The Rise of Spike the Dragon
Chapter 18: Chapter 17: The Change & Recollection Part 3
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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.
Chapter 17:
The Change & Recollection Par 3
Spike groaned as he slowly awakened in a comfortable bed, “Where am I?” He asked himself as he lifted himself up to look around the room. As he did so, he saw that there were several more beds that were each occupied by his friends.
While taking all of this in, Spike felt something warm and feathered brush against him. Turning around, he saw his beloved phoenix nuzzling against him still fast asleep. With a smile, Spike scoops Peewee into his arms and hopped out of the bed. Spike looked around for a bit to try to find out where they were and how to get out. Peewee had woken from his slumber and was perched comfortably on the top spine on his master’s head.
“How did we even get into this room?” Spike quietly asked himself. Peewee flew next to his master’s hand, and nibbled his thumb worriedly. “Don’t worry little buddy, I won’t let anything happen to us.” Spike assured as he patted the bird’s head. Cooing, Peewee perched onto Spike’s shoulder and chewed his ear affectionately causing him to let loose a small giggle.
Spike finally found a single door and opened it quietly so he would not gain any unwanted attention from anything that could be behind it. He looks to see a long corridor that was lit by a few torches lining the walls.
“Should we take our chances?” Spike asked his pet and got a hesitant nod in return. As he walked down the hall, he noticed ancient paintings of dragons lining the walls.
When they reached the end of the hall, Spike and Peewee came to another door. Voices could be heard coming from the other side. Spike put his ear to the door so he could hear the voices more clearly than before.
On the other side of the door, Luna was playing cards with Discord to pass the time. “Lulu how long are we supposed to wait for Spike and the others to wake up?” the draconequus inquired.
Luna placed a pair of matching cards on the table “Patience, from what I could tell, they’ve expelled so much energy to fight that hydra. Nubuatan wants them to be well rested so he can speak with them after they recover.”
Discord nodded, “Hm... he took it better than I expected. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was smiling when he saw them here.”
Luna shrugged and picked up a new card from the stack, “To be honest, I really couldn’t care less why he was so calm, I’m just glad he didn’t try to rip your head off again.” she giggled.
“You can be so mean sometimes Lulu.” Discord playfully whined as he placed two cards in front of her. “Any threes?” he asked looking at his hand.
“Is that Discord and Luna? Did Celestia send them to bring me back?” Spike asked himself before thinking things over, “And who is this Nubuatan?” questions were filling the dragon’s head. Peewee ruffled his feathers angrily, he would peck their eyes out if they tried to force Spike to return to his miserable life in Ponyville.
“Calm down little guy,” Spike said gently as he scratched his head, “Let’s not jump to any rash conclusions.”
Hesitantly, Spike turned the knob and opened the door. He was shocked at what he was seeing, it indeed was Discord and Princess Luna. The sound of the door opening, caused Luna’s ears to twitch and she turned her head to see Spike with a shocked expression. The shock in his eyes was beginning to turn into rage, but the drake kept quiet.
“Well well well, looks like someone’s finally awake.” Discord said as he stood up and slowly approached Spike startling the young drake.
Fearing that the draconequus would make a move to grab his master, Peewee released a small ball of fire in Discord’s face.
“HOT HOT HOT!!” he screamed in pain, the phoenix’s flames were stronger than they looked.
Luna’s eyes widened at the young bird’s sudden assault on the chaos spirit, but soon let out a small giggle in amusement. Once the flames had dispersed, Discord opened his eyes and blinked a few times before cleaning the soot and ashes from his face and glaring at the phoenix. The bird returned the glare and prepared to attack once more before hearing Spike whistle through his fingers.
“Peewee that’s enough!” Spike ordered before the hatchling could cause any more damage. Peewee obeyed the order and flew back to his master’s shoulder letting out a screech of apology.
After petting Peewee to show his forgiveness, Spike turned his attention back to the deities in front of him. “Alright spill it, why are you two here? Are you here to try to take me back to Twilight and the others?” He questioned as he stared daggers into the two immortals.
Using her magic, Luna created a cup of tea and took a sip, “Relax young Spike,” the moon princess said in the most caring voice Spike had ever heard from her, “We are not here to return you to my sister or the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”
With a smile, Luna gestured for Spike to take a seat. He hesitated, but sat down in front of her. “I can understand your pain probably better than anyone else Spike.” Luna said as she gave him some tea to help calm him down.
