As the Dragon fled, Spike shot one last burst of flame towards is target. It missed but it didn't matter, he's protected his hoard. Once the Dragon was no more than a speck on the horizon, Spike took his eyes from the threat to check his hoard.
The fight had been rather contained, so while the there were craters and scratch marks in the ground beneath him, his hoard remained largely untouched. A few burnt areas of ground though, did leave some of the edges soldering. Nothing that can't be replaced, he thought.
He had protected his hoard from other monsters before, mostly wild creatures from the Everfree forest though, a fair few Maticores and an Ursa or two. This wasn't the first dragon, they often knew to stay clear, in the hundreds of years since he acquired is hoard, only 2 others had attempted to take it from him. How they'd manage to take it away though, that thought always made him chuckle.
He gave a low roar. Upon hearing this the Ponies who had taken shelter started to climb from their basements or cloud bunkers. He watched as Pegasai gathered up clouds to suppress the flames, Earth Ponies and Unicorns heading to the affected areas to help move the wreckage and build anew. It would only take a couple of days to restore everything back to how it was.
Certain that the threat was no longer upon them, he channelled the dragon magic given to him by his hoard and shrunk hiself down. Still bigger than any of the buildings around him, but now able to move around freely without crushing anything.
He walked to the town centre to signal Celestia and alert her to the attack. When he reached the centre, he looked over the statue of the six. Each one lovingly created, every last detail put to stone and each one wearing an Element of Harmony. Enchanted by the Princess herself to look as new as the day it was made. A stone plaque in front of each of them, listing their achievements throughout their lives.
There was one empty spot on the statue, a place for him when he too eventually passed on. As for now, his place was marked with a single object, a Fire Ruby. A reminder to himself more than others, of what he became, of what he could become. It was shortly after that, while he was training to control his powers that he knew what he must do.
A Dragons hoard will give him power and the more he has, the greater his power will be, and he will use all his power to protect it. Everything in Ponyville was his, and with each passing day his hoard grew and he would continue to protect Ponyville.
