Good bye, Spike (Main story)

With everything ready for tonight's meal, Spike and Shining armor, let themselves fall heavily upon two wooden chairs in the castle's kitchen. They were exhausted, but on their faces were wide smiles of accomplishment. Cooks and assistants around them fanned them with pot lids.

"I still don't understand why you didn't let us help you. It'd have been done faster if you had asked us."

While fighting to regain his breath Shining armor just managed to form a sentence understandable enough to let them know that it wouldn't have had the same meaning to it if they had helped. Spike didn't say anything and just nodded in agreement. The ponies around them continued fanning them giving up on finding out the reasons for their actions.

Twenty minutes later Spike and Shining were in Spike's room, a medium size room located on the western wing of Canterlot castle, a few corridors away from Princess Twilight's chambers. Inside the room there wasn't much that could let one guess this was indeed the little dragon's. There was a wooden bed with some purple bed sheets and a small night table right next to it. In one of the corners one could see a small pile of comic books that judging by their worn looks had been read a lot. On the eastern wall of the room there was a green closet completely empty.
That the room had so much space in it was actually good. It mean they could rearrange the few things in it to fit a table and a couple of chairs by pushing all the furniture to the corner. But Shining armor felt strange for the emptiness of it all.

"So, this is your room, Spike?
It looks nothing like the room of a young male. Where are the toys, the clothes lying around the floor, the magazines with beautiful mares?"

Shining quickly went towards the piles of comics and began to turn the pages.

"This comic books are a good beginning though. Power ponies, huh? I'll have to get me a couple of these."

-"You can have those if you want."

Spike placed one chair around a dark and long wooden table the two of them had managed to, somehow, fit through the small room's door.

"What? And take away possibly the only thing you own? Don't worry, Spike. I'm sure I'll be able to find these comics in the crystal empire as well."

-"It's ok, Shining, really. I've read those comics like a thousand times already. I've had more free time that I could ever handle now that Twilight has her royal assistant squad."

In the unicorn's head pieces of a puzzle began to fall into place. But what the puzzle was, was still unknown to him.

"Besides, those aren't my only possession."

Placing the last of the chairs around the table, Spike crawled down the bed and brought back from its depths a single squarish box.
Shining put the books aside and walked towards the little dragon with great curiosity. Once Spike opened the box inside Shining saw at least a dozen of small things ranging from pictures to jeweled bow ties.

"Wow, Spike, you have a small treasure box right under your bed."
-"He he. I guess you are right."

With his claw hovering over all the elements in his box, Spike was unsure about which one to show Shining first. Shining then seemed curious about a single piece of paper with a drawing of a blue cupcake covered in what seemed to be pieces of glass.

"What is that, Spike?"
-"What, this? It is a drawing of sapphire cupcake."
"A sapphire cupcake?"

Spike elaborated on the drawing's story.

"No, no. There is this bakery in Ponyville. It's called Sugar cube corner. The store owners made it for my birthday a couple of years ago. I actually wanted to keep a piece of the cupcake here, but...well...I couldn't resist the temptation to eat it whole right there. So instead I put this drawing in here."

"Ho ho...I see. And what about this?"
-"That is from Fluttershy?"
"And this thing here?"
-"A gift from Applejack."
"And this?"
-"From Pinkie pie."
"And what about this one here?"
-"The weights are from Rainbow dash."

Each piece of Spike's treasure was shown to the unicorn. The little dragon told him the story about each single object Shining seemed to be interested on. The unicorn replied with "woah!" and "wow!" to each tale of the dragon asking jokingly from time to time whether it would be hard or not having so many mares giving him presents. When asked this Spike would blush and claim that it was nothing like that.

"I left surely the best story for the last. Tell me Spike, what is the story behind that jeweled bow tie?"

From among all the other pieces the bow tie was the object Spike picked more carefully out of the box.

"This...is a present from Rarity."

Given away by the nostalgic tint in his voice Shining armor did not lose the chance to tease the dragon.

"Oooh! I feel a pink vibe coming from this one! Looks like this Rarity means quite a lot for you. Is she your special somepony?"

Spike repeated the same words as before "It isn't like that." But there was a certain melancholy around him now.
It certainly was nothing like that. It was true that he liked Rarity, but it was virtually impossible that their relationship would develop into something else. It'd never go beyond the point of being her friend and her helper.

