Shutting the book I was reading, I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair. When Zecora had returned a few days ago with the books I had asked for, I didn't know I'd be reading what back on Earth would have been considered good fiction stories. Even after everything I had been through, I found several parts of their history, and even more of their culture, hard to wrap my head around. Thankfully, I didn't completely disbelieve what I had read, as I already knew I was going to end up laughing at someone over this. I could rationalize Luna's possession, because I knew better than most that Hell was real, and so were demons. But the idea that love and friendship somehow drove out the Devil seems somewhat childish to me. After all, from what I can see, he can basically do whatever he wants, and by extension, his followers. He managed to send me to another world, with a demon piggybacking on my soul. Seems like he wouldn't have a problem keeping a demon inside someone, especially if that demon was inside someone like Luna, who was apparently the Princess of the Night. Before coming here I would have had a problem with even more of this story, mainly the idea that Luna and her sister Celestia, Princess of the Day, had lived for over a thousand years, and that Luna had survived on the moon for a thousand, by herself. I still didn't believe that they had managed to defeat someone called Discord, the God of Chaos with the same forces that they had managed to purge Luna, but I decided against telling Zecora of my doubts. After all, even though she wasn't a native, from what I could tell she believed everything in these books, meaning that I might offend her if I say anything.

There were several other cultures and creatures that I could barely accept as truth, such as Hydras and Dragons, simply because they seemed far to fanciful for my liking. About the only culture that I could disregard most of my doubts for. Their culture was very close to that of England in the 1700 hundreds, with better technology. They didn't have magic, but they could all fly, were intelligent, and very strong: all of which had helped make them great hunters and predators. They had been on the verge of defeating the ponies around fifteen hundred years ago, but then the Princesses had shown up, changing the tides of war, and forcing the Griffins to sign treaty after treaty, all insuring that they wouldn't be a threat for a very long time. Still the Griffons had preserved, and instead of turning to the Princesses to save them, they worked hard and rebuilt. It had taken nearly six hundred years, but they managed to go from almost wiped out, back to thriving.

The more recent history was just as fantastical as the ancient history. Six girls, using the Elements of Harmony managed to defeat NightMare Moon, Discord, someone called Chrysalis and a King Sombra. Seems like an awful lot of work for six girls, especially with what seemed to be two goddesses as their leaders, but maybe they just wanted a lazy day? The more interesting detail was that neither Sombra or Chrysalis were mentioned in the books that dealt with the ancient history, except for Sombra, who had a three page chapter dealing, which only talked about him being beaten by the princesses, and how love and friendship reign supreme. Sounds more like propaganda then history, but I digress.

According to the book, Zecora wasn't kidding when she said that she knew the elements, as they were referred to by the book. They did in fact live in Ponyville, and were considered very upstanding citizens. Not surprising, considering that all they do is run around fixing problems. Ponyville was also interesting, because even though its noted for being primarily an Earth Pony village, four of the Elements were non-Earth Ponies, meaning that they were either brought together by fate, or by some far reaching force. The more I learned about this place, the more is seemed that it was a giant dictatorship, if a benevolent one.

The book of magical theories turned out to be less useful then I had first assumed. As soon as I started reading, I realized that this wouldn't be helping me out all that much. Sure, it gave me a new perspective on how to use my magic, but it seemed like it would be harder then how I was using it now. Telekinesis for example required that you imagine an aura leaving your body, surrounding an object, visualizing where it goes, then placing it. Seems like a lot of effort for something so little. Of course, seeing as I couldn't really practice, I couldn't tell. I wanted to try several of the techniques I had read, but with Zecora here, I couldn't risk her seeing me and asking questions. I considered asking Grifith, but decided against it. I could ask him, and most likely get a good answer, but that would take all the fun out of learning for myself!

Leaning forward in the chair, I decided to finish the last books in the pile and get them ready for Zecora to take them back tomorrow.
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Twilight had nearly had a heart attack the morning after the party. The replacement librarian that had been sent up had re-organized all the shelves, going first by fiction or non-fiction, then genre, then name, meaning that Twilight couldn't find anything. The young librarian almost found himself teleported to a volcano, but Spike had managed to calm the mare down, giving the young man time to flee back to the house he had rented for his time here. Thankfully there had been no more distractions, and Twilight had been able to get underway with her research.

Since arriving, Spike had spent the majority of his time outside the cabin, keeping visitors away. It was particularly hard keeping Twilight and his friends away, but they understood why. The quicker Twilight had caught up her schedule, the quicker she could see her friends. She might even be able to take a vacation out here for a while, Spike doubted that the princesses would mind. And Spike knew he wouldn't. Having insured Twilight would be left over by leaving a note on the front door, and having already warned off several people interesting in seeing Twilight, Spike decided that he would take a walk around Ponyville, and see some of his friends.

