Spike

Walk across the room, turn one hundred and eighty degrees, repeat. All while taking deep breaths and trying to maintain a calm, patient demeanor. I had just sent a letter to Princess Celestia in Canterlot, relating to her possession of a dragon egg when Twilight had applied for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. I had recently learned of the fact that mine was the only dragon egg that had ever entered the school, and while I had cast off the idea of being a legitimate dragon (they were mostly jerks anyways), I still was curious when Starlight asked how the prestigious school had a dragon egg, bringing forth a research binge leading to the previously mentioned letter.

I felt a cramp in my stomach, and let out a loud, fiery belch, dropping a scroll at my feet. I hastily opened it and read aloud, "Congratulations! You have been selected to take part in a free trial of the Flim-Flam brothers miracle herb blend! Take one of these every day, and see an increase in the size of your- "

I quickly burned the scammer's scroll, irritated that I had gotten my hopes up for it. I began my previous routine, and within a few minutes, belched out another scroll. "If this is another ad, I'm gonna-" I stopped talking as I noticed the royal seal of not only Celestia, but Luna too. Unrolling it, I read:

Dear Spike,

I've been waiting for you to ask. Luna and I have set aside some time for you. Please visit us in Canterlot Palace the day after tomorrow.

Your friends, Celestia and Luna

Whoa. I've known Twilight long enough to know how hard it is to move stuff aside on short notice, and it can't be any easier for the two ruling monarchs in Canterlot, especially to a date so soon. I rushed off to find Twilight and tell her the good/bad news. Good news because I was apparently going to get a detailed explanation. Bad news because that meant a helping hoof from the Princess of Friendship (and checklists), meaning that I was gonna have a claw cramp and a week of relentless nightmares involving checkboxes.

"Bye Twilight! Bye Rarity! I'll be back soon guys!" I called from the train car I was on. As the train began to pull forward, I sat back and watched as the scenery flew by with increasing speed.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard, "Excuse me."

I turned around and was confused for a moment. There was nopony there.

"Ahem, down here" said the timid voice.

Looking down I saw a crystal pony colt, without a cutie mark, staring at me with gigantic eyes. "What do ya need, kid?" I said, bracing myself for the torrent of praise that I usually got from the Crystal Ponies.

The expected flood never came, instead the colt asked, "Can I sit next to you?"

I breathed a sigh of relief, I was saving my ink and paper for when I got to the princesses, and I didn't want to use it for signing my autograph for him and every other crystal pony on the train. "Sure, why not."

As I went back to watching grass, trees, and the occasional pond fly past the train, I felt another tap on my shoulder, I raised an eyebrow at the colt, and he asked, "Are you Spike the brave and glorious?"

Great, he did recognize me. "Yeah. What about it?"

"That's cool, you're like a real live super hero." He said, returning his eyes to the comic book he was reading.

"Did… you want an autograph?" I asked. I wasn't hurt or disappointed, but he was the only crystal pony that didn't completely lose it when he met me, so I was curious.

"No. after you signed the first thousand, they sort of lost meaning. Besides, a hero usually just wants some peace and quiet. That's why they have a secret identity. But you were kind of forced into the spotlight, so I'll let you be." The colt said, smiling softly.

Regaining my composure from hearing this kid shoot out wisdom far beyond his years, I said, "Wow. You're pretty smart for your age."

His smile faded, and he said, "Yes, the education in this era is marvelous. Before we woke up here, Sombra halted any attempts at educating the ponies of the Empire. After all, a smart slave is a dangerous slave."

I saw his smile vanish, and decided to change the subject. "So… what are ya reading?"

"Oh, it's nothing important, just a dumb old comic book…" The little colt said, trying to hide it from view.

I stared at him. "Huh, and it looked like you were enjoying that Power Ponies Comic… I must have been mistaken." I said, pulling out a comic of my own and beginning to read it.

The colt's eyes then became as big as saucers, and his crystal coat gleamed brighter than any other crystal pony I had ever seen, it was blinding me, actually. He pulled out a small crystal on a string, and the gleam in his coat faded, seeming to transfer into the crystal. "You know who the power ponies are?"

Grinning, I said, "of course! They're my favorite comic series." I said with enthusiasm. Then my curiosity couldn't be held any longer. "What's that crystal thing?"

"This?" he asked, holding up the charm. "It's a conduit for excess crystal pony energy. Without it, I would probably burst into flames. It's the only way that we Crystal Ponies can leave the empire for long periods of time."

"Cool. So… what are you reading?" I said, storing the new info in my mind for later.

"It's Captain Equestria: Civil War."

