Of Dragons and Mortals

Chapter 12: An Unexpected Event

Spike awoke reluctantly, feeling warm and supremely comfortable. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked to the still sleeping mares snuggled up against him. His left arm was wrapped around Pinkie Pie and his right around Fluttershy, their muzzles were nuzzled into his neck, and there were happy smiles on their faces.

Spike didn’t dare move. He barely dared to breathe. He didn’t want to do anything to disturb the beauties sleeping so soundly in his arms.

He lost track of time. For what might have been a few minutes or a few hours, he simply lay there, enjoying the sweet warmth and supreme comfort he felt in their embrace. He would happily have stayed that way forever.

Eventually, however, Fluttershy began to stir against him, making sleepy little noises and yawning adorably as she entered the land of the wakeful. Spike watched her eyes open slowly and stare at his chest for a few seconds. Her gaze wandered over to the sleeping form of Pinkie Pie, then trailed up to meet his eyes.

The sleepy yet happy smile on Fluttershy’s face would be forever burnt into Spike’s mind.

“Good morning, Spike,” she muttered, reaching up with a hand to rub sleep out of her eyes.

“Good morning, Fluttershy…”

Spike trailed off as Fluttershy shifted her weight and shimmied upwards. He opened his mouth to say something, but she answered his unasked question by pressing her lips softly against his.

After a long moment, Fluttershy broke the kiss with a giggle and a silly smile on her face. The icky taste of morning breath did little to lessen how happy she felt.

Unfortunately, nature was calling, and Fluttershy couldn’t stay cuddled up in Spike’s arms as long as she wanted.

“Um… I need to...” she whispered, pointing towards Pinkie’s bathroom. Spike nodded and released her from his grasp, allowing Fluttershy to unwind her tail from around his leg. Quietly, she snuck over to the bathroom, trying to make sure she didn’t wake Pinkie. She took one last look back at Spike and the still-sleeping Pinkie, gave them a brilliant smile, and closed the door behind her.

After watching Fluttershy go, Spike turned onto his side and wrapped both arms around Pinkie, holding her soft body close to his. She made a sleepy but happy noise in response and snuggled even closer against him. Her tail tightened around his thigh possessively.

Spike realized that Pinkie was, in fact, awake when he felt her teeth playfully nibble on his neck. She bit down softly, giving him a small love-bite. Spike just chuckled.

“Good morning, Pinkie,” he said.

“Good morning, eye-candy,” Pinkie replied. She looked up, locking her big eyes onto Spike’s, and playfully poked her tongue out at him. “You don’t taste as good as you look, you know.”

Spike closed his eyes and chuckled. He felt Pinkie shift in his arms and push against him, and soon he was on his back with the amorous mare on top of him again. She kissed him, pushing something into his mouth with her tongue.

He quickly realized that it was a breath mint. That explained why she didn’t have any morning breath, though he had no idea where she’d gotten the mint from.

“Or maybe…” she purred, “I’m just tasting the wrong thing…”

Pinkie delighted in the surprised and excited look on Spike’s face as she slowly kissed down his jaw and neck. Her hands caressed his broad chest, while she felt his claws run up and down her sides, over her nightgown. She traveled down until she was exploring his chest with her tongue, then looked up to see Spike looking down at her with heat in his eyes.

She was overwhelmed with a sudden surge of affection, and she climbed back up to draw him into a deep kiss. The mint had done its job, and there was no more morning breath.

When Pinkie finally pulled away, she straddled Spike’s hips, staring deep into his eyes.

“Spike…” she said, “about yesterday, what you said… I think it was exactly what Fluttershy needed to hear. You did good.”

“I meant it,” Spike answered. “I do love her, Pinkie. And… I lo--”

Pinkie suddenly cut him off by grabbing his lips and pressing them together.

“No… not yet, Spike…” Pinkie whispered. Her grip was firm and unyielding. It had been a sudden impulse, silencing him as soon as she realized what he was going to say. “Don’t say it to me yet.”

Spike gave her a perplexed look, clearly not understanding. Honestly, she herself barely understood why she had cut him off, or why she had felt so panicked. Words tumbled out of her mouth on their own as she tried to explain.

“I… I think I need to be the one to say those words to you first.” She released Spike’s lips. “I’m not ready yet.”

“Huh?” Spike answered, looking as confused as he probably felt.

“Look, I… I’m not sure even I understand why this is so important to me, but… but it is. Don’t say it until I do. Got it?”

“Yeah…” Spike said, hesitantly. “Yeah, I get it. If that’s what you want…” Spike hesitated for a moment, then pulled Pinkie down and kissed her softly. “Just know that I do, okay?” he whispered against her lips. “No matter what you want me to say.”

