Scales of fire

Chapters

Chapter 1: Genesis
Chapter 2: Ignorance
Chapter 3: Oppression
Chapter 4: Diligence

Chapter 1: Genesis

Magic is what others name that in which they cannot or refuse to understand. Since the invention of this concept, all this has done is create war and stir chaos.
Billions have died fighting, either to defend or force their beliefs of magic on one another but never bothering to stop and decipher what magic truly is, and what it stands for.

That is where we come in. We are the beings well known as the dragon gods and despite the name we do not dilute our minds by fancying ourselves as the gods our names proclaim us to be. We refer to ourselves as the Genesis beings, the first of the dragons and oldest living race to continue to roam these lands and we have only ever had the one goal in our minds. To answer the now taboo question of modern society 'what is magic?' we studied and pondered this question for millennia, asking all known species we could possibly find, careful as not to disturb or interfere into the beliefs of any of the living or even the dead. Our intentions were the purest of any, until one day we asked the wrong creature. They called themselves alicorns, creatures of magical power second only to our own. The alicorns did not like our intentions or our research and therefore saw us as a threat. Being the pacifist creatures that we are we first attempted to reason with the alicorn race and come to coincide peacefully. But the Alicorns refused and said the only way for our two races to live in peace with one another would be for us to abandon our search for answers and come to recognize them as our superiors under threat of death. We refused these terms and decided if there is to be a war then we shall not back down; dragons will always suffer at the hands of their own pride. So began began the eternity war.

The eternity war waged for millennia past and shall continue for millennia to come. At the beginning of the war we became ruthless and used the knowledge of magic that we had learned in a new found way, that we were soon to regret 'kill.' We had nearly wiped all sentient life off the planet leaving a horrid path of destruction in our wake that stained the soil with the scent and color of blood for century’s, craters from magical blasts that could be seen clearly from orbit and many different corners of the globe left engulfed in permanent flame or frost, forests and jungles alike were left salted so they may be barren until the end of time. As we began to realize what we were doing it was decided that we stop before what little life remained was scoured from the face of the world, however there were those of us whom did not feel the same.

These dragons were called 'Fractum' they had been corrupted by the war but only through pure intentions. What they had hoped to do was use this war as a learning experience, they stumbled across something that clearly angered their hearts and made them become the beasts we now know them to be. This only intensified the Eternity war sprouting more and more hate as the war continued on. All races were now at war, and not just with other species but amongst themselves aswell. They did however eventually come to a truce with one another and thought it wise to focus fire on our race being the most threatening. We found ourselves cornered with little to no idea of how to go about this situation without finishing off every sentient being on the planet and eventually ourselves. We realized that if we were suddenly out of the picture then peace would settle upon the lands. We thought it wise to just disappear into hiding until our race becomes little more than a legend before carefully revealing ourselves once more. But then there were the Fractum, brothers and sisters of ours too far gone to even consider peaceful ways and you were either with them or against them. With no options left we came to the only logical conclusion, stop the Fractum.

It only took us a decade to formulate the most powerful spell ever created that would be able to cast the Fractum from this world out into the void. It was created by the most intellectual Genesis to ever grace this world, he was our king, our leader lord Cupitor and more importantly my father. He gave his life using this spell as did so many others of our brothers and sisters. In order to cast this spell the worst of all things magical had to be committed. Mass sacrifice, this spell was named 'Titan Chain' and was intended to keep the Fractum in the void until hopefully the end of time. But before Titan Chain was performed we were enlightened by Cupitor that a flaw had been found in the spell. All the magical energy put into the spell would not simply disappear for they follow the same rules as matter in the aspect 'matter cannot be created nor destroyed, only changed'. What this meant was that all the magic that was to be used to cast the spell would pass over into the void and be capable of use and if channeled correctly can be used to break the Titan Chain spell and free the Fractum back into our world after a few thousand years. Regardless the spell was performed even if the losses were heavy and left us in a weak and vulnerable state at least we had brought some time for this world to live on before the Fractum cut loose with what they had themselves planned as an attack spell, never has the Genesis race been so happy not to learn of how a type of magic works, even its name frightened them 'Saeculi Finem', designed to destroy reality itself.

