The Dragon Master

by Cantus

Rating: everyone
Tags: Dark, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Adventure
Length: 51881

In the middle of a storm, a mysterious man in black appears to kidnap Spike. Can he be saved?

There are always things hidden from us, people who have gone before us and places that have been forgotten. Spike thinks that his world is over when he is kidnapped one night, and Twilight is left for dead in a burning tree. However, things are not as they seem - who is this strange person? Why is he being so respectful, considering what he's just done? And what does he want with Spike?

Published 2011-10-17 12:38:56 UTC
Last updated 2012-07-20 22:48:35 UTC

Two - Travelling and Origin

Gravil’s landing had been heavy, with several tree branches smacking him on the way down. The forest floor wasn’t much better, although at least soil was softer than wood. Aches and pains shot through his body in ways he'd never thought possible. Slowly, painfully, he stood up and took stock of the situation. To his distress, the Prince was nowhere to be seen. A terrifying thought occurred to him. He was old and hardened, easily able to live a fall like this; but the Prince was still a whelp. It was entirely possible that he hadn’t…

No, he thought. The Prince had survived. He had to have survived. Anything else was unthinkable.

Another thought occured to him - if the Prince had survived the fall, he would now be alone.

Alone, in the forest. A child, at the mercy of nature...

Gravil gritted his teeth and started to run despite his aching muscles. The Prince would be protected.

Spike had been lucky. He had avoided most of the tree branches, and had landed on a pile of decomposing leaves – slimy, but soft. He groaned at the pain, but he wasn’t hurt very badly. He stood up, rubbing his sore head.

“Uh…where am I?” Suddenly he realised.

“I’m away from that creep!”

Then the second realisation hit him. He gulped.

“And…alone…in the forest…”

He hadn’t exactly been glad of Gravil’s company, but at least he had provided some feeling of safety. The place felt more menacing, the gloom more oppressive, as if a bear or wolf were hiding in every shadow. Spike gulped as he realised that they probably were.

“W-well, what do I do now?” he said aloud, trying to calm himself.

His efforts were severely undermined by a rustle in the undergrowth nearby.

A snarling noise came from nearby, and any attempt at logical reasoning that Spike had been attempting flew straight out the window, as he panicked and ran away from the source of the noise. He had no idea where he was going, only that it was away from that terrifying noise. The sound of something emerging from the undergrowth, followed by a howl from behind him, convinced him that he’d made the right decision.

Right he was, as an enormous, red-furred beast erupted from the undergrowth behind him, roaring as it caught sight of its prey. Spike screamed, and ran until his muscles burned like fire, but his legs simply weren’t long enough. It grew closer, and closer, and then it reared, ready to pounce…

Upon hearing the Prince’s scream, Gravil had run as quickly as possible in its direction. When he saw him being chased, all thoughts but one left his mind – Protect. He dashed straight toward it, heedless of his own life. The creature was too focussed on the hunt to notice the newly-appeared Gravil.

Just as it made ready to pounce on Spike, he saw his chance. His much-abused muscles screamed with pain as he launched himself at the creature, but his will had sustained him for centuries and was more than capable quash such small things as pain.

He slammed into the creature's stomach. Its skin was tough, but its underbelly was significantly softer. He dug his claws into it as deeply as he could. The beast shrieked in pain, and fell flat on its face, its pounce interrupted. Spike felt a shudder as it hit the earth mere feet from him.

Spike wasted no time, not slowing his pace for a moment. Gravil, focussing on the task at hand, dragged his arm downwards, his claws leaving a gash in the beast’s soft underside.

Another roar, as the creature reared up, trying to pry the source of its pain off of its chest. Its slavering maw dropped down, and its teeth hovered mere inches from his face. Mustering all his resolve, Gravil dragged his other arm down, tearing yet another gash and eliciting another roar of pain. One massive paw swiped at him, knocking him clean off of the beast’s chest.

It brought its other paw down, claws drawn for the killing blow. Acting instinctively, he rolled to one side. Unfortunately, he was not quite quick enough, and the claws scraped his back. He winced as blood was drawn, his scales punctured easily by the massive claws. Still, he had managed to get clear of the beast, and rose to his feet. Instinctively, he rose to face his opponent, panting heavily. For the first time he really noticed the thing’s features. The red fur was distinctive enough, but what really caught the eye were the heads – one bear-like, one dog-like (he recognised this as the one that had come close to him earlier), and one snake – like.

“A Chimera.” Damned things were affronts against Olni.

The Chimera was also panting, no doubt suffering from its own wounds. Drawing upon his inner strength, he roared, as intimidatingly as he could manage under the circumstances. To his surprise, the beast winced and actually turned away from him. It stood still, thinking for a moment, before retreating back into the undergrowth. Evidently it had decided to search for an easier meal.

Spike had dived into the undergrowth near the side of the road, his instincts telling him it was probably the safest place. He had remained hidden, huddling himself under the leaves and shrubs, hoping that the terrible noises would stop and that he’d wake up in bed, back at the Library. These thoughts kept circling in his head, making him think of nothing else. His trance was only broken when he heard the sound of footsteps, coming slowly and inexorably towards him. He curled into a ball. “Maybe if I’m really, really quiet, it won’t notice me” he thought to himself.

His heart thumped, so loud he felt sure it would betray his location. Eventually, a voice came: “My Lord, the danger is passed.” Spike felt simultaneously relieved and distressed. Gravil was far from the top of Spike's list of favourite people right now, but he was still higher up than the Chimera. Even so, he remained still, hoping Gravil’s notice would pass by him also. Unfortunately for him, he had already used most of his luck.

“Sir, it is imperative that make haste, before another such beast finds us”. At his words, Spike’s blood ran cold. Another monster? Suddenly going with Gravil seemed much more agreeable.

“All right, all right!” he yelled, getting up and running back onto the path. The old dragonoid seemed genuinely relieved.

“Ah. Good. My Lord, you really must be careful. These woods are filled to the brim with beasts that have forgotten their true master.” They began walking again.

“Well, if you hadn’t jumped on Rainbow Dash, I’d be in no danger at all!” To Spike’s irritation, Gravil merely chuckled, seemingly too relieved to bother being annoyed.

“Is that what you call him?” quipped Gravil.

Spike, glad for a chance to talk about something other than his predicament, launched off into a rant.

“Yeah, that’s her name! And she’s a girl!”

Gravil seemed even more amused.

“Really? I find the difference difficult to distinguish when equines are concerned. How in Olni's name do you tell? They don't even have spines!”.

Spike continued as if he hadn’t heard those lines. “She’s, like, the best flyer in all Equestria! And when she gets back here, she’ll totally kick your butt!”

Gravil surpressed the urge to point out that the pegasus had failed to defeat him even with the advantage of surprise. After all, the Prince was obviously still enchanted - there was no way he'd see reason.

There were a few seconds of silence whilst Gravil decided on a better response. “The best flyer in the land, hmm?” Spike’s enthusiasm only seemed to grow, now that Gravil was actually responding to his bragging.

“Yeah! She won the Best Young Flyers Competition, and she pulled off the legendary Sonic Rainboom! It was awesome! Well, I didn’t actually see it, but Pinkie told me it was awesome…”

Gravil continued to listen with an air of amusement. “I don’t suppose you have ever heard the saga of Greywing?”

The younger dragon stopped talking, curious to hear. “No. Who’s Greywing?”

“Was, My Lord, was. Greywing was of Olni’s lineage, like you and me.”

Spike just looked confused. “Olni? Is that some kind of food?”

Gravil cringed, but his voice remained calm. “Ah, I see we have much to study. But fear not. Know only that Olni is sacred.”

Spike still looked confused. “Sa-sa…”

“Hallowed?”

“Ha-ha…”

Gravil sighed. “Important?”

Spike nodded. “Ah. I think I get it.”

Gravil nodded back. “Good. Now, as I was saying…”

Applejack stared incredulously at Rainbow. “Rainbow, that was…” She didn’t know exactly what to say. “…dangerous!” she finally blurted out.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know about you guys, but I couldn’t just sit there knowing my friend was in danger!”

Applejack took a sterner tone. “So instead ya charged off into enemy territory by yerself! And look what ya got for it!” she said.

Rainbow winced. “Yeah, I can feel it myself, thanks.” She stared uncomfortably at the bandages covering her right-rear leg. It was stiff and sore, but she could still walk. Rainbow rallied her thoughts. “Besides, now we know where they are, and where they’re going!”

The earth pony still looked skeptical. “They never said where they were goin', did they? An' besides, ya said they fell off ya, right? How do we know that…”

The Pegasus interrupted her, worry clear on her face. “I know they made it! They have to make it!”

Applejack realised she had touched a nerve. “Uh, alright, Rainbow, just keep it down! At this rate you’re gonna wake Twi-”

There was a groan from the bed. “Uhhn. Too late.”

“See whatcha did now?”

Rainbow was incredulous. “Me? You’re the one who woke her up!”

“Now just you lis-”

Twilight nipped their argument in the bud. “If you two would stop arguing, then maybe I could get some sleep!” The Pegasus and earth pony stared at the floor, slightly embarrassed.

“Uh, sorry Twilight. Ah just sorta lost it when I thought about how much danger Rainbow put herself in”.

Twilight acted quickly to defuse the argument. “I'm grateful for your concern, Applejack. Thank you. But we need to stand together on this. If we argue with each other, we won't make very much progress.”

Applejack nodded in agreement.

The unicorn then turned to Rainbow. “Thank you for trying so hard, Rainbow, but we’re in over our heads right now. We know who our enemy is, and we have a vague idea where he is, but that’s all. We don’t know why he’s doing this, or what he’s really capable of. If we go in blind, all we’ll do is get ourselves hurt.”

Rainbow also nodded, albeit somewhat begrudgingly. Rainbow was the first to speak again. “So, what do you think we should do?”

Twilight adopted a serious expression. Rest had helped to clear her mind, “I've decided to tell the Princess about this. This seems like a serious enough matter for her to have an opinion on, and I’m sure she knows more about this than we do.”

Applejack nodded. “Seems like a good idea. Only, there’s one little hitch ah can see…”

Twilight’s brow furrowed in concentration. “Yes, I spotted it too. We don’t have Spike anymore, so we can’t send letters directly to the Princess. We could always just send it there by courier…”

Rainbow piped up. “But that’ll take too long! Even on the wing it’s the best part of a day from here to Canterlot, and that’s ignoring the return journey! Who knows how far that creep could take Spike in that length of time?”

Twilight shook her head. “Yeah. Unfortunately, I don’t think we really have any other options. And before you say anything, Rainbow, no. You’ve done more than enough already, and you’re injured”. Rainbow felt frustration boil inside her, but couldn’t really refute any of her friend’s points.

At last she said “Fine. But when we catch up to that creep, I get first dibs!”

************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Spike listened intently to every word that fell from Gravil’s mouth. “Is that really what happened?”

Gravil nodded, eminently pleased to have an appreciative audience for his tales. “Indeed. Greywing was so mighty, his wings so grand, that when he soared upwards he blotted out the sun itself. And all the ground-dwelling creatures came to fear and hide from the shadow of wings, for it meant only that death had come to take them.” Spike was awestruck. Whatever he might think of Gravil he couldn't deny that he was a powerful speaker, the image painted by the dragonoid’s words still vivid in his mind.

“So… then what? What happened to him?”

Gravil’s expression became pained, and he clutched his chest. “Ah…my apologies, Sire, but I am not quite healthy enough right now. The Chimera was most…vicious”. Spike only now saw the wounds on Gravil’s back, the deep red of coagulated blood easily visible through the gashes in the black robe.

“Ooh, man. That looks…painful.”

Gravil nodded. “Yes, but we need not-” He coughed loudly at this point. He cleared his throat. “-worry. We have arrived.”

Spike did not answer him. He was too fixated on the sight that lay before him. Two massive doors, each some twenty feet high, were embedded into the mountain face in front of them. They were impressive enough by themselves, but it was the symbols that really grabbed his eye. Engraved onto the doors was an image. It was a circle, divided into four quarters. Each quarter contained a symbol – one a shield, one a wave, one a wing, and one a crown. The lines separating the four symbols were festooned with carven lizards and hissing serpents. In the centre of the whole thing, a smaller circle had been drawn, inside which was a single flame.

“Whu-what is this place?”

Gravil did not turn to answer him, absorbed in memory as he gazed at the symbols adorning the door.

Eventually he said “Home.”

He placed one hand to the massive door, and spoke a single word. “San”. With a massive groaning noise, the doors began to open, the ancient mechanisms within wearied from the passage of time. When they had finally stopped, Gravil turned to his young charge and said. “The way is open. Shall we go in?” Spike still didn’t like where this was going, but he was overawed by the spectacle of the thing. In spite of himself, he really wanted to see what was inside.

A roar echoed from the treetops in the distance. Besides, he thought to himself, it was almost certainly safer than staying outside with the Forest’s wild beasts.

“Y-yeah. I guess so.”

The inside was even more impressive than the outside. Two sets of reptilian claws scraped across the stone floor. Though cracked in places, the tiles covering it were still very visible. Each was one of five colours – red, green, blue, black, or white, and they were laid over the ground in a regular pattern. Spike looked upwards, and saw the roof, what seemed like a mile above. It was so far up, and the place so dimly lit, that it was almost impossible to make out the massive serpent carved onto it, its massive form touching all four corners.

Spike was still looking up when Gravil stopped. The younger dragon bumped into the elder, and fell backwards. “Uh…What-”

Spike didn’t finish his sentence. Another set of stone doors faced them, with the same decorations as the first set.

“So, are we goin’ through there?”

Gravil nodded, then winced in pain. “Y-yes. What we-” He coughed again, noticeably more harshly than last time.

In spite of everything, Spike felt himself feeling a little worried about his kidnapper. “Um...are you…okay?”

Gravil stood up straight again and caught his breath. “Y-yes, My Lord, we just need to get through here first”. He raised his arms again, and spoke aloud in a pained voice. “Rek Sun San!” The door-frames glowed red, and the doors parted, much more quickly than the ones on the outside. “Through…here, Sir.” Gravil’s voice sounded weak and faded. He stumbled into the darkness beyond the doors. Spike found himself following him. Without warning, the doors slammed shut behind them, a mighty clang ringing out from the impact of stone on stone.

“Whoa! What the-?!” Spike’s sentence was interrupted by Gravil.

“Shhh. Look.”

As Spike looked on, something began to happen. A single glowing shape appeared in front of them. “Whoa….” It was in the shape of a serpent, biting its own tail – a circle. Quickly, more runes lit up around the room, until the whole place was lit by their red light. Gravil raised his arms to the ceiling yet again, and yelled something incomprehensible. Light spilled from the runes on the wall, flowing into the dragonoid. As Spike looked on, the wounds on his back closed, knitting themselves together. His scales glimmered as the light poured into them. Spike could swear that he heard voices, whispering in a tongue he didn’t understand. Though he couldn’t know their words, he still felt their tone. It was hushed, desperate and proud all at the same time, unlike anything he’d ever heard. When the light finally dimmed and the voices faded to whispers, Gravil stood up again, the runes still glowing dimly on the walls. Gravil turned to Spike. His scales were no longer grey with green flecks, but pure, deep jade. His posture was more upright, and he seemed altogether more youthful.

“Now, My Lord. Shall we attend to business?”

“How-How’d you-” Spike stuttered as the newly-invigorated dragonoid grinned.

“This, My Lord, is Anbel, or Stonehold as some call it”.

“Yeah, but-” Gravil kept speaking, apparently not hearing Spike’s response.

“This place is the Hall of The Dragon Kings, your true home. Within its walls is the last of the Dragons’ power concentrated”.

“Yeah, but-” Gravil continued, still oblivious.

“My Lord, these halls have waited centuries to feel the tread of a True King again. Might I suggest that we-”

Spike finally snapped. “WAIT!” he yelled, startling Gravil.

“Yes, My Lord? Is there something you wish to know?”

“You were really hurt a minute ago, and now you’re just fine! What were those lights? Why have I never heard of this place?” Gravil looked relieved, seeing that his Lord was curious and not angry.

“Ah, that will require a bit more time to explain fully. Shall we?”

The two began walking towards one of the three doors that were set in the walls of the Rune-Chamber. They stopped in front of the leftmost door. “Through here, My Lord”. Gravil turned to the doors and raised his voice. “Rek Sun San!” The doors swung open silently. Spike chose that particular moment to bring up something else that had been nagging at him.

“What’s that mean, anyway?”

Gravil turned to him. “It is Old Draconic, a tongue of which I am the sole surviving practitioner”.

“Yeah, but what do those words mean? You used them before, didn’t you?”

Gravil turned his head away from Spike. “They mean “The King Approaches””.

Spike felt he had to get something else off of his chest after hearing that. “And about that, what’s up with all this “My Lord” stuff? You mind tellin’ me what’s goin’ on?” Gravil blinked, as if only now realising something very obvious.

“Ah. Yes. We didn’t have the time to speak properly on the road, but in here, we are safe. Allow me to explain this. You need to hear everything from the beginning.”

The room they walked into was more lowly-roofed than the others, but the ceiling was still a good eight feet from the floor. Every one of those feet was utilised, stone shelves crammed into every crevice and corner. “This, My Lord, is the Tomb of Tales, our Royal Library. Here are recorded the deeds of Dragonkind, and here they are protected from any who might wish to do them harm.”

Spike seemed a little confused by this. “Harm? Who’d want to destroy books?”

Gravil took on a very serious expression. “Many of the tomes in this place are the last of their kind. They contain knowledge that some would rather be forgotten.”

Spike was about to ask what they could contain that was so terrible, but Gravil moved away before he could say it, and he had to follow.

“Hey, wait up!” The elder dragonoid walked much more quickly than he had done before, so Spike had a harder time keeping up. At last, however, he stopped. Spike almost crashed into him, only managing to stop himself at the last moment.

“Now, My Lord, the story begins.” Gravil pointed, and Spike’s gaze followed. “Do you see that?” the elder asked. Spike didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to look for, but he felt himself naturally gravitate toward the largest figure carved on the massive stone tablet in front of them.

“That huge dragon?”

Gravil nodded. “Yes. That is Olni.” Spike had only heard the word twice before, but seeing the image on the tablet, striking at the ground with its massive talons, he felt a very strange feeling. It was tingling and ancient and powerful all at the same time.

“Olni is our Father, My Prince. The First of All Things, He That Brings Light. From Him do we draw our strength, our hope, and our sovereignty.” Spike nodded, still in awe at the majestic figure. “This scene depicts the creation of the world, where Olni burst forth. In those days there was no light, no heat, and no life upon the world, merely cold, flat, desolate earth. Olni saw this, and was displeased. He struck the ground with his mighty claws, making fire and light burst forth from the lifeless rock”. Spike nodded, utterly spellbound as Gravil's words weaved their magic once more.

The lesson had continued for hours, Spike drinking in every detail, Gravil intensely enjoying teaching another of this story that he had kept inside for so long. “Thus were the mountains and hills made... And Olni saw this and felt gladdened. Yet still he longed to see others, so that they too might enjoy the place he had created. He willed it, and sent out four lights. The first came to rest in the waters of the sea, where it gave birth to the sea serpents, our brothers.”

Spike interrupted to say “Hey, I’ve seen one of those!”

“Yes, My Lord, but may we have only one tale at a time?” Spike nodded.

“The second flew deep into the earth, creating chasms from which poured the wyrms, those loyal and hardy beings by whom the treasures of the earth could be won.” Gravil stopped abruptly. “That class, of course, includes myself.”

Spike found this interesting, but insisted that Gravil finish the story. “Ah, yes. The third came to rest in a bank of clouds, from which it wove Lakfe and Kalfe, the first Wyverns”. He pointed to a shape on the tablet to illustrate his point – that of two beasts with enormous leathery wings and long, sinewy legs, but no arms. “By their free spirits would the skies be claimed”.

Spike had to ask, even though he knew his question would be answered whether or not he did so. “And what about the fourth?”

Gravil grinned, as if this were his favourite part. “Ah, yes. The fourth light descended deep into the first well of fire that Olni had caused to burst forth, and from it emerged a creature of magnificent splendour and power. Armoured in scales of shining gold, armed with teeth and talons that shone like the stars, Galdor the Great was born.” He pointed at another figure, similar to Olni, and drawn almost as reverentially.

“G-Galdor?”

Spike felt chills down his spine looking at it. “Yes. Galdor was the first truebreed, the first…” he paused, relishing the word. “…Dragon.” Spike had no idea what to say. “Take a good look at Galdor, young Prince. He was the mightiest Dragon ever to live. He was also…”

Spike felt like he was going to burst with his need to hear the next sentence. “…Your Ancestor.”

Three - Realisation and Remembrance

Twilight was relieved at having finally been allowed to leave the hospital, but she had precious little else to feel good about. She’d decided to inspect the remains of Ponyville’s Library, her former home. When she finally arrived on the scene, there were a team of earth ponies attempting to salvage whatever parts of it hadn’t been burned to ashes. In amongst the small crowd was somepony Twilight recognised more quickly.

“Twilight!” a familiar voice sounded out. “You’re back! Well, isn’t this convenient! I mean, I was coming to see you in a few hours anyway, but still, this is good, right?” Twilight didn’t mind the display of affection, but at the moment she wanted nothing more than to get to grips with exactly what had happened.

“Thanks, Rarity. Um, yeah, it sure is convenient.” She tried to switch the subject as quickly as possible. “So, how’s the uh…” She glanced at the smoldering heap of charred wood that had been her home. “…excavation work going?”

“Well, of course I’m just here to supervise, Darling, but we have found a couple of things that might be of interest. I must say, though, most of this place was rather…badly damaged. I simply can’t imagine how something like this could have happened…”

Twilight listened to Rarity’s chatter with a mild amount of interest, but she paid most attention when they came to the pile of salvaged material. It was comprised mostly of books, the ones that had been damp or lucky enough to escape the worst of the blaze. There were about fifteen in the pile, all of which Twilight recognised almost immediately. “Is this all there is?”

Rarity hesitated before responding. “Erm…well, we haven’t completely finished looking-”

A male, brown earth pony approached Rarity. “Miss Rarity, we’ve finished looking through the wreckage. Nothin’ more-”

He was cowed by a fierce look from the white unicorn, and backed away. “Uh, yeah, well, we’ll just finish up here and take our leave”. He said something to the other workers and they dispersed with haste.

Twilight felt her heart drop like a stone. She stared forlornly at the pile of books. Was this really all that was left? At once, the full reality of the situation made itself known to her. It was really gone. She had nowhere to stay, except in Canterlot, away from her friends. Rarity seemed to guess what she was thinking.

“Oh, I’ve just had the most wonderful idea! Seeing as what’s happened, why don’t you stay with me for a bit? I mean, just until we can sort something out…” Twilight wasn’t sure how to react.

“Well, thanks, Rarity, but I’m…” Rarity wasn’t having any of that.

“No, no, I insist. It’ll be no trouble at all. Although, we should probably find some way of bringing all those heavy books – assuming you want to bring them, of course”. Twilight felt a strange mix of despair and relief. One problem out of the way, but the rest of them were no nearer being solved. All she could do was wait for the Princess’ response.

Carousel Boutique wasn’t a bad place to stay, but there wasn’t all that much spare room with all of Rarity’s clothes and implements, and there was even less after Twilight had dragged in the surviving books. Twilight had noted with some amusement that a copy of the same book that had started the fire was among their number, and decided that she might as well finish it. Seeing as Rarity was out on an errand at the time, this seemed like as good a time as any to start reading.

She was still doing this when there was a knock at the door. She didn’t hear it at first, being absorbed into the book, but the second time it caught her attention. Her first instinct was to ask Spike to get the door. A fresh jolt of grief shot through her as she remembered that was impossible.

She opened the door, to be met by a Pegasus, dressed in the garb of a Courier. “Erm, excuse me, is Ms. Sparkle here? I was informed I could find her here…”

Twilight’s heart jumped. Could it be Celestia’s eagerly-awaited response? “Yes, that would be me, actually.” The Pegasus seemed relieved.

“Oh, good. Well, I was told to give these to you, so here you go!” The Pegasus handed her a small brown envelope and a much larger package before taking off. Twilight shut the door and tore the letter open excitedly. Not wasting any time, she began to read.

“My dearest and most faithful student Twilight,
I am sorry to hear the news you bring. This is a grave matter indeed. I am not sure exactly what action to take. After much debate, I have decided that you should, at the very least, be informed of the exact scale of the events that are about to unfold. You should find enclosed a copy of one of the rarest books in Equestria. In it you will find the background information necessary for you to understand this. You may tell your immediate friends of this, but both you and they must keep utmost secrecy otherwise”.

Twilight was worried. Unfolding events? Rare tomes? Utmost secrecy? This was growing more serious by the moment. She tore open the wrapping on the package that had come with the letter. There was an ancient, leatherbound book inside, pockmarked and musty with the dust of ages. Twilight could almost smell the sheer weight of the years. She dusted off the cover. “Tales Of The Ancient World – A Volume Of Forgotten Facts and Forsaken Figures”. She’d never seen this book in her life. Almost immediately she picked it up, levitating it with her magic, and placed it onto a nearby table. She began reading.

It had been written by an author who had never bothered to write his name on the cover, or if he had time had already worn it away. One thing she noticed about his style of writing was that it was extremely hurried, as if he only had a few minutes at a time to write entries into the book, and was constantly looking over his own shoulder to see if anyone was watching him. To top it all off, the author’s handwriting resembled nothing so much as a drunken spider falling into a vat of ink and then crawling all over the page in roughly horizontal lines, making it difficult to make out certain words.

In spite of all these things, she couldn’t avert her eyes once she started reading. “Many, many ages ago, the world began. Pangor would have you believe that she was responsible, and that would suit her, yes, to further the adoration of her serfs. But the truth is greater, far greater. For at the dawn of the world there was nought, but darkness and flat, cold earth. And behold, Olni did come forth, causing fire and light to surge…”

The narrative continued in this manner for many pages, telling a story Twilight had never heard of before. The author seemed to take for granted that the reader knew the identity of this “Olni” character, and never really bothered to explain, but the reverential way he was spoken of (plus the fact that he was credited with creating the world) made it clear that he was supposed to be some form of deity. But who was Pangor? Apparently the author had a vitriolic hatred of her, but he refused to give up any more detail than that.

Twilight was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. Twilight realized with a shock that Rarity had returned. “Oh, Twilight! I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were…” The white unicorn took notice of the book, as well as the wrapping on the floor. “…reading.”

Twilight had to think fast. “Oh, yeah, right. Reading.” She closed the book and placed it back amongst the pile.

“I’m not sure I’ve seen that book before, Twilight. Is it new?”

Twilight pushed it under some of the others. “No, just re-reading an old favourite”. The Princess had said that she could tell her friends, but she didn’t want to worry Rarity; especially not before she knew the real relevance of this book. Still, the Princess had sent her it – it must be connected to their present situation, somehow. It had to be…

“She sent you what?” Rainbow seemed unimpressed. “How’s a book gonna help us find Spike? Unless it’s got a complete map of the Everfree Forest, I just don’t see it”. Twilight shook her head in frustration.

“No, it doesn’t have a map. What it does have, however, is an explanation!”

Rainbow still seemed unimpressed. “Explain what? Spike got kidnapped, we need to rescue him, what’s there to explain?”

Applejack chimed in. “Well, maybe if we know why he took Spike away, we can find out where he took ‘im to. Is that what yer thinkin’ Twilight?”

The unicorn nodded. “I reckon so. The thing is…” She hesitated.

Rainbow became impatient. “What, what is it?”

Twilight's face twisted in discomfort. “What’s inside this book is, well… see for yourselves”.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************
Spike felt bloated all of a sudden. His stomach swelled as he recognized the feeling. The Princess must be sending a letter!

Gravil turned to him. “Hmm? Is there something the matter, My Lord?”

Spike didn’t have time to respond before he belched, releasing a cloud of green smoke that swirled for a few seconds before coalescing into a scroll. The runes on the walls, dormant for a while, flared up in angry crimson light. Gravil’s eyes widened as he saw the runes. “Unicorn Magic!” he hissed, the disgust in his voice palpable. Spike grabbed and opened the scroll before Gravil could. He began to read –

“Spike, I understand that this must be difficult for you. You don’t know where you are, or who you are with. I know he will not admit to this, but the dragon who has taken you is acting against the common good as well as your own. He does not know that his cause will result in nothing but death and ruin-”

At this point, Gravil grabbed the scroll, tearing it from Spike’s claws.

“H-hey, that was mine!”

Ignoring Spike’s protests, Gravil’s ancient eyes scanned the parchment. His body trembled with rage, the special kind of rage that comes only to those who have suffered in silence for centuries as their woes go uncared for. Spike protested again.

“H-hey, didn’t you hear me? I said that’s-”

Gravil roared, his rejuvenated lungs providing him with volume enough that the high eaves of Anbel echoed with him. Spike decided to drop the subject, particularly as the wyrm then proceeded to shred the parchment to ribbons on his claws. He panted for breath. Eventually, he regained some measure of composure and spoke.

“My Lord. I know I said that we would leave our next History lesson until tomorrow, but if the great enemy is trying to warp your mind, we must hurry.” Spike didn’t even have time to respond before he was grabbed firmly by the wrist and led back to the library. Knowing by now the futility of resistance, he decided that he might as well see what the fuss was about.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

The two ponies were flabbergasted. So was Twilight, but she had already read it and so the effect was lessened for her. “This can’t possibly be right!” yelled Rainbow. “The Princess would never do anything like that! Whoever this writer is, he doesn’t know what he’s talkin’ about!”

Twilight turned to face her, her face set grimly. “I know it seems absurd, but the Princess sent me this. Why would she deliberately send us lies about herself? That doesn't make sense, from any viewpoint!"

Applejack shook her head. “I can’t fault ya there, Twilight, but this is…quite a lot to take in, ya know?”

Twilight nodded. “I know”. The other two ponies realized with a jolt that Twilight must have been even more shaken than they were – after all, she had always regarded Celestia as a close friend and trusted mentor.

Rainbow still objected, her stubborn nature making itself known. “But…but even if that is true, she must’ve had a good reason! I mean, nopony just up and-”

Twilight turned to face Rainbow, visibly irritated. “Yes, Rainbow, I know. But shocking as it is, we can leave that question until later. The real question we need to ask is what to do now.”

Twilight opened the book to a page near the end, festooned with drawings and dots, obviously some kind of plan. “This is a representation of the building where Spike has most likely been taken.” She pointed to a drawing of a high-roofed building.

