage that made him blush. He also noticed how silky smooth her mane and tail have become as the years went by and the way it framed her face made her look attractive, but he was confused at why he was feeling this way.

Next was Starlight Glimmer. Once their former enemy, she now was a student counselor for their school and close friend to the girls. Like Twilight, she was in a bathrobe that Rarity had custom made for her too but he felt confused about her as well. She had a pair of large E-cup breasts, but then saw that the unicorns large firm rear was slightly bigger than her breasts they were two round globes that seemed to defy gravity and always bounced whenever she walked. Spike remembered one time he walked in on her by accident when she was in the middle of changing into her normal clothes and got quite the view of her nude breasts, her trim formed body and well rounded flank. The last thing he heard was her screaming and throwing him out via magic and slamming the door.

He then saw how her mane, despite being a little messy, made her beautiful as well. She changed her style after the village incident and was at least able to keep herself well groomed. Normally she would have her mane in a ponytail, but she surprisingly looked better without it. Spike didn’t think he would find himself attracted to her as well. He wasn’t sure why he was having these strange feelings but something in his mind felt it was right.

“Spike? Spike!” Twilight asked again and the drake was shaken from his thoughts from before.

“Huh, what?” He asked.

“I asked what has gotten into you lately?” She asked him this time with her arms crossed.

“Nothing’s going on Twi. I’m fit as a ‘yawn’ fiddle.” He replied tiredly. “You and Starlight don’t need to worry about me.”

“Spike, you’re not trying to hide anything from us are you?” Twilight asked in a worried tone.

“No... it’s okay... I’m fine.” Spike began, popping a few few joints and flexing his wings. “I need to fix breakfest soon anyways.” He added, waving them off and walking downstairs. As Spike left, the girls look at each other worried for their friend.

“I seriously think something is wrong with him.” Starlight said in confusion. “You haven’t been overworking him have you?”

“Of course not.” Twilight said aghast. “What kind of pony would I be to do that to him?”

“Okay okay, I was just asking.” Starlight said holding up her hands in defense. “He’s just been like that a lot lately. Some days he seems fine, but other days he seems pretty drowsy.”

“Maybe some of the others might be pushing him too hard without realizing it.” Twilight added.

“Maybe, but I don’t think any of the girls would do that to him.” Starlight followed up.

“Well, let’s just see how his condition is now that he is awake.” Twilight said up as she walked back to her room, but not before turning back to Starlight. “Let’s get dressed and meet Spike downstairs.”

“Okay…” Starlight said in a calm but a the same time worried tone.

‘I hope Spike is okay…’ Both mares thought at the same time before closing their doors and changing into the average everyday clothes.

*****

Spike lets out another yawn as he is fixing breakfast for everyone in the Castle. He still wasn’t sure why he was having these nightmares lately, and he didn’t want to give the girls a reason to worry about him. He believe that if he braves out these nightmares, that they would eventually go away.

He started to fall out again, but was able to hear Twilight and Starlight come downstairs and he tries his best to ready himself again by slapping his cheeks to wake himself and fixing breakfast. Both mares sat at the table of the room and were discussing the latest renovations for the school.

“Okay Starlight, so the next part for the school would be making a gym or a play area for the kids during recess.” Twilight began as she looked at what to add for renovations to the school. “Then we should focus on where the aquatic activity center needs to go.”

“You mean a pool?” Starlight said with a blunt look on her face.

“That’s what I said, an aquatic activity center.” Twilight said cheerfully.

“It’s a pool Twilight.” Starlight bluntly stated. “Does everything you say have to be in technical term?”

“And what’s wrong with how I do things?” Twilight said in a hurt tone.

“What I mean is that not everything has to be technical with how things are.”

“If you’re both done arguing,” Spike said as he slowly walks toward the two girls with two plates of food in his hands. “I hope you’re ‘yawn’ hungry cause I made us breakfast.”

“Thanks Spike.” Starlight said as she rubbed her hands together and just as she was about to dig in Spike’s sandwich.

“You both washed your hands right?” Spike asked in a stern tone making the mares pout at the question.

“Of course we did, what kind of animals do you take us for?” Starlight huffed.

“Ponies?” Spike stated sarcastically, all while giving off another yawn.

“Touche Spike.” Starlight said and couldn’t help but smile and giggle, Twilight smiling at her brother and her students banter stabbed her fork into her eggs and bit down enjoying the warm gooey taste. She then took another bite into them, but something felt off, curious she pulled what she thought was her food out of her mouth.

What Twilight pulled out wasn’t food but a half burned sock, she then looked at her plate and realized that one of socks was in her plate of food. She immediately screams and gets up from the table.

“eeww!” Twilight shouted as she turns to Spike. “Spike, is this one of your socks?” She asked him.

“Wait...those aren’t eggs?” Spike asked in confusion, still tired as hell. Meanwhile Starlight ends up biting into her sandwich and grimaces at the taste.

“This tastes like sweat and lotion, it’s probably the worst sandwich I’ve ever tasted, Spike what did you put in this?” Starlight then pulls out a bitten off pair of underwear from her sandwich. Her eyes widened at the realization she just ate a piece his of dirty underwear. “GROSS!!” She the throws the undies only for them to land on Twilight’s face.

“Aah eeew! Starlight!” Twilight shouted, throwing the underwear on the floor. She glared at the sheepish unicorn then turned back to Spike at the stove.. “Spike, what’s going on with you? Haven’t you been getting any sleep?

The dragon let out a deep yawn. “What’re ya tahking abut Twiright, I’m fine...I’m...” Spike yawned as his head slumped on his shoulders and the two mares soon hear light snoring coming from the dragon.

Twilight got up from her chair and walked up to the dragon, seeing him still asleep she attempts to wake him up. “Spike...Spiiiiike…” Twilight huffed as the drake kept snoring as he was still asleep. “SPIKE!!!” Twilight yelled surprising her brother awake.

“Hamaneggsequalsbuttertoast.” He said at a speed Pinkie Pie would be proud of. “Huh, wha...oh Twi you need something, I was just about to make breakfast.”

“Spike you just made breakfast already.” Twilight began, turning towards the table. “And not in a good way either.” She grimaced and then looked back into the dragon, her eyes full of concern for him.

“Spike this is the fifth time we’ve seen you fall asleep like this.” Starlight began, still grimacing at the fact she bit into his underwear. “First it was Fluttershy's bear cave, then it was Rarity’s wine cabinet, Applejack's washtub, then that party Pinkie threw and you fell asleep on the cake, and now this.”

“Seriously Spike,” Twilight followed up walking towards the young drake. “What’s gotten into you? You’re hardly getting your chores done, you’re half asleep most of the time, and if it’s not that then it’s where you’re literally feeding us your dirty underwear?” She looked into his droopy eyes feeling concerned for him.

Ever since a month ago Twilight and the girls tried to get Spike to tell them what has been going on but they never could get an answer out of him. He either dodged the question or made up an excuse about a chore he missed. Or make up on how he was planning game night with the guys just to not bring up what’s been going on, but the look on her face was telling Spike that the two had had enough.

“Twilight I told you that it-”

“Enough excuses already Spike!” She exclaimed, Twilight was serious this time Spike realized she was putting her hoof down and wasn’t going to let it go until he told the truth. “This has gone on long enough! You haven’t slept much if at all for the past month and the girls and I have been worried sick trying know why you’ve been avoiding us. I’m your sister for Celestia’s sake and I just want to know what’s going on because we care about you. Don’t you trust us... don’t you trust me?” She asked him softly, her ears sagging down and a small frown overcame her muzzle, she felt so powerless not knowing what to do to help Spike when he wouldn't accept any, she thought she was failing him as both a friend and as her family.

Spike was stunned at the last statement Twilight said to him. He looked at his older sister and saw the sad gloomy frown she gave him, she almost looked on the brink of tears as she stared at him. Spike sighed as he knew he couldn’t keep this bottled up anymore.

“Okay Twilight I'll tell you what's really going on. But you're not gonna interrupt me until I'm finished talking, okay?” Spike said making Twilight smile at him while Starlight nods in agreement.

“Deal, now start telling me what's wrong.” Twilight said as she sat down and summoned a notepad and pencil to take notes.

“Are the notes necessary?” Spike raised his brow at her.

“I just thought it would be helpful, maybe look over on them in case there’s a connection.” She smiled sheepishly.

Spike sighed. “Twilight I love you and all but for once can we leave out taking notes on this please?” He pleaded her. Twilight nodded and lit up her horn placing the items down the table next to them, she turns back to the drake who seemed to be growing tense

Spike then slowly takes a deep breath and explains the strange nightmares he’s been having and how he can’t explain why they’re even happening. He did decide to leave the part out where the girls were all dead in various ways as well as the death of Princess Cadence and Shining armor. What he didn’t leave out what what this strange dragon was that he said was controlling his body and he couldn't do anything about it.

“Wow...must be that intense if it’s preventing you from sleeping.” Starlight added, looking back at the poor drake.

“And this was the same nightmare you’ve been having?” Twilight asked, kneeling in front of Spike.

“Down to everything I just said.” Spike brought up. “I don’t know what it means, and I’m afraid of what it means for me and Equestria…..I’m scared of turning into a monster Twi.”

She wrapped her arms and wings around him hoping to comfort him. “I’m sure we can figure something out.” Twilight told him softly. “But Spike, you can’t keep going on like this, it’s not healthy for you.”

“Wouldn’t Princess Luna see his nightmare and maybe dispel it?” Starlight suggested. “She could easily make this go away.”

“Would be a good idea, but she and Princess Celestia are away on Royal business right now.” Twilight began. “Something about making a new trade route to not have to deal with raiders in Saddle arabia and the other neighboring kingdoms.”

“Guess it’ll be awhile depending on how well the talks go down.” Starlight followed up. “Twilight, maybe you could try something.”

“I don’t have control over the dreamscape like Princess Luna does, that’s part of her special talent while my role is in magic and being the princess of friendship.” Twilight followed up. “There isn’t much I can do.” Her brow furrowed as she soon thought on who else could help the dragon for a few moments, then with a burst of inspiration she thinks of one pony or zebra in this case for this situation. “but maybe Zecora might be able to help you.”

“Zecora?”

“Maybe she could make something for you to help you go to sleep without the nightmares bothering you.”

“Yeah, didn’t you mention she made some type of potion only for alicorns that you took a while back?”

“Yeah she did. Maybe she can make an elixir that can cure you of your nightmares.” Twilight followed up smiling.

“I guess I’ll go and see Zecora then.” Spike said as he sat up and stretched his limbs.

“We should go with you Spike.” Starlight said, but Spike held out his hands.

“I think it’s best that I go see Zecora by myself.” Spike began. “I’m not sure what is going on with these nightmares but I need to see this for myself.”

“Alright Spike.” Twilight nodded in agreement. “Just try to be careful ok?”

“Sure, don’t worry you two I’ll be just- HHMMFF just...HMMFF BURRRPPP!” Spike didn’t get to finished what he was trying to say as he suddenly belched out a green flame and a letter with a golden stamp formed from the flames. “..Ugh those things always come out of nowhere.” He grumbled.

“Huh it’s a letter from princess Celestia and Luna, wonder what it says.”

“Well as much as I want to hear the letter, I gotta get going to Zecora’s.” Spike said as he walks over to the open door behind him. “Hopefully she can do something about these nightmares.” Spike then grabbed his jacket off the hanger and walked out of the castle towards the everfree forest.

“Guess that just leaves us with the letter.” Twilight began. She opens the letter and reads it aloud.

My young princess Twilight Sparkle

I wanted to let you know that the council meeting and it’s negotiations went very smoothly between Yakistan, Sequestria, the Changeling Kingdom, and the Gryphon Kingdom. My Sister and I currently on our way back to Canterlot and should be arriving either later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Yours Truly, Princess Celestia.

The girls looked at each other happy yet surprised by how well the council negotiations went considering how some of the races act towards equestria.

“I guess this means that the school played a part in this.” Twilight began.

“That reminds me, the school has been going great lately.” Starlight began with a smile. “A lot more students have been attending the school. I’ve heard that that tribe of kirins Fluttershy and Applejack discovered wanted to integrate a few of their subjects into equestria and the school itself.”

“This would boost pony and dragon relations as well.”

“I thought they weren’t dragons.” Starlight inquired.

“They’re hybrids that hid themselves away for years.” Twilight added. “But seeing Celestia and Luna are returning, hopefully we can figure out what's been going on with Spike.”

“I hope so.” She added.

-Ponyville-

Ponyville was going through it’s normal days as Spike was walking through town. He was still looking very tired, but needed to power through this if he was going to get any help. Spike lets out another yawn as he walks through town towards the Everfree Forest hoping that Zecora would have something to help stop his nightmares.

He didn’t notice some of the ponies giving him strange looks as they were wondering on why he was stumbling around, to some of the ponies watching him it looked like he was walking drunk after taking hard cider. Spike ignored their bewildered stares and continued walking to his destination. He was about to reach the path to the Everfree Forest, until a large pink blob tackles him out of nowhere knocking the wind out of him.

He was on the floor as he also felt something soft yet large on top of him. When he gained his bearings he realized, that it was none other than ponyville’s premier party planner Pinkie pie. Who now was pressing her large breasts into his face, shaking off the dizziness Spike was getting a rather enjoyable free motorboat of the mares chest. Looking down Pinkie notices the drake between her breasts and gives him a thousand watt smile seeing one of her favorite friends.

“Hi Spike! I’m suuuuuper glad to see you.” She chirped standing over the drake, while unknowingly giving him an interesting view at what she was wearing. Pinkie was currently wearing a yellow midriff sports bra squeezing her bountiful pair of II cup breasts making them look even bigger, a sweat band wrapped around on her forehead almost being swallowed by her monster of a pink mane, and a pair of light blue yoga pants that almost made his heart stop and his wings flutter on the verge of a wingboner as they almost looked painted on morphing to her large voluptuous cheeks.

“Are you ok Spike, I didn’t hurt you did I?” She asked, causing the drake to shake himself back awake.

Spike snapped out of his moment of staring snapping himself back to reality. ‘One day that body of hers will be the death of me, of course I wouldn’t mind if it were between her... Ugh stupid that’s your best friend your thinking of.’ He sighed to himself until he felt a pair of arms pick him up and give him a tight hug.

“Pinkie what are you doing?”

“You looked like you could use a hug, I hate it when my friends look or feel sad. Sorry I fell on you.” She said letting go.

“No harm done, what happened anyway?”

“Oh I was just out taking a short run when all of a sudden WHOOSH I slip on a banana peel in the middle of the road.”

“Why would somepony throw a banana peel on the road?” He groaned drowsily. A loud crash was heard as the two then saw a monkey run past them while holding several bananas then throwing away a peel while a Stallion runs past them slipping on the peel. He gets back up and chases after the monkey.

“Get back here with my bananas you damn dirty ape!” He shouted chasing it down the street while the two friends look on in surprise.

“I think Fluttershy needs to take care of the monkeys, cause they seem to be acting out again.”

“Huh that explains how I lost my hairbrush, I just thought gummy took it.” She giggled.

“Why would….ugh never mind, I’m too tired to think.” Spike grumbled to himself.

“Pinkie darling, are you alright?” A posh voice called out from the horizon. Spike’s face turned slightly pink as he recognized that voice all too well. He and Pinkie turned towards the voice and the sounds of hoofsteps behind them and they see Rarity running towards the two in a panic.

Spike always considered Rarity, a true beauty of a mare as he takes notice of her current attire she was wearing. She had on a purple and black running suit that outlined her figure quite nicely along with her cutie mark stitched at the hips which seemed to make the suit stretch a little in that area. When it came to Rarity, she and everyone else in town that knows her considered her body a temple, and her hourglass figure was proof of that with how she’s filled out over the years.

Her breasts where the perfect size at what appeared to be FF size with no sag and staying very perky on her chest, and if he looked down he could see the trim stomach she always worked so hard to keep. Followed by a pair of nice hips that sensuously swayed from side to side connecting to where her ass was it almost looked as if a master mason sculpted them to perfection, two firm globes contained by the thin cloth as they from what Spike could tell bounced just a little every now and then while walking.

‘Of all the days, why in Celestia and Luna’s manes did she have to wear ‘THAT.’ He groaned hoping that his twin spires don’t make an appearance from the show he was getting.

“Pinkie deary are you alright?” She said. “That was quite the fall you took earlier.”

“I’m fine Rarity.” She smiled, stretching her limbs while unwittingly giving Spike a show of her bountiful figure, her buttcheeks clenched as she stretched making them look like a soft pair of buns that go on forever, while she raised up her arms in air squeezing her large chubby breasts making them look even bigger while giving a large amount of cleavage making him gulp in as he couldn’t help but stare at the earth pony.

“You need to be more careful darling or you might hurt somepony.” She admonished noticing a couple of splotches of dirt on her tracksuit. She was about to rant to her about proper care of her outfit when she noticed the purple drake standing in front of them.

“Oh Spike dear I’m so glad to see you out of the castle.” She beamed at him. That snapped him out of his earlier trance as he looks up at Rarity. She immediately looks at Spike and sees the dried up worn out look he had for quite awhile. “My goodness Spike, you look absolutely dreadful.”

“It’s from lack of sleep.” Spike explained as he tried to stand up. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t look fine darling.” Rarity stated firmly as she picked up Spike in a blue aura and carried the young drake towards her face. “You’ve been like this for over a month, and it’s starting to be troubling.”

“You’re not hiding anything from us are you?” Pinkie asked as she and Rarity looked Spike directly in the eyes, their stares boring into him causing the drake to sweat.

“Could you let me down first please.” He told them, Rarity then placed him back on his feet and stared at him, waiting for him to answer what’s been going on. Spike sighed knowing he had no choice. He told them the nightmares that he’s been having but he can’t explain, making sure to leave out the deaths of his friends like before. Both mares looked at Spike and are shocked at why he was having such horrible nightmares and never said anything.

“Why have you never told anypony about this?” Rarity asked in shock.

“I honestly thought that it was just some random dream, but I’ve been having the same one over and over again.” Spike said with a sigh as he sits down on a bench. “Luna isn’t in Equestria at the time so I couldn't get much help from her.” He finished. “Now I’m heading over to Zecora’s to see if she has a potion that might help with my nightmares.”

“Did Twilight suggest seeing her?” Rarity asked.

“Of course.” Spike added. “She did make those potions for Twilight to see the past when Discord left those weird seeds of his.”

“I still think Discord needs more oversight.” Rarity grumbled crossing her arms under her bosom. “Last week he thought it would be funny to make a few of my designer fabrics disappear.”

“Yikes, they weren’t too important were they?”

“They were for an order Fleur de lis wanted that was due in a couple days. Thankfully Fluttershy convinced him to change them back in time. She sure knows what to do with him I just don’t know how.”

“Fluttershy does know how to reign him in when he acts out.” Pinkie followed up with a bubbly smile. “He’s whipped whenever she disapproves his antics.” She giggled.

“At least.” She added. “Anyways Spike, I do hope that whatever is troubling you is taken care of soon. I’d hate for you to keep going on like this.”

“That makes two of us.” Pinkie chimed in. “I want to throw you a ‘Feeling Better from Your Nightmares party’ for when you get better.”

“Don’t worry girls I’ll be ok,” Spike said, standing up from his spot. “I just hope Zecora can do something about these nightmares. ‘YAWN’ Man I’m sleepy I’ve hardly slept these past few weeks.”

“OOH I have just the thing to perk you right up.” She added, reaching into her pink fluffy mane and pulls out a small cylindrical item that had a strange horn at the end. “Close your eyes Spike.”

‘Sigh’ “It’s not gonna explode is it, cause I swear if you- ‘HOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNKKKKKK!!!’ “WAAAAAHHH” Spike screams as he jumps straight through the air in complete shock, leaving both Pinkie and Rarity on the ground. Rarity only sighs as she turns to Pinkie.

“Was that really necessary Pinkie?” Rarity said, turning to her giving a deadpan stare.

“It woke him up didn’t it?” She smiled. “Plus it looked like he really needed it. So are we gonna get back to our jog or not?”

“Oh Pinkie…” She sighed, rubbing her temples. “I just hope Spike doesn’t get himself hurt.”

-Sky-

A Blue streak was flying through the sky and was performing tricks through the air as it cleared out stray clouds in the sky. It made a few loops, zigzags,and then made a dive towards the remaining clouds until a purple blob was seen heading towards a collision course into each other.

Spike was skyrocketing in the air thanks to the jumpscare he got from Pinkie, until he sees a blue object flying towards him. He was flying towards the blue object and crashes head first into it. He heard a tomboyish groan, but his ears were ringing from the impact of the collision as he rubs his head from the painful collision. After that, he would look around to see that he was in the sky. In a panic, he grabs onto anything that was nearest to him and what he felt was something firm, yet covered with fur and it felt like it was moving.

‘What’s up with this pole?’ Spike thought to himself.

“Uh, you do realize you have wings right?” A tomboyish voice called out making Spike open his eyes. Looking up he found the magenta eyes of Ponyville's daredevil extraordinaire, wonderbolt and weather team captain Rainbow Dash who was now giving him an annoyed stare.

“Oh uh sorry Rainbow.” Spike said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

“What’s the big idea flying into me like that dude?” She asked crossing her arms.

“Yeah, that was from Pinkie blowing an air horn into my face which scared me half to death.” Spike replied. “Something about trying to wake me up.”

She chuckled. “Ha I wish I was there to see it in action that would’ve been the funniest prank ever.” Her smile then faded into an unamused frown. “But if waking you up was having you crash into me while I was working on a few tricks, then congratulations....it worked.” She said slightly annoyed.

“I didn’t think I would crash into you.” Spike replied. “Plus how is it my fault that Pinkie literally spooked me.”

“Hehehe relax dude I’m just messing with you.” She grinned. “So what can ponyville's awesomest flier do for you today?”

“You can be a real pain in the ass sometimes Dash.” Spike replied unamused. “Well I was on my way to Zecora’s to grab a potion from her to deal with some nightmares I’ve been having the past month.

“Must be pretty bad if you’re heading to her place. You look like a herd of minotaurs stampeded over you.” She added, crossing her arms smirking.

“Gee thanks…” Spike replied with a groan. He then sighed. “It’s worse than that really.”

“Let me guess; is it where you think Twilight was going to kick you out and banish you from ponyville, or is where you find out Rarity is sleeping with Blueblood?”

“Are you sure that’s not her type of nightmare instead of mine?” He raised a brow. “Plus you and I both know what that pompous asshole did to her at the gala.” He growled.

“Okay, wasn’t trying to get your panties in a bunch Mr knight in shining scales.” She added. “Why don’t we find a place to sit down and we’ll talk about it?”

“I guess that’s ok.” Spike agreed.

“Cool.” Rainbow Dash followed up with a boastful tone. She then wrapped her tail around his waist and dashes for the nearest cloud and both individuals sit down on the cloud.

“Okay, so what’s on your mind?” She asked wrapping her arm over his shoulder. Spike was about to say something when he froze for a few moments and took notice of the cyan flier. He never thought much of Rainbow Dash due to her tomboyish nature, but she was always well fit when it came to performing. What the dragon noticed now was that her chest seemed bigger than he remembered as was her flank seemed very fit and tight which he liked since it gave both a strong yet feminine figure for her in her shorts. Her Sports bra he noticed was a little tight for her large G-cup breasts as the fabric morphed to form two large mounds that seemed to have two small protrusions poking out. Spike couldn’t help but wonder what they might look like when hard.

“See something you like little guy?” She teased, leaning forward while fluttering her eyelashes at him.

Spike snapped out of his staring and blushed deep red. “Oh uh no no...I..I.” He then faltered and heard light snickering that turned into full blown laughter.

“Hahahaha oh man sometimes you’re just too easy sometimes.” She added, still laughing her flank off. Spike just turns back to her unamused.

“Okay, that was not funny.”

“Chill man I’m just joking, but seriously what’s been bothering you? You were half the time walking like the dead or sleeping wherever in ponyville, and I’m the one who usually naps a lot.”

“Before I answer that, maybe you can answer my question.” Spike began. “I never really noticed this before, but you looked bigger than I remember no offense.”

Rainbow looked at Spike in slight confusion then. “What- OH SHIT!!!” She finally notices her assets being out and about. “CRAP!! DON’T LOOK AT ME!!!”

“Weren’t you teasing me with those on you earlier?” Spike asked in confusion.

“I wasn’t aware you saw that until now!!!” She exclaimed. ‘I can’t believe I forgot to wear my necklace of all times.’ She complained to herself.

“Okay, why are you acting all flustered towards me after you just got me blushing just a few seconds ago?”

“Nothing okay?” Rainbow Dash said getting defensie as she was rummaging through her duffle bag. “Come on where is it?” She muttered.

“Where’s what?” Spike asked curiously.

“Nothing ok?” She snapped.

“Hey, I’m trying to open up a little here with what has been going on with me, and you can’t bother to do the same?”

“It’s something personal I’m dealing with ok, so can ya just leave me alone?”

“I’m trying to explain on why I’ve been having issues with my lack of sleep but you just clam up about your sudden breast growth. How exactly is that being a fair friend?” He accused her. Rainbow stopped searching for her necklace stunned by Spikes words, she sighed knowing she wasn’t being fair to him and fell on her back staring up at the sky wondering how she was going to tell him about her secret.

“I wasn’t as small in the chest area as everypony thought okay?” She admitted. “The reason why nopony saw was my bust was like until now because, I wore a magic necklace that reduces my size to what you and the girls normally see. Then again, Fluttershy still puts everymare in Ponyville to shame I mean have you seen her?.”

“Yeah, sometimes I wonder how she’s able to fly around with those things considering how big she is.” Spike remarked.

“Yeah, I just wish mine were smaller so I don’t have to worry about that stupid rule.” She lamented.

“Why would you do that?” Spike asked in confusion.

“What, hide it? Why else?” She added. “Everyone knows that I wanted to be a wonderbolt and that necklace was the only way I could get in.”

“Seriously, that’s the problem?” Spike said incredulously.

“You’re missing the point.” She exclaimed. “They have a bust limit from b-cup to a c-cup at best. Go beyond that point, you won’t be allowed to enter the wonderbolts.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, there’s no way that’s a rule in the wonderbolts.”

“Don’t believe me.” Rainbow then set down her duffel bag on the cloud and began rummaging around inside until she pulled out a small worn out book and placed it in Spikes hands.

“Chapter 5, section 18, paragraph 42b, you’ll find it there.” She added. Spike then opened the book and found the specific page that Rainbow Dash mentioned and that’s when he saw the new rule.

“In order for any pegasi to register as an official team member of the Wonderbolts flight squadron, all mares within evaluation before their training begins must retain a measurement of their bustline to an approximate 34 C-cup size or under. Any measurement that exceeds this, will automatically bar the applicant from officially joining within the ranks of the Wonderbolts and render their application to the academy null and void.” Spike read aloud, and when he finished he was shocked that such a rule like that was in the handbook.

“That’s the problem I have with this rule.” Rainbow Dash frowned while her wings sagged behind her. “It would bar me from ever being a Wonderbolt again if my secret ever got out. That’s why I wear this necklace so I can stay.”

“Wouldn’t your team understand about your issue?” Spike asked.

“Did you forget about what happened to me over the stupid nickname I was given?” Rainbow Dash asked him. “ Really doubt they’d be understanding since they can be pretty strict.” She sighed.

“Well if it bothers you that much, I’ll keep your secret.” Rainbow jerked her head to the side looking at Spike in disbelief while he simply smiled at her.

“Really, you mean it?”

“Of course. I know how much being in the Wonderbolts means to you, so I’m not going to jeopardize that over something like this. I mean what kind of a friend would I be if I did?” He smiled.

Rainbow Dash got pretty happy when she heard him say those words. Out of instinct she ends up grabbing the young drake and flat out hugs him. She felt him not trying to resist, then she looks down to see that his head was literally trapped in her heavy bosom.

“Oh uh sorry my bad…” She added, letting go of the blushing dragon. “Let’s just pretend that didn’t happen ok?”

“‘YAWN’ I’m too exhausted to think about anything.” Spike replied sleepily rubbing his eyes.

“Hold on a second…” Rainbow Dash said as she reached into her duffle bag. She was rummaging through it for a few moments until she pulled out a bottle with a squirt cap on it.

“Here, drink this.” She told him. “Might help you out with the drowsiness you keep having.”

“Thanks.” He took the bottle and began to chug it all until a drop was left from it. A minute passed and Spike soon felt like he had the biggest sugar rush ever, his eyes shot wide open as his whole body was soon buzzing with energy, he felt completely refreshed. “Whoa, holy Celestia what kind of drink was that?”

“Oh just a special blend Gilda showed me back in flight camp. She wouldn’t tell me what was in it but she said it would help me whenever I feel wiped from flying. I’ve been keeping a stash of this stuff she mails me every two months.”

“Well tell her I said thanks.” Spike replied as he stood up and stretched his legs still feeling bursting with energy.. “This stuff does wonders.”

“Okay, now start talking. Why’d you look such a mess earlier?” Rainbow Dash asked sitting in indian style. Spike sat back down and explained to her the nightmares he was having that were keeping him up at night, and how he can’t explain on why they were happening. Spike left out the part where the girls were killed, but further explained on how this creature he turns into was attacking everything around him, not caring who he harmed or what.

“Geez… guess this explains why you keep falling out.” Rainbow Dash replied. “These nightmares sound pretty bad if they're keeping you up like that.”

“Yeah, It’s why I was going to go see Zecora since Princess Luna isn’t in Equestria right now.” Spike added.

“Okay, I hope this clears up for you.” She added, standing up from her the cloud, and slipping her necklace around her neck. A magical energy from the neck then shot through her body, and her bust and butt starting shrink down to a more manageable size.

“Thanks Rainbow Dash.” Spike said with a smile. “Well I gotta go.” He followed up by spreading his membranous wings and gets ready to take off, but is soon stopped by Rainbow Dash. “Hold up Spike.”

“What is it?” He asked.

“Just wanted to say thanks, you know for keeping my secret.”

“You do know the girls are gonna find out eventually, so it’d be best to tell them sooner rather than later.” Spike followed up.

“Yeah, I know.” She added. “See ya squirt.” Spike only sighs after hearing her call him that and soon takes off quickly for the Everfree Forest hoping to find the Zebra shaman. As he was flying away, Rainbow Dash only stared back at him with a smile on her face.

“If he wasn’t such a squirt, I’d probably consider dating him.’ She thought to herself as Spike left. She shook it off and continued to practice on her routine.

-Sky-

As spike flew through the sky, he was surprised at how much energy he was feeling. Whatever Gilda mixed in with the drink RD gave him, he didn’t feel exhausted anymore and felt like he could fly from Canterlot and back without trouble.

‘I should probably ask Gilda for the recipe to this energy drink of hers.’ Spike thought to himself. ‘Then again, I’m not sure what would happen if Twilight got a hold of this stuff.’ He shuddered at that thought, it would be neverending studying from dusk to dawn and he could already see the mountains of books, notes, and lists she would’ve done if she had her hands on the drink Rainbow gave him. ‘Yeah...maybe I should ask just for a few extra bottles from her.’

Spike continued to fly towards the Everfree Forest, until he spotted that he now was flying over rows and rows of apple trees, Spike smiled realizing where he was now.

“Huh I must be over Sweet Apple Acres right now.” He said to himself. He flaps his wings and took his time by gliding through the air wanting to revel in the calm serenity he felt whenever he got a chance to fly which wasn’t often for him ever since his nightmares started. He was shaken out of his reverie when a strong gust of wind suddenly throws him off balance to the side.

“Woah!” He shouted as he tried to regain his flight pattern, but the gust of wind suddenly battered him again and begins tumbling into a downward spiral towards the farm. Spike couldn’t stop the dive in time and he soon hit a tree and saw nothing but black.

-2 hours later-

“Groan’ My head…’” Spike thought to himself. Spike wakes up with a splitting headache as the sounds of chirping birds stirred him from his slumber. Whatever he was laying on was surprisingly soft, he then sits up to find himself in a room that felt familiar to him. He looks down to see that he was on a bed as well.

“When did I fall asleep?” Spike said to himself.

“You weren’t asleep sugarcube…” A female southern voice called out making him jump in surprise. He turns to where the voice came from and turns to see one of the southern belles of the Apple Farm.

