Advent of the Young Dragon

Chapters

Recovery
Party and a Crash
Rage of the Young Dragon
The Start

Recovery

Sickness.

The rank scent of illness and pathogens roamed through the halls of the large hospital. The beautifully white interior did nothing to stop the spread of these bacteria, they only drew the eye away from the fact that this place was truly dirty. The influx of sick patients were normal for a hospital, however, and the daily sterilization did some work when it came to keeping intra-hospital sickness to a minimum. Through the rooms, there were a multitude of different figures, ranging from the physically sick, the injured, the disabled, and the mentally ill.

But one room stood out from all the others. Inside, there were shadows moving to and fro, even from the light of the open window, which caused the room to be illuminated by Celestia’s brilliant sun. Sounds of struggle tore through the air as grunts, pants, yells and roars came from the room. A green flash flew towards the door, but was soon encompassed by a purple aura intermingled with a blue aura, being slammed onto the bed. The aura soon broke as the green figure dashed to the door once again (much to the surprise of all included in the room), the aura slamming him back down on the bed again. If one was to peek in there, they would see a young purple and green dragon skittering away towards a window and trying to open it.

“I’m not wearing that!”

“But you have to! It’s standard procedure!”

“So? Make everyone else in here wear it! I know i’m not.”

“Stop being stubborn and put the thing on!”

“I must insist, darling. Just do it and make things easier on yourself!”

The young dragon was soon backed into a corner by a coalition of a group of ponies and two dragons. Doctors dressed in their usual garb stood over the dragon, the dreaded outfit in their hooves (even though it was big enough to fit the twosome terror that were the doctors) as the young dragon felt his back spines touch the wall corner. He glared in disdain at the outfit as he tried to make a book for it once again, trying to go around the group and over the beds, soon finding himself on the ground as a black dragonness and a certain cyan pegasus decided to tackle and hold him down. He struggled a bit more before he sighed and resigned himself to fate.

“You two are good friends, y’know?” He said with a small growl, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, shut it Spike. You need to follow regulations.” The black dragonness said with a growl right back at him, but the smirk on her face showed that she wasn’t angry in the slightest. She was actually quite amused.

“Oh, you’re one to talk, Sindria. Do you remember that stunt you pulled in Froggy Bottom swamp?” The cyan pegasus said with a grin.

Sindria blushed a bit and sputtered out. “Well, that Hydra shouldn’t have tried to start a fight! You saw what it did, Rainbow Dash.”

“Didn’t mean you had to punch it into a canyon wall!” Rainbow Dash shot back, followed by silence as Sindria chuckled a bit.

“Before the patient tries to make another break away, let’s get this gown on him” One of the doctors said to break the silence and to get things under way.

Sindria and Rainbow Dash nodded as they picked up the stubborn dragon, a bit of a cross look on his face as he glared at the gown. Begrudgingly, he put it on, shivering a bit at the feel as he looked around at the eyes on him and then at his reflection in the mirror.

“I still hate this thing. It’s so awkward and uncomfortable!” He said, struggling a bit at the gown. “And it’s so inconvenient! Why did you have to make this out of such awkward material!” Spike said as he looked at the thin metal layer of the clothing and the thin fabric as well. It wasn’t too heavy, it just didn’t feel right.

Rarity looked away with a bit of a shy chuckle. “Well darling, the last couple gowns you wore were torn to shreds from your new frame within the first couple hours. So I had to take it upon myself to make you one. With Vera’s help, of course.” She said, daintily pointing her hoof to the more feminine of the dragonnesses, a smile on the face of the Blue dragon.

“It was no problem Rarity, although I wish we could have made it more comfortable for him.” Vera admitted, shuffling her foot claws a bit.

“It was quite difficult making this, as...un-fabulous as it is. If only so many rules weren’t in place for clothing, I could have made a spectacle!”

“Besides, we have to go through this crap with you every day. It’s been a month since you’ve woken up and we have to do the same song and dance every time you need to go out!” Rainbow Dash said, throwing her hooves up in exasperation.

One of the doctors cleared his throat as he looked to Spike. “Well, gowns are supposed to be able to be partially see through and worn in the hospital, not ‘fabulous’. In any case, it’s on him.”

Rarity huffed a bit as she started to head for the door. “Well, everypony, I must be going. I left Sweetie Belle alone at the Boutique and I must hurry. No telling what she will try to clean. Or cook.” She said with a shudder as the prim and pampered pony left. Spike sighed deeply as he gave a loving look to the pony before she left, warranting a slap on the back from a certain orange earth pony.

“C’mon loverboy. We gotta get you to yer physical therapy.”

Spike felt his face go red at the title that Applejack had given him, a cumulative chuckle coming from the group as they followed him to the back of the hospital. He looked back at his sister-figure, Twilight Sparkle, with a timid smile. She just gave a soft smile back as he nodded a bit and followed the two dragonnesses and the Doctors.

“WAIT!”

He heard a voice say as a certain Pink pony bounded out of the crowd and basically tackled the unprepared young dragon.

“Shouldn’t we give him a second to catch his breath and relax? I mean, it’s not like he hasn’t had a tiring day already. He managed to stay away from us for about 2 hours all this morning! Also, shouldn’t we tell everyone how he got to the hospital? It’ll leave the readers confused if we just go into the action!” She said, pointing to an empty point in some random direction.

Everyone looked confused as a doctor sideways pointed a hoof to Pinkie. “Are you SURE we can’t put her in the psychiatric ward?”

Everyone nodded. “It’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Besides, she does have a point. Kind of. It’ll be cool to hear the story again.” Spike said, pushing Pinkie off of him and putting her to the side. She just sat on her flank as she smiled victoriously as everyone started to take a seat, with Twilight and Vera at the front of the group, both of them getting ready to tell the story, since they were the two who caused this whole mess...

“Why can’t I stay home, Twilight? You know I don’t like getting up this early in the morning!”

“Oh, it’s only 5 AM. Besides, you went to sleep really early last night. I’d think you would be raring to go.”

“I’m a baby dragon though! I need my sleep.”

Along the path through Everfree forest walked a pony that was different shades of purple and a young dragon, who was pouting with his arms crossed over his chest and a cross look over his face. His guardian nudged him a bit as she smiled softly.

“Come on. After i’m done, i’ll ask Pinkie to make you a sapphire cupcake.”

Spike brightened up almost instantly at the prospect of getting a sapphire cupcake today. He ran his tongue over his small lips, drooling a bit as Twilight just chuckled and shook her head, heading deeper and deeper into the Everfree forest. Little did they know...they were being tailed.

Spike looked apprehensively around as he heard the growls and hisses of different animals as they woke, a tinge of fear in his voice as he tried to seem manly in the least bit, straightening himself out though a shiver of dread ran through his body with each step that he took. His eyes darted fearfully left and right as he heard the bushes ruffling, jumping and letting out a bit of a yell, landing on Twilight’s back as he kept looking around.

“T-Twilight? When a-are we gonna be d-done with this? It’s k-kind of creepy in here...” 
Twilight looked back at him, her eyes having that same look when she was about to go into ‘science’ mode. “What are you talking about, Spike? There are a plethora of different fauna that we can examine! Oh, this is so exciting! I can’t wait to record my findings and do some experiments!” She said, all kinds of giddy. He just rolled his eyes.

“Sure. I’m sure the fauna will be just waiting for you.” He said in a snarky tone, warranting him a slap from Twilight’s rather dexterous tail. He suppressed a snicker as he kept bouncing on her back, his stomach tightening up a bit. He couldn’t shake this feeling that something was following them. It may have been just a loose bunny or that cat that Rainbow Dash ever-so-gently brushed away.

He gripped his stomach as he tried to get it to settle. Was it a letter? No, this feeling was different from his usual wanting to vomit out fire to receive a letter from the princess. It was...apprehension. He remembered this feeling when he met those teenage jerk dragons. He shuddered a bit as he kept looking around, keeping a lookout for anything that may sneak up on him and his guardian.

Twilight noted every action of her little assistant with worry. She had never seen him this freaked out before. Sure, he had been freaked out before, but never this visibly. He usually tried to put on some false bravado to make sure no one worried about him. Maybe he was on to something here...then something caught her eye which made her squee as loudly as she could, suddenly accelerating as Spike had to hold on tight to her neck and almost choke her. She didn’t notice though as she closed in on her target, skidding to a halt and sending Spike flying overhead into a pile of leaves.

“Oh my gosh! This is the rare Magica Rubiginosa! I haven’t gotten a chance to study this yet....”

Twilight said, using magic to carefully extract the flower from the magic, the petals glowing from the magic being used around it. She ooh’ed and ahh’ed at the marvel of the flower, a grumbling coming from the stack of leaves that Spike had made into a little rest spot.

“Oh, don’t worry about Spike! He’ll be fine! He just flew into a tree and became one with the leaf pile. Just keep getting your sample while he dusts himself off!” Spike said with a bit of a growl, irritated at Twilight but being unable to stay mad at her. This kind of thing happened much to often for him to really get mad at her. He just smirked and plotted how he was going to get the lavender pony back.

Then there was the sound of a hissing growl and the sound of a twig snapping that caught the attention of the researcher and her assistant. Spike backed up quickly, flailing his arms as he clawed at the ground, getting closer and closer to Twilight, hiding right behind her as they faced the direction of the disturbance. Twilight bristled, ready to fight if need be. If she had to, she was also ready to run like the diamond dogs were after her.

What she saw surprised her. Two dragons, probably about 8 feet tall, came from the underbrush, knocking leaves and branches off of their garb. They seemed to be travelers of sorts, though their garb seemed a bit too....fancy to suggest so. One was a black, muscled dragonness with a sword at her side, her red spines being covered with a black armor, as with the rest of her body. Her weirdly white eyes contrasted with everything about her, a sense of gentle security, yet irritation in her eyes. She held a bit of a scowl on her face as she brushed off another branch. Though it was obvious she was a woman, the black dragonenss held a bit of masculinity, of hard-boiled authority that overwhelmed the senses of the young dragon.