Noticing Spike's reaction to his comment, Shining began to look for a way to change the topic of their conversation. He looked again inside the box and saw again the drawing of the sapphire cupcake.

"Man...I wonder if I could swallow a bite of that cupcake."

Spike snapped his head in surprise and looked at Shining armor.

"What? Ah! I don't think you'd be able to. Those cupcakes are hard and have shards of real gems in them. Come to think of it, for a pony it'd actually be lethal."

Shining laughed loudly. A lethal cupcake!
Spike started slow, but after a few moments he was laughing really loud as well.
A bell rung eight times in the distance. There were only a couple of minutes left before the two princesses would arrive. But the two couldn't stop. Each time one tried to calm down the other complemented the idea of the killer cupcake with something else causing the both of them to explode again in laughter.
When the two mares arrived they were both, Shining and Spike, rubbing their bellies from so much laughing.

"Ah, it looks like the two of you are having a lot of fun."

Both males picked themselves up from the floor in an instant once they heard the voice from the princess of love.

"Cadence!"
-"Princess Cadence!"

At the room's entrance stood a pink alicorn with a long multicolored mane smiling at the nervousness of the two males.

"Oh, you are early sweetheart. I thought you'd be here at eight."

Cadence walked into the room and greeted her husband with a soft peck on his cheek.

"It is already eight, silly."
-"Actually, it's already later than that."

From behind the princess another voice came. It was a voice familiar for both, the dragon and the unicorn.
With the golden tiara over her head, Twilight Sparkle walked in the room without any of the royal aura Spike had been definitively seeing around her whenever she was surrounded by her new assistants.

"Twilight!!"

Spike jumped at Twilight's neck and hugged her. The action was so sudden it took Twilight a couple of moments before she hugged her assistant back.

"You came!"
-"Of course. I told you I'd be here, didn't I?"
"You sure did, Twilight."

After Spike let go of Twilight she went to greet her brother. After that, as Spike and Shining pointed out, she and Cadence took a seat at the table.

"Now, please wait for a moment. We will go get the food."

The two males disappeared behind the room's door only to reappear moments afterwards carrying bowls filled with fruit and baskets filled with bread. Different kind of sauces, fillings and side dishes were put in the table before the princesses. Everything was cut, spiced and ready to be placed on top of the bread.

When Spike and Shining finished putting the table, they took their places next to Twilight and Cadence accordingly.

"Alright, please, eat anything you want and don't hold back on anything. There's plenty more of everything you see here."

-"What? But there's already more than enough for the four of us."

"Well, this counts for tonight's dinner and whatever is left will be tomorrow's breakfast."

-"Ugh...everything looks so tasty. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow."

Dinner started with a laugh at Cadence's last comment. The mares ate without restrain putting everything imaginable on their sandwiches. Spike and Shining of course did the same.

Cranberry mayonaise, horseradish sauce, pesto cream mayo, pink lady sauce, Yogurt sour cream, Horseradish mustard, dill sauce and even a sauce Spike and Shining had made exclusively for themselves thinking the two princesses would not like spicy things, Ground roasted red pepper spicy sauce, were emptied as the group talked about many topics. Juices of all kinds, tea, water and even beer and wine for those allowed to drink it were poured non-stop on the glasses of each one of the ponies and dragon. Dinner was a success.

Spike felt happy for the first time in months since they arrived to Canterlot. He loved this atmosphere. Twilight laughed while Cadence merrily talked about a small misunderstanding in the capital of the crystal empire with Shining adding some funny footnotes to each part of the story.

While the three ponies continued telling stories to each other Spike silently watched while he made himself a sandwich with peanut butter and jelly. Despite what others might have said at the time, Spike was not bored. He was enjoying each second, laughing over each joke told while he looked at Twilight and Cadence.

"Ha ha...they get along so well."
-"Yeah. You can rarely see Twilight laugh so much. Only when she's with Cadence or the girls in Ponyville."
"You could say the same thing about Cadence. I've seen her laugh like this only a couple of times."

Suddenly the room changed. It was way bigger than before, with far more decorations Spike would even think of adding.

