Chapter Two

A Somber Farewell

It was early morning, and all the ponies of Ponyville were still soundly asleep in their beds. The stars were still twinkling slightly in the far western sky, though they would soon disappear as the sun rose higher over the horizon. Well everypony was asleep, save for one pony in particular, and the dragon with whom she had spoken the night before.

“I’m... what?” Spike had asked, utter disbelief filling his voice. He had never left Twilight’s side for many years: he was even nicknamed “The Librarian’s Shadow” by some of the younger ponies in the town. A slightly cruel moniker, to be sure, but Spike had never said he was offended by it. If he left, who would be there to help her? Who would be there if any of her friends needed help?

“You are leaving us, Spike: you have to go assist the princess with a mission of the utmost importance,” Twilight remembered saying. “You... you might not come back, or ever see us again, if you don’t accomplish it.” Her throat was still sore from all the crying she had endured after Spike had left the room in a dazed stupor. He... he hadn’t said a single thing after that: not even to the others. Of course, what could he have even said? He was being told that he had to leave, to help the princess with a mission where the fate of the entire world rested on his head. If he failed, his friends would die, and there was a possibility that he might die as well. She hadn’t wanted to go into the specifics, as truthfully... she didn’t know what would happen to him.

“Better go tell the others,” Twilight said, getting dressed and walking down the stairs. Strange, they felt so much longer, as if she were walking to her own death. Well, she would die, if Spike did not accomplish this mission, but she steeled her nerves: she had realized her earlier assessment of him was wrong. Spike had been there for them, for all of them, through the thickest of thick and the thinnest of thin. He was everything they could ask for in a friend, and she would wish him the best of luck, no matter what challenges lay before him. He would be with Celestia, for crying out loud! Surely she, of all ponies, would be able to keep him safe.

Opening the door, the purple mare was not looking out like anypony else would upon exiting a building. As such, after only a few short steps, did she almost bump into a cluster of ponies gathered outside. Five other, very familiar ponies...

Off in the other room, Spike was sitting up in bed, his legs slung over so that his feet were dangling merely inches above the floor. His head, held in his hands, was staring out at the morning sun, the rays starting to shine through the window. Off in the distance, a grey pegasus mare flew clumsily around, delivering early morning mail before any other pony mailmare would in the entire country. His mind was a flurry of thoughts, yet strangely, they were not jumbled together, unlike the stacks of mail said grey mare had to sort through with adorably chameleon-like eyes. The thoughts of the dragon were neat, orderly, separated into little piles like Twilight’s color-coded sticky notes: he was not panicking, but instead, was filled with a strange sense of... resignation. He had just been given an assignment, a mission, if you will, to go with Celestia and do... something, to save the entire planet. No pressure or anything, but for some reason, he felt this was not the whole story.

Why did he think this? He had learned to be inquisitive: it came with the job of helping the Elements of Harmony solve all sorts of problems, whether they were minor or major. He knew there was more to this disaster than Twilight, and through her Celestia, was letting on, but what was he going to do about it? March right up to the princess and demand a full explanation as to the severity of the situation? Threaten her if she doesn’t comply?

“Yeah, because that plan would work out so well,” he muttered, his sarcasm dripping in every word. “Might as well try and seduce her, since that would probably end in the same way.” He shook his head, frustration and a small but growing sense of impending doom filling his body and mind. If he failed, if he was unable to complete this task, his friends would die: Twilight had told him that much through her tears. She hadn’t said anything about him, but he had a feeling that if they didn’t survive upon his failure, then he wouldn’t either. Their friends had either remained silent or cried the entire time, especially Fluttershy: she was perhaps the most scared of all of them. Of dying, that is.