Pinkie felt as though there was a party in her heart as she lost herself in Spike’s kiss. She grabbed her lover’s hands and placed them on her hips under the gown, letting him feel that she wasn’t wearing anything under it. He quickly took the hint, and his hands traveled up her body, bringing her gown up with them. She leaned back from the kiss as the nightie cleared her breasts, and held her arms up, happily allowing the dragon to remove and discard her only piece of clothing.

His eyes raked over her naked body, and Pinkie smiled at the utterly spellbound look on his face. She grabbed his hands, led them up her body to her boobs, and let his claws eagerly and shamelessly grope her. They had never found his clothes the night before, so he was completely bare, and she could feel him rising to the occasion against her butt.

She grinned widely. What Spike didn’t know was that today was Pinkie’s day off, and if she had her way, it would be many hours before she would allow him to limp away from her bed.

What Pinkie didn’t know was that somepony else had plans for her.

There was a knock on the door.

Spike and Pinkie both twitched and looked towards the door--Spike with an embarrassed look on his face, and Pinkie with an expression that suggested she was contemplating dooricide.

Pinkie was facing a conundrum. On the one hand, there was a hot, naked, and willing stallion in her bed. On the other hand, some jerk-face was knocking on her door on her day off. The answer was obvious: ignore the hell out of the door. So, not so much of a conundrum after all. She leaned down to start kissing Spike again.

However, that was when she heard more knocks, and--much harder to ignore--Twilight’s voice, slightly muffled by the door.

“Pinkie? Are you awake?”

Fluttershy walked out of the bathroom just in time to hear Twilight’s voice. The sight of Pinkie completely naked and looming over Spike in a predatory fashion didn’t really surprise her, but it held her attention for a few seconds. She finally broke the silence.

“Should I let her in?”

“Pinkie?” Twilight called through the door again. “I’m sorry to disturb you so early, but this is important!”

Sighing, the pink mare hung her head in defeat and rolled off Spike. She then got up from the bed, pulled the covers up to Spike’s chest to protect the dragon’s modesty, causing Spike to instinctively pull his knees up a bit. She then tracked down and slipped on her nightgown, and nodded towards Fluttershy.

“If Twilight says it’s important, it’s important,” Pinkie said. She sighed again, but managed to smile. “Go ahead and let her in.”

Twilight started knocking again, but her hand met empty air when the door suddenly creaked open. A smiling Fluttershy greeted her on the other side.

“Hi, Fluttershy!” she said. “When I didn’t see you your cottage, I thought you might be here.” Twilight gave her friend a knowing smile, causing the shy mare to blush and look down.

The Princess entered and took in the scene. Fluttershy looked properly groomed, but Pinkie’s hair was wilder than usual, and she had a somewhat manic look on her face. Spike, meanwhile, was tucked into the bed.

Twilight quickly realized that she had interrupted something, but decided to push on. This was a rare opportunity to tease her friends, and despite the serious task at hand, she couldn’t help but take advantage of it.

“Hello, girls,” she said. “I see you stayed the night then, Fluttershy. And Spike’s here, too… Did you have a nice date, girls?”

Fluttershy and Spike both blushed, with Fluttershy hiding her face behind her mane and Spike looking down. Pinkie, perhaps unsurprisingly, merely grinned and nodded.

“We sure did!” Pinkie said. “What brings you here so early? And unexpectedly…”

“Oh, right.” Twilight walked briskly to the side of the bed and handed Spike a scroll. “First things first. Send this to Princess Celestia, please.”

Spike wordlessly accepted the scroll and sent it immediately. Meanwhile, Twilight turned around to address the girls.

“Princess Cadance has sent for us,” she said. “I’m sorry, girls, but we have to travel to the Crystal Empire immediately.”

“What!?” Pinkie cried out. “But, I was… Today was... I…” She muttered something about “pink princess party pooper.”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “What’s happened?”

“It’s… kind of complicated,” Twilight said. “I don’t want to repeat myself, so I’ll fill you in when we meet up with the others on the train. But you really need to get ready. I’ve already told the other girls, and they’ll meet us at the train platform. We can’t be late for the train.”

Pinkie and Fluttershy nodded (the former unhappily), and spread out to get properly dressed. Fluttershy found the bag she had brought over yesterday, and Pinkie went to her closet.

“So, what about me?” Spike asked, his interest piqued by whatever was happening. “Do I go with you girls?”

Twilight frowned slightly. That was the question, wasn’t it: Do we bring Spike with us?

