High Moon Ch. 38:

Content

A lush green forest, full of vibrant life, home to many animals to live and grow. Bright blue skies for birds to soar high through without any fears. Clear, calm streams for fish to swim through and mind their own business. A huge golden sun hanging in the sky, lighting the day before the eventual nightfall. Grass so soft one could lay on it forever without a single worry. Clouds so big that none would mind wasting a day counting every single one, trying to point out every shape their eyes could make of them.

To the north, there were wide empty grass fields that any could lose themselves playing in. To the east, the bright golden sun for those to bathe in its sublime light. To the west, flowing streams cut through the ground, and led straight to the great oceans. And to the south, tall trees reigned over the ground, and marked their territory of the forest.

That’s all Cyclone could see, that’s all she had seen for hours, and it was peace. Nothing, no one to mess with her, to force her to do something she didn’t want to. All she had to worry about was what next to do with her own life; she was free.

Free from anything that would do her harm, free from any responsibilities, free to live her life the way she wanted to. Here, in this forested utopia, Cyclone had something that all dreamed about. Entire generations had been spent looking for what she had now. Minds, bodies, and lives were torn apart looking this golden land of Eden.

Anyone would lose every care in the world just gazing out to the empty fields, which only held hills and other streams within the green plane. No matter where one looked there was something else that reinforced the sense of pure harmony with Mother Nature.

This was paradise. This was the pure embodiment of peace.

This was Cyclone’s worst nightmare.

For uncounted hours, Cyclone ran through the calming realm looking for some kind of way to get out. At first, she enjoyed the small paradise, but she could feel a deep hollow feeling growing in her chest; it scared her. It felt like some creature, of a savage nature, was ripping through the space where her heart rhythmically beat. That feeling continued to grow, deepen, and spread throughout her whole body.

From her core outwards, everything felt like it was being ripped apart, and replaced with something less than herself. She hadn’t thought about it too long before Cyclone began to place all blame on the world around her. However, unable to fight, she did the only thing that had kept her alive to this day.

She ran.

Cyclone ran, and ran, and ran, even after her legs started to burn from overuse, and her breathing became ragged. She wanted to keep running until she found her way out of this tranquil nightmare. She only ended up wasting hours as she continued to run in a straight line, and only seeing grassy green hills.

Tears streamed faster down her face than the streams that she ran through. Air passed through her lungs like a raging storm fueled by the soft breeze of the meadows. As she ran, she tripped several times on roots sticking out from the ground, swearing that the trees were trying to convince her to stay there. The trees held strong as she finally fell to her knees in defeat and failure.

“Veil! Clan-Mother! Please...” Cyclone finally gave in, begging for this hellish torment to end. She couldn’t begin to think of a way out of the endless fields. She wasn’t strong like Quill, or even smart like Spike or Frost. So, how? How in the world was she going to be able to escape this beautiful nightmare? How was she going to beat her own greed without someone else to telling her when she was going too far? How was she going to survive on her own?

If it hadn’t been for Veil running towards her when she was badly injured, or Spike coming to save the necklace that she made for Veil, or even the others giving her words of encouragement, she wouldn’t have even made it this far.

Cyclone knew she was too weak to stand on her own, not once had she questioned that fact, and she knew that there was no way she was going to be able to leave on her own.

“C-Clan-Mother, p-please...I-I don’t want to do this any more,” Cyclone sobbed as tears freely ran down her face while she used her arms to hold herself since no one was around to do it for her. “I-I’m not strong enough to, this isn’t what I want, Clan-Mother please.”

Cyclone scolded herself for her own weakness, for always having to rely on someone else to provide for her, and to do things for her. Seldom did she get the courage to make her own choices, even then she still needed some input from others. As Cyclone continued to cry, cursing herself for all of her weakness, the bright blue sky darkened as pitch-black feathers fell like snow.

However, the crying dragoness failed to notice the sudden and drastic change on the world around her. The only thing she could manage to do was tend to her own feelings as the rest of the world seemed darker without someone by her side.

’Cyclone, stand. Your test is over.’

Cyclone started to follow the sound of Isis' flat voice, as it was the only friendly thing that she could make out in this empty paradise. As she stood up, a violent shiver went through her body as if she was physically sick, but Cyclone continued to force herself up from from the round.

She started to blankly follow the dirt path in front of her, not caring how she suddenly knew that it let her exit the rapturous nightmare. She just knew that she never wanted to ever face this horrid place again.

Back in Everfree, both Isis and Blaze had returned to their spots underneath the single tree in the dragons’ testing site. Another two hours had passed after both Frost and Quill had emerged, and everyone was still waiting for the last two dragons to finish their tests. While both adults stuck to the shady tree to get away from the late afternoon light, the young lovers kept to the cloud that seemed to be growing larger as time moved on.

