MLP Adventures: Vacation With The Princesses

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12

Chapter 1

Spike was sweeping up the library as certain thoughts began going through his head. The most recent thought was wondering why wasn’t he invited to the Crystal Empire to welcome the games inspector. He was the one who delivered the crystal heart to Princess Cadence. Had he not been there Twilight would have been stuck inside that dark crystal cage or at the very least stuck staring at that doorway that shows you your worst fears and King Sombra would have taken over. Princess Cadence wouldn’t even have and empire to rule if Spike had not been there. Was she really that ungrateful or does really not like Spike at all. As he continued thinking, he found himself becoming even more depressed to the point that he just dropped the broom, went upstairs to the bedroom and dropped in his bed. Spike just laid there in a deep depression as he remembered all the times he was left behind by his so called friends. Maybe they didn’t want him around anymore. Maybe it’s because he’s boy, or maybe it’s because he’s a dragon and not a pony, so they think less of him. These were thoughts that Spike didn’t want to have but no matter what he did the thoughts kept coming, and they continued until he fell asleep.

When Spike awoke the next morning he saw that Twilight’s bed hadn’t been slept in, meaning that she hasn’t returned from the Crystal Empire yet. With the Equestria Games fast approaching, this had been the third time that Princess Cadence invited the mane 6 to return to the empire, once again forgetting about Spike. Maybe she really was that ungrateful, or was it because he was a dragon and was afraid to to even have him near the empire because the crystal ponies closely resemble gem stones and crystals and thought that Spike would just go ballistic and and eat everything in sight. This thought dug at Spike’s heart. There’s no way that he would do something that horrible. “Maybe I should just leave and never come back.” he thought. “I mean it’s not like they’ll miss me or anything.” Before he could finish that train of thought, Spike burped up a letter from Princess Celestia.

He sighed.

“Twilight’s still at the Crystal Empire.” he said. “Who knows when she’ll be back.” Before he tossed the letter on the bed, he noticed that the writing on it said that it was addressed to him. This caught Spike off guard simply because the princess hardly ever sends letters addressed to him before. He quickly opened it up.

Dear Spike,

My sister Princess Luna, and myself would like to see you here in Canterlot. My royal chariot should be there soon to pick you up.

Princess Celestia

Just what the heck did the princesses want with Spike. It must be really serious if they both want to see him. Moments later there was banging at the front door. Spike opened it up and was greeted by two of the princess’s royal Pegasus guards. Behind them was Celestia’s golden chariot. “Young Spike, we are here to personally escort you to Canterlot.” said one of the guards. Spike thought that maybe he should leave Twilight a letter, letting her know where he was but decided against it. Knowing her, she probably wouldn’t even notice his absents. After that train of thought, Spike closed up the library and left with the guards to Canterlot. Along the way there he couldn’t help but wonder what it was the princesses wanted with him. Did they want him to deliver secret documents to one of the neighboring kingdoms? Did it have anything to do with the upcoming Equestria Games? Or was it something far more important? Spike continued to have these thoughts until he arrived at the castle door. Spike got off the chariot and made his way inside to the thrown room. He noticed that neither Celestia or Luna were there yet. “I must be early.” he thought. Walking towards the thrown, Spike took a look at the stain glass windows that were on display. The first one showed Twilight and the others using the elements of harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon and restore Princess Luna back to normal. That second one showed them battling Discord and saving Equestria from eternal chaos. The third one was one he hadn’t noticed before, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence defeating the entire changeling army. Spike remembered that day at the wedding when they were attacked. The mane six ran off to get the elements of harmony but were quickly captured. No pony noticed that Spike was no where to be seen, that’s because Spike and slipped out when they were all focused on Queen Chrysalis to retrieve the elements, trying his best to avoid being caught by one of the changelings and even manage to fight off a few. Spike had just made it back with the elements when he saw a giant burst of light and the Queen and her subjects went flying out of Canterlot and far away from Equestria. Shining Armor and Cadence had defeated the enemy leaving Spike to feel that all his efforts were for nothing.

The fourth window was the one Spike spent the longest one looking at. It was when he retrieve the crystal heart and helped save the crystal empire. Spike smiled but it was one one of sadness. He’d hoped that since he had a stain glass window of his own that things would be different, but sadly they weren’t. Everything was still the same. He still felt like an outcast, being the only dragon living among ponies. Being part of a race that ponies feared. This thought wipe the smile off his face and put him in an even deeper depression than ever. He contemplated leaving when he heard a voice behind him. “You should feel proud for what you did that day.”

Looking behind him, he saw Princess Celestia smiling at him. Spike quickly got over his shock of having the princess sneak up behind him and his sadness returned. “Y-yeah I guess.” he said as his gaze turned back towards the window “You know, you’re the only one who even acknowledged what I did that day.”

“Spike?” asked a concerned princess. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, as you know the Equestria Games are coming up, and Princess Cadence invited Twilight and the others back to the Crystal Empire to help with the preparations.” he explained. “Except me. This is the third time she’s invited them back there and completely forgot that I was the one who gave her the crystal heart.” Celestia could sense the anger within Spike slowly building up as he continued. “It’s like I don’t exist in her eyes, and not just Cadence, it’s everypony. Not being invited to Twilight’s birthday, not being able to meet Pinkie’s sister, not going to the Equestria Games tryout at Rainbow Falls, it’s as if whenever there’s fun to be had, I don’t exist.” Spike turned back at the princess with both frustrated anger and tears in his eyes.

“You know, I thought helping saved the Crystal Empire would finally change things, that I would have been seen as their equal for once.” he continued. “But nothing changed, it’s the same as it was before. No pony seems to care how I feel. Maybe I should just leave Equestria, no pony would miss me.” Princess Celestia draped her wing around the young dragon and pulled him into a warm motherly hug. “That’s not true Spike, I would.” she said. Spike didn’t say anything else. He just stood there and enjoyed the warm loving embrace he was receiving from Celestia. The last time he was held like this was a long time ago when he was very little. Like any baby who learns how to walk, they run around and explore. Spike was in the garden playing while a young twilight was studying and Celestia was watching them. Spike wandered a bit too far and headed towards a rose bush. The bush had thorns over it and you can probably guess what happened next. Celestia and Twilight both heard Spike crying and quickly rushed to his side. Spike only received a small scratch on his right arm but it still hurt like crazy. Using her magic, Celestia levitated Spike close to her, kissed his arm and pulled him into a warm embrace. Spike snapped out of his little memory once Celestia broke the hug and wiped his eyes. “Spike, I’m sure the others didn’t.....” Spike cut her off by angrily pulling himself away from her. “NO, DON’T EVEN SAY THAT!” he yelled. The princess just stood there shocked and wide eyed at the re-angered dragon.

“Spike?”

“I’M TIRED OF HEARING THAT SAME WEAK EXCUSE OVER AND OVER AGAIN!” he continued, but this time he was beyond angry. “EVERYPONY, KEEPS TELLING ME THAT, “OH, SPIKE I’M SURE THEY DIDN’T MEAN TO” WELL IF THEY DIDN’T MEAN TO THEN WHY DO THEY KEEP ON DOING IT!? THEY’RE THE FIRSTS ONE TO PREACH ABOUT LOVE, TOLLRANCE AND FRIENDSHIP, BUT WHEN IT COME TO ME THEY SEEM TO BE FRESH OUT OF IT!”

At this point Spike couldn’t help but break down crying. “W-what kind of friend d-does to a-another?” Celestia pulled Spike back into her embrace, holding him tighter than she ever held anypony, like a mother holding her child after a traumatic experience. “Oh Spike, I-I’m so sorry.” Celestia said with deep sadness in her voice as if she personally did all these things to Spike herself. “You’re right, there is no excuse for this, I only wish I’d stepped in sooner.”

Spike as he slowly moved back to look the princess in the face. Just what did she mean by 'stepped in sooner’? Did she know all along what he’s been going through but did nothing about it?

“For a while now, Luna had been sencing your distress from within your dreams.” Celestia explained. “She tried many times to intervene but somehow you kept her from doing so, and with the Equestria Games coming up, I haven’t had must time to do anything about your situation, which brings me to why I called for you.” Spike was so caught up in his own troubles that he had almost forgotten why he was there in the first place. “You see Spike, starting tomorrow Luna and myself are going a little trip, a vacation if you will.” she explained while wiping the tears from his eyes yet again. “And we would love it if you came with us.”

Spike’s eyes widen tremendously. He was in complete utter shock. Was he hearing the correctly? Was Princess Celestia asking him to accompany both her and her sister on their vacation. “It’s the least we can do for you Spike, knowing how hard you’ve been working all this time with next to no reward to show for it.”

“Y-yes, of course, sure I’ll come!” he said with excitement. “I’d be honored.”

Celestia smiled. “That’s good to here. Now you should head back to Ponyville and get ready, we leave first thing in the morning.” Spike wasted no time what so ever. He was quickly out the door and returned to his chariot where he was taken back to Ponyville. He still couldn’t believe it though, he was going on a trip with both Celestia and Luna. But where were they gonna go? How long were they gonna stay there? These were questions that Spike asked himself but in the end it didn’t matter. To him, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and was no way he was gonna pass it up. After getting back he quickly began packing up thinks he will need. The latest copy of the Power Ponies comic, a ton of notebooks, and finally a bow and a couple of arrows that he made a while back.

“I’m going a vacation with the Princesses tomorrow.” he thought. “I can’t wait.”

Chapter 2

Spike awoke to witness the sun rising and quickly jumped out of bed and ran downstairs where his bag was. Yesterday when he got home, he quickly got to work and started packing up for his trip. He went through his bag and did a double check to see if he had everything he needed. Everything was there, all he needed to do now was wait for the princesses to show up, which didn’t take long since there was a knock at the door moments later. He opened it and was greeted by one of the pegasus guards. “Master Spike, the princesses await.”

Spike wasted no time, he grabbed his bag and ran out to the chariot where both Celestia and Luna were waiting. “Time to go.” said Celestia with a smile while levitating him into the chariot. The guards quickly took flight pulling the chariot with them into the air. The group flew in silence for a while until Spike spoke up. “So...where is it that we’re going?”

“We have a small wooden cabin that’s on the outskirts of Vanhoover, not too deep into the woods.” Luna explained. “It’s a few minutes from the beach and a few minutes from the city it’s self. We shall be there for a whole week.”

“But how will you...?” Spike started but Celestia cut him off. “We can raise the sun and the moon from pretty much anywhere in Equestria, so no need to worry.” Spike started to wonder what the wooden cabin would look like. If he had to make a guess it would probably be about the same size as the golden oaks library, maybe a little bit bigger. “I wonder what’s the first thing we’re going to do after we get there?” he thought. “I’ve never been to Vanhoover before, maybe we can go explore the city. I wonder if it’s as big as Manehatten?” Celestia couldn’t help but giggle at Spike’s restlessness...but to be honest she was getting a little restless too. After all, this was going to be her first vacation in eons and she plans on enjoying every second of it.

Morning turned to afternoon, and the group finally made it to their destination. Spike was frozen where he stood when he saw the wooden cabin for the first time. It stood about ten stories tall and about two and a half miles wide. “This is a small cabin?” he thought. In front, there was a dirt pathway that leads deep into the forest. The trees that were all around seem to barricade the cabin, as if it were hiding it so that no one would be able to find it and break in. Inside was much more impressive, it felt as if it was even bigger in than out. “This isn’t a cabin, it’s a castle.” Spike thought. Unlike his home, or any other home he’s been to, this one seems to have a carpet floor rather than the hard wooden ones he been use to. The carpet floor cuts off right before entering the kitchen area which was, MOTHER OF CELESTIA, enormous. You could fit an entire house in it. Spike continued to explore more of the cabin as the pegasus guards finished bringing the rest of their stuff. “That’s the last of them, is there anything else needed to be done, Princess?”

“No thank you.” Celestia answered. “That will be all.”

“Yes Princess.” said the guard. “We shall see you in a week’s time. Enjoy your vacation.” And with that the two guards left taking the chariot with them. Celestia walked over towards the fire place where there were a couple of giant soft bean bags. Using her magic, she took off all of her jewelry, pushed the bean bags together and collapsed on top of them, sighing happily that for the first time in eons, she could finally relax and not have to worry about all troubles that comes with ruling a kingdom. Princess Luna went up stairs looking for Spike who was still exploring the place. “Spike, where are you?” she asked and received no answer. She began walking down the hallway opening up every door, looking in to see if Spike was there. She came across the final door at the end of the hallway which lead into the bathroom and it was there she found Spike. He was just standing there frozen stiff trying to take in the sheer size of the place. The bathtub was basically a giant in ground pool. “There you are.” said Luna. “Come, we must start unpacking now. There will be plenty of time to explore the cabin later.”

“Uh, yeah sure.” he said as he followed her out the bathroom. Downstairs, the pair noticed that Celestia was fast asleep next to the fire place. Not wanting to disturb her, Spike quietly gathered his things and prepared to follow Luna to his room. Luna on the other hand, had other ideas. A devious smile formed on her face as she went to her bags and pulled out a container of whip cream and a feather. Spike looked on as Luna slowly made her way towards Celestia, poured the cream on her hoof and began to tickle her nose with the feather. As you can imagine, Celestia wound up with whip cream on her face as she tried to wipe away what ever it was that was tickling her nose. Both Spike and Luna could barely contain their snickering as Celestia was getting her face covered. Luna finally stopped with it became too much. She quickly grabbed her stuff and brought Spike upstairs where she knew that Celestia couldn’t hear them laughing up a storm. When they finally calmed down, Luna brought Spike to his room. Spike was amazed, not only at the size of the room but at the size of the bed. “Whoa, is all this for me?” he asked. “Even the bed?”

“Of course Spike.” Luna answered confused. “Don’t you have a room of your own in Ponyville?”

“Not Really.” Spike explained. “I share a room with Twilight, and by bed is no where near as big as this. It’s...quite small actually.”

“How small?” Luna asked almost afraid of the question.

“It’s...a dog bed.” Spike answered in a low voice.

“A dog bed?” Luna asked, shocked and disturbed. “Doesn’t Twilight have an extra bed for you?”

“Well..we had an extra one about a year ago.” He explained. “But it got destroyed when a tree somehow crashed through the bedroom window.”

Luna looked at the dragon with wide eyes, stunned at to what she just heard. This young dragon sleeps in a dog bed. A DOG BED! You might as well say he sleeps on the floor. Luna began to remember that yesterday Celestia sat with her and told her all the things Spike said to her. About how he was basically being mistreated by his 'friends’. Taking all that into account along with what Spike had just told her, Luna came to the conclusion that this poor dragon was probably seen as nothing more than a third class citizen by the pony who hatched him, the pony who is the only family he has. It broke her heart to see that he was being treated the way he was, and it reminded her of what it was like when she was ignored one thousand years ago by the ponies she was supposed to protect. She doubt that Spike would go insane and try to destroy everything like she tried to, but she still worried about what it would lead to if this continues on. Already, for whatever reason, Spike seems to somehow block her from interacting with him in his dreams. Something that seemed impossible until now. Well in any case, Luna hoped that this vacation will show Spike that even if Twilight and the others don’t appreciate him, he should at least know that the royal pony sisters do.

Luna walked over to Spike, put a hoof around him and pulled him into a hug. “When we’re done getting settled in, we’ll go either into the city or the beach or where ever you want.” she said in a soft caring voice. “This isn’t just mine and my sister’s vacation, but yours too.” Spike was going to hug her back but stopped when he hear screaming.

“LLLLLLUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Spike looked at Luna. “She sounds mad, what now?"

“Out the window.” Luna used her magic to levitate Spike onto her back, opened up the bedroom window that led towards the beach and flew out just as Celestia ran into the room with whip cream still on her face. “GET BACK HERE!” she yelled as she flew after them. Spike and luna burst out in laughter as they were being chased after a raging Celestia.

***********

That evening as Celestia was slowly lowering the sun, Spike had just finished unpacking the last of his stuff in his room. He still couldn’t believe that he was here, on vacation with the royal pony sisters. This was that kind of once in a lifetime thing that ponies with die for. Unable to stay in his room for long, Spike started to continue where he left off and explore the rest of the cabin. His room was located up stairs on the eastern side so he traveled to the western side. When he got there, the first thing he saw were two very large double doors. He opened it up and what was revealed to him was astonishing. It was a library the size of Canterlot. Walking in, Spike wandered what if Twilight saw this place and then two thoughts popped in his mind. One was Twilight walking in and catching a massive nose bleed for seeing this many books all at one. The other was Twilight being so overwhelmed that she caught a massive heart attack and had to be rolled out on a stretcher. Both thoughts made Spike chuckle a bit. Walking even further he saw a purple book that caught his attention. Picking it up he saw that title.

Spectra, the Dragon Empress.

Thinking it would probably be a good read, Spike decided to take it with him. Not wanting to go any further into the library, mostly out of fear of getting lost, Spike turned around and started to walk out but then something else caught his attention. It appeared to be a hidden doorway that was not so hidden mounted against the wall. He opened it up and saw what appeared to be a slide. “I wonder where this leads.” he said as he climbed in. “Well, only one way to find out.” And with that, Spike slid down what was basically a trap door slide. He was quickly picking up speed as he hit every twist and turn, yelling in pure excitement, not wanting this ride to end. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Spike reached the end of the slide and noticed a doorway that was on the side of him. He opened it up and found himself inside the kitchen where he saw Celestia and Luna were standing there smiling at him. “Well, it would seem that you found one of the trap door slides.” said Celestia.

“You mean, there’s more?” Spike asked sounding even more excited
Celestia nodded. “They’re all over the cabin, but you’ll have to find them first.” she said with a wink. And so the first activity of their vacation had begun, with Spike searching along with the sisters for the rest of trap door slides. Each one was just as fast and exciting as the last.

Chapter 3

2000 years ago, dragons ruled over the land called Dragonia. They’re leader was a dark and powerful empress called, Spectra. A black dragon, with dark green emerald scales and eyes as red as blood. Her name spread fear across the land, even some of her dragon subjects were afraid of her. Her power held no limits, mostly due to the magical power of the three dragon stones. The ruby stone, the sapphire stone and the emerald stone. These were powerful stones the shape of dragon scales capable of turning even the weakest dragon into a god. Harnessing the power of the dragon stones, Spectra wanted to rule not just this land but all other lands. Her greed for power and rule was insatiable, so much so that it started a war that has been known as: The 1000 Years War. Spectra purged the world into darkness attacking distant lands and dominating over them. Many ponies lived in fear, that is until two brave beings dared to challenge Spectra and her dragon army, but unfortunately their power paled in comparison to that of the dragon stones. The war between the two beings and the dragons waged on for one thousand years before the two beings were able to get the dragon stones away from Spectra, with the help of two other dragons and a powerful unicorn. With her powers depleted, the two beings had the dragon empress wrapped in unbreakable golden chains and chained down within an active volcano called Vesuvius.

The location of the dragon stones to this day are unknown. They were scattered the second they were pulled from spectra’s body. Legend has it that, Spectra is still within that volcano planning and waiting for the day when she will be released and finish what she started 2000 years ago.

****************************

Spike had closed the book and set it down, amazed at the story he just read. “That was an awesome story. I wonder if there’s any more on Spectra.”

Spike’s thoughts were interrupted by Princess Luna’s entrance into his room. “Spike, it’s time to go.” she announced.

“Coming.” he said.

Today was the day that Celestia, Luna and Spike were going to take a trip to the city of Vanhoover. This was going to be Spike’s first time in the city so it was very understandable how excited he was. Celestia locked up the cabin as Spike was levitated on Luna’s back and the three of them took off into the sky. The first thing Spike noticed was that the two sisters weren’t wearing their royal jewelry. Luna had her mane pulled back into a pony tail and Celestia just had a yellow bandana wrapped around her forehead. It was weird seeing them like that, but then again how often to they get the chance to go out and just have fun.

Moments later the group approached the city of Vanhoover which was just as big as Manehatten, if not more so. The ponies that lived here seemed to be a bit nicer and the streets and sidewalks were a bit wider and didn’t feel like everything was all crammed together. When they landed they were almost immediately bombarded by photographers wanting to get close to the princesses.

They began walking calmly, ignoring the group of ponies that were clearly following them. “So where’re we going?” Spike asked.

“Well Spike, I figured that we let you choose?” Celestia answered cheerfully. “ We could go to the amusement park, or the aquarium or where ever. It’s your choice.”

Spike didn’t waste any time on giving his answer. He knew exactly where he wanted to go. “The amusement park!” he said with excitement. “I’ve always wanted to go to one.”

“Then that’s where we’re headed.” said Luna. And with the “unwanted crowd” behind them, Spike and the princesses began to make their way to the amusement park. While they were walking, the crowd behind them was getting larger, but Celestia and Luna just shrugged it off and acted like they weren’t there, until they came to a cross walk. “Maybe we should get a cab.” Luna suggested. “It would be much faster than just walking there.”

