Author's Notes:

Aaaaaand back. Hey guys, sorry for the long wait between the last chapter. School and some other stuff has been coming up and tripping me up. But! the semester is finally winding down and I'll have a break until the fall. So, I'll be around more often. And lemme say this, I am too invested into this story to up and quit, period. If any of you follow A Dragon's Journey, you would know that Abramus520, the writer, is also planing on... oh a 100 or so chapters with many, many, many different arches. Now I'm not saying High Moon is gonna have that many chapter or arches, but as of now, it's looking to be that way. Therefore, as the vain person I tend to be, I refuse to ever stop writing High Moon. Most likely the only thing that'll ever stop me from ever being able to write and update is my laptop kill over me. (Really hopes that doesn't happen any time soon...) Anywho, I'd like to also thank, Chaoskid99 for allowing me to use their character Shadow Star. It really got me thinking more about other things headcanon wise with my AU, which helps immensely for later on in the story. So, thank you. And a big thank you to the lot of you for being so patient with me and giving good words of support, it means a lot to me, so thank you all. Without further ado, let us continue.

-Till Next Time.

High Moon ch. 53:

The Taste of Victory

“Hey, hey be careful where you sit that down. That’s sensitive equipment you’re lifting there!” A pegasi nurse said to one of the many sentinels that had been ordered to help the medical teams with anything they needed.

“One of you, lift this up and follow me,” A doctor said as he quickly passed a large shipment of medical supplies that had been brought in to help the injured.

“Someone help me lift this stallion, he’s severely wounded,” another nurse called out. Her answer came in the form of a sentinel aiding her. It had been quite the shock to find that one of the Dragul twins had control over the army that had invaded Canterlot, but since they were working so hard to help out now, no one really complained.

In spite of the oddness of having the former enemy helping, that wasn’t what was on everyone’s minds. In a short amount of time, three hours at the most, three of the occultist unicorns had been captured or killed. Canterlot had suffered extensive damage, but the payoff of having two of the unicorns captured gave Equestria a large advantage against their new threat.

And they had the group Obsidian had led into battle to thank for this victory. Said group was all being treated in a room with the filly that was apparently the center of everything. During their treatment, Obsidian gave an oral report to Celestia about the filly, how Spike and Quill became Elements, how Quill gained control over the sentinel army, and the about three unicorns that they had captured.

“Well, today has certainly been...eventful,” Celestia mused, thinking back to the twins’ actions just minutes before the attack. “Thank you Sergeant Obsidian, it sounds like you’re due for that leave time that you’ve saved up. And congratulations on your hard-fought battle, it seems that you’ve once again proven that you are more deserving of a higher post than you currently have.”

Obsidian laughed as he shook his head. Despite what Celestia may think, he didn’t consider himself the hero of this fight, much like how he felt about the first Canterlot invasion. “I am honored, your majesty. But I was far from alone,” Obsidian nodded his head, sitting on the edge of Rainbow’s hospital bed, bandages wrapped around his arms and his head. Twilight was sitting next to him with bandages around her wrists, midsection, and right leg. Rainbow was in about the same shape, but she was much better than she had been out in the field, thanks to Frost.

“Yes, I must thank you all for saving Canterlot,” Celestia said as she looked around the room. Dusk and his siblings all were standing against the far right wall, with similar injuries. Quill and her group were all sitting or standing near a bed for Shadow Star. Quill had a large bandage covering most of the left side of her face - the cut that she had received during the battle had been cleaned, but the dragoness had declined Frost’s healing. The two had nearly gotten in a fight over it until Quill had kissed her marefriend and assured her that she was fine. Frost had let it go, but made sure that Quill knew the two were going to talk about it later on.

The filly, having been treated for her injuries and fever, was sitting in Spike’s lap, and playing around with his round spade-tip tail. Finally, the sentinel elite, which had been named Rydder by Quill, was sitting on the ground near the door, with two of his swords at his sides while his third one was strapped across his chest. “If it wasn’t for all of you, the enemy would have surely defeated us.”

Everyone nodded their head thanks toward the mare. Yet Quill and Spike couldn’t help but feel like Celestia was thanking them in particular for not having left Canterlot the moment they learned about their parents. “And with this victory, Mr. Flare, I have a proposition for you.”

Dusk tilted his head at Celestia, using his claws to lightly scratch at an itch on his head. “Uh, yes? What proposition would that be, your highness? And like I said before, you can call me by my first name.”

Celestia giggled softly at Dusk’s kind forwardness before continuing with her idea. “Well, seeing how the sentinels are now in the hands of Quill, and that both she and Spike became Elements today, I think they would be a good fit for the Elements of Defiance. Assuming that the twins want to join it.”

Quill and Spike both froze momentarily, before looking at each other. They hadn’t really considered that gaining an element would potentially put them under Celestia’s finger again. Would they be willing to give up their elements if that was the only way to not be controlled by Celestia again?

“Uh, well,” Quill started, not sure how to proceed. Her and Spike wouldn’t likely forgive Celestia anytime soon, so the last thing they wanted was to be in a position where they would be under her direct rule again. “How would that work? Is it just like the Elements of Harmony, where we’d have to do what you say, or?...” she trailed off.

Twilight cocked her head at Quill. Twilight wasn’t sure why, but it sounded like Quill didn’t want anything to do with Celestia. She’d heard that reluctant, wary tone in the dragoness’ voice before, and it always meant there was something she wanted to avoid.

Before she could question the dragoness, though, Celestia laughed before replying. “The Elements of Defiance are an autonomous organization, Quill. I can request your help, but I will never force you into a fight that you do not wish to join. I swear on that,” Celestia smiled at the young dragoness. She wanted the twins to join Dusk on the team, and she knew that they wouldn’t if she had overall authority over them. Joining such an organization would help them grow much stronger - both mentally and physically. As much as she knew the twins disliked her right now, she still wanted only the best for them.

Spike and Quill shared another look for a long moment, before Spike barely nodded his head - enough to tell Quill what his answer was. “Oh, well then heck yeah,” Quill laughed. She pointed her thumb at her chest with a sly smirk on her face, proclaiming, “Quill Dragul, the Element of Pride speaking.”

“Same here,” Spike added, thumping his own chest with a small grunt from the pain from his lips. The filly seemed to find that funny as she leaped out from his lap and onto Spike’s tail-tip. He gently wrapped the filly up in his tail and put her back in his lap, wrapping his arms around her and blowing a raspberry on her neck to make her giggle. “Spike Dragul, Element of Sacrifice at your service.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Obsidian joked with a small laugh that soon was shared by the twins for a moment.

Celestia was the first to end her laughter. “Yes well, I was thinking. To further show that the Elements of Defiance are a separate group from the Elements of Harmony, how about a change in name? Why not go under the name ‘Knights of Defiance’?” Spike’s ear-frills quickly perked up at this, now paying a bit more attention to what Celestia was saying. “At this point, it seems fitting, no?”

“Hm, well, I guess. It does sound a lot more awesome,” Dusk said, scratching the underside of his chin in thought. After a moment, he turned his attention over to the twins to see what they had to say about it. “Whatcha guys think? How ya’ll feel about being knights that defy stuff? Could be a helluva good time.”

“I’m down,” Quill answered, with Spike giving an enthusiastic nod of his head. It wasn’t the same as being officially knighted, but if the title change was to happen, then that would be the closest Spike had ever been to his childhood ambition. He wasn't about to let it slip from his fingers now.

“Heh, then how can I say no?” Dusk laughed, crossing his arms over his chest. He too, like many other young boys from the Republics, had thought of one day using their power and strength to defend their home. “Okay, Princess Celestia. From now on, we’re the Knights of Defiance.”

“Alright, I’m already liking the sound of that!” Quill said, pumping her fist lightly with a smirk on her face.

Celestia closed her eyes, nodding her head. She knew that there would be nothing she could ever hope to do to regain the twins’ trust after what she’d told them. Yet, she couldn’t help but hope this would at least she would help Spike achieve one of his ambitions. “Good, very good. As much as I wish I could stay, I must see to my citizens. If you will excuse me.” Celestia turned to leave, walking out of the room to go see to her duties.

Once the mare was gone, the tension everyone was feeling dropped. Obsidian let out a relaxed sigh. “So, now the question is, what to do with her?” Obsidian asked, directing everyone’s attention to the filly playing around with Spike’s tail. It was a shock that the filly was making such a fast recovery after her fever had suddenly left, and after she had gotten some food into her.

A moment of silence took over the room as everyone thought about Obsidian’s question. Dusk knew that he couldn’t take in the filly because he couldn’t be sure how Jinx and Sketchy would take it. He was sure that Jinx wouldn’t have too much of a problem with it, but Sketchy on the other hand might be too apprehensive about fostering the filly. It would also be exposing them as targets if the occult was able to find where the filly was being held at.

For obvious reasons, neither of his sisters could take the filly either, given the lives they lived as soldiers in the Republic Guards. Although, moving the filly out of Equestria could be the best bet in giving her a chance at a normal life that she deserved.

That said, the twins knew bringing her back to High Moon wouldn’t be good for her or the pack. With winter coming, Blaze getting ready to give birth to her own child, and the greater likelihood of her getting hurt, the twins believed that it would be best to have her stay with someone that could keep her safe. And help her control her magic.

Obsidian wasn’t sure if he could take in the filly or not, despite reasons that might make him a perfect candidate. As much as he wanted to keep her safe, he didn’t want his own three-month pregnant mare to have to worry about the filly on top of taking care of herself. That said, Mia did seem to the be the motherly type.