“We should’ve met them like normal beings on the path and not sneak around.”

The black dragonness said to her associate, who gently flicked off a leaf as she looked at Spike with a soft smile before turning to her partner, whom was wearing a wizards robe of sorts.

“Now where is the fun in that?”

She took off her hood to reveal the beautiful features of the feminine blue dragon, piercing yellow eyes staring deep at her partner with a hidden danger to them. She smiled softly though at the twosome, who was now backing away, Twilight’s horn glowing a bit as she looked to the dragonnesses with some distrust in her eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, motioning for Spike to get behind her for protection as she glared at the two.

The black dragonness smirked a bit at the lavender pony and pulled out a scroll, clearing her throat and reading the note.

“By decree of the joint coalition of the Princesses of Equestria and the Dragon King of Wyrmhaven, the young dragon known as Spike will hereby start being trained in the ways of magic and general combat. He will also be taught on Wyrmhaven dragon culture as well as Wyrmhaven history. As such, he will be escorted back to Wyrmhaven to safely conduct these exercises.”

The black dragonness finished, with Twilight and Spike sitting there gawking. They looked in between each other, then the dragonnesses, then each other, with a simultaneous yell.

“WHAT!?!?!?”

The birds flew from the treetops and the forest was disturbed by what decibel the yell was on. The dragonneses stepped back in shock as the baby dragon stepped forward with his guardian, looking up at the two of them. Twilight just shook her head a bit and scowled.

“I will talk with the princess about this. Until then, you are not laying a claw on Spike.”

She said with a growl, Spike crossing his arms over his chest and nodding. The black dragonness was about to speak before her partner just strolled up, towering over the twosome and smiling dangerously.

“Won’t you please reconsider? This is an official order from the Princesses of YOUR country. Do you want to go against her? Besides...”

The blue dragonness said, easily hefting up Spike and holding him close to her, smiling a bit as she cradled him.

“He’s much too adorable to stay like this. What if something happens and you need help? What about when he gets older and goes through his first growth cycle? Will you be able to help him with his hormones and magic then?”

She said with a coo, treating the baby dragon like...well, a baby. Spike almost got comfortable before his eyes snapped fully open and he jumped out of her arms, landing on the ground with an audible thud.

“Not that I trust you two...but why aren’t you like other dragons? You seem more like, well, me.”

The black dragonness spoke up this time as she looked to her partner with a nod. “Wyrmhaven dragons are different from regular dragons. Since the time we are eggs, we spend a majority of our life in magical incubation, as opposed to the common variety. Our bodies change differently than regular dragons. Yes, we can get as big as regular dragons, but our usual forms are like this. From there, we are taught proper manners and etiquette befitting of those who become royal advisors, ambassadors, generals, and the sort.”

The blue dragonness approached Twilight once again, her patience beginning to wear thin. “Would you please give us the young one now?” She said, her voice sounding strained.

“No. As I said, I will take it up with the Princess when I meet her. If she can validate what you are saying, then I will hand Spike over to you. That is, if he wants to go.” Twilight said matter-of-factly, warranting a hiss from the blue dragonness. Her partner looked over at her, giving her a stern ‘don’t do it’ kind of look. But she was ignored, as one usually is when facing an annoyed, stubborn female.

“Okay then...we’ll just take him by force then!”

She said with a roar, her claw glowing as a blast of magic grazed Twilight right on the shoulder before Twilight rolled out of the way, a counter-blast of magic going towards the attacker, with Spike having to dodge out of the ways of the blasts as the conflict got more and more heated.

The black dragonness gawked a bit as she saw her sister go into the fray. “Sister, Stop!”

She was completely ignored.

“You stubborn pony! Why can’t you listen?”

“I will listen only from the mouth of the princess, not some hostile strangers!”

Spike looked between the conflict as trees were torn down, land was ravaged, and animals were forced to leave their homes to escape eminent destruction. Then it was at a standstill, with the two opposing forces starting to charge their magic, a huge magical aura around Twilight’s horn as her eyes glowed intensely.

A similar phenomena was happening with the dragonness. A blue aura swirled around her entire form and started focusing at her palm, cumulating into a ball of pure magical energy as she stared dangerously at the pony. Spike looked between the two alarmed as he gulped. If those things collided, it could destroy all of Everfree forest. Or so he though in his little wild imagination. Quickly, he came out of his hiding spot, getting in-between the two forces.

“STOP IT!”

He yelled to his full force, but it was all for naught. That one moment where he clenched his fists and yelled out only prematurely set off the magic blasts, the two blasts converging to the point where they would collide. Spike. The black dragonness was not quick enough and it only would be seconds before the two opposing forces realized what they did. In the middle, a condensed sphere was made of pure magic, the young dragon visibly inside and being consumed by the magic. The horror in their eyes were prevalent. Breaths were held as they waited to see what would happen.

But not even they could anticipate what would happen. The magic started fluctuating wildly as the magic expanded quickly then combusted as well as magic could, an explosion taking place, the only thing keeping the remaining individuals alive being the magic of teleportation, away from the center and blast radius.

A crater formed and the magic disturbed the skies, moving clouds every which way as it finally subsided. The pegasi were going to have a lot of work to do. As the pony and dragonnesses reached down to the middle of the crater, they saw Spike’s body. It looked the same...though no trace of movement was seen in the form of the small dragon. Despair started to overtake Twilight as she violently shook Spike with magic.

“Wake up Spike! WAKE UP!”

The black dragonness looked to the sight and turned away, facing her partner with a deep growl before slapping her. “You idiot! You could not have waited? Now look what has happened! You could have killed him or completely erased his existence! You could have caused the treaty between Wyrmhaven and Equestria to become void! This is the second time you’ve caused a massive magical feedback! What were you thinking, dear sister!?”

The blue dragonness recoiled at the feeling of the slap,her wings drooping as she felt shame and regret seep into her pores. She said nothing in response, though she looked to the young one with great worry. He had great potential...and she hoped she hadn’t stripped that away from him because of her brash actions.

Spike shook his head a bit with a chuckle as he looked toward Vera and Twilight. “You two are too impulsive. Especially you.” He said, pointing to Vera, who blushed and turned her head away in shame.

“But hey, it’s a good thing you came out all right. I would have kicked some butt if you hadn’t woken up!” Rainbow Dash said, making fighting sounds as she swung her hooves around as if she was boxing.

“You wer’ asleep fer an entire year though. Y’sure yer all right, Spike?” Applejack asked, warranting her a nod from drake.

“Of course I am! It’ll take a lot more than some magic to take me down!” He said with a chuckle, flexing a bit as he kissed his muscles.

Sindria smirked a bit. “Now now, don’t get too vain now, Spike or else I’ll have to beat it out of you. “ She said with a dark giggle.

Spike rolled his eyes a bit as he scoffed a bit, getting him a hit upside the head from the dragonness. “Okay mentor.” He said with a chuckle.

“Speaking of which...” Vera said as she and her sister got up. “It’s time for training, my pupil.” She said. “And no boring book stuff today! Only magic and physical training.”

One of the doctors waved a hoof. “Physical THERAPY, remember? We can’t approve training.”

Sindria nodded. “We got it. C’mon Spike, we have work to do...”

Health.

The shining sun of the day came as life to the newly released dragon. The doctors had seen his progress with his body and thought it was best to let him go free, since the facility was no longer needed to take care of the young dragon. He stretched his arms and his wings (which Dash still found amazing), shuddering a bit as he looked around at the hustle and bustle of Ponyville as they seemed to be preparing for something. He felt a hard hit on his back as Sindria hit his back, the young male almost jumping out of his scales as he blushed in embarassment.

“Hey, Watch it teach! I’m still sore from the training!”

Spike said, murmuring as his ‘physical therapy’ teacher smirked a bit, running a calming claw along his scales.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby about it. You only did 1000 punches in a row.”

“And you threw me around like a rag doll.”

“Basic Boxing isn’t all that hard though!”

“No, it isn’t hard. Though, when you couple that with several different sword styles, Karate, several different grappling styles, and different Northeastern fighting styles, it gets overwhelming.” Spike said with a grumble.

“Not to mention all the magical training you’ve been doing. You’re really improving Spike! You’re a quick learner.” Vera said as she gave Spike a slight hug, which made him blush a bit and push her away.

“Aww, stop it.”

He said, smiling a bit as he took the compliment as graciously as he could.

“I am serious. That was pretty amazing how you lifted that boulder! We’ve only been training for two weeks and you’ve already got levitation down!”

He smiled a bit more as he beamed. “Well, not everyone can be as awesome as me.” Spike said.

“Hey, that’s my line!” Rainbow Dash said as she hit Spike gently on the shoulder. He just chuckled, turning his attention to Twilight as they got closer to Ponyville Square.

“Is something going on in Ponyville, Twilight? I didn’t hear any news of an event.”

Spike asked, huge smiles on the face of every pony and dragon except for the clueless male, saying nothing as they just ushered him towards the square. He just shrugged a bit, repeating his mantra of ‘crazy females’ as he was thrust into Ponyville square, the hustle and bustle coming to a standstill as he was greeted by dozens of hugs and smiles, with Pinkie popping out of nowhere with her Party Cannon.

“Congratulations on getting released, Spike! It must be so good to get out of that stuffy room.”

Pinkie said, firing sweets, a couple tables, and a bunch of confetti out of her cannon. Spike got a face full of the colored papers as he smiled widely, his eyes shining as he embraced everypony he could in a big hug, even hugging his mentors (much to the Dragonnesses’ surprise.) They both smiled gently as the hugged the young dragon (which was not that difficult since he was only a foot or so smaller than the two of them.)

But what really surprised Spike was the sight of the two Princesses in the crowd, his jaw dropping as he saw Luna wave to him warmly and trot over to him to give him a big hug, warranting him some jealous looks from some of the stallions.