As Spike began to set off, he had a hard time trying to decide where to go. He could see Pinkie-Pie at SugarCube Corner and grab a cupcake, or visit Applejack and grab a couple of apples. Or, he could go see Fluttershy and see how her animals were doing... Or he could see Rarity, and see if he could help her in the shop. He had thought about Rarity while he was in Canterlot. At first he had missed her the most, but after a month or two, she had slowly faded from his mind as he began to make new friends, and more importantly, new crushes. And while he had grown attached to any of them as he had Rarity, he had realized something when he returned home.

He didn't feel the spark he had felt before.

At first, he didn't notice it, but he knew something was missing when he had seen her at the party. When she asked for something, he didn't leap up to do it. When she smiled at him, he enjoyed it, but he didn't find it as amazing as before. While her eyes still shined, he didn't find them as illustrious as before. Nothing seemed the same as before, and he didn't know how he felt about that. One part of him said that something was wrong, that he should be feeling something for her, like before, especially after seeing after so long. But another part of him, the part that seemed to be taking over said that she didn't deserve his love. He had learned a lot since leaving, and he realized something now: she had been using his love to order him around ever since she found out about it. And part of Spike hated her for that. Hated how she used him, lied to him, took advantage of him. He didn't hate her, just that she used him, but the damage was done, and he knew he couldn't feel the same. It was a hard thought to swallow, but the more he felt about it, the more sure he became. They could still be friends, to be sure, but nothing more. He hoped that over time the little voice in his head telling him that he should love her would disappear, and that he could move on fully.

He realized that he had missed someone when deciding who to see. Zecora had come over before the party to grab a few books from the library, according to the librarian. Spike hadn't seen Zecora since before he left, since Twilight wouldn't let him go to the forest before seeing as he was to young, according to her. However, Spike felt confident that he could traverse the forest safely after his training and his growth spurt. He decided that visiting Zecora would be the best place to start, and set off on a path towards the forest.
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I had managed to finish the magical theory book, leaving me with only a book about the geography of Equestria, and the surrounding nations, along with known populations. Looking at the book, I realized how boring this book would be. It seemed almost like a math textbook, something I had tried my hardest to avoid during my time on Earth. Just looking at it made me want to go to sleep and avoid reading it. Even though I loved learning about the geography of Earth, and where everyone and everything lived, I couldn't stand learning it from a book that looked boring, preferring to read from the Internet. Sighing, I picked the book up and decided that I'd just read it and memorize it as fast as I could, so I could avoid reading it again.

After about two hours I managed to get about three-fourths of the way though the book. Not as fast as I wanted to go, but still, I was making decent time. Once I started reading I noticed something: the book didn't really have that much information. It would talk about areas with almost no detail. For instance, the EverFree Forest is described as a " Dark and broody forest, with several different types of habitats and biomes. Multiple deadly species lurk here, and it's best to be avoided." I could understand the lack of information on the forest, seeing as how it did have multiple predators, and apparently, the weather acted differently than the surrounding area. According to a book I had read earlier, the Pegasi controlled the skies and created weather. As fantastical as it sounded, I decided not to question it too much. I didn't want to destroy my brain trying to figure out how the fuck that worked. Still, places like Ponyville should have more than two pages, while somewhere called Manehattan had around forty. Shaking my head, I decided to put the book down and get some food, having not eaten in a while. As I set off on a pilgrimage towards the fridge, I heard a noise coming out from the forest. Believing the noise to come from Zecora, he decided to go out and see if there was anything she wanted for lunch. Stepping outside, he quickly realized his mistake. Standing there before me was what appeared to be a dragon, if my reading was right.
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Standing there in the entrance to Zecora's house was some sort of strange bipedal creature, staring directly at him. He was afraid the moment he saw the creature, but he quickly realized something: Zecora was nowhere to be found, and some strange creature was standing there. Losing his fear for his life, he began to fear for Zecora's. Deciding that the creature was probably dangerous, he readied his claws and prepared for a fight. He knew he could subdue the creature and then figure out where Zecora was.
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As I stood there I noticed that the dragon had readied his claws and settled into a fighting position. I began to sweat, seeing how sharp the creature's claws were. I decided that trying to end the fight by talking the creature down seemed to be the best way to do things.

" Uh, hello? Can I help you?" I called out, hoping that the creature understood me and didn't react the fear in my voice. I knew that several predators reacted to fear, and I didn't want to end up killed because something knew that I was afraid.

