The Rise of Spike the Dragon

By: MasterBrony Forever

I would like to give a huge thanks to NineTailBeastBall for Co-Writing, Pre-Reading, and Editing!

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fanbased work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro, and the reinvention of the lovely Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement is intended, please support the official release.

[Warning OP Dragons!]

Spike and the others, haven't gotten a wink of sleep, because of the events that occurred last night. They've all been too busy packing their hoard of gems and other possessions, to get any rest. The small bits of memory they received, told them where they needed to go. Not to mention, the unexpected surges of power, destroyed a large portion of their home, as well as a good deal of their belongings. However, they still had quite a few remaining things to pack anyway.

“The food is almost completely packed Spike.” NightStalker reported as he checked the rope tied around his waist that connected to Scout’s tail. This made it easier for the black drake to get out of any shadow he fell into since, he has yet to gain control over his new found power.

“Let’s see, what else do we need to...” Spike was interrupted as Cobalt fell to the ground behind him. She was covered in a pile of over a hundred claw-woven dresses. “...pack?” he finished with a smile of slight amusement. “Excuse me Cobalt, but why are you...”

Cobalt held a claw up to him from underneath the mountain of clothing, and pointed to Glamour who appeared from behind carrying nothing at all. “Ask her!” She growled clearly annoyed.

With an eyebrow raised, Spike looked at his love who gave a sheepish smile in return. “Well, Cobalt offered to help carry some of my belongings, so I told her to tell me to stop when there was too much. Unfortunately, being as stubborn as usual, she ended up overdoing it.”

Cobalt burst out of the pile, and took in a deep breath of sweet air before she barked, “I told you, after the first ten you shouldn’t need anymore! Besides, we’re dragons, we don’t even wear clothes!”

“Well Cobalt, I may be a dragon, but I’m also a lady was raised in a town of fashion,” Glamour retorted flipping her hair. “My old life in Prance, has made clothing quite natural for me.” She then walked over to Spike, and lovingly wrapped her arm around his.

“Glamour, Cobalt has a point, we really can’t bring too many things with us. You understand don’t you?” he asked as he looked into her eyes and caressed her cheek.

Glamour returned Spike's loving gaze and after losing herself for a moment, she smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “I understand Spikey sweetie. I can leave most of my clothes behind, but only for you~.” She said in a purr as she boops his nose.

“Are you lovebirds gonna make out or are we gonna start moving soon?” Cobalt asked smirking.

Spike blushes but smiles at the white scaled dragoness, “Thank you for understanding.” he said as he gently stroked her hair.

Night made a gagging motion by pointing his claw to the back of his mouth. Scout chuckled at his friend’s immature behavior, but laughed even more as Lux playfully snuck up behind the dark-scaled drake, and kissed his cheek. The unexpected kiss, caused Night to blush fiercely, and nearly lose consciousness. Scout’s attention went back to the hoard, as he loaded the last bag of gems, and threw it over his shoulder.

“Come on now y’all, we gotta head out if we’re gonna make any ground today.” Scout said getting everyone’s attention.

“Scout’s right, it’s time to hit the road.” Night agreed walking up to him to get his own pack of gems, as Lux held his hand.

“Alright, does everyone have a bag of gems and other small essentials?” Spike asked looking at everyone as they each showed their packs nodding. “Then let’s get going!” he ordered.

The gang made their way out of the cave and down the side of the mountain. However, Cobalt fell behind after she dumped most of Glamour’s clothes into the lava pit. She felt guilty for a moment, but she and Glamour silently agreed after Spike talked to her. Since he allowed her to keep some of her dresses, Glamour didn’t care how Cobalt disposed of the rest.

Once they had reached the ground, they headed off in the direction that their instincts told them to go. The six dragons stayed close together as they traveled, for they always looked out each other during their journey. The first two hours of travelling was uneventful, Spike and his group, talked with each other to pass the time as they walked into an unexplored part of the overly dense forest.

Suddenly, Spike and the others heard some sort of screech. Looking at the sky, they could see that something was approaching them.

