A Tale of Noble Spirits

Chapters

The Shooting Star They Saw
The Day a Hero Fell
We all felt the pain

The Shooting Star They Saw

Hey there. I'm Noble Spirit of Ponyville. Now, you're probably wondering why I'm in a tunnel with a unicorn wizard, a DJ, a fashionista and with the princess of the night knocked out and injured on my back with almost no sign of waking up. Also, there are Canterlot Royal Guards that are trying to find us for something stupid like treason. It is a long story. Actually, it really isn't, but for the sake of telling a half descent story, I'll try to make it as detailed as I can. As Rarity always says 'design is in the details'. Actually, she never says that, but it seems like something she WOULD say. Regardless, here I go...

It all started last night when I was on a date with my out-of-my-league girlfriend, Scootaloo. The orange mare is almost a whole two years ahead of my 17. Someponies, but not a lot, tried to make a stink about it in the past, but neither of us really cared. All that mattered to us was what we thought of it. At any rate, there we were, lying on our backs and looking at a beautiful October sunset. The colours in the sky complimented the orange and purple of her coat and mane gloriously. "If you could wish for anything in Equestria right now, what would it be?"

"I'd wish my boyfriend wouldn't ask me stupid questions and realize happy where we are right now," She snarked with a smile. We had a weird system, but it was ours. She wouldn't do that if she knew I couldn't take it or if she couldn't take it herself.

"Not even an apple-fritter?" Applejack had taught me a thing or two about baking. In fact, for the last seven years, I was hanging out almost non-stop on Sweet Apple Acres. It was a job as much Rarity's boutique or Pinkie Pie's baking. And just like those two with their careers, I loved mine. At least, I loved the people I worked with. Big Macintosh is the closest thing I have to a brother and Applebloom and Applejack are like my sisters. Keep track of all the past and present tense words I use, by the way. They're very important for keeping up with the plot. "Because I can whip one up for you real fast if you want."

She just laughed it off. I had no idea how he landed her as a girlfriend, but at the time, I felt like the luckiest colt in all of Equestria. "Well, there is one thing..." She turned to look me in the eyes, her big, purple eyes glowing in the Ponyville sunset. I got the idea and went in for the kill. I mean kiss. It seemed like I was about to enter an eternity of bliss, only to be interrupted by a dark blue streak trailing across the goldenrod sky.

"What the hay was that?" I asked first. Being focused was not my strong suit, it seemed.

Luckily, though, Scootaloo's adventurous personality couldn't not let her ignore what we had just seen, either. Now, to an outsider, it would seem that she gained that trait by acting as Rainbow Dash's little sister, but to everypony who knew her best, which included all of ten different ponies, Spike the dragon included, it was known that she was always like that. "Don't know..." then she looked at me with an excited smile. I knew that look better than I'd like. "Let's go check it out."

I only nodded slightly, even though I was kind of interesting into what it was too. We walked through the south fields, wondering what in the hay it was. We both stayed quiet, exchanging only brief looks of caution and excitement at what just plummeted to the earth. The feeling of trepidation and adrenaline was something I hadn't felt since the time I'd first asked Scootaloo out around six months ago.

After nearly ten minutes of walking in silence, either out of fear or anticipation, we finally found what we were searching for. I am not gonna lie. I was excited at first. That was, until, I saw what shape she was in. Princess Luna had fallen from the sky like a comet, leaving an entire crater of destruction in the wake of her dynamic entrance. Even with the sun setting and all the debris around and near her, obscuring my view, I could still tell she wasn't in to great of a condition. "Princess Luna?" I called out. More or less like I expected, she didn't answer, but it didn't hurt to check. That's when I took a look at Scootaloo. "We gotta get her out of here, Scoots."

She nodded. "What do you think brought her down here like that, Noble?" She said as she help the fallen princess of the night on my. We didn't bring any rope, but we didn't need it, either. Years of work on Sweet Apple Acres made sure of that.

I only shook my head. "I don't know, Scoots, but- Is she secure?"

"Yeah, Noble."

"Cool. I don't know, but I think we should find out." I looked off dramatically into the horizon, and then looked back at the orange mare. "Which is closer, Zecura's place or Twilight's?"

"Zecura's, but you really want to go into the Ever-free forest this close to night-time?" She had a good point.

"Twilight's it is, then." And so we took off from the south fields of Sweet Apple Acres. Under most circumstances, like Night Mare Night or Hearth's Warming, a visit from Princess Luna would be great. She was always welcomed in Ponyville. She was also one of my best friends. In fact, I was the only pony besides maybe Twilight Sparkle that she let call her just 'Luna'. Naturally, seeing her like this was kind'a distressing for me.

Finally, after walking non-stop for nearly 15 minutes, we finally made it to Twilight's home. The sun was already down at this point and there were only a few ponies out at the time, meaning almost nopony would be able to spot the precious cargo I was carrying. Scootaloo and I both heard some loud crashing noises. "Spike! The entire east shelf is on fire!"

"Peewee did it!" Spike denied it. He was talking about his pet phoenix he found on a journey of self discovery that ended in disaster.

"Spike, Peewee went south for the winter last week!"

"Fine. Owlowicious did it!" Scootaloo gave me her 'seriously' expression. I only shrugged. Spike was one of my closest friends, but he did have a habit of shifting blame on the rare occasions he set things on fire. Like the time he set my tail on fire.

After we waited for a few more minutes for them to stop so we wouldn't intrude, and also because it was funny, I knocked on the door to the large tree house thing. Spike was the one who came to the door, "Hey, Scoots. Hey, Noble, and Princess Lun-" He paused for a moment, obviously surprised by the sight of a princess on the brown maned stallions back.