“I agree.” Celestia said while waving her hoof. Not even a millisecond went by and a cab stopped right in front of them. Spike was easily impressed. He remembered back in Manehatten, it was nearly impossible for them to get a cab. You had to just stand in a long line for who knows how long to even think about getting one. “Where to?” asked the cabbie as all three climbed in. “Just go for now.” said Celestia in a calm voice. The cabbie nodded and took off, leaving the large crowd of ponies behind them. When they were a safe distance away from them Celestia spoke up. “Okay, we’re headed to the amusement park.”

The cabbie smirked. “You got it.”

Along they way, Spike admired the city. The tall buildings, the couple of statues he noticed, and just how much nicer it seemed to be, more than Manehatten. Just up ahead of them, Spike saw a giant blue building with white stars all over it and a lot of ponies starting to gather in front. “I wonder what’s going on over there?” he asked.

“Oh that?” Said the cabbie. “Yeah, that’s the Star Swirl The Bearded Museum. It’s been in construction for months; looks like they’re almost done. I’d give it about another day or two.” Spike continued to watch the building as they passed it up. He noticed the ponies were struggling to get some kind of large object inside. Judging buy the size of it, it was probably a statue of something or somepony, well whatever it was, he was hoping to at least see what was inside of the building before their trip was up. While Spike’s attention was on the museum, Celestia motioned Luna to come closer towards her so they can speak privately. “Were you able to interact with him in his dreams?” Celestia asked.

“I was able to get inside but not interact.” Luna explained. “A dark aura seemed to be surrounding him, preventing him from hearing and seeing me.”

“A dark aura?” asked Celestia. “What was it?”

“It...it was...the Nightmare Aura. The same aura that turned me into Nightmare Moon.”

Celestia was in utter shock upon hearing this news. Of all creatures in Equestria, Spike was showing signs of turning into a nightmare creature. Celestia stopped herself from asking a question she already knew the answer to.

How did this happen?

She knew how it happen, from when Spike had that little breakdown back in Canterlot, telling her how Twilight and the others had been neglecting him, to her own memories of when Luna first became Nightmare Moon, and how it was partly her fault it happened. Had she only stopped for a few seconds and talked to her sister then she wouldn’t have transformed. Both sisters looked at Spike for a few seconds then backed to each other. “So history repeats itself.....please tell me it’s not too late for him.” Celestia asked hoping for a positive answer. “From what I saw, the aura appeared to still be in it’s early stages.” Luna explained. “We can still save him from suffering the same fate I did. But sister, I suggest that after our vacation is over that we have a talk with Twilight and her friends, let them know what nearly happened.” Celestia nodded.

****************

At the amusement park, inside a trailer that was made to look like an office, two earth ponies, a blue stallion with a dark blue mane sitting behind the desk was talking to a old brown stallion with a white mane who was clearly upset about something. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!” he yelled.

“Look, I’m sorry Fixer, but I have no choice, you’re never around to fix the rides when we need you and when you do they’re half way done. We’ve had ten accidents in the past week and now there’s a rumor that the princesses of Equestria are in the city. If anything goes wrong they just might order us to shut down permanently.” the owner explained. “And besides, I’ve already hired your replacement and he not only does a better job than you, but he’s faster too."

Fixer was beyond angry, he got up and stormed out.

“Fire me will ya, I’ll show you.” he thought. “I got about an hour and 45 minutes till the park opens up, more than enough time.” He hurried to his shed in order to grab his tools so that he could carry out what ever it was he was planning.************************

Spike, Celestia, and Luna arrived at the front gate of the amusement park. All ponies stopped and stared at the group. It’s not everyday the two rulers of the land randomly pop up in front of an amusement park. Minutes later the park opened up and all the ponies went inside. The park was as huge as you could imagine. It had everything, a merry-go-round, bumper cars, games, a ferris wheel, lots and lots of crazy roller coasters, you name it, they had it. Spike was overwhelmed at the sheer size of the place. Never in his life has he seen so many rides and games. All he wanted at this point was to go on as many of them as possible. “So Spike, see anything you would like to try first?” asked Celestia as she walked up behind him.

Spike continued to look around until he saw a ride that caught his attention. “That one.” he said as he pointed. It was a roller coaster with two different tracks. Red and Blue. The tracks seemed to have their own pathway except at a certain point where they look like they may intertwine, but it was hard to tell. Spike, Celestia and Luna didn’t have to worry about a long line because the park had just opened so there weren’t that many ponies here...yet. As they got up to the platform they notice that the cars were shaped to look like dragons. Blue track had the blue dragon that was facing left and the red track had the red dragon facing right. The group got on the blue dragon, strapped themselves in and prepared for the ride to start. Once all the ponies were safely settled in, the operator got ready to start the ride. Celestia, Luna and Spike were sitting at the front, looking down Spike noticed a sticker on the floor and read it.

Warning:

This ride goes from 0 to 350 MPR in under 5 seconds!

Ride at your own risk!

All three pairs of eyes went extremely wide, their pupils shrank way below microscopic, immediately the decision to go on this was ride......was regretted.

The operator did a quick countdown and just like the warning sign said the ride took off, going 0 to 350 MPR. Celestia, Luna and Spike along with many others screamed their butts off as they were hitting every twist and turns the roller coaster had to offer. After the last loop they came to the final part of the ride. A head on collision, or and illusion of one. The final part of the ride made it look like the two dragons were about to crash head on with one another but at the last second they turn away. As if the ponies aren’t already in the middle of have heart attacks. The ride came to an end and all the ponies got off. Some were fine, some weren’t. Spike and Luna stumbled a bit but managed to walk away. Before they could leave, the operator stopped them. “Aren’t you forgetting somepony?" he said as he pointed to Celestia who was still sitting in her seat, frozen solid, her face was pale with the look of pure unadulterated fear. Luna walked up to her sister and tapped her on the shoulder causing Celestia to scream out loud. Luna grabbed Celestia’s frozen body and pulled her out the car so that the next group could have their turn.

Celestia was brought to a nearby bench in order to calm her nerves. “Princess...are you okay?” Spike asked, almost afraid to.

“G-give me a minute.” she said.

“Maybe we should try some of the games next.” Luna suggested.

*********************

On the other side of the park, Fixer just finished putting on the final touches to his plan. “After today, this park will be shut down permanently.” he thought as he continued working. It didn’t take him long to finally finish. He quickly packed up his tools and left the scene before anypony noticed him. Making it to the front gate, Fixer took one last look at the park and smiled evilly knowing that after today nopony will have a job. The park owner, Happy Carnival, will probably be up to his neck in lawsuits and fines. That thought brought a huge devilish smile to his face.

*********************
After Celestia finally calmed down, the group went over to the game area. The first booth they came across had different colored balloons along the back wall and had stuffed animals and other prizes hanging from the top and on the sides. “Step right up!” said the stallion running the both. “Hit three balloons of the same color and win a prize!”

“Shall we try?” asked Luna looking at her sister.

Celestia looked at her sister and raised an eyebrow. “Luna, I know how you get when ever you play any kind of game. When you can’t win, you get mad, you quit, and something either breaks or blows up.”

“What?!” Luna said in shock. “Name one time that happened.”

“Oh I don’t know, how about the time you threw a priceless antique against the wall because I was beating you in a card game, or the time you were losing in a game of chess and you blew up a mountain.”

“That was forever ago, sister.”

“That was two days ago Luna. You can really be an angry “gamer” sometimes.” Spike couldn’t help but laugh at the two sisters. He could tell that the two of them were really close. Celestia sighed. “Okay Luna, we can play, but if one thing blows up, that’s it.”

Walking up to the booth, Celestia paid for all three of them and they each got three darts. Now looking at the back wall of the booth, Spike noticed that it was a bit farther than he expected it to be. The balloons themselves weren’t in any kind of pattern, the colors were just all over the place. Spike figured it made since, wouldn’t be fun if ponies won too easy. Luna went first. Using her magic, she lifted one dart, aimed carefully and fired hitting her target, a red balloon. Quickly she did the same thing again hitting another red one. Now she was down to her last dart, really concentrating on hitting her target. When she was ready, she fired and... “Oh, too bad.” said the stallion. Luna’s dart hit the balloon dead on but instead of popping it bounced off it.

“WHAT!” she yelled in her royal canterlot voice.

“L-Luna!” Celestia warned.

“But I hit that thing dead on.” she said calming down a bit. Using her magic, she took Celestia’s darts and tried again. She got the same results. The darts appeared to just bounce off the balloons. Celestia had to raise suspicion to this and glanced over at the stallion running the booth. Luna growled trying to contain herself. She grabbed Spike’s darts and tried again, but this time she added a little extra magic when she threw the darts. Luna wasn’t even taking her time this round, she just threw the darts. The first two missed their targets completely and the third one went right through the back end of the booth. Luna growled, paid for more darts, and began throwing them radically; popping most of the balloons but not three of the same color. The rest were just bouncing off them. “Why. Won’t. They. Pop.” Luna said gritting her teeth and hitting the booth; her anger was reaching it’s boiling point.

It was clear to Celestia that the stallion running this booth obviously had it rigged in someway, but instead of announcing it she grabbed Spike in her hooves and slowly began to back away because her sister was about to explode. “Um, maybe you should calm dowm a bit.” suggested the stallion.

“BACK OFF!” Luna yelled in her Canterlot voice, causing Celestia to back up with Spike even more as a magical aura began to surround her body.

“P-p-p-princess?” Spike said with fear in his voice. Celestia responded by holding Spike closer to her body while while putting up a large magical shield, protecting them and everything that was behind them.

Luna had five more darts left. She powered them up with her magic, aimed, and fired with all of her might. The darts flew at lightning fast speeds, going through the balloons and the booth itself, leaving a holes. Luna managed to pop the balloons, but they were all of different colors. Her anger reached it’s boiling point, she charged up her horn and took aim.

“I QUIIIIIIIITTTTTTT!” Luna fired a powerful beam at the booth as she yelled causing a powerful explosion. Thankfully Celestia had her shield up so no pony behind them were hurt in the explosion. Well.....almost no pony. The stallion running the booth was caught in the explosion and was sent blasting off into the sky. “I DON’T GET PAID ENOUGH FOR THIS SHI..........!” he yelled as he disappeared over the horizon.

*****************************

Happy Carnival, sitting in his office suddenly felt the vibrations from Luna’s explosion. “What the...what was that?” he said and he went outside to check. He noticed ponies looking around in confusion for a while before going back to having fun. Deciding to check things out, Happy locked up his trailer and went out into the park.

*****************************

The dust had finally settled and Luna was standing in front of a big hole in the ground; breathing hard. “Luna.” said Celestia as she let down the shield and placed her hoof on her forehead. “This is why you shouldn’t be allow to play any games.”

“It’s a game, therefore I should be able to win at it.” Luna replied, trying to justify her actions. “It wouldn’t be a game otherwise.” Looking around, Luna found another booth that looked interesting to her, but before she could walk off, Celestia grabbed her by the tail and began dragging her off in the opposite direction. Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at the little banter that was happing between the two sisters. “Hey, let’s go an another ride.” he suggested.

Celestia froze as she remembered the last ride they got on earlier. Seeing her expression, Spike quickly added “A safer one of course.”

Celestia calmed down a bit. “Oh good.” she breathed.

The group began to make their way passed the game area, much to Luna’s protest, towards the rides. On the way the way there, Spike noticed that more and more ponies were showing up. Soon the park would be crowded and it would take forever for them to get to a ride that looks favorable, let alone ride it. “Come on come on, let’s go.” he rushed.

“Okay okay.” Celestia said laughing a bit.

They soon came across a what looked like a race track with little cars that looked liked only Spike and other little fillies and colts could fit in. The track was basically and giant circle, but with some added features. The beginning was a was a normal straight way the that soon lead into the first left turn. After that, the second straight way had a couple of small ramps on it. After the second left turn there was a third straight way which was a bumpy road that quickly lead into the third left turn. On the fourth and final straight way was a tunnel which came to an end a couple feet before the final left turn. “So, you wanna try it?” Celestia asked. Spike nodded and joined the other young ponies while Celestia and Luna stood with the parents.

The unicorn running the ride powered up her horn and shot and small been into the back of each of the cars powering them up. Spike and other young ponies strapped themselves in and prepared to race. “Okay everypony, listen up.” she announced. “At the bottom of your car there are two petals. The skinny one allows you to go and the fat one allows to stop or slow down. When I say go, press down on the skinny petal. The first one to cross the finish line after three laps wins.” After her explanation, she got out of the way and began her countdown.

“3...2...1...GO!” she yelled. Spike and the young ponies took off with the adults cheering them on. After the first turn, Spike quickly took the lead with the others closing in.

***************************

Elsewhere, a group of ponies were loaded up on a ferris wheel enjoying the ride. Suddenly, the ride started shaking a bit before it started going out of control causing the ponies to scream with terror. Not far from them another ride went crazy as bolts began to fly from it hurling into the crowd. The ponies scrambled to find their young and get to safety, but most of them were already on the rides.

Hearing the commotion, Happy carnival ran toward the crowd of frighten ponies and witnessed all his rides were malfunctioning. “N-no. Not again!” he yelled.

****************************

A group of ponies ran passed the race track screaming, catching the eyes of the princesses and the parents. “What’s going on?” asked Luna.

Soon they all heard a large noise which sounded like something breaking apart. Looking in it’s direction they saw that the ferris wheel broke from it’s base and was rolling towards them fast with ponies still on the ride.

“EVERYPONY LEAVE THE AREA!” yelled Luna.

The parents stormed the race to gather up there young while Luna took to the sky. Using her magic, she managed to slow the wheel down to a stop then began to push it back to where it came from being careful not to bring harm to the ponies on still on it or to the ones running on the ground.

Celestia levitated Spike onto her back and began to meet up with Luna when they saw a giant cage with three ponies inside, flying through the sky. “OH MY GOSH!” Celestia screamed. She set Spike down at a bench and flew after the flying cage. Sounds of ponies screaming and rides breaking apart could be heard around the park. Celestia caught the cage with her magic and gently set it down near a fountain. She started to fly back towards Spike but quickly noticed more ponies in trouble and flew to help them.

Spike stayed at the bench Celestia left him at when a nearby ride in a shape of a spider about 50ft in the air suddenly when haywire. At the end of each of it’s legs were cages; some of them still had ponies inside. One in particular had two young fillies inside and the cage itself was about to break loose.

“MY BABIES!” yelled their mother.

“OH NO!” yelled Spike as quickly ran to the seen. While the operators were at work trying to get the ride down, Spike ran passed them and jumped onto the machine. Looking around he found and long rope and wrapped it around his shoulder. Spike soon began to climb up as fast as he could. Suddenly, the ride began to descend but stopped suddenly, causing the cages to shake violently and the one with the fillies to almost break apart.

“HEY STOP IT!” Spike yelled. “YOU’RE GONNA GET THEM KILLED!”

Spike’s yell caught the attention of all the ponies there. They saw not only him climbing, but the fillies screaming for their mom. Spike’s climb continued until he got to the top. He made his way to leg where were and began to quickly wrap the rope in a very tight knot above the cage with the children. With the rope tightly secure, Spike tossed it over and began to climb down till he got to the cage door.

“Hey.” he said in a soft voice. “I know you’re scared but we’re going try to climb down okay?”

Spike stuck out his hand and grabbed one on of the fillies. She got on his back and wrapped her hooves his neck. “Okay now hold on to me tight.” he said as he held out his hand get her sister who was trembling with fear.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

The little filly nodded, took Spike’s hand and wrapped her hooves around his neck. “Okay girls, were going down now.”

Spike jumped away from the cage and began to slowly descend to the ground. He saw that the cage above them was slowly beginning to break free and crash on top of them. Motioning for the ponies below to move out of the way, Spike began to descend faster, but that was when the cage broke free and coming at them fast.

“HOLD ON!” he yelled.

Spike let go of the rope and began to free fall. He landed on the ground on his feet hard then quickly jumped out of the way as the cage crashed and shattered. The crowd of ponies cheered as the fillies was returned to their mother. Spike stood up but fell and grabbed his right foot yelling in pain.

Flying over, Luna saw the ponies gathered around the spider ride. “WHAT ARE YOU PONIES DOING?” she yelled. “IT’S DANGEROUS TO STAY HERE. YOU MUST LEAVE NOW!”

Looking down, she saw Spike grabbing his foot with about three stallions around him . He looked like he was in pain. “SPIKE!” she yelled and flew down to him. “WHAT HAPPENED!” she yelled using her Canterlot voice.

“H-he just saved t-two fillies.” one stallion explained.

Luna levitated Spike onto her back. “I’ll find a doctor, you ponies get to safety, now!”

****************************
It was almost time for the sun to be lowered before all the ponies were out of the park. Spike was sitting on a bench with Luna while a doctor was taking a look at his foot. “Hmm, it appears to only be a sprain, nothing more.” he said as he wrapped Spike’s foot and handed him a pair of crutches. “But I suggest that you stay off it for a while.”

“SPIKE!” yelled Celestia. The princess of the sun quickly trotted over to Spike and nuzzled her cheek against his. “Oh my goodness, are you okay?”

“He’ll be fine.” said the doctor. “As long as he stays off that foot.”

“Thank you.” Said Luna.

The doctor nodded and was about to walk off when Luna spoke up again. “You wouldn’t happen to know the owner of the park would you?”

“Sure I know him.” he said. “Happy Carnival. That’s him right over there.” The doctor pointed to where Happy was and Celestia decided to confront him about what happened. Luna levitated Spike onto her back and followed her sister.

Happy and his employees were talking to the city’s police when they noticed the two princesses walking towards them. They were not happy. “Are you Happy Carnival?” asked Celestia in a stern voice.

“Y-yes.”
“How did this happen?”

“W-well y-you see......”

Before Happy could make an explanation a stallion ran up to the seen. “Happy, I took a look at most of the rides. This was no accident.”

“What do you mean?”

“I fixed these rides myself and there’s no way they could just break the way they did. Somepony deliberately sabotaged them.”

It didn’t take long for Happy to figure out who the culprit was. “Fixer.”

“Excuse me?” Celestia asked.

“Fixer, princess. Fixer Upper, he used to be an employee of mine.

“Use to be?”

“Y-yes. You see, we’ve had a lot of accidents here because of him. I fired him early this morning, before he opened up. He’s the only other pony with the knowledge of these rides and how they work.”

“ I want this Fixer found, NOW!”

The police nodded and scrambled to find Fixer. After a few more words from Celestia, the group began to head home.

“Not bad for a first day huh?” Spike said.

The two sisters sighed heavily at Spike’s poor attempt at cracking a joke.

Chapter 4

Two days had passed since the incident at the amusement park. Spike spent those two days either in bed recovering from his foot injury, in the library reading up on Spectra, the dragon empress, or in the kitchen surprising Celestia and Luna with his natural cooking skills. The two sisters had to agree that Spike’s cooking was even better than that of the royal chefs back home. That night, Luna once again entered Spike’s dream and discovered that Spike was no longer surrounded by the nightmare aura, though it’s presents still lingered somewhere. Luna went up to Spike and pulled him into a strong hug leaving him a bit confused as to why she would just randomly do that.

But this moment didn’t last long.

“SPIKE, HEY SPIKE!” yelled a familiar voice. Both Spike and Luna turned to see Twilight slowly approaching them. At that moment, a dark aura slowly started to surround Spike’s body and push Luna away. She yelled Spike’s name but he didn’t hear her. He couldn’t hear or see her anymore. Luna ran full speed at Spike but the aura knocked her away several feet. Quickly flying up into the air Luna tried once again to reach Spike. This time she was knocked away so hard she was kicked out of his dream. Before she exited she heard a dark erie voice speaking to her.

“Spike belongs to me!”

*****************************

Luna awoke with a scream catching the attention of Celestia who was walking by getting ready to raise the sun. She bust open the door to Luna’s room with a scared look in her face. “Luna, what is it?!”

Luna quickly jumped out of bed and ran past her sister. “It’s Spike!” Both sisters ran down the hallway to Spike’s room and bust open the door. What they saw horrified them.

“SPIKE!” yelled Luna.

“Oh heavens, no.” Celestia said as she brought her hoof over her mouth.

Spike was just sitting there in his bed with the nightmare aura surrounding his body. His eyes were glowing bright red and he had a devilous smile on his face looking right at them. Celestia and Luna didn’t move from where they were, mostly out of fear that Spike would attack them if they did. Luckily, that didn’t happen because the nightmare aura slowly disappeared and his eyes went back to normal. Spike closed his eyes, fell backwards and went back to sleep. Both sisters slowly approached Spike’s bedside. “It’s even worse than I thought.” Luna said quietly.

“W-what happened?” Celestia asked still a bit shaken up.

“I...I entered Spike’s dream; there was no sign of the nightmare aura. Everything was normal...but then....an image of Twilight Sparkle appeared, then the aura reappeared and I was kicked out.”

