Heart's Flame

Chapters

1) The fears that we carry
2) A gift and a good deed
3) The (perfect?) date [PART 1].
4) The (perfect?) date [PART 2].
5) The (perfect?) date [PART 3].
6) Operation Underground
7) I need a hero?
8) Troubling Events in Ponyville
9) Ridiculously Overpowered Dragon
10) The Sacred Archive
11) Revelations

1) The fears that we carry

Today. Yes, today. Today was the day Spike was going to ask Rarity out on a date.

Or was he?

It was never a good sign when, while walking towards your goal, you imagine all of the things that could go wrong. Every step seems like a possible trigger or a chain of events that could stop you in your tracks, and when you finally get to where you were supposed to be you imagine every possible response of that other half.

Spike’s brain, of course, didn’t think exactly like that. He was, after all, just a baby dragon. Nevertheless his thoughts were as close as you could get to that train of thought.

Every day since his arrival in Ponyville along with Twilight Sparkle, Spike always told himself that he was going to ask Rarity out. Every single day he agreed that it was the day he will ask her out. Ever since Discord was free and, of course, defeated, he actually made an effort to leave the Library before Twilight woke up and go to Rarity’s boutique, but her insane beauty always made him sick in the stomach. Lovesick, if you could describe it. Before she even noticed him, he would leave right away and return to his small but comfy bed, only to be awakened minutes later by Twilight, who always somehow managed to sleep longer than Rarity.

Maybe she knew? He told her once that he had a crush on Rarity, and Twilight would pretend to sleep so he didn’t know that she knew that he went to ask her out every morning.

“She’s too beautiful for me.” sighed Spike as he walked back to the tree Library. He always made promises but how could he keep them? He was a natural coward. A simple thunder on any random day made him jump (and get hiccups), not to mention the time when Nightmare Moon appeared and he fainted, somehow managing to miss all the action. How could he ever change that?

His thoughts were interrupted by a small pain in his right bottom claw, followed by a disappearing feeling of balance and a thud against the ground. Yup, he tripped.

“Oww… What is this?” Spike asked himself as he looked back at what he tripped on. On the outside it looked like a rock but his scales must have scratched some of the outward surface off, because he definitely saw a glimmer of red.

“A ruby? Well that’s a surprise… maybe I can use that book Twilight got me for my birthday for once.” said Spike, picking up the ‘ruby-rock’ and taking it back to the Library.

“Well Spike, I’m going to Fluttershy’s house to help her with the animals. Are you definitely sure you’re okay staying alone?” asked Twilight, using the magic in her horn to get some books about caring for wild creatures to take with her.

“Yes Twilight. I have something to do anyway.” answered Spike, putting on his most innocent baby face. He didn’t want Twilight to know that he found the ruby because then she would probably ask where he found it and in the end know that he has been leaving the Library so early in the mornings.

“Well, okay. Just don’t overdo yourself.” said Twilight, a tone of concern easily made out in her speech. She left the house with the book and closed the door behind her with magic. Spike waited for a few seconds before running up to his bed and taking out his now cleaned up ruby.

The ruby was just like any other - rocky, cold and whenever you looked through it everything looked red. It was not its composition that was amazing, but the shape. It was shaped like a flame. It looked so natural that if it just happened to flicker across someone’s gaze they could quite easily mistake it for a real fire.

He lifted his own personal issue of ‘Jewels and Gemstones of the World’ from under his bed and opened it. As Twilight always taught him, he looked at the index pages first.

“Diamonds… Emeralds… Ah, Rubies! Page 143.” said Spike, skipping to the said page. It definitely didn’t help that there were no pictures in the mini-index of the Ruby section. Spike had to flicker through every page of different ruby until he finally found it, under the section ‘Heart’s Flame’

“Heart’s Flame… see Magical Gems, page 313.” Spike read out. That really was all that was on the page. A little annoyed, the dragon skipped right to page 313.

“Heart’s Flame, a naturally occurring Heat gem from the Eternal Winter archipe- archi- ar-chi-pe-la-go. Only the cold temperatures of the islands can keep the gem in place since it can quite easily melt the hooves of any pony or the ground. The gems sometimes lose their heat, due to which their ‘ruby flame’ form freezes in one moment of movement. Those gems are known to give Dragons great power and… vast amounts of courage…” this was all Spike read when he stopped, closed the book and looked at the gem.

“This… can make me braver? Wow.” Spike said to himself. There wasn’t anything with him eating the ruby - he did, after all, find it. It could make him stronger, and braver, possibly brave enough to… finally ask Rarity out on a date.

You’d think that when taking such a decision one would think a little more than just that. Not Spike. He shoved the entire ruby into his mouth, shoved it in his mouth and swallowed it. Then he sat down, a blank expression on his face. He felt… different.

“Sorry Spike, I forgot something- Spike, are you alright!?” shouted Twilight as she re-entered the Library. She looked at the blank expressioned dragon, and he looked back at her.

“I… I feel fine. And you know what? I’m not staying here. I’m marching right to Rarity’s boutique and asking her out on a date.” said Spike, his voice a lot more determined than usually. He got up and ran past Twilight before she even had time to answer.

“It’s about time.” said Twilight quietly, smiling to herself.

2) A gift and a good deed

Spike's legs moved very fast, so fast that you could mistake them for spinning wheels. You could tell he was in a hurry, especially since he managed to run head-to-head with Scootaloo scooting on her scooter, not at its top speed but still very fast.

"Hiya Spike? What'cha up to? You look like you're in a hurry." said Scootaloo, a bit of a surprise on her face but not that much of it.

"Oh, I'm just on my way to Rarity's to ask her out on a date." said Spike, not moving his eyes from the space before him.

"That's nice I guess. I'm off to buy a present for Apple Bloom. She seemed quite sad lately." said Scootaloo, sounding a little sad.

"A present? Oh, I'm stupid! If I'm going to ask Rarity out on a date I need something to give her." said Spike, before throwing a quick "See you later Scootaloo!" and taking a right turn.

"Good luck with asking Rarity out!" shouted Scootaloo after him, then suddenly stopping with an expression of realisation, she looked at the cloud of dust behind Spike. "Wait... what? Asking Rarity out on a date? REALLY!?" she shouted, but the dragon was way too far to hear her. Guess I'll tell Sweetie Bell. She'll want to know. thought the young pegasus filly before putting her speed back on to get the present for Apple Bloom.

The small bell of Sugarcube Corner rang a soft note as Spike entered through the front door. The Cakes were clearly visible in the background, chasing after the flying Pound Cake while also trying to stop Pumpkin Cake from getting things off the shelves with her magic and trying to consume them. It was chaos.

At the counter stood Pinkie Pie, the famous party-pony of Ponyville, spinning in circles on a spinning stool while covered in flour. Spike cleared his eyes to make sure he was seeing properly, and he was. The scene seemed like a disaster.

"Hi Spike! Uhh, I mean, Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, Spike! What is it that you need?" asked Pinkie Pie as she saw him, speaking in her usual hyperactive tone. It must've come from the large quantities of sugar that she consumed.

"Hi Pinkie Pie. I need something leftover from Hearts and Hooves Day. I'm going to ask Rarity out on a date today!" said Spike, sounding very happy.

Suddenly, everything stopped. Pinkie Pie's jaw dropped to the ground while she gave out a loud gasp. Mrs. Cake stood there, looking at Spike with huge eyes while Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake were running around her hooves. Mr. Cake looked at Spike with a large grin, then as if out of nowhere, he appeared right beside the dragon.

"You have come to the right place Spike! I don't mean to brag but I'm an expert at winning the heart of a lady." he said, grinning. "You see..." spoke the stallion, his speech turning into singing,

♫If you want to gain young Rarity's love,
then buy something just for heeeeer!
Let it be a giant heart, or a dove,
you must show her that you really caaaaare!

How about a chocolate crown,
or a shining candy sapphire?
Make sure that it won't make her frown,
and ignite your love's great fire!

Make sure you know your love's heart well
though on that topic I won't dwell.
I'll leave you to your own devices,
but how about Heart Pie? 2 slices!

Make sure it's something grand and amazing
Baked with pure love (and flour self-raising)
Though I think I've got the thing for you,
a huge love heart that you both can cheeeeeeeeeeeeew!♫

Another one of many famous Ponyville musical numbers. Quite impressive, actually. Spike waited through the entire song, and walked after Mr. Cake after he opened a store room - a long, cold corridor of many chocolate products. Mr. Cake sung about each one as they passed it, but Spike already saw it - at the end of the corridor was a beautiful heart-shaped ruby case, and inside it, a large chocolate heart.

"What about that one?" asked Spike pointing at the ruby. Despite the freezing temperature, a few beads of sweat appeared on Mr. Cake's head.

"Spike, here we store everything by price. The cheapest products are near the entrance while the most expensive ones are at the very end. The Ruby Heart Deluxe is worth around... 2000 bits. I'm sorry..." said Mr. Cake, a small frown on his face. After all, he couldn't expect a baby dragon to own that much money. "You can always have something cheaper."

For a second, Spike thought Oh well... I guess I'll have to get her something else, but his new courage kicked in, and at the same time, an idea sparked in his mind.

From his pockets he produced lots of jewels, which he hoped to have as snacks, and put them before Mr. Cake, "There. Emeralds and Sapphires. They alone are worth around 1500 bits." after that, he pulled out a batch of coins from another one of his pockets, "And here is 500 bits. Can I have the Ruby Heart Deluxe now?" asked Spike.

Mr. Cake looked at the gems and coins. He knew how much the dragon loved eating sapphire and that it was a great sacrifice he was making, and he himself admired that, "Well... I guess we could accept that payment. Go get the Ruby Heart while I gather up the co-" said Mr. Cake, but didn't get to finish before Spike dashed towards the Ruby Heart, took it and rushed out of the storage room, dropping a quick "Thank You." beside Mr. Cake.

The baker sighed and started gathering up coins, "I remember when I fell in love with Cup Cake..." he said to himself, a smile appearing on his face.

Spike ran out of the storage room, and was met by Pinkie the moment he came out.

"Well Spike? What did you- Oh no! Twitchy tail! TWITCHY TAIL! Where is my hat!?" shouted Pinkie, going into a gallop before she could complete her question for the dragon. Looking around, he saw nothing that could fall, until he spotted Pound Cake with a tired expression on his face. Suddenly the young pegasus stopped flapping his wings from exhaustion and started falling.