"Noble, why do you have Princess Luna on your back?" He'd grown a lot in the last seven years. Where once he was the height of only a foal, now he was about the height of Princess Luna. He still acted essentially the same, though. He even still fawned over Rarity.

I was irritated by his stupid question, so I answered with a sarcastic expression. "Because it tickled my fancy, Spike. How should I know? We found her like this in the Sweet Apple Acres south fields."

My admittedly rude response didn't even register, so great was his shock. "Twilight?! We got a problem!" Damn skippy, we did.

"What is it, Spike?" Twilight walked down from where who bed was, tending to some books that she kept in her nightstand. "Oh, hey, Scootaloo. Hey, Nobl-" She gave me the expression that Spike gave me only a moment before. "Noble, why-"

"I don't know. Me and Scootaloo found her like this," I snapped. At that point, I wasn't sure whether or not my impatience was born out of worry or just, well, impatience, but Twilight Sparkle didn't deserve my rude and snappish response to her question. I knew that much. "Twilight, can you please help her?" I asked in a more concerned tone.

She was astounded by the sudden change in personality, or maybe it was still from Princess Luna being knocked out on my back. Either way, she opened her home to Scootaloo and I. "Yes, of course. Come in." She turned back into her home, almost as worried about Princess Luna as I was.

"Thank you, Twilight," I responded gratefully. Now I know what you're thinking, and you're close. But we aren't going into the tunnel quite yet. Just be patient. "Where should I put her?"

She took another look at the deep blue alicorn asleep on my back, then sighed. It was obvious that she knew even less about what was going on than I did. "She can use my bed." I laid her on the bed carefully. Then Twilight turned her head to her assistant, "Spike?! Find every book you can on ancient Equestrian history and healing spells!"

"Twilight, we want to help too," Scootaloo was right there next to me. She told me about the time Luna visited her in her dreams a couple of years ago. She figured that she owed the princess a lot for that, I guess.

The purple mare gave us both a smile, then responded. "Alright. You two can go help Spike look for medical books and references to the princess," she began toward her door. "I'll go find Zecura. She'll know what to do."

Now I'm no coward, but I couldn't help but want to warn Twilight about that. "You sure you wanna go into the Ever-free this close to dark?" The sun had almost totally set by this point, and night time in the Ever-free was NOT place where you wanted to be. Trust me on that.

She then hesitated as she began to exit the door. "Good point. Spike? That one book on obscure unicorn history, please."

"Sure thing, Twilight," he handed her the book, and she began to look through it fervently. At that point, when we all got situated, I took time to notice for the first time a couple of things. First off, what exactly Spike had set on fire. It wasn't THAT bad, but a more than a few books were lost. I'd say maybe 12. Second, I took notice at what kind of shape the princess was in. She had scrapes and scratches all over her body and scorch marks on her arms and legs. I was worried, to say the least. Regardless of how little she visited in person, she was still one of my best friends.

It seemed like I was reading out of that history book for forever. It didn't really offer much, though. It only said something about Starswirl the Bearded and a short list of his most famous pupils. Tempered Steel, greatest of all unicorn black smiths, was one of them, along with Clover the Clever.

After hours and hours of research, I fell asleep with my ace drooling in the dusty tome. When I dreamed, though, it almost felt like it was a big, empty stage. It was like being in a play, and nopony was watching you. Not even your parents. That was when I was woken up by an only somewhat familiar voice.

"Yo! Anypony home?!" Vinyl Scratch had, for some reason, decided to visit early. At least, it seemed early. I walked to the door and opened it. "Wassup, Spirit? Is Twi home?"

"Vinyl, do you know how early it is?" I asked as if I knew myself.

"Ya. It's 'levin thirty, Dude!" That's when I turned to look at the clock above Twilight's bed. "Would I be up if it were any earlier?"

I only nodded in agreement. I didn't know Vinyl that well, but one thing I did know about her was that she was not, by any means, a fan waking up early. I ran my hoof through my my mane. "So what's up?"

"Octavia's gonna be in town next week and she wanted to borrow one of Twilight's Manetoven records." Then she looked past me and noticed the princess asleep on Twilight's bed. "Is that who I..."

Facehoof. Grabbed her by her shoulder and pulled her in. "C'mon. We gotta talk." We couldn't just let her see the princess like that without explaining everything. So I did. From me and Scootaloo on that blanket watching the sunset to the research we did all last night.

After nearly ten minutes of explaining everything as best I could, I got her a cup of coffee. "Thanks, Noble." She happily took a drink of her warm beverage, viewing as a nice relief from the cool autumn air.

I took a seat across from her at the coffee table "So what do you think?"

She took another drink then answered. She wasn't smiling, which was weird for the DJ. "Gotta say, Dude... that's one crazy-flank story." That was about as serious as I ever saw her.

I took a deep sigh, not sure whether or not she knew how big this was. "Look, Vinyl... Nopony can know about this. We don't know what sent Luna here in that kind of shape." I put my hand on her shoulder and lowered my voice, remembering that everypony was still asleep. "We gotta keep this quiet, okay?"

"Gotcha, Noble!" She went with a loud voice at first, then covered her mouth, realizing how loud she was just now. "Keep it low key, protect the princess." Then she smiled. "I can dig that."

