Chapter 9: Spike Part 1

“And I have searched all over the planet for clues, signs or anything at all about it! But it’s always the same result, nothing.” Daring said while looking down to the table and the forgotten tea she was drinking “You know I work alone, but this time I need help, I don’t know what to do anymore or where to look now,” she let out a sigh in defeat “You’re my last hope.” she pulled her head up to see the being sitting at the other side of the table.

“I see,” the creature took a sip of tea “and what makes you think I know something about what you’re looking for, if you haven’t even told me what exactly is ‘It’, Daring?” the creature asked in a strange yet almost mystic accent.

“Because you are the only one who knows more about ancient artifacts, ruins, treasures and knowledge than myself, so please, please, help me.” she pouted.

The creature put down the cup of tea on the table before answering “Very well, I shall aid you--” the creature was cut off as the pegasus launched from her seat to tackle him.

“Thank you! Thank you!” she shouted happily, wrapping her hooves as much as she could around the creature’s neck.

“You’re welcome, Daring, but I wasn’t quite finished,” the mare looked up at, smiling at her the creature continued “I shall aid you BUT only under three conditions.”

Daring ended her hug and sat down on her haunches, a curious look adorning her face “I’m listening.”

“Number one; Tell me what are you looking for.”

“A book”

“A book?” Daring nodded “Care to explain?” Daring said nothing and instead passed him a letter, opening it the creature began to read its contents, after several minutes of silence the creature spoke again “I…..I haven’t heard that title in centuries.” the creature said, his tone an odd mixture of joy and fear.

“You know what it is then?” Daring asked, concerned by the tone he used.

“Come.” the creature ordered as he began to walk out of the house they were in, Daring following him up close “if what this letter say it’s true, then I must show you something.” they continued to walk towards a pyramid in the distance, their trip long and silent aside from the sounds of the jungle “How long have you been in search of this book?” the creature suddenly asked breaking the silence.

“It’s the very reason I started my career as an explorer and treasure hunter, a task entrusted to me by Princess Celestia herself.”

“Do you have any more information?”

“All that I know is inside the letter I gave you, everything from my first meeting with Zezer, the Zebra chancellor, all the way to my research throughout the Ursani Empire,” Daring sighed in a tired manner “but no matter where I go or what ruins I find, the answer is always the same, nothing.”

For several more minutes the couple remained in silence as they advanced towards the pyramid, once they were outside they halted. The creature snapped his fingers and just two seconds later a tiger appeared carrying a torch.

“Have you ever wondered what lies inside my pyramid, Daring?” the creature asked smiling at the mare while taking the torch.

“Sometimes; like back when we were enemies, Ahuizotl.” the pegasus mare returned him a smile of her own “I suppose it’s some kind of tomb, right?”

“Correct, it is a tomb,” Ahuizotl lighten up the torch with a nearby flame totem “but it’s also a……..what’s the word for it? Tetzoquitecalli….ah, yes, vault. Inside I guard and preserve what’s left of the history of my people,” he explained as they began to walk inside the pyramid “that book is mentioned in the myths of my people, myths that go back in time.”

Daring said nothing and instead followed Ahuizotl through the dark corridors of the pyramid, the light provided by the torch allowed her to contemplate the marvelous hieroglyphs carved in the stone and gold of the walls, she had to repress her urge to read and discover the history and knowledge on them in favor of finding her answer. After many twists and turns Ahuizotl halted.

“My father,” he began “always told me the same story every night when I was but a child.” Ahuizotl put the torch over a pedestal, instantly the pedestal was caught on fire as it spread down the floor. After a couple of seconds a vast room revealed its contents of invaluable gold, jewels, manuscripts, metalware, fabrics, statues, paintings and many more things lay across the floor and the walls of said room. But what stood out the most was a monolith carved out of pure gold, standing proud in the middle of the room.

“Whoa” Daring said, stricken by awe. It didn’t last long as Ahuizotl began to walk towards said monolith, she following him closely.

“This is the origin of my race, the Catztecs.” he said pointing towards the first carving, where two of his race were bowing down at either side of a central being, a dragon-like creature for the looks of it, she noticed several more carvings below, arranged in a way to tell some kind of story, she was impressed by the details but there was something strange she noticed, in almost all of the hieroglyphs, carvings or manuscripts she had found over the years everything was the same color, be it history, politics, plagues, wars, etc. You name it, this rule applied to all except when it came to representing a deity, there was always something ‘special’ added that made them unique, some were their eyes, others their robes and others, in some rare cases, their entire body. But this was something she had never seen before, the dragon-like being was a mix of purple, probably amethyst, and green, most likely emerald or jade, and even though that was impressive, the eyes were what both thrilled and terrified her. Daring could swear those eyes were looking at her, seeing through her, almost as if they were judging her. The voice of her once former enemy pulled her out of her trance.

“ ‘We came out of the mud, crawling around like new born turtles. We were new, we were fresh, we were lost. The Gods came, down from the skies, to protect us and show us the ways. Be thankful to the Gods.’

