Love Measured in Scales

There's a storm brewing, judging by the look of the clouds, and the cool gusty air that my wings tear through at a vigorous pace. It's a suitable complement to the violent storm within my heart at the moment. I may have been born and raised in a village of ponies, but I still have dragon blood within me. Despite the cool air blowing past my charcoal gray scales, my blood is burning at the moment. Burning with a flame as bright as my fiery yellow mane waving through the wind. Burning with the flame of vengeance.

I've been flying for nearly an hour, without pause of any form. Through the clouds, and down below, I see my target. The castle of the wicked griffon king, Talonier the Terrible. A large stone castle, grand and spacious, the borders of its territory seemingly endless, but I have paid a visit to this castle before. Despite its expansive size, it holds nothing of a respectable kingdom within. The deacon himself is a king most fowl, undeserving of his title. Talonier keeps the subjects of his kingdom weak and docile, unless they serve his wretched army. As I'm descending towards the structure, I can see the tiny specks of said army lining up along the walls of the castle.

A wise decision on Talonier's part. He's given me a helping of his goons to knock around, so he won't have to face the full extent of my wrath.

“Ready!” I faintly hear the captain shout from a mile away. My dragon ears work quite well, even with the wind rushing around them. I squint my eyes and see all of them holding something within their talons.“Aim!” Ever closer, I see the shiny pointed gleam of their arrows all facing toward me. My lips curl back as I bare my sharp fangs at them. Talonier, you insult me greatly. These peons of yours won't even serve as a good warm up.

“Fire!”

With his command, I see the wave of a hundred sharp arrows tear through the air. I take a deep breath, and flex my throat. I call upon the power I was born with, in an effort to channel the rage burning within me, and from deep within my gut erupts a mighty fire that burns through the air. As I'm flying forward, the flames create a vortex around my body, protecting me from the onslaught of arrows. Each of them burns and crumbles as I propel forward.

“Hold your positions!” The captain of the griffon archers shouts as I'm drawing nearer. “Do not let Blaze reach his majesty's tower!”

I see the fearful gaze of his troops for merely a second before I bulldoze my way through them with my fiery protection still very much intact. With their feathers burning them alive, the griffons dive off of the edge of the walls and into the water in a desperate attempt to extinguish themselves. I take a breath and the fire surrounding me dissipates. I can see the tower Talonier hides himself in dead ahead of me. I'm already there, and I'm not even winded yet.

Snorting through my nostrils, I hock up a spinning ball of flame and spit it toward the front gate. The wooden doors burst into fiery splinters before my clawed hooves touch down on the stony surface. My wings fold behind me and I break into a gallop without losing any traction. I take to the flight of stairs circling upward, knowing that the one I seek is close at hoof. When I find him, I will make him beg for mercy, to put a stop to his suffering by ending his life.

At the top of the stairs, I skid to a halt at the sight of a small group of griffon soldiers, each of them armed with a sword and shield. Something about them catches my attention. Their armor is a bright crimson, made of a material I can't identify. Curious, I spit a bit of flame towards the one at the front. He brings his claw up to his eyes in protection, and I'm surprised to see my flames spread around him, but dissipate into thin air as he lowers his claw, unphased. It seems Talonier has purchased some upgraded armor for his elite soldiers. I wonder how many peasant meals and other essentials he had to withhold in order to afford such things.

It seems I'll have to actually try in order to deal with these foes. Lowering my snout to the ground, I scratch my hoof across the stone floor in anticipation. They raise their shields, making themselves ready, and without a moment's notice, I charge toward them.

Their leader lunges forward, in an attempt to skewer me with the tip of his sword. I saw it coming before his talon even twitched, and leap into the air to avoid the strike. I pounce down on his helmet hard, to obstruct his sight. He begins to swing blindly, nearly slicing his own comrades who jump away from him. I take advantage of their disorientation and trip one of them over, grabbing his sword with my teeth and running him through.

One of the soldiers watches his ally vanquished without any effort on my behalf. He leaps toward me and swings frantically, hoping to overwhelm me. I dodge each swipe with ease, and then step in to deflect his swinging arm with my hoof, and then bash my shoulder into his chest. It knocks him off balance, and I fly toward him, grabbing him by his lion's paw. I spin him around several times and then throw him against the other soldier who thought he could ambush me while I was busy.