Well, that was a relief. "Good, that's good." This whole deal with the princess was exhausting, but I had a duty to protect her. Princess Luna would do no less to me. For the first time in since last night, it was quiet enough to simply drink in all the details. A freaking princess fell out of the sky. I tried to pinch myself just to make sure it wasn't a dream or somepony wasn't just writing a story or something weird like that, but it was real. At least, it was real as I was. That's when I looked back to Scootaloo, still asleep. For some reason, seeing her at peace like that was nice. It was... comforting. "So what do you think is gonna happen?"

"I dunno, Dude," She shrugged, wearing her sun-glasses to hide any discernible expression she might have had in her eyes. "But I got a feeling that if a princess falls out of the sky, then somethin' big's about to go down." Well, at least I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that.

Then I looked back to the princess. She looked cleaner than she did last night. Doubtless Twilight had cleaned some of her wounds while she was unconscious. At the time when I watched her sleeping, I thought she was beautiful, but I wasn't sure whether that was from admiration and respect for the princess or maybe me just finding her beautiful as a mare. Big Mac once even told me confidence that he found Princess Celestia very beautiful, although he never specified why. Maybe he wasn't sure like me. That's when I noticed that Spike was missing.

I quietly searched around the whole tree, careful not to wake anypony, but couldn't find him. My heart started beating out of anxiety. Then I took a deep breath and calmed down. It was almost lunch time, so maybe he just got a bite to eat. That's when I heard the front door quietly screech open. Apparently, he wasn't just trying to keep quiet for our sake.

I took a hint and began to whisper to him. "Where were you?"

"Shh!" he shushed me, noticing that Vinyl was in the room. He disregarded her, though, as he set Rarity down on the floor, knocked out. "Quiet!"

"Why is Rarity knocked out like that?" An even better question, given the total lack of context regarding THAT.

"Guards..." he answered in one word. "All over town. Weird black armour. Not Luna's guards, either."

That did not sound good. "How did they find us?!" Whispering had become difficult, given recent developments.

"Twilight." He slowly crept to a window on the other side of the house, carefully looked through it, and then closed the curtains. "Sent a letter to Celestia about Princess Luna. She thought it would be a good idea."

"So why is Rarity knocked out?" Still wanted to know that.

"Who ever said I was asleep?" She said, as she lay on a pillow Spike brought with him for her.

"She got all dramatic about it. Started swooning, so I just carried her," Spike finally answered why he carried Rarity all the way from her boutique to Twilight's library-house-thing.

I pictured that for a brief moment and then nodded. "Yeah, I can see that." The fashionista shot me a glare of weak acid, but I ignored it. It wasn't anything she could deny.

Then Spike did something that was uncharacteristically Spike: he took command of the situation. "Wake everyone up. Now."

Taken a little bit aback by a command from, well, Spike, I recovered and heeded his instructions. "Hey," I whispered to my sleeping girlfriend. Adorable. If she could read my mind, then she would kill me. "Wake up." I shook her gently a few times.

"Hmm?" She opened her eyes, then got up immediately, forgetting exactly what happened last night for a moment. "What's-"

I only placed my hoof over my mouth, signaling her to be quiet. That's when Spike gave his next set of instructions. "Follow me." So we did. Luna was placed on my back by Twilight, and Rarity and everypony else followed Spike to a room in the back of the home of Twilight Sparkle. Eventually, Spike lifted up a rug and we all saw a door to the underground. We were all shocked, but Twilight was especially taken aback.

"Spike? What is that?" She asked what we were all thinking.

"Remember back when King Sombra returned four years ago?" That was NOT fun for anypony to remember. "I started on a tunnel after that. Just in case."

Twilight gave a surprisingly impressed expression to her dragon assistant. "Wow, Spike... good job!" Under any other set of circumstances, Spike would have been more than grateful for the praise given to him, but now? Now the teenage dragon was as stoic as I'd ever seen him. It was unnerving.

It wasn't until Rarity spoke up when I realized exactly what he planned to do. "Spikey-Wikey? Whatever are you-"

"Rarity," he cut her off midsentence. He and Rarity were the only ones who had any idea what was going on outside, but at least one thing was clear as day. The guards hadn't come to bring Princess Luna home because she was missing by mistake. They were HUNTING her. "You have to promise me that you won't stop running until you know you can win."

"Spike?" And there it was. Made evident by Rarity calling him by Spike, an act seldom if ever done, a cold and hard reality had finally set itself into the fasionista's head. Tear's began to well up in her sapphire eyes. "Win wha-"

And for the first time, Spike was able to truly articulate the way he felt to the violet maned unicorn. He kissed her long and he kissed her hard. As Rarity allowed the dragon to fill her mouth with the smokey ecstasy of his dragon breath, she found herself wishing that it would never end. For years, each and every one of Spike's closest friends wondered how a relationship between him and Rarity would play out. Now I guess we knew.

She wished that it would never stop, I think, but it did. As he separated his scaly lips from hers, she looked to see a desperate but resolved look in his eyes. He knew what he had to do. "Don't stop, Rarity. Don't EVER stop." He placed her in the tunnel, then was followed by Vinyl Scratch, but not Scootaloo.

As our awe at what the scaly defender just did finally settled, I turned to the mare I held close to my own heart. "Scoots?" I asked her as she was looking back at the front door. We all heard loud noise coming from outside. One thing was clear: these were not, by any means, good and friendly guards. "Don't tell me you're-"

Scootaloo followed the dragon's lead and kissed me longer than she ever had before. "Take care of yourself, Noble," she said with a somber smile upon her face. She never has been one for sharing her feelings. She only gave a smile. "It's been real." She knew what was at stake even less than Spike, but that wasn't going to stop her in the least. I hated when she did that.

