Mask

Training.

It had been a month since Spike started training, and it had just barely gotten easier. Most days his very bones would ache, his limbs would feel heavy, even his tail would ache. And on those days, he loved nothing more than his bed and a hot meal. Before he simply saw his bed as a place to sleep, but after, it was his sanctuary, his Eden, his very home of safety and love. His bedding was so soft and blankets so warm, he loved them both, and hard days of training just meant an easier time to enjoy such things. In fact, he would say his bed was his favorite place in the whole world after training.

He wondered if this is how all guards felt after training. Missing their soft, warm, safe bed.

Silver was ruthless, had no mercy, and seemed to enjoy the suffering that Spike endured whilst training (or, at least, Spike thought as much), and would rarely allow Spike to rest until the older guard deemed it so. He would make Spike run, climb up rock walls, dodge and weave through obstacles, crawl through mud and practice with hand to hand combat.

At the moment, Spike was doing push up, sweat drenching his plain grey shirt and pants, Silver watching from the sidelines. Meteor walked up, adjusting her shirt a bit as she watched the young dragon blood slowly pump up and down, sweat showing off his cute, pudgy body. She sat next to Silver and offered him a protein bar, which he took and ate, Meteor giving him a look while he chewed silently.

"Can't read minds, private." Silver spoke, making Meteor sigh a bit "Though I can make a guess. Probably wondering why I am pushing him so hard."

"That I am, sir." Meteor spoke, staring at the young boy. She then looked at Silver, adding, "The boy is barely ten."

"He's thirteen." Silver corrected, Spike giving a grunt as he paused for a moment, trying to catch his breath. "I only counted one hundred and thirteen!" Silver yelled out, making Spike grunt and stare up at the man incredulously. "Twelve more to go, Spike!" The dragon blooded boy rolled his head, then let it hang, snorting out some smoke, before continuing.

"Still, kid needs to worry about school or maybe learning about himself, not about training like this."

"Don't know how to tell you this, private Meteor, but Spike isn't an ordinary boy. He needs to train and control his...dragon side." Silver spoke, before leaning back a bit. "I know this, you know this, and he knows this. Hence why he won't give up, no matter what kind of shit I put him in. Five more!"

Spike glared at the man, before slowly complying, making Meteor hum in thought. "Man, I didn't get it this bad." A voice spoke, making Meteor nod a bit. Steel ate the ration bar in his hand, giving Spike an impressed look, before cupping a hand up, yelling, "Keep it up, kiddo! Ladies are digging it!"

This caused Silver to look over at some of the other trainees, a few of them watching with impressed looks on their faces, while a few of the women were giving hungry looks towards the young dragon blood. Silver looked over to Spike, who spared a glance towards the ladies and looked uncomfortable, Meteor watching the action and adjusting in her seat.

This caused a vein to appear in Silvers forehead.

"Oooh, enjoying the show?" Silver asked coolly, making the group shoot up, the older guard giving an evil smile at them. "Since you have so much free time on your hands, you won't mind when I tell you ladies to GO THROUGH THE OBSTACLE COURSE UNTIL I TELL YOU TO STOP!"

This made the group shoot up and run off, Meteor shaking her head at the sight. "You sure you weren't a drill sergeant before the bombs, boss man?" Steel asked, his wings rustling a bit, making Silver chuckle at the question.

"I considered it at one point. Seems like life decided for me anyway." Silver looked at Spike, who was too busy panting and lying on the ground to chime in with his usual banter. Silver walked over to Spike, the young lad panting and looking up at Silver, drenched in sweat. "You did good, kid, go hit the showers and take the next few days off, you earned it."

"Thanks...uh...can you help me up?"

Silver chuckled, offering the drake his hand, which he took, the older man yanking the lad up. He was yanked up, moving his hair out of his face with his hand, wiping away the sweat stinging at his eyes. Silver gave Spikes shoulder a reassuring squeeze, giving him a smile. "Alright, go wash up, you smell like a dragons sweaty sock." Spike walked off, Silver giving him a soft look, before turning around to the group who was watching earlier, seeing them take a breather, "HEY! KEEP GOING!"

Meteor walked over to Silver, sparing a look towards Spike as he walked off, "Kid attracts too much attention for someone his age."

"Well, the females of Equestria outnumber the males, four to one." Silver spoke, before smirking to himself. "And yet, Steel still can't land a date."

"Ha ha, very funny sir."

"Private Meteor, go make sure Spike actually makes it to the showers. And make sure none of our off duty trainees gets any ideas."

"Sir, I don't think they would-"

"The world just ended, Meteor. Do you really think everyone cares about the rules right now?" Silver interrupted Meteor, Steel humming in thought after he spoke. The woman saluted, walking off, Steel walking over to Silver and watching the group run through the course.

"We really should talk to Mayor Mare about punishments and the rules."

"Agreed. Now go get some rest, Storm should be up in a bit to take your watch."

Spike walked to the showers, giving Meteor a look as she stood by the door, the woman just brushing his hair with her hand, making him grumble at her. She just smiled before taking out a block of wood and a knife, slowly carving into it, Spike entering the showers. Thankfully, it was not one of those open ones, each shower had a stall and door, and were easy to lock for privacy.

Spike himself liked these showers, as Mayor Mare would accidentally walk in on him showering in the place they shared, and he would rather not answer any of those uncomfortable questions she had about dragonblood anatomy. Spike stepped into the shower and started to slowly wash away the filth and sweat of the day, sighing as the warm water cleaned him.

