The Chains of War

Chapters

The Failed Plan
The Price of Power
The Hidden Village
Peace or Freedom?
Pain of the Past
The Battle of Sweet Apple Acres
Into the Everfree
The Forging of the Bond

The Failed Plan

Author's Note

Well it seems to be taking me longer than I thought to finish the second season of mlp and I can't really start the next chapter of my other story until I finish so I decided to start this little project but know that it won't take away from any others and this one will be updated only every other week. I hope you all enjoy!

The Failed Plan

“This has always been how things are and until one side is eradicated from Equestria then it is how it will stay… Those were the words that the Princess told me all those years ago and have been led to believe all my life but when I questioned this no one could tell me why or how the war started. I watched when my brother was made the captain of the Equestrian Army and when he returned from a battle with only one eye. I had to accompany the princess to countless sights where villages were burned and destroyed, ponies were burying their kin, and the stench of death was like a cloud over the world.

This war has raged for generations with neither side ever able to fully conquer the other, it’s been a cycle of death and misery for every creature. Well, I, the Royal Ambassador, Representative of the Princess, and Honorary General of the Equestrian Army, Twilight Sparkle has vowed to be the one that ends it by any means necessary for the good of Ponykind. I may have found and modified a spell that may give me the power I seek but it may take time before my plan can start as it requires something that the Army has never been able to get. A living dragon…”

Six Years Later… A group of five dragons cautiously poked their heads out of several bushes and from behind trees, taking a look down at the targeted location below. Canterlot had become the most secure city in the entire world, even the dragons had to admit that even with all their strength and numbers, attacking the city was suicide. The Dragon Lord Torch had marked the city off limits until the rest of Equestria was under dragon control nearly a millennia ago after the dragons suffered a defeat unlike any before. Nearly five thousand dragons lost their lives during the siege of Canterlot with the ponies only losing a third of those numbers due to the force field they created which allowed them to fight back and stay safe.

That force field was the group’s target and they were going to destroy it any way they could. The leader of the group took off her golden helmet as it revealed a female dragon with various shades of blue making up her body but with blood red eyes. “Okay you boulderheads, I’m the one that will be taking lead towards the castle. The rest of the city doesn’t matter, take down the castle and the field will fall. This will show that princess why you don’t mess with us.” A large red dragon began to groan as he scratched at his neck and a small cloud of colored sparkles rubbed off.

“Ugh I hate this sparkly magic stuff, why do we even have to be covered in this shi-”

“Stop that, you idiot!” A small green and purple dragon slapped his hand as the two glared at each other. “That dust is the only way we are getting into that field, I made it by taking the remnant of the pony’s magic from our own dead… try not to be an asshole and respect their sacrifice Garble.” The two looked about to come to blows when an orange and purple dragon pushed both to the ground.

“Get down and shut up!” Above head, a group of pegasus known as the Wonderbolts flew doing a routine flyby. “Ember, we don’t have much time…”

“Smolder’s right, Garble you are to go around the back and climb the wall to the second floor then lay the quartz bomb inside the castle. I will head towards the throne room and lay mine while Scolder heads to the top floor and Scalebreaker goes to the gardens. After all the bombs are set we come back here and get away before they can find us, remember that the dust can only hide you for a bit before it fades due to our magic resistance. The bombs will detonate themselves after fifteen minutes.” As the group nodded and began to go on their way, Spike grabbed Ember’s arm and crossed his.

“You told me that if I made the dust for you then I would be able to join in on the attack! I lost both my parents in that siege and I thought we were just attacking the princess since she holds up the field! Since when was destroying the entire castle the plan!?”

“I’m sorry Spike but I knew you would refuse if I told you anything else but those ponies have to pay for the deaths and for the dishonor they gave to us.”

“And you’ll get it by just killing everyone!?”

“Oh grow up Spike! This war is going to be ours soon and we can only win when all the ponies are dead or gone from our land so decided whose side you’re on.” Ember flew away, leaving the small dragon there as he sat down and shook his head in anger.

Ember was an expert flyer and wore her armor to block the sight of any pony that managed to see her in the minute that she would be revealed to them even if they had managed to see her all it would have been was a golden streak and that could have just been a play on their eyes. She smashed through a window and quickly rushed to the nearest door, putting her ear up to it nothing could be heard. She only hoped that the others could get their jobs done just as quickly as just she exited the room to find the throne.

Smolder hated these artificial clouds that the ponies made, decided that they had nothing on the smoky ones from the Dragon Lands. She was hiding in a white cloud as it slowly floated towards the tower of the castle. She dived down once it was close enough and rolled looking around and seeing no one but as she examined the tower it seemed to be some kind of giant machine. She didn’t know what it could be used for but shrugged and planted her bomb and hid in the cloud again before it got too far.

Garble rolled his eyes as he knocked out another pony guard that was blocking the way to his goal, annoyed that the ponies were even guarding the back of the castle. He wanted to kill the ponies and get the job done but couldn’t afford to screw up before planting the bomb so he left them knocked out. He finally arrived at the wall and climbed it, his claws easily sinking into the stone as if it were butter. Once he got to the second floor, he jumped onto a balcony and planted his bomb inside before cursing when a fireball from behind him came from the gardens. Scalebreaker had been found.

Spike looked down with his binoculars, still in awe that Garble had managed to get his job done for once even if he did attack a pony here and there but he turned when he saw the fireball. Scalebreaker had been found when a trap went off in the garden, some kind of nature mixed with magic abomination. The flowers sprayed something in Scalebreaker’s face and while dragons can survive acid and lava, the flower did something to his mind.

“A hallucination! He’s seeing something…” Spike was about to head his way when the ponies beat him there and after swiping at them and blowing fire in a panic, their spears pierced his throat. Spike looked away before looking back and seeing the bomb had fallen. He knew he couldn’t leave it there and snuck over using his size to his advantage. Once he had finally arrived, the guards were removing the body and one white unicorn seemed to be leading them.

“Get that thing into the castle and prepare it for burying, we could have had our first living dragon captive but I guess all we are gonna get tonight is another dead one. Go search the castle again, with the princess gone, we have to protect the machines producing the field.” Spike grabbed the stone but froze when he realized what the unicorn had said, the princess was no longer need to produce the field and wasn’t even there. They were about to attack the castle for nothing.

Spike rushed towards the castle and shouted at Garble to stop as the dragon lit his bomb before he was supposed to. Spike cursed as voices began on his way and he climbed the wall with the first bomb on his back. He climbed onto the balcony as he dodged a swipe from Garble. “The hell are you doing here shrimp!? You brought the entire army coming right to the bombs!” Spike pushed past him and began to try and put out the bomb but saw that it wasn’t gonna stop. Spike yelped as he felt a cut on his arm. “I was talking to you!”

“This mission was a failure! We’re about to kill all the ponies in this castle but the one we wanted to! This won’t do anything to help our side, in fact, it will only make them stronger! I’m stopping these bombs.” Spike was silenced when a claw sliced into his cheek and he glared at the older dragon as he had blood on his claws.

“You’re trying to save them!? Who cares if their worthless lives end here?! They sure didn’t care when our people were dying right outside this city and I’ll see the whole city burn for it.”

“You’re insane…” The two dragons began to fight with claws and fire being sent everywhere, including on the bomb that was still between them. It exploded sending Garble out of the castle and forced him to retreat as the guards gave chase and Spike was forced to run through the castle. He ignored every shout and sound that followed him as he blew fire on his feet and behind him at every chance to keep the ponies at bay but never stopped, finding the throne room and checking all around when he found the bomb under the throne itself.

“Freeze!” Spike turned slowly as he saw a purple unicorn behind him who was wearing a helmet that was too big for her. The two stared into each other’s eyes and challenged each other.

“You don’t want to do this, I am trying to stop a disaster. You will let me go.”

“You’re thicker than your scales if you think for a moment I’m letting you just get away.”

“If I don’t ponies will die.”

“Bet you’d like that.” The two glared as a filly behind Spike opened the door to the throne room and eyes widened. “N-no! Get away!” Spike took this moment to blast fire in front of the unicorn and pushed the filly down as he raced even higher, right to the tower. The bombs on his back getting too warm and near ignition themselves.

“Just one more Spike!” He shouted to himself ass he reached the tower and found the last bomb but before he could do anything a fireball hit the bomb and Ember flew nearby.

“How could you be betraying us, Spike?! I thought we were family! Was Scale’s death your fault too?!” Spike stared at the girl he had known his whole life as she angrily wiped away a tear that threatened to fall.

“N-no… Ember! The princess isn’t here! This was all for nothing!! You know me better than anyone, you really think I would do that to you!?” Ember blinked as her eye went to the bombs on his back as they had been ignited from her fire and she shouted his name before he exploded. The force of three bombs destroyed the tower and Ember screamed out Spike’s name when she finally heard him somewhere under all the rubble.

“S-Spike, just wait! I’m gonna get you out!”

“N-no… my rips are broken… you’re wasting too much time… they are coming and you need to get out before that. I’m gonna take the capsule…” Years before, the dragons decided that death would be better than capture and it became honorable to kill yourself before you could be captured, that being the reason that the ponies never captured a living dragon.

“No… I can’t lose you yet… I’m gonna come back but I’m asking you to not die yet… live please…” Spike blinked at what the girl was asking of him and knew that she wouldn’t ask something like that if she didn’t mean it. He cursed and stared at the pill, the one time that dragons used their brains and it was for causing death to themselves. How ironic… If he lived then his name would forever be shamed.

“...Okay… I’ll live.” Ember smiled before hearing voices and racing out of the rubble and glancing back as Spike was captured.

. . .

Celestia grimaced as she was given a report of the incident, two dragons attacked the castle and the diversion was killed while the smaller of the two attempted to plant bombs in the castle but only managed to destroy the beacon, one of three towers that held up the force field that protected Canterlot.

“And the small dragon, what of its fate Captain?” Twilight looked up at her brother before he answered.

“We were able to take it into custody, it didn’t try to kill itself and willing gave in.” Twilight gasped a bit while Celestia blinked a bit in shock.

“I see… well, I won’t be leaving Canterlot again until the tower is fixed so I will go meet this dragon, where is the creature?”

“The dungeons.”

“Thank you Shining, dismissed.” He nodded and turned to leave before glancing at his sister and slowly leaving. “Well Twilight? I sense you have something to say.”

“Yes… this dragon is the first one we ever captured alive right?”

“Heh you’re the history buff here my faithful student, you tell me.”

“It is, in all the war we never captured one alive but this one was so I think it had a reason?”

“A wise reasoning, let us see this dragon for ourselves then.” The two walked into the lower parts of the castle, never once did Twilight ever remember any creature being put down there but in the deepest part, they found a single candle on the wall lit and a door being guarded by two stallions. They immediately moved when the princess arrived and she nodded to them before opening the door. Spike was hanging by his wrists from two chains where two thick metal containers covered his claws and a the same containers were on his feet. A muzzle was covering his mouth and a blindfold on his eyes. He looked up at the sound and made a noise before Celestia stepped forward. “I am Princess Celestia.” Immediately the dragon shook and fought against the bindings but quickly gave in.

Twilight stared at the small dragon’s tied up form and even blushed a bit as she felt she had seen a scene like that before somewhere but soon got her mind back on task. “S-should we uncover his eyes, Princess? At least then we can ask things and get yes or no answers.” Celestia nodded and Twilight removed the blindfold, seeing two green eyes glaring at her, the same eyes she saw before. His glare went solely on Celestia before looking at Twilight with… guilt in his eyes. “Blink once for no and twice for yes okay? We don’t want to hurt you… but we will…”

Spike stared at the two before blinking twice. “Good well, let’s start simple. Are you a boy?” Two blinks. “Good, was it just you and that other dragon that attacked the castle?” Two blinks. “Were you trying to blow up my castle? You do know that there were foals here right?” Spike’s eyes widened before he blinked once. “Was your target me?” Two blinks. Celestia sighed as the questioned continued they found that the dragon didn’t know too much about the dragon’s main plans and whenever Spike was being difficult Celestia would strike the chain with electricity. Spike was beaten by the end of the interrogation and Twilight asked that he be given medical attention and Celestia honored her request. As they left the dungeon Twilight’s mind wandered to an idea she long since buried but with a dragon now in their control… maybe.

“Princess… I was wondering if you remember an old spell that I showed you.”

“I know what spell you are talking about Twilight and me knew that you would ask when I heard we captured one alive and I am sorry but I refuse to use the spell. It would be incredibly dangerous to chain two souls together as your spell would do and I will not do that to your brother or one of my soldiers.”

“But if it worked we could end this war!”

“Or curse somepony to a fate worse than death. Having your soul torn apart would ensure that you would suffer for all eternity. Are you willing to bet your brother’s soul on a hunch Twilight?”

“...No…”

“Good, now let’s get on to the next matter that needs attention. The tower must be ready before any more attacks happen.”

. . .

Ember bowed her head as her father was told of the incident and she said that Spike had been captured before he was able to take the capsule. Garble spread the rumor that Spike was a traitor and had to be killed before he could reveal anything to the ponies. Smolder sided with Ember and Torch agreed to give the two an army when they mentioned that the field had been damaged and there was a chance to take the city now that they were vulnerable. As night fell, the dragons roared and Ember led the charge towards the city.

“I’m coming Spike…”

The Price of Power

Celestia and Ember were equally frozen as they floated there with wide eyes, even while their forces were screaming for their help. Twilight and Spike struck like a bomb, rushing to the closest being and struck them to the ground with a single punch or blast of magic. They struck dragon and pony alike and while they hadn’t killed one, their sense not that far gone yet, they were ruthless and ensured neither side would be recovering easily. With every blast of magic Spike would be there to take the hit for Twilight while she used her magic to take down any dragon that dared to get close to them. Dragons and Ponies put aside their fight and since their leaders didn’t seem to be leading, took charge and aimed all the magic and fire they had at the two.

“No, halt your attack!!” Celestia and Shining’s pleas fell on deaf ears as they all sent the attacks and Ember realized what was wrong, the last sight she saw before the two were engulfed in magic and fire were devious smirks on their faces. An orb of fire and magic swirled until the attacks died down but the attacks remained. Shining’s eyes widened and he ordered everypony to take cover as the orb shattered with Spike sucking in half the powers and setting the sky towards the dragons ablaze. Twilight used her magic to turn the other half of the power into the form of a giant snake and taking out all the ground forces of the ponies. The two separated with Twilight grabbing the wave that Spike caused and turning the fire into fine sharp needles, puncturing most of the dragons and pegasi that were still flying and sent them falling to the earth with the rest flying away in a panic.

Spike smashed through the snake’s head with his body and claws becoming ignited while he roared and slashed at the ponies, knocking them out and making them retreat as magic wasn’t working. Spike turned only for a horn to nearly impale itself in his neck, causing him to dodge and growl and roar. Shining Armor tossed his helmet aside and glared at Spike before the two rushed each other with Spike trying to slash at his side and grab his horn but the captain was strong and kicked Spike in the face. Not giving him a moment of rest, before Spike could recover Shining stabbed him in the leg and stomach then used a blast of magic to send the dragon smashing into the castle.