That was not going to stop me from trying. "Scootaloo, you are not staying behind like this!" My voice was beginning to rise, and then tremble, out of anger and fear at what was going on. There was probably a little sadness mixed in there, too. "I won't let you!"

Then I took a good look at her face as it changed. I'd never seen it so serious "What makes you think I'm giving you a choice, Noble!?" She pushed me into the tunnel below as hard as she could. I couldn't believe what was happening. I took a look at the princess that had fallen to the cold dirt floor of the dragon's catacombs. Just a second later, Spike threw, literally THREW Twilight into the tunnel that he had secretly been working on for years, then immediately locked the door to the cellar.

And this is where the story begins...

The Day a Hero Fell

Spike stood above the cellar door that he had sealed Twilight and the others in. He'd never seen anything like those black guards before. What's more was that he saw Princess Celestia leading them. He couldn't stand telling that to Twilight, though. Princess Celestia was like a second mother to that mare. She'd taught her almost everything she knew about magic, so naturally hearing about her leading a small army of black pegasi would be disheartening.

Then he looked to Scootaloo, who was standing to his right. She had pushed her boyfriend, who was holding a princess on his back, ten feet down into that hidden basement level. That probably hurt a lot. "Why are you here?" He finally asked as he turned his back and made his way outside.

"One of life's great mysteries, isn't it? Are we all here by accident, or is it the divine plan of Galaxia? It keeps me up every night thinking about it." She began to follow him through the libraries rooms and corridors.

Spike just ignored that bad joke. "You could have stayed hidden with the others, with Noble, but you didn't," he looked at her as he spoke, but she didn't return his gaze. She stayed focused on the walk. "Why?"

She only shrugged. "Maybe you're not the only one who has somepony they want to protect." If it were anyone else, then Spike would have been surprised at what she was doing.

Spike said nothing in response as knew he couldn't really add anything to that. He was doing this to protect Rarity and Twilight, after all, so she had every right to do the same for Noble.

Finally, after only a little more that a minute of walking from the cellar, they both stood at the threshold to the home of Twilight Sparkle. It was one of the longest walks that either of them had ever taken. They both looked at each other, each registering the fear in the others eyes, but both knowing that there was no turning back now. Whatever happened next could not be taken back. Ever.

The teenage dragon gulped and then opened the door to the outside. What he saw was just a a settling of what he saw earlier. Forteen solid black pegasi, adorned in golden armour, lined up from right to left, preparing for the arrival of Princess Celestia. Spike and Scootaloo both looked around Ponyville to see how everypony was taking the arrival of their princess. Spike wasn't really sure how to describe what he saw. Nopony was in town to greet her, which was strange.

She walked up to Spike, and as her guards stood at attention, he felt his heart racing with fear. Even though he was her height, she still scared the hay out of him for what he knew she could do if she wanted to. He remembered back to the wedding of Princess Cadance and Twilight's brother, Shining Armour. Queen Chrysalis won in her duel with Princess Celestia, but only because she was taken by surprise. But back to now, the dragon saw his princess walk ever closer to him with her infamous smile and showing of just one eye.

Spike gulped and Scootaloo stood firm. Finally, the princess stood directly before to two of them. She gave them a mischievous grin and began talking. "Why hello, Spike and... Scootaloo, is it?" she greeted the two of them with her infamously warm demeaner. "I'm so happy to see that you found my younger sister. I hope she wasn't to much of a bother!"

Spike forced a smile for Twilight's mentor. " Princess Luna was great, Princess. And we're always happy to help, Princess." He was lying through his teeth and he knew it, but he didn't care.

"Well, thank you, Spike." The great, white goddess horse looked around, as if something were missing. "Would you mind telling me whe she is so I may take her home?"

Spike wished himself good luck. "She's, ah... She went to go wash he hair!" Smooth, Spike. "Rarity and Twilight thought she looked really stressed out and stuff and they went to the salon!"

Then Scootaloo decided to help the distressed dragon out as much as she could. "Yeah! And they won't be back until the end of day!"

Princess Celestia gave them a wary stare. Spike knew that in 1000 years of ruling Equestria, few things would get past the alicorn standing before him. "Spike?" That was when the violet dragon knew that the jig was up.

Spike had to try his best to keep his cool now, no matter how close he was to failing extravigantly. "Yes, Your Highness?"

"Are you lying to me?" Then she did something that scared the living hay out of both Spike and Scootaloo. She moved her head closer and closer to the young dragon's, until her mouth was right next to his ear. Spike was barely holding himself together. "Because that wouldn't be very nice to do to your princess, now would it?"

"No, Princess, I-" He stammered his words out of pure fear and trepidation, ruining what little illusion he had been able to craft.

"Guards?" She called to her soldiers, still standing firm. "Search the area!"

And then Scootaloo lost control. Her fear of the princess was quickly replaced by anger and fear of loss. She flew as fast as she could in a burst that was almost impossible to track. "NO!" She shouted as she rammed the princess full-force. Princess Celestia was sent flying only maybe ten yards, though, before she extended her wings and regained control of herself.

Scootaloo was surprised at the way she acted on such a hair trigger impulse to save Noble, but not as surprised as Celestia was when she was sent flying. Anger was clearly visible on her pure white face as she glared upon the violet maned mare.And that was when the preverbial manure hit the metaphorical fan. "Colts!" She called out to her soldiers in rage. "Arrest these fools for treason!"

