Endurance

Chapters

Endurance
Remember
Loss
Return
Hope and beginnings
Wishes (Epilogue)

Endurance

The aged dragon took a deep breath. He was resting his head on his arms, who once was small and barely had any real claws. Now, they were long, muscular and had wicked crooked claws. The claws could slice anything in their path. The dragon closed his eyes, remembering simpler times, times when he was nothing more than a baby. All the time he spent swooning after a white unicorn, all the time he spent with a certain lavender mare. He exhaled slowly, making a small black cloud of smoke escape his nostrils. He opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was his large purple arm. He groaned as he looked around in his cave. Another day had passed, and another day was coming. He never went outside, except for when he had to hunt for food. The manticore he had mercilessly slaughtered a week ago was starting to leave a horrible smell. He grabbed it by the skull and threw it out the mouth of the cave. He rested his head down on his forearm again and sighed, while closing his eyes. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he thought of the village he was raised in, and when he thought of the lavender unicorn who once was almost his sister, he laid his head down in between his massive forearms and gazed into nowhere. The last he saw or heard from her was her cries calling after him to come back.

He still remember that day, the day he left everything behind. He was starting to grow almost out of control in size and his behaviour changed with every growth. He became irritated by almost everything, he growled at anypony who got too close to her. She unwillingly became his possesion. She was the only one who could calm him down when something happened. His ability to speak had become limited as his wings started to grow, when he spoke it would be sentences who was simple. He only talked when it was necessary. He was snapped back to the harsh reality as he heard the clopping of hooves in the distant. His hearing had improved over the years. He stood up in the large cave and made his way outside. His spikes on his head was much like his spikes he had when he grew out of greed 1300 years ago. His tail was long and was similair to a serpent. He could control every inch of its movement. As he was completely out from his cave on the top of the mountain, he stood up on his hind legs while keeping his balance with the aid of his tail. He flared his wings and roared as loud as he could, in order to intimidate the ponies who had trespassed his territory. He stood back on all of his legs and took to the sky, relentlessly scanning the forest beneath him for the ponies who had trespassed. He located them beneath a tree five miles from his cave. He started circling them like a vulture circles its prey. After a while, he found a good spot to land. He roared to make his presence known once again. He slowly walked towards the ponies who were hiding by the tree, while growling. He heard a shriek from the mare, who clenched herself to the stallion besides her, tears streaming down her face and dripping to the ground. The stallion looked up at him, the fear was visible in his eyes. He was shaking like a leaf in the wind, trying his best to comfort the mare embracing him. They started backing away slowly, with the enormous beast monitoring their every move, he was walking towards them slower than before, but still with the same low growl as before. The dragon locked his eyes on the terrified stallion. After what felt like an eternity for the poor ponies, they had backed out from the grand forest. The dragon had stopped by the treeline, he wasn’t walking towards them anymore. He made himself clear that the forest was his, and only his territory. He reared back on his legs, slammed his tail in the ground and stood up, flaring his wings and roared louder than he had before. When the two ponies had ensured themselves that the dragon wasn’t coming after them anymore, they turned around and ran as fast as they could.

He snorted and turned back into the forest. On his way back to the mountain, he grabbed another manticore and twisted its neck, making it twitch and go completely still in a matter of seconds. The thought of the two ponies who invaded still remaining in his head. As he returned to the cave on the top of the mountain, he tossed the lifeless manticore to a corner, where the bones from other animals he had abducted was lying. He inspected his hoard he had collected over the years and laid down besides it. He spotted an almost dark red ruby, with a golden necklace made around it, making it look like a heart. It felt familiar to him, but he sighed and laid it back down. The day passed without nothing major happening. Later on the evening, he found himself looking at the necklace again. He had recalled the fateful day when he grew in size, but was reminded of who he really was by the white unicorn he once would have done anything for. But now, he barely remembered her, or anypony else. All he remembered was the village he was raised in, he didn’t remember any names, or any minor events. He fell into a sleep that wasn’t restful, he almost never slept good anymore. His sleep was invaded by memories, like it always was. He wanted to forget it all to remove the pain it left inside, but he knew how painful it also could be to not to remember anything of his origins. He woke up the next day. He actually didn’t have to sleep each day that passed, he could be awake for months and not be affected by it. But he needed to sleep for him to attempt to relieve his troubled mind from all the thoughts of lost times. He reached over to the manticore lying in the corner of the cave and took a bite and tossed it back to the corner. He usually didn’t feel anything but pure rage when it came to the world outside. All the happiness, all the positive attitude in it. He hated all of it with a passion. He resented all of what could be good. He snarled and laid down with his back towards the mouth of the cave, he wanted it all to go away, he wanted to go back to Ponyville to be with his long gone friends again. But he knew that it wasn’t possible. The only possibility for him to ever to see them again would be when death laid its cold hooves on him, he wanted to die some days, just to see them again if only for a short period of time. He started thinking of them, even though he barely remembered them at all. It was the yellow one who was really quiet, the orange one with the hat and the funny accent, the pink one who never was quiet, the cyan one who always was too cocky for her own good, the white one who he used to have a crush on and the lavender one. He could remember the last one the clearest, he struggled against his own mind to remember her name, but it was a lost cause. He let out a heavy sigh and sat up. He felt like he needed to get out, only for a couple of minutes top. He hammered down his arms to the ground harder than intended and left two big cracks on the cave floor. As he left the cave, he flared his giant wings and slowly flapped them once, only to see if they were good to go, they were perfect. He flapped them again, but this time a lot quicker and was in the air. He felt free as the wind stroked his purple scales, the wind racing through his spikes felt really good. He could feel freedom, it was within his grasp. He started climbing in altitude, and suddenly dived towards the ground. He flared his wings with time to spare on his way down. He wasn’t as agile as he used to be when he first learned to fly with his new wings. He was once again snapped out from his trance by the sound of hoofsteps coming. He flew back to the cave and stood up on his legs and placed his tail down like he always did. This gave him the possibility to see whoever was coming towards the forest. It was six white ponies with golden armour, and they were walking behind two ponies, one white and one midnight blue. Those ponies felt familiar, but he was cautious enough to not to fly down there instantly. He snarled as the eight ponies entered his forest. He roared loudly and set out to find them.

‘Sister?’

‘Yes, Luna?’ Celestia answered, after hearing the roar in the distant.

’Is this the same Spike from Ponyville a thousand years ago?’ The moon princess had heard the roar, she was starting to become worried of what they might face.

’It is Spike, but he’s not the Spike we knew.’ Celestia said, trying to hide the hurt from all the memories she had from the young drake.

‘What... what do you mean with that?’

‘His memories are mostly gone, he doesn’t remember much of his time in Ponyville or anypony he met during his childhood. He’s probably protective and dangerous when provoked.’ Celestia explained, as she saw an object approaching them from the sky. ‘Luna, over there.’ She looked up towards the object, and Luna saw where she wanted her to see. The object was closing in on them, and Luna could make out the figure of a grown dragon.

’Is that him?’

‘Yes.’

The enormous dragon landed a bit away from them, he stared at the two ponies standing in front of the armored ponies, Luna took a few steps back as she looked up at the eyes of the dragon who was staring at them. Celestia placed her right wing on her sisters back, trying to comfort her. The dragon who had just landed flared his wings and slammed his tail harder than ever before down into the ground, he stood up on his legs and roared again. His presence was already well known to the ponies in front if him, but he wanted to show off his might so they wouldn’t challenge him in some way. It worked on the blue pony, she cowered back. It also worked on some of the armored ponies, but the bigger white pony stil stood her ground. Spike stood back down and started growling, moving his head closer to the white pony. He revealed his sharp teeth, and growled again, but this time a little louder. This time he managed to get her to move just a little but that wasn’t enough. He wanted them to leave his forest entirely. He moved slowly towards the ponies standing just infront of him again, as he made his first step, two armored ponies flew besides eachother towards him.

‘STOP!’ Celestia shouted to her guards, who swiftly turned around and made their way behind the princess of the sun again.

He looked down at the white pony infront of him in confusion. Why would she stop those other ponies from attacking him? He was taken aback as the white pony took a step towards him, he took a cautious step back.

‘Spike?’ She took another step towards him. He didn’t know what to do. The name she called him, it felt so familiar. He brought his head down to her level.

‘Who... Who are you...’ He asked her, his voice was deep and loud, he tried to be as quiet as he possibly could, but that was a hard thing to do as a grown dragon.

