Giving a scaled heart to a Goddess
The world, or rather, land, with the pony races, known as Equestria, has never really been in a war, never been stricken with disease, or for that matter had any deaths, much to the surprise of all other animal races.
It may have been the fact that the Gods who ruled there did everything they could to keep peace intact. Battling against different countries themselves to make sure the land was filled with love, balance, and harmony, despite three other Gods trying to take over the land. But that’s just what the three were, Gods. They were allowed to do as they pleased, being immortal, so they could work the ‘evil’ out of their system before they reverted back to their normal states of... well, for the lack of a better term, boredom.
All Gods, as Celestia told her student, Twilight Sparkle, went through their... hormonal stage of darkness one hundred years ago.
Sooner or later, every one of the Gods become bored of trying to take over a land that would never accept their cruel, iron hoof, or in Discord’s case, paw reign. The land was a natural country of structure and joy, though it was not to say that the land did not have its own period of torment and suffering for many eons as the white furred, multi-colored mane and tail ruler informed her student that even the current Gods of Equestria were not able to stop being very, very young themselves, not even in their teenage years.
The country was once a blanket of ice, mortal or immortal, not a single living soul lived in the land when it was being ruled by the three ancient, soulless beings that was brought to life by Creation, or as she is known now by the mortals as Fate, but Mother to the immortals created the most destructive creatures in all of history, even before the dragons themselves, but not before Death himself and these... monsters were known by the name of Windigos, with their grayish cerulean coats, almost transparent and their heartless, pale cyan eyes but known by very, very few, even by the other immortals as the Titans of Equestria.
Celestia shivered, trying to keep her purple colored tea cup which had jasmine tea with a hint of honey from shaking in her hooves before taking a small sip, doing everything she could to remember the knowledge she had learned from Mother into her mind, much to her anger as how she wanted to just completely forget such... information.
Of the very creatures that ruled the world before even the dragons, and which took many, many centuries to subdued with the help of her younger sister Luna, co-ruler of Equestria as well as the Goddess of the Moon, dreams, and night sky, and Discord, the God of Chaos and Disharmony, when the three were merely in their twenties, countless times they were almost killed, and they were in their full forms, as the Windigos themselves, naturally were.
As she shifted her flank from where it rested on a very plush yellow pillow and looked her former student in the eyes, she knew she had to tell her this tale, of a memory all but forgotten, simply because her Mother wish to bring mortal life to the world that had no life but Gods, of all races and of course, the Titans.
Celestia stiffed a shiver that tried to run up her spine before setting her tea down, losing her taste for it now will dealing with a much darker memory.
The assistant to both her and Twilight, who was also her best friend, Spike the dragon, was completely grown as he stood at the height of an alicorn and was granted large, purple wings by his mother figure, Celestia, when he was thirty years old and was nothing short of enraptured by what the Alicorn told them.
Their eyes so wide the whites of their eyes were shown, even Peewee, the phoenix now full grown and pet for Spike as well as Celestia’s own pet phoenix, Philomena, has their eyes wide to their full limit and their beaks dropped hearing of a tale that was really not meant for mortal ears, excluding Spike himself for he was a member to the royal family and of course, the pets.
Celestia noticed all of their eyes on her form and despite being able to control an entire country and the sun itself, she was honestly uncomfortable as she sighed loudly causing all four animals to finally blink and breathe, not wanting to miss a single moment of such a grasping legend.
“You must understand, the three of us were merely the same age as when you were sent to Ponyville, Twilight, Chrysalis was just created, or born, depending on how you look at it, but the concept is the same. Cadence was, of course, not born yet, or rather, she was merely a mortal, same as you, Twilight, before Mother allowed myself to grant her immortality and her wings, making her as the Goddess of Love. We were given three weapons which I will give you the names, even the titles of but NEVER the location... for it might make the Titans stir, which I very, very much hope to avoid at all cost.
