On a summer trip to the beach, Spike meets two interesting females, and Rarity is none too happy.
When Spike and his friends go on a trip to Daypony Beach, he's rescued from the sea by a strange filly. Despite having reservations about this mute pony, Spike and his friends welcome her into their group. However, the restless ocean--as well as the innkeepers warnings about the mysterious "ponies of the sea"--has everypony nervous, and when a nearby clan of dragons becomes involved, things go from bad to worse.
ROLLING IN BEACHES ~ BICO PART I: PONIES OF THE SEA ACT I: DAYPONY BEACH
Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath through her nostrils and sighed contentedly. The salty air of Daypony Beach was invigorating. “I’m really glad we were all able to go on this vacation.”
“I do concur, Darling,” Rarity said, wearing a very wide brimmed sunhat, large sunglasses, and an outfit that did not look fit for swimming. “And the shopping in Foalando was amazing.”
“I wish we could have spent more time at the Hayseed Swamps. The animals there were so exotic,” Fluttershy said.
“Never thought we’d agree on something,” Rainbow Dash said. “I want to wrestle a croc like Daring Do did in Ring of the Marengeti!”
Pinkie Pie bounced up and down in the sand. “To Hades with that, we need to find ourselves a good beach party, girls.”
“Aw, I dunno about that,” Applejack said. “I think I’d rather just enjoy soakin’ up this sun and relaxin’.”
“Oh, dear, don’t you think you spend enough time in the sun as it is?” Rarity commented. “You’re going to be as wrinkled as Granny Smith before you know it.”
“Hey, those wrinkles were hard-earned!” Applejack said, glaring at the violet-maned unicorn irritably.
Spike, meanwhile, smiled ecstatically as he took in the glistening waters and tried to imagine what it would be like for the waves to crash against him as he swam through the ocean. He had never been to an actual beach before, so this was a bit difficult. Well, he was about to rectify that. He began to waddle swiftly toward the shoreline, but he suddenly felt something tugging him back by the tail. He looked back and saw that Twilight Sparkle had grabbed him with her magic.
“Spike, don’t get too excited.” Twilight levitated a pair of colorful floaties in front of him.
“Aww, Twilight!” Spike said, scandalized by the bright pictures of the three hairless apelike creatures in red, blue, and green dresses that every yearling filly in Equestria was going bananas over. “This isn’t very stallionly.”
“Spike, I dunno if you’ve noticed,” Rainbow Dash said with a smarmy grin. “But you’re not exactly a stallion."
Spike’s expression turned glum. “Yeah, well… then it’s not very dragonly.”
“And you look positively adorable with them on,” Rarity added.
“Well…” Spike said, reconsidering. “I guess…”
“Good,” Twilight said, slipping the floaties on his arms. “Now, you go have fun, Spike. And most importantly, be safe.”
Spike smiled and waved as he retreated to the water. He was happy that Twilight cared about his well-being of course, but he did wish she’d stop treating him like such a foal. After all, he wasn’t that much younger than she was. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t seem to be growing as quickly as some other dragons.
Spike reached the edge of the water and let it wash over his toes. He giggled madly and ran away before coming back and repeating the process. It didn’t occur to him that this wasn’t the best way to convince Twilight or the other mares not to think of him as a foal. He was unaware as he delighted in his new ocean experience that the waves were becoming much larger much more quickly. Before he could recognize the peril, a wave four times his size loomed over him. He saw the wave mere moments before it crashed, and all he got out was, “Twi—!”
Twilight’s ears flicked in the direction of the brief cry, and she was moving before she even knew what was wrong. When she saw the huge waves lapping up the shore, she gasped and cried out. “Spike! Spike, where are you?!”
Already far from shore, Spike’s purple head popped to the surface for a moment and he gasped, filling his lungs with air. “Twiliggh—!” and then he disappeared below the surface before she could use her telekinesis to lift him out.
Applejack tackled Twilight from behind before she could dive into the ocean herself. “Twilight, stop! The waves are too violent. Even I'd get myself killed goin’ in there. Let Dash go after him. She won’t have to go into the water to get him out.”
Twilight calmed herself as she saw the blue pegasus soaring over the waves. However, Applejack’s words unheeded, Rarity charged past the two of them screeching, “Spikey-wikey! Nooooo!”
“Rarity!” Applejack shouted. “Will ya listen… nah… she won’t listen…”
Rarity and her perfectly coiffed mane dived into the sea, and a moment later she emerged from the wave screaming as if she’d been burned. “My maaaaane!” she cried. “Oh. Right,” she said more calmly as a thought occurred to her. “And I can’t swiiiiiiim!”
Applejack rolled her eyes and pulled her rope out, tossing a lasso toward her friend and dragging her back to the shore. As the soaking wet mare panted and bemoaned the ruining of her manedo, she rolled her eyes. "Well, that was sure helpful, Rare. Now Spike's too far to even see. Hopefully Rainbow can get to him before..."
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was skimming close to the surface, doing her best to avoid the wild waves as she searched for Spike. She knew she would find him soon. She knew the little guy wouldn’t drown. After all, he had those floaties, so he would have to pop back up to the surface no matter how rough the waves. Then she gasped as she saw those same floaties bobbing in the waves. She swooped down and grabbed them before rising out of reach of the tall whitecaps. She hung for a long moment in the air with tears threatening to spill as she stared at the flotation devices. She shook her head and whispered, “No… not Spike. Not Spike.” She looked back toward shore and knew she couldn’t face Twilight without finding the small, purple dragon. “Spiiiiiiike!” she shouted as she zipped along the water anew. “If you don’t get your scaly tail up here right now, I’ll put my hoof so far up…”
Spike couldn’t hear the desperate screams. He had been pulled down into the depths of the green ocean. He imagined that he could hear something, though. Movement. Forms swimming around him. He could see them, too, at the edge of the darkness. It was a lot darker than he’d imagined, though he knew he couldn’t be that deep. It kept getting darker, too, as he felt himself, starved of oxygen, begin to lose consciousness. Before he did, he could have sworn he felt somepony grabbing him in their hooves.
When he regained consciousness, he heard his rescuers before he saw them, his eyes feeling heavy as lead.
“But he’s a dragon Wavedancer,” a soprano voice exclaimed through the haze.
“Don’t be such a tuna, Sealight,” another voice said boisterously. “It’s just a little dragon.”
“And it’s my fault, Seawinkle,” a delicate voice said close to Spike’s face. He cracked one eye open to see who his savior was. The pony he saw hovering above his face had a coat of pale green that seemed to glisten as if wet. Given where he had been before this, he imagined this was probably the case. Her mane was a light violet and gently curled, and it sparkled like she had tiny diamonds in each strand of hair. Then she turned, and he found himself staring into her deep, amethyst eyes. She let out a tiny gasp and she squeaked, “He’s awake!”
“Swim awayyy!” the high pitched voice Spike identified as Sealight squealed and he heard a splash. There was another splash and then the violet-maned pony disappeared from his field of vision. He tried to get up to see his savior more clearly, but all he saw was a scaly green serpent’s tail disappearing beneath the waves.
“Wait…” Spike said. “What was…?” He looked around him and realized he was lying on a large rock. Beside him was a clamshell which seemed to gleam in the same color as that pony’s mane. The light glistening on the shell seemed to create a small rainbow. Right after he picked it up, he heard a shout from the distance.
“—iiiike! Spiiiiiiiike!”
Spike hopped up and gave a toothy grin at the five ponies who were galloping up to him as well as the one who was speeding toward him like a bullet. Actually, Rainbow Dash was going a little faster than—was about as far as Spike got before the rainbow blur tackled him and they rolled across the ground before coming to a stop.
“Spike!” Rainbow growled. “You know how worried we all were? Don’t ever do that to us again.” She lifted off of him as the other ponies gathered around him with smiling, crying faces. They all started speaking at once.
“Spike, we thought you’d…”
“… reckoned you’d kicked the…”
“… Darling, I don’t even want to think…”
“… and that’s how everypony in Ponyville became princesses!”
The others gave Pinkie Pie a brief sidelong glance before wisely dismissing her random statement. “Spike, I think we should get going to the hotel,” Twilight said. She looked out to the sea, which still looked very choppy. “It looks like today isn’t the best day for the beach. It’s alright, though, we have a whole week here. I’m sure it will be calm before we have to leave.”
“The sea will never be ca-a-a-alm.”
The six ponies and one dragon stared with surprise at the old goat at the hotel front desk. Twilight spoke up, “Well, sir… not that we asked, but… why would you say that?”
“Call me Gruff,” the old goat said. “I been here since I was a kid, and I ain’t ever seen them so angry.”
“’Them’?” Twilight asked.
“Them!” Gruff reaffirmed. “Them’s the ponies of the sea. The lords of the currents. The hippocampi.”
“’Hippoca—“
“You just gonna keep repeatin’ everything I say, filly?” Gruff asked irritably.
“Sorry.”
“What’s a hippocampi?” Rainbow Dash inquired.
Gruff frowned at her, his jaw set stubbornly. Twilight, however, answered her question. “You know how pegasi control the weather in the sky, right?”
“Duh,” Rainbow said.
“Hippocampi are said to do the same, but for the sea. They move the currents of the ocean and create the waves,” Twilight said. “However, there hasn’t been a single recorded case of anypony being able to actually study a hippocampus. Some ponies think they’re just legends.”
“T’ain’t no legend!” Gruff said. “Me grandsire saw one, himself!”
“Did…” Spike started softly. “Did your grandsire get rescued by a hippocampus?”
“Aye,” Gruff said with a toothy grin. “The hippocampi are a fickle lot, but they’ll save a drownin’ sailor if they favor ‘im.” His expression became enigmatic. “O’ course, Sailor beware if she favor ‘im too much…”
“Right, but that’s probably all they are,” Twilight said. “Stories.”
“Believe how you want,” Gruff said. “I’m sayin’ the hippocampi are angry. Someone’s offended ‘em, and the seas won’t calm until their rage is soothed.”
The seven tourists were issued their room keys without any more comment. Rarity and Fluttershy had the first room, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had the second, and Twilight and Pinkie would room in the third. Spike, as the sole male in the group, had the privilege of having his own room.
As they made their way to their rooms, Spike caught a glimpse of an earth pony standing at the end of the hallway with a curly violet mane and amethyst eyes which looked so familiar. She disappeared into the shadows before he could get a better look at her, however. Spike glanced at the other mares who didn’t seem to have noticed anything, and he shrugged it off.
“So,” Twilight said way too casually for Spike's taste as she and Pinkie made it to their room. “What happened out there at sea? Do you… know how you got back to shore?”
Spike glanced away and said. “Um… no, Twilight. I must have just washed up somehow.”
Twilight looked skeptical. She knew how unlikely it was for a pony—or dragon in this case—to wash back onto the shore after having been dragged out to sea. Not only that, they had found him on a rock which jutted out a good distance above the wave peaks and had been, aside from the water pooled directly around his body, completely dry. If he had regained consciousness on that rock as he said, there was no way he could have simply washed up there. If her assistant didn’t want to tell her, she wouldn’t press him for now. She would still figure out what had really happened, eventually.
Spike shrugged and went into his room, next door. He dropped his luggage and sat on one of the soft beds. “Ahh, this is pretty nice.” He lifted a claw and sniffed it. Then he licked his arm. “Huh… still a little salty from that dip in the ocean. Maybe I should take a bath before we go to the party tonight.”
He hopped off the bed and waddled to the restroom. When he opened the door, he was dazzled by a bright rainbow colored light that washed over him. Eyes adjusting, he saw a distinctly reptilian—he might even say draconic—tail hanging out of the bathtub. Then something burst from the water, gasping in air.
ROLLING IN BEACHES ~ BICO PART I: PONIES OF THE SEA ACT II: WAVEDANCER
Spike screamed and retreated from the room, slamming the door. In mere moments, his six friends burst into his room.