“Well, I gotta get ready,” Spike muttered to himself, plating his feet firmly on the floor. Standing up, he felt his vertebrae click back into place, an occurrence that was happening more and more every time he woke up. He had no idea why this was: Twilight had told him his body might just be getting ready for another growth spurt, but he wasn’t completely sure: perhaps his wings were finally about to come in? He was taller than before: much taller, so Twilight had finally said no more basket and had given him a bed of his own, in a room of his own. Stretching his arms up over his head, the dragon took a step forward as he leaned to one side, and then another, his end of his tail falling to the floor with a loud thwap before it balanced itself out behind him.

He looked at the small bag he had grabbed: indeed, he would not be able to pack very much, even though he could carry more than an average pony. His height and, most likely, his heritage, were responsible for that. When Celestia had greeted him at the door, he had looked into her eyes, which were level with his own. His spines, forming a pseudo-crest on his head, were just half an inch shorter than her slightly longer horn.

Picking up the empty bag, he decided to grab the most obvious things he’d need: some clothes, as he doubted the princess would want him to walk around in his hatching suit. Packing quite a few shirts, some different pairs of pants and the most important item, some underwear, Spike looked at his hat collection. Of all the things he had decided to hoard as a dragon, he had chosen hats. Why, he would never know: he couldn’t get sunburned or suffer windburn or any of those kinds of burns, but he collected them anyway, if only to look cool.

“Won’t need any of those,” he said, sadly zipping shut his clothes bag. Hoisting it over his shoulder, he walked away, pausing at the frame of his bedroom to look at it once last time. With sigh and the complete realization he might never see it again, he left, the tip of his tail curling around the doorknob and pulling it shut. He didn’t bother to lock it: he had nothing worth stealing, really, and what idiot would try to rob one of the Elements of Harmony?

Walking down the stairs, he looked down at his feet, wondering why each step seemed to be less promising than the last. How was he supposed to do this: help save the world and all that? Spike knew he wasn’t particularly brave: he could be, here and there, but if a threatening situation presented itself, his first instinct was to run and hide. Perhaps that was why he had never gotten hurt really hurt in all those dangerous shenanigans he had participated in when he was younger.

But there was something about this... task that he felt he could not back down from. It was not like eating an adult dragon’s gems, or going to find others of his kind, or even encountering an Ursa Minor. No, this was not so much a direct threat to himself, but a threat to all of Equestria, and the world. It was direct threat to the ones he cared for, the friends he had made his entire life.

He heard a soft cough and looked up from his thoughts, coming to the realization he had stopped walking down the stairs, with only three more steps to go. He was rather surprised to see Twilight standing there, and alongside her, five other very familiar ponies. Shouldn't they have still been asleep or something? None of them, especially Rarity, liked to get up this early in the morning.

“You guys, what are you doing here?” he asked, very surprised to see the Elements of Harmony standing before him. What was with the cloaks they were wearing? Had they not wanted any early-bird ponies to possibly recognize them on their way here? “I honestly didn’t think I’d be leaving this early: is Celestia outside or something?” It’d show poor tact on the princess’s part to show and just whisk him away without a chance to... say goodbye.

“No, no Spike: Celestia ain’t outside,” Applejack said softly as the dragon stepped off the last step. “She did tell us she’d be ‘round these parts in the mornin’, but she didn’t specify just how early she’d be arrivin’. So, we thought we’d all come to say goodbye now, so we wouldn’t miss yer... leavin’.”

At that, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie both broke down into sobs and rushed the dragon, enveloping him in a great hug that threatened to squeeze the air out of his lungs. Spike, unsure of what to do, tentatively hugged them back. He would not cry, he would not cry, he would not break down...

“Aw, to Tartarus with that,” he thought, hugging the two sobbing mare back with equal might. In his closed eyes, small droplets formed, rolling down his cheeks as, suddenly, more bodies pressed into his own. Spike opened his eyes to see the other four mares pressed against him, all of their arms encircling him. It was a group hug the likes of which he had never experienced: he could feel the love, the grief, the regret and the hope oozing out of them. It seemed to hang in the air as the six mares, and one drake, cried, for they knew what lay before them. Only good friends, and very good friends at that, could exude such deep, powerful feelings for somepony, or in this case, somedragon.