Shadow wasn’t able to consider himself as a candidate to take the filly. He and his marefriend had just got arrived in Equestria a few months ago, and things in the apartment was still not fully settled in. He wanted the filly to have a safe and prosperous life, and that was something he wasn’t sure he and his mare could give her.

That left only one…

“I nominate Twilight,” Quill spoke. Everyone turned their attention to Quill, where she sat at the edge of Shadow’s bed with one of her legs hanging off the side. “Oh c’mon,” she started, raising one hand to tick off her reasons. “Twi’s smart, knows a lot about magic, she’s responsible, resourceful, surrounded by friends that are willing to help her out, never gives up, and enjoys seeing others smile. She would make the perfect foster mother. What does everyone else think?”

Twilight blushed from Quill listing the reasons she would be a good candidate for the filly’s legal guardian. “Wait I don’t think that-”

“Yeah, Twi would be the best one to take in the filly,” Spike added his voice on the subject. He’d much rather have Twilight take care of the filly instead of Celestia, or a lineup of royal servants. “I mean c’mon Twilight, you raised not one, but two dragons and we turned out pretty great, and that’s with not having a lot about dragons to go on. I know you can take care of her. And help her with her magic.”

Twilight began rubbing the back of her neck with a downcast look in her eyes, remembering what happened a few months ago when the twins ran away for the last time. In fact, that was the whole reason that she believed that she wasn’t the right one to take care of the filly.

“Twilight, what happened wasn’t your fault,” Quill said, getting off the bed to walk over towards Twilight. “I know you’re still a little sore about it, but you have to move past it, Twi. You’ve got to, and this filly is going to help with that.”

A small laugh left Twilight’s lips, not fully knowing why she still was in a rut about the twins leaving. However, after everything that’d happened, after seeing how much the twins had grown after moving on, Twilight couldn’t help but think that maybe Quill was right.

“Quill, I wouldn’t know where to begin,” Twilight protested, looking at the pure purple in Quill’s uncovered eye. She could’ve sworn that she had seen a glimmer of silver in it when she was fighting Rydder an hour ago, and now she was wondering where the silver shine had gone. “I mean, shouldn’t we be looking for her parents instead?”

Obsidian let out a small sigh before he began whispering quietly so the filly wouldn’t be able to hear what he had to say. “Princess, I didn’t want to tell you this,” he started, gripping his hands together as he looked away from Twilight’s eyes. “But we may never find her parents. Given her age, who knows how many missing child reports we would have to go through to find a match.”

“You have to be joking,” Twilight quietly replied, as quietly she could given the amount of shock in her voice. She had a fear that was the case, but to hear it actually be real and not one just a meaningless worry, left her speechless. “H...how long do you think it would take?”

Obsidian shook his head, only adding to Twilight’s anxiety and making her look around Quill to the giggling filly still in Spike’s lap. “There’s no telling how long,” Obsidian sighed, shaking his head as he thought about the lists of missing child reports that he’d seen in the last four years of being a guard. Add that to the fact that it wasn’t something he dealt with normally, so he knew there’d be more. “There’re a lot of reports that come in, and if these occultists got her, I’m not sure if there is one.”

“Wait, why on in Equestria would that make a difference?” Rainbow finally spoke up in a low and raspy voice, just as shocked and horrified as Twilight. “Somepony obviously wants their little filly back, right? And it’s not like these occultists could have bought the parents off, right Sergeant?”

“Rainbow…” Obsidian sighed as he turned to his subordinate. “There’s only two ways ponies like them could kidnap a filly without there already being a match yet. Either one, they killed the parents before taking her. Or two, the parents couldn’t keep the poor child and sold her off.”

“Th-that’s horrible, no-nopony would do that would they?” Twilight questioned, a worried expression on her face. Her only response was a small shrug out of Obsidian, either not wanting to answer the question, or having trouble believing it himself.

“See Twi? There’s no other option, and you’re the only one that could understand what’s so special about her,” Quill quickly added to get Twilight to see why everyone was saying she was the perfect candidate to take care of the filly. She kept her voice low to not tip off the filly. “Not only do you already have experience raising someone, but you would be able to help her with her magic. C’mon Twi.”

“Additionally, Ponyville,” Obsidian paused to start counting his reason on his fingers. “With the other Elements, Dusk, the twins being close by, and the fact that the unicorns wouldn’t think to look there a second time; it’s the safest place for the filly to be protected and raised. Princess, please think about it.”

Twilight looked away from the filly for a moment, wondering if she was ready for something like this. Thinking back, the twins had practically raised themselves because Twilight was always distracted by something or another. She had already failed once, so why were the twins trying to get her to take the filly? Unless…

“You guys really do trust me, don’t you?” Twilight asked, looking between both Obsidian and Quill for a moment before she stood up from the bed. “Okay, I’ll do it. If there’s nothing else we can do,” Twilight paused to look at Obsidian, who quickly shook his head. “Then as a princess of Equestria, I’ll do it.”

“Don’t do it because of that, do it because you want to Twi. I know you a lot better than that. You really do want to help this filly, because you’re you. Right?” Quill asked with a smile on her face, knowing Twilight better than anyone in the room aside from Spike. “Don’t think that I don’t remember how you treated me and Spike. You’ve been a mom since like, forever. Can’t you do it again?”

“Yes, I can,” Twilight said firmly as she walked towards Spike and the filly, gaining the attention of both. Smiling, Twilight knelt down so she would be eye level with with filly, asking, “What do you say little one? Would you like to live with me and learn about magic?”

The filly looked up at Spike for a moment, getting a nod and smile from the drake before she smiled at Twilight. “I get to live with a princess?! Can I really?!” the filly joyfully asked with a bright shine in her mixed purple and silver eyes.

Seeing the filly cheer like that reminded Twilight of the time she had passed Celestia’s test. How happy she had been afterwards, and all the amazing memories she had raising, and growing up with, the twins. “Yes, everyone here seems to think that I can protect you from those bad ponies, and I’m willing to try that for you,” Twilight said with a bright smile on her face and small giggle from the excitement that was on the filly’s face.

“Oh yippie! I get to live with a princess and I get to learn about magic!” the filly cheered before she leaped towards Twilight and wrapped her arms around the mare’s neck. Twilight was taken back by the move, but a reassuring nod from Spike prompted Twilight to return the affection.

“I guess someone is happy,” Twilight giggled as she wrapped her arms around the filly’s back and legs, picking her up out of Spike’s lap. “Well I promise that you...we will have a lot of fun together, but first we should get a name for you. Hm…”

“My vote goes for Pandora,” Dusk said with his hand raised to get attention towards him. Suddenly, Shadow and Wave started laughing while Obsidian did his best to stifle his before Verdite roughly elbowed Dusk in his gut, causing the half-breed to fall to his knees, groaning, “Worth it.” before he fell over to the floor

While Wave and Shadow continued to laugh, Verdite shook her head at how immature Dusk could be sometimes. “Princess, don’t mind my idiot little brother,” she sighed while Dusk got back up on his feet. Verdite quickly brought her fist mere inches from Dusk’s face to get him to flinch, causing him to fall on his rear end as he continued to laugh at the joke. “Pandora is a diamond dog name meaning ‘the unknown.’ Typically implying joyful, and happy.”

“Well that does fit, so what’s so funny about it?” Twilight asked with a puzzled look that the filly mimicked. The mimicking filly only got Dusk to laugh even harder when turned out the name fit even better than before.

“Princess, you have to understand, there’s a story behind Pandora that’s told as a bedtime story to little cubs by their mothers,” Obsidian said, shaking his head at the memory of his own mother telling him and his brother the story about the wayward hound. “As much as it does oddly fit, I don’t think it would be quite appropriate for a filly. Perhaps...Amethyst? It’s typically a diamond dog name, but I have heard a few ponies have that name.”

“Oh my vote goes for Amethyst,” Quill smiled, more at the thought of the actual gem than the filly. “Those things are sweet, just like her. Also it fits with her purple mane and eyes, so you know.” Quill ended with a shrug.

“Yes, I’m with Quill. Amethyst is a perfect name for her,” Frost said with an honest smile on her face while Spike nodded his head to agree with the changeling and his sister. “Having been in a cave full of them when I was a filly, I think it’s a wonderful name for her.”

Twilight took in what everyone was saying, she did like the name Amethyst, and Quill was right about the filly being sweet. “Hm...what do you say little one? Do you like the name Amethyst?” Twilight asked the filly, seeing as it was going to be her new legal name.

“Uh-huh, I like Amethyst,” the filly, brightly smiling from being called sweet by Quill, said as she liked the name that she was being given. She couldn’t remember anything before the unicorns took her away from her real parents.

“Amethyst it is then,” Twilight smiled as the filly, now named Amethyst, again wrapped her arms around Twilight’s neck while Quill and Spike smiled at the sight for a different reason than the others. They truly believed that the filly was exactly what Twilight needed to move on. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you and seeing what kind of magic you can do.” Twilight finished with a bright smile for the filly.

Spike perked up a for a moment, having entirely forgotten to tell them about what the filly did for him. “I, uh, I know what she can do. I don’t think she can do it all the time, though.” Spike nervously scratched the back of his head.

Twilight tilted her head, looking at Spike curiously. It wasn’t like him to forget something that important. “Well, what is it, Spike?” Twilight looked back at the little filly in her arms, seeing that Amethyst was avoiding meeting her eye. “Amethyst sweetie, what’s wrong?”