“Spikey-wikey!” Rarity bellowed. “Are you alright, Darling?!”
“Bathroom!” Spike said. “Light… dragon… bathtub!”
Just then, the door to the bathroom opened and an adolescent earth pony walked out. She had a gently curling violet mane and a light green coat. On her flank was a cutie mark of three rainbow-colored pearls. Her eyes were a striking amethyst color. She smiled politely at the assembled group, who stared back in return.
“Oh…” Rarity moaned swooning over to the bed. “Oh, of all the worst things that could possibly happen…”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “What happened, Sugarcube?”
Spike took a deep breath. “Um… I just opened the bathroom door, and… she was in the bathtub.”
“Oh, the scandal!” Rarity said, fainting onto the bed.
“Rarity, I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding.” She turned to the earth pony and said, “I’m sorry about all this. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and you are…?”
The lavender haired pony opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She looked confused momentarily, but then closed her mouth dejectedly. She shook her head.
“Um…” Twilight said.
“What’s the matter?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Cat got your tongue?”
“You leave Opalescence out of this!” Rarity said. “She only did that once, and she was sorry!”
“Uhh…” Fluttershy squeaked nervously. “I… I might be wrong, but… I think she’s… mute?”
“Oh!” Pinkie Pie said. “We should turn her volume up, then. Where’s the knob?”
“It means she can’t talk,” Twilight corrected her pink friend. She turned to the green mare. “Is that right?”
She snorted with annoyance, but nodded. She touched a hoof to her throat and seemed to try to get a sound out, but only a choking sound emerged.
“Maybe her name is ‘Rainbow Pearl’?” Pinkie said. The mare’s eyes widened in shock, but then she shook her head quickly. “Or ‘Pearly Light’.” Negative. “How about ‘Precious’?” The green pony rolled her eyes.
“Wavedancer?” Spike said in a soft voice.
She smiled and pointed her hoof at the small dragon. Then her expression fell as she got a good look at him. Spike could see the recognition in her eyes, but then she turned her head away, as if trying to pretend she had never seen him. He could also see she wasn’t much of an actress.
“Wow, Spike,” Twilight said. “That was… an oddly specific and accurate guess. Do you… know this filly?”
“Um…” he glanced at the green pony, who shook her head with a frantic look on her face. “Nnnnno. No, I’ve never seen her before in my life. Wavedancer just seemed to fit.”
Twilight regarded him dubiously. “Alright… well, Wavedancer, let’s go to the front desk and maybe we can sort this out.”
The friends escorted their new acquaintance to the lobby, and brought the situation to the old goat's attention.
“Sorry,” he responded with a decidedly unapologetic tone when they finished telling him of the unfortunate faux-pas. “She’s on the register as belonging in that room. This is the height of the tourist season, too, so there aren’t any other rooms available.”
“But… but…” Rarity said. “Why would you put a young mare in a room with a boy dragon?”
“Well…” Gruff said. “It is a might odd… cain’t rightly say how that happened. In fact, I don’t even remember her being on there when I checked you in, but… well, the books don’t lie.”
“Oh, how will we resolve this?” Rarity wondered aloud.
Wavedancer eyed Spike shyly and then pointed at him with her hoof before pointing back at herself.
“You… want to be roommates with Spike?” Twilight asked.
“No way!” Rarity fumed. “Absolutely not. It would be highly inappropriate for a lady and a gentlecolt… er… gentledrake… to room together.”
“Rarity, Spike’s a dragon,” Twilight said. “I… don’t think we have to worry about anything happening between him and a pony.”
Spike wasn’t exactly appreciative of the implications of that statement, but he couldn’t exactly argue with it. He imagined to a beautiful pony it would be like kissing a frog. How could a beauty like Rarity or Wavedancer ever learn to love a beast? He was glad that his friends missed his briefly dejected expression.
Wavedancer then pointed to herself and then to Twilight. After that she pointed to Spike and then to Rarity.
“Stay with me?” Twilight asked. “And… have Spike stay with Rarity?”
“Well…” Rarity said. “That… might not be so bad. I mean, after all, Spike and I are good friends so obviously I wouldn’t do anything to exploit the poor dear. Oh, he could heat my bathwater!”
“I’m shocked you even know such a word, Dash,” Rarity said.
“Wait, wait,” Spike said. “It’s not a problem, really. Wavedancer can have my room. It’s not like I’ve never slept outside before. Actually, they have a nice hot spring out back…”
“That’s very generous of you Spike,” Twilight said. “But maybe we can resolve this without putting anyone out. Let’s have Rarity stay with Wavedancer. I can stay with you, Spike. After all, Spike and I have slept in the same room since he was a hatchling. And I think you might make good friends with Wavedancer, Rarity.”
“Well,” Rarity said incredulously. “She does have good hair, I suppose.”
“Alright, Miss Wavedancer,” Rarity said haughtily. “I suppose if we’re to be friends, we should sit down and have a talk…” she looked at the earth pony’s troubled expression and immediately backpedaled. “I… I mean… I suppose ‘heart-to-heart’ would be a better term…”
Wavedancer smiled and picked up a brush in her mouth and looked at Rarity expectantly.
“Oh,” Rarity said in surprise. “You… you want to… brush my hair? Well, I suppose that is fairly… though I don’t really like anypony messing with my… but then again what could it…” She stopped confabulating and sat on her haunches in front of the vanity mirror, allowing the earth pony to stroke her mane. “Well, where to start… I’m Rarity, though I suppose you already knew that. I’m from Ponyville and I own a boutique there where I make dresses. I specialize in finding gemstones, which I use to make them.”
Wavedancer nodded vigorously and pointed to her flank.
“Oh!” Rarity said. “You… have a talent for finding pearls? Well, that is fascinating. You know, I’ve never used pearls in my designs before. Perhaps we could discuss it… well… I suppose we can’t, really.”
Wavedancer smiled sheepishly and continued to brush Rarity’s hair.
“Well, anyway… I often design dresses for my friends. It just always feels so good, doing things for others. Spike obviously knows that, too. I mean, he’s always doing things for me all the time. He’s really so generous… I mean, aside from that one time, but that wasn’t really him.” Her eyes became wistful and distant. “Really, it’s so tragic there aren’t more stallions like him. Why if he weren’t a dragon… and so young, of course...”
Wavedancer peeked out from behind Rarity to stare at her with calculating eyes from the mirror. Rarity wondered just what it was that she thinking. Why would she have such a shrewd look in her eyes? “N-n-now…” Rarity stammered. “Now let’s make one thing clear! I have no interest in Spike, of course. As I said, he’s a dragon. I mean, I know it’s happened, a pony and a dragon, but… what would people think? Besides, he’s still a baby, right? Well, I guess if he were a pony colt he would have earned his cutie mark by now, but that’s still a bit young. Okay, a couple years and he’d be a proper stallion, but what kind of filly do you take me for? I certainly would never engage in some kind of… of husband husbandry!”
Wavedancer grinned at her through the brush handle.
“Now, listen here,” Rarity protested. “You had better not lay a hoof on him. I may not be interested, but… but he’s my good friend and I won’t have anypony taking advantage of him. After all, I hate to break it to you, but…” she puffed her chest out with pride. “He’s completely infatuated with me. I doubt he’d give you the time of day.”
Wavedancer hooded her eyelids and flicked a glance up and down Rarity’s body. The white unicorn blushed and sucked in a breath. “How… how dare you? I am not some old nag! If you think you can seduce poor Spikey-wikey with your youthful body, you have another thing coming, filly. He would never be so shallow.”
Wavedancer raised an eyebrow and shrugged, continuing to brush Rarity’s purple mane as the unicorn flushed deeply from her outburst. “Yes, well… could you perhaps go get my compact? I left it in the lavatory.”
Wavedancer nodded and set down the brush before heading into the restroom. Rarity watched her go and then sighed, giving herself a once-over in the mirror. “Really… as if I’m getting old. I haven’t even hit the big one-oh.” She fluttered her eyelashes seductively at herself and gave the mirror a winning smile. “Looking fabulous, Rarity. Looking quiiiite fabulous.”
Later that night Pinkie homed in on the nearest beach party and dragged her fellow Ponyvillians and Wavedancer along for the fun. The waters were still too rough for any but the bravest swimmers, but she was already doing her best to liven the celebration up, and had done a great job of it. She was currently performing a routine with the fire dancers that she had choreographed herself.
Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy were nursing cups of punch on the sidelines. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had been approached by a couple stallions for a dance, and they had enthusiastically agreed, though the stallions had apparently been a bit intimidated by their gusto, and the mares were now doing an impressive swing dance with each other. Rarity, of course, was approached by several stallions, and made sure she gave equal time to each of her admirers.
Spike sighed. He didn’t really have the courage to ask Rarity to dance. He was sure she would say no even if he did. Or, worse, she would say yes and he would be given the same allotted time as the other stallions. He was broken out of his reverie by the sound of a splash. He looked over and saw a familiar pony with her face in the punch bowl.
“Hey,” Twilight said. “I know you.”
“Oh, hey Twilight,” Berry Punch said after lifting her dripping face out of the bowl. “I come to Daypony Beach every summer. It’s got some of the best parties. Well, actually, I went to this one place for Mardi Cheval and… well, let’s just say Fillies Gone Wild has never gotten better material.”
“Oh… kay,” Twilight said, wishing she had been fast enough to cover Spike’s ears.
“Well, if you’ll excuse me,” Berry said. “I’ve got some drink to punch.” With that, she dove back into the bowl.
Spike slowly raised his cup to his lips as he regarded the strange pony, but Twilight knocked the cup out of his claws. “I don’t think you should be drinking that, anymore,” she said. Spike shrugged and turned away to look back at the dance floor, but found his vision filled instead by a face full of filly.
“Gyah!”
Wavedancer grinned and gestured with her head toward the dance floor.
“You want me to dance with you?” Spike asked, amazed. He looked back at Twilight.
“Go on, Spike,” Twilight said. “You deserve to have a little fun, too.”
Spike followed her out onto the dance floor. She turned to him and she gave him a smoldering look from half-lidded eyes. They began to dance a fairly simple four step dance—more dancing across from one another than with one another—but Wavedancer quickly began to step up her moves, prompting Spike to interact more with her. Soon, their dancing was as full of vigor and skill as Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s swing dance had been, though Wavedancer and Spike danced with consideration for the other, while Rainbow Dash and Applejack danced more as if they were trying to subtly buck each other’s flank. Spike managed to perform moves that would have been more suitable for a pony twice his size due to his superior draconic agility and Wavedancer moved with the sinuous suppleness of a serpent. When the song ended, Wavedancer was in Spike’s arms, held inches from the floor and staring into his reptilian eyes.
Everypony else’s eyes were also on them, staring in awe at the display. Spike and Wavedancer separated with surprise as they heard the assembled ponies clop their hooves on the ground. Wavedancer blushed and smiled at Spike and grabbed his claw with her hooves. She gestured back toward the hotel and gave him a pleading look.
“You… want me to go back with you?” Spike asked.
She nodded.
Spike flushed red underneath his scales. Why would she want him to go back to the hotel? He shook his head. He was letting his imagination get away from him. “Um… alone?”
She flashed a wide grin.
This was looking more and more suspect, Spike decided. Still, he couldn’t let a new friend down, could he? Besides, he was a big dragon. Well… sort of. “Alright. Let’s go.”
“Spiiiike!” Rarity called out as she trotted her way through the crowd. “Spikey-wikey, you danced divinely, and I finally got away from those fawning colts, so I wanted to ask you if you wanted to da—” she slowed to a stop as she saw Spike walking away from the party with Wavedancer by his side. They were awfully close together, as well.
