Dragon Tales

Climbing the mountains on the outskirts had become a good source of regular exercise for Spike. He had started a few months ago while helping Fluttershy settle a dispute between some condors. It was quick, safe, and he always made sure to have each mountain's individual trails memorized before he tried climbing it.

Of course, exercise wasn't the only reason to come up here. The dragon that used to live here, in his hurry to leave, left his entire hoard unprotected. Fortunately, the mountain still held a reputation for housing a dragon, and the hoard had gone untouched, leaving it open to any young, handsome dragons who happened to be in the area. But that wasn't too important, either.

Finally, he arrived at the mouth of the cave. He walked inside, setting his backpack down a few feet in. He kept going until he was in the center of the cave, were most of the hoard was stashed. He looked around, idly kicking at some gold. She was always here first, even when he arrived hours before he was expected.

After a few more minutes of waiting, he grew bored. Breathing fire into his claws, he tried molding it. Once he had something vaguely resembling a ball, he pushed it a few feet away, concentrating on maintaining its form. For the first ten seconds, his face was tight with concentration. After fifteen, he grinned with pride. Twilight hadn't even mastered this spell yet!

"I see you've been studying."

"Gah!" He threw his claws into the air, and the fireball flew up and exploded against the ceiling. He turned around with a sheepish grin. "Uh, hi, Luna."

She gave him a pleasant smile. "Hello, Spike. How have you been?"

"Pretty good. Sorry about" -- he made a vague gesture towards the scorched patch of ceiling -- "that."

She chuckled, reaching over and ruffling his spines. "No worries. We were going to start practicing offensive spells soon enough. But for now..." She wandered over to a pile of golden coins, where the leather handle of a weapon. Her horn glowed, and she pulled a sword from underneath the pile, scattering coins everywhere. It heavy-looking and covered in rusted blood. Her horn glowed brighter, and she tossed it to him.

It was heavier than it looked, but he managed to catch it. With a grunt of effort, he held it out in front of him, doing his level best to maintain a proper stance. "More combat training?"

She nodded, summoning an ornate spear. "Yes. I assume you've been practicing that as well?"

He chuckled nervously. "Yeah... kind of." He really had, in a sort of training-disguised-as-housework-type training from The Karate Colt. Working with Twilight for years would do that.

She turned around and took a stance. "Very well. Show me!"

He charged, sword scraping against the ground. He didn't have to hold back; after all, she was an alicorn. With that in mind, he took a swing at her neck. As expected, the spear blocked the attack, and he used the leverage to vault over her. He landed on her back and pressed his claws against her throat. "Gotcha!"

She chuckled again. Not good.

The blunt end of her staff jabbed him in the side, knocking him across the cave and into a wall, where he stuck for a moment before falling face-first onto another pile of coins. A second later, the sword landed next to him with a clatter. He didn't try to move.

"Spike?" He heard her step closer. "Are you alright? Did I hit you too hard?" Another step. "Spike?"

He sprung to his feet, coins gripped in his claws. He threw them as hard as he could at the mare. She used the spear to deflect most of them, going so far as to show off by sending some of the coins back to intercept the incoming ones. He didn't stop his onslaught, using his tail to pick up the sword. Soon enough, he was out of coins, and he loosed a large stream of fire at her.

It did its job, distracting her enough that he was able to toss the sword end-over-end into the air. The flames vanished, dispersed by Luna's spear. He ignored her taunting expression, instead watching the sword come down. She saw it, too, just as the blade came down on her head.

It shattered on impact. Figures.

Nevertheless, he crossed his arms and stood tall in triumph. "All right! Come on, you've gotta give me points for that!"

Shaking steel shards out of her mane, she said, "Fine, fine. You get... a C+."

He blinked. "What? A C?"

"Plus!" she added, grinning like that made it better.

He crossed his slightly aching arms. "But why? I had you twice!"

"Maybe. But your guard was down far too often. When you landed on my back, you made a show of leaning forward to grab at my neck." She gestured at the back of her neck. "Now, if you had simply brought the blade down on my neck, you might have received a B."