“I was given a sickle, known as the Scythe of Slaughter, my sister was given a double bladed ax known as the Bane of Nightmares, yes, I understand the irony in that as well, and Discord was given a double sided war hammer known as the Hammer of Souls. We were of course given these weapons by Mother, she was very much ashamed by her second creation, the first being, Death, and we were ordered to... well, imprison them for they could not be killed, not even by the weapons, in which case it took seven hundred years to finally trap. One in the center of the planet itself, one in Tartarus, and one in the Nightmare Realm, or King Sombra’s door if you wish to be technical, the dimensional bridge linking Tartarus to the living world.
“Of course, after we made sure, thrice they were firmly unable to escape, Mother created all of the creatures you see before you, and with regret, Discord betrayed us, going through his stage of ‘darkness’ as he created the immortals known as the Elements of Disharmony, as you well know of Twilight to which we had to forced them into the Element of Harmony jewels and with shame... turn my own husband to stone for one thousand years, which you also know.
“So this is a tale that only the Gods know, my young subjects... any questions?” Celestia asked calmly with a sigh and small smile on her face as both Twilight and Spike raised their limbs at the exact same time and glared at the other in mild annoyance while Celestia took a larger sip of her tea that she brought to her lips with her magic.
With a small chuckle, she nodded towards Spike, knowing his question would be less for a lack of better word, blunt.
“Mom, why did the dragon Gods not even bother to help you three as the Windigos controlled the entire world? Surely they would have aided you as their own homes were threatened, right?” He questioned as she frowned slowly before doing what she could to hold and not put her adopted child’s race in a bad light... she had no other choice but to lie.
“They were... still trying to get bearings over their own lands and were often fighting over one another, so they did not even notice our war until after they had territories of their own to claim, my child.” She spoke with a very fake smile that Twilight noticed but Spike, seeing her mother in nothing more than perfection, believed her words with only a nod and small frown.
The truth of the matter was that the dragon Gods DESPISED the alicorns and wanted nothing to do with them, even offering to help the Titans before half of them were killed by two of the Windigos in front of their eyes, still they would have rather been killed then join forces with their enemy, and even put Discord in the same group, even though he was a different species, whose own race was created just before the alicorns themselves.
Dragons were naturally selfish, harsh and temperamental bastards, and this was only the mortal dragons, which lived to a total of ten thousand years, the dragon Gods, however, were far worse.
Now by Celestia’s knowledge, there were only five left of their race, the mortals never staying in their faith with just one God and the immortals often getting so angered with one another that they murdered the other, much to the alicorn’s anger and shame.
As she blinked, she realized Twilight’s left hoof was still raised and was straining from being held up so long before Celestia finally nodded to her, making the former unicorn sigh in relief and Spike chuckle, earning a hard slap in the back of his head with her tail as his reward.
“Why could the Windigos not be killed, more to the point, if you did not get aid from the dragons, why not go to other species Gods?” She, for once, asked simply, causing Spike to stare as her as if she was insane and not the unicorn he had been raised with many years ago, even Celestia raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“To be simple, the Windigos are indestructible, by every thought of the word; even Death cannot touch them, much to my own annoyance and fear. As for your other question, the other Gods were... well were the same as Chrysalis: very, very young and were being taken care of by Mother. Does that satisfy you, Twilight?” She replied, making the young alicorn nod with a large smile on her face.
“Oh yes, we learned much ancient history, I can’t wait to tell this to the university, my students are just going to absolutely love-”
“You cannot tell them, Twilight.” The soft but firm voice of her former mentor reached the excited mare as she paused in her awkward dance in the air and dropped like stone, a frown of sadness and confusion appearing on her features.
“W-what? B-but why not? This could be such a HUGE amount of history to the textbooks not to mention that-”
“It would cause the entire country to lose their minds knowing that at any moment extremely powerful beings could rip the chains from their physical bodies and completely obliterate them with merely a single swipe of their tails.
“You must understand, Twilight. The creatures you heard from Hearth’s Warming Eve were only very, very small amounts of their true being, most likely the three were dreaming of being free and caused terror among the first of the pony race.