‘The Gods gave us knowledge, taught us to grow food. The Gods gave us wisdom, taught us to communicate with creatures. Praise the Gods’

‘We grew powerful with weapons the Gods forged with eternal fire. We grew humble with guidance the Gods forged with eternal care. We grew prosperous with peace the Gods forged with eternal devotion. Venerate the Gods.’

‘The Book of Dovah. The book of their kin, a secret shared by Gods, a secret hidden from unworthy mortals, only True Servants protect it. Remember the Gods.’

‘The Gods leave for higher calling, to protect what they created. The Gods fell to darkness, never to return, only their legacy remains. Cry for the Gods.’

‘Secrets buried deep, chants of ritual unheard, knowledge hidden away. We fight and conquer, not for glory, secrets to find, Gods must return to guide once more. Die for the Gods.’

Ahuizotl chanted, sounding sad and apologetic at the same time, once he was done he sighed deeply “This is not the only time it is mentioned.” he said putting one of his hands against the monolith “Before the flood that drove my people to almost extinction it was mentioned that that book was the key to save the Gods, we fought to return the Gods of old, the guardians of our race.”

“Your’s were once a mighty Empire, right?” she said not looking away from the monolith, reading more of the hieroglyphs “What happened to your Gods?”

“Unknown,” Ahuizotl answered “all I know is what my father told me and what little I have found, myth has it that there was some sort of war between the Gods themselves, I don’t know more about it.” silence reigned for a couple of minutes, Ahuizotl waiting patiently for Daring to ask him something “She is narrowing her eyes,” he thought “3…...2…...1” as soon as he finished the last number Daring lifted her hoof to point at something “I knew it!”.

“That, in the fourth verse, what does it mean by ‘only True Servants protect it’?”

“My race was not the only one who the Gods aided. The Gods, in their great knowledge and power, decided to care for all creatures and races. They had some favorite ones however, in the universal tongue ‘True Servants’ means ‘Favored Ones’, my race was one of those, or so the myths say.” Ahuizotl rubbed his chin for a moment “For what I was able to find during my younger days, there were four more ‘True Servants’ of the Gods; These were the Ursas, Buffalos, Cervines and Dragons.” a sudden squee like noise made him look at his left side, he found Daring practically drooling in excitement.

“This.Is.AWESOME!,” she shouted as she took flight inside the room “I totally should’ve come to you sooner, just imagine all we could find about it, we could be famous!” she said as she landed.

“You already are.” Ahuizotl whispered.

“What was that?”

“Do you have another question?”

Daring landed next to Ahuizotl, looking up at the monolith for a moment before turning to him “Actually, I have two; One, What were the other two conditions for your help?, And two, Don’t you think your Gods look like dragons themselves?”

Ahuizotl nodded looking at the monolith “You are correct, the Gods look like dragons, but at the same time they aren’t, the myths and legends don’t describe it clearly, but they keep referring to them as ‘Something Else’,” he looked back down at her “as for my other two conditions, the second is that you must say yes to my third one.”

“Which is?”

“All in do time, my dear Daring. But for now, there are more stories about what you are looking for, do you wish to hear them?”

Daring looked up to him, their gazes locking in a silent moment of tenderness, after what felt like hours she answered “You’ve helped me enough as it is, I already know what I must do now,” she said hovering in front of him, she hugged him again giving him a soft kiss over his nose “but at the moment, I really want to know more about your race, it’s been a long time since I discovered something this interesting.”

Ahuizotl chuckled “You didn’t discover anything, I showed it to you.” he said smiling back at her.

“Semantics.” she said before nuzzling him.

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*Canterlot*

Daring was sitting over the edge of her bed looking outside her window, admiring the sunset in the horizon and the massive silhouette of a dragon sitting in the royal gardens, thinking and analyzing everything she had done so far and everything that had happened after her job was done, or so she thought, even though princess Celestia had paid her an enormous amount of bits, enough to never work a single day of her life again, for her services to the crown and even more after her mission to find the changelings, there was still something nagging inside her head, something telling her her job was still incomplete.

Looking at her wing she saw the ring attached to it and blushed, it would be just a couple of months more before her husband could enter Equestria as a citizen.

“Paper work sucks, hard.” she thought “I still can’t believe he proposed to me, guess Ahuizotl really likes taking control of everything.” she giggled softly as she turned her head away from the window to see her dear little sister playing with her daughter, while her husband worked fixing some clocks with a strange looking screwdriver “It’s good to be home at last, but there is something I must do first.”

“Auntie Daring, come play with us!” Dinky called, while Derpy was trying to escape from beneath her.

“.......Right after I spend some quality time with my niece and sister!” she murmured to herself as she jumped to the air and proceeded to tackle the filly.

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*Canterlot Castle, West Royal Garden*

Sabarius, better known as ‘The Light of the Dragons’, is a very impressive sight to behold, his size always made it difficult to visit any sort of place outside the Dragon Lands, fortunately Canterlot was built foreseeing any sort of visitors, including him, after all, if he were to enter the Royal Hall he would end up destroying it, the place was big enough for him, that much was true, but only on the inside. So instead he had to wait in one of the royal gardens, it didn’t disturb him in the sightless, he always enjoyed the scenario.

“Always so beautiful.” he said to himself.

“What was that, Chancellor Sabarius?” a guard pony asked, standing right next to his head.