There's only one soldier left, the one I blinded at the start. He's struggling to lift his helmet from his eyes, perhaps unaware that he's the last of his troop. I decide to help him by kicking the helmet straight up and off of his head. I grab ahold of his exposed face, and lean in, our eyes mere inches from one another. Just as he realizes his fate, I open my mouth and let the blazing fury escape my throat. The searing flame engulfs the feathers of his face. I keep up the fiery onslaught until I feel the grip of his talons against my hooves go limp. When I finally relent, there is nothing within that smoldering blackened form that resembles a face.

I throw away the carcass of my downed foe and look toward the direction of the sound. Behind the rails of the floor above me, I see my true enemy; the one who has set in motion the event that has led to my vicious assault on this wretched fortress.

“Bravo, Blaze!” The griffon king mockingly cheers me, adorned in a robe of what I imagine is authentic manticore fur. His talons are lined with rubies, a golden crown of jewels atop his head. “I expected nothing less from the fiery champion of Equestria; the bastard child of a sinful union between dragon and pony. Well done my lad, well done!”

“Where are they, Talonier?” I bark at him angrily. He's instigating me. Normally I would play along, and fire back with my own retort in an attempt to rile him up. This time, he's gone too far. I am in no mood for his games. This time, I'm doing everything I can to keep myself from lunging at him, even though I know his protective magic would render my attacks useless.

“Where's who?” He asks innocently, drawing a talon up to his beak. “ That poor, defenseless princess you serve so dutifully? The fair Gemstone that you're so taken with?” My rage escapes my throat in the form of a growl as he taunts my feelings for the maiden I love. “Or, perhaps you're talking about somepony else? Perhaps you mean Gleaming Dawn, the teacher from the village you grew up in? The one who taught you how to fly, and how to fight, and what it means to defend what's 'good and just?” I snort twin flames through my nostrils as my teeth grind together. “Well, look no further, they're right there!” He exclaims, pointing behind me. I turn my head and drop my jaw at what I see.

Both of the unicorn mares I'm looking for are right in front of me: Gemstone, her beautiful white form and purple mane, dressed in a sparkling red gown. Adjacent to her, the wise and patient Radiant Dawn. Both of them are unconscious and seemingly floating in the midst of shadows.

“Let them go!” I snarl, looking over my shoulder to face Talonier.

“That's the idea! I fully intend to send them back where they came from, along with a little gift.” With a snap of his talons, a series of torches around the two mares is lit, and their forms are revealed to me. Both of them are tied to a large cylindrical object, made of a metallic shell, the same material that the armor of his elite soldiers was made of.

“A new experimental weapon, crafted by yours truly.” Talonier continues. “If the calculations of my arms expert is correct—and they usually are—each of those structures carries enough explosive material and magic to level an entire city. As soon as the pointed surface touches something, BOOM! An entire expanse of ponies, gone up in smoke!”

“No...” I whisper under my breath, my gaze looking between both of them. “I won't let you do it!” Before I can spring into action, I hear a whoosh and look back to see a large number of griffon soldiers leap at me through the air. They catch me by surprise and I go down against the ground.

I struggle to gain some leverage, but as I move, I hear a loud boom across the hall. I look toward Gemstone and Radiant Dawn to see a bright cloud of smoke rising underneath them. The cylinders they're tied to lift into the air and through the open roof, out of my sight.

“NO!!!” I scream, thrashing about with fury. I punch one of the soldiers in the head with my hoof, and kick him off of me. I try to fly through the air, towards the rocketing mares, but the other griffons latch onto my hindlegs and weigh me down. Try as I might, I can't get away from them. They aren't trying to fight me; they're merely slowing me down.

With my vision red, I relinquish my efforts and fly backward, in the direction they're pulling me toward. The change in momentum slams them against the ground. They wanted my attention, and by my father's scales, they're going to get it. I turn toward the one closest to me and pummel his throat in, until I hear a grotesque crack sound out. I lunge toward the exposed wing of one of them and tear through its flesh, spitting its feathers out of my mouth. I'm so enraged that I lose track of my own movements, virtually blacking out. When I regain my senses, I see a pool of blood around my hooves. I don't even have the stomach to look at what's left of my enemies.

“Ha ha, Blaze you NEVER cease to entertain me!” Talonier remarks, clapping once again, “but I'm afraid your little show has cost you dearly. Those silos I've fired have gained quite a lot of ground toward their destination. If you don't hurry, you'll lose both the mares most dear to you, and the cities they hail from.”