“We are happy to see you-Erm, I mean, It’s so good to see you are okay, Spike.”
Luna said with a slight blush, correcting herself. Spike smiled a bit and reciprocated the gesture, giving her a hug back. Finally, he was face to face with the Princess of the Sun, her warm gaze washing over him as he words flowed out softly, yet full of energy.

“Ready to party?”

Spike smirked and nodded a bit as he heard the music start.

“Of course.”

Inside of Spike lay dormant his magic, intermingled with his soul. But...as with all things, there is darkness inside of all. And he was no exception. On one corner of his soul, in one small part, lay a deep darkness, living, breathing, yet still stationary as it waited, bided its time. For when the day comes where its power became full and this young dragon had matured....devastation would rain. Blood of the innocent would be spilled and friends will become enemies. It would paint the world with organs and hear the choked cries of the weak as it used this powerful source of energy to cause havoc. To cause mayhem. To cause Death.

Party and a Crash

(I may have forgotten to do this before but...I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It is own by Hasbro. Yes, the progression of this fanfic has been a bit slow but...please bear with me.)

Revelry.

The sounds of partying filled the small town of Ponyville. Cheering, yells of happiness, dancing, and other actions of partying were shown in the large group of ponies that had surged into the square like a giant tidal wave, the whirlpool of ponies soon settling down as things became more solemn for a second, a familiar Pink pony bouncing up onto the stage where the band (whom she had rented), was playing. It was a duo of two different clashing styles, the ever electric dubstep played by the one and only Vinyl Scratch, aka DJ Pon-3, and the calm stylings of the resident cellist, Octavia. The rivals stared each other down as they made musical magic with their wordless songs. Even though the two styles were competing, they blended into a perfect array of energy and calm, of the beauty of the classical era with the power of the dubstep era. The sounds of the computer generated instruments clashed with the melodious sounds of the cello over and over again. Exertion was in the faces of the two musical mares as they squared off, the usual grin on Vinyl’s face being replaced with a face of effort, while the usual stoic Octavia was found having her tongue stuck out in concentration, trying to outdo her rival.

Out in the crowd stood a trio of dragons, making an obtuse triangle shape as they tended to their own business. The two females were conversing with each other in their native language, which sounded like a soft melody itself. They had rather light-hearted looks on their faces as they spoke, short laughs coming from one of them every now and again. The only male of the group off to the side, chomping down on a piece of cake. The crumbs fell from his jaw and down his body, the cream colored scales of his stomach having some frosting on it, and the purple scales of his body having even more frosting on it. One would think he had just jumped into a giant vat of icing without a care in the world and swam in it. It was close to what had happened, anyways....

“All right ponies (and dragons), we’ve got a party to start!” Pinkie Pie said, standing on an empty table and pointing a hoof out at everyone, making a large sweeping motion with the outstretched hoof. “Now, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch should be getting here in a little while. They said they had to go out and upgrade their equipment for a party like this.” She said, a huge smile on her face. “Cloudchaser, Big Mac, and Carmel? I need the tables set up and the food out pronto!” She said, clapping her hooves together. The trio nodded and went off to their duties as she pointed to Spike as he tried to sneak away and help out. “You, my scaly friend, are gonna relax! This is your welcoming party, and I’m not gonna let you do any work.” Pinkie said.

Spike blinked a bit and opened his mouth to make an argument, but was given that sharp glare that the Pink Party Pony was famous for when she was adamant on something. His body relaxed and his voice faltered as he sighed in defeat, holding up his claws.

“All right, all right. I give. I’ll just relax until it is time.” He said, grumbling a bit and getting a sympathetic pat from Applejack as she walked by.

“I know tha’ feelin’ partner.” She said, smiling a bit as she sat beside him, visible beads of sweat forming on her brow as she panted just a tiny bit.

“Well, in all fairness, you were working yourself wall-eyed and to exhaustion. I’ve got pent up energy!” He said, his body giving way to a yawn as he stretched a bit, and got a punch from Applejack.

“ ‘Pent up Energy’ mah flank! Yer just as tired as when you left the hospital.” She said, sharing a laugh with the young dragon. She wiped a tear from her eye as she smiled warmly. “Seriously though, Spike. You should relax. Ya’ just got out of th’ hospital, and we don’t need ya’ going back in any time soon.” She said in that same stubborn tone.

Spike sighed in defeat once again as he nodded at her logic, closing his eyes as he thought about it for a bit. Then he just leaned back in his chair a bit, making sure to dig his feet into the ground so he wouldn’t fall back, smiling. “All right, I’ll relax. For your sakes.” He said, motioning to the 6 ponies and two dragons whom he had come to know as friends and family.

“Good! Now...I gotta go, sugarcube. I’m on sweet transportin’ duty.” She said, giving him another pat on the back then trotting off, looking back once at him with a worried expression. He shooed her off with a nonchalant flick of his wrist. She just smiled softly and trotted off to do her part as Spike took a glance around, his gaze slowly becoming more and more bleary as his eyelids drooped. Much to his dismay, he fell asleep in the chair, snoring lightly, some mares giggling and some stallions chuckling as they saw the young dragon asleep in the plastic chair. He had a pleasant look on his face as he slept, dreams of Rarity, getting strong, and protecting Ponyville like a superhero.

“...ike....”

Spike grumbled in his sleep, not wanting to move from the comfortable position he had finally found in the plastic chair: off to the side with his hands clasped and being used as a pillow, his tail wrapped around him to the best of its ability.

“...pike....out.”

He grumbled again as he slowly came to the waking world, his rather intimate dream with Rarity being broken by light as he grumbled again, wanting to head back to sleep, shutting his eyes tightly. “Five more minutes...”

“Spike, watch out!”

Spike grumbled and opened his eyes, rubbing them a bit as he stared blearily out into nowhere, looking around at the voice that had awaken him. But instead of getting a sight of pony...

SPLAT!

...He got a face-and-body full of cake. He sputtered a bit, flailed, then fell back, 12 sets of hooves heading over to as he gained some bearing of his surroundings, wiping the cake from his eyes as he stared at a guilty looking grey wall-eyed pony.

“Derpy...” He said with a glare.

“Sorry Spike! I kinda lost my balance carrying the cakes.” She said, staring down at the ground, then back to Spike, only to be met with a face struggling to keep its composure. Suddenly, the young dragon started laughing boisterously, holding his cake covered gut as he wiped a cake-tear from his eye, getting up slowly as his tongue navigated around his face, getting whatever frosting and cake it could and bringing it back into his mouth. He took a long trail of cake and frosting and put it on his finger, tasting it a bit as he smiled.

“Can I get a towel or something please?”

He asked, a slight chuckle coming from him as he stood there, still covered in cake. Twilight smiled and nodded silently as she headed for the treehouse, not wanting to have Spike inconvenience anyone. Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw Vera and Rarity blushing madly. He shrugged a bit. Maybe something had caught their eye.

Spike stood there, tapping his claw against his arm as he waited for his towel, his eyes half closed as some tiredness was still in his body, covering his mouth with his claw to try to hide a yawn as a stray tear dripped out of his eye.

“Having fun?”

A rather lilting voice said, a grand smile appearing on the face of the young dragon. The Co-Monarch of all of Equestria, someone whom he had the utmost respect for, and one whom he could count on to appreciate his pursuits in pranks: Princess Celestia. She trotted to the point where she could stand beside him, a piece of MMM cake and a teacup with some tea floating around her, the teacup floating daintly over to her mouth to allow the Princess to take a sip out of it, a deep, refreshed sigh coming from her. Gently, she put the teacup down on the nearest table, looking at Spike from the corner of her eye, not wanting to meet his gaze.

He ate the last slice of cake he had, groaning in the pure flavor of it, glancing back to Celestia as her gaze shifted once more. He wondered what was wrong with her. She was acting weird. Then, he had to stop as he was embraced by the Alicorn, a wet feeling on his shoulder as she dug her face into it. The slight shudder from her body and the quiet sobs he heard from her already told him what was wrong. She was crying. For whatever reason, she was crying. He looked around, though no pony was paying attention to them, wrapped up in their own conversations or generally messing around.

“I was so worried...” She said simply through the tears, nuzzling the young dragon as he was still trying to get his guard un-caught as he kept hugging her, giving her an affectionate nuzzle before she drew back, wiping a tear from her eye as she looked to him with a soft smile, the sniffles disappearing almost as soon as they came, the regal visage of the princess coming back to her...with a bit of red in her eyes. A little sniffle or two and she was then back to her regular self, save for the worried glance that she gave Spike.

He smiled softly at the worrywart of a Princess, giving her a quick hug and a pat on the back. “Don’t worry, Princess. Everything is going to be okay. Everyone here is either family or friend. I’m pretty sure nothing can go wrong.” He said, then snickered at her. “Oh...and you might wanna clean up. You got a bit of frosting on you.” He said, almost bursting out laughing when he saw the frosting of some cake on her nose, seeing the Princess go cross-eyed from concentration and try to get the morsel off of her nose using only her tongue, the usual refined mare turning into a filly for a second as she let go of her inhibitions for the second time tonight to get that decadent morsel that was just out of her grasp.

When she fell on her back is when Spike lost it. He held his gut as he fell onto his back, his spines sticking into the ground as fresh tears of laughter coated his cheeks, dripping down his face and onto the ground as he laughed hysterically. “OH MAN! M-MY GUT! AHAHAHAHA!” He sputtered, trying to get out coherent sentences but failing. Horribly. Celestia soon joined in on the roaring laughter, laughing at herself for her own foal-like tendencies and Spike’s laughter. Twilight looked between her mentor and Spike as she strolled up with a towel in tow, wondering what those two were on about. She just shrugged a bit. “C’mon, you two gotta get up. Can’t have the guest of honor and the Princess getting all dirty and tired.” She reprimanded the two of them as she helped them to their feet, a tear falling from the eye of the young dragon.

