Nothing Like Home

Chapter 3

                Spike awoke, flustered and unsure of where he was. It was dark and he ached all over, but he brushed it off, thinking it was all just a dream. A sharp pain in his back prevented him from rolling over.

“I must have fallen asleep in an awkward position”, he croaked. He yawned, followed by a devastating burn across his face. He squealed and raised his claws to rub his eyes. To his surprise, the claws passed straight into his skull. The pain made him flinch and quickly retract his claws. Twitching on the floor, Spike came to realization that it all truly happened and was not just a dream.

                “I’m glad you are awake.” A soft voice came from the other side of the room. It sounded sweet and innocent, such as Princess Celestia’s.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? By day I am just a dreadful little foal, but when night rolls by, I am a beautiful filly. For a Kageoni, you would think it would be the other way around right?” The now beautiful filly glared over Spike once more, shadows seeping over her mane. She licked the blood off of Spike’s cheek, humming a soothing tune. The shadows upon her mane thickened and wrapped around Spike’s body, encasing him in a sort of condensed cocoon.

“You are quite adorable, you know?”, she said winking at him. Spike writhed in the cocoon trying to break free, even though it caused him an immense amount of pain. “I think I will use you as a trophy, to show Father I am worth keeping around”, she cooed.

Spike started to shake uncontrollably against his will. His scales started to peel upwards and, one by one, fall off. As they hit the ground it created a soft beat, as if the scales were playing percussion to Spike’s demise. He was silenced by fog just as before, leaving the sweet sound of despair to seep through the house.

                When the last scale was plucked from Spike’s body, she released him, leaving him to flop on the floor like a fish out of water, scaleless and unable to stand. She took all of the scales and fashioned together large and sparkling wings. The shadows sealed the wings to the filly’s body and she spread them open to get a feel for them.

“They are so gorgeous, I think they look a little better on me than you. Don’t you think?” She laughed and picked Spike up with one of the specters. “But you look very good right now, don’t you, my young little dragon?” She looked deep into Spike’s eye sockets. She grinned and started caressing Spike’s pink body with her head. “Yes, you look very good. Delicious, perhaps.” Her grin grew, and a thick, blood-like liquid started pouring out of her mouth. It was a deep maroon, almost a bloody black. This liquid was followed by a series of cracking and popping noises. Her jaw unhinged itself and started extending towards the floor. A humming noise started to pierce the air; it shattered all of the windows and glass in the house. Spike’s ears started to drip a thin blood, probably the last he could spare. But at this point, it would not matter for where he was going. “You are going to be my pet from now, you delicious dragon, you.”

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