A New World that can be a Real Bitch Prt 1
( 6 years later)
Inside of the bowels of a large cave not too far from Ponyville, laid a slumbering form that began to stir and awaken from its deep slumber. Its impenetrable hide was shone in the dimmest light of ten thousand tiny glow worms, and its dexterous scales were far stronger than any weapon that was ever carved in the world. Its teeth were like sharp blades that could crunch through the hardest gemstones as if they were popcorn, and it possessed talons that could claw through rocks as if they was mere tissue paper. With its sharp spines trailing down its back, the grizzly creature was radiating a fearsome appearance, one that would have sent any lesser creature running off in fear.
As its great green eyes opened, the creature’s mouth yawned, exposing row after row of pointy and dangerous teeth. A long tongue had lazily flickered out, as the sensitive organ tasted the air for the first time in years. The great beast groaned, slowly rising to its feet as it began to stretch, hearing many popping sounds as its kinks were being stretched out.
“Its been six years already?” Spike groaned as he scratched the back of his neck like a waking dog. “Time definitely flies when you’re asleep.”
Indeed, Spike the Dragon had just finished the cycle through which dragons would age naturally. After beginning to molt six years before, Twilight had visited Luna and asked her for pointers, seeing as how Celestia didn’t have any real literature or in-depth knowledge on dragons and was often far too busy with important matters of the state. Princess Luna, surprisingly, had connections with a very old dragon she had known since her youth, who had now just entered the twilight years of his life. Twilight, Spike and Luna had then all journeyed to and consulted with this great, wise dragon, who had given them more than enough material to write several books on dragons and their natural behaviors. As such, Spike now knew practically as much about dragons as any other dragon did.
As he slowly wandered out of the cave and into the light of a bright midday sun, he looked himself over. “No wings yet, but that old dragon said they should come in time,” he muttered, glancing over his body. “ My scales do look a bit thicker, and... have I grown a bit? I don’t remember being quite so muscular.”
Indeed, Spike’s body was nowhere near as small as it had been all those years ago. All remnants of his baby fat had (thankfully) vanished upon his first molt six years before, and left him with a very lean and significantly larger exterior. Still, six years after his first “aging nap”, as Twilight had called it, that lean body of his had swollen up with muscles all over the place, and there was a definite lump of muscles along his back that hadn't quite been there before.
“Must be for the wings,” Spike thought. “Whenever I get them, anyway.”
So, he was larger, more muscular, and his tail was nearly twice as long as it had been when he had gone to sleep. Other than the odd sensation of trying to use limbs that were a big bigger than he remembered... he didn’t feel too different. Looking out away from the cave, he saw something he didn’t remember when he had first gone to sleep; namely, a path leading straight from the entrance of his cave. Come to think of it, Twilight hadn’t said anything about developing the landscape around his cave, so why were there some patches of bare earth, likely where something may have rested? Had there been buildings built near his cave?
“I’ll have to ask her about it,” the dragon said, walking away from the cave and off to the direction of Ponyville. This very cave had belonged to some great green dragon some time ago, but by the time Spike had gone to sleep in it, that dragon had long since moved on to other parts. His story always had something to do with “meddlesome ponies” in it, though he’d never have admitted it to other dragons that Celestia had simply asked him nicely to leave.
Walking down the path into the once deadly landscape known as the Everfree Forest , Spike didn’t really think anything else looked different from what it was five years before. Sure, a few large trees were gone, and the scenery was a bit more quiet and serene, but many more trees had sprung up in their places, and other than that... it was like he had barely went to sleep at all. There were no signs of any old disasters or anything, so that meant his six years of rest must have occurred during an unprecedented length of peace in Equestria. When he had been awake, there had always been some catastrophe looming on the horizon or sweeping over the kingdom, maybe even around the corner. The fact that nothing was too out of the ordinary greatly pleased him.
Strolling along, he turned a corner and a familiar view came into sight; Ponyville. Ah, it really was like turning back the clock; other than maybe five new buildings along the outskirts of this home away from home, the place hadn't changed at all. The clock tower was right where it should be, the schoolhouse still sat up on the hill, and there, near the center of town, sat the memorial spot of where the great tree library once proudly stood. Spike stood still and closed his eyes, having a moment of silence for the place that was his original home and his oldest memories.
“Look out below!” he heard a voice shout, and ducked jut in time, for three little blurs went right over his head. Spinning in midair, the little ponies looked down on the dragon, as a mixture of both curiosity and friendliness were marked their faces. “Sorry mister; we were just racing, and we didn't see ya there until the last second.”
“It’s quite alright,” Spike said, looking up at the three... pegasi? They all seemed... different from what he normally believed pegasus would look like. For one, all three had bumps running along their backs, and their wings... were they sickly-looking? They seemed far larger and yet less feathery than any other pegasi’s wings.
“You headed into Ponyville?” the first one asked, her bright green eyes looking over Spike. She seemed to be the leader of the group, and judging from their blank flanks and small, hoof-sewn capes on their backs, they were likely some of the newer recruits of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Yes,” the dragon replied. “I’m coming home to visit Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“Oh, are you friends with her?” one of the others asked, a small incision poking out from her upper lip as she smiled.
“Actually, I’m more like her adopted brother and best friend,” Spike said. “Is she in the castle?”
“Yeah; she spends most of her days in there whenever she’s not too busy,” the third faux-pegasi said, his tail ending in a curious little spade-like shape. “You said you were coming home; have you been on vacation or something?”
“You might say that,” the dragon said with a chuckle. “I really must get going.”
“Okay, see ya!” the three little ponies said, and with a small gust of wind, they zoomed off.
