Dragon Scars

"Your Highness, they're on the move."

Spike opened his eyes in time to see Princess Celestia stand up from the tree stump she had been sitting at, the light brown khakis and button up safari shirt replacing her normal white dress. They were in a forest after all.

She faced the soldier who had given her the news and nodded. "Thank you. Inform the others." She replied in a kind voice that sounded alien to Spike.

The soldier saluted, the gold centurion armor shining, before walking off toward the platoon that was resting nearby.

Celestia then walked over to Spike and kicked him in the head. "Wake up, you useless reptile." She spat. "It's time to move. You are going to lure out those beasts for me. And remember." She got down low so he could see the rage deep in her eyes. "If you even think for a second about trying to help them, my soldiers will take great pleasure in showing you the same treatment Discord was given over a thousand years ago."

He gulped and nodded before standing up, the rest of the platoon ready to go. Following them through the forest, they soon came upon two dragons, one was black with dark red spines and underbelly, and the other was ocean blue with neon green spines and underbelly. They were relaxing next to a river as they lowered themselves down to drink.

"Alright, Dragon," One of the soldiers sneered at Spike. "Do it."

The drake gulped and nodded before silently walking through the bushes. Taking a deep breath, he shouted out what Princess Celestia instructed him to say.

"Help! Tyrant Celestia is here! If you help me, I think we can take her down together!" Spike shouted, channeling the anger inside of him. He wasn't allowed to show any anger to the ponies, but, Celestia found out that if a dragon sounded honest in his anger, other dragons would help if they could benefit from it.

And it worked like a charm.

The two dragons stood up and saw how beat up Spike looked and heard the raw anger in his voice.

"Hold, brother," the black dragon replied as they ran up to the purple and green drake. "We shall help you fight off the demoness. She has been a plight in our race for eons."

The three dragons stood side by side as Princess Celestia descended from the heavens, her pure white wings radiating the light of her sun. Spike sucked in a breath, the flame sack within him rumbling with the flames of rage as the black and blue dragons launched themselves at Celestia, hoping to distract her long enough.

The white alicorn princess just smirked as her horn glowed golden yellow, two crackling blades of energy shot from her hands, turning the dragons screams of rage into screams of pain and terror as the blades started cutting the dragons into smaller and smaller pieces, starting with their hands and feet, then their upper arms and lower legs, blood shooting from the stumps like macabre fountains, turning the lush green grass into red fields from hell.

"Brother! Help us!" The black dragon shouted, turning to face Spike, who sat there, watching the two dragons die. "No… NO! TRAITOR! You are a traitor to your kind!" The dragon shouted out before his head was liberated from his body, landing with a wet smack right before the purple and green drake, nearly liberating the contents of his stomach.

"Dark Magic is a wonderful thing." Celestia commented. "It can easily bypass these beasts natural resistance to magic."

She grinned at Spike as her horn lit up again, this time crackling with dark energy. "Wouldn't you agree, beast?" She asked him, sending a blast of the dark magic right toward him.

*****

Spike shot up, panting hard. The events of the nightmare still fresh in his mind.

Taking a few deep breaths to try and slow his heart he lay backwards into the pillow he had been sleeping on.

Spike's eyes shot open as he realized that he was sleeping in a bed. A bed meant for ponies. The fear came back stronger as he thought about what the ponies would do if they found him sleeping in a bed.

He was about to slip out of the bed when the door to the room he was in, causing his heart to skip a beat in fear.

To his surprise he saw Sunset Shimmer walk in, carrying a tray of food in her magic.

She was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, and a green and blue frill t-shirt with the sleeves stopping just after her shoulders.

"Oh, good, you're awake." She said, smiling at him as she turned the lights on. "How are you feeling?"

"Um… a little better." He answered, still looking a bit scared. "I, uh… had a nightmare… some more memories of my old life." He explained.

She nodded sweetly, placing the tray onto a nightstand next to the bed. "I think I understand. I read that ponies, or, dragons, in this case, that are suffering from PTSD can sometimes get memories of traumatic events either when their asleep or they can bleed through into reality when outside stimuli remind you of that event."

Spike nodded, having been told such from the Twilight from his old world when he explained similar events to her.

"Do you, um, want to talk about it?" She asked him.

He shuddered and rapidly shook his head. "I'd rather not remember any more than I have to." He explained, staring at his hands with a haunted expression.