After we had trapped the Fractum within the Titan Chain we fled the populated areas to escape the war before more of us turned. Though we may have escaped the immediate danger of the Fractum there were also the alicorns whom still hunted us Genesis beings. We had no choice but to keep running, and so we did. We ran forever, hiding in demeaning places and doing even more demeaning things that infuriated dragons of our stature. But even though we were constantly on the run we continued on our great journey, Our journey to find the true meaning and workings of magic. On this journey we continued our research on how to improve the Titan Chain seal. Three things were discovered during our research, we found out that the only way to make the seal permanent was to have a Fractum use its magic on the seal from outside the void to pulse one of two types of magic on it. Positive magic called 'Bonum' to strengthen it, or negative magic called 'Malum' to shatter the seal. The only problem was that we didn’t know if any Fractum had even escaped the Titan Chain spell or even if they could. But here is where the remaining Genesis became frightened. The third thing that was discovered was that only the magical properties of a Fractum egg could escape the chains grasp, but the only known Fractum to have ever laid an egg that survived was the Fractum warlord known as 'Hades'. The strongest Fractum who ever lived and possibly even the strongest Genesis who ever lived. The worst part about this was that it would be almost impossible to find a lone Genesis egg after the Titan Chain spell, especially if we stumbled across the wrong egg which would be devastating to end up with a normal 'Draconem' dragon egg. The only way to tell the difference between the two is the time it will take to hatch. We have been searching for this egg for millennia now, in hopes that it won’t be too late to find where it is before it succumbs to the rage and greed filled side of the Fractum. We could only hope for the best and prepare for the worst. But even with all that in mind we still did not anticipate the young dragon we found. He was young when I found him, young and happy even if he was a simple slave to the young race of Ponies. He didn’t seem to care, and I weep every day knowing that I had to take the young dragon away from all his ignorant bliss. The young Equestrian Genesis dragon known simply as 'Spike'.

Chapter 2: Ignorance

"Morning Twilight." Said Spike happily from the stove in the library’s kitchen over to the haggard purple unicorn. Twilight was the former student now newly appointed Princess of Equestria. Since her ascension to an Alicorn, Twilight has been having sleeping difficulties due to her uncooperative wings that have been suffering muscle spasms from flying practice with rainbow dash and new duties as an Equestrian Princess. This has led to many late nights, causing her extreme sleep deprivation and it was definitely showing.

"Ugh! Spike I really need you to start cleaning up after yourself, there are books all over the floor of my study and I don’t have time to pick them all up again!" She said groggily, scrubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Umm yeah sure Twilight I’ll make a note of that." Spike had already been told this exact request almost every morning for the past week and it had slowly become meaningless to him. He tried to tell Twilight that it was her who kept doing this and that she had been over exerting herself to the point of memory loss but as expected his attempts were proven futile. He also tried telling her that she only needed to do one or maybe two drafts at most for the research papers that Princess Celestia requested from her, but this to was shot down by Twilights stubborn obsession of having to make everything she does for the princess absolutely perfect. So being the loyal Dragon assistant he is Spike trudged on through all the repetitive tasks and nagging requests Twilight lay before him. Although this would have been a lot easier if it weren’t for these seemingly intensifying back pains.

"Please do. Now what’s for breakfast?" Twilight said eyes half open.

"Nothing special, just some eggs, beans and a few strips of hay bacon!" replied Spike with a warm smile.

"That will have to do, I guess." said Twilight half-heartedly. Spike felt a little insulted at this bland response but simply shrugged it off as fatigue.

"You know Twi you really should get some more sleep or at least take a day off. I know I say this every morning but you're going to end up hospitalizing yourself if you don’t get some rest!" Spike pointed out, holding a plate of food out to the clearly exhausted Alicorn.

"I'll be fine Spike really; I’ve got too much to do to take a break anyway." Twilight responded reaching out for the plate with her magic making it levitate from Spikes hands slightly. Then suddenly her magic faltered releasing the ceramic plate from her telekinetic grasp sending it crashing onto the floor.

"SPIKE!" Bellowed Twilight, wide eyed and suddenly very awake. "You really have to be more careful! Good ceramic plates aren’t cheap you know!" Twilight continued.

"But I didn’t drop it you had it in your magic before I went to turn away! Your magic must have failed a little and you dropped it!" Countered spike feeling more than a little frightened at Twilights abusive tone of voice.

"Oh now that’s just about the most ridiculous thing you've said all morning Spike! My magic is flawless; I’m the element of magic for crying out loud! Now stop back-chatting me and clean up this mess you made then hurry up and go clean up the other mess you made in my study!" She commanded.

"But..." Spike began only to stop himself knowing that he would only get himself in more trouble trying to argue with the stubborn Alicorn. "Yes Twilight." He finished glumly under twilights unrelenting gaze.

Spike started to bend down to pick up the larger pieces of the broken plate when suddenly 'click!' "Aaargh! My back" wailed Spike, clutching his back as best he could after the sudden sharp pain. "Twilight my back! Can i get a little help with this?"

Twilight was practically burning red hot with rage. "Now that’s just really pathetic Spike! Making up such lame excuses to get out of a little clean up job? Go outside and sit on the step Spike I don’t want to even see you right now and stay there until I see fit to let you back in!" She bellowed.

"But Twi I..." spike started only to be interrupted.

"NOW SPIKE! Or I’m taking away that gem stash you've collected beneath the pillow in your bed!" She threatened.