Amethyst continued to not look at Twilight, instead just staring at Spike, her big eyes soft and watching. She was almost afraid of her power, since it had been why those bad ponies had hurt her. She wasn’t too worried that this new group would hurt her for her magic, but most of that was because she trusted Spike.

Spike shot the filly a smile, trying to reassure her. “She gave me a vision of the battle - sort of like what could, or would, happen.”

Twilight raised her eyebrows. She had heard of some magic that could give visions of the future, but she’d never come across any with that sort of power. “Oh. So you knew we were going to win?”

Spikes eyes widened for a moment and he glanced at Quill before looking down at the bed he was sitting on. “Well… no. Actually, what happened was…” Spike mumbled the last few words, afraid of the reaction they’d bring.

Quill walked over to stand near Twilight and her brother. “What happened? We didn’t hear you.”

After he was silent for another moment, Amethyst wormed her way out of Twilight’s grip and crawled back up onto his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck, seeing that he needed some help saying what needed to be said. “He died,” she said softly, yet loud enough for everyone to have heard her. Spike wrapped his arms around the filly and buried his face against her neck. He felt so childish, being comforted by such a small filly.

Everyone else’s eyes went wide at the filly’s words. Quill took a step towards Spike, hand outstretched, but she didn’t touch him. “But you… you didn’t die! So the visions don’t come true. So you changed whatever killed you, right?”

Spike didn’t speak for a moment. He squeezed Amethyst against him before he brought his eyes up to meet hers. He looked away immediately after, unable to hold her gaze for more than a second. He knew she wasn’t going to be happy. He let out an explosive sigh, before saying, “Not really. In the… vision, I guess, Angel Wing attacked Twilight and Rainbow the same way she did when I got my Element. In the vision, though, I didn’t get the Element. Instead, I just -”

A loud bang interrupted Spike. He jumped, his arms tightening around Amethyst momentarily. He looked up to see Quill with part of her fist buried in the wall by the bed he was sitting on. Her one visible eye was on fire, watching him.

When she spoke, a chill went down Spike’s back-spines from how cold her tone was. “You died in the vision. And then, when you knew what would happen, when you knew it wasn’t a vision, you did the same damn thing that got you killed,” she accused. She watched him for a moment longer, Spike unable to meet her angry glare.

“I did what I had to, Quill,” Spike said softly. He chuckled to himself - he wouldn’t change what he’d done for his friends, but even knowing he’d been right to risk himself, he couldn’t meet his sister’s angry glare. He knew she only worried for him and wanted the best for him, but when she thought she was right, there was no arguing with her.

She glared down at him for another moment, before taking her fist out of the wall and shaking bits of plaster and marble off her hand. She quietly turning to walk over to Frost. Frost was watching her lover worriedly, not wanting the dragoness to start a fight with her brother. For his part, Spike tracked his sister with wary eyes, waiting for the explosion.

Quill just quietly embraced Frost, burying her bandaged face against Frost’s shoulder and not saying anything. Frost shot Spike a quizzical look before wrapping her own arms around Quill’s shoulders. Spike returned the confused look, as this was usually when Quill punched him or started yelling.

“Quill, love, are you ok?” Frost asked, running one set of knuckles down the smaller dragoness’ back reassuringly.

Quill shook her head against Frost’s shoulder before letting out a deep sigh. In a soft voice somewhat muffled by Frost’s shoulder, and for her ears only, Quill replied, “I’m going to kill him, Frost. Will you still love me after that?”

Frost’s reply was a peal of laughter, squeezing Quill against her. “Of course I will, love.” Frost placed a single kiss on Quill’s head, before looking up at Spike. Spike saw that Frost had a mischievous glint in her eyes, and a smile to match. “However, I think we should let Cyclone decide what to do with him.”

Spikes eyes went wide as Quill barked out a loud laugh, finally turning to look at her twin. She had the same smile that Frost did. “I think Cy will be very interested in hearing about how you tried to kill yourself, Spikey.”

Spike gulped hard. This wasn’t turning out how he’d thought. He’d almost prefer Quill yelling at him or trying to hit him than telling her version of the story to Cyclone. Amethyst shifted around in his lap, reminding him that she was still there, and he absent-mindedly ran his claws through her hair. When he realized what he was doing, he thought that this time it was to calm himself down.

Twilight and Rainbow shared a confused look while Dusk just laughed, before an idea popped into Rainbow’s head and she turned an evil grin on Spike. “Cyclone, huh? Sounds like a cute name for a gurrrrrrrrl, Spikey. Somepony special?”

Spike blushed slightly before grinning and returning the same grin that Rainbow had. “The specialest, Rainbow. Jealous?”

Rainbow’s eyes widened before she let out a laugh. “Nah, I got enough on my plate with the Guard as it is. Don’t need a suicidal drake to keep track of too.”

Spike frowned for a moment. “You know, this ‘suicidal drake’ is the reason you’re alive.”

Rainbow grinned at him. “Yeah, and you know I’m thankful for it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to rib you with your sister. Or be your marefriend.”

Spike laughed at that last comment. “Yeah, I thought not. Oh well, one beautiful dragoness is enough for this guy.”

“Speaking of which, Spike, we should be getting back. I don’t think Wolf or Blaze thought we were going to be gone this long,” Quill told him, moving out of Frost’s arms and starting to get ready to leave.

Spike sighed, before moving to get Amethyst out of his lap so he could stand up. The little filly tightened her arms around Spike, not wanting to get up. Spike chuckled before returning the hug, leaning down to blow another raspberry against the filly’s neck. She let out a series of giggles before looking into his eyes. “You’re gonna come visit, right?”

Nodding, Spike promised the filly that he’d come and see her, and bring Cyclone when he did. Satisfied, the filly held out her arms to Twilight, the princess looking slightly confused before she realized what the filly wanted. Reaching down for the filly, Twilight picked Amethyst up and turned to the rest of the room. “I guess we’ll go talk this out with Celestia to make it official before we head off to Ponyville.” ’And I need to ask Celestia why the twins don’t seem to trust her.’

“I’ll accompany you, Princess,” Obsidian said, standing up from Rainbow’s bed with a slight groan. “Privates Dash, Star, I’ll be back to give you two a full debriefing of any news that I hear. Now if you’ll excuse us.” Obsidian promptly began to lead Twilight and Amethyst out of the room, leaving the others to their own devices.

With everything now sorted out, Quill thought it was well past time for them to get back to High Moon and explain everything to Wolf. “Well, guess we better bounce too. Need to get back to the pack before it gets too dark. No doubt that we’ll have to tell Wolf that we need a place for the sentinels and stuff. And I know he’s going to grill us about today.”

“Oh wait, before you go,” Dusk said, getting up from the ground, and walking over towards the twins and Frost. “Think I can talk to Spike about something first? It’ll be real quick, promise. It’s not too much trouble, is it?”

“Nah,” Quill shook her head with a shrug of her shoulders, remembering Dusk saying there was something that he wanted to talk about with Spike. “Hey Spike - Frost, Rydder, and I will be outside at the castle doors waiting on you. Okay?”

Spike nodded his head as he hopped off the bed to leave with Dusk, still curious about what the half-breed could want. “Sure Quill, I’ll be there in a sec.” Quill nodded her head before she left the room with Frost.

“C’mon Rydder, we’ve got to make sure the other sentinels know the plan,” Quill said to the still suit of armor that had been motionless since he took his spot against the wall. However, upon hearing his new master’s voice, Rydder began to move from his spot by the door, placing his swords back into their holsters at his sides and lower back. “We’ll be waiting, Spike,” Quill called out to her twin as she walked out of the room with Frost by her side, Rydder behind the couple.

Once the group had left, Verdite kicked off of the wall and began walking out with Wave. “Hey Dusk, we’re heading outside too. Meet us there when you’re done,” she told her younger brother, getting a nod from him before the two sisters left.

“Follow me Spike, this shouldn’t take too long,” Dusk said, walking towards a widow that lead out towards an empty courtyard. After opening the window, Dusk hopped outside, landing on the ground with a huff.

Spike walked over to the window after Dusk, stopping when he placed his hands on the frame. “Oh uh, see ya Rainbow and Shadow,” Spike said, looking between the two injured soldiers with a smile. “Thanks for all the help out there.”

“Hey, all part of the new job. I still would’ve done it even without the armor, already have plenty times before now,” Rainbow joked with a small laugh before resting her head back against her pillow. “You and Quill just stay safe, ya hear? From the sound of things, you guys got a lot more counting on you now.”

“Yeah, we will Rainbow,” Spike said with a nod of his head and a friendly smile on his face before Dusk called out to him.

“Yo Spike, c’mon.”

Spike chuckled a little bit before he got ready to leap out to the courtyard. “You guys get better soon.” After getting a nod from the both of them, Spike hopped out of the window, landing with a small huff before turning around to close the window behind him.

Once he closed the window, Spike followed Dusk through the muddy and wet courtyard. However, the mud was a lot easier to deal with than the pouring rain had been. “So Spike, how’re things with Cyclone? Sounds like they’re going well.” Dusk flashed the younger drake a grin.

Spike chuckled, scratching at one cheek. “Yeah man, Cyclone has been doing great. She’s… things’ve been goin’ great,” Spike said with a cheesy smile as he and Dusk made their way to a table set up in the middle of the courtyard. After Dusk dried the table off with his wind-magic, both males hopped on top of it. “Blaze, the uh...Alpha-Mother of our pack, has been teaching Cyclone about her fire magic while Frost and I been helping her with her water-magic.”