Despite Luna being Celestia’s sister, Spike felt grateful as he took a sip. The small bit of anger he felt earlier from thinking they were going to take him back was causing his internal fire to increase in strength, but the tea had a nice effect of lowering the pressure to help him relax. “Thank you.” he said softly as he took another sip of the delicious beverage.
Luna nodded with a smile “You see my dear drake, we have more in common than you might realize. For I too know what it’s like to be shunned out and thrown away like you are nothing.” She says as her smile vanished and her expression saddened.
It took Spike a moment to realize what the she meant, but the idea soon came to him. He remembers that Luna has always lived in her older sister's shadow and was constantly ignored by her subjects. Even these days, ponies still notice and respect Celestia more, it was like Luna was invisible, just as Spike was to the ones he thought were his friends.
Spike sympathetically looked at the mare before him and placed his teacup down. He then wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. Luna gladly accepted the dragon’s friendly embrace, it felt good to know that despite all the pain Equestria caused him, Spike saw her as a friend. As she returned the affection, her frown grew back into a pleasant smile.
After a few minutes, Spike released the moon goddess from the hug and smiled warmly at her. “Thank you Luna, it’s nice to have somepony who can actually relate to me.”
Discord made a gagging noise until Peewee pecked him repeatedly for ruining the precious moment. This caused Spike and Luna to look at each other and burst out laughing.
“A-alright! Alright I g-get it! I’m sorry j-just get ‘feathers’ here away from me!” Discord said swinging his eagle talon and lion paw at the phoenix to make him go away.
Spike snapped his fingers to get Peewee’s attention and the chick flew back to his master’s front spine. Discord sighed in relief and stood next to Luna.
“Come Spike, there’s someone else you need to meet.” Luna said as she motioned the drake to follow her and Discord out of the building they were currently in.
Once they came to the exit and opened the door, they were greeted by the blinding light of the sun, causing Spike to squint. Once Spike’s eyes adjusted to the light, his mouth fell agape to the sight before him. Though it was familiar from his memories, but he doesn't fully remember ever coming or being in a place as magnificent this.
Spike finally found the ability to speak after a few minutes of gazing at the sight. “Where are we?” he asked looking around one more time.
“This, Spike, is the Dragon Empire.” Luna answered the drake.
Discord placed his lion paw on the purple dragon’s shoulder “You really should have seen it before we fixed it up. It was a nightmare, but now it’s SENSATIONAL!!” The chaos spirit exclaimed mimicking the voice of Sapphire Shores.
“Incredible...” that was the only word that Spike said before something from many years ago came to mind. Looking back to the dragon migration, Spike was not aware that the dragons had an empire. Before, he figured that they just lived wherever they pleased and eventually migrated to someplace else to have their eggs or mate.
“Shall we continue?” Luna asked with patience in her tone in case Spike wanted to stay a little longer.
Spike nodded, “Let’s go,” he said eager to see more and find out where they were leading him.
They continued walking until they came to the Sancta Sacrarium. Luna knocked on the door and stepped back. Spike gave her a confused look but jumped in surprise when the door slowly started to open. An incredible large, silver dragon walked out and looked down to them.
Spike’s jaw dropped as the ancient drake locked eyes with him. There was a moment of silence between the two as they were both surprised to see each other.
“N-N-Nubuatan...” Spike said as he remembered the dragon from his memory.
Nubuatan smiled “F-Father...it is good to see you.” Nubuatan said after a second as his tone was somewhat shaky.
After hearing what Nubuatan said, Luna’s jaw dropped, and Discord’s eyes rolled back in his head as he went stiff and fainted. Spike stood silent collecting what he had just heard but then he walked closer to older drake. Nubuatan walked to him but used a spell to make himself smaller as he got closer until they were less than a foot away from each other.
“Father?” Spike says looking over the now smaller dragon with a mixture of emotions and thoughts running through his mind., “No. That can’t be true...How...is that...possible...”
“Well, you are one of my fathers. Your friends, I believe they go by Scout and NightStalker now, are my other ones. While my mothers...You can guess who they are.” Nubuatan said sheepishly which is surprising for someone like him.
Spike rubbed the sides of his head trying to figure out how it was possible. Trying his best to look further into his mind for the answer but found none.
Nubuatan could sense Spike’s confusion and placed his hand on the dragon’s shoulder. “All will be explained in due time father. Discord! Luna!” Nubuatan yelled to get the deities attention “Awaken the others, there’s an important matter to be discussed.”