“And what’s that?” Applejack said, pointing to the drawings next to it.

“That would be the ritual” finished the purple unicorn.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************
After a few minutes, Spike and Gravil returned to the Tomb of Tales. The wyrm stood up and began to speak.

"Now, My Lord, where were we...?" Before Spike could say anything, Gravil answered the question himself. "Ah, I recall now".

He went on. "Now, the Children of Olni divide time in a unique way. It is split into reigns. The First Reign began when Galdor The Great was born, the Second when his son took the throne, and so forth".

"Now, when Olni created the world, he gave to Galdor and his people a gift - that of sovereignty, the right to rule the world. And so they did, for seven hundred and fifty years."

"However, it could not last forever. Olni wished for his people to live, free, without need for him. However, he also knew that he could not simply abandon them - without the brilliant light and heat that radiated from him, his people would be swallowed by the darkness. He designed a plan, and acted on it."

Gravil paused for breath before continuing. "He gathered to him all of his children, and announced that he would leave them. There was great consternation amongst the crowd, but none gave voice to their worried. Olni spoke again, and he said that though he would leave them in body, he would never leave in spirit. Thus he gave them a gift: he raised his head skyward and spat forth a mighty ball of flame, that shot through the heavens, before coming to rest. He said that this was the Sun, his gift to them. It would shine down upon them forever, as their guardian. It would be an eternal reminder that they were his children, and he was their father."

Spike continued to listen, Gravil’s words stirring a strange emotion rising in him. He didn’t know its name, but it is known as atavism, and with this, he felt closer to his ancestors than he realized he could feel to anyone. He almost was them, living their lives through his, their blood pouring through his veins. As this occurred, the symbols on the tablet un-knotted themselves, transforming from a clump of unreadable pictograms into words he found he could understand.

He fixed his gaze upon a line of symbols, and understood. They said "Thou hast honour, and honour is thy life. By thine honour is power won, sovereignty earned, and life proven". He turned to the line beside it, which said. "Should thou break my law, which I have given to thee, thine honour is forfeit, and thou shalt know shame and fear. But he that keeps my law, that works in its service, shall be honoured by all who know him, and should they scorn him still woe is theirs, for I do not ignore the works of the truly repentant".

It was dizzying. So many symbols, so much meaning, so many words. Spike's head span as dizziness overcame him. He fell to the floor in a heap.

"My Lord! Are you alright?" Gravil's voice was heavy with concern.

Spike sat up, cradling his head between his hands. "Uhh. I think so...but..."

The wyrm held out his hand, picking up and steadying his younger charge. "But what?" said the wyrm.

Spike responded. "I think I just...read those".

Gravil's eyes widened in disbelief. "My Lord, do you mean the tablet?"

Spike nodded.

Gravil inhaled deeply. "I...My Lord, are you quite serious?"

Spike nodded again. "This is most fortuitous. That you can read it, without being taught! It must mean that you are blessed by Olni!"

The wyrm coughed. "Er...not that there was ever any doubt, of course..."

Spike was too dizzy to comment.

When Spike had recovered "The people stared up in wonder at this new gift, scarcely able to take in what was happening. When they finally averted their gaze, their Father was gone, and he had taken Galdor with him."

Spike piped up. "Why did he do that?"

Gravil turned to his charge, his expression showing that this wasn't the first time he'd been asked that.

"I cannot say for sure, My Lord. As he was forged by Olni's own hand I doubt Galdor would have died naturally, and I suspect the Dragonfather wished for more than one person to be able to experience the role of King. At least, that is my best guess."

Spike nodded.

Something occurred to Spike, and he decided to voice it. "So what did they do after that?"

Gravil responded. "Galdor had many children, but only one son. He took up the mantle of King after his father went with Olni. He took the same name too, so that his father's wisdom might pass to him."

Spike took in this information, not really knowing how to reply. However, he felt like he wanted to know more.

Gravil remembered what Spike had said earlier. “Now, My Lord, you asked about the Runes earlier? We are getting close, but there is one more story you must hear. When Olni created us, he knew of the force known as Magic. It existed in all things, just as the fire lives in a Dragon, or the soul lives in the body. However, he knew also that it, being not of his hand, would be resentful of our intrusion onto its world. Thus he warned his children against attempting to make use of it."

Spike raised his hand. "Why didn't he just stop them from using it altogether?"

Gravil grinned again - this was the oldest question in the book, and he knew its answer well. He had even asked it himself when he was that age.

"Olni is great, and Olni is mighty. However, Olni is also compassionate, and does not force his children's actions against their wills. He warned us, he told us, and it is our folly alone that we did not heed him".

Something in Gravil's tone told Spike that it wasn't worth arguing that particular point, and the wyrm went on.

"Thus, magic is not a part of our inheritance. It is not made for us, nor we for it. However, it is not impossible
for a Dragon to wield such power. During the Second Reign, we discovered this fact, at devastating cost."

Gravil's eyes misted over as he as taken by the story. "Picture the scene. The empire is strong. Galdor II has reigned for four centuries, and none challenge our supremacy. In this time there lived many Dragons, most of them living in Holds. There were many such Holds, of which Anbel is, and always has been, the greatest".

The wyrm grimaced, remembering the next part of the story. This was his least favourite part. "One of the Dragons living at this time was named Mabin. She was not part of a Hold - she had always preferred the vast expanse of the sky to the soothing protection of the earth." Gravil shuddered as he thought about it.

"Not that I ever understood that way of thinking..."

Gravil went on, seeing that Spike wanted to hear more.

"This made her a Wilder in the eyes of the Hold-Dragons, but she did not care. Their scorn meant nothing to her. She had wed once, but her husband had been taken from her before his time, and she was left alone to guard their only clutch of eggs. She fawned over them, as any mother does, but she was even more vigilant than most, devoting every waking moment to their preservation. Alas, the cruel whim of fate had deigned her to suffer. One night, when she had fallen asleep, something snuck into her cave, and stole from her one precious egg. "

"No-one is sure who exactly was responsible- a beast of the wilds? Possibly, though I doubt any beast would be suicidal enough to steal from a dragon. When Mabin awake, she was both terrified and furious. She searched high and low for her missing egg, but found nothing. On the fourth night, when her hope began to fade, she came across something. More accurately, it came to her."

Spike's enthusiasm grew with every word. "What found her? What found her?"

Gravil continued unperturbed. "She was found by one of the Cri-Es. They are evil, spiteful spirits, who lived before Olni came. They hate him, and all his creations, and would gladly see us wiped from the earth. However, they are far from stupid. They are willing to make deals and bargains where it suits them, and they saw one that night. One of the Cri-Es approached Mabin, and told her that it would find her egg for her - for a price. Mabin was hesitant. All of Olni's Children know the danger of the Cri-Es, and so did she. However, the spirit was persuasive, and played upon her fears, showing her visions of what might happen to her egg if she did not find it immediately. It whispered that her husband would never be able to forgive her if she failed to protect their children. This was the final straw. In the grip of despair, she agreed."

Gravil shuddered from the pain of remembering. "For what it is worth, the fiend was true to its word. It slipped away from Mabin, and returned scant hours later, carrying with it the egg. Mabin's heart leapt with joy to see it again, but her joy was short-lived. The demon took its toll".

The egg changed. Its green shell changed to blood-red, distressing Mabin. Even so, Mabin loved it like the others and took it with her."

"For weeks she waited. One by one the eggs began to hatch, each cracked shell bringing another gift from on high. She loved them dearly, but could not quell her fears. Week after week passed, and still the red egg showed no signs of life. Fear grew inside Mabin. Had the demon tricked her? It certainly would not be beneath them to raise up her hopes solely for the joy of crushing them. Still, she waited. She began to hunt again, to feed her three children, soon, she hoped, to be four."

"Days passed by, and still nothing happened. Every day she hunted, and every night she curled around her children to keep them warm and safe. Yet still the egg did not stir. She began to despair, but still clung to the one last thread of hope - that somehow, the egg might hatch."

"At last, it happened. On the eve of Olnisa, the festival that commemmorates Olni's departure and the birth of the Sun, the egg stirred. Mabin's heart leapt again, every crack lifting her spirits. At last, the shell cracked open entirely, and before Mabin stood her fourth child, a daughter."

"Mabin was relieved beyond words. She named the child..."

Gravil’s voice trailed off again. “Renka. Renka was her name. Mabin felt joy again, and for a time all was well. Mabin was happy to rear her family out here, in the Wilds. She had no need of the intricacies of court life, or the cloying air of the Holds. However, it soon became clear that all was not as it should be."

"The problem was Renka. It became clear that she was not like other dragons. She refused to eat meat, and became violently sick whenever she was forced to do so. Plant-matter is not food fit for a dragon, and so Renka simply suffered. She survived, but she hated every second of living. Her growth was stunted and she remained gaunt and weak whilst her siblings grew stronger. However, she did like the taste of gemstones, and gobbled them whenever she found them. Sadly, in the Wilds, gemstones are few and far between."

"Mabin could not bear to see her daughter suffer so, but she did not possess very many gems, nothing like the amount needed to feed a growing dragon. So it was that on the day of Olnija, Mabin left her three sons by themselves (with strict orders not to leave the cave) and took Renka to the summit of Mount Tena-Lin".

Spike piped up again. "Where's that?"

Gravil gestured at the roof. "We are standing inside it, My Lord. Anbel is built directly into its side!"

Spike remembered the sheer rock face he had seen on the way in. "Whoa. So she came here?"

Gravil went on. "Well, she didn't go inside. On that particular day, the King flies to the top of Ilc-Tena, to thank Olni for creating us. A feast is held, and all who attend praise His generosity. So, to this ceremony did Mabin come. Carrying her sickly child, she stood before the King and begged clemency of him, that he might take Renka in out of mercy. Of course, he accepted".

Spike felt a little confused, like he'd just missed something everyone else had understood. "Why "of course"? Couldn't he have said no?"

Gravil was taken aback, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Of course not! The King derives his authority from Olni, and Olni alone. If the King acts in a way that Olni would consider disgraceful, how can he still claim kingship? He cannot! No true King would turn down a desperate plea for help! As it is written, He who does not give, cannot expect to recieve."

Spike stifled a yawn. It was getting late. Gravil took notice of this. "Worry not, my Lord, we are nearly finished. I will cut out the less relevant parts".

"So it was that Galdor took Renka in. She was placed under the care of a matron, and for a time everything seemed well. Renka grew well on the rich coffers of Anbel, and she seemed content. Her mother came to visit her whenever she could. For her young years this was only at Olnija, for only then could Mabin spare time from the effort of raising three boys."

"These visits from her mother were incredibly important to Renka, for she found few friends at Anbel. The nobles thought of her as a burden and treated her as an outcast. Even those who were more civil to her could never seem to overcome the fact that she had not been born to a Hold. To them, she was a Wilder, and she didn't deserve any of the things that she had".

"However, there was one thing in which Renka found joy - history. She studied the Tablets of creation and of law until she could recite them better even than the historians themselves. However, reading the tablets brought her more questions than it did answers. She read the decrees of Olni, of how all things made by Him were his Children, and how all should treat each other as such. She read of how He listened to the pleas of the truly penitent, and how all should work according to his Law. Why, then, she wondered, did so few of them do so? She could not fault the King, for he had taken her in. The other Dragons of Anbel, however, were as far from Olni's ideals as she could imagine, and yet they called themselves His children. It made no sense to her".

"There was one in particular who irked her - the King's eldest son. Galdor had come to think of Renka almost like a daughter, and his son resented this. He took pains to make her aware that she was not part of his family, that most did not welcome her presence in Anbel. She, for her part, suffered him as best she could. She could not speak out against him due to his position, so she took his jibes and taunts with as much grace as she could muster. Every day he slung at her with words, and every night she prayed dearly to Olni that justice would be done."

"Thus it continued for years. Renka lived her life, unaware of the curse placed upon her by the demon. The masked hostility of the court of Anbel was the worst she had to deal with, and she learned to cope. However, things cannot remain the same forever. One Olnija, Mabin failed to appear in Anbel. Renka was crushed - her mother's visits were one of the few truly bright points in her life, and she had never missed one before. Her sorrow deepened, however, the next day. An unfamiliar dragon arrived in Anbel, claiming to have news for Renka."

"He announced himself as her eldest brother, Otobon. He told her the words she had been dreading: their mother, Mabin, was dead."

Spike was fighting fatigue by this point, but he was willing to do it for a story like this. "What...*yawn*...happened..."

Gravil noticed this. "My Lord, are you sure you do not wish to retire for the night?"

Spike shook his head. "No, I'm..."

Spike's eyelids forced themselves shut, and he nodded off where he stood.

Gravil chuckled. "Ah. Perhaps a little too much history."

He picked up the baby dragon and began to walk, towards the bedchamber.

The rest of the story could wait until tomorrow.

The desire to tell it to someone else still burned inside him, but less strongly than it had in years. Telling someone had helped. At least now the Prince knew the beginning of the story.

He just hoped he would never have to see the end.

Four - Origin

The smell of grass pancakes was what caught her nose. It was a wonderful, earthy odour. It had been too long since the last time she'd experienced it.

Twilight opened her eyes. She yawned and stared up at the wooden roof, wondering what time it was. Wait, wooden roof?

Something felt...wrong. A dull throbbing in her head insisted that there was something she wasn't seeing.

"Uhh. What is this..?"

She shook her head, dismissing the thought. The smell of pancakes returned to her, and she smiled wearily.
Things felt right.

She trotted out, down the stairs and into the kitchen, following her nose the entire way.

Someone stood at the oven, flipping the pancakes over in the pan.

"Spike?!" she exclaimed.

The dragon turned around. He looked normal, but...

"Heya Twilight! Sleepin' in today, I see?"

The throbbing returned. "Uh...Spike...there's something...you're supposed to be..."

The little dragon looked at her quizzically. "Supposed to be what? You feelin' okay, Twi?"

The pain only got worse. Every word he spoke made it feel like a nail was being driven further into her skull.

"Aaaah! Stop! Stop!"

The dragon's expression became more worried. "Twilight! Twilight, what's wrong?!"

The pain thumped ever harder. As it hammered her skull, she suddenly remembered what was wrong.

"You're not Spike! Spike isn't here anymore! And neither is the Library!"

A look of shock crossed the dragon's face. "Twi, what're you-"

"Don't try to fool me! I remember!" she yelled.

The dragon's face twisted in dismay. "How could you - you're not supposed to know that. Twi, how could you -you-you-you-youyouyou..."

As it spoke it face rippled and tore, her friend's features replaced by a monstrous mask of bone, with glowing fires in place of eyes. It grinned, a horrid, toothy grin that made her stomach turn. It spoke again, its voice deep and threatening.

"Oh, that's too bad, Twilight. I thought we had such a wonderful relationship.

It took one ungainly step towards her, then another, the rest of its skin ripping off like paper to reveal pure white bone beneath.

She tried to speak, tried to scream, but there was nothing inside her. She could do nothing but watch, and tremble.

Its laugh grew, spiralling higher and higher until it was a cackling cacophony of noise.

Fear screamed at her to flee, but her legs ignored her. It reached her, and raised its hand, bony claws poised to strike.

Paralysed, she stared into the witch-fires in its skull. They burned fiercely, red flame in the left socket and blue flame in the right. In each, she saw one thing. In the red she saw a small purple egg, lying nested in straw. In the blue, she saw a purple dragon, seated on a throne of carven stone.

Before she could think about either of these, the hand descended, the laughter split her ears, and the world went black.

*****************************************************************************************
"...light! Twilight!"

Rarity's concerned voice reached the purple unicorn's ears.

"Twilight! It's alright now! It's alright! You're with friends!"

Twilight sighed in relief as her brain's logic centers kicked in and she realised that she was safe.

"Uhh. Nightmare". She was worn enough already without them being thrown into the equation.

Rarity consoled her friend. "Are you quite sure you're alright, Twilight? I mean, if there's anything I can do to help you with that-"

The purple unicorn rubbed her sore head. "Thanks, but no. Rarity, I know you're concerned about me, but I don't need anything more than a good night's sleep."

She groaned at the dull pain in her skull. There wouldn't be much chance of rest if these horrid dreams kept up.

"Well alright, Twilight. But just..." Rarity mulled over her next sentence for a while.

"Just don't be afraid to ask if you think there is some way I can be of use. I'd hate think you were suffering needlessly.."

Twilight chuckled. "Yes, Rarity. I'll make sure of that."

The pain slowly died down. The dream faded from her mind, and she settled back down to sleep.

*****************************************************************************************

Clawed feet trod coloured tiles as Gravil paced. He was checking that it would work. Somewhat redundant, as he had already done so thousands of times, but his mind would never truly be convinced until it had been done.

He traced out the pattern again in his mind. Circle atop arrow, the sun mounting the mountain. It was a beautiful symbol - simple, but with so much meaning. It meant Olni atop the earth, showing how even the land's mightiest symbol was underneath His rule. It meant the victory of spirit over flesh, that faith would triumph over all.

He walked along its etched lines, carven into the floor. His scales tingled slightly as he thought of what would come from this. The Rune of Life was perfect. Every inch of it had been carved with the utmost precision, every curve correct, every line straight. His gaze fell upon the other four Runes, laid out in a precise circular pattern. He had been meticulous in his work, and he could not help but feel a pinch of pride in it. Together they would guide the spell, exactly as they were meant do.

All he needed now was Magic.

As he began his fourth lap of the circle, a noise came. The pitter-patter of tiny clawed feet. He snapped out of his reverie as he realised who it was. The past was gone, and the future could wait, but the Prince was the present.

"My Lord! I had not expected you to rise so early. Please forgive me, I have not yet made preparations for your meal".

Spike yawned and scratched his head. "Yeah. I couldn't sleep very well. I kept waking up in the middle of the night..."

Gravil seemed concerned. "Nightmares?"

Spike shook his head. "Not exactly...I never felt scared, but I always felt...uneasy. Like I was being watched."

Gravil waved his arm in dismissal. "I assure you, My Lord - noone, neither mortal nor spirit, could enter this place unknown. The Runes would have sensed any intrusion and acted accordingly".

Spike's stomach growled. "Uh, can I still take that meal offer?"

The wyrm chuckled and began walking towards one of the side-corridors, motioning to Spike to follow him. "My Lord, if you will follow me, you may feast all you wish".

Spike still had reservations about Gravil, but he wasn't about to pass up an offer like that.

"Hey, wait up!" His legs were still too short for him to easily keep up with the wyrm, and he didn't want to be left behind.

Gravil did not stop, instead keeping a constant pace that was just slow enough that Spike could keep up.

They passed through winding corridors and dust-filled rooms, until Gravil eventually stopped before a large golden door.

Spike bumped into the wyrm from behind and fell flat on his backside. "Hey! Warn me when you're gonna stop!"

Gravil did not respond. He placed his hand on the door, and whispered something. Spike had never learned the tongue Gravil was using, but after a few seconds the words changed. They changed from incomprehensible gibberish to something he understood.

He heard:
"Golden Door, Golden Door, guard of Olni's Children four. Golden Door, Golden Door, slip your latch and hold no more.

With that, a grinding sound came from within, and the door swung open.

Spike wasn't sure what had just happened. He was sure Gravil had been speaking a foreign tongue, but he'd understood it perfectly! He remembered what Gravil had said yesterday - about him being "blessed". He'd been able to read the symbols, so did that apply to any language?

Spike's train of thought was brought crashing to a halt in short order. As the doors were thrown open, his eyes were met by the most dazzling sight he had ever seen.

The floor was carpeted with gemstones, not an inch of space visible underneath the clutter. They were organised in a haphazard manner, rubies piled upon emerald piled upon sapphires. Spike's mouth began to water - it looked delicious.

He spoke up "Are these all for-"

Gravil second-guessed his thoughts (admittedly not a particularly difficult task) and responded before he had finished.

"Yes, My Lord. As rightful King these are all yours. Feel free to-"

He was cut off by Spike diving headfirst into a large pile of jewels. He raised his hand to his face, instinctively protecting it from the shower of sapphires that flew in his direction.

*****************************************************************************************
Rainbow Dash grinned. In spite of everything that had happened, she still couldn't feel down when she was flying. The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in her mane - it all made her feel...

There wasn't a proper word for it. "Happy" was close enough, but it wasn't happiness, exactly. It felt...

Right. It felt right. Like she was doing what she was meant to do, and everything else in life was just a distraction.

All these thoughts took place in the back of her mind, while the rest of it focussed on keeping her flight path steady.

She was making another pass over the Everfree Forest. She told herself that she might find some sign of Spike, or his kidnapper. She knew that was vanishingly unlikely, but she wasn't going to admit that. Part of her insisted it was possible. It had happened once, it could happen twice. At the very least, it would be doing something.

She flew on, her wings beating tirelessly, until she found the place where she'd found the two previously. At least, she thought it was the same place...

It was hard to tell with this stupid forest - it just kept on going, for miles and miles, like a massive green smudge on the landscape. It was like it was trying to give people a place to hide...

Just as she flew across the path, something caught her eye. A faint glint, barely noticeable even in the shadow of the forest's eaves.

"Huh? What's that?" she thought to herself. Her curiosity got the better of her. She descended, taking care not to smack into any of the trees' outstretched limbs.

There it was. A ray of light glanced off of something lying by the forest road, making it glint again.

She landed gingerly beside it. She spent several minutes just looking at it. Staying still wasn't exactly her forte, but something about it demanded observation.

It was a staff, carven from incredibly dark wood, adorned at its head with a hissing serpent's head. Someone had obviously lavished great time and effort on the head. Every fang and scale had been painstakingly detailed, lending the whole thing an eerie realism.

Rainbow stared at it, drinking in every detail. She shivered slightly - it looked too real. She got the distinct feeling that it wanted to bite her.

She shook her head, trying to dislodge the fear. There was no way Rainbow Dash, hero of Equestria, was gonna be spooked by a carving. Still, she realised that the object lying in front of her could be important. She picked the thing up in her mouth and took off.

Everything went well for a time. Holding her mouth closed constantly wasn't easy, but she could manage it. That was, until...

A sharp hiss. Rainbow could hear it clearly, even over the sound of the air whipping past her.

The hiss came again, and the staff came to life. The wood twisted with a flexibility it should not have possessed, and arched its "neck" around, so that it coud see her more closely.

She was face to face with the carven serpent, its blank eyes boring into her, its fangs bared to follow.

She yelled in shock, necessarily opening her mouth in the process. The staff fell down, its malevolent hiss still audible long after it had fallen beneath the cover of the forest canopy.

*****************************************************************************************

Gravil tried to disguise his surprise, and failed miserably. He had expected the Prince to be hungry (after all, the boy had probably never had a proper meal in his life), but he'd never seen such...voracious consumption.

Spike gorged himself until his gullet was full and his stomach bloated. He lay down on his back, lying on a patch of (now-visible) floor, and sighed with contentment.

"My Lord? Are you quite alright?" the wyrm said worriedly.

The purple dragon belched. "Well, I'm not hungry anymore".

Gravil grinned. Well, he was certainly his father's son.

A memory came back to Spike. "I haven't seen this many gems since that one time I ran away!"

Gravil blinked in surprise. "Oh? May I ask you what you are referring to, My Lord?"

Spike sat up, eager to have someone listen to him. He regaled the wyrm with the story of his flight from Ponyville, and encounter with a Green Dragon within the Everfree Forest.

Gravil's eyes widened in shock. He pictured in his mind the Green Dragon looming over a terrified child, and his body trembled with rage. Thrice-cursed Na-Shri!

Spike, oblivious to Gravil's body language, finished his story. "And then Twilight rescued me and we went home. Pretty cool story, don't ya think?"

Something else occured to him. "Wait a minute...if there are still dragons in Equestria, why am I so special?"

Gravil roared. The anger and outrage bubbled up within him untuil he coud contain it no more.

"There is only one living dragon in the land!."

Spike recoiled involuntarily, shielding his face as he'd learned to do during the wyrm's outbursts.

Gravil panted, regaining control of himself. He felt shamed when he saw the Prince's cowering form. It was his duty to protect the King, not terrify him!

"I must apologise, My Lord. I...you...allow me to explain."

He stood up straight and began to speak.

"What you met in the forest was not a dragon."

Spike looked confused. "Huh? It wasn't? But it was big, and scaly, and breathed fire..."

Gravil almost exploded with anger. "It was not. There is more to being a dragon than scale and flesh and flame! A dragon would never kill a child, certainly not for such selfish motives. A dragon would never place so much importance on wealth, would never fly in the face of Olni's Will so blatantly..!

He realised that he was beginning to get worked up again, and forcibly restrained himself. Blind rage, however justified, would only hurt the Prince. He decided upon another course of action.

He turned to Spike. "Come, My Lord. We must return to the Tomb. We must finish our history lesson if I am to properly explain the situation". He exited the room, the little dragon following at his heels.

*****************************************************************************************
Gravil didn't even wait for Spike to seat himself, launching off into the story immediately.

"Now, My Lord, we stopped at Mabin's death, did we not?"

Spike thought back for a minute before remembering. "Yeah, I think that was it."

Gravil continued. "Yes. When Renka heard of her mother's death, she did not believe. She did not want to believe that the one person in the world who genuinely cared for her had gone, and without so much as a chance to say goodbye!"

"Her brother tried to reason with her, but she would not believe him either. She proclaimed "You are not my brother! You cannot be!" There had been some confusion, she thought. She had never actually laid eyes on her brothers, you see, and managed to convince herself that he had confused her with someone else".

Gravil shook his head in pity. "A mad thought, but the mind is more willing to cling to impossible thoughts than accept suffering. It is truly as the proverb says "A falling wyvern will grasp the air itself"."

Realising he was getting slightly off-topic, Gravil returned to the story.

"In any case, Renka was distressed by the news. No matter how many times she tried to convince herself that it wasn't true, that there had been a mistake, the words always rang false in her own ears."

"She pushed them aside, and returned to her chamber. She tried to sleep, but..."

The wyrm paused, contemplating how best to phrase the next part.

"She was haunted. Her dreams were stalked by horrific images. She saw in her mind the moon, its white surface turned red as blood. She marveled at the sight, but before she could think on it she was whisked away. Under the crimson light she was taken to her birthplace, the cave in the Wilds. What she saw there..."

He shuddered, but continued. "What she saw there is not certain. All we can know for sure is that she awoke in the midst of night, screaming and roaring. She babbled incoherently about blood and fire, and stormed outside in a blind fear."

Spike's eyes widened. "Where did she-?"

Gravil sighed. "Please give me a minute, My Lord. Recalling years worth of history can put something of a strain on one's mind..."

Spike nodded, and waited eagerly. He didn't have to wait long.

The wyrm went on. "She fled, away from Anbel. Renka was not an experienced flyer, but she took off on the wing anyway. Of course, her rushed exit had not gone unnoticed, and her brother tried to bring her back. He had spent most of his life hunting, unlike her, and he caught up with her easily".

Spike piped up again. "So he caught her?"

Gravil nodded. "Yes. But that was not the end of it. He flew alongside her, trying to reason with her, but she would not listen. Eventually he realised that she had gone utterly mad with fear. He didn't like the idea, but he knew she would need to be subdued more forcefully."

"He circled around Renka, who only continued to shout, not realising what he was planning. He pounced, slamming into her from above. She shrieked at the sudden loss of balance, and plummeted. He prepared to drive her to the ground, where she might be subdued until her madness had spent itself, but..."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "He could not have foreseen what happened next. Renka screamed, and her fear awoke something, something that had been implanted deep inside her before she had even been born. Her body began to glow with a harsh red light, and before Otobon could react, he had been engulfed by it."

Spike's eyes widened. "What happened then? What happened then?"

Gravil went on, willing to oblige.

"As the light swept over him, it stole the life from his very body, whisking his soul away within the space of a single breath. Without the spark of life, his body returned to that from which he had been made."

Gravil closed his eyes, bringing the image he wanted vividly into focus. "In a heartbeat, he had been turned to unliving rock. His wings petrified, and he fell to the ground below, where he broke into pieces."

Spike couldn't help but shiver at the image. Just the thought of...breaking like that...

"Did he d-die?"

Gravil shivered before replying. "I can only hope so, My Lord. Otherwise..."

Gravil decided to continue the story, ignoring the question entirely.

"Yes, My Lord, I feel the same way. Still, that is not where the story ends. Renka had vanquished her pursuer. She did not know what she had done, and she did not spend time thinking about it, for she was still being driven by that same need, that same desire to return to where she had been born. She flew, and her wings carried her for most of the way. She flew until the sun had risen, and kept going until it set again the next day."

"At long last, she reached the cave. The sun had just begun to set again, and it bathed the place in an eerie orange glow. Exhausted, but unwilling to stop, Renka stormed into the cave. Whatever she had expected to see, she was not prepared for what she did see".

Gravil took another deep breath. Spike held his breath in expectation.

"The cave was completely, utterly dark. Not a mote of light penetrated it, and when she stepped over the threshold, the fading rays of the sun were snuffed out utterly. Fear pierced her heart, but she still trod on, driven forward almost against her own will. In the dark, she felt a presence, like eyes keeping track of her as she advanced. She forced her way through, trying to ignore the horrid feeling of despair that permeated the place."

"Eventually, she bumped into something hard. She cursed, having thought that she'd hit the cave wall. She muttered that she'd give anything for some light. As if on demand, a small flame licked into life beside her.

Gravil trembled in anger, knowing what was about to come.

"Renka shrieked, and turned to face the light. The small flame was burning, casting out the shadows in its small puddle of influence. However, it was not the light that she noticed, but its holder.It burned in the palm of a being that never should have existed. The Cri-Es grinned at her, baring its teeth".

"She, naturally, was horrified, but the beast began working its insidious power almost immediately. It welcomed her, and thanked her for answering its call. She was confused - who was this, and what did he want with her? More importantly, where was her mother? Where was Mabin? The spirit laughed, and told her what she wished to know. He was but an interested observer, who wished her no harm. It was his next piece of news that mattered more to her, however. Mabin was gone".

Spike piped up. "Ooh, she can't have liked that."

Gravil ignored the young dragon's comment in favour of continuing the story.

"Renka's blood froze. It couldn't be true. Mabin couldn't be dead. Who or what could be strong enough to slay her? She called the spirit a liar, and demanded he take her to her mother. The Cri-Es chuckled, its tone mocking her even as its words tried to soothe her. He would take her to Mabin, but it warned that she might not like what she saw."