Shining huffed before Celestia shouted out and he looked up with Twilight attempting to blast apart the spot he was on. He blasted back and the two attacks met midair but for the first time ever Shining felt Twilight’s blast overcome his and he jumped just as her attack destroyed the ground and sent shrapnel stabbing into his armor and legs. Twilight landed and stared at Shining as she prepared to attack again, her irises shaking and eyes beginning to cry as she stared at him.

“T-Twily… I’m not gonna fight you…” She screamed and shot a beam of magic into the sky which exploded and sent small shimmers of light to fall to the earth as she jumped high into the air and a piece of the castle’s wall came flying at Shining which he stopped with magic. Before he could do anything, a fist burst through the wall and Spike laid out a flurry of punches before sending him flying back with a kick. Twilight landed next to Spike as her horn glowed and he flexed his claws which were still on fire. Shining coughed and spit out some blood before forcing himself to stand and face the two as they rushed at him but as he prepared to fight a concentrated beam of sunlight struck the two and sent them flying and Celestia landed. “P-princess…”

“I’m sorry Shining I should have known she would do this.” Twilight used her magic to get them out of the rubble and both glared at the princess.

“What is wrong with her?”

“When she fused their souls she inherited all the instincts that a dragon has to deal with naturally and all that plus the power boost the two got fueled their greed and that has nearly overpowered everything else. If we want them to stop this then I’ll have to beat them both down.” The two rocketed towards the princess only for Twilight to be grabbed and Ember spun, using her tail to send the unicorn crashing into the ground and Spike roared jumping and slashing at Ember. She grabbed his arm as she stared into his eyes.

“What is wrong with you!? You’re are attacking your own! Protecting that pony! You’re attacking me you, idiot!” Spike stared at her and roared as his head began to fight itself and he put a hand on her chest, focusing and forcing her to let go as several green magical tendrils came from his hand and wrapped around Ember’s body, squeezing her until she let him fall and used all strength to pull and tear them off. “M-magic…” She was caught off guard while recovering as Spike had gotten back up and grabbed Twilight, spinning and chucking her like a missile at Ember who blocked as Twilight charged up her horn. It glowed brightly and the moment it touched Ember an explosion sent them both flying but Spike was there to catch Twilight as Ember created a crater with smoke coming off her body.

Celestia flew to Ember and used her magic to heal the dragon princess who coughed and climbed out of her hole, smacking away the hoof the princess offered. “I know you don’t like me.”

“Whatever gave you an idea like that genius?”

“But, right now we have bigger problems. Those two have decimated our armies and are intent on finishing us both off unless we put them both down for the count.”

“A true dragon doesn’t need a pony’s help to fight.”

“Look around you fool!” Ember opened her mouth to retort but realized what she meant, their fight had destroyed much of the castle, ponies and dragons were everywhere and some were bleeding. If their wounds were untreated… While ponies bred like rats, Dragons were rare and it was only about half that would live long enough to actually fight and since dragons matured so slowly each one was a needed resource that she couldn’t just sacrifice for some false sense of pride. “I say that we beat them down and then we can call this fight a draw.” Ember growled and she nodded reluctantly and the two turned to see Spike and Twilight were up again and walking towards them through the smoke and destruction.

Ember flew high into the air and spun while gaining speed and smashing the earth with all her might, sending stone and earth flying and Celestia used her magic to propel all the debris at Twilight and Spike, Spike jumping ahead and slashing at every large chuck while Twilight used her magic to push away all the rest. Ember prepared herself and shouted at Celestia that she was ready as she was floating with Celestia’s magic about to send her flying at Spike as he was protecting Twilight.

“Remember that their lives are tied together! If either dies then the other will follow!”

“I’m not stupid and I’m not killing him…” Celestia threw her with all her might and Ember soared through the air and yelled as she grabbed Spike and took him far from Twilight, smashing him against a wall and apologized before laying a storm of punches at his torso and face, ending with an elbow to the top of the head. Spike coughed and spit out a bit of blood while holding his stomach. “Don’t make me hurt you more Spike… This ends here and you’re coming back.”

“No, I will never again fight for an endless cycle of death and misery! If I must strike down every last one of you all, I will!” Spike threw a punch only for it to be grabbed by Ember.

“You can’t change the way things are, you think they’ll ever accept one of us? You think you’re the only one to ever try ending this? This misplaced sense of justice will only get you killed!”

“No… this time will be different. I have help and determination to see it to the end.” Ember sighed and kicked at him, only for Spike to roll and concentrate hard on his fire breath, something she taught him.

“Your flames never burned me, Spike.” Spike released his lungful of fire and Ember held out a hand as something else came out, a green fireball that stung her hand. Magic. Knocking it away, she punched Spike again finally laying him out for good as she breathed heavily and saw the scales in her hand had been injured. “What did you do to yourself…”

. . .

Twilight turned and prepared to go after Spike but was blasted in the side when Celestia began to walk towards her. “My faithful student, I can sense you are not yourself. Please, I beg that you let me help you and sever this bond between you and that dragon. I raised you to be the best you can be, where did I mess up to make you think this was a path worth taking?”

“You think this was a mistake!? We made our choice and we’d make it again! You and others like you have pushed this war for too long and now we’ll stop it at any cost… I don’t want to fight you, princess… but I won’t bow again, I’m sorry…” Twilight rushed at her and stabbed at her shoulders, not trying to kill but maim her or force her away. The princess dodged every strike and put more of her power into her horn, throwing Twilight away and then bucking her back before she could get back up. Twilight coughed and groaned before standing and focusing all of her power into her horn. Celestia stood tall and met her blast with one of her own, the princess walking towards her as her student’s magic was strong but not strong enough yet. Twilight yelled as her blast was destroyed and she was hit by the princess’s magic.

“I’m sorry Twilight that I failed you but I can’t have ponies that cling to unreasonable ideas of justice trying to stop my country from being the best it can be. I’ve always done what I can for the peace of the world but how does putting our swords down as they attack us bring you any version of what you seek? I suppose I should take you back to the castle now to see if I can undo your… what?” As the smoke disappeared, Twilight was still standing if only barely. Her fur shimmered in the light of the sun, they reminded Celestia of dragon scales. “So he gave you something in return, magic resistance.” Twilight huffed and took a step before she fainted and fell to the earth. Celestia looked down at the unicorn before carefully lifting her and placing her on her back.

. . .

Twilight softly groaned as she felt her body aches when she tried to move, her eyelids even not willing to obey as they left her in the dark. There was a soft beeping noise that was already pissing off the emerging headache she was developing. “Flaaaash! Shinnnning!! Will one of you shut that annoying sound off!?” She suddenly became aware of another sound near her, the sound of breathing. She forced her eyes open and found herself in her room but there was a bed next to hers where Spike laid with bandages covering his head and chest. A machine with a tube down his throat beeped in turn with one that was attached to her foreleg. “They couldn’t get anything past his scales without hurting him…”

Twilight stared at the young dragon as he groaned and moved a bit in his sleep, the pony reaching out to him. A bit of fear entered her heart as she saw there was no chain connecting the two but as her hoof touched him the chain appeared around his neck and her hoof, dimly glowing. “So she couldn’t break the bond…”

“Nope, I must admit that your magical skill has gotten much better.” Twilight jumped and pulled away from the dragon as Celestia seemed to have materialized next to her bed. The unicorn tried to cover the dragon from her sight but a stab of pain forced her to lay back down.

“P-princess… I’m sorry about attacking you, attacking my own people but I… I felt angry and so powerful that I felt like I could...”

“Like you could take on the entire world… we ponies never have given dragons proper respect with what they must deal with on a daily basis. When you connected to that little dragon his nature and the innate greed, want for destruction, and anger entered you all at once and with your bond having just been forged he was caught as off guard as you and both of you fell to those feelings.”

“...What happened to everyone?”

“The dragons are gone… I allowed the princess to gather her forces and leave as long as they left that one here but she told me that after this even if it wasn’t what she wanted, he would be hunted down for attacking his own.” Twilight trembled a bit and looked at Spike, her spell, her choice to bond with him had destroyed his life and made him an outcast from his own people. She at least still had her… brother!

“S-Shining! What happened to him!? We didn’t hurt him too much did we?! Oh my Celestia what if he doesn’t want to ever see me again?! What if he-”

“Relax Twilight, your brother is just fine, maybe even better than fine. Cadence came back the moment that she heard he had been injured and has been fawning over him since those two truly are perfect together… I’m sorry for not trying to understand you more my dearest student, I almost made a mistake. You decided on your own path instead of the ones I made for you and while I wished I could protect you and keep you by my side, I feel that your destiny will go beyond anything that I thought possible.” As Celestia held the unicorn close, Twilight felt her heart soar but then fall.

“I-It sounds like you are sending me away…”

“Yes… One of the reasons that I didn’t want this spell you made to work is that we can’t have a dragon here in Canterlot. This city is made up of so many refugees and those who lost much to the dragons and even if your friend there is on our side, he would never be able to live here in peace. They would kill him.”

“Can’t you do anything?!”

“Even if I gave orders that he be protected, I would lose many people’s trust as they would see me as a dragon sympathizer and I doubt that would stop the most extreme of ponies. As ruler and commander of the Equestrian Army, I can’t have ponies lose their respect for me as I need their help to keep this fight going strong.

“Then I’ll protect him! I won’t let anypony hurt him!”

“You don’t understand yet how deep hate can go and I hope you never have to. There is also the problem that if either one of you were to die it would kill the other, I won’t put you in danger by keeping you at my side. You told me that you wish to stop this war for good and I never dreamt that such a thing could happen… after so long I gave up hope… but seeing you two now I have it again. I must send you two away and ask that you don’t come back to Canterlot until the day that your dream comes true. Don’t worry, however, I have given your little dragon there a bit of my own magic and his fire breath now can give me or Cadence letters should you ever need our guidance.”

“This is my home… my brother… my friends...”

“I promise you that I will keep him safe and I think he’s too stubborn to die, you are so much stronger than you believe and with a partner like him by your side always remember that I believe in you.” Twilight wiped her eyes and nodded before hugging the princess.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I won’t let you down!”

“I suppose we won’t let you down…” The two turned to see Spike had woken up and had pulled the tube out of his throat. His eyes showed confusion at what the two of them were doing and how he was supposed to be feeling being so close to Celestia. He decided to just yawn and relax a bit. “We’ll find a way to stop this war and then live happy lives like we all want to.”

“I am trusting you dra-Spike to protect Twilight.” Spike opened an eye and blew a bit of fire.

“We’re stuck together now… I’ll keep her safe no matter what.”

“Then you both should leave before anypony sees you but Twilight go tell your brother your goodbye while I give Spike all the things you may need on your journey.” Twilight nodded and after a bit of help limped her way to her brother’s room and heard two ecstatic voices inside. Opening the door she was tackled by her brother and Cadence but as she hugged them back she eventually told them of her situation. Shining said that she could stay and he would personally defend her but Cadence agreed with the princess and asked Shining to trust in the princess’s judgment. She smiled and bowed her head to Twilight, saying that she was no longer the small filly she used to take care of, she had grown into a fine warrior and smart adult that had her trust.

“T-Twily… are you sure? I’m not keen on letting you go off with a dragon of all things but… Cadence is right I can’t keep you locked up here. You are free to make your choices and I hope you’ll keep me updated on your journey. You would have made Mom and Dad so proud.”

“Thanks, Shiny… I’ll miss you. Tell Flash I said thanks for always being there for me... he was my best friend.”

“I’ll miss you too bookworm, I’ll be here waiting for you and I'll tell him.” Twilight hugged the two again and began to leave when Shining called to her. “And if that dragon tries any funny business I’ll kill him!” Twilight blushed a bit as Cadence whacked Shining in the head.

“Ignore him! He just had his mind in the gutter! I think you’ve been spending too much time with your men.”

. . .

Spike and Twilight were walking up a hill, taking the time to look back as the sun was setting and Twilight whispered one last goodbye to her city and the castle as a tear ran down her cheek. Spike crossed his arms, looking at her as something touched his heart and caused him to sigh before placing a hand on her back. “This isn’t really goodbye. We’ll come back once it’s all over…”

“You’re right Spike, it’s not goodbye. Okay, time to go on a journey to save the world!!”

“So where are we going?”

“No idea… wait I remember a place where I may have a friend in. Ponyville…”

Author's Note

I'm not sure how confident I am in this chapter and I hope that everyone will enjoy this and the direction I'm planning on taking it. Thank you all for reading, liking, and commenting on my story and I promise to do my best to make this the best story I can make it!

The Hidden Village

“Could you please chew those any quieter!?” Twilight snapped at the dragon next to her as he munched on several gemstones that she had found for him.

“Sheesh, well excuse me princess but I would think that you would want to hear me over all the forest noises. After all, we don’t want you to start freaking out at every cricket again.”

“Well I’m sorry that I was raised beside a princess in polite society, my life being bonded to a dragon till we die and being banished from the only life I know into the harsh world wasn’t something I planned for!” The two glared at each other before sighing and Spike went back to chewing on his jewels, a bit more quietly.

“...You forgot the part where you got us lost… You said it would be a day's trip but it has been nearly a week.” Twilight groaned and decided that they should stop for a drink in the nearby stream after she made sure the water was safe.

“Do you dragons have to be so… argumentative?”

“Argu… what?”

“Quarrelsome? Disputative?” Spike blinked at her and slowly put another jewel in his mouth, causing the pony to yell in anger and mess up her mane. “Stupid!”

“Oh, that one I know… hey! Look I’m not stupid I’m just not as smart as some know-it-all who was given everything on a silver plate! In the Dragon Lands, it is made very clear that if you aren’t the strongest than all you are is dead weight. I tried to use my head to actually help my people out and they laughed at me and where has that gotten me now? With some chain around my neck, me being branded as a traitor, and me getting the honor of being the first dragon to have ever been captured. Some help being smart did me.” He growled and put his jewels next to him while he washed his face and drank some water. Twilight stared at him before slowly moving closer and sitting an arm’s length away.

“...So how are the jewels?” Spike looked next to him at the sparkly stones and picked up the emerald he had been eating.

“Good… a bit soft and they had some still developing parts deep in them but juicy and still having a good crunch to them. Umm… thanks for finding them…”

“Heh no problem, besides you didn’t give me much of a choice with how loud you were complaining about the dandelion sandwiches and the growling of your stomach.”

“Yeah… Ember did say I had the appetite of a full-grown dragon.”

“So was what you said true? There’s no schooling or education in the Dragon Lands?”

“We been fighting this war for generations, with how stubborn and hard-headed we dragons are known to be you really believe that we wouldn’t want to just make the best fighters? Rather I like it or not, we aren’t known for our strategies.”

“No, I guess not… I studied every battle in the war and the strategies that had been used in them. We don’t know too much about Dragons, leading us to underestimate them many times and cost us victory in several battles.”