During this time, Wolf had paid a quick visit before heading towards Zecora's hut to do some business, and had food for everyone. Isis used some of her magic to preserve the excess food for when Cyclone and Spike finished their tests. Upon hearing the dog’s voice, Quill quickly flew down to grab her and Frost some of the fish meat and fruits, exchanging a few words with Wolf before flying back up to the mass-cloud that continued to slowly grow.

When Wolf asked what was up with the dragoness and changeling, Blaze just said that the two had been up there for most of the time since they’d finished their test, and also told him that Isis hadn’t sensed them using any magic. So there wasn’t anything to worry about them. If anything Frost probably wanted some alone time with Quill.

After asking about the remaining two dragons, Blaze told Wolf that they too were fine, just taking longer than she thought they would. Wolf quickly bought his mare’s half-lie and headed off to make his way towards Zecora’s hut for some business that he said he had with the mare.

So now, Blaze and Isis were left alone on the ground while Quill and Frost continued to speak with each other above their heads. As she continued to ration her meal, Isis noticed another feeling from one of the domes of magic. Unlike the others, this one was faint, and very weak. She quickly knew what the feeling entailed and closed her eyes to focus her magic on the dome that was over Cyclone.

Isis slowly opened her eyes after allowing Cyclone to break free from the mental illusion. She felt ashamed that she allowed the dragoness to suffer as long as she had, never meaning any harm to any of the dragons, and surely hadn’t wanted to upset anyone. However, she was under orders not to let any of the dragons out before it seemed that they could no longer continue the test.

At first, it seemed that Cyclone was doing just fine like the others, however that soon changed as she found herself panicking. From the looks of it, Cyclone wasn’t just physically weaker than the others, but also mentally. This new information would prove more useful for properly determining what kind of role she could play in High Moon. Additionally, it helped determine what kind of training she needed to do.

Along with her physical and magical training, Cyclone would also need a few lessons on thinking while under pressure. Not that she would be required to, but if this became a problem later on, Isis would want to be ready. “Mistress,” Isis said softly, gaining Blaze’s full attention as her eyes started to show more signs of worry. “Cyclone is now finished with her test, but may need you.” Blaze quickly snapped her attention towards the fading dome of magic, revealing a slightly broken-looking Cyclone.

Blaze quickly rushed over to the dragoness, catching her before she could fall, and holding her tightly as she sobbed into Blaze’s shoulder. “C-Clan-Mother…p-please I-I,” Cyclone stumbled out as she tightened her grip around Blaze’s body, more tears streaming down her face. “I-I failed, Clan-Mother, p-please...don’t kick Veil out because of me.”

“Shh,” Blaze whispered, rubbing the top of Cyclone’s head while she gently rocked from side to side to calm the dragoness down. “It’s alright Cyclone, I would never kick either of you out of High Moon.” Reluctantly, Blaze forced Cyclone to cease her grip on her so she could look Cyclone straight in her teary pink eyes.

Just looking the dragoness in the eyes was enough to pull on more than a few heart strings. However, right now Cyclone needed someone strong to lean on, and Blaze knew it was her duty to fill that role when Wolf wasn’t around to do so. “So stop crying, alright?” she asked rhetorically while she cupped the side of Cyclone’s cheek, wiping away the tears away from her eyes. “You have beautiful eyes and they shouldn’t be filled with tears.”

However, instead of ending her tears, fresh new ones started to form, and the white dragoness again buried her head into Blaze’s chest. “C-Clan-Mother...I-I’m so sorry,” Cyclone muttered in Blaze’s chest, staining her fur with tears, but unable to stop them after being forced to realize that she was too weak to stand on her own.

“Shh, that’s enough Cyclone,” Blaze again whispered while she continued to gently rock to and fro to get the dragoness to calm down. She quickly sparked her horn to lift the fire-fragment that triggered Cyclone’s dragon-greed and noted that it still contained the same about of magic that it began with. Blaze began smiling, happy to see that one of her predictions was correct, but mildly upset that it was at the same time. “You didn’t fail Cyclone, okay? Even if you did, I wouldn’t think of letting Wolf kick you out.”

Cyclone continued to shiver and shake as she kept the flowing streams freely running down her soft cheeks. However, she did manage to finally nod her head in Blaze’s chest as she continued to cling to the pregnant mare.