"The flame in its palm grew brighter, illuminating the entire cave. As the shadows were cast away, a terrible sight was revealed. In the dark Renka thought that she had bumped into the wall, but she had not. Standing before her was her mother's form, turned to stone, a horrific grimace etched onto her features."

Spike could only imagine the distressed dragon's reaction, and it scared him.

Gravil felt wearied, but he knew he had to finish this part of the story.

"Understandably, Renka was filled with horror. She recognised her mother immediately - everything about it matched. The scales, the horns - even the patches where her mother's scales had fallen out from overwork. But the look on her face! It was this which horrified the dragon-daughter the most. Her mother had clearly been in a lot of pain when she died - she did not look the least bit at peace."

"She turned to the demon and said "What have you done to my mother?"

Spike couldn't contain himself any longer. "What happened? Who did that to Mabin? Was it the demon?"

Gravil sighed. "Please, My Lord, I will answer all of your questions in time. If you will just have patience..."

Spike nodded.

Gravil gathered his thoughts and went on. "Right, I suppose I ought to hurry things on. The demon told Renka that he was innocent, that he had done nothing to Mabin whatsoever. With wordplay most insidious he began to tell his tale. He proclaimed that Mabin and He were friends, of a sort. He told Renka of the accident that had occurred before her birth, of how she as an egg had been stolen away from Mabin's clutch. He told her also that he had aided Mabin in her hour of need, how he had returned Renka's egg to her mother. "

The wyrm snorted derisively.

"He of course neglected to mention of the bargain he had manipulated her into agreeing to. Treacherous ba..."

He caught himself before the last word.

"Ah, but we must not allow ourselves to be distracted. The point is, the demon spoke to her. It tried to convince her that it cared about her, and in a way that is correct. It did care about her, but not as a person, not as a living, feeling Child of Olni! It wanted to use her, and you shall soon see why. "

"It claimed that it had become worried about Mabin after she had failed to contact it at some pre-arranged time, and had investigated the cave out of care for her. It claimed to have found her already here, arguing with a dragon wearing a circlet.
Renka was stunned - a circlet is the sign of a Prince, you see."

"It claimed to have stood in hiding, and watched the two argue about something he did not understand. He claimed that the argument had become more heated, and that the two came to blows. Mabin was more than his match, but when she attacked there was a flash of light. When it receded, Mabin had become stone, and the Prince had fled."

Spike piped up again. "Is that what really happened?"

Gravil snorted again. "Of course not! Nothing but lies and balderdash, meant to trick Renka into believing it. However, what is important is that Renka did believe it. She also believed it when it said that it had sent a call to her in the night, that she had heard in her dreams - these had been the nightmares. She questioned why the call had to be sent so indirectly, but it countered, saying that she had arrived nonetheless."

"What it said next is an example of its insidious power, and why it is so dangerous. It latches onto your fears, your desires, convinces you that you and it want the same thing. This was why, when the demon told Renka that Galdor's son had killed her mother, she believed him. She hated the Prince. Of course, the Prince was innocent (of that crime at least), but Renka could imagine him being responsible. In her mind, her mother was good and the Prince was evil - thus, him killing her made a twisted kind of sense. Unfortunately for us, that is enough for the demon."

"The demon spent the night talking to her, worming its way deeper into her trust with every word. At dawn, the demon asked her one final question - what would she do for revenge? Having spent the whole night stoking the flames of anger inside her, the demon knew what her answer would be. "Anything". It was with a grin that it extended its offer."

The wyrm paused suddenly, and turned to face Spike directly (as opposed to his previous pose, which had made him look as if he was speaking to the ceiling).

"Did I explain to you how a Cri-Es bargain works, My Lord?"

Spike thought back. "Not really. I mean, I get that they're supposed to be bad, and all, but..."

Gravil took another deep breath and prepared to explain.

"Very well. A Cri-Es bargain is simple at heart. It gives you something, and in exchange you give it your word."

That felt odd to Spike. "A promise? That's it?"

Gravil shook his head. "I'm afraid it is not quite as problem-free as it sounds, My Lord. Not a promise, but your word. Break a promise, and there may be reprecussions. Break your word, and there will be reprecussions. In effect, you are giving the demon the right to demand something of you. The offer presented to Renka was simple. The prize: the power to take revenge. The price: That she turn her back on Olni, and never again bear witness to the light of the sun."
*****************************************************************************************

A knock on the door startled the purple unicorn. Twilight had been buried so deeply in the ancient tome the Princess had given her that the unexpected noise made her rear backwards. This, in turn, upset the chair she'd been sitting on, causing it to fall over. Thankfully Carousel's floors were well padded.

The knock came again, more urgently this time. Twilight instinctively thought about asking Spike to do it, before her logic centers kicked back in again and she remembered that that was impossible. Her heart sank a little. She had been burying herself in research, trying to distract herself from her feelings about what had happened. Thus it was only now that she was beginning to truly appreciate just how much she leaned on the little dragon for support.

The knock came a third time, the door shaking noticeably with the force of impact.

"Alright, already! I'm coming!" Twilight yelled out.

She opened the door, revealing Rainbow Dash standing there with a worried look on her face.

"Twilight. We need to talk."

******************************************************************************************
Twilight blinked again, just to make sure she wasn't imagining this.

"So, let me get this straight. You were flying over the Everfree Forest..."

Rainbow nodded.

"And you found a staff that looked like a snake..."

Rainbow nodded a second time.

"Which you tried to bring back to Ponyville..."

Another nod.

"But it came to life and almost bit you."

Rainbow Dash nodded one more time. "Yeah, that about covers it".

Twilight mulled over the words. A staff coming to life? Come-to-Life spells were hardly impossible, but they were normally used for locomotion. She'd never heard of them being applied like that, nor was she sure if they could. At the least, it would require an awful lot of spells, each one tailored to a different movement...

Rainbow interrupted her train of thought. "Yeah, well, I'm not sure how important it is, but I just felt like I needed to tell someone. After all, I'm pretty sure I found it in the same clearing that I found that creep last time."

These words confirmed what Twilight had been thinking. She'd been trying to convince herself it was just coincedence, but now that looked too unlikely. The staff Rainbow had found was almost certainly the same one Gra-Vil had attacked her with that night.

Eventually, Twilight spoke again.

"Well, thanks anyway Rainbow. We don't know that it'll be useful, but we can't afford to ignore any possible evidence."

Rainbow nodded.

"Okay. Well, now that you know, I've got somewhere to be. So...bye!"

With that, she turned away and took off.

Twilight shook her head. They didn't always understand each other, but she was still glad to have Rainbow Dash as a friend. Her mind turned to the news the pegasus had brought. She sighed, as tiredness started to catch up with her. The bed looked so inviting...

She shook her head. There wasn't time. She had one last letter to write. Sleep could come later.

She unrolled a scroll, drew a quill, and dipped it into the inkpot.

Dear Princess Celestia...

Five - Realisation

Celestia blinked. The letter was still there. A tiny, irrational part of her had feared it would vanish if she took her eyes off of it, but she knew that wasn't true. She read over it again, poring over each word.

Eventually, the small fear that it would go away died altogether. Her heart had sank when she had read her student's first letter, but this one made her feel different. On one hoof, it meant that the threat Twilight had informed her of was, in fact, Gravil. She'd hoped against hope that it was someone else, but this letter banished that possibility.

On the other hoof, it brought hope as well. She knew little enough about Draconic Rituals, but she did know that Gravil would need that staff to bring his plans to fruition. If they could prevent him from regaining it, a siege and much bloodshed could be averted. If not...

She hoped it would not come to that. She would not let all of this be for nothing. Anger built up inside her as she remembered. Ending the Reign of Discord, settling an uneasy peace with the Griffon tribes, waiting a thousand long years for Luna to return...

She remembered all the ponies that had passed their lives under her gaze. She remembered their smiles and their troubles, the ways they survived and grew, the ways they had died. So many ponies. So many people. So much life.

It would not be wiped away by one wyrm's folly.

She regained composure with the practised ease of somepony who had done it every day for a thousand years. Her horn glowed slightly as she took a quill, dipped it in ink, and prepared to write.

*************************************************************************

Celestia trotted slowly towards the door. It was six feet tall, made of stone, with a crescent moon engraved onto its surface, shining as polished silver.

She didn't like the thought of what she was about to do. She dearly hoped it would prove unnecessary. But succesfully ruling a country by oneself for a thousand years does not teach one to take chances. There was every chance that plan A might fail, and if it did, they would need something to fall back on. Luna was the only one who could give them that.

*************************************************************************

The Moon Princess was distracted. The day was almost over, and soon she'd have to raise the moon again. That wasn't so bad: after all, it was what she'd been born to do. Even so, spending a millennium without practice would leave anypony rusty.

Nervousness rose up inside her as the sun inched lower, slowly falling toward the lip of the horizon. She shook her head. She had to calm down, for her own sake. At least, that was what her sister always said.

There was still a little while left before the sun set. She paced around the circular carpet in the middle of the floor, casting glances over her shoulder every few minutes to check if the sun was any lower.

Eventually it grew too much. She stopped pacing and snorted in frustration. Why was this so nerve-wracking? She'd raised the moon a couple of times since her return! Experience should be starting to kick in, starting to make it easier. Yet it was not. Why did tonight, of all nights, fill her with so much dread?

There was a knock on the door.

"Luna? Luna, it's me".

The sudden noise starlted her. Sis? She trotted to the door and opened it.

Her sister stared down at her, a grim expression on her face.

"Sis, I told you already! I can handle the moonrise by myself! I-"

The white alicorn shook her head.

"I know that, Luna. That's not why I'm here."

Worry rose its head again, filling Luna with dread. Celestia seemed very dour, and that never meant good news.

*************************************************************************

Luna's blood froze.

"S-sis...this...this is a joke, isn't it?"

Celestia shook her head.

"I would never joke about something like this, Luna. I'm afraid it's true. He's returned".

Something snapped inside Luna.

"That's impossible! He threw himself off a cliff! Even if he could have survived that, how could he have been in any state to plan all of this?"

Celestia shook her head again.

"I don't know, Luna. I didn't believe it at first either. That's why I didn't do more. That's why I didn't tell you. I didn't want to dredge up all of those awful memories unless there was no other choice."

Luna quivered as those memories came back. They were the least welcome set of memories she possessed. So long ago...Before envy had overwhelmed her, but after the terror that had been Discord. They had come from the forest...

Luna shuddered. "I really don't want to remember..."

Celestia leaned it close to her sister, trying to comfort her.

"I know. Those were desperate times. But we did what we had to do."

Luna looked up at her sister, worry etched on her face.

"B-but...I thought they were over!They can't come back, they- they just can't!"

Celestia's face grew even more grim.

"I don't want this either, Luna. And believe me, I'm going to do my utmost to avert it. I'm sending a search party at the break of dawn tomorrow, and if we can find that Staff before Gravil does, we will be able to avert it. But the point is that we can't guarantee that, and we need a backup plan to prevent further suffering."

Luna recognised that tone of voice. It was the I'm-your-big-sister-I-know-what's-best-for-you tone, the one it was pointless to argue with.

Luna gazed despondently at her sister. In Celestia's eyes she saw a deep sorrow, and behind that a will of iron. She loved Tia. She knew that Tia would never want her to suffer. Luna trusted her sister greatly, but she was still asking for a lot.

Celestia spoke again, her tone softer this time.

"I just want to know that I can count on you when the time comes."

Those words provoked something inside Luna. Celestia needed her. Her sister was relying on her. Her love for her sister flared up inside her, filling her with determination. If there was some way she could help Tia, then she was going to go through with it.

"Alright. I don't like it, but...if it comes to it, I'll fight."

Celestia nodded, a smile of relief on her face. It was good to know where Luna stood.

The white alicorn turned to the window. Her horn glowed with golden light, and the last bit of the golden eye in the sky finally set.

"Now, Luna, I believe you have something to do."

Luna nodded.

"Yes. Of course."

As the silver sphere climbed into the sky, Luna's emotions boiled away to reveal a powerful resolve. They would put an end to this. There would not be another war.

****************************************

The moon rose silently over the Everfree Forest.

The staff's eyes were blind, but it did not need them.

The Runes on its shaft emitted a soft red light, infusing it with life and allowing it to move.

Its body writhed as it slipped into the undergrowth, through leaf-mulch and over tree roots.

It knew where it was going. Even without sight it knew where it needed to be, drawn to it in the same way that a raindrop is drawn to the ground.

The wyrm.

The wyrm lay to the East.

The staff began to writhe again, its direction decided upon.

*************************************************************************

Spike stared at Gravil, still enraptured by the tale.

The purple dragon spoke what was on his mind.

"Does that mean she was, like, a vampire?"

The old wyrm stared at him in puzzlement.

"My Lord? I am afraid that I have never heard tell of such a creature."

For once, the roles were reversed, with Spike as storyteller and Gravil as enthralled listener.

The old wyrm had heard many stories in his life, but these tales of fanged creatures burned by sunlight had never reached him before.

After Spike had finished talking, Gravil sank into contemplation.

"My Lord, I..."

The way the wyrm had suddenly stopped talking made Spike curious.

"You what?"

Gravil shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Ah, please forgive me. I was merely thinking about all of this. You see, whilst I have never heard of these...creatures you speak of, the stories are actually quite similar. Renka was not made into exactly the same sort of creature, but there are resemblances. Perhaps the stories you tell might even stem from the legend! Fascinating..."

Gravil caught himself right before launching off into deep thought.

"Ah, but that is for another time. Right now, we need to soldier on with the story. Assuming that you are not tired of it, My Lord..."

Spike nodded.

"Not tired yet."

The old wyrm smiled.

"Then let us begin."

*************************************************************************

Gravil threw his hands into the air, a wild gesture that made him look faintly ridiculous.

Even so, his passion was such that Spike was too busy listening to take notice of that.

"Twisted by the demon's words, Renka agreed with it. She set her heart in stone, firmly fixed on revenge. She sealed the cave entrance, and waited for night to fall before leaving. Of course, the King was worried about Renka, and search parties were sent to find her. The wyverns flew high and low, scouring every nook and cranny within fifty miles of Anbel, but never did they find a trace of her."

"While she hid, she studied. The demon had much to teach her, things that only she could learn. Dragons, you see, are not capable of manipulating the primal force that is magic. Olni birthed us blind to it, and with good reason, as you will see later. Renka, however, had been..."

Gravil shuddered before whispering the next word.

"...touched. The demon had changed her when she was still an egg - you remember that part from earlier, don't you, My Lord?".

Spike nodded, but motioned for him to go on.

"This...change removed her natural resistance to magic. She found that she could feel it, just as one feels the touch of the wind or the sunlight - invisible, but undeniably present. The demon simply taught her many ways of harnessing this power."

"Days became months became years, and still no trace of Renka was found. Most of the residents of Anbel showed only a token sadness - most of them were glad that they no longer had to share their possessions with a Wilder. Galdor, however, felt genuine sorrow. Though he was not blamed for it (it was hardly his fault that Renka had been afflicted the way she was), he still felt as if he had failed to uphold his Oath to Mabin. Whilst Renka was not his daughter by blood, he had still come to care for her over the last eighteen years, and her sudden loss hit him hard. This did nothing to aid his flagging health - Galdor was old, even for a dragon, and it was beginning to show. Seven hundred and sixty-six years will wear down even Olni's proudest sons".

The wyrm kept speaking, his voice powerful enough to carry to the vaulted roof, the smooth stones bouncing back quiet echoes moments after the words left his mouth.

"Many in Anbel began to give serious thought to the succession - after all, this was to be the first coronation since Olni's departure seven hundred and fifty years ago, so no-one was quite sure what would happen. However, it seemed likely that Galdor's elder son would inherit the throne: he, you remember, was the same one that Renka despised. There was a younger son also, but the elder son was older, more confident, and more capable (or so it was believed). This was doubly important, beacuse a King, you see, is not only the ruler of the people. As Olni's appointed steward, he is also responsible for the wellbeing of the land. You see, as the land existed before Olni, but was only made rich and abundant by his influence, so too is the King charged with a connection to it. We believe that if the King is strong and righteous, and upholds Olni's Law, the land will respond with abundance and fertility. A King who cannot or willl not rule properly will produce a barren, wild land filled with sorrow. Thus it was naturally assumed that Galdor's eldest would become King".

"Every year, Galdor would grow more wizened, and his age more apparent. His scales began to grey, and his wings began to sag. Still, he was not yet ready to give up the throne. It is written that he responded to questions of when the succession would take place with "When Olni commands it, and not a moment before". This was just as well, for there were still many issues in which his wisdom was needed. Almost every year Galdor's eldest son would approach him, asking that Renka be declared Dra-Shin."

As the words entered Spike's ears, they untangled themselves, presenting themselves to him as Flamedead.

Spike piped up. "Flamedead? What's that mean?"

Gravil was surprised to hear the Prince translate the phrase so easily. The Blessing must be more powerful than he'd thought if it could translate aurally as well!

"Ah, well, yes- that translation is sufficient, but..."

The wyrm sighed and prepared to explain.

"You see, My Lord, to declare someone Dra-Shin is not done lightly. It literally states that the Flame of Olni is dead in you, that you are no longer one of his Children, and by extension that you no longer have the right to live amongst his children. It states that even though you may have the form of a dragon, you are not truly a dragon - or a wyrm, wyvern, et cetera. You are considered a beast of the wild, doomed never to return to Olni after death."

"As you can imagine, this is a severe punishment indeed, usually reserved only for traitors. The punishment and process is detailed in the Law Of Olni, but has rarely been put to use. The Prince wanted Renka declared Dra-Shin so that he would not have to admit to having shared a House with a Wilder - if the punishment was declared, he could claim that there never was a Dragon named Renka, only a Deadflame. This was undoubtedly excessive, but the Prince was proud, and this was fiercely important to him. He wanted to erase any hint of the dragon that had "invaded" his home."

"Every year The Prince asked his Father, and every year his Father refused. Galdor was shocked at his son's vindictiveness. He pointed out that Renka was their ward, protected by the King's own word.For the King to break his word would prove him untrustworthy, and surely earn the Dragonfather's ire. Yet the Prince would not be shamed. In the clutches of adolescent defiance, and with most of Anbel secretly backing him, he never once thought of his demand as unreasonable or unjust. Galdor refused him every time, but every year the Prince grew stronger and Galdor grew frailer. Eventually, many within Anbel came to believe that the Prince should be granted his request in honour of his sheer persistence."

Gravil took a deep breath before continuing.

"Thirty years passed, and eventually the day came. Galdor had lost hope of Renka's return. He tried to ignore it, to think of his duty first and foremost, tried to drown his sorrow in responsibility. Then, at the feast of Olnija, in the year 1547 AO, Galdor performed an act that the Court had been waiting decades for him to perform. At Olnija, it is the King's role to stand on the mountaintop and roar to the Sun, to greet Olni's gift as it reaches its peak. That year, Galdor deferred this task to his eldest son - effectively making him King then and there."

"Galdor's son swelled with pride, a grin evident on his face even as he rose to the mountaintop, wings beating against the glorious light. He perched on the mountain-top, poised to greet the Sun."

Gravil shuddered involuntarily, knowing what was to come next.

"However, as the Sun inched closer to its apex, there was a crack like thunder. The gathered crowd gasped, for the sky was utterly clear, without a single wisp of cloud above. That changed quickly. Before the eyes of all, the skies began to churn, the air weaving together to form ominous black clouds where none had been mere minutes before. The sky filled with the floating shrouds, as even the sun was obscured".

"There was great consternation at this omen - had Olni turned his gaze from the Prince? Was this a rejection of the Royal Line? In his mind, Galdor wondered if he was being punished for breaking his oath. The truth, however, was soon to reveal itself. The Prince, still perched upon the summit, gazed upwards at the roiling sky, and was the first to see it, though the crowd was not long behind. On the clouded horizon, a shadow appeared, growing larger with each passing second. It came towards them, taking the shape of a dragon on the wing. Everyone watched in awe, as it swooped low, toward the Prince."

Spike's hand shot up.

"Was it-"

Gravil motioned for silence, and the purple dragon complied.

The wyrm went on, not breaking his storytelling stride for a moment.

"The dragon stopped and hovered a few feet in front of the Prince. There were gasps from the crowd, and the Prince himself stood stock-still with horror. Her scales were different, colored the pale white natural only to sun-bleached bones. Her wings were larger, her body covered in strange blue markings, swirling sigils and geometric patterns that none recognised. Yet in spite of all this, there was no mistaking her. Everyone knew who she was, some by experience and some only by word of mouth. Yet all knew that Renka had come again."

"The Prince remained fixed in place, either unable or unwilling to move. He remained like this until Renka was so close that they could gaze into each other's eyes. Renka fixed him with a fierce glare, and whispered "The time is come, fool". At last the Prince broke from his stupor, eyes wide in indignation. He roared at her, asking why she felt the need to plague him so. She sneered, and spoke again, saying "What is pride, measured against life? He roared in anger, demanding that she cease her mockery of the King. She responded that while she felt loyalty toward the King, she felt no shame in harming a fool."

"The Prince roared, his defiant pride seizing control of him. He pushed himself forward, launching upwards at the taunting spectre that hung above him. That was what she had been waiting for. With a deftness of wing even a wyvern Fleetwing would envy, she darted to his side, causing him to rush past her. She turned, and landed on top of his back. She struck his hide with her claws, managing to draw blood. The Prince cried out, but not for long. The sigils engraved onto her scales began to glow, with unwordly blue light. In the last few seconds of consciousness, the Prince just had time to notice that the life was being sucked from him, before the blackness came."

Gravil stopped, taking a deep breath. Telling this story made his muscles tense with anger, his mind fill with the desire to make amends. Before long, he went on.

"The Prince's flesh turned to lifeless stone and crashed to the the ground. Pieces of his wings broke off and fell onto the unbelieving crowd below. A small band of wyrms, too slow to dodge the statue, were crushed to death beneath their king-that-never-was."

"Of course, the crowd could hardly believe their eyes, but like the Prince they were frozen in awe, not wanting to react. At last, it was Galdor who broke the stillness. Galdor moved his ancient frame across the plateau, the crowd parting to let him pass. He felt as if his blood had turned to ice. He stood over the broken remains of his son, not wanting to believe."

"He remained perfectly still for several seconds, that seemed to drag for hours. Tears fell freely for the first time in decades.
At last, he roared, and his voice was full of anguish and rage. He left his son's remains, lying on the ground, and turned to face his killer. He drew himself up to his full height, kingship and authority making even his aged form seem awestriking. He roared to the dragon that now perched on the mountaintop."

As Gravil spoke, his voice filled with passion, force enough that the scene came alive in Spike's mind.
************************************************

"Renka! What have you DONE?"

"Nothing, My Lord, but what is right."

The Dragon King roared.

"How in Olni's name can you claim justice? You have murdered your kin! You have murdered your King! You have murdered my son!"

Renka hissed, a low sound that set the scales of everyone in the crowd on edge.

"Only the last of those statements is true."

Galdor roared again, and spoke, his voice filled indignation.

"Renka! How...? I took you in! I raised you as my own!"

The white dragon's expression twisted in hate, the look of indignation that comes only to those whose suffering has just been mocked.

She spoke out, this time in a voice terrible and booming, like the thunder itself.

"Aye, that you did - and you put me in a prison with that monster!"

All present gasped and reeled, not understanding this accusation.

Galdor was too stunned to respond before Renka went on.

"But at last, justice is done! Is it not written - an eye shall be the price of an eye? And now, love is taken for love! You took my mother, and I have taken your son."

************************************************

Spike's mouth hung open in awe, just imagining what Galdor must have felt. Gravil seemed to have paused for breath, so Spike decided now would be a good time to ask a question.

"What happened next? Did they catch her? Was there a fight? I'll bet it was all bam, pow..."

The purple dragon began to thrust his fists into the air, fighting imaginary enemies, complete with sound-effects.

Gravil chortled. Oh, the levity of youth...

"Well, My Lord, it was not quite as exciting as that, i'm afraid. Renka took to the air again, her task apparently accomplished. In the heat of the moment, several Lords took to the air in pursuit, but as they gave chase the winds themselves barred their way, pushing them backwards, giving Her enough time to escape."

"Needless to say, there was chaos in the court as anyone and everyone voiced their opinion on what should be done. Galdor retired to his own chamber and attempted to come to terms with what had just happened. For four days and four nights did he hide, not appearing even to calm the fears of the court. Panic continued to rise until the dawn of the fifth day, when the King at last emerged, his face the grim mask of one who has just made a very hard decision. The Lords of the whole realm assembled beneath the high eaves of Anbel, to hear the King's decision."

"He announced that a new enemy had appeared to threaten An-Bel. That one of the Dra-Shin had come to destroy Olni's lineage, and that they would be stopped at any cost. As the order was given, every Lord returned to their own Hold to muster the force that Galdor had requested. A vast number of things had to be done that day, but one caused Galdor more heartache than any other. On that day, Renka's name was finally stricken from the record of living dragons".

************************************************

Twilight just didn't understand it. She'd wanted something to change the situation for the last few days, but now that it actually had, she wasn't sure if she liked it.

She checked the register one last time to make sure that everypony supposed to be there was, in fact, there.

"Cloud Chaser...check...
Wispy Winds...check...
Steel Shield...check..."

She checked off name after name, each in order, as the search party was assembled.

There were a full threescore equines in the party, not counting herself of course.

She'd looked over the instructions the Princess had given her, and understood her role in the plan. She just hoped it would work.

They were to scour the forest, keeping in groups of twelve. Each group had four earth ponies, four pegasi, and four unicorns, designed to be able to respond effectively to threats of any sort.

She sighed. She'd been at this for the past three hours, and it still wasn't finished. Still, she couldn't very well give up - Spike was depending on this search, and this search was depending on her.

She put her head down, and returned to writing.

Moments later, the cyan pegasus landed next to her and broke her concentration.

The pegasus spoke.

"Uh, hey, Twilight? Are we gonna get goin' any time soon?"

Twilght sighed again. Tolerating Rainbow Dash wasn't always easy.

"Look, Rainbow, I told you five minutes ago. We're almost done. Unless you let me get on with it, I'll be telling you the same thing five minutes from now!"

The pegasus sighed.

"Right, right. I guess I'll just try to find something to do while we're waiting."

Rainbow Dash floated off towards the treeline. Twilight sighed again. She was doing that a lot recently, but then again she did have a lot to get off of her chest. She decided to just forget about it and get on with her work.

************************************************

Rainbow did have something in mind, actually.

She spiralled over the heads of the assembling ponies, as they milled around beneath her. She wasn't interested in them. She was looking for one mare in particular.

Rainbow caught sight of her at last. The one she was looking for was wandering uncertainly, evidently feeling ostracised by the other ponies. That wasn't unusual - after all, they were soldiers, and she just a farmer.

Rainbow landed beside Applejack. The orange mare turned to her, glad to finally see a familiar face.

"Rainbow! I've been lookin' for you!"

"Uh, hey AJ. I've just been a bit...distracted."

Applejack frowned.

"I'll say. You've been ignorin' everpony who's tried ta talk to ya for the past few days. What's gotten into ya?"

The pegasus forced a smile. She couldn't bring herself to admit it, but the events of the last few days had really shaken her.

"It's nothin'. Really."

Applejack frowned again. She didn't look like she believed a word of it.

Even so, she kept her reservations to herself. Eventually she decided to change the subject.

"Anyway, it's good to see somepony who'll talk straight to me.

She shot an angry glare at one of the guard ponies milling around her, who returned it.

"Ah swear, they're treatin' me like I was a three-eyed rattlesnake!"

Rainbow smiled for real this time. She'd never heard that one before.

"They're probably just awestruck by being in the company of the Heroes of Equestria".

Applejack snorted.

"If that's true, I am a three-eyed rattlesnake".

Rainbow grinned again. Her problems seemed further away when she was talking to somepony else.

"I dunno, AJ. If they don't like us, that's their problem. Point is, they're still gonna help us find Spike, like it or not. That's enough, isn't it?"

The orange mare sighed.

"Yeah, I suppose. I jus' wanna get this thing over with so we can forget about it. Ah mean, have you seen how stressed Twilight looked last time? If this goes on much longer she'll worry herself sick."

Something else occurred to Rainbow.

"Not to mention what might happen to Spike..."

A flicker of guilt crossed AJ's face, as if she'd just now realised that she'd forgotten someone.

"Well, of course, but there's only so much we can do. Ah mean, we can only hope-"

Rainbow cut her friend off with an impatient hoof-stamp.

"Look, it's okay, AJ. Just because you forgot about someone once doesn't make you a bad pony."

A relieved look crossed the earth pony's face.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Rainbow."

The pegasus smiled.

The moment was broken by the noise of several dozen sets of hooves pounding the ground. Twilight had finally finished the preparations, and the party was about to move off.

Rainbow said one last thing to her friend.

"I've gotta go. I'll be joining the other Pegasi to sweep the area. Stay safe, 'kay?"

It was Applejack's turn to smile.

"You too, ya hear? Don't do anything reckless, okay?"

Rainbow grinned one last time.

"No promises."

Applejack sighed. That was Rainbow, all right.

She followed the cyan pegasus with her eyes for a few moments, before she flew out of sight.

She turned around. The group was moving and she didn't plan on being left behind.

The six groups marched east, into the rising sun.

Six - Rememberance

The staff turned towards the sky. It noticed something. The Runes on its side pulsed as it recognised the light in the heavens.

The great light, that which brought the warm time. It knew nothing of brightness, so did not attribute that to it. Something resembling a feeling flicked through it. An emotion, one of the only things retained from before. A feeling of strength, of belonging. It had stood side-by-side with others, underneath that light...had it? The feeling passed as swiftly as it had come, and the moment of high thought was forgotten. The Runes re-asserted their power, and repeated the instructions that were to be followed.

It turned its blind eyes away from the sky, and resumed its journey.

*************************************************************************
Gravil sighed.

The Prince had been buzzing with energy, keeping him up all night with questions about the minutae of the stories. It had only been a few days since the last renewal, yet he felt tired already. That concerned him vaguely - normally it lasted several weeks before anything even approaching weariness affected him. Could the Runes be weakening? Possible, but unlikely - those Runes had been carven to last, and thanks to their being inside Anbel they hadn't seen much in the way of weathering. He found himself sighing again. Perhaps caring for children was simply much more difficult than he had imagined?

He shook his head. It didn't matter much either way. Even if the Runes were weakening, they'd last until noon tomorrow. After that, his survival meant nothing.