“This war has conquered and etched its way into every part of our lives, even mates are chosen for strength instead of feelings but I can’t argue with the results. When you do have dragons who are born out of love you get ones like me…” Spike sighed and angrily tossed a rock into the stream, watching it skip several times. Twilight softly put a hoof on his arm and gave him a small smile.

“I don’t see anything wrong with that… I know that I can be a bit much to deal with and even my brother says that I have a tendency to… overreact at times but I guess I’m not used to having somepony, or somedragon I guess in this case, that's by my side. I had my brother, the princess, and a good friend growing up but they all were too busy to truly be there all the time so I buried myself in my work. Now I’m out in the world that I only ever really read about with a dragon that can’t leave my side. I’m scared of more things changing… of not being good enough now that I have somedragon to take care of and who is watching me all the time. We’ve all been burned by this stupid fight and had our lives changed by it but we’ll work with what we have.”

“What do we have? A bit of money, a map that got us lost, some food, and books. Hey don’t worry about me watching you too much, you’re not that easy on the eyes~” Twilight smiled with a small giggle and lightly punched his arm, hurting her hoof in the process.

“Jerk. We have each other, that’s something.” Spike watched her shake her sore hoof and chuckled while rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, we’re something all right.”

. . .

Spike had volunteered to take first watch since he had talked Twilight into carrying him for the last little bit. The young dragon looked up at the moon and yawned before looking at his partner. Parts of him were afraid of her, of the magic she had and remembered all the horror stories of ponies doing anything to ensure a victory, even needlessly killing every dragon regardless of them being warriors or civilians. The dragons would get so desperate that they would shatter their own eggs to keep them from the ponies but Spike knew deep down that the fear went both ways. Dragons did atrocities to the ponies and were underhanded themselves at times, something he was even guilty of.

“I’m no better… using bombs to blow up a castle thinking the only one hurt would be their princess, of course, there were children and others inside a place like that… I was such a fool and now all we have are each other. I lost my family, best friend, and even the support of my people after what little they have ever offered. But then I look at her, she lost her friend, mentor, family, status, and is bonded to a being she was raised to fear and kill. I wonder how she can even sleep…” He touched the unicorn’s mane and moved it from her eyes before standing and stretching. “Dragons are said to be able to live entire generations should they survive. I could have been nearly immortal but now…” He looked down at the chain that reflected the moonlight despite not truly being real.

“I’ll die long before that even if we were to ever end the war. Ember once said that our lives were always on a timer when you are in a war but I never thought that I would actually ever die of age. Crazy that it’s not my age that is the deciding factor here.” Spike sat next to Twilight and yawned again before trying to stay awake, but losing the battle and falling into a deep sleep. Nearby, a shadow of a unicorn watched the two with interest before vanishing into the night.

. . .

A scream woke Spike as he jumped up and got a lungful of fire ready to attack only to find Twilight and on her hind legs and screaming while pointing at a large spider that had been crawling on her. Spike let the fire out in a small stream while walking to the spider and taking it into his claws before smirking at Twilight who was inching away. “Aww, what’s wrong Twi? Such a brave and strong general isn’t afraid of a little bug is she~” He teased her by threatening to throw it at her but she growled at him and glared.

“Very funny Spike, get that thing away from me and don’t think I didn’t notice that you fell asleep! We could have been killed! What if that spider had an army ready to kill us!?”

“I’m quaking in fear, truly.” He flicked the bug away while chuckling to himself until he turned to see the glaring unicorn who powered up her horn and surrounded him in a magical aura while making a small motion with her hand and causing him to float over to her until they were face to face.

“Listen closely Spike, we are in the Everfree and this place is known for being a place not fit for ponykind. Strange creatures are everywhere and I even read that Princess Celestia used to live out here somewhere with her sister when they first came to Equestria and for some reason even they couldn’t stay here so let’s take our safety more seriously before something crazy happens.” Suddenly the ground began to shake and the two turned to see two large eyes burst from the ground and the sound of growling as the creature erupted. The hydra roared at them as Spike blinked and looked at Twilight.

“You just had to say something didn’t you?”

“Oh shut up!” She started to run, using her magic to float Spike onto her back. “Well what are you waiting for?! Get that thing away from us!” It had fully burst from the ground and glared at the intruders before giving chase.

“Give me a sec! If I start blowing fire everywhere the whole forest could burn! I need clear shots so get us somewhere with fewer trees.” Twilight nodded while Spike told her when to dodge the heads as they attacked and would get them to slam into each other and into boulders. Spike managed to deliver a fireball to one of the heads when it missed them. They were getting near a clearing when she heard Spike gasp and she turned to see the center head was sneering at the other two and got them to all work together and attack at once, leaving no room to dodge. “T-Twilight!”

“Spike, hold on!!” She jumped and used a spell to cast a shield around them but when the three head slammed against it, it shattered and sent the duo flying into the clearing. Spike groaned and crawled towards the purple mount that wasn’t moving, checking her for injuries but only found that she had a few scratches and that she was tired after the shield.

“Twilight…” He looked up to see the hydra coming out of the woods and roaring at them again. He glared at the monster and back at the pony, knowing that either of them died that they would both go then he needed to protect her. “Okay you big lizard! You want a fight you got one!!” He ran towards the creature while attacking and getting its attention with several fireballs to the chest and faces. It snapped at him almost getting his tail before he jumped and slashed at its eyes before he changed direction and tried to get behind it. The injured head roared in rage and pain while shaking the blood from its eye and Spike was forced to roll under the giant tail as it was trying to crush him and he jumped at it with his mouth open, clamping his jaws deep into the appendage. Dragon jaws were strong enough to shatter diamonds and the hydra’s scales were no different as the taste of iron filled Spike’s mouth and he had the urge to gag but held strong.

The monster had had enough of this tiny dragon and smashed him into the earth several times and then flung him off high into the air, before he could hit the ground it smacked him with its hand and sent him smashing into several trees. Spike coughed and held his aching teeth and body before seeing the hydra was still after him. He forced himself to stand and grabbed a sharp branch before walking to the monster and when it attempted to grab him, he blew fire on the branch and used all his strength to force it deep in the monster’s hand. It grabbed him tight with the other hand and stared at the three heads that were all glaring with hate in their eyes but he managed a small smile seeing the bloody scar on the center head’s eye.

“Just a tiny thing to remember us by… I’m sorry Twilight… I tried…” It began to squeeze the life out of him, crushing him with the sound of a bone-cracking echoing and causing him to scream out. The pain started to fade and his lights danced in his sight as the edges began to blackout. The pain vanished fully and Spike felt his body carefully float to the ground as the hydra was pulled away from him and Twilight was back on her hoofs. Pain and anger fueling her as she used all her remaining magic to grab the Hydra’s tail and fling it high into the air and smash it into the ground. The attack caused a small earthquake and a cloud of smoke to surround the downed monster. Twilight huffed and took a few pained steps towards where she could feel Spike was but fell long before she could make it. She felt the ground shake behind her as the monster was recovering and she reached out.

“N-no… not yet…” She began to think she was hallucinating as a small group of dragons and ponies came from the woods in an orderly fashion and started to fight off the Hydra. Twilight could only hear the fight as she was losing her fight to stay conscious, the last sight she saw was a silhouette of a unicorn smirking down at her.

. . .

Twilight felt strange as she floated in her dark mindscape, knowing that you were in a dream that you controlled yet at the same time feeling foreign in your own mind as if you were an intruder there. She looked around the void and only then began to feel something, something nearby was calling to her. She followed the feeling to a small gemstone that was silently floating as if waiting for her. Looking around and finding nothing else Twilight reached out and touched the stone before the area around her changed into something she had only ever heard of. The Dragon Lands. She stared in awe at the place around her as her mind raced with the possibility of learning but those feelings immediately turned to fear as a dragon approached her.

“Hey what’s wrong Spike, you’re acting like you don’t know me.” Twilight stared at the blue dragon in shock as she took in her words and then ran away. She rushed past a few dragons, pushing them out of her way as she picked up a diamond and found Spike’s eyes looking back at her. The eyes blinked before Spike reached out of the diamond and pulled the girl into it. Twilight gasped as she was back in the black void but a mirror was in front of her and Spike could be seen knocking his fists against it. The two stared at each other with Twilight doing her best to calm the young dragon. Once he relaxed they stared at the other’s image and then slowly both reached out and touched the mirror, causing it to glow and something pulled them closer to it.

. . .

Twilight sprung up in bed before cursing and falling back as the pain hit her. She was in some kind of hospital room with several tubes connected to her body and pumping her with liquid.

“It’s a kind of natural remedy, also tastes great.” Twilight jumped at the voice only to find it was a pink earth pony with a soft yellow mane and a red cross cutie mark. “We found you and your little friend losing a lot of blood in a field not too far from here, you’re lucky that the mistress was there to help.”

“My little friend… Spike! The Hydra! Where is he? Is he okay?!” The pony put a hoof on Twilight’s chest and lightly shushed her.

“He’s alive and healing, dragons are naturally resistant against magic but we have natural remedies that have helped him.”

“Take me to him, I just need to make sure… please…” The pony looked around fearfully before nodding silently and carefully moving Twilight’s bed to the hallway and down a corridor where she could just see her sleeping partner covered in bandages and with something green and slimy on his chest. “What is that stuff?” The nurse hurried to get her back to her room.

“It’s an herb that can fill in the dragon’s scales that had been lost during your fight, it hardens and will keep his skin underneath safe from harm.” They got back to the room and the nurse was about to leave when a voice calls her over the intercom and orders her to go strange to the Mistress’s office. Her eyes widened in fear before she lowered her head and slowly left the room with Twilight hoping she hadn’t gotten her in too much trouble. The voice returned and addressed her directly.

“Ahh Twilight Sparkle, I am the Mistress of this village and it is an honor to meet you and your little dragon friend. Welcome to the first peaceful village in all of Equestria where all creatures live together with no troubles or pain. Welcome to Bliss Sanctuary”

Author's Note

A bit short for a chapter but it acts as more of a first parter so I hope you all still enjoyed and I'll get working on the next part real soon. I bet you can guess who the Mistress is and I promise that this all ties back to the main story of the war, this little side story before they get to Ponyville shows the effect that the war has had on others and we will see that much more in the next chapter which I will call Peace of Freedom. Thanks to all the commenters and people who thumbs up and favorited my story! I hope I keep making things good enough for you!

Peace or Freedom?

Bliss Sanctuary was an amazing place that Twilight had only envisioned in her wildest dreams after she had met Spike. The village was small with no more than a hundred creatures but it made up for that with the creatures that were there. Ponies and Dragons lived in harmony with each other with the occasional Griffon and Yak here and there.

“Incredible isn’t it? What you see is my legacy, my small bit of paradise on earth.” Twilight turned to see a cloaked figure in a black mask that had covered any features except for their light blue glowing eyes. The mask seemed to be made of some kind of black rock.

“You’re the Mistress… how did you manage to get all these creatures together? We’ve been trying to get Griffons and Yaks to fully join us on the front lines for generations but they refused since it wasn’t their grudge and the war wasn’t their problem.”

“People are more inclined to accept peace than war Miss Sparkle.”

“That’s not true if it was then this village would be Equestria now… fighting is far simpler than ever having to admit you were wrong. Wait how did you know my name?”

“I know much and studied up on you, a general and personal pupil of Celestia herself, five major victories on your name, dozens of dead dragons to show for, but my knowledge only goes as far to a few weeks ago when the attack on Canterlot happened and now I find you alone with a dragon. Much different place than where I would expect you of all ponies to be, so General, did your leader send you here?”

“That’s a lot you got on me but I never heard of this place or of you. What even are you under that mask?” Twilight tried to use her magic on the mask but found that her magic didn’t work or rather it was nullified. “W-what?”

“I see that you tried to use your magic, yes this mask is made from a very special material that you should recognize or rather your precious princess would.”

“I don’t know what that is but why would the princess?”

“You were nothing but a tool to her Twilight Sparkle, she has lived for generations you don’t think she has secrets hidden even from those closest to her, those like you.”

“The princess always told us what we needed to know!”

“I’m sure she did… back to the matter at hoof, the material of this mask disrupts the magic that comes from the planet itself and sucks it dry, basically making you completely powerless as long as the mask is intact.”

“A material that sucks magic… that is very dangerous if the dragons got a hold of something like that-”

“Such as the dragon you had with you? I wonder why was Celestia’s most faithful general with a dragon?” The mistress began to walk around Twilight. “A betrayal? Maybe the dragon is an ally of yours? A forbidden lover? Why did your wounds parallel his, as if something deeper connected you two?” The mistress stopped as Twilight glared back with no answers but then a claw grabbed the top of the mistress’s head.

“We’re traveling partners, friends I think you would call. Speaking of which, I think I need to talk to her in private miss or mister… mask?” The mistress stared at Spike and forced herself out of his hold before looking at the two and then walking away.

“You two are not to leave yet or you would surely die due to the wounds not being fully healed. I don’t trust you two but maybe we can prove to be useful to each other, after all, you two now owe me a favor and I intend to collect. Oh, and one more thing, if you do not wish to die a painful death then I recommend you follow the town curfew.” She walked away, leaving Spike and Twilight to stare after her with a grimace before turning to each other.

“Heh, Twilight you look like shit.” The unicorn smiled a bit and looked the dragon up and down, the bandages were red in patches and he seemed to be missing scales in places.

“You’re one to talk, you look like you were thrown into a woodchipper.” The two shared a small laugh, honestly glad to see the other was safe but then they looked around at the village. “Never thought that peace like this would honestly happen but seeing it here… I feel strange.”

“I know what you mean, something about this place is off… you’ve been awake longer than me have you noticed anything?” Twilight told of what she had done since she woke and about the fear that the nurse showed when this Mistress was brought up and how she seemed to have studied up on her. “So a freak in a mask is after you, I’m sure I heard about this story in one of your pony opera things.”

“I never had much time for entertainment growing up and she is after you too, she seemed to want to know about us and why we were together.”

“You would think we wouldn’t be so strange to somepony that managed to make a place like this.” Spike said as he crossed his arms in confusion.

“Exactly… I feel that we should stay, something is wrong here.”

“Whoa whoa look I want to help just as much as the next dragon but this isn’t really our problem and this Ponyville can’t be too far. Let’s go and let the town deal with this besides this place is making my scales crawl.”

“By the time we reach town, even if we were able to in the state we’re in, this place could be gone by that time. I wouldn’t doubt that the mistress is ready to just abandon everything and rebuild in a place we’ll never find them. If we are gonna do anything we’ll have to do it now.” Spike groaned and rubbed his face,

“Of all the greedy and evil ponies in the world I could have gotten bonded to I ended up with a self-righteous and noble one… just my luck.” He groaned to himself as Twilight gave him a proud smile. “Fine, so what’s the plan?”

. . .

“Next time we follow my plan, yours suck!” Spike fiddled with the camera around his neck as it was made for ponies and he tried to learn how to use it.