"Seriously? How am I supposed to defend myself without a shield, anyway?"

"Defending is more than placing something between you and your attacker. Defense is being aware of your surroundings and reacting accordingly to avoid harm." With her magic, she twirled her spear before planting it in the ground. "Did you notice how I only used my spear to protect myself?"

He looked down and dug at the ground with his foot. "Yeah... You didn't really move, either."

"Only because I didn't need to."

"Mmm..." He wasn't sure how to take that. It may have been Twilight's perfectionism rubbing off on him, but that comment definitely did something to his pride.

She walked over to him and covered him with a wing. "Don't be upset, Spike. Considering who you're sparring with, you did very well. Almost well enough to qualify for my Night Guard, in fact."

He jumped up and balanced on his tail. Beaming, he said, "Really? I could join your Night Guard?" He had only heard stories about them from a clearly jealous Shining Armor. An elite corp, the Night Guard was famous for participating in covert missions all across the globe. He also described them as ruthless fear mongers, homegrown terrorists, and disrespectful creeps to his soldiers. To be within their ranks would be one of the greatest honors in Equestria!

She sat down next to him and said, "Perhaps. They try to maintain a certain image, you see, and having a dragon in the ranks would no doubt bolster that image."

He looked up at her and tilted his head. "But...?"

She closed her eyes for a moment, the same way his mother did when she was thinking. When she opened her eyes, she said, "You may be a bit too young. Small, rather. See, I train my guards to inspire fear in their foes with a mere glance." She smirked down at him. "You're far too small and cute to do that."

And there's the pride again. "So they use scare tactics, huh?"

"Primarily. It a calling card of sorts. Something to set them apart from the rest of the military."

"Kind of like Sombra?"

Her smile fell into a small, sad frown. "Yes... like him." She stood up abruptly and spread her wings. Once they popped, she beat them and sighed. Walking over to her spear, she stomped her hoof, and it vanished. She turned to him and said, "Well, that's enough of a break for now. How about we start working on your defense?"

He blinked, stunned by her sudden coldness. Clearly, Sombra was a sensitive topic. Instead of asking why, he got up and dusted himself off. "Okay. How's that work?"

"Do you remember how I defined defense?"

"Yeah?"

"Good." Her eyes glowed white, and her mane glowed bright blue and split into several tentacle-like masses that snapped and cracked like whips. "Are you ready?"

He probably wasn't. Still, what better way to find out? "Sure! Let's go!"

Right after he said that, a whip lashed out at impossible speed. Acting on reflex, he just barely managed to dive under it. He stood on all fours and looked up to see another one speeding towards him. With no time to think, he leaped to the left, watching as the wall behind him took the hit. The wall had been easily pierced, and when it pulled back, he could feel a light breeze from outside.

Yeah, he wasn't ready.

All the same, Spike ran as fast as he could, ducking and jumping to avoid the onslaught. He ran along the wall, grabbing a worn shield as he did. It was big enough to carry on his back, and sat near a few sets of ancient, charred armor. As he dug through them trying to find something else to use, another whip flew at him.

It simply bounced off harmlessly. The whip itself lost its glow and receded, becoming nothing more than normal hair you'd find on anypony.

Luna's eyes faded and went wide, and she stared at the lock of hair. "Impossible,"she muttered. "How did that happen?"

"Beats me," Spike said. He took the shield off and inspected it. Aside from the dents and ashes, it didn't look any different from any other shield he'd seen. The only thing that stood out was the emblem, which looked like a broken horn. "What's up with this thing?"

Her hair returned to its normal, starry look, except for that one lock. "Focus!" she shouted, firing a magic blast form her horn.

He grinned and held up the shield. The blast hit it and vanished, but the impact sent it flying through the air and into a wall. It stuck there, far out of his reach. "Huh." He looked over his shoulder at Luna, who was getting another shot ready.

"This doesn't end unless you put an end to it, Spike!" She fired at the shield, causing the wall it was in to collapse and bury it in rubble.