“Applejack?” Spike asked in confusion, while the orange mare just smiles. She gets up from her chair and stands up stretching her limbs.

“Howdy Spike.” She greeted in her usual southern accent. Spike soon gets distracted by her the Apple farmer looked. Despite being built like an amazon from all the farm work her family does, she was still very gorgeous to many of the stallions and some of the mares of ponyville. Her emerald green eyes held a piercing gaze to whoever looked into them, her body was supported by a pair of strong well muscled arms and legs thanks to all the applebucking and work she did around the farm.

Her golden blonde mane fell down on her like golden silk around her face. Which was dusted with white freckles on her cheeks and down to her lower back while a red hairband tied it in a ponytail. Her tail was fashioned the same way with the same hairband tying it into a ponytail. What caught the dragon's eye the most was the earth pony’s surprisingly huge chest, she was what he could guess a HH cup. The only thing that was covering her voluptuous body was her blue coveralls and she didn’t seem to be wearing a top under it, and her trademark simple worn out stetson hat rested on top of her head. To the dragon she was pretty attractive for a pony like her as he couldn’t help but appreciate her looks and figure.

“Equestria to Spike?” Applejack replied, causing the dragon to shake from his daydream.

“Huh...wha…?” He added in confusion.

“Y’all feeling alright?” She asked again.

“Uh...yeah I’m fine.” Answered still struggling from the splitting headache he got. “What exactly happened? Last thing I remember was being hit by a strong gust of wind.”

“Funny ya mention that.” She added as she took out some aspirin and put it in a glass of water. “Ya actually came barrelin down like a pegasus who bit off more than they could chew.”

“Was is that bad?”

“Ya not only hit a tree, and cut through most of our crops, but there’s now a large dragon sized hole in the barn. You wound up unconscious cause of it.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.” He groaned. “So how long was I out?”

“Bout a couple of hours.” Applejack replied. “Big mac brought ya in and none of us were sure what you were trying to do.”

“I need to ask first why you’re only wearing coveralls?” Spike asked in confusion. Applejack was at first confused until she looked down and her bust constrained in her coveralls.

“Oh. Ah was in the middle of laundry and Big Mac was out in the field when ya came in.” She added. “You did trash most of the clothes we had, so we’re redoin’ laundry.”

“Oh… I’m sorry I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Don’t worry about it Spike.” She added with a cheerful smile. “What happened was an accident and it’s alright. Now about mah earlier question.”

“I was actually trying to go see Zecora and I got hit by a strong wind that threw me off balance.” He answered. “Where am I by the way?”

“Yer in Appleboom’s room.” Applejack followed up. “She went out with her friends before you arrived so no use trying to ask where she is.”

“Okay, also sorry about what happened.” He replied.

“Don’t worry about it sugarcube.” She replied with a smile on her face. “By the way, why were ya goin to see Zecora out in the Everfree Forest?”

“Oh uuuhhh… just Twilight asked me to go there as all.”

“Did she tell ya why?” Applejack asks, crossing her arms under her ample bosom while giving Spike a stern look.

“She...uh, asked me to go get her favorite tea from her and to ask for a couple of her potions she needed for her research.

“Uh huh, so what kind of potions did she want from her specifically?”

“Um sheeee, needed one that would help her with some late night research that she’s been working on.” He smiled nervously.

“Really now,” Applejack then leans forward glaring deep into Spike’s eyes as he started to sweat profusely as her stare.was boring deep into his soul. “Knowing Twilight, the minute she gets whatever yer tryin to get from Zecora, she would sleeping under a pile of books after staying up fer days.”

“Right…”

“You’d have probably denounced the idea for her sake so ah find it strange that you’d be willin’ to do this for her knowing the risks. I know yer hidin something Spike.”

“That obvious?” Spike replied in a defeated tone.

“Spike, ya know ahm the element of honesty and how ah can tell if anyone is lyin’ to me or not.” Applejack replied. “What ah don’t get is why ya even tried.”

“It’s personal okay?” Spike said trying to change the subject.

“Spike, ah understand that ah’ve been open to ya for quite awhile. It’s only fair if ya tell me what’s been goin on at least.” Applejack said sincerely. “Y’all do know that whatever it is, if ya don’t want to bring it up to the others, I’ll pinkie promise not to say anything to anypony else.”

“You...mean that?” He asked.

“Cross mah heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in mah eye.” She doing the gesture.

Spike felt conflicted. He wanted to not worry AJ about his problem but he also knew how she was always been honest both to him and all of his friends. He thought of denying about it to her, but knew that she’ll see right through him and continue asking him about what’s been going on.

Spike then sighed knowing this will be the third time he had to tell one of the girls. “I’ve..been having some nightmares AJ. It’s been going on for the past month and I’ve hardly got any sleep because of it. And before you ask I would send a letter to princess Luna but she and Celestia are at a council meeting with the other royal leaders and I don’t know when they will be back.”

“So you figured Zecora would have sum kind of potion or something to help with your nightmares?” She deduced

“Yeah pretty much, I was on my way after I got an energy drink from Rainbow Dash.”

“No wonder you looked so wired, did she give ya a bottle that she said she got from Gilda every two months?”

“Yeah, I drank the whole hoping it would-”

“Hold on ya did what now?!” She said wide eyed. “Ya drank the whole bottle?”

“Uh yeah, is that bad?”

“If ya want ta be flying around like a roadrunner that grew wings on a racetrack then yeah.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Sugarcube ya haven’t seen what Dash put in her body so I would advise ya not to drink that much of that stuff if ya know what’s good for ya.”

Spike grimaced thinking how much of the stuff Rainbow gave him and noted that next time he should try to go light on the drink next time he uses it.“Ok I’ll keep that in mind AJ, thanks. I just hope nothing bad happens when this stuff wears off.”

“Hope ya do sugarcube.” Applejack replied. “So ya headin over to Zecora’s right now?” She asked him.

“Yeah I still need to see if she’s got anything for my nightmares, I just hope she can do something about it.”

“Ah’m sure if anypony can it’d be Zecora there, she can make anything that can cure anyone.” She smiled as he grabbed his jacket and walked out of Apple Bloom's room and outside of the farmhouse making sure his wings got through the slits in the back he turned back to her.

“Thanks Applejack for the help, and for the talk too.”

“Don’t mention it Sugarcube. Y’all come back now ya hear?” She smiled to him.

“Will do AJ, see you later.” Spike spread his wings and started flapping until he got high enough in the air and headed over to the Everfree hoping that nothing else got in his way while getting there.

Applejack smiled as she watched Spike fly away towards the Everfree Forest.

‘He sure has a strong heart for a guy like him.’ She thought to herself walking back to her home. She opens the door and finds a familiar smell of Apple Pie coming out of an oven fill her nostrils.

“That’s a familiar smell.” She smiled walking into the kitchen.

“That young stallion sure is something isn’t he?” An old craggy voice called out. Applejack turned around and saw an old earth pony mare slowly walking down the steps on a cane. She had a faded green coat, her hair and tail were white and her cutie mark was a pie on her shoulders. Her skin was wrinkly but her bright orange eyes spoke age and a fiery spirit within the mare.

“What da y’all mean granny smith?” Applejack asked the old mare.

“Ah mean young’n that he’s the perfect kinda stallion for my granddaughter.” She smirked.

“Ya mean Applebloom, but they’re just friends.” She pointed out, only to earn a bonk on the head from Granny Smith from her cane.

“Ah mean you.” She replied, making Applejack double take in surprise while she rubbed her head.

“ME?!” Applejack exclaimed. “But granny he’s so small and not ta mention he’s just a colt.” She told her only to get another bonk from her wooden cane. “OW! What was that fer?”

“That was me knockin’ some sense into ya sonny.” She scolded her. “I may be old but I sure as much know far better than you that that there ‘colt’ as you call him is much older and mature than you’ve told me.”

“But-”

“But nothing youngster, from all the stories you and your friends told me and after everything that dragon has done here fer ya, he’s more stallion than anypony else I’ve met in this entire town. A dragon like that has certainly earned the right to marry my beautiful granddaughter here. She smiled proudly at her while Applejack blushed at her grandmother and her words.

“Ah guess ah didn’t think of it that much.”

“Well maybe if ya didn’t have yer head stuck in the chicken coop all the time, You'd've notice how much the young fella has grown.” She pointed out. “Ah mean if’n I was yer age I would’ve jumped in the barn and claimed him right then an there.”

“GRANNY!!!” Applejacked yelled blushing red in embarrassment at her grandmother’s statement

“What, all I’m saying is he’s a good lookin young drake that any mare in this town would be lucky tah have. I know I would have if me and the girls were your age. Why I remember the time we all shared-”

“Please... for the love of Celestia and Luna... no more Granny.” The farmmare pleaded.

“Alright alright dear, I sometimes miss the old days when I was young like you and Applebloom. I kinda wish I was sometimes.” She sighed wistfully.

“I doubt you’d be going away anytime soon until ya see one of us have grand foals for ya to spoil.”

“Yer darn tootin I won’t be, now are ya gonna help me with the latest batch of goodies I made for or are yah gonna stand there daydreamin about yer future husband?” She teased.

“Granny…” Applejack complained.

“Oh alright I’ll stop, just remember what ah said ok dear?” The old earth pony asked her.

“Yes granny I will.” She agreed. And followed her to start on their chores, but she couldn’t help repeat her grannys words in her mind and how much they affected her and her view on Spike.

‘Maybe Granny is right about Spike, he’s strong, mature, helpful, kind, hands-.’ Applejack shook her head at that last thought and followed her grandmother inside the house to do their chores.

-Trixie’s Trailer-

Spike left Sweet Apple Acres with some new found confidence since Applejack was somewhat understanding of his problem, but he hopes that Zecora would be willing to help him on his current situation. He flew along the treeline bordering between the Everfree and ponyville looking for the path he and the girls always took to visit her.

He kept flying along for several minutes when he started hearing a series of loud bangs and explosions happening.

“What in equestria?” He muttered in confusion when he heard a loud explosion and a fiery streak soared into the air and started to fly around erratically until it’s course changed direction and was now heading for Spike, he widened his eyes in surprise but couldn’t turn away in time. The fiery projectile came closer and closer until.

‘FLASH BOOM’

“AGH MY EYES!!!” He cried.

A very bright and very loud explosion erupted right in front of Spikes face completely blinding him, disoriented he was unable to fly properly and began to lose altitude quickly with no way of knowing where he’ll land. A few moments later the dragon felt the hard patchy earth slam into him as he landed hard into the ground knocking the wind out of him and felt the smooth yet rough feel of grass and dirt as he skidded to a stop. Spike groaned dazed and slightly bruised along with his earlier injury now starting to flare up again he felt the pain reverberate through his body but luckily for him he didn’t feel any broken bones.

‘Uuuggghhh thank Celestia dragons are very durable.’ He thought to himself and winced as his bruising was starting to hurt more, he tried opening his eyes but instantly shut them as the blinding light still filled his vision making him groan once more.

Spike waited for a couple of minutes for his temporary blindness to wear off when he heard the unmistakable sound of hoofsteps crunching on the ground and heading in his direction until they stopped and a panicked voice that he was all too familiar with.

“Oh by Celestia’s tits Twilight is going to kill me, oh what am I gonna do? Spike if you have any sympathy for me please say something that tells me you’re alive.” The voice pleaded with him.

“Hi Trixie.” He groaned as the now identified mare was slightly relieved that he was still breathing but was still nervous about his sister finding out she was responsible for hurting him.

“Are you ok?” She asked tentatively.

“I’m lying in the dirt thanks to one of your rockets blowing up in my face, and this is the second time in a row I’ve crash landed into something today so how do you think I feel?” He deadpanned.

“Right sorry.” She smiled sheepishly. “Can you move, there’s nothing broken is there?”

“No just waiting for my sight to come back.” He sighed, then he sat up wiping his eyes he felt his vision coming back into focus and soon was looking at the 6’2 light blue coated unicorn mare. She had a light blue and silver mane with magenta colored eyes that were looking at him in concern. He then noticed she was wearing her normal stage outfit whenever she was performing on her shows or practicing. It was a strapless one piece top that hugged the mares generous curves from her firm and well form butt moving along her flat stomach and reached all the way up to her chest struggling to contain her FF cup breasts. It had a few laces in the front that held the upper portion of the top but it also created a large valley of cleavage that the dragon couldn’t help but stare at.

Spike then noticed a purple gloved hand waving in front of his face he shook out of his own staring and noticed she was looking at him with more concern now.

“Do you feel any better now Spike?” Trixie asked him looking him over for any other injuries he might have sustained and noticed some of the bandages on his head.

“What happened to you your all bandaged up.” She asked him worried.

“Huh, oh this was thanks to a large crosswind that made me lose control and land in Applejack’s barn.” He said pointing to the bandage.

“Well I’m glad you’re ok now.” She said, then her face stayed concerned.” Please don’t tell Twilight she’ll kill me if she finds out.

“Nah it’s cool. All that lightshow of yours did was disorient me a little and maybe a couple new bruises too. But other than that I’m feeling fine.” He smiled. “But don’t worry, I’ll just say that I lost control from a random wind current that threw me off course, ok.” He told her casually.

“Thanks Spike that’s the last thing Trixie- I mean ‘I’ need to worry about since most of the ponies besides Sparkle won’t talk to me.” She sighed.

“I know you’ve been changing for the better but I didn’t realize some of the town still doesn’t like you, that was like what two years ago?”

“”Yeah pretty much.” She frowned. “I tried showing them I changed but it always backfires.” She frowned while Spike looked at her feeling a little concerned for her, she shook her head and lightly smiled at him.

“Anyway that’s nothing you need to worry about, what brings you out here from ponyville?” She asked. “Does Twilight need something from me?”

“No I was actually on my way to Zecora’s...uh Twilight needed something from her and asked me to get it.” He smiled nervously.

Trixie looked at Spike a little skeptically. “Ok...and Twilight asked you to get…’something’ from Zecora what did she ask you to get?”

“Uh she needed a potion to keep her energized for some late night research on a major discovery she found.” He replied nervously.

“Really and she asked you to go and get it when she could’ve done it herself.” Her brow furrowed looking deep into his eyes while Spike gulped nervously.

“Uh y-yeah she was too busy on it to get it herself, so I figured being the good assistant I am I wanted to help her out.” He told her while inwardly he was praying she would buy his story and saw the mare giving him a stony faced glare boring into him.

After a few long silent moments Trixie dropped her glare and sighed. “Ok Spike I believe you I just hope Twilight takes it easy, we both know how carried away she can be.” She smiled.

“Heh, yeah she can be like that most if not all the time.” They both chuckled he couldn’t help but watch her expression brighten he liked to see his friends smile and be happy. He and Trixie weren’t that close like he was with the girls but he still likes hanging around her from time to time especially seeing her when she smiles at her performances or when she was down.

‘Huh she looks pretty when she smiles like that.’ He snapped out from the thought and decided to change the subject.

“So aside from all that drama, what was with all those fireworks before I crashed here?” He asked her.

“I’ve been practicing for my latest performance that I have scheduled later this week and have been preparing for it for the past few days.”

“And the fireworks?” He questioned.

“That was for my grand finale and when I activated the fireworks the tubes misfired and...well a few of them came loose and shot wildly...which is what hit you. I think I used too much flash powder….” She blushed in embarrassment. “Sorry about that by the way.”

“It’s ok it wasn’t your fault anyway.” He smiled at her. “Just don’t go throwing Fireworks at ponies.” He grinned.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She giggled.

“Well I need to get going, that potion isn’t going to get itself now.”

“Right, well I guess I’ll see you later Spike, tell the girls and Starlight especially that I hope to see them attend for my show.”

“Yeah, hope to see your performance this week, and I’ll make sure to let everypony know.” He replied as he walked along the path Trixie watched him walk away.

“Anyways I’ll see later Trixie, and this time I think I’ll walk instead of flying today.” He smiled and walked down the path. Trixie felt conflicted with guilt as she watched him walk away.

“Spike.”

The dragon turned around looking at the unicorn who had her arms folded and a nervous look on her face. “Do...do you still hate me for what I did back when I took over the town and enslaved everypony?” She had her head turned to the side and she appeared to be expecting the worse. Spike was surprised at her question and figured she got over it before already, but seeing the look on her face told him she hadn’t.

She turned back to the dragon and saw a small smile on his face, she was confused at first and then he spoke.

“Of course I don’t Trixie. I’ve forgiven you the night you left. After Twilight told me your apology, I wasn’t sure if you meant it. But I’m glad to know you changed when you came back to ponyville, you really came around Trixie I’m even glad we’re friends too.” He smiled. “So I don’t hate you I never did in the first place.” He still smiled at Trixie which left her surprised, after all this time he still managed to forgive her it touched something deep inside the unicorn and she couldn’t place what it was.

“Thanks Spike. That means a lot.”

“Sure. Anyways, I’ll see you later.” Spike followed up and leaves the showmare with a lot to think about. Trixie turned back to Spike as he walks away but notices something odd about him and thinks to herself on how much he’s grown.

‘When did his shoulders get so broad? Not to mention he does look cute for a dragon.’ She thought to herself but then quickly shook it off as he left on his own. Her face suddenly felt warm, she turns back to the stage to work on her performance blushing at her thoughts.
“Okay, what am I thinking?” She said to herself, trying to shake out of her thoughts. “I can’t be falling for him. And even if I was, he’s still under Twilight’s Care.” She muttered to herself and went back to practicing.

-Fluttershy’s Cottage-

Spike walked down the dirt path to everfree forest bordering ponyville. He was glad he didn’t have to worry about being carried by a gust of wind or falling face first into the ground from his sleepiness. Now he just hoped nothing else came up that would further delay him from getting to Zecora’s.

“Boy what a day, I really hope Zecora is home right now cause I don’t know how much more of a beating I can take after today.” He sighed to himself and thought back over the past month.

‘I wonder why I’m even having these nightmares anyway. I haven’t been sleeping well ever since then...or when Sludge was here.’ He curled his hands into fists tightly growling at the memory of him. ‘No don’t think about him Spike he doesn’t even deserve that.’

He sighed relaxing his fists and brushed one of his hands along his scalp now feeling conflicted when he started to think about the girls and how worried they all were for him he couldn’t help but smile a little at their concern for him.

‘I do have great friends don’t I...Maybe I should tell them everything when this mess is cleared.’ He thought to himself. ‘But why have I been seeing and thinking about them so differently, it’s not like I haven’t thought of them as attractive or romantically but that was mostly towards Rarity not the rest of my friends. It’s almost like…’ Spike shook himself out of that last thought. “C’mon Spike that’s ridiculous there’s no way you can be crushing on all of your closest friends.” He chuckled to himself feeling a little better thinking how ridiculous it sounded.

‘Either I need to do something about my crush on Rarity, find some more guy friends,...or I seriously need to get laid.’ He thought to himself and then let out a big yawn as his arms and wings drooped a little.

“Huh, I think the energy drink…’YYYAAAWWWNNN Rainbow gave me is starting to wear off..” He yawned again as he started to feel sluggish. He kept walking for a few more minutes while he felt more and more tired. Spike grew so tired he failed to notice a loud rustling to his left and when he turned his head a large two headed dog flew by him in a full sprint and the next thing he knew he was thrown off his feet and dragged roughly along the ground.

‘WOOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHH!’ He shouted as the canine sprinted along the path wildy and Spike was dragged along with it hitting several rocks, bushes and more dirt.

“THUD…”OW”...TWACK…”OOOHH”...THUD…”OW”...’CRACK’...’SPLASH’…”PTEW”...TWACK… CRACK…”AH FUCK”...THUD…”UUHH…” Spike was dragged for a what felt like hours to him when it was only a couple of minutes. Suddenly the panicked canine stopped and a second later, a loud crash was heard and Spike skidded to a stop lying face first to the ground.

He groaned as he tried to lift his head up only to send it back to the ground feeling some of his bruises start to flare up again. He then heard loud whimpering and slightly turned his head to the right and saw that it was a large dog with two heads, he realized that it’s an orthros one of those creatures Fluttershy found back at the Rainbow falls trade exposition.

He then noticed something seemed off with it, there was a large metal contraption attached around it’s torso and a what looked like a muzzle stuck on one of it’s heads along with a metal chain that ran all the way down to where his ankle is attached to it.

‘Huh guess that explains how I was dragged along with it.’ Spike mused.

“Oh my goodness you poor little thing!” A soft voice cried out as the dragon heard soft hoofsteps move towards him and the whimpering creature. Spike knew who exactly that was out of anypony in town. Ponyville's premier animal caretaker Fluttershy.

“Ssshhh sshh it’s ok little guy, there’s no need to be frightened now. Just relax and let me get that horrible thing off of you ok?” She said kindly and Spike heard the clattering of metal moving around until a loud clunk was heard and soon he started to feel the pull of the chain on his ankle. Spike then heard a gasp of surprise and looked to see a shadow loom over him, out of his peripheral vision he saw the mare standing over him with a very worried look on her face.

“Oh dear Celestia Spike are you ok, what happened to you?”

“That two headed mutt over there thought it would be fun to drag me around like a ragdoll.” He mumbled in both sarcasm and slight pain.

“You stay right there, don’t move ok.” Fluttershy was in full mother mode now, seeing both the poor animal and one of her closest friends looking very hurt. She first took off the chain tangled on the dragons ankle and with surprising strength lifted him up and placed him on the back of the orthros.

She then led the pair through the entrance of her home, Spike wanted to protest he could walk on his own but was too tired to argue now. He was then lifted off of the canine and laid gently on a couch. Spike looked around the cottage she lived in and found the glaring eyes of her pet bunny angel staring at him.

Spike gave the rabbit a hard look not in the mood for any of his antics when he felt a soft furry hand on his head. He turned to look into the turquoise eyes of the pegasus mare before him. Her brow was furrowed full of concern while right next to her was a medical bag she kept on hand and was pulling out some bandages, healing ointment, a magically controlled temperature compress, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and a case of antibiotic pills.

“How did this happen Spike?”

“Well I was walking to Zecora’s minding my own business when I felt my legs get pulled right out from under me and dragged along like I was a some toy. Then after a minute or so it finally stops and you show up.” He finished

“Oh my that must’ve been horrible, I’m sorry Spike that happened to you.” Fluttershy said while she administered some new bandages after taking the old ones off.

“How did you get these bandages in the first place?”

He sighed having to explain this situation twice already then began to tell her about most of the events that happened to him today.

“And that’s how I got ‘this’ on me.” He told her pointing at the bandage on his head cringing at the recent memory.

“That’s strange, I know Trixie wouldn’t do that.”

“Well first off I was heading to Zecora’s when one of her fireworks lost control and exploded in front of me, blinding me and causing me to crash.”

“Oh my.” She said.

“Yeah she explained to me that she was practicing for her performance this week and she was doing her finale when it kinda blew up in her face, and mine too.”

“Oh you mean her show she’s going to be doing this week?”

“Yeah she was hoping to see us there too. Says she worked pretty hard on it too from what I could tell.”

“Okay.” Fluttershy said as she stood up from her chair. “I’m at least glad you’re okay Spike, but why were you going to Zecora’s?”

“I’m going to see her because...I’ve been having nightmares for the past few weeks and I finally decided to go to her house and see if she has a potion that can put a stop to them.” Spike finished.

“Oh that’s horrible.” She frowned in worry. “But that does explain why you looked so tired all the time this month. How bad have these nightmares been.”

Spike paused and his mind brought him back to the horrifying and grisly images of his friends and the princesses lying dead on the ground and shuddered at the memory. Fluttershy saw this and grew more worried for the dragon as a haunted look washed over his face. Spike didn’t even get to respond when Fluttershy goes up and straight out hugs the frightened drake in her arms squeezing him tightly.

“Oh I’m so sorry Spike I just wish there was something I could do to help you.” She added, still hugging the young dragon closely.

Spike was frozen at the close contact. Out of all the girls that Spike knew in his circle, Fluttershy was the most top heavy. She was also the second tallest of the group next to Applejack as well and thanks to that it left her enormous chest right in front of his face. Spike only wonders how she is able to fly or even get off the ground with her JJ cup breasts hanging off of her. It also didn’t help with the short green tank top she was wearing on her currently as well as the denim shorts that hugged her jiggling curves.

Spike then remembered that time she helped with getting Cloudsdale water to make the clouds needed for the weather and how she was able to keep up with the other pegasi when they had at least 8 or more pegasi sick with feather flu or the time she filled in for Big Mac with the Ponytones when he lost his voice. Spike always knew Fluttershy was a lot stronger than she believed to be and he and the girls always did their best to support her. Spike face soon lit up red when he started to feel an erection trying to make itself known.

‘Down you insufferable twin-headed beast DOWN!’ He scolded himself praying to the royal sisters and whatever higher being that she won’t notice. The last thing he needed was scaring Fluttershy with his current arousal especially since he knew how sensitive she can be at times.

“Uh Fluttershy...air…”He managed to say. Fluttershy looked down seeing the dragons faced mashed between her breasts, she blushed and let him go feeling embarrassed at what she did. Spike then tried to compose himself hiding his bulge and waiting for it to deflate, hoping that Fluttershy wouldn’t see it.

‘Rainbow Dash was right about one thing; she does put every mare to shame here in ponyville.’ Spike then snapped out of his thoughts before they went further down the gutter of his mind.

“Sorry about that.” She blushed.

“It’s alright, at least it was something soft.” They both smiled at each other feeling the unease melt away a little. Spike then decided to change the subject before it got awkward for the both of them.

“By the way, what was up with that orthros earlier?” He asked her, a frown soon came over the mares face that left Spike nervous. Not because it was concern over him or the animal but a rare look of anger on the timid mares face that left him shuddering.

“I was minding my own business tending to the plants when I heard a crash and then a whimper from outside my home. I went out to find this poor little creature caught in this horrible trap and I think who it was.” She said walking over to the dog and petting him affectionately.

“Who?” Spike questioned.

“Poachers.” Her face darkened.

“Poachers?” Spike was confused now. “But I thought the princesses made it illegal in Equestria. I heard they're mostly found in either Griffonstone or in Zebrica and Minotuara?”

“They are Spike but here in Equestria, and they have some nerve coming here of all places.” She growled.

‘Whoa I never see Fluttershy this angry before... it’s kind of turning me on a little.’ He immediately shook his head at that thought. ‘Wait why am I thinking that what’s wrong with me?’ He then thought about what Fluttershy said to him before and frowned in worry.

“You think poachers might be out here?” He grew concerned at that thought.

“I do, and it makes me angry and sad at the same time thinking about what those monsters might be doing to those poor defenseless animals out there.”

“I’m not fond of them either.” Spike added, understanding where Fluttershy is coming from. “Can’t imagine that either, I heard rumors that some hunt dragons for their hides or teeth.” He shuddered. “At least that’s what I heard from Celestia and Luna.”

“Really? I thought they were just rumors. That’s just despicable.” Fluttershy fumed.

“Your telling me.” He agreed. “But one so close to ponyville of all places gives me the willies.” Spike shuddered and couldn’t help but wonder if the poacher was after him. Until he felt Fluttershy place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“There there Spike don’t worry about that now. I’m sure the princesses will be sending out their best to find them and make sure they won’t hurt anything ever again.” She told him giving the drake a light side hug.

Spike took a deep breath while the pegasus lightly stroked his arm hoping it would ease him in some way. Spike smiled at the gesture and enjoyed it for the moment as the two friends sat in silence for a few minutes. He then let out a large yawn still feeling the effects of the drink still wearing off.

“Thanks for the help Fluttershy.” Spike said as he stood up form the couch, and stretched his limbs feeling an eerie pop from his joints. “I just hope Zecora is home so I can put this to an end.” He told her walking out of her cottage.

Spike gives her a wave goodbye and leaves her happy animal filled home while Fluttershy only stares off in the distance from her window with a slight blush on her face.

‘Why does he have to be so cute?’ She thought to herself as she walked away from the window.

-Everfree Forest-

He touches down at the entrance of the forest and begins walking through, hardly anypony goes out to the Everfree Forest due to the strange creatures that lived here. True that most of little woodland creatures lived out here as well, but the more dangerous ones like the Manticore, Cockatrice, and Timberwolves lived out here, not to mention that hydra he and the girls encountered a few years back.

‘Okay, hopefully Zecora is in her home and she’ll have something for me.’ Spike thought to himself as he walked along the path to the hut of the zebra shaman. She was the only pony that lived out here and her reason for her being there is the exotic plants that only grow in the forest. Soon as he got his help, hopefully he can stop his friends from worrying about him and his nightmares.

He walks down the path and started thinking back to the girls and how they have grown closer together over the years and all the adventures they had together, he couldn’t help but wonder why he was acting strange. He wasn’t sure what’s been going on in his mind or why he was looking at them differently recently but it did confuse him. He never noticed the rest of the girls besides his crush on Rarity and wasn’t sure how this was happening to him or why, but he needed to do something about his nightmares first.

“Alright, one more turn and I’ll see her home.” Spike said to himself as he made one final turn to see Zecora’s hut in the thick trees. Spike was glad to see her home, but he needed to be sure that she was there. He walks up towards her window to she that she was indeed there, but he didn’t know that she was working on something.

“Okay.” He said to himself, walking back to her front door. He then proceeds to open it. “Hey Zecora!”

“AAAAGH!!!” Zecora screamed as the door slamming surprised her so much she dropped something she was holding in her hands that fell into her cauldron and a large explosion was soon heard. The room was soon covered in smoke and Spike and her were in a coughing fit.

“‘Cough cough’ Sorry Zecora, I didn’t know that you were bus-!!” Spike started off with an apology, but his face froze up and was soon bright red from what he was seeing.

“‘Cough’ ‘cough’ Have you gone mad?” Zecora groaned, glaring at Spike, but it soon turns to confusion when she notices his face as red as a rose. She then felt a breeze down below and looks down to see why the purple drake was so flustered. Her tribal clothing was burned off leaving her heavy breasts and pear shaped ass exposed for the drake to see. She didn’t seemed all that fazed by this and just crosses her arms when she looks at Spike and her curves slight bounce as she moved.

“Due to unexpected turn of events, I was not expecting any guests.” She said, as she nonchalantly walks into another room to retrieve her spare clothes. Spike’s face was still red after seeing Zecora’s HH cup breasts hanging out in the open. Bobbing up and down like two bouncy melons as she walked into the other room that he thought was her bedroom. Spike’s face was still flustered since she saw Zecora naked for the first time in his life and the image of her nude body was still fresh in his mind. The sounds of hoofsteps would soon get him out of his nerves and realized that Zecora was returning.

“Spike, would you care to explain why you arrived to cause me such disdain?” She added, walking back into the room with fresh clothing and wiping her face with a wet cloth to get most of the soot off of her face.

“Sorry Zecora, I didn’t mean to interrupt anything, the reason I came over here is because I need your help with something.”

“You’ve come to seek my aid?” She asked, leaning forward her breasts swaying into her tribal bikini. “Do tell me what is troubling you in these spades.” She walked up to him and to Spike Zecora was as tall as Applejack and has almost the same build as her only she seemed more curvy yet muscular than the earth pony. Still she was very attractive to look at especially with her large voluptuous butt that seemed slightly larger than her bust which the dragon couldn’t seem to stop staring at.

“Spike?” she asked again causing the drake to shake himself from his thoughts. “Is there something wrong?”

“Oh, sorry...Well first off I’ve been having trouble sleeping and was hoping you might have something that could help with it.”

“I see.” She added walking over to one of her shelves. She then climbed onto a small stool as she reaches upward for some plants and vials that she keeps well organized on the shelves. To Spikes surprise and embarrassment he realized that the Zebra wasn't wearing any underwear beneath her tribal skirt.

He could clearly see her dark ponut as well as her pink and gray marehood which was very puffy at her outer lips that he could just kiss and lick into all day. Spike immediately snapped himself out of his staring and looked the other way hoping his dicks were not showing through his pants.

“Spike, what ailments trouble you?” She added, walking back to the blushing drake not knowing what was going on. He turned back to her not hearing her previously he saw her holding a few ingredients in her arms as she then laid them on the table and began to work with them. “If I figure out what it is, I may be able to aid you.”