“Oh, lighten up, Twilight. It’s a party! You sound like the Princess.” He said, pointing to Celestia with a thumb.

The Monarch of the Sun puffed out her cheeks. “Hey, I am not a party-pooper!” She said, blushing when she started to get looks from her subjects.

Twilight gasped as she took great offense to that. “I’m not a party-pooper either!” She said, blinking as the skeptical gazes turned to her as she shrunk with an awkward smile. “What? I’m not.”

Spike quickly wiped off whatever frosting that stuck to his frame.Slowly, he migrated away from the group as more ponies funneled in and began to take his place, asking whom he affectionately knew as ‘the Mane 6’ and the Princess a plethora of questions. Slowly, the migrated over to him as well when he was off to the side, the many different ponies of the town starting to ask him questions like “What was it like being in a coma” and “How strong are you now?” Another quite...personal question from a mare with the Lyre on her flank. It was something along the lines of “How ‘big’ have you gotten”, which warranted a blush from the young dragon and the crowd to go silent as everyone pretended like they did not hear the comment as the party continued.

Spike slumped in a chair as he sat tiredly, the question and answer session having taken its toll on him. He yawned rather loudly, closing his eyes and stretching his arms, his wings scraping against the plastic causing a rather uncomfortable growl to come from the young dragon, his emerald eyes half closed as he smiled lazily. Today had been a very fun day. He had finally got out of the hospital, he was at a really cool party thrown by a really cool friend with really cool ponies asking him rather odd questions. Yup. Typical Ponyville. It even seemed like and Vera and Sindria were getting along with the ‘ponyfolk’ rather easily, sharing stories and laughs.

Though...something caught his attention. Something alluring. A glint out of the corner of his eye and the smell that wafted with it. Slowly, he rose from his seat, breaking away from the large crowd of still-partying ponies, the little stand-off between the musicians taking a quick break and some pre-made party songs being played (rather loudly, if he did say so himself). The smell and the sight led him to an alleyway that was rather far off from where the party was happening, but also to a rather familiar place: Carousel Botique. He looked around in the cramped space, grunting a bit as he managed to get his wings to fold in comfortably as he looked down at the figure who tempted him.

Two beautifully blue eyes, like the endless sky, gazed up at him. He had no choice but to kneel when he saw those eyes, the dim light doing nothing to hide that pure white coat and the bouncy purple mane of the temptress in front of him. She had a soft smile on her features and a certain quality to her gaze that sent shudders through his body. He already knew who it was before she said anything, recognition gleaming in those emerald pools of his.

“Sorry to pull you away from the party, Spikey-Wikey, but there is something I need to give you as a sort of...congratulations for surviving your training with your...mentors.”

Spike was about to ask what it was before he felt a firm, yet delicate hoof behind his head. But that was nothing compared to the fireworks that were going off in his brain from touching lips with his first crush and probably the love of his life.

Now, as a young male, he had always dreamed of kissing a mare. He had the situation planned out in his head and a script hidden away in the treehouse. The actual written down material was pieced together from cliche and sappy romance novels. They would be out for a date during midday, starting with a nice picnic. Light conversation would be had between him and his mare, getting more and more intimate as evening came. After the picnic lunch, they would go to a nearby place-of-fun, like an arcade or a mall. After a couple hours of playing games, they would head out to the fanciest restaurant in Ponyville, and then get the nicest things on the menu. Slowly, they would feed each-other their foods as they gazed into each-other's eyes soulfully. That moment would cumulate into a grand kiss back at his abode, thrown into a whirlwind of passion that neither of them could hold back.

But this kiss....this kiss was more than he could have dreamed. He could feel some unknown quality to this kiss that drove him wild. A deep crimson blush was on the face of the young dragon as he struggled to keep the pace with the obviously more experienced mare. She placed her other hoof around his neck to join with the hoof that was already there, pulling on him and forcing the kiss on him even more. Spike got more and more comfortable with the kiss as time passed, seconds turning into minutes, and minutes turning into bundles of minutes. Every once in a while, they would break to get their air back (mostly on Rarity’s part), but once again, she pulled him back into that hungry kiss. Little by little, he started to realize what was behind that kiss. Hunger. Passion. Lust. Somehow, he could taste it on her. Was it that potent?

Soon enough, she broke once again for a longer period of time, her hooves still wrapped around Spike’s neck as he just stared at her in surprise, unable to make too many coherent thoughts as his body slowly got wrapped into the moment. But, somehow, he managed to get out one question to the mare. Well...a jumble of words in the form of a question.

“Why? What? When? Huh!?”

He said stupidly, warranting a giggle from the mare. “Why, Spike, I have had certain...emotions and feelings for you for quite a while. But, being in the form that you were in, I could not act upon it. Not only would I get in trouble, Twilight would have never forgiven me. Couldn’t you tell by how close I was getting to you when you were off for that dreadful dragon migration? You have no idea how hard it was to hold myself back for all these years!”

She said with a bit of a seductive purr, looking up at Spike she kissed his snout, another surge of red flooding to the cheeks and cheek-scales of the young dragon. He had always known girls were tricky, but he felt like a fool now that he realized the signs. He would have face-clawed had it not been for Rarity’s hoof straying a bit too far down. He let out a small yelp, an even deeper blush coming onto his face. He recognized that look in Rarity’s eyes. He knew that look whenever Twilight used to lock him in his room for a week or so. Pure, unadulterated lust. Yup, tonight was the best night ever. And nothing would ruin it.

In the skies above Ponyville, three figures found themselves flying over the quaint town, their attentions drawn by the sounds of music, the smell of pony, and the familiar stench of four certain adversaries they would very much like seen laid before them, prostrating or even...dead.

“Shall we crash this party, guys?” A malevolent voice said, distinctly of male descent.

“We shall.” The two other figures said, following the obvious ‘boss’ of the trio down to the party.

Spike gulped as Rarity kept teasing his most sensitive spot: his crotch. It took all of his will-power not to let his ‘dragonhood’ pop out, even though it was sorely tempted to. No matter how many fantasies he had of this, his body was not ready for it, even though he would never vocalize it. Though, through some kind of cognitive power, Rarity caught up on his distress.

“What’s wrong, darling? Don’t you want me~?”

She asked in a husky voice, running her hoof up his body to his chin,motioning it in a way that it put a slight pressure on his jawline, trying to get the young bashful dragon to look at her. His emerald eyes met her beautiful blue eyes as they glimmered with sensuality, the young dragon conflicted about what to do. “D-Don’t you think that we are going a bit too fast, Rarity?” He managed to get out, warranting a small lilting giggle from the mare.

“Oh, Spike. You’re acting like you have something I have never seen before.”

Spike’s scaly eyebrow quirked a bit from her comment, the obvious ‘what?’ look in his eyes as he stared at the white-coated mare, a deep blush on her face now as she began to stutter out an answer.

“W-W-Well...y-you see, Spike...I was quite the wild mare back in my teenage years. I experimented a lot since my company was just taking off and I did not have that many responsibilities. I picked up many skills that I still use today, though not in as high demand.”

She said with an even deeper blush, feeling herself being lifted a bit into a hug as her mutual crush hugged her, giving her a small peck on the lips. His bashfulness was still there, but after hearing her little ‘truth’, he felt a bit more comfortable with her. Not enough to sleep with her, but at least to reciprocate her emotions. But then he felt her turn away and say something that made him blush red-hot.

“And it’s also like I’ve never seen your manly bits either. Who do you think ‘took care’ of you when your body reacted to its baser instincts?”

Ruin.

Before Spike could say anything, he smelled something which made horror seep through his veins. His emerald eyes narrowed as he put Rarity down, hurrying outside as he saw something he never thought he’d see in Ponyville. Fire. And not an accidental fire, mind you. A purposeful arson. How did he know it was purposeful? Well, the three dragons setting fire and causing chaos in Ponyville square quite helped clear up any misconceptions that this was an accidental fire. He growled deeply, angrily, as he looked back at Rarity. “C’mon. We got Ponies to check on.” He said, going out of the lust-fueled haze he was in and letting a calm fury consume him instead. He had a feeling he knew exactly who had done this.

And his theory was right. Off to the side, there were the Princesses, trying to put out the fires with Vera and Sindria using their individual skills to herd what ponies they could away from the fire, glaring with disdain at the dragons who caused this. Spike’s eyes narrowed in rage as he looked at the ‘leader’ of the group issuing orders.

“...And we want that little namby-pamby pony-dragon out here! I wanna see him squirm while we take over this place!” He said, his voice a bit cracked, tinged with madness as he looked around in glee at the carnage he had committed.

“Well, if it isn’t the three stooges. What’s up, Garble?” Spike said with a deep growl, his arms crossed over his chest as he saw the older dragon approach him, the tall, muscular male towering over him as the other two ‘enforcers’ walked over, the hostages fleeing for their lives when they saw an opportune chance. A wide grin was on Garble’s face as he stared down at the younger dragon.

“My my, didn’t you get a bit tall. But, once a squirt, always a squirt. Isn’t that right fellas?” Garble said, his posse chuckling it up and making their own comments which just agreed with what Garble said. Spike just sighed a bit, faceclawing as he glared up at Garble.

“Look. I’m in a VERY good mood right now. I’m gonna give you this chance to go. Now.” Spike threatened, green flames coming out of the side of his mouth and out of his nose as a threat. Garble looked un-impressed as he drew back to punch the young dragon. “Not Funny, Pipsq-”

Garble’s tirade was cut short when Spike promptly decked him, followed by a simple sweep up the feet...then a usage of the momentum on Spike’s part by shoving his claw into the face of the bigger dragon and thrusting him down into the ground head-first. The ground cracked a bit under the force, leaving Garble bleeding a bit from some peeled scales and a concussion. The other two dragons stood in shock as their leader was taken down so easily. Spike looked down at him un-impressed.