Pinkie gasped. Mrs. Cake gasped. Spike quickly threw the Ruby Heart to Pinkie. Pinkie caught it. Mrs. Cake nearly fainted. Spike jumped into the air, caught Pound Cake in mid-air, landed on the counter, walked up to Pinkie Pie and, without noticing her awestruck expression, exchanged the sleeping pegasus for the chocolate-filled gem and headed to the door.

Of course, before he even reached it, he was stopped by Mrs. Cake with tears in her eyes.

"Spike... You saved my baby... You're a hero!" she said, making Spike feel slightly uneasy. He wasn't used to praises as a hero, more like a book-fetcher.

"It was nothing, really." he said politely and tried stepping to the side to reach the door, but Mrs. Cake stopped him again.

"Oh but it wasn't nothing, it was everything! I just don't know what to say but thank you, thank you!" she said, then looked at Ruby Heart Deluxe, "You bought that!? How wonderful! For saving my little Pound Cake, you can have that for free! I'll have Carrot Cake give you back your bits right away."

Spike smiled, feeling a little embarrassed "I really need to be going to Rarity's now, Mrs. Cake..." he said, and she looked at him, then nodded.

"Of course, of course... Thank you once again. Now go along, you don't want to be late to your love. Just know that the money will be waiting." she said, stepping aside and letting the dragon pass.

Spike smiled to her even brighter and left the shop before she changed her mind. I gotta focus now. Nothing can stand on my way to Rarity's Boutique. he thought, and once again sprinted, weighed down by his awesome gift.

3) The (perfect?) date [PART 1].

Spike felt a difference in something since he left Sugarcube Corner. It wasn't something with him, but rather with everypony else. With every step he took while holding The Ruby Heart Deluxe he felt other ponies watching him, short whispers exchanged so quietly that he could not hear their contents but just loud enough for his dragon ears to know that they existed.

As he came closer to the Carousel Boutique, ponies started coming beside him and saying "Good Luck Spike.", to which he replied with nervous smiles and nods.

He wasn't sure what they were talking about, but something made him think that somehow they all learnt about him going to ask Rarity out. He didn't have to think about it for long, as Scootaloo appeared before him with her scooter and a small wagon attached to it, with Applebloom in it.

"Hey Spike! Ah want to wish you good luck with asking out Rarity. And it seems everypony else wishes you the same!" said Applebloom, smiling.

Spike lifted his eyebrow. "And I don't suppose you have any idea how they found out about it, do you?" he said, looking at them. Scootaloo smiled nervously.

"Well, I might've included this information on a note I was passing to Applebloom in class, and Mrs. Cheerilee might've noticed and read the note out loud to the entire class. And other ponies might've told other ponies during our break, and ultimately the entire Ponyville might've heard about it. Sorry." she said.

Spike was surprised. Not because everypony in Ponyville has heard of his quest but because of the speed at which information moved around Ponyville. It really wasn't that long since he saw Scootaloo before entering Sugarcube Corner. Or at least it didn't seem that long to Spike.

"It's alright. It's not like it changes anything." said Spike, smiling. His face returned to its focused state. "Now I really gotta pick up the pace though. I've wasted some time. I'll catch you all later." he said before moving around the scooter and, once again, kicking into his Love Speed gear. The Boutique wasn't too far but he hoped that he could get there before the news of his proposal did.

Rarity was... bored. She had two chests full of jewels and gemstones. She had many fabrics in many colours. She had rows of outfits made, but that was... monotonous. She never felt this way about dressmaking before. There were so many perfect ideas for dresses in her head, but she just didn't have... something to make them. Physically, all of her fabrics and decorations were sufficient. It was her that lacked something. Was it passion? Motivation? She had no idea. All she could've done was to wait or do something until her... 'flame' returned.

Was she to expect that what she so desperately needed was going to knock on her door in a few seconds?

Rarity was just watching the hands on her clock move slowly (clockwise of course) when a knocking sound at her door startled her. Maybe it was a customer? A purpose for which she would have to create? She'd still be bored but at least she'd have an aim in working on the next dress.

She got up and walked towards the door, using the magic to open it remotely before she even got there. Behind the door, instead of a stallion or a pony she expected stood Spike. He seemed... different to her, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on what seemed so different. It definitely didn't have anything to do with the fact that he was holding a something behind him, though it was a mystery she thought would be revealed very soon.

"Hello my little Spikey-Wikey? What brings you to my boutique today?" she asked, smiling. Nobody ever expected her to be bored and she wasn't going to give that impression. Spike, on the other hand, did nothing to cover up his change.

"My beautiful Rarity... I am not the dragon you once knew. I've earned some courage, just enough to ask you something very important." he said, looking her in the eye, and at that instant, Rarity understood. She didn't see his usual cautious sight, now replaced by a fiery stare of determination. She gulped and nodded.

Spike knelt on one knee and showed her what he was holding behind his back, "Rarity, I love you. I loved you from when I first saw you upon my arrival in Ponyville. I... I feel that you might have known, but still, I offer you this," he said, handing her The Ruby Heart Deluxe, "and I hope you accept my invitation... even if it is just for once... I'd like to go on a date with you." he spoke, his sight not wavering for a second, nor a tone in his voice depicting any trace of nervousness.

The marshmallow-coloured pony looked at the dragon. She knew that Spike has a crush on her, but always felt that he was more of a friend than someone she could love. But this new Spike... he was different from the baby dragon she befriended. He was something... more.

Rarity felt a warm sensation inside her. She could've made it anything, from sickness to the heat of the sun, but she couldn't lie to herself. She liked this Spike, more than how she liked his cowardly self. She actually fell in love with the determined baby dragon before her. Maybe she loved him from the start but didn't realise it? It didn't matter though. That sensation of love was a hundred time stronger than what she ever felt about Prince Blueblood.

"Spikey... no, Spike. I am surprised. I never would've thought that I would say it but... I'd love to go on a date with you. I think I may love you." she said, blushing slightly. She began to turn away, but Spike put his claws gently on her face.

"I can't bear to see you in indecision... so shall we check?" he asked, and before she could answer, he kissed her.

A shiver of surprise ran down the pony's spine. She wanted to turn away, but the kiss felt... good. The dragon moved back, but she moved forward and this time, she kissed him.

Spike wasn't surprised. He felt the heat coming from her body increase as he kissed her. Now she kissed him, and returned the passion he poured into his kiss. As both moved away, Rarity blushed and looked away while Spike smiled.

"It... seems I really love you Spike. Thank you for the beautiful gift too. Now then... when would you like for our date to start?" she asked, returning to her dignified position.

Before Spike could answer, a large explosion startled both of them. Rarity jumped while Spike took a stance and revealed his claws, ready to attack. For a second, he was surprised at his own reaction, but then both of them were showered with confetti.

And if there was confetti, a certain pink pony was never too far away.

Pinkie wasn't a spy. She was going to see how Rarity would react to Spike's proposal, but it could hardly be called spying when a crowd of other ponies tagged along to see as well. It was a miracle that the trees around Rarity's boutique even managed to hold all of these ponies and Pinkie's Party Cannon. She was prepared.

When Rarity definitely agreed to the date, Pinkie fired the confetti. All of the ponies on the trees were either surprised and fell off the trees or were shaken off by the recoil, just like Pinkie. Within seconds there was a huge crowd of ponies surrounding the boutique.

Pinkie hopped with joy around Rarity and Spike "She said yes! She said yes! Yay! This calls for a parrrrrty!" she shouted. All other ponies clapped with joy.

The dragon looked at not completely red Rarity, "It seems our date could as well start now." he said, smooching her on the cheek. She smiled at him, and they both went out to the crowd of ponies.

Flim looked at his brother. Flam looked back. They were both exhausted, but without any defensive or offensive magic they couldn't do anything but continue the work.

Three dark silhouettes appeared, and the middle-sized one stepped forward. "How goes the work, pony?" he asked, looking at Flim.

Flim gulped. "The first one is built, but it hasn't been tested yet. We're just working on the second one." He didn't like being called 'pony', but he has learnt not to argue with their kidnappers.

The silhouette grinned, "Excellent. Keep working, and you'll get your precious food and water. Soon those ponies will pay... and this time, we'll have the upper hand." he said, laughing. The other silhouettes laughed as well, after which they closed the door, leaving Flim and Flam alone in the huge dark cave.

4) The (perfect?) date [PART 2].

"Spike... This date is just... perfect!" said Rarity, smooching the dragon on the cheek. He chuckled.

"I would think so too... if it wasn't for a huge crowd of ponies following us everywhere..." he said, looking back. The crowd now was made up of mainly little fillies, save for Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy. The other ponies just stayed for Pinkie's party and then went back to their work.

"Well, that can't really be helped. Nobody, not even me, expected that you would ask me out. And they did give us some useful advice, didn't they?" asked Rarity, smiling.

"Yeah... but didn't Cheerilee's sound kind of odd to you?" he asked her, stroking her beautiful mane.

"Well, 'Not to drink any punch given to us by Sweetie Belle' does sound kind of odd, but wasn't it the case that the little Crusaders made a love potion to make Cheerilee and Big Mac fall in love? Surely we wouldn't want to start giving ourselves odd nicknames." she said, leaning closer to Spike.

"A love potion would be kind of useless if we're already in love. And you wouldn't want a nickname, my Beautiful Diamond?" he asked playfully.

Before Rarity could answer, a loud ringing of a school bell could be heard. Instantly, Spike shoved Rarity to the side of the narrow alleyway they were following, before a stampede of hurrying fillies galloped past them, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind them.

"That was close..." said Spike, exhaling. "This just shows that one should never get caught up in front of young ponies during a schoolday."

Rarity looked at Spike's new face. Such courage. Such determination. Such care and protectiveness. He was exactly how she wished her boyfriend would be. A knight in shining armour... though maybe scaly armour would be more fitting for the occasion.

"Maybe we should stop right here... this has been a very eventful day, and I'm sort of tired..." said Rarity. Spike looked at her.

"Sure, but how about we take a seat somewhere and relax first? Maybe the new café that opened? What do you say?" he asked.

Rarity blinked. She just noticed that he was also quite assertive lately. That was a very big change too.

"Okay." she said, smiling.

Despite all of the work she had yet to complete at the farm, Applejack found it hard to resist the temptation of following the rest of her friends into the café. In the end, she tagged along, not only to hear their stories and converse with them, but she had a worry. A worry that she could share with only one of them - Twilight Sparkle. Nevertheless, being a good friend, she listened attentively to what others had to say.