Spike soon takes a seat on one of the stools and watches the shaman work as she was making the potion the drake sighed to himself and began explaining to Zecora on how he was having nightmares about a terror threatening Equestria for at least a month now which was the reason he wasn’t sleeping that much. He would leave out the fact on why they were happening and the death of his friends for the time being since he didn’t want Zecora to worry about him most of all. She added ingredients to the cauldron accordingly and then turns back to Spike with a sigh.

“In order for me to understand your troubling tale, I will require one of your dragon scales.” She said in a calm tone while bending downward to pick up something from behind her desk. Spike blushed again when he sees her bare ass under the tribal loincloth and turns away from her to prevent anymore embarrassment. She soon stands up and turns back to spike all while holding what looked like a carving knife in her hands.

“Here.” She said, handing Spike the knife. He takes it without question and slowly but surely peels off one of his scales and throws it into the cauldron. A few seconds later the cauldron began to bubble from the the concoction. Soon the cauldron began to shake and a strange green glow was emanating from the iron tub, Spike quirked his brow in confusion as the two watched closely until.

‘BOOM’ ‘POOF’ An explosion from the potion shoving the dragon and Zebra to the wall rocking the entire house, when the smoke soon cleared the room was a mess and both were coughing from the debris thrown around.

‘Cough cough’ “Aw man... I think that one was a dud. Are you ok Zecora?” Spike turned to her.

“I’m alright.” Zecora began as the smoke cleared “No, that was what was suppose to happen for-!!” She began her speak, but stopped when she saw what was in the cauldron. Her eyes went wide with both shock and fear and Spike had no idea why she was like this.

In the cauldron, she could see the nightmares that he was having of the mysterious dragon that took control of his body, and slaughtering everyone that he cared about. Zecora only stood there shocked at what was happening, but soon turns to Spike with confusion and fear.

“Spike, I hate to persist, but do your friends know about this?”

“No they don’t.” Spike admitted. “I only told them about the nightmares, but not the part where everypony is dead. I didn’t want them freaking out if they didn’t know what they were up against.”

“Of all the dangers that you and your friends have faced, this may be an enemy beyond even time and space. Truly a threat to your friends or any other race.”

“What do you mean?”

“This seems to be a dragon of ancient times, but I can’t determine the race off the dime.” Zecora replied in a somber tone. “A Dragon’s greed is dangerous indeed, but a dragon’s rage is a deadly seed.”

“That’s what was bugging me as well.” Spike followed up. “In my dreams, when whoever was taking me over, he was furious at Celestia and Luna. It was almost as if he knew them before.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“He mentioned something about how his kind was attacked and how they didn’t keep their promise, and that they slaughtered his race as he did the ponies.” Spike added, sitting back down. “I only know that whoever this was seemed to have a grudge with Equestria, but for whatever reason I don’t know about.”

“Hmm,” Zecora soon walks back to the cauldron and wonders on the events of Spike’s Nightmares to figure out the problem.

“What is it?”

“I know you’re normally not one for a scare, but what has triggered these mysterious nightmares?” She asked. Spike only grimaced at the end of that question.

“I think they began when I first got my wings, and when that bastard Sludge took advantage of me when I wasn’t sure of who I was.” He began, remembering the brown dragon. “But they didn’t start until after I got my wings and they’ve been lasting on me all month.”

“And they’ve been frequent in that cycle?” She asked again as she pulled out a few vials and mixed them in a large beaker.

“Yeah, ever since then and when Sludge left.” He finished, and the sounds of bubbling and steam filled his nostrils. Zecora then walks toward Spike with a cup filled with a mysterious green liquid that seemed to shimmer and hands it to him.

“Take this to curb your darkest dreams, but I suggest meeting Princess Luna to understand what they mean.”

“Thanks Zecora I appreciate it a lot.” Spike said to her and is surprised when the zebra gives him a hug, but wasn’t going to turn it away. It lasted for a minute and that’s when Zecora noticed the dragon’s relaxed happy smile on his face. He looked so content she didn’t want to spoil the moment, she then felt his scaly head start to nuzzle into her breasts almost unconsciously she grinned at that. She also couldn’t help how smooth his scales felt on her bare fur.

She didn’t deny the dragon saw her as attractive and appreciated the attention, along with the fact that zebra custom stated that the use of clothing was merely an option to them and would often times walk around nude if they wished. But Zecora only did that around her home where she didn’t disturb the townsfolk or anypony not comfortable with such an open display but she understood.

Zecora also knew in her homeland it wasn’t uncommon for her people to couple with other species whether it be minotaur, griffon, pony, or in some cases dragons. Most Zebras respected dragons for their strength and their virility most of all.

But she knew her boundaries and the fact Spike was so close to Twilight and her friends. She was content to be the dragon’s friend and didn’t want to jeopardize that relationship with how Twilight and the others may react or mainly ruin their friendship if it came to that.

“As much as I do not detest, how long to plan to stay nestled between my breasts?” She asked in a teasing flirtatious manner. Spike suddenly realized what Zecora meant and noticed that he had his face nestled between Zecora’s breasts. He let go of her in a panic with a deep red blush ran across his face.

“S-sorry about that Zecora.”

“Do not fret, it’s quite alright. It is a common male reaction, my dear Spike.” Zecora added as she turned back around towards her caudron. “With the effects of the potion, you will be able to sleep, so that your nightmares will no longer reap.”

Spike then took the cup of brew the zebra had made, he looked in the cup and noticed that it was a green liquid that swirled around lazily as he saw his reflection. He could detect a strong sour smell from the potion and wrinkled his snout in disgust, but he knew one thing that Applejack told one time when he drank a potion before. If it tastes gross then it means it’s going to work.

“Well bottoms up.” He said to himself and tipped back the cup and soon tasted the potion, it was awful Spike thought it was a mix of stale mud and old socks. He kept drinking the horrible concoction until he found the cup to be empty.

“Ugh, that has to be the worst thing I tasted.” He grimaced as he set the cup down on the countertop. “So, how long do I wait to know it worked?”

Before Zecora could say anything, Spike suddenly felt a low growling in his stomach. He at first thought that it was just some indigestion but a few moments later he started to feel a buzzing sensation that grew more and more intense every second like he was some kind of spring ready release itself.

“W-w-w-whoa w-w-w-what’s-s-s hap-p-pen-n-ning?” Spike said while his entire body began to vibrate more, almost making him look like a living jackhammer.

“It seem results can sometimes deject, but it appears to be some side effects.” Zecora answered. Spike didn’t even get the chance to ask about the side effects when he suddenly shot around the room wildly.

“WWAAAAAAAUUGH!!” Spike screamed and he continued to scream as he bounced around the entire room like Pinkie pie on a sugar rush as he continued to move around like a pinball while to Zecora’s displeasure was smashing nearly everything in her hut.

Spike kept bouncing around until he bounced hard on the ground and shot up through the zebras ceiling and through the treeline screaming all the way. Zecora looked up through the newly made skylight of her home as the dragon disappeared from sight and sighed to herself hoping that the broom she had wasn’t ruined.

-Castle Of Friendship-

Twilight was walking around her room, pacing back and forth much to Starlight’s dismay as she was reading a few books waiting on Spike to get back. She was worried since the dragon only told them he would be out for a while.

“What is taking him so long?” Twilight groaned, pacing around in circles around an annoyed Starlight who closes her book and stands up from her chair.

“Twilight, I think you need to relax with the pacing.” Starlight added.

The alicorn turned to her friend tired and annoyed. “Why, how could I relax after everything that Spike’s been dealing with right now?” She exclaimed in frustration. “How can I relax when I don’t even know what Spike is dealing with right now?”

“Well I’m not the one leaving a rut in the ground from the rate of your pacing.” She joked making the mare look down at the mentioned rut in the crystal floor. Twilight then looked down to see a large circular indent that she made and blushes at herself in embarrassment. Without saying anything, she steps out of the circle, illuminates her horn and patches the large hole she made as if it wasn’t even there.

“I don’t see you concerned over him right now.” Twilight snapped.

“That’s because I don’t freak out over every little detail. Besides, he said he was going to Zecora to get a potion from her to stop his nightmares.”

“Really, what about when you switched the princesses talents for a day and you having that nightmare with Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon fighting with each other?”

“Ugh don’t remind me.” She groaned. “For a second I thought they would vaporize me doing that to them.”

“Thus proving my point about how I can’t relax when it comes to Spike.” She added, turning back around. “Not to mention what’s been happening the past month.”

“Look, I know you think of him like a little brother and that you’re worried for him Twilight, but driving yourself crazy isn’t going to help him or you in any way. You just need to have faith in him and hope for the best.” Starlight put her hand on her shoulder. “I’m no alicorn or a dragon like Spike, but he’s a strong guy with a good head on his shoulders and after everything you told me from your previous adventures, he sounds like he can handle himself pretty well.” Starlight pointed out.

Twilight sighed and stopped pacing she then took a deep breath and let herself relax. “Maybe you’re right Starlight. I’m sure Spike can handle himself and I’m sure he’ll come right through that door feeling better than ever.” She smiled.

Starlight and Twilight then hug, smiling at Starlight’s words she was very proud of her on how far she’s come the past year. They were then brought out of their hug when the sound of screaming above them was slowly getting louder.

“Uh do you hear that?” Starlight asked rubbing her ear.

“Yeah I do what’s-” ‘CRASH’.

‘WWHHOOOOAAAA- CRASH’ “UUUGGGHHH...” Twilight and Starlight heard a groan and when the dust cleared they found the crumpled form of Spike who landed right on the table they were just sitting at. His head was stuck face first to the ground while the rest of his body was sticking out twitching in pain and his wings were bent in awkward angles.

“Why...meee…” Spike groaned.

“Guess that visit with Zecora didn’t work out so well.” Starlight added. She then turned to Twilight only to find that her mane started to frizzle out with her eye twitching and her breathing started to increase.

“Twilight, calm down. Maybe it’s not that bad.” Starlight added, trying to ease the frantic alicorn. She suddenly was thrown backward by her magic and onto the ground.

“Not that bad? Just look at him!” Twilight cried as she stood over the battered dragon and surrounded him in a lavender aura. She then turned the dazed dragon around and sees that his face was cut up and was dazed in confusion. “Spike speak to me, quick, how many fingers am I holding up?”

Spike groaned more seeing only the blurry image of the alicorn, he looked at her weakly as her lavender aura shined on her horn. “Uuuhhh...twenty one?”

Starlight looked at Twilight nervously. “I think hat potion had some side effects Twilight.”

“Let’s just take him to his room.” Twilight added walking towards the door with the unconscious dragon still in her magical aura. “We can ask him what happened when he wakes up.”

Starlight sighs as she follows Twilight while she carried the battered drake up to his room. They were unaware of what was going to come if Luna and Celestia didn’t arrive sooner than later and what lay ahead for their friend while they waited for him to wake up.

Letters of a Drake's Nightmares

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Spike groaned as his eyes slowly opened, waking up. His senses felt clouded as he looked around the room blearily. It took a few seconds for his vision to come into focus, but once it did he soon saw the looming forms of his adoptive sister Twilight and Starlight looking at him in concern.

“Oh thank Celestia, you’re awake.” Twilight sighed in relief.

“What happened?” Spiked groaned as he tried to sit up, only for a magical aura to push him back down.

“You came crashing through the roof is what happened.” Starlight told him bluntly. “Also, you’re not moving since you look like you’ve been through Tartarus and back.”

Spike moaned to himself at her statement and just slumps back onto the bed. “That’s the third time today that’s happened.”

“Wait, today?!” Twilight cried. “What happened today that did this to you?” She growled flaring her magic which made both the dragon and unicorn nervous. Spike was about to respond, until he soon realized he was face to chest with her large breasts and couldn’t help but stare at them a little making him blush. He shook himself out of his it and focused on the concerned face of his sister.

“Nopony, Twi, I did this myself,” Spike told her which made her expression turn blank at his statement.

“But...but how did you hurt your head then?” Twilight questioned looking at the bandage.

“Well for starters…” And Spike told the girls about his unlucky streak he had the past day and how it gave him his injuries flinching at the memory he explained what happened from being dragged around by the orthros, healed by Fluttershy, and him crashing back home from drinking Zecora’s potion and how he landed back home.

“And there you have it,” he finished.

“Oh Celestia, poachers?” Starlight said in concern, turning to Twilight who now seemed to be deep in thought.

“Yeah, hopefully, Celestia and Luna will catch onto where they might be hiding when they get back.”

“It’s funny you mention that,” Starlight told him, standing up from his bed. “The letter we got after you left, it says that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s meeting with the council delegates abroad went well.”

“Guess that’s good news,” he sighed. “What time is it anyway, and how long was I out? Also, any idea when they will be back?”

“The letter said they might return tonight or early in the morning but we’re not sure.” Twilight began. “As for how long, it’s already night time since you were unconscious for six hours.”

“Wait, six hours?!”

“You took a serious bump when you crashed through our roof,” Starlight added pointing at the bandage wrapped around his head. “It’s already nine pm,” She added pointing towards the window. Luna’s moon was already out and about.

“Man, it’s been that long?” He slumped back onto the bed.

“Yep, we were waiting on you to wake up so we could understand what exactly happened.” Twilight added, “Did Zecora give you anything specific?”

“I’m not so sure. What I do know is it tasted awful and made me bounce around her place like I was a pinball.”

“Ouch. So what did Zecora find out from your nightmares?” Starlight asked.

Spike was about to reply, but stopped short, thinking that he shouldn’t tell them the details of his nightmare. He took a deep breath and started, “It’s similar to what I told you girls. I think I may have to wait on Luna since not even Zecora knows what’s wrong with me. I'm not sure the potion she gave me is going to work.”

“Don’t worry, Spike. I’m sure that whatever is going on, we’ll get through this.” She smiled and leaned over, giving him a hug. Spike, of course, winds up getting flustered again as his face got buried between Twilight’s heavenly bosom, the soft plush feel of her breasts made the dragon glow a bright red. One part of him wanting to get his head out of her bountiful pair, the other more carnal part was telling him to bury his maw on them and see how much he could take in his hands and mouth.

Starlight hummed in thought before standing up. “You know, this might be an unorthodox solution, but, since Zecora already tried, would you like to try another method to help your nightmares while we wait for Princess Luna?” she asked Spike.

“Like what?”

“Like hypnosis” She suggested with a light smile. Twilight and Spike only looked back at Starlight with deadpanned stares.

“What?” Starlight asked in confusion

The lavender mare let go of the drake and crossed her arms. “You remember what happened the last time that you tried that?”

Starlight thought back on the time she made that attempt when Twilight asked for her help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oOMzdvEP6k

Starlight cringed to herself at the memory and looked back at the two nervously.

“Oh, come on, how was I supposed to know that Pinkie was going to barge in at that moment?” Starlight said defensively.

“Well you didn’t finish the spell after that,” Spike pointed out.

Starlight groaned giving him a deadpan stare. “Thanks for rubbing it in, Spike,” She said sarcastically. “But I fixed her later that week didn’t I? Plus, Twilight is now no longer afraid of ladybugs.”

Spike then thought of something. “Why didn’t you finish it by the way?”

“I was about to, but someone borrowed the book at the time and didn’t return it until a few days later. I hadn’t even reached the end of the spell,” she explained. “But hey, Twilight is better now right?”

“Yeah, when she yelled at a kite to stop looking at her while laughing maniacally,” Spike countered, making Starlight stutter in her words trying to come up with a response, but she had nothing. She just huffed and walked towards the door, frustration and defeat on her face.

“Just forget it, okay?” Starlight added storming out of the room, and slamming the door behind her leaving Twilight and Spike alone.

“Well that happened.” Spike said in surprise as he laid himself back down onto the bed. Twilight gets up from the bed and looks down at Spike.

“I’m going to go try and calm her down.” Twilight walked towards the door. “But I think it would be best since the potion didn’t work for you, that you send a letter to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and explain what’s been happening to you over the past few weeks.” She left the room going after the fuming unicorn leaving Spike alone.

‘I’m not even sure what to tell the princesses or my friends for that matter.’ Spike thought to himself as he got up from his bed and walked over to his dresser. He looked into the mirror and saw most of the damage that he sustained today, all because he was bottling up his nightmares. That and a series of unfortunate events. ‘Zecora is the only one who knows what’s going on, so how are the girls gonna take that whatever this is may actually kill them?’

Spike contemplated on his thoughts about what he should tell them. He needed help and, despite their royal titles, Celestia was like a mother to him and Luna was more of an aunt. Either way, they would find out sooner or later. Making up his mind, he took out a couple sheets of paper as well as a quill and ink, and sat down at his desk.

Dear Princess…

Nah too formal. He crumples it into a ball and starts again. Hello mo… He discarded that one too.

I can’t believe I almost called her mom, ok. Spike just breathe, just think this through. Clearing his mind the drake tried one more time.

Dear Princess Celestia, this is Spike. Although I wish for this to be a casual letter or some type of friendship report, I’m afraid this time it's not the case, you see lately I have been having these…unpleasant dreams of mine. I know that this seems like a very simple subject that can be cured with the help of Zecora or somepony else, yet, unfortunately, it appears that the problem might be harder to solve than with a simple potion.

Normally, I wouldn’t bother you or princess Luna with these kind of things but, truth be told, I’m afraid and I don’t know what else to do. Twilight too is out of options and this seems like the only thing left… I suppose you would like to know the details of my nightmare and why they seems so hard to get rid of, so I will try to give you the short version of them.

I keep seeing a sea of flames after I get taken over by this strange dragon spirit, and I don’t know what he wants or why he was doing what he was doing. I haven't been able to sleep properly for weeks because of it.

There you have it, I’m sorry if this end up be for nothing and if you think you have any better idea by all means please, let me know. I’m willing to try anything at this point. I hope either of you could come up with some solution for what’s been happening to me.

Your favorite dragon concordant, Spike

Spike then rolled the paper up and blew onto the scroll with his green flames magically sending it straight to the princesses; he walked back to his bed, hoping that Zecora’s potion worked on him.

‘If the potion doesn’t work, I hope Celestia and Luna will think of something for this,’ he thought to himself, as he closes his eyes and soon falls asleep.

-Canterlot-

It was evening under the night sky as most ponies would be asleep while others had the nightshift. A lone carriage was flying through the night sky as it was on its way to a specific location, the capital of Equestria, Canterlot. The Entire city featured numerous towers of ivory white with golden spires and many waterfalls and rivers running throughout the city like the veins of a beating heart. Seeing the majestic white pillars and walls of the city built into one of the tallest mountains in existence, made them wonder how such a magnificent city was able to almost float on the mountain cliffs.

The carriage was being pulled by the royal guard assigned to escort it back to the castle, and soon they passed by several buildings ranging from the towering ivory spires overlooking the rest of the city, and some local hotspots that some if the upper class go to. Several night guard could be seen patrolling the near empty streets of the capital while some of its citizens could be seen walking along the cobblestone roads to wherever their destination lay. All of this could be seen by the carriages two passengers who looked fondly over their kingdom, glad to be finally home.

The passengers were none other than princesses Celestia and Luna who have recently returned from their royal duties at the council meeting with most of the neighboring countries. Seeing as they were almost home, they decided to engage in a little small talk while they watched their magnificent white city gleam under the Luna’s beautiful moonlight.

“We’re almost home sister.” Luna stretched her arms.

Celestia only sighed as she continued to look out the window admiring the stars of the night. “I’m glad that we got to meet the others.” Celestia began, turning back to face her sister. “The meeting went well for everyone, and it’s been a while since Amira and I have spoken with one another.”

“Indeed sister. Ever since Twilight opened her school of friendship, peace between the other countries has been growing.”

“That’s true. So much in fact that Queen Rainshine was thinking of letting some of the younglings into Twilight’s school to see if the Kirin could be reintegrated into society.”

“I’m happy to see that she’s willing to reintroduce her kind to the rest of the world.”

“It makes me wonder how the new generation will like the school after being exiled for so long.”

“I know.” Luna looked back outside the window. “We should be arriving back into Canterlot shortly.”

The carriage soon touched down outside Canterlot castle and was greeted by a detail of royal guards who had been waiting. a moment later the door opened and the two sisters walked out while the detail bowed to them.

“Your Majesties, it’s a pleasure to see you have returned safely.”

“Thank you, lieutenant Storm Shield, we are happy to be back; now if you’ll excuse us we had a long flight and wish to retire for the night.”

“As you wish, your highness, will there be anything else?”

“No, thank you Lieutenant, that will be all.” Luna replied. “You and the rest can retire for tonight.”

The lieutenant nodded and he and the rest of the guard dispersed walking back to the carriage and pulling it back to storage. Celestia and Luna walked towards their castle home and were met by a couple of kneeling guards who greeted their royal majesties.

“You can rise now, my little ponies,” Celestia smiled at them. “You’re dismissed for tonight, my sister and I have had a long journey and wish to be left in the privacy of our chambers.”

“Of course, your highness, you two have a good night now.” The two princesses passed them and walked inside the castle. Their heels clicked loudly against the marble floor as they strolled the now empty halls of the castle, passing the occasional night guard or castle staff wandering the halls.

After walking through the many halls of the castle, they soon found Celestia’s bedchambers. Upon opening the door the could see the room was covered in a royal purple all along it’s walls with a large queen sized circular bed emblazoned with a sun right in the middle with matching purple sheets. At the left of the room was a large purple and pink dresser with a mirror attached while an assortment of makeup, perfume, and a couple hair brushes were lying on top the dresser.

Next to the dresser were several bookcases filled with many books and scrolls, some were of friendship reports her dear friend Twilight Sparkle sent to her the past few years while she was her student. What filled the rest of the shelves were scrolls of ancient spells or tomes she had collected personally over the centuries. To the rear end of the room, was a couch set up next to a pair of glass double doors that led outside to a balcony for Celestia to bring out the beautiful morning sun; when night falls Luna would bring out the majestic moon and the extravagant starry sky.

Celestia sighed, glad that she and her sister could finally rest after their long trip. She then began to stretch her limbs and wings out, accentuating what many mares and stallions called a body fit for a goddess. Her royal rainbow colored mane cascaded down her back like a multicolored waterfall of light blue, green, pink, and periwinkle that constantly moved to an unseen breeze while her tail lazily swished from side to side.

Her tall nine foot one inch frame frame towered over many of her subjects and under her beige colored evening dress was a body built like one of Canterlot’s finest royal guard yet traced by the shapely swell of her curves topped with a pair of large pure white wings on her back that many would mistakenly call delicate or angelic but to the trained eye of a pegasus or any flying race for that matter would notice her wings were lined with plenty of muscle at the base connecting to her upper back and along the edges of the feathery pair indicating their capability of lifting the alicorn up into the air with no less than a single snap of her wings.

This gave the mare a voluptuous form that was a borderline hourglass, but covered in a small soft layer of fat from the occasional seven-layer cake she would ask the chefs to make when she felt stressed. Giving her body a balance of both well-toned muscle and exquisite curve that made stallions turn their heads in awe and mares willing to claw each other over to have a body like hers.

And if that wasn’t what grabbed many suitors or the attention of her fellow rulers, then it was her enormous bust that strained against her dress. Her impressive KK cup breasts were the talk of many jealous females that wished their chests were as big as the sun princess. They were very perky and well rounded in a perfect pair of globes as they lay atop the mares upper torso and were now currently showing off a large valley of cleavage that left much to the imagination of anypony who looked. Celestia didn’t mind some of the looks she got whenever she or her sister went out on errands but at times the two sisters did wish whoever they met didn’t stare at their chests quite so openly.

Celestia then lifted up her perfectly well-sculpted legs and a golden aura began to glow off of her nearly two-foot long horn as she manipulated her magic to take off her shoes and lay them neatly in a small cubby next to her nightstand. She rubbed at her hooves, relieved at the feeling of them no longer being constrained, and took a glance at her legs. They were long, slender, and very fit for a mare like herself; she snaked her eyes up to her strong thighs that added some curve to her form but soon stopped at a long open slit in her dress that revealed a pair of hips that were absolutely perfect for birthing many strong healthy children if she were to bear any.

Luna was on par with her sister with how much she had changed after integrating with society over the years since she was reformed; she had grown into a figure nearly identical to the Princess of the Sun. She was much similar to her sister but was smaller and slimmer in several areas on her body. As her blue wings folded behind her, Luna easily stood at eight feet four inches in frame. As she looked out onto the balcony, her crystal blue mane flowed in the nonexistent wind along with her tail. Despite being the younger sister of Celestia, she had a body to rival her after having her magic recovered.

Her blue regal evening dress rested against her curves, as the blue amazonian alicorn crossed her well-muscled arms under her heavy bust. Her stomach was flat and spending most of her time with training herself these past few years had left her in very fit condition with a six-pack on her stomach. She believed she grew soft after her return and trained many times during the day while she was recovering since she was more of a traditionalist. She was still on par with her sister being a double JJ cup bust that swelled within her dress making a large amount of cleavage that left many drooling as well as her toned curved flank that bared her crescent moon cutie mark underneath.

Her legs were sculpted like Celestia’s but were more toned showing off her firm thighs that rippled with muscle. She thought back one day when she had heard her training partner say that she could shatter bricks with her thighs. She was more muscular than her sister since Celestia was more lax in her training, trading it off for yoga or meditation. Overall, her physique was very similar to Celestia’s and on rare occasions, the two would compete with each other to see who was better.

Both sisters walked back inside, and Celestia headed towards her bed, sitting down on the soft mattress. She looked over to her and patted one side of the bed, wanting her sister to sit with her. Luna joined her and both alicorns sighed finally able to relax.

“Quite the peaceful night, sister.” Luna began as they sat back enjoying their moment of relief.

“Indeed it is, sister. With the amounts of threats that we’ve faced in the past, it’s amazing how quiet things have been recently, not to mention how much has changed as well.”

“What do you mean?” Luna asked turning to her sister in confusion.

“Ever since I met Twilight and taken her as my personal student, she has accomplished so much in the past five years.” Celestia began, turning towards her dresser looking at a picture frame placed on top of it. Using her horn, she illuminated the picture frame in a golden glow and floated it towards her direction and she stared at it fondly.

“It still feels like it was yesterday when I took her in.” The photo revealed Celestia and a very young Twilight smiling brightly while the alicorn held Spike when he was just a baby sucking on his tail. The photo was taken inside Celestia’s room and everyone had warm happy smiles on their faces.

“I wish I would’ve met them when they were younger. If only I wasn’t Nightmare Moon at the time, I would’ve liked to see Twilight as a young filly and Spike when he was just hatched. He must’ve been so adorable at the time.”

“You would’ve loved to meet them when they were younger, Luna.” Celestia smiled at her. “It was something that I will cherish forever.”

“I know.” She looked at the young dragon that was happily playing with his tail and smiled. Luna was happy looking at the infant drake, but her smile slowly crept into a frown as she turned to the window and looked outside at the moon. ‘I just hope we can give “them” another chance.’ Celestia seeing her sister’s look soon caught on to what it meant as her sister stared at moon sadly, her royal blue mane glittering in the moonlight.

“You’ve been thinking about it again haven’t you?” Celestia began, while placing a hand on her shoulder.

She nodded, looking out to the window. “Yes, Tia, I have. And I keep wondering to myself are we doing the right thing?”

“Of course we are, Luna. We made an agreement a thousand years ago, and it’s the only way to ensure Equestria’s safety.”

“That’s not what I meant, Tia, and you know it.” She turned to her, a troubled look plastered on her face. “Is this fair at all to Spike and what he’s required to do. After my return I was terrified that we missed our chance and I had left our country in jeopardy because of my selfishness.” She gripped on the seat tightly, nearly ripping the upholstery, but then relaxed and took a deep breath.

“I guess, what I mean is that with what we promised... do you think Spike would really agree to this?”

“What other choice do we have Luna? I don’t like it either, but it’s our only hope to ensure that Equestria has a future,” Celestia added walking from her bed. She looked outside the doors to the balcony. “I’m troubled by more than you since Spike is my son, I wish we didn’t have to be forced to do this to him. But we can’t let any innocent ponies feel his wrath for what the ancestors of our subjects did to ‘them’. It’s not our choice to make since, ‘he,’ made it for us,” Celestia emphasized with a sigh, “And we must honor it when Spike comes of age.”

“We know, sister, but when will we be sure he’s of age?” Luna inquired. “I thought the necessary age needed was eighteen, and yet, Spike is twenty one now, shouldn’t we prepare him for the consummation of the deal?”

“‘He,’ mentioned that he’ll be of age when Spike gets his wings. But, ‘he,’ also mentioned on how Spike would gain visions of what would happen if we didn’t agree to his deal.”

“Has Spike mentioned anything about these visions?” Celestia asked her sister.

“None so far, all I’ve seen was pleasant dreams of his friends and the occasional wet dream towards the element of generosity.” Luna giggled.

“I see he still has that crush on her.” Celestia smiled. “What I heard from Cadence was it was turning into love the last time she visited them.”

“I thought he grew out of his crush.”

“Apparently he did not,” she grinned, but then turned back to a solemn smile “But I see your point, Luna. Maybe he hasn’t gotten anything yet, otherwise, we would've seen something from him by now, sometimes I can’t help but worry for him.” Celestia set the picture back onto the dresser. Then out of nowhere, a puff of green smoke appeared and a scroll materialized out magically with the royal seal of the friendship council on it.

“It appears to be from Spike.” She caught the scroll as it fell into her hand and untied the ribbon attached to it. Celestia opened it and began to read. Luna noticed a combination of emotions run through her sisters face from worry, to shock, then finally a look of both alarm and of a concerned mother. She put down the letter and turned to Luna a grim look of fear and concern on her face.

“Sister, what is it?”

“It’s from Spike, himself.” Celestia handed her the letter. She read it and a look of realization soon dawned on her as she turned back to her sister. “We must see to this at once,” Celestia stated firmly.

“What do we do, sister? If he’s having this nightmare, then that’s a sure sign that we need to act fast.”

“I know, Luna, but as of right now we need to investigate what exactly has been going on and see what has been bothering my son.”

“I’ll visit him in the dream realm and find out.” Luna replied, her eyes showing undying determination.

“I’ll go too. I believe that whatever the case may be we need to be certain so we can prepare, Lulu.”

“Very well, Tia, let’s get ourselves ready then,” Luna stated as her sister laid back on the bed and awaited for her to commence the spell. Her horn began to glow a dark blue as she sat on the bed focusing her magic onto themselves and began projecting their consciousness into the dream world.

-Dream Realm-

The two alicorn sisters opened their eyes to find a large, endless, black and blue colored void with an immeasurable number of silver trees known as memory trees. Each tree had a series of cutie marks on the trunk indicating the ponies the tree belonged to. Everyone had a glowing orb on the tip of a branch which held the dreams of all their subjects. Various colors ranged on the dreams that each of the ponies carried.

Blue was the color of a pony having a happy dream which was normal, green was jealousy, pink meant a very positive dream, gray was that of somepony feeling sad or depressed, yellow was when a dream was full of anger, brown and white meant they were either worried or paranoid, and purple and red showed that somepony was either in love or having a rather steamy dream. Luna had lost count at how many of those dreams she had walked in on only to find out they involved either her, her sister, or both of them teaming up. Some had gone so far as to imagine the princesses giving themselves to bear whoever it was children and make that dreamer their new ruler. That last memory unnerved Luna a little, she had seen many strange and disturbing dreams ever since she returned, and sometimes wished she could use her magic on herself to wipe her memory of them.

“Good, we’re here now. All we need to do is search for Spike’s memory and find out if Spike’s nightmare is what we believe it is. So I suggest, Tia, that you-” The second Luna turned around, she found Celestia to be nowhere in sight. “Tia…?” she called out but got no answer; she waited for a few moments but did not see her anywhere. Sighing to herself she began walking in search of her.

“Sometimes I wonder if I’m the mature one in the family,” she mumbled to herself as she looked for her older sister. She walked amongst the ethereal trees in hoping to find Celestia. After about five minutes of walking through the realm, she noticed one of the trees was flashing, indicating that someone had entered the dream. One of the orbs was glowing a bright red color.

“Oh no,” Luna said to herself, as she knew what the color ment. She moved towards the glowing tree, and a door below the tree soon opened to reveal a very flustered Celestia walking out. Luna noticed her expression change from shock to embarrassed as her face became bright red. Sighing as she walked towards her sister, that look all too familiar to her.

