Ember: Twilight's Search

by FallenLaughter

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Other, Tragedy, Adventure, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 5302

One day while searching for food Twillight finds a little injured Dragon, which she decides to adopt. She spends a wonderfull time with him, but when the Dragon gets captured by one of his older bretherns, Twilight set out to take him back.

One day while searching for food Twillight finds a little injured Dragon, which she decides to adopt. She spends a wonderfull time with him, but when the Dragon gets captured by one of his older bretherns, Twilight set out to take him back.

Based on the Animation: Sintel.

Published 2013-02-11 04:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-02-11 04:10:01 UTC

The Search

The Norther Mountains weren't a nice place. Abandoned by the ancestors of the euestrian citizens during the Windigo incident and the joining of the three revaling pony tribes under one united flag, only the strongest and thoughest of creatures dared to live in this barend wasteland of ice.

From the sentinent beings known to equestria only one griffin tribe dared to live there, outcasts from the griffin kingdom laying behind the great sea to the east of equestria and even they didn't dare to wander in the deeper parts of the mountains out of fear of what would live there.

There were also the Snowstorms remenants of old windigo magic, strong enough to freeze one alive. Truely only the strongest of Warrior and finest of Mages would even think of going there. It was the perfect hiding place for all of those who didn't want to interact with the world and its inhabitants.

But still even this hellish circumstances couldn't stop certain individuals to come here, if they had enough encouragement to do so.

*Thud. Thud. Thud.*

A lone mare made her way through the icy blizzards of the northern mountains, her hoofsteps the only thing disturbing the silence of her surrounding. She was covered in a long brown mantle designed to protect her from the chilling cold. The mantles hood covered most of her body only leaving a small speck of a lavender muzzle visible. Next to her a long hiking staff floated in a magical glow, a safety measure should she need it.

The mare kept an steady pace neither runing nor walking but unstoppable on her way to the mountain top. Small clouds of breath were visible in the air while she kept scanning her enviroment for any suspicious movements. While it was impossible to imagine why someone like her should come to such a place her behavior made it clear that she was searching for something.
Her constant looking to her sides or the sudden twitchs by every little movement around her where only the most obvious indicators. Each time she seemed to relax when nothinghappened and yet she became more and more irascibly.

Suddenly the mare stopped. Slowly she turned around in a circle studying everything around her. She removed her hooded revealing a sharp horn and a long dark mane with a single highlight. The mare frowned her ears twitching. She had heared something. It came closer starting rather silent but becoming louder and louder. The mares eyes went wide and she spun around and not a moment to soon. From behind her she could see an avalanche coming down one a the mountains behind her. Without another moment of hesistation she started running. Her legs moved as fast as they were able to but the snow slowed her down, making it rather difficult for her to move forward. Meanwhile the avalanche didn't have any of those problems. It kept thundering sown the mountain burrying everything under its snowy body.

The mare started to feel fear. She wasn't supposed to die here, no she wasn't allowed to die here under any circumstances until she finished her mission. With a grunt she tried to move faster but to without succes. She was exausted, hours of wandering had drained her body and she had planned to rest soon. She had only looked for a safe place to do so and now she would rest here forever.

A quick glance over her shoulder made it clear she wouldn't make it with any ordinary ways. She sighted frustrated. She didn't want to do this not quite yet. In her current state nobody knew what would happen to her, but if she wanted to survive she had no way. She let her body slamp in defeat and stopped moving. She started to concentrate the avalanchee now nearly above her. Then a blinding withe light engulfed her body an she disappeared from sight. She reappeared a fe miles away in a safe distance. She only had enough time to smile in relief before dropping down, lying unconscious in the snow.