"...so then I took all of my party stuff out and put all new date stuff in my cannon! I was going to use it on Cranky and Matilda but they wanted some quiet time. Then I heard that Spike was going to ask Rarity out and at first like was like 'EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?' but then I remembered that I still had my Date Cannon so I brought it and made you guys a party!" said Pinkie Pie, ending one of her hyperactive speeches. Other than them, the café was empty. It wasn't very popular yet and everything needs to gain reputation. Applejack supposed that they would have been the first customers.

Rainbow Dash started talking about yet another Daring Do book she was reading when Twilight rose to her hooves, "Well, it's been fun, but I have something to do for Princess Celestia. Bye everypony, see you later!"

Applejack also got up, "Ah still have m'work to finish at th' farm. Have fun y'all." she said, and followed Twilight outside.

The purple unicorn turned to leave, but Applejack put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, "Wait a sec' sugarcube. I have somethin' to ask you about."

Twilight turned to face Applejack, "Well... what do you need to know?" she asked, giving her a warm friendly smile. On the contrary, Applejack's face turned a bit grim.

"Twi, I know y'all are happy f'r Spike 'n Rarity, and so am ah, but don'cha find somethin' strange in all this? One day ah see Spike 'chicken out' before he has a chance ta speak with Rarity, next day he's a completely new dragon. Did'ya hear? He saved Mrs. Cake's baby from a fall. Doesn't sound like Spike I know." she said, keeping her voice low and serious.

"What are you implying Applejack?" asked Twilight, raising a brow.

"Nopony can change their p'rsonality from day t' day. Don'cha think he might've used some magical power or somethin'? It may not sound like somethin' y'hear from y'r friends, but I'm not sure about using magic on oneself. I heard it c'n have serious side effects. Remember the Love Poison incident?" she explained.

Twilight's face wrinkled a little, a sign that she was thinking hard. After that, she looked back at Applejack, her face not as smiling as before, "I've never heard of magic that can change somepony's personality. But don't worry, I noted your concerns and I will ask Princess Celestia about it in tonight's letter." she said. Applejack sighed with relief.

"Thanks sugarcube. I'd hate t' see somethin' bad happening to y'all... or especially Spike." she said, nodding in a formal manner before speeding off to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight's eyes followed the trail of dust she left behind her, then she turned and made her way to the Library.

It was an eventful day indeed. Rainbow Dash was napping peacefully on a cloud as she didn't want to bother flying all the way to Cloudsdale. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were fast asleep in their respective homes, but Rarity fell asleep even faster in the boutique. Applejack finished her work and went to sleep in the barn while Twilight napped peacefully in the Library.

The only one still awake was Spike.

He climbed to the top of the tree, and decided to look at the starry sky. Sure, he was a baby dragon but it felt as if there was some kind of new energy within him. He barely felt sleepy, and actually felt hyperactive. Not as hyperactive as the hyperactive princess of hyperactivity Pinkie Pie, but the energy managed to keep him awake. To let go of some of it, he decided to climb to the top of the library. It worked, but he still felt there was a pile of energy left in him.

"I know!" he said to himself, jumping onto his back claws, "I'll breathe some fire! It's cold anyway."

He inhaled as much air as he could, and let out... a small stream of fire, which disappeared almost instantly. He was surprised - he never had such a small amount of fire escape his mouth - but suddenly felt drowsy and very sleepy. It was as if that little flame drained him of all his energy. This certainly wasn't normal.

With a few hops, he skilfully jumped down onto the balcony, entered the Library and got into his cot. He felt that sleep was going to be the only thing that could restore the energy he lost. He closed his eyes, and within seconds he was floating away into the dreamworld.

Spike could tell something was odd. He never had such a dream before as far as he could remember. He was sitting in a dark room, with bare walls. There was no door, no window, nor was there any hole. The room had three rock walls, a floor, a ceiling and, most oddly, a big transparent wall just before his eyes. The dragon walked up to the wall and put one of his scales on it. Diamond, the hardest of all gemstones. Tough to bite, hard to swallow, impossible to cut. So he was in fact given some sort of a window.

On the other side of the diamond wall was a shape, a shape that made Spike shiver. On the floor, in a comfortable cot, lay himself. Another Spike, snoring peacefully with small clouds of smoke, so small that they dispersed instantly in the air. His claws were chained to the wall, but they were long enough to allow him to reach seemingly every part of his room. And what a room it was.

Pictures of Rarity decorated every wall. There was a table with a quill and a scroll. There was a pile of gemstones on the floor. The room was lit up brightly by an unseen source of light. The light just existed in that room, without a candle or a fire.

None of this made sense to Spike. Two of him, one locked up in a bare and cold room, separated by a thick diamond wall from the other in a decorated, warm and lit up room but chained to its walls. And this certainly felt like no dream, nor reality. Usually, once he realised it was a dream, he took control of it, a skill that he developed over his lifespan.

Suddenly, the shapes and images started dispersing, and Spike felt a force pushing him out of the room. Into nothingness.

Then he awakened.

5) The (perfect?) date [PART 3].

Spike inhaled and exhaled slowly. It was a good day. Sunshine and cloudless sky, no wind, grass shining with morning dew which magnified its green colour. A perfect day for a quiet date.

The memories of the 'dream' from last night haunted him, but he set them aside. His crippled ability to breathe fire worried him, but he set that aside too. Today was all about Rarity, the most important pony in the world for him now.

His dragon ears twitched as he heard hoofsteps nearby. He looked down from the branch he was laying on. Approaching him was Rarity, wearing a large yellow hat and carrying a picnic basket. Spike smiled. The day was oddly bright, the air was too quiet, but it was alright. He intended for this date between him and Rarity to be a secret, but he couldn't help but let their friends play their part.

Although it was off her schedule, Rainbow Dash cleared up the sky very early, when nopony should've been up. Spike's nightmare awakened him early enough to witness her doing that.
Applejack slipped from her farm work and watered up the grass slightly so it was nice and soft. Although he saw her from a long distance, his dragon eyes could tell it was her.
When he left the library, he found a basket with his name on it. It was filled with cupcakes, muffins and other delicacies - a gift from Pinkie Pie as he presumed.
Despite having no evidence, he figured that other ponies helped as well - Fluttershy probably got the animals to leave, giving them peace and silence. Twilight was gone from the library when he woke up, so she might've just left not to disturb him or have to give excuses.

As Rarity came even closer, she began to look around, searching for him. He was pretty high up so she probably didn't notice him. With a degree of acrobatic accuracy never suspected in him, he jumped down, slowing himself down on some branches and landed in front of her.

"Hey gorgeous. Looking for somepony?" he asked, smiling. She looked startled at first, but quickly smiled at him, "Only my most lovely of dragons." she said, smooching him. He kissed her back and they sat down under the tree, taking out the picnic foods and blanket, and they ate, admiring the clear sky.

The day passed very quickly, and by the time of sundown Spike was sitting under the tree stroking the mane of Rarity who put her head on his legs. There weren't any disturbances during the date so far, and Spike was quite glad about that. This was definitely a perfect date.

"This is definitely what I'd call a perfect date..." sighed Rarity, moving closer to Spike. He grinned. Even their thoughts were very similar. This was the pony he needed in his life.

In the corner of the huge cell they were given, Flam was sleeping. He used too much magic and was nearly exhausted. His brother Flim took over the work.

The second piece of their work was finished, and along with the first one transported to be tested. Now he worked hard on the third one, trying to make it as good as possible. Maybe the satisfactory quality of this one would please their kidnappers.

There was no point of thinking about it though. It wasn't time for thinking. He needed to work hard and make up for the work his brother wasn't doing.

For now, his only hope was to believe that the noises of the testing would attract somepony's attention.

"I love you more." said Spike, kissing Rarity.

"No, I love you more." replied Rarity kissing Spike.

This game has been going on for some time, though only for giggles. It was a couply thing, and it seem Spike and Rarity have quickly reached this stage.

He was about to answer when suddenly the ground beneath them shook hard. Rarity gasped but Spike, instinctively, pushed her to the side just before a loose branch fell where she was laying down just a second ago. As suddenly as the shaking started, it ended abruptly, leaving behind no sign of it but the broken branch.

"What was that?" asked Rarity, shaking.

"I don't know," answered Spike, "but whatever it was we better go now before it happens again." He put his claw over Rarity's back and led her away. Suddenly the ground shook again and Spike grabbed Rarity before she could fall down.

"I think we should leave fast." she said and started galloping away, giving Spike only seconds to jump on her back. During the gallop, Spike frowned. Something unnatural ruined their otherwise perfect date, and he was not going to let that pass.

The loud chattering of ponies filled the entire town square. Mayor Mare looked around, doing a head count. She was still missing somepony. As the familiar grey shape dropped from the sky, she nodded to herself and coughed, stopping the chatter..

"Now that everypony is here, I will explain this gathering. As you might've felt earlier there have been some shocks affecting the town. Nopony nor any structure was damaged and a competent research team that these have been an accidental anomaly and are NOT signals of an upcoming earthquake. I want everypony to remain calm and put up with these until the anomaly ends." said the Mayor, after which she stepped down from the podium and gestured Twilight Sparkle and her friends to follow her, allowing other ponies to continue their chatter.

They went around a corner, and the Mayor turned to the six ponies and Spike.

"Twilight Sparkle. You and the bonds of friendship with your friends have saved this town many times. You are also Princess Celestia's student. I want the six of you to investigate these shocks after informing the Royal Sisters. It wasn't an earthquake, so this brings up an even more important question - what was it? I want you to go underground and investigate."

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word Spike stepped in front of her, "Wait a second Mayor... you said 'six'. Does that mean I am not going on the team?" he asked, looking the Mayor in the eye. The Mayor looked at Twilight who nodded.

"Spike, I know you want to help, but you're still a baby. You're also my number one assistant and a great friend to us all. I don't want you to be involved in any trouble we may encounter." she said to him. He looked at the other ponies who nodded in agreement.

"Come on Twilight. I can help! I'll write down anything we'll encounter and any suspicious things we find!" he said in a desperate voice. He was itching to join this adventure. Twilight's face became serious.

"Spikeback Greenflame. You're staying in Ponyville and taking care of the Library while I'm away. You won't follow us into the dangerous journey. This is my final decision." she said, keeping a strong posture.