“I take it that you walked into something you wish you hadn’t?” Luna asked as she held her hand out to a blushing Celestia. She only nodded in response as she took her sisters hand and walked away from the tree.

“I never knew ponies can have those types of dreams,” Celestia mumbled to herself.

“You need to be more careful, Tia, you could easily get lost if you don’t know your way around here.”

“Why, I’ve visited the dream realm with you before and helped with dispelling many of our subjects nightmares too. I’m completely capable of handling things as much as you are Luna.”

“Oh really, then remind me of the time where you first helped me out in clearing someponies nightmare and you ended up walking into the dream of one stallion who was in the middle of having sex with his harem in a mud puddle, sound familiar?”

Celestia flinched when she brought up that memory. “Please don’t bring that up, I can’t look at strawberry jelly the same way ever again.” She cringed as her body shuddered at the thought.

“Regardless, let me lead, and let us find Spikes dream now.” Luna began walking while Celestia followed behind her.

“Then why must you lead when I’m perfectly capable of finding my way around here?”

“Because you’re not thinking clearly right now, Tia. You just walked into another stallions dream where he was doing who knows what with how red your face was,” Luna followed up, and Celestia’s cheeks started to turn pink again.

“So what? I’m not a helpless filly that doesn’t know what she’s doing,” she said defensively.

“You’re worried about Spike, I understand, but we won’t find him if you just try dashing ahead without thinking. This isn’t like you, Tia.” Celestia was surprised by her sister's statement but soon realized that she was right, running around in a panic wasn’t going to help anyone.

She then took a deep breath and let it out. ”You’re right, Luna...It’s just...he’s like a son to me. I know that what we promised contradicts it. But whenever I look at him, I still see that little baby dragon in my arms who’s sucking on his tail without any concern for the world.” she replied as her eyes grew misty.

“I may not have met Spike when he was hatched, but I’ve seen how close you were to him. And I doubt that he would want to see you like this,” she said putting a comforting hand on her sister’s shoulder. Celestia smiled at her words and wiped her eyes. “And I’m sure when the time comes we tell him, he’ll understand. Now let’s go find your son and see what is going on.” She smiled and turned around spreading her wings and lifting herself up into the air with Celestia behind her.

They flew for a couple of minutes scanning the dreamscape for the one dragon they sought after. Soon enough, Luna pointed down to the very tree they were looking for. They landed in front of it. It’s purple crystalline structure looked similar to the Tree of Harmony, only instead of the elements on it’s branches it had the dreams of it’s bearers hanging off of each tip. Every orb glowed as bright as Celestia’s sun and with a different color as well.

At the first orb was Applejack which was colored in blue, pink, and yellow indicating she was feeling cheer and happiness but the yellow indicated she also had something on her mind. Next was Rainbow dash who’s colors were similar, the only difference was there was the color orange instead of yellow, meaning she was impatient over something. After that was Fluttershy where there was a mix of blue, pink, and purple that meant that she was having a nice dream and was probably with somepony special, but then the two sisters noticed the orb’s color shift from its original palette to a bright red, it seemed the pegasus was really enjoying her dream now.

They both looked at each other in slight surprise remembering on how shy and timid she usually was but shrugged figuring since it was a dream she had nothing to worry about. They turned back to the tree and noticed the fourth orb was Pinkie Pies and unsurprisingly to the two, it was entirely pink and whatever was happening they imagined she was either throwing a party or cheering someone up or both. Turning to the next orb, they found Rarity’s which was grey at first but then changed into a mix of blue, purple, and pink meaning she was happy with whatever was happening. Lastly they saw Twilights orb where it was in the colors of orange, green, and brown which told them she was feeling restless while also jealous, but why she was feeling that last emotion the alicorns weren’t sure.

Finally Luna and Celestia saw Spikes orb and what they saw unnerved them, it was a shadowy inky black mixed with a deep blood red that seemed to almost pulsate and swirl with some dark unforseen power. On the dream orb was a marking indicating who’s dream it was, a mark that the royal sisters were all too familiar with.

“Is that Spikes?” Asked Celestia who grew worried from the state the orb was in and the possibility of what her adopted son must be going through now.

“Indeed it is, Tia, and it’s not good. Whatever’s happening he’s in the middle of a nightmare. A serious one I take it.” The Lunar Princesses’ brow furrowed knowing full well that most nightmares occurring in a pony's dream orb were usually the color black, but this was beyond a normal nightmare and they both knew it.

“Can you dissolve it?” Celestia asked trying hard not to let her maternal instincts take over in a situation as delicate as this. Knowing her sister and that this was no normal nightmare either she let her take the lead on what to do.

“I’ll try, but we can’t be sure what will happen,” Luna stated as she looked at the ominous sphere as it pulsed with malice. She began focusing her magic through her horn before directing her magic and firing a bright blue beam at it. When it made contact, its surface began to vibrate and shiver at the beams touch, and, for a few moments, it seemed to shrink in size. Luna smiled thinking that it was working as she continued using her magic to make the orb change color from black and red to a light pink. Suddenly, the orb pulsed and shifted back to black and red growing bigger in size.

Luna poured more of her magic into the spell as she struggled with the sudden pressure that began to grow. Luna grunted as the unknown force kept pushing against her magic, almost like it was aware that she was trying to get rid of it. She kept kept fighting but could feel it forcing her back until suddenly a bright flash engulfed the sisters and a blast of energy knocked Luna off her hooves and flat on her back. Celestia, in a panic, rushed to her sisters aide as she knelt in front of the stunned mare and helped her up.

“Luna, are you alright?” Celestia asked, as Luna slowly got up from the knock back. Luna opened her eyes seeing stars from the sudden surge of magic. She shook it off, dispersing the magical feedback.

“I’m ok, Tia.” She had to steady herself from the dizziness after the knockback. She then looked up and began to wonder on the sudden push from earlier. “I think, ‘he,’ was responsible for this,” she said, pointing at the dark black and red orb that was now back to how they first found it.

“Either to prevent us from interfering or to protect him from anypony entering his mind, at least until he matures.”

“And that means we can’t try to diminish it from the outside,” Luna added, dusting herself off. “We have to go inside the dream to try and see for ourselves if it’s what we suspect.”

“It appears that way.” Both mares channeled their magic through their horns and prepared themselves to enter the dream. They walked up to the orb and with a joint effort combined their magic to form a much stronger beam, hoping to cut through the orb just enough to create the small opening they needed.

They looked to each other and then back to the black mass engulfing Spikes dream and fired two magical beams from their horns. It seemed to have an effect on the orb in front of them, rather than trying to dispel the nightmare they were able to make a small opening in the orb.

At last the opening was wide enough for them to walk through, but they soon noticed that it was beginning close. Hitting it with magic again, they tried their best to keep it open but it was futile and simply kept shrinking. With no other options, the sisters ran up to the opening and jumped through it into the dream.

-Spike’s Dream-

Spike eyes felt heavy as he started to slowly wake up and was met with the sight of a large black void surrounding him from every direction. Confused, Spike stood up and looked everywhere but could see nothing but blackness. Suddenly, Spike saw a small gray sphere appear right in front of him. It fluttered to and fro around his head but then shot forward ahead of him.

Feeling curious, he started to walk, following the sphere and hoping it would lead him to answers. Spike kept following it for around a minute until the orb stopped and hovered for a few moments before it began to glow. It grew brighter and brighter to the point where Spike had to shield his eyes; then, just as quick as it began, the light disappeared. He brought down his hand to find the sphere no longer there; in its place sat a large stone statue of a dragon that he didn’t recognize.

“Who is this?” A look of confusion grew on his face, knitting his brow he looked closely at the stone dragon. The statue was of a dragon that seemed to be of prestige based on what Ember told him that the only dragons who were respected enough were given a burial and sometimes had a headstone carved in their likeness along with their family crest to identify who they were.

Spike looked at the center of the dragon and a mark was carved on his chest, but it had a symbol that he didn’t understand. Soon the same orb that he was following moved around him in circles, making him dizzy.

Spike watched as the orb continued flying around him until it stopped mid air and then floated towards the statue and to his confusion was absorbed by it. A moment later, a white aura shined around the dragon statue and Spike could almost feel the dragon in him was being drawn towards it.

He slowly walked up until he was just a few inches away from it and looked up into the cold gray lifeless eyes, but when he did, it almost felt like the eyes themselves were alive boring straight into his soul.

“This is creepy…” Spike said moved the last few steps towards the statue. He felt the pull become stronger as he lifted his hand bringing it closer until it made contact with the stony surface. Spike didn’t feel anything for a moment until suddenly he saw the black void began to shift and change, he looked back at the statue but watched as it began to disintegrate into smoke. The last thing Spike saw of the statue were its eyes which let off a sinister red glow before vanishing.

“W-what’s going on?” He asked himself as the world around him slowly started to change shape and form into a warped and twisted reality that he dreamed up earlier. Spike was soon blinded by a sea of flames that flashed before his eyes until the flames died down. What he saw next, left the drake full of horror and dread.

“No…” He could only look on in horror as he was back in the exact same spot he was once in before, but it was much worse than he imagined. Standing right before him was the fiery remains of the school of friendship in nothing more than a pile of rubble, there was nothing left standing.

“Wha? What happened to the school?” He asked aloud as he walked forward still in shock. He took three more steps until his foot landed in a large puddle. ‘Huh?’

Spike looked down and soon realized what he stepped in. It was warm, wet, and he smelled the iron like aroma hitting his nose, he stood in a pool of blood. Spike was disturbed by this and immediately stepped out of it desperately wiping his clawed feet on the ground.

‘Blood? Not again.’ Spike thought to himself, slowly walking backwards in both shock and fear.. ‘Where did it all come from?’

He was brought out of his thought when his back hit something behind him; he turned around and was horrified by the sight. Right in front of the drake was Gallus, who was pinned to the wall by his wings and his intestines were spilling out from where his stomach was and piled at Spikes feet.

“G-gallus?” Spike spoke up. “Wh-why?” Spike walked away from the mutilated gryphon and ended up stumbling over something on the ground. He groaned from the landing and rubbed his forehead. He felt something wet on his right hand and looked down to see even more blood on the floor.

“Gah!” He screamed as he jumped to a devastating sight, Yona and Sandbar dead on the ground. Yona’s eyes were gone and replaced with her horns as they appeared to be gouged out. Sandbar looked like he had one of his own arms shoved into his muzzle after being was torn off.

“Y-yona and Sandbar too?” Spike was in full-blown panic mode when he saw more of the corpses in front of him. There were other students around him on the floor, their bodies twisted and mutilated to the point of no return.

“Please, no…” Spike ran through the remains of his once alive friends and some of the students he has gotten to know, wanting to see if anypony was alive. He kept running until he slipped and fell face first into the ground. Spike groaned and got to his hands and knees; when he lifted up his head, he was now looking into the dead lifeless eyes of Silverstream whose head was decapitated from her body a few feet away.

Startled, Spike quickly crawled backwards until he had his back against the opposite wall, he looked over at her body and saw that it was covered in deep gashes all along her back and one of her wings was severed. Feeling nauseous the drake got to his feet and stumbled away hoping to find somepony that might still be alive.

‘Ok...ok...this can’t be re real, it just can’t. Why is everypony like this?’ He thought to himself as he walked towards the mutilated bodies of the students. He kept walking, hoping to find at least one pony or creature alive, but all he found was dead bodies everywhere he went.

Spike needed to brave on, hoping to find anyone that was left in the school; he reached the other side of the building and found the surrounding area was completely scorched with nothing left of the structure or any plant life.

“Come on, there has to be somepony left alive…” Spike thought to himself as he continued running through the rubble. He looked forward and stopped when he noticed a figure.

“Wh-what is that?” He said as he looked off into the distance to see something suspended in midair. He moved forward as the figure became larger and larger. It wasn’t until Spike was ibky a few feet away that he recognized that it was the hanging remains of Ocellus, Spike was horrified seeing the bloody dripping remains of her corpse as her body was torn in two. Her insides were hanging out, trailing along the wall while her legs and pelvis lay on the floor beneath her and when he looked up he saw that her head was impaled onto the tip of a pike, a look of horror and despair plastered on her face.

Spike feeling overwhelmed from seeing all of his dead friends torn to pieces and the smell of death filling his nostrils felt bile begin to rise up in the back of his throat, he stumbled over to the nearest crumbling wall and vomited all over. After a few moments of heaving, Spike stood back up, wiping his mouth, thinking about what had caused this and why he was seeing these flashes of death and destruction.

“This can’t be happening.” He thought to himself and soon realized after everyone he saw, he noticed that a certain dragoness is missing. Spike was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a loud groan behind him, turning around Spike was surprised to find a battered and bruised Smolder limping up to him. She was covered in cuts and bruises all over her body and was missing her right wing on her back. She looked as if a Cerberus chewed her up and spat her out like a used toy.

“Smolder!” Spike shouted rushing towards the injured dragoness. He was horrified on the injuries she sustained, but was glad that she was alive. “What happened?”

Smolder wearily opened her eyes to see Spike looking towards her. He reached out with his hand when suddenly, Smolders eyes went wide in shock. Her mouth opened up to speak, but only a small gurgle could be heard. It was soon followed up, by the dragoness coughing up blood. Spike grew worried until he felt a warm solid surface surrounding his hand.

They both look down and Spike just stares in shock as he sees his arm rammed through Smolder’s torso. He wasn’t even sure how it happened as he only held out his hand. Smolder slowly looked at a terrified Spike with tears in her eyes and uttered a single word.

“W...why…?” That was her final breath before Smolders eyes begin to turn grey and her body started to flake turning into dust, while the rest of her body started to fall apart in Spike’s hand until the dragoness was nothing more than a pile of ashes at his feet.

Spike was truly horrified at what just happened. He had hoped to help her but she suddenly died by his hands. He slumped to the floor, grief and despair flooding his mind as tears began to well up in his eyes.

“Why? What did I ever do to deserve any of this?” He said as the tears flowing from his eyes fell to the floor. The world around him soon began to change again as he cried, unsure of what was going to happen next. Spike was filled with a plethora of emotions from everything he’s seen; sorrow, fear, greif, anger, and despair.

All of his friends dying in front of him and he wanted nothing more than for this nightmare to end. He stopped crying as he looked around himself to see nothing but a black void.

“Why?” A voice called out to him making the purple dragon flinch. He looked up searching for the voice only to find nothing. Turning around, he was shocked to see the body of Smolder standing in front of him, a gaunt version of her former self.

“S-smolder?” Spike asked in fear and confusion. “Wh-what happened to you.”

“You happened,” she said in a dark tone. “You killed us.”

“What did we ever do to deserve this?” Another voice called out making the shocked dragon flinch. Spike turns around to where the voice came from and his blood runs cold. He found the rest of Smolder’s friends; Sandbar, Yona, Silver Stream, Gallus and Occelus were all in a dark grey shroud as they stared at Spike with dark eyes, crying blood to the floor.

“Why? Why did you do this to us?” Gallus added with disgust in his voice. “What did we ever do to you?”

“No please, it wasn’t my fault!”

“You...you did this to us!”

“No it wasn’t me!” He begged.

“You betrayed us.”

“I didn’t.”

“Then why did you kill us?” Ocellus added, bloody tears dripping from her face. “Aren’t we your friends

“Yona, not understand why Spike hurt us.”

“Why….why….why….why….why….why….why….”

“Please make it stop.” Spike said as he covered his face as tears streamed down his face.

“Why….why….why….why….why….why….why….”

“Why, Spike?” A voice called out to Spike. His heart almost as he recognized that voice all too well. That very voice came from behind him and he turned around to see a ghoulish version of the very mare he grew up to know as Twilight Sparkle along with the rest of his friends in varying states of decay and gore in his previous dream who were all surrounding him in a circle.

“Why did you betray us like this, Spike?” Twilight said in an empty tone. “I thought we were your friends.”

“But y-you are my friends!”

“Then why did you hurt us?” Pinkie asked. “I can’t throw any of my parties or give ponies hugs if my limbs are torn off.”

“And why did ya cut off ma head!?” Applejack snarled, still holding her severed head in her arm. “You got any idea how I'm gonna explain this to mah family?”

“You promised you would never be like them, Spike!” Fluttershy sobbed as tears of blood ran down her face. “You monster!”

“N-n-no t-th-that’s n-n-not true.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you!” Rainbow Dash added glaring daggers at him. “Look at what you bucking did to me!! Because of you I can’t fly anymore!”

“And I should never have thought of giving you a chance Spikey-Wikey, I thought you were devoted to me, I thought you loved me?!” She cried.

“But...but I do love you Rarity, please you gotta believe me!”

“You are no better than a dragon that lives with who it loves… just a bunch of shiny stones and useless trinkets.”

“I’ve raised you my entire life and this is how you repay all of us?” Twilight added, bloody tears rolling down her face.

“Why, Spike….why?” They said in unison. While everyone else repeated the word over and over, echoing in the drakes mind like a gong ringing.

“Why… why… why… why… why… why… why!”

“No…”

WHY…. WHY….WHY….WHY….WHY….WHY….WHY!!

“Please...no more…”

WHY….WHY….WHY….WHY….WHY….WHY….WHY!!!

“THAT’S ENOUGH!!!” A voice boomed causing Spike to jump up in shock. He looked over to where the voices came from and saw two shadows standing near him. Both were mares and had furious looks on their faces from what was happening. They soon channeled their magic through their horns. The sudden dark figures around him vanished only leaving a starry filled void behind from where they once stood. Both mares immediately ran to Spike’s aide and saw his teary distraught face full of fear and anguish.

-3rd POV-

A portal opened within the dream pocket and Celestia and Luna arrived into Spike’s dream to see where they were.

“Okay, sister, we’re here.”Luna added, stretching her limbs. “We should hurry and find Spike.”

“I just hope that my fears are only of my imagination, sister.” Celestia began with a look of fear on her face as she crossed her arms under her breasts. Luna was about to say something, until they heard strange noises coming from the right of them.

“What is that noise?”

“I don’t know.”

The two quickly rushed through the dream until they came across a horrifying sight, Spike was surrounded by mutilated and gory doubles of his friends and themselves while blaming him for their states making the young drake sob in fear and horror.

“SPIKE!!” Celestia shouted in shock from what she was seeing. She tried calling to him, but the distraught drake was unresponsive. Luna, of course, wasn’t having any of this.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!!!” Luna’s voice boomed out in the dream as she turned to her sister with an angered and determined look. Celestia of course, joined her sister as both mares charged as much magic into their horns as they possibly could to dispel the nightmare that surrounded the young drake.

The dopplegangers cried in agony when they spell struck them all and they vanished away from Spike, leaving the distraught drake in shock. Both mares rushed to the drake, hoping that they weren’t too late to draw him out.

“Spike! Spike! Snap out of it!” Celestia shouted as she shook her adoptive son repeatedly with Luna by her side hoping that Spike was alright.

“Sir, Spike! Please wake up!”

Spike opens his eyes wide and looks at the solar and lunar monarchs before him, both safe and sound and not a scratch on them. Before they can say anything the young drake lunged at them and wrapped them both in a powerful hug and began to cry silently, making the sisters hug him back while shrouding him in their wings.

“You’re both alive…” Spike said through his teary eyes then began sobbing uncontrollably.

“It’s ok, sweetie, we’re here; it’s all over now,” Celestia said hugging Spike tighter, her heart broke when she saw her son having to go though such a horrifying ordeal and wished she could’ve been here sooner for him. Luna may not have known Spike that well, but she at least wanted to see that he was all right, but seeing him so distraught and frightened like this made her feel weak. It was as if she wasn’t there for him like she should have been.

They stayed that way for several minutes while the young drake cried and cried in the sisters embrace. Each of them stroking his back and whispering words of encouragement that everything was going to be okay, Celestia hummed in her son’s ear while she stroked at his head until all she and her sister heard was Spikes sniffling as he slowly began to calm down.

“Are you feeling better now Spike?” Luna asked as she began to unfurl her wings from the group hug.

“I-I feel a little better now, thanks for asking.” Spike smiled.

Celestia stayed there nuzzling her cheek on the dragon’s head and felt guilty on not being there for him when he needed her.

“Oh, Spike, honey, I’m so sorry. I wish we came here sooner so you didn’t have to suffer so much. I’m such a horrible mother letting this happen to my baby.” She sniffled as fresh tears started to fall from the solar princess’s face. Luna looked at the two and could only feel frustration for what she realized and felt helpless on how she couldn’t do anything for him. After a couple minutes, Spike had stopped crying and took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself before he looked up at both of his caretakers.

“Now, Spike, we obtained your letter about your nightmares and I’m sorry that we weren’t here to do anything about it,” Luna began as she got closer to the young dragon. “Now could you explain to us on when they started happening?”

“Well… it started about a month ago, a little after Sludge left Ponyville. I was still feeling depressed about his visit so all I wanted then was to just sleep, but that’s where the trouble started…”

“You mean... your nightmares?” Celestia asked.

Spike nodded. “Yeah...every time I close my eyes all I could see was death and destruction all around me and somehow…. I’m the cause of it.” Spike shuddered as memories of the same nightmare plagued his mind. “I can still hear everyone’s voices of the ponies that I might kill and I’m afraid that I won’t be able to stop it from happening.” Spike hugged his arms close together shivering

“You...you were killing ponies?” Luna asked in utter shock.

“Great goddesses above…” Celestia said with fear plastered on her face. She looked back to her younger sister and a similar look of fear also appeared on her. She then turned back to her son and placed her hands on his shoulders to get his attention. Her heart cracked when she saw the look of complete helplessness on her sons face and wished she could just take him away from this nightmare and give him the love and comfort he needed, telling him that everything will be ok.

“What’s happening to me, mom, I’m scared and I don’t know what this nightmare is supposed to mean for me. Or even why I’m having them in the first place.” Spike looked down at his hands as visions of them soaked blood appeared from the back of his mind. He was brought out of his thoughts when Celestia brought her fingers to his chin and made him look at her.

“Spike this is very important, and I wouldn’t ask unless it was...do you remember any specific details about your nightmare you could describe to us?”

“Well...there was this spirit or ghost or whatever that kinda looked liked me, but it wasn’t me.” Spike began. “I also remember on how I looked at my reflection in a puddle and how I was in an older and more monstrous state...it reminded me of when I changed on my birthday.” He added sadly while his mother softly gripped his shoulders in encouragement to keep going.

“Anything else?” Luna added.

“It spoke in a dark gruff voice when he….he…. killed the both of you.” Spike said somberly, almost choking on the words. “I don’t know what he wanted, but he said specifically on how he wanted Equestria to suffer the same way his people did.” Spike finished, lowering his head sadly. “So far that’s everything I know.”

Celestia and Luna looked at Spike as they absorbed what he told them. Both mares soon looked at each other in both fear and recognition. The now understood on what they had to do.

“This could only mean one thing.”

“Indeed sister. It is time to settle an old debt, otherwise all of Equestria is doomed to ‘his’ wrath.”

Spike noticed the look on both of their faces and could tell that they were thinking hard about what he told them.

“Wait… do you two know something…?” Spike squinted his eyes in suspicion. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“As much as we want to tell you, Spike, we can’t. Not right now at least,” Celestia began. This of course, started to anger Spike as he clenched his fist and looked up at his adoptive mother and aunt.

“But why, why can’t you tell me now!? Why can’t you tell about what has been happening to me for the past fucking month?!”

“Now, Spike-”

“Don’t, ‘Now, Spike,’ me!” He shouted, breathing a little fire as tears began to roll down his face once again, his stress overwhelming him. “You have no idea what it’s like trying to hold all of this back from the girls for past month and trying to make up excuses just so they don’t worry! I feel If I have another nightmare like this one, I may eventually snap!”

“Spike, please-”

“What else have you been hiding from me about all of this, huh!? Why can’t you just tell me about what’s been happening to me!?”

“It would be better if we show you, Spike,” Celestia began and took a breath to calm her nerves. She placed both of her hands on his shoulders looking directly into his eyes which showed a mix of frustration, confusion and fear.
“There is a place beyond Equestria that we can take you to that will answer all of your questions, and it is the reason why we have to show you because it’s very important that you understand. Okay, sweetie?”

Spikes anger faded as looked into his mother’s eyes seeing them show nothing but honesty he took a deep breath and slowly let it out until he started to feel calm and looked back to his adoptive mother who was now staring back at him in concern.

“And you promise you’ll tell me everything that’s been going on, nothing left out?”

“Spike, me and Luna Pinkie Promise that we will tell you anything you ask us about what’s been going on. But we can only do that if we take you where we need to go first in order to do that.”

Spike turned to his aunt. “And you swear that you will answer all my questions when we get to wherever you need to take me to?”

“Nothing will be left out Spike. I can assure you on that, and I can vouch for my sister on how important this is.” Luna added kneeling down towards the young drake. “We swear on our crowns and to you as your family that all will be explained when the time comes and you’ll know about everything.” She said doing the motions of the promise along with her sister.

Spike stared into his mother’s eyes, the one pony he looked up to the most in his life who always was there when he was back in Canterlot. Whenever Twilight was studying in class, Celestia would always find the time to look after Spike in any way she could. Whether it was reading him a story, teaching him how to use his fire, or patching him up whenever he was hurt. She was the one light in Spikes life who was always loving and supportive of him aside from Twilight or her family.

Even though he didn’t know Luna well when he first met her, she at least wanted to understand on how much time has changed and how she wanted to be in Spike’s life. When Spike sent letters to Luna about how he was doing, she would smile knowing that he was alright and had somepony to talk to after she returned. There were a few times where he would have small nightmares, not counting the ones that he’s seeing at the moment, and Luna always dispelled them before they became too much for him.

“Okay, I believe you,” Spike said as he fully calmed down letting out another breath to steady himself.

“Thank you, Spike.”

“We truly appreciate this, Spike,” Celestia smiled.

Both amazon mares hugged the young drake and Spike tried his best to hug them back. He then realized what he was touching as he looked down and noticed that he was groping each of the mares’ breasts. Spike blushed removing his hands from the amazon’s bosoms and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Hehe, sorry…” Spike said in a nervous tone.

“Spike, it’s quite alright.” Celestia smiled. “It’s just a normal male reaction seeing as you’ve been around the girls for quite awhile.”

“That reminds me, mom, I’ve been… feeling these strange… urges whenever I’m around the girls and whenever this happens I feel… drawn to them. Almost as if it’s, I don’t know... some form of attraction towards the girls.”

Luna rose her brows in slight surprise. “Really, anything else you’ve been feeling when around any of the girls, Spike?”

“Well…” Spike blushed a little when he started thinking about Twilight and the rest of his friends. “I spent a little time with each of the girls and was going through some emotional changes as well. I’m just not sure what they mean.”

“What do you mean by these feelings dear?” Celestia asked.

“Well, I only felt that way about Rarity before, but now I feel strange whenever I’m around Twilight or the girls,” Spike added, thinking back to when he talked to Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Starlight, Trixie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash yesterday. He then remembered how he acted around them from feeling them up, to staring at their assets, or even when he couldn’t stop thinking about seeing them naked, it almost unnerved him.

“And this doesn’t happen to be a hormonal change does it?”

“No, I only started noticing shortly after my nightmares began. I just started to see the girls in a different light is all.” The two sisters looked at each other a small smirk appeared on their faces.

‘I think somepony’s in love.’ Luna thought to herself looking at her sister with a smile.

‘At least he made a choice to love who he wanted. We sacrificed that experience for the greater good of equestria, and for Spike.’ Celestia replied mentally, a small frown appeared on her face but she managed to dispel it without her son noticing. She turned back to Spike smiling at him.

“We can talk about that later, Spike.” Luna smiled as she channeled her magic to open up a portal. “For now we will prepare for when we come to retreive you in the morning.”

“If all goes well, Spike, we’ll be staying for a few days.” Celestia added walking towards her sister. “But you can’t explain this to any of the girls since this will be short notice, until we return from our business.”

“Okay.” Spike smiled as both mares stepped through the portal and walked through, and just as Celestia passed through she turned around to look back to her son.

“Get some rest now, sweetie, you’re going to need it for the trip; I love you.”

“I love you too... mom.” Spike then watched the royal sisters leave and the portal soon closed behind them. He at least felt that he could get some proper sleep now that the nightmares were over at the moment. Spike looked around and soon the starry void he was in changed into a sunny beach. A hammock tied to a couple of palm trees, seeing this Spike smiled and set himself on the hammock and closing his eyes relaxing contendly while he heard the gentle lapping of the waves.

He was brought out of his moment when a shadow appeared over him and when Spike opened his eyes he saw Rarity standing beside him holding a brightly colored drink in her hand. She wore a scantily clad seashell made bikini, he then realized he was in white swim trunks decorated with blue and yellow palm trees.

Spike grinned widely loving the sight of the mare and took the drink and took a sip from it, a moment later he then felt her place her large breasts against him as she pins him against the hammock giving the drake an unprecedented view beneath her bikini. Spike only had one thought running through his mind when he rested on the hammock with Rarity’s breasts in his face.

“Best. Dream. Ever.”

-Canterlot-

Luna’s horn glowed as she finished using her magic on Spike giving a good dream for the night. She smiled when she saw her nephew grin a little to himself in his sleep and she could tell what he was dreaming about through her magic, via a small screen she had conjured.

“There, that should do it. No doubt he’ll have pleasant dreams for the rest of the night, won’t he sister?”

“Indeed, sister,” Celestia replied as the two walked through the portal and appeared back in Celestia’s chambers, it was still nighttime and the clock hanging opposite from her bed read two AM in the morning which meant they have plenty of time to prepare for what they needed to do. But they first needed some sleep after the events that played out today, they would worry about Spike in the morning.

Heartfelt Departure

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-Morning-

Celestia’s Sun rose from the west as it’s warm light blanketed the land as ponies begin to wake up from their dreams and back into the real world, going about their daily lives. Spike slowly woke up from his dream feeling a little refreshed now that his nightmares wouldn’t bother him anymore. Stretching his limbs, the young drake slowly got up from his bed and looked out his window. He thought about what was going on, and what Celestia and Luna learned from last night after dispelling his nightmares. Hopefully they knew what he needed to do in order to ensure that he wouldn’t go through any of that torment again.

“Celestia and Luna said that they were going to pick me up, but when?” Spike thought to himself as he looked out at the ponies that were slowly waking up and wondered what he should expect from today. He got shaken from his thoughts when he heard a knock on his bedroom door.

It’s open,” Spike said as he continued to look out the window. He heard the door open behind him, and when he turned around, his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

Strolling into his room were Twilight, wearing an almost sheer blue babydoll robe that showed off her cleavage more magically than any friendship, her large breasts bouncing so freely there was no way she had a bra on. If one stared hard enough, and Spike certainly was trying not to although failing, they could make out the tiniest two bumps against the fabric where there was a round and darker shade of purple then the rest of the thin fabric allowed to show through. As it trailed down to those sensual hips it hugged so tightly; he gulped unable to find a strap against them to show she had any undergarments on beneath, and feeling his own arousal surging forth all the more. Finally he drew to the end of the robe, half way above her thighs accentuating her amazing legs. Spike had to admit for a bookworm Twilight’s body was wonderfully in shape with a little fat in all the right places to make her look soft and succulent at the same time.

Behind her was Starlight in a white robe of the same caliber, but it had a more artistic design compared to Twilights. It left little to the imagination with two fluffy cloud shaped straps that draped from her shoulders straight down and lead into a row of silver stars that trailed all the way around her bustline, flowing down her curvaceous cleavage and showing an ample amount of her breasts before coming together right below the midpoint of her bosom. Just like Twilight’s robe it was easy to see her fur beneath, the lilac a sharp contrast to the white. It also made it clear that she too was completely free of the uncomfortableness of a bra. He could actually see her toned stomach, belly button, and slim waist further down ,an odd fusion of cute and sexy. Finally, it was clear that Starlight either was a tad more adventurous than Twilight or simply disliked having fabric around her legs as the skirt, also hemmed with silver stars was very short compared to most robes showing off quite a bit of her ass, a shapely rear that reminded him of two well padded cushions he’d love to lay his head on. The view also allowed him to see a complete lack of fabric anywhere near those lovely cheeks. Part of him was genuinely annoyed that the robe had clearly been made to be just a bit less sheer around the groin area to tease without showing perfectly. No doubt Rarity had fun with the design, expecting only Starlight and her potential lover to see it. The entire ensemble was brought together by a silver sash with a crescent moon that sat upon her hips and was tied into a ribbon in the back, it held nothing and wasn’t tight, but Spike had to admit it really popped with the rest of the outfit. As an addition, she wore a pair of silver leggings that wonderfully displayed her rather slim and toned legs, a trait that only drew even more attention to her significant behind.