“Spikey what is that?” Glamour asked holding his arm. Spike stared at the incoming object closely to make out what it was. The creature screeched again.

A wide grin grew on the purple dragon’s face after hearing the familiar screech, “That would be an old friend.” He answered as he held out his arm.

The others looked at him confused until a red blur dashed above their heads, leaving behind a powerful gust of wind. When they looked to see what just buzzed over them, they were shocked to see a young phoenix resting on their leader’s arm, nibbling his fingers affectionately.

“S-Spike is that what I think it is?” Lux asked as she stared at the phoenix in amazement.

Spike looked at his friends, smiling at their confused expressions, “Guys, this is my old friend Peewee.” he strokes the bird’s feathery head, “He became my first real friend after a certain somepony, decided to forget about me.” He explained with a sigh of pain.

Peewee noticed how sad Spike was getting, and pulled out the picture he had hidden under his wing. Spike smiled as he gratefully took his friend’s present. “Thanks little buddy, I’m sorry I left you behind in Ponyville.” he apologized as he scratched behind his pet’s tiny ears. Peewee cooed, and gently bit his owner’s fingers again.

Glamour tried to pet the baby phoenix, but he shyly turned away from the unknown dragoness. “Why is afraid of me?” She asked with a small frown.

“He just gets a little nervous around those that he doesn't know.” Spike whispered to her, and she nodded in understanding. “Peewee, these are my friends, they won’t hurt you.” He assured the chick.

Peewee looked at the five dragons in front of him, then back to Spike who smiled and nodded. He slowly came forward, so that he was within the reach of Glamour’s hand, she smiled and gently rubbed the hatching's warm head with a single finger. Peewee was beginning to open up to the dragoness, witnessing how she made his beloved master so happy. He let out a caw, and sweetly nuzzled her hand in return.

Glamour smiled brightly at this, “I’m guessing the dear has gotten used to me.”

After a moment, Peewee pulled away and looked at the other dragons behind Glamour. He flew to each of them with either a nuzzle or a high-five with his wing.

“Seems like Peewee’s already warmed up to us all.” Lux giggled as she patted his head before letting him fly back to Spike.

Spike let the his pet mount on his shoulder, and nuzzled him. “To tell you the truth, I’ve never seen the little guy adjust to new faces this quickly.” he admitted with chuckle.

After the introductions, the group continued traveling but this time, with a little more insurance. Peewee kept watch over them from his bird’s eye view, to notify them of any threats nearby. Though because of the trees’ thickness in some areas, the chick would have to ride on one of Spike’s spines, to keep the group in his line of sight.

Peewee wasn’t exactly overprotective of Spike, and now, the rest of the Scale Six. It was simply, a fear of being taken away from his lifelong companion after all these years of separation. As far as Peewee was concerned, Spike was not only his friend and master, but he was also like a father to him. Spike smiled and patted the little phoenix as he rode comfortably on his front spine.

Several hours have passed, and somehow with a great amount of luck, the group didn’t encounter any difficulties so far. However, as they continued moving in the forest, they reached a swampy area with a rather unpleasant sight. The contaminated water released a foul odor into the air, and the trees were dried up from consuming the pollution.

“Spikey, I don’t mean to complain, but this isn't the best place to catch our breath.” Glamour said clearly disgusted by the vile environment.

“Well if I’m correct, we’re at the halfway point now, and we haven’t stopped to rest, since Peewee caught up with us a few hours ago.” Spike said as he sent the baby phoenix to go keep watch. “Look, I know this isn’t the most ideal place, but our stay is only temporary.” he assured as he held Glamour’s hand. “Once we’re rested, we’ll move on.”

Lux nodded in agreement, “Spike’s right, we shouldn't be here for more than a few minutes. I’m sure you can handle staying here for a short while.” She then patted her longtime friend on the back to comfort her.

With a sigh, Glamour consented, “Alright, let’s just stay clear of the swamp water, I don’t want to even think of what could be in there?” she said as she took a seat on the fallen tree next to Spike. The others left to find a separate spot within the swamp to rest.