“The sunset, it’s always so beautiful to look at here in Equestria, makes me wonder why I don’t come more often,” he said almost whispering, mindful of his voice, as a smile painted his face “sometimes I forget how troublesome my size can be.” he said as his tail hanged down by one of the garden walls.

“It is of no trouble, Chancellor Sabarius,” the guard said “ and in all fairness, it is we who should be apologizing,” the guard pony said, shuffling his hooves embarrassed “the report came just seconds after your arrival, it wasn’t our intention to shoot at you, Lord Sabarius.”

“Take no heed, young guard, it was my mistake for arriving forgetting the protocol, it seems that age is finally catching up with me.” the dragon gave out a small chuckle, making a little echo around the gardens and making the walls of the castle and the gardens tremble a bit “You cannot be faulted for anything, after attack you suffered from that group of rogue dragons it is only natural to be wary.”

The guard nodded as Sabarius kept watching the sunset, after a minute or so of silence another guard, this one an unicorn, came through the gardens catching Sabarius attention.

“Lord Sabarius,” the guard bowed “princess Celestia has informed me that she shall be with you in short notice.”

“Mmmhh,” the dragon closed his eyes and brought up one of his claws, rubbing his chin before smiling lightly “guards, may I ask for some hard cider, if you please?”

“Of course, Chancellor Sabarius.” both guards said at the same time before turning around to complete the request.

“So he is the hatchling,” Sabarius murmured once he was alone “not what I was expecting,” his eyes opened glowing a blue light for a moment “then why am I feeling so uneasy?” for a couple of minutes he pondered, using his Clairvoyance to see the sweet display of affection between Celestia and Spike until his hard cider arrived.

*Thirty minutes and barrels upon barrels of hard cider later*

Celestia, with Spike on her back and Twilight at her side, appeared on the vast garden Sabarius was at in a flash of light “Chancellor Sabarius, it is with great honor that I welco--” she began but was soon cut off as the image of two of her guards laying on the ground, drinking hard cider to their hearts content, while the great dragon on the side held several barrels of said beverage with one claw as he drank with gusto, was the first thing she saw.

The guards, upon being discovered, almost choke on their drinks and sat up faster than lighting, saluting their princesses with their mugs still on their saluting hooves, Sabarius merely let out a light chuckle.

“Always the social drinker, Lord Sabarius.” Celestia said smiling at the two guards, pointing them to leave, the guards blushed in embarrassment as they retired “May I present you, Princess Twilight Sparkle and my son, Prince Spike Solaris.”

Sabarius put down his barrels of cider and looked down at the mentioned princess and prince, both were mute and stunned, surely impressed by his presence and size “An honor.” the dragon bowed his head as best as he could, making them both bow back slowly.

“There is no time for formalities. Celestia, if you please?” the princess of the sun nodded, closed her eyes and a few seconds later a light yellow barrier surrounded them all “It‘s good to see you again after all these years, Celly, sadly the circumstances are not what I would desire,” Sabarius scanned the area for several seconds before speaking “where is Lulu?”

“She seems to be occupied by other matters at the moment, Sabarius,” Celestia said kneeling just enough to allow Spike to jump off her back “speaking of which, was king Euphrinos too busy to attend my call?”

Sabarius shook his head “Not at all, I told him that it would be I who would attend it,” Sabarius said, turning serious “after all, it is my responsibility.”

Celestias eyes widen up in shock “H-have you come to take my child away from me?” Celestia asked fearfully, making Spike and Twilight look down from the dragon to her, confused.

“Mommy,” Spike called “what are you talking about?”

Celestia went silent, ashamed to look at her son, Sabarius sighed heavily, gaining the attention of the little dragon and the new princess “Let me explain.”

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*Fancy Pants Mansion*

It was no secret that Fancy Pants regarded himself highly as a great host. The numerous parties, charity foundations and whatnot preparing him to always solve the needs of his guests, if they had any at all, and many kinds of problems that could show up, too. After leaving the castle he and his distinguished guests followed him to his humble mansion, nopony saying a word of what happened inside the room, sure they were talking, joking and doing everything they could think of to avoid talking about the subject, even with the almost heart-attack inducing arrival of Discord and Fluttershy, just as soon as they were going to eat dinner, and even after it no pony dared to talk, mostly because of his own efforts to push the issue aside, showing this or that artifact of great value to his friends.

But that didn’t calm the storm inside of him, his dragon friend was sheepish, easy-going, humble (in his own way) and just about ready to do anything to help a friend in need. Fancy also knew the dragon was a lot more than what most thought of him, even more than his closest friends he was sure, his little ‘chat’ with the nobles earlier proving him right in that assumption. Aside from the donut maker, Pony Joe he believed his name is, Fancy had been one of the few true friends Spike had in his younger days. He knew him well.

The little dragon was loyal to a fault, he tried to be as honest as he could, kind to whoever needed it, generous to a point of giving up something he desired just to make others happy, even if he was harmed in the process and his easy-going personality made him capable of making others have a good time, joke around and make others laugh, bringing a smile to them.