He sprinted back to the armor, hoping he could find anything that could fend off an alicorn princess. Nothing he saw seemed useful, being mostly armor or weapons made specifically for ponies, all bearing that same emblem. Finally, he found a long, black staff with an odd, tuning fork-shaped tip. It was better than nothing, and the shape was familiar, at least.

He leaped from behind the armor and leveled the staff at Luna. Her horn glowed again, and the space between the staff's prongs glowed the same color.

Just before she fired, at that split second when her horn glowed its brightest, the staff vibrated intensely. Spike struggled to keep it steady, focusing all of his attention on it. When he looked up, Luna was clutching her head and groaning. Then, without warning, it let loose a magic blast identical to Luna's. He watched as the blast hit her right in the chest, sending her skidding across the ground.

"Luna!" Spike tossed the staff to the ground and ran to her side. "Are you okay?"

She nodded with a grimace. "I've been through worse," she said. "More importantly, I think we need a new meeting place." She tried lifting the staff with her magic. The blue aura around it quickly turned black and vanished. She sighed and said, "At least until we can send these in to be analysed." She turned and offered an apologetic smile. "It seems we'll have to cut our meeting short."

"Oh," he said, twiddling his fingers. "No reason you have to leave, though. We could just... talk."

She blinked, then smiled. "Certainly."

About half an hour later, they both sat on the cliff outside the cave, quietly watching the sun set. Spike was finishing off the sandwich he'd packed. Luna didn't eat, insisting she was fine.

After a moment of silence, she said, "I'm very proud of you, Spike."

His mouth was still full, so he gave her quizzical look.

"You've been acting surprisingly mature lately," she continued, "especially considering your age."

He swallowed and asked, "How do you mean? Like how I haven't been bragging about the new castle?"

"Not quite. I meant how you're handling your affection for Miss Rarity."

He sputtered and coughed, choking on air as his face turned red. Why, of all things, did she bring that up?

Apparently, she took this as a sign to continue, and she said, "I'm not trying to make fun of you. I meant how you act when faced with a rival."

"Rival? You mean Trenderhoof? He was nothing to worry about. Besides, he had a crush on Applejack." He tapped his chin. "Come to think of it, I think he wrote an article about her."

"Exactly. You didn't see him as a rival, where most ponies your age would go out of their way to sabotage their potential relationship." She sighed. "You wouldn't imagine how many ponies, griffons, and dragons have been driven mad because of their jealousy, all for nothing." She perked up and smiled at him. "You, on the other hoof, haven't gone down that path at all, have you?"

Immediately, the incident with Owlowiscious came to mind. He smiled uneasily. "Heh, yeah." Suddenly desperate to change the subject, he said, "Hey, when you walk through dreams, do lucid dreamers ever give you trouble?"

She blinked. "Well, um, not often. I usually only stick around to help them deal with troubling thoughts or memories that take the form of nightmares. Lucid dreamers can handle those on their own most of the time. Though on occasion, they think they can defeat me and claim my title of Ruler of the Night."

"So what do you do? Do you fight them?"

"For a certain measure of fighting. More often than not, their nerves get the best of them and they wake up. It solves itself."

"And the times it doesn't?"

She looked to the sunset. "Well... let's just say experience trumps power more often than not. For all the power they may claim to hold, few know how to use it properly." The sun fell below the horizon, and as the sky turned black, her horn glowed, and the moon climbed into the sky to replace the sun.

He watched her intently. "So, say, if Discord were less experienced, you could take him on your own?"

"What is it with you and ancient evils today?"

"See, me and Rainbow have been having this debate for the past few days over who's the most dangerous foe Equestria's faced. I think it's Tirek, but she says Discord was worse." He gave her his best "innocent kid" grin, teeth and all. "I thought I could get your opinion, in a roundabout way."

She stared at him for a long time with an unreadable expression. Long enough that he squirmed and looked around at pretty much anything else. It couldn't have been very convincing, since the cliff was nearly featureless. He settled for staring at the ground.

"Hmhmhm..."

