Chapters The Elements of Harmony and Spike were in the kitchen of the Canterlot castle as the mares counted out how many gems Spike was putting in his mouth. And it was up to thirty-five at this point given how big Spike's mouth was now. In fact, the Dragon Warrior had quite the growth spurt in the last three years. It certainly surprised the girls when they had learned he was actually fifteen-years-old when he was chosen as the Dragon Warrior. Now that he had recently turned eighteen he was tall as a full grown stallion, his spines were edgier, and he had a longer tail.
They kept counting until Spike said when a full mouth, "Thirty-eight gems!"
They cheered for him until Pinkie said, "Now do forty!"
Rainbow exclaimed, "He'll never be able to reach forty!"
"Wanna bet?" he mumbled out and took out a sapphire and emerald from the gem bowl in front of him.
Rarity said, "Now, be careful, Spikey, the last thing we need is for you to choke."
Applejack nudged her, "Aw, relax Rarity, this is the Dragon Warrior we're talkin' about, he can do this."
"Thanks AJ." he incoherent said.
A small blush crept on her face but luckily everyone was too busy to notice.
Spike held the gems to his face and put them in his mouth, for a moment he was having trouble closing his jaws making the girls anxious until he managed to close it together.
They cheered on with Rainbow saying, "Wow! That was so awesome!"
Pinkie bounced around, "I know, right?! And it's a good thing we were all here to see it, especially since Applejack will be leaving soon!"
Spike's eyes widen from hearing that and spitted out his gems in shock, shouting, "What?!"
Applejack groaned and smacked her forehead, "Pinkie! I was going to tell everypony at dinner tonight!"
The pink pony blushed in embarrassment, "Oops, sorry… it just slipped out."
Spike inquired, "You're leaving? Why?"
Applejack sighed and took off her hat as she faced her friends, "You all know how I was planning on goin' back to Sweet Apple Acres someday? Well, I think that time is now… It's been three years since Spike became the Dragon Warrior and during that time, Equestria has become more peaceful to the point where I don't think I need to stay here anymore."
Rarity smiled, "You absolutely right, darling!"
Spike was surprised to hear that and asked, "She is?"
The unicorn replied, "Well, of course! After all, we did agree to help Twilight protect Equestria until we knew for sure that things had settled down and that there was no need for us to stay any longer."
The other girls agreed.
Rainbow declared, "Yeah! Before I met you guys, I was set on becoming a Wonderbolt!"
Fluttershy added, "And I was going to join the Preservation Society of Rare Creatures before being asked to join The Elements of Harmony."
"I was going to open my own party store before Celestia found me!" Pinkie beamed.
Spike gawked at the girls' confessions; he had been so sure that he was going to battle alongside his heroes for a very long time but now… if the girls want to go their separate ways… He didn't know what to make of it. On one hand, he wanted the girls to be happy and to follow their own path but on the other hand, he was afraid of losing their friendship should they lose contact with each other… He had been their biggest fan ever since they created the group but more that they were the first friends he ever had. What was it going to mean for him when they leave him?
"Spike? You okay?" Applejack asked, looking on in concern since the dragon had a strange look on his face.
"Yeah, it's just… I didn't think you guys leaving would be this soon… I've only been here for three years but you guys are my best friends and I don't want to see you go…"
Rarity touched her heart in awe, "Oh, Spikey…"
Dash proclaimed, "Hey, we'll always be friends even if some of us will be halfway across Equestria!"
Applejack shook her head, "That won't be the case with me." she told him, "Spike, you can come visit me in Ponyville any time you like. You know it's not that far from Canterlot so it'll be like I never left."
He sighed, "It won't be the same… I like how we all get up at the same time, eating meals together, training together, and having fun together!"
Applejack sighed this time, "I know it won't be the same… I like doing all that with y'all too. But I can't stay here forever, my family needs me, the farm needs me…"
He countered, "Well we need you too! You're an important member of this team! You're strong, level-headed, and dedicated to the cause! We'd be lost without you!"
"That's mighty kind of ya, Spike, but there's no point in me staying if there's no reason to!"
"Of course there's a reason!"
"Well then tell me what it is!"
He found himself stammering, "Er… um…" then he quickly said, "I just remembered I got to meet Twilight! Bye!" he ran out of the room.
Applejack seemed to gave off a disappointed glance, then told the girls, "I'm gonna go start packing." and she left too leaving the girls in utter bewilderment.
Rarity commented, "That was… certainly strange…"
Rainbow pointed, "Yeah, it was like we weren't even there for a moment!"
Pinkie said, "That's right! It felt like the conversation was just between them!"
Fluttershy voiced, "I wonder why that was…"
Rarity mentioned, "It was almost as if…" she chuckled, "But that's impossible…"
Dash inquired, "What?"
Rarity pointed, "Well, this is completely out of blue but it was almost as if the two of them were having a lovers' quarrel…" she paused letting the information sink in.
There was silence before Rainbow started to snigger and all four of them began to laugh.
Rainbow Dash gestured while wiping a tear away, "Applejack and Spike in love ? Yeah, right!"
Fluttershy tittered, "Oh, I don't think it would be so bad, I think they would make a cute couple…"
Rarity said, "Be that as it may, Applejack will be leaving soon so whatever is going on between them won't last long anyway and actually, Applejack has the right idea of us starting to live our lives once again now that peace has overcome Equestria."
"Yeah! I've been dying to join the Wonderbolts ever since I was filly! I want to see if I can get in now, what with me being a big shot hero!" the rainbow-haired mare gave smug look.
The others playfully rolled their eyes and started going over their plans for the future.
Spike held his head while leaning over the table. He was watching Twilight shelf the books in the library after he told her of his troubles of Applejack leaving and that soon the rest of the girls would be doing the same.
Twilight looked at him, "Spike, as much as I want the girls to stay too, they were living other lives before I met them… I can't force them stay if they feel they don't need to…"
"I know… but… they're the first friends I ever had, Twilight, and that includes you… What would happen to me if they all left?"
"You're the Dragon Warrior, Spike. You'll still be able to protect Equestria even without the Elements of Harmony to back you up."
"You sure about that? Because ever since I saw their first battle with that Bugbear, I had dreams of fighting by their side and being a hero with them."
"Hmm…" Twilight pondered on that and said, "That certainly makes sense you would feel attachment like that if they were the reason you became the Dragon Warrior in the first place."
"I just don't know what I'd do without them…"
"Then maybe it's time to look for a new thing… Like the girls, they want to do something different now that we've been living peacefully these past months. Isn't there something that you've been wanting to do aside wanting to be a hero with the girls?"
Spike thought about it. He then realized that there was something he did want, something he had been wanting to know for a long time… He got up with a determined look. "Yes. There is…" he ran out of the room before Twilight could ask what it was.
Spike made it to his father's joke shop. Over the last three years, Spike had introduced the girls to his dad only for them to discover the truth about Discord much to their shock. But once they had learned that Discord was not villainous anymore and was now just a big trickster; they were fine with him being himself around them and even helped the ponies of Canterlot to be used to his true form.
So now Discord's joke shop was bigger than ever with him using his magic to make magical pranks and trinkets that sold like hot cakes. The draconequus was in the middle of a big sale when his son came into the store and everypony started applauding.
"And there's the dragon of the hour!" Discord exclaimed and popped by his son's side and patted his back, "I haven't seen you in awhile, kiddo, what have you been up to?"
"Well, um-"
"Ah, don't tell me! You got a girlfriend now, right?" he winked.
Spike blushed in embarrassment, "No! Dad, that is not…"
Discord frowned, "Oh, poo… I thought after your eighteenth birthday you would finally start dating one of those Elements, what with you being so close to them…"
Spike kept blushing, "Dad… they're just my friends…" then he turned serious, "Though… I don't know if we'll be friends much longer…"
Discord's brow lifted in confusion.
Spike requested, "Can we talk? In private?"
"But of course! You go in the kitchen while I make sure the customers are busy." he addressed the ponies, "In honor of my son, free goodies for everyone!" they started cheering until he added, "but with purchases." That made them groan, then with a smile on his face, Discord joined Spike in their apartment kitchen. "So, son, what did you want to talk about?" he sat at the table giving his son his full attention.
Spike took a deep breath, "Well, for starters, Applejack is going back to her home in Ponyville now and the rest of girls are thinking about doing their own thing now too… And if that is the case, then… I need to do something that's going to occupy my time to help fill the void of them not being here…"
Discord touched his heart in awe, "And you want to come back to work in the shop?! Oh, I'm so flattered, son! Of course you can come back! Frankly, things weren't the same without you here…"
Spike waved his hands, "No! Dad! That's not what I meant!"
The draconequus' smile faltered, "Oh… so, what are you planning to do then…?"
Spike took another deep breath, knowing this would be a big thing to say, he slowly started, "Dad… I want to find my birth parents…"
Discord's jaw dropped to the floor, literally. Spike kept quiet as he let Discord processed what he just said. Until the draconequus began to nervously chuckle and stammered out, "What makes you think you're adopted?!"
Spike gave him a look and deadpanned, "Seriously, Dad? It's not that hard to figure out…"
"Well don't forget, I am part dragon!" he showed off his dragon leg.
Spike rolled his eyes, "Well then why don't I have any of your powers? Or why am I a whole dragon while you're only part?"
Discord kept nervously chuckling, "What fun is there to make sense? Your genetics just went wacky on you!"
"Fine then, you wouldn't mind telling me who my mother is, would you?" the dragon stared him down.
Discord stiffened and was at loss for words, "Oh… um… I…"
Spike continued, "You never talk about her, so something must have happen between you two and why you had to raise me alone, so where can I find her?"
Discord kept on stammering to the point he grew frustrated and ended up shouting, "Okay, fine! You are adopted! Happy now?!"
"Not really… mainly because, why would you keep it a secret for so long? Why would you try to make me believe I'm your son when I'm not…?"
"You may not be my real son, but I had to raise you for eighteen long years and that makes me qualified as any other father in more ways than one."
"Okay, I'll give you that, but I still want to know where I came from… Can you at least tell me that?"
"Well… that's the trouble, son, I can't, because even I don't know where you came from."
Spike's eyes widen in shock.
Discord started, "Let me tell you the whole story…"
Discord was setting up for another day in the shop as he sighed in boredom.
"Oh, goody… another day selling second-rate pranks to a bunch of whiny brats… I swear, why anyone has kids is beyond me…"
Suddenly, there came a knock on the door and he shouted out, "We're closed! Come back in an hour!" there was a pause before the knock happened again and he growled while getting to the door, "I told you to come back-" he stopped when there was no one there but when he looked down he saw a basket with a purple egg that had dark purple spots in it.
He picked up the egg and examined it, "Hmm… how very odd… Someone has left me a dragon's egg. The question is why…?" he looked around and saw no pony else anywhere and put the egg back in its basket and stated, "Well, someone is going to have to come back for it because I'm certainly not going to take care of it…"
Suddenly, out of nowhere a beam of light shot at the egg and it broke apart revealing a tiny baby dragon yawning then it began to suck its tail. Discord was beside himself by the sudden development and grumbled as he picked up the dragon.
"Fine, I'll bring you inside for today, but tomorrow, you're going straight to the orphanage."
The baby cooed and reached for his beard to play with it.
"Hey, hey! Claws off the beard!"
Tears welled in the baby's eyes and he started to wail. That made Discord winced at the sound. "Okay, okay, okay! Calm down!" he quickly rocked the babe but he ended up rocking him too much as it caused the dragon to burp a large amount of fire making Discord's face charcoaled. The baby giggled.
Discord eyed him for a bit before he slowly smirked. "Uh, well, aren't you the little scamp…?"
The baby cooed as if he agreed with him.
For the rest of the day, Discord decided to keep the shop closed so he could tend to the baby dragon that came at his doorstep. He soon began to see how chaotic the child was and needless to say being the spirit of chaos and disharmony he was growing attached to the tiny thing. His magic was able to take care of the dragon while he was busy or when night came, sleeping.
By the time the next day came, he was in the kitchen feeding the baby his bottle. But when those cute little green eyes stared at him, the draconequus made a decision that would impact him for the rest of his life. And he told the baby as such.