“Rarity,” Twilight said beside her. “You just missed Spike. He and Wavedancer were going back to the hotel together.”
Rarity’s right eye twitched. “’Together,’ Twilight? Alone?”
“Well… yeah,” Twilight said.
“Oh…” Rarity said with a quaver in her voice. “Oh, the horror…”
Spike’s tiny form recoiled from the blow as he landed demurely on the bed. “Wavedancer… no!”
“Muahahahaha!” a wild haired Wavedancer laughed with eyes cold and leering. “Those other ponies completely fell for my ruse, Spike!” She pinned him to the bed by his shoulders and loomed over him menacingly. “Now… you’re all mine!”
“Stop right there!” a clarion voice called as the door shattered inward. A glorious white unicorn stood in the door frame, a halo of purity surrounding her as her perfectly styled mane blew in the breeze even though they were indoors. “You will unhand that innocent dragon, vile temptress!”
Wavedancer hissed and leaped off of Spike, her hooves shielding her from Rarity’s glory. “No! I can’t stand such brilliant fabulosity which gleams like a perfectly cut diamond!” She howled and fled, crashing through the window.
“Rarity!” Spike cried, running toward his savior. “My hero!”
“Oh, my little Spikey-wikey!” Rarity replied. “I would never let any harm come to you!”
They fell into each other’s arms and embraced as the world faded to white…
“Umm…” Twilight said as she tried to pry Rarity’s forelegs off of her. “Rarity? Hello?”
“Twilight!” Rarity said, suddenly snapping to attention. Her eyes bore into her purple friend’s with a dangerous gleam. “I… will… destroy her!”
Twilight remained speechless for a moment. Then she said, “I… I have to say, Rarity… that seems a bit inappropriate.”
ROLLING IN BEACHES ~ BICO PART I: PONIES OF THE SEA ACT III: SHOOP BE-DOO
Spike and Wavedancer walked along the beach in silence, though for Wavedancer’s part this was very much involuntary. Spike couldn’t help but notice her appraising looks and unaccustomed closeness. In spite of his infatuation with Rarity, he couldn’t deny that this filly was starting to make him feel… funny. They reached the hotel grounds after a few minutes and she led him to the back to the hotel’s hot spring. She turned to him expectantly as they came to the edge of the spring.
“So… Wavedancer,” Spike said. “What… what did you want to bring me out here for?”
Wavedancer looked at him with an unusual expression on her face. Then she turned her flank to him.
“Um…” Spike said. “What…?” Wavedancer began to cough and retch, and Spike rushed over and patted her back. “Hey, are you alright?”
Wavedancer gave one last giant heave and a sizeable pearl which shone brightly with rainbow light popped out of her throat and into the hot spring. She then jumped in after it, splashing Spike with hot water.
“W-Wavedancer?” Spike said, stunned. “Hay, Wavedancer? Are you…”
Her head popped out of the water and her two forehooves came up, holding the pearl in them. “Finally,” Wavedancer said. “That was getting uncomfortable.”
Spike looked quizzically at the pony in the water. “Wavedancer… you can talk?”
She gave a sly smirk as she tucked the pearl away somewhere under the surface of the water, and then she reached out and pulled Spike in. He flailed around for a moment, but then found the surface, gasping for air when he did. Wavedancer swam to his side, her face centimeters from his own. “Spike…”
“Uh…” Spike’s temperature was rising dangerously. “What are you doing?”
“I like you, Spike,” Wavedancer said. “Let’s be… friends.” She leaned in closer, her lips almost brushing his. For a moment, she could have sworn she heard a very high pitched squealing sound, but it surely must have been her imagination. Then Spike pushed her away. “Spike?”
“L-l-listen, Wavedancer,” Spike said. “You’re really nice and pretty and Celestia knows I like you and all…” He faltered and looked away for a moment, collecting his thoughts. Then his reptilian eyes turned back to her, all his emotions filling them. “I have to be honest with you, though. I… I like somepony else. She probably doesn’t even know… and even if she does, I doubt she feels the same way. Still, I have to be true to my feelings.”
Wavedancer smiled sadly and backed away from him. “I understand, Spike. I thought… I’d hoped… well, maybe if you liked me I could get something from you…”
Spike was silent for a moment. “’Something’?”
Wavedancer leaped out of the water, and only then did Spike realize that she was no longer an earth pony. Her front half looked similar to the way it did before with the exception of two large fins fanning out like wings behind her forelegs—now her only legs—much like a pegasus’ wings. She also had a long dorsal fin going down her back and down to the scaly green serpent’s tail that now took the place of the rear part of her body. Her pearl cutie mark was no longer visible, instead being covered by scales.
Spike’s jaw dropped.
“Spike?” Wavedancer asked. She looked down at her snakelike tail. “Oh… well, I guess this comes as a bit of a shock. Let me explain: you see, it’s the magic of the Rainbow Pearl. Swallowing it turned me into an earth pony. Incidentally, I also… couldn’t talk with it stuck in my throat.”
“Oh,” Spike said. “That seems legit.” He narrowed his eyes. “But… what ‘something’ did you want from me?”
“Actually, it has to do with the Rainbow Pearl,” Wavedancer admitted. “It’s a sacred item of Princess Rodi, and… well… I’m afraid everypony thinks it was stolen.”
“What?” Spike said in surprise. “Why would they think that?”
“Well,” Wavedancer said with a guilty look. “Mostly… because it was. By me.”
“You?”
Wavedancer looked away. “It’s a long story. Well, I suppose you could say that I was curious. I’ve never been to the surface, and Princess Rodi decreed long ago that we hippocampi could not let anypony from the land know of our existence. I read in a book, though, about some of the Rainbow Pearl’s abilities.”
“You have books underwater?” Spike asked incredulously.
“I only meant to use it for a short time and see what was up here, but… I’m afraid the Tritons found out the pearl I left in the Rainbow Pearl’s place was a fake before I thought they would.”
Spike nodded. “It’s a pretty unique looking pearl with all the rainbow… ness. I’m not surprised.”
Wavedancer sighed and hung her head. “Yeah, it was foalish of me. But, listen, when I saved you… I dropped an important piece of the Pearl. Without it, something really bad might happen.”
Spike thought back and realized what she was talking about. “You mean this?” He held up the sparkling clamshell he had found next to him that morning.
“Ah!” Wavedancer exclaimed happily. She picked up the pearl in her mouth and slithered over to Spike. She opened the shell and placed the pearl inside it. “That’s it!”
Spike smiled at her. “Well, that was easy. But why didn’t you just ask in the first place?”
“I… I didn’t know if you’d help me,” Wavedancer said. “And I’m in a lot of trouble, anyway. I wouldn’t want you to get involved.”
“If you’re in trouble,” Spike said. “Of course I’ll get involved.”
“What?” Wavedancer said, looking at him in shock. “No, I couldn’t let you… I mean, for a young dragon like you—helping a hippocampi like me—it would be… too dangerous!”
“What are you talking about?” Spike said. “I couldn’t just turn my back on you, Wavedancer, especially not now. If you’re in distress, you can count on…”
The night calm was shattered by a loud roar. Spike and Wavedancer turned to see a large, dark form flapping above them with bat-like wings. The dark form swooped down from the air and snatched Spike up. Spike and the shadowy dragon shot out over the sea, dodging fountains of sea foam that seemed to attack it with purpose.
“No, Spike!” Wavedancer screamed.
“Spikey-wikey!” Another voice cried. Rarity galloped up to Wavedancer and tackled her. “What did you do to him, you monster?”
“Wait,” Wavedancer pleaded. “I didn’t do anything. It’s the dragons!”
“You led them here, didn’t you?” Rarity demanded. “They were after that… that pearl you coughed up like a cat with a hairball.”
“Nice imagery,” Wavedancer commented.
“Thank you, Dear,” Rarity said. “I do my best. Anyway, that dragon was after that pearl, right?”
Wavedancer sighed. “Yes. It’s an ancient treasure which has intimate ties to the dragons and their origins.”
Rarity let Wavedancer up. “The dragons’ ‘origins’? Well, you’ve gone and dragged Spike into this, and that means you’ve dragged all of us into it as well. Shall we go retrieve him and this pearl?”
“So,” Wavedancer said timidly. “You’re… you’re really going to help me?”
“Help you, Darling?” Rarity said. “Honestly, I couldn’t care less about your problems, but if those dragons harm a scale on Spike’s head…” she stamped her hoof in the sand. “They’ll have to deal with me.”
Spike was dropped unceremoniously onto a cave floor, where he scrambled to his feet, doing his best to look brave. This was a bit difficult given he was a two foot tall drake surrounded by a number of slavering dragons at least two stories tall. “Wh-what do you want? Wh-why did you bring me here?”
“Welcome to the Scaly Backs River Clan.” The huge shadow of a dragon was spread across the wall, bat-like wings spread. “I am the terrible and mighty Princess Scalestasia Finabella Hea—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” The dragon had by this time come into view, and Spike could see that she was barely as tall at the shoulders as a pony, though she was a bit longer. Her scales were a light blue and her belly scales and spines looked like gold. She wore a wreath of gemstones on her head and carried a jewel-encrusted scepter in one claw. She stood in a four-legged posture and carried herself with the haughty stance of nobility.
The Princess halted in the middle of her introduction. “What? Why do you interrupt your Princess?”
“Well,” Spike said diplomatically. “Excuse me, Princess, but there’s no way I’m going to remember your whole name. Mind if I just call you ‘Scales’?”
The Princess worked her jaw for a moment, eyes darting around nervously at the much larger dragons assembled. Finally, she settled into a royal scowl. “A princess… a princess is always to be addressed as such by her inferiors… though…” She shifted her wings uncomfortably. “One might suppose, as the dragon who retrieved the Rainbow Pearl from the clutches of those… those sea ponies, you may be considered—if not an equal—at least having earned the right to call a royal personage by a… ‘nick’ name?” Her red eyes fixed more confidently on the young purple dragon before her. “And you, young gentledrake. What is your name?”
“Uh… Spike,” he responded.
“Spike,” the princess said. She raised her voice and said, “A toast to Spike the Valiant!” The other dragons echoed her words in a deep rumble, and they proceeded to toast the young dragon with their fire breath.
Spike screamed in terror as the flames washed over him, dropping the clam shell, which snapped shut as it hit the ground.
“I’ve lost it.”
“I honestly thought you’d lost it around the time you decided to steal that pearl, Darling,” Rarity said flatly.
“No, I mean…” Wavedancer snorted in frustration. “I can’t sense the Rainbow Pearl anymore. The shell must be closed. That keeps its powerful magic contained, so I can’t pick it up anymore.”
Rarity glowered. “That’s rather inconvenient. I don’t suppose you’d know where to find the dragons, anyway?”
“Well,” Wavedancer said tentatively. “I know that the dragon who picked Spike up is from a clan near the Scaly Backs River, but their lair is secret, and the river is twenty five miles long.”
“Well,” Rarity said. “We’ll just have to start looking, I suppose. Unless there’s some other way you can think to find Spike.”
Wavedancer looked guiltily out to sea. “Well… there is something… but… it would be… unpleasant.”
“I would endure any unpleasantness for Spike!” Rarity said. She thought back to all the times Spike had helped her, from offering to serve as a pincushion to fighting off Diamond Dogs in an attempt to save her. “He would do the same for me, after all.”
Wavedancer looked at Rarity with concern evident in her creased brow. “Well… alright. If you’ll come with me, that would be a big help. But… we’ll have to get you a ride down.”
“’Down’?” Rarity repeated.
Wavedancer slithered to the edge of the water and called out in a melodic voice: “Shoop be-doo!”
“Shoop-shoop be-doo!” came an answering call as two pony heads bobbed to the surface of the water. One was a pony with a blue coat, a mussed pink mane, and red eyes while the other had a pink coat, sapphire eyes, and a long blue mane tied with a yellow ribbon.