After minutes, or maybe an hour, as it was hard to tell in his current state, Spike felt the six mares draw away from him. He dropped his arms to his sides after wiping a tear from the end of his nose, his eyes feeling a bit puffier than usual. He didn’t want to say goodbye: he wanted to tell them he would stay with them until the very end, that he’d defy even the princess to spend the last remaining weeks of life with his friends. But he couldn’t: he was scared and unsure and positively overwhelmed, but true to his word and code of honor, he would do this. He was very, very tempted to run, but he would not: he could not. They were counting on him, and the last thing he’d do was betray their trust and faith in him.

“Spike, we didn’t think there’d be much to send with you, as Celestia would likely take care of both of your needs,” Twilight said softly. “However, there one thing, one very special thing, we’d like to send with you, just so you don’t lose sight of your goal.”

“Yes?” Spike asked, not sure where this was going. They were giving him a present, now?

With a small burst of magic, six little colored pieces of... something rose out of each of the mare’s pocket and coalesced together. Then, from behind Spike, a box sprang forth from a dusty shelf and opened. A large, very brilliant wristband shot out and collided with the six colored pieces, and in a flash, it was joined together as one single item.

“Each of us thought you’d like a little something to remember us by, but too many gifts increased the chance you’d lose one. So, we thought we would simply combine them into one big gift,” Rarity said as Twilight’s magic brought the quite manly-looking wristband closer to Spike, who took in without a word. He looked upon it in awe, for he had seen nothing like it before. “We had been planning on giving this to you on one of your birthdays some time down the road, but today seemed like a more... appropriate time.”

Each inlaid precious stone was the color of the one who had brought it for the whole set. Fluttershy’s, a brilliant yellow beryl: Applejack’s, a gleaming orange clinohumite stone. Pinkie Pie’s was a shiny pink alexandrite stone, and Twilight’s was a deep purplish amethyst. Rainbow Dash had selected a fine blue spinel stone, and Rarity’s was a very, very white moonstone. They glittered in the light, and when Spike speechlessly slid the piece of art onto his wrist, they reflected their light off of his shiny scales beneath, appearing to shine like they were emitting the rays of sun that passed through the windows.

“...wow,” was all Spike could say as he looked over the amazing gift. “Wow: thank you. Thank you all so much. This... this is beautiful.” Oh no, he felt like crying again. This time, however, he managed to suppress it, lest they all burst into tears once more as well.

“Just... come back to us, all right, Spike?” Rarity said softly, each of them holding one another’s hands for support like one great big friendship circle. “We’ll all be waiting for you: just... do come back in one piece, okay?”

Spike opened his mouth to say he would, that he would succeed and come back to them in one piece, but suddenly a knock on the door interrupted what he was going to say. Looking each of his friends deeply in their eyes, as if trying to memorize their faces for good, he walked past them and stood before the oaken door. With a sigh, he turned the knob and opened it. There stood Celestia, looking unusually groggy that fine morning. Her hair was slightly unkempt, as if she had not had the time to magically comb it on her way over, and her dress, while still rather stunning, seemed a bit... ruffled. Maybe she had slept in it the night before and not bothered to change?

“Princess? Are you all right?” Spike asked, hoisting his bag further onto his shoulder. He was glad he had not packed more: three weeks of clothes was enough weight for him to carry without bringing everything else he could carry.

“Oh, I’m just... a bit tired, is all,” the princess said, waving away Spike’s question as if it were tangible. “I spent much of the night telling my sister Luna of... what I have to do. What we have to do: sorry,” she added. She must have been really frazzled, as she was normally so serene and calm, even when telling bad news. Only rarely did she ever seem to “lose her cool” when she had horribly bad news: then again, the death of the Earth was an altogether different category of “bad news”.

“Did she take it well?” the dragon asked. Luna’s temper took a lot to unleash, but when it did happen, ponies everywhere knew to head for the hills. She as still younger than her sister by who knew how many centuries or millennia, and unlike Celestia, she had yet to master the majority of her emotions, lest they take control of her power once more. She was doing better, but she still needed a lot of practice.