’I thought that you wouldn’t remember me after all these years.’ Celestia took another step towards him. Luna had her ears perked and was staring intensely at the way her sister was dealing with the grown dragon. ’I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, it was my student who hatched you one thousand years ago.’ He started to remember small portions of the pony in front of him. He cautiously laid down, while eyeing the armoured ponies behind her. She noticed it and carefully laid a hoof on his massive hand. He stared back at her, he wanted to pull back the arm and sit up again but he didn’t. It felt comforting for him, he directed his attention back to the armoured ponies who was staring at their princess who was easily handling the massive dragon on her own.

‘Spike..’ He looked back at her. ’Do you want to tell me why you scared away two of mine and Luna’s subjects?’ At the mention of her name, Luna raised one of her forelegs and waved frantically for a couple of seconds.

‘They.. They came to my forest.’ He explained, locking his gaze at the white pony stroking his hand. ’I don’t like it when ponies come to my forest...’

’Is this forest your territory, Spike?’ The dragon lifted his head and nodded, before laying it back down on the ground between his arms. ’I wanted them to get out of it.’ He said to her, shifting his gaze to her again.

‘Did we step into your territory, Spike?’ She asked him as she took another step towards his head.

‘Yeah, that’s why I came down here...’ He admitted to her. ’I wanted to try and scare you out.’ He was starting to get a little comfortable with the royal pony standing close to him. ‘And you see how that turned out..’ He said as he made a small grin. The princess chuckled and moved towards him once again, she was now just in front of his head. He didn’t try to move his head away, he accepted her presence.

‘You still know how to make one smile, Spike.’

‘That’s not what those ponies from yesterday thought. Anyways, if you’re a princess or stuff like that, why didn’t you just send some other ponies to deal with me?’ He was curious why she decided to go on her own if she had an army of her own.

’As soon as I got word of a purple grown dragon with green spikes who had only been sighted a couple of times I thought that it could have been you, so I wanted to ensure myself that it was the little Spike that I remembered.’

’I think I understand why you came here then...’ He looked down at the ground. ‘You want me to die by your own hoof after I scared those ponies...’ He closed his eyes.

’...Spike, I would never do that to anything. Dragon, pony or any animals. It’s in your nature to be protective over your territory.’ She placed her hoof on his nose. He opened his eyes and saw her mane flow in the nonexistant wind, behind her he saw the midnight blue pony sneak up to her sister.

‘Spike?’ Luna asked, looking at his big emerald eyes. ‘Where do you live these days?’ Spike shifted his eyes from the white pony to the blue pony besides her. He moved his head back from Celestia’s hoof and sat up. He raised his right arm and pointed towards the massive mountain. The two ponies saw someting that looked like a cave of some sort, but Spike could see the cave entrance clearly.

’So you live in a cave on a mountain?’ Luna asked the giant reptile who was looking down at her from his upright position.

‘Yup.’ He said as he nodded his head slowly with his eyes closed.

‘Can we go there?’ The lunar princess asked. Spike stopped nodding and shot open his eyes. He stared down at her and then on Celestia. Celestia looked like she also wanted to visit his cave. He was unsure of how they would react to all the bones and the manticore corpse lying in the corner of the cave. He decided to play along and let them. They were princesses, after all. He stood up on all of his legs like he had when they first encountered him.

‘You sure about that? There’s no path to walk up there, and the air is kinda thin up there.’ He informed them, but they took it with ease.

’We have wings, y’know!’ Luna said as she flared her wings to prove her point.

’We can easily get used to the thin air up there.’ Celestia added.

‘But what about those guys?’ He looked back at the guards who appeared to be quite bored.

‘They are used to tasks like these. They’re trained for it.’

‘Alright, are you two ready then?’ He flared his enormous wings and flapped them slowly once. The princesses flared their wings and so did the guards behind them. He turned around and made sure not to hit somepony with his long tail. After that, he shot up to the air. His tail slammed the ground where he had been standing moments ago. The ponies took that as their cue and flew after him. He was constantly rising in altitude with every stroke of his wings. He accelerated, and the ponies behind him was given a hard time to catch up to him. As he landed on the small platform outside the cave, he turned around and he saw the ponies slowly making their way up. He sat down while looking down the edge. The exhausted ponies was finally up on the mountain besides him. He chuckled at the blue princess as she was trying to stand up from being almost too exhausted to stand. The armoured ponies seemed a little exhausted but it was nothing they couldn’t handle. The last pony to come up to the platform was Celestia.

’I’m too old for this...’ She muttered, making sure that her sister nor her guards would hear her. She looked up at the dragon who was grinning. He had heard her clearly, she returned the smile and walked towards the mouth of the cave.

The inside of the cave was a lot bigger than she had expected, but it was supposed to be able to hold a grown dragon standing, after all. She was greeted by a smell that made her instinctively wrinkle her nose and made her want to put a hoof on it, the same was for her younger sister. Spike had climbed upon his hoard and had laid down on it. He supervised the ponies inside his cave. Luna and Celestia had fought off their desires to cover their noses and was now inspecting the cave. The cave itself was rather dark, so Luna fused her magic and lit up her horn, so they could see some more of the cave. She quickly found the dead manticore and shrieked.

Luna, what happened? Celestia said as she walked towards her startled sister. ’Oh my...’ She saw the corpse of what once was a manticore, she saw the marks of something big who had taken a big bite of it. She realised that it was Spike. He was lazily looking down at them from the top of his hoard.

’Oh, that...’ He said as he stretched his arms and placed them under his chin. ’I was gonna tell you, but I forgot.’

‘Spike... Are you a predator?’ Celestia asked him.

‘Duh, but all I’ve eaten is a couple of manticores and a ton of fish.’ This time, he stretched his back and laid down on it. I often eat whatever comes by. But never ponies, even though it can be tempting.’

‘Spike!’ Celestia didn’t approve the last part of his explanation.

’I was just joking, relax.’ He grinned, revealing his razor-sharp teeth.

Luna turned around from the corpse and shuddered. She noticed a fire-ruby made into a necklace lying besides his hoard, as he was keeping the necklace out from it. She walked up to it and looked down at it. Spike really didn’t like it when anything came close to his hoard, princess or not. He noticed how she was looking down at the necklace lying in the open.

‘May I?’ She asked the dragon who was eyeing her closely.

‘Knock yourself out.’ He was a little resistant at first, but he allowed her to pick it up. She used her telekinesis to pick up the pendant. She inspected it closely and realised that this was the necklace of one of those who freed her a thousand years ago, as she had seen her wear it when she was on a visit in the castle with the rest of the elements of harmony.

‘Tia, look at this.’ Her older sister walked to where she was standing. Spike wondered what was going on between those two and the necklace. ‘Could this be...’

‘Yes, this was Rarity’s necklace. Spike gave that ruby to her, and she made that exact necklace out of it many years ago.’

Rarity... That was her name. He remembered her name now, he lifted his gaze from the two ponies conversing about the necklace and looked at one of the walls. He started thinking of her. She was beautiful, she had class and she knew how to behave properly. She was a true lady, he remembered her voice, but the last thing she ever called him was an uncouth brute. He clenched his eyes shut and returned to reality. He opened his eyes again and looked down at the princesses again.

‘Spike? Are you feeling good? Celestia asked him, as she moved away from her younger sister and moved towards the hoard he was lying on.

’As good as I’ve ever felt for a thousand years secluded in this damn cave...’ He muttered, making it sound like a low growl.

‘Should we leave you alone?’ Luna walked up besides her sister, looking up at him.

’NO! I mean, no.. I have been alone for a long time now. Sure, it feels weird having ponies walking around my cave but that makes me feel less lonely.’ He raised his head, still looking down at them. ‘The ponies yesterday was the first ponies I’ve seen for 500 years, and you two are the first ponies I talk to in over a thousand years. It just... It just feel strange talking to someone else than myself again.’

‘Why did you leave Ponyville in the first place? The moon princess asked as she sat down on the cave floor.

He sighed and looked down at the floor besides her. He feared that they would ask him this question. ‘It’s a long story...’

‘We’re not in a rush.’ Celestia said as she walked besides her younger sister. ’I recieved an urgent letter from Twilight Sparkle through a normal mail service. She explained what happened and she was devastated, but I want to hear your part of the story.’

‘Okay then, I’ll tell you.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Then as you know I was starting to mature, and my behaviour changed as more as I matured and grew. I was starting to get really big, and there wasn’t enough room in the library for me anymore. And to top it off, my wings was starting to grow and that was a painful experience. They grew from nothing to what they are now, and as my wings grew bigger, my ability to speak almost disappeared and I was troubled by it. I had to learn to speak again. All of that trouble made me irritable, unstable and I could snap towards anypony. And the lavender one-’

‘Twilight Sparkle’ Celestia quickly added.