Dusk nodded his head, as he already knew all of this from the visits and talks he had with Quill when she would randomly show up during her training for the flight competition. “Okay, I guess I won’t tease you too much about her - yet,” Dusk said with a laugh. “Tell her I said ‘Hi,’ by the way.” Spike nodded his head, glad that Dusk wasn’t going to rib him about being with Cyclone. Dusk continued, “Anyway Spike, there’s another reason why I wanted to talk to you.”

“Dude, it’s about the Crusaders,” Dusk said, which elicited a sigh from Spike, as he didn’t want to revisit the topic. Now more than ever, given his relationship with Cyclone. “Before you say anything, no, it don’t have anything to do with the camping trip. At least...I don’t think it does.”

“Then what could it be? I haven’t seen any of them in over three weeks,” Spike said, now a little worried about what could be going on with the three teenaged mares. “Dusk, dude, I got a lot on my plate as is. I don’t really have the time to be playing mediator with those three again. Especially now.”

“I know, I know, it’s just something they wanted me to tell you,” Dusk said, waving his hand around, not surprised that Spike was just as sick of the whole thing as he was. Luckily though, the three teenagers seemed to have moved on from the whole thing. At the very least, Sweetie Belle had, if her recent apprenticeship under Sapphire Shores was any indication. “It was the day that Sweetie was due to leave Ponyville. All three of them came to me and told me to tell you that they’re sorry for what happened, and that they’d understand if you’d rather not deal with them any more.”

“Oh...then how come they couldn’t tell me that?” Spike asked with a raised eyebrow, only getting a shrug from Dusk. Sighing, Spike turned his head up towards the still clearing skies, trying to understand why the Crusaders would do something like that. Regardless, he was happy that they had apparently moved on. “Whatever, I guess, something is better than nothing, right?”

“Dunno Spike, how did you think this was going to end?” Dusk answered Spike with a question of his own. It just got another sigh out of the drake. “And there’s something that I wanted to show you as well, but I’m not sure how well this’ll go over with Cyclone.”

“What with Cyclone?”

Instead of answering the drake, Dusk reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a CD, handing it to Spike. With a raised eyebrow, Spike took the case from Dusk to look at the cover. What he saw only spelled trouble.

In big bold bleeding-green letters, the title of the album read, “My Shining Dark Knight in Green Scales!” with Sweetie Belle standing in the very center, microphone stand in hand as if she was singing the song on the cover.

Spike immediately noticed the outfit she was wearing: a puffy, high-hemline black and green corset dress, split down the middle to show off her fishnet stocking thighs. The top of the dress was strapless, where it forced her modest breasts to push together, showing off a generous amount of cleavage while making them look bigger. Jet-black eyeliner makeup, even blacker lipstick and nail polish. Accessorized with elbow-length lace gloves and two green emerald earrings. Sweetie was a few inches taller only because of the black high-heel boots she was sporting. Her pink and purple mane had been styled in two short pigtails at the sides of her head.

“Uh...wow, Rarity going to have a heart attack when she see this,” Spike said, nearly speechless at what Dusk had given him. Spike turned the CD cover over to see the list of songs on them, all of which somehow related back to the color green, his name, or something relating to a dragon. ‘Cyclone wouldn’t… well, she did react pretty strongly to when Rarity was trying to get me to go back to Ponyville…’ “Dusk, uh… how would a dragoness normally react if she thought someone was after her...mate?” Spike gulped as he said the last word.

Dusk laughed loudly as he patted Spike on the back. He shrugged his shoulders as he hopped off of the table after Spike handed the CD back to him. “Well, that depends on the dragoness, Spike,” he started, placing the CD back into his pocket for safe-keeping, since Jinx wanted to check out Sweetie Belle’s music. “But in general, the reaction is usually pretty aggressive. Even for some of the more...laid-back ones.”

Spike thought to himself for a moment, wondering how Cyclone would react if she found out about the album. ‘I don’t think she’d really attack Sweetie… but…’ His mind went back to how the pale dragoness had reacted to Rarity trying to ‘take’ him. Thinking on it, Spike realized he thought Cyclone was absolutely adorable when she was furious. With as tame as Rarity had been during that encounter, though… ‘Ponyfeathers, she may actually hurt Sweetie.’ He dropped his head with a long drawn out sigh.

All Dusk could do was pat Spike on his shoulder at little bit to snap him out of his funk. “C’mon Drake, it probably won’t end all that bad,” Dusk said as he moved his hands into his torn blue jeans, mustering up the best smile he could.

Spike nodded his head, more than ready to head back to High Moon to tell the others about their unexpected victory today. Hopefully, Wolf wouldn’t be mad at them… maybe.

After leaving Canterlot, Quill and the others began making their way back to High Moon. At first the three were worried that Rydder would have troubles descending the mountain, but the sentinel proved to the three that he was more nimble and agile than his body let on. So with that worry out of the way, they continued through the Everfree and on to the temple to tell the others what had happened.

As they reached High Moon, both Quill and Spike were happy to see that their Elements could still work just like the fire-stones to open the doors to the temple and city ruins. At least Blaze wouldn’t have to strain herself with making a whole new pair of them. “Spike, let me do all the talking for Rydder,” Quill said as they descended the steps to Blaze’s work area, figuring that was where everyone would be waiting for them. “I just hope there’s space to keep all of the sentinels.”

“Well, Isis has told me about some underground tunnels,” Frost added, a little worried about what the alpha dog would have to say about what they’d been through today. “So if there really are some, I’m sure it will work out, Quill.”

Quill nodded her head as she let out a small sigh, reaching the bottom of the stairs. “Me too, Frost,” she said before opening the door with her pendant. When the door was opened, Quill saw the rest of the pack sitting or standing around Blaze’s work area - along with some new visitors that she didn’t know. All eyes turned to them as the group walked into the work area.

“Hey guys,” Quill greeted the group with the best convincing smile on her face. “We’re home, and boy, do we have the story to tell you all.”

Wolf quickly let out a sigh of relief, seeing that the twins and Frost were back, but then caught sight of Rydder walking behind the group. “I’m guessing that it has something to do with the walking suit of armor behind you, wouldn’t it Quill?” Wolf questioned as he moved away from Blaze’s table, walking closer to them to see the bandages on their bodies. “What happened, and why are you guys injured?”

On hearing they were injured, Blaze and Cyclone both stood up from where they were at. Blaze moved to stand by Wolf and look them over, worry and anger warring in her eyes. She saw the bandage covering Quill’s left eye, and a gasp escaped the matronly mare. “Who?” Blaze asked, trying to keep her draconic magic from overtaking her. She took a step closer to Quill and her hands came up to either side of the dragoness’ face, cradling it. “Who hurt you?”

Quill tried to fight Blaze off gently, telling the mare that she was fine, that it was just a cut - and ignored the sideways look that Frost gave her. Blaze held Quill’s face a moment longer, before Wolf pulled her back gently. She shot an angry look at Wolf for a moment, before visibly calming herself down. She looked back at the young pair of lovers, before asking again, in a quiet tone that demanded answers, “Who hurt you?”

Quill and Frost thought her eyes seemed especially sharp as she took in their injuries again. Quill could have sworn she had seen black markings moving down from the tip of the unicorn’s horn for a moment, but they’d disappeared nearly as fast as they’d spiralled down it. The young pair of lovers exchanged looks, unsure of how to tell them what happened.

Spike, meanwhile, had ignored everyone but Cyclone as he walked into the work area. He moved past Quill and Frost, meeting Cyclone as she went to look at his injuries.

“Spike, are you okay? Do you-” Spike cut her off when he pressed his lips against hers, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her tight against him. He ignored the aches from his wounds, just focusing on Cyclone. It only took a moment to feel her wrapping her arms around his neck and moaning softly into the kiss.

“Eugh, something I never wanted to see,” Quill gagged, turning to focus on Wolf and Blaze. At least now she had something to ignore to help her focus. “Like I said,” Quill started, looking into the dog’s eyes before sighing again. “We got one helluva story for you guys.” Wolf and Blaze looked the younger members over once more, their eyes flicking to Spike’s own wounds. They looked at each other for a long moment before nodding and going back to their places at Blaze’s worktable.

Spike had finally pulled out of the kiss with Cyclone, and just had his forehead tilted down, leaning on hers, a goofy smile planted on his face. Cyclone had finally regained her breath, and she rubbed her nose against Spike’s, giggling softly. “I missed you too, big guy.”

“C’mon, loverdrake, we need to let everyone know what happened,” Quill swatted her brother’s shoulder as she walked by him, moving towards one of the tables. “And Cyclone especially needs to know.” Quill wasn’t going to let her brother butter up his dragonfriend so she wouldn’t get mad at him.

Spike opened his eyes and stared into the pinks of Cyclone’s, seeing the worry that suddenly laced them. He gave her a reassuring smile, before whispering to her, “Hey, I’m fine. I promise.” He stroked one claw against her cheek as Cyclone looked at him for another long moment, his emerald eyes earnest. She nodded and led him back to the table.

The four younger members all got situated at the dinner table, while Rydder sat on the floor, much the same way he had in the hospital room in Canterlot. Quill and Frost sat side-by-side, one pair of hands clasped tightly under the table, with their tails nervously curled around each other. Spike and Cyclone sat very close to one another, Cyclone’s arms wrapped around one of his, with her head resting on his shoulder. Spike had his head resting on Cyclone’s, with his eyes watching Quill. He was mostly content to let her tell the story.