“Oh shut up, I happened to be one of the best plan makers in Equestria so this will work. All we need is some undeniable proof that the Mistress is being something to these people and either send the proof to the princess or deal with it ourselves. I’ll be here waiting for you to get back, I’d go but I’m feeling strange after the treatment and me getting caught would put both our lives in danger.”

“You know if we do things like this every time we come across creatures in trouble we are gonna die much sooner than later.” Twilight waved the dragon off as she had ignored that last part and Spike walked out of the hospital seeing that he would be smaller and if something did go wrong his scales would still protect him. He wandered out into the night and found that he enjoyed the village way more during the day than night as the buildings took on an abandoned feel despite the creatures that lived there. “It’s like all the life has been sucked out of this place… something is wrong here.” He shivered and managed to take a step before he screeched, running and hiding inside the town well, as the loud vibrations from the town’s bell echoed. Spike chuckled to himself to ease his nerves and looked at the camera that was still shooting. “Umm… can we just forget that part?”

A slam caught his attention and soon several more began and Spike felt his fear and nervousness return full force. He slowly glanced over the well and found a dragon no more than two feet away. He hid and then glanced again finding all the town’s creatures were coming from their homes and had a glazed over look in their eyes. Staring but not seeing is how he would describe it and he fearfully pulled the camera out and taped the creatures in this state. He slowly shook a hand in front of their faces and found none were reacting so he climbed out of the well and found the whole village was out and just standing. All were facing the clock tower and staring up at the bell. Spike poked one of the ponies and then looked up at the bell and found glowing blue eyes glaring back down at him and fear froze the dragon in place as he took a step back and could only stare.

“Foolish to believe I wouldn’t be here waiting for you, but I was hoping for her to be the one to come but no matter.” The mistress spoke to herself before pointing at Spike and his eyes widened. “Bring me the dragon, alive!” All the villagers’ heads turned as one to face him and that finally pushed him out of his stupor and he ran, dodging those that gave chase and jumped at him. He rolled under the legs of a dragon and smashed through the doors of the clock tower, slamming the door shut and burning the lock, melting it shut as the villagers began to beat on the door and shattering the windows. Hands and hooves reached into the building for him as the villagers all began to moan or roar at him. He heard something above him and knew that the Mistress was coming and he ran to the other side of the strange spiral staircase that led up and down and rushed down. The stairs narrowed to a single door and he heard the door above being broken through as he tried to open the door and found it locked.

“No, NO! Come on!!” Spike threw his body against the door over and over until he busted through and fell to the ground. He coughed and looked up, his eyes widening at the sight before him. “W-what is… this…” Spike felt something tie around his throat and began to constrict as he was lifted into the air and choked. He pulled and tore at the item before his sight went black and the camera fell from his neck.

. . .

Twilight woke feeling weak and groggy but then remembered that she was supposed to have been there for Spike. “Ugh, I’m gonna hear about this from him all morning.” She climbed out of her bed and walked to Spike’s room to get his report on what he saw but in his room was nothing, there was not a single sign that he or anypony had ever stayed in that room. Twilight felt a shiver go up her spine as she ran to the nurse nearby, the same one that met her when she first woke up. “Nurse! Do you know where my dragon is? Spike?” The nurse looked up from her papers and tilted her head at Twilight in a confused state but her eyes are what scared Twilight, they were glazed over and seemed to not recognize her.

“Miss umm… Sparkle, You were the only one found after the Hydra attack a few days ago. There was no dragon with you.”

“Why are you acting like you don’t remember me!? Spike was here last night, I saw him! What do you mean there was no dragon?!”

“Miss Sparkle, I have never met you before. You have been asleep since the attack and-” Twilight glared at the nurse as her horn glowed.

“Liar! You all did something to him and I’m not leaving until you tell me where he is!” Her glow vanished as she turned and found the Mistress was standing nearby. “You!”

“Miss Sparkle, I would rather you not threaten my villagers. It is impressive you are up and about so quick after a fight with a Hydra.”

“We already met, where is Spike?”

“I don’t know who you are talking about.”

“He found out something didn’t he? I asked him to go out last night and try to find out who you are, something went wrong and you took him from me!” The Mistress’s eyes glowed light as she took a step towards Twilight.

“As I said before, this is the first time we’ve met and I believe it’s time you leave the village. The princess may try to find you and I rather not keep you from your home.” She turned and began to walk away before stopping and turning her head back to look at her. “This dragon you imagined… trust me if he existed and tried to go after me then he’s gone either way. You have until sundown to leave or we force you to.” Twilight glared as the Mistress walked to the clock tower and knew that Spike was somewhere close, waiting for her to save him.

She walked around town and hoped that at least one villager would slip up but all seemed to be meeting her for the first time and had never heard of Spike. She slowly realized that all the villagers seemed tired and had the same glazed over look in their eyes. She tested one to see if they were under a hypnosis spell but that was dropped because it would be impossible for a unicorn to hold a spell this strong over ponies, dragons, and other creatures all day and night. She examined the clocktower and found some parts of the door seemed to be a different color than the rest and the windows weren’t smudged at all. She breathed deeply and concentrated on her memories of Spike and the moment that they had made their bond, she opened her eyes to see the chain around her hoof was dim and weak but it led into the clocktower.

“I knew it! I’ll get you back Spike if it’s that last thing I do.”

. . .

Sunset came faster than Twilight thought but she knew she had a tendency to get lost in her plans. She walked to the edge of town and turned to see the villagers all watching her go with soulless eyes and high above everyone was the Mistress on her tower. Twilight glared at her before leaving with her pack on her back. She had fully designed a plan this time seeing that her last one was poorly thought out and had gotten Spike captured. She knew her magic wouldn’t help her once she got close to the tower but she wouldn’t need to get close for all the creatures would be going after something else. She dug into her pack and found an old raggedy doll and hugged it close.

“Sorry for this Smarty Pants but we need to save Spike so prepare yourself for love!” She powered a spell and cast it on the doll. “The want it need it spell, I hate to do this to them but I don’t have much choice, it should overpower their senses to follow the mistress. I hope no pony gets hurt…” She waited till midnight before climbing back to the village where she could see that the villagers were preparing to leave. She didn’t see the mistress in town or on the tower so she must be inside somewhere. Twilight used her magic and waved the doll in front of several villagers’ faces and watched them fight for the doll and others running over to try and stop them only to get sucked into the spell also.

“Sorry…” She snuck around the fighting frenzy and followed their chain into the tower and downstairs. She had no magic showing the Mistress was nearby, silently she pulled a pin from her pack and thanked Celestia that her brother was so overprotective that he showed her how to pick a lock even if this was much harder with no magic. She finally heard a click as the lock gave and the door opened. Walking in, her breath was taken away as she looked upon an enormous wall that had dozens of glowing squares and scrolls in every square. “What is this?” She walked forward and looked at one of the scrolls, touching it and gasped as her mind was assaulted with images of another’s life and feelings. She shook the images out of her mind and wanted to study whatever kind of magic was at play but she focused on why she was here and followed her chain to another room.

“Why you are an interesting subject dragon boy.” Twilight looked into the room to see Spike was tied to a table. He should have been able to break out easily but his head was down and black patches were over his body as if someone had burned his scales. His scales had lost a bit of their luster and took on a dimmer color. “Aww, what’s wrong little one? Not up for talking?” The Mistress asked as she was holding a strange staff under his chin and made him look up. Twilight covered her mouth as she saw the dead and tired expression on his face and the eyes that had been drained of life. “I never got the chance to push any creature this far, you dragons are resilient to magic but none of the others were able to resist this much. I would say that you should give in, this much pushing might leave you brain dead if you don’t, but after studying your defense it seems to be magical in nature and is so ingrained to your very soul that my mask can’t break it.”

Spike’s eyes slowly moved from the mistress to Twilight, staring at her and then back down. “T-Twi… light…” The Mistress laughed moving the staff and letting his head fall.

“Oh please, Sparkle is nothing more than a puppet for that murderer of a princess. This magical bond must come from the princess herself… maybe if I kill you then she’d know… maybe it would make her hurt a tiny fraction of the pain she caused me. No, as much as I want her dead we need somepony who controls the sun and killing you might bring her right to me. No, if I can’t take your memories or destroy them, I'll just lock them away. I can make all that pain nothing but a bad dream...” Twilight galloped and bucked the Mistress in the face as she turned to the sound. “Ugh! Who dares?!” The Mistress roared as parts of her mask was chipped off and broken.

“You’re a monster! Stealing the memories of those who trust and believe in you! You made them into puppets for your own wants and needs!”

“I GAVE THEM PEACE! They all arrived here in pain and sadness caused by your princess’s war with the dragons! I took those memories of dead children and loved ones away and gave them a home where they would never need to fight again. I didn’t force this on them, unlike Celestia!”

“You took what made them them! There was no choice in what you did!”

“Choice? Where was Sunburst’s choice when she took him from me? Where was yours when your parents were killed? You couldn’t just be expected to live a normal life after that, you think you had a choice? No, you were more of a puppet than they ever were and the best part? Celestia never needed any magic for her spell.” Twilight growled and attacked the Mistress while dodging the staff she was using as a weapon. She bucked and attempted punching her but she would move and stab at her with the staff. It struck her in the side and she screamed as her memories were attacked but she was able to push the Mistress out. “What?! Impossible, you have the same defense as… the dragon… that’s why he was out of reach! You are the one that defends his memories and he defends yours! How did you two do it?” Twilight didn’t answer and only ran at her, closing her eyes as she slammed her head right into the Mistress’s face.

The rest of the mask fell revealing a unicorn with a messy mane and her eyes showed shock before turning to rage and she wiped the blood that was coming from her nose. “Okay then Sparkle, you want a fight? Then let’s see what that princess of yours taught you.” She blasted a beam of magic at Twilight which she blocked with a bubble shield. Twilight powered up her horn and summoned a long whip of magic from the tip and pushed back Starlight only for her to duplicate herself and send her clones after Twilight. She destroyed one after another as they rushed her, jumped at her, tried to throw things, blast her with magic, and slowly began to overwhelm her. Twilight powered up her whip and spun at sonic speeds, destroying all the clones and sending magic sparks everywhere. Starlight gritted her teeth seeing that Twilight was still standing and charged her horn before flames burst out of it and into the form of an enormous snake. Twilight stared at the fire snake as it snarled at her and attacked while she put up a shield but its fangs drilled and burst the shield and sent her back. She huffed and looked up to see it attacking again, closing her eyes she prepared for pain but felt nothing. She opened her eyes to find Spike holding the snake’s fangs and he gave her a small weak smile.

“Told you your plan sucked… but thanks for coming back for me…”

“Idiot… we’re stuck together so didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Enough of this! Burst and crush!” Starlight shouted as the snake exploded back into fire that attacked them but Spike blew fire all around them and sent it up, his flames taking Starlight’s with them as they destroyed the ceiling above. Starlight coughed through the smoke and glared with hate as the smoke faded and bits of fire in the air reflected like starlight at night. Twilight was holding Spike as he was knocked unconscious and softly set him down before standing to face the other unicorn. “No… you’ve taken everything from me…”

“We’re giving back all the lives you stole.” Starlight chuckled and held her chest.

“Look around Sparkle… our fight destroyed the memories. You took the last bits of their lives from them…” Twilight looked around to see that the scroll room had been destroyed and all were burned and unusable.

“Why did you keep those memories? The ones of pain if you were supposedly protecting them? Why did you keep your memories?”

“I didn’t want to forget my hate… my pain… it is what drives me… to make the princess pay… Sunburst…”

“You took their memories of happiness and love and used them so you could feel that again. Time and time again you would live through another’s life just to feel something other than hate… you have my pity.” Starlight powered up her horn as Twilight did, preparing for a counterattack.

“I don’t want your pity Sparkle and I’ll get you for this. She took somepony I loved once so I’ll take you from her… if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Wait what?” She vanished, teleported away and Twilight sighed letting her horn’s light die down before she levitated Spike onto her back and they left the clocktower as it rung it’s bell.

. . .

“Are you sure about this?” Twilight asked a bit afraid for her new friends, She and Spike had spent the last two days explaining and helping the villagers get their minds back to a working state but with no memories or past all they had were to try and build their lives from the beginning. The day had come where they would have to leave the village that had become all they knew. Twilight had convinced a few ponies to go to Canterlot and Spike told the Dragons of the Dragon Lands, but while few decided to rebuild there, others wanted to stay together. “The world is different than the village, not every pony will accept you all traveling together. It will be hard…”

“Thank you Twilight and you too Spike for all you two have done for us but all we remember is each other and helping each other become better, We may not be who we once were and the Mistress told us many lies but we don’t want to go back to war… We’ll build a small safe haven for those creatures like us that want to just live in peace.” The pony hugged her and gave her a reassuring smile.

“But…” Twilight turned as Spike got on her back and smiled at her, softly rubbing her neck to relax her.

“Come on Twilight, we have to trust they can do this and maybe we’ll see this haven of theirs someday. This peace that they want will be their choice this time, we can’t take it from them.” Twilight smiled and nuzzled Spike before looking at the small group of dragons, ponies, griffons, and yaks and pulling out Smarty Pants from her bag. The adults all cringed at the sight of the doll but Twilight walked to one of the children and they tilted their head at the doll curious.

“Here, a small start on all the things you can show us when we meet again.” The child smiled and took the doll before the group all said their final goodbyes and left into the unknown. Spike and Twilight looked back at the abandoned village and shared a small sad smile. “Spike… do you think that they’ll find that haven they want?”

“No, but I believe that they can make it. Just like I believe that we’ll be able to end this and make Equestria a haven where they could live normally. No lies, no memory magic, just freedom, and peace. So what happened to the memory staff that the Mistress had?”

“I sent it to the princess so she could try and identify that pony. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of her. Come on, we still have a way to go before we reach our destination.”

“Next stop: Ponyville.”

. . .

Deep in Canterlot Castle, Celestia studied the memory staff and broken mask that Twilight had sent her. If what she had reported was true then this staff could hold untold power over any creature and under her control, it could be perfected. As for the mask, only three places on the planet held that material and two were under her protection, somewhere an enemy held a very dangerous item that she intended to destroy.

Author's Note

Damn this took way longer than I expected so I'm sorry, work has been taking up a lot of my time but enough about me! Thanks for all of you for reading and either liking or disliking. I've been actually really lucky when it comes to that. Barely any have disliked my stories and I'm glad that my work is good enough for so many. Thanks again and I'll get to working on my other stories real quick! I wonder what you all thought about my Starlight Glimmer. She is a lot like when we first saw her in the show but a bit more broken and less completely crazy.

Pain of the Past

“So Twilight, what is this Ponyville place like? I never got to see a real pony town, you know other than the city we nearly destroyed and the village we did destroy.” Spike asked the unicorn as she was moving the map again trying to make sure they were on the right path. Spike chuckled a bit with his arms behind his head as they walked, as smart as the pony was she had no sense of direction and with the trees blocking out the sun that couldn’t help.

“Okay first, technically the village was a multi-cultural hotpot of species so not a real pony village and second we didn’t really destroy Canterlot, just the castle which was your fault mostly, shield towers your fault again, and only parts of the city were ruined which was us both under the influence of your nature.”