‘Yeah, Twilight Sparkle. She was the only one who could calm me down when anything happened. But even as when my wings had grown out to their extent as they were supposed to be, I was still unstable and irritable, until one day when I finally snapped completely.’

He looked down at the floor in shame, he avoided looking at the princesses in front of him.

‘What happened that day?’ Celestia asked him, but she didn’t want to push him over the edge. ‘You can tell us only if you want to.’

‘It’s alright, I can tell you...’ He sat up and walked down from his hoard and laid down on the cave floor. He looked at the necklace Luna was holding before he continued. ’It was a normal day, or a day like it used to be those days. I woke up really early and scouted for ponies I didn’t know or recognized. I kept doing that until Twilight woke up. When she was awake, she came out to see me. I was lying by the door like I always did, I was like a guard dog. I was trying to spot anypony who looked in my direction, until Twilight placed one of her hooves on my shoulder. She told me to follow her and like a dog, I followed her to the park no questions asked. I was careful when I was there, I scouted the entire time for ponies who looked at me or her. She was calmly reading some book when I was almost stressed out of my mind. After a while, two of her friends appeared. Rarity and the yellow one.’

‘Fluttershy,’ Luna corrected.

‘Yes, Rarity and Fluttershy. I knew in my heart that they never would harm her or me, but my instincts didn’t listen. I stood up on all of my legs and made a low growl. Fluttershy shrieked and hid behind Rarity. Rarity looked up at me and shouted at me. I got provoked and slammed my tail and roared. Twilight ran up in front of me to block my view of her. I pushed her out of my way harder than I intended and she.. She fell to the ground hard.’ Spike readied himself to continue the story who ended his time in the village. ‘She was shocked of the fact that I would just push her off like I did, she was speechless as I took a few steps towards Rarity. I leveled my head with hers and stared into her eyes while growling. Her gaze was rock-hard, but nothing I couldn’t break. I slammed my tail to the ground again and reared onto my legs while roaring, and hammered down my arms just next to her. This time she reacted. Fluttershy flew away as fast as she could, crying. I scared her off. Rarity took a few steps back and stammered ’‘you... you brute... you... uncouth... brute...’’ Next thing I remember is that she’s running away from me, and almost all of the ponies in the park was staring at me or trying to get away. I turned back to see Twilight lying with her forelegs tucked beneath her, and tears was dripping to the ground. I walked towards her, but she pulled away from me... I laid down in front of her and poked her with my nose, she looked up at me with bloodshot eyes and asked me why I just did that. My spirit broke that exact moment, I realised what I just had done and there was nothing I could do to change it. I stood up and backed away from her. I didn’t know what to do, or what to say. I remember that I started crying a little, and turned away from her and flared my wings. She asked me where I was going, I said nothing to her. I walked a few feet and she got to her hooves and ran after me. She almost punched my right hind leg with her hoof to get my attention. I looked back at her with tears in my eyes. I stopped and took a good look of her and hugged her, before I turned away and continued walking. Her mouth was open as she was trying to find words to say. This was the last I saw of her before I flew off. I can still remember her cries after me to come back. They were desperate and finally, they stopped as she dropped down to the ground, broken.’ Spike closed his eyes as a small tear dropped down to the cave floor.

He laid his head down on the floor, he didn’t want to see the looks on their faces, or if they would judge him for his actions all these years ago. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and saw their faces. He could see Luna’s lip quiver, and Celestia looked at him with a hurt look. His story had taken effect on the two ponies. He could swear that he saw one of the armoured ponies wipe his eyes with one hoof.

’I... I’m sorry that you had to go through with that, Spike...’ Luna said as she tried to collect herself.

‘You don’t have to apologize to me, I left the one pony who truly loved me behind in tears...’ He looked away from them, only to feel a familiar soft hoof on his face.

‘Spike, you only did what you thought was right in order to keep the ones you cared for safe.’ She stroked his face some more, achieving a sound that would best be described as a cat’s purr, but way deeper. ‘There’s nothing wrong to try and keep your loved ones from harm’s way.’

’It still hurt to leave them, and it still does.’ He explained as he looked at her. She lifted her hoof off his face and leaned in towards him.

‘Twilight wasn’t the only pony who ever truly loved you, Spike.’ She nuzzled his cheek. ’I loved you from the instant I saw you sucking on your tail when you had just been hatched by Twilight Sparkle, to this moment right now when you’re so much bigger than me. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do your very best and never forget who you are, I’ll always love you, I promise.’ She looked straight into his eyes and smiled. It took a while for him to take all of what she just had said in. He was speechless, he looked back into her eyes. their gaze met and Luna walked up to him too. She walked up besides her sister, and Spike shifted his eyes to the smaller pony.

‘You’ll always have me too, big guy.’ She looked at him and smiled. He didn’t know what to say at all, he was so much bigger than them, he would crush them if he would even attempt to hug them.

‘Thank you...’ He whispered as he lifted his head a little from the ground, gently pushing his head towards the ponies besides him. He felt a gentle push back to his face. He closed his eyes and he wished for that moment to last forever. He laid his head down back on the cave floor and both of the princesses took their place on either side of his head. They gently pushed themselves towards him, and he had his eyes closed, treasuring every passing minute. He yawned, his reptile tongue stretched out from his mouth and making a gentle hissing sound. Sadly, that moment had to end as the day came to its end. They had to return to Canterlot.

‘Spike...’ Celestia said as she leaned away from the dragon.

‘Yeah?’ He had his eyes closed, taking in each moment.

’As much as I’d like to stay, me and Luna have to return to Canterlot for the night.’

‘Aww, but you’ll be back some other day, right?’ He opened his eyes and lifted his head a little, waking up the sleeping lunar princess by his head.

’We promise we’ll be back as soon as we can.’ She assured him.

‘Good, I really appreciate it.’ He said as he helped the sleepy princess stand up. When she finally was able to stand up on her own, she staggered to her sister’s side. Celestia smiled at him and balanced the tired monarch of the night towards the mouth of the cave. ‘Celestia?’

‘Yes, Spike?’ She turned around and looked back at him.

‘Thank you... I really appreciate this.. I really, really do.’ He said as he looked her straight into her eyes.

’It was nice meeting you again. Stay safe and try not to scare other ponies like you did yesterday, it will only bring you negative attention. We need to meet like this some other time. We’ll come back as soon as we can.’ She took one last look at him before she flared her wings and flew away into the night with her sister and the guards behind her.

He started to think of the events of the day as he once again laid his head down on top of his crossed arms. He had met the two ponies who still knew who he was, and who he used to be before he was like this. At the thought of his former self he started thinking about the sleepy village he left for this. He still remembered where it was, but he didn’t want to go there as the ponies of this generation would probably be scared out of their minds if a grown dragon showed up out of nowhere, standing in the edge of the town. It didn’t take long before he started thinking of Twilight. What happened to her after he left? For how long did she search for him? Did she ever get married? Did she have any foals? She would be a fitting mother, after all. He decided that he would ask the princesses those questions the next time they would come by. He turned around and laid on his back and stared into the ceiling of the cave. He realised that he still had friends, he wasn’t alone anymore. He also realised that when he had friends like the princesses, he would never be alone during the rest of his life, as the alicorn sisters practically was immortal. He didn’t have the need to talk to himself or a dead manticore anymore, he could talk to them. The older thoughts he had of him wanting to end his own misery was long gone. He could now take it with ease when he had somepony to talk to after all these years. He was relieved that Celestia had made the decision to come to the forest herself and not send a portion of her army out after him. He was thankful for all that had happened that day. It had been the best day he’d ever had in his life ever since he left Ponyville. He felt like he could make it, he had found new hope for his long life. Whatever the feeling was, it made him stronger than he ever had been before on the inside. It almost filled up the void that was created as he left her behind. He closed his eyes and made an attempt to sleep. He fell asleep with ease, without a care in the world. He cherished the day that passed, the day when he had come out strong and set out to scare off them, and came back reconnected with two of his long lost friends. There was nothing that could break him down anymore. He would stand and fight for what he wanted, and to defend them at all costs and all means necessary. They were his friends and he would never allow anything to happen to them. He would endure for them, he would endure for himself. He had found a reason to live through this again.

‘Twilight, I miss you so much and I’m sorry that I left you like I did, but I have found strength and I will continue my life and live it up as much as I possibly can.’ He thought to himself but it felt like he was talking to his long lost sister again.

