The Rise of Spike the Dragon
Chapter 19: Chapter 18: Radiant
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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 18:
Radiant
Long ago before the Scale Six were born and Equestria was still young, it was ruled by a mare named Radiant Malevolence. If she had any enemies back then, she would be just as feared by them as she was admired by her subjects. Yet most ponies were unaware was that she actually did have something she saw as an enemy, dragons, when the truth was she only feared them.
The dragons were the only other creatures on the planet that could match Radiant’s power, maybe even surpass it. Their scales were practically impervious to anything that wasn’t from another dragon. Dragons were also immune to most magic, and could grow to unbelievable sizes from uncontrolled greed or of their own free will. When it came to their life cycles they could even give her a run for her money, even though they were not completely immortal as she was.
“Dragons...nothing more than hideous monsters.” Radiant said to herself as she paced in her personal study of her castle deep in the middle of the Everfree Forest. She refused to give into the reality that she was actually afraid of them.
The dragons have interacted with ponies in Equestria on several occasions and they seemed to be getting along swimmingly. Unfortunately, as the years went on, Radiant began to feel more and more hatred for them even though they had done nothing to provoke her or her subjects. The dragons lived peacefully under their own rulers and never caused any trouble for any other creature.
Eventually Radiant’s pathological fear, caused her to become paranoid and would cause her to make very dark decisions. “Something is wrong with them...everything is wrong with them. As long as they roam freely, I can’t predict exactly how safe this world will be the future of my kingdom.” Radiant said looking out her window to the moon that she had raised not long before.
What she decided to do was send a small group of ponies that she heard were elite dragon hunters into the vast reaches outside of Equestria's borders to bring down as many dragons as they wanted. They agreed and decided that the only payment they would want is to keep their kills. Radiant was unaware of how they planned to accomplish their mission but never questioned it. As far as she was concerned, the less dragons there are in the world, the better.
Little did Radiant know this would end up bringing something she had never expected… war.
* * * *
It had been over a year since the dragons had started their attack. During this time Radiant had discovered they were leading the mass army of specially trained dragons to fight her own army of ponies. The leaders soon became known by Radiant and her subjects as the Scale Six, and she was not able to believe the kind of powers heard these six young drakes and dragonesses possessed. The power of the natural elements of the earth, wind, water, fire, light, and shadows.
Radiant was furious upon discovering these powerful dragons leading the opposing army. “How could such pathetic creatures be able to control such powerful magic?! It isn’t right! I WILL NOT HAVE THESE DRACONIC BRATS STEP UP TO SURPASS ME!!!” She roared to her captains in the war room. Sweat was dripping down her face from the rage building up.
The unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony captains were shaken with fear from her sudden outburst. In all their years serving in the royal army, they had never seen their princess like this. When this first started, Radiant was able to keep a level head and lead with total calmness but after learning about what the Scale Six could do, the mare seems to have completely lost it.
“W-W-Well milady,” The unicron captain stuttered trying to regain his composure, “The leaders seem to be heading right here and letting their armies fight off anything else along the way. If we can set up some sort of final line of defense and counterattack, we may stand a chance of at least pushing them back.” He finished.
“No.” She responded with a calm but dark undertone, “I want you all to have your armies fight directly with theirs, I will take care of the six brats on my own.” She growled the last part with pure venom. Blue flames seemed to erupt from her mane and her eyes glowed a light blue. “I will show these revolting creatures not to look down on my empire!”
The captains wanted to argue that it was not wise of her to fight six extremely powerful beings on her own, but they knew she was in no mood to tried to be calmed or talked out of it. So they simply saluted and left to do follow through on the orders they were given.
“I will end these dragons...even if it means the end of my own life.” Radiant said darkly.
* * * *
Radiant Malevolence crashed into the ground with great force and grunted in pain as she coughed up some more blood. She had been battling the Scale Six for hours, they were much stronger than she had originally thought, even after learning of their powers. She tried to stand back up on her hooves but was unable to do so from being so weak from battle.
“Give it up Radiant...” A drake with dark purple scales and green spines said holding twin blades in his grasp, “You should not have tried to battle all six of us on your own. You were the one who started this battle, so we’re ending it.”
“I will admit she did put up quite a surprising fight.” A female with blue scales said landing on one side of the weak mare with a heavy force of air. “But together we have a 100% chance of winning!” She released a strong gust of razor wind cutting Radiant up more.
“Though still was a bit disappointing.” A white and gold dragonesses said appearing in a flash of white light. She pointed her finger and fired a beam of light piercing through Radiant. She quickly healed the life threatening wounds just to make her live long enough for them to finish her off. The dragoness let out a giggle at the expression she got from the livid mare.