"You know, kiddo, it's a dull and unchaotic world out there… Full of boring ponies who rather suck the fun out of everything… So how about you stick with me and I'll show you how to have excitement and hilarity?"
The baby giggled.
"Now you're talking! See? So from now on, just call me Daddy!"
The dragon let out an excited squeal.
"Now, we just need to give you a name… Hm… Spike seems fitting, don't you think? It's both cool and fierce!"
The baby clapped its hands.
"Spike it is then!" he tickled his new son's belly making Spike giggle. "My little dragon…" he said in baby-talk, "Oh, we are going to have so much fun together! Just you and me!"
Baby Spike kept on giggling.
Adult Spike sat across the kitchen table in utter amazement as Discord finished up his story.
"And so we did, up until you became the Dragon Warrior of course…" he made a sniffle and turned away, holding his paw to his face.
Spike gaped, "Dad…? Are you crying?"
"Of course not! I just got something in my eye, that's all!" but the sniffling said otherwise and when he was done, he faced the grown dragon.
Spike inquired, "So that's it? You just found me outside the shop?"
Discord nodded, "That's right." he summoned a coffee mug feeling the need to drink something strong after telling such an emotional story.
"But-but… that can't be it! There's got to be more!"
"Well, there was the time you ate my priceless gem vase that was imported from Maretonia…" he sighed, "Look, son, your story may have a weird beginning but look at all you've done since then! You're the Dragon Warrior for goodness sakes!"
"But that still doesn't explain where I came from or who am I… And I have to know…" he got up from his seat and went to Discord giving him a quick hug, "Thank you for telling me this…" he went out of room.
The Crystal Empire gleamed in the bright sunlight. The crystal ponies went about their day feeling happy and prosperous. And none was happier about this than the rulers of this fair kingdom as they watched their subjects from a single balcony overlooking the entire city.
Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, and their five-year-old daughter, Princess Flurry Heart smiled at the sight before them.
Cadence spoke, "The Crystal Faire is almost upon us and we'll have to start planning soon."
"Ooh! Can we get a Ferris wheel again like last year?!" Flurry asked in excitement.
Shining chuckled, "We'll see… Your mother has big plans for this year so we may not have room for it."
Cadence rolled her eyes playfully, "Har-har…" and nuzzled her husband's head.
Flurry smiled at her parents' affection for each other and figured life couldn't be better than this but when she looked to the horizon a black cloud grew closer to the Empire.
Her parents saw the cloud as well and squinted at it. Shining voiced, "Odd, the weather ponies said nothing about a storm today…"
But when the cloud got closer it started to make weird shapes and soon the older royals realized that it wasn't a cloud at all…
Cadence shouted, "Flurry, get inside! Now!"
The young alicorn was confused, "But why, Mommy?"
Shining gravely said, "The Empire is under siege by the Changelings…"
"Changelings? What are Changelings?"
"I hope you'll never find out… Now go inside, quick!" Cadence ordered.
Flurry did as her mother said and ran back into the castle but she didn't go far as she hid behind some couches so she could overhear what was going on from the balcony.
Below the castle, everyone was panicking from the siege and ran for cover. Shining Armor and Cadence wished they could ease their ponies' fright but even they weren't sure what was going to happen with this incursion.
"Stay close, Cady." Shining told her.
"I'm not going to get replaced again, Shiny…"
"I'm not going to take that chance."
A nasty voice filled the air, "Aw, I see you're still that sweet sickening couple I met seven years ago, during a certain wedding…"
They looked up to see the Queen of the Changelings herself, smirking away.
"Chrysalis!" Cadence hissed.
"Hello, Princess… I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd invade…" she turned to Shining and pucker up her lips, "How about a kiss for your old fiancée?"
Shiny huffed, "Hey! You took my real fiancée's place and hypnotized me so I wouldn't be able to do anything to stop you!"
"And it nearly worked too, had a certain meddling little sister not get in the way…"
"Twily saw right through you from the beginning!"
Cadence added, "And it was your own folly for having her find me so we could stop you in time!"
"A mistake I shall soon remedy. Once I take this kingdom, I will start my plans to conquer all of Equestria!"
The alicorn spat, "You are no match for our love, Chrysalis, and the Crystal Heart will help with that!"
The queen gave a smug look, "Ah, but legend tells that the Crystal Heart must be powered by the crystal ponies to renew the spirit of love and unity…" she looked down, "And judging how my subjects are tormenting yours, I don't think they'll be up to renewing anything…"
The prince and princess looked on in horror. The changeling spoke the truth. Without the Heart being renewed in time for the Crystal Faire, the Heart would grow weak and powerless…
The bug queen still looking smug said, "But… I will make you a deal… if you surrender your kingdom to me now, I will let your ponies do whatever makes them happy enough to power the Heart once and in awhile so that it doesn't grow weak…"
Cadence and Shining exchanged looks. As much as they wanted to fight, there were just too many Changelings to fight off especially if those Changelings can change into different things including ponies so it would be too tricky to know who was who. It was a risk they could not take at this moment. Chrysalis had them right where she wanted them…
They lowered their heads with them both saying, "We surrender…"
Flurry could not believe what she heard. Her parents had always been fighters they had completely surrendered even though they hadn't been under siege for ten minutes!
The queen smirked, "I knew you would see it my way…" she ordered two Changeling guards next to her, "Thorax! Pupa! Take these prisoners to the dungeons until I think of the appropriate method of dealing with them…" she grinned evilly at the royals.
They scowled at her as they were forcibly taken inside by the changelings. Flurry kept herself hidden as she watched her parents being dragged away. But the guard, Thorax suddenly stopped.
Pupa inquired, "What is it?"
Thorax said, "I thought I sensed a great amount of love in the room…"
Pupa pointed to their captives, "You're probably just too close to these two, after all it was their-ugh-love that defeated us in the first place…"
Thorax unsteadily said, "Yeah… maybe that's it…" they kept on going not realizing they were being carefully followed by a small alicorn princess.
Cadence and Shining Armor sat in their cell with gloomy expressions on their faces until they heard a psst sound and turned to see their daughter outside their bars.
"Mom, Dad…" she whispered.
"Flurry!" they quietly shouted.
Cadence sighed in relief, "Thank goodness you're safe…"
Shining said seriously, "But she won't be for long if she stays here…"
Cady nodded, "Right…" she said to her daughter, "Flurry, honey, you have to get out of here… Get to Canterlot, warn your Aunt Twilight."
"I don't want to leave you guys!"
Shiny said sternly, "You have to… All of Equestria is in danger. Your aunt, the Elements of Harmony, and the Dragon Warrior have to know…"
"Can we count on you, sweetheart?" Cadence pleaded.
Flurry gave a look that seemed to resemble her aunt's determination. As she stated, "Yes! I won't let you down!" she blew a kiss to her parents and ran out of the dungeon, being careful of the changeling guards around. She was so close to getting out of the castle when she accidently bumped into a changeling and the two of them gave out a yell alerting some of changelings nearby.
Flurry knew then she had to use her wings and flew out of castle.
Thorax, the one who bumped into her asked Pupa as they saw the princess flying away.
"Should we alert the queen?"
"Are you crazy?! If we let it slip that another princess was in the castle this whole time, she would punish us greatly! No, we go after her ourselves!" he buzzed on, leading the charge with Thorax behind him and about five other changelings.
Author's Note
Okay, so the casting of the Kung Fu masters isn't really base on personality but rather for story purposes. As such Shining Armor and Cadence are assuming Master Ox and Master Croc's roles in this while Flurry is going to be a new element that will be needed in this story.
When it was nearly time for Celestia to set the sun, Spike had finished telling Twilight what he had learned from his Dad when they were in the library once more.
"So Discord just found your egg and then you just hatched all of sudden in front of him, and because of that he took you in?" she inquired being fascinated by the whole thing.
"Right, but it still doesn't explain how I got there in the first place."
"It certainly is mysterious as to why that is…" Twilight rubbed her chin. "Maybe… I can look around and check with ponies if they ever had lost a dragon egg… It'd be worth looking into…"
Spike smiled, "That'd be great!"
Suddenly, Applejack burst in, shouting, "Spike! Twilight! We got trouble! Some pony spotted changelings approaching Canterlot!"
"On it!" he declared as both he and the alicorn ran out with Applejack.
Twilight started flapping her wings, "I'll go on ahead to see what the scuffle is like, you two make sure everyone else is coming and agree on a code word in case the changelings start to impersonate either one of you."
Applejack quickly asked, "What will your code word be then?"
"Books! Of course!"
Spike muttered, "Of course…"
Twilight teleported away as the pony and dragon kept on running.
He brought up, "Well I guess this means you'll have to stay after all!"
She retorted, "I'm still goin' back home, Spike! I'll stay long enough to deal with this Changeling threat but once it's over, I'm leaving!"
"But what if it's not enough?! We need you, Applejack!"
"Sure it's not 'I need ya'?!"
He furrowed his brow, "What does that mean?!"
She felt herself going hot, "Um… er…" she shook her head and shouted, "Never mind! Come on, we need to get to stopping whatever those changelings are doing here!" she ran on ahead so he couldn't question her further.
Flurry was getting tired of flying and trying to shoot beams at the changelings behind her.
Pupa called out, "Surrender, girl!"
"Never! You took my mommy and daddy but you won't take me!"
The changelings started to shoot at her and Flurry was dodging the best she could but exhaustion was getting the better of her. Then in a flash of pink an alicorn showed up and blasted at the changelings.
Flurry exclaimed happily, "Aunt Twilight!"
Twilight inquired, "Flurry, sweetie, are you okay?!"
"Yeah, but I'm too pooped to fight them off any longer…"
"Get to the ground and take cover, the others will be here shortly."
A joint yell sounded off then and Twilight and Flurry saw the Elements and the Dragon Warrior coming.
The changelings also saw them and Thorax questioned to Pupa, "Is that… a dragon?!"
Pupa scowled, "It can't be!"
Thorax kept asking, "Wasn't the zebra's prophecy that a dragon living among ponies would be the queen's downfall?"
Pupa told him, "Then we better do something about him or else the queen will be furious and I don't need to tell you what she'll do…"
Thorax shivered and shook his head.
Flurry had landed on the ground and ducked in an alley as she watch the fight commence between the changelings, her aunt, the Elements, and the Dragon Warrior. The five changelings changed appearance to look like Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Twilight. Pupa and Thorax didn't bother changing as their main focus was on Spike. Applejack stood by his side as she barred her teeth at the two bug ponies.
Pupa said to Thorax, "You take the tough-looking pony while I take the dragon…"
Thorax gulped, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
But Pupa didn't listen as he charged at Spike, the dragon blew his fire but the changeling dodged it and shot his green beams at him. Applejack tried to help but Thorax jumped her and they struggled with each other. Pupa and Spike kept up with their fight until Pupa managed to get the upper hoof and punched the dragon square in the jaw making Spike grow dizzy and he slowly fell into darkness, making him fall to the ground.
"Spike!" Applejack cried out. She threw Thorax off her back and charged at Pupa and fought with him before she was able to rope him in and saw the other girls had been able to defeat their changelings. Thorax knew he had to get out of here before they realized he was still free and buzzed away.
Twilight commented, "Good work, everyone."
Applejack rushed to Spike's side and gently shook him, "Spike! Spike! Wake up!" she patted his cheeks and the dragon slowly woke.
In his eyes he saw a beautiful figure standing in the sunlight and a sense of déjà vu came to him. Then when getting a closer look he realized it was Applejack standing in there and he could remember he first met her like this when he thought he had crashed to the ground during the choosing of the Dragon Warrior and he looked up to see her thinking she was in angel. Of course now that he thought about it she was an angel in her own way. Kind, caring, helpful, friendly, and even though she had a tough manner, she was also gentle.
"You okay, sugar cube?" Applejack inquired in concern, "From the way you were staring off like that, I reckon' you're still a bit dazed from that punch that no good lowdown varmint gave ya…"
"Huh? Oh!" he didn't realize he was staring for so long at her and sat up, "I'm fine, a bit sore, but I'm okay."