’I can do this.’

’I can endure.’

Remember

Note: If you find any stupid spelling or grammar errors, tell me.

1306 years earlier

Twilight slowly woke up with Celestia's sun aimed straight on her eyes, she groaned softly as she turned her back against the window and faced the wall. She slowly rolled off her bed and stood up besides it and yawned. As she walked towards the mirror in the room she couldn't but feel as if the room itself was bigger than what it used to be without him in it. His small basket was still on the place that it always had been, by the end of her bed. It hadn't been used for ten years, and he hadn't been inside the library in seven years. Spike was too big for the library after his second growth where his wings grew out. That was an agonizing time for him and everytime he had tried to talk it would only be a soft grunt. After she had brushed her mane she walked over to the window and looked out. It was another slow morning, and only a few ponies were out this early. Then she saw him on his usual spot. Spike was sitting down on his haunches with his head held up high, it was like he was guarding the library from intruders. His eyes were scanning the ponies who were in that part of the town. He looked at them with an icy stare, anypony who looked back at him would be stared down almost instantly. She saw his lower lip tremble and his eyes narrow. She took it as her cue and walked out to greet him. As soon as she opened the door he turned his head around and lowered it to her and stared at her with a look of gratitude and ease before he looked back at the townsponies where his stare became icy again. She walked up to him and nudged his right leg with her hoof, gaining the attention of the dragon.

'Wanna go to the park, big guy?' She asked him in a happy tone. He looked down at her with a look of insecurity, but he reluctantly nodded and with a loud thump, he allowed his arms to slam down into the ground so he could stand up. She smiled at him and he looked down at her with a look that said ''Let's do this''. As the duo walked through the town to the park, traveling salesponies couldn't believe their own eyes. They had heard stories that the librarian in Ponyville had a dragon, but they thought that those stories was just manure. But there it was. Twilight easily ignored the stares from the salesponies when Spike was stressed out of his mind. He just wanted to grab Twilight and fly far away, but he restrained himself and turned to staring down a few of the ponies. They were soon at the park, and he let out a sigh of relief. He followed her to a big tree where he laid down besides it and rested his head on his arms. Twilight laid down besides him and levitated a book out from one of her saddlebags. He rolled his eyes and snorted as soon as he saw the book, and accidentally puffed out a black cloud of smoke from his nose. Twilight giggled at it and continued her reading.

The relief that Spike had when he once entered the park was now long gone. He had noticed how many ponies that was looking at him, it unsettled him to see all those eyes looking at him. His neck was stretched and he was staring back at the ponies who were staring at him with a menacing look. Twilight was his pony. Only his. If they wanted to come to her, they would have to go through him first. Twilight finally noticed how stressed he was and placed an assuring hoof on his hand, he looked down at her with a worried look slightly mixed with anger. She had realised a couple of days ago that he must think that she's his posession, and only he can be with her and look after her. She didn't like the thought of having a soon-to-be grown up dragon with temper issues defending her all of the time. Sure, it felt comforting to have him around but some day he could snap and hurt somepony, she had tried to tell him that she could care for herself but he wouldn't take it in. He was too stubborn to listen to what she had to say. She started rubbing the hoof she had on his hand to try and comfort him. It worked and he laid his head down on his arms again, and she moved her hoof from his hand to his nose and softly rubbed it. It almost sounded like he was purring from it. He was starting to get big. Really big. A place for him to sleep would soon become a problem, as he would soon begin one of his last growth spurts. She tried not to think about it, but she realised that it wouldn't be long until she would have to let him go. She never thought that day to come so soon.

'Oh Twiii-light' Twilight raised her head slowly but Spike snapped his head up quickly and scanned for the source of the voice. It was Rarity, Spike didn't remember much about her than her name. He saw that she was walking towards him and Twilight with Fluttershy close behind her. Twilight raised her hoof and waved at her friends for them to come over. Spike didn't like the idea of them coming closer than what they had to. He lowered his head a little and started growling softly before Twilight nudged his side.

Rarity had seen the big heap of dragon from the entrance of the park, and she knew that Twilight wouldn't be far away from him. Spike wouldn't allow that she got far away from him. Spike, who once was small and barely reached her head and used to have a massive crush on her that she knew of all along, as he wasn't really that good to hide his affections. Now he was big, easy to fear and protective of everything that he considered to own. As Rarity and Fluttershy closed in to Twilight and Spike, Rarity saw that Spike burrowed his arms into the ground and placed his legs beneath him. He lowered his head some more and made his neck into a curve. His eyes was locked at her and Fluttershy with an icy stare and narrowed eyes. He started growling. It didn't take long until Rarity realised that he was a predator ready to strike at any given moment because she and Fluttershy was too close to Twilight. He slowly stood up and slowly walked towards them while growling. Fluttershy yelped and hid behind Rarity. Rarity was shocked at how he could react like he did, and she wouldn't stand for it. She walked up to meet him and stared back at his eyes.

'Who do you think you are by acting like this? WE have the same right to meet Twilight as you have! For shame!' She shouted at him, and he immediately answered by increasing the volume of his growling while moving his head closer towards her. Fluttershy was scared out of her mind. That beast wasn't the Spike she knew anymore. This wasn't the Spike she wanted, all she wanted was to be with her friends without his overprotective surveillance. She started crying silently as she heard the now very loud growls close to her. She covered her ears with her hooves and wished that Spike would just go away. She was shaking like a leaf until she couldn't take it anymore. She flew away with a wail and tears flowing freely from her aqua eyes. A small trail of tears could be seen heading towards her cottage. Rarity looked behind her to see Fluttershy fly away in full speed. Twilight couldn't believe her eyes. The situation infront of her was out of her control, she ran up besides him and slammed her left frontleg on his side. It hurted a lot more for her than what it did for him.

'YOU BETTER STOP RIGHT THIS INSTANT, MISTER!' She shouted at him. He looked back at her with a stare that could shatter bones. A shiver made its way through her spine and before she could react, she was pushed back by a powerful arm that made her fall to the ground and made her gasp for air. Spike ignored her fall momentarily and stared back at Rarity, who had tears welling up in her eyes. The gravity of the situation was tearing down on her. What made her even more ripped inside was the look of his face. He had a wicked grin of accomplishment plastered on his face. He was proud that he just had scared away one of his former friends and was getting through her. Rarity started working her jaw to say something, but just before she could say anything, Spike's patience ran out. He reared back on his legs and slammed his tail into the ground to intimidate her, and it was working perfectly. He slammed down his arms just besides her and roared. Rarity couldn't take it anymore, and tears started running down her face.

'You... You're not Spikey-Wikey anymore... You're not even Spike... You're just another dragon, a beast without feelings. Just a mo-... Monster.' She finished her sentence by turning around and running towards the sanctuary that was her boutique. The memories of Spike when he was a baby was destroyed by the monster he had become.

Spike felt accomplished, he was full of pride as he saw the puny unicorn run away from him. He was proud that he managed to scare away those intruders from his pony. He turned his head around to see her, but as soon as he saw her he was reminded of what he did. His pride and accomplishment was washed away by guilt and regret. It was his fault that she was lying with her back towards him. He made himself smaller than what he was and laid down besides her with his head inbetween his arms. He hated himself and his actions, he wanted to change it into something better, but he couldn't. He heard soft sobbing from her, and he nudged her softly with his nose, she only drew back from him and turned her head away from him before she looked back at him with tears flowing nonstop from her eyes, it broke his spirit that exact moment.

'Why?' She asked with a weak, scratchy voice. 'Why did you do that?' Spike didn't know what to do, he just stared down at her with a dumbfounded look, her lips were trembling as she looked up at his ''brother''. Spike drew back his head and raised it slowly and looked around. Some ponies were staring at him, but most of the ponies in the park was fleeing from him. He realised what he had to do, he slowly stood up and started walking away from her in a slow, broken pace. His head was hanging low and giant tears were dripping down on the ground from his eyes. Twilight watched him stand up and walk away. She quickly wiped her face with her right foreleg before she ran after him. She called his name but he just kept on walking. When she was besides him, she slammed her left frontleg in his right arm. He turned around and looked at her with a pained expression, he had to contain his tears and put on a brave face for her. Even when he just had made such a hard decision he wanted to show her that he had no weaknesses at all. He lowered his head slowly and nudged her with it. She threw her forelegs around his nose. She held him there for a while until she could feel him pulling his head back from her. She released him and allowed him to raise his head, he looked down at her one last time before he turned around and flared his giant wings, took a few steps and took off in a random direction. He just wanted to get away from the small town. Twilight froze the moment she saw him fly away. She ran after him in the direction he flew and screamed at him to come back. It was in vain. She didn't get far until he was just a black dot flying towards the horizon, it felt like her heart had frozen into ice. It was a lump in her throat she couldn't swallow away, her stomach twisted and she broke down in tears and pressed her head to the ground.