Blaze sighed a little, feeling completely awful for what happened to the dragoness, and hoping that Cyclone could forgive her. “Come on Cyclone,” Blaze started, helping Cyclone stand from the ground, and slowly leading her towards the shady oak tree. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

Isis quickly understood what Blaze was saying, and started to use her magic to pull out enough food for the dragoness while still leaving some for Spike. Once she got back to the stump, Blaze sat down with Cyclone in her lap since she still refused to let go.

As Cyclone began to eat, Isis looked at the dragoness with remorse as her sorrow was due to Isis’ action, and the sphinx didn’t know where to begin to ask for forgiveness. Isis then turned her attention turned towards the last remaining dome: Spike’s.

“Mistress,” Isis said to gain the attention of Blaze, awaiting further acknowledgement before she continued.

Blaze turned her head away from the still slightly shivering dragoness to look at the discontent on Isis' face, knowing what it was for. “Yes Isis, what is it?” she asked in a gentle voice while Cyclone continued to feed. Isis tried to answer, but only sighs came from her mouth. “Isis, please tell me what’s the matter.”

Before answering her mistress, Isis let out another long sigh, and turned her eyes to the ground. “Mistress, I believe we must end this test,” Isis stated with another sigh. “I can no longer stand to see them so hurt by my illusions, and only the stars know what could happen to Spike.”

Blaze nodded her head along with Isis. Out of anything that could have happened, she didn’t expect this to occur, and it was indeed time to end this so they could move on. However, before Blaze could give the order to Isis, Quill started to glide down from the nimbus cloud, and landed right in front of Spike’s dome.

“Not yet,” Quill started, her words faintly reaching Blaze and Isis' ears while she continued to face the dome that held her brother trapped. “Not just yet, he’s still fighting.” Quill slowly turned around towards the three that were watching her and started to walk over towards them. “If you let him out, you’ll just be given him another reason to think it’s okay to quit. Spike has to learn that he’s strong enough to fight on his own.”

“Quill, that isn’t a smart idea,” Blaze started, having had enough of seeing each of the dragons in their own kind of pain due to the test. “None of you were supposed to being in there for long,” she continued with a displeased frown while Cyclone cowered in her arms, somehow fearing that it was her fault. However, it was Isis who knew the fault was hers. “It’s been a whole day Quill, I won’t allow this to go on any further. “

As Isis got ready to end the illusion around Spike’s dome, Quill again spoke up, this time with a little more force. “Blaze wait.” Isis was still going to continue to carry out Blaze’s wishes when the mare placed a hand on her arm. A moment went by before Quill was sure that she’d gotten the mare’s attention. “Come on, give Spike a chance. You know how he is, always over-thinking things. One more hour, just give him one more hour.”

Blaze closed her eyes to think about what Quill was asking of her. Since noon, they had all been outside in the empty field, and a few hours after that the dragons started their tests. However, Blaze had only planned for them to be testing for a few minutes to an hour at the most. Instead, nearly six hours had passed, and the sun was due to set soon.

Then she started to think about how each had done so far with the test. Frost seemed to have been able to outsmart her way through the false reality, however, still gave in to some of her dragon’s greed. Quill used forced to break the reality, most likely due to her own bull-headed temperament refusing to go along with the test, but just like Frost she absorbed some of the magic from the fire-fragment. That said, the both of them seemed to remain unaffected by the added magic within them.

However, then there was Cyclone. Blaze knew from the beginning that she shouldn’t have taken the test, especially with the condition she was in. After seeing what happened to her, she didn’t want to risk anything. Quill had a point, though. If she allowed Isis to end the test now, Spike could see that as them not trusting him to be able to do things on his own, and could discourage him from doing anything.

“Alright Quill,” Blaze finally breathed out after moments of long thought. She slowly opened her eyes to the firm stone-face that Quill was putting up, and found herself returning a much harder one. “One hour, Spike has one hour to beat Isis' illusion. After that, I’m ending this, and we’re going to move on with everyone’s training. Understood?”

Quill finally dropped the cold look on her face when Blaze finished. “Thanks Blaze,” she quickly said before again opening her wings to return back up to the cloud where Frost was waiting for her.

Only Cyclone and Isis followed the dragoness' short ascent while Blaze kept her stare on the dome of magic in directly in front of her, still having second guesses whether she should have even considered Quill’s request.

“Mistress,” Isis started, turning her head back towards Blaze, but unable to get the mare to look her way. “You can’t seriously-”

“Isis,” Blaze cut in suddenly, startling Cyclone at how dark her voice was. It sounded like something that belonged to an elder dragoness rather a unicorn mare, but she didn’t dare question it, as the mare was sheltering her from her own worries. “I want you to drop the illusion field from around Spike exactly in a one hour. Not a moment sooner, and not a moment later. Is that clear?”