“Which is why I said nearly and just not gonna take any responsibility there are ya?. Look I would just rather like to know what we’re getting into this time, you know, so we don’t end up doing something that will get us both thrown out of this place also.”

“Can you not be yourself?”

“Funny, we may make a comedian out of you yet Sparkle unless you meant that Ponyville just can’t handle my charm and presents.”

“Charm? You sure that we’re talking about the same dragon anymore? If I remember correctly the last week traveling with said dragon has only proven to me that he is… uncouth.”

“I take severe offense to that, or I would if you stopped using words I didn’t know!

“It means uncivil or ill-mannered.”

“I would have you know that I am a completely different dragon around cute girls of any species. I don’t discriminate against beauty, just psychology.”

“Oh yeah, then why aren’t you this completely different dragon with me?”

“What’s your point?”

“Screw you. Now if we’re being serious, I did a tiny bit of research on Ponyville before leaving Canterlot and found that it is a tiny village nearly off the map since it’s on the edge of the Everfree and the only big attractions are Sweet Apple Acres and the fact that Filthy Rich lives there who is one wealthy pony. Ponyville was founded by a small group of ponies that were looking for a better life than fighting the war on the main lines.”

“Wait I thought all ponies in Equestria fought for Celestia?”

“Well each and every official pony village does wave the flag for Celestia but there are plenty that mostly provide food or supplies and don’t have any fighters. How did you never learn about this?”

“All these years we’ve attacked ponies settlements of all kinds because our orders were that all ponies are monsters and are to be seen as enemies… It’s all that we were raised to believe… all those who lost their lives for nothing… ” Spike gritted his teeth as he thought of every pony that his kind must have attacked without reason over the years and ended up only looking down in anger and despair. Twilight bit her lip as she thought of how Spike was taking the blame for things that he couldn’t control and she reached out to him but pulled back. She didn’t know how to handle something like this, her specialty was acting from behind the scenes not helping creatures with their personal problems. Suddenly she realized that she was starting to feel bad as their bond made her feel his strong sadness.

“S-Spike… you’re blaming yourself for things that you not only had no control over but also things that your race may not understand. The way you explained your home it seems like all of the dragons are solely dedicated to the war… just like the princess. Here some ponies just are trying to live as peaceful lives as they can, a life I wish I could have had, but what you’re putting yourself through right now is called irrational guilt. It’s when you put blame on yourself for things you didn’t do. I know you feel bad but-”

“Twilight, my kind killed hundreds maybe thousands because they were simply living. What do you think I’m supposed to be feeling right now? I want to just say that I never did anything but we both know I almost became just like them… just a another tool in this stupid fight.”

“I helped frame the dragons!” She shouted as she teared up from their combined feelings of guilt and Spike stared at her in shock.

“You what?”

“I… ponies were growing tired and sick of the war, endless fighting would do that. They shouted for peace or at least a compromise that would make this end. They were losing morale… even my best friend who is a soldier wanted to just stop fighting. I was young and full of hate for all dragons after… after what some did to me. Seeing the problem was slowly raising I… suggested a solution…” Spike stared at the pony as she trembled and stopped walking. He stepped towards her but she pushed him away and faced away. “I said that we needed a big loss that would anger the public enough to fight again…”

“Twilight you didn’t…” He could hear her crying through the words as she must have buried this deep down.

“We had unicorns brainwash a settlement before destroying it while making it look like a dragon attack. We were trying to not kill any ponies but accidents happened and a family didn’t escape their home in time. The plan worked and we had an influx of new recruits after that… I saw then what I had let myself become… what kind of monster I was. Both of our kinds have done horrible things to each other and some unforgivable but we can’t let this be an endless cycle of pain.” Her eyes snapped open as she felt his arms wrap around her barrel best they could and he rubbed his face into her back.

“We both were used and now we have a chance to make things right, I can feel how scared you are but I understand how guilty you are and how much you are willing to risk to change.”

“H-how much?” She asked with a tiny voice that he never heard from the usually proud and confident unicorn. She asked as if she needed confirmation of the answer.

“Everything…” He held her close and the two were there for nearly half an hour when Twilight turned and hugged the dragon. They looked at each other and then blushed out of embarrassment. “So… Ponyville?” She giggled a bit while rubbing her eyes and set him down before walking a bit ahead and looking back with a smile.

“Ponyville… it’s small and for ponies that don’t want to fight, I doubt they even have an army stationed there. It’s pretty much where Canterlot gets a fair amount of its food from. We should be safe there from anything that is hunting you.”

“Then let’s see if we can get there by tonight, I don’t think we’ll be finding much food around here without going into the forest more and you and nature don’t seem to be great friends.”

“So I’m used to the great indoors! It is so bad to enjoy resting near a fireplace with a good book over camping out with a dragon and bugs!?”

“What’s a fireplace?”

. . .

“Okay my turn, I spy with my little eye-”

“I told you already we all have some pretty big eyes.”

“It’s how I was told to say it and there are others with way bigger eyes!compared to them mine are small.”

“Fine, just take your turn.”

“I spy with my draconic eye, something red.”

“Hmm, red huh?” Twilight looked away from the book she had been looking at and looked up to see apples were on the trees. “You suck at this game, it’s apples.”

“But which apple?”

“What?”

“Guess which apple it was I saw.”

“That’s unfair, do you see all them apples?! There’s like hundreds and I’m just supposed to pick one?!”

“Yes.”

“It’s illogical! If I said that I spy something green and it was the grass I can’t say to point out the blade of grass I spied.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Good.”

“But I can now pick an apple.” Twilight turned and prepared to lecture the dragon when he froze with wide eyes and she tilted her head before she turned and saw a sight that froze her blood. A young filly was standing there with a small basket of apples on her head. She had a yellow coat and a vibrant red mane with a large pink bow in it. Her orange eyes stared at Spike in fear and she trembled, waiting for the slightest movement or sign of an attack. Twilight has seen that terrified look before on young recruits who weren’t ready to face a dragon and would rather run.

“D-don’t run or scream please sweetie… he’s not like the others…” She took a step towards the frightened girl but her eyes stayed on Spike.

“Please…” The girl turned and ran screaming dragon and Spike looked away while his fists shook. “You said that I wasn’t to blame for what my race did… then why is it that ponies treat me like I am? Twilight this is what is always going to happen no matter where we go…” Twilight sighed and made Spike look at her.

“Yes, our first instinct is to either run or fight when we see a dragon. You will be treated like this until they see you as I do, as a big softie who can’t even play I Spy right. I’m going to go after her and try to give the village a heads up of who we are so you stay here.” Spike nodded and sit against a tree as Twilight smiled and ran after the filly. He kept his small smile until she was out of sight and he shook his head before grabbing an apple off the ground.

“So this is what we’re gonna have to do every time… did you see how scared that girl was of you?” Spike sighed and raised the apple to his mouth when something whipped it out of his hand. “Ow! The heck was that?” He stood and saw a pony in a Stetson hat staring at him with a rope in her mouth. She had an orange coat and a blond mane put in a ponytail at the end. Freckles and glaring green eyes caught his eye as he put up his hands. “Whoa whoa, let’s try talking this through!”

“Ya varmint scared my sister! Ah’m not letting ya take any more of my family!” Spike sighed as she rushed him and he put up his arms but she tossed the rope and caught it on his hand, pulling him to her as she reared and bucked him in the chest. He coughed and panted as she knocked the air out of his lungs. He felt her pulling on the rope again but he dug his claws into the earth, pulling against her and grabbing the rope and swinging her into a tree.

“I am not fighting you!” He ran only to feel something hit his back, looking back he yelped as an apple raced at him and barely missed his head. “Really? Apples?” He felt the rope fall on his neck and began to choke him as he pulled at it, but soon felt it tighten as the pony ran around a tree and pulled him back. Spike gasped and struggled against the binding in any way he could, a flame growing in his gut from the lack of air. He held his mouth shut before raising his head high and clawing at the rope which released him and he let the flame he had held back high into the air. Spike coughed and turned to see the girl buck him again but in the face this time. Spike was sent crashing into a tree and yelped as the girl jumped at him trying to hit his chest with her hooves but he moved and caught them before using his feet to kick her away.

He hid behind trees and started another flame in his throat to keep her away but noticed there was still too much of a chance that the whole place could burn if the fire was unchecked. He swallowed the flames and decided that running wasn’t going to help as she was faster and seemed to be talented with that rope. Close combat might work better for him.

. . .

Twilight was panting by the time she caught up with that filly who was still screaming. ‘W-where does she put all that energy… I need to work on my cardio…’ Twilight used her magic and trapped the girl in a magic bubble before leaning against a tree trying not to throw up.

“Oh no! Heeelp! Help me! The dragon put me in a magic bubble an Ah don’t wanna be eaten! Ah don’t taste that good mister! Ah swear! Ah’m too chewy! Too many apple fritters an apple pie!” The filly continued trying to run away even if she was just running in a sphere.

“I-I’m not gonna eat you! Spike isn’t going to eat you! We are just trying to find Ponyville and not cause any trouble.”

“Whatever ya say just don’t eat me please!” Twilight relaxed understanding that she was only scaring the girl more with her panicked tone and use of magic. She lightly erased the bubbled and slowly brought the girl over by her. She took a deep breath and spoke with a soft voice.

“Please… we are just trying our best and we don’t want to hurt any pony but if you scare everyone my friend could be killed. Spike is a good dragon and won’t hurt anyone if you would just give him a chance.” The little one uncovered her eyes and looked up at Twilight before tilting her head and looking around.

“Are ya sure? Ah never heard of a good dragon. My sis and granny always said to run if ya see a dragon!” Twilight smiled and nodded.

“I know that and so does he but we’re partners and we are trying to help ponies not hurt them. He may look a bit scary but he’s nothing but a big dork really. Please give him a chance.” She was cut off when she turned and saw a fireball rise into the sky and burst. “What the heck is he thinking?”

“Wait… if she heard me screaming… oh no!” The little one grabbed Twilight’s hoof and tried pulling towards Spike. “Hurry!! We have to get back to your friend!”

“What? Why the rush?”

“My sister is gonna kill em!”

. . .

Spike just remembered that he had lost every fight when he used to train at the Dragon Lands, he was never able to beat the bigger and stronger dragons and this pony would be able to even match some of them in strength. He would have to rely on buying time and dodging attacks as he wasn’t trying to hurt her and hoped that Twilight was on her way. He rolled when she jumped at him, denting the tree he had been hiding behind and swing her hooves trying to hit him. Spike ducked and jumped before tackling her and held her hooves against a tree but she used her tail to smack his face several times before he growled and bit it. He wanted to just keep her like that until Twilight arrived but the girl headbutting him off her and made him curse as he held his bleeding nose. He tried crawling away but saw a shadow over him.

“W-wait please! I’m not trying to make trouble! I’m just trying to help...” He held his nose and held out a hand out to the girl hoping to stop her but closed his eyes when the pony reared up and opened them when he heard a strange noise. She had been stopped by a shield and he turned to see Twilight panting. She used her magic and pushed the pony away from him as she ran over to see his wounds. The filly from before ran to the other pony and grabbed one of her legs. “Hiya Twi… for the record this wasn’t my fault. Heh…”

Twilight told him to shut up with a small giggle before fixing him up some and turning to the pony that was walking to them. “Applejack?”

“Twilight Sparkle? What are ya doing with this thing?” The filly stepped between the two and frowned at her sister.

“Sis ya attacked a good dragon! Spike here has done no bad and you hurt em!”

“A good dragon? Ya know there ain’t no such thing Applebloom.”

“She’s right Applejack, Spike here is my… assistant and is just trying to help me end this war. You said that if I needed it, I would have a friend here in Ponyville. Please help us.” Applejack stared at the two but then down at her sister, looking down in what seemed like shame.

“Ah’m sorry Sugarcube… Ah really am but Ah have a family to take care of and we been hurt by dragons before. Ya can stay one night in the barn but then Ah need ya to leave.”

“But Sis this is unfair!”

“Enough AB, we’re going.” Applebloom glanced at Twilight and Spike sadly before running to her sister and leaving the two alone.

“I’m sorry Twi…”

“No… this is just how things are. It wasn’t your fault. I forgot how hurt some ponies are and didn’t think of how bitter some would be to us. Come on, let’s get you to this barn for some rest.”

. . .

Applejack wiped her brow as night was coming and she looked over at her sister who was quiet and bucking the trees with anger. She knew that she was angry with her for not offering the two more help but she couldn’t. Not after what the dragons took from them. “AB… Ah think that’s enough. Ya can go back inside now dear.” She stopped and didn’t say anything as she pushed past her sister. Applejack growled and turned. “What do ya want from me AB?! To just forget what the dragons did?!” Applebloom turned with an angry expression but also a sad one.

“Ah never expect ya to forget them! Ah know how much it hurts ya sis but ya nearly killed a random dragon that didn’t do nothin! Ya taught me that Apples are the helpin sort! We do whatever we can if there is a pony that needs us well Miss Twilight needed our help and you said no! Ma and Pa-”

“Are not here anymore and who’s fault is that!?” Applebloom teared up and shook her head at her sister as she wiped her eyes.

“Not Spike’s… I wish Ma and Pa were here, maybe they would have given em a chance…” She walked away leaving Applejack alone with her words. Applejack took off her hat, holding it against her chest as she fought back any tears.

“Ah… Ah don’t know what to do…” She looked up at the darkened sky as two shooting stars flew above her head.

. . .

Garble flew as he and his small militia were on the way back to the Dragon Lands but as he traveled he saw a fireball burst in the distance. He stopped his group and told them that a dragon may need their help. He ordered that they land and rest before going out to check the location where the fire came from when night fell...

Author's Note

Hmm, I wonder if this chapter is rushed? I'm not sure but I hope you all enjoy and I hope to get the next chapter done way sooner. Real world stuff has been causing trouble with my writing time but soon I should have more hopefully. I am looking for editors for my stories as I realized that I should go back and fix mistakes I overlook. if anyone knows any I'd be thankful. I know there may be problems with the actions of Twilight and Applejack but remember what they lost and how hard having to face someone of the same race would be after such a thing. Anyway, thanks everyone for the support on my stories and I hope you enjoy what's next!

The Battle of Sweet Apple Acres

“Hey, Twilight… are you still awake?” Twilight nearly jumped at the sound of Spike’s voice. She had thought the dragon had fallen asleep as he had been silence since Applebloom had brought them some apples earlier. He had thanked the filly for the food but she could see his smile had been forced. His fight with Applejack and her reaction to him had hit the dragon to his core, finally understanding how he was seen through pony eyes. Twilight could feel his conflicted emotions swirling inside like a tornado.

“Of course I am… I was just getting in some late-night reading. It has always helped me relax after a long day. I thought you would have wanted to rest after today. It’s been hard on you.” Spike didn’t answer right away and Twilight turned in her makeshift bed of hay to look at her companion. He was laying in a bed of scorched hay as he said the warmth reminded him of home and he resembled a ball as he hugged his tail and legs close to his chest.