He was gone. She couldn't believe it, but it was true. No matter how much she wished for him to return, he didn't. She just laid there for most of the day and stared at the horizon, hoping that he would come back. But he didn't. As the sun began to set and welcome Luna's night, she walked back to the library in a slow pace. Her head was hanging and her eyes was half-closed. She was so tired. She wanted to sleep but she couldn't just fall asleep right there in the middle of the street. She could her chatter infront of her so she lifted her head and looked at the ponies who was talking. It was Applejack and Rainbow Dash, they seemed to be talking about some challenge between the two. They noticed that Twilight walked past them and didn't say a single word. Rainbow thought that it was weird and trotted up to her.

'Hey Twi, what's up?' She asked in a cheery tone, and Twilight looked up at her with bloodshot eyes and streaks of where tears had flowed on her face. 'Whoah... What happened to you, and where's Spike?' Twilight winced as she heard his name, and she could feel that tears was starting to well up again.

'Gone.' Twilight said in a numb tone, her mind was somewhere else.

'Who's gone? Spike?' Rainbow asked, and Twilight gave her a look that screamed ''no really'' before she stopped walking and sat down.

'Spike's gone... And he's not... Coming... Back...' Her voice broke as she embraced the startled pegasus next to her. Her entire body was trembling, she still hadn't taken it in. The dragon that she had hatched during her entrance exam all those years ago, her assistant that had helped her with everything he could do, her friend that she had known the longest, her brother who made sure that nothing ever happened to her, gone. She released Rainbow who also looked upset that Spike had left. Twilight excused herself and ran to the library and straight to her room. She laid down in her bed and levitated the small blanket who laid in his old basket and placed it on her. It reminded her of him. The day that she had feared had come sooner than what she thought, and after a scenario that she had her hopes that it never would happen. She collected herself and scribbled a letter to the princess explaining the situation and remembered that she had to leave it at a postal office later but for now, all she wanted to do was to remember.

Loss

If you find any stupid grammar or spelling errors, tell me and I'l fix it as soon as I can.

‘Wha- When did they... pass after I left?’ Spike asked Celestia, who had come to visit him in his cave but this time without Luna.

‘What do you mean?’ The regal pony asked back to him as she paced around the large cave. Spike laid his head down on the cave floor and drew a deep breath.

‘Twilight... The others, for how long did they live after I left?’ He anwered in a sullen tone.

’Oh...’ Celestia answered with a sigh. Twilight had been her favorite student, she didn’t like talking about the loss of her or her friends, but she had a reason to talk about it now. ‘All of them had good lifes, but Twilight never forgave herself for you leaving. She thought that it was her fault.’ She looked up at him with a hurt expression.

‘But it wasn’t her fault...’ Spike said in a low tone.

‘She believed that it was.’ Celestia sighed again. ‘She returned to Canterlot afterwards and stayed there for two months, until she finally returned to Ponyville.’ She walked up to him and sat besides him. ‘She searched for you but she never found anything that would reveal your location. She gave up after a year and continued her life, even when a big part of it was gone. She passed peacefully in her sleep surrounded by her family. She was the last of the Elements of Harmony of that generation to pass away.’ She leaned towards his massive head for comfort and he lifted it slightly to return the favor.

‘What about the others? What happened to them?’ He asked her after a moment of silence.

‘Applejack continued her life and her work at the farm, she had many colts and fillies, and just as many grandchildren. She lived a long life, and she became the second oldest element.’ Celestia said as she stretched her wings before she folded them neatly against her back again. ‘Rarity moved her boutique to Canterlot a few years after you left and expanded her business. She became a well-known designer amongst the upper crust in Equestria, but she had just as much guilt as Twilight did when it came to your departure. She felt like if she hadn’t shouted at you, you would have still been there.’

‘What happened to Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie then?’ He asked in a low tone. He had to know what happened to them.

‘Four months after you left, Rainbow Dash was finally accepted to the Wonderbolts.’ Celestia took another deep breath, as she was about to say something horrible. ‘After two years in the Wonderbolts, there was an accident and... And she didn’t survive the aftermath. She was the first element to pass. It was hard for everypony, especially Fluttershy and Scootaloo, as she and Fluttershy had been best friends for almost their entire lives. It was hard for Scootaloo as she saw her idol die in front of her eyes.’

That’s... That’s horrible... What happened?’ Spike had to fight back tears, as the memories of the cyan mare washed over him.

‘They were flying in an advanced formation, and Rainbow Dash was supposed to climb in altitude before she would drop and dive towards the ground. She was supposed to do a-’

‘Sonic Rainboom...’ Spike interrupted her.

‘Exactly. However, everything was going as planned, until a mysteriously strong gust clipped her wing and she was thrown into something as the Wonderbolts called a ’‘death roll’’. She wasn’t able to get back control, and before anypony could react she made contact with the ground. She landed on her head and died at impact. They said it went so fast that she didn’t even feel any pain.’ Celestia sighed and wiped off a few tears with her right hoof and leaned closer to Spike. Spike didn’t know what to say, or what to do. A single tear rolled down his cheek. His mouth was slightly open, exposing his menacing fangs. He laid his head down on the cave floor with a thump. Even when Celestia was standing at full height, she barely reached his eyes. She placed a soft hoof on his nose and sighed.

‘What about Pinkie and Fluttershy?’ He really didn’t want to know anymore, but he felt like he had to know.

‘Both of them passed like Twilight and Applejack, peacefully in their sleep surrouded by their respective families.’ She held her hoof on his face, and moved it softly in a small circle.

‘Losing someone is never easy, it doesn’t matter if it happens by an accident or by natural causes. It hurts to see someone you love being buried right in front of you, knowing that there’s nothing you can do to re-live all those precious memories that you shared with them. When you have lived as long as I have, you learn to endure. Even though loss is never easy, it’s something that is needed for the natural order to continue.’ Celestia said as she laid down besides Spike and leaned towards his head.

’I guess... But you’re right when you said that it hurts, it still hurts for me, even after all these years alone with nothing else than memories of good times and times that were a little harsh. The pain will always be there, but you learn to live with it. Spike said as he softly leaned his head towards the not-so-little pony besides him.

‘You have become wiser over the years, Spike. You have gained a new perspective of life and death over the years.’ Celestia closed her eyes softly, taking in the warmth of the dragon she was lying next to.

‘Well, being alone for over a thousand years with nothing else than your thoughts gives you plenty of time to contemplate about life, death and everything inbetween.’ Spike said with a huff. ‘And talking with only yourself for a thousand years also messes with your head a little.’ Celestia couldn’t help but to chuckle at his expression and Spike snorted and chuckled a little at his own choice of words

After they had calmed down, Spike stretched his arms forwards and with a loud snap and a groan from him, he made himself comfortable. He stretched his neck to its full extent and carefully laid it back down on the floor, surrounding Celestia with it. She felt safe when she was around him. She didn’t need any guards while she was in his presence. She remembered what had brought her to his cave other than a nice conversation. She poked him softly beneath his right eye.

’I almost forgot, but I came here to give you something that I think you will appreciate.’ Her horn started glowing in a soft yellow light, and something that looked like a scroll popped into existance next to her. She used her magic to unroll it, and what he saw made him force hard to not to drop his jaw to the cave floor. It was an old photograpgh of Twilight and her friends. All of them were there. Even Spike was there in the middle. His grin was unnaturally big on the photo. He ran a gentle claw over the picture, almost as if he was expecting to feel Twilight’s soft coat again. He could only mutter a few slow thank you’s as he stared at the picture, his eyes being as wide as ever.

Celestia reluctantly stood up and moved away from the dazed dragon. She walked into his view. He slowly shifted his gaze to her and focused on her.

’I have to go now.’ She said in a sad tone.

‘Aww, already? It has only been 7 hours...’ Spike said in an equally sad tone.

‘Duty calls, but I will be back as soon as I can. And maybe Luna will also come that time’ Celestia said in a much happier tone.

‘Really? Then maybe I can finish that staring contest with her!’ Spike said in a very cheery tone. Celestia simply chuckled as a wide smile appeared on his face.

We’ll see when the time comes. Now, bye for this time.’ She said as she slowly walked towards the mouth of the cave.