"You're sure?" she asked.
"Yes…" he assured her, making her lock gazes with him.
Twilight and the girls saw the exchange between the two and the lavender alicorn looked at the mares in confusion as they merely shrugged. But their thoughts were soon turn by Flurry Heart coming out of her hiding place and she shouted in excitement.
"That was so cool! And awesome!"
Rainbow gave a smug look, "It was, wasn't it?"
The girls rolled their eyes as Twilight questioned, "Now Flurry, now that you're safe, can you tell us why those changelings were after you?"
Flurry's eyes went sad as she blubbered out, "The Changelings overtook the Crystal Empire! Mommy and Daddy were taken to prison!"
The group gasped.
Spike exclaimed, "No!"
Twilight yelled, "Cadence! Shining Armor!"
"They told me to warn you!" she started crying, "But I don't know if I'll ever see them again!"
As she wept, Twilight wrapped her wings around her niece as she tried to calm her, "It's okay… we're going to get them back and the Empire…" she looked at the girls and Spike as they nodded.
In moments, they were back at the castle and Twilight started to make a plan. Flurry was resting from her long flight while the royal sisters had been made aware of Chrysalis's takeover of the Crystal Empire. Now they were all gathered in the throne room as Twilight explained her plan.
"We can't risk a full assault while she holds Cadence and Shining Armor hostage, and since Celestia, Luna, and I can't step into the kingdom without being recognized by the changelings, it'll have to be up to you," pointing to Spike and the girls, "to sneak into the Crystal Empire, find Shining Armor and Cadence and get them out. Once you do that, send us a message so we can begin the attack to get the Empire back. Are there any questions?"
When there were none, Twilight stated, "Then take the next train to the Crystal Empire, we haven't a moment to lose…"
There were random agreements and hugs goodbye as the Elements and their Dragon Warrior set out.
They were about to leave Canterlot when Discord popped up and called out, "Oh, son, wait! I got a travel pack for you!"
Spike questioned, "How did you know that…?"
"I sensed it! Besides, I couldn't let my son go to the Crystal Empire for who knows how long without snacks and your action figures!" he took out the Applejack and Rainbow Dash figures.
Spike blushed in embarrassment as the girls marveled at the craftsmanship.
Rarity inquired, "Spikey! Did you make these?!"
Rainbow took her action figure, "You totally got my likeness! Awesome!"
Fluttershy asked, "Why didn't you tell us about these?"
Spike confessed as he twiddled his fingers, "It was before I met you guys, and well, you were my heroes so… I made action figures of all of you…"
"Cool!" Pinkie bounced.
"You don't mind?" he asked.
"Heck, no!" expressed Applejack, "I think it's really amazing what you made."
He slightly blushed, "Thanks…"
Discord put the figures back in the pack and magically put it on his son's back. With him saying, "Now be careful, son."
Spike rolled his eyes, "Of course, Dad…"
"And also wash behind your ears, brush your fangs twice a day, look both ways before crossing the street, don't go swimming for an hour after you eat…"
Spike smacked his forehead, "Dad! I'm not a kid anymore!"
"Well can I help it that you were my kid for eighteen whole years?!" but when seeing Spike have a sad look on his face caused the draconequus to be concern, "Right?"
"I… I got to go…" the dragon moved on.
"Awk-ward…" Pinkie muttered out.
Rarity cleared her throat, "Yes, we must press on… Good day, Mr. Discord." she, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy followed after Spike.
Applejack looked at the forlorn draconequus and said, "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll come around…"
"Hm… one would hope so…" then he turned his head to her with a slight smirk, "You know… as long as you're still here, I've meaning been ask you something these past three years."
"Yeah?" she raised her brow.
"Just what are your intentions toward my son?" his smirk grew.
Her mouth dropped and she sputtered, "I… I don't know what you mean!"
"Oh, come now, Applejack, I've been watching you and the others real close like and I always notice you give my son these longing looks…"
Sweat slightly dipped from her face as she stammered, "It's nothing! Nothing at all! Now you excuse me, I got to go!" she ran to catch up with the others.
Discord shook his head in amusement before he took out a picture of him and a baby Spike in his arms, causing him to sigh sadly while pressing the photo to his forehead.
The train chugged on into the night. The girls and Spike were sleeping in the bunk car. But the dragon was fidgeting in his sleep as a nightmare overwhelmed him.
Spike found himself in the middle of a forest where he saw two figures walking away, they looked like dragons!
He called out, "Mom? Dad?! Is that you?!" he ran to them.
The figures turned and Spike could see they resembled him greatly, with the male being a masculine version of him and the female looked just like him but with lipstick and eyelashes.
The male said, "Oh, hey, son…"
The female said, "Honey, what are you doing here?"
Spike replied, "I came looking for you guys!"
The female dragon said nonchalantly, "Oh, we decided we didn't want you…"
Tears welled in Spike's eyes, "But-but… I'm your son…"
The male dragon scoffed, "If you were a real dragon, that changeling wouldn't have beaten you in battle today!"
"But I am a real dragon!"
The two dragons laughed nastily at him.
He kept repeating, "I am a real dragon! I am a real dragon! I am a real dragon!"
He muttered in his sleep while tossing and turning, "I am a real dragon… I am a real dragon…" he woke up with a startle. He looked around to see he was still on the train heading toward the Crystal Empire. He groaned as he got up knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep after that dream. As he shuffled passed the girls, Applejack found herself awake just in time to see the dragon going into the next car.
Spike slumped and sighed into a seat while looking out the window to see parts of Equestria going by. All the while Luna's moon and stars shone bright in the sky. If he had not just gotten that bad dream he could enjoy the scenery better.
"Spike?" a voice softly called out.
He turned to see Applejack standing there without her hat, and when a moonbeam hit her, he found himself gapping at what a vision she was. But he quickly shook out of it and asked her, "What are you doing up?"
"The better question would be, what are you doing up?" she slowly approached him.
"I was… thinking of our plan to getting Cadence and Shining Armor out."
"And?"
"And what?"
"And what else are you thinking of? I've known you for three years now, Spike. I can tell when somethin' is buggin' ya…"
He sighed and laid his head back on the seat, "I just found out my dad really isn't my dad…"
She gave a weary look, "Your dad… the draconequus?"
He nodded.
She deadpanned, "That must have been quite a shock…"
He slightly chuckled, "You just love to state the obvious, don't you?"
She merely shrugged, "I call it like I see it."
A small smirk crept on his lips, "Well, you're right to call it out, because honestly I knew for a very long time he wasn't my true dad. Sure he raised me but I always wanted to know what my real parents were like…"
She nodded in understanding, "I get that…"
"What were your parents like?"
Applejack was a bit taken back by the question but when seeing how much distress Spike was in, she answered honestly, "I knew them for a brief time. I was just a young filly when they…" tears started escaping her eyes. To her surprise she felt someone wiping away her tears; she turned to see two gentle green draconic eyes staring at her.
He softly said, "I'm sorry…" still keeping his hand close to her face.
"It's alright…" she pointed to the window closest to them, "Sometimes when I see two shooting stars out my bedroom window, I like to think it's them watching me and the rest of the family…"
"Do you think that's what happened to my parents?" he asked, "They became stars to watch over me?"
"Hard to say, sugar cube… But it sure would be wonderful if that was true…"
"Did you know much about them? Your parents?"
"I'd like to think so… but there are still some things I wish I could talk to them about… I even dream of them sometimes… Like I'm a baby again and I'm in their arms feeling safe and sound…"
"You definitely have better dreams of your parents…"
"Did you have a dream of your parents just now?"
"Somewhat… I saw what I picture of them as and… they told me they didn't want me…"
"Oh, Spike…" she touched his claw that was still touching her cheek.
And there it was. That warm fuzzy feeling that Spike thought had been gone over the last three years. But now it was back and much stronger than before. If Applejack felt it too she gave no sign as she looked at him with sad eyes.
"I'm so sorry… No pony or dragon should hear that from their parents, dream or not…"
His eyes widen from her tender words and found himself getting closer to her. Applejack moved closer too with their faces almost touching. Their lips were just inches apart when suddenly a small excited alicorn princess popped between them, squealing.
"Are you guys going to kiss?!"
The two yelled in surprise and Applejack said, "Flurry! What in tarnation are ya doin' here?! You suppose to be back in Canterlot!"
"I want to help save my mommy and daddy!"
Spike shook his head, "It's too dangerous for you."
"But I know where they are!"
They exchanged a look and a sigh then Applejack started goin' back to the other car, "I'll go wake up the gals and tell 'em that we got a new recruit."
Once the girls were all awake and learned about Flurry stowing away, Rarity addressed the princess.
"Really, Flurry, I admire you trying to save your parents but this is not a mission for young fillies!"
Fluttershy fretted, "Yes! It's much too risky for you to be here with us!"
"But I can help! I know every inch of the Empire and I know where my mommy and daddy are kept!"
Spike said, "She does have a point."
Applejack motioned, "Bottom line, we could use her expertise when we're trying to sneak around the kingdom."
Rainbow gestured, "You stick close to me, kid, and I'll make sure no changeling comes near you!"
Flurry smiled, "Okay, Rainbow Dash."
Applejack proclaimed, "Then it's settled once the train stops at the station, Flurry can quickly lead us to the castle. Then from there we get Shining Armor and Cadence out and message Twilight to take back the Empire. It's foolproof."
They agreed but Pinkie pointed out.
"But… what would happen if the Changelings were expecting us and we end up getting caught and Queenie had this whole other plan we didn't know about and it causes us to think of a contingency plan. Only that plan goes wrong and we had to rely on some unexpected force to rescue us all?!"
The group looked her like she was crazy but of course this was Pinkie Pie so…
Rainbow said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen."
Pinkie shrugged, "Just thought I'd asked."
The others either shook their heads or roll their eyes.
When the morning sun shone bright in the sky, Chrysalis took a seat on Cadence's throne.
"Ah… revenge is sweet…"
A changeling next to her inquired, "Pardon me my queen but I thought you wanted to make the prince and princess suffer? Locking them up seems kind-of anti-climatic…"
"Oh, don't worry… I have big plans for them… But I need to make sure those plans don't get undone in the meantime… Speaking of…" she turned to the zebra in the room, "What is my future like at this point, Zecora?"
The zebra held an herbal bowl to her face, "If you continue your current path with pompous air, you'll find yourself… at the bottom of the stairs."
Chrysalis could see she had indeed walked down from the throne as Zecora was talking. The head changeling scowled, "You're trying my patience…"
"I see, Changeling Queen…pain and anger often unseen."
"You're just telling me things that happening-"
"Now? The most important time is now…but if you really want to see the future, this is how…" She threw a powder in the bowl and smoke arose, making pictures. "A dragon living among ponies can defeat the queen with ease. He will use a special power that the queen does not know of this very hour…Nothing has changed nor can be rearranged."
A look of fear came over Chrysalis as she quickly smashed the bowl, "That's impossible! And you know it! There are no more dragons living near ponies… I made sure of that!"
"But it is not impossible, and even he knows it's probable…" Zecora turned her head to the door.
"What?" The queen questioned right as Thorax burst into the room.
"Your Highness! We saw him! A dragon living with the ponies!"
Chrysalis gnashed her teeth and used her magic to grab hold of her minion, bringing him closer to her face as she menacingly said, "And you would know this why?"
Thorax gulped, "There was a tiny princess that was here in the castle…"
"WHAT?! They had a brat?! Why wasn't I made aware of this sooner?!"
Thorax stammered, "S-she… e-escaped the palace, we had to go after her…"
"To where ?"
"Canterlot…" he squeaked.
Fury was burning in the queen's eyes at this point, as she asked in a low tone, "And where are your companions now…?"
"They've… they've been captured… I was the only that got away…" he ducked his head down.
Chrysalis looked like she was about to explode until an eerie calm came over her. She slowly smirked at Thorax, "As disobedient as you and your cohorts were to go behind my back like that… I will forgive this transgression given you have warned me about the dragon living with ponies… and seeing how you were the only one of your brothers to escape, I want you to be the one to find the dragon's weaknesses when he comes here…"
Thorax looked up in confusion as the queen let him go.