Actually it didn't look like his room anymore. It was more like a dinning hall. Instead of the dark table he had brought with Shining there was another one, so long that the pony at each end would have to use binoculars to see in fine detail the face of the pony on the opposing end.
Six candle trees were atop of the table, placed every four chairs for the guests, but they weren't lit. There was no need.
At the head of the table right behind the biggest chair in the room, there was a giant fireplace in which a restless fire roared and consumed the pieces of wood it had been feed, illuminating with ease the room, making the gold and silver decorations glitter, filling the air with sparkles.
The dragon saw himself stand right next to the chair located to the right of the queen's seat, the big chair at the head of the table. On it there was a pink filly with an elegant dress sitting straight trying to figure out, with a royal expression on her face, which fork was for eating salad while an old grey stallion stood watching her every movement.

The filly reached for the longest fork, but quickly took her hoof back once she saw the stallion cock his eyebrow.
Spike was cause of no sound besides the one he made when breathing. Each passing second felt like an eternity while the embers of the fireplace glowed red throwing ghostly shadows upon the hall's carpet.

"I am not hungry anymore."

The princess words echoed for a couple of seconds before they were swallowed by the oppressing silence of the room.
The stallion spoke afterwards annoyingly slowly.

"Whether you are hungry or not is irrelevant right now princess. We are here because we have to make sure you have the proper manners when being at the table. Soon it will be Princess Celestia's fifteenth birthday and many ponies from all over the land will come here to meet her. It would not be well thought of if the princess' niece does not act properly during dinner."

The pink alicorn looked down at the silverware at her disposal irritated.

"I won't be at dinner then."

-"I am sorry, but you presence during the celebration is not optional. If you weren't at the table at the time it'd be perceived as rude by the guests."

"I'll apologize to them and then I'll go to my room."

-"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, instead of thinking about the many different ways of not attending the celebration, why don't you take the salad fork and eat?"

The old stallion came closer towards the filly and pointed at the right fork with his hoof. Using her magic the little filly picked up the fork and pierced a big salad leaf dripping with dressing, but before being able to put it in her mouth the stallion spoke again.

"No, no, no! Princess, do you remember at all our last lesson? You cannot put that whole thing in your mouth."

-"Watch me."

Opening her mouth far wider than any lady of the court should the little pink princess placed the leaf inside her mouth while generous drops of dressing fell upon her dress."

"W-what are you doing!?"

The stallion screamed alarmed by the behavior of the princess, and quickly took the salad away from her.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that!"

-"You, you...! Agh! I can't do this anymore. I'll tell the queen it's impossible to teach you proper manners!"

The old stallion left with those as his last words.
The two of them, Cadence and the little dragon, were left alone in the huge room. The princess stared at the fireplace with her forelegs crossed over her chest and her eyes reflecting back the dancing flames. The young dragon silently approached her and with a napkin in hand started to get rid of all the dressing drops before they caused any irreparable damage on the dress.

"Was that really necessary princess?"

-"Hmph!"

"Princess, soon will it's be your aunt's, Princess Celestia's birthday and you're the only one that keeps having problems remembering which fork is for what."

-"Are you too going to scold me about this, Sagard?"

At the mention of his name the dragon looked up at the princess and saw her in the eye. They were face to face. The expression of the princess was an angry one. Her ruffled gown, despite being actually soft pink in color, appeared to be dark red like blood due to the light and shadows cast down on her by the roaring fireplace. But the apparent aggressiveness had no effect on the dragon. He knew how to handle princesses too well to be fooled by just appearances.

"Will you really let your pride get the best of yourself? Instead of just admitting you didn't remember which one was the right fork, you let things escalate to this point? He will surely tell the queen about this."

-"L-like I care. She's not my mom."

"But she's Celestia's mother. And your father's mother."

At that comment the little princess could no longer keep her angry expression.

"I d-don't care."

-"Princess. Please be aware of the weight of your words. You know not the harm they may cause."

The princess was no longer angry by then. Instead she trembled lightly in fear. She knew she was wrong and she knew how much it'd hurt Celestia or Luna hear her talk like that, but she couldn't admit being wrong. In a castle that wasn't her own, alone and surrounded by ponies she didn't know, her pride as the princess of the crystal empire was the only thing she could hang onto, the only thing they parents left to her.

"I-I don't care...
I...sniff...I am the princess of the crystal empire.

This isn't my castle, nor my kingdom...sniff...I want to go back home already.
Mother...Father..."

Childish tears ran down the cheeks of the princess non-stop. Unable to keep it inside her any longer the princess let her feelings free, crying for the loss of her parents during the revolt of Sombra.