“Seawinkle, Sealight: I need some help,” Wavedancer said.
“Are you sinking fast?” Seawinkle asked.
“I’ve had some… nasty shocks,” Wavedancer replied.
“Feeling like all hope is gone and washed up on the rocks?” Sealight said. “You can always count on us when you’re in distress.”
“That’s why I sent you that SOS,” Wavedancer said with a smile.
End Part I To be continued in Part II: The Rainbow Pearl…
ROLLING IN BEACHES ~ BICO PART II: THE RAINBOW PEARL ACT I: PRINCESS SCALES
Spike relaxed in the hot pool of lava as one large dragoness filed his claws and another massaged behind his head fins. Yet another was sharpening the drill bit on the end of his tail. It was a good thing; he thought in retrospect, that dragons were relatively fireproof. He had been somewhat surprised by the dragon method of toasting, which was quite literal, but had come through it unscorched. Now he was being given the royal treatment, and he had to admit that this was a big step up from the spa in Ponyville. Not that he would ever let Aloe and Lotus catch on.
“Spike,” Scales called as she walked into the cavern.
The dragonesses all bowed their heads low while one announced. “Hail, Princess Scalestasia Fina—”
“Yes, yes,” Scales said, waving them away irritably. “Do be quiet, ladies. And leave us be; I’m sure Spike the Valiant has grown weary of your tiresome fawning.”
“Oh, I don’t mind, really,” Spike said. However, the dragonesses knew enough to take the hint and left the cavern reverently. “Um… so what’s up, Scales?”
The small dragoness blushed under her scales at the name, unused to anydragon being so informal. “Shortly, I will bring you to meet my grandfather, the King of the Scaly Backs River clan. Before you have audience with the King, however, I felt I must speak with you.”
“Oh,” Spike said. “Okay.”
Scales lowered herself into the lava, sighing as the rock-melting heat seeped into her muscles. “From what clan do you hail?”
“Uh…” Spike said. He didn’t really have a “clan” to speak of, given he had been raised by a pony. Then again, he supposed that if one looked at it from a certain point of view… “The Ponyville Clan?”
Scales narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “I… see. I imagine this ‘Ponyville Clan’ then has some association with… ponies?”
“Yeah,” Spike said. “You could say that.”
Scales nodded. “Understand, Spike, that we harbor no ill will toward ponykind. On the contrary, while many dragon clans shun ponies as weak and soft, we would welcome ponies as our brethren.”
“You didn’t seem very welcoming when it came to the hippocampi,” Spike remarked.
Scales scowled. “They… are a different matter. In fact, I imagine the other ponies of Equestria would feel similarly if they knew the truth.”
“What truth is that?” Spike asked.
“I should let my grandfather explain that,” Scales said. “I must say, though… you must be a great warrior to best the student of the Princess of the Sea. Or very cunning.”
“Uh… yeah,” Spike said. Not that he had bested the hippocampus by any means. “So you know Wavedancer, huh?”
“I know of her,” Scales said. “Most who live near the east coast would have heard of that one.” She rose stiffly from the lava and said. “Come, we must practice your etiquette for when you are to meet the King.”
Spike stared at her. “What do you mean, Scales? I’m plenty polite!”
“Spike, proper etiquette is paramount among royalty,” Scales said with a sniff. “Really, it’s only because I’m in such a good mood from getting the Rainbow Pearl that I’m letting you get away with such informalities.”
“Are you always like this?” Spike asked.
“Always like what?” Scales said. “Like a Princess? Why, yes!”
“No,” Spike said. “Like a total stick in the mud. You’re worse than Twilight.”
Scales frowned. “Who?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Spike said. “I’ve got a better idea. Instead of you teaching me etiquette, I’m gonna teach you how to have a little fun.”
“Fun?” Scales said in a daze as Spike took her by the claw and pulled her after him out of the cavern. “Princesses do not have fun.”
Half an hour later, the two small dragons were huddled behind a stone in the same cavern, Spike snorting as he tried to contain his premature laughter while Scales looked at him as if her were a maddragon. “What is the purpose of this, Spike the Valiant?”
“You’ll see, Scales,” Spike said with a giggle as he peeked out from behind the stone. “Just wait for somedragon to… wait, wait, wait, shhhhshshsh!” He clamped a claw over Scales’ mouth, though he was the only one threatening to blow their cover as a large, pearly scaled dragon lumbered into the cavern. The large lizard stretched out his limbs before rearing onto his hind legs and launching himself in the air toward the lava pool. When he landed, the red surface went concave as it gave with his considerable weight before admitting him beneath the surface with a “shloop.” Spike completely lost it.
Scales stared at the hole the dragon had made in the pool’s surface, with the pool still wobbling uncontrollably from the disturbance. The dragon’s head then emerged from the pool, gelatinous globs clinging to him and glooping back down to the pool surface. That was not the thing that ultimately affected her, however. It was that look on his face. The expression he wore that told her that he had just had his entire world flipped—turned upside-down. The moment she saw that wide-eyed stare into nothingness, her diaphragm began to contract, as if her body were trying to expel the air in her lungs in short, quick bursts rather than in a deep, regular pattern. This wouldn’t have startled her much. In fact, she tried to cough, thinking that may be the reason she was experiencing this strange bodily rebellion. No, the odd thing was that her facial muscles were also starting to twitch, distorting her face into an unaccustomed expression.
“Scales?” Spike said between gasps of laughter. “You look like you’re having a seizure!”
Scales wanted to respond, “I feel like I’m having a seizure,” in a calm and regal manner, but instead a cacophony of gasping guffaws and snorts emerged from her and she collapsed to the ground, completely unable to control herself. She pounded the ground with a balled fist, pleading for mercy from this surreal experience. When she finally regained some composure, she found Spike staring down at her, completely sobered.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked with a faint smile on his face. “You… ah… kinda lost it for a minute.”
Breathing deeply, Scales looked up at him, and a broad grin spread across her face. “I am fine, Spike the Valiant. May we do that again?”
Rarity would have found her trip enthralling. She was being ferried in a large air bubble between two hippocampi. She passed sunken ruins and large and strange animals. They were moving faster than a steam engine. However, she found the conversation between the hippocampi to be more than distracting.
“… and so Foamy just started ranting about how the thing with the octopi was exactly like the dolphin incident, which really didn’t make sense at all, but when Foamy starts ranting you just can’t expect her to make sense…” Seawinkle was saying.
“Yeah, well, at least it’s only when she gets upset,” Wavedancer said. “Dipper never makes sense.”
“Yeah, but Foamy’s also always upset,” Sealight said with a shy smile, to which the other two hippocampi laughed.
Rarity sighed and traced a pattern in her bubble’s skin. Not that Rarity was particularly averse to gossip between girls, though she had decidedly soured on the practice a little bit after that one incident with her sister and her friends, it was incredibly frustrating to penetrate their wall of inside jokes and references. She was overjoyed when she finally saw a gleaming underwater city come into view with hippocampi and other sea creatures swimming all over in an orderly fashion. “Oh, that is beautiful,” she said.
“Yeah,” Seawinkle said. “That’s the lost Island of Rodi. It’s been at the bottom of the sea for almost two thousand years.”
“Yes,” Rarity said. “I’ve heard of Rodi Island and its great capitol of Troughidance.” She saw a large palace come into view as they approached, and a colossal statue of an alicorn with a nine pronged crown. “Oh, that must be the fabled Colossus of Rodi.” It was supposed to be a monument to the god of the sun, though it didn’t look quite like Celestia, being far too muscular and imposing. As they passed, however, she could clearly see the cutie mark of the Princess emblazoned on the statue’s flank, so she supposed it must be her. “I’d heard all this was destroyed by Discord long ago.”
“No,” Wavedancer said. “Princess Rodi sunk this island into the sea in order to protect it. This place was her responsibility, after all. She rules from that castle, there.” She gestured to the huge castle which looked as if it had been built out of various types of coral.
“Incredible,” Rarity said with an anticipatory grin. She was about to be introduced to a royal alicorn of whom many thought still myth. Her spirits fell slightly as another though came to her. “Only… I don’t suppose she’ll be cross with you for stealing the pearl in the first place.”
“Um…” Wavedancer said.
“Nah,” Seawinkle said as they came ever closer to the palace. “Wavedancer is Rodi’s chosen apprentice. She’s almost like her daughter! Worst case scenario Wavedancer will have to write ‘I will not steal ancient magical relics’ a thousand times.”
Wavedancer looked at her friend with a hint of pique. “It’s not really that trivial…”
“And I don’t know if we’ll get off so easy, Seawinkle,” Sealight said. “After all… we helped her steal it… and we’re just normal hippocampi.”
“Oh…” Seawinkle said, crestfallen. “Yeah.”
Scales and Spike staggered down the tunnel, leaning against each other for support as they shook with laughter. “Scales, that was so classic! Even Rainbow Dash would’ve been floored by that!”
“I know!” Scales said. “The look on her face when the spanakopita hit the—” She paused for a moment, sobering. “Who’s Rainbow Dash?”
“Uh, never mind,” Spike said. “Hey, when were we supposed to see your grandpa?”
“Oh!” Scales exclaimed. “I… I think we might be running a little late actually. Come on, follow me.”
Within minutes they were approaching an entrance guarded by two large dragons in armor, though Spike had no idea why a dragon would need armor. A dragon’s scales were generally as tough as the diamonds on which they snacked. They slowed as they approached and the guards bowed their heads respectfully to Scales, allowing the two of them to enter the chamber. What Spike saw inside nearly floored him.
The throne room—for that was the only thing it could possibly be—was literally covered in jewels. The floors were tiled with amethysts and sapphires and the walls sparkled like a rainbow, not an inch of normal stone in sight. At the end of the hall was the most enormous pile of gems that the young dragon had ever seen, and sitting atop the largest pile was a glittering throne. Sitting regally in that throne was the largest dragon Spike had laid eyes on. His scales were a washed out blue and his under-scales were gold, as were the numerous long and dangerous looking spikes on the end of his tail. Strangely, the old dragon seemed to have a mane that reminded Spike of a dirty mop slapped on top of his head. Like Spike, he seemed to be wingless. “Princess Scalestasia,” the dragon rumbled, his voice deep and elegant. “So you have brought our little hero.”
Scales bowed deeply to her grandfather, and, after a light kick from the dragoness, Spike did the same. “Uh… pleased to meet you, Your Scaliness.”
Scales rolled her eyes, but the titanic dragon chuckled, which sounded to Spike like an avalanche of gigantic boulders. “You are known as ‘Spike’, yes?”
“Ah, yes,” Spike responded.
“Is that your… full name?” The king asked.
“It is,” Spike said.
“Hmm,” The dragon said. “Well, then… Spike… before we get started,” and at that he picked up a small—for him—golden cup and scooped up some gems from beneath his throne, and then set it down before Spike. “Have a little something to snack on. You look hungry.”
Spike looked at the bowl of jewels that towered over him and said, “Uh, thanks, Your Highness. You… don’t mind?”
“Of course not,” the king said. “You are my guest, and while some low-born dragons may keep their hoards to themselves, a noble dragon always ensures that his guests are well-fed and comfortable.”
Not one to look a gift pony in the mouth, Spike grabbed a handful of jewels and began munching loudly on them. He noticed the aggravated glance he received from Scales, and he figured there was probably some kind of protocol against actually accepting an offer of food from the king, but he had had a long night and he was starving. Thankfully, the king also helped himself to a handful of gems, which for him was practically the whole bowl’s worth.
“Spike,” the king said after a few minutes. “You may not realize this, but the Rainbow Pearl is a very important artifact.”
“I kind of gathered that, honestly,” Spike said. “But… why do you want it? Doesn’t it belong to the hippocampi? Some princess… um… R… Ra… Ro…?”