“Minions, if you want to give it a better word, those Windigos, were absolutely nothing compared to the true forces of the Titans. I am sorry, my student, but the morals must never be told of this, it would cause more fear than the Lunar Rebellion did, and THAT almost tore Equestria apart, plus it was a very senseless war, in which I myself was tainted with... well, darkness. It would also make the ponies hate the dragons even more, and my son, your best friend is already getting ridiculed enough, I find no reason to add more fire to the flames, as it were, I am sorry.” She ordered calmly, forcing Twilight’s ears and tail to drop in shame and embarrassment before she sighed loudly, smiled, and nodded.
“I understand, Princess.” She answered slowly as Celestia breathed a sigh of relief before smiling, and standing, stretching her wings with a yawn, she looked outside to see it was nearing the end of her rule and the beginning of her sister’s.
“Now, if you'll excuse me, I am tired and that tale had left me, frankly, drained. I bid you both goodnight and will see you in the morning, come along Philomena, Peewee.” She commanded both phoenixes, who were starting to fall asleep, as they yawned, flapped their wings, and followed after the sun Goddess, Peewee made sure to slap a wing into his owner’s face with a chirp as he departed, making Spike swipe playfully with a growl after the bird but he was already gone, out of Twilight’s door which Celestia closed when both pets had safely exited.
After the three creatures had left, Spike sighed in relief before standing up, walking to Twilight’s bed, and grabbing a pack of Diseased Stallion cigarettes from under her left pillow, grabbing one out and lighting it with his emerald flames, inhaling deeply before exhaling out his nose in content, offering one to Twilight who took it with a roll of her eyes, as the dragon lit the one he gave her.
Spike walked back to the purple alicorn, sitting down with a grin before growling in frustration as his right wing slapped him in the face, making Twilight chuckle, inhaling her tobacco with a smirk, blowing the gray smoke out the left side of her mouth as Spike rubbed his nose with a growl.
“That’s not funny, Twi.” He snarled, causing Twilight to blow him a raspberry.
“It kind of is, the fact that you had those wings for sixty years and still have trouble controlling them, funny as can be.” She laughed harder as Spike pounced on her, the two rolling on the carpet the same color as Twilight’s fur before coming to a stop, not wanting to burn the carpet, Twilight on top of Spike as she smiled and kissed his scaled lips which he returned with vigor, slowly grabbing her chin in his left claw as he deepened the kiss, making sure before claw to have his tail hold his cigarette, Twilight doing the same with her own.
“So, when will we tell them, dragon boy?” She whispered, kissing his left ear fin, loving the feeling of his soft hum he emitted from his body.
“Who, Discord, Luna... Chrysalis?” He joked then huffed as she poked his chest with a hoof.
“Funny... I meant Celestia. The other’s no doubt already know, Cadence was so happy she almost set her body on fire on accident in joy for us... of course, being the Goddess of Love, she would have known the love we had for the other before we even did ourselves.” Spike laughed before lightly slapping Twilight on the flank, making her yelp.
She rolled her eyes, bringing her tail to her lips as she inhaled her cigarette and blew the smoke in Spike’s face, who only laughed.
“Mom already knows, she’s known for a very long time. You honestly think I could keep such a secret from my own mother? Why do you think she always has us together for events, honestly you're still clueless as you were when you were only twenty, Twi.” He spoke with a grin, causing the mare to frown, flick his nose with a hoof, and roll slowly off her mate’s body, sighing as Spike inhaled his tobacco.
Putting both her front hooves behind her head, she sighed softly; taking a larger drag of her cigarette before blinking as she looked at the detailed craft of the many adventures she once had with her friends drawn on the ceiling, trying to keep the fates that had become of them from her mind to remember simpler times.
She felt soft, scaled claws wrap around her waist as Spike brought her close to him, slowly kissing her neck, which would make her moan and give in to her urges on another night, but simply made her ignore her mate as she snuggled in his chest with a deep breath, remembering to take one last drag of her cigarette before levitating the remains into the gray ashtray that rested on a small dresser to the right of her bed.