Glamour looked around and noticed that she was alone with Spike. Despite the unpleasant sight and smell of the forest, Glamour’s only concern at the moment, was becoming closer to her drake. “Well, it looks like we have some privacy Spikey~.” the snow white dragoness said as she scooted closer to him. Spike smiled as she slowly wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him passionately. After about five minutes, the kiss came to an end leaving both of their faces flushed.

“Whoo-hoo!” Cobalt shouted as she swung from vine to vine in the swamp; she even pounded her chest like a gorilla, whenever she landed on a tree branch.

The rest of the group just shook their heads, knowing that Cobalt’s idea of resting her feet, was anything that excluded being on the ground. Interestingly, she never complained about her feet aching, even with how much she would whine about be woken up from her midday nap. Cobalt seemed to have so much fun being off the ground, she even chose to take her daily naps, on the highest spot she could climb to.

Night took his place underneath a nearby willow tree, as Lux gently held him on her lap. Right now, the black dragon was too tired to care about the marshlands’ odor. He nearly fell asleep, however Peewee’s loud screeching ruined that satisfaction. All their heads snapped upwards, as they saw the aforementioned phoenix flying overhead trying to motion toward something that was coming in their direction.

After a few second the ground began to shaking ever so often, as if something was walking their way. It continued to grow louder, until it suddenly ceased, leaving nothing but a temporary silence. It seemed like all life in the swamp and forest stopped, anything that moved came and stand still.

The group gathered up, and looked around in every direction possible, to see where the source of the disturbance came from. However, all they could hear, was the rustling of a few leaves from the trees and plants around them. They slowly backed away, trying to put as much possible distance between them and whatever it was that was following them.

“Uh guys… Ah gotta’ bad feelin’ bout this.” Scout whispered with a gulp.

Spike sighed knowing their time of relaxation had left them open to any form of attack. As the leader, Spike put the blame on himself for not waiting until they reached a destination with hiding spots. Despite being so intelligent, choosing to rest in this open-spaced marshland, obviously wasn’t his best idea.

“We should bail while we still have the chance.” Cobalt whispered from the branch she was perched on.

“It’s unusual, but for once, I agree with her.” Night uneasily agreed.

Another rustle was heard, along with a blood curdling roar approaching their direction. Suddenly, a single serpent-like head, rocketed into the sky clearing away the fog. It wasn’t long before several other heads, joined the longer ones. These heads were shorter, but they basically had the same shape and form.

Spike’s heart stopped as he stared at the magnificent, yet destructive creature. He had only laid eyes on one of these beasts once, it was called a hydra. Only this time the beast was much deadlier than the child he met before, this was a grown adult hydra with over twenty heads. It’s quite possible that someone cut off one of the heads, not knowing it would grow back with another.

“S-Spike what do we do?” Lux asked the stunned drake shaking in terror.

“Run...” He answered in a whisper that could barely be heard.

“What?” Scout asked.

“Run...” He repeated a little louder.

“Louder, we can’t hear you.” Cobalt said.

“RUN!!” He screamed.

The hydra’s central head let out an ear shattering roar, and the Scale Six were sent flying backwards. The central head pulled back allowing another to move swiftly toward the six helpless dragons. This one opened its mouth releasing some kind of gas. Spike had read about this gas many years ago during his free time. The hydra heads are able to produce extremely corrosive toxin in their breath. Even though their dragon scales could withstand the chemicals, they would still die from inhaling the toxic fumes.

Other than being poisonous, the chemicals in the gas made it dangerously flammable. This gave Spike an idea, focusing, he could somehow feel the internal fire in his body growing hotter. He held up his hand and closed his eyes allowing the memories of his past come forth and release his ancient powers.

Cobalt climbed into a nearby tree to conceal herself from the rampaging hydra. She was about to jump to another branch, but stopped when she saw Spike approaching the beast.

“Spike, what are you doing?!” Glamour shouted as she saw her drake moving toward the venomous gas that was flowing through the air. Peewee tried to fly to his master, but Glamour held him firmly.