Spike blinked a couple of times; that departure was rather... abrupt. “Kids,” he thought, shaking his head and setting off down the tried and true path. Off in the distance, he could see several ponies milling over some apple trees that definitely hadn’t been there when he had gone to sleep. Come to think of it, they seemed awfully familiar; were they all related to the Apple family?
Then one of them bucked one of his hooves right at one of the apple trees, tumbling all of the apples into a basket beneath the tree; yep, they were related to the family all right. How else could that one rather large colt knock nearly every apple out of the tree with one good kick? He even had the same mane color as Applejack, though the way his mane stood straight up did look a bit odd...
“Probably just some new trending style these days,” Spike muttered as he continued on, growing ever so closer to his final destination. Soon enough, he was no longer on the outskirts of the town, but its warm and welcoming atmosphere. Passing by an ever-bustling Sugarcube Corner, he noticed something rather odd; there were defidently a lot more colts and fillies running all around Ponyville. Flying overhead, racing past the market stalls, some were even magically propelling themselves on small scooters or wagons with friends: had there been some sort of a population boom when he was gone? Then again, the sheer number of mares in town meant that surely that some, even most of them, belonged to the same parent... right?
“Maybe everything is not how I remembered it,” he thought as a group of five colts rushed past him. They were all playing tag, it seemed, but the lone filly that was chasing them... she didn’t run like a normal pony. She had a feline grace to her that struck Spike as being very odd, yet incredibly familiar; she even pounced like a small cougar onto one of the laughing colts. Ponyville may not have changed much in structure or overall appearance during his “hibernation”, but the residents surely had.
Wait a minute... that was another thing; there were a lot more colts running around now than when he was younger. A significantly larger number of colts indeed; he counted no less than fifteen pegasi colts flying overhead, and at least thirty unicorn and/or earth pony colts playing in the streets. There were maybe half as many fillies running around, yet everywhere he looked he saw still more little ponies, all walking around with their mother or...
“Father?” he thought as he kept on walking. None of these little fillies or colts seemed to be running around with a single father; just a mother. Granted, he had often seen such a thing occur in the past, but usually by then, there had been the occasional stallion tagging along with his mare or special somepony. Now, other than the few stallions working outside, he didn’t see not a single stallion walking with a mare or what would have been considered their foals. It was like he was in a strange and almost surreal kind of dream, and something nagged in his head that he hadn’t quite yet woke up from his deep slumber.
“Okay, I definitely need to see Twilight now,” Spike thought as he quickened the pace. Moving past quite a few more foals (seriously, how many were there?), the dragon finally found himself in front of the Friendship Castle. Clearing his throat, he gently rapped against the door; one......two......three...
“Spike!” a voice shouted, and in an instant a purple shape had burst opened the door, nearly knowing it off its hinges, and had enveloped him in a great hug. Surprise fading quickly, Spike returned the hug with gusto. “It’s so good to see you!”
“Twilight, it’s good to see you too,” he said, managing to pry the princess off of his purple neck. “Has it really been five years?”
“Five years to the minute when you fell asleep in the cave!” she said, beaming as she looked Spike up and down. “Well, technically you’re early by about forty-five point six seconds, but that’s neither here nor there. Come inside, I’m sure you have so many questions!”
“Yeah... a few,” the dragon said, following the princess inside and closing the door behind them. “Where is everypony else? And here I’d have thought that Pinkie Pie of all ponies would have this great big "welcome back" party planned for me for as soon as I walked through the door.”
“It took a lot of convincing on our part, but we all eventually agreed that it’d be best for you to get used to your new surroundings before we threw you any sort of party,” Twilight said. “Besides, she’s been really busy trying to run Sugarcube Corner, and Rarity’s off in Manehattan, working with Coco Pommel on her latest new fashion line. Even if we wanted to, our scheduling conflicts wouldn't have allowed for a party today. Don’t worry tho, we've scheduled you one for next weekend,” Twilight added hastily.
“Well, thanks...... I guess,” Spike said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Say, Twilight........ can I ask you something?”
“Go right ahead, Spike,” the former unicorn said, her wings helping her keep afloat as she gingerly placed a book into one of the top shelves.
“Why are there so many fillies and colts running around Ponyville?” the dragon asked.
The princess froze for a brief second before continuing on with her work, as she started awkwardly humming and not trying to look him in the eyes. “ Whatever do you mean, Spike? Last time I looked, everything was still the same old-same old” she asked.
“Well, on my way here, I've seen more fillies and colts running around than I've ever seen before,” the dragon said. “Also, they look... different. I mean, I met these three pegasi, and they seemed a bit unlike anything I remember.”
“Oh, you did?” Twilight asked, her voice sounding strangely... distant.
“Yeah, and I also saw this big colt, who was probably one of Applejack’s relatives, knock almost all of the apples out of a tree with just one kick! ONE KICK!!!!! I mean, for a colt his age, he’s defidently strong for a colt his age. What do you think Twilight? Twilight?”
The alicorn princess sighed, and seeing as how he would have to learn the truth sooner or later, she set the book down on the shelf, her wing beats slowing down. Gently, as she flittered down to the floor, she turned around and looked Spike in the eyes with a curious expression on her face. “Spike? Do you want the long answer, or the short answer?” she asked, her tone sounding entirely out of place; mysterious, foreboding, even... resigned?
“What?” he asked.
“I’ll take that as a yes; long story it is,” Twilight said, gently sitting on her cutie mark branded chair, as it lightly emanated a faint glow. “Pay attention Spike; This won’t take no time at all, but it is very important that you listen very closely to me.”
“Um, hey, what are you-,”
“It was one year after your hibernation had started, and everything was fine in Equestria. There were no rampaging monsters, the castle hadn’t been set on fire in over five months, and the Friendship Powers hadn’t been used once since you went to sleep. Then…………………..everything changed when the Changelings attacked.”