Eventually, slowly, Quill began telling the pack about the attack that taken place in Canterlot as they had been leaving the capital. She began by telling them how Frost had felt something off, and how they’d found the little filly that they’d later name Amethyst. How they’d met up with Obsidian, and their trek back to the castle. Quill paused for a moment, thinking before she turned to look at Frost and Spike. “Anything you want to add, Frost? Spike?”

Both of them shook their heads. Spike thought that he could wait to talk until Quill mentioned Amethyst’s power.

Quill looked at her twin for a moment longer, still slightly upset with him for doing the same thing that had gotten him killed in the vision. ‘Sure, he definitely saved Twi and Rainbow, but… eugh, I hope Cyclone tears him a new one,’ she thought to herself before continuing with the story. She talked about how Obsidian had led them and the Guard out of the castle to confront the sentinels and the one occultist they had seen, and how once they’d arrived, more of them showed up. She continued on about their battle, and when she got to the part right before Spike jumped in front of their friends, she paused before laughing. “Spike, I’ve been so mad at you that I forgot about our Elements.”

Blaze’s head tilted a moment before she asked, “Mad? Elements? The Elements of Harmony? I didn’t think they could be transferred unless the wielders died.”

At this point Spike spoke up, “No, these Elements are derived from those, though. Celestia’s taken to calling them the Elements of Defiance. Quill, want to show ‘em?” Getting a nod from his sister, Spike untangled himself from Cyclone and stood up. The twins held out their hands and summoned their new Elements - tendrils of magic came from Spike’s wrists and Quill’s pendant, flowing out to their hands. Spike’s weapons coalesced, their shimmering blades gleaming with an almost sinister intensity along the curves. Quill’s materialized as well, the swords blazing with an almost-seen fire that suited the dragoness.

Everyone in the pack and the new visitors, apart from Frost, was shocked to see that the twins could summon the weapons. Blaze knew that wasn’t something that dragons could normally do, so if it wasn’t something relating to the Elements of Harmony, then she had no idea what it was.

The twins showed off their weapons for a few moments longer before letting them go, the weapons drifting into mist before pulling back into their respective stones. Sighing, Spike sat back down and wrapped his arm around Cyclone, the pale dragoness leaning against him. Quill took her seat again too, shooting a stern look at her brother with her one visible eye. ‘How long is he going to put it off?’

“So anyways, Cyclone, before I continue, there’s an important bit that we’ve kind of left out,” Quill continued her story, directing her attention to her brother’s girlfriend. Cyclone lifted her head off Spike’s shoulder, not noticing that she’d gripped Spike’s hand harder. “So it turns out that after Spike got Amethyst to the hospital, she was able to give him a… vision of the future.” Quill still thought it was strange that the little filly had that sort of power.

“A vision of the future…” Isis spoke up for the first time since the twins had gotten back. “Those that can show the future do, on occasion, appear. However, I’ve never heard of it being under their control.”

Spike nodded, adding, “Yeah, she said she couldn’t really control it. And on top of that,” he shot Quill a look of his own before continuing, “What she showed me didn’t come true. I changed it.”

“That still doesn’t change-” Quill’s growing retort was cut off suddenly by Wolf.

“Ok, you two have been dancing around something Spike did to upset you, Quill. Spill it. No more avoiding it,” Wolf growled, tired of the twins talking around an obviously sore point.

“Ok, yeah, sure,” Spike sighed, nervously running his free hand over his head-spikes. “So, after I got Amethyst back to the hospital, that’s when she showed me the vision. I didn’t know it was one at first. It showed that the battle was going well, for the most part. Except…” Spike trailed off, reluctant to continue.

“Cyclone, Spike died in the vision. And then, when it came down to the wire in the actual battle, he did the same damn thing that led to him dying,” Quill jumped in quickly, screaming at herself not to cry. She would not do that out where everyone could see.

Cyclone pushed off his shoulder to get a better look at him. She met his eyes, her own pink orbs searching. “Spike? Is that true? Why-”

A palm slapping into the table stopped Cyclone’s question. “Because he’s a Cadjo-forsaken idiot, that’s why!” Everyone looked in surprise at Veil. She was standing up on Cyclone’s other side, eyes locked on Spike, with one hand flat on the table where she’d slapped it, while the other was balled into a fist. Veil seemed to have realized that she’d spoken and moved, a light blush showing on her face. “Er, I mean, uh,” Eyes flicking around to look at the other pack members and the unfamiliar guests, it looked like she’d lost steam already. She had instantly become the center of attention. Then her eyes locked onto Spike’s, and they narrowed. “Did you even think for a second about who you’d leave behind? About how w… Cyclone would feel? You’d just go and leave her to grieve over you?”

Spike’s jaw dropped as he stared at the furious hound looming over him. He always forgot how tall she was. “Veil, I don’t - I… it was-”

The sounds of Veil’s larger set of claws scoring the table interrupted him. She hadn’t even realized she’d unsheathed them. Taking a deep breath, she was about to continue when Wolf cut her off. “Veilstone, either calm down or leave. Spike had his reasons. I’m sure they were worth risking his life.”

Veil turned her glare on Wolf, who only stared back at her implacably. “Fine,” Veil muttered before storming towards the door, ignoring Cyclone calling her name. She waved her fire-stone in front of it, slipping through the door the moment there was enough space for her slim frame to make it.

Everyone stared after the hound, still surprised. Spike shook himself out of it and turned to Cyclone, asking her if she wanted to go after her friend. The last thing Spike wanted to do was cause a rift between the two friends. Cyclone was silent for a moment, before telling him that she’d give her friend some time to calm down. If Cyclone went after her now, she knew that she’d just end up starting another argument.

Quill turned to look at her brother. “So it’s not who I thought was going to be mad at you, but I guess it works. Still,” Quill paused, her eye moving back to the door before returning to her brother and his girlfriend, “I didn’t expect Veil to be the one to blow up on you. Better watch out Cyclone, I think Veil’s going for your dragon.” Quill ended with a smirk and a wink.

Cyclone was quiet for a moment, her own eyes flicking to the door before they returned to Spike. “Spike, why did you do it? You never told us.”

Spike looked down at Cyclone before answering, his arm tightening around her momentarily, “Two of my oldest friends were in danger, and one of them was the one that hatched Quill and me. I couldn’t just let them die, knowing I could do something.” Spike held his breath after he finished. He knew Cyclone would understand, but there was always the chance that she’d still be upset. His sister had been there, and seen why he’d risked his life, and she was still angry.

Cyclone looked at Spike for a long moment, pink eyes thoughtful. Then she gave a small smile, and kissed Spike on the corner of his lips before laying her head on his shoulder again. “I don’t know why Quill thought I’d be angry at you. You should have told me sooner why it was. I don’t think Veil will be as mad when I talk to her.” She took in a deep breath against Spike, breathing in his scent before letting out a soft sigh. She was proud of him, she’d have to think of something to show him that.

Quill looked at Cyclone somewhat incredulously for a moment, before stammering out, “But he- but… Oh, forget it.” She slumped back in her seat for a moment. She shouldn’t have been surprised, Quill doubted it was possible for Cyclone to ever get mad about anything. She turned to her own marefriend sitting by her, quipping, “She spoils him too much, Frost. We should have beat him back at the - you ok?” Quill sat up, seeing that Frost was still staring at the door. Quill nudged her, asking, “Frost?”

Frost jumped in her seat, shaking herself as she brought her attention back to Quill. “What? Oh, yes. I guess we’ll just have to get him when Cyclone’s not around,” Frost said with a short laugh. Her eyes went back to the door for a moment, thoughtful. She hadn’t been able to sort through all the emotions the hound had been giving off. It was strange though, there was anger, that much had been obvious. But sadness? And something that had almost felt like regret.

Spike’s jaw dropped as he looked at his sister and her marefriend. They were just being unfair now. Putting on as pitiful a face as he could manage, Spike turned to whine at the one that might save him, “Blaaaaze, Quill and Frost are being mean to me.”

Blaze giggled at the drake, before telling him, “Oh, don’t worry Spike. I’m sure they won’t do anything… too permanent.” She added the last bit with a sly grin.

Spike was left speechless as he looked between his sister, Frost, and Blaze. The three all shared the same sly smirk as they looked at the drake. Sighing melodramatically, Spike tightened his arm around Cyclone before saying, “Well, I guess Cy’s the only one that loves me. I see how it is.” Spike stuck his tongue out at his sister, Cyclone giggling at his side.

Quill waved a dismissive hand at Spike. “Well, someone has to, that’s for sure.” Looking over at Wolf, Quill continued. “So Wolf, apparently I became the leader for the sentinels that had attacked Canterlot. I was thinking we could house them here in High Moon, whaddya think?”

Wolf looked over at the sentinel, trying to think what use the pack would have for creatures such at them. Isis, seeing the curious look on her master’s face, began telling Wolf of all the varying uses that the sentinels could have for High Moon. Primarily in terms of reconstruction and defending. She also said that there was a perfect place to house all of the sentinels.

Now with no reason not to, Wolf said he’d allow the sentinels to stay in High Moon as long as Quill did her part in getting their space set up. The dragoness didn’t think twice before she agreed to the idea, as she was more than happy to take responsibility over the small army.

With that out of the way, Wolf got up from his seat to introduce the three to the three newcomers Lily had brought. Apparently she had convinced him to allow them to stay in High Moon as well. “Alright, sounds like you three had a long day, but let me introduce these three before we get ya’ll something to eat,” Wolf said, walking over to the midnight-blue bat-pony mare, light-brown diamond dog, and a second gray diamond dog.