‘Alright, bye then.’ He said as she spread her wings and looked back at him and smiled. She flew off with a slow start but her pace increased further the more she flew, until a bright light engulfed her as she teleported the rest of the way to Canterlot.

Spike sighed and looked back at the photograph he was given. He missed all of them so much, but he couldn’t go back to them, but he wanted to go back so much. It was impossible. He had learned to endure, but he still had to learn to handle loss.

Return

If you find any stupid grammar/spelling errors, tell me and I'll fix it as soon as I can.

He was staring down at her, his gaze was colder than it ever had been. His enormous emerald orbs gave a shine of confidence, strength and respect. Nopony with his or her sanity would dare to question the dragon and walk away to tell the tale. His claws were shining in the pale moonlight, giving the black daggers a moonlit shine. He was the incarnated object of all the things a pony should fear.

The lunar princess stood before him in all her might, she was a power to be reckoned with. The night sky and the great lunar orb, who once served as her prison was now in her full command once again. Her power knew almost no limits, such did her lifespan. When the skies would fall, so would she. Her mane, who resembled a star-filled night flowed in a non-existant wind. The silence between the two was eerie. The tension between them was almost so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

Until Luna crossed her eyes and blew a raspberry right in Spike’s face.

Spike couldn’t control himself, he rolled onto his back while clutching his sides as he was laughing so hard that it was making them ache. Luna did the same, but she was flapping her wings and kicking her hindlegs into the air. Luna had come to visit him, without Celestia this time. They had decided to finish a stare contest that hadn’t been finished the last time she had visited.

‘You... You lost!’ Spike gasped between his thunderous laughter. He had calmed down enough to lay still, but his right leg still twitched from time to time.

‘That I did, but it was worth it.’ Luna said as she laid down with her forelegs tucked beneath her, still giggling.

‘Heh, yeah.’ Spike carefully rolled onto his stomach and laid his head down on his folded arms. The moonlight came in through the mouth of the cave, and was aimed right at him. Luna couldn’t take her eyes off him, it was almost binding to see the silver light reflect on his purple scales. Spike noticed that Luna was lost in thought and nudged her gently with his massive hand. She blinked rapidly and shook her head. ‘You alright, Luna?’. He asked, concerned.

‘Uh.. yes, I’m fine.’ She was a little embarassed that she had lost herself like that, and a soft blush appeared on her face. She was lucky that it was dark out and the only light inside the cave was a small fire that Spike had started when she first came there.

‘Alright, alright.’ Spike stretched his arms and wings before he would neatly fold the wings back to his side and fold the arms and lay them back under his chin.

‘Don’t you ever get sick of being in this cave and only this forest all day?’ Luna asked as she moved closer towards him.

‘Sometimes, yeah. But if I would leave it I would cause a panic amongst the ponies.’ Spike finished with a sigh.

‘You want to see Ponyville again, don’t you?’ Luna scooted closer towards him and leaned towards his massive frame for warmth. The cave wasn’t exactly warm during the night.

‘Yeah... But I would cause a panic if I would come there right out of the blue. This generation probably has no idea that a dragon used to live in Ponyville a thousand years ago...’ Spike wanted to go there so much, but all he would do is cause chaos.

‘You know, I could arrange so that you could visit Ponyville for maybe a week or so.’ Luna said as she nuzzled her head towards his massive head. Spike was in shock. After all these years in solitude, he would be able to come back to the place he wanted to be.

‘Can you do that for me?’ Luna nodded.

‘Really?’ Spike wanted confirmation.

‘Yes really.’ Luna sighed.

’If this is a joke it isn’t funny.’ Spike pointed out in a serious tone.

Luna facehoofed and let out a deep sigh. ‘I’m not joking, I’m a princess and all it takes is one letter. Now do you want to go or not?’

‘YES!’ Spike roared and it felt almost like the entire mountain shook from his answer.

Luna’s ears were ringing and it felt like she had to throw up, but she managed to calm down and compose herself. ‘Great! As soon as I get back to the castle I will send a letter down to Ponyville. I’m sure that Celestia will love the idea. We’ll come with you and escort you there with a couple of guards!’ Luna was very excited that Spike would get out. Spike was even more excited than the princess next to him. He had to keep himself from standing up and bouncing around like Pinkie used to do all the time. A small grin was plastered on his face.

Luna looked out to see that the first rays of the sun were breaching the horizon. She realized that she had to go and finish her responsibility. She sighed and turned towards the excited heap of dragon and nudged his side with her hoof. ’I have to go and help my sister create a new day...’

Spike’s excited mood deflated a little, but perked up at the thought that she will make preparations so he can go to Ponyville. ‘Alright, take good care of your sis for me!’ He chuckled.

Luna chuckled with him as she walked closer to his head and nuzzled it. ’I will, and expect a letter from us.’ She continued to walk towards the mouth of the cave and just before she took off, she turned slightly and waved to him with her right hoof. He returned the gesture but slower and sighed as she took off.

‘Alone again...’ He said in a low tone. He looked over to a corner of the cave where another manticore corpse was lying in a heap. His gaze continued to wander to a small scroll. He reached for it and unrolled it. It was the picture he was given by Celestia a week ago. He handled it carefully so it wouldn’t rip, even when Celestia had put a spell on it so it wouldn’t rip or burn. He laid the picture back on its usual place and closed his eyes. Being up the entire night with Luna had been tiring, so he decided to sleep the day away.

Spike awoke with a start. His stomach rumbled in a way it hadn’t done in more than a thousand years, he felt the pressure rise from his stomach to his throat. He couldn’t stop it and before he knew it, he burped a small green flame and a scroll appeared by the end of it and dropped to the cave floor. He stared at it for a while before he realised what had just happened.

‘Still a mailbox, huh...’ He groaned as he picked up the scroll. The seal was a sun with a crescent moon in the middle of it. As he unrolled it and read it, his jaw dropped.

’’Dear Spike,

My sister informed me of her idea to re-introduce you to Ponyville and its habitants of this generation. I have accepted the request and sent a notification to the town’s mayor and my current student, Dawn. Dawn is a descendant of Twilight Sparkle, and she have heard stories about how it used to be a dragon in her family. She is more than excited to meet you and talk to you. She can be a lot like Twilight, so expect many questions.

I recieved a very positive response from the mayor, and preparations have begun to house you during your stay. Me, my sister and a number of guards will come to escort you there in three days time.

Remember, this might be stressful for you, so as soon as something happens, do not hesitate to alert me or Luna. It’s for your own safety, as we would never want anything to happen to you.

Your faithful friend,

Princess Celestia

P.s News have reached the media. We will keep them away from you.’’

Spike kept reading it over and over. Three... Days... He will go to Ponyville in three days. He couldn’t believe what he just had read. Twilight had a descendant who was now Celestia’s student and also lived in Ponyville. It was almost too much for him to handle. He laid down the letter from the princess gently and calmly walked out the mouth of the cave and spread his wings and took off to the sky.

In the air, Spike screamed out his happiness. He roared and did a few flips that Rainbow Dash would facehoof to if she would have seen them. When he had finally calmed down, he returned to his cave and pranced inside. He hadn’t been this happy in years. He would finally return to the town he was raised in. It was going to be three slow days until then, but it would be worth the wait. He laid down on his hoard on his back and placed his arms behind his head and relaxed with a small grin that made him look stupid. He closed his eyes and put one of his hands resting on his stomach and sighed. This was going to be awesome. He just knew it.

The three days had passed irritatingly slow and Spike was running out of patience. He was sitting on the platform outside his cave and was impatiently tapping his claws on the ground. He finally saw the shape of the princesses and ten guards in the distant. He stood up and stretched his wings to their full extent. Celestia was the first one to land, followed by her sister and the guards. The guards who wasn’t with them the first time they visited Spike couldn’t believe their eyes as their princesses walked up to the humongous beast and nuzzled his massive right leg.

‘You ready?’ Luna asked in a challenging tone with a small smirk.

‘Always ready.’ Spike answered with a grin, exposing his fangs.

‘Well then, let’s not waste precious time here.’ Celestia said as she turned to her guards and nodded. The guards spread their wings at the same time with a snap.

‘Impressive.’ Spike said while slowly nodding. He walked towards the edge and looked down. He jumped off the cliff and went into a short dive, before he turned back up and just rode the wind. Celestia and the rest of the ponies soon caught up to him and he quickly nodded as the ponies started leading the way.