He looked up at Luna, who was chuckling into her hoof. "Silly drake. Hahahaha!" As she laughed, her fur turned black and she doubled in size. Shadows enveloped her, and when they vanished, Nightmare Moon stood before him, cackling madly.

Spike stumbled back, falling on his rear. "L-Luna!?"

"Gahahahaha!" Thunderclouds gathered around the mountain, lightning flashing within them. She leered down at him. "Fool! None can defeat Nightmare Moon!"

He crawled backwards, shaking like a leaf. Nightmare Moon came closer, and with each step, he moved a little further back.

"What's wrong? Scared, child? Are you afraid of the true ruler of Equestria?"

""I... I...," he stammered, crawling a little faster. Scared as he was, he couldn't bring himself to speak. Tears came to his eyes as he fought the urge to bawl. Suddenly, his head bumped against something. He looked, seeing the staff. In one move, he picked it up and aimed it at her. "No, I'm not!"

She spread her wings, appearing before him in an instant. She knocked the staff out of his claws with a wing, then wrapped him up in her mane and brought him to eye level. "Hahahaha! What now, boy?"

"I'm scared! So, so, scared!" He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, preparing for the worst.

She lifted him higher, squeezing him. "Now do realize my power!?"

He nodded. He then felt himself being lifted a little higher into the air and placed on something soft. He risked a glance and saw that he had been set down on her back. Not Nightmare Moon's, thank goodness, but Luna's. She was walking back to the cliff, wearing a small grin that was concerned, apologetic, and gleeful all at once.

Once his fear faded, it clicked.

"That was a prank!?" he shouted, his scales heating up and glowing red.

"Was that too much?" she asked, her smile fading.

He cooled down and crossed his arms. When he thought about it, the joke was kind of funny, and the timing was pretty good, considering the conversation. Most importantly, Luna was enjoying herself. No matter how he looked at it, everything was in line with Pinkie's prank credentials. He smiled and said, "Nah. It was great. Really!"

"Whew!" she sighed. "My apologies. I'm trying to get back into pranks. You're sure that was okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah! You know, that would be a great bit for April Foal's Day. It's in a few weeks, you know."

She stopped at the cliff's edge and spread her wings. "Hang on." He wrapped his arms around her neck, and she took off towrds Ponyville. She was silent for a moment, then said, "So you really think Nightmare Moon's return would be an enjoyable joke?"

"Sure." He leaned against her neck. "But I'm not realy the guy to ask. Pinkie usually holds seminars in the town square around this time of year."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. The whole day's a really big deal for her."

"Hm."

She was quiet after that, and he couldn't think of anything else to say. With nothing better to do, he settled for naming the random constellations in her mane. The Archer, Draco, Taurus, Gemini, Aquarius--

"We're here, Spike."

He blinked and looked up. Sure enough, they had landed on the castle's balcony where Twilight was waiting for them.

"Welcome back, you two," she said, bowing slightly. She looked to Luna. "Was he okay? You didn't push him too hard, did you?"

Luna smiled. "Not at all, Princess Twilight. Did I, Spike?"

Spike jumped off of Luna's back. "Not any harder than you push me, Twilight." He walked over to her and looked at her stomach. It was slightly smaller than usual. "Have you eaten yet?"

Twilight shook her head. "I was in the middle of making a salad when I heard you land. Would you like to join us, Luna?"

Luna frowned. "I wish I could, but I must attend to my duties. Another time?"

"Alright then." She and Spike waved. "Goodnight!"

"Farewell, Twilight, Spike. Sleep well." Luna took off, quickly vanishing into the night sky.

Once she was gone, Spike turned and walked towards the door. "So what kind of salad did you make?"

She walked after him. "Caesar."

He grimaced. "Ugh, boring! You'll be hungry again in two hours!"

"I'll be going to bed in three, anyway. What's the big deal?"

He stopped and gave her the same long-suffering look she'd become famous for. "Says the mare whose midnight snacking forced her brother to put a seal on the fridge. Come on, I'll spruce it up for you."