Closing her eyes, she ignored the gray smoke accidentally being blown in her face from her lover, she smiled a sad smile before opening one eye, looking at Spike’s armored purple scales with his green underbelly before she asked a question that kept tormenting her.
“Do you miss our friends, Spike?” She asked softly, noticing as he paused calmly, as if thinking deeply of her answer before he smiled a grim smile and held her even closer to his body.
“Of course I do, babe... hell, we saw their lives go on after you had become a Princess before our eyes, I known they miss us. You don’t know how many times I think of asking mom if we could speak with Death, just to speak with them... but it’s forbidden, I’m a mortal dragon, he won’t pay me any mind, and you’re a Goddess... not allowed to speak with the one who takes every living soul because it would interfere with the balance of nature. Still, I would be lying if I said I did not want to try it.” His answer, while damping her hopes of the possibility at seeing her friends were true.
Gods were not allowed to have even a simple chat with Death, he was extremely busy and Fate, or Mother, as Twilight had to call her now, would disapprove when it would threaten ancient laws, which she could not allow.
As the two slowly started to allow their minds to drift, they each thought of what had even brought them together in the first place, as well as how their friends fates caused them to become closer than they would have thought possible.
Such as when Spike had tried to enter the Dragon Kingdom once he had gotten the hang of his wings, but he had been laughed at, even more he had been scorned simply because he had been raised by the pony race, he had been hated beyond belief by the dragon Gods and was turned away without a second thought, least he dared to fight one of the reptilian Gods which Celestia did not wish for him, knowing he would lose in the very first minute, if he even got that far.
After that little adventure that Twilight and Derpy Hooves joined, witnessing the distress the poor drake was in, Twilight offered to take the dragon to get a drink as Derpy paid, after they made sure his scales were intact when they were ambushed leaving the kingdom they had gotten really intoxicated, to the point where each had to be taken home by other ponies, while nothing sexual happened with Spike or Twilight’s walk home partners, who were Roseluck and Carmel, Derpy herself took home Thunderlane much to the stallion’s embarrassment.
But between the two lifelong friends and with their drunken mindsets, they made love, though sloppy and a bit premature after Spike vomited after the act performed while Twilight fell asleep, they still made love.
After that, it was awkward for a few days before they confessed that they loved the other and wanted to be mates, which meant they had no choice but to tell their friends and that meant a party hosted by Pinkie Pie, not that the two had a choice for it would be the fragile, elder mare’s last wild party and she wanted it to be done while not being in a hospital bed as her mate, Big Macintosh, his old, but wise eyes looked over his wife with heartbreak knowing she would not let this go.
The two had been married for forty years, they had two children and even now, long after they were dead Twilight had a feeling they still very much loved one another.
She remembered all her friends being there, Fluttershy with her wife, Rarity, not even a week before her tragic death, the mare was on stage to promote her dresses and had suffered a heart attack from all the screaming in cheer and love for her fabrics, she had only been forty seven and she had adopted a daughter when she and Fluttershy were only in their early thirties and realized their love for the other, although they almost got a divorce five years in.
Though both Pinkie’s death, slowly passing from the cancer in her lungs and Rarity’s death of a heart attack could never compare to the delicate, caring flower of Fluttershy’s who had committed suicide by hanging after her wife’s death, it had broken everypony’s heart who heard the news, more so her daughter’s who could not stop crying for many weeks as she lost both her mothers, it wounded all the ponies who cared for Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash had gotten so drunk and emotional she had flown right into a thundercloud, a stray bolt of lightning striking directly into the mare’s heart, killing her instantly and leaving her husband, Soarin, to be without her wife who had been with her for twenty years and even had a son.
The stallion had gotten so angry he got into a fight with a group of griffons and was killed, but the griffons had diplomatic immunity and they had retailed in self-defense, so they in the end could not be arrested for what had happened, though many had much rage against the griffons because of the battle, many, many ponies still did.