“An image of Twilight?”

“It’s the same thing I went through. It won’t be long until Spike’s anger towards Twilight and her friends turns into hatred, and when that happens......”

“No.” Celestia said sternly as she gently laid her head on Spike’s. “That won’t happen. Spike will not fall to the darkness.”

“The only ones who can make this right is Twilight and the others....but....well.....you saw what happened when Spike saw Twilight in his dream. What do you think will happen when he sees her in person?”

Celestia said nothing as she continued resting her head on top of Spike.

*************************

Later that morning after raising the sun, Celestia left for the city to witness the court arraignment of Fixer Upper. She told Luna and Spike to meet her in the city within two hours; by then the arraignment should be over and the three of them could go on and do what they had planned. Spike’s foot healed up a bit, but still stung every now and then; but that wasn’t going to stop him from enjoying the rest of their vacation.

Spike had just finished up explaining the Power Ponies to Luna, and just like with any adult who shows interest in what a child is in to, Luna didn’t understand anything that Spike was telling her. All she did was just smile and nod. “Just what in the world is this little Dragon exposed to?” she asked herself as she tried to comprehend what was just told to her.

Luna looked over at the clock and rolled out of bed. “It’s almost time to meet up with her. Ready to go?” she said with a smile.

Spike nodded and was soon levitated on to Luna’s back.

*************************
Luna and Spike landed in front of the courthouse and waited for Celestia to come out.

A few moments later the doors opened up and ponies began walking out. Out of nowhere reporters raced up to the doors and began taking pictures and asking questions as Fixer Upper walked out with a police escort; hiding his face with a hood as he pushed through the crowd. Seconds later Celestia walked out of the building. She went around the reporters as their attention was still focused on Fixer.

“Sister, what happened?” asked Luna.

“He pled guilty and was sentenced to 15 years.” she answered angrily. “He should have gotten life.”

The fact that he only got 15 years made Celestia angry, but what made her even more angry was that Spike got hurt among the chaos.

“So where are we going this time?” Spike asked as they began leaving the courthouse.

“To the aquarium.” Luna answered. “If we hurry, we could be one of the first ones inside, and I don’t wanna miss it.”

“Miss what?” asked Spike.

“I heard that some marine ponies found a large ancient sea creature that could very well be the last of it’s kind. So they brought it here in order to keep it safe from poachers.”

“Wow, I wonder what it is?” Spike asked.

The group quickly caught a cab and began making their way to the aquarium. Along the way, they noticed and large group of ponies with signs marching. Ahead of them was an orange unicorn with a light orange colored mane and tail yelling something through a megaphone she had levitated in front of her. Not wanting to get mixed in what ever was going on, the cabbie turned down a nearby street in order to get away from the crowd.

It took a few minutes longer that usual, but they finally made it. The giant size building was white with paintings of fishes and other sea animals all over it. Most of the paintings were done by little fillies and colts in order to show that not only was this a place of education but also a place of fun. The princesses and Spike went in and were greeted by a giant statue of a weird looking fish. It was hard to tell what type of species it was. It’s round body was orange with black markings over it. It’s white fins and tail had black spots over them and on it’s forehead; there was a horn that looked similar to that of a unicorn’s horn. Whatever it was, it was weird looking.

They followed a group of ponies down a blue hallway, or what appeared to be one. This hallway was actually a glass tunnel that was under a giant tank of water. While walking through it the ponies marveled at all of the deep sea creatures they could see. It was as if they were actually walking through the ocean floor. The trip through the tunnel came to an end and they all found themselves and a large area that housed hundreds, maybe thousands of fish tanks that were built into the wall. Each tank had a couple of headphones attached next to it so that the young ponies could hear a recording about the fishes they were watching.

“Attention everypony! Please head to the auditorium for a Special event”

After the announcement over the intercom all the ponies headed towards the auditorium. Taking their seats, the ponies were facing a gigantic curtain. Behind it was obviously a tank, but what was in the tank was a mystery. At the moment, an aqua blue mare with light a light yellow mane and tale walked up to the podium.

“Hello there everypony.” she announced. “My name is Aqua Shine. We here at the Aqua Aquarium have dedicated our lives to learning about the various oceans and the creatures that live in it. So that we may educate the next generation of ponies who are interested in marine biology. We also find creatures who are on the endangered list and bring them here with the hopes of saving them, and that’s why I’ve called you all here. Behind me is a creature of the deep thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago, but we may have just found the last one still alive in this planet. A creature said to be the an unstoppable killing machine of it’s time. Mares and gentlecolts, I give you.....The Megalodon!”

Aqua Shine pulled down the curtain and revealed what was a 59ft 80ton shark. The mere sight of this beast was more that enough to scare all the fillies and colts half to death; most of them clung to their parents refusing to even look at the shark for one second more. Luna and Spike were no exception to this as they both clung to Celestia screaming in terror as the beast swam up to the glass.

Celestia just sat there, unimpressed. “I’ve seen bigger.”

“Is it g-gonna b-b-break t-through the glass?” Spike asked.

“No Spike.” Celestia said in a soft tone as she draped her wing around him. “I don’t think they would have brought him here if they couldn’t hold him.”

Celestia understood Spike’s fear. He was a child looking at one of the most deadliest creatures to ever live in the ocean. What she didn’t understand was Luna’s fear and had to raise an eyebrow. After all, she was the one who wanted to come here. “Oh my stars, it’s gonna break through.” Luna said pancaking .

“No it won’t Luna. Honestly I don’t see how you’re afraid of it?”

“Well I don’t see how you’re not, sister. Look at it.”

Aqua Shine stepped back up to the podium and was about to deliver and explanation on how the found and captured the Megalodon when suddenly it bumped into the glass sending the already scared and panicking ponies into a frenzy. Grabbing their young, the screaming ponies all ran out of the auditorium and through the hallways in a massive stampede creating a small earthquake that threaten to crack that glass walls and release the thousands upon thousands of gallons of water. The only ones left in the auditorium were Celestia, Luna and Spike; who were surrounded in a magical bubble that Celestia conjured up preventing the three of them from getting trampled by the ponies as they were running away.

“Well, that was fun.” Celestia said as she dismissed with bubble.

Luna quickly levitated Spike onto her back. “Lets get out of here before that beast breaks through.”

Celestia groaned as she followed her sister. “Luna, it’s not going to break through. It just bumped it.”

“Sister, Spike and I are not taking any chances.”

“I can’t believe how much of a scaredy-pony you’re being.” Luna just ignored that last comment as she began making her way out of the auditorium. The group made their way out side where they ran into the rest of the ponies who were exhausted from all the running they did. After a while some started to leave while the rest stayed. Celestia, Luna, and Spike were among the ones who left.

“So where should we go this time?” Spike asked.

“As long as it’s away from that giant shark, I’m fine.” Luna answered.

Celestia just sighed. “Honestly.”

“Well let’s see.” Spike started. “I wanted to go to the amusement park and Princess Luna wanted to go to the aquarium...so, I guess that means it’s your turn to choose.”

Celestia thought for a moment. “Well, there is this movie I wanted to see for a while now.”

“Perfect.” Luna said. “Then that’s where we’re going.”

DOWNTOWN MOVIE THEATER

Spike, Celestia, and Luna took their seats at the side balcony on the left side of the room with Spike sitting in between them. Celestia had an annoyed look on her face, due the fact that the snacks at the concession stand were stupid expensive. Granted she was a princess so the prices were nothing to her... but still.

The lights in the auditorium dim down and the movie began. The movie was apparently a love story between two earth ponies. It took a while for Spike to get into it seeing as how it got off to a slow start, but after the 30 minute mark the story started picking up.

But maybe it picked a bit too much.

At a certain point in the movie the couple kissed. Nothing too bad, but Celestia and Luna noticed that the kiss was getting little too passionate to the point that both sisters started blushing. It wasn’t until the couple on screen fell on the bed that Luna quickly noticed something.

SPIKE WAS THERE WITH THEM.

Luna quickly looked over at Spike who staring at the screen intently, trying to figure out what were they doing or about to do. Luna’s eyes widen and she let out a loud gasp which caused Celestia to look over to her sister. She saw Luna staring at Spike, then looked up at the screen then quickly turned her head right at Spike with her eyes extremely wide. She too let out a loud gasp then both blushing sisters basically tackled Spike to the ground covering his ears and shielding his eyes from the scene that was going on.

*****************************

Three hours later the movie ended. With tears streaming down her face Celestia lowered the sun a bit to signal that it was evening time. The two sisters along with many other mares leaving the theater were crying due to how the movie ended. Spike however was just left confused and unamused.

“That...was...stupid.” he said catching the attention of the sisters.

“What was?” asked Luna.

“That ending.” he answered. “Jack-O- Lantern’s death, it could’ve been avoided. He didn’t have to die like that.”

“Jack’s death couldn’t have been avoided.” Celestia jumped in. “There was no way he could have gotten out of the icy water.”

“Yeah, there was.” Spike said with a little frustrated tone. “Rosemary could have done one of two things. Either scoot over and let Jack on the debris or STAY ON THE FREAKING LIFE BOAT!”

Spike’s yelling caught the attention of the other ponies around them though he paid them no mind. “Why did she have to get off?”

“Because she didn’t think it was right that she gets rescued and he doesn’t.” Celestia said.

“Princess, he was the one who put her on the life boat in the first place, he told her that he would find a way to be with her again, that he will survive this. Instead of staying where she was, she jumps back on to a sinking ship. WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT?!”

“Because Spike, Rosemary would rather die along side Jack if it meant she could be with him.”

“Yet, Jack dies and she lives, ironic isn’t it?”

“Spike you’re too young to understand.”

“What I understand is, Jack would have had a better chance of survival had Rose simply stayed in the life boat and let him figure out a way to float on his own or at the very least make room for him on the debris so that he could be out of the icy water and they both live. ROSE KILLED JACK!”

The argument between Spike and Celestia went on for a few minutes until Luna stopped them. Mostly because the ponies around them were starting to join in. Luna got Spike and Celestia away from the crowd but that didn’t stop the argument.

“Okay, Princess just answer me one thing.” Spike said. “What was the point of Rosemary throwing the necklace overboard?” Celestia was dead silent. For all she did defending the movie, she couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation for why Rosemary threw the necklace overboard.

“I thought so.”

****************************

That night Celestia awoke to some kind of rumbling noise. At first she thought it was thunder and went back to sleep but then the rumbling noise got louder causing her to sit up. “That does not sound like thunder.” she thought as she walked out of her room. She walked down the hallway and ran into Luna.

“Sister, you heard it too?” Luna asked.

“Yes, what is it?”

“I’m not sure but....”

The next sound they heard wasn’t rumbling but an explosion. An explosion that came from Spike’s room. The two sister quickly ran to check in on the young dragon and was shocked to find that he wasn’t there. The room itself was ransacked with the bed completely destroyed, massive holes in the walls, the dresser ripped in two, and the window wide open. Luna quickly ran to the window and saw Spike floating high in the sky with the nightmare aura surrounding his body. “SISTER!” she yelled.

Celestia ran over and saw Spike also. She yelled Spike’s name and flew up after him with Luna right behind her. Spike turned to face them with an evil grin on his face. He stuck his hand out and fired a dark magical blast at them. The two sisters managed to dodge the attack but Spike quickly fired another one. Celestia fired a blast of her own in order to counter Spike’s attack.

The two magical beems hit causing a bright white explosion that temporally blinded Spike just long enough for Luna to grab him from behind.

“Spike please, come back to us.” she begged.

Spike just laughed. “You want Spike to come back, come back to what?” he said in a dark eire voice. Spike broke free from Luna’s grasp, grabbed her and with all of his might threw her towards Celestia. The two sisters collided in the air and plummeted to the ground. Spike landed next to the injured pair and began to gather a dark magical energy into his hand. The ball of energy quickly began to grow and expand. Before the two sisters realized it, they were both engulfed along with Spike.

Inside the ball, Celestia and Luna began seeing images of Spike’s life. “What is all this?” asked Luna.

“What you are looking at are all the memories of this young dragon. From all the way when he was an infant to most recently. The good ones and the bad.” he explained. With a snap of his fingers, all of Spike memories began to surround them.

The two Princess saw Spike sitting in a room all by himself holding a box and waiting for Twilight. Next to him was a cake he made with the words “Happy birthday Twilight” written on it. He sat there all night but she or the others never came back till late the next day where they reveled that they were in Canterlot celebrating Twilight’s birthday with Rarity causing Spike to drop the present he made for her.

The next image they saw was Spike once again in the library when Twilight came bursting in. She set the books on the table and told Spike to look after the library while she goes help Pinkie Pie with something. Hours went on by and she hadn’t return; Spike went out to see of she was alright and ran into Mr. and Mrs. Cake who told him that Twilight and the others went off to the National Dessert Competition leaving Spike shocked and sadden that once again Twilight and the others left him alone and didn’t even invite him. And there were many more. The Grand Galloping Gala, The Flyers Competition in Cloudsdale, The Equestria Game Tryout, meeting Pinkie Pie’s sister, Rainbow Dash’s birthday party, Spike wasn’t there. He was just left alone. He had no other friends. They were even showed all the things Spike would do for Rarity. All the times he degraded himself just to get her to noticed him. Celestia looked on as she saw her most “faithful” student and her friends treating Spike as if he was just a servant to them. Someone to just have around and do stuff for them and then give nothing in return. It brought a couple tears to her eyes while Luna was getting angrier by the second.

“Sad isn;t it?” Spike said.

“Who or what are you?” asked Celestia.

“ Who or what am I indeed.” he said. “You see I have no name or a physical appearance. I am just a being...a being made up of dark magic. I’ve been around for centuries wandering aimlessly throughout this land never being seen or heard, that is until I come across somepony who harbors strong negative energy. Then I enter their body and gain a physical form, then in return they can use all my powers to their hearts content.”

“And boy oh boy, does this dragon have lots of negative energy...mostly towards Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends...and soon you too Celestia.”

“What are you talking about?”

He snapped his fingers again and one final image came up.

Celestia was laying down by the fireplace writing something in a scroll when suddenly a baby started crying. Celestia smiled, got up and went to the crib of the crying baby. Using her magic, she gently levitated the baby out of the crib and into her embrace. Softly humming a song the baby stopped crying. “There, there Spike, it’s okay.” she said.

Celestia brought Spike over to where she was, next to the fireplace. She laid him down on the soft pillow and Spike began reaching up trying to grab Celestia and then he Spoke his first word that shocked Celestia to her core.

“MAMA!”

The image disappeared and Celestia was left with tears running down her cheek.

“A dragon egg you found that was soon hatched by your student, and then raised by you only for you to give him up to a life of slavery and mistreatment. This poor dragon never had a chance around you ponies.” Spike said with disgust. “I doubt that he even remembers calling you his mom, not that you acted like one to begin with.”

“P-Please.” Celestia begged softly. “G-give him back.”

“Why should I?”

“H-he’s just a child.”

“A child that was used by his so called “FRIENDS” and abandoned by his so called “MOTHER”.” Spike snapped his fingers for the last time and the energy ball they were in disappeared around them. “And now that he’s becoming a threat you want him back? I don’t think so.”

“Sister!” Luna yelled as she saw Spike gather energy in his hand. Suddenly, before anything else could happen, the power that was in Spike’s hand disappeared and he fell to his knees. “I guess tonight’s your lucky night.” he said as his powers began to fade. “It appears that I don’t have full control of this dragon yet. Apparently, he still believes that you ponies still care about him in some way shape or form but we all know that isn’t true. It won’t be long till he realizes that belief is a lie and when that happens......” Spike suddenly began laughing evilly; loud and hard until the nightmare aura that was surrounding his body completely vanished and the little dragon fell to the ground sound asleep.

“SPIKE!” yelled Celestia as she ran to Spike and picked him up and held him tight crying. Luna was so angry that she stomped her hoof on the ground so hard it cracked under her. She was so angry that her eyes took the shape of her counterpart, Nightmare Moon, for a couple seconds before turning back to normal.

“Spike.” Celestia whispered into his ear still crying. “I-I-I’m s-so sorry. P-please forgive me.”

“Come sister, we must head back.” Luna said softly as she placed a hoof over her sister. Celestia silently nodded and the small group slowly began to make it back to the cabin.

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long to update. Life was kicking my ass for the past few months. :applecry:

Chapter 5

It was late in the day, Spike was out in the backyard setting up a target map to a tree. He was about to get some practice done with his bow and arrows. About a year ago Spike suddenly got a fascination with archery. He managed to craft his own custom bow, arrows, and target map and when he had a little time to himself, he’d go out a get a few shots off.

Inside the cabin, Luna was watching Spike as he began practicing. She was impressed with how his shots always hit the bullseye each time he fired. After Spike hit the bullseye with his last arrow, he went to retrieve all 25 arrows and start again. At this point, Luna walked outside. “Impressive Spike.” she said catching his attention.

“You think so?” he asked.

Luna nodded. “Mind if I watch?” she asked.

“Sure.” Spike answered as he prepared to go another round. Spike began firing his arrows one by one hitting the bullseye over and over, and seeing as how Luna was watching him he decided to show off a bit. Spike pulled three arrows this time instead of one and fired. All three hit the bullseye at the same time.

“W-wow Spike.” Luna said very impressed. “How long have you been doing this?”

“Um, about a year now.” he said. “It’s a hobby.”

“It seems that you have yet another natural talent.”

“Think so?”

Luna nodded, “Spike, have you ever considered competing in the Equestria Games?”

That question caught Spike off guard. “N-not really, no.”

“Well then, how would you like to be the first dragon ever to do so?”

“I...w-what? B-but the Ponyville tryouts are already over.”

“That may be true, but the Canterlot tryouts begins next week. Why don’t you think about it for a while and let me know later okay.” Luna left after Spike nodded. Spike just stood there pondering what was just asked of him. “Me competing in the Equestria Games.....on the Canterlot team?” he thought. On the one hand it would make since seeing as how he’s originally from Canterlot, but on the other hand it would seem weird competing against Ponyville. As these thoughts were running through Spike’s mind, he suddenly a weird scent caught his nose. It was the same scent he’d been smelling all day, but this time it was stronger. He had no idea what it was but it smelled like some kind of food and the scent made him hungry. He dropped everything and wandered around the house and towards the forest.

Spike stopped midway in and looked behind him. “Maybe I shouldn’t.” he said. “But that smell.” Against his better judgment, Spike continued to follow the intoxicating smell, but not before grabbing a nearby stick and making small patterns so that he could find his way out.

****************************

Inside her room, Celestia laid in her bed with tears streaming down her face. The events of last night still playing in her head.

“I doubt that he even remembers calling you his mom, not that you acted like one to begin with.”

“A child that was used by his so called “FRIENDS” and abandoned by his so called “MOTHER”.”

Those words that was said to her tore her heart to pieces as all the memories of Spike as a baby came rushing back to her. She hugged her pillow as tight as she could while burying her face in it and began sobbing. Outside in the hallway, Luna was wondering if it was right to just suddenly ask Spike to join the Canterlot team for the Equestria Games when she heard her sister crying as she passed up her bedroom. Luna quietly walked into the room and to her sister’s side. “Sister.” she said softly.

“Oh, Luna....I’m horrible.” she said.

“Sister.” Luna said in a soft tone.

“W-when Spike was just an egg, he was alone, and I took him with the hopes of hatching him.” she explained. “B-b-but it wasn’t to t-take care of him, it...it w-was s-so that I c-c-could l-l-learn more about d-d-dragons. I USED HIM FOR RESEARCH THEN THREW HIM AWAY WHEN I WAS DONE WITH HIM!”

Celestia began crying harder than she ever had before while Luna held her in her hooves; rocking her back and forth trying her best to calm Celestia down. “I’m a monster.” she whispered. “If Spike were to succumb to the darkness and strike me down....I wouldn’t blame.”

Luna held her sister tighter. “Sister, that’s enough.” she said sternly. “Yes, you made a huge mistake and you regret it deeply, but you shouldn’t say things like that. Remember, how I felt when I returned from becoming Nightmare Moon? I was so racked with guilt that I couldn't even look anypony in the face, so I decided that no matter what I will earn their love and trust again. That's why I enter their dreams and help them anyway I can. You'll have to do that for Spike.”

“H-how c-can I?”

“Be more active in Spike’s life, so some kind support for him, encourage him, ask him about his likes and dislikes, so interest in his hobbies.....be his mother.”

Celestia calmed down a bit, wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded. “I-I will.”

Luna smiled.

****************************

Spike made it out of the forest and back to the cabin dragging the object that gave off that intoxicating smell behind him. It was a burgundy colored pumpkin or at least that’s what Spike thought when he first ran into it. It was at least three times bigger than a normal pumpkin, though it did have the shape of one, and it didn’t really look like any kind of fruit or vegetable ether. One thing Spike knew for sure though, it smelled so good that you could eat it. Spike struggled a bit to get it through the front door but managed it somehow.