‘Are you both trying to give me a nosebleed or something? You’ll give any stallion a boner just from wearing those robes alone.’ He thought to himself as he tried to focus on the breakfast that they had in their hands.

There were eggs, toast, juice, a bowl of oatmeal, gemstones, cereal with slices of fruit, a banana, a sliced grapefruit, three big stacks of pancakes, waffles, Prench toast all drowning in a golden pool of warm sweet syrup, and, to the dragons surprise, there was a plate of bacon served hot and ready for him. Spike knew that his race depended on eating meat in order to get all the necessary protein and nutrients to go about their lives, but given that he lives in a society that is entirely vegetarian he has had to look elsewhere to get his needed intake.

Luckily for him, Equestria did trade and sell fish. Every once in a while he would get some fish courtesy of Fluttershy or Twilight whenever they went to the market, which to him helped a lot in providing the meat he needed. On the rare occasion, he would get some jerky from Rainbow whenever her friend Gilda would mail it to her, and she knew how much he loved it.

Seeing the spread in front of him, Spike started to drool as he licked his lips at all the food. He didn’t know where to begin and was tempted to just dive in with both hands, that was until Twilight grabbed his attention by holding the stack of waffles under his nose snapping him out of his reverie.

“What’s all this?” Spike asked in confusion as both mares entered the room with the tray of food in hand. They placed them on his bed, and he immediately went over to the bed and grabbed the bowl of cereal and toast and began eating.

“We thought you’d want to wake up to a good breakfast to help take your mind off things.” Twilight stated as she sat down; the two mares took a small portion of the meal. “How was your sleep last night?”

“It was actually good.” Spike smiled, taking a bite of the cereal. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna visited me in my dreams last night and finally dispelled my nightmares.”

“That’s good news, Spike,” Twilight said excitedly, she then pulled him into a tight hug which unknown to her was pressing the poor drake against her chest. Spike felt his cheeks burning up again as her bust was squishing against his face; two mounds felt as if they were soft pillows he was resting against. Spike was trying his hardest to not get a nosebleed and ruin Twilight’s robe and it wasn’t helping that her motherly mammaries were smothering his face.

“Uh, Twi, you’re smothering him...again.” Starlight said, tapping the mares shoulder to get her attention. The alicorn looked down and noticed Spike’s face was squished deeply into her cleavage making it hard for him to breathe.

“Oh, sorry about that, Spike.” She let go of the blushing drake.

“It’s cool, nothing new I haven’t been used to before.”

“Anyways, Spike,” Starlight added, as she and Twilight sat down on his bed. “Now that that’s taken care of, any word about when the princesses are coming?”

“They’re actually coming to pick me up in a few hours today.”

“Any reason why?” Twilight asked him.

“I can’t really say, because I don’t know where we’re going. All I know is it’s royal business with me specifically. They wouldn’t say anymore.”

“Is there anything you can tell us so far?” Starlight questioned him.

“I’m sorry girls, but I don’t know anything further than that. Not until we return in a few days at least.”

“So you’ll have to go off to some unknown location in a few hours?” Twilight asked as her ears lowered and pinned to the back of her head, while a frown could clearly be seen on her face.

“Yeah, pretty much. I’m just not sure what to expect there.” Spike thought for a moment on how he could use a break from all the nightmares he was receiving. “I need to at least start packing for the trip, besides it could help distract me a little.”

“Let me help you, I know just the essentials you’re going to need.” Twilight brightened as she started making a list of possible things that Spike might need; a parchment and quill appearing out of nowhere thanks to her magic.

“Twilight wait-” It was already too late. The studious mare jumped from his bed and bolted out of the door, leaving a stunned Starlight and a dulled Spike still on his bed.

“I can already tell where this is going.” Spike sighed.

“Knowing her, I wouldn’t be surprised if she already made a checklist on what clothes to wear all the way to what sandwiches would be good for you.” She joked, giggling a little at the thought of the mares antics when it came to preparation.

“Well, what can I do till the Princesses get here?” Spike asked as he continued to dig into his meal that was fixed for him.

“Well, I’m just gonna let you eat your breakfast while I send a message to the girls about what’s going on.” Starlight got up from Spike’s bed and walked towards the door, but stopped and took another look at Spike with a smile. “Hope whatever you and princesses have to do will be alright.”

“Thanks, Starlight,” Spike said as the young mare soon walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, and leaving Spike to his rather big breakfast. She decided to check and see if Twilight needed any help with Spikes packing when she heard a loud ding indicating somepony was at the door. Ever since a few months ago, Twilight had placed a magic rune at the front of the castle to chime whenever it was touched and placed similar runes throughout sections of the crystal castle to let them know if someone was there. It turned out to be very useful to Starlight and Twilight the most for when they either had a package or important guests, but for Spike he found it mildly annoying when he was taking a nap or trying to read his comic books in his spare time.

“Who could that be?” Starlight pondered walking up to the door and opening it. She was surprised to find the rest of the element bearers were standing outside along with Trixie and Zecora.

“Girls, what’re you all doing here?” Starlight asked.

“We all got together and wanted to see how Spike was doin,” Applejack replied crossing her arms.

“We felt that after what we heard from him yesterday, Spike could use some cheering up, so we thought we could at least check on the poor little thing,” Fluttershy said softly.

“I felt he was acting rather strange lately, so I thought I would craft something for poor Spikey-Wikey,” Rarity added, reaching into her saddle bag and pulled out some clothes for the young drake. She even had a few rare gems that she didn’t use in her designs. “I also thought he might be hungry as well.”

“Fraid Twilight and I beat you to that,” Starlight added. “We gave Spike a huge breakfast that he’s still eating at the moment.”

“Darn shame,” Applejack replied, pulling a pie from out of a basket. “Granny made him a special apple pie in hopes the little fella would feel better.”

“And I brought a couple of special issue Daring Do comic books, figured it get his mind off of what’s going on,” Rainbow said holding them in her hand.

“I came to see if progress was made ado, from the concoctions of my previous brew.”

“Unfortunately no, Zecora, it didn’t do anything and when he had another nightmare it took the princesses to dispel it. I’m sorry,” Starlight replied sadly.

“I worry about his mental state, so how is the young drake?”

“Right now he’s ok so far, but Twilight and I are worried things might have gotten worse.”

“Well, whatever it is,” Rainbow Dash added, stretching her limbs. “I’m sure we can figure out what’s wrong.”

“Has the young drake told any of you what ales his mind as of late?” Zecora asked with a concerned look on her face.

“He didn’t say on what it was though. I’m not sure what’s going on but I do know that the princesses know whats going on.”

“I’m really sad that there’s nothing we can do to turn his frown upside down” Pinkie Pie said as her ears and hair drooped.

“I’m certain the princesses know what to do dear,” Rarity added. “It would be best to not pressure them after what the darling seems has been going through.”

“Pressure who about what?” A voice from behind called out. Twilight walked over to the door and was surprised to see the rest of the girls standing outside with several gifts in their hands.

“Hey, Twilight,” Pinkie chirped.

“Did you all come by to check on Spike?” She asked in surprise.

“Of course we did, he’s our friend too,” Rainbow Dash followed up. “It’s why we wanted to see how the little guy is doing.”

“You know, seeing as we’re all here,” Pinkie said with a smile as she looked over the girls gifts. “Maybe we should throw a small party for Spike to show how much we appreciate him.”

“No, Pinkie, no parties. We want to leave him with as little stress as possible, plus he leaves in a few hours so there’s no time for a party.”

The party mare giggled. “Oh Twilight, every day is time for a party.”

“It doesn’t have to be a party, we can just make it a small get together in support of him,” Fluttershy replied softly.

“Hmm I guess so, that does sound better. And besides, what’s better than being surrounded by friends he cares about.” Twilight smiled.

“Now, are you two eggheads gonna let us in or not?” Rainbow said impatiently.

“Sure, it’s not like you need an invitation,” Starlight joked as the ponies and zebra walked into the castle. “We’re going to get dressed, so in the meantime, you can set his gifts into the maproom.”

“No problem,” Pinkie added in a cheery tone as both Twilight and Starlight left to get changed. The rest of the girls walked through the castle until they reached a room that had seven thrones and in the center a large crystalline table with a large chandelier made out of the roots of the Golden Oaks library.

“Looks like we’re gonna be busy for awhile.” Applejack replied as she and the girls began setting things on the table.

“Nopony is ever busy so long as you have Pinkie Pie around.” Pinkie Pie replied as she pulls out her party cannon from her mane.

“Now Pinkie-” Rarity tried to say, but the pink party planner pulled the string firing off the cannon and a moment later the room was covered in streamers, balloons, speakers, a DJ set, party favors, poppers, cups and a large white banner hanging at the ceiling saying ‘ Hope you feel better soon Spike.’ on the front.

“Pinkie, y’all remember what Twilight said right?” Applejack said as she crossed her arms under her ample bosom. “We’re tryin to help relax Spike not overwhelm ‘em after what he’s been goin’ through. Which means she said to keep it light.”

“Awww.”

“Did somepony say party?” Another voice as another mare walked in causing everyone to turn towards the direction of the open front door. She had a white coat and an electric blue mane and tail. She wore a pair of purple lense sunglasses on her and a pink sleeveless tank top that did little to conceal her large EE-cup breasts with pink sleeves and thigh high leggings covering her arms and legs, and wore a pair of jorts(Jean shorts). Her light pink thong stuck out between her butt cheeks and she always has her headphones one playing some tunes as well as a pair of purple shades that concealed her eyes.

“Actually Vinyl, now’s not a good time. The girls said they wanted something small and simple.” She said in a disheartened tone. “Sorry for calling you here for nothing.”

“It’s alright Pinkie.” She said as she was on her way out the door. “You still free for that one kids party?”

“Sure, just got to take care of this first.” Pinkie replied back as Vinyl leaves the room with the girls giving Pinkie random looks of confusion to awkwardness. Before any of them would say anything, Twilight and Starlight soon show up in casual wear.

“Hey girls, what happened?” Twilight asked as she looked around to see everything the girls brought onto the map table.

“Pinkie had to put up the large party she had with her cannon.” Rainbow Dash replied while blowing part of her mane.

“Pinkie. I did say that it was going to focus on us with Spike until he is called away by the Princesses.” Twilight replied in a calm yet disappointed tone, while crossing her arms.

“I can’t help that if I like big parties.” Pinkie replied with a pout.

“I know Pinkie but can’t we just make it casual for today, I’m sure Spike would like to know that all of his closest friends are here supporting him through this difficult time.”

“Ok Twilight, I at least want to try something nice for him.”

“Anyways, do we at least have what we need for a simple get together?”

“Eyup, and now I’d rather talk about what’s been going on with Spike.” Applejack inquired as she and the girls look at Twilight and Starlight.

“Okay, so what did the princesses mention about coming to pick up our Spikey-Wikey?” Rarity said as she took out a makeup kit from her purse and used it to puff her cheeks with powder.

“Yeah they said it was something about curing Spikes nightmares but she hasn’t told us what exactly.” Rainbow added.

“I can’t really figure out what’s wrong either.” Applejack replied. “But ah do know that he’s hidin’ something that he ain’t talkin’ bout.”

“Let’s just try and ease him into talking about it.” Starlight suggested. “I think it would be safer if we don’t bring it up unless he does first.”

“That’s actually a good idea.” Twilight said as she turns to Starlight with a smile.

“Oh I just hope he’s ok, poor thing has looked terrible when he couldn’t sleep.” Fluttershy said in a worried tone.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy I’m sure Spike is feeling much better with the princesses helping him.”

“Plus Spike should be finishing his breakfast soon so we need to act fast.” Starlight added.

“Well are we gonna sit here and mope, or are we gonna set up a small party for the little guy?” Rainbow Dash looked at the group with a smile. “We got a dragon to cheer up.”

All of the girls agreed with each other as they rallied their hands together and lift them up with a cheer and begin their next plan.

-Spike’s Bedroom-

Spike finally finished the breakfast that Twilight and Starlight had fixed for him and was thankful to the girls for making. What he wasn’t sure about was why they made it for him the way they did, but he really couldn’t complain much. He couldn’t tell the girls what was going on, but he knew it was inevitable they’d find out anyway. His thoughts soon went back to what the princesses had told him. He felt like they were leaving something out but did not know what.

‘I wonder where Celestia and Luna are going to take me. They said it would help explain my nightmares, but will it really? I just wish I could get some answers now instead of later.’ He thought to himself feeling frustrated.

He got up from his bed, picked up the now empty tray, and walked out to the kitchen to put it away. When he entered, he noticed that Twilight and the girls were not there, so he went to look if Twilight or Starlight were around. He checked most of the rooms but couldn’t find them anywhere. Figuring they were in the maproom, he went there to search for them.

When he opened the door to the room, he was surprised to find Twilight and the rest of his friends, but what surprised Spike was that there were also a few decorations, streamers, and a table full of desserts and other snacks.

“Hey, girls, what’s with all of this?” Spike asked in confusion

Twilight exclaimed, “Spike, you’re just in time!”

“For what exactly, did I miss a special occasion or something?”

Starlight giggled. “No, this is for you silly.”

“Why me?”

Pinkie had one of her signature ear to ear grins.“We were pretty worried about you after everything that happened this month. You know, with the lack of sleep and your nightmares, so we figured that we would have a small party just for you.”

Rarity, waved to the young drake as she added, “We heard about the princesses coming to retrieve you on royal business, and we thought that we could have somewhat of a small gathering with just us for a change, until they arrive.”

Rainbow she touched down onto the floor, leaning towards him, “So, since you’re going to be gone for who knows how long, we figured that we do something fun that you wanted until the princesses get here.”

“She’s right,” Starlight added, “just name it and we’ll do it.”

“Anything, really?”

“Yeah anything Spike,” Twilight confirmed. “We at least want to do this for you.”

“Well, let’s have some cake first.”

“You read my mind.” Pinkie said as she took a large piece but before she could eat it, Twilight snatched it out of her hands with her magic and gave it to Spike, to the pink mares admittedly goofy displeasure. After that everyone took a slice for themselves. For the next couple of hours Spike just tried to have fun: playing some games, having some drinks, listening to music, and just enjoying time with his friends.

***

“Ok, Spike, just one more and I win the game,” Rainbow boasted.

“Just you wait, Dash, all I need is to sink this and I beat you,” he declared as he aimed the dart at the board carefully. He and Rainbow were tied and were at the last throw for each of them and both were determined to win. Rainbow threw her dart at the board and managed to land it in the ring outside the center; she smirked and folded her arms in anticipation of winning the game. The drake took a slow deep breath and threw the projectile at the board and watched as it flew through the air and landed smack dab in the center of the bullseye.

“Alright, Spike, nice one,” Starlight congratulated him, while he shook Rainbow’s hand. Everyone else praised him for the win.

“Looks like you win, but next time I’m not letting you off so easy, dragon boy,” Rainbow declared.

“We’ll have to see about that,” Spike replied in challenge.

“Spike,” Zecora said as she walked towards the young drake with a box in her hands, “I almost failed to mention, but there is a present here that requires your attention.”

He looked taken aback as he saw the box. “You didn’t have to do that,” still his curiosity got the better of him, “but what is it?” he asked giddly as the zebra shaman handed him the box.

Spike opened it and removed the contents inside; he was confused at first as he held a strange necklace in his hand. It had wooden zebra heads with different expressions carved on them covered in bright paints of red, white, black, and orange while several red heart shaped leaves were strung from the woven string along with several colored gems threaded through, making the necklace shimmer in the light.

“Ooohhh, pretty.” Pinkie smiled.

“My goodness, darling, where did you get such a fabulous necklace?” Rarity asked as she marveled at the beautiful jewels adorning the piece of jewelry.

“It looks like you went into amazing detail for it,” Starlight added.

“As you all can see, it has been made and gifted from me.” She smiled, proud but not smug. Rarity couldn’t help but think Rainbow Dash could learn a thing or two from such behavior.

“Wow thanks, Zecora, I love it.” Spike beamed as he put it on.

“I guess it’s my turn, darling,” Rarity followed up as she handed Spike a bag. “I hope you like it, Spike.”

Spike took the bag from Rarity and opened it up; he was surprised at what he pulled out. It was a purple and light green tuxedo jacket decorated with two amethyst studs at the collar ,as well as a purple undershirt with amethyst cufflinks matching the studs, both with a couple slits in the back to accommodate his wings., and the final piece a finely tailored pair of green dress pants that brought the entire outfit together.

“Wow, this is amazing.”

“I’m glad you like it, Spike. I had to find the right materials to make it fire resistant, and it’s even washable!”

“Thanks, Rarity.” Spike said as he smiled at the ivory mare. “I promise to wear it when I get back.”

“Oh, thank you, Spike.” Rarity wrapped her arms around the young drake. Spike’s heart began to race as he was being hugged by his crush, but his face lit up like a Heart’s Warming tree when his head became trapped between her heavenly bosom. Spike felt like he was trapped between two fluffy marshmallows, and he would have loved to get a taste of them. The v-neck blouse Rarity had on looked like it was going to let her chest spill out with how hard she was pushing his head down into it.

“Rarity, anymore and yer gonna suffocate the poor drake,” Applejack called out making Rarity look down at the flushed Spike, who seemed only moments from passing out.

“Oh dear…” She let go of the blushing dragon. “I’m dreadfully sorry, Spike. I didn’t mean to startle you like that.”

‘From you, if I was going to die that way, I would die happily,’ Spike thought to himself hanging the tuxedo on a door handle behind him.

“I’m next,” Fluttershy said as she pulled out something wrapped in a box. “I hope you like it.”

Spike took the small package and began unwrapping it. After opening the box and tearing off the paper, Spike was amazed at what was inside; a small jade rabbit. Each eye looked to be made of a ruby and it had sapphires around the neckline. “Woah, Fluttershy this must’ve cost you a fortune.”

“Actually, Rarity knew a jeweler, and she owed her a favor.” Fluttershy replied. “Rarity gave her a call, explained the design I had in mine, and I was able to pick it up a few days later for a pretty reasonable amount.”

“Wow, thanks.” Spike placed the Jade rabbit statue on the table and gave the yellow mare a firm hug, her wings springing open as her face flushed.

“You’re quite welcome.”

“I’m next.” Rainbow Dash reached into her bag and pulled out a gold plated frame with a poster of the Wonderbolts in it, every single Wonderbolt that had ever been on the elite team had signed it.

“How did you get all the Wonderbolts to sign this?”

“It was supposed to be your get better present, but when I told them about this, they did what they could to help out. They even threw in these if you want to meet them in person.” Rainbow Dash pulled out two backstage passes for the next Wonderbolt show.

“Whoa, two passes for their next show!” He deflated a bit as realization hit him. “No offense, Dash, but I don’t see how I’ll be able to use the passes since I don’t even really know where I’m going or when I’ll be back.”

“That’s the best part! They’re good for any of the shows left this year! I’ll even hold onto these for you until you and the princesses finish, whatever it is that needs doing.”

“Least it’s better than the gift Twilight always gives me; a book,” Spike said, making the lavender alicorn blush madly.

The girls all giggled, but Twilight only composed herself and walked forward with her arms behind her back. “Spike,” Twilight begins as she looks him directly in the eyes, “now I realize how annoyed you get every birthday or Hearth's warming when I get you a book, so I got you something that you’ll definitely love.”

“You say that every time you get me a present,” he thought dully.

“Now, it took me a bit to get them but you’ll love this.” She beamed while she levitated a white plastic bag and handed it to the purple drake.

“You know, Twi, if your trying to make this look extravagant, your not...no way...NO WAY!” Spike exclaimed as he dug his hand into the bag and immediately pulled out a small bundle of packaged comic books. The girls saw Spike’s demeanor change instantly, a smile that could rival Pinkie Pie plastering his face.

“The limited edition Power Ponies vs Flare De Mare special issue number one through seven.” Spike was rendered speechless at the gift, he looked back to the alicorn mare his eyes as wide as saucers. “Twilight, where in Equestria did you get these?”

“I traded them over my series of Labs and Liberties books. I even used my magic to make them fire, water, and dirt proof so you don’t accidentally ruin them.” Twilight smiled but was then almost bowled over by a green and purple blur.

“Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you! I will treasure these for the rest of my life.” He sighed.

“That’s great! I’m glad you like them so much, I figured you would have something to read with wherever you were going.” She covered the comic books in a lavender aura and teleported them away. “I put them in your luggage upstairs.”

“Thanks, Twilight, this means a lot,” Spike added as he walked up and hugged his adoptive sister.

“Way to get it right this time, Twi,” Rainbow quipped, but the mare ignored it, just happy that her little brother was smiling.

“Shining’s gonna be so jealous when he finds out about these.”

“We’re next, Spike.” Starlight said as she and Trixie walked towards Spike. Both mares handed him a small black cloth that had been folded up.

“Uh, what is this?”

“It’s a cloak Trixie and I made! It’s magically enhanced so that it folds to pocket size and can make the wearer invisible too.”

“Whoa, really?”

“Yeah, go ahead and try it on.”

“Okay.” Spike unfolded the cloak and noticed that on the underside it was shimmering silver. He wrapped it around his body and to everyone’s amazement, except Trixie and Starlight’s, his entire body disappeared leaving only his head visible.

“Whoa, holy Celestia, dude, look at yourself!” Rainbow exclaimed. Spike looked down, surprised to see that his body was completely gone. He flexed his hands and feet instinctively, relieved he could still feel them.

“This is totally cool!” Spike smiled. “How’d you make this anyway?”

“Well, I used my magic to make it able to fold up in your pocket so you can easily carry it around.”

“And, Trixie, here used her great and wonderful talent to make this fine piece of cloth disappear!” She waved her hands as if performing a trick.

“We thought about cutting some holes for your wings, but then decided against it. Can you imagine how ridiculous you might look with only your wings sticking out?” Starlight giggled.

“So no flying with this on, got it.”

“Wow, that’s really nice of two. I never even thought of making something like that before,” Twilight added.

“Now, ah think it’s time ah show you my gift, sugarcube.”

“What is it?”

“Hold on a second,” Applejack said, leaving the room for a moment. She soon returned with a wooden keg on her shoulder. “Well now, hows about we have ourselves a few drinks.” Her eyes twinkled a bit mischievously.

“Alright, now you’re talking!” Rainbow exclaimed as she yanked the keg out of the farm mares hands, set it on the table, and was about to pull the lever open, anticipating for the crisp cool ambrosia to fall upon her maw. Her dreams were crushed as Applejack took the keg out of her grip and placed it on the other side of the table, out of the weather pony’s reach.

“Rainbow, this cider here is meant for Spike.”

“But I wanted to have some first,” she whined.

“After our not so little dragon here has his first drink,” she said, making Spike blink in surprise.

“Really?” Spike said amazed as Applejack pulled out a tankard, filled it up with cider, and handed it to the young dragon. Before he could take a sip, a purple aura enveloped the tankard levitated it right into Twilights outstretched hand as he glared at her.

“A.J., you know that Spike can’t have any alcohol until he turns twenty-one in several months.”

“Aw, lay off Twi the boy is old enough to make decisions like this for himself.” She grabbed the wooden cup and handed it back to the dragon.

“But he’s still too young, it’s bad enough he’s been tormented by nightmares for the past month; he doesn’t need alcohol to be an answer to his problems.”

“It’s not like I’m giving him a barrel of the stuff here, I just believe he could use something to help wind down just a little and show him that I believe he’s mature enough to be allowed that freedom.”

“But he’s not old or mature enough to make a decision like that on his own,” Twilight countered.

“Uh, I’m right here you know,” Spike interjected.

But Twilight ignored him and continued, “I just don’t believe that drinking at such a crucial time in his life right now would be helpful for his problem.”

“I think it would help if you didn’t treat him like a kid, Twi,” Rainbow Dash said while blowing at her mane.

“They’re right, Twilight, after all these years and everything we’ve been through I believe Spike is as mature as any of us,” Fluttershy added softly.

Spike couldn’t help but smile at their words. His friends actually saw him as an equal and finally decided to speak up for himself. “C’mon, Twilight, I’m not a baby dragon anymore by pony standards and I think it’s high time that you realize that too.”

Twilight looked back at her little brother who was looking at her with an optimistic expression. She thought about what he said and knew he was right; he wasn’t that cute little dragon she hatched that day and felt saddened that he was growing up. She knew she had to let him be his own kind of dragon or he’d never develop on his own.

“Alright, Spike, go on ahead,” she sighed in defeat, knowing that she can’t really baby him forever and that he needed more faith from her.

“You mean it?” he brightened.

“Of course, what better way than to have your first drink with all your friends beside you.” She smiled. “But I’m putting your other gifts in your room so nothing gets on them.” With a quick flash of her magic the tuxedo, necklace, and rabbit were safely tucked away. Rainbow Dash would also latter find the tickets on her dresser, least she lose them in her inevitable drunken stupor.

“Thanks, Twilight, thanks, girls, I really appreciate all of this. Well, bottoms up,” he said as he tipped back the cup onto his lips and began to drink.

“Chug, chug, chug, chug!” Rainbow and Pinkie cheered while Spike drank every last drop of his cider until nothing was left in it.

“Ah, hhmm, not bad I always wondered what it tastes like.”

“That a boy, there, sugarcube; I’m glad ya find it to yer likin.”

“Yeah, yeah, now move over you two, this pegasus here needs here fix,” Rainbow said as she ran past the two and placing her muzzle under the tap. She proceeded to pull the lever letting the amber liquid flow down into her mouth. Spike couldn’t help but laugh at the mares antics when it came to cider as the rest of the girls shook their heads.

“Well, it's a good thing I brought a few more kegs for us just in case,” she added pulling back a curtain to reveal more kegs of cider causing Rainbow’s mouth to water so much a waterfall was coming out of her.

“A.J., I fucking love you,” Rainbow Dash said as she ran over and hugged the apple mare kissing her on the cheek and making her blush.

“Get a room you two,” Starlight quipped, making the girls chuckle while she reached for a cup but instead noticed that there weren’t any on the table. “What the heck?”

“Didn’t we bring cups in earlier?” Fluttershy asked in confusion.

“I think I may have misplaced them or something,” Pinkie said as she rummaged through her mane.

“Well, where’d you put them?” Twilight asked.

“I think I may have left them in the guestroom,” She said innocently.

“I can go get them if you want,” Spike said as he began walking away before being stopped by Twilight.

“Spike, we wanted to do this for-” She immediately got cut off by Pinkie who clamped her hand around Twilight’s mouth.

“Of course, Spike, they’re at the end of the hall down to the left, then a right, then another left, and juuuust a teeny bit down inside the basement.” She smiled widely but then had her hand removed from the alicorn mare.

“But we don’t have a base-” But Twilight couldn’t finish her sentence before Pinkie clamped her hand over her muzzle again making Spike and the girls confused.

“Oookay then, I’ll just go get them.” He then walked out of the room to get the extra cups leaving the girls alone. Pinkie was just smiling as she takes her hand off of Twilight’s mouth and she looks at everyone with an innocent smile.

“What’cha got planned there, Pinkie?” Applejack asked with a dull glare as she stepped forward.

“It’s obvious, isn't it?” She said with a cheerful expression. She then pulled out several cups from her mane as if they weren’t there at all.

“Why did you send Spike on a wild goose chase then?” Rarity asked looking at the party mare in confusion.

“Because it gives me enough time to setup his big surprise.” She then pulled out a box from her mane opening it to reveal Spike’s surprise: a large purple cupcake with green colored frosting that was sprinkled with rainbow colored gems and surrounded in a foil paper, all while Pinkie was playing a fanfare of awe.

“A Cupcake?” Rainbow Dash groaned. “You had him leave over a cupcake?”

“Not just any cupcake, but a very special cupcake that I made myself.”

“What’s it supposed to do if it’s so special?” Trixie asked, curious about the confectionary.

“Well, I was experimenting on a brand new cupcake recipe to brighten up my parties,” Pinkie replied. “I want Spike to be the first to try it out, and I’ve been perfecting it for weeks now.”

“Must be pretty special if ya had to go this far for it,” Applejack replied.

“Yeah, and it’s for Spike’s mouth only. I want to see the look on his face when he bites into this.” She beamed.

“Pinkie, was your cupcake supposed to do that?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry they’re completely safe,” She smiled only for it to disappear when a slight rumbling was heard.

“Huh, they aren’t supposed to do that.”

“What do you mean they aren’t supposed to do that?” Trixie asked in a nervous tone. The girls looked at the batch of cupcakes that Pinkie made worriedly.

“Pinkie, what do you mean they weren’t supposed to do that?” Twilight reiterated.

“I mean, I don’t remember the cupcakes rumbling when I first baked them,” Pinkie said in confusion. “I just know that they were supposed to get a specific glow to show that it was ready, and they still look strange.”

“Strange how?” Trixie added.

“Although, I do remember a bag of sizzlestones Maud was using for a geologist project she was working on, but they can’t be the same ones.” She added nonchalantly.

“And how can you tell?” Asked the fashion mare.

“Simple, sizzle stones are a light purplish blue color and make a sizzling sound when being used, while my pop rock candy is a light violet purple color that makes loud popping noises.”

“Um like that?” Fluttershy said pointing her finger at the dessert where a light sizzling was coming from it.

“Silly Fluttershy, it’s not popping it’s sizzling.” She smiled widely only for everyone's eyes to widen at her statement.

“Oh, heehee...oops,” Pinkie said sheepishly.

“Everypony, hit the deck!” Rainbow yelled as everyone in the room scrambled for cover, but it was too late.

‘Boom! Splat!’

The entire room was covered in an explosion of cake and frosting including the girls as they grimaced, covered from head to hoof.

“Honestly, Pinkie, it’s in my mane!” Rarity screamed as she whined at the cake frosting stuck in her mane.

“Come on!” Starlight groaned as her mane and fur got sticky. “This is gonna be a pain in the flank to clean out!”

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to get cupcake stains out of your mane Pinke?” Trixie followed up as she groaned with how much it was going to cost her. “Stuff like this isn’t cheap.”

“Sorry, girls. I wasn't really expecting this to happen,” Pinkie replied in a somber tone.

“Land sakes, Pinkie, I just got done with my laundry yesterday and if Granny sees I don’t have any clothes left I’ll have to wear the old cider barrel she keeps,” she groaned making everyone else in the room look at her. “What, she used it on us before to teach us about properly treating our clothes.

“No offense, A.J., but your family has some crazy customs,” Rainbow Dash said in a dull tone. “Plus, this is nothing new to me; I’ve had worse.”

“You can at least deal with it,” Twilight added, “but a lot of us that actually care about how we look can’t.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting that to happen,” Pinkie said in her cheery tone. “Luckily, that side effect from it hasn’t happened yet.”

“What side effect?” Twilight asked, as the rest of the girls turned to Pinkie’s direction. The sounds of sizzling soon filled the air.

“Pinkie, what’s that noise?” Starlight asked

Everyone started looking around the room, looking for the source of the loud sizzling, until Rarity looked up to see a bright pink smoke. Rarity took out her pocket mirror in response and saw that the cake batter that had gotten plastered in her mane earlier was slowly evaporating.

“Well girls, I guess we were worried for nothing,” Rarity said with a sigh of relief. “It looks like Pinkie’s cupcakes were- ooohhh, does anypony feel a draft in here?”

“Beg yer pardon, Rarity?” Applejack followed up. The girls were confused as to what was going on, but Pinkie knew what was going to happen. Fluttershy looked down to see Rarity’s skirt getting smaller and smaller. She then turned to the other girls and saw the same phenomenon with their clothes.

“Um, girls, why are your clothes shrinking?” Fluttershy asked.