"It's alright princess. You are not alone anymore. The loss of your mother and your father, Celestia's brother was a great loss for all of us, but don't think of yourself as being alone. You still have your aunts, haven't you? Despite being a few years older than you they still love you. The queen loves you as well, princess Mi Amore, you are her son's daughter and her beloved grandchild.
Not to mention that every stallion and mare in this castle cares about you, including this humble Sagard."

The dragon wrapped his little arms around the filly's body while he let his heart speak free. The little princess continued to tremble while she muffled her sobs with the clothes of the dragon.

"Don't cry anymore, princess. As long as this Sagard, the princesses and the Queen are here, you will always have a home."

-"Really?...Sagard...none of you will leave me alone?"

"Of course. This Sagard has never broken a promise."

The pink alicorn slowly lifted her head, revealing her swollen red eyes and running nose to the little servant hugging her.
Unable to help himself the dragon left a chuckle escape his lips. The princess shocked broke again in tears hiding her face behind her hooves.

"Liar! Liar!"

-"No princess! Please don't misunderstand. It is just that your face was so funny, this Sagard just couldn't resist."

"You laughed...you laughed because my face looked funny?"

-"E-exactly. It was not because I didn't mean my words."

"To make fun of a crying princess...you...you...
a life in the dungeon suits the likes of you!"

The dragon felt a cold sweat run down his back at the mention of those words. Despite knowing that the little princess had no such power over his life, he could still sense the seriousness in her words.

"Princess, no, no! Anything but that!"
-"It's too late already for apologies!
But I might forgive your insolence if you swear your alliance to the ruler of the crystal empire for all eternity."

The expression the princess wore was a funny one. Her eyes were swollen, her muzzle covered partly by the snot running from her nose, but she was dead serious. Unable to do anything besides what he was told the dragon straightened himself up and with a deep bow he swore his alliance.

"This Sagard, as long as life is in these bones, shall be sworn ally of the crystal empire and its ruler, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

-"No!"

The princess yelled so loud it made the dragon temporally deaf.

"Not as long as there is life in your bones. For all eternity! If you...if you die, you have to come back to me again, understood?"

"Yes! This Sagard, as long as it is possible, shall be sworn ally of the crystal empire and its future ruler, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!"

-"No, no, no! Repeat after me, Sagard:
I, Sagard."

"I Sagard."

-"Swear eternal alliance to the ruler of the crystal empire, princess Mi Amore Cadenza."
"Swear eternal alliance to the ruler of the crystal empire, princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

-"Because she's the most beautiful, smartest and most princess-like of all the princesses of all the lands of the world."
"Because she's the most beautiful, smartest and most princess-like of all the princesses of all the lands of the world."

-"If I, Sagard were to find death someday."
"If I, Sagard were to find death someday."

-"I'd drag myself out of tartarus if I have to in order to return to the side of my princess."
"I'd drag myself out of tartarus if I have to in order to return to the side of my princess."

-"This I swear by the name of the first Alicorn."
-"This I swear by the..."

At that instant the doors of the hall opened wide while a grown alicorn moved her figure through it.

"Queen Elicia!"
-"Grandmother Elicia!"

Queen Elicia was a dark gray colored alicorn with golden eyes and a dark short cut mane. Her cutie mark showed seven stars positioned like the constellation of the great bear.

"I heard you were having some problems with your manners, Cadence. But instead I find you here, gaining the loyalty of my daugthers' personal servant."

-"Grandmother...I...
it wasn't like..."

The princess' attitude disappeared progressively with each step of the Queen and it was instead replaced by nervousness and fear.
Her little body trembled by just imagining what the Queen might do to her. She believed she'd send her out, banish her. Queen Elicia was famous for doing that. Her father kept telling her about how the Queen's rage drove armies of invaders away just because they were stepping on the flower fields at the borders.

"What is it, Cadence? Is your grandmother that scary?"
-"N-n-no, o-o-of course n-n-not. I'd never think of you as scary, grandmother."

The pink alicorn filly tried to smile at her grandmother, but all she managed to do was put a cracked line on her lips. It didn't look like the Queen liked that expression. She raised her hoof in the air. Little Cadence flinched and closed her eyes tightly. It seemed like Queen Alice would hit her. But then all the Queen's hoof did was place itself softly on top of her little head, drawing circles and playing around with her mane.