Spike's back shivered. Even with all the courage he gained from Heart's Flame there was nothing which could evoke more fear in any dragon than being called by their full name by their hatcher. Even adult dragons had no guts to stand up to their mothers. Looking away, Spike sighed, "Okay Twilight. But please be careful..." he said, after which he leaned closer to her ear, "and protect my dear Rarity." he whispered. Twilight looked at him, then nodded.

The midnight air chilled Spike, even through his thick scales. He couldn't help but stay awake. The knowledge that his friends were going on an expedition without him saddened him greatly. But what could he do? Twilight very strictly ordered him not to follow them on the journey.

He looked from the window of the Library into it, holding a quill and ticking off the checklist of things Twilight was packing for the trip. The bag was very big, which worried Spike. She was taking a lot of stuff with her. This will definitely slow them down.

"...and my seismograph. Is that everything Spike?" she asked. With a frown on his face, he nodded and ticked the final box on the checklist. Twilight came closer to him.

"Spike, I know you really wanted to go on the trip, so guess what? You can't follow us, but I asked Owloysius to take care of the Library, so you're free to do anything while we're away..." she said, but when she was his mischievous expression she quickly added, "...apart from following us." to which Spike frowned again. He turned away and looked at the starry sky, when suddenly a twinkle of mischief appeared in his eye.

"Very well Twilight. If that is what you wish, I won't follow you. Now if you excuse me I'm going on a walk." he said, jumping down from the window. Twilight poked her head out just in time to see Spike start walking away before she turned back, and just as she did, so did he. He raced back as quickly as possible, keeping quiet, and jumped back to the window, peaking through.

"...and fetch any book that anypony wants, okay?" she asked the owl, to which Owloysius replied with a loud 'HOO!' Twilight smiled, "Great that you understand. Now I just gotta visit the restroom and I'll be on my way." she said, opening the restroom door with her magic and entering, closing it behind her.

Now was Spike's chance. He had to be very fast, because at that precise moment Owloysius turned his head away.

The dragon lunged forward, soaring through the air like a bullet... right into one of the open pockets of Twilight's bag.

If I can't follow you, then take me with you Twilight. he said, grinning. Whoever discovered loopholes was the best pony who ever lived.

6) Operation Underground

It was midnight. A suitable time to depart on a dangerous journey into the underground world to investigate strange shocks. A story that could very likely be written in large bold writing on the pages of history. It'll depict six pony friends leaving Ponyville.

And a dragon sleeping away in one of their backpacks.

Forced to re-live his nightmare with a lost sense of time, Spike will not awaken until a little later. The six friends will have it a bit rougher.

Twilight Sparkle was waiting by the fountain in the park. She was always the punctual one. She came 10 minutes earlier and has been contemplating quantum mechanics and Pinkie's influence on them for the 10 minutes. Then others started gathering. First Rainbow Dash. She got some sleep because she didn't need to travel so far. She just zoomed across the sky and in about 10 seconds she appeared. With great speed, however, came great impatience, and she quickly found herself flying aimlessly waiting for others to join them.

Next ones to appear, seeming to have met on the way there, were Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack. As always, Pinkie Pie was talking about... something. Fluttershy politely listened and agreed. Applejack gave her honest opinion. What else could you possibly expect from them?

With no surprise, the last one to arrive was Rarity. Groomed mane, large hat... She was just like you'd expect her to appear like. Not really suited to going underground, but they weren't going to leave her. They were all friends.

"Alright everypony. Ready?" asked Twilight Sparkle as sort of a journey beginning ritual.

"YEAH!" shouted all of her friends, except Fluttershy whose "yes." was lost in the cheer of others. Still, the response was given. Twilight turned and started marching. Others joined her side and they walked in a silent rhythm for a few minutes before Rainbow Dash broke the silence with a very obvious question, "So where are we going anyway?"

Twilight grinned, as if she was expecting the question, which she was, "Well, I figured that we'll just take the fastest way underground. By the Diamond Dogs tunnels."

Rarity gasped, "Twilight, surely you don't mean the Diamond Dogs who kidnapped me, enslaved me and made me work for them? They are ruffians I tell you. Dangerous ruffians!"

"Don't be silly Rarity. They may have had bad intentions at first, but they weren't THAT bad."

"Yeah! And they let you go at the end of the episode, didn't they?" Pinkie added.

"Pinkie, what did I tell you? Our life does not happen in episodes." said Twilight, a bit annoyed.

"But Twilight. Their tunnels are very dirty! I don't want to get dust in my mane." stated Rarity.

"Of course. You an' yer mane Rarity. If ya dun' like dirt s' much why did y' go with us on an UNDERGROUND journey?" asked Applejack, clearly starting an argument with Rarity.

"Why did I even speak..." said Rainbow Dash.

"Umm, girls..." whispered Fluttershy.

"WHAT?!" roared the entire arguing rest of the group, scaring the living soul out of Fluttershy.

"We'reatanintersectionandthesignsarebrokenkthxbai!" shouted Fluttershy before speeding past four of the arguing ponies and getting caught by Rainbow Dash.

Twilight looked at the intersection post. Indeed, it was broken. Both signs were on the ground, pointing back towards Ponyville menacingly. She regarded both pathways. One led them through a creepy forest which was a part of the larger Everfree Forest. The other led them out into the plains. Behind the post there was a hut.

"We should ask the ponies who live there." said Twilight, walking up to the door and knocking.

The door opened and two hooded ponies came out.

"Welcome to our hut, young ponies." said one of them.

"We are the pony brothers, Bronies." said the other.

"We think that we should've called ourselves Brocolts."

"But we are brothers who sell many salts."

"Forgive my Brony who can't do right rhyming."

"But I have to keep us within our timing."

"Now look, I don't want to sound like a hater, but can this wait until sometime later? Someone has teared down the road naming logs and we need the path to the Diamond Dogs." said Twilight back to them. The hooded ponies seemed surprised and pleased.

"When asked some questions, and I am no friar, one becomes honest while the other a liar."

"You can ask us one question, the same to both, and I'll point you either West or North."

While others looked confused, Twilight was focusing on the question which to ask them. No ideas came to her mind, "Can I have a while to think about it?" she pleaded.

"Yes!" said one.

"No!" said the other.

Realising what she just did, Twilight facehooved herself. Then Rarity walked up to her, "Don't worry Twilight. It's gonna be alright."

"But how are we going to find the Diamond Dogs now?" asked Twilight.

"Isn't it obvious? I've been there when they kidnapped me. Did you forget already? We're going to the plains." said Rarity, taking the left road, and all ponies following her. While walking beside them, Rainbow Dash spoke, "You should really lay of rhymes. I've heard this stuff to many times."

Fluttershy, walking behind her, added, "I actually thought your rhymes were nice, but your pacing and speed could use some spice."

Then Applejack cut in, "Wait a moment everypony, are we gonna keep rhyming too?"

Pinkie shrugged, "Don't ask me AJ, I ain't got a clue."

When they walked away, the hooded ponies looked at each other.

"Curses! They passed right by our trap!"

"I guess our idea was just very -"

"WE DON'T NEED TO RHYME ANYMORE"

"- bad."

"You are right brother. Now let's get back to selling salt"

That being said, both brothers returned to their hut. Back to our Mane heroes, they had a large problem.

"Pinkie!" shouted Twilight.

"Yes Twilight?" asked Pinkie, standing beside her.

"Why did you think it would be appropriate to fire your party cannon?"

"Well, we were out in the plains, so I thought I won't cause an avalanche."

"I understand that Pinkie... but instead you caused the ground beneath us to shatter. Now we're stuck down here."

"Sorry Twi..."

Twilight Sparkle looked up. They had a very long fall, and she could barely see the top. Then again she wouldn't really see anything during the night. A voice reached her ears, "Y'alright sugarcubes?"

"Applejack! We're okay! Where are you?!" shouted back Twilight.

"We didn't fall! We're- hold on, we're lowering you a rope! Climb up!" shouted Applejack.

Twilight tried from many positions but no matter how she tried she couldn't hold the rope. "I can't climb it Applejack! My hooves are slipping off."

"Oh right... sorry... BITE ON IT WITH PINKIE! WE'LL PULL YOU UP!" shouted Applejack. Twilight bit down on the rope and PInkie followed her. Then the rope started slowly sliding up.

On the top of the hole, Applejack pulled on the rope with all her might. The end of it was tied to Rainbow Dash who was trying to fly away at full speed and speed up the process. It took a few minutes, but they were out of the hole.

"Thanks girls... now we should keep quiet and enter one of the tunnels." said Twilight, pointing at the tunnel holes a few metres away from them. They split up and started examining each tunnel. Then Twilight called them to her, "This one has safe steps. We can go down it." she said, and they started their descent.

By the time they were down there the sun was slowly lighting up the sky above them. The ponies looked around the cave. It was actually the middle of the Diamond Dogs' excavations. Wagons of gemstones were transported by huge burly dogs while the familiar three were overseeing everything. The 6 friends walked up to them.

"Then try digging there... oh, not you ponies again! We said we were sorry! Take that whining one away! TAKE HER AWAY!" shouted Rover, the middle sized Diamond Dog and their ultimate leader.

Twilight stepped forward, "We're not here to stay for long. We have come to investigate shocks recently hitting Ponyville."

Rover's ears twitched, "Shocks you say?" he asked, looking into the shadows past the ponies. Six pairs of eyes were watching them. Rover put his paws into a triangle, "Do you have any idea what may be happening?"

Twilight shook her head, "No, that's why we've come to question you." Rover's paws moved a bit closer, and six weapons being drawn flashed behind the ponies,

"What do you wish to know?" asked Rover.

"Do you know what could've caused the shocks?" she asked. Rover tried to hide a grin as he split up his paws. The ninja dogs hid their weapons and disappeared back into the shadows.

"Well, we have felt them too. They seem to have come from the Dark Tunnel. It's a tunnel we've tried to explore a long time ago. Now we've sealed it off because it was very unstable... and rigged with traps. If you wish to go there, we can open the way for you, but you have to make sure you stay together and advance slowly. We haven't, and believe me, there has been more Diamond Dogs in the past..." he said with a sad expression. Twilight smiled.

"We're sorry to hear that, but thank you for co-operating. We'll try our best to stick together. Show us the tunnel." she said, others nodding. Rover got up, Spot and Fido keeping quiet and following him. They got to a tunnel blocked by a bunch of boulders.