“I can stop them!” I scream defiantly. “I'm faster than anything in Equestria! I can save them!”

“You can without a doubt save one!” He shouts back at me.”But two? I don't think so. And that is the very beauty of my little scheme. So, what does Blaze hold closest to his heart then? The princess he lusts after? Or the pony who raised him? Tick-tock, Blaze! Time to make a choice!”

As much as I wish to rip his head from his shoulders, doing so would only put both options in further danger. I fly out of the castle, leaving Talonier to cackle wickedly as I begrudgingly leave him behind.

And as I halt in the air, I look in two separate directions. Both flares of the silos are glowing in the distance, but eventually fade from my sight. As their light fades from my vision, sickening realization seizes my heart.

He's right. Fast as I am, there's no possible way I can save both of them in time. I can't be in two places at once. If I go after one, I leave the other mare and province to die.

And with that knowledge in mind, I find myself unable to move from my place in the sky. I'm stuck, frozen in time, without the will to make a choice. With my clawed hooves over my head in panic, I wish for everything I'm worth that I wasn't me at the moment.

“To be continued!?” Spike yelled, clutching the comic book in his claws. “That's not fair! I've gotta know how he saves the day!” A moment's pause, and the baby dragon suddenly remembered where he was. He looked to his right, to meet the bewildered gaze of several ponies seated on the Friendship Express. “Heh heh... sorry.” The dragon apologized, the mulberry scales of his face turning a shade red. The ponies shook their heads disapprovingly before turning away.

“You really like that comic I got you, huh Spike?” Twilight Sparkle asked from the other side of him. Spike flipped the tome in his grasp to the front, looking at the cover and admiring the heroic dragon-pony hybrid depicted.

“It's awesome Twilight! Never felt so pumped reading a comic book before. I just wish it didn't end on a cliffhanger.”

Twilight giggled softly at his boyish mannerisms. “Well, if you're in such a hurry to find out what happens, I might have to see about buying you the next volume when we get back to Ponyville.”

“Really Twilight?” Spike asked, his eyes bright with excitement. “You'd buy another one for me?”

I would give you the world if I could, just to make you happy. Twilight thought, fighting against the urge to say it out loud lest she sound like a sappy, emotional mess.

“Well, sure! Since Rarity's been in Canterlot this week, you've been free to help me run errands all over Ponyville. I think you deserve to know what happens to Blaze, for all the hard work you've been doing.”

The dragon looked upon his caretaker with a humbled smile across his face. “Thanks Twilight.” Twilight grinned back at him, as if to shrug off his sentiment as nothing out of the ordinary. “Man, I can't believe it's only been a week since Rarity left town to help out with the play.” He reflected, standing up in his seat and looking out the window. His hips wiggled in excitement as he watched the passing scenery of lush grass and trees whizzing by.

Twilight shared his sentiment, though for a very different reason. Since Rarity had left for the week, Spike had no more reason to leave the library to visit her during the afternoons, as he had done since they began their relationship. Thus, Spike had gone back to his old routine of spreading his chores out throughout the day, and spent much of his time in the library. Naturally, Twilight had enjoyed having him back home, the way things used to be.

Or perhaps enjoyment might not have been the best way to describe it. Since the night of her erotic fantasy with him, she had found herself drawn to the baby dragon more than ever. Every task Spike took on, Twilight watched him carry out with an acute interest. Whenever he carried a heavy stack of books from one spot to another, she would take notice of the way his scales pulled in and stretched over his tiny muscles. When he was up high on the ladder to reorganize her shelves, she would look from below and feel up his tight posterior with her eyes. More than once, Twilight found herself laughing a bit too hard at one of Spike's corny jokes, or felt her face tingle with humility if he offered her the most minimal of compliments. At night, she would sometimes sneak to his little basket at the end of her bed, and listen to him snore, wishing she could lay her head down and sleep right next to him.

Many of her showers that week drained more water than ever, as she spent them rubbing her hoof between her legs, imagining that Spike was behind her. She wanted more than anything to feel his dragon claws grasp her purple rump firmly. She'd moan out in lust as his hips slapped against her rump, hot water sprinkling down on both of their bodies. Twilight's mouth would hang open, the intense rush of her hormones pushing more and more throughout her loins and nearing their climax.