With her last bit of physical strength, Radiant stood up with bloody cuts and bruises. She looked at the dragons that were slowly starting to surround her. They had several wounds of their own but they still stood tall even with the pain she knew they were all feeling. Yet with their combined might they had taken much less damage then they would have fighting her one on one.
“Don’t look down on me… DO YOU THINK I WILL BE DEFEATED BY A BUNCH OF BRATS LIKE YOU?!!” Suddenly something grabbed hold of her entire body but as her head was forced to look around she saw nothing physically touch her.
“I figured she would have learned how we fight after a few minutes being an almighty Alicorn and all that.” A night black drake said walking from the shadows below her.
“Well, they can’t all be total geniuses.” Another dragon stated before bursting up from the ground. He then grabbed Radiant’s neck and slammed her against the earth with his unbelievable strength.
Radiant stood with blood dripping down her face from that last attack. She was enraged from how they were toying with her.
“Well how should we finish her off Spikey dear?” The last of the Scale Six walked from behind the purple and green drake and held his arm lovingly. She had bleach white scales and dark purple hair.
“NightStalker release her, I’ll take it from here.” the purple dragon said as he approached her.
The shadowy drake did as he was told but not before giving her a quick choke around her neck with a sick grin on his face.
“I will not be toyed with by you lowly creatures…” she said before her mane burst into blue flames upon looking up to the approaching drake. “WHO DO YOU THINK I AM YOU LITTLE FREAK?!!”
He suddenly grabbed her fiery hair as if it was solid and let out a growl. “Silence, I’m tired of your insolent talk.” His eyes glowed bright as flames erupted from his other hand. “I think it is time to finish this.”
As he raised his flame encased hand to deliver the blow, Radiant called on her last bit of magic she had reserved if she had failed to end the dragons that now stood above her. Her eyes closed tight as she quickly focused her magic to her horn. Spike saw this but it was too late to stop her from casting the spell. The wave of magic blasted out to all the Scale Six and captured them in her magical field.
They were in total shock from this and struggled to break free of her magic grip. “This spell, is my last resort.” Radiant said as she slowly opened her eyes to reveal nothing but pure white light.
Something was off though, as the spell started to take effect, it didn’t end their lives like she had thought it would. Radiant was far too weak for the spell to do so, and their magic was far too strong still to allow this. She switched the spell to have a different effect on the six dragons but it would still leave her too drained to carry on.
The Scale Six’s bodies contorted and began to shrink as they wailed in pain. After the spell was completed, the only things that remained of the Scale Six were six small eggs. This spell caught the attention of off the dragons and ponies far and wide. Some of the soldiers who retreated were captured while others went into hiding. Yet not one of them abandoned their loyalty to the Scale Six and believed they would somehow rise again.
Little did all witnessing this knew was that Radiant Malevolence was too weak to do anything more, even breathing was nearly impossible at this point. While she had casted the spell to revert the Scale Six back into eggs she had to create the personality of Celestia so she herself could rest her magic. Celestia was simply meant to be a placeholder for Radiant as she resigned herself to regain her strength. This new mare was much kinder, but also weaker as a result, at least in Radiant’s eyes. She had also altered memories of what had happened up to this point, so she knew nothing of Radiant’s existence.
“So if she should have to tell anypony about what happened this day...she will only know what I want her to know.” Radiant Malevolence said before she retreated to the deepest recesses of what was now Celestia’s mind.
* * * *
Many years past after the battle against the Scale Six had come to a close and Celestia had rebuilt her castle as well as all the land destroyed during that time. As the reconstruction of Equestria was taking place, Celestia held onto eggs and kept a watchful eye over them. They showed no signs of hatching, but she thought it was better to separate them so as not to risk them hatching together if at all.
Celestia sent them to the further reaches of Equestria or even to the neighboring lands letting whoever found them decide what to do with them. Yet, she held onto Spike’s egg, he being the one all the others looked up to.
“Maybe I can change him,” She told herself, “Having him raised by ponies could wipe any traces of history or hatred from his mind.”
This was Celestia’s plan, so she held onto Spike’s egg for years. Discord, Sombra, her own sister, as all these villains rose and fell, she still held onto Spike’s egg waiting for the right moment to have him hatched.
Little did Celestia know that in a few years time after she defeated her sister, a young lavender filly who would later become her personal student wouldn’t treat the young drake properly. Her plan almost worked, as Spike grew up at first he was a gentle and sweet dragon under the care of the young filly. Soon that same pony would end up treating Spike more like a slave than an assistant let alone, a friend.
Celestia was also unaware that a white and gray dragon was lying in wait in the Dragon Empire to carry out the orders given to him all those years ago.