Meteor hummed to herself as she kept carving into the wood chunk in her hand, before stopping. She looked around, blinking in confusion, hearing soft whispers enter her ears, her eyes scanning around. She sighed a bit and stabbed the knife into the wood block, setting it down, speaking, "Steel, if this is a prank, I am going to kick you in the apples, and I don't mean your snack."

She kept hearing the whispers, growing confused at the sound, before slowly pulling her knife out of the block and holding it in a ready position. She scanned the area, her eyes looking over every rock and shack she could, turning in a circle. Eventually, the whispers stopped, she twirled the weapon around and quickly turned around, hearing a door close behind her.

Nothing was there.

She finally let her guard down after a moment and returned to her carving, her eyes briefly scanning every so often, a shape slowly being carved into the block. Her mind drifted slowly to the world above, how much death and destruction over a piece of dirt and rock, such loss of life would be incalculable to the mind. Numbers meant nothing, life was much more than statistics and papers with numbers,.life was life.

All the joy, tragedy, experiences, dreams, nightmares, hopes, successes and failures that one person went through meant much more than the people who would just label someone as a number. And such loss of life should be held within high regards, as life itself was meant to be loved and cherished, not disregarded, it was meant to be wondered about and enjoyed. As the cosmos itself were vast and infinite, so too were the possibilities of life, the dreams that one would hold were also as infinite and unknowable as the cosmos, yet were to be enjoyed and cherished as one enjoys the stars or the breeze on a gentle, calm day. Nobody should throw that away on a whim, over some piece of land that could be shared.

Meteor blinked herself out of her thoughts, before returning back to carving into the wood.

Of course, what did she know about such philosophy? She was just a guard, carving into some wood in a hole in the ground.

Spike adjusted his pants a bit, wiping his hair with his towel, staring into the foggy mirror. He wiped it with his towel and sighed at his smeared reflection. He started to wipe his hair again, staring at his shirtless image in the mirror, before sighing softly, shaking his head.

"Oh Twilight...I wish you were here right now. So lost and confused, and...I could use you and the girls. Maybe even have Fluttershy hug me, Rarity telling me what colors go with what gems, Rainbow Dash brag about how she could beat up that bat thing, Applejack could give me some life advice, Pinkie would...well, let's be honest, she would invite everyone to a 'Spike Saved Big Mac' party." Spike spoke to nothing but the open air, hanging his head a bit, closing his eyes and giving a soft, smoke filled sigh. When he looked up, he blinked in confusion when he saw a flash of purple in the mirror.

He twirled around, seeing nothing behind him, his pupils slowly constricting into slits as he scanned the room. He turned back to the mirror, rubbing his eyes a bit, before seeing that same purple flash again. He leant closer, seeing the fog slowly clear up on the mirror, the smiling face of...Twilight?!

He gave a gasp and twirled around again, seeing nothing there again, before looking back at the mirror. He saw nothing there as well...was he insane? Was he going mad from the chaos of life? Was Discord playing a prank on him?

He rubbed his eyes and groaned, before hearing footsteps, shooting up, his tail whipping around to and fro. He grasped his shirt and slung it over his shoulder, grasping his towel and winding it up. He walked to the wall, pressing against it, straining his ears a bit.

Whispers.

He grew curious. It didn't seem like they were next to him, yet he heard them as clear as day. Whispers of young and old, men and women, none he recognized, yet all seemed familiar, as if he had known these voices his whole life. He slowly went around the corner, only for a splitting headache to erupt in his skull, making him gasp. He clutched his head and groaned, falling to his knees, before flashes of pictures zipped through his mind, as fast as light.

The branches of an ancient tree.

A little girl and her puppy, playing in the grass.

Flowers swaying in the breeze.

A distant camp fire, people playing music and whistling to a warm, soft tune.

Spike gripped his head and gave a strangled groan, more and more flashes entering his vision, before he glanced up. A dark blob entered his vision, though he had no strength to back away. He only clenched his fist and gave out a grunt of pain, the splitting headache slowly subsiding as his vision cleared. The strange blob knelt down, before pressing its long, thick finger against Spikes forehead.

"Вы не одиноки."

Spike blinked in confusion, trying to make sense of the voice he was hearing. He recognized the tone the dark shape was speaking to him, making Spike grunt in confusion and pain, relief flooding through his system.

"T...Twilight?"

"Держись, маленький дракон."

Spike awoke with a start, panting loudly, blinking in confusion. His hair was still wet and the mirror was foggy, he must have been so overworked he fell asleep. He stretched a bit, his back popping loudly, before sitting up and throwing his shirt on, not caring about how wet his hair was at the moment. He threw his towel over his shoulder, walking out of the doors, seeing Meteor carving something into the wood.

Hearing the door open, Meteor stood up and chuckled, "What'd you do, fall asleep in there?" She teased, making Spike snort out.

"Dunno how you can train like this."

"Years of practice, kiddo. Come on, we gotta get some food in you, you must be starving."

At that sentence, Spikes stomach rumbled, making him blush and give a shy smile. Meteor felt a small, motherly urge to scoop him up and smooch that cute face. She quickly shook it off, feeling slightly unnerved by said thoughts, before putting the hunk of wood away, smiling at the young dragon blood, finally speaking, "C'mon."

As they walked away, neither noticed the shape on the roof, watching them. Another shape took form next to it, much larger, the larger form squeezing the smaller ones shoulder. The little one looked up at it, before looking back down, finally speaking, "Вы уверены, что мы поступили правильно?"

"Мы должны идти. Он найдет путь, как только будет готов." The big one mumbled out, before disappearing from sight. The little one watched the duo for a moment, before turning around, phasing from sight as well.