A deep chill went down Isis' spine from her mistress' cold and dark tone of voice. The feeling may have been a cold one, yet it felt like a flowing stream of lava was running down her body, and threatened to cook her from the inside out. Isis didn’t fear her mistress, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t get a slight chill every time she heard that dark tone.

To think a cheery mare such a Blaze was capable of such foreboding tone of voice made Isis wary around Blaze right now, but she kept her composure. “Isis, I’m still waiting on you to answer me.” Isis snapped out of her daze at the sound of Blaze’s voice, which had only darkened as she was forced to wait on Isis to regain her composure.

“M-my deepest apologies mistress,” Isis quickly stated, bowing her head to Blaze while her wings snapped shut against her back. “I will keep track of time mistress, upon the hour I will end Spike’s test, and I will personally see to his health.”

Blaze merely cut a glance towards Isis as she kept her head bowed, no doubt waiting for her to be acknowledged by Blaze, and turned her attention back to Spike’s dome. “Very well,” Blaze said, allowing Isis to raise back to her full height again, and starting to softly rub Cyclone’s slender shoulder as she had been shaking this whole time. “Then how much time is left Isis?”

Isis quickly sparked her magic to allow her to see how much the sun had moved over the short time since Blaze agreed to Quill’s request. This task proved to be slightly harder than she once remembered. In fact, ever since Isis had fully given her body to both her masters, she been having troubles keeping her connection with the sun’s position in the sky, yet could still fully feel the moon’s movements.

Of course, while she did not have the ability to affect the celestial bodies whatsoever, though she could still sense their movements as well as the presence of those that controlled such bodies. However, it seemed there was a slow change that was affecting this ability.

Thankfully she was still able to pinpoint the approximated change in the sun’s movement across the sky.

“Mistress, approximately five minutes and forty-five seconds have passed.” Blaze quietly nodded her head, not really questioning Isis' guess as it was the best thing she could go by as of now, reminding herself to constantly check with Isis about the hour time limit.

As Blaze was going back to her thoughts, a small nuzzle from Cyclone brought her back into the world around her. “Cyclone dear, what’s wrong?” Blaze asked in a gentle soft voice, a complete polar opposite to what it was mere moments ago.

“I-is Spike going to be o-okay?” Cyclone weakly asked, not wanting to add to the mare’s stress or worries. However, she was still concerned for the drake. He risked his life for her, helped her get used to her new way of living quickly, and showed more support than the others. On top of that, it didn’t help that Cyclone obviously held some affection regarding the drake. “H-he’s going to be fine, r-right Clan-Mother?”

For a moment, there was a blank expression on Blaze’s face that worried Cyclone a little, but it quickly turned into a bright smile from the mare. “Of course he is, Cyclone,” Blaze said, wiping the tears from Cyclone’s eyes before they had the chance to flow again, and gently caressing her cheek. “Quill was right about what she said, Spike is stronger than he leads us to believe, and he is very smart. He’ll be fine.”

A pause came over the two as Cyclone stared deeply in the warm flame in Blaze’s crimson eyes, finding a comfort that she never felt before. While Cyclone was lost in the mare’s eyes, Blaze herself noticed something different about Cyclone’s eyes. Before, they had only the look of loss in them that could drown anyone in a sea of melancholy, but now they were shining with a bright pink light of hope.

“I won’t let anything happen to him,” Blaze continued as she looked up towards Spike’s dome of magic with a slight sigh coming afterwards. Again, Isis was reminded why Wolf believed he was a very lucky dog as Blaze continued to force a smile, despite being the most worried of all of them.

“I won’t let anything happen to any of you.”

Cyclone looked up towards the mare with a small sense of admiration. She could tell that Blaze was forcing the smile for her sake, but didn’t think to question it. The mare had been more of a mother than the elder dragonesses back in her clan, most of which she doesn’t want to remember. So, if Blaze was trying to keep her calm and happy by telling her what she wanted to hear, then that was fine for now.

Blaze had been nothing but straightforward with her and Veil this entire time, so she was entitled to a few times where she had to say things that she wasn’t entirely sure were true. However, that didn’t mean that she was lying. It just meant that she didn’t know how the test would end.

Cyclone was still a little worried, but she had no other choice than to trust Blaze’s words. “Okay Clan-Mother, I trust you.” For a brief moment, Cyclone felt Blaze shake a little as if she was being forced to continue to do something, but again thought against talking about it. “So, um...h-have you thought of any names?”

Blaze quickly turned her attention away from Spike’s dome and towards the dragoness, who was blushing slightly. “I-I mean for your cub, have you thought about any names?” Blaze giggled a little while she shook her head. In truth, she had thought about names for her child, but didn’t think any of them were good enough.