Truthfully, after the events of Nightmare Moon, Fancy began to see his young dragon friend as a miniature representation of the Elements of Harmony themselves, embodying all of their traits in his body, just in a weaker version of that of the Bearers themselves of course, the only Element he missed to posses was Magic, that is, until that evening.

For a moment Fancy got lost in his own thoughts, ignoring a discussion between Pinkie and Discord about some sort of chilly. The change on Spike, while terrifying, was not what scared him the most, no, being a unicorn (a noble with only the best of teachers in his colt days at his call at that), meant he was capable to understand perfectly how magic works, even if his own magic was not that great, and that there is a simple rule to magic. Raw magic power, like the one used to cast any kind of spell, cannot be touched, yet Spike had ‘grabbed’ and ‘tossed’ the magic ropes as if they were common ones. This rule whoever had one exception, only very powerful unicorns, like Twilight Sparkle before her ascension, or potent magic creatures, like Discord, could break or touch it.

That act alone suggested that Spike was a very powerful magic creature of some sort, dragons were known to be, regarding the magical aspect, highly resistant to magic and almost immune to all but very, very powerful spells. Not as creatures able to use magic themselves. Which made the fact that he had teleported using his fire, something that as far as he knew no dragon had ever done before, only served to put him on a higher scale or maybe even on a totally different one.

But there was something else he knew about his dragon friend, a little something most didn't even notice, and that is that Spike is a coward. For as long as he could remember, from the stories Spike would tell him from time to time and the rumors and stories of Ponyville, Spike had always opted to hide and let others save the day, him or just take the credit. He knew Spike was brave enough to overcome his fears and insecurities when it mattered, but for the most part he preferred to stay out of trouble, not because it was the right thing to do, but because he was afraid to take action himself. His cowardice, often mistaken by kindness, preventing him from even defending himself against foes he could easily beat.

“Or at least that’s what I thought,” Fancy thought frowning, after seeing Spike trashing and trying to kill everypony inside that room made him re-think that last view of him “is it possible that he had knowledge of what would happen if he actually fought back?” Fancy shook his head “No, that can’t be it, Sir Discord did say that all his pent up emotions just burst out without control.” Fancy tried to think of anything that could explain the transformation of his friend in detail, but he was sure that no pony was sure of it, probably not even Spike himself.

His deep thoughts were interrupted as the princess of the night began to speak.

“Friends,” all heads turned to her “while we--I, enjoy this joyful merriment, we must talk about the incident a couple of hours ago.” all the ones present looked down, except for Fleur, who was ignorant of the situation.

“Fancy, darling, what is her majesty, princess Luna, talking about?” Fleur asked her husband, confused and worried by their expressions “Fancy?”

Fancy turn his head up, looking at her eyes “My love, do you remember what I have told you about my friend, his majesty, prince Spike?” Fleur nodded, Fancy glanced at Luna for approval, she nodded “there was a certain incident involving him, just a couple of hours ago, minutes later after the meeting ended.”

“Oh dear, did something bad happened to that adorable little dragon? Was it another assassination attempt?” Fleur asked worriedly, while she had never actually met the dragon herself, she had heard enough stories about him to held him in high regard.

“Nay, miss Fleur, our dear nephew was not attacked by an assassin for a second time.” the princess of the night said, Fleur sighed in relief.

Satisfied with the answer, and sensing this was something she was not suppose to hear, Fleur got up from her seat, turned around and leaved without a second word, the rest of the group silently thanking her for her perception of things. For a full minute the dining hall was silent, no pony knowing where exactly to begin, until a certain shy pegasus spoke.

“I think….,” all eyes turned to her “I think what Spike did was very…...sweet”

Rainbow snorted “Sweet? Fluttershy, he almost killed you!” Rainbow said from her seat “He almost killed everypony inside that room, even if he was just trying to protect princess Celestia. That is not sweet, in any way”

“Whoa there sally, are ya accusin’ little Spike of somethin’ he wasn’t responsible for?” Applejack asked her.

“What!? of course not!, I’m just saying that what Spike did was not sweet or cool at that, he was acting like a monster again!”

“Don’t call my little Spikey-Wikey a monster, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity snarled “if anything, his little greed incident was ours and Ponyvilles fault, not his!”

“I didn’t call him a monster, for Celestia’s sake!” Rainbow semi-shouted “I said he was acting like one again, and after the whole book thing I can’t help but think how lucky we all were that he managed to turn back!”

“Spike couldn’t control himself this time, Dashie,” Pinkie said with a sad smile on her face “not until he hurt his mom with that ugly purple fire.”

There was moment of silence.

Luna coughed “Speaking of fire, is it true that Spike has been tainted by the ruinous powers of dark magic, Discord?” Luna asked, Discord only nodded “then, will you act against him too?”

“I have to.” Discord said as he summoned a chocolate glazed donut.

“What do you mean by that?” Rarity asked.

“I mean that I will have to train both Twilight and Spike to control the dark magic taint, Twilight is the one I’m worried about though.” he snapped his fingers, making a hologram of Spike and Twilight in the middle of the table “This is the taint inside Spike,” a black liquid-like substance emerged from his feet, coming to a halt just below his ankles “and this is the taint inside Twilight.” the same liquid emerged from her hooves going all the way up to almost passing her knees.