He paced the halls as he thought. He liked doing that. His mind always seemed to work more clearly when he was walking, as if mind and body were wheels connected in some great mechanism. Now that he thought about it, that wasn't a bad allegory. One wheel turned another, the body turns the mind...

His musings were interrupted as he walked into the wall. At such slow speeds that couldn't hurt him, but his concentration was certainly broken.

"Ergh. Stupid. Need to be more..."

He trailed off, his ramblings dying quickly with no-one to address. He shook his head, and tried to remember the last thing he'd been thinking about. It was then that it occurred to him.

"Perhaps caring for children was more difficult than he imagined".

It was this sentence that caught his attention. Child-rearing. One idea led to another, thoughts spiralling outwards from that first point in a web of possibilities. He instinctively began to pace again, as his mind worked itself back up to full running speed. An idea formed in his head. It wasn't part of the plan, but that didn't matter. He had the time, it could be done. After all, why win a war if you forget why you fought it?

He spent the next few minutes treading down winding corridors, claws leaving tiny scratches in the colored stones of the floor. The room he was looking for was nested in the middle of a winding maze of corridors, to discourage unwanted intruders from accessing it, but this was not a problem for him. He had walked this path thousands of times, even before the war. He cracked a smile as his eyes fell upon the muted green of the door. Copper didn't age like any other metal.

He muttered the words.

"Lac En Lin I Vil-Da Den Olni"

Speaking those familiar words eased his mind. The door swung inwards, a soft "click" the only signal that the lock had drawn back. He stepped forward, into the darkness.

He called out.

"Lin!"

Nothing happened.

He tried again.

"Lin!"

Still no response. Obviously the Light-Runes had been damaged somehow.
Just as he was about to speak again, there came a slight flicker.
A shape that looked vaguely like a serpent lit up in soft blue, before dying out a moment later.

Evidently they weren't quite dead after all. He drew a deep breath, and tried calling one last time.

"LIN!"

At that, the room burst into light, the Runes decorating every wall throwing their rays onto the stones.

He stood and stared, momentarily awed by the sight. It wasn't the type of awe one felt when seeing something grand for the first time - it was the sort that comes from seeing something for the thousandth time and still appreciating it.

He recognised it. After so many years, it was unchanged. The depressions in the ground were filled with the dust of the last fires lit there, and the floors were still strewn with fragments of eggshell. His elevated mood sank back down, however, when he saw that the bones were still there.

He sighed. Even in this place peace could not be found. The sight of bones returned a memory to him. He quivered with rage as he remembered: The mumbled words of worried broodmothers, the high-pitched shrieks of frightened hatchlings, and above it all, rumbling like thunder, the sound of terrible, iron-shod hooves.

His gaze fell upon the remains of what had probably been one of the unfortunate matrons. All that was left was a skull - well, half of a skull, as one side of it had crumbled to pieces over the years. Beneath the skull was a pile of dust and rags - that had probably been the rest of her. Bone fragments

Why had it happened? He found himself asking that question, even though he knew the answer.
He clenched his teeth in hate. It had happened because of the anger of one woman.

Renka...no, that which had once been Renka had done many heinous things after becoming Pan-Gor, but it was this act that truly cemented her status as an irredeemable enemy of Olni. Attacking a hatchery....

He shook his head. He couldn't allow emotion to overpower him. Not again. He summoned up his willpower, and quashed his hate, bottling it deep within him for later use.

He sighed. Now he felt even more tired. Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea...

There was still one thing he wanted to do, though. He paced across the stones, careful not to disturb any bones. They deserved their rest.

He climbed down into one of the pits, and sat down. The ashes smirched his robe, but he didn't care. Vague, warm memories of belonging washed over him. He couldn't remember anything in particular that had happened here - they had been forced out by the other memories he had accumulated through the long years.

He stared upwards, at the glowing blue symbol etched onto the ceiling. It was one of the more complex ones, a coiling, winged serpent circling an orb, arms outstretched, holding the sun in its arms like a mother would a child. Olni. That one was hell to carve, difficult as it was to make curved lines on stone. Still, no pain would be spared - for who could ask the Dragonfather to work for them, when they would not work for Him?

As he gazed upon the icon, a memory returned to him, bursting through the others that had buried it. It surged through him, an electric feeling that surged with life. He closed his eyes and sank into it.

*************************************************************************

"Gravil, look at me when I'm talking to you!"

He turned away from the ceiling reluctantly, unwilling to avert his gaze from its beauty.

"Gravil, if you keep ignoring me, I will have to..."

He snapped to attention.

"Yes, Mother?"

The grey-scaled matriarch stared at him disapprovingly.

"It's time for rest, Gravil. Settle down."

He frowned. Sleep was the last thing he wanted now.

"But, Mother, I'm not tired!"

The matriarch fixed him with a glare so cold it could probably have frozen water.

"I said, it's time for rest, Gravil".

He complied swiftly.

He headed to the sleeping-quarters, not wanting to get into trouble. He still remembered the last time that had happened, and a week without food was not an experience he wished to repeat.

As he settled down on the stone sleeping-bench, he cast his gaze around the room. Two broodmothers were stoking the fire-pit, whilst the other three were herding the children off to sleep. He felt a twinge of envy for the eggs kept beside the fire - they were warm, at least.

He stared at the ceiling again. He couldn't see the wonderful symbol properly from this position - the benches were located around the edges of the room, and Olni's glyph was at the exact centre. There were others - runes that depicted the various spirits that did Olni's will, but they were nowhere near as beautiful.

The manic energy that powers the young seemed to seep out of him as he thought about that Rune. Would he ever feel that way - knowing that you'd made something that caused people to gasp in amazement? His thoughts seeped away as tiredness washed over him, and he began to close his eyes...

He felt someone prod him in the shoulder. His eyelids swung open lethargically. Above him stood something that he recognised, although it took him several seconds to realise what was happening.

"Serin? What are you-"

She put a blue-scaled finger to her mouth and hissed for silence.

"Quiet!"

He swung himself to a sitting position, and rubbed his sore head.

She sat down beside him, not saying a word.

He whispered to her.

"You know this isn't allowed, don't you?"

She whispered back.

"What, you mean... mixing?"

She pronounced the last word in mock horror. He couldn't surpress a chuckle.

"What's that, your impression of Meres?"

"Mother Meres" she replied, relishing the chance to mock her elders.

"You're impossible, Serin."

She smirked as she turned to him.

"And you're insufferable, you cranky old wyrm".

He hated when people brought that up.

"I'm a month younger than you! I can't change the fact that some Broodmother decided to have fun naming me!"

She smirked again.

"Grey-scale" she taunted.

He sighed. She was always like this. In spite of everything, he still enjoyed their discussions, if you could call a slander-match a discussion.

He looked up at the ceiling, as he always found himself doing when he didn't have anything else in particular to do.

It reminded him of something. It was only a month away, now. He still wasn't sure what he would choose. How did you make a choice like that?

Serin seemed to sense his discomfort.

"You worried about something?"

He nodded.

"Is it about the Determination?"

He nodded again. He was glad she'd said it instead of him.

"Come on, Gravil, it's not that bad. It gives you a real feeling of..."

She paused, trying to find exactly the right word.

"...purpose, I guess. You know where you're meant to be".

He sighed.

"Yes, I know that, but it's just..."

He knew what he wanted to say, but his mouth refused to work.

He wanted to say that it scared him, that he didn't know if he wanted to proclaim himself a carver, or a soldier, or a digger, and have that be set in stone for his whole life. He wanted to say that he was afraid of leaving the hatchery, that the world outside was unfamiliar and full of danger, that he'd rather not face it.

Yet his mouth refused to open.

Serin sighed.

"You're making a mountain from a molehill, Gravil."

There was a noise from across the room, the sound of someone stirring in their sleep.

Serin froze, for fear of discovery. Thankfully the noise passed, and whomever had made it went back to their slumber.

"Listen, Gravil, I'd better get back to my own bed. Stop worrying, okay?"

She stood up and tiptoed carefully around the sleeping wyrms.

She was probably right, he thought to himself. It wouldn't be so bad.

He sighed, letting out the tension as sleep came for him at last.

*************************************************************************

The old wyrm shook himself out of his reverie, flinging soot everywhere as he did so.

Well, he hadn't been expecting that.

Why did he remember it so clearly now, when he'd been unable to recall his past for decades?

Olni's teeth, why did it have to be her?

Was that really what he needed now? More guilt?

He gritted his teeth as realisation broke through.

It was what he needed. The rest of the memories flowed from the first, detail begetting detail.

It had been his fault. She was one of the many he had failed.

He cast one last look at the ceiling, and fixed his gaze upon the sun.

"I swear, in Olni's name..."

He paused, trying to find the strength to say the words. Emotion overpowered him, immobilising his speech functions.

"It will not have been in vain".

*************************************************************************

Rainbow was bored.

She knew that they needed to be thorough, and that not enerypony could keep the same pace as her, but that didn't make it much more tolerable.

It just felt wrong to be flying slowly when there was something urgent to do!

She had joined a group of scout-pegasi, tasked with locating Anbel. They didn't expect it to take long - The Princess had informed them that it was built into a mountainside, and they knew it was in the direction of the Everfree Forest, so that narrowed down the possibilities. Still, this job still needed to be done - the rest of the search party would stand little chance of finding the place without directions.

That wasn't the problem. The problem was the other pegasi. They insisted on staying in formation, which meant that
they couldn't fly faster than their slowest member, and he was a lot slower than Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow swallowed her aggravation and kept in time. Twilight had been adamant that they stay in formation - finding that staff was top priority, and they couldn't guarantee that they'd have anypony spare to go looking for those who got lost.
What if she had an accident? Highly though Rainbow thought of her own abilities, she didn't relish the idea of being left alone in the Forest, with nopony able to reach her...

She snapped back to reality, and was greeted by the sight of mountains. The three towering heaps of rock and soil were big enough to loom over the five Pegasi, even at this height. The sergeant, a brown-coated stallion, raised his foreleg, forming the universally-accepted shape for "stop".

His three subordinates came to a halt, their wings beating in reverse as they slowed themselves.

Rainbow followed a few seconds later, drawing a disapproving look from the officer. He'd winced visibly when she'd been assigned to his team, so Rainbow had no illusions as to what he thought of her. She didn't care - and why should she? As long as he was helping the search, that was all that mattered now.

He wiped the look from his face, evidently thinking better than to reprimand a national hero. The stallion began to speak.

"Alright, team, we're to make a sweep of those mountains. Our instructions are clear - the place should be carved into the mountainside, and have visible doors. Big ones".

Rainbow thought back to the last dragon she'd faced. He had been enormous - she didn't imagine that doors meant to fit creatures that big could be easily hidden. Still, she couldn't make out anything from this high up...

She was caught in her thoughts again, and missed the sergeant give the signal to move out.

It took her a short while to realise, but when she dragged herself out of her thoughts she found herself left behind as the team of pegasi soared forwards.

"Oh, horseapples" she thought.

She rose up another foot or two, and dove after them.

*************************************************************************
On the ground, things were more difficult. Whilst travelling in groups of twelve made travelling through the Forest much safer than normal, that didn't mean very much considering the sheer number of beasts that lived there. Everypony inevitably found themselves looking over their own shoulders, for fear of whatever lurked in the undergrowth.

Nonetheless, they were Royal Guards. They would watch for danger, but they were not about to panic at imaginary terrors. They maintained a soldierly pace, methodically putting one hoof in front of the other. AJ kept pace with them easily enough, being accustomed to physical exertion. It was harder going for Rarity, but she was at least able to keep up with the rearguard. To her credit, she wasn't complaining about the muck of the forest, although the look on her face made it clear that she really wanted to. Twilight was supervising the whole operation from the rear, trying to map out the teams' positions based on the reports she was getting back. It was beginning to come together. Now if only the Pegasi could finish their sweep on time...

*************************************************************************

The rustling of undergrowth disturbed its sleep.
It had been perfectly content to rest, allowing its body to heal from the wounds it had suffered on its last hunt.

Its ears, designed to react to the slightest stimulus, pricked up, and the rest of it slowly followed.

Two pairs of eyelids swung open. The third head did not have any eyelids, but it shook itself to wakefulness all the same.

It rose to its legs, a difficult proposition considering how lopsided its build was.

One head sniffed the air. There were all the usual scents - leaf, bark, fur, rain...

There was something else. Something... unfamiliar.

Recognition shot through its brains like a lightning bolt.

It did recognise that smell. It had no memories, just a blurry feeling.

It didn't know what the smell represented, but it did know that it hated it.

It slipped from the cover of its cave, into the treeline, and faded from view.

*************************************************************************
Rainbow's wings beat furiously as she tried to make up the gap between her and the other pegasi.

Uh, how could I have been so stupid? she thought to herself. She might not be the most diligent pony in the world, but she'd never been as scatterbrained as she had been recently. What was up with that? It was like...

She caught herself - she was about to do it again! She decided to grit her teeth and focus on the job.

Catch up with them.

*************************************************************************

They'd been searching for some time, to no avail.

Steel Shield sighed. This mission shouldn't be difficult - find a set of massive doors and report back. The Sixth Airborne were more than a match for it.

Yet it was proving him wrong.
They'd swept most of the Drachenbach range already, and still nothing.
He had to keep reminding himself that they hadn't been searching for that long. Just because they hadn't broken any records for search times didn't mean they were slow or ineffective. Even so, he always felt irritated when results took time to show.

His mood was not improved by what he'd seen of the "legendary" pegasus pony that had been assigned to his group.
He'd heard about the exploits of Rainbow Dash (who in Equestria hadn't?), and he was sorry to see that the reality didn't live up to his expectations. He'd heard she was fast, and that was probably true. He'd heard that she was loyal, and that was probably true also.

But what struck him was the shocking lack of discipline. Perhaps he was being unfair - civilians weren't expected to maintain the same level of self-control as guardponies. Even so, he'd expected something...more.
For goodness' sake, she hadn't even moved out when he signalled to!

That was what really irked him. She probably hadn't meant anything by it, but a tiny part of his mind refused to believe that. She had been trying to undermine his authority, he just knew it!

He gritted his teeth. She wasn't under his authority, she was just a civilian that couldn't be left behind. Why, oh why did it have to be his patrol? Well, if she thought her reputation alone would earn her his approval, she had another thing coming...

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of one of his scouts shouting.

"Captain! I think I see something!"

At last.

He gave the signal, informing the scout that he had permission to investigate.

A few minutes later, he returned, eyes wide with urgency.

"Sir, I'm sure! This thing matches the description almost perfectly!"

His heart leapt at the news - they'd be able to complete their mission after all.

Still, he wanted to see it for himself - their mission was too important for them to leave anything to chance. Plus, he couldn't deny a certain amount of curiosity about exactly what this place looked like.

He raised his arm...

*************************************************************************

Before Steel Shield could give the order to move out, he noticed something.

It was a strange, screeching sound, like the wind on a stormy night.

Before he could wonder what might have caused it, a rainbow-coloured blur streaked past him, almost bowling him clean over with the force of its passing.

"What the..."

*************************************************************************

Rainbow realised too late that she had overshot her mark. Fear started to fill her as she saw the lumbering forms of the mountains looming closer. She backpedaled furiously, her wings beating forward in an attempt to slow her descent. She lost speed.

It wasn't enough.

*************************************************************************
Spike was sleeping soundly, the gem-bed of the treasury quite comfortable enough for him.

That came to a swift end. Something impacted the Doors of Anbel with a tremendous crunch, shaking the ceiling with its force.

It lasted only a second or two, but it was quite enough to jar Spike uncomfortably from his slumber.

"Uh...what the..?"

He stumbled through the treasury's door (which he had persuaded Gravil not to lock last night), onto the many-coloured floor of Anbel.

There came the sound of claws scraping on stone, and doing so in a hurry.

Gravil's black-robed figure darted out from a side-path, glancing frantically around. He sighed in relief when he spied Spike.

"My Lord. Thank Olni, you are unharmed!"

Spike asked the question that was on both of their minds.

"What was that noise?"

The old wyrm's face scowled with discomfort.

"I do not yet know, My Lord. It may be anything, even enemies."

Hope and fear both leapt in the young dragon's heart. Enemies? In Gravil's eyes, ponies would count as enemies...

The wyrm spoke up again.

"Fear not, My Lord. Ban-Ten-Na himself could not break these doors, despite his formidable strength. Nothing still lives that has the power to throw down Anbel. We are safe inside."

Spike nodded and pretended that he wasn't trying to decide whether or not that was a good thing.

Gravil spoke again before Spike had the chance to say anything.

"My Lord, I must ask you to remain here. I must observe our enemy, but I shall not be long."

The old wyrm's claws scraped across the tiles again, as he sprinted off in the direction of the door.

*************************************************************************

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. The world swam around her, and her skull thumped like a tambourine.

"Uuuh".

Her ears rang, but she could still make out the sounds of beating wings and hoof-falls behind her.

"Just what are you doing?"

She looked in the direction that the noise had come from, and saw the harsh-looking pegasus captain staring down at her.

Her thoughts rallied, and she stood up.

"Uh. In case you haven't noticed, I just crashed." she quipped. She always reached for sarcasm when she didn't know what else to say.

The captain snorted in irritation.

"I saw that! And if there's anyone inside there, I'm sure they heard it!"

Man, this guy got on her nerves. Almost instinctively, she responded.

"And?"

His face turned the shade of particularly ripe beetroot.

"That means we've lost the element of surprise! Now they knowwe're looking for them!"

She probably shouldn't have antagonised those who were trying to help her, but at this stage she was taken by her annoyance.

"Well, good! Now that they know Rainbow Dash is comin' for them, they'll just give up!"

The captain's eyelid twitched. His face scrunched up as he tried to contain his frustration.

He succeeded, though with visible effort.

His face regained its normal coloration, as the soldierly discipline he seemed to pride himself on reasserted itself.

"Regardless. We've found the target, and now we're going to report back. Come with us if you want, though I can't compel you to do anything."

He turned to his squad and gave the signal to move out.

*************************************************************************

It sniffed the air with both noses.

The smell was becoming stronger.

Its muscles tensed. It was no longer sure if it wanted to do this.

The smell was very strong indeed - far more than one animal could produce.

A flick of its serpent-tongue confirmed this fact. Their smell was sharp, a vivid odour that stood out from the earthen smells of the forest, like a candle in the night.

There was certainly a large number of...them.

An idea presented itself. Why not simply ignore them? They were a ways off yet, and they would not notice its smell over the overpowering stench of their own. It could simply return to the cave. It was dark in there, and safe. It did not feel particularly hungry, either. It could go another day or two before feeling seriously pressed.

Why, then, was it still here? Turning around sounded like a very good idea. It began the awkward process of turning, awkward because it had to shift almost its whole body weight onto its right legs so that it could turn without falling over.

It sensed something. Another scent in the air. It whipped its heads around, all three searching for the intrusion. It growled from two throats, and hissed from a third, challenging whatever beast had entered its domain to show itself.

Its eyes caught something. A hint of movement, in the shade of the treeline, the last bit of shadow before the clearing.

Except it wasn't. Something moved - but instead of stepping out of the shadow, they pulled it along with them. The darkness bulged, into the sunlight, where it should have no place.

Eyes opened. Green triangles on a black background. The strange being raised what appeared to be its hand.

This didn't feel right. It should be...should be...

It couldn't remember anything. Its instincts blurred and its mind filled with a haze.

Should it be frightened? Threatened? There was an intruder...there was something you were meant to do to intruders...

The black thing swept its arm in a wide arc, infusing the air with a slight electric crackle.

Suddenly, it felt at ease. There was no danger. None whatsoever...

The black thing pointed to the tree-line in front of them. Suddenly, the overpowering smell from before returned. Its nostrils filled with the smell of horses, and its mind filled with blood lust. Its muscles rippled in anticipation, and it leapt into the trees, killing on its mind.

The black thing opened its mouth in a grin that revealed rows of pointed teeth. The beast would suffice.

All it had to do was slow the ponies down. After midday tomorrow,they would not matter.

It stepped back out of the cursed sun, into the darkness.

*************************************************************************

Applejack shuddered.

Being with a dozen other ponies was reassuring, but even that couldn't totally dispel the dread the Everfree Forest inspired in any right-thinking pony.

Who knew what sort of horrible things lurked underneath the ancient branches? She and her friends had gone through it before, but they'd known their destination that time, and that had still been a perilous journey. Now they were looking for the metaphorical needle in the haystack. She gulped as she realised that that meant they'd be combing through every inch of the Forest, making it more likely they'd stumble onto something's lair...

She shook her head vigorously. It wouldn't do any good to think like that. She had to be strong, or else they might never get Spike back.

The group leader shouted to pick up the pace, and she complied.

It was then that she heard it.

It was a distant sound, but it was grew louder very quickly. It reminded her of thunder, and the drums she'd heard being played sometimes at the Harvest Festival. She wasn't the only one - the rest of the troop heard it too. They just had time to face in the direction of the sound before the treeline erupted in a tide of red fur and snarling mouths.

*************************************************************************

Rainbow Dash heard the roars and the shrieks as they rose above the trees.

"What the-?"

That was all she needed.

Those were the screams of ponies. Her friends were down there. They were in danger. Other thoughts disappeared. She beat her wings and began to pick up speed, rushing towards where she thought she'd heard the scream.

Steel Shield's irritation rose up again in protest at seeing the cyan pegasus race out of line again. It was quickly squashed, however, when his reason reasserted itself and he realised that he'd heard the roar too, and that she was doing the right thing. He didn't bother with the signal this time, simply yelling:

"Sixth Airborne! With me!"

With that, he began to fly, following the rainbow streak in the air, his troop following him.

*************************************************************************

Gravil ascended the spiral stairs, and undid the lock on the door. He was glad he hadn't forgotten about this one: it lead to the Roost, the large covered platform where the Wyverns stayed when their muscles finally tired. He noticed the inscription on the wall, in crude script - clearly the work of an amateur.

"How do you know when a Wyvern is dead?

When His Wings stop moving."

He grinned. Everyone though of it as a mild insult, except the Wyverns. They didn't see anything wrong with it in the least.

He'd only been here once before, and that time the King had been with hmi. He shook himself before sentimentality had the chance to creep up on him. This was not the time for it, not with work yet to be done.

He walked out to the ledge, out past the covering. He thought he could make something out in the distance, gradually growing smaller...what was that..?

He recognised it - the equine outlines, framed by the unmistakeable silhouettes of feathered wings. Pegasi.

He stood upright as he realised exactly what this meant. There were Pegasi over the forest, a group of them. They didn't go anywhere near the Forest without reason. If they were here, it meant they were probably looking for something, and he wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was him.

Right. That meant he needed to seal the doors. Come to think of it, he should probably lock the door to the Roost as well - they didn't have an entire flock of Wyverns to guard it this time. He gazed down at the Forest below for a few more moments. He could feel it - the Staff was still down there. He'd realised yesterday that he'd left it behind, but had resolved himself not to worry about it unduly. It was designed to not remain apart from him for long, amongst its many other powers.

He could feel it moving, sense the urgency it felt, how dearly it wanted to return to him.

"Be swift, Lak-Da."

After completing the blessing, the old wyrm turned his back to the setting sun, and prepared for the tasks that lay ahead.

Seven - Anticipation

It was like thunder. That was the only thing Applejack could think of when the beast erupted from the forest to her left, bark and leaves flying in its wake.

A hulking mass of red fur and pointed teeth leapt through the air, its powerful legs propelling it in a wide arc towards her.

In a fragment of a second, it came closer, and closer...

It had misjudged the distance, its brain unable to quickly process information from three pairs of eyes. It landed face-first in the leaf-strewn forest floor, several feet from Applejack.

She wasted no time, her instincts kicking in, as she took to her hooves and fled. She half-feared the beast would lash out at her as she passed, but it was too busy disentangling itself from its own limbs. Adrenaline pounded through her, filling her with energy and fear. She galloped forward, not daring to look back.

She didn't stop even when she almost ran straight into the group of search-ponies that she'd been assigned to. Several of them looked at her in bewilderment.

"Monster!" was all she managed to say. They caught onto her meaning quickly, which was just as well, because the beast didn't remain stunned for very long. The party just had time to arrange themselves into a rough line before the three-headed monster rushed through the treeline, its three throats giving its roar an unearthly pitch. The shield-wall tightened, the guardponies' practiced routine kicking in as they drew together for protection.

It saw the mass of creatures, lined up together, trying to protect each other. Their smell filled its nostrils and all thought was gone. It threw itself forward, every muscle and sinew aching to smash them apart. It barreled into the line of steel like a boulder rolling down a mountainside, not even bothering with a leap.

The impact was tremendous, the pressure of the beast's enormous bulk almost as much of a threat as its thrashing claws and teeth. It was attacking wildly, flailing about as its arms flew left and right. Steel Shield felt a massive paw strike her helmet, the clanging sound almost deafening her. That...thing was trying to break straight through them. She knew that if the line broke, her troop would be scattered and they'd have no chance. They were holding on, barely. They had to repel it...

The beast drew backwards, trying to gather momentum for another lunge. Steel Shield's instinct kicked in, and she knew what had to be done.

"Attack!"

The line surged forward, Steel Shield at the forefront. She leapt at the red-furred beast, intent on retaking the initiative from it. If they could do that, they might be able to overwhelm it, or convince it to flee. The steel-armoured ponies slammed into the beast's massive chest, knocking the breath from its lungs. It staggered backwards, thrown by the weight of almost a dozen equines.

She saw the opportunity - the thing was on the back foot. They had to press the advantage whilst they still had it.

"Flank it and strike!" Steel Shield's voice rang out above the din of battle, betraying none of the fear racing through her veins.

The line fanned out and surrounded the hulking brute, the guardponies taking care not to move behind it. If the beast thought it couldn't escape, it would probably enter another frenzy and fight to the death. Better by far to convince it to run away.

The strikes began.
*********************************************

It felt blow after blow rain upon its flesh, iron-shod hooves and helmeted heads slamming into vulnerable flesh.

As it was struck, it became more and more disoriented. As pain built up inside it, its anger seemed to vanish, replaced by fear. They were too strong! It had to...

The tiny shred of intellect within it realised something. It was fighting, but it had no reason to. The wounds inflicted upon it were piling up, and pain was starting to break through the mysterious anger that had gripped it. Escape. It had to escape.

It reeled backwards, throwing itself free of the mass of equines. It got to its feet swiftly, and let out a fierce roar before turning and fleeing. They did not pursue it, but it didn't think about that. It just had to get away. It raced for the treeline, the comforting safety of the shadows.

*********************************************
The shadow was displeased. The beast had proven even more cowardly than expected. True, such a confused, ungainly creature could not be expected to achieve much, but it had at least hoped for the equines to be stalled for a few hours.

It shook its head. No point in dwelling on it. This was a minor setback. It stepped carefully through the undergrowth, avoiding any tree-roots. If they got too far, it would have to take action itself. It doubted that would actually be necessary, but it was not going to risk so many years of planning. As it stalked through the woods, a toothy smile crossed its face...

*********************************************

The old wyrm closed the door. The Roost was sealed off, the door shut tightly as locking mechanisms older than the entire equine race slipped into place, barring entry to all.

He sighed. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel. One one hand, it was stressing to have so much at stake, but on the other, it felt good to finally be so close to his goal.

He kept daydreaming even as he descended the staircase, back down into the main hall. Soon, he would strike the Rune Of Life, and all the things that filled this insane, upended world would be washed away. All those who died unjustly would return, to right the wrongs that had been wrought upon them! The rightful King would return, Pangor would be thrown down, and all would be right with the world!

He snapped out of his reverie just in time to avoid tripping on the stairs.

That shook him out of it. There would be time for that later. He had to spend his time making sure that it happened that way, first.

That reminded him of something. There was one thing he hadn't quite finished. He enjoyed telling stories as much as he enjoyed listening to them, but the Prince still didn't grasp the full scope of the situation, as well as his own importance. They had less time than Gravil had planned for, so he'd have to abridge the tale, much though it pained him. He decided that he might as well make good on the tale whilst the idea was still in his mind.

Spike, on the other hand, was thinking. The things Gravil had revealed to him were surprisingly interesting, and he'd sort of taken to using them as a form of dealing with his situation. But now, with rescue a possibility, there was more to think about. Who'd be coming, exactly? Would it just be Twilight? The rest of his friends? Or would there be more?

What worried him more was what might happen to them. Spike had seen what Gravil was capable of with his own eyes, and from what he'd heard, there was no doubt in Spike's mind that the old wyrm would show no mercy to any ponies that crossed his path.

Oh sure, they would probably outnumber him, and they'd probably win if there were enough of them, but he could still badly hurt them. What if somepony he knew was in the group? What if...

His stomach turned as he imagined Rarity being attacked by that demented wyrm, claws-

No. No, he couldn't think that. He couldn't bear the thought. He screwed up his eyes and forced it to go away.

He was still lying like that when Gravil appeared.

"My Lord? Why are you-"

The baby dragon's eyes snapped open. He saw the wyrm, and stood up, not wanting to betray his feelings about this crazy situation.

"Just...takin' a nap!" Spike forced a smile as soon as the words had left his mouth.

If Gravil was bothered by Spike's faux cheer, it didn't show on his face. He waved his arm and gestured to a nearby door.

"Well, if you're quite rested, My Lord, there is something I ought to show you."

The wyrm turned to the door, opened it, and walked through, Spike following behind.

As they walked, Spike grew curious. He decided to voice his thoughts.

"So, is this more history?"

Gravil grinned, his pointed teeth showing.

"You guess correctly, My Lord. However, I have come to the realisation that my abridged history of Dragonkind is far too long. Thus, I will have to move even more swiftly than before. Ah! Here we are."

They had stopped before a pair of white stone doors, a stark contrast to the black-flecked granite that made up the rest of Anbel. Gravil placed his hand upon the door and mumbled.

Is Rek Den Ilc Es Olni

Spike heard:

Olni is King of the earth.

The door swung open soundlessly. Beyond was a tunnel, rough-hewn from the mountainside itself, oppressive, dark, and slick with precipitation.

It made Spike's spines stand straight - well, straighter than usual, anyway. Technically all of Anbel was underneath the ground, but this was the only part he'd seen so far that actually *felt* like that.

"W-what is this place?" the little dragon asked.

"The Tunnels." The wyrm responded.

When he noticed that the look of puzzlement hadn't disappeared from the Prince's face, so he explained further.

"This is where my people worked. The Wyrms toiled down here day and night, gladly dredging up the Earth's treasures for their King. Perhaps my father even worked here."

Spike spoke up again.

"Perhaps? You mean you don't know?"