“Princess Rodi,” the king said. “Just as Princess Celestia raises and lowers the sun and Princess Luna raises and lowers the Moon, so does Princess Rodi raise and lower the tides.”
“Oh, so that’s why that happens,” Spike said. “Twilight told me it had something to do with the moon, but that didn’t make much sense…”
“Yes, well,” the king said, shifting in his throne. “Princess Rodi may have had possession of the Pearl until recently, but it is in fact a weapon.”
“What… what kind of weapon could a pearl be?” Spike asked.
“For that I must tell you a story nearly three thousand years old,” the king said. “You see, the Creator of all dragons was a god known to us as Tirek. It is said he was born out of an ash tree by a nature god and was one of the wisest of the centaurs. He was betrayed by the other gods, however—poisoned, cursed to live with unending pain.”
“Harsh,” Spike commented.
“As you might imagine, Tirek and the other gods didn’t get along,” the king said. “The god of the sea used the Master Rainbow to create the races of ponies, and sent them to destroy Tirek with a fragment of its power.” The dragon leaned down toward Spike and spoke softly. “But, you see, the power of the Master Rainbow was terrible. The original races of ponies were created by twisting the bodies and minds of dragons into that of equines! A Hero, a daughter of the Lord of the Sea whose name meant “pearl” in the old tongue of the gods, was sent with a fragment of the Master Rainbow to unleash upon Tirek, and when she did, the Rainbow also turned his entire dragon army into ponies. Only a small number of the hatchlings escaped this fate. Eventually, the hippocampi contained the power of the Master Rainbow fragment in this pearl.”
“The… the Rainbow Pearl can turn a dragon… into a pony?” Spike asked, mesmerized.
“Through my extensive studies I have come to believe that all ponies today are the descendants of dragons,” the king said. “It explains why there are so many similarities between the natural development pattern of dragons and ponies and also why crossbreeding is possible. We were once the same breed. I have also come to believe that the Rainbow Pearl is the only thing keeping our pony brethren trapped in their weak, mammalian forms.” He grinned toothily. “If we destroy that pearl, I believe that all the ponies of Equestria will revert to their true draconic forms!”
Spike nearly dropped the shell in his astonishment. “What?”
“I am very disappointed in you, Wavedancer.”
Rarity was in awe at the interior of this palace. The water was kept out of the interior through magic, so she was able to maneuver the corridors and rooms freely. Now they were in the Sea Princess’ audience chamber, and she was doing a fine job of being just as passively intimidating as Princess Celestia, herself. She was the same size as the Sun Princess, with a dark turquoise coat and an almost black mane that looked like seaweed and floated as if underwater even in the air. She wore royal regalia in the same style as Luna and Celestia but wrought in jade, and also seemed to like fishing nets as a fashion statement. Her cutie mark was of a large, glistening whirlpool which seemed to draw one into it.
“I’m sorry, Princess,” Wavedancer said. “I was just… curious.”
Princess Rodi smiled softly. “I understand. But you must know that taking something without permission is rarely an acceptable solution to your problems. If you had let me know your feelings, perhaps we could have worked something out.”
“I know,” Wavedancer said, head hung low.
“Now the Pearl is in the claws of the Scaly Backs,” Rodi said grimly. “We must extricate it from them before they can use it to destroy all of ponykind.”
“What do you mean?” Rarity said in shock. When the princess turned to her with a quizzical glance, she realized her impropriety. “Er… Your Majesty?”
Rodi sighed. “The Scaly Backs River Clan seeks to use the pearl to unleash an ancient evil. Long ago, before my sisters Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came to Equestria to take over the rule of this land from my sire, there was a horrible monster named Tirek.”
“He was a centaur,” Wavedancer added.
“He wanted to destroy the gods,” Rodi continued. “And to that end he acquired the very essence of Darkness. It gave him great personal power; enough to challenge any one god. However, he needed an army to truly challenge all of them. He found them in ponies.”
“Ponies?” Rarity exclaimed. “But… nopony would ever help somepony like that.”
“Not willingly,” Rodi said sadly. “However, the power of Darkness was able to twist ponies into evil forms. The forms of dragons.”
“Dragons?” Rarity asked, shocked. “But… what does this have to do with the Rainbow Pearl?”
“The power of darkness couldn’t truly be destroyed,” Princess Rodi said. “A brave group of ponies and a demigod were able to defeat Tirek, but the power of Darkness had to be trapped within a fragment of the Master Rainbow. My sisters used similar fragments to forge the Elements of Harmony. The Pearl not only contains this fragment, but also the Darkness. If it were to be shattered the Darkness would be unleashed, and without somepony to control it it would transform not only every pony, but every bird, squirrel, fish, and even dragon into a thing of the Dark.”
“How horrid!” Rarity said. “Why would they do such a thing?”
“I don’t know what exactly these dragons are thinking,” Rodi said. “But the origin of dragonkind is rooted in ponykind. You see, all dragons of Equestria today are the offspring of the ponies who were turned into dragons. When the Master Rainbow fragment turned the dragons back into ponies, it did not affect the children, for they had always been dragons. There are few dragons still living from this original generation, but there are many children and grandchildren who still live. There may perhaps be some desire to unite dragonkind and ponykind again… though I doubt it will be dragons who will wish to turn to ponies.”
“Can you help us find them, Princess?” Wavedancer pleaded.
Princess Rodi looked distant for a moment, and then said, “I’m afraid even I cannot sense the Rainbow Pearl when it is within its shell if it is outside my domain. The Scaly Backs River Clan is also very adept at keeping themselves hidden. I can send the Tritons to comb the river, but it will take a while.”
“Princess!” Rarity interjected. “This situation is direr than I had feared. We must send for my friends. They are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and can be of help in this affair.”
ROLLING IN BEACHES ~ BICO PART II: THE RAINBOW PEARL ACT II: THE RAINBOW OF DARKNESS
“So ponies are descended from transformed dragons,” Spike summarized. “Well, that would explain that weird teal unicorn. She’s always just… sitting there on that bench… like a dragon. Always kinda weirded me out, though.”
The king nodded. “Yes, it’s no surprise that some pony might have throwback tendencies. If we destroy that curséd Pearl, that unicorn will finally be fulfilled, as will all ponies all over Equestria!”
“Give it to Grandsire, Spike,” Scales implored the young dragon. “Just think of it: everypony will be a dragon, just like you. No more conflict between our kinds. Relationships between dragons and ponies will be a normal state of affairs and not seen as something deviant because ponies will be dragons. As they were meant to be.”
Spike thought of Rarity, and how it would be if she were a dragon. She would have the same stature as Scales, but with a pearly white hide and shimmering purple spikes which would curl to the side. She would be a sinuous and graceful noble dragoness. It might take a few years, but a dragon like Spike getting together with Rarity would no longer seem like such a strange thing like it did with some ponies now. Perhaps Rarity wouldn’t resist her feelings for him if that admittedly large obstacle were taken from between them. Then he shook himself out of his fantasy. “Even if that’s the case… would it be right to change everypony into a dragon just because we want them to be? No, making somepony be something they don’t want to be wouldn’t be right.”
“They should be what they truly are,” the king said. “To deny one’s true nature is to invite doom! That is a lesson I learned far too late.”
“Spike,” Scales pleaded. “I know that you are friends with ponies. I could tell from the things you said before. That’s fine. I understand that you want to take their feelings into consideration. However, just think about it: being a dragon is just better. They might not want to be dragons now, but they’ll come around once they realize how much better off they are.”
“That’s assuming a lot,” Spike said. “I can’t do that. I certainly can’t just say that being a dragon must be better than being a pony.”
“Do you think ponies want to die after fifty or sixty years?” Scales asked. “Do you think they like being so small and frail in comparison to us? They would still have their minds and even their magic. The only thing they would do is gain from it.”
Spike shook his head. “It’s… it’s not about that. What you think is important may not be what anypony else thinks is important. In fact, maybe some ponies like being smaller and like not living for a thousand years.”
“Those ponies would be what we in dragon society would call ‘crazy’,” Princess Scales rebutted. “Give me the Pearl, Spike. Everything will be alright, I promise.”
“Promise,” Spike repeated. “You know, I also made a promise to somepony. A promise that I would help get the Pearl back to her Princess. I won’t betray that promise.”
Princess Scales scowled at the purple dragon. “Spike…”
Spike turned and ran out of the cavern, navigating the tunnels with no knowledge of their layout. However, he knew he could feel a gust of wind coming from up ahead and he could begin to hear the rushing of water. He was getting close to an exit. Finally, he came upon it, and before him was the flowing Scaly Backs River, itself. He looked behind him to see Scales charging out of the cave behind him, and he steeled himself. He turned back to the river, held the shell up high, and tossed it in.
“Spike!” Princess Scales said as she skid to a stop, fixing him with a dark look. “You’ve made a big mistake.”
“Your Majesty?” Rarity asked. “I wonder… how do you know so much about this Tirek character and the Rainbow Pearl?”
Princess Rodi gave the unicorn a gentle smile. “Oh, fair Rarity, my father sent hippocampi to keep an eye on my half-sister whom he had chosen to be his Hero in old Ponyland.” She snorted, seemingly a bit incensed. “The hippocampi reported what had happened to my father, and when he chose to leave my husband and his sisters in charge of the land, he left me in charge of the seas around it, and imparted all this knowledge to me.”
“Ah,” Rarity said. “Still… I wonder if everything he told you was entirely accurate. It just seems so…”
The three hippocampi gasped, and the Sea Princess glared at the white unicorn with unbridled fury. “You would question the word of my father? The Creator of all ponykind. The King, not only of the seas, nor only of your little principality, but of the whole of the continent of Atlantis, which he did claim eleven millenia ago? You would question King Neptune, himself?”
The princess was clearly as given to mood swings as the sea she governed, the unicorn thought as she backed away in fear. “Of… of course not, Your Majesty. It’s just that even great rulers like yourself and your father can be misled by false information. I was merely concerned that perhaps His Majesty the Awesome and Terrible King Neptune may not have had all the information available…?”
The Princess of the Deep smiled gently and spoke with the soothing rhythm of a babbling creek. “My dear Rarity, there is no need to worry about such a matter. Whatever may not be known, I am very familiar with the nature of the Rainbow Pearl itself after having safeguarded it for one thousand years. The power of the Master Rainbow contains the Darkness within, and that Darkness is… very dangerous.” She jerked upright. “That’s it!”
“Your Majesty?” Wavedancer said timidly.
“The Rainbow Pearl,” the princess said. “It’s been found.”
“Then we should go!” Rarity declared. “Princess, where is he? I mean ‘it.’”
“No time to explain!” Rodi’s horn glowed and Rarity and the hippocampi were encased in a bubble of blue light. They found themselves being lifted up into the air and then the bubble shot out the window and into the sea.
Scales moved to strike the purple dragon, and Spike cringed in anticipation of the blow. It never came, however. He heard a torrential splash and a loud voice shout. Then there was a thump. Spike opened his eyes and saw a hippocampi decked in what looked like oxidized copper armor that had the appearance of scales and holding a bronze trident with a spiral conch shell at his waist standing on top of a surprised looking Scales. Spike looked to the shore of the river and saw similarly garbed hippocampi, and also noted their shared impossibly blue eyes and sharp teeth. “Wow… scary. But I’m glad you guys are here.”
“Silence, dragon!” One of the Tritons growled with a voice like a wild beast. “Your lot always was foolish, but we did not think you would be stupid enough to drop the Rainbow Pearl into the river.” The Triton held up the shell of the Pearl and grinned. “The Princess has already been notified of our location. Your whole clan is doomed.”
“Um…” Spike said with a quavering voice. “I’m… I’m not with these guys. They’re crazy!”