"I understand." She replied. "Anyway, I brought you some breakfast." She smiled, motioning to the tray.

"Breakfast?" He asked, confused. "Wait, what time is it?"

"It's eight in the morning." Sunset answered him. "You've been unconscious for about seventeen hours."

"S-seventeen hours?" He choked out, staring at her in surprise.

"You needed the rest." She explained, placing a hand on top of his in a comforting gesture. "Twilight did a scan of your internal energy and found out that you were in severe need of rest." Grabbing the tray of food in her magic, she placed it on his lap for him. "When was the last time you had a good night's rest?"

Spike stared at the silver dome on the tray, trying to think back. Had he ever gotten a good sleep? He had never slept in a bed before, and he was always the last to fall asleep and the first to wake up.

"I honestly don't know." He finally answered, looking up at her. "I just slept when I could and woke up when I was supposed to."

Sunset stares at him in shock, not fully able to understand his statement.

"I was only allowed to live because the Twilight of my world said she needed an assistant." He explained. "That's the official reason anyway."

She shook her head, wanting to change the subject. "Anyway. You better eat. You need to replenish what you lost last night." She told him softly, lifting the dome off and revealing a stack of pancakes with some eggs to the side of them.

He picked up the fork and cut himself a bit of the pancakes, sticking it into his mouth. As soon as it touched his tongue, his eyes widened as the flavors exploded around him, and he nearly died of bliss.

*****

Twilight was sitting at one of the many tables in her library, several books on dragons and how to deal with PTSD stacked beside her as she buried herself into research. She had changed into a mauve long sleeve shirt and black leggings.

"Does she always do this?" Spike asked the two other ponies at the table with him.

"Pretty much." Starlight answered with a sigh. She currently wore a dark blue skirt that went down to her knees, a forest green t-shirt, and an unbuttoned midnight blue blouse. "If she needs to know something, or if she's just curious about something, she tends to just throw herself into research."

"Didn't the Twilight from your old world do the same?" Sunset asked him curiously.

He shook his head in reply before following up with, "She usually just spent time with her friends or tended to my wounds whenever she could. I never saw her actually do this level of research."

Sunset and Starlight stared at him again, not able to imagine any Twilight not doing this much research on a topic.

"Plus, she was a unicorn, still living in the Golden Oaks Library." He continued, shrugging. Yeah, she saved Princess Luna from being Nightmare Moon, but, there weren't many other reasons to use the Elements of Harmony."

"Wait, what?!" All three mares asked, Twilight dropping her book in surprise, which caused Spike to jump a bit and whip his head toward her in fear.

"What about Discord?" Twilight asked. "Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek?"

"When Celestia and Luna turned Discord to stone the first time, they turned him into rubble." He explained, trying to slow his beating heart. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor were the ones who defeated Chrysalis and Sombra. And Tirek's legs were hacked off before he was banished to Tartarus."

"But… but…" Twilight was both disturbed and freaking out at what Spike just told them. "But, what about the Magic of Friendship?"

"Anything or anyone that was either Draconic or threatened Equestria was decreed to be dealt with as swiftly and as permanently as possible." Spike answered sourly. "The Magic of Friendship was only supposed to be used by equines or other herbivorous creatures."

Spike felt three different hands gently lay across his right arm. "Well, in this Equestria, all creatures are given the opportunity to experience the magic of friendship." Sunset started.

"It doesn't matter what they look like, what's in their past or what they believe in." Starlight continued.

"Friends help us be who we are. They pick us up when we're down and comfort us when we're scared or sad." Twilight fished, gently squeezing Spike's fingers.

Spike stared at the three mares in front of him, tears slowly beginning to form in his eyes. "I-"

The sound of the main doors of the castle opening interrupted them as Rarity called out into the Castle.

"Twilight, darling, are you home? I was going to make Spike some new clothes to help him get settled in better, but then I realized that I wasn't able to get his measurements.

Spike blinked before looking down at his torn shirt, just now realizing that he wore his tattered outfit ever since he arrived in this new world. The three mares at the table with him followed his gaze to his bare chest, seeing the scars and toned muscles that he had gotten in his old world, causing their eyes to widen and a blush to spread across their face as they slowly removed their hands.

"Well…" Starlight started, smiling awkwardly. "This isn't awkward at all.