They said nothing in responce to their orders. They were silent as the grave as they all began to move against the duo defending their loved ones. Their coats were of the purest black and their armour was gold, a stark contrast to what seemed to be the uniform of the royal guards. Scootaloo shot him a look that spoke of both fear and eagerness. The young mare always did relish a challenge, although he would have prefered it if she chose a different time to test herself. Princess Celestia gave the two an evil grin as she regained her calm and as they were surrounded by all forteen of her black guards. "Come easy and your punishment might only be banishment. But if you don't..." shutters were being closed all across town. "Well then, I will hold no regrets for what happens to you."

Scootaloo looked up to Spike. They were in for it now and they both knew that. "Run." Spike didn't say, he ORDERED the pegasus to leave.

"That isn't gonna happen, Spike," Scootaloo didn't like running at all.

"Listen. You have no idea what Princess Celestia is capable of. Neither do I," Spike took in every last detail of the environment, knowing full well that it might be the last time he saw his home. "But I have a better idea than you. Rainbow Dash is still with the Wonder Bolts?"

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Get as many of our friends as you can and get them out of here. Head north to the Crystal Empire. Princess Celestia had no political power there. You and the others should be safe."

Scootaloo was astounded at how well thought out Spike's plan was. They'd known each other for years and, in fact, actually dated briefly, but he'd never thought anything through like this before. Besides that, she knew that the only way she'd be able to see Noble Spirit again was if she fled like a little filly. She swallowed her pride and nodded. No other choice, she thought to herself. "Alright."

"Then go." Spike hadn't looked at her at all the whole time they were talking. He had his eyes on the princess and her colts the whole time. "I'll do what I can against the princess." Scootaloo turned around and, for one more moment, looked back at the knight in scaley armour. It almost looked like she wanted to say something else, but then she turned around to take flight.

Princess Celestia's eyes also tracked the mare as she left to find as many of her friends as she could. "Valliant, but foolish, my friend. Seven of you!" She called out to her guards. "Bring back that mare! I want her head on a silver platter!"

Anger, now, was replacing Spike's fear, but he bit it back. He needed to save it for the fight ahead. "I don't think so. That pegasus was trained by the one and only Rainbow Dash, only living executioner of the legendary sonic rainboom." He took a look at the orange streak that traced acoss the fall morning sky. "She'll do just find."

"And what about you, young Spike? I've seen dragons and, while they ARE indeed formidable, you are far from what you could be. And besides..." and suddenly the worth possible thing happened. At first, he thought it was just a dark storm cloud, but then realized it wasn't a cloud at all. It was an army. "What makes you think she'll be able to escape this?!" They all landed in town and, as every street, road, boulivard and crossing was filly by the colours of black and gold, Spike found himself swearing. Oh clop, he thought. But he was already in to deep to back out now. "Well, Spike? What are your brilliant plans now? Will YOU try to run and hide now, like a coward? Or will you simply bow down and accept defeat like a good little lizard?"

And then Spike remembered something that gave him the advantage. He recalled something that Zecura told him on his last birthday. "None of the above." He gave himself the luxury of a sly smile and looked down to the earth below his feet. "The zebra, Zecura, once told me something. She said "Concentrate on what you want more than all, and you will see your enemies fall". At first, I didn't know what she meant. But now?" He looked up to his princess with nothing but contempt. Watch this..." Spike focused on what he wanted most, and what he wanted most was to protect Rarity. Dragon's greed was a weird thing. If left unchecked, then it would bring nothing but destruction, but in the here and now, it was his best bet to save the ones he loved. The more he thought about what he wanted, the larger he grew. First came his arms growing larger, then his legs and then his body. Within moments, the normally somewhat reserved Spike had grown into a dragon the size of a mountain. Once he grew as big as he could, he opened eyes and let out a defiant shout may have shook the very heavens themselves. "ROOOOOAAAAAAAR!" He punched the earth before the princess, causing the earth beneath his feat tremble

"Well, well, well," Celestia only gave an amused grin. "I guess it really was a good idea for me to bring an army with me." She flew up to the great dragon's eye level and squinted at him. "What say you we dispence with all these pleasantries and begin this, then?" Spike only responded by spitting a blazing green inferno into the face of the pure white alicorn.

...

We all heard the thrashing above us as Spike tried his best to hold off whoever it was that was hunting down Princess Luna. I'd set her on the floor soon after I was pushed into this hole by my girlfriend. Rarity and Twilight were both panicking about Spike being up there. He could hardly blame them, though. The way Rarity allowed Spike to kiss her like that, it was almost like she had been waiting for him to do that for years. And as for Twilight... she had basically raised the dragon for half of his life. Twilight Sparkle had become something between a surragate mother and sister to him. For Spike to be giving up his life for them, it must have been a wound deeper than any other that they had ever felt. I understood that pain. I was feeling the same agony for Scootaloo.

Dirt rained down from the ceiling of the basement as what was doubtlessly a bloody battle ensured. I looked at Luna asleep next to a wall and couldn't help but feel some rage at her. It was her that brought this to Ponyville and it was her that was costing the three of us the ones we loved. But anger at that point was useless, I thought. We were down there while whoever was hunting the princess of the night. I would have words with her later, though.

"Spike..." Rarity mumbled as she stared up to the cellar door that they were all placed in by the dragon. "No."

Twilight wasn't holding up so well, either. She had tried dozens upon dozens of unlocking spells and magical blasts in the hopes of freeing them and aiding Spike and Scootaloo in their fight, but nothing worked. Spike had been amazing detailed in his planning.

Vinyl Scratch seemed calm enough, though, given the circumstances. Maybe she just knew that there was nothing she could do to help OR hurt the situation. So she just leaned against the wall in her sunglasses, waiting until there was something she could do. It was the best advice I took all day.