Gravil growled in response, as if he didn't like talking about it.

"Wyrms are raised communally. We do not know our parents, or our siblings - and thus all wyrms are our parents or our siblings."

Gravil raised a hand to indicate that he would tolerate no more discussion.

Spike had to wonder why they were bothering to go this way - he'd much preferred the Tomb of Tales - at least that place was dry.

"Ah, here we are", Gravil said at last.

Spike didn't notice anything different about this particular patch of tunnel. He was about to say something when Gravil spoke, in a voice that rattled the stones.

"Lin".

In an instant, lights burst into life, lines of brightness against the dark stone.

Spike marvelled at what he saw. Now that there was light, he could see that they were standing in a huge cavern, perhaps as large as the Grand Hall of Anbel itself.

"Whoa..."

Gravil continued to speak.

"This is the result of centuries of toil by the wyrmfolk. It represents us, and survives us. But more importantly, there are things down here that you must see."

Spike was about to ask what sorts of things before Gravil began walking again. The little dragon had to run to keep up, so brisk was his pace.

"Hey, wait up! What's so...so..."

He huffed and puffed the last few words, as he struggled to catch his breath. Gravil offered no response, until he eventually stopped.

When Spike had finally caught his breath, he looked up, and noticed what they were looking at.

They were standing in front of a statue, or the remains of one. It coiled upwards, around a stone pillar. An orb was set atop the pillar, and the stone dragon's hands were wrapped firmly about it. There was enough left to tell who it was supposed to be, although a large segment of the torso had worn away.

"Olni". Said Gravil.

Spike gazed at it for a moment, before an idea occured to him.

"Y-yeah, so it's a statue of Olni. Why'd we have to go all the way down here to see it?"

Gravil turned to the young dragon, a look of irritation on his face.

"This", he said curtly, "is important. It is a shrine, used by those mine-wyrms who have more cause to ask for Olni's protection than most."

His gaze crossed the statue again, and again, pain visible in his eyes as he observed the many flaws left by time.

"For many, this was their sole source of hope. The knowledge that The Dragonfather's love reached them, even here in the bowels of the earth, was what kept them going. This statue has saved lives, has healed wounds, has strengthened the weak. And now look at it."

The outrage in Gravil's voice was audible.

"It simply shouldn't be this way. This, which has done wonders, should be respected, yet it is abandoned and left to rot away, unthanked."

Gravil swung round rapidly, turning to face Spike, his voice full of venom.

"Do you know why the world is this way?!?"

The tone of his voice was intimidating, but Spike had his answer ready this time.

"No! Isn't that what you were going to tell me?"

The wyrm blinked in surprise, not having expected that response. His eyes then widened, as he realised just what he had said, and to whom.

"I...forgive me, My Lord. I seem to be forgetting myself. I should not have raised my voice against you, and this is the second time..."

Spike shivered. He really wasn't used to being spoken to so reverentially (despite Gravil's best efforts), and being asked for mercy just made him feel uncomfortable.

"Er, sure. Just, uh...forget about it."

Gravil smiled gratefully.

"Thank you, My Lord."

Spike, still discomforted by the silence that followed, spoke up again.

"So, er...wasn't there a reason for us being here?"

Gravil's eyes lit up as he remembered.

"Ah, yes. Apologies, My Lord. My age seems to be getting the better of me."

He stood up to his full height, and his eyes took on that glassy look that Spike now understood meant that he was remembering.

"The reason why we have come down to this place is simple. You have seen the great and noble of Anbel, the glory of its rulers. However, to be a just King you must also see our underside. This place is dark, and unpleasant, yes?"

Spike nodded.

"And you would much rather be upstairs than down here, yes?"

Spike nodded again.

"Yet this place is, or was, vital to the survival of Anbel. We could not have lived as we did without the bounty of gemstones hauled from this place by my people."

The old wyrm stooped down, so that Spike was at eye level with him.

"The King has a duty to all of his people, whether or not he likes them. He must embrace both beautiful and ugly if he is to prove himself worthy of sovereignty."

Spike almost trembled, such weight did Gravil put on the words. He could tell that the wyrm believed firmly in what he was saying, that he would die to defend this belief if necessary.

Gravil's tone softened.

"But you need not worry yourself with that just yet, My Lord. You will not be expected to rule for many years yet."

Spike was about to point out that there was no longer anyone left for him to rule, but stopped himself as he sensed that that would be a very bad idea.

Gravil went on.

"The reason you need to understand this is also simple. Pan-Gor is not the rightful ruler, and she has absolutely no respect for this sacred rule. She cares only about her own power, and as a result the world has suffered."

Something occurred to Spike.

"Really? The world seemed like it was doing okay last time I checked."

Gravil's face betrayed shock, followed quickly by pity.

"Ah. I had forgotten how long they had spent indoctrinating you, My Lord. Whilst it might not look horrible at first glance, I assure you, this is not how Olni meant things to be. In the days of Galdor, the world knew how to care for itself. Rain fell, trees grew, animals fended for themselves! The world was held together in the tense balance of life, life as Olni had meant it to be."

His eyes shut, and he drew a deep breath.

"Now, now look at it! The land does not even know how to live! Pan-Gor's servants must do everything! In the past, all things depended on one another for survival. We respected life, and Olni, and all was well. They have shown incredible arrogance by making the world depend on them for its very survival!"

He had worked himself up into quite a frenzy, and was panting heavily. Spike decided it would be safest to say nothing.

Eventually, he caught his breath, and went on.

"Well, My Lord, now that you know of the state of the world, would you care to hear how it came to be this way?"

Spike replied, knowing he should probably go along with Gravil for now, but still not sure exactly how to feel about what he'd just said.

"I guess so..."

Gravil smiled, although his smile was tinged with concern. Did the Prince not realise how serious this matter was? Never mind - he would see soon enough.

The old wyrm gestured in another direction.

"Right this way."

*********************************************

Rainbow arrived too late to help. She set herself down on the soil, next to the battered-looking column of guardponies.

"What the hay happened here?"

The sergeant turned to her.

"Monster. Fought like crazy, but we handled it."

Rainbow felt dread, then relief flood her in quick succession. She looked over to the group of guardponies assembling behind the sergeant. Most of them sported injuries, and all of them looked tired, but there didn't seem to be any fatalities. None of them were lying on the ground, at any rate.

She saw a squad of pegasi fly overhead, and remembered what she was supposed to be doing.

She turned to the sergeant, and said:

"Good to know."

Without another word, she leapt into the air, spread her wings, and took to the skies. Twilight needed to know about Anbel.

*********************************************

"So, where were we?" the wyrm said.

Spike wracked his brain for a minute, looking for the answer.

"Uuh...I think Renka had just come back.".

Gravil's face lit up with comprehension.

"Ah, yes. A good place to start."

He began to speak again, his voice taking on that now-familiar nostalgic tone.

"Galdor realised now that Renka was a dire threat to his people, but he had not been prepared for the full extent of what she had done. As Nobles arrived to pledge their support to the King's campaign, word arrived of another tragedy. Several clutches of dragon eggs had been stolen, taken in the midst of the night, with no hint of intrusion, no sign that would tell of how the deed was accomplished. Though this worried Galdor, and he feared that Renka was somehow connected with it, he did not know what purpose this evil might serve. It would become apparent soon enough."

The wyrm took a deep breath before continuing.

"Wyvern scouts reported back, having discovered something amiss. The peak of Mount Iktena was surrounded by a huge, roiling thunderstorm, swirling black clouds blotting out the sun's light for miles. Worse yet, the storm did not behave naturally - instead of moving, it seemed to resist the wind, the clouds hanging in place over the mountaintop when by all rights it should be blown away. There was reason to believe that Renka had taken residence there".

The way Gravil shuddered at the name Iktena made Spike curious. The words untangled themselves in his head to reveal Bloodspear, but he wondered why the old wyrm seemed so afraid of it.

"Why? Is there something special about Iktena?"

Gravil hadn't expected that question, but answered it all the same.

"Aye. There is good reason to curse its name, though that is a story for another day. All you need know, is that Olni defeated a very powerful demon there, not long after the creation of the world. Iktena was the Throne of the Mother of The Cri-Es, and she tainted it irrevocably. The point is, none in their right minds would willingly set foot upon it, let alone settle there."

The old wyrm went on.

"And so, with the enemy sighted, the army was assembled. From Anbel they marched, each band under their Noble, each Noble under the King. Thousands of wyrms, spears held high, marched as one, the earth trembling beneath their step. Companies of Wyverns flew before the host, taking note of any threats before they had a chance to engage their comrades.
More than a dozen Dragon Nobles sat behind, mixed in with the others, leading their own soldiers personally. Above them all rode Galdor, glorious and resplendant, the very image of a King."

"They marched out, intent upon storming Iktena, and making Renka answer for her crimes. At first, they were puzzled. They marched across the plains, and approached the mountain. What puzzled them was the lack of resistance. Renka had displayed the sort of power that was supposed to exist only in legend, and most everyone in the army expected to be struck down by a lightning bolt any minute. Tension ran high despite (or perhaps because of) the dearth of enemies. The Nobles did their best to reassure their soldiers - pointing out how every soldier in the land had come to make war under their banner, that no living dragon or wyrm or wyvern would possibly fight for Renka."

He stopped abruptly, a thought having just occurred to him.

"Also, My Lord, there is something you must understand. You see, every Noble camped with his own men, the twelve Nobles arranging their camps in a circle surrounding Galdor's camp, in the center. Thus every Noble could stay with his own, whilst still being part of a greater whole."

"In any case, the uneasy peace wasn't to last. The first attack came at night, roughly four days' march from Iktena. The first and only warning was a horrid, unnatural smell that put all the camps on edge. Even so, no-one was prepared for them when they came. They overwhelmed the perimeter guards of Lord Retun's camp, storming through and attacking before anyone could so much as raise a spear in anger. Their approach was so swift, and the confusion so great, that no-one got a proper look at their attackers.The lives of many wyrms were claimed before Lord Retun himself entered the fray, spitting fire and smoke, the fiends falling back before his rage. They fled into the night, taking as many of our dead as they could carry."

Spike was particularly struck by that last line.

"They took your dead? Why would they do that?"

Gravil frowned as he remembered.

"Yes, that was a matter of great concern to all when the matter was discussed later. However, of greater concern was the one enemy that the soldiers had successfully captured alive. Galdor demanded that this enemy be presented before them, and so it was. Lord Retun had seen the enemy himself the previous night, and warned that it might disturb the assembled Nobles. However..."

Spike leaned over, trying to catch every word that was said.

"However....what?"

Gravil went on.

"However, when the enemy was presented, even Lord Retun was shocked. The thing he had seen last night had most certainly been a dragon, even if he could not understand how that was possible. But what was presented to the court was..."

Spike almost burst from the tension.

"Was what? Come on!"

"Bones", said Gravil.

The wyrm went on, deciding to elaborate.

"To be more precise, the court was presented with what was clearly the remains of a dragon. It was too small a skeleton to be an adult, and too large to be a child. Obviously it was an adolescent, then, but it was not long before a more important issue was raised: how could a dead dragon have attacked the camp?"

Spike's eyes widened. "Z-zombies?"

Gravil blinked in surprise.

"Hmm. If that's the word you use for it. No-one wanted to believe, and many argued against the idea. However, Lord Retun was adamant - they had captured a living, or at least moving, dragon last night. Eventually, the King concluded that, if they could not know what awaited them for sure, they simply needed to be more vigilant until they did know.

The old wyrm's tone softened.

"Morning came, and the army began to march again. The daytime march was quiet once more; and this time the camps were made more carefully, and the watch doubled. The infernal beasts would not surprise them again."

"That they did not. They came again, in the night, but this time we were ready. Ranks of soldiers were called upon first sight and they were driven back by spear and flame. We suffered not a single loss that night."

Spike's head filled with images of soldiers hurling back zombie dragons, hurling them back into the darkness as dragonfire set them aflame.

"After that night, there was no more doubt. That night we had seen our enemy, and only one conclusion was left: Renka had raised the dead to do her bidding. The King was now even more determined to end Renka's threat before she had the chance to defy Olni's Law any further..."

He seemed to notice that he was drifting away from the topic, and corrected himself.

"Ah, but our time is limited, My Lord. We must hurry to the point."

He shook his head, trying to clear it, before going on.

"In any case, the Army continued to march, fending off attacks from the horrifying beasts until they had camped at the very base of Iktena itself. Despite the best efforts of the Nobles, and the victories against the horrid creatures in the night, morale was running low. The black clouds made them all uneasy, and though they were camped far enough from the mount that the lightning bolts would not strike them, but each soldier knew that they would have to march through the storm the next day."

"And so they did. Though no-one liked the idea, there was nothing else to be done. They marched forward, underneath the clouds. With every step they took, the winds howled more fiercely, till they sounded like howling beasts themselves. The Wyverns were forced to land and walk among the wyrms, so powerful did the winds grow. Yet they would not be stopped here. They began to climb up the mountain itself, drawing close to their goal."

"It was then that the purpose of Renka's earlier wrongdoing, her theft of Dragon Eggs, became clear. Upon the summit of the mount, from Renka's cave emerged six small shapes. They were dragon-like in aspect, but they were small, only slightly larger than children. The colours of their scales were faded, and their bodies were inscribed with symbols much like those on Renka's body."

"Some of the soldiers pointed to them, wondering what they could be doing there, but most were too busy fighting the biting wind to take notice of anything else. Until they acted, that was. Their eyes shone bright with purple light, which burst from them and leapt down the mountain like a wave. The soldiers shuddered as it passed through them. It felt incredibly...dry, for want of a better word. For the brief moment that it was within them, they felt as if they had died long ago and they were only now realising that they were dried-out corpses."

Spike's scales crawled as he imagined what that would feel like.

Gravil had gotten far enough ahead of himself that he had to pause to catch his breath.

"However...the wave passed, and left them very much alive, if somewhat shaken. However, the true effect of this foul magic was not to harm them. Not directly..."

"Even as they reeled from the attack, the wave spread to the ground beneath them. It sank into the ground, colouring it a deep purple."

His eyes glazed over as he remembered the next part.

"I mentioned that Iktena was where Olni fought the Mother of The Cri-Es, didn't I? Well, He was not alone during that battle. All of His Children accompanied him during that ancient conflict, and many of them perished at Iktena. As the wave of energy spilled over the land, the mortal remains of all those buried there clawed their way out of the earth and stood upright. Those climbing the mountain watched on in horror as an enormous army of the dead surrounded them."

Gravil's words painted a picture, of a wall of rotting flesh and bleached bones, surrounding the embattled Dragon Army.
Spike trembled at the image.

The wave rushed up the mountain, crashing and breaking off of the shields of the quickly-assembled wyrm warriors. The mass of bodies was thrown back, but it rallied quickly - no, rally is not the right word. It simply flexed, like some huge muscle, and rushed back at the Sons of Olni. Time and again the dead were tossed backwards, but not noce did they stop. Weakened from the earlier magic

"Galdor was not one to simply stare helplessly at defeat, however. He quickly realised that fighting this unliving sea of bodies was precisely what Renka wished for. Even if they could defeat them all, they would be severely weakened and most likely be swept away by some other surprise she had in store."

Spike's eyes widened.

"How did he know what she had in store?"

Gravil turned to him.

"He didn't. However, Galdor knew Renka better than most, and was sure she wouldn't have dared to attack the Kingdom if she didn't think she had enough force to defeat them. She must have something else in mind. It was clear what had to be done: if they could not destroy the body of this beast, they would simply strike its head from its shoulders."

A look of confusion convered Spike's face.

"But i thought there were lots of beasts..."

Gravil smiled sympathetically.

"It is an expression, My Lord. The undead dragons are the "body", and Renka is the "head". Now do you see?"

That made more sense. Spike nodded.

"Good." said Gravil. The old wyrm took a deep breath in preparation for the next part.

"The plan was quickly formed and relayed to as many of the Nobles as possible. The King, along with the two Nobles he trusted most, would fly towards the cave at the summit, in an attempt to destroy Renka themselves. Three other Nobles would lead the wyverns to neutralise the six "apprentice" dragons that had raised the horde. The others would hold off the dead below as long as was necessary. Of course, there was really no question as to who would be chosen..."

Gravil caught himself when he saw the confused look on Spike's face, and began to explain.

"Er, you see, My Lord, whilst flight is almost a necessity for life in the Wilds, it is considerably less useful to someone who spends most of their time indoors. As a result, only a few of the Nobles actually knew how to fly. Lord Retun was one of these, and he was chosen to go with the King alongside Lady Hiren."

Something clicked in Gravil's head, as he remembered how little time was left.

"Regardless, My Lord, we really must get moving. To shorten the story somewhat, the King and his retinue flew to the top of Iktena. The storm-winds had not ceased, and made it very difficult to fly. However, old though he was, Galdor was a King among dragons, and not about to be stopped by mere weather. Blessed with strength by Olni himself, the King's old bones stood firm as he and his companions rode through the storm."

"The three alighted upon the peak, as the battle raged below. They came face-to-face with a pair of giant stone doors, much like those that signalled the entrance to a Hold. They were covered in blasphemous symbols, such that it pained them to look at it. Lady Hiren insisted on taking the lead, rearing up and smashing the doors from their hinges."

At this point, Gravil's storytelling was such that the tale seemed to possess a life of its own, as if it did not need another to speak for it. Gravil was still speaking, but Spike did not hear his voice - he heard the voices of the characters.

*********************************************

Galdor was used to caverns, seeing as he'd spent most of his life in one. Dark and deep did not frighten him. This was different. The very air stank of death, and worse. Even so, they had no choice but to go forward. Renka was somewhere in here, and only with her death would this madness end.

It simply didn't seem right. What had happened to her? Had he failed to do his duty? He felt a twinge of remorse. Of course he had failed. He had promised Malin, under Olni's gaze, that he would raise and protect her daughter. Yet here he was, about to kill that selfsame dragon.

Assuming that was even possible anymore. He shook his head. Nothing made sense anymore. He made a silent prayer, begging Olni that all of this would somehow work out for the best.

Lord Retun's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"My Lord, I think we may have arrived."

The doors before them were just tall enough for a Dragon to pass beneath. They were smooth red rock, totally unadorned.

"Can you be sure, Retun?"

The green dragon turned to respond.

"We have seen no side-paths in this place, My Lord. This door is the only one we have not entered."

Galdor nodded in agreement. He drew a deep breath, bracing himself for what was about to occur.

"Steel yourselves. Olni alone knows what lies beyond this point. You both know what's at stake. Renka will be brought to justice."

The other two dragons bowed, as much as was possible in such a cramped space.

"It has been an honour, My Lord." said Lady Hiren.

There was nothing left to say. Hiren placed her shoulder to the door, and pushed with all of her strength. The stone strained for a few moments, but the full force of a determined Dragon was too much, and it gave way.

Behind the door lay Pan-Gor, the Great Destroyer, Enemy of Olni's Name.

She faced away from the door, deep in what appeared to be thought.

Galdor was surprised. The white dragon had not reacted at all to the destruction of her door, nor the three intruders who had entered her domain.

...is that not what you want?..

Hiren saw an opportunity and moved to attack, but Galdor extended a wing, blocking her and motioning for quiet. Hiren's face took on a look of frustration - why were they not pressing the attack? Still, she had faith in her King - if he wanted to delay the attack, then she was sure he had a good reason.

He had stopped her because of the voice. He had heard the voice, echoing quietly from every inch of stone. He recognised them from the words of the Elders, who had fought in the great war, when he had been merely a whelp. It matched the description perfectly. Soft, smooth, and insidious. Suddenly the place's unearthly aroma made sense. He whispered.

Cri-Es.

The others knew what that meant. Everyone had feared that it might be true, and everyone had hoped that they might be wrong. If the Cri-Es were involved in this, that meant they were not extinct. The implications of that were huge, but they were also of secondary importance right now. Then Pangor spoke out.

"Why? We already killed him! When you kill someone, they die, and they stay dead! That's how it's supposed to be!"

Yet you keep seeing him everywhere. Do you know what this means?

"What!? What does it mean?! Tell me!"

"You must simply kill them all."

"I..."

That was it. Galdor drew himself up to his full height, and spoke, in the most booming voice he could muster.

"Renka!"

Retun and Hiren stared at him in shock. What was he doing? Giving up the element of surprise?

The white dragon turned to face the King, confusion in her eyes. Riding on her shoulder, the darkness clung to her like a stain. Its bright yellow eyes gleamed in the dim light.

"Who...you...Galdor?" said the white dragon.

"Yes, Renka. It is I. I have come to take you back."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock, except for the Cri-Es.

Lady Hiren spoke up.

"My Lord, why-"

Galdor gave her a look so fierce that it immediately quashed her objection.

Galdor spoke again.

"Renka, it doesn't need to be like this. You can still stop this, can you not? You created these nightmares, you must know how to destroy them."

Her expression became shocked, as if she had just realised something very important.

"Galdor? What's...where's the Prince? Where is..."

All of a sudden, her face contorted in pain.

"But...but I...argh!"

Her eyes clouded over, and the runes on her body glowed fluorescent blue.

The demon spoke, its words like silk flowing through the air.

"Your attempts are futile, Gal-Dor. She has already agreed to my Pact. She can never leave. It is better for her that she remain unaware of her actions."

Galdor's blood boiled when he heard those words. This foul thing had twisted and used a vulnerable young dragon, was trying to destroy Olni's People through this manipulation! Yet here it was, claiming to be merciful?

"I know what you are, Cri-Es. You're the one responsible for what's happened. Release Renka, or you will face Olni's wrath!"

The shadow broke into a toothy grin.

"I do not fear the wrath of a departed god."

That was the end of civilities. Galdor, unable to control himself any longer, lunged forward, attempting to smite the dark stain from Renka's shoulder. The demon whispered a single word, and the white dragon glowed with power. The King was caught by an invisible force, grabbing him and tossing him backwards into the stone walls.

Hiren and Retun sprang to their lord's defence immediately. Two jets of dragonfire shot towards the white dragon, engulfing half the room in flames. To their horror, when the smoke cleared, Renka had not suffered so much as a burn.

The shadow, emerging from its hiding place behind Renka's caled hide, gloated.

"See how weak you are! See how powerless Olni's gifts are to harm me!"

Hiren scowled. If fire was not working, then tooth and claw would need to do the job. That was her personal philosophy, but having seen what had happened to the King, she hesitated to try it.

The King stood up, his old bones groaning from the effort. He spoke out again.

"Renka! This beast is controlling you! Fight against it!"

A reedy laugh echoed through the cavern.

"You still persist? Did I not tell you such efforts were in vain? The Dra-"

Its words were cut off abruptly. Renka's eyes cleared, her face twisting in panic at the same time.

"What...what's going on? I only wanted to get even with the Prince...why am I...?"

There was a horrible snapping sound as her eyes clouded over and her head snapped back.

"You agreed to the pact! I gave you power, and you gave me your life! Those were the terms!

The King watched as the white dragon's eyes cleared again. She was fighting - there was yet hope!

"I...why am I fighting the King? What's going on?"

The Cri-Es hissed in anger.

"No! The King is not here! But do you know who is?"

Renka's eyes clouded over, and the three dragons facing her were replaced by three copies of the Prince.

There was a low growl.

The runes upon her body glowed blue once more, and the air filled with power.

Retun responded instinctively, leaping in front of his King as the blast rippled through the air towards him. The impact rocked his body and shook his bones, yet he did not fall.

Galdor stood forward, ignoring Retun's protests. She had to listen to reason. She had already broken through once, there might yet be hope!

"Renka! Don't you realise what you're doing? A demon is twisting you against your people! Against Olni!"

The white dragon's brow furrowed in confusion. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the irritating thoughts.

"If you won't shut up, we'll simply squeeze the air from your lungs!"

Everyone felt the air ripple as the unseen force reached out, trying to grasp the King.

Hiren reacted without thinking. She dashed forward, and pushed the King out of the way. Even as she felt him move, the invisible fingers wrapped around her. As she struggled in the invisible grip, she heard mocking laughter fill the air.

"Look at the mighty Dragon Lords! Where, oh where, is your might now, I wonder?

Hiren felt the invisible grip tighten. It was pushing inwards, trying to crush her. The air was starting to leave her lungs...

She caught sight of the Cri-Es, still riding on Renka's shoulder. An idea came to her.

As the creature leaned closer, she struck. Inhaling as deeply as she could, she blasted a jet of flame directly at the black creature. It was not able to react in time. The fire-ball hit the Cri-Es straight in the chest, immolating it.

There was a high-pitched scream, and Renka reeled backwards.

Hiren felt the grip release her. She stumbled, dizzy from the lack of air.

Retun and Galdor (who had recovered sufficiently) moved to cover her. Renka stood back up. This was not over.

Something snapped inside her. The Cri-Es, now focussing all its attention on saving itself, had no energy to spare for deception. Renka's vision cleared, and the illusion vanished.

There was a gasp as she processed what was happening. The King...the one who'd taken her in when her mother could not keep her. The one she owed so much to. The one she was trying to kill.

The Cri-Es was still alight, desperately trying to put itself out. It was then that Renka made her move.

She uttered three words.

"Galdor, I'm sorry."

Her eyes cleared again as she spoke. She raised her hand, and placed it across her own heart.

Before anyone had fully realised what was happening, it had begun. The claw pierced the white scales, staining them with a line of blood. She set her face in a stoic expression, determined to meet a more noble end than her mother.

A wave of grey washed over her body, as she turned herself to stone.

*********************************************

Gravil stopped speaking, and the vivid images died down, to be replaced by the greys and blacks of the underground stone.
Spike piped up immediately.

"What? What happened next?"

Gravil responded, his voice weary from speaking.

"Well, that covers...covers..."

He shook himself awake.

"Well, My Lord, that is...I mean...my, I am tired."

A pin of worry pricked at him. The energy he obtained from the symbols ought to be able to fight off fatigue for much longer than two measly days! Even so, he did not feel terribly worried - after all, the Prince was safe inside Anbel, and Olnija was tomorrow. Things would end up alright...

"Night is falling, My Lord. I assume you would much prefer spending it upstairs?"

The little dragon nodded vigorously.

The two began the climb back, up into the red Rune-lit chambers above.

*********************************************
The purple unicorn stared intently at Rainbow Dash.

"You're sure of this? We need to be very sure of this information before we act on it."

Rainbow returned her gaze without flinching.

"For the last time, Twilight, yes! I'm willing to bet my good name on it! Anbel's that way!"

She gestured to the east.

The pegasus captain raised his hoof in agreement.

"I can second that claim, Miss Sparkle. My team scouted that direction and found what we believe to be Anbel."

Twilight mulled over this information for a minute, picturing the organisation all this would take, before responding.

"Very well. I'll pass word around and have the teams recalled.

The others present nodded in acceptance. The pegasus captain went back to his tram, preparing them to move out again on short notice. Rainbow stayed behind a little longer.

Eventually, the area was quiet enough for them to speak without being overheard.

"Hey, Twi, did, uh...did everypony report in?" She trusted her friends' abilities, but this place was full of danger. She couldn't help but feel a little worried about what her friends had gone through.

Twilight smiled, and reassured her friend.

"Well, I don't actually know yet, but they'll report back in a little while. I'll make sure you're the first to know, alright?"

Rainbow returned the smile.

"Uh, thanks."

The atmosphere became decidedly uncomfortable, and Rainbow decided to find something else to busy herself with while Twilight was arranging everything. She felt a little more comfortable knowing that Twilight was handling things - after all, she was always good at stuff like this.

*********************************************

Twilight felt doubt and relief creep up in her mind simultaneously.

So, now they knew where Spike was being kept, and where they needed to be.

They had both sufficient time and sufficient force. They should be able to stop Gravil easily...

But what if they couldn't?

She shook her head, trying to will those thoughts away. There was no point in such defeatism. She had to remember why she was doing this.

Then she remembered her nightmare, and her resolve hardened to a whole new level. No-one, dragon, wyrm, or god, was going to take Spike from her and get away with it. As the sun began to throw fiery orange light over the trees, she whispered to herself.

"Hang on, Spike. I'm coming."

Eight - Day Of The Dragonfather

Applejack had fled from the Chimera, and such had been her fear that she ran for hours, through track and glade, over bush and under branch, not stopping until the sun had set and Luna's moon began to creep its way into the sky.

At last, the adrenaline pounding through her relented, and she felt the fear ebb. She panted, trying to catch her breath. Precious oxygen flowed into her, replacing that which had been lost. Slowly, she began to calm down.

Once she had a handle on herself, thought and reason began to return. She looked around her, and realised that she was alone. A spike of fear shot through her as she realised that - she was alone, in the Everfree Forest! Immediately she began to shiver - she'd been told from when she was a little filly that this was not a place that welcomed ponies. The presence of a large group of others had been the main reason why she hadn't panicked yet, and now they were gone...

There was a rustle in the undergrowth, and suddenly Granny Smith's stories about this place came back all at once. Another rustle. Applejack felt her legs tremble again. The idea of a pack of timberwolves jumping out at her was starting the adrenaline again. She backed away slowly from the source of the rustling, and took a deep breath, to steady herself for whatever might happen.

***************

The Staff made its way through the undergrowth, oblivious to the rustling it was causing. It was close to its destination, and that was all its mind could hold. Move. It had to move.

It slammed against something. It turned its gaze upward, and vaguely made out the equine shape standing before it.
Immediately it reared backwards, trying to put distance between it and the horse-thing. The Runes on its side flickered as the energy flowed through different routes, changing its abilities.

A special Rune on its side lit up, in brilliant blue instead of the usual red. Power began to flow...

***************

Applejack was filled with fear and relief in equal measure. On one hoof, she was staring down a rattler, which was bad. On the other, she'd been expecting something much worse. She thought to herself, trying to reassure herself.

"Come on, Applejack! You can handle a little ol' snake! You've tangled with manticores, this should be nothin'!"

She took stock of the situation. It wasn't rattling, which meant it didn't want to scare her off. That in turn meant it planned on either fleeing or attacking. She hoped it was the former, but she'd been taught not to take chances. She stood, front knee bended, tense and ready to leap if it tried to lunge at her.

An crackling sensation filled the air, and a bolt of flame burst from the snake's mouth. Applejack leapt backwards by instinct, narrowly avoiding the blast. She stared in disbelief at the patch of charred soil that she'd been standing on mere moments ago.

What in the world was this thing? It sure as anything wasn't a rattlesnake.

She edged backwards. Now that she knew it had a ranged attack, everything had changed. Keeping her distance wasn't going to matter anymore, and attacking head-on still didn't look like a good idea. Still, she had to do something...