Discord immediately sat up with an eyebrow raised, “Is that an order?” he sassed quietly.
“Yes it is.” The silver dragon answered with unusual calmness in his tone before turning back to Spike. “Come along father, this is where all your questions will soon be answered.”
Luna smiled as Nubuatan took Spike inside and her horn started to glow. Within seconds, a flash set off and she and Discord were back in the tower.
* * * *
Opening the door, Luna saw that Glamour and the others were still sleeping peacefully in their beds. She walked over and gently rubbed the white dragoness’ back to wake her up.
“Five more minutes Cobalt, a lady needs her beauty rest…” she said in her sleep.
Luna couldn’t help but giggle at this, it reminded her of when she was a filly constantly trying to wake Celestia for playtime. Placing her hoof on Glamour again, Luna rubbed her a little harder causing the dragoness to slowly open her eyes. Turning around, her eyes widened in shock to see a pony in front of her.
“W-Who are you?” Glamour stuttered as she scurried to the other side of the bed to get away from Luna. “Are you another one of those ponies who wants to take Spikey back?” She asked as she began glaring at the mare.
“My dear please don’t be alarmed,” the alicorn spoke gently to calm her. “My name is Luna, I am not here to take Spike back to Ponyville or anywhere else against his will. You have my word.”
Glamour started to calm down a bit but stayed on the defensive, though the mare seemed very honest one could never be too careful.
“Please help me wake the others, I assure you no harm will come from me.” Luna said as she moved around Glamours bed to wake the others.
“Where’s Spike?” Glamour asked as she looked around for her drake before waking up the others.
Discord stepped into the room “He is awaiting your presence along with the rest of your friends at the empire’s Sancta Sacrarium.” he answered. His sudden appearance caused Glamour to jump from the small scare.
“Empire?” Cobalt asked dumbfounded as she woke up in time to hear the draconequus’s statement.
Discord smiled and snapped his fingers creating a window. “Rather than asking, see it for yourself.” he said with a smirk.
Cobalt raced over to the window and was amazed with what she saw. Once the others were awakened they followed suit as they squeezed in to see out the small window.
“My word, this place is amazing!” Glamour exclaimed.
“Let’s get a better view instead a crowdin’ round that window.” Scout said rushing to the door with the others in tow.
“Well they sure are eager.” Discord whispered in Luna’s ear and she let out a giggle in response.
“They are still in their youth, at least for now, it is to be expected.” She whispered back as they followed the excited group outside.
On their way, Luna explained to the young dragons what happened back at the swamp. They were shocked at hearing what they had done in such a short period of time. And were baffled about the amount of power they had contained inside their small forms.
“Just more proof that Spike was right.” NightStalker said to Scout.
Scout gave the night drake a small shove, “Okay, Ah know Ah was a major naysayer durin’ trainin’, but do ya have ta keep bringin’ it up?”
Night put on an impish smile at his friend’s embarrassment, “Well let me think about it… I don’t have to, but now I just feel like bringing it up some more.” He chuckled but silenced himself as Cobalt slugged him in the back of his scaly head.
As Cobalt and Night started bickering, Lux just sat down next to Glamour with an amused smile as Glamour merely shook her head. After a few minutes, the argument started to get physical so Lux had to pull NightStalker by his tail to keep him from chasing after Cobalt. Similarly, Scout held the blue dragoness over his shoulder as she struggled to break free.
Seeing the two dragon couples made Glamour wonder what Spike was doing at the moment. She remembered Luna telling her where he was, so after calming herself, she walked toward the night deity.
“Um Luna?” Glamour said getting her attention, “Do you happen to know what Spike is doing right now?” she asked slightly worried about her drake.
“I can tell you worry for your loved one but rest assured, he is fine, with...his...uh... friend.” Luna said still having a hard time believing what Nubuatan had said earlier. As she spoke to Glamour she noticed the beautiful golden amulet with the heart shaped Fire-Ruby in it. “By the way, that is a lovely necklace.”
Glamour gave the blue alicorn a small smile and blushed a bit “Thank you, Spikey made it for me when we went on our first date.” she explained gently tracing a claw down the centered jewel. Luna returned the smile and nodded.
Eventually, NightStalker and Cobalt settled down and made up, though it was obvious they couldn’t be mad at each other forever.
“Now that things seemed to have calmed down, I think we should be going. Nubuatan has requested we hurry to gather you all, and we’ve wasted enough time as it is.” Discord said snapping his fingers and teleporting them right to the entrance of the Sancta Sacrarium.