“Is this how they’ll always treat me? Like a monster? I know I’ve done bad things but how do they expect me to prove I’m different if they always think I’m some kind of unchained beast?! I’m trying to be… better… To stop this struggle and put this world in some kind of peace. That’s our goal right?” Twilight bit her lip as he ranted. She had never been the kind of leader the soldiers would go to for personal advice, better she left that to her brother or Cadence. They weren’t now though and she could feel through their link the uncertainty and conflict raging in him.

“Exactly. We both made mistake and decisions that we wish we could take back but part of life is learning to accept those mistakes and moving past them.”

“What if the mistakes are too great? What if we can’t just forget them…” Spike’s eyes popped open as he felt something soft rub his back. He turned his head and saw Twilight smiling down at him gently.

“Then we rely on those we care about to help us through them. What do you say, Spike? Do you trust me?” He stared deep into her eyes and slowly a tiny grin graced his face.

“Do I really have a choice? You’re stuck with me and vice versa.” He looked down and turned fully to face her, getting on his knees. “We dragons have an unspoken rule to never really show our deeper emotions. They are seen as a weakness, as a pony thing but maybe we were wrong. I’m scared Twilight, what if we can’t change anything?” That question haunted Twilight as her overactive mind focused on it and thought of all the ways they could fail, but she put a hoof on his shoulder. The two stared at each other’s eyes with the chain appearing between them. She felt a strange surge of hope as she grinned.

“Come on if we can’t find a way to change things who could? I mean we got my brains and your table manners. Heroes in the making.” The two shared a laugh and Spike glanced at the book she left open.

“So what were you reading?” Twilight’s cheeks flared up a bit at the mention of the book and she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

“N-nothing really just some of the umm classics.” Spike raised an eyebrow as he could usually sniff out a lie but with Twilight a baby could see when she lied.

“Riiight well as a dragon I’m not too sure what the classics are so why not read some of it to me?” Twilight backed away from the dragon and shook her head.

“N-no! It’s a dusty old book I’m sure you’d hate it!” Spike smirked now sure that the mare was hiding something from him. He dramatically sighed and closed his eyes.

“Hmm, maybe you’re right.” Twilight sighed in relief until she was tackled and the two rolled on the ground with Spike using his tail to grab the book. The mare yelped and struggled against him using her magic to push him off her while he opened the book and read a paragraph. Silence reigned as Twilight saw a deep red blush appear on his cheeks. “Sparkle, this is filth!! You have lost some of my respect.” Twilight looked down and tapped her hoof on the ground in shame. “But… I am interested in pony… literature so maybe I’ll just forget about this for now.”

“Thank you thank you thank you!” Twilight hugged him as he patted her head and lightly pushed her off with her book. The two laughed as they heard another voice giggling nearby. They opened the barn door and popped their heads out to see Applebloom giggling and looking sheepish at being caught.

“Oops…” Spike and Twilight smiled at the filly and the dragon dramatically stepped out of the barn.

“Looks like we have a spy Twilight, I think she needs to be… eaten!” Spike took exaggerated steps towards the tiny pony who shrieked and tried to run away only to be grabbed by Spike and he began to tickle her and playfully make chomping sounds.

“Nooooo it’s over for the great spy Applebloom!” Twilight shook her head at the dragon and filly’s act before she thought she saw something in the night sky. She narrowed her eyes and felt her soldier sense ringing in her head.

“Spike, get Applebloom in the barn. Now.” The dragon turned to argue but saw something in her eyes and he obeyed the order, grabbing the filly and taking her into the barn. Applebloom asked if something was wrong and Spike shook his head.

“Don’t worry about a thing, Twilight might have just seen a shadow or something. She’s a soldier so they get jumpy at everything. Just wait here and we’ll check it all out.” Spike walked back to Twilight and crossed his arms. “So what are we looking at?”

“I saw a shadow, something that could fly. It seemed big but it’s gone now so it could just be some passing Roc or…”

“Dragons.” Spike and Twilight shared a look before turning back to the apple orchard.

. . .

Applejack sat in front of a tree that seemed to be made of an apple and pear tree twisted together. She sighed and took off her hat, putting it down on the ground.

“Hiya pa… ma… Ah’m sorry I haven’t come to visit since last time. Ah just been so busy with Bloom and the farm and granny and… No… Ah’m lying to myself again. Mac told me that Ah need to stop this. Ah been drownin myself in work tryin so hard to avoid comin here to see ya. It’s why Ah came at night so Bloom wouldn’t follow… This damned war took ya and Big Mac from us! Those dragons did! Ah hate em! Ah hate em all but… earlier Ah nearly killed one. He didn’t fight back really and Ah thought he was mockin me but a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle ran to his side to protect em. They said that they are workin together to try and end the war for good. To make a place where all creatures could live together... just like the one ya told me stories about when Ah was little...”

Applejack felt tears prick at her eyes as she remembered her parents making up stories about a better world. They had been dreamers who believed that there was good in everyone no matter who or what they were. Applejack used to be like them until the day they came home in boxes. They had tried to help a lost dragon egg but the hysterical mother took the kind act as robbery. The fight left both sides injured but Bright Mac and Pear Butter had won but they allowed the dragon to live as the egg would need a mother. Sadly, their injuries took them before they reached home. Their bodies had been found by some ponies who brought them home along with a few letters that they had written after the fight in case they didn’t make it. Applejack’s own letter laid unopened as she couldn’t accept yet that they were gone and would never come home.

“Ah hate dragons… Ah hated you for leavin! But now… seeing Twilight and that dragon Spike Ah think his name was… They made me want to believe that they could do it. That they may be able to end all this pain but Ah don’t know if Ah’m ready to move on. If Ah can help them with their goal. Bloom, Granny, they still need me but somethin in my heart is tellin me that my place is beside Twilight and Spike. Ah can’t forgive em for what they did to ya but… Ah want to…” She cried openly as the heat of the tears burned her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Soon enough, she felt a small hoof on her back and she opened one eye to see Applebloom crying beside her. “B-Bloom…”

“It’s okay… Ah know it’s been hard on you. Ah hate seein ya always keepin in all your pain. With Big Mac gone ya been lonely with no one that understands ya… Ah’m sorry sis for not talking earlier.” Applebloom’s apology was answered with a hug as the two cried out their loneliness.

“And Ah’m sorry for not being there for ya AB… Ah know this all been hard on ya too. Why did ya leave the house? It’s late for a filly.”

“That would be our fault.” Applejack turned to see Twilight and Spike standing nearby. They looked far from the weak and tired travelers she had met earlier, both wore serious expressions that only screamed one thing to Applejack. Danger was close. “We didn’t want her to leave the farmhouse but when we didn’t see you there Bloom told us there was only one place you could be and she wouldn’t tell us the way insisting to lead us herself.” Twilight explained with her horn glowing dimming.

“Why did ya need to find me?”

“Dragons are nearby we think. They must have seen the fireball from our fight earlier and considered it as a dragon calling for help. Applejack, I know you don’t like or trust me but I know you love your home and family. If the dragons find out that ponies live nearby or that the apples here supply ponies then they’ll burn down everything. There’s no time to get more help so we are hoping that you’ll let us help protect your home.” Spike walked to the farm and reached out a clawed hand. “Please let us prove to you that we’re the good guys.” Applejack stared at the hand, this was her chance to either accept what her heart wanted against what her mind demanded.

“Please, Sis…” Applebloom begged and Applejack looked back at her parent’s tree feeling a strong breeze rub against her face. She closed her eyes taking in the breeze which smelled like apples and pears, and something else. A scent she had nearly forgotten. She opened her eyes now burning with determination. She took the hand and shook it with her hoof before putting back on her hat.

“Ah been stubborn and unfair to you two. If ya wanna help Ah’d surely appreciate it.” Spike and Twilight smiled big before the unicorn stepped up.

“Thought you’d never ask now I’ve thought up a plan…”

. . .

Garble sent his small team of three out to go see if they could find anything and if they saw any ponies he gave permission to burn on sight. The leader sighed as he was left alone, things have not been going well for the dragons with the assassination attempt on the pony princess failing and he had heard Ember’s attack to get back that traitor failed. The dragons scouts have even been ordered to refrain from killing ponies as the kingdom was on high alert. Garble growled at the thought of Spike, he never trusted that weakling and had wished he was there to end him himself. That runt always acted like he was better than him because Ember and the dragon lord took pity on him.

“Sending all your forces away and leaving yourself defenseless, you never learn.” Garble turned at the voice and saw the very figure he was cursing right there as if by magic. “Garble how nice to see you.”

“Traitor, come to die?”

. . .

“Cinder, have you noticed anything wrong with Garble lately? He seems to be losing his edge.” One of Garble’s dragons asked as they walked through the darkened orchard. Cinder growled at the dragon, her emerald scales and ruby spines glistened in the moonlight.

“He lost a friend not too long ago and the Dragon Lord just assigned his sister to the Princess’s own team. A team that barely escaped Canterlot not too long ago. He’s not losing his edge he’s just stressed.”

“Well if he can’t handle this kind of work I’ll be happy to take over for him.” The dragon barely had time to gulp before Cinder’s claws were at his throat.

“Talk like that again Ash and you’ll start living up to your name for once.” Ash was a tall dragon with dark eggplant shaded scales that looked black. His spines were an electric yellow.

“Enough you two, something is weird here…” the third dragon said coming between the two. “Let’s just look around and get back to Garble, I heard rumors of the forest near here having a curse.” Ash rolled his eyes.

“Oh please, a curse? What kind of curse?”

“It’s said that the forest has a guardian who can control the entire thing, a kind of magic but for stronger than what normal unicorns can do. Some kind of bat-like creature from all the stories I’ve heard.”

“I think you’ve been eating too much of this pony food, you’re losing your touch Flare.”

“Curse or not, take a fly-by and then we can go back to Garble and head home.” Cinder’s order wasn’t followed as Ash and Flare stared at something behind her. “Ugh really? What now?” She turned to face an Ursa Minor that roared at her and swiped at her but she moved away. “An Ursa?! Here?!” The creature roared again with a beam of magic coming from its mouth this time.

“Look out Cinder!” Flare pushed her out of the way as the beam struck his back and turned into an electric restraint that sent the dragon to the ground. He groaned in pain and opened his eyes to a tiny filly in front of his face. “A… pony?”

“Nighty night bad guy.” Applebloom whispered before using one of the Apple family’s famous bucks right on his face, even though small a hit like that to the face would put down many a creature. Twilight made sure that the Ursa illusion was blocking the other dragons’ view of Applebloom as she put down Flare. She grunted as she felt her magic weakening from overuse of holding the large illusion and attacking. She sent Applebloom away to hide as the Cinder attacked the bear as it swiped at a scared Ash only to find her claws to go through the illusion.

“Wait… We’re being played! This is a trap!” Ash opened his eyes just as a whip made of electricity grew from Twilight’s horn and wrapped around his neck tightly. He coughed and struggled while pulling at the whip before she sent an enormous surge of power to it and the shock singed his scales before he fell unconscious. She could have broken his neck with the whip but Spike insisted on keeping every creature alive. “You rotten ponies… always with the tricks!” Twilight faced Cinder and frowned. The dragons always wanted straight out brawls of strength when they clearly had the advantage, no the ponies always tried to make sure to use any and all tactics that allowed them the upper hoof even if they were dirty.

“All’s fair in love and war right?” She blew fire out at Twilight while she used her magic to collect the flames and blast them back at the dragoness. Cinder dived down through the flames, moving up and slamming her head under Twilight’s chin and using her wings to push the pony into a tree. Cinder rushed over and grabbed her throat beginning to squeeze.

“Leave her alone ya big bully!” Cinder turned her head as an apple smashed her face and she dropped the unicorn to wipe her eyes. Twilight coughed and aimed her horn at Cinder before an eruption of dragon fire burst from the horn and smashed Cinder into a tree. “Ya okay Twilight?”

“Yeah… thanks for the save Bloom now let’s go back to your sister and Spike.”

. . .

“Traitor, come to die?” Spike frowned and the two slowly began to circle each other.

“No, not my goal here. I’m gonna beat you and send you back home with your tail between your legs.” Garble snarled at the younger dragon.

“You? Beat me? After all the years of war becoming a traitor to your kind is what finally made you grow a backbone? No, you were never a real dragon just a fake that was pitied by the Dragon Lord and Ember.” Spike smirked a bit.

“Jealous much?” Garble growled and rushed at Spike swiping at his head but Spike ducked and used his tail to wrap around the arm, headbutting Garble as he shook Spike around. Garble slammed Spike into the ground several times before the tail softened its hold and he fell. Spike rolled as Garble tried to stomp on him before he blew a fireball at Garble’s face before he was only pushed back a step.

“Hmph, wanna see a real fireball runt?” Spike stood and put his arms up as Garble shot a huge ball of fire that blew Spike back against one of the apple trees. He lowered his arms just as Garble’s foot connected with his chest, impaling his spikes into the tree he was against. Spike coughed, trying to regain his breath, pulling against the tree to free himself. Garble put his claws at Spike’s throat. “What made you think for even a moment that you could beat me? You were nothing but a disgrace to your kind and family. Don’t worry though, Ember will still have me by her side.” Spike glared up at Garble and spit at his face.

“You can insult me all you want… but you will never have her.”

“And who is gonna stop me? You?”

“Nope… us.” Spike smirked and pointed a claw upwards making Garble glance up just as two hooves smashed his face into the ground. Spike chuckled despite the pain. “Ow, that looks like it hurt.” Garble left his head to see Applejack rearing her legs back and they bucked him just as he was about to blow fire out at her. Applejack turned and pulled Spike out of the tree.

“You okay Spike?”

“Yeah, thanks Applejack.”

“Don’t thank me yet dragon, this isn’t done yet.” She was right Garble was one of the strongest teen dragons that they had and he proved that by getting back up even when a few of his scales looked cracked.

“Damn ponies, I’ll turn you all to ashes!!” Spike ran in front of Applejack and grabbed Garble’s hands, holding the dragon back for a moment before he started being pushed back. “You think you can help them?! That this can end with both of our sides alive?!”

“I know it can and I will not stop believing! None of us will!” He dug his claws into the ground and shouted. “Now Applejack!” The farmer rolled between the dragons’ legs and kicked Garble in the back, Spike let the momentum push him on his back before he used his feet to kick Garble off him and into the air. Applejack rushed over and jumped on Spike’s feet, just as he kicked again sending her into the air after the dragon.

“No creature will ever hurt my family again!” Applejack grabbed Garble around the neck as the dragon sunk his claws into her legs trying to pull her off. She gritted her teeth but held on as she twisted them and they fell back to the ground making sure to not let his wings expand. The two smashed down causing a cloud of dirt to burst. Spike ran in to see Applejack still standing on top of Garble who was fully out. He looked over her wounds and helped her walk just as Twilight and Applebloom rushed from the woods.

“Are ya okay sis?!” Applejack smiled at her sister and nodded trying to flex an arm.

