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…”