"You… you want me to…? But what happens if he recognizes me?!"
Chrysalis shouted angrily, "Then you use your powers to disguise yourself, idiot!"
Thorax gulped, "Right… of course… forgive me, your majesty…" he buzzed out of there, not wanting to further fuel his queen's wrath.
Chrysalis turned to Zecora with a smirk, "See? The odds are in my favor. Had my minions not gone after that princess, I never would have found out that a dragon was still here in Equestria… and the best part is, he'll be coming to me which means I can do something about him! So you see, you can change the future!" she cackled.
Zecora gave no emotion as she merely replied, "Your actions have come to full circle, nothing is amiss. For the future is no longer yours… but his…"
The train screeched to a halt as it stopped in the Crystal Empire station, but there was a slight problem. Changeling guards were surrounding the area. The girls and Spike looked through the train window trying to figure out how they were going to get pass them.
Rainbow Dash suggested, "I say we go out there and pound em'!"
Applejack pointed, "But there's too many of them! We can't just take them head on!"
Rarity suddenly piped up, "I've got it! We wear costumes!"
Pinkie bounced, "Ooh, yeah! I'll be a ninja!" in a flash she wore a ninja costume.
Applejack cringed and suggested, "Maybe wear something less conspicuous?"
Rarity exclaimed, "Ooh! I have just the thing!"
In minutes, they were wearing different costumes. Pinkie was dressed as an old lady wearing glasses with a wig. Fluttershy wore glasses too and a gray mustache with a trench coat and hat. Rainbow Dash was dressed like a pop star with sunglasses. Rarity wore a handkerchief over her head and light sunglasses. Applejack wore a ten-gallon hat, an ascot, and a dark mustache. Flurry Heart simply wore a pink dress to cover her wings and a hat to hide her horn. But Spike's costume was the most outlandish of the lot. He wore a feminine kimono with a dark wig, white makeup all over his face and bright red lipstick while carrying a fan.
He shouted indignantly, "Why couldn't I wear a mustache too?! Why did I have to wear this?!"
Rarity replied, "Because Spikey, this helps hides your true species as you are the Dragon Warrior. You'd be easily recognizable if you wore something simpler like the rest of us."
Applejack groaned, "I hate to say it, but she's right…"
He grumbled, "At least you got the mustache…"
"Well, you can have it after we take back the Empire."
"But it won't be the same…" he said in near whiny tone.
She sighed and started moving. One-by-one, they got off the train, with Spike going last and held the fan to his face acting flirtatious which caught the eye of one changeling guard in which Spike used his fan to smack the changeling as he said in a high voice, "Fresh!"
Once they were passed the train station they entered into the Crystal Empire only to see more changelings out on patrols and terrorizing the citizens. The sight made their blood boil but it was imperative that they stick to their plan. Flurry told them, "Come on! I know a short cut!" she led them down streets, past crystal buildings until she stopped halfway at a building that was close to the castle.
They could see two changeling guards were near the Crystal Heart which was lacking luster given the state the Empire was in right now.
"How are we supposed to get past them?" Rarity inquired.
Rainbow Dash looked around their surroundings and spotted barrels beside them, her eyes lit up and turned to Flurry, "Kid, I'm going to need your help on this…"
In moments a tiny barrel rolled to where the two changelings were as one said, "Aw, it's cute."
Flurry busted out then while saying in an offended tone, "Cute?!" she blasted at them knocking them out. "I'll have you know that I am adorable!"
The girls and Spike ran to her.
"Great job, sugar cube!" Applejack beamed.
Flurry smiled as she said, "Let's go!" she flew into her long time home that was currently occupied by invaders. The Elements and the Dragon Warrior were right behind her.
Once they found themselves in the dungeons, Pinkie volunteered, "I'll keep a lookout, and at the first sign of trouble, I'll give you the signal," she gave a comedic shriek.
Spike smirked, "You mean like Rarity does?"
Pinkie motioned, "Heck, yeah!"
Rarity was appalled, "Excuse me, when have I ever made that sound?!"
Flurry called out, "Come on, Mommy and Daddy are over here!"
They went down the rows of cells until they found Cadence and Shining Armor.
"Mommy! Daddy!"
The royal couple saw their daughter and exclaimed, "Flurry!"
Cadence expressed in concern, "Sweetie, what are you doing here? It's too dangerous!"
Spike came up and said, "That may be but she has been a huge help to us."
Shiny and Cady gaped at the costume the dragon was wearing with Shining saying, "Spike? Is that you? Why in Equestria are you dressed like that?"
He deadpanned, "Wasn't my idea…"
Applejack explained, "We had to disguise ourselves to get pass the changelings."
Rarity motioned, "And lucky for you, I have extras to spare!" she held out two outfits and handed them to the couple through the bars.
Shining inquired, "So what's the plan?" as he put on a fedora, trench coat, and sunglasses.
Applejack said, "Twilight wants to get you two out so she, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna can do a full assault to take the Empire back."
Cadence dressed in a trench coat as well and wore a large chapeau said in uncertainty, "But are they sure that's the wisest course of action?"
Shining Armor pointed, "It'll be once I take charge of the guard again."
Applejack instructed, "Okay, your highnesses, you might want to step away from the door."
Cadence and Shining didn't waste a second as Applejack used her hind legs to kick the cell door down.
Once the couple was out of the cell, Flurry embraced them as they returned it. They began to move out the dungeons carefully and when they were almost outside, Pinkie did a quick once over before whispering, "All clear!" When they passed the Crystal Heart, Cadence looked back in worry.
"I knew she was lying… She doesn't want the Heart to be powered for fear it could get rid of her and her little monsters…"
They continued to walk while keeping a low profile. Meanwhile, Thorax disguised as an adolescent crystal pony had spotted the group. The other changelings on patrol ignored them but that was because of the queen's orders. Had the queen not told them to stay away they would have most likely surrounded them at this moment given the huge amount of love displayed by the royal couple and their daughter and Thorax could also sense some unrequited love coming from the group but it was hard to pin the source.
The plan was to give them a false sense of hope and then the changelings would make their move of going after them. And if all goes well they would separate and Thorax would have the dragon right where the queen wanted him to.
Thorax sighed and nodded.
"As such the queen is depending on you so she can conquer all of Equestria so don't you dare disappoint her. Because if you fail we all fail…"
"I know… I know…"
"Just remember that because it's time."
Sure enough, he saw the secret signal going around the changelings as they started moving in on the group…
"Run!" Applejack told them as they started to split up. Rarity and Fluttershy took off in one direction, Rainbow and Pinkie went off in another, and Cadence, Shining Armor, Flurry Heart ran off together with changelings right behind them. Applejack and Spike threw off their costumes at the changelings to buy them a moment's time but as they ran Applejack got tackled by a bunch of them.
Spike skidded himself to stop and called out, "Applejack!"
She yelled out, "Go, Spike! I'll be fine!" she punched at the bug-ponies.
"I'm not leaving you!" he ran toward them only to be blinded by the swarm and when they cleared out of the way, he saw them carrying Applejack off toward the palace. "No…" he uttered.
"Quick! This way!" called a voice.
Spike turned to see a colt beckoning him to come in an alleyway. Spike could hear buzzing in the distance and knew he had no choice and ducked into the alley.
"Thanks, whoever-you-are."
"My name is…" he looked around before settling on, "Crystal… Hoof."
"Well, thank you, Crystal Hoof, those changelings can really sneak up on you…"
Crystal Hoof stammered, "R-right… sure…"
"It must have been awful for you when they had laid siege to your home…"
"Y-yeah…" he gulped.
"But don't worry. Once I get back to my friends, we'll free you from them."
"Yeah, I saw they took that mare you tried to help… Is she your girlfriend?"
Spike blushed and stuttered, "N-no! She's just my friend! One of my best friends in fact!"
But Thorax's sense told him otherwise. Obviously the dragon did have some feelings toward the mare but something was preventing him from expressing it.
Spike shook his head to change the subject, "Anyway, I got to help her but I need to find the others, that is if they haven't been captured as well…" he pleaded, "I know you would be risking a lot if you did this, but I really need your help to get around the Empire."
Crystal Hoof inquired, "You really want me to help you?"
"Yes. And I would be so grateful if you did."
Thorax knew by doing this he would still be following his queen's orders but he felt torn. The dragon has been nothing but nice and he only wants to help his friends, of course a part of him knew he wouldn't be acting like this had he known Thorax's true form but some part of him actually felt tempted to reveal himself. But he couldn't do that, not when his kind was counting on him to deliver. Instead he replied, "I'll help you."
Spike took his hoof and shook it, "Thank you. This means so much to me."
Crystal Hoof merely nodded as he poked his head out the alleyway and motioned, "Follow me."
Spike and Crystal Hoof moved through the marketplace while ducking nearby changeling patrols, as the dragon inquired.
"How long have you and your family lived in the Crystal Empire?"
CH bit his lip before replying, "One could say we moved here pretty recently."
Spike sighed, "Sure must be nice to have a family and know who you are… I never knew my real parents so I have no idea who I am…"
Thorax was surprise to hear that, this dragon had no clue of who he was. Now that Thorax thought about it, he didn't know if he belonged with the rest of the swarm. He always felt so different from them. He told Spike, "Well, my family and I aren't exactly close. In fact, I feel out of place whenever I'm with them."
That intrigued Spike, "Really?"
CH nodded, "I know where I come from but I'm not sure if I really fit in."
"You know, I don't think I properly introduce myself, I'm Spike."
"Spike? That's a nice name."
"Thanks, my adopted father named me."
"And is he a dragon like you?"
"Nope. He's actually a draconequus."
"A draco- what?"
He slightly chuckled, "It's hard to get it the first time but it's easier to say as time goes on."
"Just how did this draco- drat- whatever-he-is raise you?"
"That's actually a mystery. I know he found me on his doorstep and I understand why he took me in but how I ended up on his doorstep in the first place is still unknown."
"Gosh…" CH uttered.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for having a father that cared enough to raise me but I can't help but wonder what my life would have been like had I had actual parents to take care of me instead…"
"I feel the same way…" Crystal Hoof admitted.
"Really? Why?"
"Well… The closest I have to parents is a mother but she doesn't really act like a mother to me or to anyone else in my family…"
Spike gave a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry to hear that."
CH shook his head, "Don't be. It's just how it is."
"But if she doesn't treat you right, why don't you just leave?"
He sighed, "I wish I could but then I would be labeled a traitor."
"That's awful. I'm usually one for loyalty, but in this case you shouldn't have to put up with that."
Crystal Hoof's eyes widen in interest, "You think so?"
"I know so." Spike replied proudly before he continued, "And as you are my friend I'm going to help you get away from your home life once my friends and I get the Empire back."
The disguised changeling gaped from the dragon's words and faintly inquired, "Am I… really your friend?"
Spike nodded with a smile.
Thorax felt touched by the whole thing that suddenly he felt the love of their newfound friendship between them and he didn't even have to drain it to get it! That's when Thorax realized…
We don't have to feed on love! We can just share the love we have with the beings we befriend!
"Hey… You okay?"
Crystal Hoof looked at Spike's confused face as the dragon explain, "You were staring off for a moment there, everything okay?"
"Yeah… in fact, everything's great!" CH exclaimed excitedly.
"Whoa, okay, any reason why that is?"
"Just you offering your friendship means so much to me."
"Wow… I'm pleased to hear that." Spike beamed before he gotten serious, "But we'll have to wait until this is over for us to hang out, right now there's changelings still around and my friends are still out there." he muttered under his breath, "Hopefully…"
Crystal Hoof slowly said, "Oh… yeah… right…" momentarily forgetting that Spike didn't know his true form and that he would risk losing his friendship if he did knew.
Spike and CH continued with the search until Spike heard a familiar voice.
"Now see here you brutes! We will not let you keep control of the Empire! You may have us cornered but won't you will never keep us from our mission!"
The dragon could see Rarity and Fluttershy were stuck in a dead end of an alley with a small group of changelings slowly making their way to them. Looking around he spotted an unhitched cart and thinking quickly, he told CH, "I have an idea, you with me?"