Spike began to get teary eyed before he simply nodded and accepted his fate and slowly hauled his deflated body out the front door.

After the front door closed Twilight said to herself "Maybe that was a little harsh? But that doesn’t matter he needs to learn somehow and I got far too much work that needs doing!" She then marched off leaving both the food and broken plate behind, to head up to her study and continued filling out some of the royal documents entrusted to her by the royal sisters. 'I'll go get Spike later when I think he's learnt his lesson.' She thought.

Meanwhile Spike sat out on the steps in front of the library, feeling both disrespected and doleful due to recent events. With tears welling in his eyes he just sat there. Trying to reason with himself that he was in the wrong or at least not to be angry with Twilight. After all she was under a lot of stress even if she was the cause of most of it. 'That’s just her nature.' Thought Spike. 'And there’s nothing I can do that will change that.'

"Hnnnng!" Complained Spike, rubbing his back in pain. 'What is wrong with you back? Why must you behave this way, you are only being an inconvenience for me at the moment.' He thought. 'Well I guess I might be out here a while. Best lie down and rest my back while I've got the chance.' He then got down on his stomach straightening out his back, with his face gazing out into the distant busy streets of the quaint little town of Ponyville. 'And so begins the wait.' Then that’s exactly what he did. He simply waited for his surrogate mother to come and fetch him up from outside and bring him back into her loving embrace where they could put this little fiasco behind them and start anew. But she never came. As minutes turned to hours, day began to turn to night and still no sign of Twilight.

He eventually decided it was best for him to just take the initiative here and go inside on his own accord. When he entered the library was silent. Not even the scratching sound of a quill on paper could be heard. Nothing but a faint snoring noise could be heard coming from upstairs in Twilights study. This made the young dragon smile for he knew exactly what this meant. Twilight had finally begun to get some rest. All be it at six o’clock at night it was sleep nonetheless.

Spike then quietly walked up the steps to Twilights study and opened the door. There she was slumped over her desk snoring silently resting her head on a huge pile of paper. Spike then proceeded to pick her up and despite his small stature he still withholds quite a bit of strength either because of the constant re-shelving of books or just another one of the perks of being a dragon. He carefully laid Twilight down in her bed and pulled up the covers as not to wake her. He gave her a quick peck on the forehead and whispered "About time you got some rest."

All he got in reply was a sleepy mumble stating something about the muscles of a stallion named 'Flash Sentry.'

Spike then proceeded out the bedroom door, shutting it slowly as not to wake the slumbering Alicorn.

Spike turned away to head towards the stairs and go clean up the papers in Twilights study, when out of the blue came a sharp pain shooting in between his shoulder blades causing him to flinch. 'Maybe lifting Twilight up to bed was a bad idea. What the hey is wrong with my stupid back?' Thought spike as he again began to walk towards the study.

Spike loved Twilight he really did, and he knows Twilight loves him, even if she is being really hard on him at the moment. That still doesn’t deny the fact that he was getting more and more frustrated at how abusive she was being with him of late. Despite their friendship Spike had become more than ready to vent his frustrations with Twilight and let her know how he really feels about the way things are going. Not to mention the back pains he had started suffering from. Twilight could at least get that looked at for him, the pain was starting to become unbearable making the most trivial of tasks difficult.

Spike had finally finished cleaning the study and stood triumphantly in the center of the room admiring his handy work. He was about to leave when he noticed a blank scroll lying on the floor, he thought it best to pick it up. Two steps over towards the bin in twilights study an idea popped into his head. 'Maybe I could write a letter to the princess and ask her to be a little more lenient with Twi, she’s putting way too much pressure on herself at the moment and its beginning to reflect on me!' So Spike quickly jogged on over to Twilights desk, grabbed a quill and began to scratch out a letter.

Dear Princess Celestia;

It has come to my attention that since Twilight has become a Princess you have seen fit to entrust her with more complex work at a larger quantity. But I was just wondering if you could maybe back up a little with what you're giving her because she is starting to get really stressed and I don’t believe it is healthy for her. She is always tired; repeating tasks more than twice without knowing it and has even begun to neglect me! I am not bad mouthing her because I know she dose not mean anything by what she is doing. You know what she is like Princess. So I implore you, please let twilight have some time off.

Your loyal subject;
Spike the Dragon

Shortly after he finished his short letter Spike quickly rolled it up, applied the wax seal and sent it off in a small spurt of green flame for the Princess to read. Something felt off about his fire though. But he brushed it off as either simple fatigue or guilt for going behind twilight like this. He was soon shaken out of that state of mind by another stabbing pain rolling across his upper back causing him to wince. "Agh! Bed now guilt tomorrow." Spike said as he then began to wander off to his basket at the foot of Twilights bed. He really hated sleeping down there like some sort of pet but it just seemed to fall through the cracks in his mind and become sealed away as 'not important'.