It did not give her any more time to think. It reared back and hissed, its cry ringing throughout the forest.

It began to light up again, white light flickering off of the leaves of the under-canopy. The orange pony knew what that meant this time. She leapt out of the way, avoiding the firebolt as it scorched another patch of earth.

Even though it had missed her, she could still feel the heat coming from the crater. She had no doubt about what would happen to her if she were to be hit by one of them.

***************

It began to fill with something akin to rage. This creature, this equine, did not belong to the world as The Staff understood it.
When Tena-Lin was brought to bear, the enemy was destroyed. That was how the world worked. How could this...thing be attacked, but not destroyed? No matter. It would simply bring more power to bear against the intruder.

***************
Applejack felt her heart pound as the air began to crackle yet again. Blue light pushed the darkness away, before a spear of fire jumped towards her, pushing the air out of its way with the force of its passing. Her instincts had served her well so far, and continued to do so- she ducked, and the bolt passed overhead. Her back burned intensely, a strip of her orange coat burned black by the closeness of the blast.

That was painful, but she had other things to worry about. The creature had grown impatient and, seeing what it thought was an opportunity, it rushed towards her, fangs bared. She chose to leap to the side. She wasn't fast enough. The thing caught her in the leg, digging into the flesh of her front right thigh. She grimaced as a dull pain rose in her leg...then stopped.

The creature's fangs were made of wood - of course they couldn't do much damage. However, that had not been its plan. It began to glow again. The terrifying realisation dawned on the orange pony. From this range, missing her would be literally impossible. She had but a moment to do something, or she would be burned to a crisp.

She shook her leg wildly, trying to dislodge the creature, but its fangs had sunken deep enough to keep it anchored. She began to panic.

"Think of somethin', Applejack!" she thought to herself.

Raising her front left hoof, she brought it down hard on top of the creature's head. There was a loud crack as hoof met wood. The creature was unfazed, the blue light continuing to crawl slowly up the length of its body. Desperate, she slammed it again and again, the noise resonating loudly in the night air.

It wasn't good enough. She was going to...

An image flashed before her eyes.

***************
Eight ponies were seated around a roaring fire. She could see them clearly - five of her friends, and three of her family.

Apple Bloom was turned to Granny Smith, who was comforting the poor filly.

"G-Granny...Applejack's comin' home, isn't she?"

The pain in the old mare's eyes was unmistakeable. She wanted very much to say yes, that Applejack would come home. Yet lying to her own flesh and blood, to cover up something she'd discover someday anyway...

What could she do?

"Well, little'un, y'see..."

The yellow filly looked up at her grandmother, her eyes filled with tears.

"S-see what?"

Granny Smith grit her teeth. She braced herself, and spoke the words she'd prayed never to have to utter.

"Applejack's not comin' back".

***************

Rage, hot and powerful, flooded the orange mare's body. Her family wasn't going to have to suffer that! Not because of some measly snake!

Powered by fury and desperation, the next strike was true. The wood, softened by water and wear, was ill-suited to withstanding brute force. She had struck the weakest point, where the rot had begun to take hold. Under the critical blow, the shaft splintered, a crack running across the width of it, cleaving the head from the body.

***************

The light faded from the Runes. The link was broken, and the energy had nothing to direct it. Naturally, then, it simply escaped, via the path of least resistance - the air. There was a bright flash, as the magic flowing through it dissipated harmlessly.

Applejack blinked away the bright spots from her eyes, trying to come to terms with what had happened.

She looked around, and saw the now-headless serpent lying on the ground, light fading from it as it began to look more and more like a piece of deadwood.

She sighed in relief. Now that that was taken care of, she could begin to...

The adrenaline began to wear off. As that happened, a dull, throbbing pain reasserted itself in her foreleg. She looked down and noticed the thing's severed head, jaws frozen shut in her flesh.

She grimaced - that was an ugly sight. She brought her head down and fixed her teeth around the eyesore. She pulled back, her neck muscles straining as they tried to dislodge the thing. Slowly, painfully, it began to give way, until at last the fangs were pulled from her leg. She kicked the severed head across the clearing, glad to be rid of it.

She sighed and began to properly survey her surroundings. Now that that thing was out of the way, she needed to get back to the other ponies as soon as possible. She didn't want to have any more encounters with the Forest's beasts, and the best safety lay in numbers. Even so, her train of thought kept getting dragged back to that thing. What was it? She'd never heard of snakes that could shoot lightning bolts before...

Then again, the Forest had lightning trees, so why couldn't it have lightning animals too? She shook her head. This wasn't getting her anywhere. She had to focus. She didn't have the time to indulge idle speculation. Even so, something niggled at the back of her mind. As the seconds ticked slowly by, some switch in her memory flipped on. What was it Twilight had said?

Applejack's eyes widened as she realised just what had happened. Twilight said she had been attacked by someone holding a serpent-headed staff. The same staff they'd all gone into the woods to search for. The same one she'd just broken...

This was wonderful news! If she could bring the thing back to the main group, it'd bring them much closer to their goal! Perhaps being attacked by that huge red beast hadn't turned out so bad after all...

The rustling of the grass was the only warning. Her ears pricked up when she heard it, and she whipped around to face whatever was behind her.

"Yer not trickin' me twice, ya-"

The severed wooden head glared up at her as its decapitated body writhed towards it. Before she could react, the head bit into the body.

Was it attacking itself? More importantly, how was it still alive? Applejack adopted a fighting stance once more. She became aware of her own heartbeat again, as blood pumped rapidly around her body. If she had to do this again, she would.

She didn't get the chance. There was a flash of bright, blue light, blinding the orange mare. When she finally blinked the green spots away from her vision, the snake was gone, only a rustling sound behind her betraying its location. She turned in time to see it slink into the bushes, just before it slipped from her sight.

***************
This was not good. Disbelief, or something like it, smouldered inside the staff as it clung on to its own body for dear life. To not only be defeated, but crushed.... It tried to stop feeling. It was not dead yet. The mission was more important. The mission was the only thing that mattered. Its eyes glowed faintly, picking up the faint, glowing outline of An-Bel. It slithered on, task in mind.
***************
Though the revitalising power of the Runes removed Gravil's need for sleep, he still found himself oddly tired. Thus, he had retired to a dark corridor, and leant against the walls to rest. As his eyelids closed, he felt his other senses broaden. He could hear the wet plunks of water droplets, dripping from dark archways down to the tiled floors. He could smell the latent magic in the air, the halls infused with the effects of centuries of Rune-research. All these senses could, perhaps, be found in other places - assuming anyone else had the patience and wit needed to master Runecraft. However, there was one feeling that could only be found here. It permeated every inch of this place, from the mighty pillars to the humble scratch-ridden floor-tiles. He sighed, and then breathed deeply, drawing the feeling into himself.

Majesty. The feeling that someone, something grand had once lived here. A feeling that these past-things were greater than oneself. A feeling that they were strong, strong enough perhaps to fight against the modern world, against everything that was wrong...

Gravil exhaled sharply as he felt the shock. Something important had...broken. His eyes widened as he realised what that must mean. The Staff. Fear began to rise in him. Could it really have happened? He began to panic. The Staff was too powerful for them to break...wasn't it? She shook his head. Of course it was! How could mere beasts destroy an agent of Olni's will? Impossible, impossible!

He stopped, his mind detecting something. Small, very small...

Yet it was there. A small spark of life, of movement. The Staff was broken, but it was not dead. Relief flooded into him. It was not over yet. Still, this was very...worrying. Their hopes were alive, but hanging on an uncomfortably thin thread. Should he go out and reclaim the Staff, to ensure it remained safe? That seemed like a good idea, but then again, the Forest would be crawling with equines. There was a brief struggle of emotions within him as pride fought with reason. Should he go out? Of course he should - why would a brave servant of Olni be afraid? Then the fierce pride relented, as an image came to mind. The Prince. The Prince needed to be watched, and instructed, and there was precious little time left to do it.

That reminded him. There was one piece of the story he had not yet told. Well, several pieces technically, but only one that was important. Gravil had left the little dragon in the Treasury - the place was an ample bed for any Dragon. As he mumbled the short incantation that opened the Treasury door, he wondered. What did the Prince think of all that had happened? The sudden change of pace could not have been easy on him. Regardless, it was better this way. He should be here, with his ancestors.

***************
Spike was having trouble sleeping. Not that that was a surprise. He'd never have thought that he'd come up against a problem that a massive pile of gemstones couldn't make him feel better about, but it seemed there was a first time for everything. The arrangement of stones felt uncomfortable beneath him. He tossed and turned, unable to rest.

The bed wasn't really the problem, he knew that much. His mind would not allow him to sleep. He knew his friends were outside this place, searching for him. That in itself wasn't a bad thing. The problem was that he didn't know what was happeningto them. They'd be in the middle of the forest,and it would be dark, and-there-would-probably-be-monsters-at-this-time-of-night-and-what-if-somepony-got-chewed-up-by-a-Manticore-and...

His head began to spin as his imagination ran wild. He curled up into a ball and tried to push the horrid images out of his mind, to no avail.
***************

Twilight felt a shudder run down her spine, as if something horrible was happening, but she couldn't see what it was. Its cold feeling broke her concentration. She shook her head - she couldn't allow herself to be distracted from what she was doing. Focus. That was the way that Spike would be saved. And save him she would. Her dream was not going to come true, it was not, it was not...

She stopped herself - she was doing it again. Stay calm. It was like Celestia had said - if she stayed calm, she would be able to see this through. She took deep breaths, as if she could somehow flush the worry out of her system. Eventually, she managed to calm herself enough that she could think again. It was a good thing, too, as an armoured unicorn trotted up o her, carrying a sheaf of paper alongside him.

“Miss Sparkle?” said the guardspony.

“Yes?” she replied.

The guardspony motioned to the slip of paper, and she plucked it out of his magical grasp.

She glanced at it.

“Team A...all members reporting in...”

Ah. This was the roster! She’d been waiting for this to get back to her.

She thanked the unicorn, who trotted back to his unit. She barely noticed, as she was focussing on the words in front of her.

The results were good. Few casualties and no fatalities. One of said casualties caught her eye - Unit J, member missing. Name: Applejack. Her blood chilled. One of her friends was missing. She tried to calm herself.

“Just...just...stay calm. Nothing good can come of panic. Stay calm. Nothing good can...”

She repeated the words her mentor had taught her like a mantra, as if they would ward off the fears that preyed upon her. She paced worriedly, walking in a circle, retracing her own hoofsteps in the mud of the forest floor as the fear and the words wrestled furiously for supremacy. What was she going to do? She had promised to tell Rainbow if anything had happened, but she was so hard-headed... She would almost certainly fly off to look for her, and that would make two friends running around in the Forest and...

“Erm, excuse me? Miss Sparkle?”

She drew a deep breath and turned to face the voice. It was a colt, not much older than her.

“The parties are moving out. It would be...inadvisable to remain behind.”

Hearing those words helped. Suddenly she remembered the big picture. They had to save Spike, and stop Gra-Vil. Applejack was no fool. She’d probably be able to keep herself out of harm’s way, at least for a little while. Besides, maybe they’d be able to find her if they went forward...

That did it.

“Thank you. I’ll be going now.”

Saying those words helped solidify her resolve. They would keep going. Forward was the best way. She just hoped that this would end before anypony died...

********

The six ponies stood proud, their bright coats a stark contrast to the grey stones of Anbel. Facing them, across the room, eyes glinting like fire, stood the wyrm. The Runes, formed in the images of those long dead, cast their gaze over the scene. Without warning, a high screech rang out, as if from the walls, shaking the stones. Energised by the sounds of approval, the cloaked wyrm dashed forward, arms raised, claws forward. The six barely had time to react before he reached them, shrieking like a wyrm possessed...

There was a flash. The world flickered in front of Spike’s eyes for a few seconds, his eyelids fluttering like panicked butterflies.

“Uuuh...”

He must have been more tired than he had thought, if he’d actually managed to fall asleep. He rubbed his eyes, as if that would brush the weariness from them. These dreams were really starting to wear on him, but he couldn’t deny they’d made him think. They’d started yesterday and hadn’t let up yet, waiting for him every time he shut his eyes. He had begun thinking, because of what he had seen. What should he do? What would he do if he felt a conflict of loyalties?

He shook his head viciously as he realised just what he was thinking? What conflict? Had he been so shocked by the last few days that he’d forgotten what Gravil was? The mad wyrm had kidnapped him and killed Twilight! Spike stared at the stone walls surrounding him. He was trapped inside of them because of Gravil! Why was he even thinking of supporting him?

However, even as he decried the thought, another one struck him. He felt a twinge of sympathy for the old coot. He really did seem to believe what he was saying. As well as that, what about all this Dragon Kingdom stuff? Spike shook his head again. He still couldn’t quite grasp it.

“Me? A Prince? Really?”

Urgh. This deep thinking stuff was hard work. He lay down again. He dipped his hand into the massive gem-pile underneath it, and plucked out a handful of stones. He popped them into his mouth. They were delicious. He savoured the rich, juicy flavour, letting it seep through his whole body...

Nothing. A few days ago there was nothing that that wouldn’t have cheered him up from. Now he still felt empty. Thoughts began to turn over and over in his mind, stewing away until they formed into an uncomfortable mess.

Thankfully for him, it was not long before his thoughts were interrupted.

“My Lord?”

Spike filled with an odd mix of emotions. He wasn’ exactly happy to see Gravil, but it was happening anyway, and it would mean something to distract him from these horrible thoughts. He was grateful for that much, at least.

“Yeah, what is it?”

The wyrm bowed apologetically.

“I apologise for disturbing you My Lord, but I must insist that you rise now.”

Spike stifled a yawn.

“What’s this all about?”

Gravil began to speak again.

“You have heard much of the Lay of Olni these past few days, but there is one more piece that you must hear yet.”

Spike sighed. He didn’t really feel in the mood for stories right now.

“I don’t really feel like it. Can we do this tomorrow, or something?”

Gravil’s eyes narrowed.
“I wish that we had the time, My Lord, but by then it will be too late”.

Spike groaned in protest.

Suddenly, he felt a bony hand grasp his wrist.

“No, My Lord. You owe your ancestors this much, at least”.

Spike began to protest.

“But-”

Gravil snapped back.

“Not a word! This is too important!”

Spike resigned himself to his fate, at least for the time being.

Time passed slowly for the two. Gravil dragged Spike through halls and past doors, the little dragon’s claws scraping the floor in protest all the while.

Finally, they stopped at a massive pair of doors. Spike let out a sigh exasperation. It was almost as if whoever had built this place only knew how to make one kind of door. Gravil stopped and muttered something unpleasant-sounding under his breath.

“Olni’s name, I forgot about the lock!”

The wyrm pulled Spike forward, pressing the little dragon’s palm into the cold surface.

“H-hey! Whaddya think you’re doi-” Spike blurted.

Gravil turned to his charge and said “They don’t allow just anyone into Galdor’s Chambers.”

Gravil turned to the door, whispering. Spike heard:

Olni’s Eyes are our Guardian, His Wings our refuge.

Something was bothering Spike.

“What’s up with all these weird sentences, anyway? How did anyone remember all these? What if you forgot one?”

There was a cold edge in the wyrm’s voice as he responded.
“They are here to protect us. Anyone careless enough to forget the Ley Of Olni deserves to be locked out until they learn to be more diligent. And I most certainly will not forget.”

Spike persisted in his questioning, seeing that Gravil clearly didn’t like it.

“But what if you forget which one goes where? What then?”

The old wyrm raised his voice.

“No more questions!”

The journey continued in this fashion, Gravil curtly rebuffing all of Spike’s questions, until finally the wyrm stopped.

“We have arrived”.

A confused look crossed Spike’s face.

Gravil noticed this.

“Surprised, My Lord?”

“I guess I just expected something...fancier.”

The room they had arrived in was plain, black granite, with a small pit dug in the center. But for the image of Olni-the-Sun-Holder carved into one of the walls, it would have been indistinguishable from any other cave.

Gravil chuckled.

“Galdor wouldn’t want anything opulent in his personal living space. He gets enough of that in his public life. This is supposed to be a place for the most important things.”

Spike only understood some of what Gravil had said, but he nodded anyway.

Gravil continued on.

“Besides, the jewels were taken after the War, along with everything else that caught their eyes.”

That caught Spike’s attention.

“War? They?”

Gravil snapped to attention, suddenly reminded of his task.

“Ah, yes. Important though this place is, I did not bring you here simply to see it. Do you recall where we were in the narrative of our People?”

Spike thought for a moment.

“I think Renka had just...”

Spike’s voice trailed off. He hadn’t known Renka, obviously, hadn’t even heard of her until a few days ago, but Gravil’s telling of her story had been so emotionally charged that Spike felt squeamish even mentioning her fate.

Gravil relieved him of the duty of continuing that sentence.

“Yes, yes. After the confrontation at Iktena, the dead horde collapsed. The Army of Kings, though battered, was victorious. Yet their victory was bittersweet. There were many losses that day, not the least of which was Renka herself. There was some debate as to what should be done with her remains, but the King ruled that it be left where it was, an eternal monument to the evil of the Cri-Es. Personally, I think he simply wanted to feel that he was, in some small way, keeping his oath.”

The wyrm drew a deep breath and went on.

“Regardless of that, we must go on. The hatchlings who Renka had stolen and corrupted had a more complicated fate, but their story is not for today. Galdor’s reign lasted for another three years, at which point he died. His younger son took up the crown and the Royal Name.”

Gravil sighed deeply. When next he spoke, his tone was deeply reverential.

“Galdor III was...different to his predecessors. It is not for me to divine the minds of my betters, but I think he must have suffered from some feeling of crippling inferiority. You see, the first King was ordained personally by Olni, and the second proved his worth at the Battle of Iktena. He, on the other hand, had inherited power by default. He was King-by-Mistake, the runt who fell into the throne.”

Gravil took one of his usual pauses before continuing.

“Twenty-six years into the reign of Galdor III, I hatched.”

Try as he might, Spike simply couldn’t picture Gravil as an infant. Still, that sounded like it would be good for another story.

“What was that like?” asked the purple dragon.

The old wyrm’s eyes glazed over with happiness.

“Ah, life in the hatchery was wonderful. The Broodmothers tended to us all, each one of us their child, each one of them our parent. There were sleeping-pits, lined with soft soil, and sometimes even straw, brought in from aboveground. We were kept warm by a roaring fire. The fire was lit every night, and during the day too if it was particularly cold. We were all siblings, and it was...”

The wyrm shook himself out of his trance, as he remembered the importance of his mission.

“...but that is also a story for another day. Perhaps I will tell you more of it after tomorrow.”

He went on.

“The years passed, without anything important enough to mention here. That is, until The Lethargy.”

He shivered even to mention the name.

“The Lethargy came upon us like a thief in the night. The first sure sign that something was wrong came at Olni-Sa. You remember what I said about Olni-Sa?”

Spike scratched his head.

“Something about...Olni...”

Gravil took on an expression of exasperation.

“Yes, My Lord. It commemorates Olni’s departure from this world, and is the most mournful day of the year.Regardless, something was...different that year. The Wilders had been behaving oddly, flying over our lands in flagrant defiance of the Statutes of Dominion. However, they did not listen to our protests, nor did they linger long enough to be punished. They would come, and they would go, across the Western Ridge like the setting sun.”

He paused briefly before going on.

“At first we were puzzled as to what this could mean, but as more and more of them began to wing their way over our lands we began to grow suspicious. Surely there must be some reason for so many dragons to exert so much effort? At Olni-Sa that year, it became very clear...”

It was at this point that Gravil did that thing Spike had come to know him for, that strange way he had of putting such life into a tale that it seemed entirely real. He sat down and listened, as the story came to life...

********

The crowd was assembled. The Wyrms were huddled on the ridge beneath the Peak, the Wyverns circled overhead. Most of the Nobles had turned out for the formalities too. The mountain was covered with reds, greens, and blues, and their scales began to glitter slightly as the sun’s fading light pattered down onto them. The scene was set. All they needed was their King.

Galdor trembled with anticipation. By all rights, he shouldn’t have been worried. This was hardly his first time performing the Ceremony of Departure - he’s done it for decades by this point. Yet something troubled him. A feeling of inexplicable discomfort had settled deep in his stomach these past few days, and he’d read enough legends to know that was usually an ill omen. He had consulted Gra-Vil about it once, but the spirited young wyrm had simply told him to place his faith in the Dragonfather. Galdor sighed. Just like him to trust his superiors. Then again, he really shouldn’t complain about that - true, burning devotion to Olni was one of the finest traits an Advisor could possess.

A tap on his shoulder drew him out of his thoughts. A beautiful green Dragon stared at him. He spent a moment admiring her lithe tail, before she spoke again.

“Come on, Sen-Ri. The people need their King. You wouldn’t want to be seen shirking your royal duty, would you?”

A wry smile crossed his face.

“You know, if you weren’t my wife, I could have you exiled for that.”

She smirked back.

“Too bad that I am your wife, then.”

They exchanged glances for a moment, before she snapped at him again.

“Go on, now! You wouldn’t want to miss the sunset, would you?.”

He sighed.

“Fine, fine.”

He walked towards the door that opened out onto the peak. Ka-Ma was right. He had to be a King today. Even if it was just ceremony, the people needed to see that he was willing to play his part in Olni’s plan. After all, if he wasn’t going to, why should they?

This was different to Olni-Ja. There was no cheering, no cacophony of whoops and yells. Silence suited the sombre nature of this day much better. Plus, silence would also lend more power to the ritual words when they were finally spoken. He strode to the peak, to the carven steps that led to the rounded tip of the mountain.

A shiver ran down his spine. He suppressed it. Be strong, be strong. A real King would be confident. At last, he stood at the summit. This was the time to speak.

“Oh Olni, Oh Olni, Oh Dragon-Father! Today is the most sorrowful of days! Today we leave Your presence, to wander in the dark! But though we speak of partings, we know that You shall always return! For as You said...”

Suddenly, there was a gasp from the assembled masses. The air chilled perceptibly. Even the King turned to see what the cause of this was.

There were dragons. Hundreds of them, all flying together, in their direction. Gasps turned to shrieks, as the Wyverns began to fly closer to the ground, instinctively attempting to protect those below them.

They need not have feared. The flock had no intention of attacking this day. Flying at speeds that even most wyverns would have thought unachievable, they zoomed over the peak, covering it in a huge, mottled shadow.

Confusion reigned among the masses. They huddled together, wanting to flee but not daring to move. It was then that Galdor realised. They were frightened and unsure. He was their King. He had to do something, surely.

Without thinking, he spread his wings for the first time in years. Shouts rang out, but they did not reach his ears. The wind, propelled by the downbeat of hundreds of giant wings, resisted him, but he pressed on regardless. His wings beat, and beat, and...failed. A particularly vicious downdraft whipped his wings from under him, and he lost his balance. He began to tumble, down towards the peak beneath them, a horrified shriek sounding from the crowd.

As he fell, the flock of dragons finally ended, and at last he saw what had made them fly. Behind them, rolling like a storm, a herd of white beasts that he did not recognise even from legend. Their faces were bizarre, ending in flats rather than points. Behind them, wherever they rode, a trail of ice, a land frozen over.

That was all he saw before he fell, and darkness swept over him.

The story stopped as Gravil paused, panting for breath.

Spike was eager to hear the next part.

“What? What happened then?”

“Pardon me, My Lord, b...but allow me one...moment...”

When the Wyrm had composed himself, he went on.

“Now, Galdor fell, but he was not killed. He was fortunate to be blown away from the peak itself, onto the softer marshland that used to surround this place. It was still a serious fall, but He was strong enough that it did not kill him. However, Galdor had little time to recuperate, for a dire threat faced all of us. The Olc-Ol had arrived.”

There was a slight buzzing in Spike’s ears as the word untangled itself, offering upAir Spirit.

Grail went on.

“The name is quite deceptive, My Lord. Despite that, these...things were like no threat we had faced before. They sapped the world itself of heat and strength by their mere presence! Any attempts at aggression proved futile - tooth and nail simply passed through their bodies, and their unnatural powers sucked the heat from any flame before it could make contact with them.”

Spike’s mind filled with images of dragons falling to the ground, wings frozen by the sheer cold of the Air Spirits.

“So they attacked you? What did you do then?” Spike asked.

Gravil responded with a sigh of frustration.

“That was one of the unusual things, My Lord. They didn’t attack us - in fact, we seemed beneath their notice. Imagine the insolence! The mighty Children of Olni, passed over like yesterday’s leftovers! It nearly burned me up with indignation, so it did!”

Spike interjected Gravil’s rant.

“Yeah, but what happened?”

Gravil’s face lit up with embarrassment.

“Ah, yes. The story. Their lack of interest in us did not spare us from harm. Wherever they passed, snow filled the air, streams and lakes froze. The increasingly cold air was Bel-Kal itself for us, who draw our strength from heat. The Dragons were affected the least, their inner flame staving off the worst effects of the weather, but the rest of us were forced indoors on a permanent basis. We wyrms took this in stride, as best we could - the cold wasn’t much of a problem underground. For the Wyverns, however...”

Gravil grasped his own shoulders and shivered.

“For a Wyvern, indoors is the place you stay when the sky is off-limits. The sky is your real home. Being forced indoors for weeks, sometimes even months at a time was simply too much for them to bear. Many of them went mad, attacking their own comrades in desperate bids for freedom. The lucky ones were subdued.”

Spike simply had to ask the question - it was begging for it.

“What about the unlucky ones?”

Gravil replied.

“They escaped.”

The room became deadly silent for a moment. Gravil bowed his head in remembrance.

Eventually, he went on.

“Panic spread across the land. Hold after hold was cut off by the Olc-Ol’s advance, and we began to fear for our future. Efforts were made to slow or stall the advance, or reverse its effects, but none proved successful. Eventually, Galdor’s choices boiled down to two. One, He could order a mass evacuation, abandoning the land of Olni and our Fathers to the horrors, and attempt to find a new land. Faced with such an appalling choice, He chose the second. The Lethargy.”

Before Spike could even ask what the Lethargy was, Gravil elaborated.

“The Lethargy was a spell, concocted by the most skilled Runeworkers in the land, as a workaround for our problem. It was simple: a spell would be cast that would place all Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns into a state of extended hibernation, vastly slowing our vital processes and allowing us to sleep until such a day as the cold had ended. The spell included provisions that would sustain our bodies and fulfil our basic needs, as well as protecting us from attack. Each Hold would be affected in the same way, and was to prepare in the same way. It was a massive, desperate undertaking. I can still remember the day when the spell was cast - Galdor, lain on his bed of gold with his wife beside him, their clutch of eggs, sat in coals nearby. The ranks of wyrm-warriors, determined to sleep on their feet, so that they would be able to fight from the very moment of their awakening, the broodmothers herding the children to the correct places...”

He suddenly realised that he had moved onto a tangent, and re-focussed himself.

“Yes, it was a day worth remembering. However, what happened next was...unpleasant. You will have to forgive me for the vagueness of this next part, My Lord, for I was asleep for most of it. However, as we slept, we dreamed. I earnestly cannot say what we dreamt of, but I can say that we had some vague feeling of connection to each other in them. I sensed Galdor’s dream - and the singular is appropriate here, for it was always the same. I do not know what it contained exactly, but I got the impression that it was horrible.”

Gravil went on, lost in the telling.

“For four centuries we slept, our Holds covered by snow, and then by trees. At long last, our minds cleared and we awoke. However, the greatest surprise was yet to come. For you see, at first we thought we had awoken to Paradise. The Olc-Ol had vanished, and the world was green and warm once more. We were puzzled by the sudden appearance of trees outside of our doors, but we could not have been happier! Our world was free again! The Wyverns were so overcome by joy that they burst into the air like a massive cloud and did not come down to rest for three full days. Perhaps this is what attracted their notice...”

That piqued Spike’s curiosity.

“Whose notice? Was it...zombies?”

Gravil looked unamused.

“No, My Lord. Whilst in the air, one group of wyverns encountered strange flying beasts they had never seen before. They had wings, but no claws or scales, instead possessing strange lumps on the ends of their feet. Over-excited by the feeling of flight, some of the wyverns pounced upon them, killing several. The beasts made no attempt to fight back, but turned their tails and fled. The Wyverns, overcome by the thrill of the chase, pursued them. The creatures flew to the peak of a mountain, into a bizarre white city. The wyverns were driven wild, and attacked the city. There were more creatures in the city, some like the flying creatures, some earthbound, some bearing horns on their heads. There were scenes of utter chaos. Some beasts fled, others tried to stand their ground - in vain. The frenzy continued until a larger, white beast, bearing both wing and horn, appeared. The wyverns attacked it - and were burned to ash by its powerful magic. Terrified, the few survivors fled as swiftly as they could, returning to An-Bel to tell their story.”

“However, all was not right. I noticed right from the moment of awakening that Galdor seemed unwell. He was more aggressive than before, less tolerant of mistakes. Small errors would be met with Crissian punishments, and his voice contained a crazed, desperate tone. Even so, He was our King, and we trusted him.”

“When word returned to An-Bel of what had transpired in the bizarre city, we were shocked. Shocked at the wyverns’ behaviour, yes, but it was soon deduced that this news was even more terrible than first we thought. When the wyvern survivors pointed out the mountain to others, it was recognised quickly - it was Ik-Tena itself! The King was swift to make a deduction: these beasts resembled the Olc-Ol in form, and had built a stronghold upon the cursed mountain. Who else could their terrible leader be but Pan-Gor, the destroyer! All the signs matched! White in colour, shape of death, tool of magic. Without delay, Galdor pronounced war.”

“There were some who felt reserved about making war so hastily, myself included. Even so, our King seemed dead-set upon it, and so we prepared. The other Holds were contacted, and The Army Of Kings marched again.”

“We faced resistance at first, though it seemed inappropriate to refer to it as such. Pangor’s followers were unable to match our superior strength, size, and spirit. Eventually, it was such that we spent days on end travelling through empty countryside. We sometimes encountered odd structures, made of wood and thatch. We reasoned that these were probably their dwellings, and we set them alight.”

There was an odd tone in the old Wyrm’s voice, a vigour that made his feelings clear. Remembering those days made his chest swell with pride.

“Eventually, we stood at the foot of Ik-Tena. How proud we were! How much we resembled our ancestors! Before the battle, we said the prayers as Olni taught them to us - prayers for strength, prayers for faith, prayers for victory. In Him we placed our trust, and we knew that We should never be defeated.”