“C’mon. You were talking all that good shit a second ago. Then I slammed you into the ground! What’s wrong? Get up! Call your boys on me. Hit me! Fight me!” He said, roughly reciting the lines from a certain show he had watched while in the hospital. Everyone looked at him in shock as he cursed. He just blinked. “Is this really the time for you to be shocked?” He asked at a blinking Twilight, who just shook her head.

Garble growled when he finally gained consciousness, getting up quickly and moving away from Spike. “Lucky shot, kid! Now then, boys, lets get him!” Garble commanded, his two stooges going into the fray with Spike first, throwing punches and trying to claw at him, using more street-fighting and primal attacks rather than the finesse that Spike was showing.

The training was starting to show its fruits as Spike’s footwork managed to dodge and tail-swipes that the twosome had from the front. Garble managed to sweep around and try to get him from the back, which only got him a foot to the stomach and a couple seconds of disorientation as he went back into the fray. Three on one. And the one was winning.

“C’mon! Don’t you guys just wanna go back to wherever you came from and not get your butts kicked?” Spike asked, showing his bravado, but this triple assault showing its wear and tear on his body. He had small claw marks from where they managed to get him, and a bit of sweat was starting to accumulate on his body. Then, when the assault lightened, he got a bit worried. He needed to finish this quickly. He dodged the more stocky of the one’s claws, getting into his guard and preforming a hard knee into the jaw of the large dragon by pulling him into the knee, his impressive upper body-strength showing. The smaller dragon was dealt with rather quickly by a one-two combo: One in the liver and a second punch to the chin.

“Now...where is-”

“HELP!”

His blood ran cold with fear as he recognized the voice almost instantly, turning to the source. There, with Rarity, was Garble, holding her from behind, a claw dangerously close to her throat. His eyes gleamed with madness as he grinned maliciously at Spike, panting and backing up as the younger dragon stalked him dangerously, intense rage burning in the eyes of the purple and green dragon as his fists balled up tightly.

“Game’s over, Spike. Now...all you have to do is be a bit smart. That is, if you don’t want this cute little morsel to be hurt.” Garble said, pressing his claw closer to Rarity’s neck.

“What the hell do you want, man? Why are you going through all this trouble to mess with me, huh?”

“Why else? You turned your back on being a dragon and made us look like fools! You chose these sissy ponies over your own kind! I want to see you squirm and break before I forcibly drag you back to the outer lands and beat you to death!”

Spike growled a bit. “Put her down. I swear if you do anything to her I will-”

“You’ll do what, exactly? Cutting through her throat would be as easy as cutting through a ruby.” He said, making his point by sinking his claw into her throat a tiny bit, causing a little trickle of blood run down his claw and onto the ground.

Spike’s pupils shrunk as he saw that precious liquid fall onto the ground, even in that minuscule amount. He saw the pain flash across her features as he skin was pierced. The fear in her eyes as she saw her life flash before her eyes. Something...happened. Some primal state in him or some evil he had kept locked away suddenly took hold of his heart. The gates of hell had been opened inside of him as every muscle in his body tensed, his pupils disappearing and his fangs elongating, an evil presence coming off of him. His voice was raspy, cold, heartless as he stared right at Garble, even the young dragon knew what fear felt like. It gripped the red dragon’s heart coldly, mercilessly, as he backed away from the pony.

Evil had come to take residence in Spike’s heart, and was making its first appearance for all of Ponyville to see.

Rage of the Young Dragon

(I apologize for taking so long! School, then Family caught my attention, followed by me getting awesome games on Steam, followed by me getting some drawing commissions, as well as me starting two tumblrs. Hope you all like it!)

Fury.

The air shuddered with the force that was emanating off of the rapidly blackening dragon. His mouth hung open wide as a raspy breathing came from his form. Every muscle in his body constricted and relaxed all at once, as if everything in his body was in sync. The whites of his eyes showed, an unnatural glow to the pupil-less sclera. The earth trembled at the sudden surge of power from an usual controlled source. An aura-of-sorts came off of the dragon, black strands coming off of the scales of the young one as he stood stone still, his body trembling as much as the earth below his feet, maybe even more-so. His form was hunched over as he stared more and more at the older, fear-stricken red dragon, venom dripping out of his voice whenever he managed a word. But, every time he spoke, he uttered the same phrase over and over again.

“You....You hurt Rarity...”

He muttered it loud and clear as it gained intensity, the other two dragons feeling the malice that came off of Spike even in their unconsciousness. Spike approached Garble, glaring claymores, the red dragon gulping in fear as he began to feel hot under the collar. Coming here was a bad idea. should not have listened to that...stranger who told them where the runt was. Somewhere inside of him, Garble knew it in the first place. But his greed and his desire to get back at these stupid ponies and that little runt for humiliating him all those years ago overcame his common sense and drove him to this worthless little pony town. Just the idea of coming into Equestria threatened to make him lose his lunch. But he did it anyways, fueled by the prospect of slaughtering some ponies, regardless of the trouble.

But he didn’t want this kind of trouble. This malevolent aura. This killing intent that was coming off of this dragon. For what? Wrecking a few homes and giving a pony a little cut on the neck? Even as a pony-dragon, this guy made no sense. And how did he get so strong? He was still in the early phase of his maturation cycle, by his size. But this power and speed...it was not normal! No dragon should be that strong at his age. He glanced over to the two female dragonnesses. They must have had something to do with it. He kept backpedalling, managing to find his bearings on a tree and get back to his feet, his body shaking uncontrollably in fear. He growled at himself and at the fear he was feeling, rage coming into his mind. How dare this little runt make him afraid!

He stared right at Spike with the utmost contempt, but did something fatal. Very fatal. His body froze with fear when he saw those soulless orbs. His breathing became difficult, and then he felt pain through his body, then coldness as he looked around in horror. Time felt like it had stood still just for this moment. He felt something running down his body. Hot yet cold. Wet. Then he looked down and saw his lifeblood leaking out of two giant wounds in his vulnerable underbelly. Two unmistakable wounds. One...there was a bleeding hole where his heart and ribcage were supposed to be. Secondly...his entrails were pouring out of him from a huge gash in his belly. The organs that kept his body functioning were on the ground or splattered in blood-soaked patterns across the nearby trees. He could’ve sworn he heard a splat as what he assumed was parts of his heart hitting a tree. He felt nothing but fear. No pain....no blood anymore, just crippling fear. Then he felt time resume, a pained gasp coming from his body as he stumbled backwards, having felt his body move forward to meet hostility with hostility. Now, he just leaned against the tree he brought himself up with, his heart pounding madly in his chest as he checked his underbelly. No holes or gashes. Was it....a premonition of death?

Not even the ponies he saw were prepared for such a malevolent presence to come out of the young dragon, all of them frozen in the utmost fear, especially the six whom were considered his best of friends, as well as the two tall, regal-like ponies that were in the background. However, he noticed something about the dragonnesses. They were shocked, but they were considerably less shocked-looking than the rest of the ponies. They seemed more worried than anything. Even pensive. But he couldn’t focus on them long enough, his concentration being broken by the sound of movement from Spike.

Garble’s eyes narrowed as a deep snarl came into his throat, a deep shiver still in his form, but the frozen state being gone. He was angry. He was scared, but he was immensely more furious. He was a damned dragon! He wasn’t supposed to be afraid of anything! Especially something smaller than him. This was against nature! He was the alpha predator! Him! He wasn’t gonna let some runt from some backwater pony country make him any more afraid. He wasn’t going to back down. After he slaughtered this runt, he would kill all of the ponies in the area. There’s no way that purple pony could teleport them all away in time. His knees buckled under him as he tried to walk, but he forced himself to do so. His diaphragm and lungs expanded as he took in a deep gulp of air, letting out an earth-shaking roar to both calm his nerves and frighten everything else.

“BACK OFF!”

It worked. The young runt was startled enough for to break that malicious grimace of his, and the rest of the ponies flinched, some of them running out of fear. It calmed his nerves to see the ponies fall and try to get away from his terrifying visage. He wasn’t as afraid of the specter in front of him, though this nagging fear told him to just run. He wasn’t going to do that. He wouldn’t leave his bros behind, nor would he become a coward. Madness was tinged in the eyes of Garble as every muscle in his body contracted and coiled, building up the potential energy in his muscles. In a final roar and grunt of exertion, he took a heavy running start, his eyes narrowed as he grit his teeth, ramming his shoulder right into the midsection of the used-to-be green dragon.

A grunt of pain came from Spike as he was pushed back a couple inches, the initial surprise having worn off as his predatory instincts and defensive instincts kicked into gear. He flexed the muscles in his legs and dug the claws on his feet into the ground to stabilize himself, glaring at Garble as he swiped his claw at Garble. It missed by a small margin, but it gave him enough time to close in on the opposing dragon as he ducked and jumped back to make space. His claw closed into a tight fist as his muscles expanded quickly as he flexed them, gaining more and more power as his fist went up and into the ribs of the opposing dragon.

Garble considered himself a rather durable dragon. He was blessed with the ability to take a lot of hits, which showed in his numerous fights with other adolescent dragons. And as such, he grew to become the ‘boss’ of the teen dragons because of his fighting prowess and his durability. But not even his durability could stand up to such a heavy hit. He felt the cage of dense bones underneath his scales bend and groan, cracking heavily at the force of the blow as his pupils shrunk in pain, feeling himself being lifted off of the ground. His maw opened as he let out some saliva and a cough of pain as his body moved in the way of the force, making an awkward C-shape. He couldn’t react fast enough to block it with his arm, but he had a feeling he would still have some broken bones by the force of the punch.

“Grit your teeth.”

Was all that Garble heard before everything went white for a second, feeling the force of another punch against his jaw as he was sent flying back by another punch, skipping across the ground like flat rock against a pond. He went crashing through a tree, blood flowing freely out of his mouth as he puked all over the ground, pain seeping its way throughout his body. He tried to stand up, but could not. His legs had been affected by the punch to the head too much. Every time he got to his feet, his legs would wobble and he would fall right back on his knees in defeat, blurry eyes staring at the intimidating presence.