“Well,” Blaze started while she began to absent mindedly rock on the wooden stump with much of Cyclone’s upper body still in her arms. “I have thought of a few, but I dunno know if they’re good or not. Really, I wanted to name her after a very powerful mage that’s spoken of in stories around my native lands.”

“Could I hear it?” Cyclone asked, wanting to keep the mood happy while Spike dealt with his inner demons. That wasn’t the only reason though, she also was interested in the mare’s old life before coming to Equestria, and hearing a story from her native home would be a great start.

“Sure, well it goes like this…”

While both Isis and Cyclone were given a treat in the form of a tale from Blaze’s home, Quill continued to watch Spike’s dome with great interest. However, after being unable to eat anything for a whole day, combined with with a surge of gloomy emotions from her lover, Frost was feeling sick.

As soon as Quill and Frost had finished their tests, they had gone up to the cloud for some privacy, and Frost had wanted to feed on Quill to sate herself a bit. And while they did have se, it wasn’t just mindless rutting. The young pair did care for each other quite a bit, much more than to force the love between them. Yet still, but Frost’s mating instincts had played a large role in the last few hours.

After getting a good dose of Quill’s love, and eating the lunch that Wolf brought, her and Quill spoke about their plans for the immediate future. Frost quickly acknowledged that she still had more training to do, as did Quill. The two also took the time to get to learn more about each other, which only served to cause Quill to fall more in love with her half-breed changeling.

With every story Frost told her, especially the ones where she would sneak out at night when she was younger, Quill fell more deeply in love with how free-spirited Frost actually was. Of course, Quill did her best to make herself not sound like one of Rarity’s cheap romance novels, but it was hard to sound cool to someone that could sense your emotions.

However, Quill didn’t have to keep up the facade much longer as Frost slowly fell asleep in her arms, enjoying remembering happier times, and feeling warm and safe in Quill’s embrace. So, Quill left her marefriend to her dreams while she faced the harshness of the world around her, all while wishing she could hear Frost’s soft voice to make her feel better.

For three hours, they waited for Spike and Cyclone to finish their tests. However, from the looks of things, Cyclone had failed the test, and Spike was still trapped in the illusion. But Quill didn’t want Spike to think that he couldn’t handle a simple illusion, especially since they had faced much worse than that just living with the elements. Though, Blaze was right, if this kept up, there was no guarantee regarding Spike’s health.

“Come on bro,” Quill growled, sitting with her legs crossed at the very edge of the slowly growing cloud, and shaking ever so slightly. This sucked, waiting for her brother to finish his test, not knowing when he’d be done, and unable to do anything to help him. It was hard for her just to wait these three hours. Frost’s voice and movements had been enough to relieve her worries momentarily, but now she was fast asleep.

So, now, all of Quill’s pent up energy was being used to count the seconds, and carefully watch Spike’s dome. “You can do this Spike, I know you can.” Those words came out, but, she couldn’t be sure how much longer she could believe them. “You’re way too smart to let some parlor trick beat you.”

Quill still couldn’t believe that had been able able to beat back Isis' illusion before Spike. Even Quill had believed that she would be the last one to finish, with Cyclone right before her, and Spike right behind Frost. She wished that was the case, and she had hoped that Spike would prove her right, but no.

That hadn’t happened and each second was making her feel sicker. “Spike, you better not be messing around with me,” Quill continued to speak to herself, hoping that somehow that the mythical ‘twin-sense’ was real, and that Spike heard her. Of course, Quill knew better than to believe something as silly as that. “Come on, come on Spike. You’re smarter than this.”

“Mmm...Quill?” Again, the sound of Quill’s marefriend was able to steal her attention briefly. Quill turned her head around to look over her shoulder to see Frost rolling over to her stomach and crawling towards her. As much as Quill would rather just tackle the mare and hold her tight until everything was better, she couldn’t. She had a twin brother to watch over.

As Frost started to wipe away the sleepiness that still lingered in her eyes, she was slightly displeased to see that Quill had her back to her, but let it go when she felt the worry coming from her lover. She continued to move towards Quill, feeling her worry growing by the passing second, fully knowing what it was for.

“Spike isn’t done just yet is he?” Frost asked as she continued to slowly crawl on all fours towards Quill. Still, her younger lover refused to speak to her, as her full attention was locked on her twin’s dome.

“Quill, you must stop worrying so. Spike is stronger than we believe him to be.” Quill continued her waiting match with Spike’s dome, only furthering Frost’s worry for Quill. “Love, please speak to me.” Frost slowly wrapped her arms underneath Quill’s wings, kissing the side of Quill’s neck.