Spike slowly made his way to the bedroom trying as hard as he could to make little to no noise, awakening twilight is the last thing he wanted to do. When spike arrived in the room shared between Twilight and himself his eyes immediately zoomed in on his basket, his eyes felt as if they were growing heavier just by looking at it. He waddled over to his basket like a fat little scaly zombie before unceremoniously slamming his body down into it. He barely had to wait one minute before he was cast off into a deep sleep completely oblivious to the luminescent white mist floating across the floor and over to his now comatose body.

Chapter 3: Oppression

The night was still and silent, even lacking the chirping of crickets. It was as if time itself had stopped. The one thing however that broke this illusion was the thunderous snores piercing the silence from the small purple dragon that lay motionless in his basket at the foot of Twilights bed. He had been sleeping loudly for only five minutes before a dim white light began to shine around the side of his body. Letting off this light were thin smoky luminescent tendrils that began to creep over his small scaly body, crawling over his blanket and basket like a series of snakes', they soon slowed down to a snail’s pace as they narrowed in on his mouth and began slowly seeping in at an even slower speed. It took about ten minutes for the smoke to disappear entirely into Spikes mouth before his mouth shut silencing his snoring sending his breaths down to a more subtle and quiet tone.

Meanwhile in Spikes mind he had not even began to dream yet, he was in the peaceful eventless space before dreams would come to take him away. But this night would be different. Rather than appearing in the middle of an event in his sleep like usual he felt himself being slowly eased into what felt like a soft and warm breeze. All he could see was blackness, but he could hear a faint whisper in a dialect that felt somewhat familiar to him yet at the same time completely foreign to him.

“Umm… hello?” Spike said out to the darkness that replied with a very deep and very ancient voice.

“Greetings young Dragon.” It said nothing else.

Soon the darkness began to brighten as the white mist began to reveal itself taking no form in particular.

“Ok this is by far one of the strangest dreams I’ve had in a long time… not the weirdest but it’s definitely up there!” Spike said to himself staring at the bright mist.

“I can assure that this is not a dream, although you are still sleeping you are yet to begin dreaming.” Spike just stood still in his confusion trying to think of something to say about his current situation.

“You are still not convinced?” The question seemed to leave spike unfazed.

“Is this Princess Luna? What’s going on? I’m really confused right now.” Spike said becoming a little flustered.

“Ah yes Luna, I remember her. No I am not, she cannot reach you here because you are not yet dreaming, and do not worry I will not be intruding on your dreams for this is being done in real time and will be remembered far more vividly when you awaken.” Spike shifted his head sideways.

“How can I know this isn’t a dream? I’ve had some strange dreams before so you must understand why I’m feeling a little unconvinced right now?” Spike pointed out sounding completely unfazed.

“I do have a way of proving this young Dragon but I would much proffer not to. Although your reasoning makes perfect sense I was hoping that we could base this off simple trust.” Spike frowned a little.

“No thanks I’d like proof. I’ve done enough weird things in Ponyville so the last thing I need to do is run around telling everypony that my dreams are becoming sentient when even I don’t know if it’s true!” Spike said in one long breath.

“I would really proffer not to. But there is wisdom behind your words. Very well then, prepare young dragon this will cause immense pain.” This news caused spikes eyes to widen suddenly.

“Wait wha…” Spike stopped suddenly feeling the pain he was told he would feel. It was so intense it made him feel like he had been hit in the head by rocket launcher, that had refused to kill him but only leave his head in small throbbing pieces scattered about the floor. Spike stumbled around in the black world in front of the glowing mist. The only thing he could do was fumble around as a ringing sound overpowered his senses and a blur scratched the vision from his eyes. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t scream, all he could do was stumble and suffer.

When all the noise and pain finally dissipated he let out a loud scream as he slammed his claws to his ears kneeling down in front of the mist.

“I am sorry young Dragon but I do trust that you believe me when I tell you that you are not dreaming now?” It took a while but Spike finally managed to stand himself back up. Wobbling he looked back at the mist with a very angry expression second only to the infamous stare of Fluttershy.

“There must be a softer way of proving yourself than that!” Spike growled clenching his teeth as hard as possible.

“None that I am currently aware of. I do not commit sleep magic so this concept is somewhat alien to me. I study cold magic involving wind and ice. My name is Duratus son of Lord Cupitor, now may I ask you of your name young Dragon?” Said the ancient voice softly.

“Spike son of… well umm… Princess Twilight Sparkle I guess? What are you?” Spike asked calmly.

“I know they call you Spike young Dragon but that is not your name. What is the name you have chosen for yourself?” Asked Duratus.