"Once you enter we'll have to lock it away again otherwise one of our young may wander down there. if you find nothing at the end return here and we'll let you out." he said, nodding to Fido. Fido grabbed one of the bottom boulders and moved it, causing other boulders to drop and open the entrance, "It's very dark so I suggest you get some light."

Twilight fired up the light from her horn and entered the cave, others following her. Applejack entered last and looked back at the dogs, "Thank y'all for yer c'operation." she said, before stepping further in. Fido picked up the boulders and stacked them back together. Then six shapes dropped from the cave ceiling and turned to Rover.

"Why did you call us back Master? We could've taken them out within seconds." said the largest one, but Rover grinned, "We have a little bone to pick with those ponies. I want them to witness the full power of our War Machines. Enter the Side Tunnel and deactivate all of the traps. I want them to reach the Main Chamber, then cuff them up from the shadows. Use the Magical Cuffs on the Unicorns and the Strong ones on the Orange one and the Blue one. Without any means of escape, they'll be the first to be ended by out new power." he said, taking a side tunnel to the Main Chamber to power up the machines along with Spot. The road given to the ponies was just a longer path to buy the Diamond Dogs some time to power up their revenge.

7) I need a hero?

"Do you really trust them Twilight?" asked Rarity as the last boulder behind them moved into place, sealing their exit.

"Don't worry Rarity. You saw how they reacted when they saw you. I doubt they'd lie to us if they knew you were with us. Besides, if they don't open the path back, we can always open it ourselves." said Twilight, pointing at Applejack, who grinned and kicked her hind hooves into a wall. The tunnel shuddered slightly and the ceiling shook violently, causing a cloud of dust to descend..

"Careful there dear. I don't want any rock pieces and dust in my mane." said Rarity, gallantly stepping ahead. Applejack followed, speaking under her breath, "If this 'ere tunnel falls yer mane'll be the least of yer probl'ms."

Their slow advance continued for an uncountable amount of time, but what Rarity presumed was about 10 minutes. Then she stopped abruptly, and others nearly crashed into her plot.

"Hey Rarity, we stopped. What gives?" asked Rainbow Dash, obviously the one most annoyed about the fact that they were moving so slowly.

Rarity looked around herself, "Did you notice that there were no traps around here? We've walked for a few minutes and there was not a single trap in our path. Isn't that a little bit weird? Are you sure that the Diamond Dogs aren't setting us up into something?" she asked, scared. If only Spike was here... He'd smell out the danger right away... she thought. Twilight walked up to her, the magic from her horn burning brightly, and patted Rarity on the back.

"Don't worry. We were probably lucky. Maybe the dogs activated all traps when they first ventured here? Maybe there won't be any traps." she said, before taking a step forward... and putting her hoof down right onto a pressure plate. Suddenly, sounds of a moving mechanism could be heard.

"Ya had to jinx it Twilight, didn't ya?" said Applejack, looking around her nervously and waiting to see from where the trap would fall. Suddenly, PInkie's tail started twitching, and she shouted, "TWITCHY TAIL! SOMETHING'S GONNA FALL!"

Applejack pushed Rarity and Fluttershy to the side, then she herself rolled onto the ground. Rainbow Dash did the same with Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. Within seconds, just in the spot where they were standing there was a huge piston arm extending from the ceiling. Within seconds after falling, the piston retracted into the ceiling and slid into place, leaving no trace of its earlier existence.

The ponies gathered around the spot where the piston fell, then looked back at the way they came. Fluttershy spoke quietly, "Maybe we should leave now?"

Rainbow Dash chuckled, "Fluttershy, it's just getting good! Scary, but fun! Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you." Then the cyan pegasus flew behind the yellow one and nudged her to keep going. Now a bit slower and more careful, the ponies walked in silence, taking care where they stepped.

"Fool!" shouted the leader of the Ninja Dogs as he slapped his subordinate with the Palm of the Golden Dragon, knocking him into a wall. He rarely tolerated failure, but today he finally had somepony to catch. His subordinate got back to his paws and looked at his captain apologetically, licking the blood which flowed from his mouth, "Sorry sir, but the lever was already down for that one, so I thought that I was supposed to flip this one upwards." His leader walked up to him.

"Well now you know. YOU ALL KNOW! ALL of the levers must be DOWN. The ponies are not to be hurt until we ambush them. You just have to make sure all traps are clear and that they get to the chamber. Now GET TO WORK!" he shouted, to which his Ninja Dogs scattered into the shadows to take care of the trap control mechanisms. He himself grinned. A prey, no matter how small, was still a prey.

Twilight examined the door before them. It was a large steel construction which seemed to have no key and shifted slightly under her touch.

"I think we might have to push it open. It's good that there were no more traps after that huge piston, otherwise we'd be in a bad situation. Come on ponies." said Twilight as she focused her magic on the door. A purple glow surrounded it and it shifted slightly. Rarity joined her in the effort while Applejack drove her front hooves into the ground and pushed back with her hind hooves. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were also contributing while Rainbow Dash flew back and forth, repeatedly pushing into the door. After a minute of effort, something gave way and the door swung open.

The silence was suddenly broken by a loud sound of moving machinery. All of the ponies dropped into the room, and before they managed to get a good look around, there was a huge flash of light and the room lit up brightly.

Standing before them was a gigantic Dragon, and beside it, a gigantic version of Rover. They weren't in flesh though. They were made from wood and iron. Two huge robots against six relatively small ponies.

"What are those?" exclaimed Twilight, looking at the robots. Suddenly, the mouths of both the Dragon and the Dog opened up widely to reveal Rover and Spot.

"How do you like our War Machines, ponies? We didn't think that their testing would make so much shocks and noise." said Rover, grinning.

"What are those? What do you think you're doing?" shouted Rainbow Dash at them.

"What are we doing? We're exacting revenge. You puny ponies pushed as about a bit, and now your entire puny town will pay!" shouted Spot.

"See Twilight? I told you we shouldn't have trusted them." said Rarity, and as Twilight opened her mouth to speak, Applejack cut in with a shout.

"If ya think ya'll be attackin' Ponyville, ya better think again! Come on girls!" and with that, the farmer pony galloped at the robotic Dog, followed by Rainbow Dash.

"I don't think so." said Rover, grinning. He clapped his paws, and out of the shadows, six shapes leapt out of nowhere at an incredible speed. Metal chains flashed momentarily and within a few seconds all of the ponies were held down with chains.

Rainbow Dash started trying to fly out of them while Applejack tried breaking them, but to no avail. Twilight tried her magic but it was sapped by the chains they were defenceless. Before them stood six Ninja Dogs, split into two rows of three and forming a path for the Dragon machine which was currently opening up to reveal a huge cannon aimed at them.

"Feel honoured. You're the first ones to feel the force of War Dragon Cannon, courtesy of the inventive pony twins." exclaimed Rover, moving levers to adjust the shot more carefully.

"Pony twins... do you mean the Flim-Flam brothers?" asked Twilight after a moment of thought. Something in her backpack shuddered, but she ignored it.

"Like I care. And you shouldn't care either. You're about to stop thinking anyway!" shouted Rover, slamming his paw on a button. At the exact moment, a blurred shape jumped out of Twilight's backpack and just managed to divert the cannonball in mid air towards a wall. Then he landed.

"Can I get something straight here? You think that those bulky pieces of scrap metal will destroy Ponyville? Ha! Not on my watch they won't." said Spike, grinning slyly. Rover momentarily seemed surprised, but then turned to be angry.

"It's that damn dragon. Get him!" he shouted. The six ninjas jumped forward at Spike, but he bent his knees at the last second and at the moment where the dogs crashed into each other, he uppercutted right into their noses, sending them flying back.

"Wow. I actually thought it would be harder than that. It seems I was mistaken." laughed Spike, taunting his enemy.

"SPIKE! I TOLD YOU NOT TO FOLLOW US!" roared Twilight. She was grateful for this blessing of Spike defending them, even a little impressed about how he handled the ninjas, but also furious that he didn't listen to her. He looked at her.

"Twilight, I didn't follow you. You took me with you in your backpack. Loopholes Twi'. You really oughta watch out for those." he said. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but reconsidered. He simply outsmarted her. She closed the mouth, but then opened it again in a shout, "Look out above you!" Grinning, he suddenly disappeared, in his place the gigantic claw of the robotic dragon. He appeared a metre or so beside it.

"I'm a lot faster now, doggies." he said towards Rover before leaping into the air and right at him. In mid air he breathed in.

Gotta fire up now. Don't fail me! he thought, after which he blew towards Rover's face. The dog moved back, but all that came out of Spike's mouth was a tiny emerald flame... again.

"Oh no..." muttered Spike. Rover grinned and punched him square in the stomach, sending him flying into the wall above Twilight. Then he sent out the other hand of the robotic dragon to punch him even further into the wall. When he removed the hand, Spike dropped onto the floor.

"Spike!" shouted all of the ponies. He coughed slightly, then got onto his knees, "I won't be able to go on for long. I'm nearly drained. Get out of here." he whispered before leaning over Twilight's chain and breathing some flame onto it. It might've been small, but it was still strong enough to melt the chain. Then he dropped, unconscious.

Twilight felt her magical prowess return to her instantly. Re-fueled, she instantly lit up her horn and teleported everypony and Spike back to Ponyville.

Rover stared at the place where the ponies were just a second ago. The shadow of the Ninja Dogs leader appeared beside him, "They've escaped!" he said, but Rover dismissedly shook his paw.

"No matter. Visit the twin ponies, and tell them to speed up the pace with that third robot. We're going to greet those escapees son enough."

The machine beeped steadily. Not too slow, but not too fast either. The green trail re-coloured itself over and over, showing the patterns of Spike's heart.

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Rarity, and the doctor turned to her, "The heart's alright and the scales took a hard beatin', but overall he seems fine. He's gonna stay unconscious for some time though I'm fairly sure he'll wake up again."

Rarity leaned over and kissed Spike on the cheek. Twilight put her hoof on Rarity's back, "I know you'd like to stay here and watch over him, but we must talk to the Mayor at once. Our matter cannot wait."

Rarity wiped a tear from her eye with her hoof and trotted away along with everypony else. As the doctor turned to follow them out, Spike's body twitched slightly. It was not a case of the physical, but of mental disability that he was in.

8) Troubling Events in Ponyville

The Mayor's face grew ever more tense with worry at each passing minute of Twilight's story. As she trotted around her room in thought her hooves made a monotonous slow tone of focus and worry. She stopped as Twilight finished speaking and looked outside of her window. The usual happy sunlit streets of Ponyville now seemed a lot more grim than usual. An image of fire and destruction flashed before her eyes, an image which she could not bear to watch. She closed her eyes and turned back to the six.