“It is as you said sweetie, Spike is too smart and determined than to be defeated by mere illusions.” Frost then started to toy with Quill’s ear-frill using her tongue while her hands trailed over Quill’s body. However, even with her best efforts, Frost still only got the bitter taste of worry and guilt from Quill.

Frost then tried to move the kisses down to Quill’s wing-base, knowing that she was especially sensitive in that area. However, she was forced to stop when she started to feel a growing irritation from Quill, knowing that it was directed towards her.

So, she tried something that she guessed was normal for couples to do in situations like this: talk things out.

“Quill sweetie, why are you hurting?” Frost asked after she had moved back up to rest her chin on Quill’s right shoulder and start a gentle rocking motion. A moment of pure silence was allowed to pass before Frost again broke Quill out of her heavy thoughts. “I understand that you’re worried about Spike, as we all are. However...don’t you trust him?”

“Of course I do,” Quill quickly snapped, greatly displeased with what Frost was saying, but somehow managing to not yell at Frost. However, she still felt angry towards herself for even coming close to doing so. “S-sorry,” she started with a downcast tone in her voice as she returned her gaze to Spike’s dome. “It’s just that...I do trust him, but...”

Frost tightened her grip around Quill after she let out a long sigh and resumed kissing the side of her neck. “Quill,” she whispered before planting another kiss on Quill’s neck with a small nibble of her fangs that got a soft sigh to escape from Quill’s mouth. “I know you love your brother, that’s why you’re so hard on him, but you really must trust him more.”

Another, softer sigh escaped Quill’s lips as she turned her head down towards her hands. “I-I know Frost,” Quill said with a sad tone as she continued to worry about her twin brother. “I really do trust him, but sometimes...I dunno. I guess I’m scared to lose my brother.”

“You’re not going to lose anyone Quill,” Frost stated firmly, holding Quill tightly in her arms, and nuzzling her cheek with her dragoness'. “Like you said, Spike is strong and smart. Just give him time, he’ll make it through.” Quill started to lean into Frost’s body, finding comfort within her lover’s warm embrace, and never wanting to leave it. “He will, somehow.”

Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the house as the dragon owner crept through the halls, carrying a tray of expertly-prepared food in his hands. He didn’t remember when, or how, he got to the mountainside house that sat on top of a hill, but it didn’t really matter.

All that mattered was that he was finally with the one he loved, and they were living their lives peacefully without any worries. Spike only wished that the years didn’t seem like hours, just so he could spend more time with his love.

However, any time with the one he’d given his heart to was good enough for him.

Spike began ascending the stairs to reach his lover, who was resting in their bedroom. He had thought it would be fun to surprise her with breakfast in bed on this bright sunny morning. To make it much better, their bedroom window was positioned right at the horizon where the sun would rise every morning, serving as their alarm clock.

In fact, there would be times where Spike and his love would just sit in bed, and watch the sun make the slow crawl over their quiet hill. The smile on his face only grew when he reached the top stair, but suddenly dropped when he found someone leaning against the wall.

Spike’s eyes quickly trailed up the stranger, tall and feminine in frame, a pair of dark-purple wings on her back with a green undertone, wearing nothing visible aside from black robes that covered much of her body.

Spike didn’t know who this strange dragoness was, still unable to make the connection between her scale colors and his, and that didn’t change when he locked eyes with her.

He found a pair of bright purple orbs, as if they were a roaring inferno, serving as a true testament to the flame that the dragoness carried. Along with the purple hellfire, a small tone of silver outlined the two eyes, looking like embers of wisdom that hid behind her rough exterior.

Spike narrowed his eyes at the unexpected ‘guest’, getting a vibe that he could only describe as ‘dangerous’. “Who are you and what are you doing in my home?” he questioned with the deep, stern voice that he had grown into after all these years. A few moments gave way without the stranger answering Spike, which only served to further enrage him. “Don’t make me ask again, who are you and what are you doing here?!”

“The fact that you have to ask,” the stranger started, kicking off the white painted wall, moving to stand right in front of Spike with her arms crossed. “Is more than enough of a reason that I shouldn’t trust you.”

Spike cocked his head slightly at the dragoness as her purple and silver hellfire eyes stared straight at him. He didn’t know this dragon, so why did it sound like she knew him? Better questions were, who was she, and how she know him?

“That didn’t answer my question,” Spike rumbled, still trying to keep his voice down so his love wouldn’t hear the anger that was growing in his voice. The last thing he would want is for her to get in harm’s way because of him. “Either tell me or get out.”