“Okay...now...to the...kitchen.” he said out of breath.

Spike got behind it and began pushing with all his might. He managed to get passed the staircase when Luna began walking down. “Spike, what are you doing?” she asked.

“T-trying t-to get t-this t-thing into the k-kitchen.” he struggled to say. Luna took a good look at what Spike was pushing and her eyes practically jumped out of her head. The next thing Spike knew, Luna’s face was super close to his.

“S-S-Spike, where did you get this?” she asked.

“It was in the forest.” he answered. “The smell was so good it made me hungry, maybe I can cook this up for dinner tonight.” Luna’s body began trembling at the mere sight of the pumpkin shaped object.

“S-S-Spike, d-do you know what that thing is?”

“No, what is it?”

Luna didn’t answer; instead she called Celestia via her canterlot voice causing the entire cabin to start shaking. Celestia came running down as fast as she could. “Luna, what on earth.....” She stopped mid sentence as Luna pointed to what Spike had just brought in. Her facial expression was the same as her sister’s.

“T-the Unknown!” she said.

“The what?” asked Spike.

“I-it’s the most rarest food to ever grow in Equestria.” Celestia explained. “It can be cooked in over 700 different ways and it’s said that the taste is so amazing everything else will taste like dirt compared to it. But what truly makes it rare is that it can grow pretty much anywhere, in any climate, but after it ripens you have about two days to find and prepare it or else it rots. I’ve seen pony after pony use up all their fortunes and go mad just trying to find it. Spike...how did you.....?”

“I caught a scent of something, followed it into the forest, and there it was.” Spike said. “I’m actually about to start cooking this up once I get into the kitchen.” Spike once again began to struggle pushing it. Celestia’s horn began to glow lifting it up. “Here, let me help.”

Once in the kitchen, Spike began to gather up all the tools he need to start cooking. “So why is called the Unknown?”

“3000 years ago, when it was first discovered, ponies had no idea what to call it. They didn’t even know what it was.” Celestia answered. “But the second they ate it, they wanted more of it.”

“So have you tried it before?”

Both sisters looked at each other then back at Spike. “Well no, we’ve only heard the stories from other ponies and seen pictures of it in books.” Said Luna. “This is actually going to be the first time we’ve eaten it.”

“Whoa, it REALLY must be rare of the princesses haven’t eaten it.” Spike thought as he grabbed a large knife. Spike managed to cut off a huge chunk of the food and the smell that emanated from it filled the entire kitchen that made all three of their stomachs growl with hunger. Spike shaved off the skin then began to cut it up in long rectangular shapes then placed a small ladder next to the stove. “Lets get started.”

*****************************

Spike, Celestia , and Luna were in the dining room just finishing up the last of their drinks. The plates and bowls were empty and their stomachs full. Each of them were wearing a satisfied look on their faces. “N-never in my life have I eaten something so delicious.” said Celestia.

“Spike, you’ve really out done yourself.” said Luna. Spike grunted, too full to even speak.

The two princesses looked around table at all the dirty dishes. Their first thoughts were to clean up the table but they didn’t really want to get up at the moment. Mostly because they were still in the middle of enjoying the aftermath of their little feast. The group sat there for a little while longer until Luna noticed that Spike had his head down on the table fast asleep. His soft snoring brought a smile to their faces. Luna decided to being Spike to his room while Celestia brings the dirty dishes to the kitchen.

****************************

Late that night, Luna entered Spike’s dream. There was no sign of the nightmare aura, which was good, but Luna thought it would be best to stick around and keep an eye on Spike just in case. She watched from a distance as Spike was having an epic battle against King Sombra to save the Crystal Empire.

Outside of Spike’s dream, Celestia slowly and quietly walked into Spike’s room and to his bed side. She gently rubbed her hoof over his head as the events of last night once again replayed in her head. With a river of tears falling down her face, Celestia slowly climbed into bed and held Spike close to her. “Spike.” she whispered. “My little drake. I promise...I won’t fail you again...I will make this right....somehow.” Celestia gave Spike two small kisses, one on his forehead and another on his cheek, before resting her head on top of his and closing her eyes.

Author's Note

The Unknown....really....that's the BEST I could come up with. I have no imagination whatsoever :facehoof:

Chapter 6

Spike and Luna were enjoying a nice quiet day while Celestia went into town to run a quick errand. Out of nowhere Spike burped up a letter from Celestia; apparently construction on the Starswirl The Bearded museum has been completed and the grand opening will be held later this evening. The two were to meet up with Celestia in town so they could go shopping for new outfits for the special occasion.

Of course, Spike and Luna couldn’t be more excited hearing this. They dropped everything they were doing, locked up the cabin, and quickly left for the city.

*****************************

While flying over the city, both Spike and Luna noticed a large group of ponies all gathered outside the mayor’s office holding up signs and yelling. Apparently, it was the same group of ponies they saw protesting the other day when they were on there way to the aquarium. This time there appeared to be more of them and they seemed to be even more angry than before. Seconds later, a large carriage pulled up and was soon being surrounded by the yelling protesters.

“That doesn’t look good.” said Spike.

“Better put a stop to this before it get ugly.” Luna said as she began to fly down to the street.

The protesters began throwing rocks, garbage, and yelling at the carriage while some were trying to violently knock it over while the stallion that was pulling the carriage somehow managed to get away. Luna and Spike landed on top of the carriage getting the attention of all the protesters. “CEASE THIS NONSENCE, NOW!” Luna yelled in her royal Canterlot voice causing all of the protesters to run away in fear.

The carriage door slowly opened and a light pink mare with a mint green mane and tail walked out. She was an earth pony around the same age as Mayor Mare back in Ponyville, and judging by what she was wearing, she was the mayor of this city. Luna and Spike floated off the carriage to greet her. “P-Princess Luna, I can’t thank you enough.”she said as she bowed.

“What was that all about?” Luna asked.

“Just some citizens a little unhappy with me at the moment.” she answered as if it was no big deal.

“A “little unhappy”?” said Spike. “That’s not what it looked like from where we were.”

“Well, yes I admit that the decisions I’ve made aren’t that popular with most ponies here, but they were made with the best intentions.”

“What kind of decisions?” asked Luna.

“Let’s go into my office.” said the mayor. “I’ll explain there.” Luna and Spike followed the mayor into the building, not realizing that the entire time they were being watched by one of the protesters who was hiding in a nearby alley. It was a gray stallion with a white mane and tail. He ran through the alley until he made it to what looked like an abandoned factory building, but actually it was the protesters headquarters. The gray stallion walked into the main office to speak to their leader. The same orange unicorn who was leading a group of protesters the other day.

“Ma’ma, I think we may have a problem.” said the stallion.

“What is it?” she asked urgently.

“One of the princesses appeared out of no where and helped save the mayor. I fear that she may have asked them for help.”

The leader of the protesters growled lightly. “I was afraid this would happen. We need to act fast, send word to the others that we move to plan B.”

The stallion nodded and quickly left the room while the leader walked to the window behind her and stared out at the city. “Call the entire royal Canterlot army of you want, we will not yield to you.” she thought.

*****************************

“Wait you’re trying to pass a law that does WHAT?!” yelled Spike.

“Why would you even DO such a thing?” Luna asked in disbelief of what she was hearing.

“It’s in the best interest of the citizens.” said the mayor.

“How is THAT in the best interest of the citizens?” asked Spike.

“You don’t understand.” the mayor sighed as she got up from her desk and went to look out of the her window. “There’s a crisis on our hooves and nopony has done anything about it. What I’m doing will not only set everypony in the right direction, but will save them too.”

“What about a businesses of the ponies in this city?” asked Spike. “Have you once thought about how this would effect them once that bill is passed into law?”

“Long ago, when I was just a filly, Vanhoover was considered to the poorest city in all of Equestria, and now we rival that of Manehatten.” she explained. “I have no doubt in my mind that they will find away to benefit from this.”

Looking up at the clock, the mayor gasped and quickly retrieved a folder from her desk. “Look, I wish I could stay but I have to get going to the town meeting. We’re voting on the bill now and have the deciding vote.” Spike and Luna followed the mayor outside where she discovered her carriage broken into pieces and on fire. Luna quickly used her magic to put out the fire while the mayor held out her hoof to call a cab. Though they didn’t agree with her, Spike and Luna followed the mayor all the way to the town meeting hall keeping an eye out for any attacks by the protesters.

****************************

At the meeting hall, the mayor was greeted by two sides of ponies. One side was praising and cheering her on, while the other side was doing the exact opposite. With Luna and Spike behind her, the group made it inside the building and was met with the same reaction. To the left ponies who support the mayor and to the right ponies to rejected her. “We better tell sister what’s going.” Luna suggested.

She called over one of the security guards and asked for a quill, some ink, and piece of paper which he gladly handed over. Spike quickly wrote and sent a letter to Celestia explaining where they were, what was going on and that they would be a bit late in meeting her.

The mayor took her seat along side the rest of the council members. “Now that we are all here, let’s get this meeting underway.” she announced. The room erupted with yells from both sides.

Outside at the back entrance, one of the security guards stepped out for a bit when he was suddenly grabbed and pulled into a bush. After a brief struggle three stallions came out all wearing masks in order to hide their faces. They walked into the building and began making their way to the meeting room; being careful as to not alert the other guards.

Back in the meeting room, the debate on the new law came to it’s end and it was time to vote on it. The council members were divided and it all came down to the mayor to make the deciding vote. Just as she was about to make, Luna notice the door entrance opening just a bit and a round object the size of a beach ball came rolling in. The object rolled all the way to the middle of the room and just sat there for a while. No pony except for Luna noticed it. They were all to busy getting ready to react to the mayor’s decision. “Princess, what it?” asked Spike. Just then the mysterious round object started shaking a bit causing Luna’s eyes to widen.

“Spike close your eyes!” she yelled as she used her body to shield him. The round object was a flash bomb. A huge white light exploded from the object temporally blinding everypony in the room causing all of them to scream out in pain. At the point the three stallions ran in at full speed. They managed to grab the mayor by wrapping her up and putting her in a bag. They were about to leave when they were confronted be Luna.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked in an intimidating voice.

One of the stallions stepped forward. “I’ll hold her off you guys stick to the plan.” He charged at Luna tackling her to the ground which only served to piss her off.

“HOW DARE YOU!” she yelled in her canterlot royal voice. Luna grabbed him by the neck and threw him across the room. The stallion quickly recovered and began charging at Luna again while his friends managed to get passed her. They were almost at the exit when one of them was hit with a heavy object causing them to fall over dropping the mayor. Looking up they saw Spike quickly releasing the mayor from the bag she was in, but before Spike could use his claws to cut the ropes to free her, he was grabbed from behind and thrown against a wall. When Spike his the wall, he accidentally released a small blast of fire from his mouth; hitting one of the stallions and setting his flank on fire.

The stallion started running around the room screaming in pain while his friend ran behind him trying to help. Back with Luna’s fight, she was once again knocked over by the stallion who then grabbed a wooden chair. With all his might, he swung the chair at Luna who quickly caught it with both her hooves. The two were standing up on their hind legs struggling for control of the chair. Luna could have ending the fight with one magical blast, but there was one major problem; the room was still filled with ponies who were still recovering from the light bomb, and Luna didn’t want to risk hurting them. The stallion let go of the chair and managed to kick one of Luna’s legs causing her to tumble over backwards. In that instant, Luna tossed the chair behind her breaking it, then grabbed the stallion as she fell on her back. She put her right hind leg against him and with one strong push as she landed on her back, launched him right over her sending him right into the wall on the other side of the room.

Back with Spike, he ran over to the mayor and freed her from her binds. “T-thank you.” she said.

“Don’t thank me yet.” said Spike. “Let’s get you out of here first.” One of the other stallions noticed Spike helping the mayor to her hooves.

“No, she’s freed!” he yelled.

After saving his friend from his burning butt, both stallions ran towards Spike and the mayor. Luna grabbed a large piece of the broken wooden chair and was about to throw it when she was suddenly hit from behind by the stallion she was fighting with. The force of the impact threw her aim off and piece of the wooden chair wound up hitting a power breaker causing a black out right at the same time the two stallions leaped into the air and landed on Spike and the mayor.

It was pitch black. You couldn’t see anything. But you could here everypony screaming and panicking at the thought that they were permanently blind. There was a loud struggle then one of the stallions yelled out “WE GOT HER LET’S GO!”.

The two managed to find their way out of the room and down the hallway leaving Luna and all the other ponies in the dark, that is until the backup generator kicked in and the lights came back on. Luna rose to her hooves and observed the damage. At that point, five security guards came in and approached her.

“P-Princess Luna, w-what happened here?” he asked.

“That stallion over there and his friends managed to ponynap the mayor of this city.” she explained as she pointed her hoof towards him. “Unfortunately, the other two got away...apprehend him immediately.”

“Ma’am!” all five guards said at once. They went to the stallion, picked him up and began taking him outside so that the police could deal with him. Luna began looking around the room as all the ponies began making their way outside. Walking towards the exit, she noticed a mare she never expected to see...the mayor of Vanhoover. Luna’s eyes went extremely wide upon seeing her.

“To think they would go this far.” the mayor grumbled.

“W-what? I thought they ponynapped you.” Luna said in disbelief.

“They would have...if it wasn’t for the help of that brave little dragon. Say....where is he anyway?”

Luna’s eyes widen even more. Her heartbeat stopped for a few seconds and she began breathing at a very fast pace.

****************************

Outside, Princess Celestia landed in front of the meeting hall. The first thing she saw was amongst the confusion was a stallion being put in back of a police carriage. She walked up towards of the police ponies in hopes for some answers. “Um, excuse me.” she said. “Do you mind telling me what happened?”

“P-Princess Celestia.” said the police mare. “Of course. Apparently, this stallion here and his friends tried to stage a ponynapping of the mayor, but thanks to your sister and her little dragon friend they failed.”

Before Celestia had time to reacted to what was told to her, Luna came bursting out of the building with a loud explosion making a giant hole. She a dark blue aura surrounded her body as she landed, her eyes glowing a bright white color, and her face admitting pure unadulterated rage. Looking the carriage, and charged right through it, grabbing the stallion, and tackling him to the ground. He looked up at her in purest fear imaginable.

“Where is he?” she said in a dark cold whisper.

“I-I d-d-don’t k-know w-w-w-what y-you’re t-t-talking....”

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” she yelled. “WHERE DID YOU TAKE HIM!”

The stallion was just about to wet himself when Celestia ran up to her sister. “LUNA STOP THIS!” she yelled. Luna snapped her head looking at her sister. The dark blue aura slowly disappearing and her eyes returning to normal but the anger stayed there.

“What do you think your doing?”

“Sister, they...they...THEY TOOK SPIKE!”

Celestia’s eyes widen as she too felt her heartbeat stop for a few seconds. “W-WHAT!?”

****************************

The two stallions made it to the abandoned factory and was welcomed with applause by the other protesters. They set the bag down and their leader approached them. “Sorry we took so long.” one of them explained. “We ran into a bit of trouble.”

“Trouble?” asked their leader. “What kind of trouble...and where is.....?”

“Princess Luna tried to stop us, we managed to getaway with mayor but Blitz didn’t.”

“I see.” she said. “Then we have to move, it won’t take long before they find out where we are.” The leader walked passed the two stallions and slowly approached the moving bag and using her horn, she lifted it. There were loud gasps from most of the ponies and all eyes widened when they noticed that it wasn’t the mayor but a baby dragon. “W-WHAT IS THIS?!” she yelled. “WHO ARE YOU? WHERE’S THE MAYOR?!”

The leader looked back at the two stallions with anger streaming in her eyes. “Oh, no.” one of them said. “We must have captured him by mistake when the lights went out.”

“YOU WHAT!?” she yelled.

Spike looked around and saw all the protesters and their signs. “Y-you're the ones who ordered the ponynapping of the mayor.” he asked. “Who are you?”

“I’ll ask the questions here.” the leader said looking back at Spike. “Who are you?”

Spike didn’t answer.

“Hey, I’ve seen him before!” yelled a random stallion from the crowd. “He was with the princesses during the chaos at the amusement park a few days ago.”

Hearing that Spike was with the princesses started to seriously frighten the protesters. The last thing they wanted was to anger the rulers of the country; who knows what could happen to them. That fear alone was more then enough to get them all to start panicking but the leader stomped her hoof on the ground getting their attention.

“That’s enough!” their leader yelled. “Don’t let one small mishap get the best of you!”

“SMALL MISHAP!” yelled another stallion from the crowd. “HE’S WITH THE PRINCESSES! WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US IF THEY FIND OUR HIDEOUT!”

“Look, I’ll handle it okay.” she tried to reassure them. “We didn’t come this far to give up now.”

It was at this point the Spike took this opportunity to try and escape. It didn’t matter that even if he left the building, he would have no idea where he was or where to go; all he knew was that he had to get away from them. Spike was almost out the door when somepony yelled out... “HE’S GETTING AWAY!”

“AFTER HIM, QUICK!”.

Spike ran through the doors and down the stairs as fast as his little legs could take him; however running downstairs, no matter who you are, is never a good idea. Spike managed to trip and tumble all the way down until he hit the bottom. He had a couple bruises on him but none too serious. He continued his escape attempt just as the protesters started coming through. Running through the hallway, Spike came across a closet door and with no where else to go he ran in to hide just as the protesters passed him up. Spike locked the door, walked all the to the back end, and sat down against the wall breathing hard after all the running he did. Looking to his left, he saw a quill, some ink, and an old scroll of paper sitting on a small desk. Spike knew he had to act quickly; it wouldn’t be long before they found him. Sitting at the desk, Spike began to hastily write a letter to Celestia, but in his haste, Spike accidentally knocked over the small jar of ink shattering it on the floor. The noise caught the attention of the protesters who were just outside the door.

“What was that?”

“I think it came from here.”

Spike stared at the door as the protesters tried to open it. From wiggling the doorknob to banging on the door as hard as they can, they tried to get in. Spike didn’t have enough time left; he had to finish writing the letter.

With one final bang, the protesters forced the door open and saw Spike sitting in the corner.

“THERE HE IS!”

“GET HIM!”

Just as the charged at him, Spike quickly wrapped up the letter and blew fire on it; sending it to Celestia. The Protesters grabbed Spike and threw him to the ground. After a brief struggle, they brought him back upstairs to their leader with no idea that he just called for help.

*****************************

At the police station, the stallion that was caught was in an interrogation room with police chief for a while now. Celestia and Luna were impatiently waiting just outside the room for some answers. Celestia nervously pacing back and forth while Luna was simply tapping her hoof rapidly on the ground. Moments later, the chief stepped out of the room and confronted the princesses. “I’m sorry, not only didn’t he give me anything but he asked for a lawyer.”

Luna growled with anger and began to walk pass the chief. “Luna, where are you going?” asked Celestia.

“Isn’t it obvious sister?” she said. “I’m going into that room and beat an answer out of him if I have to.”

Celestia understood her sister’s anger and frustration; she felt the same way, but there was no way she could allow her to do what she wanted to do. The law is the law after all and they were not above it. Celestia quickly went over to her sister to stop her when suddenly and small green fire aura appeared right in front of her. There was a quick flash and then a wrapped up piece of paper appeared. Celestia knew instantly who sent this. Using her magic, she opened it up and read....

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’m in some kind of abandon factory of some kind with the ponies who tried to ponynap the mayor. Please help!

“Spike’s in an abandon factory!” she yelled and caught Luna’s attention.

“Abandon factory...WHERE”!

“I don’t know, he didn’t say.”

Luna quickly looked over at the officer. “How many abandon factories are in this city?”

“Three.” the officer answered. “There’s one on the west side, one on the north side and the last is on the east side.”

“Sister, you check the west and I’ll go east!” Before the police chief could say he’ll gather some officers to search the north, both sisters were gone. Luna flew for east side of town and Celestia headed for the west.

“Stay strong Spike.” Celestia thought. “We’re on our way.”

Author's Note

Next chapter coming.......eventually

Chapter 7

Spike was in the office room alone with the leader of the protesters. In order to make sure that he didn’t try to make another escape, he was wrapped up in chains. Spike struggled but couldn’t manage to break free.

“It’s useless.” she said. “Try as you might, you’ll never break free.”

“W-what do you all hope to gain by ponynapping the mayor?” Spike asked.

“That “mayor” has caused nothing but trouble ever since she was elected. She claims she’s for the helping ponies, but her only concern is dictating how we should live our lives; and this bill she’s been trying to pass will only cement her dictation.”

“And you think ponynapping her is the only way to get your message across?”

“What other choice did we have? We’ve done everything possible and our voices have been ignored for the longest time. If that bill of hers get passed all these ponies here would be out of a job and/or on the streets.”

