Epilogue: Part 2

Spike just couldn’t feel anymore.

It had been like any other day, he had walked downstairs, about to get Rarity’s station ready, when he had just heard a crash come from the kitchen.

He ran in, and there she was.

Rarity lay on the floor, the ioun stones that had been hovering around her head for almost eighty years sat, inert and scattered across the floor.

It had just been so sudden.

She was healthy, alive, and beautiful, and then suddenly...she just...died…

That was it.

As he stood there, on the massive memorial to the Bearers that would become their graves, Spike simply stood and shook his head.

It sounded selfish in his ears, but...somehow he had wished she had been the last to die.

Old Granny Applejack, as she had been come to known as, hobbled up next to him as he stared at the diamond-shaped tombstone. “Ah’m sorry Spike…”

“It was bound to happen,” he said, with a sigh. “She’s mortal, and I’m...less so.”

Discord walked up to him, laying a talon on his shoulder, but said nothing.

Spike was glad that he didn’t.

He sighed. “I...I don’t know what to do...I’ve...I’ve just been dreading this day,” he said, before staring at the small, round, pearl-like stone in his hand.

“This...this dumb stone...I...I don’t know…”

“What do ya mean, Spike?” Applejack asked.

“Would it have been better if she never found it? Would I have at least been more prepared if she had spent her last days in a bed?”

“You know she wouldn’t have been happy with that, Spike,” Applejack said, moving slowly for the arthritis in her hind legs. “She was more happy standing next to you.”

Spike stared at the stone.

“I just don’t know.”

Centuries passed.

To his credit, he tried. He tried very hard, but once stories of great-great-great-grandaunt Rarity just became cautionary tales about how you should settle down with a normal stallion and have a family of your own, Spike just couldn’t take it anymore.

So he left. He just left Ponyville behind and found a mountain to sleep on.

He kept a little contact in the first few decades, helping Celestia with various dragon problems, and keeping them at peace with Equestria.

But eventually, he just...laid there.

He just...he didn’t want to deal with them.

He sat up there, alone for centuries, unmoving, but growing all the while.

Which is why, when a young filly approached his mountain, he wasn’t really prepared for what was about to happen.

Spike sighed, for what was perhaps the twelfth time that day, when he felt something tiny and small poke him. “Um...hello?”

Spike slowly raised his head, and looked down on a small white filly.

She looked up at him. “Um...hi, Mr. Dragon!”

He blinked.

“Um...sorry to bother you, but I had a couple of questions.”

“You’ve,” Spike said, in a deep rumbling voice, “come all the way up, to the top of my mountain, to ask me a question?”

“No,” the filly said, shaking her head. “I’ve come up to ask several of them.”

Spike blinked again, before a sigh escaped his lips, and he put his head back down to the ground in front of him.

“So…” the little filly said, with her simple, green mane, “how long have you been up here?”

“A long time,” Spike responded.

“Were you born up here?” she asked.

“No,” he answered in a deadpan.

“Is it true that you’re a fire breathing monster that’s only moments from snapping and burning Ponyville to the ground?”

“First part yes, second part no.”

“Is it true you knew the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony?”

Spike blinked, and turned to face her. “Where did you hear that?”

“Oh, it’s always kinda been a legend down in Ponyville.”

“Is that so?”

“Yup!” she said, as she skipped in front of him. “There are two legends about you, the first is that you’re going to kill everyone. The second is that you were the best friend of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and you’re just really lonely. But I don’t believe that one!”

Spike blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, I don’t believe you’re out to kill us all, I just don’t believe that you were the friend of the Bearers!”

“And why don’t you believe that?” Spike asked, annoyed.

“Because if you were the friend with the Bearers, then you would be the best at making friends, instead of staying up here and alone all the time.”

Spike stared at her.

“I mean, they were the best at making friends, and they knew that having friends was something very important. So if you were their friend you should know that having new friends is more important than not having friends. So I don’t believe that you were their friend.”

Spike blinked.

He opened his mouth, closed it, and stared at the filly, before he did something he had not done for a long, long time.

He laughed.