"Little Cadence, there's no need to be afraid. I wonder what kind of image you have of me."

Realizing her grandmother would not hurt her, the filly raised her head and met her gaze. The queen's eyes showed nothing but affection and understanding.
Little by little the filly relaxed her body with each caress of the alicorn.

"Are you still afraid of me?"

The filly shook her head slowly with her cheeks red due to the embarrassment.

"Grandmother you...you are nothing like my father told me you would be."

-"Oh, is that so? What did he tell you?"

The little dragon heard about the tales prince Aristoles, Princess Celestia's brother, told his daughter before going to bed: Great wars long forgotten in which a young Queen had shown her prowess in battle, earning her the name of the Great Ursa Major, tales about banished foes, and enemies that swore one day to return once more.
As the filly talked about her father's tales on the queen face a smile began to appear, a nostalgic and sad smile that made Cadence grow progressively more quiet until she said nothing more.

"My Aristoles, he always liked that kind of tales due to his frailness."

The queen did not cry, but Cadence could see the pain beyond her royal expression.

"But still, those aren't tales a father should tell his daughter, especially about her grandmother."

Queen Elicia patted her grandchild's head one more time, before calling some servants into the hall.
Each one of the ponies that came into the room carried a big tray with different kinds of food and pastries and placed them on top of the table.

"Now, about your manners on the table...
It'd be best if we start on practicing right away. Just do as I do, dear Cadence. If you have any questions, just ask me."
-"Yes, Grandmother."

Out nowhere the little filly's belly grumbled loudly enough to be mistaken with a wild beast's roar. She quickly wrapped her hooves around her stomach and blushed embarrassed. Cadence thought the queen would get mad, but the gray alicorn just laughed loudly and for a long time. Cadence laughed along. No pony in the castle had ever heard her laugh since she arrived. Somehow the happiness of the princess spread to every one in the room and every pony smiled, including the little dragon.

"What are you smiling for, Spike?"

Spike opened his eyes and saw no longer the big dining hall before him, just the black table, and three ponies too drunk to mind the volume of their laughs.

"Spike, what are you smiling for?"

Cadence repeated her question, while Twilight and Shining armor continued to laugh about a joke Spike didn't get.

The dragon took without warning the princess hoof between his claws and gave it a soft kiss, what drew the attention of all the ponies in the room and startled Cadence.

"To see with my own eyes the great princess you have become, is this humble Sagard's cause of joy, princess Cadence."

Cadence blushed slightly and everypony was quiet for a few moments.

"S...Sagard?"

Twilight and Shining armor said nothing and kept their mouths closed until they couldn't help it anymore and exploded in laughter.

"W-what..ha ha ha...what wash that all about, huh, little guy?"
-"Oh, Shpike, have you been practishing that line? It wash sho good, I even felt my heart shkip a beat!"
"I will have to be more careful around my wife now. It looksh like a late rival hash appeared, ha ha ha ha!"

Twilight and Shining were completely out of it. The beer and wine surely had gotten finally to their heads making them unable to take anything serious.
Spike still hold Cadence's hoof in his claws, but with every passing second he became more and more aware of his words and his actions.

"What did I just do!?"

Spike jumped from his chair onto the floor and ran towards the door while Shining and Twilight tried to comfort him telling him they didn't mind his actions.

"Shpike...don't worry. I'm shure it was the alcohol talking!"
-"Yeah, come back here, you are in no condishion to run around the cashtle. Ugh...bbbgha."

Twilight tried to go after Spike, but as soon as her hooves touched the cold ground she fell face first.

"Ah guessh Ah'm in no condition either...
Shpike, wait!"

Twilight calling his name was the last thing Spike heard while he ran down the labyrinthine corridors of the castle without a set destination in mind. He just ran as if trying to outrun his embarrassment and the sensation of his blood rushing towards his cheeks.

"What was that!? What was that!?"

The dragon tried to replay all the events that took place during dinner, but all her remembered were bits and pieces, the sandwich and the kiss.

In the dragon's room, Twilight still struggled to stand on all fours while Shining had fallen asleep right on top of the table laughing from time to time in his dreams "Shpike...ha ha...what a funny guy". Cadence on the other hoof was sober again due to the shock. With haste the princess of love ran towards the door. She needed to go after the dragon and know exactly what happened to him.

"Sagard..."

She had not heard that name in ages. She thought she'd never hear it again.