“Is this where Spike is?” Lux asked as they looked upon the large structure before them.
Cobalt rolled her eyes “Oh geez, I don’t know. Maybe they just teleported us here to waste our time!” she sarcastically answered the golden dragoness causing her to raise an eyebrow.
“No need for the sarcasm Cobalt.” Glamour scolded.
Scout noticed Night smirking, “You think this is funny?”
“It’s amusing.” the dark drake answered with a chuckle.
“Are we ever gonna go inside?” Discord asked losing patience.
This earned him a glare from the night princess, but the look faded as the doors to the Sancta Sacrarium opened allowing them to enter. Luna and Discord walked in, but the five dragons behind them were hesitant to follow.
“Somethin’ don’t feel right bout this.” Scout uneasily stated.
“You’re right, I can sense something is off, but I can’t tell what it is...” Lux agreed looking into the darkness.
Night placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder to calm her, “That may be true,” He said, “But unfortunately, we really don’t have any other options here.”
Glamour flipped her hair back and took a deep breath before she walked into the ancient building eager to see Spike, “Night is right, we have to trust them.” She said building up some courage.
Cobalt nodded in agreement before trailing after her and the others filed in soon after. Once they were all in, the door slammed shut behind them and torches lining the walls ignited. However, these flames burning were anything but normal. They seemed to resonate as each drake and dragoness passed by them. The further in they traveled, the brighter the torches became. Eventually, the five dragons reached a chamber at the end of the hall. Luna door opened revealing Spike and Nubuatan playing a game of chess to pass the time.
“That’s checkmate.” Spike said before getting up and noticing his friends near the chamber door. He immediately ran over to the group with a large grin on his face.
Glamour embraced her drake happy to see he was alright after the encounter with the hydra. The rest of group was equally relieved to see that their long time friend and leader was fine. For a joke, Glamour playfully messed with Spike’s front spines making them bend in front of his face.
“Yeah, that’s real funny,” he sarcastically remarked as he fixed his spines. This caused the white and purple dragoness to let out a giggle. “Oh come here you.” Spike then gently pulled Glamour by her waist and kissed her.
Luna smiled at the loving couple as Discord tried his best to hold back a laugh. Night made a gagging motion with his finger which caused Peewee to fly over and peck his eye. This made Lux giggle and she held his other claw. After Peewee stopped his assault on the poor drake, Night blushed as he felt the sweet golden dragoness hold onto his hand.
Scout chuckled and smiled at Cobalt who was making a fake barfing sound. She soon started laughing with Scout with a smile on her face. Seeing all this made Nubuatan smile at the group, at his parents. Once things had calmed down again, Spike decided it would best to introduce everyone.
“I think you guys know who these two are.” Spike said motioning to Discord and Luna, “Princess Luna, goddess of the moon, and Discord, god of chaos. They both lived in Equestria under Celestia’s rule, but they see things our way and decided to leave like me. As you all know, Equestria has treated me like I was invisible and the ones who I thought were my friends constantly shut me out.”
Peewee hopped onto his master’s arm worried, but Spike stroked his pet’s tiny head with his finger.
“Similarly, Luna here knows what it is to be ignored and misunderstood. She was banished to the moon for a millenium because, the bitterness that built up inside, took over and overpowered the light.” A lone tear rolled down Spike’s cheek out of sympathy for the princess of the night. “Even these days, civilians still give Luna’s older sister more respect, it’s as if nothing has changed.”
Spike then looked at the draconequus next to Luna. “Despite the chaos he created, Discord never hurt a soul from what I could tell. Even after being freed after years of imprisonment, he still never physically harmed anypony with his power.” A small smile formed on the drake’s face, “As a matter of fact, a few ponies actually found his brand of chaos interesting and fun only to be banished by the country’s so-called ‘loving princess of the sun’. Though unfortunately at the time, it was still hard to trust Discord.” Spike sighed before letting Peewee fly over to Nubuatan and land on his head.
“And finally, this dragon right here is Nubuatan. He is...um...how should I say this...” Spike started snapping his fingers trying to break the news to the gang as easily as he could.
“I’m his son.” Nubuatan said bluntly standing next to Spike at this time.
After hearing those three simple words, a pregnant silence was left throughout the chamber. Night, Scout, Cobalt, Lux, and Glamour all stared at Spike as if he had just died and was reborn right in front of them.