The mare woke up in a small comfy tent. First she thougth she was still dreaming but then she felt the pain in her body and smiled. "Pain is always a good thing Twilight", she thought to herself "it means you are still alive". After staying low for a while and enjoying the warmth of the thick blankets wraped around her body, Twilight decided that it was time to move. Slowly she moved, bringing her body in an upright position. After that was done she began to study the tents furniture. A big fire burned in the center a steaming cookingpot over the flames. Many vases, chests and pots surrounded the walls of the tent. Here and there strange constructs from stone and wood hung from the ceiling. In one corner she could see pelts, what seemed to be food and to her surprise a few spears. Her packages and her staff also lay there.

Suddenly she heared a loud cough from the fireplace. Slowly Twilight looked over there seeing an old griffin sitting right next to it. His coat was a dark brown and his feathers were a shade of light grey indicating his advanced age. His eyes were surrounded by red paint, his pupils a dark brown. Twilight could feel his piercing gaze while she positioned herself so that she could see him better.

"I see you survived" he said solemly. Twilight just nodded. "You're a fool for traveling alone so completly unprepared You're lucky your blood's still flowing", he scolded her. With a shake of his head he offered her a bowl of the brew he was cooking. "Thank you" was the only thing Twilight said.

The old griffin said nothing, he just walked to one of the chests decorating the walls and reached inside. He withdrew his claw again holding an old pipe. He ignited it took an deep breath and continued: "So... what brings you to the land of the gatekeepers" "I'm searching for someone" The griffin looked curious. "Someone really dear? a kindred Spirirt?" Twilight looked up from her bowl and said: "A Dragon."

Author's Note

So yeah my first real story on Fimficton. Like i said in the description this is based on the animation Sintel but only what i remeber it from it since it is already 1-2 years since i actually saw it. Yes the Twilight-Griffin dialouge is 1-1 from the animation but only because i edited it afterwards to b so. everything from now is purely my memory. Hope you will enjoy it.

And of course a big thump up and thanks for the original writing/producting crew for this beautiful peace of animation!!!

The Wherefore

Some time ago:

Twilight silently moved through the market eyeing everything around her. She was a small little mare with a lavender coat and a dark purple mane with a single highlight. She wasn't in a good state. Her clothes were nothing more then rags, barely able to hide her ribs, visble through her chest. Live didn't mean it good with the poor mare but it seemed at least today it was generous to her.

Twilight stopped in front of a fruit vendor. If she was quick enough she might get some of the delicious looking fruits in front of her. Twilight hated to think about this but being an orphan and growing up on the streets made you do things you wouldn't do normaly, espacially when you haven't eaten for a few days now.

While debating with herself wether she should do it or not the vendor became preoccupied with an argument with one of his costumers. This settled it for Twilight she wouldn't get a chance this good again in quite in while.

Carefully she moved closer to the cart, watching not to draw attantion by acting strange. She had to be careful, one wrong move could mean her end. One quick glance around showed her that it was now or never. She quickly grabed some of the fruits and hid them under her rags. She started to move away happy to have something to eat today. But of course Fortuna had other plans with her. "Hey! what you think you're doing, kid? Give those back right now!", the vendor behind her shouted. Not wanting to give up her spoils, Twilight did the first thing she could thing of; she run. Like it turned out being chased buy an angry vendor tends to draw the attantion of the guards and soon a small mob of ponys followed her.
Needless to say it wasn't one of her best days.

Leading the mob square through town, they finally arrived at Twilights destination, an abondened town district she called home. It was given up a few years ago when a fire burnt everything down leaving nearly all of the houses destroyed, the relative closeness to the dangerous forest bordering to town convincing most ponys to just not bother to rebuild, instead building a new district somewhere safer.

Now it was time for her to play her trump card. She dove into an alleyway, concentrated and teleportet to the roof of a houses a few meters away. She could hear angry shouts and curses while the ponys who chased her were searching every corner for signs of her position. Not wanting to wait for them to find her,

Twilight moved away closer to the city border. Once she reached it and was shure nobody was following she allowed herself a sly grin and she took out her loot. She ate one of the fruits right there and then, but decided it would be wiser to leave the rest for later.