“It may not seem as much,” Luna said “do you remember what we told you in the hospital?” the elements nodded “in terms of raw power, dark magic is almost as dangerous as the Nightmares,” that sent shivers down the spine of the Bearers and Fancy “we are very fortunate that my nephew cannot perform magic, We do not dare to fattom on what could he become if fully tainted.”

“Can’t be worse than Sombra…...right?” Rainbow asked, gulping as she did so. “Right?”

“Like we explained during our time in the hospital, comparing Sombra to what Twilight Sparkle could become is like comparing the power of a baby unicorn against an Archmage,” Luna answered “but trying to compare what Spike could become, based on the little knowledge we possess, against Sombra or anything else, it is uncertain, it could be just as bad, nothing to worry about or a thousand times worse, we are ignorant of the outcome, nor we desire to garner experience of said event.”

Another moment of silence.

“B-but, my little Spikey-Wikey will be alright, right?” nor Luna nor Discord answered “Right!?”

“We cannot be sure of it, lady Rarity, this is the first time We have ever seen a dragon tainted by dark magic,” Luna threw a hoof up “but don’t be preoccupied, with the training Discord shall provide it will suffice the control Twilight Sparkle and Spike require.”

“But if you can’t, what will you do Discord?” Fluttershy asked.

“Simple, my dear, I will do the same as to what I will do to Twilight Sparkle.” he took the last bite out of his donut “If in the remote and most improbable case Spike gives in into dark magic, I will have no other option but to end him,” he heard a collective gasp “and before you say anything against me, just try to remember what you saw inside that blasted book, who knows what he could be capable of.” the Bearers remained silent.

“I do not find enjoyment in what I’m about to say, but we cannot ignore that our nephew--” Luna sighed sadly.

“Is dangerous,” Fancy finished “Spike is dangerous, is that what you were about to say, your majesty?”

“Yes, it was. Whether we like it or not, we must accept the fact that Spike has proven to be very dangerous, during his brief exploit he had the strength similar to that of an Alicorn.” Luna said, her expression hard to read.

“Are you suggesting we should put a collar around his neck, like he were a common animal!?” Rarity exclaimed at the princess of the night, her anger visible “My Spikey-Wikey is not some kind of filthy beast.” she hissed.

“That’s it, work for your goal, Rarity.” a voice, much like her own, said inside her.

“Calm down sally, Ah don’t like it eitha’ and Ah don’t like to think of Spike as a monster, Ah don’t believe Spike is dangerous. Ah believe Spike can be dangerous, that’s mighty different,” she smiled at her friends “just think of all Spike has done fer us all this time.”

“Why do you care for him so much? He has done nothing valuable for you or your friends, and you know it.” said a voice inside of her, just like hers but without her accent.

“AJ is right,” Pinkie said “Spike has been there for us all the time, from the tiniest most littlest things to the biggest most humongous of them,” she explained using her hooves to put emphasis “he has always being a true friend to all of us,” her pink coat suddenly seemed to lose some of its brightness and her mane some of its puffiness “but we always push him aside when he has all the right to be among us.” a sad smile plastered on her face “ ‘The Mane Six’, some call us that, you know?” her friends simply stared at her as she went on.

“Nopony sees that we're not ‘The Mane Six’, we are ‘The Mane Seven’ but Spike is always forgotten…...even by us," Pinkie let out a very uncharacteristic snarl "what great bucking friends we are.” the rest of her four friends looked down the table, knowing it was true.

“Yet you do nothing to fix it, you just joke around planning parties, the thing you love the most,” the voice inside her laughed darkly, almost mockingly “and you couldn’t even take the time to plan one for him, not even a small one like you did for gummy, well, he isn’t your friend anyways, so why bother?”

“H-have we really neglected Spike…...that much?” Fluttershy asked to nopony in particular “Have we being such terrible friends all this time?” she felt like crying and she would have done so if not for the comforting lion paw patting over her shoulders.

“Who cares? he is just a lowly, good for nothing, stupid dragon, you would be so much happier if he just go away.” a cruel voice said.

“That’s not true!, He was with us during my pet election competition, he went with us stargazing, we went to his birthday, we helped him out during his quest!, we!…...we……we…...” a knot formed inside her throat “he is always there to offer his help, with reward or not, we play joke, after joke, after joke on him, we never thank him enough for his help, we accepted an owl faster than him, we made fun of him for wearing an apron and baking cookies, for us, when we didn’t even asked him to,” a minute of silence fell between them, a silence filled with sorrow and regret “......so much for loyalty.” Rainbow muttered.

“Loyalty schmoyalty, you don’t owe that purple bag of scales nothing, you owe your ‘friends’ nothing, you owe nothing to anypony but to yourself.” a lazy and arrogant sounding voice said.

A moment of silence fell once again between the group. Fancy had the chance to see one by one the expressions on the Bearers faces, he was no expert on the feeling department but knew sorrow and pain whenever it popped their ugly heads out, like they were doing now. It didn’t take long for him to hear sniffles around the table.

“Its not fair,” Rainbow said, sniffling away a tear “totally not fair.” nopony said anything, only sniffles of the other Bearers were heard “He deserves better friends than us.” she hung her head down in shame, a tear falling down to the table. Silence reigned once again for several seconds until Fancy spoke.