“Um...Spike, I must have had something in my ear.” Cobalt said digging her pinky to clean it, “But I thought I heard him say he...was...your-”
“Son? Yes, you heard him correctly, but he is also all of yours as well.” Spike said causing another wave of silence to wash through.
The five dragons couldn’t believe what they just heard. Glamour’s eyes rolled in the back of her head as she passed out, Night fell stiff as a statue onto his front spine, Scout’s jaw hit the ground, Cobalt started walking around saying ‘Nope’ repeatedly, and Lux grasped her head trying to take this in.
Nubuatan sighed and with a wave of his hand, he created several chairs and reverted back to his normal size. Another flick of his wrist, placed the befuddled dragons into the chairs in front of him.
“I think I should explain.” He said calmly getting the others’ attention. “Well, I do not know if you all fully have your memories back, but what I am about to tell you will all make sense later.”
Spike nodded, “Please go on.” he said as Glamour rested her head on her drake’s shoulder.
Nubuatan nodded and started to tell his tale, “Millions of years ago, when you all knew about your powers and mastered them to your full potential, you decided to create something containing all your essences and memories. It would be loyally to a fault and carry out commands you gave to it even if you could no longer give them yourself.”
He took a deep breath before continuing, “What you all created was history’s first artificial dragon egg. This egg contained everything that you wanted it have, and more. I was that egg yet…” Nubuatan paused for a moment. “I unfortunately did not hatch until after certain events took place. You all gave me a final list of instructions of what I was to do if things fell into place. By doing this you all went beyond what our saviors, Aquila and Celsius, foretold in their prediction which many dragons of the time held to the regards of a prophecy.”
Once Nubuatan finished his explanation he looked to his parents allowing them take in all the information they had heard. They all stared at him blankly for what felt like hours.
“So... technically we’re your parents...” Lux said after thinking over all she had just heard. “Yet, we did not...” She blushed at what she had said next, “conceive you in the normal way.”
“We used our powers instead...” Cobalt said looking to her claws as the gears started to turn.
“What exactly is this power we have?” Spike asked looking up to the ancient white dragon.
Nubuatan smiled down at them, “You six are far different than any other dragons which have minor forms of magic in one way or another. Yet your powers could not fully be explained in words. The only way for you to truly know them is to remember, and one of my many purposes is to help you with that task.”
With a flap of his wings, the torches that lined the walls were extinguished leaving all of them to rely on their enhanced visions. Night’s nightly hunts in the woods helped his eyes adapt to dark areas, yet his eyes were naturally stronger as per his element.
Yet as for the others, in the darkness they could see nothing but each other until the floor suddenly let off a faded glow. The glow formed many incredible patterns with complexed forms. Nubuatan moved to the center before his body slowly began to break down into dust. The Scale Six gasped horrified at the sight of the dragon decaying into dust right in front of them.
“Do not worry...” The ancient drake’s disembodied voice said as the dust started to collect. The particles continued to collect until a glowing sphere formed in the middle of the ancient rune they now stood upon. “I am still here...”
A wave of energy pulsated from the orb forcibly separating the six dragons to several different spots on rune. Another pulse of energy, forced Discord and Luna away from the area forcing them to watch from afar and not interfere. Peewee tried to fly to his master’s location, but Luna pulled him back with her magical aura.
After a moment, sharp jets of pain shot up each and every one of Scale Six’s backs and traveled to their heads. The pain caused them all to collapse and let out blood curdling screams of agony. The pain was unbearable to the point of them each wishing they were dead instead of having to suffer through this.
“MAKE IT STOP!!!” Cobalt wailed, her eyes began bleeding while glowing a blinding white light.
Scout’s sharp claws dug into the ground as the pain continued, “AGH! IT HURTS TO BREATHE!!” He bellowed.
Night’s body started to thrash against the floor, “MY BODY FEELS LIKE IT’S GONNA EXPLODE!!!” he screamed as loud as he possibly could.
Blood poured from Lux’s mouth as she cried from the same torture that she wished she’d wouldn’t feel again, “PLEASE, JUST LET IT END!!”
Glamour was crying and screaming uncontrollably as her eyes glowed like the others, “IT’S TOO MUCH!!”
Spike had it worst off then all of them, it felt as though every scale on his body was being slowly pulled off. His spines seemed as though they were being violently ripped from his head, all the way down to the tip of his tail. Lastly, his insides felt as if they were being crushed and torn apart. Bright green light glowed from his eyes and mouth as the agonizing pain continued.