Satisfied for the moment she decided to go to the place she called home. She was about to go when she suddenly heared something. A voice. Barely Audible. Quite. Sad. Young! Without hesistation Twilight took of after the noise, her head spinning with thoughs: "Where did it come from? Left! What now? Over there! In the collapsed house! I think can see it. What by ...?" Her strom of thoughs was cut off when she saw what was lying before her. She couldn't believe it. "No. Why here? I've never seen one of those." Before her lay a .... Dragon.

A small dragon, his scales painted in a bright purple and green, small spikes runing down his head all the way down to the tip of his tail, instead of arms he had two big leathery wings. His eyes darted around, searching for help, his wings stretching and retreating slowly. He clearly was frightened and in pain. An closer look told Twilight why. A big wound ran across his right wing making it impossible to fly with it. He must have been hurt during one of the dragon migrations she heard of. Obviously he lost the contats with his parents when he was hurt and was now all alone in a big, scary, unknown place.

"Poor little thing", Twilight thought "I know that feeling." She knew what she had to do. She pulled out one of the fruits and offered it to the dragon. He watched curious, slowly moving forward sniffing the unknown object. When he determined it (or the strange creature) wouldn't be a threat he chomped down on the meal. In the meantime Twilight decided she had to do something about that nasty wound of his.

Stripping of her raged shirt and cutting it in stripes she used a cleaning spell to free it from any kind of dirt or harmful materials. She then proceeded in bandaging his hurt wing, one time in her life actually thamkful that she had to care for all of her injuries on her own. The dragon, at first not so happy about someone messing with his wing, soon felt the pain reducing effect of the bandages and let her do her job.

When all was done Twilight thought about what to do next. She couldn't let him here that much was clear, but she couldn't bring him into town either. They certainly would kill him, keeping him as a kind of bizare circus attraction at best. While thinking about the problem she slowly started smiling. "So little one, how about you come with me? Granted I don't have that much myself but we will figure something out, right?" Hearing no complains from the dragon Twilight levitated him up and on her back, happily troting back to her place. "This is great! I think I will call you ... Spike!"

The time flew by while Twilight kept caring for Spike treating him like a little brother. Soon she noticed that Spike was actually rather intelligent. While not being able to talk himself, he clearly showed signs of understanding when she talked to him and even followed most of the order she gave him to the dot. Quickly a daily routine for the two began.

At day they would go out looking for food. Being able to produce fire Spike was a great help for keeping most dangers of the forest away, allowing them to search it for something instead of stealing.
At sunset they would go back to their place enjoying the spoils of the day. Then Twilight would care for Spikes wound, which seemed to get better every time she saw it. Finally when the moon rose she would read Spike on of her favourite stories: "The Adventures of Starswirl the Bearded" allowing the dragon to drift off into the world of dreams. Once he was asleep she would cary him to his bed, tug him into a warm blanket and then she would go to bed as well. Life was great!

A few months had passed since Twilight took Spike in. By now she couldn't imagine a live without him anymore. He was her only friend is this cruel world, the only constant in an unpredictable future. But now something would change, something big, something wonderful! Spikes wound was finally healed what meant only one thing: he should be able to fly again!.

Twilight was excited. The thought alone of seeing her brother/son fly for the first time made her proud. They had decided for a special place to start his training. A old Villa standing atop a small cliff. If something would go wrong she could still catch him with her magic and even if she shouldn't be able to do it for some reason it wasn't high enough to actually hurt Spike should he fail.

"Thia is it Spike. Are you ready?" The dragon nodded. Twilights horn began to glow, magical unwrapping the bandeges the kept for safety on his wing. "I guess from now on I can only watch. Be carefu and good luck."

Spike quickly nuzzled her leg, then he concentrated on the task lying before him. He carefully shifted his weight, flexed his wings to see if everything was alright and took a deep breath. Then he moved a few paces back reading himself for the start. "Ready? Go!", Twilight shouted. Spike run up gainig speed. The edge was coming closer. He knew he could do it. The edge was nearly there. He opened his wings and started flapping. His foot touched the last part of safe ground.
Spike jumped. He could feel the air catching under his wings, feel the excitemende as he started to rise higher and higher until he could touch the clouds. In an triumphantic moment he spat a great emerald flame into the air.