“Wait, what?” Trixie asked in confusion. Other than Pinkie, the girls were confused by what Fluttershy meant until they felt the same breeze down below as Rarity did. They all looked down and at each other before freaking out when they saw that their clothes had vanished into thin air. The girls begin panicking in the process as they ran around the room trying to cover themselves out of embarrassment. Rainbow Dash grabbed at her amulet afraid that it was going to melt but saw that it wasn’t affected by whatever had destroyed their clothes. Zecora, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Starlight felt their nipples harden at the sudden loss of their clothes, and with the exception of the zebra, struggled to find concealment.

“Aw c’mon!” Starlight rushed to find something to help hide her marehood and the excitement plaquing it.

“Oh, pony feathers, not again!” The farm mare hadn’t really planned on all of her friends finding out about the freckles on her apple bottom.

“Eep!” Fluttershy was already self-conscious about others staring at her larger than average, to put it lightly, breasts with her clothes on, but now she was on full display in front of all her friends. To make it worse, her light pink nipples had hardened enough to cut diamonds, making her obscene body stand on even more.

“Oh for heaven’s sake, darling, what was in that concoction?!” While a lady made sure to keep even her most private parts properly groomed and maintained, Rarity hadn’t planned on showing off her immaculate care of her marehood to anyone yet, let alone her closest friends like some harlet.

“Heh, this reminds me of one of my sleepovers with Gilda,” Rainbow Dash followed up. Secretly, she breathed a sigh of relief clutching her amulet, but she remained uncovered and unashamed, the rainbow lightning bolt trimmed tuff above her marehood an almost clear indication of her pride in her entire body. ‘Celestia that was too close.’

“This is quite a scare, but it’s not the first time I’ve been laid bare.” For Zecora nudity was not uncommon, her hut got quite hot in the summer after all and with so few visitors stripping down to nothing was part of the norm. She was proud of her body and her heritage. Had Twilight been less preoccupied, she may have found it interesting that the zebra mare had one black and one white nipple on her glorious buxom.

“I’ve heard of showing skin, but this,” Trixie flourished her from her sizable chest to the pretty silver flesh peeking out from the fur around her marehood, drawing attention to her assets unabashedly, “is ridiculous.”

“Pinkie?!” Twilight exclaimed while the rest of the girls struggled to cover up their bodies after what happened, she was too focused on the party mare and her anger to do more than cover her front with her wings. Her hands placed firmly on her curvaceous hips. “What is it with you and your crazy ideas?”

Pinkie shrugged, making her large party bags jiggle. It was quite clear at the moment that all of the sweets had gone straight to her chest and bubble butt, leaving her midriff tight and her legs tone. “Well It’s not like I was planning on any of this to happen.”

“I’m not walking into town looking like this Pinkie!” Rarity shouted as she was looking for anything to try and cover her figure. “It was bad enough that the batter was in my mane, but to suffer through this?”

“Just as long as they don’t come into contact with any fabric then your fine.”

“They already came into contact with our clothes, Pinkie!” Starlight yelled in frustration. “Do you have any idea how this makes us feel?”

“Girls, I-”

“If Granny Smith wasn’t gonna be angry with me, now, she’s gonna throw a hissy fit when she sees me like this!” Applejack yelled. “It’s gonna be awkward as it is trying to explain why I’m walking through town in mah birthday suit!”

“Girls-”

“I don’t want anypony to see me naked!” Fluttershy screamed as she covered herself with her wings while she uses her hands to cover her crotch.

“Girls-”

“You better be glad that I’m not in front of a crowd right now, or this is gonna be a problem.” Trixie groaned.

“Girls-”

“Pinkie, how do we fix this?” Twilight said as she turned to the pink pony.

“Hey!!” Rainbow Dash yelled, making everyone turn to her direction. Rainbow Dash didn’t even bother covering herself as she walked towards Pinkie and got in front of her. “Sheesh, you think you’d all be used to this right now.”

“As much as I love flowing free, I am inclined to agree.” Zecora added as she walked forward to defend Pinke.

“Seriously, guys, you figured that you’d be used to stuff like this after a while.”

“Well her baked goods never ate at our clothes,” Rarity said in anger.

“Try to take it easy, besides it’s just us around here, it’s not like we haven’t seen each
other naked before.”

“Yeah and Spikes here too!” Twilight added.

“Wait, wha-” Rainbow Dash was interrupted when the door opened.

“Hey, Pinkie I couldn’t find any cups so I-”

The girls froze when they heard Spike’s voice and turned to the open door to see he was completely in shock. Spike had the surprise of his life as he saw the girls clothing melting off of their bodies leaving them fully naked and giving him an eyeful of their heavenly, shapely bodies.

“Sp-Spike!” Twilight shouted. “Th-this isn’t what it looks like!”

“Spike, just try to calm down and-” Starlight tried to say, but it was too late.

“Blllluuuarrgh!” Spike yelped as blood seeped from his nose. The sight of all of the girls naked was to much, making him fall to the floor in a stupor.

“Spike!” All the girls shouted as they looked at the state he was in. Twilight instinctively rushed towards Spike with the other girls following suit, but with the extra cake batter, that was still splattered everywhere, they all ended up losing their footing. The last thing the poor dragon could see was a wall of female flesh toppling over him. If the girls being naked hadn’t been enough to make him pass out, then them being on top of him while his own clothes sizzled off had surely done the trick.

“Ugh, could you girls get off, your lying on my wings.”

“Pinkie Pie, for the love of Celestia would you kindly stop using me as a personal throw pillow.”

“Get your butt out of my face, Rainbow.”

“Well get your face outta my butt, A.J.”

“Why do I get the feeling that this is turning into a very bad day for us?” Starlight sighed.

“Starlight, could you get off my back please?” Twilight asked.

“I could if Trixie would stop sitting on my ass,” Starlight counted. Twilight was about to say something but felt something wet on her breasts. She looked down to see that Spike was bleeding profusely from his nose and his eyes were swirled.

“Great, I think Spike may have died in the most embarrassing way possible,” Twilight groaned, as she now had to clean blood stains on her chest. “How can things get any worse? Wait, what’s hard and poking me in the stomach?”

The front door opened getting everyone, other than the unconscious Spike’s, attention and the girls turned to see that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were walking in the room. Both alicorn mares getting an eyeful as well when they saw Twilight and her friends naked and on top of Spike.

“Um...Did we interrupt something?” Celestia asked in confusion as she and Luna just stared at the girls, their cheeks turning a light pink.

“P-Princess Celestia!” Twilight managed to say as she scrambled to get off of the marepile and cover herself. Her face was bright red and she feared that she’d never live this down. “T-t-this isn’t what it looks like!”

“No need explaining, Twilight, I know exactly what’s going on,” Luna stated.

“You do?” the lavender mare replied in surprise.

“Why, yes, isn’t it obvious,” she said, leaving everyone utterly confused. “You wish to conduct the old tradition by performing the noble practice of flaunting about in your barest form for Spike in hopes of distracting him,” She explained, it took most of the girls a few seconds to piece together what the princess of the night meant and started to blush furiously when they realized what she was implying. Before they could say anything, Luna grabbed her dress as she began to pull her dress up and off right in front of them. Her strong legs were quickly revealed, as was her marehood in all of it’s midnight blue glory. The powerful stomach of a goddess was eclipsed only by the massive mammaries that freed themselves from the cloth, the large dark blue areola the size of Spike’s head with her nippless so large that they would fit perfectly inside the mouth of anyone there. The girls blushed in response to the incredibly sexual and erotic body of their princess.

“It has been centuries since I was involved in such a setting, but it’s refreshing to know some ponies remember the-” She was about to pull her dress over her head when Celestia put a hand on her arm and used her magic to pull down her sisters dress.

“Tia, what are you doing?”

“It’s not that type of party, Luna.”

“Then why pray tell is everypony as bare as a newborn foal in here?”

“I think we can explain, princess,” said Twilight as she managed to stand there currently covering her chest with her right wing while she struggled with her left to cover her exposed marehood.

“Pinkie was trying to have a surprise batch of cupcakes for Spike, but she accidentally mixed sizzle stones she got from Maud into the batch that she baked.” She looked at the empty and burnt box. “When they came into contact with the candle, they exploded and all of our clothing was burnt off.”

“Oh, so that’s what happened. Reminds me of that prank I pulled on Tia after I got back,” Luna added, with a slight giggle and everyone turned to her direction.

“Luna, what are you talking about?” Celestia asked.

“You remember that cake you had a few months ago that exploded out of nowhere and you locked yourself in your chamber the entire day?”

-Six Months Ago-

Six months ago, Princess Celestia was within her meeting room and was joined by Queen Mesosoma, Princess Trachea, and the new Gryphon Queen of Griffonia, housed in their newly repaired castle in Griffonstone, named Griselda.

“And I feel this new trade deal will benefit all of our races. It allows safe passage through dangerous environments, and everyone gets what they need for goods and services.”

“Your proposed route does show promise, Celestia,” Queen Mesosoma replied, sipping some tea that was on the coffee table in the center, “but there is the issue of bandits that we should worry about.”

“If it’s bandits, then some of my elite unit wouldn’t be too much of a problem to deal with them.” Griselda said in a calm yet firm voice. Celestia admired how strong the griffon queen was. Being a former member of their military and having experience on and off the field, as well as being caring to her teammates, made her the perfect candidate for her subjects back in Griffonstone. She was a beautiful griffoness with her lower half being that of a tiger with an orange body and black stripes and her upper half being that of a black eagle. Her hair was tied in a ponytail with part of it covering her left eye. Speaking of eyes, they were silted with a bright amber gold that gave her a cold gaze, but more of a calm demeanor. Her arms and legs had a thick layer of muscle from her time in the field, but it only added to the attractiveness of her toned fit body.

She wore a shimmering black dress, covered in a layer of woven armor that fit her arms and chest with golden plates, a crest of a bloodied red griffon etched into the chestplate, silver chainmail sewn between them. The form-fitting attire swayed with her movements but hugged her closely, an intimidating display of elegant beauty and poised deadliness in her ensemble.

As for the royal changelings sisters, their attire consisted of glittering silk, the colors of the dress darkening the further down it trailed, starting as a light purple at their shoulders and seeping into a midnight blue at the hem of the skirt. Around Mesmosa’s chest, the silk parted ways for a brassier that looked like a massive butterfly, the wings holding the Changeling Queen’s impressive bust.

“If we have guards of such caliber on this route, it’ll be perfect for the new trade route. Not to mention, the surrounding path leads between Griffonia and Equestria as well as a little of the way into our kingdom as well,” Trachea replied.

“Then it’s settled,” Celestia said as she rolled up the map and stretched. “This will be our new trade route between kingdoms, are there any objections to this meeting?”

“No.”

“Nay.”

“I accept these terms.” Griselda affirmed.

“We then hereby declare this meeting concluded.”

“Agreed.”

“Ok.”

“Well with that taken care of,” Celestia clapped her hands. The doors opened and the kitchen staff hauled in a massive, triple-decker cake with a light-blue icing swirling up into a flower. They cleared a table for separate plates and utensils for the representatives present and offered Celestia the ceremonial knife, “why don’t we indulge ourselves with a little cake?”

“Cake already?” Mesesoma said. “Doesn’t it seem a bit too early? I’m pretty sure we skipped lunch as well.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Queen Griselda replied in confusion. “Isn’t this normally the time for lunch?”

“It’s more of a snack to me.”

‘More like a guilty pleasure you can’t help yourself with.’ Trachea mumbled under her breath.

“Oh don’t be like that, it’s my treat.”

“Well, I guess one slice wouldn’t hurt,” Mesosoma replied as she cut a slice of cake. “But I need to ask, why there is a candle on the cake?” She pointed to the top of the cake and Celestia looked in confusion as she saw the lone candle.

“Wait, I didn’t put that on there.” Before she could even register how it had gotten there, the candle suddenly lit up and started burning.

“Princess Celestia, what’s going on?” Trachea asked in confusion.

However Celestia wasn’t sure what was going on, and a few seconds later the candle exploded! It caused a chain reaction with the cake and soon the entire room and the royal dignitaries were covered in cake batter.

“This is why we vet the staff!” Trachea yelled. “Someone could have been hurt from that!”

“Pah, please!” Griselda huffed. “If that was someone’s attempt at assassinating us, I haven’t been so disappointed since my first ex-lover.”

“Please calm down, I’m not sure what’s happening, but I doubt that this was an-!” She began but stopped when the sounds of sizzling began to get her attention. “Is something burning?”

“Why is it starting to get cold?” Trachea asked in confusion. She then turned to her sister and began to notice that her dress was becoming smaller and smaller.

“I’m not sure, but I feel like my dress is starting to get a bit loose,” Griselda said, before her chestplate snapped off of its chainlink and clattered to the floor. “Wha- what’s going on with my dress?!” she said, feeling the shoulder straps slipping off. The skirt and waistband broke off, revealing the Queen’s thread-thin underwear. As the rest of her plated mail fell apart, they left only the straps that held her royal bust in place under her armor. Whatever had dissolved her clothes was now working its way down her back, eating through her straps. They shot off like a rubber band, freeing her large II-cup breasts as the band itself flew across the room, striking a Guard in the eye. As he fell to the floor, losing consciousness, one could faintly hear a whisper, ‘worth it’.

“What is the meaning of this Princess Celestia!?” She shouted covering her breasts with her wings. Mesosoma and Trachea followed up with a scream as they realized that their dresses were gone and scrambled to cover themselves in surprise. Celestia then looked down at her own dress , realizing that it too was gone, leaving her bare naked in front of her constituents.

Her dress fallen, all eyes laid upon the Sun Diarch and her exposed form. Naturally, most were drawn to the mountainous behemoths that sat upon her chest, a pair of breasts with no equal in any land, far larger than any lesser female would be able to handle. Their perfect white fur cascaded upon a cavernous sweep of cleavage, smoother and finer than any silk or satin crafted, the only spot uncovered by the fur was her exposed, rose-tinted nipples. Those that hadn’t stared at Celestia’s chest would bare witness to her flanks. Many things could be said about the mounds that bore the mark of the Sun Goddess, that they had the most perfect placement of any Cutie Mark, sitting upon the absolute center of her derriere, that they were a perfect shape and girth that could satiate any lust, and that her cheeks were so luscious that they were the reason she was chosen to wield the Element of Generosity. Wars and assassinations were declared in the streets over the whispers and mutterings of what some thought Celestia’s body could entail, and those who witnessed this day would know one thing: any price would be worth paying to witness the physical encapsulation of perfection again.

“My favorite underwear!” She yelled, realizing that her favorite rainbow panties and bra were now destroyed.

“You’re worry about your favorite clothing at a time like this?” Gresilda yelled. “If this meeting was supposed to be a joke, you may have accomplished that.”

“I’m telling the truth, I don’t know what caused this,” Celestia added in a panic.

While they were panicking, a pair of light blue eyes were peeking through the keyhole before looking away. There in the hall was Princess Luna, laughing her butt off as she walked away from the room, pulling out another trick candle from her pocket and casually tossing it into the air.

“Best. Prank. Ever.”

-Present-

“That was you?” She glared at her. “I was in a very important meeting with the delegates of both the Changelings and Griffons that day, It took a week to get all the cake out of my mane and enough convincing the Griffons not to retaliate on your prank.”

“To be fair, sister,” Luna began as she held her hands up in defense while still laughing. “That prank was meant for you. I didn’t count on you bringing the cake to the changelings and the griffons that day.”

“Luna, we’ll talk about this later,” Celestia added with finality as her horn gave off a golden glow. A moment later her horn flashed and everyone's clothes suddenly appeared back on each of them.

“Th-thank you, Celestia,” Twilight said as she stopped covering herself with her wings.

The girls got up turned to the still unconscious Spike bleeding from his nose.

“So, how do you think we wake him up?” Rainbow Dash asked as the other girls pondered on what to do.

Starlight simply walks towards the keg tap where the cider was and pours a drink, walking back towards Spike and splashes the cool liquid in his face. It got a reaction out of the young drake as he bolts upright darting his head from right to left until he becomes fully aware of his surroundings again..

“Huh, wha-what happened?” Spike asked in confusion as he felt his face all wet and sticky from the cider.

“You passed out after getting piled on by a bunch of naked mares and popping a boner,” Starlight summarized. ‘Considering who he hangs out with on a daily basis I’m not surprised.’

“Could you not? It’s not like I was expecting to come back to my party and find a room full of naked mares,” Spike face turning a darker shade of purple. “If I wasn’t so use to random craziness around here I’d of thought that somepony broke in or we were being attacked or something.”

“Well we weren’t, and thanks to Pinkie here, our clothes got destroyed earlier,” Applejack added with a glare, making the party mare look at everyone nervously with a blush.

Spike was about to say something else when he saw his adoptive mother and his aunt standing in front of him with puzzled looks as he stumbled to stand up and focus his gaze on the royal pair. “M-Celestia, Luna, I, uh... I can explain.”

“It’s quite alright, Spike, Twilight and the others filled us in on their little incident, although I must say you certainly have a charm if you can make almost every mare in your vicinity drop their clothes for you,” her tone suggestive, making everyone besides Luna blush hard. “Oh I’m just teasing you, dear,” Celestia giggled as she knelt in front of her adopted son. “It’s just cute how you react. Anyways, you don’t need to explain anything, Spike.”

“She’s right,” Luna added, kneeling down as well. “Now that that’s behind us, shall we move on to more pressing matters now?”

“Right, you’re here to pick me up. Does that mean we’re leaving now?”

“I’m afraid so, Spike, we can’t wait any longer and time is of the essence, so if there’s anything you need before we go you should get it now.”

Spike turned towards the girls, who all looked pretty downtrodden about him going. Spike was running through a plethora of emotions at the moment as he looked at each of them. Sadness knowing they wouldn’t be joining him wherever his mother and aunt were taking him. He also felt a little frustrated that they left out where exactly they’re going, but, at the same time, he understood why they did. He wasn’t sure what to say at the moment, let alone what to think, but his thoughts were suddenly cut short when he felt something warm wrap around his body. Forced out of his thoughts he saw Twilight in front of him, hugging him, and even wrapping her wings around him, making the drake blush as he felt Twilight’s heartbeat through her wings.

“Spike, whatever you have to do, know that no matter where you are, we’re always there for you,” she said, wanting to at least continue this for a few more moments. Spike smiled as he welcomed the embrace, hugging his older sister back. Then, he felt a few more bodies pile on and realized the rest of the girls had joined in a group hug.

“As much as ah don’t want this to end, I guess duty calls for ya,” Applejack replied.

“Oh, Spike, please don’t go; I don’t want you to go away forever and never ever, ever, ever, EVER come back.” Pinkie cried, a waterfall of tears was comically streaming out of her face.

“I’m sure our Spikey-Wikey will be alright since the princesses will be looking after him, Right darling?” Rarity patted the party mare’s back gently trying to calm her down.

“Rarity’s right, Pinkie. I’ll only be gone for around a week or so.”

“But hey, if something does happen, just count on us to be there,” Rainbow Dash chimed in.

“So long as you don’t hurt yourself with whatever it is that needs to be done,” Starlight added.

“When you do get back, I want to show you my newest tricks I’ve been working on, and you’ll be the first to see them.” Trixie winked. “I’ll have a new performance I can show you by then.”

“I’ll hold you to that, Trixie,” Spike said as he walked upstairs to get his belongings before coming back to join Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at the front door.

“Are you ready, Spike?” Celestia asked as she looked at her adoptive son as he walked over to her.

Spike turned to see Twilight who was now giving him a sad smile, barely holding back her tears; the young drake noticed this and opened up his arms, gesturing for another hug. She embraced him as she started to cry a little; Spike just held her in his arms.

“Just be safe, okay. I don’t want anything bad happening to you.”

“C’mon, Twilight, I’m grown up. I’ve helped save an entire kingdom, changed the viewpoint of two different races, and managed to open up relations of three different countries at the same time. I’m sure whatever this is will be a piece of cake.”

“You know what,” Pinkie said as she reached into her mane and pulled out a camera and a stool to hold it up. “Why don’t we have a group photo to commemorate the occasion of ‘Spike farewell on royal business’ party?”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Pinkie.” Celestia smiled.

“I have to agree as well.” Luna chimed in. “I’d love to be a part of this photo.”

“Sure, that sounds nice,” Spike replied smiling.

Luna smiled, it’d be the first time she was part of one of their photos.

“We’ll need to take only one, since we don’t really have a lot of time my little ponies,” Celestia added as she walked towards the girls. “So decide quickly where we should take this photo.”

“Why not outside at the front of the castle?” Starlight suggested, getting everyone’s attention.

“It does have a much better view for a background dear,” Rarity replied. “Plus, the light from the crystals does look good with my eyes.”

“You would say that,” Rainbow Dash groaned while pantomiming she was gagging and stuck her tongue out.

“I think it sounds nice,” Fluttershy added as she liked the idea.

“Are we’re all in agreement then?” Twilight asked with different replies of approval following suit. She turned to the princesses with a smile. “We’ll take our picture outside; then you can get ready for your trip, Princess Celestia.”

“I see.” Celestia smiled as she looked at her former pupil. Turning around, she walked towards the front door before looking back at the girls. “Well, what are you girls waiting for?”

“Indeed.” Luna quickly joined her sister. “I would like to see what our photo will look like.”

Everyone in the room agreed as they walked with the princesses and stepped outside of the castle, joining them for the photo everyone began taking their places to pose for the camera.

“Alright, everyone, gather round.” Twilight levitated the camera in front of the group.

“Say, ‘friendship’.”

“Friendship.” The flash went off. Twilight took the photo out of the camera and taking a look at it. Most of the girls and Spike were smiling, but she had to sigh, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie had gone and made funny faces. She pouted seeing Rainbow Dash’s fingers behind her head just to tease her.

“Well, now that we have that out of the way,” Celestia began as she and Luna stepped onto the carriage that was waiting for them, “we need to hurry to where we’re going.”

“My sister is right. We can’t spend anymore time here, sadly.” Luna joined Celestia.

Spike sighed as he looked at the carriage and back at the girls who smiled sadly as they waved the young drake off. Still, Spike knew that the girls would be waiting for him to return safely, smiling back at them before joining Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the carriage. The carriage slowly ascended, the girls watching it take off and disappear into the morning sky.

“Good luck, Spike!” Twilight yelled, while the rest of the girls yelled out their farewells to the drake as the carriage flew further and further from them.

“There he goes,” Starlight said to herself. While unknowingly to her and the girls Pinkie pulls out a large megaphone and yells out.

“Don’t forget to wrrriiiiiiittttteeee!!!!” Pinkie yelled through the device deafening the girls and likely most of Ponyville. Everyone groaned and whined at the ringing of their ears while Pinkie just looked worriedly at everyone. “Do you think he heard me?”

“Okay, my ears are ringing!” Rainbow Dash yelled, unable to gauge her own volume anymore. “I think now I know how you girls felt after I left for Wonderbolt Academy!”

“I just hope he’s alright,” Twilight said in a near whisper as she turned to the other girls and dispelled the magic from her ears. “Girls?”

“What?!”

“Huh?!”

“I can’t hear anything!”

“What?!”

“What did you say?!”

Twilight facepalmed and sighed to herself as she used her magic to pull everyone but Pinkie, who hopped merrily beside her into the castle, to help her now temporarily deaf friends of their hearing loss. She only hoped that when Spike returned, that he’d be okay and his nightmares will finally have ended.

The Secret Island

View Online

-Carriage-

Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Spike had finally left Ponyville and were already on the outskirts of Equestria, flying overhead in the afternoon sky. Spike was amazed at how large the carriage was since it could only hold at least four people at a time, the inside was able to accommodate both the princesses' stature and anyone that accompanied them. Currently it’s velvet walls were decorated with golden and blue trim and had the royal Cutie Marks throughout inside of the carriage. At their seats, a small gold trimmed console stood in between them which held snacks and drinks for guests as well as for long journeys. It was definitely handy for Celestia, since she could sneak a couple slices of cake inside for safe keeping in case she ever needed a little pick me up.

Spike could understand why they needed such a spacious carriage with how tall and curvaceous both alicorns were. Their bodies were practically what most mares would kill for, and what stallions dream of in their deepest darkest fantasies. Spike wasn’t really focused on the two of them though, as he was more focused on the comics of the Power Ponies and their fight against the Mane-iac and Flare De Mare.

“Enjoying your little books there?” Luna teased, directing the dragon’s attention away from the brand new comics that Twilight had given him. He seemed to be lost in his own little world as he read away ignoring what was around him. Celestia and Luna giggled at this while Luna kept trying to get his attention. With Spike preoccupied, she leaned forward, lifted her right hand, and pulled Spike’s comic down onto his lap.

“Huh?!!!” Spike was about to ask what was going on, but his face soon began to flush red when he saw Luna’s body. She was looking at Spike with a face a mother would give, but his eyes were more focused on Luna’s bountiful cleavage. Spike sometimes wondered if they did this on purpose, as his eyes could easily see not only the large valley of her cleavage but also that one of her nipples were poking out of her dress.

“Spike, are you alright?” She asked with a concerned look on her face. “You’re looking rather red there.”

“Um...y-yeah I’m fine.” Spike stuttered as he composed himself. ‘For the love of the gods above, I swear it’s intentional.’

“Anyways, Spike, how are the books you’re reading?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I really love them,” he said as he tried to look back at the comic and calm himself down. “Twilight gave me a really good gift, unlike most of the ones she’s given me.”

“Try to understand that she’s a mare that has been reading books her entire life and only slowed down on them once you both went to Ponyville.” Celestia looked out her window nostalgically. “She said herself on that day that she realized what it meant to truly have friends.”

“I know. I lived with her for the longest, so I know what she’s like, her problem was just-” Spike didn’t get to finish because the carriage suddenly hit turbulence causing it to rattle and shake around for a bit. The rough air caused Celestia and Luna to stumble forward as they reached out to break their fall; however, the only thing in front of either of them was Spike.

As they collided with the young drake their massive breasts collided with his face, smothering him in the incredibly soft cleavage of two goddesses, knocking all three of them to the floor of the carriage. It seemed Spike’s truest fate was to be the bottom of a dog pile of beautiful mares, as his muffled cries reverberated through the princesses’ chests as their scent flooded his nose, cinnamon buns and night lily, a unique but not unpleasant combination. Celestia let out an errotic moan as one of Spike’s flailing hands finally found something to grab onto, that something being the shapely, soft-yet-firm rear of the solar monarch.

Luna had fared slightly better, Spike’s other hand was only caressing her left leg(later he would appreciate how nice the toned muscle felt in his hand), still a small blush accentuated her face. As the two of them gained their bearings, they pushed up from the ground, careful of the drake, and stood up, allowing sweet air to enter his lungs once again. Unfortunately, or perhaps to Spike’s great fortune, his grip on Celestia behind had not lessened so, when she rose, her butt lifted itself from his hand but her dress had stayed clutched within his claw.

Gravity and physics were quick to play their role, and the garment slipped from her shoulders, momentarily got caught on her impressive hips, and finally slid down her legs and completely off of her body. If there had been any mercy it was that her white panties, with her sun cutie mark on the front near her pelvis and two on each of her very full, ironically, moons, had only been slightly crumbled down, leaving her modesty at least a little intact. Her face was a bright crimson, but no attempt to cover her mammoth mammaries, their full round nipples and areola adorning them was made. “Why does this keep happening lately!?” Spike asked nopony in particular.

Spike’s image of the stoic and calm princess of the night was shattered as the midnight alicorn fell against the side of the carriage holding her sides as she let out words between giggles, “I’d say you lost weight and your clothes just don’t fit anymore, but with all the cake you’ve been partaking in we both know that’s not the case,” and with her remark made, Luna allowed herself to fall completely into a fit of laughter.

“Yes, yes, very funny.” The solar alicorn looked down at their young charge, red in the face and appearing completely stunned. “Spike, are you alright?” As she kept looking she noticed a slight bulge in his pants. “Ah, well, it’s nice to see after all these years I can still have that effect on young colts, or should I say dragons.”

The comment shook the drake from his stupor, as he quickly clambered back into his seat, his hands quite obviously being used to cover his crotch. He nodded his head as a response to her inquiry on his well being, but before he had a chance to say more, Luna lost the last of her self control as she was now on the floor laughing herself silly and rolling around. Celestia rolled her eyes and lit up her horn, her dress reappearing on her immaculate form before she retook her own seat.

Eventually the younger monarch regained her senses, wiping the tears from her eyes, and joined her sister back on their side of the carriage.

Spike tried to think of something else other than what just happened, but the feeling of their bountiful flesh on his body was hard to forget and made him even more of a nervous wreck.

“Spike,” Celestia called out his name, causing him to look up at her. “Try to relax, we know that it wasn’t your fault. We know you’re better than that dear.”

“She’s right, nephew,” Luna followed up as she smiled at Spike. “You’re not the type of dragon to do something on purpose, and, even if you did, you would’ve been chewed out by Twilight.”

“True. Anyways, how much longer will it take for us to get to where we’re going?” Spike asked.

“It will take a few hours for us to get there,” Celestia began. “So we can use this time to ask you about how you’ve been feeling lately.”

“Well I’m not exactly sure to be honest.” Spike looked out the window. “Other than the crazed nightmares of my friends dying from some unknown force, I’ve felt really weird around the girls as well.”

“What do you mean by different honey?” Celestia asked in confusion. “Why would you feel weird around your friends, especially Twilight?”

“It’s how things have been over the past couple of days, there’s these strange feelings I’ve been having. I know I've been focusing on Rarity my whole life since I got to Ponyville, but, lately, I’ve started seeing the other girls, in some other way besides as just my friends. Whenever I’m around them I feel as if something...primal is calling out to me. And, I can’t really explain why.”

“Are you starting to notice your friends growing more attractive than before?”

The dragon felt his cheeks warm up with a blush. He has noticed a few times that Twilight and the others had certain attributes he always endeared from each of them, and the past month felt these emotions increase, but had never thought on it until now, he just figured it was his dragon hormones acting up. He had spent so much time focused on Rarity, after all.

“Well...I...I guess so,” Spike stuttered a bit while stroking the scales on his tail.

“Spike,” Celestia leaned forward giving him the wonderful sight of her cleavage once again. He felt nervous that his adoptive mother’s chest was close to smothering his face, “it’s okay to feel that way when it’s with somepony that you cherish, it’s very natural.”

“I...I understand that, mom.” Spike nodded while trying to keep his eyes on her own and not her breasts. “But… I mean, is it wrong that I feel… different about the others? I mean, Twilight helped raise me, I see her as a sister, don’t you think that’s wrong?”

“You’re not directly blood related are you?”

“Well… no.”

“Then it’s not surprising that you would feel that way about her and her friends,” Luna added as she moved in close to her sister.

Now Spike was really having a problem keeping his eyes up. With both sisters close to his face and their chests dangling, the fur meant to be hidden beginning to reveal itself. To make matters worse, he could see that Luna’s bust was squishing against Celestia’s. He could have sworn he saw their nipples hardening against the tight cloth. Spike could feel blood flowing down to places it shouldn’t be right now. With the state of shock he was in, he wasn’t aware that he had leaned back so far that he was now against the carriage near the open window.

“Oh, dear, Spike.” Celetsia grabbed his hand in concern.

Spike snapped back to reality and yelped in panic. The sun princess pulled on his arm to grab his attention, but, thanks to her alicorn strength, ended up pulling too hard making him fall forward in between two large and soft orbs.

“Wh-wha, did a pillow break my fall?” Spike asked in confusion until he felt fabric in his hand. He looked down to see that he was groping Luna’s right breast before looking up in shock at her giggling face.

“No, rather somepony broke your fall,” Luna chuckled as she set him down onto the bench of the carriage. “You almost fell out of the window until my sister grabbed you, but she forgot her strength it seems and you wound up falling on me.”

“Oh, uh, thanks, Mom, and sorry about that. I guess I was lost in my thoughts.”

“That’s okay, sweetie, but what exactly were you thinking about?”

Spike couldn’t help but sigh at her question. “I just keep thinking about where we’re going and yet you won’t tell me what is so important about it, I just feel so frustrated that you’re keeping something like this to me.”

“We both know it must be hard on you, dear nephew, but you need to know that the reason why is we believe that you need to see this place for yourself in order to better understand what it is we must tell you, does that make any sense?” Luna explained.