And as quickly as it had started, it all stopped just as fast. The Scale Six were silent as their screams of unrelenting pain ceased they all floating in place. Their eyes glowed brightly as their gazes focused on the orb that was Nubuatan.
* * * *
Meanwhile back in Ponyville, Twilight was pacing in her room. “First Spike leaves, now Peewee’s gone…” She sighed thinking that had Peewee left to go find Spike since the picture of the hatchling on his first birthday was missing.
With Spike gone, Twilight couldn’t teleport letters to the princess for advice, yet she still had yet to get over the fact she had been deceived by her own teacher. Celestia has been lying to her from the very beginning about Spike’s true origins. What’s more, Twilight knew that there was more to the story than what her mentor had actually told her and the others.
The lavender mare shook her head as she tried to force the painful thoughts from her mind, “I am thinking too much about this… I will just have to leave things as they are.” A tear ran down Twilight’s face before she quickly wiped it away before sighing and calling for Owlowiscious. Today was the pet-play date and Twilight had promised she would be there with something for the picnic.
After she was sure she had everything including Owlowiscious was with her, Twilight headed out to Ponyville park to see her friends. ‘Are you still out there Spike?’ she thought to herself before she continued walking.
* * * *
In Canterlot, Princess Celestia was looking into her vanity mirror to be greeted by an unpleasant sight. Her reflection, showed terrible bags forming underneath her eyes, her pupils were slits shaped like a hungry predator, and what once was a beautiful multi colored mane, seemed to be slowly fading to a fiery blue. Celestia shook her head, causing the mirror image to do the same. When she looked at the mirror again, she saw her eyes and mane had changed back to normal.
“My mind must be playing tricks on me.” Celestia said rubbing her temple as a small pinch of pain ran through.
She had the sudden urge to check a part of the castle she had not been in since the fall of the Scale Six. With her mind cleared of any worries, Celestia left her chambers and slowly trotted her way deeper into the castle known as ‘The Solar Wing’. This castle had three wings to it and each had small things that made it different from the others.
'The Solar Wing', was Celestia’s part of the castle, it was colored with shining whites and glimmering golds. Each banner or piece of art represented Celestia and her magnificent sun. Her Solar Guards lined the walls being decent spread so every part of the wing was under their watchful eyes.
She admired all of this as she moved into the part of the ‘The Solar Wing’ that was built deeper inside the mountain face. After a moment she closed her eyes as she thought over everything that had happened all those years ago but there were several blank spots that she never paid any mind to them.
She suddenly stumbled over something that brought her out of her trance of thought, “What in the world...” She looked down to see that there was rubble scattered across the floor.
The damage caused Celestia to break into a full gallop toward the vault. Once she reached it her eyes widened in horror, as she saw a crater in the wall opposite to the vault. The large doors were laying on the ground as if someone possibly smashed them open. Just as it seemed couldn’t get worse, it didn’t take long for her to notice that the ancient objects she had tried so hard to keep hidden and out of reach of anypony or anything else, were missing.
“H-H-How is that possible?! Nopony except me knew they were located here!” Celestia said to her as she started pacing back and forth with worry.
“I leave you alone for a few thousand years and this is what happens...” An unknown but insidious voice said inside Celestia’s head.
Celestia instantly stopped her pacing and looked for the source of the voice, “Who said that? Make yourself known!” the white alicorn ordered as she began to filter magic into her horn to combat the intruder.
“Who am I you ask...” The voice in her head stated before chuckling, “I am you of course...”
Celestia stopped looking for the pony’s voice and shook slightly in shock “Do not test me!” she said getting angry with this mysterious voice’s behavior.
A malicious laugh echoed in her head, “I have been here for quite some time resting. I admit it is a bit cramped here in our mind, but it still provides a decent seat for the show.”
“What is your purpose how have I not been aware of your presence before?” She inquired with venom still in her tone.
“You shall know in due time, but for now I can only give you my name. Well...it is more like our old name...Radiant...Malevolence...” With that, the voice faded from her mind.
This left Celestia befuddled and with many questions running through her mind, ‘Could Spike and his clan still be alive? Where are the artifacts? Who is this Radiant Malevolence?’
She walked out of the empty vault and used a quick spell to make it as if nothing had happened and the vault never existed. Leaving this catastrophe unchecked would be far too risky. She had to look into it quickly, and without anypony in the castle asking questions.
* * * *
Spike’s eyes shot open as he looked around him, but found nothing but a blank white surroundings along with a thick low lying mist around.