“GAH! Let me go!”

Garble said feebly as he was picked up by the head by Spike, the glowing, pupil-less eyes staring right at him as he was flung like a broken toy, the red dragon going through the forest, crashing into the same tree he had used to prop himself up and begin his ‘assault’. He didn’t even get a moment of rest. As soon as he was back to his feet, a flurry of blows were rained upon him. His scales cracked and his skin bruised under the blows. They were no where near as heavy as the two blows he received earlier, but the speed more than compensated for the lack in of power. He couldn’t do anything except for using his forearms to block the multiple punches in an attempt to protect his face. He was knocked back after his strength waned for a bit, his snout broken and bleeding, his arms bruised to all hell with some scales bent and blood coming from the flesh underneath, he appeared broken, battered, and beaten.

Yet Spike continued to advance, the emptiness in his eyes changing to an immense bloodlust as all of the muscles in his body moved as one, contracting and relaxing as they got closer and closer to the source of misfortune that caused this usually peaceful dragon to become so consumed by hatred and maliciousness. He got closer and closer to his target, Garble’s eyes flashing with fear once again as adrenaline pumped through his veins, every cell inside of him telling him to run like hell. But he couldn’t. His own stubbornness wouldn’t allow him to do it. He just growled in challenge, his eyes narrowing as his stubbornness spoke for him again. “Do your worst, you runt.”

Spike was upon the dragon, pinning him to the ground with a claw, growling loudly as he drew back his fist, ready to deal the finishing blow to this waste of space. Every muscle in his body was clenched, his mind so far gone into the darkness that he didn’t care if he killed this blemish on the face of the world. His fist came down hard, cutting through the air like a blade, waiting to meet the scale, bone, and grey matter of the dragon below him.

All the ponies looked in shock at the ghastly spectacle before him. Well, the ones who stayed which included the aptly named ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the two rulers of Equestria, a couple nurses who came to check up on Spike, and Pip. Poor Pip had fainted due to the sight of blood. Poor kid. Twilight could do nothing but look in shock, disgust, and awe as she saw her number one assistant brutalize the jerk dragon. Sure, she thought he deserved it for all the destruction that Garble and his thugs did, but not this much! She didn’t even think that Spike had it in him to do such a thing.
Rarity was off to the side, on the border between consciousness and unconsciousness. She was being fanned by her little sister, who just watched the ghastly spectacle in awe. Rarity tried to cover Sweetie Belle’s face, but was too weak from the shock of being close to death and the other shock of seeing Spike thrown into such a spiral of rage from it.

Celestia couldn’t take this anymore. This helplessness she felt from just watching a dragon she raised from birth turn into some...monster was making her heart ache. She had already sent Luna to go and get a medical corp to tend to the dragons. Now all that was left to do was subdue Spike before he became a murderer. She planted her hooves firmly in the ground, summoning up her ageless power, concentrating it to her horn, the white appendage of sorts glowing with a bright yellow-white aura.

But he felt nothing of the sort. He felt himself hitting what seemed like a net, that same feeling spreading throughout his forearm. Every time he tried to move his fist forward, it felt as if he was punching through jello and all of the force was just being pushed in every direction instead of roaring through the air to the target he oh-so wanted to finish off. He kept trying to punch, but he couldn’t get any force or acceleration behind his punch.

When he looked over to see what was holding him back, he saw that his claw was covered in a yellow-white aura, being stopped in full by the powerful magic. He just grunted a bit as he was stopped by whomever was getting in his path, starting to feel more magic bonds hold him down and drag him away from his enemy, loud roars and curses coming from him. He wanted that jerk to die! He hurt Rarity! He tried to hurt and kill every single one of the ponies he called family! He deserved to die!

Wait...what was he saying? No one really deserved to die. Sure, he tried to kill his pals, but no one got hurt really badly. Not even Rarity, who was near the big moron when he was about to go crazy. No one was too brutally hurt. He deserved to be sent packing from Equestria or have a fair trial to determine his punishment. He knew he didn’t have a right to choose who lived or who died.

“But these ponies will just let him off easy! He’ll do this again and he’ll make you regret not killing him!” A voice within him said, making a bit of sense but the young dragon not listening to it...almost. It was a very tempting offer to play judge, jury, and executioner, especially since this is not the first time that this guy had threatened him and his family’s life. But, unlike before, he was not some weak drake searching for his origins. He was a strong young dragon protecting his home from danger.

Before he could finalize his answer, he felt a familiar hoof on his face. Gentle, soft, and soothing. His bloodlust-fueled haze started to lift as he felt the lips of the pony he loved against his lips...and also the feeling of two dragonesses holding him down and kissing his cheeks. Three kisses, but the one he was focused on was the one on his lips. He could slowly feel that want for death fading away, the tide of hatred ebbing to go with the flow of love. He soon found himself mostly back to normal, his eyes still holding some of that glow and his body still having some of those shadows on him, but both were starting to fade from his form.

He saw tears in Rarity’s eyes. Why was she crying? Did she get hurt? Did he do something wrong? He couldn’t understand. He moved a claw up to tenderly stroke her mane to show that he was all right. He felt the magic bonds loosen and the dragons holding him down retreat, both of them having a blush on their face. He slowly started to get up. His head hurt something fierce, as Applejack might say. Rarity just embraced him and sobbed, and he sat there, taking her tears and her sadness, a small smile on his face.

Garble was barely conscious. He could barely register what was going on. Everything was numb with pain. He could barely tell what was what anymore. Tears of pain blurred his vision as he slowly got up, surprised by his own fortitude.He shook his head a bit, coughing up blood, checking his body. 5 of his ribs were broken, the rest were just fractured. He had no internal organ ruptures, but he knew a lot of his nerves and blood vessels were horribly damaged. He glared at his target, his mind starting to be overcome with rage. But he wasn’t stupid. Well, that stupid. He wasn’t going to attack the runt head on. He learned his lesson from his last beating.

He growled at that word that echoed in his head. Beating. It made him feel like a weakling. And he didn’t like being a weakling. He despised it. It made him want to go into a rage. That one word. But, he needed to be calm. He only had one shot to at least take down one of these damned ponies before he passed out. He knew exactly which one to do as well. A deep inhale of air sunk into his lungs rather quietly as he blew it out, the air mixing with the flammable gas that a secret organ within dragons secreted, his inner flame combusting the breath as it started to mold slowly in his mouth before culminating into a large breath of fire, threatening to engulf all of the ponies in its path. But its focus seemed to make a roasted marshmallow out of the one holding Spike.

No one expected the fire to come. Everyone was surprised, including the tired Spike. But...somewhere deep down, he knew what he had to do. He focused magic to his claw and balled it up into a fist, moving Rarity aside and punching the flames. The force from the enhanced punch caused the air to shift and cut through the flames. But, due to the intensity of the flames, it veered off from its direction to cut the dragon in half. Instead...it just dismembered him. It cut clean through the collarbone and shoulder, leaving nothing but a giant circle of red flesh and and white bone to be seen. Garble yelled in pain, clutching his arm, tears flowing from his eyes as he managed to stifle his yells. Blood spurted from the open wound, painting the nearby trees in the red liquid. The fire spread harmlessly around the ponies thanks to the efforts of Twilight and Celestia.

But then...he felt something warm. All over his body. Then tingly. Then an immense amount of pain as his body seized up. He finally realized why his body was so warm. It was leaking out blood from every crevice. His eyes went white. This time, because he was starting to go unconscious. And his body was starting to go into shock.

“I’m here, sister! Who needs medic?” She asked, late to the party once again as she saw Spike making a puddle of blood on the ground. ”Paramedic Ponies! Get Spike! NOW!” She yelled the last word in the Ye Olde Royal Canterlot Voice, or as it was known by the youngsters, Ye Olde Caps Lock Voice. There would have been a couple flinches if not for the fact that a savior of Ponyville was losing his lifeblood and going into shock.

Celestia looked worriedly at Spike. Surely he could pull through this? He had pulled through that coma...though this was different. He was losing blood at too rapid of a rate to be anywhere near the safe zone. His body seemed wrecked as well. When she used her magic to scan over him, something had gone wrong. His muscles were tearing themselves apart and his muscles were cracking as if they had taken a meteorite to them. She just hoped her young dragon would be okay. He meant the world to her...

“Scalpel!”

The sound of metal cutting tissue filled the room filled with the sound of magical machinery and doctors and nurses rushing to and fro to save this young dragon.

“Make sure he’s drugged up! I don’t want him feeling any pain while we do this or waking up during this procedure!”

A dragon doctor said, working his claws expertly as he drained the blood that had accumulated in Spike’s lungs and organs. They needed to drain him or it would get worse and worse.

“Resin!”
A pony doctor said, adding the adhesive healing concoction to Spike’s skeletal structure so that it would act as both a healing and bonding agent to reinforce and heal Spike’s skeletal structure.

“This kid is in bad shape...just what the hell was he doing!?”

A few days of intensive surgery later, Spike was stabilized.His body was healing with magic and he was breathing normally. No one was allowed to see him. Not even the Princesses. He was in that bad of a shape. The doctors were afraid any slight agitation would send him back into a horrid state.

“That’s the worst case i’ve seen since the war...” A rather veteran doctor said, wiping some sweat from his head, having checked on the young dragon every so often to make sure he was all right. “It’s a wonder he survived. His internal organs were in shambles, his nervous system had shut down, and his bones were almost completely crushed.” The doctor said, to the horror of the eight ponies and two dragonnesses who had taken the time to check in on him. “He’s stable now though. He’s healed at a rather rapid rate.”