While the others tried to convince Spike to get away, NightStalker observed his leader’s actions closely. Being as intelligent as he was, Spike wouldn’t be foolish enough to approach that deadly gas without a plan.

The corrosive breath was closing in, killing any of the trees, plants, and wildlife that it touched. The warmth of Spike’s hand was increasing as the fire inside continued to build up.

As soon as the wave of gas touched the purple drake’s palm, it ignited. The trail of gas traveled back to the hydra’s mouth and exploded. As the smoke cleared, the hydra was shown with one of its heads destroyed, leaving nineteen remaining. The beast wailed in agony, as the head skin burned severely from the explosion.

Scout, Cobalt, Lux and Glamour had their mouths wide open in shock, while Night smirked. Though none of them could contemplate how the hydra exploded, but judging from the smirk on Spike’s face they could tell he knew exactly how it happened.

After the Pinkie Sense incident at Froggy Bottom Bog, Spike became interested in the creature that nearly killed him. In his research, he learned about the hydra’s ability to regenerate one of its severed heads with two new ones. But the incredible process had an unfortunate weakness, fire. A cauterized wound in one the great serpent’s heads, would kill the skin cells and prevent further reformation.

The flammability of the hydra’s breath and blood gives away its fatal flaw. This was Spike’s plan from the start, he knew if he could tap into his pyrokinetic abilities he could ignite the gas and take out one of those pesky heads.

Scout ran up next to Spike, “Uh, Spike...How in tarnation did you do that?” he asked clearly still in a state of confusion.

“The poisonous gas a hydra creates is indeed lethal to living organisms. However, because of the chemicals inside, the vapor is also extremely flammable.” Spike explained.

Yet not soon afterwards, the agitated hydra raised one of its massive claws and swatted Spike aside as if he was a bug. His body went limp as he slammed head first into a nearby tree. Glamour gasped and let go of Peewee, they both made their way toward the unconscious drake. The hydra didn’t know what they were up to, but it wasn’t going to let them do what they want.

The monster raised its claw again preparing to strike, Glamour saw the shadow move above her and let loose a shriek of terror. Yet before the creature could go through with the kill, it suddenly froze in place. Glamour looked up to see NightStalker standing in front of her moving his fingers like a puppet master. Getting a closer look at them, she saw black strings that connected with the hydra’s shadow.

The black drake had a smile of mockery as he looked at the confused beast who was still frozen in place. “Don’t you know, the shadow has to stay the same shape as its owner. It’s common sense, even children know this!” His voice was deeper as he spoke.

Glamour looked to the side and saw that Spike was standing up with his eyes glowing. Night felt a shock go to his head as he heard his leader give him battle commands.

“Yes sir.” he complied as his own shadow began to rise up from the ground taking a physical form. It was growing as big as the hydra, yet Night himself kept his normal size. It grabbed two of the biggest heads and tied them in a knot. The two heads struggled, but hard as they fought, they couldn’t break loose. The other heads tried to attack, but Night’s control of their neck shadows kept them in place.

Night smirked at the predicament, but his eyesight was starting to get blurry. The other heads were slowly starting to move freely as the drake’s control began to wear off.

The three-dimensional shadow suddenly raised its left hand, and it turned into a sharp blade. The figure then opened its mouth breathing crimson flames to surround its newly shaped hand. The drake had to strike quickly or the light of the flames would interrupt his control over his shadow. Lunging forward, the animated shadow sliced the conjoined heads of the hydra with its fiery sword. As Spike just told him, burned skin would cancel out the serpent’s regeneration.

Yet there were still several more heads to deal with, and both Night and Spike were weak from the sudden burst of power. Spike had just enough strength to send a few final commands to the rest of the group, quickly unlocking their power for the short time. He then gave into the exhaustion and collapsed to the ground once again. The five dragons had every intention of protecting their unconscious leader, and following his short orders was one of the few ways to do it. This hydra was persistent on killing the young dragons.