Instead of calming the creature down, all it did was anger the creature more. Smoke began to leak from his nose, and he flexed his claws. He opened his mouth, teeth glinting like steel daggers, and said " I know you can, and I'm going to make you."

He launched forward, using his wings to create a burst of speed as he took off. He landed near me faster than I thought possible, and tried to slash me with his claws. I rolled off the steps just as the claw ripped through the solid wooden house. Turning to him, I saw that his claw had gotten stuck in. Deciding to take advantage of this, I tried to talk to reason with him again.

" Come on man, what the fuck is wrong with you? Jesus, just calm down." I realized that my attempts to reason with him wouldn't work, mostly because I was in full on panic mode at this point. Some weird ass dragon came down and seemed to decide out of nowhere to kill me. That wasn't the best way to start a calm, rational discussion.

Finally ripping his claws from the cabin, he turned to me and flared his wings, launching himself towards me. I managed to roll out of the way of his second slash, then his third. However, I wasn't quick enough to dodge the kick he thrown at me. Hitting me square in the chest, it did more than just knock the wind out of me. I could feel the ribs he hit breaking, and it became hard to breath. He also managed to knock me about fifteen feet back. I couldn't even stand, the pain overpowering me.

"I don't think that this is the time to be laying down, do you?"

What the hell am I suppose to do? This freak has some serious strength! I'm lucky he didn't get me with those claws, or else I'd be dead right now!

" Isn't it obvious? Start using your powers, and kill the thing. I highly doubt that even someone like you, who has no real combat experience, can lose to something like this using your powers."

I laid there and ripped the seal off my power, not caring about what would happen. As I sat there, I could feel my bones mending themselves, and my body beginning to heal. Looking up however, I knew I needed to by more time, as I could see the dragon coming closer.
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Spike knew that the kick he had just given the creature would keep it down for a while, but he wanted to get this over as quickly as possible, and figure out where Zecora was. Getting closer, he began to notice that the creature was just laying there. As he watched, some small changes began to take place. The creature's skin changed from tan to something darker. His breathing began to get more even. The biggest change however, were the creature's eyes. Instead of the light green color from before, his eyes had turned golden yellow, almost like a chimera's. He moved forward faster, knowing that he needed to end the fight quickly.
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I could only watch as the dragon picked up the pace, moving forward to end the fight. As he reached me, he bent down and picked me up by my throat and raised me into the air. I knew that I didn't have long, and decided that I needed to find a way to prolong the fight, or else I was screwed. As he raised me into the air, I subtly began using my magic to turn the skin around my throat as hard as dragon scales, just in case he tried to crush my wind pipe. I hoped that he hadn't noticed what I did, or else I was fucked. I focused all my power into fixing my chest after that, and tried to figure out a way to keep the fight going. Thankfully he kept it going for me.

" Where is she?" he shouted at me, slightly tightening his grip.

I decided to play along, and pretend he was choking me. As soon as I felt his hand tighten, I began to cough and sputter, hoping to make him waste time waiting for me. The ploy worked, and he loosened his grip. My chest had fully healed, and I decided to use my power to make the rest of my skin tougher. Focusing my power, I imagined it covering me, my skin hardening. Deciding that enough was enough. I focused the power into my hand, creating a red blade. Thankfully he didn't notice, giving me time to make a witty comment.

" She's not here asshole, but you can always leave a message after the beep!"

I shoved my hand towards his stomach, blade first. Noticing the movement, he went to crush my throat. The look of surprise on his face was priceless, as was the look of pain that crossed his face as the blade sunk into his stomach. The hand not holding went to my arm, gripping at and trying to crush it and pull it out. While he couldn't crush it, he had no problem pulling it out, as I was no match for him in strength. He let go of my arm, and smashed his fist into my stomach. Thankfully he was holding me, or I would have doubled over in pain. As it was, I had to fight not to throw up. However, an idea came to me. I used my power to turn the vomit into acid as it left my mouth, striking him in the face.

The effect was instant: he dropped me and began to roar in pain as the acid began to devour him. I stood there gasping for air while he shook the acid off. Trying to regain my breath after the hits I had taken, I didn't notice the fist coming at me until the last second. Without thinking I used my magic to harden my face even more, right as the swing struck me. I felt my jaw break, and several teeth fly out, but at least my neck wasn't broken. Ignoring the pain for a moment, I used my magic to create a bolt of dark energy in the hand not using my blade. Launching forward, I used my magic to accelerate myself towards him, like he used his wings to. I swung my blade at him, forcing him to block. While his hands were up, I slammed my other first into his stomach wound, releasing the energy. Even I wasn't ready for the blowback.