Unlike her friends though, poor Applejack died calmly and silently in her sleep, passing away without even a word, she was only just about to turn forty and to make it much worse for her death... the day she passed was on her birthday, leaving her husband Carmel to take over Sweet Apple Acres all by himself, with their three children being off in different cities and towns, Granny Smith passing from old age more than twenty years ago and Big Macintosh still getting over his own wife’s death.
Apple Bloom could not work after breaking her right rear leg running away from a group of Timberwolves, who had tried to injure and kill her just when she was going to aid the elder zebra, Zecora, as she has been doing for ten years.
Zecora saved her just in the nick of time and though she was much older than she once was, she was still a very wise and helpful zebra but was able to do nothing once Apple Bloom accidentally slipped and fell off a small cliff.
Spike sighed sadly, closing his eyes while holding a claw to the edge of his mouth, breathing through his nose as he thought of just what it was that ruined all of their lives, his friends lives, why should he and Twilight’s life have joy and love now and most of his friends have dark and tragic deaths?
Was it because they were mortal? Was it because it was their time for their lives to end? If so, why in such a cruel and heartless way, though? What did such meaningless deaths accomplish? Other than Death or Creation itself, neither of beings would ever intervene with mortal lives.
Though was it all one sick, cruel, and heartless joke for his friends’ lives to start in hospitably and freedom but still have cruel endings in the hooves, or rather, in Spike’s case, claws of Death himself?
As Spike pondered this seriously deep thought, Twilight frowned before turning and kissing her mate’s lips as he returned it half hearty.
“Please, don’t think on it so deeply... as much as I miss and love them, nothing can be done for them... they are gone, Spike... they’re gone.” Twilight whispered, tears on the corner of her eyes forcing Spike to snap out of his internal battle on the concept of life and death and give his marefriend a tight, loving hug as she cried into his scales for that was the curse of Gods... they outlived all of their mortal friends and love ones.
Spike knew that even he himself would die in many, many centuries from now, but he would not dare tell Twilight of such his fate, for she could not even take her own life, her ‘Mother’ would never allow her. And she would not ‘die’ unless she was killed by another immortal or the mortals turned their faith to another of the Gods and they would fade, which as of this point in time did not seem likely.
Twilight breathed calmly into her mate’s chest, trying to keep her tears from continuing as Spike soothed her slowly, rubbing his right claw calmly over her back as he softly whispered words of comfort her, knowing they did nothing to help, her friends had died young, at least in Twilight’s and Spike’s mind, they did not deserve their fate, nopony or creature deserved such a fate.
As he felt the mare of his heart and dreams start to slowly pass into the embrace of Luna’s realm, even though he knew that Gods could not dream, he smiled a smile that slowly descended into a frown, making his heart beat faster in his chest as he remembered the day Shining Armor died, killed in a small war with the Diamond Dogs, led by one of the very three mutts who once kidnapped Rarity, punctured in the chest by the leader’s claw as Shining Armor breathed his last breath in his wife’s hooves.
Even though that was only twenty years ago, Spike had to admit it was still a fresh wound to him, even though he and Shining Armor honestly never got along. What made it worse was that the Princess of the Crystal Empire and Goddess of Love, Mi Amore Cadenza was furious when her husband had died; she went into her full godly form immediately and annihilated every single Diamond Dog on the fields that laid their eyes on her, even Shining Armor’s squad of forty stallions and mares in her rage.
Spike was lucky he had not been there for like the rest he would have disintegrated into ashes looking at her, it had taken Discord, Luna, and finally Celestia to calm the mare’s rage down, right before the Diamond Dog Goddess of Earth and Strength demanded that she pay for the crimes she had dared to commit for such a small battle among the mortals, Cadence in her rage had fought her... and lost.
Spike would never forget how Twilight said she saw Cadence slain, her chest torn open and her horn snapped in half, even in her full form her body was disarrayed with cuts, bruises and blood, saliva dripping down her snout as the immortal that would take her life glared into her eyes and crushed her heart with one earth formed paw.