That led into a discussion that lasted till the end of the train ride. During which I found that his name was Crystal Clear, and he really, REALLY likes comic books. I still had two hours to meet with the princesses, so I was gonna show Crystal around Canterlot. As I stepped down from the train car, still talking to him about the ethics of the Superpony Registration Act, a thought popped into my head, and never one to assume things, I asked, "Hey Chrys, where are your parents?"

"in the Crystal Empire, of course, why?"

"Uh… They aren't with you?"

He looked at me as if it was the most obvious of answers, and said, "I'm on my pilgrimage." Seeing as a light of understanding did not dawn in my eyes, he said, "A pilgrimage is when a pony that doesn't have a cutie mark at a certain age begins traveling the world in search of their destiny. Is this no longer customary?" seeing me shake my head, he continued, "Most ponies get their cutie mark in something related to what they are good at or what they like, so I was going to try my hand at working for a place here in Canterlot."

I felt a smile creep across my face, and said, "Let's go over to Joe's Doughnuts, then I can take you to a place I know."

As we entered the pastry shop, Joe called out, "There you are Spike, the Princesses stopped by and made a special order. Said that you would drop by and be able to pick 'em up." While holding up a box of (what else?) doughnuts.

I was surprised yet again. "Th- thanks, Joe." I paused, remembering that Crystal Clear was with me. "hey, can I get one for my friend here?" I said, sliding some bits across the table.

Joe slid the bits back, smiled, and said, "on the house!" picking up a doughnut and hoofing it over to Chrystal.

"Thanks again Joe!" I said, walking out of the shop holding a box of doughnuts.

Our next stop was the Comic book place that I had mentioned, and Crystal Clear said his goodbyes and confidently walked into the door. I hoped we could meet again sometime.

I looked at a nearby clock, and realized that my two extra hours were almost up (most of the time being eaten up while chatting at Joe's), so I headed out towards the Palace.

The guards let me in without a problem. This wouldn't seem strange, if not for the fact that they stop all ponies (and in my case, dragons) from getting inside the walls of the Palace, asking their name and business. However, this time they nodded and let me through with a smile.

The guards in front of the throne room doors did the same thing.

A little unnerved at the change in the script, I walked all the way across the long room and bowed to Celestia and Luna. "Your highnesses."

Celestia laughed, and said, "Spike, there is no need for formalities among friends."

I was confused. But hid it by presenting the box from Joe.

The Princesses eyes lit up, upon seeing the box of pastries, and Luna said, "Come, let us enjoy these in the royal dining hall."

Celestia immediately stood and began walking, presumably to the dining hall.

I stood there in a daze, and Luna nudged me forwards, and said, "You are confused, and that is understandable. We will explain later, but for now, hold back your questions until we get some food in us." She smirked, "Especially my sister, she becomes rather testy when she hasn't eaten."

I didn't have to wait long, because we quickly reached a room that was mostly taken up by a long table that seemed a bit large for two ponies and a baby dragon, and began eating. Celestia spoke first, saying, "So, Spike. What questions would you like to ask us?"

I thought for a few seconds, but the special treatment from the soldiers was digging at the front of my brain, so I asked, "Why did the guards treat me different when I got here?"

"Because Luna and I have decided to offer you the title of Knight of Equestria. After we get a few things cleared, of course." Celestia said.

"A knight?" I asked. "Sorry if I seem a little out of touch, but… I don't even know what that means."

Luna arched an eyebrow, and said, "You don't know what a knight is? Didn't you live in a library at some point?"

"I know what a knight is, but I didn't even know that Equestria had knights. Besides, I don't think that I would measure up to a bar set that high up."

Both of the Princesses stared at me blankly, then began to laugh. "Of course you didn't know about the Equestria had knights, we haven't had any since Equestria was founded." Celestia said.

Luna continued, "As for the requirements, believe me when I say that you fit them perfectly."

"So… does this have anything to do with my egg being in your school? Because that's why I'm here."

"Spike, you are not just any dragon, you are what is known as an Equestrian Drake. And the magical rules that govern your kind prevent the existence of more than one of you at a time. The first one to hatch became Knight, and all of his descendants did the same. I was waiting for you to ask me about your heritage before having you train to become a master of your unique abilities. But… I'm getting ahead of myself." Celestia cleared her throat and said, "Do you accept the title of knight?"

I nodded, my dream of 'Sir Spike' becoming a reality before my eyes.

Celestia's eyes began to glow white, and with a double voice, she said, "Do you, Spike Fire-Bane, swear to uphold the laws of your ancestors?"

Fire-Bane? Never heard that one before. "I do"

"Kneel before me, and make your pledge to serve Equestria"

I knelt, and said, "I Spike Fire-Bane, swear to uphold the pride of those who served before me, and protect all of the citizens of the nation from any threat, till my last breath." I felt the words come out before I could stop them, and felt a surge of power from Celestia.