Four hours of constant flying later, he could see the edges of the town. It had grown bigger, but the big tree that was the library was still standing strong. The edge of the Everfree forest had moved closer to the town. As they came closer, he could make out the figure of a lone pony standing on the edge of the town. Celestia, Luna and the guards started their descent, but Spike had to circle the town for him to slow down. As he flew around it, he could see many ponies staring up at him with awe. He was finally flying slowly enough so he could land. He descended slowly and when he was close to the ground, he gave his wings a few strong flaps so he could place his legs on the ground before his arms, or it would be an embarassing tumble instead of a graceful landing.

When he finally was on solid ground, he could see the pony that he had seen from the air. Her coat was a little darker than what Twilight’s had been, but her eyes were brighter. She was of course a unicorn. Her mane were a little shorter than Twilight’s and a little darker, her cutiemark was also like Twilight’s but it was three sparkles and they were bright pink and no white. She stared at Spike with huge eyes. She had obviously never seen a dragon before. She kept on opening and closing her mouth like she were trying to find words. Spike took it to his own to make an introduction.

’Hi, I’m Spike...’ He said in a tone that would have given Fluttershy a run for her bits.

’Hi Spike, I’m Dawn.,,’ She said, shuffling her forelegs, making a small cloud of dust appear.

And that was the first of many awkward silences in his return to Ponyville.

Hope and beginnings

If you find any stupid grammar/spelling errors, tell me.

Things had been going well in his visit, Dawn had helped him introduce himself to the rest of the townsponies. They all seemed to be very interested and the only ponies to be scared were the young colts and fillies. Celestia and Luna never left his side, but they had dispatched their guards to cover the area around them. Spike couldn’t be happier to be back and Luna noticed.

‘Well what do you think, Spike?’ Luna poked his arm as he walked next to her.

‘This. is. GREAT!’ he had to keep himself from shouting. Dawn laughed as she lead the way through the town, they were heading to the library.

‘I’m glad you liked it, Spike.’ Dawn giggled as they were closing in to the library but as they were close, he saw something that made him speechless. His jaw just hung open. There, besides the library was a statue of Twilight Sparkle. Spike walked carefully towards it with his head low, almost as if he expected it to break if he walked to it too eagerly. The statue itself was bigger than a normal pony, it was like Luna in height. He sat down in front of it, he could feel tears starting to work their way up to his eyes. Spike managed to fight them back, but he slowly laid down and wrapped his arms around the base of the statue. He felt nothing but regret when he saw the tattered statue. Everypony who had walked to the library with him just stared at him, so did everypony watching. Celestia had to do her best to figh back tears, as the memories of Twilight washed over her too. She walked up to him and laid down besides him.

‘Spike?’ Celestia asked in a comforting tone as she nuzzled his side.

‘Why?’ He sobbed.

‘What do you mean with that?’ Celestia asked him, slightly confused.

‘Why did I have to be a dragon and not a pony? I could have been with her and not run away because of blind rage.’ Celesti felt a small trickle of water against her legs, and she knew that it was his tears.

‘Nature is something that even I or Luna can’t control... We cannot go back in time and change certain events as that would destroy nature’s cycle.’ She brushed a comforting wing against him, and he shuddered slightly at the touch.

’I hate the nature’s cycle...’ Spike said in a dark tone. ’I want Twilight back.’ His tone softened and translated into another soft sob. Luna walked up to him and stood besides her sister.

’I can say that me and my sister as well doesn’t like the nature’s cycle that much too, and I am completely sure that Celestia also would want Twilight to come back. But the cycle is what keeps Equestria in harmony, it might sound wrong but it’s true.’ Luna stated.

’As my sister said, the nature’s cycle is is a big part of the harmony in Equestria because if nopony would pass, Equestria would be overpopulated and there wouldn’t be enough food to provide everypony. And before we knew it, wars for supplies would break out and crush harmony.’ Celestia stood up besides Spike and rubbed her hoof on his side. ‘Now let’s continue the grand tour, shall we?’ Celestia said with a soft smile that she knew that Spike couldn’t say no to.

’I guess...’ He withdrew his arms from around the statue and pushed himself up to stand. He glanced at the great tree besides the statue. He had something he had to do that he had wondered about for a while. He told the ponies around him to stand back and everypony took a few steps back, some took a few extra steps. He positioned himself in front of the door and carefully pushed his tail to the ground for support, instead of slamming it like he usually did. When he was sure that the tail would be able to balance him, he leaned back on his legs and slowly raised his arms. It was a slow process but when he was finished, he was standing on his legs. The three barely reached his shoulders. He wanted to know if he was bigger than the library, and he was. Satisfied, he lowered himself to the ground and stood up and nodded to the princesses to show that he was ready to continue.

Dawn lead the way towards the outskirts of Ponyville. They were on their way to the Sweet Apple Acres. Spike was amazed that the farm was still used but he wasn’t surprised, as he knew that the Apple family would never leave work or the orchard to die. When they were walking along a dirt road, he saw something that caught his eyes. It looked like a boulder placed on a hill. It was covered in moss and he could see that it used to be a bridge. It took a while for him to realise that it was Fluttershy’s old cottage. Dawn was talking to Spike about Twilight’s accomplishments but when she heard no answer, she looked back to see Celestia and Luna giggling and Spike walking in a brisk pace to the old boulder and sat down just by the edge of the stream that divided him from it.

’Uh Spike, what’s with that stone?’ Dawn asked him, curious as always.

Spike snorted, and reached a claw against the moss and with a quick slash, the moss fell down and showed an old door. ‘It’s not a stone, it’s a cottage. Fluttershy lived here.’

Dawn suddenly felt stupid, a feeling she didn’t like at all. ’Oh...’

’I remember coming here with Twilight when I was still a baby dragon. She had a ton of animals that she took care of and nursed back to health. She was almost too kind, she allowed ponies to do things she actually didn’t like but fortunately, she learned to be assertive and believe in herself. Fluttershy was also the element of kindness.’ Spike said as a matter of fact. ‘But I still don’t like that Angel bunny.’ He growled at the thought of the small white fluffy ball of evil.

‘Interesting’ Dawn said as she nodded her head in a slow pace.

‘Shall we?’ Spike said as he stood up and walked towards the waiting princesses.

’We shall.’ Dawn giggled as she trotted up next to him

It wasn’t a long walk the rest of the way to the acres but Spike was impressed of how much bigger it had become over the years. He could see an earth pony stallion trot towards them. He was a little shorter than Big Macintosh, his coat was a little darker than what Applebloom’s had been. His mane was dark blonde with a black band at the base of his neck. A dark brown stetson hat firmly placed on his head and a yoke around his neck. His cutiemark was three apples. One red, one green and one yellowish. His eyes were a brilliant emerald green, like Spike’s. As soon as the stallion saw Dawn, he picked up his pace. Dawn trotted up to meet him. Spike rolled his eyes, he knew what was going on between those two.

As soon as Dawn came to him, she reached for his hat and placed it on her head and messed up her hair. The stallion chuckled as a wide grin appeared on her face. She turned around and faced Spike and the princesses while standing just besides him.

The stallion bowed to the princesses and his eyes widened at the sight of Spike. Dawn poked him on his shoulder. He cleared his throat and walked up to Spike.

‘Yah must be Spike if Ah’m not mistakin’’ He said in the same accent that Applejack had. Spike nodded as an answer. ‘Ah’m Buck, Ah run th’ acres. Or Ah run most o’ th’ physical work when mah twin sister run th’ business management with her fancy mathematics and such.’ He explained in a cheery tone and Dawn leaned a little towards Buck.

’A pleasure to meet you, Buck. It’s impressive how much the farm have grown over a thousand years but I shouldn’t have expected any less from an Apple.’ Spike said as he stretched his wings.

Buck stood there awestruck. That dragon had been to the farm a thousand years ago, and he complimented him for all of the work he had done. ‘Gosh, thank ya kindly...’ He shuffled his forelegs. ’Ah just do what needs to be done.’ Buck said with a weak smile.

‘You remind me a lot of Applejack. She was the most hard working pony I ever knew, but you work as hard as she does. It’s nice to see that the farm is in good hooves.’ Spike nodded and looked down at Celestia, who were smiling.

’It was nice talkin’ to yah Spike but Ah gotta git back ta’ work or mah sister will go haywire, Ah’ll see ya ‘round’ Buck nuzzled Dawn before he waved and trotted back to work. Dawn sighed and walked back to Spike. Spike said a ’‘OooooOOoo’’ As she walked back, she blushed at it and the princess giggled at her response. She meekly punched his arm and he winced in mock-pain. All of them shared a laugh.