Sighing, the stranger dropped her head, and started to shake it with another sigh. “Really,” she quickly snapped her head back up towards Spike. “Do you really believe this? Do you really think your life would ever be something like this?” A fake chuckle burst from the dragoness as she turned her back on Spike like she was buying time to think. “Wake up, Spike. Get out of this false reality.”

“What are you talking about and who are you?” Spike demanded, almost dropping the tray as his anger threatened to overcome him. He didn’t know why, it was just a vague feeling in his gut, but he could feel a threatening aura coming from this strange dragoness, and it made his protective instincts come out. “Answer me!”

Again, the dragoness dropped her head with a long sigh before lifting it up to meet Spike in his green eyes. “Come on, ‘Spikey,’” she said with a slight mocking tone that furthered Spike’s irritation. “Don’t you know your own twin sister when you see her?”

Spike stared at the dragoness with a blank expression. As long as he’d been living, he’d never heard he had a sister. Let alone a twin. However, that didn’t stop the wave of sickness from clawing at him, enough to force him to drop the plastic tray of breakfast food.

The mocking smile on Quill’s face started to fade when she saw Spike shaking a little and grew irritated when he nearly fell down the stairs. Spike was far beyond spooked about the news that had been dropped on him, eating at him like a virus.

“Spike,” Quill said, reaching out a hand to Spike’s shoulder, only to have it smacked away by the drake. “Spike, please, wake up. I can’t live without you around. You were the first one I ever wanted to fight for, so you can’t leave me. Not for this,” she finished waving her hands around the hallway to place more emphasis on the illusion. “Spike...please, you’re my brother, and I love you. Don’t believe this world, fight it Spike.”

“Get out,” Spike growled in a low tone of voice as he was done with trying to understand everything that his ‘sister’ was telling him. “I don’t have a twin sister. So,” Spike paused another moment to fight back whatever was this horrid feeling was before snapping his eyes straight at Quill. A feeling of bitterness overcame Spike for a moment when he saw the signs of tears in the dragoness' eyes, but he quickly pushed passed that.

“GET OUT!”

While everyone waited for Spike to finish his test, Blaze continued telling her story, and both Isis and Cyclone were left somewhat in awe of the wandering tribal mage mare that went from village to village, healing the sick and defending the defenseless. She also spoke of each village allying, to create something much greater. However, that’s when the story turned darker, as the village leaders didn’t agree with the mage’s plan, secretly banding together to be rid of her from the living world.

The ending only got darker as Blaze said that the mare was tricked into a deep chasm, finding herself surrounded by a legion of tribal warriors. As the mare fought hard to defeat the villainous tribe leaders, beings called Guardians - the ones that Blaze’s native lands prayed to when in need - while watching the mage’s tough battle, decided to help her.

Just as the mare was out of magic, and the army of warriors seemed about to defeat her, the Guardians blessed the mare with a small fragment of their magic. From what the tales told them, the mare was encased in a blinding white light, as if she embodied the sun.

By the time anyone could see again, all nine tribal leaders were on the cold hard ground, each one slowly leaving this world, moving to where eternal punishment lay in wait. Upon seeing the mage’s new power, the remaining warriors quickly dropped their weapons, and bowed towards the mage as the first queen of the Sravana; Queen Majua.

However, this wasn’t the mare’s first name. It turned out that her first was really Yhi, which happened to be the name of one of the Great Guardians. Surprising her audience even more, Blaze had been named this herself when she left her village in order to seek out a life of her own. Just as Cyclone was suggesting that Blaze use Yhi as her child’s name, both Quill and Frost came down from their cloud.

Frost stood by the other three while Quill took a seat right in front of Spike’s dome. When the changeling was questioned about her dragoness' behavior, all Frost could say was that Quill had been acting like this for quite some time, and it was starting to worry her.

Blaze then turned her attention to the dome, knowing they had to end it soon. “How much time is left Isis?” Blaze asked the sphinx, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before things would start getting bad.

Isis closed her eyes to attempt to pinpoint how much the sun had moved in relationship with time. “Mistress, five minutes and ten seconds are left,” she finally answered after a short pause, only adding to the heaviness in the field. “Mistress, I highly advise that-”

“There’s still time,” Quill cut in, sitting alone, rooted to the ground in front of Spike’s dome. A part of Quill wanted Frost to be sitting somewhere close to her right now, however, she knew her mare was giving her the space she needed to keep her thinking straight. “Not yet, there’s still time. He’ll make it through, Spike will show you.”

While the dragoness refused to give up on her brother, Blaze knew better than to allow something bad happen to the drake. Yet she also knew not to cross Quill. “Isis,” she murmured, turning her head towards Isis while she kept a single hand on Cyclone’s shoulder to ease her shaking. “Not a single moment before or after, understand?”