“Princess Luna, I would like to know something.”

Luna turned her gaze towards her host “If the answer you seek is within our knowledge and is not confidential, I shall answer.”

Fancy nodded once “Thank you, your majesty. What I wish to know is how can Spike know so much of the nobles and other high society individuals? Some of that information even I didn’t know.” to his surprise both Discord and Luna smirked.

“My good Sir Fancy Pants, you’d be amazed how much you can learn by just listening very well, after all,” a flash of magic later and the room was filled with all sorts of ears “everything around you has ears.” another flash of magic and the ears were gone.

“Yes, I am aware of that, Sir Discord,” Fancy said while looking around, checking there were no more ears “but some of that information was very, ehem, personal and intimate.”

“Dragons have a very good hearing ear.” Luna answered simply “That and most nobles can’t hold their tongues inside their mouths for long, no offense Sir Fancy Pants.” Fancy simply smiled at her. Looking around the table she noticed the Bearers had stopped their sniffling but still looked pretty sad. “It’s getting late, W--I have to raise the moon shortly, I suggest to take our departure,” Luna stood up from her chair, she gave Fancy a small respectful bow “our evening was enjoyable, we thank you for your hospitality, Sir Fancy Pants.”

“The pleasure and honor was all mine, your highness. My doors will always be open for my friends.” Fancy said as he bowed back in respect “Please, allow me to guide you to the door.”

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*Canterlot Castle, West Royal Garden*

“Burned? Are you sure Celestia?” Sabarius asked in a sad manner.

“I’m afraid yes, the moment it ended the book simply burst into flames, not even the ashes remained.” Celestia answered.

It had taken Sabarius just a couple of minutes to explain the deal he and Celestia had made in the past, but quickly explained it was not his purpose, he had come to find more about the hatchling by himself, but what he heard during the next hours made him think and re-think all of his options. The first bits of information of his youth and early years was staggering but as time went on, his surprise turned into worry, he knew the hatchling was special; not something that, if not for his clairvoyance and the serious and truthful words of her eldest goddaughter, he would have never believed.

Sabarius closed his eyes and hummed to himself for several minutes, opening his eyes lightly he saw the hatchling using his clairvoyance, but just as he expected, he could not see inside him. Sabarius knew he was on a tight situation, in one claw a true living legend stood before him and if he could train and raise him in the path of honor, then Spike was bound to become the nearest thing to a God for dragons as it could come, but that brought up a problem, he was no normal dragon, he was the last of these so called ‘Gemstone’ dragons and to make matters worse he had no idea how to train him, as far as he could now guess, one simple mistake could turn him into an unstoppable monster.

In the other claw he couldn’t take him away from Celestia, or Equestria for that matter, while he was unable to see inside the drake he could see the tight bonds attached to those around him, taking him could very well be the worst decision he could make, but he couldn’t just leave the hatchling unwatched. After all, who knows what Wrath could be planning.

In the last claw, and probably the most important one, he, the great and powerful Sabarius, felt the same fear and uneasiness he felt in the past every time he looked at the dragon, there was something about him that was practically screaming him to run, hide and stay away from the hatchling. But there was also another problem with this, his curiosity was even greater than all his other feelings combined, he had to know for sure.

“Spike,” Sabarius said making the little dragon jump in surprise “do you know what is Clairvoyance?”

“Y-yes,” the hatchling said “it’s a mental ability that allows the user to see far off places or future events, at least, that’s what the book says.”

“Very good," he praised making Spike blush a little "but a master in clairvoyance can also do more than that, I, for example, can see deep inside living beings, allowing me to see their true selves.”

“Whoa, neat.” Twilight said both surprised and eager. “but it has a catch, right?”

“I see your student is very witful Celly.” he praised softly, making Twilight blush in the same way “You are correct princess Twilight Sparkle, the downside of Clairvoyance is that anyone with a strong will or high mental barriers are practically immune to it, unless,” Sabarius leaned in forward a little, making Spike feel a bit uncomfortable as his eyes pierced him “the subject allows the access willingly.” Sabarius gave out a small smile “As you now know I tried to read you as an egg, but I was unable to, I ask you now, may I see what your mind holds deep within you?” Sabarius asked softly, almost pleadingly.

Spike looked at the massive dragon, before looking at his mother and then and Twilight several times, then he spoke “Only if you promise me you won’t take me away from my friends and family.”

“I can’t promise you that,” Sabarius said sadly “all I can promise you is that I will try to do what’s best for you according to what I may find.”

Spike remained silent for about a minute before speaking again “Will it, you know, hurt?”

“No, you may feel confused after I’m done for a couple of minutes, but that’s it.”

“And if you take me, will you make me strong?” Spike asked with hopeful eyes.

“As best as I can, yes.”

“Mmmmmm,” Spike hummed shifting his legs nervously “alright, just please, please, promise me that if you take me I can at least come to visit from time to time.”

“That, I can promise.” the dragon smiled at the hatchling “now, all you have to do is close your eyes as you sit in my claw.”

“That’s all?” Spike asked as he tried to climb his right claw unsuccessfully until a yellow aura pulled him up “thanks mom.” he murmured and he sat down in the center of the scaly palm “Now what?”