“As well as could be expected: her Royal Canterlot Shout broke a few windows, but other than that, she accepted things as they are going to be,” Celestia said. That much was true: the Royal Canterlot Shout was many, many levels above the Royal Canterlot Voice in terms of volume. “Have... have you said goodbye to your friends?” There was a strange tone in her voice: an unbearable finality mixed with a bizarre sprinkling of hope, as if she was wishing that no matter what happened, Spike would never forget his friends.

“I...” Spike began, looking back into the room. The six mares, more tears forming in their eyes, waved him goodbye for what felt like what would be the last time. “Yes,” he said, giving them all a small wave before closing the door behind him, cutting them off from his line of sight. “Yes, we have said our... goodbyes.” Wow, he never thought saying that last word would be so difficult: he had nearly choked on it.

“Spike, if you’ll follow me, I will take you to our destination,” Celestia said, slowly climbing into her chariot. And yet, it was not her same chariot: her chariot did not have great golden wings that were articulated and moving, or a massive sun emblem on the back, or a total absence to royal pegasi guards to pull it. It also was not enclosed like a carriage, and the rims most certainly did not spin. Also, the carriage portion itself was a bright blue, thus completing the overall bizarre appearance.

“Where did you get this from?” Spike asked, slowly climbing into the enclosed vehicle. The door shut and locked magically behind him, and in an instant he felt they were airborne. They were moving fast, all right: the steady pumping of the golden wings outside were like those of some great golden eagle carrying them off to some mountain fortress or something. Plus, they might have been moving faster, for all he knew: the only occupants were Celestia and himself. Curiously, she had a very small suitcase, easily the size of a large purse. How did she fit all of her clothes in there? Maybe she had placed a space-distortion spell on the inside, to fit her necessary outfits?

“It is a relic, I suppose: from the days before the time of Ponyville and indeed, many of the towns and cities in Equestria,” Celestia said, looking out the window in a sad sort of way. Ah, the memories of the years gone by: she could recall every one with a clarity many ponies would find envious. “It was originally used for escorting foreign diplomats from the Canterlot palace back to their homes, as more often than not, their country was not the safest to travel through. Ours was, by the way, even after I had the castle relocated to the now-capital of Canterlot. Many a diplomat would have been slain by arrow-fire in their native lands had it not been for these incredibly resilient, and might I add magically strengthened, carriage walls.”

“Just how fast can this thing go?” Spike asked, noticing how the inside of the pseudo-carriage, despite the fierce beating of large golden wings, was barely moving at all. It was considerably less bumpy than a normal carriage ride, to be sure, and every beat of the wings sent a rather relaxing feeling through his body. It was the same feeling one had when they spent time in a boat: the gentle rocking of the waves could be felt long after they were back on land. To Spike, who had never been on a large ship, it was almost like he were in a cradle, being gently rocked by a motherly figure.

He had never known his mother, or his father: in fact, he knew of no blood relatives.

“Far faster than an average pegasus in a perfectly horizontal flight,” Celestia said, looking back to Spike as her words snapped him out of his thoughts. That was fast, as a pegasus performing at top speed was faster than one might think. “It will bring us to our destination within thirteen hours, so I suggest you get some rest. We will have plenty of work to do when we get there.” As if to emphasize her point, she yawned in a none-too-ladylike manner: she was really, really tired.

“But... where is our destination?” Spike asked, curious as to why the princess needed such a fast vehicle to reach their destination. Could the place they were going to be some ancient kind of planetary defense mechanism that needed an alicorn’s magic and a dragon’s... whatever he had, to activate it?

“On an island, far off the coast of any country on the continent,” Celestia said softly, her eyes beginning to droop shut. “It has no name, and has long been forgotten by the cartographers of the world: a barren, secluded place, if you will. It is uninhabited, save for some bugs and other invertebrates: the island itself is very... chronologically... young.” Then, when her eyes completely closed, she fell completely and utterly asleep, her soft snores filling the otherwise silent flying carriage.