The Princess had given that very question a lot of thought before she fell asleep yesterday, and some more as she gathered up the girls this morning. On the one hand, he often went with them on their adventures, and ended up being very helpful. On the other hand, there was the conversation she had had with that mysterious fox, Felicia.

The fox had implied that something potentially dangerous was happening, which made Twilight feel generally anxious, and the letter Twilight had received from Cadance had all but sealed the deal. It made her think.

According to Felicia, Ponyville is safe because of me, the Elements of Harmony, and Spike… so what happens if we all leave? Ponyville is a place where things happen, and while Felicia implied that she might protect Ponyville, I don’t know her well enough to trust her yet.

She fixed Spike with her gaze.

What do you know about all this, Spike? Do you know something I don’t about what’s happening,or are you as clueless as I am right now?

Twilight realized that she had been staring at Spike for a while, and he was looking more and more uncomfortable. She schooled her features into a small smile and gave him the answer she had decided on earlier.

“Actually, Spike, I’d like you to stay in Ponyville and hold down the fort while we’re gone.”

Twilight watched the dragon closely, trying to read his reaction.

She saw surprise on his face at first, but a split second later, he frowned thoughtfully, as though he was considering something. His frown soon turned more serious, almost grim. The next moment, she noticed him giving himself a small nod, apparently having reached some conclusion.

“Spike’s not coming?” Pinkie asked. Twilight shifted her attention slightly, not wanting to ignore her friend. “But they love him up in the Empire!”

“Actually, Pinkie…” Spike cut in. “I think this might be for the best.”

Pinkie raised an eyebrow questioningly. Then she shrugged, seeming to simply accept Spike’s opinion, and made a swan-dive into her closet. Twilight, however, refocused her gaze on Spike again. There was a certain tone in his voice that made her think. A note of well-concealed concern, of worry.

So, you do know something I don’t, don’t you? Something that makes you want to stay here, just in case? But I can’t ask you about it because of this vague “punishment” that will apparently happen to you if you tell me. If I only knew more about what sort of risk I’d be putting you in, I…

Twilight sighed.

I don’t know. I’m just worried. And a little scared.

“Spike,” she said, “someone needs to check in on Fluttershy’s animals, and Sweet Apple Acres will need some extra help, since AJ will be gone for the day. Can we count on you to get it done?”

“Absolutely!” Spike exclaimed, snapping off a salute.

“Good.” Twilight nodded. “I don’t know how long we’ll be away. If nothing happens and everything is quiet, we’ll take the express train home and be back in time for dinner. But odds are, we’re probably going to have to take the overnight Cross-Equestrian train back to Ponyville. Any longer than that, and I’ll get in touch. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Okay, good,” Twilight said.

She turned around and saw that Fluttershy was finished getting dressed. The shy mare looked up at Twilight and nodded.

Pinkie emerged from inside of her closet. She was impeccably dressed, cleaned up, and ready for the road. She even looked as though she had showered. Somehow.

“Okay, girls…” Pinkie said, turning towards her friends. “Let’s get moving.” She made a sudden turn towards the bed with a predatory gleam in her eyes. “But fiiirst!”

Pinkie launched herself towards the bed, landing lip-first on Spike’s face and pushing him down onto the bed. She missed his lips, instead hitting him between the eyes, but readjusted her aim when she landed on top of him and kissed his lips soundly. The covers fell down to his waist, and Pinkie pawed at his bare chest a bit before pushing off.

“See you when we get back, Spike,” Pinkie said in a suggestive purr.

She got off the bed, leaving a dazed Spike behind, and grabbed Twilight by the arm.

“Pinkie, what-”

Twilight was cut off when Pinkie heaved the Princess over to the bed, where she landed flush on top of Spike, knocking the wind out of the already dazed dragon.

“Gotta say a proper goodbye, Twilight,” Pinkie said, a mischievous grin on her face. “Go on…”

Twilight blushed. Seeing her friends in their underwear was no big deal, and seeing Spike shirtless was a sight she was quite happily growing accustomed to. However, showing such affection in front of others, especially on demand, was embarrassing, and the hardness she felt against her stomach didn’t help matters. Spike was blushing, too, clearly embarrassed by his persistent arousal.

Still… small acts of affection were part of a proper courtship. Blushes be damned, she placed a small kiss on Spike’s lips before she pushed off the bed.

“Take care of yourself, Spike.”

“I will. You girls take care, too.”

Twilight nodded and walked over to the door. Pinkie nodded towards Fluttershy, waved to Spike, and left, probably to talk to the Cakes.

Apparently,Fluttershy gets to have a choice in the “saying goodbye” matter, Twilight thought, but she just smiled and followed Pinkie, walking past the shy mare with a small nod.