"This definitely isn't looking good for us... Twilight Sparkle, can you contact the Princesses and inform them of our problem?"

"Sorry Mayor but... Spike is still hospitalised, and without his already oddly weak fire I can't send anything to Princess Celestia..."

Sighing, the Mayor looked dramatically into the empty space behind the ponies before looking back to them.

"We have no choice but to take the matter in our own hooves. Rainbow Dash, fly out and inform everypony that there'll be an extra-important emergency meeting in the town square in 2 hours. Fluttershy, please go to the Everfree Forest and inform Zecora that we could use her help. Also, please try and find any creatures that are willing to help in battle because we'll need everypony and creature when fighting."

The cyan pony complied immediately, dragging her yellow friend out of the office.

"Applejack, I need you to inform the farms around Ponyville and tell them that we need their help. Also, tell Big Macintosh to loosen his harness. He may need to drop it for the next few days. Pinkie Pie, you're in charge of storing us food in case of a siege."

Both ran their respective ways.

"Rarity, get all the possible gemstones you can find in your boutique and bring them to the Town Hall. Twilight Sparkle, please try and find all unicorns capable of enchanting gemstones and get them to the Town Hall as well. We'll need Heat Gems, Light Gems, Fire Gems, Electricity Gems and Explosion Gems. Make sure nopony overdoes themselves, we'll need magic in battle."

Once again, both left instantly to take care of Mayor's orders.

The Mayor herself buried her head in her hooves, the old images of devastation appearing to her once again. She lived through that hell when she was a filly and she wasn't going to allow something like that again.

The room has appeared the very moment that Spike felt his sense of reality fading, the last drop of his energy disappearing. He lay curled on the floor until he felt strong enough to look up. Once again there was the diamond wall. Once again there was 'the other room'. Once again there was the chained Spike. This time, however, the chained Spike was awake and staring right at the free Spike. The free one got back to his feet and walked up to the wall.

"Awake, huh?" asked the chained Spike, reaching for a gemstone to eat.

"Wow, how did you guess?" said the free Spike, looking away.

The chained himself gave a short laugh, "Yeah, sarcasm...large part of our life, ain't it Me?"

Free Spike growled, "I'm not in the mood for talking with you. You're not real. Besides, talking with myself isn't exactly sane."

"Trust me Spike, I'm as much of a Spike as you. To be honest, we're both real. In a way."

". . ."

"Yeah, I know how ridiculous that sounds, but I have no other explanation. I've been here only for a few days, so I know little about what's going on here. What I know, however, I can tell you."

The free Spike examined his room, then the chained Spike's room. Then he sighed. He didn't know how to get out of here anyway.

"Hit me with it."

The chained Spike grinned as a cup full of punch materialised in his claw, "You might wanna imagine yourself a chair. I might blow your mind, and we wouldn't like a large earthquake here, now would we?"

"Ponies!" exclaimed the Mayor through the louder-than-usual meeting chatter. It wasn't always that meetings were happening so fast, thus an aura of worry held the crowd in the town square to hear out their Mayor. As the Mayor spoke, all other conversations ended abruptly and everypony focused on the mare.

"Everypony, I ask you to remain calm as I explain why I've gathered you all here. Our investigation of the mysterious shocks has revealed a group of miners who call themselves Diamond Dogs. They have shown violence towards our investigation team and intentions on launching an assault at Ponyville."

Gasps of fear have begun in the audience, but the Mayor still had a few things to say.

"Under those circumstances I must declare a state of emergency, code red. Everypony below adult age will stay in the Schoolhouse under the supervision or an adult and must remain if the battle happens and until it's over. Unicorns which have been earlier approached by Twilight Sparkle are to appear in the Town Hall at the end of this meeting. Pegasi will be briefed on their job by Weather Team Captain Rainbow Dash at the end of this meeting. Everypony else will go to a separate meeting to the Park where I'll explain your roles. Ms. Cheerilee will now escort the youth to the schoolhouse. This meeting is over."

She stepped down from the podium and watched as ponies split up - groups of earth ponies trotted towards the park, unicorns either left towards the Town Hall or teleported in flashes of light while Pegasi opened their wings and flew about in anticipation. The Mayor gulped and took off towards the park. The fate of Ponyville depended on her decisions and probability of a miracle happening.

"Hold up a second, let me get this straight." said the free Spike (who we'll now call Spike 1), cutting off the chained Spike (which shall now be dubbed Spike 2).

"You mean to tell me that when you ate the Heart's Flame, your entire personality of caution and cowardice was locked away and I was born as the personality of courage and carelessness. You were chained inside our mind and you slept during the night while I controlled our body during the morning and when I lost consciousness or went asleep I appeared in this room?"

Spike 2 nodded, "In a nutshell, yes."

Spike 1 laughed, "Yeah, just as I thought. I'm crazy. This makes no sense. For example, why do I remember everything I did before I ate Heart's Flame, or why is your room all decorated while mine is just a prison?"

"Well, our personalities aren't connected to our memories, so obviously you would remember what I have done. And about those rooms... I have no idea, really. Maybe it's got something to do with my personality changing as I grew and you just... kinda appeared without no real evolution."

"Whatever. Your theory misses a very important aspect, genius."

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

"If Heart's Flame made me with so much courage then where did all of the 'power' go? I can barely summon a flame!"

Spike 2 scratched his chin, which looked ridiculously hilarious because he looked like he was searching for a beard. Finally, he looked around himself.

"What if... the light in our rooms represents how much power we have, and all the power from Heart's Flame actually went to me?"

"In that case we're in trouble. We have a 'reckless' but brave me with no power and all skill and a 'careful' but cowardly you with all the power but no skill. Either way we'd lose."

And then silence.

The shocks have been happening for some time, gradually getting stronger. As they intensified, two dark shapes could be seen in the background, getting closer and closer...

Rows of earth ponies have created a thick wall, each pony stomping their hooves from nervousness and excitement. They quickly got into a rhythm, louder and clearer than any war drum.

Pegasi spun in the air, each one with a bag of Explosive Gems enchanted by the unicorns. The winged scouts were ready to lay waste to the enemy machines with the bombs, their wings at full length from the excitement and flopping in their own beat of battle.

Unicorns were behind the front wall, slowly chattering about what spells to use and how to focus them to deal the most damage. This created an ominous hum around the entire 'army'.

The Mayor smiled grimly as she looked at this army. This was, in any shape or form, art. She succeeded at creating what her ancestors could not - a defence army for Ponyville. She remembered her childhood - attacks of dark creatures at Ponyville, the panic, horrors of battle... Most ponies who were present back then were either dead or very old and didn't remember. She was just a filly at the time but she remembered it fine.

Although the event was erased from the Ponyville Historical archives and was called 'a myth' by the new generation, she remembered. Back then nopony could bring themselves to fight, and if it wasn't for Princess Celestia's last-minute intervention, Ponyville would've disappeared completely. Not even Mayor Claudia, her grandmother and the Mayor of the time could gather anypony to fight.

But her? She didn't just gather anypony.ready to battle. She easily created what you could call an army. Maybe it was just this generation, maybe it was just the fact that they got a warning, but she did it, and she wasn't going to let Ponyville burn down without a fight.

The enemies were already visible. Two huge machines - a dragon and a miner dog - accompanied by an army of other miner dogs. There was definitely nearly equal number of fighters on both sides, but those robots were ominous. In the end they could've decided on the result of the battle.

Both armies eyed each other. In the eyes of the ponies there was anger, fear and excitement. The eyes of the dogs remained expressionless - they either had no emotions or hid them perfectly.

The Mayor was looking at Rover - the depicted leader of Diamond Dogs. He was looking at her. Obviously they were both silently waiting for each other's decisions.

The music of ponies slowly faded and silence filled the air until one side finally got bored of waiting.

Rover barked an attacking command.

The Mayor instantly responded with a shout.

Both armies clashed.

Spike 2 slammed his claw on a gemstone, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean by 'either way we'd lose'? I have power! I could just burn their huge robots!"

Spike 1 laughed.

"You probably have no idea how to use the power other than just blowing fire. I already thought up of some ways in which it could be used. Besides, you think they'd just let you stand here and blow fire all around? You wouldn't even be able to dodge a simple attack! You'd probably run away the second it got too tough."

"Well, it'd be a better effort than running into battle hot-headed and just hoping that your little circus tricks would entertain them to death."

"If that huge diamond wall wasn't between us I'd punch you."

"Like a reckless hot-headed brute."

Silence fell again.
.
.
.
"Alright, I admit. I can be a little reckless sometimes. I suppose I could use being a bit more careful." said Spike 1.

"Well, I have to admit that although I'm careful I am sometimes cowardly. I definitely could use some more courage. That's why I took Heart's Flame in the first place."

Like a lightning bolt, realisation struck both of them at the same time.

"Wait a second... we're opposites! We're doing it wrong!" said Spike 2, getting up and walking up to the diamond wall with his chains rumbling on the ground.

"We're not supposed to argue! We're supposed to co-operate!" exclaimed Spike 1, putting his claw on the wall. The wall was... melting.

"If we worked together, we'd negate each other's weaknesses."

"My courage would overcome your cowardice."

"Exactly, and my carefulness would overshadow your recklessness."

Their claws were leaning closer and closer as the wall melted into thin air.

"Then you'd have my skill..."

"...and you'd have my power..."

"...but for that..."

"...we'd need to be one dragon."

The wall disappeared completely. Both Spikes touched each other's claws and immediately the room of the mind vanished into darkness, forever.

Spike awakened, startled. He suddenly felt full of energy, even more than he was before fighting the Diamond Dogs. Was I really in my mind? he thought, but then he looked around himself.

There were ponies everywhere. Broken bones, unconsciousness, blood loss... All of the doctors were running around the patients, trying to save them. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Zecora tending to a lime-coloured pegasus.

It's happening.

The next part must be told from the perspective of one of the doctors who just happened to look at Spike. He saw the dragon look around himself, and he was already on his way to take care of him when something happened, something that you wouldn't have noticed if you weren't looking directly at the dragon.

One second he's in his bed. Next, he disappeared. His blanket is in mid air. The doors slams open. Everypony else is startled, but only this doctor is truly amazed. This feat could only be compared to the flight speed of Rainbow Dash, but even then she might've been a tad slower. It was weird. He had no idea where Spike could have had such energy and ability in his little body. But then again, barely anypony knew anything about dragons.

