The Kiss of Immortal Love

~ I ~

The Princess Beloved

Spike sat on the field of grass and leaned back, as much as he could, faintly shaded by the lone cherry-tree to the right of him. He gazed over the golden railing to the view beyond. It glimpsed the sides of the castle before revealing the sweeping landscapes of the distant country.

His arm hugged his chest, a claw set on his stump, clasping it. Flames billowed beneath his touch as scales had yet to return to the patch—and never would. Scaleless. That was the name of dead or dying dragons.

And neither of those two failed to describe him.

Shuffling in the grass.

Something behind.

Spike pushed his palm to the grass and raised into a turn to face the approaching force. Only two were toward him. Princess Celestia and the purple mare next to her. They'd step out from the opening of the distant building; its golden glow still cast upon them.

Moonlight greeted them next, and so did he.

"This will be your guide to Drangleic," Princess Celestia said upon striding next to the mare. They were close, a foot so. Yet neither seemed uncomfortable. Their bodies pressed and their coats caressed the other. Sadness stole his weight. "He will ensure no harm comes during your journey into the entry of the lands. You'll meet another like him from there."

The mare was hard to be seen from the side of the tall princess, who stood a few inches below the dragon had full height. The curve of her white body unrolled from the other, slowly revealing the mare. Spike lost a breath—an uncommon occurrence.

She'd been beautiful.

Spike hadn't prepared himself for the sight, unable to say or do a thing, instead stunned into stillness expected of a guard. His eyes sparkled at the look of her. She was a smaller mare reaching the barrel of Celestia. She was more compressed, cute even, a face only entering adulthood.

Much like he.

"This is Princess Twilight Sparkle of the Divine Gift," Princess Celestia said upon inflicting authority into her voice again, her eye cast back on the dragon, an eyebrow arched. He was on his knee the second next, head bowed, eyes closed. "You will be seeing her safely across these lands. Do not fail. Nothing else can be said."

Princess Celestia then lowered her muzzle to the mare. "Now go. Collect your things. We'll have a proper farewell before seeing you off."

Even though the mare had nodded her head, it was her eyes set on the dragon, neck craned and muzzle raised. She gazed at him with a twinkle in her violet iris. Spellbound. The look of the intelligent stolen by curiosity. Something was different about this stare. A read not even the dragon could tell.

Twilight Sparkle had turned away, walking. Now and again, she glanced back, spotting him. Their eyes met and, as quickly, she faced forward. Until she entered the glow outside of the building... entering that too seconds later.

Spike then turned to his side. To the foot to his right, Princess Celestia stood on the other side of the tree. Its bark was white and its leaves were pink. The princess then started to speak. "Tell me, dragon, if you even can—do you know why a single tree stands in this land."

The dragon shook his head.

"The changing of seasons matters not to an immortal... and yet we chose to keep this tree." Princess Celestia gazed up into its branches as the blossoms filtered downward, one landing on her snout. "Open your claw to its offering. The time of our formalities has passed."

Spike wasn't sure this to be a trick or not, a test of a noble to his diligence as a knight. Yet there was something about the way the snowy princess gazed at him. Her eyes still burned with the intensity of the sun. But where they had burned for anger, that same heat, was now apply, to a spreading sadness drying the grass beneath them.

And then he saw it. His vision portrayed his other arm, raising while his claw was opening, holding in a serene pose. It was one he slowly took, hesitation and clumsily, nervous, jittering at feeling the blossom touch onto his palm.

"Cherry blossoms are a symbol of rebirth, to itself and its lands, and perhaps greater than that. This tree detected the natural rhythm of destiny, keeping to it, the few expressions given to the coming of fate."

Spike lowered his palm and gazed into it, seeing the single pink leaf. Without knowing why his digits curled around it. Safe as it was in his claw, there was an urge to protect. Keeping it safe from the uncaring world around. Yet there was another urge. Sudden and animistic.

He desired to clenched his claw and crunched the leaf.

"Though how brilliant your eyes seem to appear, they have dulled from countless years of pain, left in a misery of which you cannot explain." Princess Celesta gazed up into the branches of the tree, and he did the same. They watched the pink delights fly and fade away in the breeze. "I have seen more life in corpses than I do in seeing you. I won't make you swear to keep the mare from harm. So few ponies know better."

The soft whippings of the breeze filled their silence.

"I do not speak of you like a princess, but rather... whatever is close to that of a mother." Her muzzle lowered, but it didn't to him. Instead it settled on the grass, on her hooves. She seemed dejected on the gold surrounding them. "That mare... my Twilight... she... she knows not of the half of my care for her. In truth—a fool is a part I've played this last little while."