Twilight watched all of this from the ground tears of joy in her eyes as she watched her little dragon soar through the sky. "He did it", she thought. "He really did it. I'm so proud. Maybe one day, when he's bigger, he'll even take me with him!"
Twilight was in ecstasy. But suddenly she perked up her body going tense.

A great shadow flew through the sky, momentarly blocking her sight of the sun. A great dragon easily as big as a house soared through the sky his dark black and brown scales reflecting the sun blending her for a moment. She watched in fear as the dragon drew closer to Spike, the little dragon unaware of his pressence yet.

Twilight tried to shout a warning but it was to late. The big claws of the dragon wrapped around Spike grabing him out of the air. twilight could see the fear in Spikes eyes as his older brethern circled around flying back to were ever he came from. She tried to run after them but the massive wings of the older dragon were just to fast for her to keep up. even with her teleportaion. The last thing she saw of Spike was his wing pleadingly reached out to her ...

Twilight run back to her home as fast as possible. She was in quite a panic and why souldn't she be? Her brother/son was just kidnapped by a full grown Dragon. Who knew what this beast would do to him. She inwardly debated what to do but came only to only one conclusion: she had to go after him and save him.

Whith an inner determination she never felt before she prepared herself for her quest. She sold everything of value she might still posses, which means only her last book and a few things she found while searching the ruins, and bought an sturdy staff for her traveling. Out of her remaining blankets she sew makeshift clothes, designed to protect her from scratches and bruises. It would also serv her well sshould she need to go to colder regions. She collected all the food she had left hoping she would find a way to refill it on the way. With a last glance back to her old home she set out on her journey "Don't worry Spike", she thought "I'm comming to save you!"

Her journey brought her to many strange place a lot of them bigger and more fantastic then she could have ever imagined. And yet she didn't spare them a second glance. The only thing that mattered for her now was to find bye. She travelled far and low, through heat and through cold. through thickest forest and barrend watelands, by sunshine, wind or rain. She braved many dangerous and risky situations.Nothing would stop her. She wouldn't rest until she had found her friend.

But she couldn't find him. It was frustrating for her to say the least. She didn't know what to do. She wouldn't stop, she would never do something like this, but what was she supposed to do? She couldn't find a solution.

Tired and emotionally exhausted she decided to rest in an nearby Inn, the money she made during her travellings would certainly help with it. As she entered she made a beeline to the counter ordering the strongest brew they had to offer. She planned on drink until she passed out but paused when she heared piees of a heated conversation. " .... swear it ... Seen it myself ... Dragon ..."

Twilight froze. Slowly she turned around to see a young griffines talking to a group of her friends. Slowly Twilight rose up, walking over to the group. She could hear more of the conversation as she drew closer. "Don't be silly!", one of the older griffins said "All dragons live down in the south. What should one do there?" The griffines shot him a glare "How am i supposed to know? I just know what i saw myself. At one moment we were travelling the road in the next a dark dragon comes down on us, grabbing one of the guys drawing the carriages and flys away." "Yeah right as if."

"Excuse me please!" The group went silent as Twilight aproached them. "What?" the grffines snarled "I've got no charity for you. Piss off." Her comrades laughed. "I'm not interrested in anything from you but one thing." Twilight said her voice becoming dangerously low. "Where did you see the dragon?" "And why sould i tell you that, hmm?" "Wordless Twilight levitated a sack of bits in front of them." She could see the greed in the eyes of the griffines. "Fine, whatever i saw him ... at the Northern Mountains."

The Conclusion

Back in the present:

"You might be closer to your destination then you might think." Twilight looked up. It was obvious she couldn't believe her ears. "Yes, I know about the being you're looking for, my people know him well. We call him Ember, the old Dragon. He lives in a cave up on the mountain. Now and then we see him when he comes down to hunt."