He laughed for a long time, before he finally began to calm down. “Oh...oh dear...And wisdom was found in the mouth of the child…” Another chuckle. “Tell me, dear, what’s your name?”

She told him.

He smiled. “That’s a lovely name. Now, dear, let me ask you something, what if I could get you proof that I knew the Bearers?”

“You can?” she asked.

Spike nodded.

“How?”

Spike smiled. “Tell me, have you ever had a dragon ride?”

Celestia had been enjoying a simple cup of tea, when the reports came in.

A massive dragon had been spotted flying over Ponyville and heading north, panic had erupted across the populace, and requests were flooding in for military support.

She had asked only one simple question. “What color is it?”

When she finally got her answer, she informed her servants that she would be taking her lunch on the balcony that day.

So, after a needlessly long interruption, she went back to enjoying her cup of tea.

She smiled at the thought of everyone still running around, panicked.

“Your majesty!” A pony wearing red dragon scale armor said, running up to her. “We have reports that the dragon will be here within three minutes. Where do you want the defenses placed?”

“Pendragon Shining Hooves,” Celestia said, setting her cup aside, “did I say anything about defenses?”

“Um...no Ma’am, I…”

“This dragon is an old friend of mine, Pendragon. He’s our guest.”

Shining Hooves blinked. “He’s...what?”

“Our guest,” Celestia repeated.

“I...um…”

Celestia smiled. “Why don’t you join us, Shining Hooves? I’m sure he would like to meet our latest Pendragon.”

“Is...um..is that an order, Ma’am?”

“I don’t want it to be, but I would much rather you be here.”

Shining Hooves looked between the table and the door, before slowly, hesitantly walking to the table.

That’s when Spike arrived.

Celestia could hear the panicked screams of the populace already, and snickered at how her previous warning that everything was fine had been completely ignored.

His massive wings could hide a quarter of the city, and his long trailing tail whipped around in the sky.

The beat of his wings echoed in Celestia’s ears, and as the large dragon approached she could feel the wind whipping around her already ever-flowing mane.

As Spike came into land, he planted his feet at the base of the castle, while his hand latched onto the balcony.

Shining Hooves felt the world pitch.

Spike’s voice rumbled. “Hello, Princess.”

“Hello, Spike,” she greeted, hugging his massive nose. “And you know better than to call me Princess.”

“Yes, Mom,” he replied sarcastically.

Celestia laughed. “That’s better.”

Shining stared, and desperately tried to keep his jaw from dropping to the floor.

“So, what brings you out here?” Celestia asked, rubbing the end of his nose.

“Actually, I need you to settle a bet,” the dragon said.

“Really?”

Spike nodded. “Let me introduce you to my new friend,” he said, before reaching behind an ear fin.

From behind the fin, he pulled out a young, windswept filly who had the biggest smile on her face. “Ohmygosh! Are you Princess Celestia?!”

The Princess laughed. “I am, little one, and what’s your name?”

“My name’s Rarity!” She said.

Celestia blinked, and smiled. “That’s a lovely name.”

Spike nodded. “It is a lovely name…”

Spike went on to live for millennia, and, as the King of Dragons, did much to help both his own people, and the dragons.

A long-standing alliance had been set up, and through some careful study, a discovery had been made.

It was the cure.

The cure to greed.

And Spike was the first to jump on.

In many ways, it was a perfect match.

There is one thing that can be both hoarded and shared, and that is knowledge. In the later years of his life, Spike the King of Dragons was famous for owning the largest library on the planet. Ponies, ligers, griffons, and minotaur scholars all across the world made pilgrimages to the Great Draconic Library, and never once did Spike close its doors.

As he gained more and more knowledge, he became more and more powerful, until no dragon could best him on the field of battle. He held the crown for his entire life, and many dragons, in an effort to take the crown for themselves, imitated him until they too learned that greed was a lesser form of power.

Spike had done much in his life.

He had many friends, and had done much for the betterment of both races, for many, he was a pinnacle of righteousness, and an inspiration to many.

That’s why, when he awoke one morning, and knew his time had come, the public began to panic.

The doors to the Great Draconic Library closed for the first time in millennia. They had closed, and would only open for one pony.