Three heads snarled and leapt towards Lux, but she snapped her fingers creating a flash of blinding light, causing them to stop their assault. The light disappeared, but the hydra’s heads were still completely blind. While they tried to shake their heads to get their vision back, Lux focused the solar rays from the small amount of sunlight that was getting into the muggy swamp.

“As you wish.” She says in response to Spike’s previous orders. Sunlight continued to gather in Lux’s hands, forming a large ball of energy.

The hydra heads managed to get their eyesight back, and five of them recklessly leapt toward the golden dragoness. Lux then fired a bright beam of energy out of the orb toward the pursuing serpents. The wave solar light was large enough to incinerate all five of the heads at once. The golden dragoness followed Spike’s instructions perfectly, but her inexperience to her reborn power taxed her energy heavily. Night traveled to Lux through her shadow, and caught the exhausted dragoness in his arms.

Glamour followed her friend’s lead and raised her claws to point at one of the hydra heads that had yet to attack. She could feel the blood pumping through the beast’s veins, and with a snap of her fingers the hydra suddenly stopped moving.

Concentrating, Glamour could feel the water within her own body. She carefully heated the moisture with her internal flames preparing to attack her paralyzed target. Taking a deep breath, Glamour shot a stream of boiling, pressurized water at the hydra. The combination of the water cannon’s heat and high pressure, was blasting the beast’s skin off. She then split the wave into three separate parts to get two more heads.

The hydra was growing furious at this humiliation and began charging toward the six dragons. It only had a few heads left, but the Scale Six were still not used to the amount of power they posses and their current bodies could not handle the stress. They each were growing weaker and the hydra knew it.

One of the heads looked to the others and nodded before they all released another wave of gas. At this range, it wouldn’t take long for the poison to reach the young dragons. Night pulled Lux close to him as his vision started to fade from the mass loss of energy before he fell to the ground. The last thing he saw was a wave of deadly gases coming at him.

Glamour tried to run away, but that last attack had left her exhausted, and she collapsed in pain. Cobalt appeared in front of the gas and simply clenched her hands. As she did so, the vapor suddenly stopped as if it had been blocked by some kind of wall. She then lifted her index claw and spun it around. The gas was blown away into the sky and completely out of sight.

Cobalt looked pretty calm on the outside, but inside, she was quite furious at the hydra’s attempt to kill her friend. She disappeared into the air and reappeared next to the right end head with her fist raised. She had a clear look of rage in her eyes, even though she and Glamour don’t always agree, they still love each other like sisters. Her fist made contact with the snake’s scaly head, leaving a large dent near the jaw.

Scout took the opportunity to get Glamour out of the way, and the other heads foolishly let their down guard when they flashed their glances to the drake. Cobalt pulled her hand out as if she was about to throw a ball and concentrated the air into a sphere. She through the orb and it made contact with one of their throats with incredible force.

Spike informed Cobalt that her ability to take control of the air will let her pressurize it for both offensive and defensive purposes. The gas that nearly killed Glamour was blocked because, Cobalt compressed the air to form a force field. She figured since movement gives off wind she could increase the impact of her punch.

“Alright, I’ve had it with these freaks,” Cobalt commented clearly still angry at the creature. “Scout finish it.” she said as he walked up to the beast. He cracked his neck, he hadn’t used his power yet so he was still full of energy. “Gladly.”

Peewee suddenly flew up to Scout trying to tell him something. “What’s on yer mind little guy?” he asked and Peewee answered by pointing one of his tiny wings at the hydra. “You wanna help?”

Peewee flew around the Hydra’s heads trying to draw their heads away from the Scale Six. It was working as he got two of their heads tied together as they chased him. His small victory did not last long as the monster swatted him away. The young phoenix let out a screech of pain as he plummeted to to the ground.

“COBALT CATCH HIM!” Glamour screamed and the blue dragon leapt forward catching the tiny bird in her hands.

Cobalt gasped at what she saw, Peewee had three bloody cuts on his chest from where the hydra had struck him. Suddenly, he lifted his head and smirked, tears began welling up in his eyes. The droplets landed on the wound and it began to heal at an incredible speed. “Of course!” the blue dragoness exclaimed “The tears of a phoenix has healing magic.”