Spike watched as she leaned over and lay her head down on a pillow, her actions suddenly making him rather tired as well. “Might as well do as she suggests: I barely got any sleep over all this... news,” he thought, laying his head down on his clothes bag, as the pillow he had didn’t really support him. It wasn’t terribly comfortable, to be sure, as he had to tuck his tail up by him lest he let it lay across the princess. She likely wouldn’t react very well to that, but otherwise, he had a feeling she had chosen him for a very special reason. Within a few minutes, and after he had softly drawn the curtains to block out the sunlight, he too fell asleep.

Inside Celestia’s mind, she was thinking: yes, thinking. Not dreaming, not hallucinating: thinking. Alicorns could do that, and it had helped her rule so good for so long, or at least, up until this disastrous slip-up. That was perhaps the first mistake she had made in a very, very long time, but it was likely going to be a much, much more deadly one, should it not be resolved. Her thoughts, however, were not on what she was going to do about the upcoming disaster: they were instead focused on Spike, and more frustratingly, herself.

What exactly was she going to do with him? She could remember her first failure of a heat. She had gotten so damned horny, so insatiably frustrated, that she had nearly gone mad. To have a gaping void where there should have been fullness had literally made burn with the fire of a sun’s exterior. Her mind had been under such stress that for a while, she had truly feared she had gone insane. After all, how could an insane alicorn be able to know they were not insane? Her body had descended into a cascade of fire that would have destroyed anypony else who was not an alicorn, had somepony from the time of her... time, volunteered to assist her.

But now, things were different: she hopefully would have a partner in this young dragon, but something about him gave her pause. It wasn’t his ancestry, it wasn’t the fact that he looked so different and yet so similar to a normal stallion: it was something a bit more personal. She was inexperienced in the ways of sex: she had never had a lover before, as she was far too intimidating a prospect for even the raunchiest and bravest of creatures on the planet. Not even Discord, in all his power, wanted to try and “take a whack at her”, since he was an Earth God of Chaos and she was on an entirely different level than he.

A virgin princess such as herself knew of the concept and actualities of sex: she had read the books, listened to her parents about it (by the High Alicorn Council, that had been embarrassing) and had occasionally spied on others, whether on purpose or accidental. Some of those others being her niece Cadence and Twilight Sparkle’s brother Shining Armor, both of whom still had no idea she had witnessed their “all-night romp” in the honeymoon suite after the wedding. She had had no idea her niece could bend that way, or that Twilight’s brother had such... endurance.

Would Spike even like her in that way? As in, would he even be physically attracted to her, or would this all be a futile waste of time? She knew dragons carried less of the attributes of ponies, including alicorns. Would he be attracted to her large perky breasts, ones that she knew were the countless wet dreams of countless stallions across the globe? Luna had told her as much, laughing every time she did: it was embarrassing, to say the least. The fact that her nipples were definitely twice the size of a normal mare’s, and the areola around the nipple triple the normal size did nothing to assuage her troubled mind. Dragons did not have such large mammaries: they had none, in fact, and the attraction, as far as she knew, was more towards the shininess of one’s chest scales. Underneath her breasts were abdominal muscles that were defined enough to be seen, but not so much that it looked like she constantly worked out. Her stomach, otherwise flat, led down to a very slender waistline, which she was glad it remained so: she did eat a lot of cake, after all. Dragonesses had similar body features for those areas, so that might work in her favor.

But enough of those features: what of her less eye-catching ones, like her hands, or her mouth, or her muzzle? She knew they were delicate and fragile-looking, but ponies with whom she had shaken hands had told her that her fingers were softer than satin. Those, in addition to her less obvious features, were considered attractive for the pony species, but... what if he wished she had claws like a dragoness? What if her large, soft wings, ideal for many forms of foreplay (or so she had heard), were not considered good enough for him? He would hopefully (should he not kill himself over the grief of losing his friends should this plan fail) get his own set of wings. That rather dreadful thought aside, what if he only thought scaly bat-like wings were up to his standards?