Crystal Hoof nodded.
Fluttershy and Rarity held each other as the changelings inched closer and closer to them… when suddenly a cart making a U-turn whacked the changelings away, to the girls' surprise they saw the Dragon Warrior driving with a young crystal pony pulling the cart. He told them, "Get in, quick!" They didn't waste a moment as they piled in. Spike gave the pony the go-ahead and the colt ran on.
Spike looked back and asked, "You guys okay?"
Rarity exclaimed, "We are now, thanks to you, Spikey!"
CH inquired, "Spikey?"
The dragon blushed, "It's a nickname I have."
Rarity pointed, "As a term of endearment of course, before it was Spikey-Wikey, remember that, darling?"
Spike rolled his eyes, "Do I ever, it was cute at first but then it got embarrassing as I got older." then he went back to business, "Have you seen the others? Applejack and I got separate when the changelings took her!"
Fluttershy gasped, "Oh no!"
Rarity went grim, "That is terrible… and no, we haven't seen the others."
Spike sighed sadly, "I sure hope they haven't got capture as well…"
Fluttershy motioned, "You haven't told us who your friend is."
"Oh, right! Guys, this is Crystal Hoof, he helped me get away from the changelings."
CH looked back with a timid smile, "Hi…"
Rarity and Fluttershy smiled back with the unicorn saying, "A pleasure to meet to you."
The pegasus agreed, "Oh, yes. It's very nice to meet you."
Rarity mentioned, "I just wish it was under better circumstances."
Spike said, "So do I…"
They kept on driving at a fast pace when a voice said, "Incoming!"
Ahead they spotted a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane flying while carrying a pink mare with a poofy hair. They smacked right into the group with them landing right into the cart.
"Ow! Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie! Can't you have made a softer landing without crushing the rest of us?!" Rarity demanded.
Rainbow retorted, "Well when you've been chased around the Empire by bugs you don't really stop to think to be courteous!"
Fluttershy said, "I'm just glad you're both okay…"
Pinkie noticed, "Hey, who's the new guy? And where's Cadence, Shining Armor, Flurry, and Applejack?"
Spike answered, "This is Crystal Hoof, he's my friend. We don't know where Cadence, Shining, and Flurry are, and Applejack…" he went somber, "she was taken by the changelings…
RD exclaimed in fury, "AJ was taken by the changelings?!" she pound her hooves together, "We got to help her!"
Rarity calmed her friend down, "And we will, darling, but we can't just rush to the rescue without a plan."
Suddenly, out of nowhere two princesses, a prince, and one orange earth pony wearing a Stetson hat teleported into the cart.
The girls and Spike gasped happily with Applejack saying, "Why in tarnation are we in a cart?!"
Spike exclaimed with joy, "Applejack! I saw the changelings carrying you away! How did you escape?!"
Flurry excitedly said, "I helped her!"
AJ chuckled and rubbed the filly's head, "That she did. The squirt really knows how to pack a punch with her magic."
Cadence explained, "We had just fought off the changelings that came after us when we spotted Applejack getting taken…"
Shining added, "Then Flurry quickly flew in to blast them and once they dropped Applejack, Cadence flew up to catch her. We've been searching for the rest of you since."
Cady mentioned, "Until Flurry decided to teleport us to you."
The young alicorn cheered, "And it worked!"
Everyone laughed. Then in moments, the others explained how they got away and Spike introduced Crystal Hoof to the four newcomers. But as much as they were happy to be reunited, the moment was short-lived when Crystal Hoof noticed how there were spilled vegetables over the street and told the group.
"Um, guys… there's a problem on the street…"
They looked and Pinkie went, "Oopsie… Dashie, I think you and I forgot to clean that up while the changelings were chasing us…"
Dash smacked her forehead.
CH cried out, "What do I do?!"
Spike shouted, "You have to stop!"
Applejack looked behind the wagon and called out, "He can't stop! There's changelings coming from behind us!"
Spike gulped knowing he had to think fast, if CH ran into the veggies, he would be liable to trip and hurt himself. There was only one thing to do… He pulled CH up and unattached him from the cart.
"What are you doing?!" Crystal Hoof shouted in concern.
"Just trust me!" the dragon set him down beside him.
"But now no one's driving the wagon!" Rainbow pointed.
"That's the idea!" Spike yelled back.
Fear etched onto the passengers' faces as the wagon drove through the vegetables and onto the clear streets. The cart kept moving on it's own and when ponies would come into view, Pinkie would shriek out, "RUNAWAY CART! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
The ponies didn't need to be told twice as they got out of the cart's way in time. The wagon had no way of stopping making everyone scream in terror. Just then they spotted a flock of ewes in the street causing Fluttershy to panic.
"Spike! Do something!"
The dragon fretted and quickly looked around until he saw a lamppost and he told them, "Hang on, everyone!" He grabbed the post and with all his might he turned them into a different direction away from the ewes, much to Fluttershy's relief.
In the midst of the turning, Spike's claws had caught on fire, Flurry was the only one to have noticed and shrieked, "Fire! Fire!"
Pinkie chimed in, "I've got this!" she managed to pull a water bucket from a stand and splashed it at Spike. But as much as the water got on his burning claws it also landed on Rainbow and Rarity much to their annoyance. "Oops…" Pinkie blushed, "sorry…"
"Look out!" Applejack cried and they saw that an unattended cart was in the middle of the street.
Everyone screamed and braced themselves as much as they could when the cart hit the other cart causing Spike and Crystal Hoof to go flying across the Empire. They screeched at the top of their lungs. Thorax knew then he had no choice but to reveal himself. In a flash of green flames he turned back to his true form. Spike had seen the whole thing much to his shock but what was even more shocking that the changelings grabbed hold of him and gently began to float him close to the palace.
Once they were on the ground, Spike told him, "Crystal Hoof! You were a changeling this whole time?!"
Thorax sadly nodded his head, "Yes, and my name is not Crystal Hoof, it's Thorax…"
Spike couldn't say a word. Crystal Hoof had been a changeling this entire time! How he could have been so stupid! They were in a place surrounded by Changelings, of course they were going to impersonate real ponies! But usually when a changeling tried to take a pony's place they do such a horrible job of it. With Crystal Hoof or Thorax as that was his real name, had been acting like any other pony would, it was no wonder he didn't figure it out.
Thorax explained, "I was sent to you to retrieve information. The queen wants you stopped so she can conquer all of Equestria."
Spike questioned in confusion, "Why tell me this?"
Thorax stated, "Because I'm your friend…"
Spike's mouth gape wide open.
"Everything I said to you was true, Spike. I am different from the rest of my kind… I know now that we don't have to drain love but rather… share it… Please say you believe me…" he looked on with pleading eyes.
Spike didn't know what to say. Thorax did seem different from the rest of the changelings and he did just save his life just now by revealing his true form. At the same time he was capable of deceit so he couldn't know for sure if Thorax's words were true or not.
He said, "Thorax, I would like to believe you but I'm having a hard time figuring out if you're truly sincere…"
Thorax looked hurt and was about to reply when changelings from around the city gathered around and with them they held The Elements, Cadence, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart in captive.
One changeling told Thorax, "You fool, you weren't suppose to reveal yourself! The queen was counting on you to gain his trust!"
Applejack inquired, "Spike, what's he talking about?"
Spike sighed, "Guys, meet Crystal Hoof's real self…" The group gasped with him apologizing, "I'm sorry…"
Once they were chained and brought into the throne room, the head changeling guard told them, "The Queen will be here momentarily to decide your fate. In the meantime, enjoy what loving minutes you have left before our queen takes it away." he slightly chuckled making them scowl.
Spike could notice Thorax was the only one of the changelings in the room to have a solemn look on his face. Making the dragon think, Maybe he was telling the truth after all …
Beside him, Applejack whispered, "Please tell me you have a plan to get us out of this…"
Spike whispered back, "I'm working on it…"
"That's good, at least you're thinking it over unlike the time you tried to cook rice in your stomach by eating it raw and then drank boiling water…"
He gave an exasperation look, "You're just never going to let that go are you?"
"Well it still amazes me to this day how you never scalded yourself on the inside."
He smirked, "Iron stomach, baby… Iron stomach…"
She shook her head.
Thorax could sense the affection between the two across the room and so did every other changeling in the room as one complained quietly, "I wish the queen would hurry up, I'm getting hungry just by looking at them as they make those goo-goo eyes at each other."
Chrysalis and Zecora made their way down the Crystal Palace's hallways with the queen going over her lines on how she would greet the dragon.
"Greetings, Dragon… we meet at last… Yes, that's it… Greetings, Dragon! We meet at last!"
Zecora pointed, "Though your plans are best laid, there is a reason you are afraid…"
She hissed, "I'm not afraid of him! He's the one who should fear me!"
"The bravado in your words is not true. I sense a deep fear in you."
Chrysalis gave off an annoyed look.
When they had entered into the throne room, the queen gazed upon the captives with a smirk. She chuckled, "So the crystal princess and prince had an adorable brat…"
Cadence gritted her teeth and retorted, "Don't you dare call our daughter that!"
Shining mentioned with a clenched jaw, "And if you so much as hurt her… so help us we will-"
"Silence!" the queen commanded before she smirked again, "Now… the little princess will not come to harm… but it's only if her parents will cooperate in my plans…" she turned to two of her guards, "Escort their highnesses back to their cell and make sure they stay there…" then she told two other guards, "And you will lock the little one in a separate room and make sure she doesn't escape…"
Cadence, Shining, and Flurry were able to embrace one last time before they were force apart while the Elements and the Dragon Warrior were force to watch the heartbreaking scene as they were taken out the room and out of their sight.
Chrysalis brought their attention back on her as she paced the room with an evil grin. "Now then… what shall we do with these interlopers that have come to spoil my plans…? Let's start with the dragon…" she slowly approached the creature that was close to her height, "Hm… I was expecting something a little more… intimating…"
Zecora began to examined him much Spike's discomfort, "At least he's grown up bigger than I'd hope. Strong, too, as the thickest rope," she opened his mouth to look inside with her voice echoing, "and healthy, I see…"
When she let go Spike exchanged a confuse look with the girls.
"This is the warrior that's destined to defeat me?" Chrysalis questioned with doubt.
"I do not, Your Highness. I know he is…"
The queen started to laugh loudly, "But look at him! He's nothing but a puny thing!"
Spike protested, "Hey! I'm way bigger then what I was three years ago!"
Pinkie piped up, "Yeah! He was way puny then!"
Rarity muttered, "Not helping, Pinkie dear…"
The queen still chuckled, "Oh, look at him. A lifetime to plot his revenge and he comes to me on his knees!"
Spike questioned, "What? A lifetime? I did not have a lifetime. I've only heard of you from Twilight and the girls when you attacked Cadence and Shining Armor's wedding. This is the first time I've ever seen you and man, are you uglier in person."
Chrysalis hissed at his words while the girls tried to contain their giggles. But Fluttershy had noticed a bee in the room and beckon it to help unlock their chains. Zecora however seem concern as she questioned to the dragon.
"Are you sure you never met her before? That you have come to avenge nothing else for her deeds of yore?"
Spike furrowed a brow, "No, but should I?"
Zecora's eyes widen, "Oh, no…You do not know…"
"Know what?" he noticed Chrysalis was laughing again, "What's so funny?"
She proclaimed, "The very thing that you clearly do not know!"
Spike was growing frustrated, "Ok, enough of these riddles! Would you guys spill the beans?!"
Chrysalis smirked more evilly, "And why should I…? With you as an ignorant incompetent fool, I have no need to worry about you stopping me…"
Zecora quickly spoke up, "She is the reason why you live the way you do!"
"What?" Spike question in confusion.
The queen glared at the zebra, "Blabbermouth."
At that moment their chains came off and the Elements immediately went into battle mode. The queen ordered her soldiers, "Stop them!"
As the Elements fought off her minions, Spike went for the queen and demanded, "What does the zebra mean it's because of you I live the way I do!"