“Hello?” he called but only heard his voice echo a few times before the area fell silent again, “NightStalker?! Glamour?! Scout?! Lux? Cobalt?! Where are you guys?!” he called out before waiting for a response. After a moment he began walking in the direction of his echos before he bumped into something.
“They can’t hear you.” a voice said from behind him.
‘That voice... it sounds familiar.’ Spike thought to himself.
“Well I should.” The voice responded with a chuckle.
Spike quickly turned around and looked upon another dragon, “Who are you?” He asked.
"I’m you.” The older green and purple scaled dragon said with a smile.
Spike jumped back in surprised to see an the older form of himself. He was slim but not overly so, yet had the perfect amount of muscle so his pecs and six pack were proudly seen. His tail was longer and the spade shape at the end was slightly sharper, while his Spines had grown quite a bit and were much sharper, while his scales over all were brighter and more sleek looking. Yet what really grabbed his attention were the wings that were spread wide behind him.
“W-Wow...” Was all the younger Spike could say as he looked over what claimed to be his older self.
“Yeah, I figured I would respond as such.” the older one said with a chuckle before picking up his younger self and placing him on his back. He then begin walking through the ankle high mist.
Younger Spike was still in shock from meeting the older him but held onto his head as they walked through what seemed like an endless void. Spike’s mind had a plethora of questions but he didn’t know which one to ask first.
“Well, it seems like all you questions seem to be able to be narrowed down to just one simple one.” Older Spike said.
“How did you know what I was thinking?” The smaller drake asked.
“I am you, remember? But maybe I can answer your question while I answer the other. ‘Where are we?’. Well, this is the deepest part of your subconsciousness as well as the true mind between time and space that lives within us all. I have secretly been residing here for many years in an deep rest.” He stated.
“Seconds before our defeat, we sent Nubuatan’s egg a list of final instructions. He was to live, grow, and train in the Dragon Empire on his own. Any dragons that couldn’t join us in battle were to flee to the further reaches of the planet and constantly be on the move, though from what you have experienced with other dragons our existence seems to have been long forgotten.. Other dragons were captured and imprisoned behind the gates of Tartarus. Due to a dragon’s remarkable lifespan, they are still there patiently waiting for our return.” He said finally stopping and placing Spike to the ground.
“Wow...I-it’s all slowly coming back to me.” Spike said looking up to his older form.
“Now is the time where you remember it all.” The older Spike said before he placed his forehead to Spike’s and looked deep into his eyes.
Several thousand years of history that was wiped from his memory came crashing down onto him. The memories of his first life’s youth ran wild to him. A smile graced his face as he traveled through the happier carefree years...but they was halt as he witness the death of his mother…
“These are the saddest parts of our memory, this is what started it our quest for vengeance…” the older Spike said with grief in his tone.
Spike smile fell flat and his eyes began filling up with tears. Slowly though, his face began changing into a look of enragement. Green flames burst from his spines, intensifying the heat that coursed through his veins. The older Spike didn’t back away or flinch for having felt the same way when it happened but kept the memories moving forward.
The battles, bloodshed, lives lost, victories, losses, wisdom and knowledge he held, it was all mixing with what he knew of the present. It was all coming to him as the final memories up to their defeat, came pouring into his mind.
“Now that you remember...” he stopped and looked to his right.
Spike followed his gaze and saw his friends with their older forms standing beside them as well.
Older Spike spoke one last thing before disappearing, “Now that you all remember...It is now time for us all to finish what we started. Together! As friends! As a family!” With that they all cheered as a final flash of white burst in the middle of them.
* * * *
Discord and Luna couldn’t exactly tell what was going on before them. The Scale Six had been floating in place for an hour or so at this point. Peewee continued shaking in Luna’s lap worried about Spike and the others. Yet after an hour of silence, sound finally resonated in the chamber.
The cracking of dragon scales...
Luna and Discord expressions were of ones of pure shock and aw at the sight that was going on before them. Spike and the others’ physical bodies began to crack and fall away allowing a luminescent light to shine through. With another pulse of energy, the layer of skin and scales fell away leaving their bodies being made out of pure light.
“What in the name of Faust is happening?!” Luna said having no clue what was transpiring.
Suddenly, the dragons’ bodies began to glow even brighter as their bodies changed. The males’ limbs grew longer and more muscularly defined, wings sprouted from their backs and stretched out to their full length. While their spines grew longer and sharper along with their claws. Yet many things about their powers and over genetics made them different from one another.