Before this conversation could go on any longer, one of the protesters came in and alerted the leader that they were ready to move. They were on their way to another location seeing as how they mistakenly ponynapped Spike and felt that the princesses and the police force were hot on their trail. “Alright.” she said as she turned back towards Spike. “Put him in the cage, and lets move out.”

****************************

Celestia continued flying through the air at a fast pace until she came across the old abandoned factory. Not wasting any time, she flew full speed through a window and landed right in the middle of a large empty room. “SPIKE!” she yelled, her voice echoing throughout the room. Celestia proceeded to frantically search up and down the building yelling Spike’s name over. She found no sign of Spike or the protesters; however just when she was about to give up and leave, she heard voice coming from nearby. Using her magic, she turned herself invisible just as they were entering the room she was in.

“Come on hurry up and find it.” said the mare.

“I’m looking, I’m looking.” said the stallion.

“Well look faster.” she said. “They’re already ahead of us.”

“Yeah, yeah.” he said with a heavy sigh while rolling his eyes. “Say, what do you think our leader is going to do with that dragon?”

“Who knows. Maybe use him as leverage or something.”

At that point Celestia made herself visible and approached the two ponies. The look she gave them was the stuff beyond that of nightmares. “Where are they?” she asked in a menacing tone of voice.

The stallion quickly spoke up. “Our leader and the others are taking the highway to our other headquarters on the other side of town.”

“Why did you all ponynap Spike?” the princess asked, this time looking at the mare who was shaking with complete fear.

“W-w-we didn’t mean to t-t-take him. It w-was and accident.”

“You ponies better hope nothing happens to him.” she said, and with that she teleported outside of the building and took off for the highway leaving the two ponies quivering in fear.

****************************

The leader of the protesters and Spike were in a carriage being pulled by four strong stallions. Looking up, one of the stallions saw Celestia flying over them. She flew up ahead turned around and flew all the way behind them. The princess continued this over and over carefully looking for anything that looks suspicious.

“Boss, we have a bit of a problem.” he said.

“What is it?” asked the leader.

“Princess Celestia is flying around.” he explained. “I think she’s looking for that dragon.”

“She doesn’t know who or where we are, act normal.”

Upon hearing this, Spike knew this was probably his only chance to get Celestia’s attention. The leader turn back to face Spike and saw that he began struggling around with the chains once again, trying his best to get free but to no avail. “I thought I told you, you can’t break free from those.” But Spike wasn’t struggling to get free, he was actually turning his body to the right to face the window. Taking a deep breath, Spike released a blast of fire from his mouth through the window. The leader began screaming at the shear size of the blast. She quickly moved towards the cage that Spike was in and opened it just as he let out another blast of fire out the window causing her to fall backward.

Ponies outside who saw the the giant blast of fire shooting out of the carriage, were trying their best to avoid it; but in doing so they started to cause the carriages they were pulling to rock side to side violently.

Up in the air, Celestia witnessed the commotion on the highway as she flew over it. She also saw green flames coming out of the carriage ahead of her. “Spike!” she yelled.

Flying full speed she managed to catch up with them. “PULL OVER!” she yelled.

“Boss, it’s the princess!” yelled the lead stallion. “What should we do?”

“LOSE HER, QUICK!”

The four strong stallions began running full speed getting ahead of Celestia, but the was the ruler of Equestria, an alicorn, how in the world to you out run somepony like that? The answer....you don’t.

Celestia was right behind them getting ready to use her levitation magic to grab all of them, but there was a small problem. The four stallions were swerving left and right through traffic so that she couldn’t get a lock on them. Seeing that magic wasn’t going to work, Celestia was going to have to try a new tactic. She flew right over the carriage and landed right on top of it. “QUICK, SHAKE HER OFF!” yelled the leader. Celestia held on for dear life as the stallions began swerving at a violent rate; almost causing the carriage to flip over. Celestia has had enough of this little game and decided to end it. Holding on with her left hoof, she raised her right one, which began glowing, and brought down on top of the carriage hard; making a large hole. Looking inside, she saw both Spike and the leader of the protesters. “Spike, are you okay?” she asked.

“Y-yeah.” he answered.

Seeing Spike wrapped up in chains and locked inside a cage like he was some rapid animal made Celestia angry to no extent. Celestia was about to slam her hoof on the carriage again to make a larger hole in order to levitate Spike out of there when suddenly they ran over a large pot hole that bucked Celestia violently off.

“PRINCESS!” yelled Spike.

“NOW’S OUR CHANCE, GO!” yelled the leader. The stallions took that next exit that led them off the highway and into the city; right past the police station where at that point, they heard loud sirens fast approaching them. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The police ponies were hot on their trail.

The leader quickly noticed that their speed had reduced a little. Looking through the window she saw two of the stallions taking off their harnesses. “WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!”

“THIS ISN’T WORTH IT!” yelled one of the stallions yelled. “I HAVE A FAMILY!”

“I CAN’T GO BACK TO JAIL!” yelled the other.

Both stallions quickly bailed leaving the rest to their own devices. As the police caught up with them, the leader stuck her head out the window and charged up her horn. She fired a beam at the hooves of the officers causing most of them to trip and crash into one another, much to the horror of Spike.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” he yelled.

“SHUT UP!” she yelled back as she continued to fire.

The leader was so focused on the cops that she failed to noticed that Celestia had caught up with them. She landed on top of the carriage once again and slammed her right hoof through it creating an even bigger hole. Using her magic, she quickly levitated the cage Spike was in through the hole and into the air where she flew off with it.

The leader screamed with anger and frustration at Celestia’s rescue attempt, but that wasn’t the end of it. The police got close enough to return fire and took out half the carriage. Seeing no point in continuing, the two stallions slowed down and came to a complete stop, much to their leader’s protest.

****************************

Celestia and Spike landed into the city park which was right next to where the two stallions surrendered. She furiously freed Spike from the cage and the chains the binded him and pulled him into a powerful hug. “Thank goodness you’re alright.” she whispered as she squeezed the little dragon. “My baby.”

Celestia soon began sobbing softly; glad that Spike was okay and that this whole ordeal was finally over. Spike on the other hand was struggling to get free from Celestia’s grip as he was finding it extremely difficult to breathe.

****************************

Luna was on her way to meet up with her sister on the other side of town when she came across the large group and police ponies surrounding a now broken carriage. As she landed and saw two stallions being loaded up into the police carriage and the leader of the protesters struggling against the police ponies; not wanting to go to jail.

“Luna!” yelled Celestia.

Luna looked over to her left and Celestia standing next to Spike. With tears in her eyes she wasted no time in running full speed at Spike pulling him into a bone crushing hug that rivaled Pinkie Pie’s.

****************************

Spike and the princesses were at the police station talking to the police chief when the mayor of Vanhoover stormed in. She was beyond mad, she was furious. “WHERE ARE THEY?!” she yelled.

“Ma’am, please calm down.” said the chief. “We have them in custody now.”

“Darn them.” she said with venom. “Because of them I couldn’t make my vote to pass the law in time, now it’s going to take even longer to pass it.”

“Maybe it’s for the best.” said Spike catching the mayor’s attention.

“What?” she said.

“Trying to ponynap you was wrong, but I understand way they did it.”

Spike’s statement shocked the mayor, Celestia and the chief. “If that law of yours was passed it would have a devastating effect on the businesses of all ponies in this city.”

“I agree.” Luna added.

Celestia was confused. “What are the two of you talking about? What law?”

“The law she’s trying to pass is one that would ban all pastries in the city.” Luna explained. Celestia froze, her eyes almost popping out of her head. She looked over to at the mayor in disbelief.

“Don’t look at me like that.” she demanded. “This city is facing a major problem. Instead of eating healthy ponies are stuffing their faces with cakes and cookies. They ruining their lives.”

“No you’re ruining their lives.” Celestia stated. “You’re destroying their businesses because they don’t sell what you consider healthy?”

“I’m saving lives by helping these ponies eat healthier!”

“No, you’re trying to force ponies to live the same kind of lifestyle you live. There’s a word for ponies like you.” Celestia gave the mayor a look of pure disgust. Not wanting to continue with this conversation, the mayor left for the next room in order to press charges against the protesters that were caught and their leader for trying to ponynap her. Once she was gone, the leader of the protesters walked in with two officers next to her. She stopped and looked over at Spike and the princesses. “This isn’t over.” she said with a smirk. “There will be others to continue fight. We won’t stop until she is removed from office.”

Spike, Celestia and Luna watched on as she was being taken away. What she and her group did or rather tried to do was wrong, but understandable. The three of them left the police station and began walking down the street. “Well that was exciting.” Spike said jokingly earning a chuckle from the two sisters.

“You know we still have time to get ready for tonight.” said Celestia. “Shall we go.”

"But Sister, what about the mayor?" asked Luna "She has some supporters, but the vast majority disagrees with her. What if something like this happens again?"

Celestia thought about what her sister said to her. What if the protesters return with a stronger leader this time? What if the tried to ponynap the mayor again? Sure they could just use their power to remove the mayor from office, but what kind of message would that send to all of Equestria? "We'll just have to keep a closer eye on this city." she suggested. "Like the mayor said, it's going to take even longer for her now to get that law passed. Hopefully within that time the ponies of this city of this city will have found a way to resolve this peacefully."

Luna nodded. "Yeah...hopefully."

****************************

Not that far from Spike and the princesses, there were three ponies wearing robes with hood over their faces, hiding in a dark alley. "There they are?" one them said. "They're on there way to the Starswirl the Bearded Museum."

"It won't be long now. Once they lead us to what we're after our plans will commence."

"Let's go." And with that, the three ponies disappeared into the dark alley.

Chapter 8

Spike, Celestia, and Luna were in a boutique getting fitted for new outfits for tonight. Spike was given a crystal blue tuxedo that didn’t take that long to put together seeing as how small he was. However Celestia and Luna’s were taking a while longer than expected. They were the rulers of Equestria after all, so the seamstress wanted everything to be perfect. Spike wound up waiting in the lobby for what felt like hours when Celestia and Luna walked out in their new dresses. Celestia’s dress seemed to have different layers of an orange pink color on it, similar to that of a rising sun. The top of it was cover in suns that matches her cutie mark and had a button seamed into it in the shape of the sun. As it wrap around her neck there was another button in the shape of a star, and her shoes were yellow with a sun symbol on each on them.

Luna’s dress was somewhat similar to Celestia’s but instead of a rising sun effect she said night time effect going on hers. Going from the bottom up, the colors on her dress went from a light purple to a dark purple. The patterns on her dress had a couple stars all over it representing the night sky. On her neck she wore a necklace with a moon symbol at the end of it and her shoes were dark purple also with moon symbols on them.

Spike just sat there and stared at the two of them. They were absolutely beautiful in their new dresses. “My my Spike, you rather handsome in you new outfit.” Celestia said, snapping Spike out of his little trance and causing him to blush a bit.

“Oh...I uh...umm.” he stammered.

“Come on you, let go.” she said with a giggle.

After paying, the group went outside and hailed a cab while Celestia lowered a the sun just a bit. Along the way to the museum, Luna motioned for her sister to get a bit closer to her. “We’re being followed.” she whispered.

“It’s probably just the paparazzi.” Celestia suggested.

Luna shook her head in disagreement. “If it were them, they would have ambushed us right as we left the boutique.”

“So who is it then?”

“I don’t know, but there’s about three of them. They’ve been following us ever since we left the police station. Stay on guard.”

“Agreed. And let’s make sure that Spike is kept close.”

Luna nodded.

****************************

It took a while for the group to make it to their destination. By that point the sun was already lowered to the point of being non visible, though the light from it still lingered. Celestia, Luna, and Spike joined the crowd of ponies that were gathered in front of the building. An elderly bluish-gray stallion with a white mane and tail stepped up to the podium and gave a speech about how it this museum was founded and what it’s purpose is for. The speech went on for about an hour before a young mare came up with a pair a giant scissors and cut the large red ribbon. The crowd cheered on as the doors were opened and they all started to walk in. After passing through the lobby, the group entered a large room with many paintings and statues of StarSwirl The Bearded and his many adventures. One painting in particular caught Spike’s eye. He wandered over to it and saw that it was Starswirl standing on the edge of a cliff and staring up at a black creature.

“What is that?” Spike thought as the elderly stallion who was giving a speech before the building opened slowly walked up beside him.

“Ah, yes.” he said. “The battle against the Balrog. One of Starswirl’s greatest battles.”

The elderly stallion looked over at Spike and smiled. “Oh, pardon me. My name is Star Beard, and yours?”

“Spike.”

“Well Spike, would you like to know more about Starswirl’s battle with the Balrog?”

“Um, sure, I guess.”

“Excellent, follow me.” Spike and Star Beard began walking off to the other side of the room while Celestia and Luna were seemingly looking interested in what was around them but in actuality there looking around for anything suspicious.

About an hour later, Star Beard and Spike made their way to a room that was fill with artifacts that were either found or used by Starswirl himself. From staffs, to medallions, to ancient scrolls and books, the room was filled with all this and more. Star Beard brought Spike to a glass case with book inside of it.

“This book was written by Starswirl himself.” he explained. “It’s said to have instructions that leads to his personal journal that he hid eons ago.”

“Why did he it hide it?” Spike asked. “It’s just a journal, right?”

“Oh no, my young dragon, it much more that that.” Star Beard said. “You see, Starswirls’s journal not only contains details of his vast discoveries, but it also holds many powerful spells that even the smartest of unicorns couldn’t figure out.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Spike thought alluding to Twilight. “So I’m guessing that you’ve never found it right?”

“Well that’s the problem, you see, when Starswirl made this book he encrypted it a weird language that we’ve never been able to decipher. Take a look.” Star Beard’s horn began glowing and he raised the case allowing Spike to take it. Spike was of course hesitant to touch the book that was once held by Starswirl himself, but with a quick nod and smile from Star Beard, Spike picked it up and opened it. He saw different pictures and weird letters all grouped up together, or at least he thought they were letters. Spike couldn’t understand what these things were. After a while of flipping through the pages, he closed the book and put back on the podium. “No matter how hard we tried, we haven’t come close to deciphering it.” Star Beard explained as he put the glass case back over the book.

****************************

With no signs of any trouble, the two sisters finally let their guards down and began to enjoy themselves as they began walking around the room looking at all the different portraits of Starswirl the Bearded. They even stopped in order to take pictures with their subjects. It would seem that this evening would end up being a peaceful evening....or so they thought.

As if on cue, the lights all went out at the same time catching everypony off guard. Star Beard quickly came into the room. “Everypony, please calm down!” he announced. “It’s probably just a small power outage! Don’t worry, we’re already on it!”

Celestia and Luna powered up their horns lighting up the room. It was at this point Luna noticed that Spike wasn’t with them. “Where’s Spike?!”

Celestia gasped and franticly began looking around until she saw him on the other side of the room standing next to Star Beard. She quickly trotted over to him and wrapped her hoof around him pulling him close to her. “Spike, don’t run off like that.” she said with a sigh of relief.

“S-sorry princess, I....”

“SISTER!” Luna yelled getting Celestia’s attention. A cloud of smoke began filling the room causing all ponies who inhaled it to fall to the ground into deep sleep. Acting quickly, Celestia wrapped herself, Spike and Star Beared in a light pink bubble in order to protect them from the smoke. Luna quickly followed suit.

“What is this stuff?” Spike asked.

“Sleeping gas.” Celestia answered. “Once inhaled, you can’t help but fall asleep.”

“Like a sleeping magic spell?”

“In a way, but unlike sleeping magic where the caster can determine how long you sleep, the gas usually knocks you out for a few minutes. Whoever is doing this clearly wants something from here.” Celestia explained as Luna approached them.

“Sister, this sleeping gas seems familiar somehow.”

“How so?”

“It was a long time ago, but I remember a group of ponies using this gas for criminal purposes. In fact, I believe we fought against them before.”

“Luna, you can’t mean......” Celestia was cut off when she noticed movement from the corner of her eye. She quickly turned in it’s direction just in time for whatever that was to slip into the next room.

“Is there anything of value in that room over there?” she asked as the looked over at Star Beard.

“There’s many valuable items in that room, but I’d have to say that the most valuable item has to be a very special book written by.........”

“Luna stay here and keep Spike safe.” Celestia interupted. Luna nodded as her sister made her way into the next room. Celestia slowly and quietly walked in; making sure that she didn’t make a sound. Whoever was in here was not going to get away. Making her way, through the room she saw three ponies wearing hooded ropes over their bodies. One of them walked up to the podium and lifed the glass case while another grabbed a large book. “That must be the book.” she thought as she moved closer.

The three mystery ponies continued looking at the book while Celestia got in range. As she was charging up her horn, one of the ponies threw what could only be described as a small metal star in her direction causing her to miss fire. “We’ve been found out, MOVE!” one of them yelled. In the blink of an eye there were gone, but not if Celestia has anything to do with it. Using her magic, she lit up the entire room revealing the three ponies. “HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” she yelled. Instead of heeding her warning, all three ponies threw more of those metal stars at her; stopping the princess in her tracks. Celestia looked down at the metal stars and quickly examined them. “It can’t be.” she said. She fired a blast of magic at the three ponies, not to hit them, but to blow off the hooded robes they were wearing. The three ponies were all light blue earth ponies with pure white manes and tails; their eyes were a crystal blue color and there cutie mark were the same as the metal star they threw at her.

“T-The Snow Clan!?” she said. “I thought I banished you all centuries ago.”

The ponies said nothing as one of them pull three small balls from his pouch and threw them to the ground. The balls exploded and a huge cloud of smoke covered the ponies. Celestia extended her wings and blew the smoke away only to discover that they were gone. Seconds later the power in the building came back on and the ponies that were knocked out by the gas slowly started to come to. Luna, Spike, and Star Beard quickly entered the room. “Sister, what happened?” asked Luna.

“Luna, it the Snow Clan.” she answered. “They’re back.”

“T-That can’t be. We’ve defeated them centuries ago.”

“Who’s the Snow Clan?” asked Spike.

“We’ll explain later Spike.” Celestia told him. “Right now we have to go after them.”

****************************

Celestia, Luna, and Spike were flying threw the city in hopes they could find some sign of the Snow Clan. Celestia cursed the fact that it was night time seeing as how it was always difficult to track them down at that time. Spike was the first to noticed them. They were apparently running on rooftops avoiding anything that could give them away. Spike pointed them out to Celestia and she quickly flew down to meet them telling Luna to once again look after Spike. Celestia landed right in front of them. “Why are you back in Equestria and what do you want with that book?!”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” one of them said as all three stood up on their hind legs and got in some kind of martial arts position.

“If it’s a fight you want.” said Celestia as a white aura began to surround her body. “You got it!” Celestia charged at the trio who quickly dodged out of the way so fast they gave off the illusion that they disappeared. Looking up, Celestia saw one of them coming down at her with their left hind leg. Quickly, she caught it before it hit her, but that left her open to a counter attack by the other two who managed to kick her in the side sending her a couple of feet away from them. Celestia quickly got up and saw that they were gone. She looked all over but couldn’t find them. Suddenly, out of no where, Celestia was hit hard in the back of her head sending her stumbling forward. She regain her balanced, but was then hit again. Luna and Spike could hear Celestia’s groans of pain from high in the air. “They’re using the darkness to their advantage.” Luna thought. She flew down to a nearby building and let Spike off; telling him to stay there and out of sight. She flew back into the air and cast a light spell which lit up the surrounding area revealing the Snow Clan ponies.

With them in sight, Luna flew at full speed tackling one of them and ready to take on the other. “You’re not the only ones who mastered hoof to hoof combat!” she said as she rose to her hind legs. “Let’s go!”

One of the ponies charged at Luna while the other one was caught in a force field by Celestia. “You’re fight is with me!” she said as she threw the stallion over onto the roof of the next building.

Luna and the other pony were in deep hoof to hoof combat; each one blocking and dodging punches and kicks. Luna managed to deliver a kick to the face so hard the snow pony flew backwards but quickly regained his balanced. He pulled out a couple of smoke pellets and threw them on the ground in an attempt to either escape or form some kind of counter attack. Luna quickly caught wind of this tactic. “Oh no you don’t!” she yelled as she extended her wings and blew the smoke away. With his plan failed, the snow pony didn’t have enough time to react to anything because Luna charged at him full speed and gave him a strong uppercut, sending him straight into the air. She flew up after him and then hammered him straight onto the roof of the building; knocking him out cold.

Celestia and the one other snow pony who was still conscious were staring each other down. “Why have you ponies returned to Equestria?” she asked.