Twilight shut the door behind her, leaving Fluttershy alone with Spike.

The shy mare looked towards the dragon, who was looking quite dazed, and found an impish smile blooming onto her face. She sauntered over to the bed--catching Spike’s undivided attention--and climbed up, crawling towards him on her hands and knees.

It felt strange, this brimming confidence deep inside her. She didn’t worry what he thought when he looked at her, and she wasn’t afraid. She knew he loved her, and it made her feel amazing.

“Spike…” she whispered as she crawled over his body and slowly nosed her way up his neck.

“...Yeah?” he whispered back, a tone of uncertainty in his voice.

Fluttershy nuzzled her way up his neck and took a deep breath of his scent before pulling away to look him in the eye. She could do this. She wanted him to know, like she did.

“I love you too.”

Spike’s whole body went rigid, and Fluttershy darted forwards to seal her proclamation with a quick kiss, pulling away just as quickly.

He looked shocked, almost disbelieving, but through it all she could see how deeply, profoundly happy her confession had made him.

Fluttershy knew that she would cherish the memory of that look on his face for a long, long time.

She giggled happily and sauntered out the door, leaving the scatter-minded dragon alone to sort out his thoughts.

Also his clothes. She hadn’t seen a trace of them since Pinkie stripped him.

Twilight and Pinkie were explaining the situation to Mrs. Cake when Fluttershy came down the stairs with a mile-wide smile on her face, humming a happy tune.

“Ooooh…” Pinkie sang, turning to properly face her shy friend. “Somepony’s happy!”

“Yes. Yes I am,” Fluttershy said with a surprising note of confidence in her voice. It threw Pinkie off her game for a moment.

“Well, well…” the pink mare said, but she left it at that and merely smiled.

“Alright, girls,” Twilight interjected. “We’re on the clock here. The train will be leaving soon, and we need to get going.”

“Right!” Pinkie and Fluttershy chorused.

The three girls waved goodbye to the Cakes and left the building.

The walk to the station was uneventful, and the only thing that broke the silence was the fact that Pinkie Pie kept trying--again and again--to get Twilight to tell her why Cadance had called them to the Empire. Twilight kept explaining her desire to not repeat herself, but it didn’t seem to sink in for Pinkie. Or, more likely, the pink mare was just having some fun. At least it kept the walk from being boring.

Fluttershy kept quiet, but had a profoundly satisfied smile on her face that did not go unnoticed. Pinkie and Twilight left her to her own thoughts.

The girls arrived at the train station and found their friends waiting for them on the platform. As the others exchanged greetings and struck up a casual conversation, Twilight walked into the station building to pick up their tickets.

The small building was empty, except for the old stallion sitting in the booth against the far wall. It was simply too early in the morning, and no pony in Ponyville seemed to have any business up in the Crystal Empire today.

No pony but me and my friends, Twilight mused as she walked across the empty floor. The old clerk was sleeping on the job, apparently not getting enough sleep the night… before…

She stopped walking halfway across the open floor.

Usually, Twilight would simply shrug the sleeping stallion off as nothing, as old Whistle Blower was almost as ancient as Granny Smith, and he was known for occasionally snoozing off on the job. However, between talking to Felicia and receiving the letter from the Crystal Empire, Twilight was feeling a little anxious. One might go so far as to say paranoid. Usually she would just walk up, poke the old guy awake, and ask for the tickets, but this time...

She did not go closer to the booth the old stallion occupied, instead scanning the room carefully. An enclosed, yet open space with a little bit of room to maneuver. The rope used to indicate where the line should go was conveniently packed up in a corner. There wasn’t any furniture, not even the waiting benches she knew were a staple of the trainhouse...

This would be a perfect place to set an ambush. She peered towards old Whistle and was relieved to see that the old stallion was still breathing.

Twilight lit up her horn to check for magical disturbances. She found one.

Right behind her.

Twilight’s scan spell immediately morphed into an improvised barrier, covering her body in a sheen of protective magic. A split second after the shimmering armor appeared, something sharp and metallic slammed into it from behind and slid off without penetrating. Twilight began to turn around.

Then something else slammed into the shield, and the protective barrier cracked, sending a stab of pain through Twilight and forcing her forwards. She managed to turn around, but only saw a shimmer of motion in the air. Something invisible was attacking her.

She tried to repair her cracked barrier, only to feel the invisible thing strike the spell again, further weakening her protection. Whatever weapon it was using, Twilight could feel her barrier--strong, yet still improvised--buckle under it. She couldn’t keep this up for long.

Twilight was well and truly panicking now. With her fear came a panic-surge of magic power, and she focused her might at the center of the strange disturbance. Just as that invisible weapon impacted the barrier again and successfully smashed through it, she pushed with all her might.