She asked them if anypony wished to stay out of this. Nopony spoke up. They didn't even regret it. They gave it their all.

The dog army decreased to half its size but there was nearly no ponies. They were knocked out, beat up and in the hospital. As she thought, those robots were the greatest force in this battle.

The only ponies still on the battlefield were the Elements of Harmony and her. Twilight Sparkle and Rarity fired their magic at the enemies. Applejack bucked through the enemies. Pinkie Pie's rage caused by the hospitalisation of a lot of her friends also caused great damage to the army. Rainbow Dash flew around them and tossed Explosive Gems at them. Fluttershy didn't fight, but she had two manticores willing to battle for her kindness, and they also tore through the army. Even so, the robots were nearly undamaged.

The Mayor was behind them, directing what was left of the assault and allowing the hurt ponies to get to hospital. Still, the outcome of the battle was obvious. The only thing that could save them was a very powerful miracle.

One which was about to happen.

A loud shout of "OUTTA MY WAY!" sounded from the back of Ponyville. The fighting stopped. Everypony and everydog looked back. The voice sounded familiar to both armies...

Rainbow Dash flew up and looked in that direction. If she wasn't in the air her jaw would hit the ground.

"It's a running fireball!" she shouted, and everypony looked at her like she was crazy.

Then the running fireball ran past them, leaving a fiery trail.

"...Spike?" asked Rarity as it ran past her, but the fireball stayed silent until it ran up to the dragon robot.

"NO FORGIVENESS!" he shouted, jumping. Spike's body, covered in flames, tore right through the torso of the dragon machine and flew into the air before landing behind the army. Then he turned around and punched the air before him, a huge flame flying out of his fist and knocking back the army. He leapt back with his fire and landed between both armies.

"Try me, doggies." he said, grinning as he thought his plan through again. The flames around his body disappeared, leaving just a reddish glow on his purple scales and steam coming out from under them.

"I'm even faster now that I kicked into Second Gear. If you wanna beat up the rest of my friends, go past me."

9) Ridiculously Overpowered Dragon

"You... how are you alive?" barked Rover, staring at Spike angrily.

"I had a problem during our battle and I had no idea where this problem was from. My problem originated from me, and I fixed it."

"What the hell are you talking about!?"

"What I mean is, I made an agreement with myself. I probably would've died if I stayed unconscious and didn't eat anything but I kicked back into reality. Stronger than ever."

Rover grinned, "That's great. I feared that this fight may be too easy. Thanks for getting stronger. It'll be a lot more satisfying to defeat you now."

He flicked a switch. From the undamaged part of the dragon's torso popped out a lot of metal tubes. Then he used his paws to grab a joystick on the control panel and aimed all of the guns at Spike.

"You took care of the cannon but it's not the only weapon on this machine. I think that faster and smaller bullets will be more suitable to take you down."

Rover pressed a button on the top of the joystick. The machinegun barrels started blasting bullets at Spike. The dust around the dragon flew into the air, covering him.

"See? You cold knock away a cannonball but you can't take a shootout, can you?" asked Rover mockingly, continuing firing.

"Spike!" shouted everypony, but nopony dared come any closer in case they were caught in the crossfire.

After a minute, the machineguns started stopping one by one. Finally, the last one stopped, allowing the cloud of dust to drop.

Spike was there, leaning forward and not moving. His face was overshadowed.

Rover started laughing maniacally, "You foolish little dragon! You thought that you could even begin comparing yourself to THE Diamond Dogs? That fireball move was interesting but our machineguns finished you off, didn't they? I don't even know why I bothered wasting all of my ammunition on you."

"Oh. So that was all?" asked Spike in an unusually deep voice. He raised his arms and opened his claws. At least 5 magazines worth of bullets were in each of his claws, and he allowed them to drop to the ground.

"Really, I thought you had something else to entertain me. Though I doubt it would do you any good, seeing as your aiming is terrible." he said, pointing to the ground around him, riddled with bullet holes.

"How the- How do you still live?" asked Rover angrily.

"I told you I'm faster. This also accounts for my reflexes. Those bullets were actually kind of slow, do you have something faster?"

"You cocky little fool. I'll teach you!" shouted Rover, grabbing another joystick and firing the dragon's left claw at Spike, who effortlessly slapped it away, snapping a wooden joint inside the arm.

"Not very well built, is it? I thought those would be a little bit more sturdy. Well, what the hell did I expect from a bunch of lowly dogs." said Spike, leaping into the air above the robot dog.

"Spot!" shouted Rover. Spot nodded and sent out his robotic fist to slam Spike very high into the air.

"You must've underestimated us-" Rover begun to speak, but he was cut off by Spike, "THANKS A LOT DOGGIES! OH, HEY, RAINBOW DASH! YOU SHOULD TRY SPINNING WITH YOUR NEXT SONIC RAINBOOM!"

"What?" asked Rainbow Dash, looking up to see what Spike meant. Dude, it was spectacular.

Spike reached the point where the force of gravity slowed him down completely. Then he started descending back down towards the ground. However, instead of trying to slow himself down he leaned together aerodynamically, and started spinning.

A familiar cone of air appeared around him, similar to the one that appeared around Rainbow Dash when she was going for a Sonic Rainboom. His, however, was spinning around him as if he was drilling through the air.

"No way..." said Rainbow Dash.

Small flames started appearing on Spike's body, and then it happened. A huge, deafening explosion filled the sky with a ring of fire. A trail of flame followed Spike from the explosion point, right through the very middle of the robot dog and to the ground where a huge crater appeared.

Both halves of the dog robot fell over to the sides. Spike got up, not a bruise visible on his scales.

"Thanks for the idea Rainbow Dash. I called mine 'Sonic Flameboom'. Hope you're alright with it." he said, smiling.

Rainbow Dash had no words for it.

"Spot! Are you okay?" shouted Rover. Spot held up his paw in a 'thumbs up' manner.

"Spot, we found a worthy enemy. Use the gem!"

Spot reached under his collar and pulled out a small black jet. He threw it at... Rarity.

Dammit. thought Spike, leaping to catch the gemstone before it touched Rarity. As he made contact with it a large black explosion occured, knocking everybody except Spike back.

He looked at the ground. Something appeared there. It was a black mass without a shape.

"What the hell is this!?" he shouted at Rover, who grinned even wider.

"Your new enemy. You." he said.

The mass started rising, forming into a humanoid shape. As its features and details became more visible, Spike understood what it was. it was a dark version of him.

"Meet Shadow Spike. He doesn't talk much, but he's a great fighter. Trust me." said Rover, nodding at his army.

"We're leaving. We'd just be in the way."

"Hey, what the heck do you think you're doing!? Get back here!" shouted Spike, leaping into the air and aiming his fist at the retreating dogs. Something obscured his vision. The Shadow Spike followed him into the air and decided to punch Spike into the stomach, firing him at a nearby fountain.

"Somepony help him!" shouted Rarity, causing a few ponies to run at the descending Shadow Spike.

"Wait, no! Get away from him!" shouted Spike, but it was too late. Shadow Spike fired up black flames around his body and slammed into the ground, sending a fiery shockwave around him and knocking the ponies back.

Spike jumped out of the fountain and slammed onto the ground, causing a large ring of fire which created an arena of battle around him and Shadow Spike.

"He ain't just a copy of me... he's my shadow." he said, his body casting no shadow below him despite the sun being at it's highest point, "Possibly as strong and fast as me, so don't get involved. I have no idea how it happened, but I gotta get rid of him."

At the same time, both Spike and his Shadow blew fire at each other. The emerald and the black flames met in the center and exploded, but even though the flames disappeared a black blade popped out and cut Spike.

Twilight looked closely at the Shadow Spike - she read about something similar a long time ago. A black gemstone and a shadow warrior...

She focused deeply on her memories, remembering every book she ever read about black gemstones and shadow copies. She did this until she found the thing she needed to know.

"Soul Jets - a rare black gem found very deep inside the ground. If thrown at someone and makes contact with them, it'll form an exact copy of the creature it hit from its shadow and it'll possess all of the abilities that creature knew at the moment of contact. Additionally, the shadow also has a power to control the darkness that its made of, normally causing it to overpower its enemy. The only purpose of the shadow is to fight and defeat the original." she recited to herself, then she looked up at the battle, "This isn't good for Spike... this isn't good at all."

Spike was getting pretty badly beat up. He did become ridiculously overpowered lately but his copy seemed to match him, if not surpass him. Every attack they exchanged was equal in power but the Shadow always had some dark blade or spike additionally, hitting Spike as they fought.

Damn those Dogs... they'd be finished if they didn't run away. he thought as he changed his tactic. Instead of attacking Shadow, he covered himself in a fire armour, blocking Shadow's strong attacks. It was to let him think through what he could do.

"Spike! He's not just your shadow, he also controls his darkness. You can't beat him like this. Get out of here!" shouted Twilight. Spike stared at Shadow, the dragon of blank, emotionless face. She was right. He couldn't defeat him now. All he could do was to get even stronger. For that, he'd need the knowledge of generations of dragons and a lot more energy, and he knew just where to find these things.

Spike inhaled his armour back inside him. Still holding the fire inside his mouth, he jumped up, spun in a circle and breathed out the fire, fire-teleporting himself elsewhere. He knew that Ponyville was still in danger, but he couldn't help them just now. he just hoped they could hold their own against his Shadow for the duration of his leave.

10) The Sacred Archive

It was a rather peaceful day in Canterlot. Oblivious to the events in Ponyville, the inhabitants of this beautiful town led their lives in their usually normal pace. 'Normal' ponies lived theirs simply, working hard and spending time with their families. The 'upper-class' ponies had a bit more sophisticated lifestyle, which made them popular and gave them some more possibilities in life, but it also restrained them from enjoying it like the normal, lower-class ponies.

Then there were the princesses. Being the royal family, they had both the upper class status and the freedom in behaviour of lower classes. This moment pretty much summed it up - Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were playing Twister. It wasn't easy, since they managed to get themselves locked - Princess Luna's back was bent backwards in an arch while Princess Celestia's bent forward to fit under Luna. And now it was Celestia's turn.

The sun goddess reached for the spinner with her magic, but as she levitated it and spun it, one of the windows in the throne room opened, allowing the cold wind to enter the room. Shocked by the sudden cold, Luna lost her balanced and fell, crushing her sister.