“The Snow Clan will rise again.” he answered as he threw a flash pellet temporally blinding Celestia while he tried to make his escape. Luna went to confront him; completely forgetting about the first snow pony she knocked out when she joined the fight. He came to and quickly rose to his hooves and charged at Luna, kicking her in the back and sending her flying into a nearby wall knocking her out. With Luna unconscious, the ball of light that hovered over them disappeared and darkness returned. Seeing this as their chance, the other two snow ponies grabbed their friend and began to make a break for it. While running away, they unknowingly ran past Spike who kept himself hidden. Spike looked on as they passed him and saw the one of them was wearing a backpack that obviously held Starswirls’s book. He looked down and saw a small round metal object. He quickly picked up, took aim, and with all his might threw it; cutting the strap allowing the bag to fall.

Spike ran from his hiding place, grabbed the bag and ran back to his hiding spot before the snow ponies could even notice him. It would seem that they didn't even realize they had lost what they had came for seeing as how they continued moving. Spike remained in his hiding spot until he could no longer see them. Once it was safe he returned to Celestia and Luna who were recovering from the fight.

“Hey look, I got it!” he announced.

“Spike, good job!” Luna said as she hugged him. Celestia just continued staring in the direction the snow ponies went with a serious look on her face.

“The Snow Clan.” she thought.

*****************************

Celestia, Luna, and Spike returned to the museum just as everypony was leaving, ignoring the fact that they were all staring at how the princesses were wearing torn up dresses. Once inside they reunited with Star Beard and proceeded to return the book to him.

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you.” he said. “I can’t thank you enough for returning the book.”

“What’s so special about this book?” Luna asked.

“It was written by Starswirl The Bearded.” he explained to the princess. “In it is supposed to directions that leads to his personal journal. Unfortunately, he wrote in a weird language and we haven’t been able to decipher it.”

“May I take a look?” she asked.

“Sure.” he said with hope that maybe, just maybe one of the princesses of Equestria could understand it.

Luna levitated the book close to her and took a look inside. The language was one she could understand. It wasn’t Saddie Arabian and it sure wasn’t Equestrian. “It’s strange. I’ve never seen this language before.”

Star Beard let out a disappointed sigh. “Oh well, maybe we weren’t meant to ever decipher it.”

“Hold on.” Spike jumped in. “I know somepony who might be able to decipher it.”

“Really, who?!”

“Her name’s Twilight Sparkle. She’s the smartest pony I know; if anypony can decipher it, she can.”

Star Beared thought about it for a while and decided to let Spike take the book to Twilight for deciphering, if she could anyway. Luna couldn’t believe that even after all the things that was done to him, Spike still spoke highly of Twilight, however Celestia’s mind was on something else entirely. The Snow Clan returning after all these centuries? Why? Why now after all this time? What do they want? What do they hope to gain from Starswirl’s Journal?

These questions ran threw her mind over and over again until Luna got her attention. After a while, the group decided to head back to the cabin with Spike promising to update Star Beard on anything they find out.

****************************

Spike and the princesses were flying through the night sky on their way back to the cabin when it suddenly occurred to Spike that this was their last day on vacation. Just like that before he knew it, one week came and went. In the morning they would soon return home. The princesses back to Canterlot, and Spike back to Ponyville. However, Spike didn’t really want to go back. For the first time he had his own little adventure along side the two rulers of Equestria. He saved two fillies from a broken ride, saved the mayor of this city from a group of ponynappers and somewhat helped in the fight against a group called the........

“Oh yeah, you’ve never told me.” he said. “Who are the Snow Clan?”

Celestia had a lot on her mind after tonight’s event, so Luna began to explain. “To put it in simpler terms Spike, they’re ninjas. Earth pony ninjas that used to live in the frozen south of Equestria; before they were banished. Their skills in combat are nothing to take lightly."

"So what did they do to get banished?"

“500 years before my banishment, the Slow Clan attempted to overthrow us and take over Equestria.”

“But why?”

“To show the world how strong they are. All the battles we’ve had in the past were nothing compared to the Snow Clan. Even though the battle against them lasted three days, it felt like three hundred years.”

Spike couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was the Snow Clan really that powerful? Were they really gonna come back? And if they do, will they try to take over Equestria again?”

Seeing that this conversation was starting to upset Spike, Celestia levitated him onto her back and reassured him that this time the royal guards are well trained and will be more than ready if and when the Snow Clan attack. Hearing this put Spike’s mind at ease. However, Celestia still couldn’t help but wonder, why after all this time would the Snow Clan return. Her thoughts on the matter were once again interrupted when she saw Spike yawning loudly.

Both sisters chuckled and decided that it would be best to get back to the cabin and get Spike into bed. It’s been a very long day.

Author's Note

Next Chapter: Celestia and Luna confront the mane 6

Chapter 9

“Spike hurry up, the guards will be here any minute!” Celestia announced.

“Coming!” Spike answered.

The vacation was now over, Spike packed up all of his belongings and walked out of his room. He slowly walked down the hallway taking one last look around. Who knows if he’ll ever come back to this place. Who knows if the princesses will invite him on another outing again. One thing Spike knew for sure was that he will never forget the awesome time he had here, even if he got injured, and dragonnapped, and saw an awful movie, and fought against pony ninjas.

Spike made downstairs where he was greeted by the royal pony sisters. “Everything all packed?” asked Celestia. Spike nodded and turned around to see the rooms behind him; a sad look appeared on his face. Luna approached next to him and nuzzled her cheek against his. “Don’t worry Spike, we'll come back again.”

Spike quickly turned to face him with widen eyes. “R-really!?”

Luna smiled. “Of course. You didn’t think this was a one time thing did you?” Luna pulled Spike in for a hug. “You’re always welcomed to accompany us on whatever trip we go on.” Before Spike could express how happy he was, there was a knock at the door which was revealed to the royal guards.

“My princesses, you’d enjoyed your vacation I hoped?” he said.

“Of course.” answered Celestia.

Celestia, Luna and Spike exited the cabin and got into the carriage. The guards took off into the sky and Spike took one last look at the cabin before it disappeared from his sight. While Spike was distracted, Luna motioned for her sister to get closer so they could talk in privet. “So sister, what should we do about the Snow Clan?”

“We’ll have to inform Shining Armor, Cadence and BlueBlood first, then if things start to get bad we tell Twilight and the others of the situation.”

“Speaking of Twilight.”

“I know Luna. Once we get home I’ll send one of the guards to bring her and her friends to Canterlot.”

“But what about Spike?”

Their conversation was cut short when Spike jumped in.

“Um, Luna....I’ve been thinking about when you asked me to join Canterlot’s team in the Equestria games. I want to join.”

“Wonderful, Spike!” Luna said with such glee. “I’ll make the arrangements once we get home.”

Seeing as how the trips back home was going to take a while, Spike sat back, reached into his backpack, and pulled out an issue of the Power Ponies comic that he didn’t get a chance to finish. Celestia looked over at Spike reading his comic. “Is that the Power Ponies?” she asked.

“Y-yeah.” said a shocked Spike. “You know about the Power Ponies?”

“Kind of, BlueBlood can’t stop talking about.” she explained. Spike’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. BlueBlood, THE PRINCE BLUEBLOOD, was a fan of the Power Ponies. The stallion that was described as a spoiled prince by Rarity? That BlueBlood?

“You know Spike, if memory serves there’s supposed to be some kind of convention centered around the Power Ponies happening today in Canterlot. If we make there in time, I could ask BlueBlood to take you there, if you want.”

“YES!” Spike yelled earning a giggle from the two princesses. A Power Ponies convention? It was just too good to be true. Spike wondered who or what would be there. From other fans of the comic, to brand new issues that haven’t hit the shelves yet, the possibilities were endless. He wanted to carriage to go faster; he’d hoped for this carriage to go faster. Spike wanted to go to that convention; his first convention ever. Celestia and Luna looked back at each other. “Well that takes care of Spike.” Celestia said.

Luna nodded.

****************************

It was mid afternoon when the trio landed in Canterlot. They were greeted by the guards and maids who bowed their heads to the rulers of the lands. Upon walked into the throne room, they were greeted by Prince BlueBlood, who took over ruling Equestria while they were away.

“Auntie Celestia, Auntie Luna, how was your trip?” he asked as he approached them.

“It was....interesting.” Celestia answered looking back at Spike and Luna. The three of them shared a quick chuckle leave BlueBlood a bit confused. BlueBlood shrugged it off as he remembered there was some place he had to be and needed to prepare. “Well if you would please excuse me, there’s someplace important I have to be.”

“Oh I know BlueBlood, that’s what I want to talk to you about.”

Celestia motioned BlueBlood over away from Spike a Luna. “There’s one small thing I would like to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

“Would you mind taking Spike with you to the convention?” she asked. “You see, i’m going to send for Twilight and her friends and Luna and I think it would be best if Spike didn’t see them right away.”

“This about whatever is inside of him is it?”

Celestia nodded. “Alright, I’ll take him with me.”

“Thank you, BlueBlood.”

Celestia and BlueBlood walked over to Spike and Luna, and informed Spike that he will be going to the convention with BlueBlood. Spike was a little hesitant at first ultimately decided on going with him. Besides, he may never get another chance to go to anything like this ever again. So what if he has to spend the rest of the day with BlueBlood, who cares. As the two left the throne room, Celestia called one of her guards over and told them to retrieve Twilight and her friends. The time has come for them to have a very important talk.

****************************

It was now sunset, and the train carrying the six bearers of the elements pulled into the station. The ponies wondered what it was that Celestia and Luna wanted seeing as how a royal guard was sent to fetch them. As they started to to make their way off the train, one was very slow to get out of her chair. Her mane and tail were a mess and her eyes were bloodshot with a stream of tears rolling down her face.

It’s been five days since they made it back from the Crystal Empire, and within those days Twilight discovered that Spike was nowhere to be found. At first she thought he went out to run some errands as he’s known for doing, but that theory quickly went out the window when he didn’t come back. Twilight traveled all over Ponyville hoping to find him but didn’t. She went so far as to form a massive search party involving all of Ponyville and for the past five days they failed to find him.Twilight worked herself into a frenzy, desperately searching wherever she could in order to find Spike but as always she would come up empty. Pinkie Pie would even stay with Twilight and hold her as she’d cried herself to sleep every night; constantly begging for Spike to come home.

“Come on Twilight, we’re here.” Pinkie said in a soft voice. Twilight simply nodded and with Pinkie’s help, she rose from her chair and followed her friends off the train. The six ponies traveled all the way to the palace entrance, then down the hallway towards the throne room where they were greeted by two royal guards.

“The princesses are expecting you.” one of them said. “Please enter.”

As the six ponies walked through the door, they found themselves not in the throne room, but in a light blue void similar to the one Twilight and Celestia was in when she became an alicorn for the first time. If fact it was the exact same void. They continued walking until a bunch of screens surrounded them. The screens were playing all the different times Spike was being used, hurt, or simply just left behind by them. From being abandoned at the Grand Galopping Gala, to being used as a pin cushion, all the way to recently when they were called to the Crystal Empire for the third time to help out with the preparations for the Equestria Games. The girls couldn’t understand what was going on. Why was this being shown to them? What were the princesses trying to tell them?

Out of nowhere all the screens disappeared and one giant one showed up right in front of them. It showed Spike walking into the throne room looking at all the stain glass windows before being confronted by Celestia.

****************************

“Spike? What’s wrong?”

“Well, as you know the Equestria Games are coming up, and Princess Cadence invited Twilight and the others back to the Crystal Empire to help with the preparations. Except me. This is the third time she’s invited them back there and completely forgot that I was the one who gave her the crystal heart. It’s like I don’t exist in her eyes, and not just Cadence, it’s everypony. Not being invited to Twilight’s birthday, not being able to meet Pinkie’s sister, not going to the Equestria Games tryout at Rainbow Falls, it’s as if whenever there’s fun to be had, I don’t exist.”

“You know, I thought helping saved the Crystal Empire would finally change things, that I would have been seen as their equal for once, but nothing changed, it’s the same as it was before. No pony seems to care how I feel. Maybe I should just leave Equestria, nopony would miss me.”

“That’s not true Spike, I would. I’m sure the others didn’t.....”

“NO, DON’T EVEN SAY THAT!”

“Spike?”

“I’M TIRED OF HEARING THAT SAME WEAK EXCUSE OVER AND OVER AGAIN EVERYPONY, KEEPS TELLING ME THAT!

“OH, SPIKE I’M SURE THEY DIDN’T MEAN TO”

WELL IF THEY DIDN’T MEAN TO THEN WHY DO THEY KEEP ON DOING IT!? THEY’RE THE FIRSTS ONE TO PREACH ABOUT LOVE, TOLERANCE AND FRIENDSHIP, BUT WHEN IT COME TO ME THEY SEEM TO BE FRESH OUT OF IT!”

****************************

The screen faded and the void disappeared. The girls found themselves standing in the middle of the throne room with the two sisters approaching them. Celestia looked at the girl with disappointment in her eyes while Luna just glared at them.“What you girls just saw was Spike telling me how he truly felt around you.” she explained. “Let me ask you all something; do you consider Spike as your friend? What is he to you?”

Twilight was shocked to hear Celestia ask her such a question. “Of course I do. Spike means so such to me; to all of us.”

“Apparently not seeing as how you’ve been invited to the Crystal Empire three times already and Spike never went with you. The first time was when you were needed to impress the games inspector, the second was when Cadence wanted to just have fun with you all, and the third was helping prepare for the Equestria Games. There was really no excuse for you to not at least bring Spike along with you, regardless is Cadence invited him or not. Don’t forget that it was Spike who grabbed the crystal heart from King Sombra. Cadence wouldn’t even have an empire to rule is Spike wasn’t there; don’t you think the crystal ponies would’ve loved to see him?”

The girls said nothing as guilt started to show on all their faces.

“Fluttershy, when you all were invited back to the Crystal Empire the first time you were the first to find out that Spike wasn’t invited back, you could have asked Cadence why this was, but you didn’t. Rainbow Dash, you maliciously teased Spike for not acting like other dragons and for doing something you yourself wouldn’t be caught dead doing.”

Both pegasi dropped their heads.

“AppleJack, when Rainbow Dash was teasing Spike, you didn’t make the matter any easier when you asked Spike why would he want to be like other dragons. You may not have meant for it to come out like it did, but those words you used easily could have had some horrible implications behind them.”

AppleJack gasped as she realized what Celestia was getting at.

“Pinkie Pie, you recently had everypony meet your sister, you said that you wanted her to meet all of your “Ponyvill friends” yet Spike wasn’t among them. You even threw Rainbow Dash a giant birthday party and invited everypony in Ponyville, except Spike.”

Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail deflated a bit.

“That just leaves Rarity and Twilight. I’m sorry to say this but, you two are the worst ones of the group. Rarity, it’s so secret to anypony here that Spike has a crush on you, yet you use his feelings for you to get whatever you want from him and how do you repay him? One....two....three seconds of your attention before you flirt with other stallions behind his back?”

Rarity brought her hoof to her mouth and tears started to swell up.

“And Twilight, having Spike climb high shelves to get a book that you easily could have gotten,not bringing Spike with you to the games tryout, leaving him behind while you celebrated your birthday here in Canterlot? You told me that Spike means so much to you, but it would seem that’s not the case. You’re the one who’s around Spike most of the time, you’ve seen most of the things that happens to him and you do nothing. Case in point, when Rarity used him as a pincushion, you could have said something then but you didn’t. You allowed Spike to degrade himself just to get attention from a mare who obviously doesn’t feel the same way about him.”

At this point Luna stepped in. “Twilight Sparkle, at one point Spike had a pet phoenix, did he not?”

Twilight nodded.

“May I ask, where it this phoenix?”

“I...I had Spike return it to it’s family.”

“And why is that?”

“Because it was just a baby.” Twilight said, now getting a little bit defensive. “It needed to be with it’s parents, and Spike is too young to have a pet; no way he could handle all that responsibility.”

“So you don’t think Spike is responsible enough to have a pet, but he IS responsible enough to be left home alone at the drop of a hoof whenever you and your friends leave somewhere to have fun, and cook and clean up after you whenever you ask?”

“I....I.”

“Spike isn’t just some servant you think you own, he’s a living breathing creature who’s only family he’s ever known are a bunch of hypocrites.”

After hearing those words, Twilight just broke down and cried with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy going to her side to comfort her. The guilt she was feeling just was too much. What Luna said was true, despite constantly calling Spike her number one assistant and friend, she used him as a servant, or to put in better terms, a slave that she allowed to be taken advantage of. At that point, Luna lit up her horn creating another giant screen. “I think it’s time you girls see what your actions has caused.”

The girls looked up in horror to see Spike possessed by the nightmare aura. They saw his fight with Celestia and Luna. They saw what they had pushed him to. “This happened because of all the negative emotions Spike started to feel about you; which caused him to become the demon you see before you now.” Luna explained. “It’s very similar to how I became Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight, with tears in her eyes, slowly approached the screen and stretched her hoof out on order to touch it. “Spike.” she whispered.

“P-please.” Fluttershy spoke up. “Can we save him?”

Luna sighed. “Fortunately, this demon doesn’t have full control over Spike as of yet. There’s some small part of Spike the truly believes that you all still care about him, so as long as that still exist within him there’s still a chance we can save him.”

A sigh of relief fill the room. The girls were happy to hear the Spike could be saved, however Luna wasn’t finished. “But what then?” she asked. “If you manage to save Spike, will you make sure that this never happens again, or will you just say things to get him to come back only to make yourselves feel better? When it comes to Spike, will you actually represent the elements that were given to you, or will you simply go back to doing the same things to him before? And you Twilight Sparkle, will Spike finally be given his own room, with a bed and everything; something to call his own, or will he simply go back to sleeping in that dog bed right next to you like a good little servant, or pet, or whatever you think he is to you, because a friend clearly isn’t one of them.”

Luna was finished with her ranting and turned away from Twilight and the girls; not wanting to see their faces any longer than she already had to. Celestia slowly approached Twilight, who was beyond devastated.

“T-that’s why he left isn’t it?” she asked.

“Twilight.” Celestia said in soft voice.

“I.....i’m sorry princess.” Twilight said as tears continued to fall. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should be saying that to.”

“I....I can’t. He....he’s gone......Spike’s gone. He hasn’t been home in five days, we’ve looked everywhere and we can’t find him. He’s gone. I want him back.....I want my Spike back.”

Even though Twilight deserved to here all of this, Celestia couldn’t stand to see her former student crying. Celestia wrapped a hoof around Twilight and held her close.

“Twilight, you don’t nee to worry about Spike.” Celestia reassured. “He’s been with me an Luna on our vacation for the past week.”

“W-what?” Twilight asked with widen eyes.

“Don’t worry, Spike’s safe.”

“Not like you care.” Luna mumbled.

“H-he is?” asked Twilight. “Where is he?”

“He’s with BlueBlood right now.”

Hearing that name shocked Rarity to her core. “B-BLUEBLOOD!”

“Is that a Problem?” Luna asked, glaring at her; daring her to say something else.

Rarity said nothing else and retreated behind Applejack. Celestia raised her hoof telling her sister to calm down a bit. Luna backed up a bit so that Celestia could talk.

“I’ve asked BlueBlood to look after Spike while we have this little talk.” Celestia explained. “Spike doesn’t know that he has this demon inside him so we and it’s best he doesn’t know.”

“I...i’ll make this right.” Said Twilight. “I promise I will.”

“Don’t just say it.” Luna said, looking sternly at her. “Do it.”

****************************

It was about thirty minutes after nightfall when the meeting between the princesses and the six bearers ended. The girls left the throne room and began making their way down the hallway where they saw Prince BlueBlood levitating a book in front of his face.

“BlueBlood!” yelled Twilight.

The prince of Equestria lowered the book as the girls approached him. Needless to say, he wasn;t very fond of seeing them, well a certain white unicorn in particular. “What do you hypocrites want?” he said coldly.

Hearing his voice stopped all six ponies in their tracks. “Well, out with it.”

The girls stood there for a few seconds before Rarity stepped up. “W-we want to know where Spike is.”

“Why, want see him degrade himself even more for your sick pleasure?” he said with disgust. “Please tell why I should bring you to him, and please spare me your friendship speeches because we all know that unless you’re a female pony your friendship doesn’t count for dirt.”

As BlueBlood started to walk away, Twilight teleported right in front of him. “I want to make this right.” she pleaded. “Please take me to him.”

“Do you really?” he asked. “Or do you just not want to feel guilty?” BlueBlood started to walk passed Twilight before she stopped him once again by grabbing his hoof. Twilight looked at him once again with even more tears streaming down her face. She once again asked BlueBlood to take them to Spike. BlueBlood stared Twilight in the face and saw that she was legitimately sorry for what she did and wanted to make things right, if she could. BlueBlood sighed heavily. “Fine, I’ll take you to him.”

Before anypony could say anything, BlueBlood looked right at all of them. “Twilight only.”

****************************

Both Twilight and Blueblood were making their way towards BlueBlood’s room where Spike was. The two walked in silence until Twilight spoke up. “Um, why did you tell the others to stay behind?”

“You’re the one who spends the most time with Spike so it makes since that you’re the first one to see him.”