“Just close your eyes and leave the rest to me.”

Spike looked back at his mother who nodded to him with a sweet loving smile, he closed his eyes and just a second later he felt a strange sensation press against him, his last thought before the world around him turned black was his family and friends.

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Sabarius entered the young dragon’s mind with ease now that Spike had allowed him free access. The first thing he encountered was so different from all the minds he had been inside throughout his life, that it almost felt like this was his first time doing it.

“What kind of mind is this?” he asked to himself, his eyes wide and jaw hanging open slightly in surprise “It looks like the Alicorn Ascension Plane,” he looked around the vast space trying to find anything but green mist, purple dots of light and gray looking skies “but this feels, empty. Empty and cold. By the divine creators, what kind of wicked sorcery is this?”

Sabarius began to walk around trying to find anything but that hollow emptiness that was Spike’s mind, he walked and walked for what felt like hours, every step hollow and deprived of sound only served to build increase the nagging feeling inside of the great dragon. He began to hum an ancient song during the times of the Dragon Rebellion, it helped him calm down the feeling of dread in the back of his head, after all, it would be very bad if he ended up trapped inside the young dragon’s mind.

Suddenly something caught his attention, a light purple glow in the distance, he knew it was different from the purple dots flying around the place for one simple reason, it felt alive. Opening his wings he took a light flight towards the source of the light, once he was near it he landed harshly against the ‘ground’ making no sound whatsoever. What he found nearly made him take a step back, there, floating a few meter above the ‘ground’ laid Spike, but this was not the same Spike he had meet.

This Spike was younger, far more younger. In fact he almost looked like a new hatched hatchling, but his scales were almost gray, the purple color on them barely noticeable, his little green spikes were in same conditions. He was curled up into a ball, while his body was surrounded by a translucent ball of light that shifted from black, red, white, purple, green and blue in fast transitions. And he was crying, tiny drops of his tears fell from his eyes and onto the ‘ground’, looking down for the first time since his intrusion Sabarius saw his clear reflection and as he did he also noticed several white straight lines all around the floating dragon, all the lines meeting up exactly in the center where the tears fell.

“Wha-” he began but a series of flashes all around him made him look up to find several spheres, each one of them a memory of the dragon. Sabarius looked around trying to find anything of value, most of what he saw were memories of his hatchling days, studying lessons, playing games or doing chores, some showed his relationship with several different ponies. Then, up in the back of all these memories one completely black caught his attention, using his powers Sabarius summoned it closer to him, the black sphere complied and soon was in front of him.

Sabarius could feel the weight of this single memory, it was staggering, not even his longest memory could compare to it, he swallowed hard before speaking “Reveal yourself to me.” he reached to the sphere and touched it with one of his claws, it took less than a second before Sabarius fell to the ground shaking violently while he moaned and growled in pain. Once he recovered enough he stood up once more, panting harshly.

“He was aware the entire time,” Sabarius murmured “he was always aware and alive.” his panting slowed down “Thousands of years alone, forgotten and lost.” hot steamy tears fell from his eyes as he looked at the floating dragon in front of him “Loneliness, so much loneliness, cold and darkness, surrounded by the silence of the world itself, oh young hatchling, I pray this memory is outside of your reach, for it is a torture I wish upon no living being.”

For several moments Sabarius continued to cry silently for the young dragon, he had seen and experienced the tiniest amount of suffering that buried memory held inside. He was no stranger to solitude, no dragon was, but never in that extent and certainly, not for such a long, long time. Once he composed himself again, he tried to command the memories to leave but only a few did so, including the black one, the rest remained and no matter how much he tried, they did no leave, so he decided to ignore them in favor of focusing his attention in the white lines.

He reached out with one claw and touched the one nearest to him, the line lit up for a second before a black flash of light appeared near Sabarius, he turned his head to see what it was this time and found a black mass of cloud inside a sphere, same as the young hatchling. He tried to see anything inside the sphere but the mass of cloud took no form, yet it was many times bigger than the one in the center, it was almost half the size of a normal adult dragon.

Sabarius frowned at the sphere “I thought I had complete access to his mind, yet even now his inner mind is trying to deny me.” he murmured both amazed and worried “what terrible secret are you hiding from me, Spike?”, glancing down he searched for the next nearest line, finding one at his other side he reached out with his other claw and touched it, the result was the same with a small difference, the mass of cloud and the sphere were gigantic, easily three times his own outstanding size. He watched in amazement for several second before shaking his head lightly. He looked down to the other lines, looking at each of them with curiosity and worry.

Walking around the sphere in the center, mindful to be not too close to it, he quickly arrive to where the next line was, Sabarius hesitated for a moment before touching it. This line showed the same results, the sphere and mass of cloud were of different size once again, this time they were the same size of that of a normal dragon. Sabarius repeated the process a couple of times, all of them throwing the same results as the previous ones including the size differences of the spheres, before long he arrived to the ninth line and touched it. The result was different this time, instead of the mass of cloud inside the sphere Sabarius was greeted by a black form with shining white eyes, this form was barely smaller than Celestia herself, the details on it were limited but he was able to see pointy spikes, long sharp-looking claws and a strong pointy tail.