Then I saw something in the corner of my eye. Princess Luna began to stir. She was close to waking up. Good, I thought in my anger. Maybe then we could show her what she brought here.

...

"RAAH!" Spike let out a mighty bellow as he picked up and threw a building at Celestia's army. She had only barely been able to raise a veridian shield in time to protect her from his ravaging emerald flames, and even then it barely held. Spike had no idea how Celestia had been able to come by so many black pegasi, but then, he didn't really care. All that mattered was saving Rarity and the others. With any luck, Scootaloo was well on her way to finding their other friends and getting them out of here.

As he mind was elsewhere, a mighty tide of the golden clad guards slammed itself in the great violet dragon. Spike staggered back, but it wasn't anything he couldn't take. He swatted them out of the sky like insects and flies, carefully keepig track of where the princess was at all times, because if he didn't, she could easily catch him off guard and over take him. That was how Queen Chrysalis beat her.

As Spike stamped out dozens upon dozens of the enemy soldiers in the air, he finally made another move against the princess. Ever moving, she made sure not stay in one place too long, lest she be crushed or smitten by claw or flame. Strange, he thought to himself. Eventually, though, he had caught her. He grabbed her with his left claw and brought her closer to his face. Her army redoubled their efforts against the great beast, but to no effect. They were as ants beneath his notice. He let out a great stream of fire at all of them, and because if it, the sky rained charred corpses. The destruction that was being caused by the battle was near incalculable. Houses and businesses were ablaze and smashed to pieces.

The dragon brought the great white mare closer to his face. Time for some answers. "WHY?!" he shouted in a great and deep voice, although he couldn't really help it. ""WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT THIS HERE?!"

Princess Celestia only gave out an arrogant laugh at the question she was given before answering. "That is the question, isn't it?" Then she looked him straight into his giant green eyes. "What makes you think my sister is so innoscent?" Her eyes then began to glow an eerie shade of white. "What makes you think that this isn't all her fault?!"

"ROOOAAR!" He let out a shout at his ruler, not caring for her questions in the least. Maybe she didn't fully know the situation that SHE was in. Maybe it was time to remind her. "I CAN BREAK YOU LIKE A TWIG!"

"That may be so, Spike. But what would that accomplish? You would be labeled a monster and chaos would reign once again in Equestria." She gave him a sly, evil smile. What Spike didn't know was that he wasn't really the one in control here. She was. "I suppose that by now, my sister and the others would have already escaped. So I guess that there is really no more reason for me to stay. Guards?" She called out to the few remaining soldiers she had at her disposal. There were only maybe a few dozen left. "Prepare to burn everything and everypony! We are leaving!"

In anger, Spike brought the princess closer to his face, as if to see if she were just mocking him. "GRRR!" He belched another wave of flames at her, only to have it be uselessly wash over another green shield.

As the heat of his flames to disipate before the princess, she showed him only an arrogant smile. "Please. You really think you had what it took to defeat me? The mare who defeated Night Mare Night?!" Her white eyes glowed brighter and brighter as she sent a single solitary beam at Spike's forehead. In one blast, the dragon fell to the earth, crushing five buildings in the process and shrinking down to his normal size. He smiled at what he'd done as he fell unconscience. Thirty minutes, there about. He held the princess at bay for thirty minutes, which was more than enough time for Scootaloo to find their friends and make their escape to the Arctic North. It wasn't much, but it was enough. The last thing he saw was the black guards coming over to retrieve him. He didn't care, though. He'd done enough.

...

We were still in the cellar when we all heard a big and resounding crash. Some rocks fell from the ceiling along with some dirt, and we all knew what that meant. Spike was down. Only thirty minutes, I thought. For something to bring down a dragon like that, it must have been big, although I honestly didn't know at the time how Spike had gotten that big.

I looked a across the dimly lit cave to see Rarity and Twilight crying in eachothers arms. I dug my head into my own arms. We had all lost somepony we loved today. I held back my tears. There would be plenty of time for those later. It felt cold suddenly. Maybe it was because of the friends we lost, or maybe it was what was going to happen after today, but my head retreated into my arms. Vinyl Scratch placed her arm over my shoulder, though, which eased the pain if only by a little.

Losing Spike and Scootaloo wasn't even the worst of it. Earlier, we all heard a voice give the orders to burn everything to the ground. What made it worse than anything was that we all recognized the voice as Princess Celestia's. It looked like Twilight Sparkle had lost both a brother AND a mother that day.

We all heard the raging flames and the screams for hours. The crackling flames did almost nothing to silence the sounds of almost everypony we loved dying. I could only sigh and wish for the nightmare to be over as I heard the last dying shouts of my friends. Snips, Snails, Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, Big Macintosh, Mint Twist, Time Turner, and more than I could ever remember were all being burned alive up there. I couldn't believe it was happening. But it was, and there was nothing I could do. I tried to ignore the screams of the hundreds of ponies burning and dying, but it was no use. Ponyville was dying. We waited for hours for the ravaging flames to be over, but they just wouldn't stop. I fell asleep to the cries of the innoscent that night, and by the time I awoke, I realized something. Things had changed. Everything had changed.

We all felt the pain

I woke up to a dead silence. From the look of the light coming out of the opened cellar door, it was morning. At first I wished that this was just some bad dream and that, any second now, Princess Luna would show up and tell me as much. But it wasn't and she didn't. I sunk my head down, knowing what I would see if I looked for myself. I knew that eventually I would have to leave the cellar, but I just didn't want to. I'm not sure anypony would have wanted to.