A collective sigh of relief came from the group as Rarity, Vera, and Princess Celestia rushed in to check on Spike when they were allowed. Their faces were a mix of worry and relief on differing scales. Celestia’s worry was more of a worry for a son from a mother, tears glistening in her eyes from seeing Spike hooked up to so many machines. Rarity’s gaze was more that of one lover to the next, tears already spilling down her cheeks as she forced herself to look away from her love being in such a pained state. Vera’s look, however, was the most puzzling. It combined attributes from both Rarity and Celestia’s eyes, but also something else. Fear and seriousness. She felt some apprehension from seeing that violent show that Spike put on. It felt familiar. Too familiar for comfort. She just shook her head and then walked out first to let Twilight check up on her little brother.

“Oh, Spike dear, please be alright!” Rarity said in a soft tone, her voice cracking a bit from her voice straining itself to stay steady. She didn’t want to lose him so soon after getting him back.

Celestia stayed quiet, keeping her royal visage. Inside, she was a wreck. She wanted nothing more than to hug and assure her young dragon that everything was going to be all right. But she had to remain strong. For everypony’s sake.

“C’mon Spike! You got through my magic hitting you! You can get through this!” Twilight said, desperation in her voice. She was going more hysterical than her unicorn friend. Which was to be expected.by the caretaker of the one now laying in a hospital bed once again literally only after a couple hours of being out. She was biting her lip to stop herself from crying, the purple coated mare just staring at him.

“Mph....quiet it down...I need more sleep.” A soft voice said from the bed, the dragon shifting a bit to try and find his comfy spot.

All the ponies and dragons present, including the ones out in the halls, perked their assorted ears as the rumbling voice wafted through the halls softly, The one who looked most in shock was the doctor when he heard Spike’s voice. He just looked at the young dragon in surprise and wonder. He had to take a seat and regain his bearings as he just shook his head a bit. “One helluva kid...” The doctor murmured, hearing the fashionista of Ponyville burst into tears and embrace the young dragon, the rest of the group coming in as well, just like a month ago.

Calm.

Ever since his release from the hospital, Spike had been on a rather odd training regiment. Instead of his usual magical or physical training, he was training his ‘spiritual and mental prowess.” Which meant studying and meditation. He was studying dragon culture with Vera and doing meditation exercises with Sindria. They seemed to be worried about something. While he knew the dragonnesses well enough that he knew they would not spill anything that made them have concern, it didn’t keep him from being concerned.

He made the connection between his sudden burst of power (from what he gathered from eyewitness reports), and some research that the incident between Garble and Rarity caused him to have an adrenaline rush and temporarily take off the bodily limits that every being had on their body. But, since his body could not handle his magic at the time, there was a negative reaction when his body over-exerted itself. Well. That’s what Twilight said anyways.

Though...everything was calm. The ponies of Ponyville went about their daily lives. Aside from the usual drama and gossip that circulated around town, nothing big had happened. Twilight was doing more studies on dragon culture as well and talking to Vera more, while Dash did some flying drills with Sindria when Spike had his downtime.

Celestia had gone back to Canterlot, having told Spike with strict orders to give her a status update every other day She didn’t want him to go and do something that would cause him to be in the hospital again, or even worse. She didn’t want to lose him. She made that very clear. Spike had to admit; this was the first time he had EVER seen Princess Celestia so adamant on something He put his word and his honor as a dragon on the line for that promise.

And what did Spike do on his downtime, one may ask? Well...he had a beautiful mare waiting for him every day with her soft, luscious smile and her loving demeanor. Though they had yet to do anything really intimate (thanks to Twilight, Sindria, or Vera calling for him), the usual hugs or kisses they shared held them over for now. The lust of ones in love could not be smothered for long, however.

“Spiiike~” He heard a voice say, the alluring quality of the voice driving him to go to a place he knew very well: Carousel Boutique. Since the incident 3 weeks ago, Spike finally had his first full day off. Rarity had been dropping him hints ever since he knew he was getting a day off. Usually it was the certain way she walked when she walked away from him. With that sensuous sway of her flank and that playful glitter in her eye when she looked back every so often. Or the way she batted her eyes whenever she talked in that seductive voice of hers when they were out in public, or even more so when they were in private.

As soon as he got into Carousel Boutique, he heard the door shut. In the air he smelled the sweet ozone of Rarity’s magic being worked behind him. He smirked a bit and sighed, calling out. “Rarity! I’m here!” He said, having a moment of silence before he heard a melodic voice call out.

“Come upstairs Spikey-Wikey! I have something for you!” Rarity said with a certain inflection in her voice He walked slowly up the stairs, wanting to savor the moment before Rarity showed him...whatever she had to show him.

As soon as he got in the room, he felt the scales on his cheek turn red from firey passion and childly bashfulness. On the grand spectacle she had as a bed lay Rarity, wearing a sexy black garter belt with black stockings, black panties, and this certain black dress that sent shivers up the young dragon’s spine. Usually, ponies were nude. Especially in Ponyville. So logically, clothes shouldn’t affect him. But these clothes....had something special about them. He couldn’t explain what it was, but it just lit a fire of lust within him.He stared at his mare with a rather deep blush on his face, standing still in shock before he was snapped to attention by her seductive, melodic voice.

“How does it look, Spike? A good friend of mine helped me pick this out.” She said, a small tinge of a blush on her own face as she smiled at Spike, hoping to get his approval. Spike had to take a second to stop fumbling over his words to speak in one coherent sentence, stuttering all the while.

“I-It l-looks fantastic~” He said, that lovestruck tone working its way into his voice before he walked over to her, laying on the bed with her and cuddling with her for a moment, enjoying the silence with his lover while everything was still calm. But it wasn’t long before Rarity made her move, unable to hold herself back any more. These years, months, and days had been agonizing for her. She had to wait until the one she loved matured...and now that he was mature, he was in and out of the hospital. She had to capitalize on her chance now or it would never happen again for a long time....or so she thought so because of recent events.

“Now Spikey-Wikey....lets see how far we can go together~”

Deep in the everfree forest, two dragons were supporting another, one-armed dragon, the one-armed dragon being in rather horrible condition, on the border between life and death, though fighting hard for life. His breathing was ragged, and it was unsure if he could move by himself without the two dragons supporting him. One was holding him by his good arm while the other teenaged dragon held the one armed dragon on his back while they walked.

The worst thing about this was not the physical injuries, but the mental injuries as well. Fear, rage, sorrow, and hate all swirled inside of the dragon, having broken his mind and left him a husk, muttering one phrase. “Kill the runt....Kill the runt....” His boys had to admit....their boss was broken. Maybe they should just leave him here...

“My My....What do we have here? A couple of lost little dragonlings~?” A rather seductively sinister voice said, a deep purple dragonness appearing from the undergrowth, seemingly out of the shadows themselves. Her eyes were a rich black. No pupils, save for a red dot that one could consider to be a pupil. She was viciously beautiful, easily ranking within the top beautiful dragons in the world. Fully-figured (even for a dragon), and with a gorgeous face to match. She just shook her head.

“My...isn’t this sad? Such a proud young dragon becoming such a wreck at the hands of that pony born dragon...?” She said, circling around the trio, the two other dragons not in delirium having the deepest sense of fear and respect for the woman.

She cupped Garble’s cheeks, looking him in the eye. “Don’t you want to crush him? To crush that entire village~” She said, a wicked grin on her face as the young dragon nodded, his repeated phrase changing to “crush them all.”

“Oh~ But you won’t be able to in the state you’re in....a pity. I could help you...but you’ll have to wager something~” She said, he grin turning maliciously sinister as she looked to him. Garble just nodded. He did not care anymore. She could have whatever of his she wanted.

She just grinned a bit and floated the dragon over, lifting the half-dead carcass of the once great Garble off of his ‘friend's’ shoulders. “You belong to me now...” She said, pressing her claw to his forehead, a mark appearing on his head. At once, Garble was engulfed in purple and black flames, his screams and the screams of countless others echoing throughout Everfree as he was transformed into something twisted. His maniacal laugh could be heard after his screams, power coursing through his veins.

She soon set her sights on the other two, wrapping her arms around their necks so she was comfy with them while they couldn’t escape.

“Now then...do you boys care to make a wager~?”

The Start

Darkness.

Everything was gone. Formless, ever-shifting darkness. Nothingness. The void had consumed its consciousness. It had become one with the eternal sleep that had engulfed it form. No Pain. No Misery. No Happiness. No Joy. Everything that had been him had been consumed in darkness. Breathing had became irrelevant. Life had become nothing. It had been all returned to whence it was born. It was finally at peace.

But its peace was false. Where was the laughter that once filled its life? The love? The emotions that made it what it once was? It distinguished him from every other pony and organism that walked, crawled, slithered, and trotted along the earth. That...and other physical abnormalities. Well, abnormal when it came to pony standards. It was quite normal considering what it was. It floated through the nothingness as nothingness, unfeeling. Though...he was still capable of thought. It is what made this plane of existence unbearable. He was still thinking. Wondering. These hundreds of scenarios which ran through its head in this timeless world. What could have been. If it could have cried, he would have. If it had a heart, it would be aching. If it had a mouth and working vocal chords, a sigh would have erupted from it. The eternal darkness that gripped him...was insufferable.

He felt...nothing still. It wanted and yearned to feel something. The embrace of the one it knew as family. The sweet lips upon it cheek from the one that he loved. The scent of sugar from an overly bouncy pony for whom he cared for very much. The blessings of the witty quips and sort-of wise sayings from a certain farm pony. The gentle touch and soothing words of the kindest pony in Ponyville. It missed it all. It wanted it back. It wanted to be greedy and hoard them all, so they could be with him for as long as they lived. To be safe. To feel that love, no matter whom they found as a suitor. He wanted that perfect life of it, that ideal, more than anything else. It was more precious than the air that it once breathed and the life it once owned.

