Chapter 3 Ripples of Failure

Celestia had made it back to Ponyville, and she had been at the front of Twilights Castle. She hesitated, knowing how dark her message was, and how it would devastate Twilight and cause Ember to want to stop living. Celestia felt the weight of her crown, as she stood at Twilights door. She remembered the faces of the ponies she watched die. Her crown had dictated that she could not mourn.

Celestia had to be strong, she could not show weakness, or her enemies would attack bringing further bloodshed. However the toll of the crown was a price, never paid. It would take and take, and she would have to pay the price, with each soul it took, with each sacrifice she made. Her immortality was a curse, her rule; a punishment. The faces of the lost would haunt her dreams. Were it not for Luna, she would go insane hearing their screams.

As she thought of it, she had cursed her student with the same fate. Twilight would have to watch her friends perish to times embrace. All that Twilight would have left, was her faithful assistant, and now she didn't even have that. She had Ember, but Celestia knew that dragons had a history of suicide if their mate died. Twilight would be alone like herself, they could not die, they could not take there own life, they had to pay for their immortality with a pile of corpses. Twilight would be alone forever.

Spike sat beside Silver Fang; who Spike had started to befriend. They were eating dinner, and had been talking about their dragonesses. Spike had described Ember in great detail, and Silver fang had described Saphira.

As the night moved on, the troops gradually filtered into their tents, and went to sleep. Soon Silver Fang and Spike went to there respective tents, and fell asleep also.

It was about midnight, the moon had been at its lowest, the night sky was pitch black, and the night was at its coolest temperature. The fire had gone out, leaving only hot coals in its place. Spike stirred sensing something was not right, it was eerily quiet.

Spike left his tent, and as he did, he looked around in the pitch black night. He extended his claws, sensing something was watching him. Spike jumped when he saw a deer walk into the light provided from the coals of the fire. He was relieved that it had not been an enemy, but as he turned around to go back to his tent, he was suddenly attacked by a fiend.

The fiend managed to hit him with its rusted blade, but the blade was too blunt to penetrate his thick scales. Spike fell to the floor with the sudden shock of being hit. He recovered from the sudden shock before tripping the fiend over. Spike had the advantage now, he used his razor sharp talons to stab the fiend in the chest, before splitting the fiend in two, killing it and turning it to dust. After he dispatched the first fiend, he noticed more were on approach.

“WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” Spike yelled.

As the guards awoke with a shock, they grabbed their weapons, and were instantly alerted to the ambush. The small contingent of 50 soldiers, had donned their armour and exited their tents. Silver Fang noticed that Spike was unarmed, and threw Spike his sword before he grabbed his glaiv. Spike caught the blade, and stood beside Silver Fang.

Celestia had finally got the courage up to enter the Castle. She entered the castle, and saw Twilight in the throne room, using magic with starlight glimmer on the map of Equestria. Celestia figured they were trying to fix it.

Twilight lost concentration on what she was doing, as she noticed that Spike had been missing, and her old mentor wore a somber expression.

“Where is Spike?" Twilight said in a worried tone, as Twilight said this, Ember heard her lovers name, and excitedly came running down the stair well.

“Spike your…” Ember started as she made it down to the throne room, before she stopped mid sentence, noticing the sad scene before her.

“Where is Spike?” Ember stated with a tone of sadness, and panic, holding back tears knowing what might of happened.

“No he… he cant be gone... he is… he is just in the library still… yeah that's all... He has to be.” Ember thought, clinging to false hope, as she waited for Celestia's reply.

“Ember, I'm sorry… but… but I have failed. Spike… Spike is dead.” Celestia stated grimly, falling apart as she said each word. Before she lost her composure and started to cry.

As Celestia said each word, Ember felt like she had been stabbed with a knife. Her heart had been shattering, and her world began to fall apart. She had been at a loss for words, she reached to her heart, and fell to her knees, before starting to cry with grief.

The room went silent, it felt like a bomb had been dropped. Twilight did not know what to say, she did not know what to do, she was at a loss for the first time in her life. Then she opened her mouth.

“He's… He's dead. How… How you were with him. Your the most powerful pony I know.” Twilight said with a mixture of pain and confrontation. Celestia looked up with bloodshot eyes, from the tears of sadness she had shed, before struggling to reply.

“There… There was a magical tome that was given to me to give to spike, and… and he was sucked into its' pages. I fought as hard as I could… but in the end... I was not strong enough to beat its ancient magic. I failed. I murdered Spike.” Celestia said, as she once again began to cry her heart out. Ember heard what Celestia said, and lashed out at her.

“YOU WERE TOO WEAK, YOU FAILED TO PROTECT HIM, AND NOW… NOW HE'S DEAD… I'M ALONE AND… AND I WONT EVER SEE HIM AGAIN…” Ember said with a mixture of sadness and rage towards Celestia. Ember sprinted up to her room in Twilights Castle. Twilight heard the door slam, and felt pity for her, she knew that Ember would be alone for the rest of her life; if she even chose to live it.

“Celestia, it was not your fault, you did everything you could to save him, though I will miss him. I have to be strong for Ember. I'll make him a suitable remembrance shrine, he will not be forgotten.” Twilight replied, hiding her sadness, attempting to remain strong, like her mentor taught her to.

Celestia saw through her deception, she knew that she was just trying to save face, she knew Twilight was hurting inside. Celestia had taught her protégé well, she was the perfect heir to the throne. She could defend Equestria in times of need, and she could be strong even in times of mourning.

Spike and Silver Fang stood side by side, as the army of fiends approached the camp. The fiends entered the camp, and the skirmish began. Silver Fang and Spike charged into the fray, taking several fiends on at once. Silver Fang swiped at the fiends legs in a large circle, knocking them down.

As they fell, Spike jumped over the glaiv, going into a roll, before rising again. Spike stabbed one in the chest while it was in mid air. He then tore his blade out of the fiends' side, then using the same motion to slice another in half. As the final fiend landed on the ground, Spike raised his sword high, and plunged his sword into the fiends' chest, killing it.

Meanwhile Iron Tail was watching Spike, he noticed that Spike had not used magic yet. Iron Tail started to let his paranoia get the better of him.

“Why was spike the first up, why was he the one who alerted us of an attack, how did the Black Dragon Order know we were asleep, and come to think of it I have never heard of the Blue Dragon Order before. Very suspicious. He has to be a spy, but I need to have proof to eradicate him.” Iron Tail thought suspiciously.

After the fray had ended, the dragons cleaned up their fallen comrades, and gave them a proper burial. After that was done, Iron Tail approached Spike, and inquired.

“You are an excellent fighter, I have not seen a dragon fight like that in a while. I must ask. Who trained you Spike?”

“Well back where I came from, there is an assassin of the royal guard known as Crimson Blade. He taught me everything I know. Why do you ask?” Spike replied.

Spike thought Iron Tail had been complementing his skills. However what Spike didn't realise, was that Iron Tail had inquired in an effort to find evidence proving that he was a spy for the Black Dragon Order.

“How interesting, I'll have to come to visit your home town, to meet this brilliant swordsman that taught you how to fight. I might even learn a trick or two.” Iron Tail said as he started putting the pieces together in his deluded mind.

Iron tail then thought to himself “Yet another false name. I will find you guilty of being a spy young Spike, if that's actually your name. I wont let you kill my soldiers.”

Author's Note

I have proofread this chapter 4 - 5 times, but I'm not perfect. So if you find any errors please don't hesitate to tell me.