“I don’t have a chosen name, I just always called myself Spike, and there would be no point in picking a different name when everyone else knows me as Spike? But you didn’t answer my question, what are you?” Questioned Spike pondering the redundancy of having two names.

“Tell me young Dragon before I answer your question where and how was your egg hatched?” Spike was beginning to grow suspicious by this point.

“In Canterlot by Twilight, they used my egg as a test to see if Twilight was legible of enrolling in Celestias School for Gifted Unicorns. She passed obviously, she is really good at magic.” Spike said proudly.

“Interesting, This Twilight must hold massive quantities of magical power to hatch a Dragon egg and if my scans are correct that only makes her even more impressive!” Spike crossed his arms missing what Duratus mumbled.

“Ok now it’s your turn, what are you?” He said pointing at the mist.

“I, much like you, am a Dragon.” Spike sighed.

“Oh great another Dragon, just what I need is another jerk pressuring me to do stupid things!” Spike said rolling his eyes sarcastically.

“I can assure you young Dragon that whatever Dragons you may have previously met were not like you or me. You see young Dragon we are not normal Dragons, this should be abundantly obvious due to our ability to perform magic.”

"Wait wait wait! I can’t use magic, aside from my fire anyway. But that was a spell cast by Celestia anyway." replied Spike hastily.

"That is because none have yet bothered to teach you the ways of Genesis Dragon magic yet. That is why I am here. To teach you one of the oldest known types of magic to grace this world and to eventually reunite you with your own kind. Young Dragon there is much I wish to tell you and many you wish to ask but I fear that there are just not enough hours in a day. I promise to you that each night I will return to you before you begin to dream to teach you more if you so wish but first I must ask of you one thing." Duratus said beginning to rush his words a little towards the end.

"Depends. Will it cause me any more pain?" Spike raised an eyebrow.

"At first yes but it will be worth it. May I enquire as to how long you have had these back pains?" As if on cue Spike felt another stabbing pain between his shoulder blades.

"About a month now I guess, but how did you know about the pains?" Spike winced slightly.

"Magic can tell us many this young Dragon but not all things especially to a race of natural magic resistance, hence why I asked. But putting that aside what the pains mean is that you are growing your wings and that they have been held back from release for far too long. I am impressed that you can even stand it shows great strength especially for one in a situation such as yours." Spike went to interject but was unable to due to Duratus halting him "Now before you speak here is my request, once it is fulfilled I will be able to keep this spell open longer to answer the questions your mind must now be flooded with. So are you prepared?" Spike blinked.

"Yes?" he said sounding unsure.

"What I need you to do young Dragon is carve your back to release your wings." Spikes eyes widened. “Although the pain will be excruciating at first but it will prevent any serious problems arising if they are left to grow internally, you will also be able to fly like a true Genesis Dragon and have your magic become easier to access." Duratus was beginning to sound distracted.

"DO WHAT!" Spike shouted. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

"Please young Dragon you must trust me. When they are released you will be able to access your magic far easier allowing me to keep this window open longer for us to talk." The white smoke of Duratus was beginning to dim as he began to speak faster as if running out of time.

"Wait a minute nothing you said makes any sense. I don’t get it what am..." Spike gasped in pain and reached up and held his head. The intense pain from when Spike demanded proof of reality had returned with a vengeance. The smoke had dissipated into nothingness leaving nothing but blackness in his vision, the ringing in his ears became beyond unbearable.

Then Spike woke up, launching himself out of his basket, eyes watering as he was flung into a coughing fit crawling around aimlessly on the floor. He eventually stopped coughing and began to slow his breathing; the pain had mostly disappeared by that point though he still felt a numb throbbing in his head and a ringing in his ears. Spike eventually stood up, noticing it was still night time, judging by the angle the moonlight was coming in through the window it appeared as if he hadn’t slept at all, but Spike knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep again now. The pain had sent enough adrenalin into his body to wake the dead. Slowly Spike’s mind began to clear as he remembered the dream he just had. ‘What the heck was that? It couldn’t have been a dream could it?' He thought massaging his temples. His train of thought however was broken by a small groan and some stirring in the bed above his basket. 'Well at least she didn’t wake up... what do i do now?' Spike stood there hesitantly for a moment before finally deciding to just walk down stairs for a drink.

As Spike made his way down the stairs he felt his back begin to play up again, that had immediately cast his mind back to what Duratus said 'Carve your back to release your wings... you will be able to access your magic...' The words echoed in his mind for a moment. "Carve my back... no he couldn’t have been serious?" Spike stood motionless in the middle of the stair case. He suddenly decided to go back up stairs to the bathroom to find a mirror to examine his back. Upon entering the bathroom he made sure to close the door before turning the light on, scared that it would wake Twilight.