“Spike!” Scales wailed. “My most trusted lieutenant! How could you say such a thing?” She shot him a smug, toothy grin.
The Tritons leveled their tridents at the young dragon. Spike smiled sheepishly and tried to push one away with the tip of his claw. “Um… I don’t suppose we could talk about this?”
“No!” the Tritons declared.
“Oh,” Spike said. “Okay.” He turned and fled at full waddle. “Get these ponies away from me!”
Meanwhile, Scales used the distraction of the panicking dragon to slip out from beneath the hippocampus and counterattack with a vengeance. Scales attacked with far more precision than the hippocampi, taking her foes down with maximum efficiency. The Triton squad leader, a young but skilled member of Rodi’s Royal Guard named Beach Comber, backed toward the river with the Pearl, waving his trident in a warding fashion. “Give us the Rainbow Pearl!” Scales growled.
“Over my dead body!” the Triton said.
“If you insist,” Scales said with a grin. She lunged at the Triton, and swatted the trident aside. She snapped at the pony, but her jaws stopped short and she gave a surprised squeak.
Spike drilled down on Scales’ tail with his own, pinning the adolescent dragon in place. “I can’t let you have that Rainbow Pearl!” he said with a quavering voice.
Princess Scales laughed. “Spike, you truly are a noble dragon. It’s too bad you’ve chosen the wrong side.” Her bat-like wings spread wide and she launched herself at the purple dragon, knocking him on his back, using her greater weight to hold Spike down. “Now you can’t stop me from getting that Pearl!”
“Um…”Spike said slowly. “But now you can’t get that Pearl.”
Scales paused and looked back at the Triton, who seemed a bit stunned at the sudden turn of events, but was obviously recovering his wits quickly. She then looked at the purple dragon under her claws. “D’oh!”
A massive form then emerged from the cave, roaring loudly, and the two dragons and hippocampus turned to see the massive blue beast that towered over them. The king of the Scaly Backs River Clan glared down at the Triton before stretching his mouth into an anticipatory grin.
The Triton swallowed loudly.
The large dragon swiped at the Triton, who dodged out of the way with the grace of a serpent and jabbed the dragon’s claw, causing the king to howl in pain. The king shot flame in retaliation, which the Triton weaved around, the heat curling his mane. The Triton lunged forward, jabbing at the king with his weapon. The old dragon spun around angrily, swinging his tail into the Triton. Beach Comber took the tail full on and collapsed to the ground, and he lost his grip on the sparkling shell. It skittered across the ground and settled between the king and the Triton and Spike and Scales.
“Grandsire!” Scales growled as she saw Beach Comber recover quickly and shoot toward the shell. She saw that the king would be too slow to retrieve the Pearl, so abandoned her prisoner in favor of making a play for the ultimate prize. Her speed was far superior to the Triton’s, though he had a head start on her. She knew she would reach the Pearl just a fraction of a second ahead of the hippocampus, however. She just knew she would have, if they hadn’t all been stunned into frozen silence by a sudden explosion of water followed by a high pitched whine that filled the air and the eardrums of all present.
“AAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhh….” Rarity’s screech ended in a weak squeak as she ran out of air. She desperately gasped in oxygen as the three hippocampi that had emerged with her from the river looked at her with concern. “That… was…” she wheezed.
“Awesome, I know!” Seawinkle declared boisterously. “I hope we get to do that again.”
“Why would you even say that?” Sealight cried. “Don’t tempt the Fates!”
“That’s enough, girls,” Wavedancer said. “Look! It’s the Rainbow Pearl!”
Scales and Beach Comber only then remembered what they had been doing before they had been so rudely interrupted, and turned to lunge at the Pearl, but ended up getting into each other’s way. They tumbled over each other biting, scratching, and stabbing as they desperately fought for control of the Rainbow Pearl.
“Spike!” Rarity called, galloping toward the purple dragon, who was just shakily getting to his feet.
Wavedancer slithered for the Rainbow Pearl at the same time, hoping to retrieve the relic before Scales and the Triton finished their fight. She was determined to correct her mistake and hoof-deliver the Pearl to the princess on her own. A giant blue foot then stomped on the shell holding the Pearl moments before she could reach it. She looked up into the king’s face in horror. “What… what have you done?!”
Scales paused in her assault on the Triton and looked at her grandsire gleefully. “You’ve done it!”
The king laughed uproariously. “That’s right! All of dragonkind shall be freed of the equine curse! I have crushed the Rainbow Pearl under my feet, and now… now…” He faltered as he felt an arctic jolt go up his leg. He looked down, lifting his foot slightly and pure blackness shone from underneath, and an arc of darkness snaked up his leg, the feeling of freezing spreading and settling in his gut like a block of ice. He screamed as he was engulfed in a swirling tornado of shadow and that scream slowly turned into a bestial roar that seemed unnatural even for a ravenous dragon. The gloom formed into the appearance of a monochromatic rainbow which arced over the king, whose scales were dulled and who was now much spikier than he had been. His eyes were also completely blank of consciousness, an observation which shook Princess Scales deeply.
“G-G-Grandsire…” Scales said. “What… what’s happened to you? Breaking the Rainbow Pearl was only supposed to break the spell on the ponies to turn them back into dragons. You’re… you’re already a dragon… what…?”
The king roared in response, drool flying from his jaws as he thrashed like a maddragon.
“I have a feeling you were wrong about the Pearl, Scales!” Spike shouted, leaning on Rarity for support, though the white unicorn was shaking so badly at the sight of the insane dragon that he was probably supporting her as much as she was him.
“No, really?” Scales said.
“That… that’s the Rainbow of Darkness!” Wavedancer said, pointing a hoof at the monochromatic arc over the king.
“Are you serious?” Spike said. “That doesn’t even make sense. Darkness can’t make rainbows.”
“It can in Tartarus!” Wavedancer said. “Listen, the only thing you need to know is that this thing is evil. It will turn everything into something like that, and we have to stop it.”
“I-I-I…” Scales stammered. “I agree. We have to stop that thing!”
“Oh, so now the Rainbow Pearl is a good thing!” Wavedancer scoffed.
“Well excuse me, hippocampus!” the princess growled. “But I don’t like the idea of being turned into a big, dumb animal.”
“Lady Wavedancer!” Beach Comber shouted as the slavering dragon apparently grew tired of thrashing about at nothing and chose the hippocampus filly as his first victim. The Triton leaped to the Princess’ disciple’s aide. He found himself swat into the ground by the dragon’s giant claw, but recovered quickly, shouting at the dragon to draw its attention.
“No, Beach Comber!” Sealight shouted, galloping toward the battle. “You’re going to get hurt!”
Beach Comber ignored the protest and tried to strike again at the dragon, who breathed flames at him. His twirling trident swept the flames away, though he winced as the heat blistered his arms. The wild dragon didn’t hesitate, however, and slashed at the hippocampus again, sending him through the arc of the monochrome rainbow. Beach Comber’s scream as he passed through the darkness was feral and insane. When he hit the ground he writhed as blackness slithered around his body. He began to grow and his scales spread across his body. A sea dragon now roared in rage and thrashed insanely.
“Oh, Beach Comber!” Sealight said, tears in her eyes. “What’s happened to him?”
“He’s been changed back to a pony’s natural form. That of a dragon!” Scales said.
“That’s not…” Wavedancer started, but Beach Comber snapped at her with fearsome jaws, forcing her to quickly dodge.
Rarity’s horn flared to life as the king lunged at her and Spike as well. “How dare you attack a lady!” She lunged forward and head-butt the dragon’s palm, her horn piercing the soft flesh there. The king squealed in pain and recoiled, allowing Rarity time to grab Spike and attempt to put some distance between them and the crazed dragon.
Wavedancer, meanwhile slithered to the water. “Sealight! Seawinkle! I need a whirlpool!” The draconized Triton chased after her, tossing the king aside when he stumbled into his path. He followed the hippocampus into the river, where she joined her two friends in swimming around and manipulating the currents to create a whirlpool. T other Tritons were fortunately recovering and joined the formation, trapping the sea dragon in the currents.
“This isn’t going too well…” Spike said. “We can’t keep this up against those two… and then there’s that…” He gestured toward the Rainbow of Darkness, which was growing larger and rotating more wildly than before.
“You’re right,” Rarity said. “We need something to contain it. Something with the same power of the Rainbow Pearl!”
“Something like the Elements of Harmony?” Spike said.
“Yes…” Rarity said. “Too bad they’re all the way in Canterlot.”
“Heeeeere comes the cavalry!” a voice shouted in the distance. Spike and Rarity looked to the sky and beamed as they saw a small multicolored streak enlarging rapidly. Applejack was also approaching at a breakneck speed toward them, twirling her lasso menacingly. Their other friends were a little further back, but still approaching at an impressive clip.
“Yeehaw,” Applejack whooped as she tossed her lasso at the king. “Time to hog-tie this varmint.” She caught him on the tail and tugged, which caused the monster dragon to look back at the orange earth pony querulously. He tugged on the lasso experimentally, and then gave a mighty wrench, hauling Applejack off the ground. “Wha~a?” She found herself pulled right through the black arc and her shout of surprise became a scream.
“No, Applejack!” Spike shouted.
Rarity drew a deep breath as she stood perilously on her two hind legs, her fore-hooves pressed in shock to her cheeks. “Applejack! Nnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!”
Rainbow Dash gasped and flew toward her friend and sometimes rival. “Applejack, are you okay?”
“Get away from her, Rainbow Dash,” Spike warned. “Anypony who touches the Rainbow of Darkness will get turned into… well… that.” He gestured toward the king, who had gone back to clashing with his granddaughter who was holding her own capably so far.
“’Rainbow of Darkness’?” Rainbow Dash said with a puzzled expression as she paused in midair. “Spike, listen: I know rainbows and let me tell you there is no possible way that rainbow can be made of…” Rainbow Dash was cut off when Applejack interjected with a sudden swipe of her new, scaly claws. “Rainbow of Darkness! Don’t touch! Gotcha!”
Twilight and the others arrived as well, gaping in shock as they saw a draconified Applejack looming over them. Stranger was the onyx necklace that had formed around her thick neck with a black jewel shaped like an apple at its center.
“What in Tartarus is that?” Pinkie Pie said loudly.
“Oh, no…” Twilight said. “It’s the Rainbow of Darkness. It’s turned Applejack into a dragon, and because she’s a bearer of an Element of Harmony, she’s now become a channel for a part of the Darkness’ power as well. If you look closely, you’ll notice that one of the bands of darkness is missing from it now.”
“You know about this?” Spike asked, slack jawed.
“Of course!” Twilight said. “You know I’ve been into studying ancient lore since before Nightmare Moon was freed. I came across the legend in the old Twilight section of the library—she invented the field of Wish Fulfillment Magic, you know, and she’s apparently my ancestor which is why my dam and I were both named after her. The Rainbow of Darkness was used by an immortal centaur who was friends with the only other immortal centaur in existence, Chiron, but some colt of Jupiter ended up accidentally getting him shot with a poisoned arrow when he offended the regular centaurs. Apparently he went crazy and went to Tartarus to get the Darkness, which is different from regular, lowercase darkness, and he started turning ponies into dragons. He amassed a whole army and tried to invade Olympus where that colt of Jupiter had ascended, but all of the dragons in his army were wiped out except for the children who were still too young to fight. Actually, there was a really famous dragon who I named you after who…”
“Okay, okay!” Spike said. “Do you know how to stop it?”
“Um…” Twilight Sparkle pondered. “Do you have a fragment of the Master Rainbow?”
Spike faceclawed. “This is no help.”
Applejack roared at her fellow Element Bearers and her necklace glowed with the absence of light. Rainbow Dash blitzed in an attempt to discombobulate the dark orange dragon, but Applejack seemed to retain some measure of control as she plucked the blue pegasus out of the sky. She roared in Rainbow Dash’s face, blowing her mane back into something resembling a comet’s tail.