“When the prayers were said and done, we ascended the mountain, wyrmclaws digging into its sides, wyverns soaring overhead. Swarms of the flying beasts had gathered around the summit, aiming to drive us back. And I...I stood at the foot of the mountain, beside my King, observing the battle that was about to unfold...”

His voice began to fill with emotion again, and his voice filled Spike’s head with vivid images.

****

“Gra-Vil.” The Dragon King’s tone was dry.

“Yes, My King?” The Chancellor replied.

Galdor laughed.

“Ever formal, aren’t you?”

Gravil fidgeted, his claws clacking as he rapped them upon The Staff he held. He only ever did that when his nerves were getting to him.
“Is today not the day for sobriety, My Lord?”

Galdor cracked a crazed grin.

“Of course not! Soon we will destroy the Great Enemy! Soon we will be Heroes! Heroes!”

The Chancellor smiled back, uncomfortably. This...did not feel right. This course of action was rash in the extreme. True, the shape of these creatures was disturbingly similar to the Olc-Ol, and their leader was a white-colored magician, but even so...

The King raised his voice, and shouted the order.

“Advance!”

As word spread, the order was followed. The Army of Kings was smaller now than it had been at the height of its strength, but there were still so many wyrms marching up the mountainside that the earth shook. The wyverns surged forward, eager to engage the flying beasts. Now all that they had to do was wait.

The wyrms began the difficult march up the sides of the mountain. They kept their heads down, their minds set on the city. They set one foot before the other, and slowly they began to ascend. Suddenly, there was a rumbling, and several huge boulders emerged from the city. They were encased in strange red light. Gravil recognised them immediately.

“Magic!” he hissed, spitting the word out as if it were poison.

Galdor began to shout.

“Mages! Get the mages! Stop those things! Stop them!”

Before the Rune-Mages could be organised, the light dissipated, and the boulders began to roll down the mountainside. Wyrms shrieked in horror as the giant stones thundered toward them. The army began to split, as soldiers tried to escape from the rocks’ path. For some, it was too late. The sound of crushed bones sounded, as the front lines were smashed apart. The Dragon King screamed.

“No!NO!”

A red light surrounded the stones, and they froze in place. The panicked wyrms looked around in confusion, though they were grateful to have been saved. Three gaunt, pale dragons appeared next to the King. One of them spoke.

“We stand ready to serve, My Lord.”
Galdor sighed gratefully.

“Good. Now support our troops! Counteract any further trickery they attempt! I will not be the King who succumbed to the Cri-Es!”

The three dragons bowed their heads in respect. The air filled with a slight clicking sound, and the three dragons disappeared in a flash of red light.

The advance continued, the Rune-Mages able to thwart most of the efforts of the beast-magicians. Any boulders thrown were tossed back, any bolts of magic dispelled. The skies filled with the beating of wings, as flying-beast fought wyvern, both sides suffering significant losses. At last, the wyrm soldiers stood at the perimeter of the city.

The streets were surprisingly bare - the creatures seemed to have withdrawn to the highest point of the mountain. It made sense - it was the point within the city that the wyrms would take the longest to reach. Gravil noticed this and mentioned it to his King.

“An intelligent move, Gravil, but ultimately futile. They buy only time, and there is nothing upon which they can spend it that will enable them to defeat us.”

Even as the words left Galdor’s mouth, a sharp crack rang out, and the acrid tang of free magic filled the air. Gravil’s eyes were drawn to the source, to the summit of the mountain. There she stood, proud and terrible. The white creature raised its head to the sky, and was enveloped in light.

“Mages! Stop her! Do som-”

For a moment, all was still, as if the world had been frozen. Then the sun moved. Not at its normal, almost imperceivable speed, but with a heavy, jarring jolt that seemed more like the movement of a clock hand.

It picked up speed, moving down towards the western rim, until, after a few seconds, it sank beneath the horizon.

Gravil stopped, suddenly.

Spike didn’t know what to say.
“So, er...what happened then?”

The old wyrm stared at the floor, shivering at the memory.

“We were...terrified.” Gravil whispered.

He went on.

“For as long as we could remember, we had trusted Olni to give us strength, and He had never failed us before. But this, this sorceress had forced Him to move! We...we could not believe it”.

He placed his hand to his forehead once more, as if the mere memory of the day was making him ill.

“They burst forth from the city, crashing down upon us like a waterfall. Our morale waned more quickly than a falling comet. Shocked and demoralised, not quite comprehending what had happened, the Army of Kings began to crumble. I can still remember it - the looks on the faces of the wyrms, the Wyverns’ confusion at the sudden disappearance of the sun. The Dragons made a valiant effort to rally the army, but the sudden reversal of the battle’s pace made this all but impossible. The momentum was with them now, and they were only picking up more of it as time went on. Their magic was more ferocious now, their white leader adding its power to the eldritch onslaught. The Rune-Mages found themselves simply unable to keep pace. At last, a stray rock caught Tal-Da, leader of the Rune-Mages square in the head. That was the end of it”.

He drew another deep breath before going on.

“With the loss of one-third of our magic resistance, we simply could not hold any longer. Brave wyrms were tossed aside like rag-dolls, wyverns were struck by bolts of lightning, or dragged forcibly from the heavens, shattering their bodies in the process. The King, of course, was livid at this stage, driven utterly mad by fear and denial. He simply...”

Gravil winced visibly, obviously disliking the memory he had just brought to mind.

“...He simply could not accept that evil could triumph over good. He had to be dragged from the field.”

Gravil said nothing for a few moments.

Spike eventually decided to break the silence.

“So...what did you do then?”

Gravil replied in a low, tired voice.

“We ran. We had hoped for a reprieve, such that we could gather our forces, and our wits, but it was not to be. The beasts pursued us every step of the way, with a fury and a vigour that never seemed to wane. Only the valiant sacrifices of Lord Du-Oto and Lady Hi-Oto delayed them for long enough to ensure that we reached Anbel before they did.”

“We were hysterical. There was chaos, hopelessness, and fear. Who could we turn to, now that our God had left us? Our King, our second source of strength, was not much more help. Galdor locked himself within his chambers, refusing to come out. So great was our need that The Lords of the Land (the few that were left, at any rate) decided to give responsibility for the running of the Hold to the most senior of them. He was not a poor leader, but the task before him was simply too great, the time too short.”

Gravil shuddered at the memory.

“Apologies, My Lord, but the hours that followed that were very hectic. I have knowledge only of my own role in the next few events. The Queen herself came to see me, to discuss a plan. It had been designed for use in case the Hold was in danger of being overrun, and that was most certainly the case at the time. I was to lead a party of wyrms, composed of several broodmothers, the handful of soldiers that remained, and all of the children and eggs, and escape into the tunnels. Ignominious though it was, hiding had saved us from the chill of the Olc-Ol, and it might well save us again.”

“It was...a daunting task. I did not want to believe that it was necessary, but I couldn’t ignore the situation. As such, I set to the task. I gave orders, and they were followed. You will have to forgive me, My Lord, the next few hours flew swiftly indeed. I recall that we finished ahead of time, and that we were ready to set off immediately. Some argued against abandoning An-Bel, but I overruled them. Some of them I overruled forcibly.”

He spoke the last sentence with a matter-of-factness that was oddly chilling.

“The next few hours were a blur of sound and emotion. Despite the great sorrow inflicted upon us, I distinctly recall an oddly misplaced sense of excitement. We were about to embark on a journey, great and perilous, a journey that one day would allow us to regain our glory. We walked through the tunnels, water dripping through cracks that had appeared in four hundred years of non-maintenance. It was intimidating, but we were wyrms, and the earth was our home. We marched on, holding faith that we were assuring the future of our people...”

Gravil hung his head, and wrung his hands.

Spike noticed this.

“Er...Is that the end?”
Gravil sighed.

“No, My Lord. It is just that... what happened...gah.”

He sat down, and clasped his head in his hands.

“There was a noise, some confusion...a sound like thunder above us...then dust started raining from the ceiling, and we began to run...then it was rocks, rocks, rocks! I was struck on the head by one of them, whilst trying to direct the escape. I have no idea how I survived, but when I awoke... everyone was gone.”

He looked up at the ceiling, as if the stones in it were somehow speaking to him.

“I failed them, My Lord. I had promised to lead them to safety, to protect them for as long as I still lived. Yet here I am.”

His voice held none of the fiery passion that it did whenever he described the Dragon-Kings, but his words still held force.

“It took days to dig myself out of the rock-pile. The fighting was already over. The place was littered with the dead. No-one was spared. I found the King, lying on his side, almost unconscious from blood loss. I rushed to him. His eyes opened, and he seemed at last to see clearly. He apologised to me, for being so foolish. For allowing his need to prove himself to override his concern for his people. I, of course, was panicking, unable to accept what I was seeing. He seemed to find it vaguely ironic that I was the more distraught one, even though it was Him that was dying.”

“Before he finally died, Galdor said one last thing to me. He said:”

“Oh Gravil, poor Gravil. You carry so many burdens, and it is truly wrong of me to place another upon your back. But Gravil...you are the only one who can...”

Spike was on the edge of his metaphorical seat.

“The only one who can what?”

Gravil sighed again.

“He died at that exact moment. He never said what it was that he wanted, but he did not need to. What else could he want, but justice? The one who had slain him, imprisoned our Father, still lived. And there is something else, My Lord. The horror that slew brave Galdor lives still. In fact, it reigns, passing down its commands from its perch atop the vulgar peak, Ik-Tena! The White Death, Pan-Gor, what you may know as Celestia!”
The words sent a shock through Spike.

“W-wait, Celestia did all that?”

Gravil turned to him.

“Of course you would not believe. She stole your egg, wrenched it from the clutch of your mother. She slew our people! She is evil! She has caused us unspeakeable pain and dishonour! But tomorrow, all of that will finally be avenged!”

That confused Spike.

“Wait, what? What’s happening tomorrow?”

Gravil looked as if he was about to answer, when suddenly he froze. His eyes glazed over, and he began to tremble slightly.

“Ah. My little friend has returned”

Before Spike had the chance to ask what on Earth he was talking about, he stormed off, focussed totally on whatever it was he was looking for.

Spike was left alone in the Chamber of The King, wondering what the heck all of this meant.
*******

Nine - Gateways and Destinies

Applejack followed the staff, not thinking of where it was taking her. She ran at full pelt, her muscles straining as she attempted to catch the thing. But where she was fast, it was agile, better able to duck under low-hanging branches, less hindered by the environment around it.

“Slow down, consarn it!”

It ignored her. The treeline broke, and it began to slither across rain-battered cobblestone. The journey was almost complete. All it had left to do was find the door.

Applejack gasped as she saw what she was running towards. A pair of enormous doors stood before her, set into the mountainside. She’d been told that it was big enough for a dragon to walk through, of course, but seeing it with her own two eyes was something else.

The doors began to creak open, slowly, then suddenly sped up, opening a thin black line in the rock wall. She had to pick up her pace, or else it would escape! Her muscles already burned, but she willed herself faster, using as much strength as she could muster. She dashed towards the opening...

The staff slipped inside. She followed a few moments later, right on its tail. She leapt through the gap as it began to close, the heavy doors scraping shut. She landed on something cold and solid. No surprise there. The sudden change in scenery was disorienting, but she quickly got her bearings. There were walls of stone, looking as if they’d been cut straight from the insides of the mountain. The ceiling was even higher than the doors, and all around were symbols glowing in soft red light, the only source of illumination.

She didn’t have the time to admire the art, however. She had something to find. She looked around, and cursed quietly. It had disappeared! She didn’t see how that was possible until she caught sight of the side passages. There were so many of them, and it could have darted down any of them! How was she supposed to find it now?

Spike heard the sound of the doors opening and shutting again. He peeked out into the corridor, expecting to see Gravil. To his great surprise, the form he saw was equine. It was in the shadows right now, so he couldn’t make it out, but...

Applejack trotted into the light thrown by the Runes. Spike’s heart jumped as he recognised her. “Applejack!” he exclaimed.

*******

She snapped around to the source of the noise, her muscles tensing instinctively in surprise. When she saw Spike, however, she was overjoyed. He was safe!

“Spike!”

She ran towards him, her hooves clacking against the stone floor. She ran forward without really thinking, sure that she could stop. She found, unfortunately, that smooth stone does not lend itself to traction. She tried to stop, her hooves trying to gain enough grip to slow her down, but there simply wasn’t any there. She slipped, and tripped, and fell head over hooves onto the hard floor. The world went blurry for a moment. Spike ran to her side.

“AJ! Are you-”

She stood up, shaking her head, trying to clear her vision.

“Yeah, ah’m fine. Had some worse knocks’n that in my time. Consarned floor...”

Now that the shock had passed, Spike remembered why he’d originally come out here.

“Shh! He might hear you!”

Applejack stared at her young friend.

“He? You mean the guy who kidnapped ya?”

Spike nodded, holding a claw to his lips. He whispered:

“Yeah. Are the doors still open?”

The orange pony looked behind her.

“Nope. Musta shut when I got in here.”

Spike continued whispering.

“Then you’ve gotta hide! If he catches you in here-”

AJ felt slighted.

“He’ll what? Honestly, I wouldn’t mind givin’ him a piece of my mind...”

The little dragon shook his head furiously.
“Nonono! You don’t get it! Gravil’s...well, he’s...just come here!”

Applejack sighed, following the young dragon to the room he pointed out.

*******

On the peak of Mount Tena-Lin, the wyrm paced around the eight symbols that comprised the Rune of Life. Technically it was a group of runes, not a single Rune, but as long as they worked in unison, that was of little importance. They may not have been one Rune, but they worked as one. One with much more power than any of them could have by themselves.

He walked around the circle of dull symbols, reading each one in turn. Dragon. Connector. Wyrm. Connector. Wyvern. The World, inverted. Journey, inverted. The World, upright this time.
Together they spelled a message that could undo the mistakes of the past, set the world upon its correct path once again. It only needed one thing - magic. If sufficient magic were channelled through the runes, they would give it shape, give it order. He had spent years finding and crafting the exact combination and order of symbols, exactly the command he would give the magic. All he needed was the magic.

The door creaked open, and a familiar presence entered the room. The old wyrm turned to address it.

“Ah, you’ve arrived. By Olni’s teeth, what happened to you?”

The Staff did not answer. It slithered across the floor, still biting into its own neck.It writhed across the chipped stone of the mountain, and stopped at Gravil’s feet. He stooped down and picked it up.

“Goodness, we’ll have to fix you up after all of this. At least your suffering will be in the name of a good cause.”

He clasped the pieces tightly. He could not afford to lose them now. Only a few hours remained. The Runes were in place. That was one. The Staff was now back in his presence. That was two. Royal Blood was three. Now he just had to wait for sunrise...

*******

“What do ya MEAN, she’s not here?”

Rainbow Dash’s voice resounded through the otherwise-quiet forest.

She fluttered impatiently in place in front of her purple friend.

“I mean, Applejack was assigned to Unit J, and they haven’t seen her in several hours!”

Rainbow’s retort came in a loud, angry voice.
“And you were planning on telling us this when?”
Twilight’s eyes screwed up and she sighed.
“Because! She could be anywhere! Do you know how much time we have left?”
Her hoof pointed towards the pink-purple sky, already lightening with the promise of morning.

“We’ve only got until midday before Gra-Vil can enact his plan! You don’t want that, do you?”

Rainbow retorted.

“Well, no! But what kind of friend doesn’t even care when her friend goes missing?”

It was Twilight’s turn to retort angrily.

“You think I don’t care about this!? You think it doesn’t bother me that one of my best friends has suddenly gone missing in the Everfree Forest, at night? Well it does! I want to search for her, Rainbow, believe me. But I’m scared that if we stop we’ll miss the deadline, and and...”

Twilight choked for a moment, unable to think of what would happen if they missed it.
At last, she found her voice.

“Well, we just CAN’T!”

Rainbow still simmered with frustration, but she saw her friend’s point. Twilight always freaked out about deadlines, even when they didn’t matter - except this time, the deadline really was important. She spoke one more time, to end the conversation.

“Okay, fine. Just promise me we won’t forget about looking for her.”

In spite of the situation, Twilight smiled slightly.

“No, Rainbow. I swear I won’t forget.”

The blue pegasus nodded, apparently satisfied. She turned around, and began to fly, in the direction that the rest of the company was going. There wasn’t long now. They were almost at the place that the scouts had pointed out. They were almost there...

*******

Applejack stared wide-eyed at Spike as he regaled her with stories of the events of the last few days. Her wonder was half at the events he was describing, and half at the fact that he was so calm. As he finally finished describing the most recent things that had happened, she put her hoof to his mouth, imploring for quiet.

“An’ through all this, he never mentioned why he’d gone to the bother of takin’ ya all the way out here? An’ why he’d never done it before now?”

Spike’s mouth opened as he prepared to reply - then hung there, as he realised he didn’t have an answer.

“I...I dunno. I mean, he probably wanted me to...”
His arms flailed, as he tried to describe exactly what his mind had been on for the past few days.
“I mean...I sort of...I got lost in everything, and I...”
Applejack again placed her hoof to his mouth.

“Whoa, whoa! It’s alright. Ah’m sure this cant’ve been easy, so it’s no wonder you’re confused!”
Spike sighed. When he’d gotten himself together, he went on.

“No, he didn’t say. No, I didn’t ask. I-I’m not sure why.”
Applejack shook her head.

“Well, what’s done is done, ah suppose. But ya don’t need ta worry, ‘cause the rest of us’ll be here soon enough.”

Spike sighed.

“But if they can’t open the door, what’s the point? If they can’t get in, then...”
Applejack retorted.

“Those doors might be tough, but there’s gotta be some way ta open ‘em!”
Spike shook his head.

“Gravil went on for ages about how strong and unbreakable they were. About how well protected they were, how mighty the enchantments were, how they’d stood under the assault of whatsisname and whowasit. Got kind of boring, actually. ”

Applejack rubbed her head, trying to think of something.

“Well, there’s gotta be something we can do! It’s gonna be midday in a few hours, an’ after that-”

Spike hadn’t heard that before.

“Wait, what’s all this about midday?”

Applejack’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh, right. We got ta him not tellin’ you why he wanted you, but we didn’t get to what he does want with ya. Well, from what Twilight said, he’s plannin’ to bring a whole lotta angry dragons back ta life. An’ it seems that the ritual, or whatever it is, needs royal blood. From the sounds of it, a heck of a lot of it too.”

A shiver ran down Spike’s spine.

“WHAT?!”

Spike began shuddering, and he began to gibber incoherently.

“How the - what the - what-”

For the third time, Applejack put her hoof to his mouth.

“Yeah. Ah know. That’s why we absolutely have to get ya out of here. But panickin’ will only make things more difficult. So please calm down, sugarcube.”

It took some time, but eventually Spike managed to get his breathing under control. At last, he was fit to speak again.

“O-okay. L-l-let’s do that.”

*******

The treeline receded, and at last they stood before the Doors of An-Bel.

Twilight regarded them solemnly. The drawings in her book simply couldn’t do them justice. They were so much bigger in real life. The carvings they were festooned with were amazingly intricate. She could see why they would be seen as beautiful.

Right now, however, they were the strongest thing standing between her and Spike, as well as the fate of all Equestria.

A pegasus sidled up next to Twilight. She spoke in a low voice:

“Oh my. They’re s-so large, aren’t they?”

Twilight couldn’t think of any response better than:

“Yeah, they are.”

Fluttershy whimpered.

“D-do you think there’ll be actual D-dragons in there?”
Twilight did know what to say to that.
“Not unless we’re too late.”
That wasn’t exactly comforting, but Twilight quickly made up for that.
Don’t worry, Fluttershy. We’ll crack this thing open and nab Spike out of there before...”
She gazed up at the sky, noticing how close the sun was to midday.
“...before anything bad happens! I’m sure of it!”

Fluttershy didn’t seem reassured, but she did a good job of masking the worry in her stomach. She went on.
“But that door-it looks so thick. How can we get through it?”
Twilight grinned.
“Magic, that’s how.”

*******

They weren’t going to just attack blindly, of course. This would be quite the struggle, and they wanted to make easier in any way possible. They knew the doors would likely be protected, but what they didn’t know was how extensive the defenses were, and whether or not the defenses had degraded in many years of neglect.

Twilight’s horn began to glow as she probed the stone for weaknesses. There were few. Although the doors had suffered the effect of weathering, there were still remarkably few cracks in them. That wasn’t the end of it, though. Within the doors, she felt something unusual. Something that felt like magic. That was probably the defenses. She concentrated, intensifying the spell, allowing her to inspect the doors more deeply. Suddenly the feeling was overwhelming. With her enhanced senses, she could feel the magic infused within the door. It was strong - very strong. Suddenly, she doubted their ability to defeat it, even with fourteen unicorns.

Even so, they would have to try. There wasn’t enough time left to try anything else.

“Captain Spellshine, are your soldiers ready?

*******

Something occurred to Applejack. Something had been bothering her since Spike had told her his story.

“Spike...you said you and that Gra-Vil feller opened the door with some kind of password, right?”

Spike nodded, not really understanding where this was going.

“Yeah...but what does-”

His eyes lit up with understanding.

“You want me to open it?”

Applejack nodded.

“Seems like the best shot we’ve got.”

Spike nodded.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

*******

Spike stood in front of the doors, desperately wracking his brains.

Applejack was indignant.

“Whaddya mean ya don’t remember the password?”

Spike retorted angrily.

“A lot of stuff happened in the last few days, okay! I was more worried about what was happening to you guys than that one phrase Gra-Vil said that one time!”

That didn’t make Applejack feel any better.

“Consarn it! From what ya said, the two of ya went through loads of doors! How can you not remember the password?”

Spike retorted.

“There’s a different password for every door! No, I dunno why they did it like that, but they did! How’s anyone supposed to remember all of those anyway?”

Inspiration struck Spike. He looked upwards.

Could it be? It was a long shot, but...

A row of symbols were carved above the door. His head buzzed as their meanings became clear.
“Many approach me, but only the King opens me.”

“Of course! That’s it!”
A spark of memory ignited in Spike’s mind.
Applejack was taken aback by his sudden change in mood.

“Wait, what? What makes sense?”

The little dragon pointed to a string of symbols, stretched out just above the doorframe.

“The Runes above the doorframes are like, hints to the password! That’s how they managed this stupidly complex system!”

Applejack scanned the rock, almost afraid to believe.

“An’ you can read this, right? Tell me you can read this!”

Applejack’s tone grew more frantic.

Spike scanned the glyphs, trying to think what that phrase might mean.

“Reading it isn’t the problem! It doesn’t make sense!”

Applejack responded.

“Whaddya mean it doesn’t make sense?”

Spike shook his head, desperately trying to untangle the meaning. He knew it was a hint to the password that he had heard earlier. What was it, what was it? He had to remember.

It was something like...something like “The King Is Here”...

Applejack was on tenterhooks, acutely aware of both how little time they had and of how little use she was at the moment.

“What? What is it?”

Spike responded.

“It’s...it’s...Rek Sun Sa!”

The symbols heard his words.

*******

Twilight and Rarity stood before twelve other unicorns, as Twilight explained their plan in brief. There wasn’t time to bring aid, not before Gravil’s ritual would be completed. As the door was too heavy to move via muscle, they would have to try magic. All present unicorns would combine their spellpower into one, with the hope that this would be enough to open, collapse, or at least break a hole into the doors. It wasn’t a great plan, but there weren’t any better options.

Fourteen horns began to glow, and fourteen beams of light soared into the air. They joined, and were one.

Twilight prepared to give the order to fire.

“Ready...aim...”

*******

The runes on the door glowed a fierce red, as if in answer to the equine magic. Twilight’s heart thumped even harder. Was it preparing to defend itself? From what she’d heard, that was entirely possible.

Before she could give the order to fire, a loud grinding noise came from the doors. What happened next was beyond what she had dared hope for. The doors opened, and opened quickly. Before disbelieving eyes, Spike and Applejack were revealed.

The spell dissolved. Twilight’s mind temporarily turned numb, the joy so sudden and immense that she couldn’t quite process it. Rainbow Dash acted a bit sooner.

Charging headfirst towards the doorway, she almost knocked the two over in her enthusiasm.

“You guys!”

She’d wanted to say more, but for the moment, she couldn’t think of any. The sheer relief of knowing her friends were safe was enough to fill her up, for now anyway.

It didn’t take long for the rest of Spike’s friends to join the circle. No one spoke. They embraced, and said more than any number of words ever could. It felt like the best moment of his life.

Rarity kissed him on the cheek.

Correction. Now it was the best moment of his life.

********

They stood there for a few minutes, catching up on the past few days. Spike told of Gravil’s evil deed, and his surprising heroism against the chimera. They all shared their worries, and they felt their worries fade.

It couldn’t last, however. Emotional reunion or no, the story was not over yet. They were still in the middle of the forest, and there was still the question of Gravil.

Technically, they had already saved Equestria. Technically, Gra-Vil could not perform his ritual without Royal Dragon Blood, and the world’s supply of .

But that wasn’t enough for them. Rainbow was the first to speak out.

“We’re not seriously just gonna up and let this creep get away with this, are we?”
Twilight joined in, with a valid point of her own.

“Yeah. If we just let Gravil go, he could try something like this again!”

It was Rarity who made the last point.

“And we simply can’t leave little Spikey-wikey live his whole life waiting for that brute to return! It’s simply not fair!”

Captain Steel Shield conferred with the other captains. One grey-furred stallion raised his voice in objection.

“I don’t like this. We’re going to rush, literally, into the dragon’s lair. And you propose we do it blindly? This smells too much like a trap for my liking.”

A blue mare spoke up, angrily opposing him.

“Are you proposing that we let this Gra-Vil go? That we neglect our duty to Equestria?”

The stallion shot back at her, leaping to defend his position.

“Of course not! But it wouldn’t kill us to wait for some kind of reinforcement, or at the very least a search of the place. What might kill us is the dragons, or their traps.”

The mare did not back down.

“Are you really so much of a coward? We already outnumber Gravil sixty to one and you want better odds? Besides, this guy’s been slipping through cracks and hiding in shadows for centuries! It’s only a matter of time until he figures out we’ve got him beaten, and runs off somewhere. Do you really want that on your conscience? That you let an enemy of Equestria live to fight another day?”

The two snapped and growled at each other, the animosity between them palpable. Steel Shield had been listening to all that they’d said, and finally stepped in.

“Everypony! It is clear to me that this Gra-Vil person is a threat to Equestria, and all of her ponies. He has kidnapped her citizens and attempted to kill many others. Therefore, it would be a grave failure on our part to knowingly enable him to continue his plotting. I say we get him.”

The blue mare looked at him in surprise, not expecting him to back her up.
The grey stallion glared at him with a look that could have curdled milk. He bit his lip.

“Very well. On your heads be it.”

*******

The sun crept upwards. It was mere minutes to midday. Gravil’s scales began to tingle with anticipation.

The Runes had been placed into exactly the correct order. The Staff was broken, but that was not a problem - only the head was necessary. He took it in his hand, and held it up to his left arm. He spent a moment bracing himself. Then, a quick cut across, in the tender place between the scales. There was a brief flash of pain, gone as quickly as it had come.

A few drops of blood spattered to the floor, upon the shield-shaped Rune. There was a faint glow, in orange, as the Rune recognised the substance. He grasped his arm, to assure that no more blood was spilled than necessary. Quickly, the leftover magic in his body reacted to his injury, using their power to seal the wound.

Alright. Step One was finished. He took the carven head of the Staff in his hand once more, as he prepared for Step Two. The left fang, carven from a piece of bone taken from Kalfe, first of the Wyverns, was brought to touch the wing-symbol. It glowed green. The right fang, carven from a long-forgotten Sea Serpent, touched the wave-symbol. It glowed blue.

Everything was in place for the final step. All he needed for that was his young charge.
He got to his feet, and prepared to retrieve the Prince. Destiny was at hand.

*******

The ponies advanced cautiously, intimidated by the sheer size of the place. They had been wary about bringing Spike with them, but he was the only one who could guess at the passwords. Spike’s ability to grasp the riddles seemed to increase every time he solved one, and they made good time. At last, they arrived at the last place where Spike had seen Gravil.

There was no-one there.

Twilight spoke.

“Spike, are you sure this is the last place you saw him?”

Spike responded.

“Definetely. It was right here!”

She went on.

“Well, I don’t see him. Where else could he be?”

Spike tapped his forehead, trying to remember the places he’d seen over the last few days.

“Well, there’s the Tomb of Tales, that’s kind of like a library. It’s to the left, I think. Then there’s this place way down underground, - you get there by going right...”

Rarity spoke next.

“And those big doors behind you?”

Spike shook his head.

“Nah, that’s the Throne Room. He left me here before he went off. He wouldn’t be in there.”

*******

Gravil opened the door of the Throne Room. For one brief second, both he and the ponies stared at each other, dumbfounded by the other’s sudden appearance. Gravil’s instincts kicked in, his arm lashing out to grab the baby dragon in front of him. Without a word, he spun on his heel and began to run.

The ponies were not far behind him. They dashed forward, intent on catching the wyrm. So hasty had Gravil’s escape been that he had not even bothered to shut the doors to the Throne Room. He raced at a speed that none would have expected from a biped, although it was still less than theirs. However, he was making good use of his head start, and it was not long before he reached the double-doors opposite. He barked out the pass-word, and the door creaked open. He dashed through the small opening, dragging Spike with him. He barked the phrase again, and the doors began to close as swiftly as they had opened.

Rainbow Dash had taken to the air, and was rocketing towards the door. The air rushed over her fur and feathers as she closed the gap between herself and the wyrm. She was almost there...

The door shut itself. Rainbow slammed straight into it. Pain shot through her, and she fell to the floor.

The sound of hooves clattering rang out, as the rest of the ponies desperately searched for grip on the floor. They found little. A small pile of ponies gathered at the foot of the door as those who failed to stop in time crashed.

*******

Gravil almost bounced up the spiral steps, dragging Spike behind him in an uncomfortable position. In no time at all they had reached the top, dashing out into the glorious midday sunlight.

When Gravil finally stopped, he let go of Spike’s hand. The little dragon dropped to the ground, exhausted by the sudden intense burst of exertion. It didn’t take long for him to recover, however - he still remembered what Applejack had said.

“Hey! Ya mind tellin’ me what all this is about?” he yelled.

Gravil turned to him.

“I should think that was obvious. I saved you. We do not have time for this, My Lord. Give me your arm.”

Spike flinched, drawing his arm back.