Spike walked up to the mirror in the bathroom and looked himself over a couple of times coming to the conclusion that 'Yep that’s a dragon... a really small, really sore Dragon.' But that was only looking at himself head on. He bent his right shoulder down and turned his head so he could still see the reflection, feeling a twinge of pain as he did so. Spike reached an arm around himself to feel his back. When his claw came into contact with his back it felt tender, like a zit ready to burst only far bigger. He poked and prodded at his back for a moment, he then began to flex some of his back muscles a bit to stretch them and relieve some of the pain. That’s when he saw something peculiar moving just left of his right shoulder blade beneath his scales, he didn’t see what it was properly though so he tried to flex that muscle in particular again only focusing more intently than last time. He then saw something under his scales push up against them making a lump that moved as he flexed it. This however not only hurt but startled him at the same time electing a "ARR!" from Spike as he jumped back from the mirror sending him comedic stumbling over his own tail where the then landed right on his back provoking an even louder "AARRRR!!!" from the small Dragon.

Spike squirmed on the floor for a bit before the sound of hoof steps filled his ears. He was expecting Twilight to rush into the bathroom sweep him up and ask him what’s wrong; sadly he received an angry Twilight that appeared not the least bit concerned about his wellbeing.

"SPIKE! What the hay is going on in here it’s the middle of the night! Some of us are trying to sleep you know, you keep telling me to get some rest and when I finally do go to bed you get up in the middle of the night and take advantage of me being asleep and run around wreaking havoc and screaming randomly! Spike if you keep acting like an animal that’s exactly how I’m going to treat you." Twilight appeared to be steaming.

"But my..." Like always Spike was prevented from explaining himself by a rampant Twilight.

"No Spike I don’t want to hear it! You can sleep in the hallway tonight and I’m taking away your mini gem hoard!" she stormed off back to their room with a teary eyed Spike jogging slightly to keep up with his mad caretaker. When they got to the bedroom Twilight stopped suddenly in the doorway causing Spike to do the same. She then levitated his basket up off the floor in the room and carelessly threw it into the hall where he would now be spending the rest of the night. Twilight walked out into the hall and slammed the bedroom door shut behind her with her magic.

"Now seeing that I’m awake again I might as well go back to work, so I don’t want to hear a peep out of you until morning okay! Now get some sleep you spoiled little gecko." Twilight stormed off to her study and slammed the door so hard Spike heard the door crack slightly. Spike was so flabbergasted about what just transpired that he had no idea what to think or how to feel, at first he was sad but now he was confused as well and maybe even a little angry at how abusive Twilight had just been for what he thought to be no just cause. 'What’s wrong with her? Why is she being so mean? She’s been cruel before but this is a whole new level! What did I do that was so wrong?' Questions just kept swimming around in Spike’s head as he slowly remade his bed inside his tiny basket.

Spike sat in his basket for what felt like hours, unable to get any sleep. Soon enough the sun began to rise shining a brilliant yellow in through the windows. It was around this time that Twilight ventured out of her study and walked up to Spike clearly just as tired as the day before. She walked over to spike with an apologetic look in her eyes.

“Morning Spike, I’m sorry I yelled at you last night that may have been a little uncalled for.” She said calmly looking him in the eye. That made Spike smile slightly. “But you must understand why you’re in trouble and why I have been so stern with you.” Her voice turned into a commanding tone but not raising her voice. “So if you’re good I’ll give you back your gems, does that sound fair?” It didn’t really sound fair to Spike but he knew arguing would be pointless making this his only option to get back his gems.

He replied with a soft tone of voice. “Yes Twilight.”

“Good, now I’ve got a few scrolls in my study that I need you to send to the princess, they’re the ones with the blue seals on my desk, can you send them off while I go down to the kitchen and make some breakfast?” She said as she began to head down stairs.

“Yes ma’am!” said Spike puffing out his chest and saluting. Spike ran off to Twilights study to do as he was asked, he felt happy about the talk he and Twilight just had even if it was putting him in the wrong. He didn’t care though, Twilight seemed to be in a better mood and that seemed to be all that mattered to him at the moment. Spike finally got into the study, grabbed the documents and began to send them off by fire. He had just sent off the last document when he heard Twilight shout his name angrily from the kitchen.

“SPIKE!!!” Spikes froze knowing whatever had happened was going to be his fault whether or not it really was. Spike ran down stairs, eager to get the lecture to come over and done with.

“Yes Twilight?” His voice shook a little whilst saying this.

Twilight said nothing and just pointed a hoof at the mess on the floor next to the kitchen table. It was the breakfast from the morning before that she had dropped shortly before sending Spike outside for the day.

“Oh sorry Twilight I didn’t get a chance to…” Spike was cut off sounding a little panicked.

“Out.” Said Twilight flatly, now pointing at the door.

“But…”

“Out.” She interrupted again in the same tone of voice.