Twilights esyes twinkled with a new found vigor. "So can you tell me where i can find him?", she asked, her words nearly tumblig over each other so fast she talked. "Yes", the griffin replied, " I know where he lives, but you shouldn't go. It is much to dangerous to go there. Ember is old and has fought many battles, you wouldn't stand a chance againts him. Ah, but i see. I can't stop you. Your eyes are telling me that. You won't stop no matter what. Fine i'll tell you but under one condition."

The old griffin stood up and walked over to the spears. "Take this with you. You will need it. Now rest while I'll draw a map for you. Tomorrow you can dress and start your search." Twilight nearly jumped up so excited was she to finally meet her goal. "Thank you so much", she said. "Don't thank me yet, thank me if you make it out alive."

It took Twilight a whole day to be strong enough to leave the tent and another half one to reach her destination, the cave at the top of the mountain. The cave the natives just called "The Gate". Preparing herself for the inevitable she walked into the cave.

She moved silently, all the time spent searching for her friend having improved her skills by far. Slowly she made her way around bouldesr and stalagmites jutting out of the floor. She drew closer, she could feel it. Every move she made increasing her tension until she felt like she would be watched at all times. Finaly when she thought she couldn't take it any longer she saw a light coming from the ceilling. Carefully she drew closer and closere and closer until...

There he was. Sleeping on an elevated plattform the dark dragon lay sleeping in his deep slumber. Twilight could feel her hatred boiling up for the monster that took away her beloved Spike. But she calmed herself remebering herself this wasn't the reason she came here. Continuing to look around she finally saw what she was looking for. There on small bed made out of stone he lay. Exactly looking like she remembered him. His purple and green scales visible in the dimm light, his spikes still as spikey as ever.

Twilight pulled down the hood of her dark mantle, hiding as much of her bright fur as possible so she wouldn't seem out of place. Taking great care not to wake the older dragon, she slunk closer to Spikes side, though of their happy reunion swirring around her head. Then she was by his side. Finally! They were together again. Nothing could stand in her way anymore. Absolute nothing.

She nudged the little dragon before her, eager to see his reaction when he would understand that he was finally save again.
But then something happened she didn't expect. The little dragon after clearing the sleep from his eyes, looked at her and something twinkled in his eyes Twilight never thought she would see. Fear! Spike was afraid of her for some reason. Before she could do anything to calm him down, he let out an infernal screaming its volume becoming even more hellish due to the echo.

Twilight froze. If she was tense before, then now she was paralyzed with fear. She didn't dare to look behind her, a deep growl tellimg her all she needed to know. Ember had awaken.

Twilight instantly jumped to her side, a wise choice because only second later a massive claw came down were she was only a moment ago. She swirled around and saw the dragon reading a firey swall. If she had been in this situation a while ago she would be dead. But Twilight had learned a lot during her travels. With a bright glow of her horn she brought up a massive shield around her, blocking the dragons attack completely. She allowed herself a grim smile.

This was it! She never wanted to, but she knew she might have to face this monster in order to bring Spike back. so she trainened, prepairing for the battle that lay before her. She had learned many tricks and combat moves, but would it be enough to face down Ember? She supposed she would find out soon.

Twilight shot an energy ball in the face of her opponent. The dragon roared as the ball hit its head, but she knew all she had managed to do was to infuriate him even more. Next she shot a ball of energy towards one of the stalactites hanging above the dragon, planning for them to injure the great beast. But the dragon didn't even flinched, his tail moving like a lightning to shatter the falling object into tiny shards. But Twilight wasn't done with this either. Next she shot a bolt of lighting from her horn, aimed at the dragons eyes. Yet again the dragon didn't move so much. He just slid his left wing before him, the bolt just puffing away as it hit the obstacle.

Twilight gulped. She had clearly underestimated the dragons fighting abilities, but she couldn't back out now. Not without loosing Spike again this time maybe forever. With a battle cry she run towards the dragon, swinging the spear the griffin elder gave to her. Clearly unamused the dragon lifted a claw, bringing it down right before as if to mock her, making Twilights hold of the weapon drop and making it bounce around the floor until it lay still.