“A little I guess.” Spike replied as he stared at the window, with nothing but the clear blue sky and open ocean moving by there wasn’t much to see, seeing no land in sight told him the trip would still take much longer. He couldn’t help but let out a yawn.

“Feeling a little tired?” Celestia smiled at her son.

“Yeah figured I could use a little nap.” He leaned his head against the side of the carriage.

“Why don’t you lay your head on my lap, honey; it’s a lot more comfortable.”

Seeing the offer being made Spike leaned over until he was laying his head in his mother's lap, smiling down at the young drake.

“Comfy?”

“Yeah, this is actually really nice.”

“Good, get some sleep Spike we still have got a long way to go.”

The young drake nodded as he closed his eyes and within a few minutes the carriage was filled with his light snores as he rested upon his mother's lap. Celestia couldn’t help but feel relief at seeing how peaceful Spike looked. She began to think about the times that Spike rested on her lap when he was younger, while Twilight was busy with her studies at school before the two moved out to Ponyville under her orders to make some friends.

Luna looked at Spike’s sleeping face and thought about how calm he was despite his earlier nightmares. She may not have known him for quite awhile, but she could tell that Celestia truly cared for the young drake in Twilight’s absence.

“He really has come a long way hasn’t he?” Luna stated, shaking the solar diararch from her thoughts.

“Yes, he really has.” Celestia stroked her sons head lovingly. “You know he was so small when I used to do this before you came back. Whenever he had a nightmare he would come to me and he would lay himself on my lap just like this and he would instantly fall asleep.” She smiled to herself, while Luna looked at the pair wistfully. She longed to change the past to witness Spike growing up but knew that wasn’t possible. She did know that she could be there for him now in his dreams, and his future.

“You know, we were lucky before,” Luna tone was somber before she turned to her sister.

“What do you mean, Luna?”

“When he was almost consumed by his greed a few years back, you remember, don't you?”

Celestia frowned a little at the memory as she turned towards the window. “How could I forget, it was the worst day of my life besides banishing you to the moon, I thought that we were too late that day and thought that I was going to lose him,”

“Yes, but we later learned that it was thanks to Rarity reminding him of who he is rather than what he thinks he is that he could be returned to us.”

“Indeed, Luna. I just hope he’s ready for what we’re about to show him. Do you think he’ll take it well?” Celestia rubbed his forehead.

“I’m not sure, Tia. I’m just as afraid as you are that Spike will reject us if we tell him, but I also know that we have no choice in the matter.”

“Because of the promise that we made to his father. I’m just so afraid that we may not be able to do this or that Spike will hate us for the choice he’s being given.”

“I understand, sister. I was there before I was banished.” Luna looked out the other window. “I just wish that we would’ve realized what was happening sooner and stopped it, so he wouldn’t have lost his family and kin. Especially after the prime minister ordered-”

The sounds of crunching metal stopped Luna’s sentence as she looked at her sister in shock. She noticed that Celestia’s face had turned dark and saw the damage her hand caused on the railing of the open window. The metal framing was bent in the shape of her hand and some of it had cut into her hand causing blood to dribble out of the wound.

“Don’t. Ever. Mention. Him,``she growled before looking at her bloodied hand and casting a spell to heal herself. “It is because of, ‘him,’ that we’re even in this situation to begin with.”

“That doesn’t matter now; what matters, Tia, is that we focus on Spike and how we’re going to help him get through this ordeal.”

“I’m...I’m sorry,” Tears started to form on Celestia’s face as she rubbed Spike’s forehead. “I’m just worried about how this will change our lives. What we have to do. He’s been through a lot with his friends already, and I don’t want the public to think ill of him.”

“Believe me, I feel the same way about what happened, but, as I said earlier, we can’t change the past Lulu, but we can forge a better future.” Luna looked down with a sad smile at the sleeping Spike. He suddenly started to thrash around in his sleep on Celestia’s lap.

“Is he having another nightmare?” Celestia worried as Luna looked at Spike and saw that he had a pained look on his face and tears started forming in his eyes. He was tossing and turning in his sleep as if his mind was in a haze.

Luna lit up her horn and concentrated as she peered into his mind, and what she saw left her in shock, another nightmare plagued the young dragon’s mind. Focusing her magic, she tried her hardest to dispel this new horror. After a minute her horn extinguished and her eyes opened; soon after, Spike stopped squirming and smiled in his sleep instead.

“It just seems to be getting worse and worse for him,” Celestia sighed as she looked on in despair. She gingerly stroked his head earning a content sigh from the young drake.

“I hate that I have to see him looking like that whenever he goes to sleep.” Luna looked at the now peacefully sleeping Spike snuggled into Celestia’s lap. “We can only hope that things will go smoothly and Spike helps put an end to all of this.”

“I agree, sister.” Celestia glanced out the window watching the starry night sky. “This is the only way to write away the sins of our previous ancestors.”

“Indeed, sister.” Luna looked at her moon as she began to wonder about the sequence of events that were going to transpire.

-Island-

Spike soon felt his eyes open. He looked up to find his mother smiling down at him, but that wasn’t the only thing he was looking at. His cheeks began to light up when he saw the two large mammaries that were dangerously close to his facel, causing him to flail around in surprise.

“Well, glad to see that a certain drake is awake.” Luna smirked, seeing Spike’s panicked reaction. Celestia let him go and he stumbled backwards towards the seat before climbing onto it. He was red with embarrassment as Celestia and Luna giggled in response to his behavior.

“It seems he’s flustered, sister.” Celestia tried to stifle herself.

“Yes, indeed he is. Is there something you like, dear?” She smiled.

“I’m fine! I just wasn’t aware I was sleeping on you.”

“You used to do that all the time when you were younger, Spike”

“That was back when I didn’t know any better,” Spike added, his face getting hotter.

“We know, Spike; we were just teasing you.” Yet Celestia missed those days, and her time with the drake. “But we should let you know that we’re close to arriving now.”

“Really?” Spike was surprised, had he really slept that long? Celestia and Luna pointed out of the open carriage window, the carriage was flying toward the coast of a large tropical island. It was mostly covered in thick green swaths of vegetation that surrounded the land, but what caught Spike’s attention the most was a giant volcano sprouting out in the center like a looming behemoth.

“Whoa, this island is huge.” Spike was in awe, yet he wondered why Celestia and Luna would bring him here. “And is that a volcano?”

“That volcano you see is a caldera, Spike.”

“Doesn’t that mean it’s dead or something?”

“Correct, but not by the means you would be familiar with, nephew.”

“How so?”

“We’ll show you when we touch down, dear.” Celestia smiled. “You’ll understand better when you see what’s down there.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” too distracted by watching the forest and vegetation pass by, to wonder why he had to wait. He couldn’t help but notice several grayish structures poking out of the green as they flew by. At first, he thought it was just volcanic rock or stone but soon realized that they were buildings as they got closer.

“Uh, mom, did somepony live here previously?”

“Yes, Spike, they did, and the history behind them is mainly the reason we brought you here in the first place.”

“What should I expect when we land?”

“It’s a bit of a trek from where we land to our destination; there you’ll be able to see many old ruins that are scattered throughout the island,” Luna explained.“We’re about to land soon.”

“Well, okay.” Spike leaned back into the chair and waited for the chariot to land. Celestia and Luna had worried looks on their faces, but they hoped that he would understand what was down on the island and what they had to do. It took at least five minutes, but the chariot finally found an area to land, it was a sandy stretch of beach along the shoreline. They safely touched down allowing the three passengers on board to step off. Other than the seagulls, there wasn’t much on the beach beside some rundown houses that ran along the beach line.

“You brought me here for a vacation?” Spike asked in confusion “In a run down building on the beach?”

“That isn’t why we’re here, Spike. We’re not yet at our true destination.”

“She’s right, Spike,” Luna joined her sister.

“So where are we supposed to go?” Spiked asked.

“Up there.” Luna pointed to the volcano.

“Ok cool, are we gonna just fly up there?”

“No, Spike, we are going to walk,” Celestia stated with finality.

“What? You’re joking, right? That’s going to take hours.”

“Then we better get a move on if we want to arrive soon.” Celestia gave him a bright smile as she knelt in front of Spike. “Trust us when we say that this trip will be worth it for you.”

“I hope so.” Spike sighed as he followed Celestia and Luna towards the forest, they would have to get through it to reach the mountainside. The forest was pretty big, but they persisted through it, walking through the dirt path and pushing around large shrubbery and bushes. As they were walking, something clicked in Spike’s mind and he stopped for a moment, getting the attention of the princesses.

“Is something wrong, Spike?”

“I just thought of something, why didn't you just teleport us to the island?”

“Because we didn’t want anypony tracking us, Spike,” Celestia began with a more serious tone. “That’s why we took the long way out here.”

“We’d rather not have to deal with anypony finding out about this place just yet,” Luna replied coolly.

“Why not, Aunt Luna?”

“Are you familiar with what happens when a pony casts a spell?” Celestia asked him.

“A little,” Spike answered thinking back to his time in both Canterlot and Ponyville. “A magical signature is left behind when a magic user casts a spell, and depending on how powerful the spell is a skilled pony would be able to detect the residue left behind. If they’re experienced enough they can even track it.”

“Correct.”

“Twilight has taught you well, Spike,” Celestia said in surprise and amazement.

“When you're around somepony as smart as her you’re bound to pick up a few things.” Spike was thankful for all Twilight had taught him, though he still believed he could do with a few less lectures on magical properties.

“That is why we choose to come by chariot, we’d rather not have a noble finding out about this island,” Celestia followed up as they continued their walk through the forest. The sounds of whistling winds soon caught their attention and soon they saw a shining light ahead.

“What is that?”

“Something you should see, Spike,” Celestia began, “and it’s something from before you were even hatched.” She pulled back the vegetation with her magic revealing large ruins that dotted the landscape in front of them. Around the volcano's circumference were several small buildings that were in disrepair and covered in foliage and moss. There were other buildings that were much higher than that, they were supported by beams under them despite the rot. Columns of pure marble sculpted into dragon skulls on top symbolizing who this island belonged to. The streets had unique carvings on the floors as did some of the buildings; they depicted dragons either dancing or working and were the pique of craftsmanship. The mountain side was very large and had several caves that seemed to lead into the volcano.

“What was this place?” Spike asked in astonishment.

“It was a former kingdom that thrived on its own, and was popular amongst the locals here. And from what we heard, it was very popular for some of it’s exotic goods that only came from here.”

“Like what?”

“A rare type of crystal that has only been discovered on this island and was well known for its many useful properties. What makes it so unique is how the locals from that time were able to grow them by themselves.”

“You mean like how I grew my fire Ruby to its shape that I gave to Rarity?” Spike asked.

“Indeed, they were great at gem forging, doing so in as little as a day,” Luna followed up. “We were here before, before I was banished so we met the locals and they were very friendly.”

“So does anypony know about this place? It sure looks deserted here.” Spike asked. He saw no signs of life as they walked through the large city. Spike was keeping up with Celestia and Luna, when he suddenly tripped over something very dense.

“Ouch.”

“Are you alright, Spike?”

“Yeah, I’m fine; I just tripped over a…” Spike slowly tried to stand up only to see something that left him stunned, confused, and terrified all at once. What he was looking at was a skull that looked almost reptilian like with a large foreign object lodged deep within, bugs were crawling out of the eyeholes indicating it had been there for some time. Near the skull, there were also a few ribs covered in foliage. As his eyes searched he found more of the deformed skeleton including bones of a wing structure that were much larger than normal. He knew that they weren’t batpony wings since they had a shorter wingspan compared to other creatures. He put the pieces together and realized what this creature was.

“Wait, is that a...?”

“Yes, Spike, it’s exactly what you’re thinking.” Celestia replied as she knelt down towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“W-w-what… what is this?” He stuttered as he quickly backed away from the skull, never breaking eye contact with the dreaded remains, Spike shook his head snapping himself out of it. He turned to his mother and all he saw was an expression of sorrow, her ears were splayed tightly against her head and she shed a single tear.

“Why is there a dragon skull here?” Spike asked in fear and confusion. He then looked around on the floor to see more skeletons on the floor only it wasn’t a dragon this time. There were remains of pony skeletons as well as some of gryphon skeletons splayed all over the floor. Spike never paid attention towards the ground as he was more focused on how beautiful the island looked. “Did dragons attack this place and raid it of everything?”

“No, Spike; this island was home to a number of different dragon species, some not even known to Equestria yet,” Celestia finally answered and shocked Spike. He turned to Luna who turned away slightly, she had a look of sorrow and pain on her face similar to Celestia’s.

“She speaks the truth, Spike.” Luna tried her best to hide her emotions. “This island was full of different dragon races including one that was actually adept with magic.”

“So this was an island full of dragons?”

“Yes, rather it used to be,” Celestia began as she rubbed her left arm.

“Just what happened to this place, and why are there so many skeletons around the entire island?”

“It was raided like you said,” Celestia looked at the sky, sorrow in her eyes, “but not by the dragons themselves.”

“Why would they raid dragons? Did they do something bad?”

Celestia was pretty heartbroken. Having to have this conversation with her own son was hard for her, but what made it worse was that Spike’s first instinct was that the dragon’s were the guilty party. It seemed that far too often, her son had come to hear or see his own kind as something far less than honorable and good. With what was happening to Spike and what he was seeing, she knew that she had to come clean sooner or later, but now she wondered if she had waited too long, if his misgivings about his own kind were her own fault for denying him this truth. Taking a deep breath, Celestia finally spoke, “We should start with what race you originated from, Spike.”

“Does that mean that I…” He said pointing to himself getting a nod from his mother and aunt.

“Yes, Spike, you would be able to do magic as well.”

“Really?!” He exclaimed in surprise, almost giddy. “Wait till Twilight hears about this! Actually, maybe don’t tell her… she might get… experimenty.”

“Yes, nephew, but there is a problem. Normally young dragons would be able to use magic like unicorn foals. But since you were born by magical means from Twilight hatching you, there hasn't been one instance of it emerging at all. There has never been a case like yours.”

“So does that mean…?” He frowned as his fins and tail began to sag.

“I’m sorry sweetie, but so far me and Luna are not sure if you have any magic to begin with.”

“Well, I've never had magic before, so I guess it doesn't really change anything if I never get it. But it’s a shame though, imagine all the ways I could have awed Rarity with dragon magic!" Spike said perking back up.

"Well, as Celestia said we don't know. So you could have magic and just be a late bloomer. I have come to find anything is possible, my dear nephew. I think you are wise not to be hung up on it, but try not to lose all hope of ever getting it." Luna added.

“Now shall we continue on our way?”

“Let’s, sister,” Celestia replied.

The trio continued walking through the remnants of the ancient city while passing the occasional building that to Spike, had certainly seen better days. Most of the ruins were overgrown and were showing signs of deterioration. The young dragon couldn’t help but wonder what happened to this place that caused it to be abandoned like this, he was so caught up in his own thoughts he failed to notice a pony skeleton on the floor as well as a few gryphon, and diamond dog skeletons all lying around the ground.

“Anyways, what was it that you wanted to show me that it couldn't be revealed while we were on the chariot?”

“It’s so you can understand one of the greatest sins that were committed on this island,” Luna followed up with a quiet tone. “And to an innocent race no less.”

“To where we had to keep this island a secret from the general public,” Celestia followed up.

“Why?”

Celestia looked down shamefully, her ears flopped behind her head, her wings drooped listlessly, she was unable to speak for a few moments until she replied in a low tone, “Because it was ponies that were responsible for all of this.”

“Wait, what?” Spike asked in shock as he stopped in his tracks. Normally one would hear about the old stories where dragons would attack ponies, but ponies attacking dragons, even more so one’s that did nothing to them, is unheard of to him.

“She is speaking the truth Spike,” Luna followed up, kneeling in front of the young dragon. “And ponies are the reason why so many dragons hate us right now,”

“What do you mean?” Spike asked looking down at Luna and then back at Celestia who had her back turned. He noticed that tears were starting to stream down her face as she was trying to keep from crying. She managed to calm herself and wiped the tears from her face before turning to Spike.

“I think it’s best that we go back to the beginning,” Celestia began as she knelt beside him and her sister. “You need to learn the full story of what really happened between your parents and the entire island itself.”

Forgotten Heritage Part 1

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-1000 Years Ago, Before Luna’s Banishment-

A clear blue sky was all that could be seen from a golden chariot as a young Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were sitting in a chariot with one of the ambassadors of Equestria. Celestia looked to be twelve while Luna herself seemed about ten. Celestia was bored while Luna wouldn’t stop bouncing around in her chair, unable to sit still with how impatient she was; she was getting irritated at how long the ride was taking. The noble they traveled with was a stallion named Silent rose and he was supposed to be their escort since their parents couldn’t be there to visit their fellow royals. He was a dark blue alabaster unicorn with green eyes and a Cutie Mark of a Red rose with a music note behind it. He adorned fancy robes in the respective colors of the princesses' coats.

“How much longer?” Princess Luna asked.

“Not long, your Highness, we just have a few more miles to go before we can land,” he said with a smile.

“Where is this place anyway? All our parents told us was we’ll be seeing some island, yet I fail to see anything but the open ocean.”

“Worry not, your Highness. We were told it’d be here, and I’d doubt your parents would send you off just to get rid of two young and soon beautiful princesses,” Silent said with a smile.

“Hey!” They said in unison, a mix of annoyance and sadness.

“Now, now, relax; I’m sure we’ll be there soon,” he added.

“So, what did our parents say the island was like?” Princess Celestia asked, looking outside the window.

“Yeah, what’s it like?” Luna asked.

“I’m not sure, but your parents did say that the island was a lush paradise and that the locals are very friendly,” he added. “They didn’t tell me about the locals, but they do say that they help anyone they meet and, from what I’ve heard, are very adept at magic. Rumor has it they made a special gift for the current dragonlord.”

“Really now?” Luna asked.

“Yes. It’s said they even grow special jewels and use them for certain items and rituals. Nopony knows what they are for, but I suspect they have magical powers too.”

“That’s amazing,” Princess Celestia said with excitement on her face.

“I don’t see what’s so interesting. We’re flying to some goddess forsaken island in the middle of nowhere, and we have absolutely no idea if it’s even there,” Luna huffed impatiently.

“Well from what your mother and father told me, they are rather friendly and usually keep to themselves. They rarely trust outsiders besides the other races that live on the island with them,” he mentioned.

“Wow, really?” Celestia asked with enthusiasm. “It sounds like a paradise island.”

“Indeed, it does,” he said with a smile. The island was getting closer and closer as the chariot began to slow down and descend. A few minutes later the two sisters soon gazed upon the island, it was lush in verdant green trees that covered a portion of the coast all the way to its southern tip while the north had what looked like an ancient volcano with most of it exposed to the elements. “We’ll be getting to our destination soon, my young maidens.”

“I was getting bored on this flight anyway,” Luna said in annoyance, but was pretty excited to see the size of the island. “Wow, is that a volcano?”

“It’s amazing,” Celestia added with a smile. A few minutes later, the chariot touched down onto a sandy beach, where there weren’t many locals around. Both royal sisters were surprised, “Are those dragons?”

“It would seem so,” the ambassador said with a sigh. “Your parents never mentioned this to me.”

“I think they wanted to surprise us,” Celestia said with a smile.

While they were along the beach, they spotted a few houses made of what appeared to be carved stone and noticed a few dragons walking about minding their own business. Some welp dragons as well as fledglings were playing with their parents on the beach. They looked at Celestia, Luna, and their escort with a smile, giving a friendly wave.

Seeing their friendly nature, the pairing alicorns and their escort proceeded through the pathway leading up through the forest. Along the way, they saw other species of dragons, some webbed feet and hands, and they even had fins on their arms, legs, and faces too. Another type they noticed they almost mistook for a pony. But upon closer inspection, they noticed scales around parts of their bodies, mostly on their back and muzzle while a long slender tail came out with a tuft of fur on its end. But the most interesting feature was the long-curved horns they each had, varying in shape too. It made the pair wonder if they were some kind of dragon unicorn hybrid.

“Are their other races besides dragons that live here?” Celestia asked.

“It looks that way,” Luna added. While on their walk, they heard the ground rumbling near them. It looked to be coming from the right and was approaching faster and faster. The ground sank, opening a hole upon which three more dragons slithered out. Two of them were larger and one was smaller, a family maybe. They had long bodies with large colorful feathers adorning their head like a sort of natural headdress going all the way to their tails where their spines would have been and had longer groups of feathers on their arms that to Celestia appeared as a sort of wings, maybe to fly but the solar diararch wasn’t too certain how since they weren’t built like her wings.

What surprised them the most though was the younger one disappeared from sight and then reappeared on the older one's back, a content smile on its face. Apparently, these ones were able to camouflage themselves.

“Wow, that’s amazing,” Celestia said with a smile that was one of awe and excitement. “I’ve never seen creatures like this before.”

“How many dragons live here?” Luna asked looking back up at their escort. “I’ve never seen this many species before.”

“It seems the rumors of several other dragon species living here are true,” their escort told them. “We may see more the further we go into the island.”

“Okay,” both princesses walked further into the forest spotting more and more dragons minding their own business while marveling at some of the flora and fauna that existed on the island. When they came across some mysterious shrubs that were in the way, they all noticed a mysterious light coming from it. Their escort pushed past with his magic and both royal princesses were in awe at what they saw.

Several dragons were going about their day in a large village. The buildings all had different forms of dragons sculpted into each of them. Some of the buildings adjacent were very large, supported by beams under them, despite the heavy volcanic rock. Columns of pure marble with sculpted dragon skulls on top symbolized who this island belonged to. The streets had unique carvings on the floors as did some of the buildings; they depicted dragons either dancing or working and were the pique of craftsmanship. The mountain side was very large and had several caves that seemed to lead into the volcano.

“This is incredible,” Celestia said in amazement. “It’s even bigger than when we were in the air just now.”

“I must admit, this is rather incredible,” Silent Rose said.

“Oh, you must be the princesses from Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos’s lineage,” a female voice called out, getting their attention. “Welcome to Mystic Scale Island.”

All three looked into the direction the voice had come from discovering a dragoness who was now touching down onto the ground. She was rather tall and curvaceous, as well. Her body was wrapped in a cloth that resembled a toga, and her majestic wings were folded back. She had a leaf crown atop her head with silverish scales and a cream underbelly. Her emerald eyes gleamed like shining gems and her smile was radiant as she looked at the children.

“Wow, a dragon, I never thought I’d meet one up close,” Celestia said with a smile. She wanted to run up to it, but was held back by their consort.

“Princess, let's not be rude to our hosts,” he told them.

“It’s quite alright, they're only young after all,” she told them. “I’m the king's consort, Spectral Flare,” she told them. “And I’m going to be your tour guide to our lovely island.”

“A tour, is that right?” Silent asked.

“Yes, his royal highness has even prepared a gathering in your honor,” she said with a smile. “My name is Diamond Scales, and I’m going to be your tour guide.”

“That would be lovely,” the escort said as he, Celestia, and Luna followed the silver dragoness with smiles on their faces.

“We’ll start off with showing you some of the mines that we get the ore with which we use to create our gems.” She pointed towards a large mine that was being used to cultivate different gemstones by other dragons, some giving friendly waves towards the four individuals.

“Interesting, you can make gems here?” Celestia asked with curiosity.

“Yes, we grow fire rubies here.”

“That’s quite peculiar,” Celestia and Luna’s escort said. “I’ve never heard of gemstones that could be grown that way.”

“How exactly does that work?” Luna added.

“Excellent question,” she began as she sat on a rock that was near them, “we first extract the ore from our dig sites and then once done, we have specially selected workers that carefully grow and age them into perfect fire rubies.”

“Amazing!”

“Wow!”

“It’s not just Fire Rubies we grow and age here,” she added. “We also grow Ocean Sapphires, Forest Emeralds, and our own special jewels that only age properly at night called Moonstones and Sunstones.”

“Moonstones?” Luna asked.

“Sunstones?” Celestia asked.

“Yes,” she added, “wait here for a moment.” She left and entered the cave. A minute later she came back with two glimmering gems, one in each hand, and gave them to the sisters. They were mesmerized by their glow as they each shone beautifully.

“These are our Sunstones and Moonstones, both of which have unique characteristics,” Diamond said with a smile. “The Moonstone at night gives off a special glow in the dark that makes it seem as if the moon is shimmering, while the Sunstone has a special heat it gives off during the coldest of nights. We normally have these stones for when the Summer and Winter Solstice comes into play.”

“That sounds amazing,” Celestia said with a smile.

“Is there anything else like this on the island?”

“There is actually, but we have one of each type of gem that is within our apothecary,” she said with a smile.

“As much as I appreciate the idea of seeing more of the island, we should be meeting with-”

“We’d love to see more,” Luna grinned widely.

“Yes, show us more please,” Celestia added, bouncing up and down excitedly.

“B-but princesses-”

“Oh, come on, we at least want to see the whole island while we’re here,” Celestia said, pulling on his pants leg.

“We can also learn more about the natives this way,” she said with a smile. Their escort was flabbergasted but sighed knowing how children and their antics often could not be so easily calmed and decided to simply go along with it instead.

“Alright, but we must meet with the king when we’re finished,” he mentioned. Both girls smiled as they turned back to their guide Diamond Scales who smiled seeing their beaming faces. Their tour continued as they explored the island around them. They saw more of the gem mines and the different unique gems and their special effects.

The Ocean Sapphire for example, sounded like the literal ocean. They also saw large deposits of Fire Rubies that had been cultivated over the years. The next set of gems they came across were Fulgur Garnets, a special type of gemstone that actually emitted electricity and doubled as lightning rods for severe thunderstorms. What had the girls the most intrigued were the gemstones called Skymeralds, that would allow anyone without wings to walk on clouds so long as they wore it. Every few days they would need to be recharged; thankfully recharging stations had been set up all around the kingdom. Another type she explained were Dreamstones which served as a therapeutic method for residents who were plagued with nightmares or mental health issues.

“Okay, that completes our tour of the gems here,” Diamond said with a smile.

“This is so amazing,” Celestia said as she and her sister eyed the pretty gems around them.

“Now, we should show you the Apothecary,” she added.

“Okay,” Luna added. She and her sister followed Diamond with their escort following closely behind, unaware of a flash in his eyes. After a while, they stepped out of the gem-filled caves and back into the town where they came upon a large number of shops.

“Is this your marketplace?” Silent asked.

“That’s right, and here we have the local apothecary where we store and distribute potions, tonics, and medicine to all of the island residents,” Diamond added, pointing to one of the shops that was in front of them.

“Ooohhh.” They both marveled at all the sparkling glass containers of the shop which held different symbols and shapes of bottles.

“What’s in those bottles?” Celestia asked.

“We use them for our scented oils and flowers that we grow here,” Diamond added.

“Scented oils?” both royals asked.

“Exactly, we have to use special chambers to create them to make sure that they don’t cause problems for the others that visit here. We heat them and everything else at a proper temperature before moving them up for sale.”

“Wait, how is everything heated here if you're not using magic?” Luna asked.

“That is thanks to the engineering that our kind and the other races here have developed, allowing us to create a specialized generator that’s connected by a series of tunnels that tap deep beneath this caldera. It utilizes the magma deep below in a subterranean chamber, running it through those tunnels to power some of our machines, forges, and even bathhouses throughout our kingdom.”

“You have bathhouses here?” Celestia perked up, reminiscing of the bathhouse that her and Luna used back home, they wondered if it worked similarly to theirs.

“Yes, we have both public and private ones to suit the needs of our chosen guests to help them be as comfortable as possible while they visit.”

“Wow…” both royal sisters said with smiles on their faces. “That must take a lot of magic to regulate that much magma.”

“It does,” Diamond said with a smile on her face. She then looked at the sky to see that it was close to evening before looking down to face her guests. “Look how late it's gotten; we really must be going if we're going to make it in time to greet his highness.”

“That would be nice,” Silent said as he nodded in agreement.

An hour later they came across the dead volcano and what looked like a large series of buildings, upon closer inspection they seemed to be intricately carved into the volcanic rock and some seemed to shimmer. It wasn’t until the Princesses noticed when climbing up that the buildings and monuments were lined with a countless number of jewels and had intricate patterns that adorned the front in a menagerie of colors.

A pair of giant doors opened up, revealing a large cavern inside, it was very spacious and held large golden crystal chandeliers that illuminated the room with their lustrous glow.

Once they fully opened, Diamond Scales led them into the cavern where they gazed upon the locals that were walking around the building. They could see several other dragons roaming around doing normal and daily tasks, such as cleaning, standing guard, working, or tending to the nursery where most of the eggs are.

“I do hope that the negotiations with our royal monarch run smoothly,” Diamond said with a smile.

“We hope so as well, madam,” The aristocrat said as they finally made it to a pair of double doors. The doors were different compared to the first two. The doors were black with a crest showing a pair of crimson dragons on the front with a sword in the center. A pair of guards were on each side of the door as they lowered their spears for the group, allowing them to pass.

“Their royal highnesses, King Ryu and Queen Tiamat, are expecting an audience with our honored guests, the Alicorn Princesses of Equestria,” Diamond said, turning to one of the guards posted at the door. He nodded and flew deeper inside to announce their arrival.

Once inside, they spotted a massive throne room separated by a second pair of opened doors flanked by several guards at the threshold with a few servants working on the decorum inside of the chamber. Diamond then signaled the three to wait while she walked up to the thrones to welcome their royal guests.

“Presenting their royal highness, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria, to their royal highness, King Ryu and Queen Tiamat of the Mana Dragons.” Diamond announced as the trio moved along the smoothed volcanic rock that created a beautiful black glossy surface which was further enhanced by being adorned with shells and gemstones which made it shimmer under the glowing lights.

Once they reached the end of the grand hall, there was a dais with a pair of onyx black thrones with golden inlay set in intricate patterns. The owners of said thrones were a pair of dragons, the one on the left had purple scales and a light green underbelly with green spines dotting her back and longer spines covering the top of her head like long tresses of hair that almost covered her ruby red eyes. She wore a beautiful royal purple and crimson robe that clung tightly to her perfect hourglass figure. A calm yet serene smile spread across her lips as she witnessed the pair. Her figure was practically gorgeous as well as her curves which would leave most creatures stunned by her beauty. She has a single Fire Ruby in the shape of a diamond in her crown.

The other dragon next to her was male, he had glossy black scales with a silver underbelly and spines paired with piercing green eyes, he wore green and purple toga with the family crest emblazoned on the front of his muscled chest. His large, muscled arms rested on his throne while a strong tail hung lazily to the side of his throne. He was dressed in what looked like a royal garb as his left shoulder was covered but his right shoulder wasn’t. A sash was wrapped around his waist and the crown on his head had three specific jewels. One a Fire Ruby, one an Ocean Sapphire, and Skymerald in three sockets of the crown.

The guards that stood on either side of the room wore little to no clothing on their upper bodies including some of the females, much to the sisters' surprise. Their bodies glistened like fine metal from thick reflective scales that gave them an appearance of a knight wearing polished armor, their snouts had a small spine-like horn that jutted out around a few inches from their faces, long spindly tails hung from them looking thin as a whip yet were adorned with spikes along with their wings which were tucked back like spiny cloaks.

“Greetings, your majesties,” Queen Tiamat said with a smile on her face “It’s so nice to meet you. It is an honor having the daughters of the sun and moon grace our island.”

The alicorn sisters bowed in return. “And we are honored you have allowed us to see such a paradise.”

She smiled, as she and her husband stood from their thrones. “Forgive my confusion, but weren’t we supposed to be meeting with the Royal King and Queen of Equestria?” Queen Tiamat said, gesturing towards the smaller alicorns.

“The royal majesties have a pressing matter to attend to in the northern lands, and they asked the royal daughters to take their place,” Silent spoke in defense of the sisters.

“We came here, in our parents' place to help with a peace treaty between our two kingdoms,” Celestia said with a smile.

“Well given how sweet you are, maybe we could work something out,” Tiamat added with a smile.

-Later-

Celestia and Luna were smiling as negotiations went smoothly. Soon enough a couple hours had passed, talks of creating relations were over, and after they were given a tour of the castle to show off the rest of the structure to the diarchs.

“And this is where we have our Dragon Nursery,” Tiamat said as she pointed at the eggs that were currently near special rocks.