Twilight agreed.

“Plus, I don’t particularly care much for a certain friend of yours.”

“You mean Rarity, why?”

“Let’s just say that mares like her all all the same.” The conversation ended with that statement. Before long the pair made it to BlueBlood’s room. He let Twilight inside before leaving; telling her that he had important work to do. Twilight thanked BlueBlood and proceeded to walk inside. She looked around and saw that his room was pretty normal looking, well about as normal as a prince’s room can be. She made her way to the bed and saw Spike sitting on the edge staring out the window looking at Luna’s big bright moon. Twilight made her way behind him and pulled him into a strong hug. “S-Spike, I’m so sorry.” she cried. “I’m so sorry for everything, please forgive me.”

Spike slowly put his claw over Twilight’s hoof giving it a soft squeeze. He shifted his body so that he can look at her.

“Spike?” she asked.

“Hello, Twilight Sparkle.” he said in a eire voice.

Chapter 10

There was aloud explosion that rocked the kingdom of Canterlot; catching everypony’s attention. They all gathered in the streets wondering what was going on. Wasf it another invasion, or a magic experiment gone wrong, what could it be? Suddenly a pony’s yelling could be heard in the distance. It was low, but eventually got louder and louder until.

*CRASH*

The pony crashed landed into a food cart. The citizens of Canterlot rushed to the pony’s side and saw that it was Princess Twilight Sparkle. “E-everypony.....r-run.” she said as she felt pain run through her body. Just then, Spike slowly landed next to the crowd. The dark aura that surrounded his body was darker than before.

“Yes, by all means, my little ponies.” he said in his dark eerie voice. “RUN!” The Canterlot citizens all ran for their lives as Spike stuck out his left hand and wrapped his dark aura around Twilight; picking her up and bringing her close to him. Spike smiled evilly as he threw Twilight into a few buildings hearing her screams. Twilight landed in an abandoned house, coughing as she struggled to get up on her hooves.

“T-this can’t be happening.” she said.

“Oh it is Twilight, it is.”

Twilight looked up and saw Spike standing right in front of her. “W-who are you? What have you done with Spike?”

“I....AM....Spike.”

Spike back handed Twilight so hard that she flew straight through the wall and outside in the streets. Twilight hit the ground hard and rolled a bit before coming to a complete stop. “Who knew this little dragon had so much negativity towards you.” Spike laughed. “I’ve never felt so powerful in my life.” Using his powers again, Spike picked up Twilight again for another attack.

“STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!” yelled a voice. Both Spike and Twilight looked up and saw Celestia flying right above them. Spike dropped Twilight and flew up into the air to meet with the princess.

“Hello mother dear.” he said. “Nice night isn’t it?”

“You’re not my son.” she said with disgust.

“And neither is this dragon you didn’t care about until I came along.” Spike backhanded Celestia so hard that she came plummeting down and crashed into a nearby food stand. She quickly shot back up into the sky back at Spike and fired a magical beam at him which caught with his bare claws and threw it right at Twilight who was still on the ground struggling to get to her hooves.

“TWILIGHT!” Celestia screamed.

Looking up, Twilight’s eyes widen as she saw the blast coming at her at a fast pace. She tried to move but was too hurt to. The blast would’ve hit her if not for a rainbow blur that came out of no where and grabbed Twilight out of the way with only seconds to spare. When the dust from the impact settled, Twilight saw the pony who saved her life. “R-Rainbow.”

“That demon’s gonna pay.” she said with anger boiling up inside. “NO PONY HURTS MY FRIENDS AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!”

Rainbow Dash charged up into the air at full speed, much to Celestia and Twilight’s protest. Spike smiled and flew down to meet her at the same speed. Just when it looked like it was going to be a head on collision, Spike shifted to the side in order to pass Rainbow Dash up so he could grab her by the tail, swing her around and around, and with all his might throw her into Celestia. The two fell back down to the streets with Spike landing a few feet away from them. “Flying head on towards an enemy without knowing weather or not they’re stronger than you.” Spike said with a cocky attitude. “I know you could be reckless at times, but that was just stupid.” Spike fired an magical blast of energy at the two. Seeing this, Celestia grabbed Rainbow Dash and held her close; shielding her from impact of the attack.

“RAINBOW! CELESTIA!” Twilight screamed as she watched the two get engulfed in the explosion.

“TWILIGHT!” yelled a voice. Looking behind her Twilight saw the rest of her friends and Princess Luna running onto the scene.

“EVERYPONY GET BACK!” Twilight yelled.

“Well well well, the gangs all here.” said Spike. “Now the fun can truly began.”

As Spike prepared an attack, Luna quickly took action and flew towards him at a fast pace; not giving him a chance to do anything. Luna grabbed Spike and flew up high into the air with him in hopes of at least getting him away from the kingdom. Spike broke free from Luna’s grasp, grabbed her by her mane, then threw her off into a random direction. Luna managed to stop mid flight and began charging her horn. She fired and powerful blast at Spike who was charging at her. To her shock, Spike caught the blast and threw it right back at her. Luna quickly dodged it but wound up leaving herself open to Spike’s oncoming attack. Spike tackled Luna, bringing her back down to the earth on her back with a loud boom, however Luna was unfazed by the attack and countered by kicking Spike up into the air while digging her right hoof deep into the ground and pulling up a huge chunk of the earth. At full Speed, Luna caught up with Spike and then with all her might, hit him with the chunk of earth shattering it across his face. The force of the impact sent Spike flying a good distance away from her. Spike managed to stop himself mid air and rocket back towards Luna at an unbelievable speed. Luna didn’t have time to react and was hammered into the ground before she knew what hit her. The impact was so forceful that it not only caused a mini earthquake, but it also made a large crater that Luna was now in the middle of.

Taking this chance, Spike powered up his right hand and fired a barrage of magical blasts at Luna; not even giving her time to recover.

****************************

Twilight and the others ran over to the wreckage where Celestia and Rainbow Dash were. Using her magic, Twilight raised the debris to find that Rainbow was okay, but Celestia was all bruised up. “T-Twi....light.” she managed to say.

“No princess, don’t say anything.” Twilight said. “You’re injured.”

“When I get my hooves on that monster.” Rainbow started.

“Rainbow, that monster is Spike.” Twilight explained.

“Did somepony say me name?”

All the ponies looked to to see Spike holding a battered and beaten Luna by the mane. Spike tossed Luna at them as if she was a rag doll. “Now what am I going to do with all of you? Oh I know, hows about I take you all to the frozen artic, put you all on top of a small block of ice, and LEAVE YOU THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FROZEN LAKE!” Spike unleashed a barrage of magical beams at the ponies causing them to run and take cover. Spike flew down, grabbed Applejack by the tail, and threw her into Fluttershy; knocking both ponies into a nearby wall.

“Spikey please stop this.” begged Rarity.

Spike was going to attack Rarity but was tackled from behind by Rainbow Dash. Spike turned around in her hooves, grabbed her head, then head butted her; forcing her to let him go. Spike then grabbed Rainbow by the wing and with all his might threw her back to the ground. Spike was once again was hit from behind by a giant ball of confetti. Looking in the direction it came from, Spike was hit with another ball of confetti in the face. The dark aura surrounding his boy burned it all away and Spike saw the perpetrator.

“Pinkie Pie.” he said.

“Spike please.” she begged as she prepared another attack. At full speed, Spike flew towards Pinkie and landed on top of her party cannon, completely destroying it. Spike power up is fist and was going to strike Pinkie when she was suddenly encased within a pink bubble that was cast by Twilight.

“Spike it’s us.” she said. “We’re your friends.”

“Friends?....FRIENDS!? DO YOU EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD!?” A huge wave of magical energy exploded from Spike’s body, sending shock waves throughout Canterlot and knocking away Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and any other pony who could have been nearby. When the shock wave ended, Spike was soon confronted by Celestia; who stood on wobbly legs.

“D-demon, let...him...go.” she demanded.

Spike just looked at Celestia. “Look at you, you’re pathetic. Trying to reach out to this dragon with your “love and friendship”. Well.......where was all that "love and friendship" when your “faithful student” left this dragon on a small block of ice in the middle of a still freezing lake? Where was all that "love and friendship" when this dragon was left all alone at the Grand Galloping Gala?!”

At that point, Spike slowly walked up to Celestia until he was inches from her face. “Where were YOU when this dragon needed a mother?” With all his might, Spike slapped Celestia; sending her into the air and flying through the stain glass window that depicted Spike holding the crystal heart. Celestia landed in the middle of the throne room and immediately was lifted up by Spike’s power as he entered the room and flew towards her. “S-Spike....I-I’m sorry.”

“You think saying sorry will save him? Don’t make me laugh.” Using his magic to hold Celestia in place, Spike repeatedly slapped her across her face as hard as he could; enjoying hearing her screams of pain.

“I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that if you had a chance to go back and prevent this from happening to you a second time, you would. Well I got some new for you, this is actually the third time somepony close to you has fallen to the darkness because of your “love and friendship”.

Celestia’s eyes widen as she heard this. Just what is he talking about? The only other time was when Luna became Nightmare Moon. So what could he be talking about? Before, anymore words could be spoken, Twilight teleported in along with Luna and fired a beam at Spike; breaking his hold on Celestia. The battered and bruised princess of the sun spread her wings in order to safely land on the floor. She looked up at Spike who slowly came down to the floor as well. There he was, surrounded by three of the princesses of Equestria and he couldn’t be happier.

“What do you mean this is the third time somepony close to me has fallen to the darkness?” Celestia asked.

Spike remained silent.

“Answer me!” she yelled.

“You didn’t care about him then, so why should you care now?” he answered then fired a blast of magical energy at her. Celesia leaped into the air dodging the attack but left herself open to another. As she looked up, she saw Spike coming down at her ready to hammer her to the ground but Luna flew in, grabbed him and threw him into Celestia’s throne; destroying it. Spike quickly recovered from the impact and flew back at Luna; grabbing her by the mane, swinging her around, then throwing her through the stain glass window the depicted Twilight’s ascension to the status of princess. A barrage of purple beams came flying out of no where, but Spike was fast enough to block all of them.

“Nice try, Sparkle.” he said and fired another blast at her. Twilight quickly teleported away as the blast impacted the floor. At that point, the royal guards came running in and prepared to fight, but Spike made quick work of all of them by lifting them all into the air and slamming them to the floor; knocking them all out. Seeing this chance, Celestia trapped Spike inside pink bubble freezing him. However that didn’t last long as he broke free from his cage seconds later; sending shockwaves throughout the room. In a flash, Spike wound up behind Celestia and hammered her into the floor; creating a small crater.

“CELESTIA!” Twilight yelled, and before she knew it, Spike was already next to her.

“You should worry more about yourself.” he said. Spike kicked Twilight in the face sending her flying off in one direction, then using his speed, he flew after her passing her up and then kicked her off in another direction. He did this about six more times until he finally punched her into a pile of rubble that was Celestia’s throne.

“I thought you ponies were stronger than this.” Spike said disappointed. “But that’s what happens when you rely too much on the Elements of Harmony to bail you out of every situation.”
Charging up his right hand, Spike prepared an attack at the now unconscious Twilight.

“W-wait.” said Celestia as she struggled to get up. “P-please d-don’t.”

Spike ignored her.

“I-I beg you....d-don’t” she pleaded.

“Wow, he was right about you.” he said. “You do care more about her, Cadence and your sister more than him. So much so that you even went so far as to make Twilight a princess just so that you and everypony else would forget that he’s even related to you.”

Celestia was confused. “What are you......”

“Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle.” he said coldly. Spike fired the final blast at Twilight’s unmoving body with Celestia screaming in terror. The impact was so great that he completely eradicated everything it that was in it’s path. That included the walls and everything that was outside. Spike looked at his handy work and smiled while Celestia broke down in tears.

“Don’t cry you’ll be joining her soon.” he said still looking at what he had done. As the dust settled down, Spike’s face went from satisfied to shock and disbelief with his eyes widening.

“W-WHAT?!”

A white stallion was standing over Twilight with a blue barrier; shielding her from the attack.

“IT’S YOU!” Spike yelled.

Looking up, Celestia saw the stallion who saved her former student’s life.

“BlueBlood!”

Author's Note

Que Wonder Woman's theme from BVS

Chapter 11

Prince BlueBlood let down the barrier and looked over at Celestia, the beaten guards and the destroyed throne room. Needless to say, he was beyond angry. He slowly began to walk away from Twilight and towards Spike; keeping his eyes on him.

“B-BlueBlood.....wait.” Celestia managed to say.

“I got this.” he replied.

As BlueBlood started to get closer to Spike, something started to happen to his body. A white aura, just like the one surrounding Spike was surrounding his. Using his powers, BlueBlood rose up into the air until he came face to face with Spike. A smile crept on his face which soon turned into a chuckle and then laughter; leaving a bit Spike confused.

“W-what’s so funny?” he asked.

“This.” BlueBlood answered, then punched Spike in the face so hard it caused a massive shockwave. Spike flew through the building until he wound up outside. BlueBlood caught up to him then hammered him into the ground. Charging up his horn, he fired a powerful blast at the dragon blowing him up on impact. Spike’s body was thrown from the impact, but was quickly caught by the prince.

“So, had enough?” he asked. “Didn’t think so.”

BlueBlood threw Spike into the air then fired another magical blast at him, blowing up once again. Flying up at him, BlueBlood hammered Spike into the ground, hard; right in the middle of Canterlot. Spike started coughing hard as he struggled to get up. Raising his his head, he saw BlueBlood standing over him; ready to attack again.

“Let him go, demon.” BlueBlood demanded.

Spike said nothing.

“Either let him go, or I’ll drag you out of him.”

“W-why? I know how you feel about Celestia. I know how she makes you feel, so why not attack her and instead of me? After all, you were once infect.........”

“Regardless, of how I feel about her, she’s family, and nopony hurts my FAMILY!”

BlueBlood prepared for another attack but was stopped when he heard a pony screaming for him to stop. He saw Pinkie Pie running towards him with the rest of the girls behind her. Up in the air, Celestia slowly landed along with her sister and Twilight behind BlueBlood. All ponies stared at the prince in shock as they saw his appearance.

“B-Blue......” Celestia started, but stopped when Twilight slowly started walking up to Spike with a limp in her step; pain coursing through her body. Tears started to fill her eyes as she saw Spike staring at her with nothing but pure hatred in his eyes. “S-Spike p-please.” she begged. “I....I....I need you.”

“For what?” he asked. “To be your errand dragon, to clean up after you because you’re too lazy to do it yourself?”

“N-no.”

“Spike, don’t you remember all the good times we’ve had together?” asked Pinkie.

“All I remember is the constant reminder that in the eyes of ponies, dragons are seen as inferior beings for you all to use and then throw away when your done.....right Celestia? I mean, that IS the reason you STOLE this dragon as an egg right? To learn more about them?”

“I...I didn’t steal him.” Celestia defended herself. “I found him. He was just an egg, alone and abandoned. I couldn’t just leave him there.”

“Doesn’t change that fact that after you didn’t learn much of anything, you tossed him over to Twilight after you were done with him.”

Spike’s power started rising; causing all of Canterlot to shake violently. The residents were forced to evacuate the city as their homes crumbled right before their very eyes. “Spike, you’re destroying everything, please stop this, don’t let the darkness consume you!” yelled Luna.

Spike simply smiled.

His intentions were clear.

He was going to wipe Canterlot of the Map. Seeing this, BlueBlood used his magic to transport everypony away just as Spike’s powers were slowly reaching it’s peak. The group was outside of the kingdom when they saw the dark aura and lighting surrounding it.

“He’s gonna destroy Canterlot.” said Fluttershy.

“There must be something we can do.” Twilight said as tears started to form once again.

“There may be a way.” BlueBlood said, catching everypony’s attention.

“Tell us, please.” Twilight begged.

BlueBlood sighed. “Spike is basically asleep within his own mind. The best way to stop this Nightmare Demon is to wake him up and defeat him from within.”

“H-how do we do that?” asked Fluttershy.

BlueBlood looked at Luna. “Like I said, Spike is asleep so Luna you’re our best bet to get in.”

Luna nodded.

“I’m going too.” Twilight demanded. “All of this is happening because of me, I need to fix this.”

“Waking him won’t be easy seeing as how this Nightmare Demon is in full control." BlueBlood explained. “However, if he can be kept distracted long enough; that will give you enough time to get in Spike’s head save him.”

“Okay.” Twilight said.

BlueBlood started to head towards Canterlot but was stopped by Celestia.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Where do you think? I’m gonna distract him long enough for Luna and Twilight to get inside his head.”

“You can’t do this all by yourself yo.......”

“Okay stop right there.” BlueBlood cut her off. “Since when did you start caring about me? Last I checked, the happiest moment of your life was when you sent me away to a boarding school all the way in Saddie Arabia.”

“B-BlueBlood, that was to.....”

“No it wasn’t. Whatever excuse you were going to come up with, don’t. Just admit that you never wanted me to be a part of this family.”

“T-that’s not true.”

“Then why is it that when we were growing up, Cadence got all of the attention and you barely even looked at me. Or when I was betrayed by a group of ponies I thought were my friends and you didn’t seem to care. Or when you chose to make Cadence an alicorn because she made two ponies fall in love and then gave her her own kingdom.”

Celestia could clearly seen the anger and frustration in her nephew’s eyes. They were the same as Spike’s when he expressed himself the same way. Celestia’s heart was in shambles as she realized that history was repeating itself; first with Spike and now her own nephew. White aura started to surround BlueBlood’s body as he turned away from her.

“Let me tell you something.” he said. “A few years ago, I was possessed by a Nightmare Demon, just like Spike. It almost took control of me. I knew you wouldn’t help me and there was no way I was going to suffer the same fate as Luna, so with all of my will power, I fought it off and got my body back; with no help from anypony.”

“W-why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve........”

“I wasn’t gonna take that chance.” BlueBlood said as he started to walk away. “You were probably gonna have me banish to the farthest corner of the galaxy or something.”

“W-wait....please.” Celestia begged. “Y-you’re right, I should have been there for you. I saw that you were hurting but I looked the other way....I-I’m sorry; please forgive me.”

“I don’t know weather or not you’re being sincere or weather you just don’t want to feel guilty anymore.” he said sternly. “But right now, I don’t care. I got a baby dragon to save.”

“I-I’m going with you.”

BlueBlood sighed. “Let’s go.” The two began making their way back into the kingdom while Twilight and Luna prepared to enter the dream world.

“Twilight, is there anything we can do to help?” asked Rarity.

“Check on the citizens and see if they’re okay.” she answered.

“Will do.” stated Rainbow Dash.

“Be careful Twilight.” said Fluttershy.

Twilight nodded and turned her attention towards Luna who was charging up her horn. “Just relax and clear your mind. This will only take a moment.” Soon after the two princesses were glowing with a white light, then they both fell over fast asleep.

****************************

BlueBlood and Celestia reentered the kingdom of Canterlot to witness that most of it was in ruins with the dark aura swirling around like a twister and lightning striking every three to four seconds. The two traveled to the city center where they last saw Spike only to see him suspended high in the air with lightning shooting from his body and dark aura surrounding it; but that wasn’t all. Spike’s appearance was vastly different. His eyes were pitch black while his pupils were as red as blood. Black demonic markings covered his body making him look more demon that dragon. Celestia’s eyes went extremely wide with shock as she cover her mouth with both her hooves; tears slowly started to form.

“N-no.” she whispered. “Please....stars above....no.”

BlueBlood gritted his teeth as he looked on at the horror that was right in front of him. Spike looked down at the two and smiled evilly. “So...like the new look?” he asked.

“No.” BlueBlood said bluntly then fired a giant blast at Spike. Spike simply stuck out his hand and caught it; failing to realize that BlueBlood appeared behind him and struck him in the back of the head sending him towards the ground. However, Spike stopped inches before impact and turned to face BlueBlood, but he was gone. Spike looked around but saw no sign of the prince. That’s when, out of no where, Celestia came crashing into Spike; sending him through countless buildings before Spike regained the upper hand by grabbing Celestia by the hoof and throwing her up into the air. Spike fired a blast at her but it was deflected by BlueBlood. The prince and Spike flew towards each other and engaged in an exchange of repeated punches. Spike managed to turn the tables when he used his tail to knock BlueBlood off balance allowing him to to get in one strong kick to the face sending the prince into an already destroyed building. A large boulder came out of nowhere and almost hit Spike, but he managed to dodge it. Looking to his left he saw Celestia charging at him and prepared to engage her, but out of no where a large shield knocked Spike in the back of the head allowing Celestia to tackle the dragon to the ground.

The large shield was actually conjured up by Prince BlueBlood while he was in the building. Using his strength, Spike pushed Celestia off and rose to his feet but that was when BlueBlood came back and started attacking Spike with his shield. BlueBlood threw the shield at Spike causing it to bounce off the dragon’s head and into the hooves of Celestia who started to attack him with it. As BlueBlood got back into close range, Celestia tossed the shield back at him and the two teamed up and continued their assault on Spike.