The push shattered the invisibility, and revealed something she had never seen before. Time seemed to slow down as she took in the creature’s features. It was bipedal and had a generally stallion-shaped body, but any similarity between it and a pony stopped there.

His eyes were black like lumps of coal. The skin she could see through the gaps in the worn, dust-grey hooded robe he was wearing was sickly pale and almost see-through. He was holding a plain dagger in his left hand, while his right was extended towards her, almost as though he was trying to grab her.

There was an ornate red glove on the extended hand, with an intricate and vaguely sinister golden pattern etched into it. Twilight could feel the glove dispersing her magic, trying to counteract her spellwork. There was no doubt in her mind that this was what had destroyed her barrier.

A normal unicorn’s spell would have failed almost instantly. But Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Magic, was too strong for the strange artifact. The assassin was losing ground, literally sliding backwards under the Princess’s immense telekinetic strength. However, the glove dispersed enough of her magic that he didn’t go flying, and he was still struggling against her might, managing to stay on his feet even if he couldn’t close the distance between them.

Twilight was on her guard now, however, and she knew she could keep this up a long time. As long as she didn’t let him get close to her, this would-be assassin had no chance.

He seemed to come to the same conclusion. Those abyssal eyes flicked behind him towards the exit, and Twilight realized that he was going to try to run away. But as he refocused on her, she saw the fury in his cold black eyes, and she knew that he was out for blood. She was his prey, and sooner or later he would chase her down and end her.

The stranger lowered his gloved hand and let the force of Twilight’s magic push him towards the door. Twilight canceled her spell immediately, but it was too late. Her opponent spun around and used the leftover momentum of her push to give himself a running start.

He was getting away. Twilight powered up her horn to try to grab him, but even as the spell began to form, she realized she would be too late.

A few steps from the door, just as the strange assassin was bracing his shoulder to bash it down, a red blur appeared, inches from his neck.

Time seemed to slow down even more.

Twilight saw the assassin flinch in surprise, but it was far too late for him to react. Felicia, teeth bared, dove into the assassin’s hood, and the force of her attack threw off the assassin’s momentum. He slammed into the wall, inches from the door, with a spirit fox clinging to his throat.

Twilight realized what was happening, and looked away for a few seconds. When she looked back, the assassin had been… ended, and Felicia was standing on the fallen creature’s body, staring down into the hood as though making doubly sure he was…

“Felicia?” Twilight found herself asking in an unsure tone. This whole thing still felt so unreal to her.

Twilight yelped as a dull light shone from within the assassin’s robe, and the clothes collapsed on the ground, suddenly empty.

“What?” she cried. “What was that? What just happened? What’s going on?”

“He’s dead,” Felicia said, her voice disturbingly calm and steady for someone who had just ripped a person’s throat out with her teeth. “His kind don’t leave bodies behind. Not anymore.”

“What?” Twilight was prepared to say more, but Felicia rounded on Twilight, and she could see the barely-concealed panic on the fox’s face.

“This is bad, Twilight,” Felicia said, her voice now betraying her concern. “I need to go. But this one might not have been working alone. Here.”

There had been a small blue streak in Felicia’s coat. As she spoke, it faded, and a familiar blue fox materialized at her paws.

“Take Maximillian with you. He’ll be my eyes, and he’ll call on me if anything happens. As of right now, you are officially under my protection.”

“What? Felicia, what’s going--” Felicia disappeared, leaving the smaller fox behind. “--on…” Twilight weakly finished.

At that moment, the door burst open and Twilight’s friends piled in.

“We heard a crash!” Rainbow Dash called out as she zoomed in ahead of the others. “What’s going o--whoa!”

All the girls stopped and stared at the empty robe, the discarded knife, and the sinister glove. The blue fox sat in the middle of it all with a perfectly innocent expression on its face.

“Twilight…” Applejack ventured. “What's goin' on here?”

“I...” Twilight gulped. “I don’t know.”

And that scared her.

Author's Note

Editing done by:
Feo Takahari
TheDaringExplorer
shawkthorian
Pearly (not on this site)

What's this? Is this plot that is happening? Well, yes. Things are going to pick up from here. More questions will arise and there may even be some answers coming. Don't worry, though, there will also be more sexy bits.

Alright, so... My long-time friend and new editor, Pearly, has helped me edit all the chapters of this story. It's really just a bit of spit-polish, but I think the chapters have been improved. There hasn't been any big changes, so you don't need to reread to keep up with the story, but you are of course welcome to do so if you want.

Anyway, I'll see you next time!
Rakni