What of her rump? She remembered overhearing a dragon ambassador several hundred years ago talking about his mate waiting for him back in the land of the dragons. He had said she had the most splendid set of hindquarters within a hundred leagues, and Celestia had always wondered if that was one of the more “attractive” features of a dragoness. Celestia prided herself on her derriere, one of the few things about her body she was proud to call “fit”. Even though she did not exercise like normal ponies, she did not have some large, flabby bag of fat for a backside. No, her rump was toned, though it was a little bigger than a normal mare’s. Trailing down form that, her thighs were surprisingly muscular, considering she usually sat on her throne all day or rarely walked when she had to. Maybe it was an inherited trait from her species? She knew zebras had very muscular legs, so maybe alicorns, in the distant past, had run from danger far more than they flew. But then why did she have such large wings? She’d have to ask her parents about that: in their eyes, she was little more than a newly-christened adult alicorn, and she was still uneducated in many of the ways of her kind.

Her calves were plenty slender, and though she hated to admit it, they trailed down to meet rather ticklish hooves. Her pelt, the blazing white that all of Equestria knew by heart, was kept impeccably clean and had not a single blemish upon it. Her horn, standing to proud, regal and tall, was highly sensitive: she had made the mistake of rubbing it once when she felt a fly land on it, and had nearly sent a table through a wall from the resulting burst of uncontrolled magic. If and when Spike decided to go “all the way”, as she had heard several castle servants say, she’d have to remind him to not touch it, or else he might get blown right off the island.

The last two things were perhaps the greatest difference between a pony, or alicorn, in her case, and a dragon. Few if any dragons actually had hair of some kind, and their tail was like that of a lizard or crocodile: scales encasing a mass of muscle and bone. Celestia’s mane, the envy of countless mares due to its splendorous beauty, was always moving and always filled with vibrant yet gentle colors. Would he be attracted to it, or find it... icky? Wow, she was thinking like a little filly who was just beginning to like colts. And of her tail: she knew he wouldn’t be as attracted to it as he would a dragoness. Sure, it was just like her mane, though a bit shorter and less frilly. Would he gaze upon its colors in wonder, or repulsion? Would he find the fact that she did not have a muscular tail be a turn-off that she could not hope to make up for?

Oh, her mind was such a wondrous and terrible place to be: all the good memories, and yet all the doubts that constantly plagued her throughout her incredibly long life. She knew, absolutely knew, that she had to do this, and yet the naive virgin side of her princess mind told her that perhaps it would not be so bad. Of course, every mare she had ever overheard said the first time was rather painful at first, and if it was the stallion’s first time, then it was usually short and rather unsatisfying. All those overheard conversations plagued her mind like a curse: what if he couldn’t match what her stamina would become? What if he couldn’t please her, and through that, be unable to sate her boundless heat? Would the world still die, or would there be a reprieve for the planet once more, or at least, until her next heat cycle? If that did come to pass, what would be done if she forgot about that one as well?

Assuming everypony survived this one, what if she made the same mistake again?

Author's Notes:

Well, there you go: another chapter for you all to eagerly devour. Wrote it with my dog laying on my feet and a bowl of fresh popcorn at my side during a rainstorm. Took a day or so to write and another day for me to proofread.

Also, this is a casting call to ALL PROOFREADERS OUT THERE who would like to help with the story. If you are FAST, if you are GOOD, if you are willing to put up with REASONABLE DEMANDS, if you are willing to NOT SPILL THE BEANS TO EVERYONE ON THE STORY, then PM me ASAP. I will send you all a chapter after I have written and proof-read it myself.

I will take all applications with a pinch of salt and will combine many ideas on improvements into the final draft before I publish it. Only know this: I have the final say in how the story will be, so unintelligible, grovelling, grammatically defunct naysayers need not apply!