Now it was late evening and Spike had made himself comfortable outside the library. He was about to drift off to sleep when he felt a nudge on his hand. He opened his eyes to see Dawn standing next to him.

‘Spike?’

‘Yeah?’

’I just came back from a meeting with the mayor, and she said that it was a very positive effect for you to come here. She just wanted me to tell you that you are free to come here whenever you feel like it. Everypony on the meeting agreed with her on that point.

‘Wow... I don’t know what to say... Just... Wow...’ He found himself stumbling on words, this is what he wanted, this is what he needed to hear an when he finally heard it, it felt unreal. ’So... I can go to my cave... Be there for a couple of days and then come back here again?’

Dawn nodded. ‘It’s your choice to make. You can even be here for a extended time now, if you want to.’ She was thrilled that Spike would be able to stay.

’I will come here often, but I will not extend my stay because there is a natural pull for me to be close to my hoard. I will have to go back there and check on it to see that nothing’s missing or if something decided to move in without me knowing.’ Spike explained to her.

Dawn had read about dragons and their pull to their territory and hoard, so she understood why he would have to leave and come back after a few days. ’I understand, I studied dragons.

’Of course you did.’ Spike chuckled. Dawn blushed a little and giggled. You know, the princess was right.’ Spike said as he laid onto his side.

‘About what?’ She took a step towards him and sat down besides him.

‘About you being a lot like Twilight. She was the one who followed everything by the book. If she didn’t, she could easily panic and throw a fit. She wanted so much good that she often forgot about herself in the end. I thought that I’d never meet anypony like her again, but then you show up. I couldn’t be happier. I still want her to return though. She was like a sister to me.’ Spike gazed up at the statue of his sister.

Dawn was taken aback of the similarities between her and Twilight. She was flattered that he thought so much about her when they had just met today. ’ Spike, I...’ She was completely at loss for words. She was a little startled when Spike reached out his arms to her, but she walked to them and leaned towards his massive chest. He was warm, his scales were softer then what she had expected them to be.

Spike was in bliss. He finally had a place to fit in again. He could come and go how much he wanted. They wouldn’t get scared or run away when he would walk towards them. They would smile and wave to him. He felt a sudden warmth, not the warmth that already existed from the fire inside of him. It was a warmth that explained that he finally had a place where he could call his home again. In his thoughts, he could swear that he heard a familiar voice talk to him..

‘I’m so proud of you Spike, you came back after all these years.’ It was Twilight’s voice. How, he don’t know.

’Tw- Twilight.’ Even his thoughts stammered.

’I always loved you. Don’t you dare forget it, mister.’

Tears built up in him again. He allowed them to flow. He didn’t care. ’I never forgot you, and I never will. I love you, Twi.’ His claws clenched to the ground and he screwed his eyes shut.

’I love you too Spike.’ Twilight’s voice faded away. Spike was dissappointed that it was gone, but his chest felt lighter, as if something had been lifted off it. He smiled weakly as he opened his eyes and looked to his side, where Dawn was sleeping. He placed his wings over her as a cover and sighed. He could live with this. He felt something spark inside of him, it was hope of a new beginning. He had learned to endure, to handle loss and to remember. The new found hope was what he needed to stop worrying about the past and continue the rest of his life with friends who needed him. He looked up to the night sky. One star was shining brighter than the rest. He realised that it was Twilight looking down at him from the afterlife.

‘I’ll see you soon, Twi.’

Author's note: Welp! That was it. Endurance is now finished and I will start writing another story, When The Wind Changes. Check it out for Discord's antics! Cheers.

Wishes (Epilogue)

800 years later

It was now over 2000 years after Spike had originally left Ponyville, and 500 years ago he had to leave Ponyville again due to his condition. He had become sick. There was an unknown disease that had never been researched by ponies. It only affected dragons, and Spike was one of the unlucky ones.

The disease is a complete lack of control over his fire, even on the inside of his massive frame. It burns his internal organs to ashes in a slow and agonizing pace. His lungs and heart have been lucky so far. He would sadly not live for another 100 years if the disease continues to eat him up from the inside. He was only 2126 years old. It was a young age for a dragon, as most dragons live for a minimum of 8000 years. You could say that it was a tragedy.

Celestia and Luna had insisted that he would stay in Canterlot by the castle with them. He had been hesitant at first, but he agreed eventually. The only things he had requested from his hoard had been Rarity’s necklace, the picture of his friends and a few gems. He had willingly donated the rest of his old hoard to good causes. He was lying in the castle garden, lazily watching some Royal Guards train some new recruits. He almost felt bad for the recruits.

The gentle clopping of padded hoves filled his ears. He slightly lifted his heavy head to see the source. It was Celestia. He rested his head on the ground and gently smiled. The burning sensation inside made him cringe. Celestia walked up to him with a concerned expression

’‘How are you feeling today, Spike?’’ She ran a comforting hoof across his face.

’‘Same as always, like I’m burning up inside.’’ Spike grinned weakly to try and hide the pain from her.

Celestia shook her head in a slow pace. ’‘I’m sorry I can’t do anything to help you. It all happened so unexpected...’’ Celestia sighed. Spike lifted his giant hand and nudged her as light as he could.

’‘Even if you could do anything, it would be too late. I’m just happy I can be here with you and Luna.’’ Spike comforted Celestia at the best of his abilities. ’‘And like you said, my fire growing out of control was unexpected without any hints of it happening...’’ Celestia leaned towards his hand and sighed again. Spike suddenly twitched, surprising both of them causing Celestia to almost fall to her side. Spike pulled his hand back and lowered his head in shame. ’‘I’m just a big waste of space and air now...’’ This time it was Spike’s turn to sigh, making his insides burn.

Celestia gasped at how Spike could say that about himself. ’‘You are so much more than a waste of space, Spike! You have me, Luna and the Sparkle family besides you. We all fear the day you will...’’ Celestia choked on the last word, almost hesitating to say it. ’‘Die...’’

Spike was taken aback from Celestia’ sudden attitude, but it was expected from what he had just said. He extended his arm towards her again, Celestia trotted next to him and laid down by his side, leaning towards his side for warmth. Due to the increased heat inside of him he was much warmer than before. The dragon version of a common fever could be an inferno. He lifted his wing and Celestia scooted beneath it before he laid it back down.

The sun had begun its decent, making way to Luna’s night. Spike lifted his head to gaze at the stars. They seemed to be endless in numbers. Spike saw a few stars fall. He made a wish that he hoped with his entire being that it would come true. A soft breeze came across the garden. He could feel Celestia shiver against him. Spike pulled his wing closer to him so he could maintain more warmth for him and his precious cargo.

It was common that Celestia would come out into the gardens and spend the night with him like she did right now. It made him feel safe. A gentle snore from her confirmed his thoughts of her already sleeping. He chuckled a little at the snoozing princess who had given him a home when he needed it the most. Spike laid his head back down on the ground and feel asleep soon after, taking his final breath. The fire had reached his heart due to the involuntary twitch.

Running.

He was running through a field. He noticed that he wasn’t barreling ahead on four legs, he was running like he did when he was just a baby. That’s when it struck him.

He wasn’t in the garden anymore. He was running through a field in a bi-pedal stance. He tried to stop running, but his legs would not answer to him. He looked down at his hands. They were small again. His adult claws hadn’t come out and neither had his wings. He was a baby dragon again.

He reached the edge of the field, gasping at what he saw standing there in front of him. It was Twilight and the others. Tears of joy sprung to his eyes as he kept on sprinting. The girls had noticed him running to them. Twilight was running towards him to meet him halfways.

Spike jumped up towards her and threw his arms around her neck, sobbing gently and kept on apologizing for leaving her. He shuddered slightly as Twilight sat down and lifted him up in her arms, still embracing him. He had missed this. Rarity and Fluttershy walked up besides Twilight.
’’We were waiting for you, Spike...’’ Twilight said as she rocked him gently from side to side, still hugging him tightly.

’’I missed you so much...’’ Spike pressed his face into her neck. She was just as he remembered her.

He lived through hell when he first left her and for a thousand years he lived in misery. Then Celestia found him and took him in. It hurt to leave Celestia and Luna behind after all they had done to help him. Spike nuzzled his cheek to the base of Twilight’s neck. He decided that living through hell to get where he was now had been worth it.

And one more thing that was surprising to him was that his wish had been granted.

Never take what you have for granted, or whine when you can’t have enough. Be strong and lead by a fine example because when you least expect it, you can loose everything. Do everything you can do to prevent falling into misery after loss. You will have the Endurance to do so.

The End