Then...there was a ripple in the darkness. The once calm darkness became agitated and wild. It whipped around one place, still silent, but form starting to take shape within it. Soon...a claw pierced the ‘ground’ of the darkness. The black liquid fell off of the claw to reveal a radiant purple set of scales. The claw moved as if it had been just born, getting used to the world. It curled into a fist and unclenched back into an open claw, seeming grip something. It repeated its motion several times before it stopped. Then, the darkness of the ground began to recede. The darkness began to reveal the body of the arm from which it had sprung. The forearm connected to an elbow, which connected to the bicep and other back-arm muscles, as well as a shoulder. The shoulder soon was connected to a torso, followed by a similar arm jutting out of the darkness. The torso was connected to a neck (as all normal torsos should be), which was connected to a head. But this head was different from any normal ‘head’ that was seen in Equestria...not that the top form of the body was in Equestria anymore.

Then, a familiar-ish face was shown. Decorated in elegant purple scales, shining even in the complete darkness. Radiance in their form. The slim, sharp muzzle pierced the darkness as sharply as the claws did. Slits of noses inhaled and exhaled slightly. The last bit of darkness melted away from its face, showing more definitive male features. But, where the eyes were supposed to be, only purple was there. Thin membranes of skin covered the creature’s eyes. His chest rose and fell softly. The rest of the darkness melted away to give out a long body. Dragonic in its craft, the body was wrack with both muscle and tenderness. The tail stay prone against the ground, lifting the body up a tiny bit and angling it. Silence still dominated the air of the darkness. The voided world soon became less and less agitated, returning to its shapeless splendor.

The breathing became more and more prevalent as it echoed throughout the darkness, the body starting to gain life. Subtle twitches became full spasms as the muscles awoke, the body stretched out and heard subtle (and not so subtle) cracks and pops as joints began to set and get comfortable in their places. He slowly got up as the muscles creaked and groaned from under-usage. The eyes of the beast slowly opened. The whites of his eyes first shown....followed by a radiant emerald as the eyes righted themselves. Some kind of exhaustion was set in his eyes as he fluttered his eyes and tried to get the sleep from out of his eyes and body. A long overdue yawn escaped from his body as it shuddered from the strain of just awakening.

Finally...after a long arduous process, the body stood. Shakily, but he stood. It took him a second to become more acquainted with gravity. And also with the new app-Wait a second...He looked back. He had WINGS! A huge grin appeared on his face at the realization. He couldn’t wait to show....whomever he wanted to show. Who did he want to show? There were many ponies he wanted to show, though they blurred in his head. He groaned trying to remember who he wanted to show these new wings to.

He shuffled around aimlessly in the infinite darkness. He could see through it...but all he saw was more darkness. It was soon apparent that this young dragon was not going to see light anymore in his long, dismal life. Or was this death? He did not know nor did he care anymore. All he knew was that his patience was reaching its peak and he had no way to vent except yelling at the top of his lungs. Though, no sound came out. The breathing made sound, but when he tried to strain his vocal chords, no sound came out. Was this some kind of trick played by a cruel goddess? Or was this fate cursing him to an everlasting torment with no life and no sound? He cursed his lucky stars for throwing him into such an unfortunate circumstance.

Sadness.

There was an unending pit of sadness, of despair, in his being. He wanted to cry, though no tears came out of his eyes. He wanted to yell, though when he did, the air absorbed it and turned it into nothingness. He could feel it. The unending yield of joylessness. He fell to his knees as he stared at the ever-shifting ground. Was this how he was going to meet the end of his existence? In this loveless void with no one to mourn for him? This was what he feared. All this time, he though he would never have to experience it. Sweet words had coaxed him out of his fears, but now they had been realized. He was all alone. He was isolated. He had truly nothing to live for nor anything to live for him. He just shuddered, his muscles spasming as if they knew his pain...though his body was unable to act upon it. He gripped at the ground, on his hands and knees as despair took a tighter hold on his being.

He crawled, the will to walk having left him long ago. While he felt no exhaustion, something was taking its toll on this ethereal body of his. He felt this immense drain on his body as he crawled along the ground. He felt lower than he had ever been. He could not tell where he was anymore, nor could he tell how far he had trekked. Everything had looked the same to him. Darkness, darkness, and even more of the same darkness. Surprise, Surprise.

Then he felt a pressure against him as he knocked on it. He looked in more shock and awe than he did surprise. An actual solid object in this ever-shifting void of despair? He knocked on it and looked on it. He saw himself in its reflection, though he could only see the outline of muscle and his glowing green eyes. He blinked at it curiously as he poked it. It seemed to have qualities of a mirror, though he had a hard time guessing what such a device would be doing in the world he was in. It was out of place. Just like him.

He examined it thoroughly. He had reached the end of his journey, since he could not go any further. There were (what he could guess) endless miles of this mirror substance, much too far for him to trek to check out in its entirety. A wide smile came across his smile as a twinkle formed in his eye. An actual solid surface was here! In this inky blackness, he could actually feel this surface, no matter how cold it was. It didn’t have any give to it though. It was completely sturdy, like a wall. A wall of black glass.

After seemingly hours of trekking up and down the wall and testing it, he slumped against the wall. Something was still draining him. He could feel himself fading again. His eyes lulled as he started to fall into another deep sleep. He groaned, expecting to hear nothing. But this time, a faint sound uttered from him. His eyes snapped wide open as he tried to talk.

“....-m I alive?”

He heard the sound of (what he thought was) his own voice. It was a deep, rich pitch between bass and baritone. It held this silky smooth, yet energetic quality. The childish, girlish tone of his past was gone to be replaced by the voice he now had. The smooth, ruggedness of age had come upon him. He had grown into his own as a young dragonling. Like the ones who had scorned him before. Though his voice obviously lacked the abrasive quality that the other young dragons had. He remembered the troubles that he experienced....and the ponies who saved him. The ones he called family.

He slowly stood, his body becoming less and less shaky as more and more memories came to him. Once indistinguishable mashes of color soon took defined shape before his very eyes. Ponies in shape, though having more love in their eyes than anything he had ever seen. It had brought a fluttering warmth to his heart. He saw them. Those six whom he loved dearly. He wanted to embrace them. He wanted to hug them to no end. Emotions mixed in him as the darkness became agitated again, the wall behind him seeming to move as it engulfed the six shapes, much to the young dragon’s rage.

He slammed his claws and screamed un-repeatable curses at the wall, wanting what was his back. He clawed, punched, kicked...but to no avail. He wailed in rage as a great roar shook the very foundation of the darkness, feeling a tremor utter back to the source of the disturbance. Then he noticed something in the wall. There were cracks. Nigh indistinguishable, but cracks all the same. He was making progress. He kept fighting until he felt those ghostly fists of his break. He fought until he bled, falling to his knees, his ethereal joints broken as he started to sink back into the darkness, weakness overcoming him.

Was this it? Was this his fate? To be stuck in this lifeless void for the rest of his afterlife? To be given the tease of his loved ones to only be taken away by this goddess-forsaken land. No. He would not take this. He would not go down without a proper fight. Slowly, shakily, he rose to his feet, panting hard as he forced himself, against the will of his body to stand erect. He inhaled deeply, his diaphram expanding and his lungs filling with air as the flame organ in his body started to flicker. This hadn’t worked before...but he hoped it worked now. He breathed out as hard as he can, the breath igniting as it passed the flame organ, tunneling out of his mouth in a wondrous display of emerald green flame. The darkness started to crackle under the heat and light of the flames, but it didn’t break, even after the flames had subsided. Then he growled deeply.

“LET ME OUT!””

He yelled, his voice finally cutting through the air like a blade as he head-butted the mirror, the surface giving way and breaking as he fell to his knees. Then, a warm embrace came over him as everything started to melt away. The pain in his head caused him to close his eyes and keep them closed, but he smiled. He could feel the power seeping into his form. The comfort of this force wrapped around him, causing him to get to his feet. It coaxed him to relax. He wanted to open his eyes. He had to see what or who had him, even through the pain. Then...they opened, those emerald green eyes fluttering open as he looked around.

Light.

There was an immense light all around that was breaking the darkness. Illuminating the dark sector and replacing it with that all-encompassing warmth that was the light. It brought a smile to his face as it removed the exhaustion from his body and the darkness from his form. That was when he sensed it. This overflowing motion of flying or being flown through the air. And he heard a voice. The softest, soothing voice of one he loved so very deeply. And the shape of a pony, clad in armor with a white coat, with the most beautiful mane he had seen call to him.

“Wake up, My Young Dragon.”

Then...everything went black again.

Slowly, his eyes open once again, his senses slowly awakening to where he was. His nostrils filled with the scent of sick and sterilization as it wrinkled as he groaned a bit. He was greeted by light as he tried to move his arms. They were still asleep. He felt a weight on his chest as he tried to look down. He was jus laying there for 30 minutes while his body rebooted, silently, as if he was still in darkness. Then, he felt a slight shudder as his body creaked and groaned, the unused muscles slowly awakening as he sat up, soon laid back down by the weight that was on his chest. He looked down at the sight, a soft smile on his face.

On either side of his chest, lay two ponies. The both shared a similar trait: They had purple manes. But what distinguished them were their coats and their bodies. One was lithe, awkward, yet holding some unknown beauty as it slightly shuffled in response to the movement of the body it was on. The lavished, luxurious white body of the other mare let out a soft whisper as she smiled in her sleep. The oddly seductive, yet loving-looking body brought a loving look to his eyes to match the smile on his face.

“Doctor! He’s awake!”

He heard a voice yell, a white-coated mare with a pink mane and a red-cross like cutie mark pointing at him as ponies of all kinds funneled into the room. But what really stood out to him were 4 certain ponies...and the two dragons that were in the room. He looked at them strangely before his vision was cut off by two ponies tackling his face and neck and snuggling into him lovingly. He looked at their faces, tears in their eyes as they both just snuggled into him. Finally, the one with the purple coat spoke, her voice shaky.

“It’s good to see you again, Spike...”

He smiled a bit, snuggling her and the one with the white coat again as he finally spoke. Not in anger, nor in despair, but in pure happiness.

“It’s good to be back, Twilight.”