She chuckled. Princess Celestia chuckled. Spike actually looked over at her, unable to display confusion. Only his eyes were settling on her. She glanced back at him and laughed. "Your eyes! I think this is the first moment I've seen an iota of emotion on them." She shook her head and looked up again, this time, fixating on the splendour of the stars above. "But I suppose such is a terrible fate for you, isn't it?"

He wordlessly looked at her.

"I... I must confess... I do not know my explanation of all of this to a dragon." Princess Celestia laughed to herself, less in mirth. "Perhaps we're both bound to our roles to do what must be done. Whatever we are, whatever we desire... it mustn't get in the way of what must be done. That is the greatest truth of all." She exhaled heavily. "Lest our whims destroy us."

Spike lowered his claw into the interior-pocket of his jacket, where the blossom would be kept safe. Returning his attention to the princess, she still seemed set on the stars. But her face gazed at the moon most of all. "To the only other my heart has ever loved, this crown has prevented me from showing what I feel. Oh, Twilight. If only she knew. Those nights of her crying that I was outside her door, crying too."

Her muzzle fell. Not lowered or dipped, but declined.

Fell from the weight of guilt.

"And to the dragon set to bring her safely to her doom, I've been horrendous to, all for the sake of appearance." Her eyes closed and their greatness was lost behind those lids. She looked tired, exhausted, a sun starting to dim. "Being awful to the ones that matter is the most important matter of this crown. Be thankful your only binding is that sword. I'd lose all my legs to kiss that mare farewell."

Spike didn't know what he was doing as the force beckoned him forward. The rage within him was suddenly gone. No pain in vain. The intensity of anger mellowed into nothing within his missing arm. It relaxed... before reaching forward.

He watched the vison of it reach for the downtrodden princess's crown. Worry arose in fearing a strike to her neck followed by something worse. Rather, it took her crown. Lifted it from her head with the courage buried with its translucent shape.

Spike approached the princess, who did not stir regardless of his movements, the same being the reverse only hours ago. In looking into his palm, nothing lingered within it. No hope or pain or aspiration. But the vision of the non-extent left him with a call.

And he fulfilled it in reaching for the princess's tiara. It lifted from her head, and her mane ceased in its power. Prismatic hair undulating through the lost its celestial power. Long strands dropped and draped down her body and neck. He pulled the ornament away as her eyes then opened.

"D-Dragon," Celestia sputtered the word and her eyes blinked twice. "What is it you think you are doing? Removing a crown from royalty is a great offence. Why should you..."

Spike didn't bother with the rest of her words, instead kneeling again, but not to bow. Setting tiara to the side, he brought his claw to her hoof, nudging the gold around it.

"D-Dragon... Spike..." He looked up at her face to see the mark of natural beauty. Her mane no longer billowed like the cosmos, but her muzzle caught him with her sincerity. Both eyes, pink and bright, settled on him with worried. No longer an impervious princess. Only a stunned mare. Something the former would never be allowed. "Y-You cannot mean... but this..."

Spike did bow if only to leave forward, claw around her ankle, lifting the leg. It ended up holding in the air as he let go. In it keeping this way, he lightly pulled on the horseshoe, freeing the hoof beneath. The gold was heavy in this claw—nearly enough to weigh it to the ground.

Celestia didn't have words for him. Seconds passing saw twitching of her lips. Some response, clever words, an assertion of higher status or wisdom. Anything to prove superiority even in losing the crown and the title it represented. An occupation habit. One that she lost in succeeding.

Much more to her benefit.

Once the golden attire had been stripped, the dragon rose again, face to face with the mare, seeing into her face again. Long and lazy mane covered most of her muzzle, but parts of her expression shone through. She was tired, so exhausted, and yet there was something incredibly happy about her.

The phantom arm patted his other shoulder.

"For the kind also stripping me of my happiness... you have also allowed me a final glimpse into it." Celestia tilted her head, smiling, so far as to display a few teeth. "I think a proper farewell will be enough to tide my heart until the changing times. Thank you for that."

Her smiled shrunk back into itself. "But I'm afraid this changes nothing between us. Once you return, I shall be the princess you saw before. And you know the fate this world think you deserve."

Spike didn't hesitate to nod.

And so Celestia smiled once more.

"I know now there wasn't another better than you for this journey," Celestia began a final time, "and I'm so terribly sorry it had to be this way. But keep to your duty and do what must be done. Trusting you on this... will allow me to greater indulge in her now."

Upon hearing the distant ruffling of grass and hoofsteps, the dragon backed away, tall again.

"Will you leave a m-m.... a m-mother and daughter alone for a few moments more?" Celestia then entered a bow, the first from a princess to a dragon. Or maybe it wasn't since her crown had been set in-between them. "None can see me like this. So please. Ensure no guards pass through here."

The dragon didn't smile or say a word, his eyes still a dull green, the mask hiding all.

All he expressed was that which he did, nodding and turning, set to accomplish his final order from Celestia.