“I didn’t…”

“Out” she said once again in the same tone.

Spike just put on a sad expression and walked out the door looking back only for a second before Twilights magical aura slammed the door shut leaving him once again outside and alone. Spike just sat down on the front step, suppressing tears and choosing to focus his mind elsewhere in an attempt to pass the time.

He had been there for about an hour before his back began to hurt again, Spike straightened up in hopes to relieve some of the pain. Looking up Spike saw a Pegasus flying around in the clouds. No pony he recognized, just a random enjoying the wind in his face as he flew around doing random tricks showing off to any bystanders. All Spike saw however was his wings.

“Carve my back?”

Author's Note

Not sure about this chapter.
And i would like to thank my mate at school for editing this for me even if he despises mlp.

Chapter 4: Diligence

It had been a full six hours since Twilight had sent Spike outside. It was more than clear to Spike that by this time Twilight had forgotten about him again, but he refused to go back inside lest he be yelled at again. He still wasn’t sure why Twilight had become so angry with him, he originally based this on stress but that theory was soon discarded, she has been stressed before but this was a whole new level and it had seemed to be centered almost completely on him. He began to think that the only reason she kept him around was because he made a good fax machine.

The time of worrying about Twilight however had passed; his mind had become more occupied with his dream and the pain that had reached an almost unbearable level. The curiosity was beginning to eat away at him, he knew his dream was real and he knew there was something under his back. He also knew that it hurt when you got cut let alone hack your own back to pieces.

Spike went back inside; believing he had taken his punishment long enough and wandered towards the kitchen for a snack. He hadn’t eaten since the morning before his dream. Upon entering Spike spotted the smashed plate and rotting food from the morning before still lying on the floor gathering maggots and bacteria. "She could have at least cleaned that up." muttered Spike angrily. Spike wandered over to a cupboard to get a dust pan and brush or something similar to assist him in cleaning up. Spike later returned with a small dust pan and broom, when he knelt down to sweep up the rotting muck he felt the pain in his back pulse through him once again summoning a loud and intense grunt from Spike, he had become extremely frustrated with his back by that point but still for some unknown reason decided to continue with his task and push the pain into the back of his mind. Spike slowly rose from the now spotless floor with a cloth in one hand and a dust pan and brush in the other; he quickly emptied the pan and discarded the cloth into the trash can before returning the dust pan and brush to the cupboard. Now that was all out of the way he thought it wise to eat before he dies of starvation. Once he opened the cupboard where his gems would usually be he saw a note rather than his gems. The note was in Twilights writing style, Spike looked at it with a heavily irritated look in his eye that grew more and more intense as he read it.

Dear Spike;

Due to your current behavior and lazy attitude towards given tasks I have confiscated your gems from both the cupboard in which this note was held and the stash you have had hidden behind your bed. I presume that you have entered the house on your own accord without me needing to come and get you so I request that you please do not disturb me in my study to help prevent further conflict between us. Please do your chores and head to bed.

Spike was literally fuming by this point, whatever was wrong with Twilight had gone too far this time and clearly sent Spike over the edge with anger. Spike held the note out in front of him and released a massive bright green flame incinerating the letter instantly in his hand and even leaving black scorch marks on the kitchen floor, but the mere incineration of this letter did not satisfy Spike’s anger, he continued to spew his flame into his hand where the note had once been, the longer he breathed this fire however the more he felt the pain pulling at his back forcing him to eventually stop. Spike looked down at his hand to see the claws of his hands glowing red hot, looking past his hand he saw the scorched and cracked kitchen tiles.

"Spike? What are you doing?" Spike heard the agitated voice of Twilight echo throughout the library. This had begun to send spike into a rage causing his claws to slowly elongate, spines stretching back and the pain in his back begin to go numb. Thankfully Spike was able to keep at least semi coherent thought so he wouldn’t lay waste to the pitiful library and anything in it.

Spike slammed the cupboard door shut, breaking the hinges and breaking a portion of the door off in the process, sending small pieces of wood scatting across the kitchen floor. He began to walk out of the kitchen when a distressed Twilight came racing around the corner to see a smoking patch of cracked tiles, a broken cupboard door and a little green and purple dragon marching past her with red hot claws and a look on his face that could rival Fluttershys stare, if not beat it. As Spike walked passed Twilight she attempted to put a hoof on his shoulder and stop him from walking away, but it didn’t work it only angered Spike even more. But he didn’t hit her. no matter what Twilight said or did to him, he refused to hit her, he just marched past her and quickened his pace as he went up the stairs headed towards the bathroom where he knew there would be a mirror. It was at that moment that he decided he would have wings and get the freedom that came with them and maybe even speak with Duratus again.