“Aww, I bet they look so cute tucked inside, like they are sleeping waiting to see their parents.” Celestia cooed looking at a clutch of black and grey spotted eggs.

“But why do you have some of these clutches here, shouldn’t they be with their families until they hatch?” Luna inquired.

“Yes, normally they would be, this is strictly just for our staff or any others who live onsite with the royal family. It allows us to keep close tabs on the young in case urgent care is needed.”

“What about the rest of the kingdom, do they do the same thing?” Celestia asked, arching a brow.

“No, but those are in separate nurseries for the rest of the subjects who live in the kingdom.”

“So you have multiple nurseries around the island?”

“Yes, but it also depends on what dragon class we have as each of the eggs are grown differently, even those of the royal family.”

“Then where does the royal family hold their eggs?” Celestia wondered.

“I’m sorry your highness, but that’s information only the king and queen can’t disclose, especially to outsiders.”

“Even to us?”

“Sorry, but I don’t make the rules,” Diamond said with a sigh. “But hopefully we can open up our borders to yours in the near future.”

“I’m sure that ponykind would be open to meeting if my sister and I convinced them,” Celestia said with a smile. Luna followed suit as did the Aristocrat, and Diamond continued their tour around the Castle. They saw an array of things, like armories, servants running around doing daily tasks, and clothing being cleaned.

“What’s that?” Celestia asked as she pointed at some of the fabric that was currently being hung on clothes lines. There was one that caught her eyes that looked like a striped sun pattern and another that held a moon and star pattern on it. “They're so pretty…”

“You’ve got some good eyes, kids,” a female voice said, getting their attention. “Just finished crafting both of them a few hours ago.”

Celestia, Luna, and the unicorn all turned towards the voice and spotted another female dragon. The girls and the unicorn were stunned when they saw her though. It was another dragon species that was different from the others. What got their attention was that she didn’t have one or two arms, but six arms and she was holding several strands of what look like strings through her hands. She had silverfish blue scales with a cream underbelly. Part of her scales had green patches near her, and instead of wings, she had six long legs sticking out from behind her. Two long horns protruded out of her head, as she looked at both Celestia and Luna with two of her six eyes.

“Wh-what’re you?” Celestia asked, a mix of fear and curiosity on her face.

“I’m what you call a Silk Drake,” she said with a smile. “The names Silk Scales, and I create some of the special fabric around here. Including the ones that you’re looking at right now.”

“Wait, you made this?” Celestia asked in surprise.

“Yes, from my very own silk no less,” she added, confusing the aristocrat and the royal sisters.

“Wait, from your own Silk?” Luna asked.

“That’s right, I can give a demonstration if you’d like,” she added as she moved the six back legs out in front and began creating webs from the legs. Spinning the web she began to create the special fabric, in a matter of minutes a series of intricate patterns began to appear before their eyes.

Soon enough she was done weaving and what she made was a simple toga in the princesses size, they were amazed at how little time it took her to make such a thing

“That’s amazing,” Luna said with a smile on her face, seeing the fabric being woven so elegantly.

“Thank you, I take pride in my work and love making such beautiful garments for everyone on the isle here, you can keep this as a gift from me, to you.”

“Really?” Celestia asked. Silk simply held out her hands and gave it to Celestia. She smiled at her and did the same for Luna, giving her one of her fabrics.

“Thank you, Miss. Silk,” Luna added, waving at her while she looked on at the trio warily as the royal sisters, the unicorn, and Diamond walked away from her.

“As you can see, she’s very friendly,” Diamond explained.

“Not to be rude, but what exactly was she?” Silent asked. “I’ve never seen anything like her before.”

“Silk drakes can weave and make threads in minutes, focusing allows them to create many kinds of woven masterpieces,” Diamond said with a smile on her face. “There are several on the island that help create clothing for the locals here.”

“That’s amazing,” Luna added.

“That’s not all we have here,” she pointed to what looked like a large room that was holding young dragon hatchlings inside. Some were looking at a board, others were reading, while others were practicing magic in the room. Sparks were flying and there

“What is all this?” Celestia asked.

“And here we have our designated school for arcane learning, where most of the dragons that are able to use magic are sent to learn, maintain, and control their magical abilities.”

“Incredible,” Luna said in amazement.

“But I thought dragons couldn’t use magic?” Celestia wondered, making the dragoness chuckle.

“Well, you are mostly correct, to our knowledge, the Mana Dragons are the only race of dragons that exist with the ability to use magic like you ponies.”

“Interesting, do they get cutie marks as well?”

“You mean those marks on your shoulders? No, each and every one of these students will leave this school on a path of their own choosing.”

“You mean… they make their own choice?”

“Exactly,” Diamond added with a smile. “We don’t really need a mark to show we’re special, we just try to prove what we do with our actions instead.”

“As interesting as that sounds, we should really be leaving soon,” Silent saide, getting the attention of both princesses and the escort. “Your parents are going to return in a few days, and they request that you’d be home by then.”

“Aw, do we have too?” Celestia said with big sad eyes.

“I wanted to explore and meet more of the locals,” Luna added.

“It’s your parents' order, dear sisters,” he said with a sigh.

“Ok…” Both girls said with a defeated sigh.

“I think I can help you with your little problem,” Diamond said as she reached into her pocket and began rummaging through it, taking out a bag. “You can use this to come back anytime.”

“What is it?” Celestia asked as she and her sister took the bag and looked inside to see several rainbow-colored crystals inside.

“These are portal gems,” she said with a smile. “You can use them to instantly come back here whenever you want.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” they both said with a smile.

-Present-

“Whoa, whoa, hold on,” Spike said getting the royal sisters attention.

“What is it, Spike?” Luna inquired.

“I don’t understand,” Spike said in confusion, hearing this part of the story with Celestia and Luna sighing. "If one of the noble families at the time had attacked the island, why didn’t they do it right here? And how did they even get to the island if only you had the means to go there?”

“They wanted to wait until they were vulnerable, and they didn’t do it alone,” Luna began. “It was right before we made a deal with the king that involved your egg. The one that he gave us.”

“But how? I’ve never met them, and I doubt that they would know-!” It was then Spike realized what she just said, the gears turned as several connections became clear within his mind. “Wait, are you saying that this King Ryu, who I never met, is my father?”

“Yes Spike,” Celestia said with a sigh, as a small tear trailed down her cheek. “He and Queen Tiamat are your parents; we were hoping for the right time to tell you about and based on the circumstances that time is now.”

“Wait, does that mean I’m royalty technically? Why would you hide this from me?” Spike asked, feeling hurt by this revelation.

“We were afraid of how you would react if you knew the truth,” Celestia added. “We’d thought that you would assume the worst of us.”

Spike’s face softened, he still felt frustrated but reigned it in while taking a deep breath for a few moments. “Ok I guess I can understand how bad that would sound, but I don’t hate either of you. Sure, I’m a little angry that you never told me until now, but that doesn’t change how much I love the both of you. Plus, you do remember that I have been living with six of the craziest ponies around and one of them happens to defy all logic too.”

Spike took a moment as he thought back on what they told him. He wondered why they would cover the fact he was on the island of an old settlement of dragons where apparently his birth parents lived. They didn’t say much about his father besides his earlier conclusion and the only thing that made sense was that he was connected to the royal family of the island that was horribly massacred and he was apparently the lost heir to said kingdom. Spike had so many questions but didn’t know where to start after what his mother and aunt had told him. He was still mentally reeling at the fact they knew who his birth parents were. Taking a deep breath, he then let it out slowly as he composed himself, then looked back towards his adoptive mother with a calm smile.

“Ok I guess I can accept that at the moment.” He conceded.

“Thank you Spike, but how did you come to the conclusion from what we just told you?” Luna asked, arching a brow in intrigue.

“You live with somepony smart like Twilight long enough, you tend to pick up a few things.” He added. “So, the nightmares that I’ve been having, are a sign of him trying to take over my body for his revenge?”

“Yes,” Celestia added. “He was so filled with rage for what they’ve done, but we didn’t want any more blood on our hands.”

“But I don’t understand. If my father was wary of outsiders like you said he was, then why would he attack the Everfree castle? What happened here that led to him wanting to destroy Equestria of all places?” Once hearing that, the royal sisters frowned sorrowfully in remembrance of what came that dreadful day.

“It was what happened after we left, Spike. The greatest crime anypony or anyone could ever have foreseen,” Celestia followed up. “And our naivety of what was to come had cost us a new nation and a new friendship.”

“What do you mean?” Spike asked.

-Everfree Castle Grounds-

It was a quiet evening as the rolling fields outside of the castle moved along as the royal chariot flew over the boundary of the castle grounds nearing the princess's home. The pair were happy they got to return but sad they couldn’t stay any longer back on the island to learn more about the kingdom. Ponies were going about their usual days here and there, trying to live out their lives. Near the small villages was a giant chasm where the castle of the Royal family resided.

They would stop when they notice the Royal chariot going to castle grounds. The Chariot finally touched down onto the grounds, guards waiting and welcoming the chariot with raised spears.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Welcome Back,” The guards said as they saluted the royal sisters.

“At ease everyone,” Silent told the guards as he helped out the princesses from their ride and walked towards the castle. “Come now you two, you both had a long journey now and we should get you girls to bed.”

“But when are mum and dad getting back?” Luna asked with a sigh.

“I’m sure that they’ll arrive later in the evening,” their escort told them. Around that time, a guard showed up with a letter in hand, it had the royal seal and was wrapped in a ribbon indicating that it was an urgent message to be delivered straight to the royal family.

“My liege!”

“What is it?” Silent asked. The guard simply handed him a letter.

“Oh, a letter from mother and father. I wonder what news they have for us?” Celestia mused as she unfurled the scroll and began to read it.

“What’s it say, sister?”

“It says that they won’t be back for a few more days due to a cosmic event they will be handling, until then we will just have to wait to inform them of what we learned.”

“Hmm, I wonder what it is?”

Celestia shrugged. “The letter never said, just that they will be busy related to it.”

“Hmm, then it seems that they won’t be back for another few days then,” Silent said. “Which reminds me, I should really get you girls to bed.”

“But we…‘yawn’… aren’t tired yet…” Celestia began

“That yawn says otherwise,” he added with a sigh. “Now why don’t we go to your bedroom and go to bed my young maidens?”

“Very well, I suppose we can… yawn...lie down…” Luna added as she and her sister were tired from the trip.

“All right then,” he said with a smile as he carried both girls in his arms. He then entered the castle. Once inside, they walked past the other guards, and they saluted them as they walked towards the princess's bedroom.

“We’re here girls,” he told them. “Would you like me to-!” He stopped when he noticed both of the young alicorns slowly drifting off. They sleepily walked to their beds while unknown to them, the bag holding the crystals fell out of their sash. Sadly, they didn’t notice since they were too tired from their trip. But their escort saw it, grinning to himself at the opportunity he quickly grabbed the bag in his magic. Once in his grasp, he quickly checked to make sure the powder had done its work, neither of them stirred. Carefully walking out of the princess's bedroom, he closed the door behind him and smiled to himself.

“Sir?”

“Ah!” He yelped, nearly dropping the bag and quickly hid it behind his back trying his best to stay calm without gaining the suspicion of the Pegasus guard that was floating just a few feet in front of him. “Goodness, you startled me.”

“Forgive my actions sir, but I wanted to see how you and the princesses were doing after your voyage.” the guard asked. “Are the princesses alright?”

“Yes, yes they are alright,” Silent added with a sigh. “I just took them to their bedroom and they both fell asleep quite rapidly. The little tykes must’ve been exhausted. And aside from you startling me after I just put them to bed, I’m fine.”

“I understand sir, carry on with your night,” he added as the Pegasus guard flew away.

“Too close,” Silent said to himself quietly as he left their bedroom, the princess blissfully unaware of the events to come. What was unknown to the stallion, was that two of the crystals from the bag that he just took, fell under the crack of the bed and into the princesses Bedroom.

-Elsewhere-

In a secret location, the unicorn stallion was walking through the streets towards a meadow that was just outside of the castle and town’s borders. The valley itself was called Silent Meadows and it was a quiet open field with very few buildings out there. Out in the meadow was a building that he saw just above the horizon. He took one last look around him to make sure that he wasn’t followed by anyone, before entering the building. He went inside, and as soon as he closed the door, torches around the room began to light up. He was met with several ponies that had hoods covering them and their faces.

“What took you so long?” one patron in the dark room said. Silent Rose was with twenty other ponies, but they were all hidden in the shadows inside of a large room.

“Was putting the princesses to sleep,” Silent Rose told them. “I used a spell to lull the girls to sleep. It was all I could to keep from arousing suspicion. To anyone else, it looked like they were tired from their trip.”

“Good, now we must talk about your encounter with these so-called magical dragons,” another patron said in annoyance. “How can they be more advanced than us ponies? We’ve always seen them as mindless greedy raging beasts.”

“They already pose a threat to our position as the greatest country in existence,” one of the figures spoke. “The fact that they can use magic and have different branches and resources that we don’t is an insult to everything we’ve worked hard for.”

“If these dragons make an appearance, they’ll destroy everything we as ponies have worked so hard for in this council to be forged,” another responded. Many within the room murmured in agreement.

“So how do we handle them then, we can’t just openly attack them on our own, we’ll be ruined if found out we were responsible.”

“We shall make plans with a raiding party. We’ll use some swords for hire from outside of our country, then set sail for the isles. We’ll wipe these dragons and the rest of those freaks off the face of Equestria. And if the royals ask, we tell them the dragons planned an attack on us and we had to act in self-defense.”

“We do have mercenaries on standby, and they can be at the island within days to not draw suspicion,” one of the nobles responded.

“Actually, you could be there within minutes,” Silent followed up. He then pulled out a bag of the crystals that were given to the princesses he thankfully had swiped from them.

“These magic crystals allow instant teleportation to their kingdom; with these we can successfully infiltrate them with a fleet of ships and strike at their castle before they could be able to defend themselves.”

Many of those present looked towards one another in hesitation, they wanted to do something about these mana dragons but were not sure how to without being pinned for such a heinous plan. While others wondered what to do, something else brought up a valid point for the plan.

“We still can’t be too sure with how well adapted you said they are in magic,” one of them added. “You are suggesting attacking a kingdom full of magic users, who are dragons no less. What if they do have ways to defend themselves as well and respond?”

“I have something for that as well,” he added. Silent reached into his satchel and pulled out a small black rock that seemed to reflect the light off the surface, the tabular shape of the dark stone wasn’t the only thing the ponies in the room noticed, extending his arm he smirked, “Observe.” And when he dropped it, his horn began to glow, and the stone stopped for a moment, but the aura fizzled out. He attempted to lift it up again, but the rock stayed on the floor. The audience was intrigued at first and wondered what exactly the noble was playing at.

“What is it?”

“This my fine friends is the answer to our problem, a special type of stone that can absorb and nullify all forms of magic. There’s no name to this substance but the potential property of this stone is near limitless at what we can do.” He grinned.

But most of the nobles were not very impressed. “And where do you have the means of acquiring these anti-magic stones?”

Silent Rose grinned even wider when asked. “That’s a good question, I heard from a trader that lived on the island along with gaining this sample, an island not too far from where the mana-dragons lived. An island of shapeshifters that has a near unlimited supply, and it’s said they used this in almost everything.”

“And you’re suggesting that we attack this island discreetly so we can gain the material needed to raid the mana-dragons kingdom, and how exactly, Silent Rose do you expect such a plot to succeed without anypony finding out?”

“Well, we would need to eliminate all witnesses first and modify whatever we find for our gathered forces for the attack, but I do suggest one of several weapons we can use or create once we finish the first phase.” He said and with a flick of his glowing hand a large magical holographic display showed several designs of both weapons and armor. One of them caught their attention the most, which was a large square shield that seemed to be made out of a slab of the same stone. A pair of large chains was wrapped around the top and bottom as a form of hand hold, while a metal frame in the back acted as a means of support for the wielder.

Everyone was intrigued by the displays the stallion showed them, the thought of using such a material that could absorb magic of any kind was very appealing, many wondered what advantage it could give them if they used it against the princesses, or any other magic users for that matter.

It would make them unstoppable.

“Wait.” A tentative voiced called out interrupting the rooms brief moment of grandiose they turned to its owner, he was a young stallion with a blue mane and tail as well as a white coat. He was dressed in ceremonial garbs and battle armor that had his cutie mark of a Shimmering Saber surrounded by stars.

“And what is it you have to say Sir Saber Star?”

The now named stallion flinched as everypony in the room stared at him with a critical eye, gulping to himself he cleared his throat, straightening his shoulders up. “I understand the need to eliminate the dragons themselves, but to attack another race for just the means to an end. It doesn’t sit well for me, and I don’t know too much if it should be done?”

“What exactly are you saying Sir Saber?” Silent glares.

“Uh, well maybe we can think of an alternative to our plan than just go and slaughter this whole island of shape shifters for a bunch of rocks, how do you know the information acquired is true and not some lie?”

Silent smiled at the young pony. “Because I had it confirmed when I asked the king and queen about exploring uncharted territory and told me what they are capable of.”

The group remained Silent to Sir Saber’s question, until one of them spoke up in annoyance.

“Need I remind you Sir Saber that the only reason we are including you in this meeting here is that the father of your household had insisted on proving his family of joining our inner circle, and furthermore to help wipe away the debt your family owes to representative Silent Rose here. The fact you question the methods he is suggesting makes us wonder whether or not you are what you say to be as a warrior, or nothing but a coward that hides at the first sign of conflict,” One of them mentioned.

“It would be quite a shame if the whole of the castle, nay the kingdom found out the entire Saber family was just a bunch of soft-spoken cowards instead of the best guardsmen that the king and queen have seen since this castle was uprighted.” Silent mocked. Saber clenched his fists when he heard that, it was one thing to be belittled in such a way in front of the noble families, but it was another when having his family name and status put under question.

“I’m no coward, representative and I’ll show you what I can do.”

“Then prove it with action, not just empty promises. Or is that all a scared little colt like you can do, such a disappointment if you ask me.” He sneered.

“No! I have what it takes! Just… just tell me what I can do, and I’ll do it.” He said shakily but kept his stance firm but couldn’t stop the slight shiver in him as his mind toiled in a cloud of uncertainty.

“I sense the doubt in you boy, don’t think I'm a fool for not seeing it,” Silent replied piercing his gaze down at the young stallion

“Then let me put this in a way you will understand, if you are not with us. Then you will not be useful in what we intend to do?”

He gulped. “What?”

With that question, the white coated red maned elder unicorn smiled sinisterly and snapped his fingers. The next thing the young unicorn realized, a sword was magically flung from one of the guards' hips and whizzed just an inch past his head and horn impaling itself against the wall.

“Let me remind you Sir Saber that you will not be the only one we will make an example of. Your wife and family would be included as well whether they are aware or not. Do I make myself clear?” Silent said evenly which got a firm nod from the guard as he did his best to relax his heart rate.

“So, we’re all in agreement then?” one of them added and a plethora of agreements filled the room.

“Alright Silent Rose, we’ll go with your plan, but we need to know what creatures live on that island,” another patron mentioned.

“Let’s just say that they are enemies of Equestria and some that I personally have grudges with,” he added. “We’ll be ready within days.”

With that said, the room was drowned in a cacophonous noise of cheering as the rest of the nobles in the room gathered together in union. Once they finished, they walked out of the room and Silent Rose watched the riled-up party as he walked off with a malicious grin on his face.

-Mystic Scale Island/1 Day Later-

Back at the island, Queen Tiamat and King Ryu find themselves in the middle of a deep conversation over the idea of possibly opening their kingdom to the ponies in the future. They only had one visit, but the princesses left a positive impression on the royal couple and hoped it would mean being able to see Equestria one day.

“So, Ryu, what do you think would happen when we meet with the parents of the two princesses that arrived on this island?” Queen Tiamat asked.

“I’m not sure, but I do hope that things are smooth with meeting them, and hopefully we can broaden our horizons after being isolated for so long,” King Ryu added with a smile on his face.

“If this works, we can have a better bond between our kin and theirs,” Queen Tiamat followed up. “It can create a new level of trust between other races as well.”

“Still, it feels like there a wave of-”

Suddenly, the doors burst open, and a dragon flew into the throne room, landing in front of the king and queen, panting as if he had run non-stop, the royal couple was confused at the sudden intrusion.

“Whatever is the matter, youngling?” Queen Tiamat inquired while the dragon in question caught his breath.

“Your majesties, something is terribly wrong.”

“What is it?”

“A fleet of unmarked ships have appeared over the western horizon; it looks like a war fleet!”

“Are you certain of this?” King Ryu asked.

“I’m positive, my king, they appear to have several ships and could be here any-”

A loud explosion slammed against the castle causing it to shake, making dust fall to the floor. The guards tensed up brandishing their weapons in readiness.

“What was that?” Queen Tiamat asked as she and her husband rushed outside with their guard in tow and what they saw left them in shock. Fires billowed from destroyed buildings as arrows tipped with fire while magical blasts assaulted the island in a mass of destruction and ruin.

“Who told us where we were?” Queen Tiamat asked.

“I don’t know,” King Ryu added. “I’m going to fly ahead and see what is going on, you stay here. I can’t risk you getting hurt. Especially not with our son still inside.”

“Please be careful,” she told him as she hugged her lover. King Ryu returned the hug and turned to his two guards.

“Keep her safe,” he told them. The two guards saluted as King Ryu turned to another group of guards. “I’ll need you three to come with me.” King Ryu and the three guards then spread their wings and took off, leaving his wife and her two guards behind. Flying into the air, Ryu along with his guard flew towards the owners of whomever would dare to savage their lands in such an act of cowardice.

Once they arrived, they were left in horror as a fleet of ships appeared along the coast of the isle bombarding its shores in a mass of ballistae, magic, and slews of gryphons, minotaur's, diamond dogs, and few ponies along with a mix of other races thundering down upon their people like a swarm of locusts.

Many of the citizens fought back with their own magic but it only fizzled out the moment they casted, only to be quickly dispatched by a sword or arrow piercing their nigh impenetrable scales.

“Go destroy them all, leave no survivors!” A minotaur shouted.

“Leave nothing left alive, burn this island to the ground!”

“Find all of their eggs and destroy them!”

Ryu heard their comments and was enraged. Whoever sent them wanted to wipe out the kin that lived on his peaceful island.

“What is the meaning of this?" Ryu demanded the guard dragon.

“It’s the invaders your majesties,” the dragon panted as he was glad that their king arrived. “They came out of nowhere. I don’t know how or why but they're trying to slaughter us all.”

Ryu growled. “How dare they commit such a grievous act, and they have no means to explain themselves. Do you know who their leader is?”

“No sire, we only know that they suddenly appeared from the southeastern edge and then split off, I think they're trying to take the island from two fronts.”

“Then that means they’ll be meeting us at the center cutting us off.” Ryu huffed. “And what of their weapons and armor is there anything they have we can use against them?”

“The only other thing that I’ve seen is whenever someone attempts to use magic against them it has no effect.”

“But how's that possible, the only thing capable of that power would be…” Ryu replied but then absolute horror registered on him as he realized where they had acquired the means.

“They… they wouldn’t dare…”

“Send a messenger as soon as you can to- AGH!” Ryu grunted as an arrow hit him in the leg. It wasn’t too powerful since it grazed his scales, but it stung a little to him. Turning to the owner of that attack growling in rage he bore his gaze upon a griffon archer notching a black arrow with a spiraled tip. Before he could launch another the king rocketed towards him unsheathing his claws, he swiped straight into his side leaving deep long gashes as one of his wings was shredded making the griffon fall to his death. Ryu quickly grabbed the arrow in his grasp with his tail and flew back to the group while inspecting the projectile.

The arrow had a thick black shaft with a series of markings indicating it was inscribed with runes to cause who knows what kind of damage and a long-spiraled tip that had curved hooks at the base of the head meaning it would dig into the flesh of its unfortunate victim and upon closer inspection the king realized the material was made of enchanted obsidian. One of the few known strongest materials used in a weapon which meant one thing.

These creatures were fully prepared to kill dragons.

A sudden chill of dread crawled up the dragon's spine, he worried what this meant for him and his kind, what did want? Money, power, resources, land? No, he was no fool, based on the weapons, the armor, and the number of forces that were gathered. They were organized and determined to ensure him and his race along with the others that lived here on the island were utterly eliminated. This was no mere invasion or raid, this… this was an extermination.

“Gather our forces, we may have to evacuate everyone on the island,” he said towards the guards. “They’re here to annihilate us all. We may have to evacuate and figure out who sent them to attack us to begin with.”

“Understood,” they said as they left to go and aid the others.

Once they cleared, the king looked over towards a group of civilians that were either running or trying to fly away from the crumbling building but noticed a few more were struggling to get out. Quickly, he dove to them and before a section of carved rock would land on them, he smashed it with his strength. Landing next to the group, he saw one of them trapped under some rocks. He moved over to lift them using his magic he freed the dragons using his tail as a handhold for one that was struggling on a bad leg.

“Get yourselves to safety, we are evacuating the island immediately.” He commanded.

“Yes, your highness.”

After checking that no one else was left in the area Ryu beat his wings, taking him up into the air and quickly headed in the direction his queen was currently located.

He flew as fast as his wings carried him until he was suddenly blindsided by a barrage of black arrows and magical blasts. Weaving in and out through the fire, he swerved and twisted, zig-zagging the best he could until a couple arrows hit his left wing and a magic blast clipped him in the side of his torso. He began to rapidly lose altitude, and desperately tried to right his angle but was unable to fix his trajectory until he slammed into a mountainside. Tumbling down from the impact until he hit the ground hard. Groaning out in pain, but thanks to crashing into the loose rocks above caused a chain reaction in which a rockslide soon fell over where Ryu lay. The last thing he saw before darkness enveloped him, burying him under a pile of boulders and debris.

A low groan could be heard as the king began to awaken, he felt dizziness and a throbbing headache pound throughout his head. He could only see darkness which right now indicated he was still currently buried in rubble.

Grunting in both anger and pain he used his dragon strength to push away the rock and debris finally able to see sunlight washing over him once again. He then desperately looked around to find a few dead guards and civilians either scorched by powerful magic or from the blades of obsidian weapons.

That was when he realized that his wife and egg were waiting for him back at the evacuation point, knowing there was little time he opened up his wings and ignoring the pain on his body, flew towards the area as fast as his wings could carry him. Once he arrived at the entrance, he noticed nobody was guarding it, it was an old cave mouth that led down to what looked like a normal animal den but had a secret system of tunnels and caverns that were interconnected to certain parts of the island allowing for quick and safe passage for any of the denizens during an attack.

He pulled out the hidden door which to normal ponies or creatures would’ve been too heavy to move on their own and set it aside on the cave wall, revealing a long dark cavern. Using his fire breath, he grabbed a stick to make a torch and quickly followed the path to the dock where the evacuation ships were stationed thanks to bioluminescent moss they used as a guide.

Along the way he noticed a few splatters of blood here and there while smelling the coppery scent of it throughout the tunnel, which meant many wounded had escaped through here. Ryu continued following the path until it led out to a large cavern that then morphed into a wide opening out into a lagoon where the docks for the ships parked there were maintained.

But to the king's shock, several of the ships were either burning or shattered to splinters, bodies of his subjects covered the ground, turning the beautiful white pearlescent sands, staining it into a dark crimson. The docks connected to the ships were the only thing that seemed to be standing, and to the king's relief a couple of ships were left at the far end.

Then he heard the sound of groaning, looking over at a pile of scorched wood. Quickly he moved over and shoved away the splintered planks to reveal a female sea dragon and a young male rock drake who was currently nursing an arm. Looks of relief washed over them seeing someone that wasn’t trying to end them.

“Your majesty, you’re alive.” The seadragon replied. “We’d thought we’d be dead.”

“And you’re not now, what happened?”

“A group of marauders came here and destroyed the escape ships, and they… they.... they must’ve followed us so…” The young drake trailed off while the seadragon rubbed his shoulder in comfort.

“They killed the others and then lit the ships on fire so we couldn’t escape, they were brutal, merciless. If it weren’t for some debris covering us, we probably would have met the same fate,” she said grimly looking towards the lifeless bodies in view.

Ignoring the bodies, Ryu focused on the two that still lived, feeling determination ignite inside of him, his eyes hardening. “Can you both stand?”

They nodded, setting themselves upright shakily. Ryu then found a spear embedded into a ship's hull and tossed it to the sea dragon, who caught it and set its blunt end to the ground looking back at her ruler.

“Gather any survivors and supplies you can find, then get on the ships at the end of the dock there and run as far away from here as possible.”

“But what about you, your highness, what will you do?” The rock drake wondered.

“I’ll be fine, when I find my family, we’ll find a way out of here. You only need to worry about yourselves now.” He spoke.

“But-”

“As your active king I royally order you to do so.” He growled, shocking them out of their hesitation. Nodding resolutely, they headed off while Ryu looked on, making sure that they were safe until they disappeared from sight. Turning in the other direction he spread his wings and flew off from the hidden cove to find his family, hoping his wife and unhatched child still lived.

“Please be alive,” he said to himself as he was inching closer to his castle.

A few minutes later he landed at the front of the palace seeing the countless dead bodies of both his people and a few mercenaries littering the front entrance. Seeing the front doors smashed open, he ran up the steps passing through what was the remains of a blockade and signs of a serious fight.

Scorch marks both magic and flame covered the room, weapons such as spears, arrows, and swords from both sides were either dropped on the floor, run through the now dead bodies of either side, arrows left embedded to the floor, wall, or ceiling as dark quills of death.

Moving swiftly, Ryu ignored the devastation around him, the only thing that mattered to him was finding his beloved wife and egg safe and sound. He continued running through the hallways of the castle until he reached the doors leading to the throne room, the door was shattered like some kind of explosive amount of force was used to open the reinforced door.

Walking through slowly the king saw the many dead of his personal guard who were either grouped around the door or towards his throne, where what he saw next made the fire in his heart run cold as ice.

“No…” His entire body froze with fear as he saw his dead wife on the floor, right next to his throne. “TIAMAT!” He yelled as he rushed over to his wife’s corpse. He turned her over to see her face. She had a blank lifeless stare on her face as her eyes were void of any life. She had a severe stab wound in her abdomen and her mouth was leaking blood, a small trail leaving a tiny river of crimson that flowed down from her chin all the way to the smooth stone floor.

“Please…no…not like this…” he said as tears began to form in his eyes. He began to channel his magic through his body to try and perform a healing spell, channeling some of his magic into his fire. He opened her mouth gently, while keeping one hand to her chest and breathed in his magic flames praying to all gods that it works.

He did this for a minute, but for every moment was wasted, the more and more he felt his heart sink as the look in his beloved never changed. He kept up using his hands to implement whatever healing he could but saw zero changes to his tearful dismay.

“Please, now like this,” he said to himself, hugging his wife in his arms. He was overwhelmed with emotion as everything he built was taken away from him. He continued to weep as he carried his deceased wife in his arms and set her onto the floor. He then sits on his throne as he sombers to himself of everything that took place.

‘How did this happen?’ he thought to himself. ‘What did we ever do to deserve any of this?’

As he was about to stand up, he noticed a gleam on the floor. He then looked down, and everything he felt in his body made him freeze in place.

“It…can’t be…” He said as he looked down on the ground. Right there, on the ground he could see the symbol of the Equestrians on the front of the emblem of a dead soldier. The pain and shock he felt was very intense. The very creatures that he allowed to enter his homeland, were the very ones that betrayed him.

“They…betrayed… us…” he growled. That’s when he felt it. A great roiling wave of fire building up inside of him. A fire so hot and intense it was burning greater than the queen of the sun herself as his heartbeat rapidly, his eyes thinned to slits, and a deep menacing rumble emanated from his maw as he stared upon the dead body of his beloved wife and mate. Only one emotion could describe his state right now.

Pure. FIERY. RAGE!!!

The next thing that everyone within miles of the island heard was a loud piercing roar big enough for the two that managed to escape for them to hear.

Preserving One's Clan

by SonicBlitz18

Growing Nightmares and Strange Feelings

Letters of a Drake's Nightmares

Heartfelt Departure

The Secret Island

Forgotten Heritage Part 1