Chrysalis's smirk grew more, "Do you really want to know…? I can't guarantee you'll like what you'll hear…"
With a determined look, he stated, "Tell me…"
"Very well… Let's just say I know exactly why you live with the ponies…"
His eyes widen, "You do?"
"Very…" she grinned maliciously before she shoved him out the window!
Applejack gasped when she saw this and rushed to him, luckily his claws had held to the window's ledge. "Hang on! I got ya!" she started pulling him back in.
Spike grabbed on and briefly looked down with a fretful look on his face, "Don't let go!"
"Never!" she called back. But behind her, the queen ordered a changeling to push her out. "Whoa!" she felt her herself falling out while Spike still held tight to her hooves, even now in that frightful moment, that fuzzy feeling between them was there.
But fortunately the others saw their predicament and came to the rescue. Unfortunately for them, the changelings gave all a quick shove and they all started falling out the castle except for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash as they quickly used their wings to grab a tent cover from the marketplace and caught their friends in it. And gently lowered them to the ground.
Chrysalis had seen the whole thing, yelling, "Idiots! Bring them back here!"
The changelings buzzed out of the throne room doors but Thorax was held back by the queen's magic. He gulped upon seeing how threatening she was looking.
She said in a low tone, "Fail me one more time… and I will have no choice but to drain you…"
He gulped again and nodded, making her let go and he buzzed away at a rapid pace.
The girls and Spike knew the changelings would be coming for them soon. Making Rarity question, "What do we do? Where do we hide?!"
But Applejack already had the answer, "We hide under their noses…"
"Huh?" they all said.
"Trust me on this…" she told them as she led them back to the castle and into the dungeons.
"You guys got away?!" Shining Armor inquired in amazement.
Rainbow muttered, "Barely… we had to fall out of a window just to do it…"
Cadence mentioned, "Well I'm glad you're safe, but… you know we can't escape this time until Flurry is back with us."
Applejack said, "Which is why we're going to sneak around the palace once night falls and we'll find her."
Spike started say, "Exactly, and once we-"
AJ interjected, "There's no we this time, Spike, you're staying here where it's safe."
The dragon gawked, "What…? Why?!"
"Because you let Chrysalis get the better of you. It's too risky for you to run into her again." she started to moved away from him.
"But… but… but I have to go back!" he yelled.
She turned around swiftly causing everyone to be stun into silence.
Applejack stated in a hard tone, "You're staying here ."
Spike scowled deeply and proclaimed, "I'm going, and you can't stop me…"
Applejack braced herself, "Then try to get past me…"
The two went into an intense stare-off as Spike slowly moved to the side of the room, with her following, making a circle.
He demanded, "What does it matter to you if I do go? Why are you being so overprotective of me?!"
"I'm just tryin' to stop you from making a mistake!"
"There's no mistake in me trying to find the truth!"
"The truth about what, Spike! Tell me!"
He bellowed out, "The truth about who I am!" causing an echo in the room. There was an eerie quiet among the group as Spike panted and said softly to the point of tears, "She knows, okay? The queen knows why I'm living with the ponies instead of other dragons… She's my only chance of knowing where I come from… who I am…" The girls were at the point of tears as he continued, "Look you guys who exactly who you are and what you're suppose to do with your life… I have no idea of who I am or what I'm supposed to… I need this … I need to know… Because it's all I'm going to have left once you my friends, all leave to do your own thing…"
He faced Applejack who's eyes were brimming with tears. "So you see… I have to go… Just like you have to go… Only you'll get to live your life without missing anything. You'll get have everything you could want…"
A painful expression came over her face and suddenly in one leap, she pressed her body to his and gave a huge kiss on his lips! Spike's eyes had widened in shock from the impact while everyone else around them was aghast as their mouths dropped wide open.
Once she let go from the lip lock, she whispered to him, "Not everything…" she started moving away from him while he was still stunned from her sudden smooch.
Rarity cleared her throat, "We'll just… follow her…" she and the other Elements went after Applejack.
Shining turned to his wife, "Did we miss something here?"
But Cadence didn't reply as she looked at the dragon that was still dazed, "Spike? Are you okay?"
But Spike couldn't say anything, the kiss Applejack gave him had overwhelmed him with feelings he never could have imagine. Suddenly the words they've exchanged in the last couple of days made sense now. And even when they were on the train, it confirmed it. She had been in love with him all this time. The question now was did he love her as well? He shook his head out the daze. That kind of question was something he couldn't answer right now not when he had too many other questions that he needed the answers to. Like why he lived in Canterlot instead of wherever his parents had lived…
That settled it. He was going to seek out the Changeling Queen.
"You were wrong, Zecora… it appears the dragon that was destined to stop me had been nothing but a fluke in your fortune-telling." Chrysalis expressed to the zebra while they were still in the throne room.
"It is not a fluke, for you see, the dragon is right where he supposed to be…"
"But how can he possibly hope to defeat me when he doesn't even know his own past and extract his revenge upon me. It will only be matter of time until all of Equestria will be mine…"
"You choose to fill the glass that has no bottom, alas. The subjugation of the whole world truly will never make you happy. End this madness and hate before it's too late…"
"And why would I want to do that? I have dreaming of controlling Equestria since I was young, well, younger… But the point is, happiness must be taken, and I will take mine…" there was a pause before she told a nearby changeling guard, "Set the zebra free, she is no longer of use to me. I've gotten what I want from her."
Zecora was escorted away as she thought, You have chosen your path to downfall, fate has now declared that the dragon shall win after all…
The Elements snuck around the dark palace hallways looking for signs of Flurry being nearby.
Rarity slowly started out, "So… you and Spike… I mean we knew something was going on between you two but we never once thought you would…"
Applejack glared back and uttered, "You know this isn't the time to discuss that…"
"I beg to differ!" the unicorn shouted quietly, "But this is the perfect time for you to explain what exactly happen down for you to osculate Spikey like that."
Rainbow added, "Yeah, so spill it, AJ!"
Applejack sighed, "Look, I didn't know I had feelins' for him until recently. It was part of why I wanted to go back to my home at Sweet Apple Acres. So I could get away from my emotions. I figured he would never return my affections and I dared not to hope he would… Watching him grow older and wiser in these last three years drew me to him. Looking back, I can even remember how I had this strange feeling toward him when we first met him… how he dropped out of the sky like that… I think that's when I first started falling for him…"
The girls gaped at her with Pinkie going, "Wow…"
Rainbow motioned, "So just we're clear on this, the rest of us love him like a brother but you're the one who loves him to the point where wedding bells could sound off."
Applejack scoffed, "Wedding bells… Even if by some miracle he did feel that way toward me, you know it won't work. Not when I need to go back to Sweet Apple Acres and he has his life as the Dragon Warrior in Canterlot. Our lives are too complicated for a relationship to work."
"That is so sad!" Pinkie was on the verge of tears.
Fluttershy was too, "It is!"
Rarity insisted, "Darling, I'm sure you and Spikey could make it work! You can just visit him on the holidays while he visits you in the summer!"
"That's only a short-term solution. What's happens if we end up wanting a more permanent solution? One of us would have to make the sacrifice of living somewhere else."
"She has a point." Rainbow shrugged.
AJ said, "Trust me, gals, it's better this way. Now come on, we got a princess to find." she kept moving on.
Spike carefully moved past the changeling patrols going about the hallways. He found himself near the throne room where he could hear the queen shouting orders, he ducked out of the way just in time as changelings flew out of the room. He slowly moved toward the room when a snide voice called out.
"Greeting dragon… Won't you come in?"
He saw her approaching him with a wicked glint in her eye.
With a determined look he went up to her, demanding, "Tell me what happened that night!"
She played being innocent, "What night?"
He gritted his teeth, "That night."
"Ah, that night…"
"Yes." before he inquired, "We are talking about the same night, right?"
She gave a low chuckle, "Yes, I was there… Yes, I watched as your parents abandoned you… It's a terrible thing…" she flew above him and ran out of the room.
Spike yelled out, "Oh, no you don't! You're not getting off that easy!" he raced after her.
Meanwhile, the girls found themselves in a hallway that was surrounded by more changelings while keeping out of sight.
Rainbow Dash whispered, "Flurry has to be here! There's no way they need this many guards on one floor!"
Applejack uttered, "We need a distraction."
Pinkie waved her hoof, "Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!"
AJ stated, "Okay, Pinkie, it's up to you to distract them while we keep searching the floor until we find the room Flurry Heart's in."
The hyper mare saluted, "I won't let you down!" she went into action. A single spotlight came on the mare making the changelings turn her way as she proclaimed, "Good evening, Changelings! I would say 'Good evening, ladies and gentlechangelings' but it's really hard to tell what gender you all are!" she made a rim shot on a drum. She kept going, "So anyway, here are some jokes that I know will make you laugh like crazy! What do you get when you cross a…"
The girls moved past the changelings watching Pinkie as Rainbow muttered, "I'd asked where she got that spotlight on herself but it is Pinkie Pie so it's best not to question it…"
The others did random agreements as they started searching rooms.
"Nothing." Dash pointed.
"Same here." Rarity replied.
"Buckus here…" Applejack told them.
"She's not in this one." said Fluttershy.
They kept on looking until Rainbow Dash quietly shouted out, "Hey! Over here!"
They went to her to find Flurry was sleeping on a rug in the room. Applejack signaled Fluttershy to pick her up and butter cream mare put the tiny alicorn on her back. They saw Pinkie's distraction was still working and were about to move away when the Queen herself appeared and she shouted to her subjects.
"You idiots! It's a distraction! Stop them!"
The changelings turned to them and hissed.
Fluttershy gulped, "Oh, dear…"
The girls braced themselves as the changelings headed toward them.
Applejack bared her teeth of the incoming battle when she saw Spike rushing after the queen who saw him and gave an evil smug look. AJ knew that meant something bad for the dragon. She tried to go after them but changelings blocked her way.
But the other girls had seen Spike going after the queen and Rainbow pounced at them as she told Applejack, "Go! We got them! Save your boyfriend!"
AJ wanted to object but there was no time as she stepped over the changelings to make her way to where the dragon and queen went.
Spike had chased Chrysalis all the way to the top of the Crystal Palace. There was a low chuckle as queen made herself known.
"Are you willing to die to find the truth?" she asked.
"You bet I am! Although I'd prefer not to…"
A voice cried out then, "Spike, keep away from her!" Applejack made it up the top of the stairs.
Spike locked gazes with her for a brief moment before yelling, "Stay out of this, Applejack!"
The cowgirl shouted, "No! I won't let you get hurt!"
Chrysalis could sense a deep affection from their exchange which made her smirk more evilly.
Applejack continued, "There has to be another way for you to find the truth about yourself!"
Chrysalis smugly pointed out, "Oh, but there isn't my little pony… For I'm the only one who knows what happened that night…" she turned to Spike, "And you want to know so badly, don't you…? That knowing will heal you, huh? Fill some crater in your soul? Well, here's your answer… Your parents didn't love you…"
Spike's breath stop short and his eyes glossed over with tears.
Applejack was in shock and yelled out, "That can't be true! You have to be lying!"
"Am I?" she grinned, "You'll never know…" then with one swift move she used her magic to bring Applejack to her and began to drain her love!
Spike saw the pain on Applejack's face and yelled in anguish, "NOO!" he rushed to save her when Chrysalis pulled a fast one on him by blasting him at full strength causing him to fly out of the tower and in the direction of where the Frozen North was!
Applejack saw the whole thing in horror and screeched out, "NOOO!"
The Changeling Queen cackled loudly to her victory.
Meanwhile, back in Canterlot, a lavender alicorn woke up with a startle and a pain in her heart as she uttered, "It can't be… Spike…" Tears dripped from her eyes.
Author's Note
I'm not sure when I'll update this again, given my editor helps me with Zecora's lines and she'll have lots of them in the next chapter. But my editor is busy right now with her own stories so it might take awhile. So please be patient, because I do intend to finish this story.
Author's Note
Surprise! I know a lot of you were waiting for this update, so as a celebration of me being halfway through my finals and as an early Christmas present, here it is! Also, we are so close to the ending so hang in there!