****************************

Twilight and Luna found themselves in front of Golden Oaks Library. The door was wide open and black aura was flowing from it. “Spike!” Twilight yelled and ran towards the library, much to Luna’s protest. Luna and Twilight ran inside the library only to thrown into a dark room, and at the center was Spike, laying on his back fast asleep with the black aura surrounding him as a barrier.

As soon as Twilight got close enough, the barrier shot black lightning at her hooves. It was a warning shot.

“SPIKE!” she yelled. “SPIKE PLEASE, WAKE UP!”

Twilight received no response from the little dragon. “Oh, what do we do now?” she asked.

Luna’s started to charged up her horn and began walking closer towards the barrier. “I’ll create an opening for you to get Spike out.” Luna fired a small beam from her horn into the barrier. Not surprisingly, there was much resistance. Using a bit more force, Luna managed to tear a hole open allowing Twilight to quickly run through, grab Spike and run out.

****************************

The fight between Spike, Celestia, and Blueblood raged on with Spike now the one holding Blueblood’s shield and beating Celestia with it. With the princess on the ground, Spike threw the shield at Blueblood who knocked at away with his right hoof. Blueblood fired a blast of magic at Spike who caught it and threw it back at the prince; blowing him up on impact.

With a single leap, Spike went through the explosion, grabbed Blueblood by the tail and flew into air. With all of his strength, Spike threw Blueblood into the ground; hitting Celestia. Spike began firing a barrage of magical blast at the pair but thankfully at the last second, Celestia put up a barrier blocking Spike’s onslaught. Once the attack stopped, Celestia let the barrier down and she and Blueblood slowly rose to their hooves; completely out of breath and barely able to stand. “Time to finish this.” Spike said as he powered up for an attack. At full speed, Spike charged at Celestia and Blueblood. The two braced themselves for Spike’s oncoming attack.....which never came. Spike had stopped mid flight; a look of shock and horror on his face.

“No...no...NO!” he yelled.

“W-what’s wrong with him?” asked Celestia.

“I think he found out about our plan.” Blueblood answered. “Let's get him now while we have the chance.” While aura started to form around Blueblood’s body and he shot off into the sky with Celestia right behind him. The two royal members flew up to Spike and together they both sent him flying into another ruined building, however they were both surprised when Spike managed to pick up said building the throw it at them. Acting fast, Celestia got in front of her nephew and cut the building in half with her magic. Both Celestia and Blueblood each grabbed a piece of the building as it passed them and threw back at Spike who quickly dodged out of the way before the impact.

“They’re trying to rescue him.” He thought. “Not while I have anything to say about it.”

Spike sat down in the middle of the street and closed his eyes. He encased himself inside a dark bubble just as Celestia and Blueblood fired magical beams at him.

“What’s he doing?” asked Celestia.

“I think he’s going after Twilight and Luna.” Blueblood answered.

****************************

Both princesses left the library and was confronted by many black auras in the shape of ponies. “Going somewhere?” it asked.

“Twilight, get behind me.” Luna said and began charging her horn. Luna fired a blast as the aura ponies; destroying them all, however they instantly began regenerating back to their original forms.

“Twilight, run!” Luna yelled.

Twilight levitated Spike onto her back and both ponies ran off with the aura ponies right behind them. Every now and then Luna would stop, turn around, and fire a blast at them; slowing them down for a moment. The two princesses made their way towards the Apple Family’s barn and hid there; hoping they wouldn’t be found. Their small relief wouldn’t last, as one of the aura ponies faded through the wall and approached them. “Did you really think hiding would work?” it asked. “You’re in my head, there’s no where you can hide.”

Luna fired a blast destroying the aura pony, but that’s when an entire army of them came into the barn and surround them. One of the ponies grabbed Spike and pulled him away from Twilight who quickly grabbed the little dragon and tried to pull him back. “Let GO of him!” she yelled.

Twilight fired a blast destroying the pony but another quickly appeared and grabbed her from behind while two more of them appeared and grabbed Spike. The aura ponies tried to separate the two while Luna was fighting off the rest. Eventually, they overpowered the princess of the night and tackled her to the ground. She struggled to get up but more and more of them piled on top of her and now their sights were set on Twilight.

Twilight broke Spike and herself free from their grasp but quickly saw that there was no way out. Twilight just backed up into the wall and held Spike close to her body as the aura ponies slowly closed in on her. “Spike if you can hear me, please listen.” she said. “T-this is all my fault. I should have been there for you, but instead I just treated you like you were a third class citizen, like you were only good for one thing.”

Twilight shuddered as she felt the aura ponies touching her. “Please wake up, and come back to us. Come back to me. I...I...I love you.” Twilight squeezed her eyes shut and held Spike close as the aura ponies covered both of them. At that point, Twilight heard a soft groan. She looked down and saw Spike squirming around before slowly opening his eyes.

“T-Twilight?” he groaned.

“Spike!” she shrieked as she nearly squeezed the life out of him. “Spike Spike Spike Spike! I’m sorry.....I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry about what?”

“Everything.” Twilight looked up and saw that all the aura ponies had disappeared. Princess Luna slowly rose to her hooves as everything around them started to go dark. About a few feet away from them was a bright light.

“W-what is that?” asked Spike. The group started hearing familiar voices. They began walking through the darkness as the approached the bright light. After being engulfed, Spike found himself in the middle of a room that showcased all of the good memories he had while living in Ponyville. However, Spike began to notice that he was alone. Twilight and Luna had disappeared and standing right behind him was a dark aura that shaped itself into Spike.

“W-who are you?” Spike asked.

“Do you really believe these memories are yours Spike?”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“How do you know what you’re seeing is real? Are you sure that these ponies just aren’t making this stuff up so that you’ll simply go back to them?”

With a snap of his fingers the room changed and began showcasing all of Spike’s bad memories. All the times he was used, abused, taken advantage of, and forgotten. Spike heard a faint sound that sounded like Twilight calling his name. It soon got louder and louder until Twilight and Luna appeared on scene. “Spike, get away from him.” she said.

Twilight and Luna both fired a blast at the Nightmare Demon but he simply caught it and threw right behind him. “Look around Spike, look at all the misery they’ve caused you. They aren’t sorry, they just don’t want to feel guilty.”

Twilight quickly turned back to Spike. “Spike listen, I was wrong. I was wrong to you on so many levels. Please believe me when I say i’m sorry.”

“She’s not sorry, just you wait, when your back is turn she and her friends will continue to do the same things to you.”

“Don’t listen to him Spike, you’re my friend. My number one friend. You mean more to me than anything else.”

“Number one friend? More like number one slave labor.”

Twilight pulled Spike into a strong embrace. “Spike, I love you. I know I don’t tell you that often, but I really do love you.”

“When did she EVER love you?!”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Luna yelled and fired another blast at the Nightmare Demon, pushing him away. Spreading her wings Luna took off after him; leaving Twilight alone with Spike.

“There is no excuse for what I’ve done, but Spike I promise you, no more neglect, no more abuse, no more anything negative towards you. I promise I’ll do right by you, just give me a chance to do so.”

“T-Twilight, I-I don’t know.” Spike said as he looked up at all the negative memories that were still on display.

“Please Spike.” Twilight begged. “Pleeeeeeeeeese.” Twilight started sobbing. She desperately wanted an answer from him. After what felt like an eternity, Spike slowly wrapped his arms around Twilight and held her.

“O-okay Twilight.” he said. “I-I trust you.”

“Oh Spike!” she yelled as she held him tighter.

Over with Luna, her fight with the nightmare demon raged on until he felt some kind of disturbance. He’s connection with Spike was slowly diminishing. “No, NO!” he yelled as he looked over at Spike and Twilight hugging. “I WON’T LET YOU HAVE HIM!”

“TWILIGHT, SPIKE, LOOK OUT!” Luna yelled.

Spike pushed Twilight out of the way and was grabbed by the Nightmare Demon. “You ponies have interfered long enough, BEGONE!” The Nightmare Demon created a black hole that began sucking the two princesses into it. Try as they might, they couldn’t escape the gravitational pull.

“TWILIGHT, LUNA!” Spike yelled as he saw them being sucked into it.

****************************

Twilight and Luna awoke to find out that they were kicked out of Spike’s head. Looking around, they saw Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie coming up to them. “Twilight, Princess Luna, did you do it?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“We woke Spike up, but the Nightmare Demon appeared and kicked us out.” Luna explained.

“Can’t you go back in?” asked Fluttershy.

“I...I don’t think so.”

****************************

Spike was still in the Nightmare Demon’s grasp. “What did you do to them?!”

“Don’t worry, I simply kicked them out of your....I mean OUR head.” it explained. “They weren’t harmed.....yet.”

Using all of his strength, Spike broke free from the demon’s grasp and pushed it away, but was quickly encased within a cage. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a fight to return to.”

The demon disappeared, leaving Spike alone.

****************************

Celestia and Blueblood continued blasting at the bubble when suddenly it exploded and Spike was free. “Sorry about that.” he said. “That was an unwelcome interruption.”

At this point, Blueblood realized that the plan had failed. Spike had powered up and charged at Celestia and Blueblood; grabbing the prince and throwing far off in the distance. Looking at Celestia, Spike fired a powerful blast at her. The princess protected herself by using most of her strength putting up a barrier; shielding her from the attack. When the attack ended, Celestia found herself exhausted and barely able to stand straight. Slowly looking up, she saw Spike stand close to her. Spike slowly grabbed the princess by the neck and rose up into the air.

“S-Spike if you can here me, i’m sorry.” she said. “I’m sorry, I failed you. I...I wasn’t...a good mother.”

Spike powered up his fist and got ready for the final attack. “Goodbye, mother.”

****************************

Spike was still trapped within his cage when he heard Celestia’s voice apologizing to him. That was when the room began showcasing new memories Spike never new he had. He saw himself as a newborn infant playing with Celestia. Then he saw Celestia sing him to sleep and finally Celestia praising him as he started to crawl for the first time. There were so many memories of him as a baby with Celestia.

Spike started to get a dreadful feeling, like something horrible was about to happen. That’s when the room showed him a what was going on outside side. He saw a battered and beaten Celestia being held by the neck and was about to be put down.

“N-no.” Spike said. “NO NO NO NO!”

Spike began to violently thrash around in the cage until he finally broke free. Looking up, Spike saw a small white portal appear. Seeing this as his chance to escape, Spike ran and leapt through it; entering another room where the Nightmare Demon was. Spike saw that he was about to attack and with all his strength and speed, ran up to the demon and tackled him to the ground. “DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER.!” he yelled.

“W-What!? How!?” the demon yelled in shock.

“LET HER GO!” Spike yelled as he punched the demon repeatedly; forcing it to let go of Celestia.

“Spike, w-wait.”

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” Spike grabbed the Nightmare Demon an threw him across the room. As it got up, it saw a giant boulder heading towards him at a fast pace; giving him no time to react. The boulder hit the demon so hard that he went through the wall and landed right in the middle of the Crystal Empire. Spike landed right next to the demon, and with one strong kick to the face, Spike launched it into a nearby building, however instead of crashing through it, the demon bounced off it and flew back towards Spike who hammered the demon into the ground creating a small crater.

“N-no, my connection to Spike is almost gone.” he thought. “T-this can’t be happening, I was so close.”

The Nightmare Demon looked up and saw Spike with lightening shooting from his body. “H-how? How are you this strong?”

“My dream, my rules.” Spike said then began to shoot bolts of lightning at the demon. His wails of pain echoed off nearby building. Spike didn’t let up on his attack either as he put even more force into it.

The Nightmare Demon’s body started to slowly disintegrate before his very eyes. “N-NO, SPIKE PLEASE......AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

****************************

Celestia slowly looked up into the sky and saw Spike holding his head and yelling in pain; black magical energy shooting from his eyes and mouth. “NO, NOT LIKE THIS, NOT LIKE THIS! I WAS SO CLOSE.......SO CLOSE! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Small cracks started to appear all over Spike’s body until it burst and was engulfed in a massive ball of light; much to the shock of Celestia. That shock soon turned to horror as she saw Spike, now back to normal, falling from the explosion. Before she could spread her wings to fly up and catch him, Spike was caught by Blueblood’s magic and was safely brought down to her.

“S-Spike.” she said as she picked him up in her hooves. “Is he.....is he?”

Spike slowly opened his mouth and the last bit of dark aura escaped through it. Acting quickly, Blueblood trapped it within a magical bubble, making sure that it didn’t escape to infect anypony else again.

Spike slowly opened his eyes and groaned. “W-what a weird dream.” he said.

Celestia held him close; rubbing her cheek against his with tears in her eyes. Spike was finally free of the Nightmare Demon.

Author's Note

That was a lot. Would have had this up sooner but we were dealing with massive flooding in my neighborhood. Water got in my house, nothing too bad though. :twilightsmile:

Anyway, next chapter is the final one so be prepared for that.......in about seven months to a year. :facehoof:

Chapter 12

Five days have passed since the fight with the Nightmare Demon and most of Canterlot had been repaired, thanks to the magic of the royal family. Celestia was in her bedroom watching over Spike as he slept; slowly caressing her hoof across his cheek. He’d been sleeping like this for five days now. Blueblood explained that since the Nightmare Demon has been inside of him, it’s going to take a while for his body to fully recover. Since then, Celestia has refused to leave Spike’s side.

Luna entered Celestia’s room through the balcony and approached her sister. “You shouldn’t worry sister, he’ll wake up soon.”

“How’s he doing in there?”

Luna giggled. “He’s fighting off an army of Pinkie Pies who’s trying to eat his ice cream house.”

Celestia smiled. “Is there any sign of the demon left?”

“None. He’s been completely removed from Spike’s body altogether.”

Celestia let out a sigh of relief. “By the way sister, Shining Armor and Cadence are on their way over, you should get ready and greet them.”

Celestia sighed. “You’re right, I should be getting ready, but what about Spike? Somepony should be here when we wakes up.”

“Leave that to me, now go.”

Celestia gave Spike one last peck on the cheek before leaving his side. She made it to the door before looking back at Luna. “Call me when he wakes up.”

Luna nodded as her sister walked out the door.

****************************

As Celestia was walking down the hallway, she came across Blueblood’s room. Thinking it’s about time to have words with her nephew, she knocked on the door; hoping for a response. A few seconds later, Blueblood answered the door; a bit surprised to see her.

“I’d thought you’d be in the throne room with Twilight and the others.” he said.

“I was on my way there, but I thought I’d have a word with you for a moment. May I come in?”

Blueblood opened the door and allowed Celestia to walk through. After closing it, Blueblood turned to his aunt who looked really nervous. “So, what do you want to talk about?”

Celestia took a deep breath and spoke up. “Blueblood, I....I....i’m sorry. I’m sorry for not being there for you when you needed me, for throwing you aside and acting as if you didn’t exist. This past week showed me that even though most ponies see me as this perfect being....i’m not. I do things that hurts the ones that are close to me, without even realizing it. First Luna, then Spike, and now you.” Tears started to form in Celestia’s eyes as she continued. “Blueblood, I....I want us to start over. I want us to become closer....as a family should be. You, me, Luna, Cadence, and Spike.”

Celestia walked up to her nephew and slowly put her hoof under his chin. “Please, let me make this right. I....I don’t want to lose another member of this family again.”

Blueblood looked at his aunt's face and couldn’t tell if her words had meaning to it or not. Did she really want this family to be closer than it was? Did she really want a chance to start over, if they could? Or was she being like most of the mares he’s dealt with; in which they were just saying things to him because they simply wanted something from him. Either way, Blueblood knew that the decision to believe her or not solely rest with him. Taking a deep sigh, Blueblood spoke up. “I’ve been lied to by so many ponies, so many times, for so long. I don’t even know if I can even believe what you’re saying.”

Celestia lowered her head. “I....I understand.”

She was about to leave, but Blueblood stopped her. “But....that doesn’t mean I can’t try to.”

Nothing else was said between the two. Celestia had pulled Blueblood into a powerful hug; tears streaming down her face. Neither of them knew how long it was going to take for them to be as close as a family can be, but at least this was a step in the right direction.

****************************

Later on that day, Shining Armor and Cadence arrived at Canterlot where they were greeted by Twilight and her friends. The group made it to the throne room where Celestia waited for them. It was there that she explained everything to Cadence and Shining Armor. How Spike felt neglected and almost gave into the darkness that had infected him. She told them about the battle they had with him and that he was asleep within her room with Luna.

Cadence became racked with guilt when Celestia informed her that on three separate occasions, she didn’t invite Spike to return to the Crystal Empire despite the fact that he helped save it. Twilight and the others felt equally guilty seeing as how they could have confronted Cadence and asked her why Spike wasn’t invited, but they didn’t. They kept their mouths closed and went on like nothing was wrong.

Cadence wanted to make this right. She needed to make this right, but didn’t know how to. She looked over at Shining Armor and saw that he had a guilt written look on his face as well. He and Spike weren’t really that close but that’s still no excuse. Not only was he was there when Spike helped save the Crystal Empire, but while he was training his team for the Equestria Games, he would often overhear the Crystal Ponies talking about a brave dragon that saved the Crystal Heart and wondered weather or not he would return. Like his sister and her friends, he could have said something but didn’t.

“Celestia...I.” Cadence started but Celestia stopped her.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

“Y-yes....you’re right.” Cadence said as she lowered her head.

“Now that you’re all here, there’s something else very important I need to discuss with you. While Luna, Spike, and myself were in Vanhoover, we were confronted by members of the Snow Clan.”

“W-WHAT!” Cadence said in shock. “B-but I thought they were banished years ago.”

“Who’s the Snow Clan?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“A group of earth snow pony ninjas that lived in the frozen south who at one point tried to overthrow Celestia and Luna and take Equestria for themselves. I can’t believe they’d return after all these years.”

Celestia nodded. “I couldn’t believe it either when we met them.”

“What do they want?” asked Shining Armor.

“I don’t know.” she answered. “All they said was: “The Snow Clan will rise again” so that could mean anything. Shining Armor, You and the royal guards will have to go through special training in order to keep up with the fighting style of the Snow Clan. Luna will brief you on everything she knows."

Shining Armor nodded.

“But until then, you and the soldiers have to be on guard at all times.” she explained. “There’s no telling if or when the Snow Clan will attack.”

“Right, I’ll inform the soldiers if the situation immediately.” Shining Armor said as he left the throne room. Celestia rose from her throne and looked over at Twilight and the others.

“That means you girls too.” she said. “If you see or hear anything suspicious let me know immediately.”

“Yes Princess!” all the girls said. Before anything else could be said, one of the royal maids entered the throne room and approached Celestia and the others; bowing her head as she prepared to address them.

“My princess, Princess Luna has sent me to inform you that the young dragon Spike, has awoken.”

As the maid looked up, she saw that Celestia and everypony else were gone; leaving her alone and a bit confused.

****************************

Celestia and the others entered her bedroom to witness Spike sitting up and eating a giant bowl of gem stones with Luna next to him with her wing around him. Looking up, Spike saw his friends and before anything could be said, Celestia pulled him into a giant hug; nuzzling her cheek against his. One by one the other girls did that same thing, leaving Spike a bit confused as to what was going on. Twilight was the last one of the group to embrace Spike; refusing to let him go, even for a second.

“Okay, this is happening.” he thought. “Not that I’m complaining or anything.”

“T-twi....”

“No Spike.” she said softly. “Don’t....don’t say anything.”

Celestia draped her wing around Spike just as Twilight released a few tears.

“Geez Twilight, I wasn’t gone that long.” Spike thought, unaware of the real reason Twilight and the others were so emotional.

****************************

In a land far away, there was a small village that was home to a group of earth ponies that was located at the foot of a giant volcano. However this wasn't just home to any group of earth ponies, the was the new home of the Snow Clan. Three of the Snow Clan ponies met with their leader on the outskirts of the village, awaiting their punishment for failing their mission.

“We’re sorry sir.” one of the ponies said. “We’ve failed. We lost the book.”

“No....you didn’t fail.” he said. “It went exactly how I’d hoped it would go.”

The three ponies had confused looks on their faces as their leader turned away from them. “Go now.” he said as he began walking into cave that brought him deep into the volcano. Inside, he met up with a dark figure that was hidden in the shadows.

“Celestia and the royal family have the book, but fear not, I have two scouts keeping tabs on them as we speak. It’s only a matter of time before they lead us right to what we’re looking for, Mistress Spectra.”

Glowing green eyes could be seen amidst the darkness and a dark terrifying laughter filled the volcano.

“The Dragon Empress will rise again!” he yelled, then joined in on the laughter.

End

Author's Note

Next Time: MLP Adventures vol. 2: The Journal

Yeah this was a short chapter and I think I may have rushed it a bit, but this the story is finally over.