“Quill, Spike, Frost, these three are Night Blade,” Wolf paused, waving his hand over the bat-pony, who was dressed in a sky-blue and white trimmed jacket that only reached midway down her sides. It gave way to a black top, and she had a pair of blue shorts tied with two brown belts that held several bleached pouches. She even a sawtooth short-sword that looked like a large butcher's knife.

Suddenly, a small off-tan furred creature, looking to like some sort of vixen, appeared from out of Night Blade’s lavender mane. Upon closer inspection, the creature also had not one, but two black tipped tails moving behind it. It also had a bright hot-pink jewel in the center of its forehead.

“Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you three,” Night Blade said as she bowed her head towards the twins and Frost, still amazed by the story that the three had just got done telling. After standing back up, Night Blade moved her long lavender mane out of her face before introducing the small vixen on her shoulder. “This little creature right here is my partner. Shakini is her real name, but I call her Kiri, she’s a…‘special’ kind of vixen.”

“Special how?” Spike asked, having never seen anything like it before.

Night Blade looked over towards Wolf as if asking a question, getting the dog to nod his head. The bat-pony then held up her left arm, prompting Kiri to run along Night Blade’s jacket sleeve, over her black glove before jumping away from the mare. Mid-air, the jewel on Kiri’s forehead began to shine a quick flash of red before covering her entire body.

By the time the vixen hand landed on the ground again, Kiri had grown to three times the size she had been. Her claws and protruding top fangs looked like they could tear through the thickest of hides. She also had small threads of residual energy coming off of her, with a feral look in her vibrant red eyes. Kiri was easily far bigger than any adult timberwolf either of the twins and Frost had ever seen before.

Night Blade laughed at the shocked expressions on the twins and Frost’s faces. “Kiri is a demon twin-tailed fox. We’ve been ‘bonded’ ever since I was a filly. In fact, she’s the whole reason Fang, Spirit, and I are friends in the first place. Isn’t that right, girl?”

Kiri responded with a howl that sounded like it belonged to a sabertooth tiger. And she looked it. She had a strong upper body, powerful looking fore and hind legs, long dagger-like saber fangs, and claws that looked fit to carve through solid granite. And that wasn’t even counting what demonic powers the vixen may have had, and what kind of ‘bond’ she and Night Blade had with each other.

“So awesome,” Spike said with a slack jaw before Cyclone gently reached over to close his trap, smiling.

“Uh, Night Blade, was it? This bond you and Kiri have… it wouldn’t be a blood one, would it?” Frost asked, watching the vixen strut about, showing off her powerful looking body to her and the others.

“Actually, yes, yes it would be,” Night Blade answered, sounding surprise that Frost knew anything about demonic creatures. Though, as she gave the mare another look over, she supposed she shouldn’t have been that surprised. “Yeah, it’s a blood-pack I made with her when I was a filly. Don’t remember too much of it though, what with the blood loss and all…”

“I see,” Frost replied, mostly to herself. Frost continued to keep her thoughts to herself as Night Blade placed two of her fingers into her mouth to let out a small whistle, signaling Kiri to change back into her smaller size.

After letting out what could only be described as a cute howl, the vixen then moved over to Rydder, hopping onto his leg to examine him closer like the twins’ phoenixes had been. Rydder moved his head over to the vixen, looking down at her but not doing anything to discourage Kiri from moving around him. “Kiri, what have I told you about climbing on people?” Night Blade half-scolded her while Kiri continued to move up to the sentinel’s head. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Oh don’t worry about it,” Quill said, waving off the bat-pony’s worries, and still surprised at the little vixen’s capabilities. “He can handle himself. Isn’t that right, Rydder?” Slowly, while Kiri and the phoenixes were still testing the suit of armor, Rydder turned his head towards Quill, and simply stared. “Yeah, he can handle it.”

“Heh,” Night Blade giggled, still finding the suit of armor sitting on the ground quite the curious spectacle, especially with the story that Quill told about him. “Well then, I hope we can become real close friends.”

Quill and the other two nodded their heads towards the mare, all quite interested in the fact that she was a bat-pony, since they had never met one before.

“Fang,” Wolf continued, waving his hand over towards the light-brown diamond dog. He was wearing a black sleeveless jacket that had a symbol of a white feather in most of the center of it, a blue and purple star-shaped pendant around his neck, and a pair of long dark-brown pants that were held up with a black belt that had one large bleached pouch at his side.

“Hey it’s cool to meet you guys,” Fang said in a raspy voice, giving the three a toothy smile as he rubbed his hand through his black hair. He quickly locked his sharp bright green eyes on each of the three, smirking a little.“Sounds like you had a hard fight today, I wouldn't mind sparring with you sometime.”

“Wow Fang, already flexing your muscles,” Night Blade teased, elbowing her dogfriend in his chest before wrapping her arms around him when he staggered. “Don’t you think that they’re a little out of your league, hm?”

Fang began laughing a little as he scratched his cheek with a claw. “H-heh, Night c’mon…” Night Blade continued to display her affection for Fang while Wolf moved onto the last of the three newcomers.

“And finally, Spirit,” Wolf said, waving his hand over the second canine, dressed in a similar outfit as Fang. The main difference between the two’s clothing was that the jacket was a light-gray with a black feather in the center, and that his pants were black in color. The only other notable thing on him were the black gloves he had on, both of which had a pale-white gem in the center on the back of his hands, much like Spike’s.

“Hello, like Alpha just said, my name’s Spirit,” he said with a friendly and respectful smile on his face before waving over to his two friends. “Fang and I were raised in the same den before we met Night and Kiri. Just like Night said, we met because of Kiri and these things right here.”

Spirit held up his hands to showcase the gems, which gave off a faded shine. “These babies can store up energy from movement, and pass that onto me for a short while.” Both the twins and Frost perked up upon hearing this, the twins already knowing what kind of gems and magic they were, while Frost was just generally impressed.

“Hey Quill, doesn’t that sound like…”

“Kinetic magic,” Quill finished for her twin. The three newcomers tilted their heads, as they’d never really found out what kind of gems were on Spirit’s wrists, or why they allowed him to use magic every time they stored up energy. “Kinetic crystals. And Twi said they were only found in the Crystal Empire.”

“Uh, who and what now?”

“Spirit, our new friend,” Quill started, suddenly moving next to Spirit and taking hold of his wrist. “You are in possession of something that’s called kinetic crystals, rumored to only grow in the Crystal Empire and beyond, way north from here in the frigid tundra.”

All Spirit could do was look down at the dragoness as she continued to eye the crystals on his wrists. He looked over towards Lily standing near the den’s mothers, but all he got was a small smile from the flutterpony.

“And from what I remember, it’s the unicorns from the Henosis kingdom that practice kinetic magic. Twilight was always interested in that kind of magic, too,” Spike said as he scratched the back of his head for a moment. “Um, Isis, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about kinetic magic, would you? Just to help Spirit out.”

“Uh, th-that’s not really necessary. I can handle it,” Spirit said, not wanting to bother either one of the Den-Mothers. Though in all honesty, thus far, Spirit hadn’t been able to use the abilities the crystals gave him as well as he would’ve liked. “There’s no need for the Alpha-Mothers to worry about it. All I need is some more training.”

“Training will get you only so far, Spirit,” Isis said from Blaze’s work station. She took a moment to think back to any information about the Henosis kingdom and their practices she could remember. “Not much was known of the Henosis kingdom geologically speaking, due to the frozen barrier that is the kingdom’s cold weather. However, the archives should hold some information, if you can find it.”

“Heh, that shouldn’t be too much trouble for me,” Spike said in a confident manner as he rubbed his claws against his now-weathered shirt. “I should be able to help with that much. And I bet Twilight still has a few books about kinetic magic back at the library.”

“You guys are willing to go out your way to help me?” Spirit asked. The twins looked between each other before merely shrugging and nodding their heads wordlessly. Spirit looked back to his two friends, only getting a firm nod from Fang and an encouraging motion from Night. “Thanks, it means a lot to us that you guys are already taking us in with the pack.”

“Well then, just make sure you don’t disappoint us. Heh, just kidding,” Quill said, tapping Spirit on the chest with the back of her hand as she moved to stand in front of him. “The name’s Quill Dragul,” she started, pointing a thumb to her chest before motioning it over to Spike. “This is my twin brother Spike Dragul, and that lovely mare over there is my marefriend Frost.”

The three newcomers all waved over at the mare before speaking to the dragoness in front of them. “Well, it’s nice to meet you guys,” Night Blade said, still holding onto Fang. “I take it the big quiet guy over there is Rydder, one of the sentinels you guys were talking about so much?”

“Yup, he’s a pretty cool guy. You know, when he isn’t trying to kill ya,” Quill joked before Spike began walking over towards the smoke chamber. “You getting ready to eat, bro?” Quill asked with a raised eyebrow, having figured that Spike would’ve tried to talk to the newcomers some more.

“Well yeah, I mean, we haven’t eaten anything all day. Sorry, but my stomach has been ripping me a new one ever since we got treated in the medical ward. You would think they’d feed us for saving Canterlot or something,” Spike joked as he opened the chamber’s door, only for Cyclone to pull on his tail to get him away. “Cy, what are you doing?”

The dragoness continued to pull her drake away from the chamber, pushing him into a chair at the dinner table. “Making you sit, I’ll handle fixing something for you,” she said, snaking her hand down against Spike’s cargo shorts to squeeze his inner thigh. “And I’m definitely going to make something you’ll just love, big guy.”

Spike’s cheeks took a rosy hue at the seductive tone in Cyclone’s voice, and her hand on the inside of his thigh. “C-Cyclone that’s not necessary, I’m not that tired.”