Now it was the dragons turn to attack and he didn't hold back. Viscious strikes with claws and tail forced her to back of and swalls of fire thuundered against her barriers. It didn't look good for her. Not only did her body took some bruises from the attacks, her will to fight also started to trip away, only leaving fear of the predator she was foolish enough to face off again.

While fearing for her live, she didn't notice how quite it had become. The moment she did notice however made her more anxious then she had ever been before. Where was the dragon? Why couldn't she hear him anymore. She didn't dare to move, even to breath out of fear the dragon might hear her. Suddenly the rock behind her exploded, sharp claws cutting through her cover, hitting her in the shoulder. Twilight screamed and rolled away, it didn't matter to her where she went to, just away from the enormous dragon looming above her.

Suddenly she pushed against something and spun around. There, behind a large pillar, was Spike hiding from the battle and fearing for his live. To see Spike in such a pittiful situation reigneted the last embers of Twilight courage. Even while wounded and clearly overpowered she wouldn't budge as long as she could protect him. Scanning her surroundings she had an idea. It was idioticall, suicidal even and probably a lot more things, but right now it was here only chance. Gathering the last of her strength she stood up and run towards the dragon.

Ember hesistated for an moment. Was this little creature really dumb enough to attack him? If it wanted to die so badly so be it. He planned to end it with a final fire stream but just as the fire was about to hit her, the creature disappered.in a flash. Ember was confused. Not only because the creature disappeared, no. Something about this felt quite familiar. What happened next he couldn't have anticipated. A sharp pain shot through his body reaching from his right side all the way ro his left shoulder. Ember could fell the strength draining out of his body as he dropped to ground.

Twilight stood there in disbelieve. She couldn't beleive she had done it. When the fire was aout to hit her she teleported away, grabbed the spear and sliced at the beast. But she never expected it to have this outcome. She was sure she would die and yet, there he lay, in a poodle of his own blood, the live slowly slipping out of him. She had won. She had really won. But it was still to early to celebrate. The beast while mortal wounded could still be a danger for her. She started to move over to him her spear ready for the final blow. She stood before him, she readied herself and .... let out a sharp gasp of horror.

She had seen something, something so terrible that she couldn't accept it. Because if she did accept it it would mean she just did the worst thing imaginable to her. Something so bad she would gladly give her own live to undo it.

There across Embers right wing was a scar. A scar he got when he was separated from his family as a child. A scar he got when a friendly mare took him in and nursed him back to full health. A scar that always helped him remember the only pony friend he ever had.

"Spike?", Twilight whispered. "No! How? You...?" Slowly she removed her hood revealing her face for the first time since she entered the cave. She saw realisation flicker in the eyes of the great dragon, a sad smile, and then there was nothing. Spike was dead, killed by the mare that came to save him.

Twilight was unable to think or move. She just stood there doing nothig. Slowly she looked down, into the poodle of blod spilling on the cave floor, into her own relection. Her hair she always thought of as a dark purple was sprinkled with grey. Her face which look like twenty the last time she saw it, was now that of an old mare, wrinkled and worn out.
Unknowingly to her decades had passed since she last saw Spike. The time being lost for her in her constant quest to find him.

She didn't know what to do now. She came to save a friend and in the end she had killed him. Slowly she stood up, left the cave and walked into the sunset.

The dragon baby hid the whole duration of the fight, only coming out after he was sure it ended. He saw the creature standing before his dead parent. As the creature left the cave, he run over to the corpse of the great dragon.
Getting no response from him the baby dragon pondered what to do. In the end he deciede for one solution. He had
no one left to care for him, so he did the only thing he could think of. He walked after the strange creature hopoing for a better tomorrow

Author's Note

So yeah here's the end of the story. don't be mad at me for the ending i just followed the script. Hope you enjoyed it and tanks to all readers. Bye and everything good to you.