Spike busted into the bathroom barely able to think he slammed the door shut behind him and breathed another intense flame at the lock melting the metal together that made it near impossible to open without destroying the door. In his rage Spike no longer feared possible consequences, and had no doubts in his mind about the wings he was told he had, all he thought about was the silence he would be able to get up in the sky on his own. He stood in front of the mirror staring himself directly in the eye as he took slow deep breaths, he looked down to his hands noticing that his claws were slightly longer by just over an inch and still glowing red hot. Spike shut his eyes in order to help calm himself down and prepare for what he was about to do. Spikes eye twitched as he heard the sound of hooves on wood coming towards the bathroom, Spike looked into the mirror seeing the reflection of the door handle he had previously welded shut just waiting for Twilight to come and try to open the door and yell at him for what he just did I the kitchen.

“Spike what are you doing? Why are you breaking all my things? You better not be having a tantrum about the gems or you’ll never get them back!” Spikes eyes snapped open at the sound of her voice.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!?” Spike shouted back, small bursts of flame escaping his mouth with each word. Spike was unsure if Twilight had replied or not and truth be told he didn’t really care, he couldn’t hear her over the sound of his heart beating as he threw his arms over his shoulders and felt his hand slap against his back and claws slowly curl up beneath his scales as he began to push his claws into his back drawing blood. Spike was grunting and growling furiously as he pushed his claws deeper into his back until he literally held a hand full of scales in each hand, blood pooling on the floor beneath him leaking across the tiles and headed towards the door. With a final scream Spike clenched his claws into his lifted scales and yanked hard on them, a ripping noise came from Spikes back as he yanked on the loose scales and muscles beneath it again and again, with each yank he let out a loud yelp. The blood on the floor was almost more than the blood in Spikes entire body; Spike should have been dead from blood loss or at least unconscious from the pain.

Spike knew he had thick scales but he still never thought it would be as hard as it was to tear through them, but he had not finished yet, his scales were still attached to the top if his back by a small tender strip of flesh. Like pulling off a Band-Aid Spike quickly yanked the sheet of bloody skin and scales from his back and cast it to the floor in front of him. Now kneeling down on all fours in front of the mirror Spike looked up at himself as his hearing returned as he began to calm down, he heard Twilight yelling something from outside the bathroom but he couldn’t understand it and wasn’t even in the mood to listen to her anyway. Spike looked up turning slightly to see his back, it was a mess of course and almost everything in it was unidentifiable, like a bowl of dark red sludge, but he did however notice something that stood out. There were two scrunched up appendages hanging out of the mess that was once his back. They looked like two small folded up umbrellas that twitched on occasion when he moved around. Spike heard a few loud thuds against the door like somepony was attempting to break into the bathroom. Spike just ignored it and kept focused on the appendages that are no longer trapped beneath his scales; he soon heard a southern accent coming from outside the door as well. Spike was scared all of a sudden and completely unsure of how he would explain himself, Twilight may not have been able to kick the door open but apple jack would have less than no problem kicking it open.

Spike had come to the conclusion that the only way to explain his actions would be to present his wings, franticly spike began trying to contact his unused limbs and stretch them out, he struggled for a moment before feeling slowly began to spread throughout his back once more causing slight pain before he discovered how to unfurl his wings, Spike had officially gained muscle control over his wings.

Spike stood up from the floor and turned to face the door where he could hear Twilight speaking incoherently to Apple Jack, he looked down to the floor to see that some of the blood from his back had leaked across the tiles and beneath the door to the bathroom. Spike just stood there when he heard Apple-Jack announce "Y’all stand back now ya hear!" the next few moments happened so fast that not even Spike himself understood the complete details of it. The door smashed in turning to splinters from a single kick from the farm Pony, this made spike flinch and open his wings to their full length, with the opening of his wings the world seemed to have lost all sound. Everything in the room including Apple-Jack who was standing in the door way was then sucked towards Spike by an invisible force but stopped before making contact with him. Then with an earth shattering thud, everything was sent flying at incredible speeds back in the direction it came from.

Spike stood in a crater of cracked tiles in the center on the bathroom with his wings open. He felt confused as he observed the wreckage around him; he looked over and saw Apple-Jack stumbling around on the floor from shell shock and Twilight running over to help her. He assumed Apple-Jack must have heard a commotion from outside and came to investigate. As Spike was taking in all this information his eyes began to grow heavy, he felt tired and weak all of a sudden, at first he guessed it was from blood loss but when he took a second search around the room he saw no blood, no severed skin or scales the only evidence that he had wings that he could see at the time was the shadow they cast on the floor, he couldn’t check the mirror because it had been shattered, there were pieces of the mirror on the floor but he couldn’t focus on them properly to get good look. Spike looked up one last time before passing out to see Twilight still looking after Apple Jack and not even bothering to so much as take a glance at spike.

“Why don’t you care?” muttered Spike before passing out in the crater.