I was thrown about twenty feet, as was he. However, the pain I felt was nothing compared to him. He screamed, the pain clear in his voice. Looking at his stomach I could see why. Most of the scales around his stomach had been blown clear off, and he was bleeding badly. The worst was where the bolt had struck him. The stab wound had turned infected as soon as the bolt had released, and the area had begun to rot right in front of me. I could see black lines leading out from the wound, heading towards his heart.

I felt slightly bad about what I had done, but still he had earned it by attacking me. Hearing his moans in the background, I turned away, hoping to see Zecora coming so she could tell me why the fuck this thing had attacked me.
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As Spike laid there, he was glad that he was a dragon, even more so to have been a dragon hatched from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Most dragons would have died from that blast, despite their magic resistance. However Spike, having been hatched by magic, had been strengthened by it, and had grown a massive resistance to magic after his last growth spurt. Given enough time, he knew that the magic would dissipate and he would be back in the fight. Watching his opponent like the guards had taught him to, he noticed him turn away. He knew he wouldn't have a better chance to end the fight, he quietly got up, using all his will not cry out in pain as he stood. Walking quietly, he got behind him, and struck.
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As soon as I felt the claws enter my back, I knew I had made a mistake in thinking that the dragon would go down that easy. If it weren't for my tough skin and bones from the enchantment I had used, I would have died. Even with all that, I could feel my lungs being ripped open and several bones being crushed. Coughing out blood, I began to get angry. Unleashing more magic, I turned my hands around and aimed them at him. Instead of the energy I used last time however, this energy was green, and glowing. Launching them, I felt his body jerk, causing even more damage to me. As I slipped into darkness, the last thing I felt were his claws sliding out of me.
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Spike hadn't fared any better, the blasts hitting him square in the chest, causing him to drop. The energy had a different effect then before. Instead of causing an infection, Spike felt like a part of him had been stolen, something important. Laying on the ground, he looked over at his opponent, his jaw dropping in fear and shock: he seemed to be healing quickly, the wounds repairing themselves before Spike's eyes. Even as he thought of just killing him there and then, he felt himself begin to pass out. He tried to fight it, and to stay awake, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to. He felt himself pass out, and hoped that he would wake up alive, and before the strange creature did.
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Zecora walked into the clearing and dropped everything she was carrying in shock. Laying there was the strange creature she had found days earlier, and her friend Spike. Some sort of battle seemed to have taken place between the two, as each bore grievous wounds. The human's wounds however, seemed to be slowly but surely healing, while Spike's seemed to be staying the same. Shaking herself from her stupor, she rushed to the downed combatants, and began to try and keep them alive. She started with Spike, whose wounds were worse. She opened her bag and pulled out a roll of bandages and some ground up herbs, and began to bandage his wounds. As she started to work she realized just how bad the wounds were. His stomach seemed to have lost a large chunk, and most of his skin was destroyed. His scales were broken and cracked on his chest, and his stomach was completely unprotected. Even worse, she noticed how bad his breathing had gotten. She knew that she would need to get help from a Unicorn, or else Spike would die.

Grabbing Spike, she began to pull him with her teeth. However, she quickly realized that it wouldn't work. Spike weighed more then she could carry, and she was running out of time. Looking around for any options, her eyes settled on the young man beside her. Reaching into her bags, she pulled out a vial and placed it under his nose. As loathe as she was to do this to the young man after what he seemed to have gone to, he was healing fast, and she needed his help. As soon as the vial was placed under his nose, he began to cough, and slowly opened his eyes. She was startled as she noticed the golden hue they had received, however she quickly turned her attention to the young man, speaking as quickly as she can.

" Hurry, we do not have much time; for the death of Spike would be a great crime."

He shook his head, blinking his head several times. He looked at Zecora, his eyes back to green. " Why would I help him? He came out of nowhere, and attacked me! Why would I bother saving him?" he demanded incredulously.

Zecora knew they were running out of time, so she played her trump card. " Should we fail to save dear Spike; it shall be more than one strike! Against many you shall find yourself; and it would be better for you to kill yourself!

That seemed to shake him, as he glared and stood up. He walked over to the dragon's body, and began to lift him up. Zecora saw a flash of pain cross his face, and she felt sympathetic for the young man, but she knew he needed to do it. She noticed that his wounds had stopped healing, and he was starting to bleed.

" Quickly we most move; our your life we shall also loose!"

He glared at her, gesturing for her to move ahead. " I'll follow you, I suppose."

Zecora wasted no time, running from the clearing, hoping that he followed her, knowing that she didn't have much time.

Author's Note

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