“Whoa, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said. “You need a breath mint.”
A black beam blasted out of Applejack’s necklace, engulfing Rainbow Dash whose scream pierced her friends’ hearts. Another band of darkness faded from the arc that bent over the land. The orange dragon dropped Rainbow to the ground, and by the time she hit it, she was already transformed into a hulking, scaly beast with spikes every shade of darkness. The draconic Rainbow Dash raised herself to all fours and a necklace with a black jewel in the shape of her former self’s cutie mark formed on her neck as well.
“We have to make a coordinated effort here!” Twilight said. “Rarity, I’m going to need you to lend me your power for a containment spell.”
“Of course!” Rarity said, galloping to Twilight’s side. Her horn glowed as she fed Twilight her magic to weave into a powerful spell. A circle of power formed around Applejack and Rainbow Dash, a shield of complex symbols rising around them. “It’s working, Twilight!”
Applejack snarled at the shield, and reared up on her forelegs. She bucked at the shield with all her might while as the same time Rainbow Dash punched it. The energy field shuddered with the force of their strikes, but held.
“Looks like it is,” Twilight said with a smile. “Now… the Princess will—” Before she could finish her sentence, the arc of blackness swept wide and struck both Twilight and Rarity.
“No! Rarity!” Spike cried out. “Twilight!” He sobbed as he saw his best friend and the mare of his dreams twisted into dark parodies of dragons. Worse still, the containment spell broke the moment they were turned, and now four dragons stared down two ponies: Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.
“Ooh, this isn’t fun,” Pinkie said.
Fluttershy Stared at the Rainbow of Darkness. “How dare you turn my friends into dragons against their wills!” Generally, pure embodiments of evil are immune to chiding in much the same way that a threat against a rock’s life for tripping a pony will be met with general apathy. However, Fluttershy’s Stare was known to be quite intimidating, and a discerning pony might note that the arc shrank just a bit.
Rainbow Dash reached out and grabbed Pinkie in her massive claws, grinning maliciously as she brought her fist close to her neck in preparation to blast the pink pony. When she opened her hand, however, the small party animal was nowhere to be found.
“Ahhh, what’s up, Dash?” Pinkie said from her place on Rainbow’s shoulder. She munched on a carrot which she kept on her pony in case of an allusion emergency.
The enraged dragon tried to smack the pink pony, but she suddenly seemed to appear behind Dash’s head. Rainbow then punched at the pony, but only managed to clock herself, causing her to see stars, and stars made the dragon so mad.
Applejack abused the multishaded dragon further by popping her on the head and suggesting in her insane dragon manner that Rainbow was being an idiot. By way of argument, Rainbow socked Applejack across the chin.
“Rarity!” Fluttershy said, landing on the aforementioned dragon’s snout and glaring into her eyes. “I’m very disappointed in you. This isn’t how friends treat each other is it?”
Rarity attempted to stare down the yellow pegasus for a moment, but within seconds her eyes began to water and she broke down in tears, wailing in misery as she reared up on two legs and staggered about, growling, “Gragharowr grargh rowr graaarghraargh… grargher rargh… rargrarh… rarh!” She made to faint, but then seemed to think better of it when she glanced at the ground, which was so dirty, really, and would just ruin that new scale gleam.
Twilight, her dark element looking less like a tiara and more like a pegasus war helmet with her cutie looking particularly menacing mounted on it, rose from behind Fluttershy and seized her with dark magic.
“Eep!” Fluttershy squeaked, trying to turn around to face Twilight. “Wait, you don’t want to do this! Twilight, I am disappoint—” She was cut off when a black beam engulfed her from Twilight’s helm. Pinkie was likewise hoisted into the air, torn from her party cannon as she was attempting to further exacerbate the situation with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Twilight fired her black beam again, and within moments two more dragons joined the herd, and the Rainbow of Darkness faded from view.
ROLLING IN BEACHES ~ BICO PART II: THE RAINBOW PEARL ACT III: THE NEW RAINBOW
“This is not good… how are we going to deal with eight crazy dragons,” Spike said to himself.
“Seven crazy dragons,” Wavedancer said, suddenly at the purple dragon’s side. “And now you have me and the Tritons at your side!”
“Six crazy dragons,” Scales said, looking rather beaten, but the king looked worse, unconscious and with his limbs splayed in several odd angles.
“No, I’m still counting seven,” Wavedancer said with a smirk at the dragon princess.
Scales gave the green hippocampus a wry look. “Well, all you hippocampi can take down one dragon, so you’re not totally useless. Spike and I will just have to take the rest of them.”
“Why are you bringing me into this?” Spike protested. He wasn’t exactly a fighter. He hadn’t been able to win one test of strength against the other dragons last autumn, after all. He had nothing at all that could stop his crazed friends. “Hey, Scales, you’re a princess, right?”
The blue dragon scowled. “Yeah.”
“Maybe you should call for some back up?” Spike suggested.
“Hmmm,” Scales looked the six dragons over, who whose dark gems were radiating power and who were glaring angrily at them. “Well, it might be overkill, but…” she put two claws to her muzzle and whistled sharply. In seconds a swarm of dragons burst from the caves. “Dragons!” Scales shouted. “Destroy those six invaders and shatter the jewels they wear!”
“Wait, ‘destroy’?” Spike said, eyes widening and pupils shrinking.
“Tritons!” Wavedancer said. “For now the Scaly Backs River Clan will be our allies in this!” She shot a glare at Scales. “After the Rainbow of Darkness is destroyed, things will go back to normal.”
“Agreed,” Princess Scales said with a dangerous smile on her face.
The dragons and Tritons charged the six bearers of the Elements. They were easily brushed aside by flames and brute force. Even the largest and fiercest of Scales’ dragons seemed to be little challenge for the six as they tossed them around. Then they took to the air, even the wingless ones, as darkness issued forth from their gems and wrapped around them menacingly. In a burst of dark, a monochrome rainbow washed over a large swathe of dragons and ponies, transforming them into crazed beasts, themselves, who turned on their former allies with a vengeance.
“It’s like fighting a zompony plague!” Spike said. “Our fallen only adds to their number. Game over, mare, game over!”
“We have to stop your friends,” Scales said firmly. “They are the ones who spread this plague.”
Wavedancer snarled. “The Rainbow of Darkness is chaotic and unfocused on its own. Dangerous, but it can be avoided or contained like any force of nature. Only by corrupting beings with a powerful will can it become a force that could bring about Darkness Eternal.” She looked accusingly at Scales. “Thanks for that.”
“I wasn’t the one who brought them here,” Scales said in her defense.
“You abducted their friend,” Wavedancer said. “Of course they would come after Spike.”
Scales scoffed. “Only because he had the Rainbow Pearl… which someone delivered right into his claws…”
Wavedancer looked away guiltily.
“Now, now, ladies,” Spike said. “This is no time to be fighting each other.”
“Right, we should be fighting them, first,” Scales said. “Then we can go back to fighting each other.”
“Do you know how many times they can… do that?” Wavedancer asked, gesturing to the six Elements who were blasting another dark rainbow into the crowd of dragons and ponies.
“I have no idea,” Spike said. “They’ve only ever had to do it once. Besides, they were ponies and those were the Elements of Harmony. It might be different for them when they’re dragons with these Dark Elements.”
“Well, we’ll just have to assume they have unlimited capacity for now,” Scales said. “If we can reach them, we might be able to get that jewelry from Tartarus away from them at least.”
“How about we use the turned as meat shields,” Wavedancer suggested.
“You’re not a bad strategist,” Scales considered. “I’ll have to remember that, later.”
The gold-spined dragon princess and the violet-maned hippocampus charged the army of darkness and ducked and weaved through the horde. They kept an enemy between them and the six Bearers at all times, and made use of their cunning and small size to lead the unthinking dragons to attack each other. In minutes, Scales and Wavedancer landed on a pink dragon with a black balloon gem around her neck. They began to work frantically to unclasp the necklace, but Pinkie bucked them into the air and then caught them in either hand. She gave a toothy grin and began to growl in an amused but distracted way, as if she were talking to herself. Then she mashed their heads together and began making sounds something like “muah… muah!”
“Is… is she playing with us like dolls?” Scales asked indignantly as her cheek pressed up against Wavedancer’s.
“I think she’s trying to get us to make out,” Wavedancer said.
“Of all the humiliating things that she could possible do… this is the most… humiliating… thing,” Scales wailed. She snarled and then bit into Pinkie’s thumb. The pink dragon roared in pain and dropped the smaller dragon.
Scales was about to attack Pinkie’s face, but then Fluttershy grabbed her with two claws by the wings and brought her up to her face, glaring into her eyes. She shook the index claw of her other hand in Scales’ face, growling, “Uh, uh, uhhhh.”
“Stop!”
The six crazed Bearers stopped and looked toward the small purple dragon who had run into the midst of the battlefield. He stepped carefully among the shards of the Rainbow Pearl that spread out around him lest his feet become lacerated, and his arms were spread out in a feeble attempt to bring attention to himself among the giants that rampaged around him. In spite of his size and his small voice, the six dragons fixated on him immediately, seeming to forget all else.
“Um…” Spike hesitated. He didn’t really know what he was doing. He certainly couldn’t fight his friends, even if he wanted to do so. He didn’t have any magical items aside from the shattered pieces of pearl that lay nearby, but that was useless at this point. But they had been his friends—almost two years for most of them, and for his entire life in the case of Twilight—and they were hurting his new friends. He had to do something. “You have to… to stop this. This isn’t like you at all.”
Twilight stepped forward and her gemstone began to radiate darkness. The other dragons’ gems reacted as well.
“Oh, horse-manure,” Spike said. “Okay, Twilight, you hatched me from an egg. I’ve been your friend for my whole life. I was your very first friend. Do you really want to make me a mindless monster?”
Twilight scratched her chin thoughtfully. Then she grinned and rose into the air as darkness twisted around her and the other five.
“Okay, that didn’t work,” Spike said. “Rainbow Dash! Think of all the fun times we’ve had together. You’re the Element of Loyalty. You wouldn’t betray your brony would you?”
Rainbow looked conflicted, but then waved him off dismissively.
“Pinkie Pie? C’mon, this isn’t fun,” Spike pleaded. “Fluttershy, you’re not being very nice at all. Applejack, you have to be true to yourself, and you’re truly a pony! Rarity… Rarity!” He struck a dramatic pose.
“Rarity, you make me want to be a better dragon. You’re why caveponies chiseled on walls because Neptune was showing off when he made you. If you blast me with Darkness, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today; maybe not tomorrow, but someday because, Rarity, I’m… just a dragon, standing in front of a pony, asking her to love him. You… complete me!”
Rarity gasped and began to swoon, at which point Twilight rolled her eyes and roared at the purple-spined dragon, who looked sheepish before settling back into a serious mood. All six dragons’ eyes turned completely black and a dim gloom blanketed the entire area.
“Spike!” Wavedancer shouted. “Watch out!”
“Dodge!” Scales roared.
The Rainbow of Darkness hit Spike dead-on, wrapping around him. He felt something cold and heavy settle in his gut and quintessential pain tore through him. His body began to elongate and his spikes sharpened. His fangs became vicious and black flame surged from his mouth. He howled and thrashed and his thoughts twisted into a jumble of sounds and images and feelings.
Yeah, this is gonna be the best night ever. Y’know why? ‘Cause we’re all gonna spend time at the Gala… together? Or not…
They're trying to replace me!
She... She doesn't love me anymore… Twilight hates me. I'm cold, hungry, tired and lonely. Could it get any worse?
Spike want!
“Spike!” Wavedancer was calling, though it sounded so far away, he could barely understand. “I know you can beat this. Don’t let yourself be turned into a monster.”