Chapter 9
Spike laid unconscious in the snow looking battered and bruised. The blowing cold wind blew around him. He wasn't alone for long as a cloaked figure approached him and began to put up a tent around him.
In moments, Spike found himself waking up next to a warm fire with the zebra mixing up something. He hoarsely asked her, "Where… where am I?"
Zecora replied, "I found you in the snow, oh cold one, and I had to set up a tent around you to keep you a warm dragon." She offered him a drink to which he eyed suspiciously making her chuckle, "It is not poison, if that's what you're concerned about…though my unfortunate association with the queen I can well do without… Besides, if I wanted your life to cease, I would have left you out in the cold to freeze…"
Spike took the drink and gulped it down before he realized it tasted awful and made a belch sound then he asked, "So why save me?"
"You must complete your purpose or there will be great destruction and loss…"
Spike sighed, "What's the point? I don't have the strength to defeat her anyway… And to top it off, I was a disgrace to my parents since they abandoned me in this world."
Zecora inquired, "Is this something new the Changeling Queen told you?"
He nodded somberly.
Zecora then took out a clear bottle with a white liquid inside it, "You have been deceived most greatly as a way to derail you from your destiny. This potion will help reveal the truth about your past so you can have peace of mind at last."
Spike was intrigued, "It will?"
She nodded, "With just one sip, you will see your one true identity…"
He slowly took the potion from her, eying it for a bit before he stood up and with one gulp the potion went down his throat and for a moment nothing seem to happen until his eyes started glowing white and he soon found himself in a city full of ponies but there were also dragons!
He gapped at what he was seeing there was an actual community full of dragons just like him! He saw a sign above the area, it read: Dragon Town.
He could see the dragons and ponies getting along very well making him smile. But that happiness was short-lived when he saw a black cloud overcastting the city only it wasn't a black cloud… it was the changelings invading!
"No!" he ended shouting out as he helplessly watched changelings attacking the dragons!
The queen made her appearance as she ordered, "Get them! Get them all!"
There were screams filling the air as Spike saw ponies running away but was pleasantly surprised that most of them would try to help their dragon friends. But at a heavy cost…
It was mayhem, absolute mayhem.
Then Spike heard a male dragon shouting, "Hurry! Take our egg and get out of here!"
He turned to see a dark figure running away but there were changelings going after it! His intuition was telling him to follow after them. He did.
As he ran he still couldn't see what the figure looked like but saw that it was breathing fire at them, getting at least a few of the changelings away. Spike soon found himself on the outskirts of the city where the sky was completely overcastted and rain was pouring. He saw the figure had ran into a dark cave and quickly followed after. The cave was still too dark to see the figure but he heard a voice, a female voice.
"We'll be safe here my little one…" The female then sang a lullaby that made Spike's eyes well with tears until there was a buzzing sound coming from outside the cave.
The female stopped singing and uttered, "I can't let them find you here…" Spike could hear her voice was breaking, "No matter what happens, my little egg, I shall always love you…" there was a kissing sound then the figure ran out of the cave in a blur.
Spike waited for the female to come back, but she never did… There was a flash of white light and Spike could tell time had pass given it was sunny outside the cave and Spike could hear two familiar voices coming toward it.
"A tragedy, dear sister…" said Luna's sadden voice.
Celestia's own stricken tone replied, "Yes, sister, I know… and I am utterly devastated by the events…"
"I knew the Changeling Queen was cruel, but I never thought…"
"So did I, Sister…"
The alicorn sisters entered into the cave with Luna commenting, "The dragon tracks end here, Sister. Do you think there was a survivor?"
"I pray that it is so, Luna."
They began to scour the cave until Celestia shouted, "Luna! Over here!"
Both Spike and Luna saw the sun princess magically holding a purple-spotted egg.
Luna started to rejoice until she frowned, "But where is it's parents?"
Celestia suggested, "We'll keep looking around the cave but if we cannot find them then we must assume…"
Luna somberly nodded.
Another white flash occurred and this time Spike was in Canterlot with the alicorn sisters as they were walking down a street at twilight with Luna scowling and protesting.
"Sister! We cannot let this egg stay with such an irresponsible being! He won't know how to take care of the dragon when it hatches!"
Celestia calmly replied, "All will be alright, Luna… I have seen the future and not only will the egg be in good hands but the dragon that shall be born from the egg shall have an incredible destiny that awaits him. Besides, this will finally help Discord to realize that there's more to life then chaos."
She magically lifted up a basket with the egg inside as she approached the doorstep of the joke shop and gently set it down.
Luna stated, "I must go now to lower the moon." she flapped her wings up and flew off.
Celestia then raised the sun, waiting for a bit before she knocked on the door. She could hear the draconequus shouting from inside, "We're closed! Come back in an hour!" She rolled her eyes then knocked again, hearing him growling and coming to the door, she flapped to a nearby alleyway watching as Discord opened the door, "I told you to come back-" he stopped when there was no one there but when he looked down he saw a basket with a purple egg that had dark purple spots in it.
He picked up the egg and examined it, "Hmm… how very odd… Someone has left me a dragon's egg. The question is why…?" he looked around and saw no pony else anywhere and put the egg back in its basket and stated, "Well, someone is going to have to come back for it because I'm certainly not going to take care of it…"
Celestia humphed and muttered, "I knew you were going to say that…" lighting up her horn she shot a warm beam at the egg breaking it apart, revealing a tiny baby dragon yawning then it began to suck its tail. Discord was beside himself by the sudden development and grumbled as he picked up the dragon.
"Fine, I'll bring you inside for today, but tomorrow, you're going straight to the orphanage."
The baby cooed and reached for his beard to play with it.
"Hey, hey! Claws off the beard!"
Tears welled in the baby's eyes and he started to wail. That made Discord winced at the sound. "Okay, okay, okay! Calm down!" he quickly rocked the babe but he ended up rocking him too much as it caused the dragon to burp a large amount of fire making Discord's face charcoaled. The baby giggled.
Discord eyed him for a bit before he slowly smirked. "Uh, well, aren't you the little scamp…?"
While the baby Spike cooed in agreement, the adult Spike was in utter astonishment by the whole thing. Especially since it was Celestia who hatched him in first place just so he could get adopted by his dad. Then when Discord took baby Spike inside, Celestia came out from her hiding place, smirking.
"I knew he wouldn't be able to resist. Trickster or not, that draconequus has a soft spot in his heart."
Spike ended up smirking too knowing firsthand how true that statement was as memories of his life went through his head recalling all the good times he had with his dad.
Another flash happen and he found himself in the stadium the day he was chosen as Dragon Warrior. The events played on for him, finally seeing the Elements' acts that he had missed while trying to get in. Then from the moment he showed up in a ball of fire he saw how Twilight saved him and landed softly in front of Applejack.
That's when it hit him. There was a spark from that first meeting as he watched his younger self lock gazes with the tough but gentle earth pony. He remembered the warm bubbly sensation he kept having around her afterwards.
Another flash, and he saw his confrontation with Trixie and how he saved Equestria by befriending her.
Suddenly he found himself back in the tent with Zecora looking on.
He uttered out, "They didn't abandon me…"
The zebra shook her head and solemnly said, "I must confess my deepest shame. If there is anyone responsible, I am to blame…I foretold to the Changeling Queen that among the ponies, there would be a dragon that would ensure that her threat would be gone. And because of what I assumed was pure fact, she committed a most heinous act…" she hung her head, "I am so sorry…There is no reason to forgive me."
Spike shook her head, "No, if anyone is at fault here," he scowled, "It's Chrysalis."
Zecora looked up with a sad smile, "Your beginning may have tragedy, but what about the rest of your story? All the things you have done in your life with your friendly nature define who you are, so tell me: who are you, kind and noble creature?"
He gave a determined look and stated, "I am Spike. Equestria's Dragon Warrior. Best friend to Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony. And Discord's son."
Zecora nodded in content.
"Thank you for saving me and for showing me the truth. Now I need to find a way to save my friends."
"Alas, I have no potion, it seems, to send you back to stop the Queen's scheme."
"I thought as much, so I need to come up with a good plan." he started to ponder on it but nothing was coming to him until suddenly he heard someone calling his name and looked outside the tent…
Chrysalis was smirking at her captives as they were in chains and in front of the crystal castle for all to see. Her minions were grinning while the crystal ponies were scared and depressed at seeing their only hope for freedom diminishing.
The queen said to the hostages, "Aw… such sad faces… But don't worry, I will remedy that soon enough…" She turned to her subjects and the ponies, "As the Dragon Warrior is now officially dead nothing shall stand in my way now! Equestria will be mine at last!"
The changelings cheered on.
The Elements exchanged worried looks except for Applejack who looked like a zombie with her blank stare and kept her head down.
Pinkie whispered, "Come on, guys, we cannot give up hope! Spike would want us to remain strong. Right…? Applejack?"
But the cowgirl stayed silent and emotionless.
Rarity shook her head, sadly saying, "You know she hasn't spoken since it happened."
Fluttershy quietly added, "It's like when an animal loses their mate…"
Rainbow miserably shook her head and pointed, "At least she was able to kiss him before it was too late."
Pinkie muttered, "Too soon, Dashie… too soon…"
Fluttershy and Rarity nodded until something caught Rarity's eye and gaped in astonishment. She slowly pointed it out to the other three who were also stunned by what they were seeing: a dragon standing on top of a crystal building rooftop.
Rarity uttered out, "Spike?"
"Spike?" the trio repeated.
Chrysalis heard them and saw their gawking looks and turned to where they were looking only for fear to spread throughout her body as she voiced, "Impossible…"
The dragon was staring down at her making Chrysalis come out of her trance and yelled out, “How many times must I get rid of the same stinking dragon!!”
The Elements but Applejack-who was still lost in her grief-started rejoicing until the queen shouted to them, “Shut up!”
Spike then shouted out, “Chrysalis! A dragon stands between you and your destiny!”
But that last part was indistinct due to the distance between the changeling leader and the Dragon Warrior.
Chrysalis yelled out, “What?!”
“I said: a dragon stands between you and your destiny!”
But again the distance muffled the sound.
“What?!”
While the Spike on the rooftops distracted the changelings, another Spike crawled behind the Elements. The girls were surprised by this and Pinkie was about to scream when Spike covered her mouth with his claw making a shushing motion and whispering.
“Relax, it’s me…”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes and gestured, “How do we know that for sure? If there’s a Spike up there, who’s to say you’re not the real one?”
Spike smirked and stated, “When we had our first training session together, Fluttershy tamed a manticore, Pinkie used a dozen instruments to get rid of the parasprites, Rarity had to outwit Diamond Dogs, and Rainbow Dash used her awesome flying skills to dodge Quarry Eels.”
The girls gawked and could hardly contain their joy! It was him! Really him! They wanted to hug him until he reminded them.
“We’ll have to save the group hug for later, right now, I got to get you out of here.” he used a picklock to get them out of their chains. They started to move around but Spike noticed that Applejack wasn’t moving. He shook her shoulder, “AJ? AJ!” when he saw the blank expression he turned to the girls, “What happened to her?”
Rarity explained, “She’s been like that since well… she thought you were dead, we all did…”
The others nodded sadly.
Spike lowered his face to Applejack’s and held her face in his claws, “AJ… it’s me… Spike…”
When she didn’t respond, Spike did the only thing he could think of that would snap her out of it. He pressed her lips to his and held on until he felt her kissing back! He opened his eyes to see her eyes brimming with tears, when they slowly parted she touched his cheek while whispering.
“You’re alive… Really alive…”
They smiled at each other for the longest time until Applejack frowned and started to scold, “But dangnabit Spike! That was the most foolhardy thing you’ve ever done! You could have died!”
As she kept on ranting, Spike just smiled and said, “I love you too, Applejack.”
“And another thing you-“ she stopped when she realized what he just said, and uttered in disbelief, “What?”
“You heard me.” he kept smirking.
AJ sputtered and couldn’t find the words to say.
Rainbow came between them, “Okay, you two lovebirds can figure this out later, right now; we got an Empire to save!”
Spike nodded, “You’re right.” and looked to see Thorax disguised as him was still occupying the changeling swarm.
Applejack followed his gaze and inquired, “How are you here and there?”