Isis closed her eyes again and bowed her head to Blaze, again catching a glance of the sun’s slow movement before raising her head again. “Yes mistress, four minutes thirty-seven seconds are left.”

Blaze nodded her head while both Cyclone and Frost caught Quill’s body tensing up as she started to grip her arms. “Come on Spike, I can’t…”

“Spike please,” Quill pleaded, not believing her brother. He just said that he didn’t have a sister, and that she should leave. “You can’t seriously mean that, right?” As Quill took a step towards Spike, he quickly hopped down a few steps, continuing to glare at the dragoness standing in front of him. “You’re my brother, can’t you see that? Would you really stay here with lies over living with your own sister?”

“Shut up!” Spike shouted at Quill, enraged at the growing hollow feeling that was taking over his chest, blaming it on the dragoness that was claiming to be his sister. “J-just stop talking. You are not my sister, I am not living a lie, and this is my home.” For some reason, saying these words hurt Spike to a large degree, but he was too overwhelmed by the hollow rage to pay it much mind. “Leave, leave my home. Get out of my life!”

Quill again tried to reach out a hand to Spike, only for it to be violently smacked away by the enraged drake. The smack was hard enough to draw a small line of blood from her hand, that went unnoticed by the dragoness as she tried to reason with him. “Spike don’t say that… This isn’t your home, and you know it.”

Spike turned his head away from Quill to stare straight at the light-brown stained wooden stairs. “Spike please, don’t do this. This is not-”

“Spike?” A soft voice called out from down the hall, followed by a small cough. Spike quickly recognized the voice as his beloved and now realized that she could be endangered if the dragoness turned her attention towards her. “Is everything alright sweetie?”

Quill slowly turned her head back towards Spike, whose eyes had shot open wide as he realized that Quill stood in between him and everything he held dear. “Y-yes,” he stuttered with a very grave tone as his mind raced to think of something to get rid of the dragoness before she could cause any harm. “J-just stay in bed, I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Is that what’s keeping you here?” Quill questioned as she took a step back from Spike with a dark look in her eyes. It didn’t take Spike long before he knew what Quill was thinking and that his worst fears were going to come true if he didn’t stop the dragoness. However, right as he was going to rush the dragoness, Quill moved quicker, delivering a swift kick to Spike’s stomach.

The strike was more than strong enough to send the drake over a couple of steps, only to tumble down the rest, coming to a hard stop at the final few steps. Spike fought through the pain covering his body to look up towards the top stairs, only to find that the dragoness was nowhere to be seen, and quickly assumed the worst.

“No, no, no! You stay away from her!” Spike shouted after he had started to rush up the stairs to protect the one person that mattered to him in this world. However, it was too late. Right as he started down the hall, a massive torrent of purple and black flames erupted out of his bedroom.

Followed by a high pitched scream.

“Isis how much time is left?” Blaze asked again as the sun started to make its final journey towards the horizon. By this point, everyone had joined Quill at Spike’s dome, with her still sitting right in front of the slightly distorting dome of magic.

“Mistress, one minute and nine seconds,” Isis answered Blaze, ready to end the test upon a moment’s notice, but would only do so after the minute was over with.

Frost knelt down towards Quill and wrapped her arms around her young lover. Still, Quill remained unattentive to the world around her as her thoughts were solely focused on the dome and her brother inside. “Don’t you give up on him,” Quill repeated after muttering it to herself this entire time. “Dont you even dare think about giving up.”

Suddenly, the hollow feeling in his chest grew colder and heavier, and forced him to his knees. “No,” Spike choked, not believing his beloved had been ripped from his hands, all because he was too weak. “Why...why would you do this?” Spike snapped his head back up to Quill, who had red tears flowing down her cheeks, and a pained expression on her face. “Everything was fine until YOU came and ruined it all!”

“No I didn’t,” Quill muttered in a low raspy voice after the torrent of fire she breath out. Spike growled at the dragoness, beyond angry that everything was taken from him because of her. Right as Spike was going to jump at the dragoness he was kicked on the chin, sending him towards the edge of the stairs again. Before he could get up, Quill placed her foot on his hollow-feeling chest while she continued to cry blood.

“This is all your own fault,” she again said, pushing more of her weight down on Spike’s chest as a few drops of her blood dripped onto Spike’s cheeks. “This happened because you were too weak to beat me, this happened because you lack the will to fight. This happened because of you, and don’t you ever forget it.”

Spike looked up to Quill as her hellfire eyes started to glow brighter, which seemed to cause the stream of blood to be given new life. “I’m disappointed in you Spike, I had trusted you to come to your senses, but I guess I was wrong.”