“There’s no way he can stop it,” Scales was lamenting. “This kind of thing is just like the accelerated growth of low-born dragons. No dragon can reverse it once it’s begun!”
That wasn’t right. It was you who stopped... w-well you, from destroying Ponyville. And he could do it again. Couldn’t he?
“I won’t believe it!” Wavedancer shouted. “Spike, you have to remember who you are. You’re the most generous…”
Wait, wait. It’s not a problem, really. Wavedancer can have my room. It’s not like I’ve never slept outside, before. Actually, they have a nice spot out back…
“Honest…”
I have to be honest with you, though. I… I like somepony else. She probably doesn’t even know… and even if she does, I doubt she feels the same way. Still, I have to be true to my feelings.
“And kindest dragon I know!”
If you’re in trouble, of course I’ll get involved.
Then he heard Scales shouting through the fog of darkness. “Sh-she’s right! You were the only dragon who’s ever made me laugh!”
Instead of you teaching me etiquette, I’m gonna teach you how to have a little fun.
“Your loyalty puts all other dragons to shame…”
You know, I also made a promise to somepony. A promise that I would help get the Pearl back to her Princess. I won’t betray that promise.
“I know a princess isn’t supposed to have friends,” Scales said, her voice sounding as if she were… crying? “But I just want you to know… you’re my friend, Spike.”
Friend…
Friends have a way of making the worst of times pretty great…
Spike’s body abruptly ceased its unnatural growth and he roared again as his limbs began to reverse their progress. Within a fraction of a second he was back to his old height, though the darkness still twisted around him. He stood stoically, however, and yelled out. “I won’t let you… have my friends!”
The fragments of the Rainbow Pearl were glowing, now, with all the colors of light. The Rainbow of Darkness spun faster and thicker around the young dragon until he was obscured by it, but the fragments of the Pearl lifted from the ground as well, and were swept into the dark tornado. Within moments, sparks of color began to be seen, and they spread throughout the storm of shadow until Spike was surrounded by the light of the Master Rainbow. The color then blasted outward, changing each band of darkness into its proper hue and engulfing the bestial dragons in a sea of light.
Dawn broke as the six Bearers floated in the sky, eyes glowing white and the Dark Elements turned to sparkling black dust. The light of the Master Rainbow radiated out and washed over all the other afflicted, changing them back into their original form—or, for some of the dragons, an even smaller form than they were before.
The six Bearers touched ground, as did Wavedancer and Scales, who had also ridden the updraft of magical energy to the ground. They all turned their attention to Spike, who lay on the ground in a fetal position, looking pained.
“Spikey!” Rarity called, dashing toward him with the others close behind. The unicorn mare skid to a halt and grabbed the young dragon up in her fore-hooves. “Oh, Darling, don’t tell me you’ve made the ultimate sacrifice! You must fight back the Darkness, Dear. You have something to live for, you see… for I…”
“Ohhh,” Spike groaned. “What I wouldn’t do for a big, juicy sapphire about now.”
“Wha…?” Rarity said.
“Yep, he’s fine,” Twilight said.
“Spike!” Wavedancer cheered, bumping Rarity out of the way as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck. “You were such a… such a hero, Spike.”
“Indeed!” Scales declared, shoving Wavedancer aside and grabbing the young dragons claws in her own. As she spoke, her face seemed to get closer to his. “You are truly worthy of the title ‘Valiant,’ Spike. Your blood must be the most noble I have ever seen. Truly fit for royalty…”
Rarity fumed and stomped her front right hoof petulantly. “Now, see here, girls! You are crowding Spikey-wikey much too closely.” She grabbed Scales’ spines in her teeth and yanked her off.
“A Princess is not to be marehandled in such a…”
“My little ponies.”
Everyone stopped and looked in awe as the Princess of the Sea rose majestically out of the river atop a giant open clam shell. It stopped looking quite so majestic when it came fully out of the water and four Tritons were revealed to be struggling quite keenly under the weight on dry land.
“And little dragons, I suppose,” Princess Rodi amended. “I see that all has transpired brilliantly. I am pleased that my message reached you in time, young Twilight Sparkle.”
“Wait, so it was you who sent that message in a bottle?” Twilight said. “Someponies might expect that kind of thing to wash up on a beach, but…” she rubbed her head as if from a remembered pain, “One doesn’t usually expect it to fall out of the sky and hit a pony on the head.”
“I warned you that my tail was twitchy,” Pinkie Pie said. She paused as her tail began to shiver. “Huh… there it goes again…”
“Twilight Sparkle!” Luna boomed as she landed to one side of the lavender mare. Her older sister dropped out of the sky in a similar fashion directly afterward. “Have we missed anything?”
“We brought the Elements of Harmony as soon as I felt your distress signal,” Celestia explained. “And when we felt the Darkness escape, we knew there would be trouble.”
“The situation has been handled admirably, dear sister,” Rodi said.
Celestia cooled as she regarded the turquoise alicorn. “I can see that.” She looked at Spike and her eyes widened momentarily before she put on a mask of serenity. “It was Spike that saved the day this time, wasn’t it? I’m very proud of you.”
“Gosh,” Spike said, blushing. “Thanks, Princess.”
“And you,” Celestia turned to address the king of the Scaly Backs River Clan, who was now stirring to alertness.
“Did somedragon get the license plate number of the roc that hit me?” he groaned.
“If it isn’t King Kenbroath Gillspotten Heathspike,” Celestia said with a smile. “I haven’t seen you for… well… it must have been a millennia by now. You’ve gotten so big.”
“Princess,” King Kenbroath said with a grin. “You know that noble dragons such as myself keep growing throughout their lives, unlike these common dragons who reach adult size within three years of hitting…” he looked around, noting the smaller size of some of the dragons, and how their eyes sparked with more intelligence and conscience than before. “Why… it seems that I no longer have common dragons in my clan. Is everydragon of the Scaly Backs now a prince or princess? That never does seem to work out.”
Celestia nodded. “Quite right, Kenny. But you almost caused quite the opposite to happen, I’m afraid.”
“Yes,” the king said. “I do apologize about that, old girl. I suppose I’ve always been prone to jumping to conclusions on a very little information. If I hadn’t done that one thousand years ago…”
“Don’t blame yourself about Wysteria, Kenny,” Celestia said. “You couldn’t have known what was coming, and it was her decision in the first place.”
King Kenbroath looked away with regret showing plainly on his face. “Well, I’m a big enough dragon to admit when I’ve been mistaken.” He shot a foul look at Princess Rodi, then, and snarled. “Bigger than this one, in any case, who would have everypony believe that all dragons are twisted and evil.”
The Princess of the Sea’s face became stormy and she said, “Well, I think this very well proves that. Even when trying to do the right thing you manage to accomplish nothing but wickedness.”
“Hold thy temper, Sister,” Luna said soothingly. “Look around thee. See not that the Master Rainbow has cleansed these dragons of any Dark magicks that may have yet befallen them.” Her expression was far away and melancholy. “And know that even those plagued by the Darkness can still choose their own destinies.”
Rodi’s rage waned with Luna’s words. “Luna, you and I have always had a very special relationship. You’ve always known how to pull me up… or lay me out flat when the situation calls.” She giggled softly at her own joke. “Very well. Perhaps we have been… overly prejudiced in this matter.” She held her hoof out to the king and said, “King Kenbroath, I do hope you can forgive me any offense I may have caused. From now on hippocampi shall be friends to the Scaly Backs River Clan.”
The old dragon took Rodi’s hoof delicately between his claws and shook gently. “That sounds simply smashing, Princess. Perhaps if we had been more understanding with each other from the start, none of this would have ever happened.”
“Then may such a thing never happen again,” Rodi said.
“It looks like everypony’s getting along now,” Celestia said as she watched her favorite subjects splashing around in the ocean. Spike was swimming alongside Wavedancer—sans floaties—while Scales and even Rarity tagged along, though the white unicorn had her mane tucked away under a swimming cap and her tail similarly protected from the salt water as she floated on an inflated raft.
“It’s good to see dragons and ponies living in Harmony,” Rodi said.
Luna gave a sidelong glance. “And hippocampi living with land ponies in harmony, perhaps?”
“I must say, Luna,” Rodi said. “I did miss you while you were away. I could feel your presence pulling at me every night, Sister.”
Luna blushed and smiled softly. “Thank you.”
“I can’t blame you, really,” Rodi said. “After all, seeing that cutie mark on your sister’s flank every day would have driven me quite mad.”
Celestia interjected, her voice still calm but with a firmness that for those who knew her well connoted great irritation. “You are not alone in that sentiment, Sister-in-law. Though Luna raises a good point. Why not allow your hippocampi to rejoin Equestria?”
“My dear Aurora,” Rodi said.
“Celestia,” the Sun Princess said tightly.
“Oh, yes, ever since the incident with my husband, you've been going by that name, haven't you?” Rodi said. “Well, in any case, we were never part of Equestria. Though I suppose we have kept to ourselves far too much. Perhaps, with time, some of our more… adventurous hippocampi will venture into the rivers and even onto the land. My student, Wavedancer, will surely be among the first. Especially as she’s taken quite the shine to that dragon.
“Speaking of which,” the Sea Princess continued. “There is something very different about him. The other dragons were purified, but this Spike... he…”
Celestia giggled. “Well, you do know why I chose Twilight Sparkle as my student, don’t you?”
“Was it not because she turned her parents into potted plants?” Luna asked.
“No,” Celestia said with a laugh. “That was quite an impressive backlash, of course, but there have been such things in the past from far less gifted unicorns. They were rejected due to a complete lack of control.”
“Well, then, why not your student?” Rodi asked.
Celestia looked at the splashing dragon and beamed. “Because of Spike. You know, we don’t use fertilized dragon eggs for our tests. It’s enough of a test for a unicorn foal to crack a magic-resistant dragon’s shell. We certainly wouldn’t want anypony hatching live baby dragons all the time in Canterlot. What would we do with them all?”
“So,” Rodi said slowly. “What you’re saying is…?”
“Twilight Sparkle did not hatch Spike,” Celestia said. “She created him. She created him with pure magic when she was just a filly.”
“Jupiter’s Bolt,” Rodi breathed.
“That explains the Darkness,” Luna said.
“So that’s why his body…” Rodi asked.
Luna nodded. “I sensed it as soon as we neared him. The last of the Rainbow of Darkness is being contained within his body.”
“Only the added power he absorbed from the Master Rainbow fragment is keeping it contained,” Celestia concluded. “Spike has effectively been made the new Rainbow Pearl.”
Rodi looked alarmed. “That… is very dangerous. Perhaps I should—”
“You will not take Spike,” Celestia said.
“On this, my sister and I are united,” Luna said with an icy stare. “He is Twilight Sparkle’s number one assistant after all. And her number one friend. We would never deprive her of such a one.”
Rodi smile sweetly. “You two are both getting soft, aren’t you? I can only hope you know what you’re doing. The consequences of a being spawned of magic merging with the Rainbow of Darkness could be catastrophic.”
Celestia and Luna looked at each other and grinned. “That is a risk we are willing to take,” Celestia said.
“One of the greatest Elements of Harmony, we have learned,” Luna said. “And one that is sadly unrepresented, is ‘trust’.”
“We trust them,” Celestia said.
“With our very lives,” Luna added.
“After what happened with Sol,” Rodi said with a pointed look at Celestia before turning her stormy gaze on Luna. “And Endymion… it’s good to see your trust so… easily restored in ponies.”
“Not easy, Rodi,” Celestia said. “Never easy.”
“But necessary,” Luna said. “If we are to keep moving forward.”
The three princesses looked back to the beach, where they saw a purple unicorn galloping madly across the sand with two objects floating behind her. “Spiiiiike!” Twilight’s voice reverberated across the coastline. “You forgot your floatiiiiiiies!”