His eyes narrowed as he studied the form for a couple of seconds, he tried to tap into it but got nothing in return, not even rejection, it was as if it didn’t exist at all “Or doesn’t exist, yet.”, Sabarius looked at the form for a couple of seconds more before moving to the next line, after touching it the same result as the first ones greeted him. He continued on his task until he reached the fourteenth line, the result was similar to that of the ninth one, but there were two great differences, this form was about the same size of that of a normal dragon but it had color, he was actually able to see it’s entire form.

A big green wingless dragon with powerful muscles, thick scales, pointy spikes and a big maw, the usual signs of a dragon succumbing to greed. And the second difference, and probably the most important one, he could feel it. Using his powers to tap into the sphere he was welcomed and showed the memories of a certain day the little dragon had lost control over his emotions, he saw it all and more than that, he could feel all that he had felt that day. Once the memory attached to the form ended, he saw the fears and hardships Spike had to suffer through to maintain his emotions under control, and his fight to regain the trust of the ponies in the town he lived.

Sabarius was taken aback once again, now it all made sense, all of these lines were not some kind of hidden power as he first thought, these lines and forms actually represented what he could become in the future, this only proved that what Celestia, Twilight and Spike had told him about The Book of the Dovah was completely true. He just stood there watching the representation of Spike’s greed, glancing every now and then at the other spheres (specially at the ninth one), the remaining lines and the sphere in the center. He continued his walk touching the remaining lines without even looking up to see the results, once he was done he halted “Twenty two lines.” he said to himself as he looked up to see the remaining spheres.

Five of them were just a mass of cloud in different sizes, but another three held forms inside the spheres. The first one was strange to him, judging by size alone the form was a little bigger than Celestia, the strange part though was that this figure was bipedal. It didn’t have the level of detail of the greed form one but he was able to make out a very broad chest, powerful muscular arms, big sharp claws, big thin yet pointy spikes, a long powerful tail and firm muscular legs. The second was even stranger, it was chubby but not in a bad way like some dragons tended to get, its chubbiness was almost fitting to the size this form had, just as big as him or Euphrinos, its legs short but very powerful no doubt. The third form was disturbing to say the least, it wasn’t a solid looking form but it wasn’t just a mass of cloud like the rest either, he could make very little out of it, aside from the wicked smile plastered on its ‘face’, for some reason that smile made Sabarius look away, it didn’t scared him or anything like that, he just really didn’t like that smile.

Sabarius tried to tap into all three of these new forms but was once more unable to feel anything from them. Frustrated, he bent down as much as he could towards the center sphere, only now noticing that the lines got thinner as they neared the center sphere. The falling tears of the small dragon inside gave him little time of stillness as the ‘ground’ waved the moment they made impact on it. After a while he saw small strands of color attached to the lines that had the spheres with forms inside them; said strands only visible near the center but only the sphere holding the greed form had a lively shimmer of color.

“Greed…,” the great said to himself “feeling, need, situation, outcome, Celly said the dragoness inside the book made it very clear to always be in control, then if that sphere represents greed,” he gave said sphere a quick glance “then what do the others--no, not only feelings and control, there must be something else, something I’m missing.” The dragon sit down bringing up one of his claws under his chin, he pondered long and hard, trying to figure out what was he missing, it was clear to him now that the young dragon feelings were a dangerous weapon if not controlled, yet with all he had seen so far he could tell Spike had better control over his feelings than he claimed to, most likely was that Spike had enough experience to handle them so well.

“Experience,” he took another quick glance at the greed sphere, he smirked “that was not a memory, it was an experience, then that means the other ones represent other experiences and not only a feeling.” Sabarius closed his eyes and summoned all the memories of the young drake he could, except for the black one, he had no desire to experience that again, quickly and surely he started to sort out each memory orb floating around him, trying to find any kind of clue for at least another one of the forms in the other spheres, his search soon found one such memory, this one memory was the moment of his hatching. Sabarius saw the moment when Spike was born into the world and just seconds later he was transformed for several seconds into a gigantic, docile-looking, chubby dragon.

His eyes darted to the sphere containing the chubby dragon form “A quick experience barely remembered, only something the inner mind could perceive. Now I understand, that’s why your greed form is open to me, you experienced it for almost a day and you had to deal with the outcome. You only manage to worry me more by the second, Spike Solaris.”, narrowing his eyes he continued his search for any sign of the other forms, he had no time to see all his memories, instead he focused on the longer and heavier ones. After several memories with no result for his search only one remained, a single scream of pain in the distance marked the beginning of the memory. And Sabarius saw what Spike had done just mere hours before his arrival.

Sabarius decided he had witnessed enough as the memory ended, he was lost inside his own self, trying to wrap up everything he had learned up until this point, yet one question shouted at him above all else.

“What...what, in the name of the Divine Creators, does the center sphere stands for!?”

Sabarius freed Spike’s mind that instant.

Part 1 End.

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to all who read this, I love you all guys/gals!

*This chapter is only proofreaded with slight editing, since my usual proofreader is a bit busy anyone who can take the spot for this chapter (maybe even as an editor if they so wish) just ask me*