“No way!”

Gravil’s eyes stared, unflinching.

“Give me your arm.”

Spike’s face twisted in disgust.

“NO!”

Gravil’s chest filled with fire. The wyrm grabbed the baby dragon by the wrist and lifted him up, such that the two were face to face. Gravil began to speak, his voice filled with a barely-repressed anger.

“You...you...you do not, can not understand the true importance of what is about to transpire! I thought that perhaps, perhaps you would understand if I told you of your people’s suffering, but-”

Spike suddenly cut in, his voice loud.

“They’re NOT my people! MY “people” are still alive! And you’re trying to kill them!”

Gravil’s face bore an expression of shock. It took only a moment for it to change to disgust.

“So be it.”

Gravil raised his hand, the staff’s head gripped tightly. One motion, and the cut was made. Blood dripped from Spike’s arm, and landed on the crown-shaped rune. It began to glow bright red. For a moment nothing else happened. Then, the light changed. The Runes began to change, their colours blurring together into a pure white. Gravil dropped Spike, lost in his actions. He began to speak, his voice full of force.

“Sun-I, Reffen Et Ressen!”

There was a slight buzzing in Spike’s head as the words became “Brothers and Sisters, return to me!”

*******
Steel Shield yelled out loud.

“THREE!”

A column of armoured equines slammed into the door. At last, it buckled, and broke. Adrenaline rushed through their veins. It took only a few moments for them to climb the spiral stairs. To their surprise, there was no door awaiting them at the top of the stairs. They charged out, into the sunlight.

*******

The sun reached the apex of the sky. Gravil could feel Olni’s glory radiating down upon him, filling him up with power. He raised his hands to the sky, as if trying to grasp the sun within his hands.

Spike looked on, momentarily paralysed. The mountain began to shake, and the air began to tremble. The Runes could no longer be seen, the carvings obscured by the light they gave off. It was almost as bright as the sun.

This was the moment that Gravil had waited for. This was the payoff. The long centuries, the waiting, the nightly frustration of being unable to change his people’s fate. He was trembling in the face of it all. So absorbed was he that he failed to notice the cohort of ponies bursting in on him.

It took a few moments for him to notice the cacophony of clattering hooves. The sound made him wince. It was ugly. It didn’t belong here. He turned to face the intruders, anger and disgust in his heart.

“You stand on hallowed ground, equines. You do not belong here. Leave now, or you will suffer the wrath of The Dragonfather himself - and his wrath does not fall lightly upon trespassers!”

The ponies advanced still. Twilight knew that it was certainly too late for diplomacy, but she decided to speak anyway. If nothing else, it might distract him long enough for them to gain the upper hand.

“We don’t have to fight, Gra-Vil. Just hand over Spike and we can all go home.”

She glanced around, as the ponies around her edged forwards, attempting to surround Gravil.

Gravil responded to Twilight’s remark with a snort.

“You can have him! It is clear that he has been corrupted much more thoroughly than I feared. He is not a dragon any more.”

Rainbow Dash charged. She flew like a bullet, the air rushing past her as she closed the gap between her and the wyrm. There was a sickening crunch as their skulls collided. Both of them reeled from the impact, Gravil stumbling backwards, only to fall onto his back. Rainbow Dash managed to steady herself, her wings flapping desperately.

It was at this point that the ponies flanking Gravil jumped him.

Four ponies leaped into the air, crashing down on top of him. Instinctively he dodged, attempting to evade the mass of metal and flesh that had suddenly appeared above him. He was only partially successful, as two full-grown stallions landed on his legs.

Gravil struggled against his captors, limbs flailing wildly. He and the stallions wrestled
desperately as more ponies advanced, trying to subdue him. There was a scream as the wyrm bit one of his opponents in the leg. The stallion momentarily loosened his grip. In that moment, Gravil pushed with as much force as he could, shaking off his first opponent. The weight on him relieved somewhat, he was able to pull himself free. Immediately he ducked again as a third pony aimed a hoof swipe at his skull. He struck out at his enemy, lashing with his claws, drawing lines of blood on the mare’s chest. The shock stunned her for a moment, and Gravil slammed his shoulder into her snout, driving her back.

He spun around on his heel, turning to flee towards the edge of the peak.

Steel Shield raised his hoof, pointing at the fleeing wyrm’s back. He bellowed a command, and the unicorns assembled. Beams of light emitted from their horns, chasing after the old wyrm faster than he could run. They hit him in the back, bathing him in incandescent energy.

He screamed, and fell. Smoke rose from his form. He lay still.

Twilight Sparkle stepped forward cautiously. Was that really it? Gra-Vil had seemed like such a dangerous threat, like such a bitter and vicious adversary, that it was almost disappointing to see him defeated so quickly. Even so, there was no sense in taking risks. Her horn glowed, and the wyrm’s body was wrapped in purple light, a force-field to restrain his body.

More ponies emerged from the doorway, as those who had been at the rear of the group finally reached the top of the spiral stairs. Cautiously, they edged around Gravil’s restrained form. When it seemed that he was truly immobilised, they began to walk past him, to Spike beyond.

Suddenly there was a crack, and the pressure in Twilight’s forehead became much more intense. Gravil was struggling! It took more and more concentration to draw out the power needed to contain him. Twilight turned to look at the wyrm. He was still there, laying on his stomach, perfectly still. The difference was his eyes. They were wide open, bulging, filled with rage. Their eyes locked, and the pain became even more intense. It was as if her head was an eggshell, and a massive bird was trying to peck its way out from inside. Twilight fell to the ground. She was barely able to maintain the field. Other ponies had noticed what was going on, and moved to aid her.

With a roar of pure fury, the barrier broke, and Gravil dashed forward. Guardsponies formed up, attempting to form a wall of steel in front of him. They did not assemble quickly enough. Like a bull charging through a sandcastle, the ancient wyrm assaulted his foes.

He barrelled through the stunned guardsponies. His muscles burned, his bones ached. He could feel the last of the magic he’d absorbed expend itself, giving him enough strength to run. The work was already complete. All he had left to do was to greet his King.

“Stop him!” somepony yelled.

At once, the guardsponies leapt forward, trying to catch him again. Pegasi took to the skies, flying faster than he could run. Unfortunately for them, he did not have far to go. He reached the gate seconds before they did.

“Come forth, Galdor! Come forth, oh Dragons! Revenge is in our grasp!”

A massive, scaled arm erupted from the silver portal. Its hand was equipped with five large, talons, each longer than a pony’s foreleg. Its scales were green, dark green, the colour of the sea. Gravil began to laugh.

“Ahahahahahahaha!”

The ponies found they could not move, utterly paralysed by fear. They had failed. Equestria would suffer dragonfire once again.

Even in his exultant state, something bothered Gravil.

The arm. It was not rising. It had risen up, up to its elbow. Yet, it had come no further.

“Come, brother! Do not be afraid, for the portal is wide! Come through, that we may see you in your full glory!”

The hand moved down, towards Gravil. It moved back and forth for a few moments, as if indecisive.

“What? What is wrong, brother? Why do you not emerge?”

The hand reached for him.

“W-what? What are you doing? I am not your ene-”

The hand grasped Gravil firmly about the waist, claws pinning his limbs to his sides.

“Brother! Brother! Do not do this! Please! Can you not see? Our true enemies are right before us! All we need do is - aaaaaah!”

Gravil’s scream was the last thing they heard him say before the arm receded back into the silver pond from whence it had come, dragging him with it.

The portal shimmered for a brief moment, before disappearing.

*******

The sensation was bizarre. There had been such fear, so many terrifying things happening in quick succession, and now - nothing. Nopony knew what to do. There was silence until, at last, somepony did something. Spike turned to the crowd of ponies, and spoke.

“I think we should leave.”

*******

Nearby, safely within the shade of the canopy, it looked upwards. It saw the battle, the drama, the struggle between both of its enemies. Its heart leapt in exultation when the portal burst open, and sank just as quickly as it flickered out of existence. It had witnessed Gra-Vil’s highly ironic demise. Conflicting emotions filled it. One of its enemies was gone. It should be happy about that. Still, it could not help but feel disappointed at the failure of Gra-Vil’s plan. Oh, how much closer the goal would be if he had succeeded! The cities of the sun-queen would have burned! Oh, how it would have loved to see her burn for a change!

It growled discontentedly. Even so, good things had come from this. There was one less ancestral enemy. This was their way. They were no longer strong enough to fight wars. They would win many small victories, until one day they had gained enough ground that their enemies had nothing left to stand upon.

It briefly considered attacking the ponies as they made their way through the forest. It was tempting, very tempting. It longed for the thrill of battle, to rend and tear the filthy usurpers. They deserved it so badly...

Even as the thought occured, it knew that there was not wise to do that. It would not do to reveal Its existence to the usurpers. Engaging in battles personally was not something the Cri-Es did anymore. It could always act through servants, It thought. There were plenty of beasts in Everfree, yes, but it had spent much of its energy dominating the mind of that red-furred monstrosity earlier. The midday sun did nothing to help matters. It very much doubted that It could control so much as a mouse in this cursed light. It could wait until night-time, but by then they might be far from here, close to the exit. An attack by deep forest beasts on the edges of Ponyville would be highly suspicious.

No, there was no need to take action yet. There would be plenty of time, plenty of opportunities to further the plan. It would allow them to return home safely. Their time had not yet come. It turned away from the mountain, and slipped back into the shadows.

One - Abduction and Explanation

The sky was dark, as was to be expected of any decent storm. The gloom was oppressive, cut only by the bolts of lightning that periodically shot through it.

It was followed, as always, by thunder. Its ever-faithful partner came rumbling after it, complimenting each flash with a roaring boom.

The wind tugged relentlessly at his hood, urging it to slip off and expose his scales to the driving rain that it was trying to throw at him. It almost succeeded once, forcing him to grab hold of the hood to keep it on.

Never once during this assault did his pace slow. He could not afford to stop, for his destination was close, just over the next hill. He plodded onwards, one clawed foot following another, until at last it came into view. His eyes lit up as he saw it.

The tree's branches stretched upwards into the sky, like some ancient beast attempting in vain to grab the sky within its claws. Soft yellow light spilled from the windows embedded in the tree, making it look even more like a monster. He was reminded of old stories about glowing-eyed beasts that prowled through the night, searching for prey and snatching the unwary...

He shook his head, ridding himself of such thoughts. It was a tree, nothing more. Those stories were just that, stories. They were told by broodmothers to scare hatchlings into obedience- no full-grown wyrm should harbour such irrational fears.

Then again, the darkness made irrational and bizarre thoughts seem credible. He shook his head again. He had enough to worry about tonight without conjuring imaginary enemies for himself.

Twilight had always found it easy to get lost in a good book, and she had just found a particularly gripping first-person narrative of the first contact between Equestria and the Zebra lands. Because of this, she didn’t hear the first knock on the door, nor the second.

However, the thunderstorm was keeping Spike very much awake and heard them far more clearly. “Who’d be calling at this hour?” he wondered aloud. After the second knock he decided to get up and open it himself. His eyes widened in surprise. The figure standing before him was bipedal, about five feet tall, and swathed in black robes. It seemed to be fixated on the floor, so he couldn’t make out its face. Before he could even react, the thing’s arm shot out, slamming the door open. “Aaah!” he screamed. The figure barely reacted as he ran away. It merely stepped through the doorframe.

Spike’s scream finally dragged Twilight out of her book. “Spike? What's wrong?” she said, as the small dragon burst through the door.

“Thing…scary…cape…help!” he gasped.

“Spike, what are you talking-” She was interrupted by the appearance of her mysterious guest.

He coughed, as if clearing his throat. “Please excuse my unwarned arrival. I will be but a moment”. The voice was low, and seemed to linger for a moment after its owner had finished speaking.

Twilight composed herself and managed a question. “Who are you?”

He took great pains to keep his face hidden. He needed to be cautious- if what he had learned was true, this unicorn was Pangor's favoured prodigy. He chose his next few words carefully.

I am merely a servant. I have come here in accordance with my Master's wishes."

Twilight processed this information and responded.

"Alright, question two. What's all this about? Why can't your business wait until morning?"

Because there will be too many witnesses about in the daytime, he thought. He kept his thoughts to himself, however, knowing that telling the truth was unlikely to be very helpful this time. He spoke again.

"My business is extremely urgent, Miss..." he paused, trying to think of the name he had memorised. "...Sparkle, was it?"
The purple unicorn nodded silently. He continued.

"I am here to retrieve something that was lost to my Master many years ago. I believe he is currently in your custody?"

Twilight blinked, making sense of this new information. He? There was only one person here who fit the description.
She spoke again, more forcefully this time. "Spike? What do you want with Spike?"

He growled, gripping the handle of his Staff more tightly. It looked as if confrontation was inevitable. He decided to try speech one more time before resorting to violence.

"Do not refer to him by that filthy name! He is the reason why I have come here. He does not belong with you, unicorn! I have come for him!"

“W-what do you m-mean, come for me?” the little dragon piped up nervously.

“I have spent many years trying to find Him, and I will not be thwarted now”, he said, an edge of menace entering his tone. “Before the sun rises He will be in my custody.”

Twilight was confused and angry in equal measure. “What do you mean? You can’t just take Spike! Just who are you anyway?!”

The figure took what felt like a long time to answer, and the room grew tense as both parties tried to decide when to make the first move. Eventually, the figure raised its hand high into the air, staff clutched in it.

“I am Gravil, the last Confidant of King Galdor, and the only survivor of his court. I have come to claim the boy. If you will not release him willingly-”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if you think you can just waltz in here and take Spike, you’ve got another thing coming!”

“Yeah, you tell him, Twilight!” Spike found himself cheering in spite of the situation. Gravil, seemed genuinely shocked, even stumbling backwards a step.

“My Lord, what have they done to you?" He rallied quickly.

"It does not matter. No enchantment will keep me from completing my duty.”

Twilight lowered her head, poised to charge. (Not that she actually would have done so in such a cramped space, but this position comes naturally to any equine preparing to fight).

Her horn glowed, a bright, purple glow that came whenever she cast a spell. Gravil’s eyes widened as he recognised the crackling in the air. “Magic!” he hissed, disgust audible in his voice. He raised his staff, and in an instant had mumbled the two words that activated it:

“Tena Lin!”

A bolt of lightning burst from the mouth of the carved serpent at the staff’s end. The bolt just missed Twilight, but enflamed the desk she had been studying at, as well as the book she had been reading. She was stunned by the bolt and lost her concentration. Then came the thunderclap. The massive wave of sound knocked back the already distracted pony, and she fell backwards, hitting her head hard on the floor. The blow was all the more potent for being unexpected, and there was little she could do before unconsciousness overcame her.

“…Spike…”

“Twilight! Noooo!” Spike rushed to the unicorn’s side, trying to help his friend. The robed figure, Gravil as he called himself, grabbed his wrist.

“Come now, My Lord. Your imprisonment is over. Your captor will perish in the flames. A fitting end to this foul enemy of Dragonkind.” The young dragon didn’t understand most of what Gravil had said; with the exception of "perish".

“But…Twilight’ll-”

“Perish. As she deserves. Now please, come with me”.

“No! We gotta help her!”

Gravil’s voice grew sharp and bitter.

“Enough! Clearly the equines have placed a stronger enchantment on you than I realised. No more arguments!” He pulled the young dragon out of the burning room, Spike resisting every step of the way.

“No! Let go of me!”

Yet Gravil was stronger than he looked, certainly strong enough to subdue a welp. There was nothing Spike could do but watch as the flames rose higher, and Twilight slipped from his view.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************

It was the smoke that had first attracted Rainbow Dash’s attention. Technically she was on duty, supervising the storm, but everything was going without a hitch, so she decided to take some time off for flight practice.

Nothing very difficult or experimental (getting caught would mean another tongue-lashing about avoiding her duties), but she figured that just stretching her wings wouldn’t do any harm. In the middle of a sweep across Ponyville she had caught it: the smell of smoke.

The first thing she thought was “That’s weird. What could be burning in a thunderstorm?” Following her nose, she dipped beneath the clouds, and got thoroughly wet for her trouble. Her irritation only lasted a moment before being replaced by curiosity, as she caught sight of something terrible. The Library was burning.

Flames licked at the canopy, quickly transforming the tree into a mighty blaze, roaring in defiance at the rain that sputtered against it. For a moment she thought it looked kind of cool; before her reason kicked in and she remembered.

“Twilight!”

She couldn’t see anyone outside the tree…If her friend was still inside…

Without another moment’s hesitation, she leapt into action. Flying in a thunderstorm was the first thing they taught you not to do in Flight School, but there was no other choice. Rainbow could understand why it was forbidden now (not that it had ever seemed like a particularly good idea; but knowing and experiencing are very different things).

The winds buffeted her from side to side as mercilessly as the rain stung at her. Once, a bolt of lightning passed shockingly close to her; nearly frightening her out of her skin, but she gritted her teeth and flew on. Finally, she spotted the observatory window, and made a dive straight for it. She had entered through this window before, but never in a situation as urgent as this one. As she closed the distance between her and the window, she closed her eyes and prayed her trajectory was right…

She crashed through it, tumbling forward as glass fell around her. She got to her feet quickly, composing herself in spite of the intense heat. Then she spotted Twilight. Her friend was lying on the floor, dangerously close to the blaze, not budging an inch. There was only one thing to do.

She rushed to Twilight’s side, and grabbed the unicorn’s mane between her teeth. With strength born of desperation, she pulled, dragging her friend to the now-broken window. The heat grew more intense by the second, and for the first time she became very aware of the smoke as it tried to claw at her throat.

“Just keep cool, keep cool...” she muttered, more to calm herself than anything else.

The drop from the window to the ground was quite steep, but once again the Pegasus was presented with no alternatives.

“Just gotta take the bit between my teeth and…”

Gripping Twilight’s mane again, she leaped from the window. Her wings strained with the effort of lifting two ponies, and for a terrifying moment she thought they were going to fail altogether. Then, just as she thought they were about to hit the ground, they slowed. It was tremendously hard work, but slow their descent she did. She finally let go of her friend, sighing with relief as the unicorn slumped on the ground, safe from the fire. Something occurred to Rainbow. Her friend wasn’t breathing.

Panic swelled up inside again.

“No! No! Don’t do this to me, Twilight!”

She stood over her friend, willing her desperately to breathe.

“Come on, breathe! Move! Anything! Just…don’t be…”

Rainbow felt tears well up in her eyes. No. It couldn’t be. Just then, the unicorn coughed. Rainbow felt her heart leap. Twilight coughed again, expelling the smoke that had snuck into her throat. Then, breathing. Slow, and shallow, but definitely breathing.

“Oh, thank Celestia!”

Rainbow felt more relieved than ever before. Quickly, thoughts piled up in her head as she realised that she’d need to tell someone about this, that Twilight might need medical help, that the Library might still burn down. But these all seemed very secondary to her right now. Her friend was safe, and that was what mattered.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Spike had eventually given up on trying to free himself from his captor’s grip, and resolved instead to make Gravil’s life as difficult and unpleasant as possible. “My Lord, with all due respect, we could move so much more quickly if you ceased dragging your heels”.

The young dragon just snarled. “My Lord, I only wish what is best for you”. This time Spike did respond.

“If that’s really true, you’ll take me back to Ponyville this second!”

Gravil stopped in his tracks.

“We may rest here for a while” he said, pointing to a large stump, coated in moss. Grudgingly, Spike sat down, as did Gravil (although to be fair, as Gravil was still holding his hand firmly he had little choice in the matter). Gravil removed his hood and sighed with relief. His face was covered in grey scales, with a few green ones dotted in there seemingly at random. His head was topped by a pair of tiny horns, barely even visible in the low light of the moon. The two sat in hostile silence for what was probably a few minutes, but felt an awful lot longer. At last, the strange reptilian spoke up.

“Would you care for something to eat, My Lord?” he inquired, producing a single emerald from his sleeve.

Spike had to admit that it looked delicious (particularly since he hadn’t eaten in some time), but he wasn’t about to take anything offered to him by this…monster.

“No thanks. I’m not hungry” he replied, with unconcealed anger.

Gravil bowed his head and returned the jewel to his sleeve. Another silence followed, until Gravil decided that they had rested long enough and that they really had to continue their journey.

“Journey to where?” Spike inquired. A grin crossed Gravil’s face as he answered. Spike was sure he had never seen an uglier sight.

“Home” said Gravil.

Spike gestured at the trees surrounding them.

“Home? Home? This is the Everfree Forest! MY home just burned down!”

Gravil nodded. “Your false home.”

Spike couldn’t hold it in any longer, and screamed “I was HAPPY there! YOU DESTROYED IT!”

Gravil didn’t even turn to Spike as he said: “Thou can never be truly content in the house of thine oppressor”.

Spike was less than impressed with that answer. “Where’s that line from?”

“Your Ancestors” was Gravil’s answer. “You will have ample opportunity to familiarise yourself with them in the coming months and years. That is all you need know for now”.

With that, he simply stopped talking, refusing to utter another word.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Twilight’s vision slowly returned to her, blurry at first, then clearing. The first thing she saw was the ceiling. She found herself wondering “That’s odd. My roof isn’t tiled…” Suddenly, it came back to her – the storm, Gravil, the bolt of lightning, the fire…” “The fire!” She suddenly found her voice again, and began screaming as loudly as she could.
Her screams drew attention – two ponies rushed inside, one orange, one blue.

“Applejack! She’s awake!” said one to the other.

“Ah can see that!” replied the orange pony. The sound of familiar voices reached Twilight’s ears. Slowly, she unscrewed her eyes and stopped screaming. “It’s all right sugarcube, you’re with friends now”.

After a few seconds, Twilight finally spoke. “Whuh….what happened?”

Rainbow Dash budged past Applejack in her hurry to answer. “There was an accident, and the Library was on fireandIsawyouandIsavedyoubutwecouldntfindSpikean…”

Applejack prodded Rainbow Dash. “Easy there,Rainbow. If you don’t slow down no-one’s gonna be able to understand ya.” The Pegasus took a deep breath and repeated herself more clearly.

“The Library burned down?” Twilight couldn’t believe it. Not that it was impossible (it was made of wood, after all), but when she tried to visualise all those books, all that knowledge being destroyed, her mind refused to work.

“Yeah, but…” Rainbow seemed to wince.

“But what?” Twilight's dread grew with every passing second.

“That’s not the worst part. I was so caught up in trying to rescue you that I forgottolookforSpikeandwecouldntfindhimafterwardsand-”

“Rainbow, you’re doin’ it again!” AJ scolded. Rainbow took another deep breath, but Twilight had managed to catch most of it anyway.

“Spike?” Rainbow cringed in shame.

“I know, Twilight, I’m so sorry, I just didn’t think at the time. I’m obviously not...” She paused yet again. “…good enough to protect my friends”. Her head drooped, and tears appeared in her eyes.

Applejack turned to the Pegasus. “Now, Rainbow, we’ve already been over this. It wasn’t your fault! You did everything you could!” This only seemed to make Rainbow feel worse.

“No, it is my fault! I should’ve-” Twilight had just sat up in her hospital bed.

“Spike wasn't there when the fire started”, she said.

Rainbow gasped, hope and relief welling up inside her. “Really? He is?” Applejack, pragmatic as always, asked the question they were all thinking.

“Well then where is he?”

********************************************************************************************************************************************************

“He did what?” said the incredulous Pegasus.

“He took Spike. Kidnapped him. Whatever you wanna call it.”

Rainbow’s face twisted in anger. “Why that…that…”

Applejack decided she should intervene before Rainbow lost herself entirely. “And ah assume he’s the one that lit the fire, too?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah. Only…” The earth pony looked at Twilight inquisitively.

“Only what?” inquired Applejack.

"He said a lot of wierd things before he tried to grab Spike. Things about "being a mere servant", and that he was "reclaiming his Master's lost possessions", or something".

Rainbow spoke up again. "What's that mean?"

Twilight shook her head, noticing the new pain that had just taken root there.

"Uhh. I've got no idea. Well, I know what the words mean, but I don't know their signifigance. They might just be nothing".

Applejack spoke up again, trying to keep everypony's minds on the positives. “Well, the important thing is, you’re alive, and so is Spike”.

Twilight 's frustration combined with the throbbing pain in her head, making her irritable. “Yeah, but that doesn't make this much easier!”

The earth pony spoke again, trying to smooth things over again. “Twilight, we will look for Spike. That's the honest truth. But ya need to stay here until you’re healed, Twilight. Just runnin’ off in a random direction ‘aint gonna find 'im for us”.

The unicorn sighed, admitting defeat. “I guess you’re right.” The pain in her head had receded a bit, but she felt extremely tired. "I think I'll just...take a...nap" she said, yawning loudly. Sleep came to her easily, and she accepted it.

Applejack was glad. Her friend was OK. That was priorty #1 addressed. She'd have to tell the others that Twilight had survived - they shouldn't be kept worrying. Rainbow would probably find it easier to reach them all, though. She turned to ask her friend. "Say, Rainbow why don't ya-" Shestopped when she found herself speaking to empty air. Rainbow was gone.

Rainbow had taken off shortly after she had stopped talking to Twilight. Applejack had been so busy trying to comfort the unicorn that she hadn’t noticed her friend slip out of the room. She quickly took to the sky, intending to search for Spike. After all, it had only happened yesterday; they couldn’t have gone that far on foot. She couldn't be sure, but she had a decent idea of where the kidnapper had probably gone.

"The Everfree Forest". She finally made up her mind then. She'd fly over the forest and see if she could catch any sight of Spike and his captor. Even if she didn’t find them, nothing would really be lost. She'd at least be doing something.

“Right. Let's do this” she said, as she flew off into the wind.

Gravil knew the importance of his duty, but Spike’s sheer persistence in agitating him was beginning to wear down his patience. “And I bet they’ll come here to rescue me, and they’ll kick you right in the face! Bam! Pow!” Calm, he reminded himself. The Prince was obviously still under whatever cursed enchantment the equines had placed him under. It didn’t surprise him that the spell was so powerful – Pangor had most likely cast it personally. Of course she had. Destroying the bodies of his people would never have been enough for her. She had to break their spirit, too, by turning the heart and soul of their Kingdom into a slave. Ancient anger, the force that had powered him for all these years, rose within him again. His body trembled with rage, remembering all the wrongs he bore for the sake of the Dragon race. Because of this, Spike’s next choice of words was most unfortunate.

“And then, they’ll bring you to Princess Celestia! Oh, she’ll know how to deal with you-”

Gravil hissed in fury, whipping round to face the welp. “How dare you say that!” His tone was so fierce that the purple dragon covered his face and cowered in fear, acting on instinct. “How dare you speak so well of the enemy! She is responsible for all of this! Nothing will ever absolve her of her guilt!” The dragonoid panted for breath, realising what he had just done. Shame filled him upon seeing the Prince cower. “M-my Lord, I apologise. I simply…overreacted. Of course you cannot be blamed for what has been done to you. Please forgive me.”

The smaller dragon warily lowered his arms and stood up. “Erm, s-sure.” That was enough.

“Now, let us be on our way.” Spike was confused, but grateful that the larger dragonoid seemed to have calmed down. As Gravil dragged him along the dirt path, he happened to look up.

“Whoa…just what is that?” Gravil turned to see what his charge was pointing at. His eyes were old and weary, but he could still make out the shape in the sky, growing larger every moment. Against the still-grey clouds, the blue streak rocketed towards them…

She couldn’t believe her luck. Barely flying for an hour and she’d found them already. As soon as she recognised Spike, she acted. She began to descend, picking up speed. The two figures on the ground pointed up at her, but it was too late – with an almighty thump she slammed into the larger of the two figures. He was thrown back, tumbling head-over-heels from the impact. The two became entangled quickly, but Rainbow was first to get free. She planted her hoof (somewhat theatrically) in front of Gravil’s face. “So, you’re the dirtbag that kidnapped Spike, eh?” The dragonoid stared up at her, his eyes cold and unblinking.

Every muscle in his body was quivering with rage. They had been found, and so quickly. “Wrong. I was liberating him from his captors.”. His voice snarled with unconcealed anger.

The blue Pegasus looked unamused. “Oh, really? ‘cause he looks pretty unhappy to me”. It took all his willpower to hold his tongue. Anger was not the solution this time, not while the Pegasus had him pinned. He had managed to keep hold of his staff, so perhaps… He moved his hand, but the Pegasus was faster. Her hoof slammed down on his arm, pinning it and preventing him from attacking her with it.

“Oh no. You're staying on the ground.” Gravil mumbled something obscene under his breath. The Pegasus turned to Spike. “Spike! Get on my back! We’re getting’ you outta here!” The baby dragon was still stunned by this fortunate turn of events, but started running towards her. As he jumped onto the Pegasus’ back, Gravil felt despair fill him. Now that Pangor knew that one of Galdor's court still lived, the Prince would be kept under maximum guard at all times, and he’d have no chance of ever fulfilling his destiny. In a moment it all flashed before his eyes – the shame, the destruction of their hope, the unbearable dishonour of having failed his King and people. And for what? Because one measly Pegasus had caught him off-guard?

Rainbow had been careful not to let go of Gravil’s hand until the last possible second. When Spike was as secure as possible she lifted her hoof and took off. She had expected him to react, but she had not expected the speed he was capable of. The second his arm was free, Gravil pounced into the air, letting the staff go as a feral shriek burst from him. Rainbow had ascended quickly, but not quite quickly enough. Gravil managed to grab hold of one of her rear ankles, holding on for dear life. The extra weight was a shock to her, jarring her as it slowed her ascent.

“Don’t you ever give up?!” the Pegasus cried. Gravil merely raised his free hand and grabbed her thigh, trying to pull himself up. Rainbow screamed as his claws bit into her flesh. Her flight path zig-zagged erratically, but Gravil was not about to be thwarted at this stage and managed to keep his balance. Spike, however, was not so lucky, losing his grip when Rainbow lurched wildly to one side. As he saw his Prince fall, Gravil was stunned, and loosened his grip for a second. Just a second too long. Rainbow bucked, and his loosened grip was lost altogether. He felt himself fall, the ground rushing up to meet him.

Rainbow was still recovering from the shock of Gravil’s attack, but she was able to keep herself together long enough to see Spike and Gravil fall. She flew over the area where they’d fallen, sweeping back and forth, but the thick canopy blocked her view and she couldn’t see a thing. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, a jolt of pain in her leg reminded her of her wound. Much as she wanted to continue the search, she eventually decided that she’d better return to Ponyville. She flew back in that direction, her heart still heavy in her chest.