“Course Ah am no dragon can beat an Apple. Ah just need to rest some is all.” She turned to Twilight and gave her a single nod. “Thank ya for protecting my sister.”

“No problem she helped me out actually too. Spike behind you!!” Spike’s eyes widened before he tossed Applejack at Twilight and turned while letting out a torrent of fire from his mouth which hit a fire blast from Garble. The two put more and more of their flames but Garble’s flames were getting closer. Twilight had caught Applejack with magic and gave her to Applebloom seeing that Spike was losing the battle. She rushed to his side and used her last bit of magic to blast at Garble’s flames. The struggle was evenly matched until Garble saw something through the fire and magic, a blue chain had appeared between the two and as it glowed the magic from Twilight and fire from Spike swirled and became one stronger blast which pushed him back as he finally ran out of fire.

“N-no! It’s impossible!” He put up his arms before the fire and magic hit him full force and he was finally put down for good, letting out a single groan before Applejack kicked him in the head once more just in case.

. . .

Garble woke the next day with his head feeling like it was hit by a mountain. He looked around at his still sleeping team and wondered what happened but strangely found he was unable to remember.

“Home, we’re supposed to be going home.”

. . .

Spike was up the next day early, carefully moving a claw through Twilight’s mane, the unicorn had been drained dry of magic and was exhausted, especially after modifying the dragon’s memories and teleporting them away. He was amazed at how strong Twilight was and smiled a bit at the simple thought that she trusted him enough to sleep with him near.

He set her down and walked over to the Apple Family’s house where Applejack was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. She was bandaged in places where the fall and claws had affected but still gave the dragon a kind smile.

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“Apples aren’t the kind to take laying down easily. Ah wanted to thank ya Spike and apologize for before.” Spike waved off her apology.

“It’s fine I know it wasn’t easy to trust me.”

“No, but Ah should’ve given ya a chance like Bloom did.” Spike opened his mouth to object but was silenced as Applejack held up a hoof. “That’s why Ah’m gonna help ya and Twilight. If ya sure about wantin to stop this war there may be a place we can go that may have a way.”

“Where?”

“The ancient castle that is deep in the Everfree Forest.”

Author's Note

I am still alive!! I'm so so so so so sorry for the long waiting on this and all my other stories I just went through a rut and have been so busy with my new job. I plan on getting chapters for the Dragon Alchemist and Rockabye Dragon out real soon! I hope you all like this chapter and the new cover art I had done by the great Alexis C.

Into the Everfree

“Up and at em you two! We ain’t gonna wait until noon to begin our journey if we’re gonna get to that castle before the sun sets. The Everfree is dangerous enough with Timberwolves, Ursas, and that guardian magicking around, Ah don’t wanna get lost in there at night!” Applejack shouted out from the kitchen while she was cooking breakfast and the other two Apples were setting the table.

Spike groaned loudly as he rolled in a feeble attempt to escape the shouting. “Ugh, noon? The sun is just rising now… I think we have time.” He muttered to himself and shifted a little feeling something fuzzy on his chest. “What the?” He opened an eye slowly and looked down, blinking several times before he jumped back a few feet. Twilight had been much closer than she had been last night, nearly right beside him with a small smile gracing her face. He felt strange heat rising to his cheeks so he just tried to ignore it, but when he laid back down a few feet away from her, he found himself unable to sleep again so he groaned and just got up. He pushed open the doors of the barn and blocked the sun’s rays with his hand.

“Okay, I’m up!” Spike shouted while he stretched his sore muscles thinking that he could get used to something like pillows, better than the rocks back home at least. Applebloom met him at the door and happily welcomed him in. “Umm, you sure about this Bloom? I rather the bruise your sis gave me yesterday to not get a sibling of its own.” Applebloom giggled and pushed Spike into the house.

“Don’t worry after last night where you beat up that other dragon I think she likes you now heh.” Spike gave her a skeptical gaze but the filly seemed to take it in stride so he walked into the kitchen where Applejack just gave him a welcoming smile.

“Mornin Spike! Let me introduce you to my Granny Smi- WAIT GRANNY!” Spike looked around for the other Apple when he felt a broom smash into his stomach making him cough out some flame and bend over. He groaned and looked to the side where a pair of hooves hit his face, not as bad as Applejack’s bucks but it still knocked him on his back.

“Take that ya fire-lizard! No one hurts my grandbabies!”

“Granny! This is Spike! The good dragon Ah told ya about!” Granny frowned at Applejack’s words.

“Ya sure Ah was fully wake Applejack? Ah don’t member nothin like that.” Applejack facehoofed while Applebloom helped Spike back to his feet where his claw was grabbed by Granny Smith who shook it with a strong grip. “Well, if they say ya a good one then I believe em! It’s nice to meet ya Spike.” Spike rubbed his claw and smiled nervously hoping the mare wouldn’t hurt him anymore.

“D-ditto Miss Smith…”

“Call me Granny young un. Miss Smith makes me sound too borin!” Spike chuckled and nodded when the front door opened again. Twilight’s mane looked like a tornado attacked it.

“D-does anypony have a brush?” Spike and Applebloom burst into laughter while Applejack shook her head at them and then trotted over to Twilight.

“Enough of that ya two. Come on Sugarcube, let’s fix ya up a bit. Watch the food AB.” Applebloom saluted as the two left and Spike decided to help her. The filly instructed him on what to do, being his first time really cooking.

“Dragons don’t cook?! Yall never had a tasty apple pie? That sounds like torture!” Spike chuckled and flicked her bow as he flipped the pancake, barely catching it.

“Yeah, dragons aren’t that into creating things. Most of us are much more into fighting or taking things…”

“What about you?”

“Me? I guess… I guess I have always been a strange dragon… my kind only ever liked me for what I could make for them. I don’t think any of them were really my friend except for Ember. Now she’s a dragon, strong, tough, smart, and-” He was cut off in the middle of his sentence when Applejack and Twilight came back with Twilight now wearing some kind of yellow dress. A small blush on her face. “Pretty…” Applebloom yelled at him that the food was burning and he quickly moved it off the stove. He helped Applejack serve the food and all sat around with syrup and apple juice.

“Thanks for the food Applejack and for the dress… who’s going to watch the farm while you’re with us? I don’t want to leave Applebloom alone after the attack last night…” Twilight said as she lifted a fork with her magic, carefully cutting some of the pancakes while Applebloom was staring at Spike in awe as he shoved whole ones into his mouth.

“Don’t worry sugarcube, my cousin Braeburn will be comin to take over the farm work with a few more Apples while Ah’m with you. Usually, they are pretty busy with the war and all but Ah sent some letters out last night tellin em what you and Spike did for me and AB and what yall tryin to do. They want to see this end too.”

“Thank you so much Applejack, we really appreciate this. Isn’t that right Spike?” Twilight turned to see Applebloom laughing at Spike who she dared to shove fifteen pancakes in his mouth and he was at fourteen. “Yeah… we need all the help we can get.”

. . .

Twilight, Spike, and Applejack waved at Granny Smith, Applebloom, and the rest of the Apple family that had arrived. It was nearing noon as the group entered the forest.

“So how did the two of you meet? Ah’ve never met a duo like yall, especially a kind dragon. No offense Spike.”

“None taken. Twilight can explain what happened, the magic of it all kind of hurts my head.”

“Well, it started with a spell and a bit of a dumb plan by Spike and some other dragons…” Twilight explained how the two met and how they became partners with Spike cutting in and making things simpler to understand when she was getting too complicated. It was past noon when they reached the deeper part of the forest.

“So you can’t go home anymore Spike? That must be hard, being stuck in a place where you’re automatically hated no matter what you do…”

“Well you gave me a chance, maybe others will also.”

“Ah only did that because Applebloom and she’s too young to understand really all that dragons have done to us.”

“Don’t forget Ponies did things to us too...” Applejack opened her mouth but then closed it, she didn’t know what ponies did to them. She wasn’t a dragon after all. The group walked when suddenly Applejack felt her mane stand on end, she held out a hoof blocking her companions while she looked around frantically.

“What’s wrong Appleja-”

“Shh!” Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof but nothing happened. There was no noise.

“Applejack it’s quiet there’s nothing here.”

“Yall don’t get it, do you? This is the Everfree, there is always something out there. Why is it so quiet?” At the question, the forest immediately came alive. Giant roots of the trees tore through the ground towards Applejack but Twilight rushed to her side, putting up a magic bubble around them. “What in tarnation?!” The roots bashed against the bubble as Applejack pulled out her lasso. “How long can you hold them Sugarcube?”

“A while, weird it feels like they aren’t really trying…” Spike was prepared to fight but nothing attacked him, looking at the roots attacking the girls he noticed that behind them, more roots were making a wall blocking them from entering any more into the forest.

“A distraction!” Spike ran towards them, scooping Twilight and Applejack in his arms. Both mares struggled out of instinct with Twilight lowering her bubble causing them to nearly be smashed by a root and Applejack punching Spike’s face. He jumped through the last hole that the root wall had, the three safely making it to the other side. “Uggggh my face!” Spike shouted, falling and dropping the mares while holding his sore jaw. Applejack blushed a bit out of embarrassment before helping him up.

“S-sorry bout that Spike… Ah was surprised…”

“W-what happened to the sunlight?” Twilight asked as she got up ignoring them and looked around in shock. The forest was dark as if it were night.

“Like Ah said… this place is unnatural. We can’t go back now, we have to keep goin in and hope we can find a way out.”

“I can blast some fire on the roots.”

“And that could burn the whole forest, like it or not Spike but this place is still important to Equestria’s ecosystem. Applejack’s right we’ll find another way through.” The three trekked through the forest, Spike having lit a stick on fire to use as a torch leading the way.

“So what is up with this place? I know you said it had weird creatures and was unnatural but why?”

“I can’t tell ya, I’ve never been this far from Canterlot. The princess may have let me plan attacks but never let me join on the front lines. Applejack?”

“To be honest, Ah’ve never been in this deep either. Granny says that the Everfree used to be open to all creatures if they were brave enough to enter but a few years ago it happened! A huge battle between Ponies and Dragons left a large part of the forest destroyed. The Battle of the Free was what it was called.” Spike and Twilight flinched a bit at the name. Both had heard the reports of that battle from their respective sides.

“The Battle of the Free… it was before my time but every pony that lived were allowed to leave the front lines due to what they saw leaving them… broken.”

“That battle left nearly no survivors… the dragons that came back recalled a demon coming from the forest that stopped the fighting. Her scream was so heartbreaking that it even made the dragons pause but then something happened. In an instant, the dead littered what used to be the forest.”

“Yeah, Ah also lost a friend that day... well after that the forest seemingly had gained a guardian that was said to have been created by the Everfree to fight for it. My ma and pa were some of the unlucky that had to clean up that battlefield and they said they had never seen anything like it. The bodies were unmarked… scared to death…” The group went silent after that, their minds racing with the thoughts of what creature could scare you to death.

A few hours of walking later, Applejack decided it was time for the group to set up camp. Applejack brought out some apple pie and shared it with them. The group soon had a raging fire and Twilight yawned, having leaned her head against Spike and feeling his warm scales she soon fell asleep. Spike didn’t seem to mind as he just finished off her remaining pie. Applejack stared at the two and wondered how they could be so trusting of each other.

He looked up to see her stare and raised an eyeridge. “What’s up AJ?”

“How… How could you two be such good friends? To trust each other like this? Ah mean you said it yourself Ponies have done awful things to Dragons and vice versa.” Spike thought about it, usually, he would push Twilight away or at least keep her from sleeping on him but since that morning he has felt strange or… was it that he only realized it that morning?

“The spell we mentioned, that one that bonded us, it bonded our souls so we feel each other. If one goes the other follows so I suppose we both understood that we should work together instead of always fighting since we’re stuck together.” Applejack nodded understanding and bit her lip before looking up at him.

“Is that the only reason? You don’t care for her other than that?” Spike looked away from her eyes, finding them suddenly hard to look at.

“...dragons don’t really do feelings… We’re monsters after right?” The two went silent again. Applejack set up two tents and slipped a sleeping bag in one tent each. Spike carefully placed Twilight in one and smiled a bit at her sleeping form before joining Applejack again. She was staring longingly at the sky and Spike looked up also, barely catching sight of two shooting stars passing by. She wiped her eyes but then looked down at the fire before taking a deep breath.

“Spike, Ah’m mighty sorry for the way I treated ya when we met.”

“I know you already apolo-”

“Let me finish sugarcube, it's rude to interrupt. Ah’m sorry for how Ah treated ya and Ah should have known better. My ma and paused to say that the Earth Ponies should be the ones that have the most open minds. They used to say that no matter who or what we are, we all are connected and depend on each other. The same earth, the same sky, the same heart keepin us alive. This world has suffered so much for the greed of both of our races… this has to come to its end. We’ve lost too much...”

“Applejack…”

“They told me once… that no matter the creature, we’re all connected to each other in a circle that never ends. A hoop of life and death it’s what is in between that we control. We decide what kind of life we’ll live, we decide who we become…” Applejack stood and stared at Spike, the fire reflecting her eyes and the moonlight shining down on her making her look like some kind of fierce but gentle goddess. “Ah’ve chosen who Ah’ll become, for my family, for my sister, and for myself. Ah’m gonna help you two until it’s over, until the day Ah can go home and know that my sister is safe. We may have no magic bond but Ah trust ya Spike…”

“I trust you too AJ… thank you. You aren’t the only one who’s lost parents. Mine are gone also and I thought that I had to be strong. Had to prove myself to my race since I never had the chance to prove myself to them… we’ll both get the chance to make them proud.” Spike sighed and stretched. “I’ll keep the first watch, you get some rest.”

“Thanks, Ah just may take you up on that. Good night Spike.” She yawned and waved before heading into her tent. Spike smiled gently and looked up at the night sky, keeping an ear out for danger

“Night Applejack.”

. . .

Hours later, the sky was stormy and Spike was shaken awake by Twilight who had been the last one on watch duty. The three prepared their supplies but as they went to put out the fire, it flared up and Spike grabbed the girls, hugging them and covering them with his fireproof body. The flames settled and the three were shocked to find them take the form of a pony-like creature. It had the overall look of a pony, but it had the ears of a bunny, one of its hooves was a timberwolf paw, the scaly underbelly of a dragon, the wings of a bat, a tail that resembled a snake, and her hindquarters had the fur of a bear.

“W-what is that thing…”

“I am the guardian of the Everfree! You three have gone against my will and pushed forward where your races are not allowed! You bring nothing but destruction and death, turn back now or you will die.” Spike growled a bit at the threat but Twilight walked around him.

“Wait please! We aren’t here to fight! We just want to reach the Castle of the Two Sisters.” The creature stopped and glared at the unicorn, taking several steps towards her.

“What do you hope to gain from the castle?”

“A way to stop this war, a way to bring peace to Equestria.”

“A fool’s errand… you’ll find nothing there.”

“We don’t believe that.” The creature snarled and turned away from the three.

“Push forward… at your own risk.” It walked back in the flames and vanished.