It took about fifteen minutes for me to gather the resolve to see what had happened, and by the time I did, I realized that everypony that had been in that hole with me had already left. Even the princess. I gulped and climbed the rope ladder to the top. I literally had no words for what I saw at the time. I was struck speechless and just allowed everything to sink in, or at least I would have. There was nothing left.

As I strode across the ashes, I saw my friends doing the same thing. Rarity was looking through the remnants of what was her boutique, and Twilight Sparkle was digging through what had been her home for years. All of her books were nothing but ash. Old and prized copies and first editions, turned into nothing but charred dirt under her hooves.

As Rarity was searching through what had been her place, I took a walk around the town, just to see the damage. Small, green fires were rampant. Smoke and smog was everywhere and blotted out even the sun. More than that, though, I wanted to see who died last night. There were a few ponies I didn't recognize the screams that I knew died from where they were. Diamond Tiara was next to what had been her father. The Cakes were huddled together behind what I think was the counter. Pumpkin and Pound Cake looked like they were holding on to their parents for dear life, for what little good it did. They were only eight years old. I kept moving, hoping to see some hope that some of my friends escaped. But I sided that thought after what I saw next.

On the east side of town, I recognized something that still gives me nightmares to this day. The school had been burnt down. There must have been twenty-six charred foals and a teacher in there. I fell to my knees, wishing my eyes were lying to me. They weren't. "Galaxia... No..." They were all dead, their bodies nothing but a black skeleton surronding what must have been Mrs. Cheerilee’s. I recognized the wedding ring that Big Macintosh gave her a fews years back. I couldn't believe it. "Not even the foals survived." I was there just staring at the carnage for what seemed like hours.

"Noble?" I heard Princess Luna call out to me, but I ignored it. I still couldn't really believe what happened.

"My entire home... gone. My life. My family." My brown eyes were wide open as a single tear began to fall from right eye. It was soon followed by more. "All gone." I heard the princess of the night walk over and sit next to me. I looked up to her as my eyes began to flood. "Everything is gone." I was paralyzed by the sight of it all. I looked around and finally took in the scenery completely and with total submission to what happened. "Every single thing. Why?" I looked up to her, and she answered only with an embrace.

In that instant, all my anger at the princess seemed to melt away into nothing. Whatever brought this here wasn't Luna. It was something else entirely. I knew the pain would never really go away. Losing Scootaloo, then my family and almost everypony else I'd ever loved would scar me forever. I drank deep of it, though. The pain would become rage and drive. There would bloody retribution for what happened last night.

...

About an hour later, we met in the Ever-free forest and camped there for the night. Spike was sure to leave food behind in the cave, so provisions weren't a problem. What would be a problem, though, was figuring out our next move.

We’d dug out a fire pit and used some of the emerald flames Spike had left behind in his bout with the butchers. Rarity had, by some miracle, found the fire ruby that Spike had given her years ago. All she did was stare at it as it reflected the light of the dances flames.

Twilight Sparkle was dead quiet. With good reason, I'd imagine. It wasn't every day you found out that your teacher and friend for many years was a monster. I myself was sitting next to Princess Luna, still shell-shocked at what had happened.

Vinyl Scratch was the first to break the silence. "So what's the game plan?"

"What?" Luna asked the DJ. She was still kind of literal minded when it came to speech and expressions.

"The strategy. The end game," then she sighed, realizing that this wasn't going anywhere fast. "What's our next move?"

"I had not considered such yet, Ms. Scratch."

"Well, we have to do something," Twilight chimed in now. She lost more than most yesterday. "We need a plan. We need to get organized and tell everyone what happened here."

"The princess is smarter than that, Twilight," Rarity began to argue with her longtime friend and fellow unicorn. "She shant be foolish enough to allow news of a burned village caused by her to get out."

"Well, what do you think we should do, Rarity?"

"Whoever did this must pay with their lives!" Anger burned brightly in her eyes, complimented perfectly by the reflecting flames. "Death is the only recourse for those who have killed our beloveds! We must kill Princess Celestia!"

I found myself agreeing with her, impossibly easy as she made it sound. I looked up to see Princess Luna, slowly taking in the situation as her friends debated about what they should do. "Rarity," Twilight began to reply. "You make it sound like we can just walk up to Canterlot Castle, knock on the door, and say," she started using a bad imitation of her friend, using a rock as a stand in for Rarity, "Hey, can we come in and kill the princess? We promise we won't leave a mess when we try to off the most powerful magic user in the world!"

"Well, what would you suggest, Dear Twilight?!" The fashionista was getting hacked off now. "Because if you would do something other than poke holes in everypony elses ideas then, believe me, I am all ears!" They were both staring each other down now. If this were in a comic book, I swear that there would be lightning shooting out of their eyes.

"Going off halfcocked isn't going to help anypony, Rarity," the violet mare was trying to be the voice of reason here. It was more than I could do right now. "We need to think this through and plan. But first we need rest."

"I concur with Twilight Sparkle," Luna finally added in her own opinion. It was about time. "One does not simply walk into Canterlot Castle and offer to end my sister. Especially not when this plot has many more layers than it would first seem on the surface."

"Princess?" I looked up to the princess of the night, sitting tall next to me. "You know what we're up against more than anypony else." She knew I was fishing for Scootaloo, "Please. Is there any chance that somepony besides us made it out of town and to safety?" I begged her for an answer.