“That’s Thorax.”
“Who?” the girls questioned.
“Remember? He was Crystal Hoof.”
“But he’s a changeling! How do you know we can trust him?!” AJ asked in concern.
Spike was quick to reply, “He came to me while Zecora was nursing me back to health in the Frozen North. He told me how sorry he was and that he wanted to leave his kind so he can share love and not drain it. At first I was hesitant but then I remember how he saved my life once by revealing himself and afterwards I watched him closely with the other changelings while we were brought before Chrysalis and he seemed so sad and out of place. While he was Crystal Hoof he told me about his crummy family life and it made sense. Look, you don’t have to trust him but you have to trust in me that he and I have a plan here to stop the queen once and for all.”
The Elements exchanged looks before Applejack said, “We’re with ya, Spike.”
He motioned them to follow and he led the way toward the Crystal Palace.
While they went in Thorax was still trying to get his words across in which Chrysalis was getting annoyed and grunted in frustration, “Enough of this!” she demanded to her soldiers, “Get him!”
The fake Spike saw them coming and thought, That’s my cue to go.
“You’re still alive?!” both Cadence and Shining Armor exclaimed joyfully when seeing Spike.
The dragon grinned, “My death was greatly exaggerated.”
Applejack shouted, “Exaggerated?! You call gettin’ blown across the Frozen North an exaggeration?!”
He sighed, “AJ, please…”
Shiny smirked, “I know that tone, Cadence uses it on me all the time whenever I do something risky on patrol.”
Cadence countered, “And for good reason, because I love you so much you big dope.” she addressed Spike and Applejack, “So I assume this means you’re a couple now?”
Spike said yes while Applejack said no.
He looked her at confusion, “I thought you love me?”
She faced him with sad eyes, “I do, Spike, but we can’t be together.”
“Why?”
“I’ll tell you later, right now we need to focus on freeing Cadence and Shining Armor and Flurry.”
“If we can find Flurry.” said Rainbow.
Rarity nodded, “I’m sure they moved her again after we had tried to rescue her before.”
Spike gestured, “We’ll split up into pairs. AJ, you’re with me, Fluttershy go with Rainbow, Rarity with Pinkie, and of course Cadence and Shining Armor will go together.”
Once they got the royal couple out of their cell, they went their separate ways.
Thorax managed to dodge the changeling guards with his powers. Transforming from one thing into another all around the Empire. But just as he thought he was safe and transformed back to himself, a changeling with dark purple eyes and a red fin on the back of his head appeared to him.
“Pharynx!” he exclaimed nervously.
The changeling scowled at him, “Thorax, just what do you think you’re doing?”
“I was… um…”
“Pretending to be the Queen’s sworn enemy?! You’re already in hot water with her as it is so why do this?!”
“I… I…” then Thorax deeply frowned and shouted, “I don’t want to feed on love anymore!”
“What?!”
“It’s true! I can’t stand it anymore! We’re just hurting everyone around us!”
“How dare you! You can’t turn your back on the changeling ways! It’s the only way for us to survive!”
“Please, Pharynx… brother… it doesn’t have to be this way…”
“What would you have us do?! Share love with everyone?!”
“Yes! That’s exactly it!”
“That’s stupid and crazy!”
“I don’t care! All I know is, we don’t have to drain love from anyone but instead we can share that love…”
Pharynx raised his brow and seemed to be thinking.
Applejack uttered to Spike as they walked down the halls, “Let me guess, the reason you pair us up was so you could find out why we can’t be a couple.”
“As much as I would like to know about that, we need to find Flurry before Thorax gets caught.”
“I thought you said you two had a plan!”
He nervously chuckled, “Well um, I might actually be making this up as I go.”
She groaned.
Suddenly Spike stopped and held her back as he pointed out a group of changeling guarding a room. He whispered, “Flurry’s got to be in there…”
AJ nodded, “With her powers it makes sense that they would have lots of changelings to keep an eye on her so she doesn’t escape.”
He suggested, “So we’ll need a code word, like if I say ‘lover’ you can say ‘boy’.”
She rolled her eyes, “You not giving up, are you?”
“I love you, so of course I’m not giving up.”
She felt her heart beating rapidly from those words. Until she reminded herself to keep her head in the game here. She suggested, “A code word won’t be necessary.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You can just use your fire breath.”
He blinked in bewilderment before a smile spread across his face, “It was so obvious. See? This is why I needed you to stay in the first place…”
She felt her cheeks flushing and uttered, “Really?”
“Yes. You can think of a plan of action while I just think of more complicated ideas to fix the problem. I would be lost without you.” on that note he moved forward while she was left speechless.
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. The train chugged away as Twilight, the Elements, and the Dragon Warrior sat in a car going over their adventure in the Crystal Empire. Twilight was amazed by all of it but gave concern looks to Spike when he told them about what happen in the Frozen North.
"So Celestia and Luna found you as an egg and took you to Discord?"
Spike nodded, "Right."
Twilight shook her head in disbelief, "It truly was your destiny to be the Dragon Warrior."
Applejack slightly frowned remembering why she and Spike couldn't have a relationship, "It is…" she faced him, "And it's because of that we can't be together."
Spike furrowed his brow, "Why? Me being the Dragon Warrior didn't stop us from being friends it should be no different for us when we're a couple."
"But it will. Once I leave for Ponyville there's no chance for us."
His eyes widen, "You're still going?"
She took his claw and rubbed it against her cheek, "Yes. And that's the hard part about all of this. In that battle alone, I saw how much you loved me and I… I feel torn apart now between you and my family…"
The girls looked on in sadness.
Spike was beside himself, he didn't want his love to choose between him and her family. He said, "Then you should be with them…"
She looked at him in surprise, "Are you sure?"
He nodded, it hurt him but he didn't want the love of his life to be miserable without her family.
Applejack felt tears in her eyes as she embraced him and he embraced her back tightly.
The girls could feel their own tears rising from this heartbreaking scene. Twilight hated to see two of her dearest friends like this and went deep into thought. Then looking at each of her friends a brilliant idea struck her.
The group found themselves in Ponyville after Twilight told them that they needed to get off the train at the Ponyville stop.
Rainbow questioned, "Okay, so why are we here in Ponyville?"
The others agreed.
Twilight stated as they walked through the village, "Think about it girls, we all met here and as much as we have kept peace in Equestria there will come a time that we'll be needed again. Spike was right to worry about all of us going our separate ways, but as I cannot keep you from your dreams and destinies there's only one thing I can think of that will work for everyone." she paused as they stopped in a bare part of town and proclaimed, "We relocate right here."
They gapped at her. It was so crazy and out there but it made so much sense.
Pinkie was the first to relish in the idea as she bounced around, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Yes! It's so perfect!"
Rarity exclaimed, "It is! I can reopen my old shop here!"
Rainbow pointed out, "And I know the Wonderbolt Headquarters are close by so when I do become a Wonderbolt I can commune between there and here!"
Fluttershy said, "I saw a cottage close to the Everfree Forest that looked like it could use someone to live in, it would be perfect for me to attend to any animal that comes my way!"
Applejack smiled, "And I can work on the farm just like I used to. Only this time, I can have you gals nearby." but then she turned to Spike with a concern look, "The question is though… will you be here as well?"
The others looked to their Dragon Warrior wanting to know the answer to that themselves.
Spike gave an emotionless expression before he slowly smiled, "Of course I will be." They started cheering until he held his hand up, telling them, "But I'll have to break the news to my dad…"
They gave him understanding looks.
Discord sighed at the counter watching as the customers play around with the magical trinkets and pranks particularly a father and son having fun. He turned to a picture of him and a younger Spike having fun.
The father commented, "Say Discord, when do you think Spike will be back? My son's birthday is tomorrow and he really wants the Dragon Warrior to be there at the party."
Discord suddenly cried out, "I don't know! Ok, I don't know! Maybe never! I mean, I worry, okay? But that's my job, I'm his dad. At least, I was his dad…" he started being dramatic, "Why did he have to go and save Equestria?! I know why… But why…? He's just one little dragon…" he wept onto the counter and covered his teary eyes.
A voice said, "Oh, Dad… always the drama king…"
Discord stopped weeping and slowly looked up to see his tall son smiling at him.
"You're back!" he teleported to his son's side and gave him a giant hug before releasing him, "So, how did it go? Did you save Equestria yet again?"
Spike smirked, "Yep."
"Well, I knew you would," he popped up some flyers, "That's why I had these made, 'My son saved Equestria, you too can save, buy one whoopee cushion, get one free'."
"Hey, that's a pretty good deal."
"Isn't it? Let's post them up right now!"
Spike cringed, "Maybe later, there's some things you have to know about."
Discord looked on in concern, "Oh? Such as?"
His son took a deep breath, "I found out the truth of where I come from…"
"Oh?"
"And… well, as much as I wish I could have been raised by my birth parents…" he smiled tenderly, "I wouldn't trade away the greatest dad in the whole wide world…"
Discord was overwhelmed by such a sweet sentiment that he ended up hugging Spike again which the dragon accepted wholeheartedly. Spike whispered, "I love you, Dad…"
"I love you too, son…"
They let go and Discord exclaimed, "So who's up for some celebratory cake!" he popped up a five layer cake.
"Ah… you might want to hold off on the celebration cake, because I have to start packing some things up."
"Packing things up? What for?"
"Um…" he fiddled with his claws nervously, "I'm moving… to Ponyville… with my girlfriend." he timidly laughed.
Discord's mouth slack-jawed to the ground, until he suddenly floated in excitement, "Wahoo! Finally!" he twirled in the air.
Spike was confused, "You're not upset I'm leaving?"
"Heck no! Frankly, I was getting tired of seeing the same old faces everyday that it's about time we expand the business."
"Wait… you're coming with me?"
"Of course! After all I need to be there to offer you dating advice and to spoil my future grandfoals."
The dragon blushed in embarrassment, "Dad! We've just start dating we're not thinking of starting a family yet!"
"Oh just you wait, knowing Miss Applejack's background she'll want to discuss it."
Spike gapped, "How did you know it was…?"
"Please… I knew before you did." he booped his nose.
"But… but…"
"Come on! We need to start packing up the shop!" he floated away.
Spike shook his head and just went with it, he may have lived with his father for eighteen years but he still didn't know everything about him. And he was okay with that.
Author's Note
And that's it! Don't worry, I am planning to spoof the third movie but my life is really crazy right now that I can't write it now plus I'm waiting for Season 8 to give us new insight, especially since my sister informed me of critical info that will be crucial to the story. Since you'll be in for a long wait, I'll tell you who I've cast as Kai. It's the Storm King. I'll list my reasons when I release Kung Fu Dragon 3. Thank you all for your support, it truly means a lot to me!
In a secluded tree hut of the Everfree Forest, a zebra was drinking her tea peacefully when suddenly a large bug-like pony with cobweb hair and swiss cheese legs burst into the hut! However the zebra was unfazed and merely sipped from her cup as she addressed the being.
"I see the only reason you come for me is so you can fulfill your destiny."
The being chuckled, "You know me very well, Zecora… After all, it was you who gave me the prophecy of my defeat the first time around. Now, will you come quietly or will we have to make you come with us?"
Behind her, there was a buzzing of smaller bug-like ponies preparing to obey their queen's orders should it ever come to that.
But Zecora sat her cup down and walked toward the creature.
"For a fight, there is no need, but only because your plans will not succeed."
"Which is exactly why I need your insight into the future, so I may stop anyone that stands in my way!"
Zecora shook her head, "The future is always changing. However, you will not avoid your fate, you vile changeling.
The Changeling Queen gave an evil smirk, "Perhaps… but I can certainly try…"
Author's Note
Now casting these two was a given. After all, who better to play Lord Shen than the Queen of the Changelings! Granted she doesn't have an army anymore but who's to say that won't change? Chrissy didn't reform so she could easily build up another army, might take awhile but hey, what's a queen without subjects? And the personalities between the peacock and changeling works wonderfully! Same goes for the soothsayer and Zecora, wise figures that help heroes in a time of need. As for the casting of the Kung Fu masters, that will come later.