Quill rolled her eyes at her brother and girlfriend’s playing. “Yup, that’s my brother alright,” she muttered while most of the pack laughed at the two. Quill walked over to the opposite side of the smoke chamber, reached into the small storage space where they stored excess fruit and vegetables, and grabbed a few apples, pears, and an orange. “I think I’m good with just some fruit really. I’m more tired than hungry, to be honest.”

“Same here,” Frost said as she rose from her seat to follow Quill to their bedroom. “It’s been nice meeting the three of you. I’m sorry to cut this short, but it’s been the long day, as you must have guessed. Goodnight, everyone,” she ended as she bowed her head towards the three newcomers before following Quill over towards the door.

“Quill, wait,” Blaze called out to the dragoness before she could leave with Frost. “The three of you went to Canterlot looking for answers, did you get them? That’s what started this all.” Blaze looked intently at Quill and Frost, before shifting her gaze to Spike. “Spike? Are you okay?”

Spike had gone deathly still, keeping his eyes glued to the table in front of him. He wasn’t sure he could trust himself to reply immediately. Quill had noticed her brother freezing up. She thought back to what he’d done in Celestia’s office. She hadn’t thought as much of it at the time, as she was too busy not doing something stupid herself - but Spike wasn’t known for his anger. So how had she been able to reign in her temper, but he hadn’t?

Shaking her head slightly, she moved over to Spike and put a hand on his shoulder. She could feel the tension running through him. Cyclone moved to his other side, worried about him. “Spike?” The white dragoness pulled his hand into hers, and Spike squeezed it in response before loosening his grip.

“Hey, dude,” Quill got his attention, and barely concealed a gasp when he looked at her. His emerald eyes were laced with a dark red, rivalling some of the best rubies she’d eaten. She shook off her surprise, and turned to Blaze. “We got our answers, it’s just… We need time to come to terms with them. We should have known it wouldn’t be great, but...” Quill trailed off, not trusting her voice anymore.

Blaze moved over to Quill and pulled the dragoness into a tight hug. “My poor, dear Quill. I’m so sorry.”

Quill’s smile was tremulous as she returned the hug. ‘Blaze, you will not make me cry out here, damnit.’ “I’ll be fine, Blaze. We’ll be fine. We just need some time.”

Blaze nodded before she let the young dragoness go. As Quill let her go, Blaze turned to the other twin, wrapping her arms around him from behind. She pressed her cheek against the top of his head next to his spikes, while Spike sat frozen at the table. “Spike? We’re all here for you.”

Spike squeezed his eyes shut, his hand tightening around Cyclone’s again. His voice was low, enough so that the three females around him could barely make the words out. “I… I know, Blaze. And it means the world to hear you say that.” He took a deep breath, steadying himself. When he went on, his voice was a little stronger, but still so soft that none but the three around him could hear. “We just need some time. We’ll be fine.”

Blaze just nodded and kissed the top of his head. Catching Cyclone’s eyes, Blaze mouthed ‘Be there for him,’ and Cyclone nodded. Blaze returned to Wolf’s side, and brought him and Isis into a low conversation. Quill looked at Blaze for a moment before her gaze went back to her brother. She hadn’t realized how much harder than her he seemed to be taking this.

Making sure that Cyclone would take care of her brother, Quill moved back to Frost and walked up to the door leading out of Blaze’s work area. After moving the arcane door aside with her pendant, Quill turned her head over to the elite sentinel still on the sitting on the ground with the twins’ phoenixes resting on his shoulders and Kiri on top of his head. “Rydder, stay here until my brother and the others leave for the city. After that, just stay on guard at the mansion. Okay, bud?”

Rydder nodded his head at Quill, acknowledging the dragoness’ order. “Alright, night everyone,” Quill said before she and Frost walked through the doorway and up the stairs.

It wasn’t much longer after that before the other members began to take their leave, Blaze and Isis first after Wolf saw to it that everything was all situated with the newcomers. After Spike had finished his dinner, Lily took the remaining members off to the mansion where they were to sleep.

Following the command of his master, Rydder got up from the floor after Kiri returned to Night Blade and the phoenixes to Spike. During the walk back, Night Blade, the more curious of the three newcomers, began to question Spike. Most of what she asked pertained to his Element and the battle that he, Quill, and Frost fought in. It was then that Spike went into further detail about the unicorns, saying how it seemed most of them had already lost their minds.

Twilight had theorized that it was the increase of magic that they were holding inside of them that had started to drive them mad. Spike himself thought it pretty much made sense, seeing how each unicorn had lost it when they were about to be defeated.

As he finished his side of the story again, everyone reached the mansion doors, where Rydder suddenly stopped. Everyone turned back to see what the sentinel was doing, when he suddenly jumped high into the air, landing on the highest roof of the mansion.

Lily was able to see that it was him fulfilling Quill’s order to keep watch around the mansion, guessing that sentinels didn’t have a need for sleep, for the most part. So after Cyclone and even Night Blade said goodnight to Rydder, everyone retired to their rooms. Spike was going to show all three newcomers to their rooms when Lily surprised him by saying that Spirit would be sleeping in the same bed as her.

Spike was surprised to hear that Lily was in a relationship with Spirit. She’d never mentioned him before, for some reason or another. Shrugging, he then tried to get Night and Fang a pair of rooms when he was again stopped by Night, saying that she wanted a room with Fang. Spike began chuckling, before directing the pair to a single room on the other end of the mansion from his own and Cyclone’s - to “give them some privacy,” as he put it, a broad grin on his face.

Spike told Cyclone that he would be going to bed after he showed Night Blade and Fang to a room upstairs. Lily and Spirit said goodnight to everyone before they left for Lily’s room. Cyclone stood thoughtful for a moment, before turning to Spike and saying that she’d see him after she’d talked with Veil, to try and see why she was so upset. Spike nodded before hugging her.

Spike led the couple into the room Isis had slept in before she started to sleep with Wolf and Blaze. After opening the door, Spike told the couple to have a good night before he left down to his room to wait for Cyclone. As he walked back to his door, stopping to tell the phoenixes good night, Spike could have sworn he heard Lily’s voice coming from her door, quietly shouting Spirit’s name.

Blushing, Spike quickly made his way to his room. Slipping inside, he worked on getting rid of the blush from hearing Lily. Sighing, he took off his shirt and tossed it into a corner before slipping into bed and pulling the covers up. He stared at the ceiling for a while, wondering why Veil had been so upset with him. He knew she worried for Cyclone more than she ever did for herself, but he didn’t know why she was so upset with him. It often went that way with the hound, he’d noticed. Some days she was seemingly just mad at him in particular, all but ready to take his head off if he so much as stepped wrong around her. Other days she was fun to be around, joking around as if she hadn’t been ready to de-scale him. If he’d been together with Veil, then it’d make more sense, but… Spike laughed at that, imagining himself with Veil. ‘Hah, that’d be the day. Maybe I could get her a gift or something, something to try and show her I’m not so bad. Still don’t know why she’s so temperamental.’ Laying there trying to figure it out, Spike found his eyes closing on their own.

Cyclone was standing in front of Veil’s room, with her hand poised to knock on the door. She wasn’t sure why she’d hesitated, but she didn’t know what was wrong with Veil. Sure, the hound was normally pretty standoffish with most folk, but in regards to the pack, she’d come to be pretty friendly with them. Cyclone had thought that Veil had liked Spike well enough - at least, Veil had never really said anything bad about her choice regarding the drake. Still though, it was nights like tonight, where Veil had nearly taken Spike’s head off, that made Cyclone worry for her friend.

Cyclone shook herself, thinking now was as good a time as any to get to the bottom of that as well. Knocking on her best friend’s door, she called out, “Veil? Are you there? Can I come in?”

She waited for a response, but as time dragged on, she didn’t think she’d get one. Knocking again, she cracked her friend’s door, peeking inside. “Veil, are you in here?” She looked around, before gasping as she saw her friend. Slipping inside Veil’s room, Cyclone shut the door behind her and moved down to her friend. Veil had been sitting by her door, knees pulled up to her chest with her head pressed against them, and her arms wrapped around her knees. She had her tail wrapped tightly against her feet, and she hadn’t even looked up when Cyclone had entered.

“Veily,” Cyclone whispered, sitting down next to her much-taller friend and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, “Are you ok?” Cyclone’s tail came around in front of her and reached over to Veil’s shins, curling around them in worry. The smaller dragoness leaned her head against Veil, waiting for her friend to answer.

Veil trembled at Cyclone’s touch, unconsciously leaning her entire body against her friend. She stayed that way, trembling, for a few moments longer before she raised her head and put her chin on her knees, still not looking at Cyclone. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy around the edges. Looking straight ahead, she said, “I don’t hate him, you know. He just… when I heard what happened, how he almost got himself killed, I got so mad. “ She squeezed her knees tighter against her chest for a moment.

Cyclone nodded her head where it was leaning against Veil’s shoulder, understanding in part why Veil was angry. “He did it to save two of his oldest friends, Veil.” She paused to giggle before going on, “I don’t know if there’s any braver reason he could have risked his life. I’m just glad he came back.” Cyclone squeezed her arm around Veil at that last.

Chuckling hollowly, Veil replied, “Yeah, he did. Drake’s crazy for you, Cy. You got a good one.” She leaned a cheek against her knees, facing away from Cyclone. Before she could stop it, she felt herself tremble, and let out a sigh when she knew that Cyclone would have felt that.