Spike’s figure was a perfect balance of slimness and muscle, and his spade shaped tail tip was a bit sharper. His reptilian good looks, have grown in the transformation, making him a more handsome drake.
Scout had a massive build in muscle, even more so than before while his wings were slightly smaller than the rest. The drake’s tail was still round, but looked as if a large rounded stone was placed on the tips of his tail.
NightStalker had a slim build and not as much muscle as Scout or Spike but enough to catch a dragoness's eye. His tail was finely pointed and looked dangerously sharp.
As for the girls, their transformation gave them a much more mature beauty. Like the drakes, they've grown their wings, but Glamour and Lux’s were a more elegant pair.
Glamour still had her curvy appearance near her waist, but it was more noticeable now as well as her chest. Her frills grew into more of a fin-like look while her tail took a slightly similar look to that of a fish. She had a small amount of muscle tone but it fitted her well.
Cobalt’s hair was a little less messy, but she still captured her tough girl behavior along with her flatter chest. She had a little more muscle than Night did, but it wasn’t an overly large difference. Most of her strength was put into her large wings which were wider than the rest of the groups.
Lux had become a fine young dragoness with a gentle appearance. Her golden hair has grown past her shoulders and ended near her waist. Two short strands of hair dropped over the left side of Lux’s face. Her new wings, had the same silver color as her underbelly.
Luna and Discord were in shock at how amazing the Scale Six looked. They both blushed a little, but soon shook it off as the glowing of their bodies faded. Peewee flew as fast as he could to Spike. The drake held out his arm for his pet to land on. He screeched in happiness. Upon landing on his master’s shoulder Peewee nuzzled against him.
Spike smirked and looked to the rest of the gang, “We’re back. It all worked.” His voice was much deeper and sent a shiver down Glamour’s spines.
“It’s good to be back!” Night said with a pop of his neck.
“Damn, that took a long time.” Cobalt said flapping her wings as she popped every joint in her back.
“The feeling is mutual.” Lux said blowing the hair out of her eyes allowing them to roll over her shoulders.
Glamour walked over to Spike and embraced his arm. This caused Spike to blush faintly, the transformation made Glamour even more beautiful than before. That and she was holding his arm against her chest which felt quite soft compared to the rest of her hard, scaly body. Yet with a quick spin, Spike wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his chest against her own.
“It’s good to be back.” He said before pulling his lover into a deep kiss, “And you look just as lovely as you did all those years ago.”
Glamour giggled and kissed him back with equal passion, before breaking it off, “In that case, we will have to make up for lost time my dear Spikey.” She traced a claw down his well toned chest with a love struck look in her eyes.
“You’re not the only ones.” Night said as Lux rested her head on his shoulder and his hand on her head and their tail wrapped around one anothers.
“Been too long big guy.” Cobalt giggled as Scout blushed and gave her a quick peck on the lips.
The sound of Nubuatan’s body changing back grabbed their attention. The drake that was nearly as old them looked much younger and much weaker than he had before their transformation. They rushed over to him and helped him up.
“It seems as though the transformation is complete.” he said as he tried to catch his breath, “Do you all remember?”
“We remember everything dear.” Glamour answered as she held him like a mother would a hatchling.
“Which means I have survived my purpose...” He said as his body started to glow faintly.
“You have. You have done all we have wanted you to do. And so much more.” Lux said with a smile rubbing his spines.
“You won’t be gone forever. Ah can feel it.” Scout said with a reassuring smile.
“I know...” He looked around at the ones who would changed the fate of Equestria for better or for worse...”Moms...dads...I love you all.”
“We love you too, our son.” The Scale Six said in unison as Nubuatan’s body faded away and began to reform into his egg form. Yet after a few moments it began to solidify to stone.
“It is done.” Spike said as Glamour handed him the egg.
Spike nodded to Scout, which the earth drake returned before slamming his tail into the ground causing a pedestal to rise in the center of the chamber. Spike gently placed the stone egg on it before backing away.
They gave a moment of silence before looking to Spike who held out his arm for Peewee to land on. “All of our advance planning has gotten us this far, but we are far from done. The world has changed greatly in our absence. We must make a few adjustments for we know Radiant will do the same. It is time to prepare ourselves...We have some unfinished business.” Spike smirked as his eyes gave off an emerald green glow.
“And of course, I haven’t forgotten about you Twilight.” he growled as flames of hatred erupted from his shoulders.