“Well… that was hot.” The mares gave Spike a deadpan stare and he shrugged. “Hey, I thought it was a good one… So are we going to keep going?”

“Of course, no fire monster is gonna scare away an Apple! Ah made you two a promise that Ah’d take ya to the castle and that’s just what Ah’ll do.” Twilight and Spike smiled grateful to have gained a friend like Applejack. The three chose their path and continued forward, above them a being watched with curious and rage-filled eyes.

Author's Note

A bit of a smaller chapter and not much action but I wanted to show Applejack becoming more of a friend to the two, next chapter will really go into depth with the Guardian of the Everfree! I hope you'll be able to make guesses to who it is. It won't take more than maybe a week or two to finish the next chapter! I just need free time since work is killing me. anyway tomorrow will be the introduction of a new story, and then maybe the sequel to one of my more popular stories!

The Forging of the Bond

The horrible destruction and scents of death and burned flesh did nothing as a young lone unicorn walked through what was once her home. This village was small, hardly involved in the war effort other than a single flag that they had in the town center. This was never meant to happen… The young unicorn was silent and stoic, ignoring the fallen around her, as tears stung her eyes and she looked down at two corpses that were intervened with each other in an everlasting embrace. She shook uncontrollably as she cried and broke down in front of the bodies, only looking up again when a dragon roared and it’s mouth filled with flames aimed at her.

The next thing she remembered seeing was red as she was drenched in blood and the dragon fell, body torn in half from something. The unicorn screamed as it felt like her head was splitting in two but a kind hoof on her shoulder caused her to turn and come face to face with a regal figure.

“Twilight Sparkle, let me help you. I am Princess Celestia. There is nothing left for you here…”

. . .

Twilight screamed and shot up in a cold sweat. Memories, faded ones that she had tried to bury with destruction of her old life but with a dragon being so close again must have reawaken them. She wasn’t going to get much more sleep that night so she went to the restroom to prepare for the day. Her mane was a mess and eyes looked red, growling the unicorn brushed her hair and felt her stomach rumbling. After a quick shower, she walked down to the kitchens but was stopped when she heard two familiar voices.

“I only request that you take some time to rest princess, even you have your limits and should the city be invaded then we’ll need you.”

“Captain, I have full trust in you and your soldiers and you should in me. I have been raising the moon and sun for the last thousand years and keeping the field up isn’t so bad as it was before the towers were built.”

“True but I can hold up the field, I don’t want you to be holding up the world on your own…”

“I’m not alone, I have you, Cadence, Twilight, and the rest of my people by my side.”

“Then let us help you, you don’t need to protect us like when we were little. We can help you.” Celestia walked to the stallion and put a hoof on his shoulder while smiling kindly at him.

“Thank you but I must raise the sun now. You should take your own advice Shining, I haven’t seen you sleep since you captured the prisoner. Even you aren’t immune to sleep.” Shining smiled and left the room to go wake his soldiers, missing Twilight as she had turned herself invisible. She walked away from the room and her princess as her mind returned to the plan she had made so long ago. She knew that it would work, all it took was somepony that was willing to… no she would never be allowed to put herself in that position. The princess would forbid the very idea but if it could give her the power to stop this… would the risk be worth it?

“Why does life have to be so complicated?”

“I wouldn’t have an answer for ya, princess~” Twilight jumped as she was pouring herself some cereal and turned to see a young guard who was leaning back in his seat while chewing on a sandwich. Twilight put her nose in the air and scoffed at the boy playfully while sitting across from him.

“You know I hate being called that Flash.”

“Yep which is why I keep calling you that heh.” Twilight smiled at his dopey looking grin. The two had been friends since Twilight was brought to the castle and she knew that Shining had the most amount of trust and pride in that boy. “So what’s up? You saw that dragon we caught right?”

“My brother caught the dragon, where were you?”

“I was ordered to take out the other dragon’s body, those things weigh a ton! You unicorns are lucky with your magic.” Twilight didn’t answer as she ate and thought about dragons and her nightmare. She looked up as Flash had put a hoof on hers. “Hey, it’s okay. He can’t hurt you, the princess and your bro would never let another one near you.” She smiled and nodded, thanking him before the two went back to their meals and joked with each other before Flash cursed and ran out shouting that he was late and Shining would kick his flank for it.

“So what to do now? A bit early for hitting the books…” Twilight looked at the clear skies overhead and decided to take a short walk around Canterlot. Leaving the castle, she noticed the extra guards that were stationed everywhere and knew that they would only be scaring the common folk. “Security comes with it’s own sacrifices I suppose...” She waved and spent some time talking to the locals who seems a bit panicked after the dragon attack and the main tower being destroyed but all felt at ease when Twilight would say that the princess was back. She entered the local bookstore and got several volumes that she had been meaning to read and a novel here and there that were her eyes only.

“Howdy!” The sudden shout shocked Twilight as she was nose deep in a book while she was walking. She blushed and dusted herself off while looking up at a mare who was wearing a hat and had a thick accent. The girl had scapes and scars all over her body but still attained her beauty which Twilight noticed and blushed a bit at her thoughts, knowing that she was spending way too much time in those books.

“O-oh hello! I’m Twilight Sparkle, are you a new refugee?”

“Didn’t mean to scare ya any, Ah’m Applejack. Refugee? Nah, Ah live in a small village named Ponyville, about a day’s walk from here. We Apples have been there for generations and no matter what will always be there! Let those dragons come and cause trouble and Ah’ll show them why Ah’m the best applebucker in the world! Other than my big bro course. Oh, do ya want an apple? My family sells them to the castle for the army.” Twilight smiled a bit at the girl’s confidence and was curious to see her home but knew she should be getting back to the castle for lessons.

“Well maybe I’ll visit someday, thanks for the snack!” Twilight galloped towards the castle as Applejack smiled and then looked around confused.

“Now where did that filly run off to?”

. . .

Dragons were creatures extremely prone to falling to their emotions and even the strongest of them had a weakness to them. Only two dragons in Ember’s life were able to control their emotions and actions at all times, her father Torch and the little dragon named Spike. Torch was the dragon lord and for it saw every horror that the dragons suffered and that experience closed off his heart and left him a jaded warrior. His emotions never took control because he barely had any but anger, something that Ember experienced first hand.

Spike was different however, the young dragon was a pure light in the dark. Even after being orphaned by the ponies and being put in the same place as so many angry dragons, he held onto his emotions. Ember would actually say that he probably showed more emotions than any other dragon she ever met and it may be how he dealt with his sadness. Instead of closing himself off like Torch, he opened up his heart fully. Because of that he was never bottling up anything and couldn’t be clouded by those things, making him one of the smarter dragons. He was young when he lost his parents and followed Ember since she was the one that told him of their fates. She hated him at first, an annoying pest that she couldn’t get rid of, but she found over time that she regretfully came to care about him.

She was strong and be the first one to prove it to you but she was frightened. Frightened of feeling things and of becoming just like her father, leaving her between Spike’s caring nature and her father’s expectations. That indecisiveness is what has allowed her emotions to cloud her judgment as her army descended upon Canterlot and prepared to rain fire on her command.

“Now.”

. . .

Spike groaned as he was trying to reach a bit of food that the guards had teasingly left just out of his reach. He glared at the food as the castle began to shake and he looked up and his eyes widened.

“N-no… why did she come back now!? Let me out! If you don’t they’ll die! Let me go!!”

. . .

Twilight stared up in fear as fire seemed to rain from the sky and continuously smash into the field which was holding strong but without the main tower it won’t hold forever. That amount of dragons wouldn’t be able to beat the princess but the death and destruction that this battle would cause would ruin Canterlot. Twilight looked down to see the ponies panicking and hiding with their foals and even a lone colt crying. She ran down stairs and met with the princess as she was holding the field up and Shining was preparing his army.

“Princess! I want to join the front!”

“No, Twilight, I am counting on you to defend the city if I’m to fall. You are my student and I’ve taught you enough to stand in for me if the need arises but I will not put you in needless danger.”

“But Princess!” Shining Armor stepped up between the two and stared his sister down.

“No, Twi! The princess is right, you are to stay here as our backup. I am not losing you too...” He hugged her and Twilight teared up before pushing him away and running back into the castle. Shining looked after her but turned away, he had a job to do. “I’m sorry…”

Twilight ran through the hall until she arrived in her room and angrily blasted several of the things in there. She huffed as she looked around at the mess she caused and shook her head. “Not here… not again… no, I will not hide away this time.” She searched through her mess until she lifted a leather-bound journal that had dust covering it. She opened the book and looked up with determination burning in her eyes before she raced to the dungeons.

. . .

Ember stopped her army’s attack as the princess herself approached and the two nearly came face to face. “I am the dragon lord’s daughter, Princess Ember! I command that the dragon in your custody be given over to us!”

“You have no authority here princess and your dragon attacked us so I will not give him over. He will suffer punishment for his attempted murder.”

“You will give him back to me. Willingly or by force.”

“Give him back? He’s that important to you… I truly am sorry but I refuse.”

“Then your city will burn!” Ember restarted her attack as Celestia backed away calmly and ordered that the shield be lowered. Her army prepared to take the offensive while the dragons are caught off guard.

. . .

Twilight arrived at the deepest parts of the castle but found her path blocked. “Hey, you saw me here earlier with the princess, I’m Twilight Sparkle her pupil. Move aside I need to talk to the prisoner.”

“We’re sorry Miss Sparkle but the captain ordered no one but her and the princess be allowed to see the dragon, especially you.”

‘Damn it Shiny… you should know that I never quit. Their armor makes weak spells ineffective… sorry guys but this is gonna hurt.’ Twilight turned and began to walk away before she turned and a whip of electricity came from her horn and wrapped around one of the guard’s throats while the other attacked her. The first guard fell unconscious while Twilight dodged several of the attacks from the guard's spear and spun under one jab, using all her strength to buck him right in the jaw. He crumbled and Twilight apologized to them both before opening the door and seeing that the dragon bleeding from pulling at the chains. He looked up and the two stared at each other as the world ended above their heads.

“Canterlot is under attack from dragons… both ponies and dragons will die this day. The princess is here and she has faced far worse than the small army they brought, you know that they can’t win this.” The dragon growled and finally spoke.

“Why come all the way down here to tell me something I know? Just to gloat… I didn’t want this! I didn’t ask them to come back for me...”

“No, even if we are going to beat the dragons I know you all won’t go down without a fight and that means that innocent ponies will die for nothing! What’s the point of all this fighting when we are only destroying ourselves!? My friend, my brother, and my teacher are up there right now and could be dying just to keep you here… I won’t stand by and watch another home be destroyed for this stupid pointless war!! I saw you that day we caught you… you could have killed that filly that got in your way but you ran past her…”

“...I didn’t have the time for something like that…”

“You didn’t want her hurt! You cared!”

“So what if I did!? You can’t help me and I can’t help you… that war up there is ours just as much as it is theirs…”

“I don’t believe that this is all my life can be, that all newborns and hatchlings should have to be born into a fight that they never chose! I believe that this can end… that we can be happy…” Spike stared at this strange pony and lowered his head.

“A dream that could never be… but one that I… would like to see… Why did you come here?”

“I think I found a way to stop this but I need your help. Will you trust me?”

“What are you asking me to do?”

“You are the first dragon who has ever allowed themselves to be captured, so you either have no loyalty and is a coward.” At those words, Spike attempted to break free again out of anger but stopped when Twilight spoke again. “But seeing your eyes I know that dragons value loyalty above everything else… that only means that you are loyal to someone important to you and they asked you to live…” Spike thought of Ember and shook his head.

“WHAT ARE YOU ASKING ME TO DO!?”

“Keep that promise and live, I am asking what are you prepared to do to keep it!” Spike looked up and sighed.

“I’ll do whatever it takes…”

“Then let’s begin… before we do this, I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“Spike…” Twilight began to focus every ounce of magic she had in her body and pumping it into her horn. It began to glow and surge with power as she opened her eyes and they were bright white, her mouth moving so fast that Spike couldn’t keep up but noticed that she was speaking in every language he knew and others he didn’t. He caught one word that she spoke in ancient dragon tongue that even the dragons have long since forgotten. The word was death. Spike’s eyes widened as she walked closer to him and the horn touched his chest, right over his heart, before she stabbed it into him.

Spike screamed as he felt his entire body burn from the inside out and suddenly everything turned black. The blackness evaporated in an instance, only to be replaced by a blindingly white void. Spike covered his eyes and only opened them when a voice spoke, the figure in front of him appearing to be a unicorn with a beard.

“Spike the Dragon, the bond has been forged between your soul and that of Twilight Sparkle’s. This bond is everlasting and unbreakable until the day you both breathe your last. You will never again be the same, your power and abilities will be enhanced but know that this is no blessing. The power I created so long ago was a curse that I wouldn’t cast on my worst enemy but the choice is yours if this power is what you seek.”

“I… we are going to stop this war and if this power is needed then I agree to the bond…”

“Born by trust, broken by death, the connection is made and fate has been changed. Good luck Spike, good luck to you both.”

. . .

Twilight screamed as she opened her eyes and steam was coming off of her but looking around she wasn’t hurt, in fact, she felt incredible. Faster and stronger than she ever had before. “Is this… the powers of a dragon in me?”

“Ugh, I feel… so weird…” Spike rubbed his head as he was overwhelmed by the amount of random knowledge he knew and the strange sensation deep in his chest which he could only say was… magical. He examined his body and found that a nearly invisible chain around his neck and the other end was tied around Twilight’s hoof. “W-what in Tartarus?”

“This chain must be the link of our souls, no one can see it but us I would guess.” An explosion above brought the two back to the situation and they nodded at each other. Spike deciding to trust the pony for now as he felt his strength and power leave him and enter her through the chain. Twilight screamed at the rush and smiled a crazed smile as something deep and primal took over…

. . .

Canterlot was standing, barely. The armies struck at each other harshly and were out for blood as ponies were using their size and number to overwhelm the dragons but others were too big and would result in endangering innocents to win. Ember fought against Celestia herself but the dragon princess found herself out of her league as she was forced on the defensive and pushed back.

“You can’t win this.”

“Even if I can’t, today will not be a victory for you!” Ember released fireball after fireball into the sky which fell hard on Canterlot and destroying more of the castle. The fighting stopped, however, when the ground shook and a pillar of fire and magic erupted from the center of the castle and two figures came out, stepping on a ground that wasn’t there. Twilight Sparkle had green slitted pupils and a large smile, flames dancing off her fur elegantly, as Spike had the chain tight against his neck and claws that glowed with magic. Both seemed to be crazed as they spoke in unison

“Victory… is ours!”

Author's Note

Hiii every pony and fan! I decided that I had a tiny bit of time and as a thank you for those that have read and enjoyed my story so far I hope this is something you'll like! Now I have to really get back to my other story for a bit but I want to thank those that have liked (And that one person who disliked all my stories, I see you) and I hope you'll be there for whatever comes next. I do use comments to help decide which way a story should head unless I have a clear idea but I do try to please everyone so if you have a question or idea don't be afraid to speak!