Scout sighed and turned his attention to the tied up heads “Dejavu.” he said recalling NightStalker’s earlier actions.

Scout then placed his hands to the ground, not seconds later, it started shaking. Suddenly a collection of crystal, rocks and other substances shot out of the ground. They surrounded Scout’s hands forming giant fists. Scout then leapt into the air and crushed the tied serpents with his newly discovered strength. “Only five more to go!” he said before feeling his body grow stiff.

Cobalt felt her body grow heavier from exhaustion and fell to her knees. “Dammit…” she said before losing consciousness. Scout tried to stay awake, but he had reached his limit. The last thing he saw, was the infuriated heads releasing another wave of poison with another earth shattering roar.

“I don’t think so!” a voice barked and the wave of corrosive vapor suddenly vanished into thin air. The hydra heads searched around but suddenly, a dark blue blur collided with gut of the monster. The powerful wave of magic pushed the beast back into the swamp’s muddy water.

The sudden attack is soon revealed to have come from none other than Princess Luna who stepped forward out of the swamp’s fog. Her horn was surrounded by her usual light blue aura of magic as she continued walking toward the exhausted hydra.

“Aw Lulu, I wanted to get the first hit!” Discord whined like a spoiled foal as he snapped into existence next to the midnight blue mare.

“You be silent Discord!” Luna snapped clearly not in the mood for jokes, “You can finish it while I get these six to safety.” She gave one powerful flap of her wings and went to take the dragons to Nubuatan’s castle for treatment.

Discord watched as she flew away with the dragons and the phoenix on her back and in her magical grip. The hydra was now standing and focusing on attacking the draconequus. With a rage fueled roar, the beast began to charged toward Discord who simply smirked and snapped his fingers.Golden flames ignited around the beast, and a pillar of fire engulfed the hydra entirely.

“Well that was fun.” Discord mused as he flew into the air to catch up with Luna. “It would appear that they will be coming home sooner than Nubuatan expected.”

“This is true, but I doubt he’ll be happy when he hears about this.” Luna says with a troubled expression. “Apparently, the Scale Six have awakened their powers a bit early. Aside from that, when Nubuatan sees their current state, he’ll be very displeased with us.” she let out a heavy sigh, and turned to look at Spike who was still unconscious.

“Or maybe...” Discord began slightly nervous, “He’ll be furious, and we’ll never learn about this so-called duty of his.” He already learned the hard way that Nubuatan had a short temper when it came to the six young dragons and their destiny.

“That’s not helping Discord! Besides, this isn’t the time, right now we need to focus on getting these six home.” Luna says sternly as she began picking up speed.

“Alright, though I haven’t seen him since he snapped this morning.” He said as he tapped his chin thinking about where the dragon could have gone.

Nubuatan had just arrived back to the Sancti Sacrarium. With a single motiotion, he changed back to his massive size. He opened his wings allowing the six artifacts to float freely out of his grasp. “It’s almost time...” he said quietly as he exited the chamber. After Nubuatan left, the ancient artifacts began to glow and shake.

The dragon noticed Princess Luna and Discord approaching from above, but noticed something else as he looked closely. Rage began to build up inside him as he saw his old masters’ terrible condition.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!!?” he roared glaring daggers into the two.

While Discord was shaking fiercely, Luna was surprisingly unfazed by Nubuatan’s fury “We shall explain later.” She assured in a calm but serious tone.

Nubuatan let out a growl, but then started to calm down. “I’ll deal with you two later, get them to the temple quickly!” he ordered, “They must heal and get a decent rest.” He said leading the way.

Discord floated next to Luna still shaking, “I told you he’d be infuriated.” he whispered.

Luna turned to him with a threatening glare, “Quiet!” she snarled in retaliation.

‘Tomorrow, they shall rise back into power… The last of their forgotten memories will be fully restored, and my purpose will finally be fulfilled.’ Nubuatan thought as they entered the temple.

Next Chapter: Chapter 17: The Change & Recollection Part 3 Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 44 Minutes