“Hey, we're here!” Spike called out, bouncing up and down on his feet and snapping Twilight from her thoughts. She craned her neck to the side and looked out the window, seeing that the little dragon was indeed correct. Pulling around the corner of the gigantic spire of stone, the bright and regal city became apparent to her eyes. The alicorn and dragon felt a comforting warmth wash over their hearts as they watched the city of white and gold draw closer to their vision. Though they had lived in Ponyville for a little more than two years, they never could quite shake a sense of sentimental homecoming when they paid a visit to the capital of Equestria.

“Now arriving in Canterlot!” The train's conductor called from the speakers overhead. A moment later, the train crept to a grinding halt, and everypony on board jumped from their seats in a race to the front. With some effort to squeeze through the crowd, Twilight made her way out into the mess of ponies wandering about Canterlot train station.

“Ready to go find Rarity?” Twilight asked, turning to face the dragon riding on her back. He nodded in earnest, before the alicorn trotted off in the direction of Canterlot castle.

It was a lengthy journey across town, but eventually the pair found their way to the tower that Rarity was staying at. Spike wrapped his arms around Twilight's neck as she climbed the stairs. Spike was practically bouncing with excitement as they approached the top of the staircase, his chubby little thighs rubbing up against her back. Though he wasn't erect, Twilight enjoyed the thought of his lengthpoking from his pouch, rubbing up against her coat. When she felt the first sense of a tickle growing between her hindlegs, she mentally chided herself for toying with such an idea. It was one thing to fantasize about him in the privacy of her shower, but quite another to do so when he was mere moments away from being reunited with his marefriend.

Be patient with them. She reminded herself, once the door to her suite was visible. They haven't seen each other for a week, so they're gonna get mushy. Just let them have their moment.

Twilight lifted her hoof and rang the doorbell to the side. After a few minutes of silence, the door finally opened. There in its wake was the white face of the purple haired unicorn, a jubilant smile on her face as she looked toward Twilight.

“There's my little sweetheart!” She squealed. Had Twilight been a less intelligent pony, she might have thought Rarity was speaking to her for a moment. But, the unicorn's blue magical aura took hold of the baby dragon she was speaking to, lifting him off of Twilight's back and through the air toward herself. Hanging from the air, Spike extended his lips to meet Rarity's in a tender kiss. The two retracted their lips a moment, only to push them forward again. And again. And several more times. Twilight had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at the display of affection the two had lost themselves in.

“Oh, my little Spikey-wikey!” Rarity fawned, tearing herself away from his lips a moment in favor of rubbing their noses together. “I missed you oh so much!”

“Not as much as I missed you, my beautiful gemstone!” Spike returned her mushy affection with a joyful beam. A low rumble escaped Twilight's throat, as she fought off the urge to gag from the sap clinging to the air around them.

“Oh, Twilight!” Rarity called out happily. Her magical aura vanished at a moment's notice, dropping Spike to the ground with a thud. The unicorn pranced forward and wrapped her hoof around the back of Twilight's neck, her head leaning against her purple cheek earnestly. “So wonderful to see you again darling. It feels so strange walking about town, not seeing your library along my way. I can't believe I've been up here only a week, it feels like it’s been ages.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Twilight remarked, the tension of her week with Spike still weighing on her mind.

“Well I would, but I think it might be best for us to exchange pleasantries for later,” Rarity replied, levitating a large yellow sunhat through the air and onto her head. “They'll make for lovely conversation over lunch. I've booked reservations for the most quaint of diners in Canterlot; you two will simply die when you see it.” Rarity tilted her head down towards Spike, who had been busy rubbing the spot on his rump that he'd landed on when he fell from the air. “Spike, would you care for a ride?” She asked, as the dragon snapped his attention to her.

“Yeah, totally!” He shouted, hopping up and onto her back. The unicorn let out a little grunt as his weight bared onto her so suddenly, but she acclimated quickly to his form and made her way down the steps, with little trouble at all.

As Twilight followed the two from behind, she felt a tinge of jealousy seeing Spike use Rarity as his means of transportation over herself. She'd never realized until just now how much she enjoyed feeling the little dragon ride her. Mulling over the irony of the thought, Twilight shook her head in a failed effort to stave off the imagery of Spike riding her in quite a different way.