"Noble..." she started off slowly, no doubt unsure of how to answer. "That is not an easy question to answer." She took a deep breath, then continued. "The enemy that brought your world to an end would leave little evidence of their crimes. I haven't a thought of whether your friends made it out."

"You know what the odds are that somepony made it out of there, Kid?" Vinyl stated with the surgical precision of a chainsaw.

It tipped me over the edge. "Well, it's not like you had anypony especially close to you, did you?" Everypony was shocked by the way I responded to her question. "After all, for a DJ, life is just one big party, isn't it?!"

"Noble, calm yourself," Luna tried to calm me down. It didn't work. I was 100 percent pissed OFF.

"What was Octavia to you anyway, Vinyl?! Was she your boyfriend or special somepony like Spike was to Rarity or how Scootaloo was to me?!" I paused for a second to take a breath from my yelling. "NO! She wasn't! You were just friends! You don't get to say nopony survived because you didn't have anypony that was that important to you in Ponyville! Why are you even HERE?!"

"Noble!" Princess Luna was beginning to get hacked off at my attitude now. "Enough of that!"

Then I turned to the mare with the mane made of stars. "And what were you doing that led you to Ponyville nyway, Princess?!" I finally began to feel the full force of my rage take effect. She only looked to the side, as though she didn't want to say anything. "Big surprise, everypony! The princess of the night feels like keeping us in the dark! Can you at least tell us why Celestia did it?! Can you tell us why she would kill hundreds of ponies just to hunt you down?!" She remained silent as the grave, as did Twilight and Rarity. They were shocked senceless that I was yelling at Princess Luna. "Didn't think so." I looked at her, one of my oldest friends, angry but unwilling to fight back against my tirade. That's when I realized the mistake I just made. I then got up from my stump and left. "I'm going for a walk."

They all waited until I was out of sight to begin talking again. "I'll go talk to him," Twilight stated, sure that she could help me. "Somepony has to."

"No, Twilight Sparkle," the princess stopped her before she could even stand. "I should speak with the young earthpony. He had been through much for a colt of his age."

...

I kept a brisk pace as I walked away from the warmth and heat of the fire and my rage. Princess Luna didn't deserve the lashing that I gave her. I knew that and yet I still tried to hurt her. I knew that nothing could bring any of my friends back, but revenge was all that was left for me. I looked up to the harvest moon as it bathed me in its golden light. "Scootaloo..." I began to speak out loud to the moon almost as if it were my girlfriend's tombstone. "There are so many things I wished I could have said to you before last night. So many things I couldn't really say." I chuckled at myself. "It's not like you would have listened, anyway. You always did say 'actions speak louder than words', didn't you?" I looked down to the earth now, allowing my brown mane to cover the top part of my face. "I'm sorry if I wasn't the colt you wanted me to be. I'm sorry for anything I did to hurt you, Scoots. But most of all," I quickly silenced myself as I heard a twig break behind me. "Who is it?"

I saw the princess of the night reveal herself from behind one of the Ever-free forests trees. "I'm sorry, Noble. I did not know..."

I only sighed and looked back up to the moon. "You don't have anything to apologize for, Princess." If anything, I should have been apologizing to HER.

She walked up to me and sat down next to me as though she were invited. "Did I ever tell you of the time I spent sealed away up there on the moon, Noble?"

I shook my head, "No, I don't think you did."

"Well, allow me to regale you with my story," her smile was wiped from her face as she began. "T'is a memory I wish I could forget. I had lost all sight of what was important and tried to wrest control of Equestria from my sister." We were both looking up at the moon now, admiring it's light as I listened. "After I was defeated, I felt such rage at her. Imagine living for one thousand years like that, looking forward only to vengeance." Her eyes took on a blank look at though she was imagining what would have happened if Twilight had not stopped her with the elements of harmony. "Only hatred. And all while existing as little more than a painting, unable to move or act. Existing merely in thought for centuries. And then I returned to find that everything had changed while I was gone. None of my friends still lived and everypony feared me as a monster." Then she looked me straight in the eyes. "Have you any thought of what's that like, Noble Spirit?"

"I..." I couldn't look her eye anymore. After what I said to her and Vinyl earlier, I felt terrible. "No, Princess. I don't."

Then she gave me a sly smile. "I did not think so." She stood up and left after that. "I am going to sleep, and for the last time, Noble. You are allowed to simply call me 'Luna'."

I smiled at that. She was the only one in the whole world who understood how I felt right now, and she made that a point. I was lucky to have her as a friend. "Alright. And Prince-" I corrected myself at the last second. "Luna?"

"Yes? What is it, Noble?"

"I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier," It was difficult meeting her gaze after what I said to her in front of Galaxia and everypony, but I did it. "I'm sure you had your reasons for coming here and I shouldn't have acted like you were the monster. Can you ever forgive me?"

Her sly grin turned into a warm smile. "I can and will, Noble. Now will you follow us? We have a long and arduous journey ahead."

I then went back to gazing at the moon, not ready to leave just yet. "Nah, Luna. I think I'll stay here for just a little bit longer. I still need to think some things through, you know?"

"Very well, Good night, Noble."

"Good night, Luna." She left to catch some shut-eye, but I stayed, feeling at peace in the moment. If there was anything I learned about tonight, it was that I shouldn't give up so easily. If Luna could take all of what happened to her and still come out standing, then so could I. It could ALWAYS get worse, and she showed up here to make that a point.

After spending only a few more minutes admiring the beauty of the night, I decided it was time to go to sleep like my friends. As I walked back to camp, I heard a twig snap. That was the only warning I got before I was clubbed over the head and taken away.