Celestia walked into the large library, accompanied by no one. As she passed by the rows upon rows of books, she couldn’t help but think that Twilight would have loved this place.

Finally she came up to the main atrium, where Spike lay curled around his old, greying scales.

“Spike?” she called out.

The dragon slowly turned toward her. “Ah...hello, Celestia. You look as young as ever.”

She gave him a soft smile. “Well, at least you have aged since then. You even seem to be a respectable dragon these days.”

Spike gave a slow chuckle.

Celestia gave him another smile, before she launched herself into the air and glided down next to him.

“Today’s the day, Celestia.” Spike said. “I feel it in my bones. The fires of the earth call for my flesh and the hour of my death march grows close upon us.”

Celestia nodded. “You have lived a long time, my friend.”

Spike nodded. “We only wait for the stallion of the hour himself,” he said, slowly standing and turning towards a large bookshelf. His massive claws grabbed onto the shelves, and began to pull the open, like massive doors, revealing a long, carefully cut tunnel beyond. “No one ever checks the mathematics section…” he said with a smirk.

Celestia laughed.

And they let time pass. A few hours at a time, talking about ages long past, they spoke and laughed and joked.

And then, as the sun reached its peak, Death finally arrived.

“Ah, Most Honorable Death,” Spike said, greeting him, “right on time! I was afraid we’d have to start without you.”

“Forgive me, King of Dragons,” Death said, “I had to stop to bring someone with me.”

Spike brow furrowed. “Pardon?”

Death smiled and stepped aside.

And Spike’s eyes went wide.

“Oh my, Spike...You grown quite a lot since I’ve been gone, haven’t you?”

Spike blinked. “R-Rarity?” he asked.

The ghost of the unicorn glided up to him, and gently kissed his nose. “Hello, my little Spikey-Wikey.”

Spike blinked. “W-what are you doing here, Rarity?”

“Well, Spike,” the ghost said, as she looked around the room, “You may not remember because you were a little delirious at the time, but I made a promise. I promised that I would be with you when you died. And a lady always keeps her promises.”

Spike stared at her, tears forming in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Darling, I mean no offence, but could we get started? It’s just so drab in here…”

Spike nodded. “You know, you used to tell me it wasn’t healthy to be in a hurry to die…”

“Health is overrated, dear,” Rarity said, as the two began to walk down the tunnel. “Honestly, though, I think if Pinkie has to wait another hour before giving you your death-day party, she’s going to blow up.”

“A death-day party?”

“It’s the new birthday, dear, and Pinkie has been waiting for yours for a long time.”

The four began to walk down the path, matching the ancient wyrm’s gait.

They marched slowly, Spike making his death march, smiling, listening to the soft, sweet voice of his once-wife.

“And the colors, Spike! Oh you wouldn’t believe! There is actually a color there that goes with lemon green! It is still hideous, but they go together!”

Spike almost didn’t notice the depth, and the wall of fire that would entomb him.

As they got closer, though, Death finally spoke. “Noble Spica Draconis, the hour is upon us. The time for last good-byes has come.”

Spike regarded him for a moment, before turning to Princess Celestia, who stood there, tears in her eyes. “I suppose it is time, isn’t it?”

Celestia fluttered up, hugging the dragon’s snout and kissing him. “I’ll miss you, my little egg.”

“You still have your sister, Harmony, Death, and Discord, rebellious child that he is.”

“Yes,” Celestia said. “But I will miss you, my first child.”

“Of all my mother's,” Spike said, “I never had one more tender or loving as you.”

Celestia smiled. “You always were so sweet.”

They hugged one last time.

And then Rarity and Spike walked into the fire.

Celestia stared into the flame and sighed.

Removing her horseshoe, she stuck her hoof in, letting the flames lick at her, but never being hurt.

Death stood next to her, a wing draped over her back. “Your time will come, Celly.”

“It still hurts,” she said.

“I know,” he answered.

“I suppose I must go up there and let the people know,” she said, pulling her hoof back, from the flames.

They walked up together in silence, crossing the distance faster now.

When they reached the doors, Celestia turned back, and slid them shut, hiding the tunnel from sight.

Death sighed. “Your turn will come, Celly, it will come soon.”