Watching her friend carefully, Cyclone wrapped her other arm around Veil and squeezed her tall friend. “What’s really bothering you, Veil? You shouldn’t be beating yourself up like this over just getting mad at Spike.”

Veil sighed again. ‘It’s now or never, I guess. She may not be mad. After all, she always wanted…’ Veil fingered her ever-present necklace that Cyclone had given her that was, in some ways, still a part of the younger dragoness. Turning her head to look straight ahead again, Veil glanced at Cyclone out of the corner of her eye before saying, “Cy, how… honest were you when you always joked about us being pack-sisters?” Veil felt a blush darken her face as she finally got that sentence out.

Cyclone pulled back in shock. That wasn’t what she’d expected to hear from Veil. As she stared at her friend in shock, a sly grin found its way to her face. “Veily,” she purred, “Are you falling for my Spikey?” Her arms slipped back around Veil, and she was giggling in her head. She’d always hoped that Veil would change her mind about being in a pack with Cyclone. Veil had been her best - and only - friend up until the High Moon pack had taken them in.

Veil stared straight ahead, not answering Cyclone for a minute. Then she leaned her cheek on her knees facing Cyclone, a blush still darkening her face. With a small grin, she said, “Drake’s… not bad, for a dragon.” The grin slipped shortly after that, and her eyebrows narrowed. “He’s not what an alpha should be, though. He -”

Cyclone cut her friend off with an excited giggle that turned into laughter. “You don’t know him as well as you think you do if you believe that.” She squeezed her friend to her, happier than she thought she could be. She’d been worried for Veil, as she knew the hound didn’t really want to be alone.

Shrugging, Veil shook her head, certain she had the right of it. But she didn’t want to argue with Cyclone over it, not now. “So… you’re not mad? You wouldn’t mind me joining you and Spike?” Her tone and eyes both screamed vulnerability, and Cyclone was taken aback for a moment - she’d never seen the hound open herself up that much.

With a smile on her face, Cyclone replied, “Mind? Veily, I would love for you to be with Spike and me.” She giggled again. She knew Spike would at least give Veil a chance, even if she had to convince him at first. He would probably look at being with both of them as being unfaithful to her. “Can I have a day or two to talk with him, though?”

Veil nodded, knowing that Cyclone would want to talk with Spike. Cadjo knew that Drake probably thought she hated him. “And Cy? I won’t be upset if he says no. I know I -”

Cyclone interrupted her friend with a finger on her lips, shaking her head. “He won’t. He may take some convincing, but he’ll say yes.”

Veil laughed at her friend softly. “Yeah, I’m sure you have your own perverted ways of convincing him.”

Cyclone looked at her friend for a moment, a thoughtful glint in her eyes. Her finger trailed its way down from Veil’s lips, stroking her cheek and neck. Her hand reached Veil’s necklace, and she covered her friend’s hand in her own and pulled her closer.

Veil was surprised, letting herself be pulled in. “Cy, what’re you -”

Cyclone silenced her friend with a soft kiss, exploring her friend’s lips with a tentative touch. Veil’s face immediately darkened with a heavy blush, surprised at how forward her friend was being. She didn’t question it, though, pushing back against her smaller friend to deepen the kiss. She overestimated and ended up pushing Cyclone down on her back, the giggling dragoness putting a hand against Veil’s chest to push her back.

“Down, girl,” Cyclone said with a laugh, a light blush darkening her own cheeks. Her eyes went down to Veil’s necklace, and she paused for a moment before pushing Veil off of her so she could stand up. Helping Veil up, she giggled again, before saying, “I’ll talk to him about this tomorrow… are you going to be ok?”

Veil nodded once, wrapping her arms around herself. “I just… dunno. Worried that it won’t work out.”

Cyclone shook her head, saying, “He’ll come around. Trust me.” She hugged her taller friend before telling her to have a good night, and slipping out of the room. She tried to figure out what she’d say to Spike as she made her way back to their room. Not coming up with anything by the time she reached their door, she sighed to herself. She’d figure out something tomorrow. For now, she had a drake she’d missed all day.

As she got into their room, she noticed that Spike had already fallen asleep. Figuring this was a good time for her to surprise him, she quickly stripped off her pants and went over to a drawer where she’d stored some of the clothes that Quill had given her. Finding the shirt she wanted, she glanced at Spike before quickly changing into it.

With it in place, Cyclone looked down at herself. The shirt had been ripped in the front, so Cyclone had torn most of the front off - except for the part that still covered her chest. Even that, however, seemed to be ready to slip up and reveal her. Making sure the back of the shirt was smoothed down, she slowly moved over to the bed she shared with Spike. Giggling to herself, she slid the covers down Spike, and slipped underneath them, on top of her drake. She ran her claws up his chest, enjoying herself for a moment before she woke him up.

“Spikey,” she whispered against his ear-frill, voice soft and low. “Spikey, wake up, I’ve got something for you.” She gave his ear-frill a lick and Spike started awake, jolted out of sleep by that one action.

Rubbing what little sleep he had out of his eyes with one hand, Spike’s other hand found its way to Cyclone’s thigh. Sleepily smiling, Spike started, “Hey Cy, how’d Veil -” Spike stopped, suddenly very awake as he noticed the hand on Cyclone’s thigh met soft scales instead of cloth. Blinking, Spike looked down to where she was sitting on him. Jaw dropping, Spike took in what he saw.

Cyclone’s pale scales complimented her black panties, some still-functioning part of Spike’s brain noted. Trailing up slowly, his eyes found themselves held fast when they reached her pale blue underbelly scales. As if in a trance, his free hand moved to trace over them.

Giggling softly, Cyclone writhed on top of Spike. “Spike! That tickles,” she admonished, taking his hand away from her smooth stomach. She locked her fingers with his, holding his hand gently. “So, glad I woke you up?” she asked, a teasing smile on her face.

Jaw moving uselessly, Spike finally managed to tear his gaze away from her hypnotizing stomach scales. When his eyes hit her barely-contained chest, he nearly found himself stuck again. He managed to finally meet her eyes, and found his voice. “I love you,” he whispered softly.

Cyclone jerked as if the words had hit her physically. “I… Spike, are you -”

He cut her off hurriedly. “When I died in the vision, I had a few regrets. Not telling you how I felt was one of them, and I’ve been waiting since to tell you. It’s why I had to make sure that I came back to you.” Voice trailing off, Spike watched Cyclone’s pink eyes intently. When they started tearing up, Spike said, “Cy, no, I didn’t mean to -”

Spike was silenced by Cyclone’s lips meeting his, her tongue thrusting aggressively into his mouth. Closing his eyes, Spike pressed up against the smaller dragoness, his hand on her hip squeezing. Moaning, Spike relished in Cyclone’s sapphire taste. Spike’s hand found its way free of Cyclone’s and he trailed a claw along her jawline, slowly moving its way down the side of her body. When it reached her waist, he squeezed with both hands, breaking off the kiss to look into Cyclone’s eyes.

Sniffing softly, Cyclone curled her hands up underneath her as she laid down flush on top of Spike, nuzzling against his neck. “Promise me something, Spike?” Her voice was soft, and Spike thought she sounded scared, for some reason.

He didn’t hesitate to reply, “Anything, Cy, if I can manage it. What is it?”

She sat up in his lap, grinding softly against his bulge where their waists met. At Spike’s soft groan and involuntary thrust up against her, she gave him a wicked grin. Trailing a claw down his chest, she asked, “Promise you’ll always come back to me? If you have to fight, you’ll come back, win or lose?”

Nodding slowly, Spike answered, “Of course, Cy. I’ll always be here for you. Silly girl.” Smiling, Spike brushed a claw along her cheek, Cyclone sticking her tongue out at him. Chuckling, Spike moved to pull Cyclone down to him for another kiss. When she resisted, though, he gave her a confused look.

Grinning widely, and with a heavy blush suddenly staining her cheeks, Cyclone took both of his wrists in her hands, and put them both back on her waist. Slowly, teasingly, she drew Spike’s claws up her belly and sides, writhing on top of him in a seductive manner. His claws reached the bottom of her breasts, and she hesitated only a moment before pulling them up to cup her large chest, brushing her shirt up and out of the way. She let out a moan from his claws brushing over the sensitive scales.

Spike, a heavy blush on his own face, had apparently forgotten how to breathe. Letting out an explosive breath, his gaze was glued to her now-revealed chest. Squeezing softly, he was rewarded with another moan from Cyclone. Tentatively, Spike drew his claws over her pale blue nipples, and Cyclone pressed herself against his hands, grinding their hips together. Moaning from his exploration, she pressed herself against the bulge in his pants, her blush still dark on her face.

“Mmm, glad you like your - ah! - gift, big guy,” Cyclone moaned softly, pressing down into his hands further so she could give him a soft kiss.

Finally able to tear his eyes from her chest, Spike met Cyclone’s eyes with a blush mirroring her own. Grinning up at her, Spike gave her another squeeze and a soft flick of his claws, earning a moan and giggle in turn. “I love you, Cy. And your ‘gift’ is pretty amazing,” he said, giving her a wink.

Giggling again, she captured Spike’s lips with her own, grinding and writhing on top of him. One of his hands left her breast and trailed down over her stomach, before slipping around behind her to cup the smooth scales of her ass. Moaning loudly into Spike’s mouth, Cyclone increased her grinding against him.

Moaning back up against her, Spike enjoyed the dose of Cyclone’s sweet and natural sapphire taste. This was the taste of the one he loved. The taste of coming home after a hard fight. The taste of victory.