"Sorry sister, that cold air startled me." said Luna, jumping off of Celestia, but the sun princess didn't move a muscle. That window opened only her student's letter was reaching Canterlot, but Twilight just sent her a letter a few days ago about Spike's new courage. Celestia asked Twilight to reply if something new popped up, so this letter she awaited with more curiosity than usual.

"Luna, would you like to see Twilight's letter? It's going to arrive any second, and may contain something about Spike's condition. You could surely use some of this information in writing your book about dragons." said Celestia, getting up and rolling up the playing field with her magic.

"I would very much like to take this opportunity Celly." said Luna, just as the glimmering cloud of dust entered through the window, sparkling with the green sparks of Spike's fire. Celestia quickly registered something about the cloud - it was larger than any of Twilight's normal parchments, and although it could've been just an illusion, the sparks seemed to shine brighter then ever.

As per usual, the cloud flew up before Celestia before spinning into itself and popping out the object that was sent. And this package was like no other - it was the sender himself.

"Spike?!" exclaimed both Princesses, shocked by the sudden appearance of the dragon. Disregarding their surprise, Spike quickly registered where he was and ran to the large door of the throne room.

"I need to open the seal and look into The Sacred Archive." he said in his unusually deep voice and swung the door open just as a royal guard pushed them open from his side. Their connected forces caused the doors to nearly smash into pieces, but the guard paid little attention to the dragon, "Princesses, our patrols have reported a large fire ring near Ponyville. We... felt that you may require this information."

Before any of the princesses could speak, Spike cleared his throat, "That was my Sonic Flameboom, if the ring you've seen was emerald green. Now move, I need to go somewhere with the princesses." he said. The guard look down at Spike, then sent a quizzical look at Celestia, who nodded. The guard stepped aside, allowing Spike to leave, then saluted as the princesses passed him.

"Spike, what is going on?" asked princess Celestia, but Spike shook his claw, "Not now. You told me of a Sacred Archive left behind by Dragons many generations ago. I need to open it, and I know only both of you can open the corridor into it. Where is it?" he asked.

Princess Celestia stomped her front hoof down, stopping and causing Luna to bump into her, "Spike, I'm not taking another step forward until you explain to us what in my mother's name is going on!" she shouted. Her shout was even louder than Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice, but Celestia didn't even go that loud. Spike stopped and turned around to look at Celestia.

"Fine, I'll tell you along the way. Now move, quickly. We're wasting time."

Twilight Sparkle's Siege Chronicle

Day 1

After Spike's disappearance, the Shadow is standing still outside of Ponyville. We dare not to disturb it. He didn't do anything, nor does he do anything now. He's just standing there as if waiting for Spike's return. If this is indeed the case, then the research about the Soul Jets may be true - he won't do anything unless ordered by his masters or his original returns to battle with him.

"So you're saying that we were oblivious to earthquakes under Ponyville, some mining dogs attacking Ponyville with robots, you eating Heart's Flame, you fighting the dogs, you being affected by a Soul Jet and finally losing to your own shadow?" asked Princess Celestia as she, her sister and Spike were standing before a large door with two small holes on each side.

"Yeah, pretty much. I know you'll probably want to help them, but it's my Shadow, so I must take care of it. Send your troops there or whatever, but I must destroy my own Shadow. For that, I'll need to learn more about my own power. I know how to open The Sacred Archive. I just wish you'd stay here in case I unleashed something awful." he said.

Celestia looked at Luna, who nodded, "Celly, I think we need to give him that chance. Who knows, maybe he'd learn something which revolutionises our modern lifestyle. But we probably should send some guards there as well."

"Very well." said Celestia. She and Luna moved towards the holes and inserted their horns into them. The horns started glowing and the door opened, allowing old air to escape from behind it. "You have 10 days Spike. After that, we'll return to let you out. I'll keep watch at night, Luna will wait during the day, in case you need to leave earilier."

"Should be enough." said Spike. The princesses moved back while Spike walked up to the magnificent dark door that was behind the white and gold one. In the middle of the door was a large silver plate. Around the door were holed. This was the Entrance to The Sacred Archive of Dragons. A large blood-red painting of the mouth of a dragon decorated the silver plate.

"Stand back." he said as he put his right paw on the plate. The red dragon mouth suddenly popped out of the plate and seemed to 'eat' Spike's arm, but suddenly an emerald flame appeared inside the dragon's mouth. Spike moved his claw back as the dragon bit down on the fire and swallowed it, then retracted back into the plate. For few seconds, nothing happened, but then the holes spat out fire, one by one, until it reached a full circle. Then the door slid apart slightly, making just enough room for Spike to enter, "I'll be back soon." he said, stepping through the door. Then it shut together, the flames went out and everything was silent again.

11) Revelations

Twilight Sparkle's Siege Chronicle

Day 2

Today a squad of the Royal Guard has come to join us. Turns out Spike informed the Princesses about what happened and they sent help. Shining Armor came here as well and he tried to convince me to leave for Canterlot to be safe. It took more than an hour to explain to him that I wish to stay here because this is where my friends are I will not leave. Finally I reminded him that I'm an adult and despite my respect for him, I make my own decisions and if that's the only reason he came here he should just go right back to Cadence. He wasn't the happiest but he finally understood and didn't bother me about it anymore.

Anyway, the guard set up a quick training place to help our able fighters in battle. Unfortunately... not many ponies are 'able fighters', so I heard that reinforcements will be coming soon. Meanwhile, we are building up trenches and walls to defend in case of another attack. Meanwhile, the shadow is still doing nothing.

Day 3

Reinforcements have, indeed, arrived. To be honest, through my entire life in Canterlot, I've never seen so much guards in one place (really, even during the wedding the army was spread out across the entire Canterlot.) We barely have enough space for them to make a camp (I'll not even mention any accommodation from our side, the houses are full of hurt ponies.) With a larger army, the construction of the trenches has speeded up significantly.

Seems like some of the army didn't want to wait to be attacked and advanced at the 'vulnerable' shadow. Well, he was waiting for Spike and didn't really enjoy being attacked. 8 broken limbs and 37 heavy wounds is the total damage count for those fools. They had a lot of luck. The shadow seem to doesn't wish to waste its full power on them.

Day 7

Major update. After 4 days of training and constant battle drills, finally something started happening. The shadow began to walk about, looking at the ground. I fear that he may try to do something. Perhaps he is looking for a way to return to his masters.

Meanwhile, the army has sent out spies to patrol the areas near the Diamond Dog caves. We'll know if they're coming.

Day 8

The shadow has punched the ground just outside of Ponyville. It created a huge crater in which he disappeared. Now that he's active, none of us wish to even approach the tunnel that he's digging. He does indeed seem to be looking for the fastest way to reach his masters.

Day 10

It's been very quiet. The spies have brought a terrifying report. It seems that the Diamond Dogs have started leaving the tunnels and slowly advancing towards Ponyville but they... came back to the caves. Shining Armour is willing to put his bits on the fact that they'll probably use that tunnel to attack Ponyville. We've laid out magical traps near the entrance to weaken, and perhaps intimidate their army. The day of confrontation seems to be just around the corner.

Celestia walked up to Luna, "Anything new happened during the night sister?"

The moon princess shook her head, "Not a change Celly. As quiet as ever."

Celestia shook her head, "Well, he's had his time. Now we must open up the archive and let him out."

Both sisters slid their horns into the holes of the door and opened it using their magic. As the door slowly started to swing open, simultaneously, the inner doors to the archive slid apart completely, almost shaking the very foundations of the castle with their force. Startled, both sisters deactivated their magic link and the doors swung inwards to slam shut.

Before they did, however, Spike's purple claw appeared between both doors, stopping them from closing completely. Then his second claw appeared above the first one, and with a flick of his wrists, both of the doors swung open.

Raw power surpassing magical barriers?! thought Celestia to herself, more excited than surprised or scared. Rarely has she seen somepony who could surpass her barriers, even though they were pretty weak (for her). Twilight could probably do it with her magic, but for raw power to be able to accomplish such a feat was just... improbable.

Such amazing strength... what did he find back there?! thought Luna, more interested than intimidated. She has indeed hear rumours of dragons being extremely powerful, but to think that a baby could gain so much strength that he could surpass Celestia's spell just from entering an ancient dragon archive... well, actually, with deeper thought, it was obvious - whatever he found there changed him.

"I need a carriage, two of the fastest pegasi you can find and something very precious or rare." he said. He didn't direct the sentence at anypony, but it was obviously meant to be heard by the princesses. Now his voice didn't just brim with confidence... it brimmed with authority. And what he said sounded extremely insulting, like an order to the princesses.

"Watch your tone, little Spike." said Celestia through her teeth, sounding obviously angry.

"Deepest apologies, Princess. What I meant of course is that I am begging you for a carriage, two of the fastest pegasi you can locate and something of great value so that I can help to save your precious student, the Elements of Harmony and all of my Ponyville friends. And as well as that, your army which will most likely be completely wiped out by my shadow. So please, may I?" he retaliated instantly, managing to sound more apologetic than insulting. It wasn't an easy feat as Celestia well knew, having participated in quite a few ancient negotiations and meetings. Now she was even more impressed.

"Heh... very well Spike. You may have my royal carriage and two of the Wonderbolts of your choice. You can also take Prince Blueblood's old golden jeweled mane comb which he does not intend to use anymore." said Celestia, smiling slightly. This dragon was sure to have an interesting future.

Spike bowed, "Thank you Princess. I really need it."

As he started to walk away, Princess Luna put her hoof on his shoulder, "Wait a moment young dragon. What do you intend to do?"

He looked back and stared her into the space-deep eyes, a shine of genius appearing in his own iris, "Make some friends, Princess. Make some friends."

Princess Celestia watched as her carriage took off with a dual trail of thunder behind it. As she did, her younger sister walked up to her, "He's gotten stronger. I felt it, and I'm sure you have felt it too, sister."

"Yes..." sighed the goddess of the sun, to which Luna tilted her head in confusion.

"What is the matter Celly? Surely if he's strong he'll be able to save the Elements and bring peace to our land until another evil arises? Why do you sound so sad?"

Princess Celestia looked at her sister, "Of all the ponies, you should know best, sister, how giving into your emotions can affect your use of power. Your envy led to the creation of Nightmare Moon, and he's a lovestruck dragon. I fear any damage brought upon Rarity Belle would envoke rage into him... and this may just be then next, this time unquenchable evil that appears..."