The Crystal Empire lost it; riots, theft, and murder is what became of their kingdom, they had at one point joined to go to war with the Diamond Dogs, but only Spike’s voice, the voice of their Crystal Savior, as was the title he was given by them, stilled their fury of the monsters who killed not only their emperor, but their Princess and the Goddess who they would gladly lay their lives down for without hesitation.
Spike growled softly before he gently got up from the carpet and picked up his mate in his claws, tucking her into her bed with a soft kiss on the lips before grabbing a cigarette and walking onto Twilight’s balcony, finding with surprise that Discord was outside, looking into his sister in law’s realm with a sad expression on his face, making Spike chuckle softly before lighting up his tobacco with his flames, inhaling the gray smoke calmly before exhaling it out his nose and leaning on the gray stone railing before him, the two males not even saying one word with the other before Spike broke the silence.
“How do you do it, Discord?” Spike whispered softly as the Draconequus merely blinked and with a snap of his right paw, he summoned a small lyre and begin to string it softly in silence before making the edges of his tail snap after a minute and summoned two ice cold bottles of hard cider, to which Spike took calmly with a nod that went unnoticed by the God.
“By knowing that once you are given the gift of immortality, it will be one of the worst gifts you shall ever receive, you did not think Celestia was my first wife, did you, Spike? No... I have had many wives in the eons of the past... she’s just the one who understands me more than any other immortal and I thank her very much for that, though she is not perfect, none of us are. I had to watch my entire race be slaughter by the Titans when I was but a boy, not even ten years old, they had wanted to tame the winter monsters, believing them to be nothing more than mere stupid fools... how wrong my race was, even those who did not want to claim the Windagos as their own were killed, the only reason I survived was because Celestia’s and Luna’s mother protected me, for what reason, I’ll never know.
“But I was there when the two were born... it was a very beautiful , yet tragic song that two more immortals had to be born in a perfect world that was starting to have the edges of it darken by our... sins. Did you know I created the Nightmare Realm? By order of Mother, of course, to be a prison for the Titans, but having one in there was a risk, so it was to be a jail for the most awful of souls, and our sins, and no doubt Celestia told you where the other two reside.
“Crystal Savior... understand this now and remember it for it is important. We Gods can never have children with mortals... ever, it is against ancient laws, which our Mother created after the Immortal War... we have no other choice but to follow such laws, if we disobey... then she will order us killed or force us to fade by turning us to dust faster than we could imagine possible.
“I have seen it before, Spike... it is not a road I would ever wish on any immortal... ever. It’s a dark road we travel and no matter what we do... we can never be free for those who are born as immortal... and have no choice in the matter.” Discord whispered softly.
Spike inhaled the last of his cigarette, then flicked the remains off the balcony, making sure to swallow the last of his alcohol as Discord had made his own into two cards that got into a heated debate about a certain topic and burst into flames, literally before Discord snapped his left limb and caused the cards, as well as Spike’s glass, to vanish, Spike was used to Discord’s random antic as he thought seriously of what he had said before he smiled a grim smile.
“We... will never be free, we never were to begin with... that is why so many Gods and mortals fall from grace, maybe one day reptile, you will understand... until then, have fun being the lover of a Goddess.” Discord’s face suddenly split into two different halves, one with a ridiculous grin on his face and the other depressed and glum before both disappeared in a flash of white light.
Spike paused as he looked at Luna’s night sky; it could not be so simple, could it? Spike bared his fangs, his scales bristling in rage before he slowly calmed down and sighed loudly, no. It was never so simple, nothing ever was in the world which he lived in.
With a rub of his eyes, Spike the dragon went to his mate’s room, hoping to get some rest before she had to awaken and inched his way into the covers, wrapping an arm around her, he kissed her neck then sighed loudly knowing that from now until the day he died, he was never alone, but that by no mean meant he would ever have an enjoyable lifestyle, after all nothing was free, not even freedom itself and everything, came with a price.
Author's Note
Do keep in mind this story is rather old when it was written, though no excuse really it is to prove that the stories I'm writing now have improved a bit from stories which lack in vocabulary for stories such as this, if that is any consolation, enjoy.