Her eyes stopped glowing and Celestia said, "You are now a Knight, Spike." Giving me a funny look, she asked, "If I may ask, why did you pledge like that?"

I had assumed that those words had somehow been part of the ritual. "What do you mean, Princess?"

"Never mind." Celesta waved it off. "Luna, could you help him?"

Luna nodded in confirmation, and walked towards the door. "Come Spike, we will begin at once."

As we walked through the palace towards a destination only Luna knew, I couldn't help myself, and began asking question after question.

"Do I get to use a sword?"

"No."

"Then what will I be training to use?"

"You'll see."

"Why did Celestia's eyes glow like that?"

"She was Knighting you."

"What spell did she cast?"

Luna didn't answer for a moment, then said, "If I answer, will you stop asking questions?"

I nodded.

"The spell did many things, but just think of it as a badge of office. It identifies you as a Knight, and prevents others from claiming the privileges the title holds. While that may seem like a small thing, it actually does a lot, from preventing Changlings from mimicking you, to allowing access to the knowledge of the Knights before you." She said, sounding much like a teacher.

"Oh."

We continued to walk through the halls of the Palace, and I was really starting to wonder what they needed all this space for, when Luna picked a door, and opened it with her magic. The room that was revealed was as inconspicuous as the door leading in to it, with cobwebs of various sizes in the corners, and nothing particularly special anywhere to be seen. In all, the room was small, dusty, and as Rarity would put it, drab. Rarity… I let my thoughts wander as I observed the room, she would totally freak out when I told her I was a Knight. Maybe going as far as making me a special outfit. Then I could invite her out to a dinner for two, and while eating, she would see a speck of food on my face. Both of us would lean in close and-

"SPIKE!"

I jumped to attention, with my heart beating faster than I could process after 'hearing' (it was so loud I could practically taste the sound) the traditional Canterlot voice at close range.

"Are you okay?" Luna asked. "I was trying to get your attention and you just stared off into space."

My face figuratively blazed as I realized that I had let my mind wander a little too far. "Sorry Princess, I was daydreaming. It won't happen again."

Luna raised an eyebrow, and said, "I've never understood that expression… I wonder if Celestia can visit daydreams…" She shook her head, dispelling the rampant thoughts, then walked to the center of the room, and cast a spell.

I waited a few moments, and after a minute or two, I couldn't stand the expectant silence, and asked, "So… did th-" I was cut off when the floor suddenly lurched, and began descending like an elevator.

Luna spoke. "You wouldn't be so surprised if you hadn't been 'daydreaming' and missing my entire explanation. I won't be repeating myself, though. So, when we get there, please don't touch anything."

We waited a few minutes. As our elevation dropped, I noticed that the walls were now a polished obsidian color, and Luna had become very stiff, as if trying not to shake. "Luna, are you okay?" I asked.

Luna spoke without turning her head to look at me, saying, "It is nothing you need to concern yourself with, Spike. I just have a strong dislike of enclosed spaces, and my mind is trying to convince me that the walls are closing in on me."

Huh… Claustrophobia was very common, and I had done some research on the subject. It was found primarily in pegasi and earth pony farmers, and I never thought that Luna could be claustrophobic too. Walking around the Princess to look her in the eyes, I saw something that I could only recognize because I was around Fluttershy so much. Fear. She was probably suffering from the symptoms that I had read about, tight feeling around the lungs, feeling like the walls were closing in, irrational fear… I stepped forward and put a claw on her leg, then said, "Luna, everything is fine." Maybe I could help her. "I want you to stretch your wings out and up, as far as you can." I waited until she had done so, then continued, "Now, start taking deep breaths… in, two, three, out, two, three."

As we did this, the tension in her muscles gradually faded, and the fear in her eyes disappeared. After what seemed like a long time, Luna said, "Thank you, Spike. That actually helped a lot. Come, let us be finished with this vile place." At that, she strode through a doorway that had apparently appeared while my back was turned. And upon looking up, the ceiling could only be seen as a tiny speck.

Following the Princess through the door, there were too many things to take in at once. Lining the walls of the huge room were alcoves holding various random things. There was a sword that looked to be entirely made of fire, as well as a black book that was secured to the wall with thick metal chains, I also saw a suit of armor for a pony that the only word to describe it was 'awesome', and many more cool bits and bobs.

Luna purposefully walked to one of the less interesting alcoves, one with a simple wooden chest, and used her magic to pull an object on a thin silver chain out of the chest. I caught up to her after picking my jaw up off the floor, and looked at her questioningly.

"This is a special charm I invented to help with lucid dreaming, I originally made these charms to help train soldiers. However, I found that the stallions in the guard were using them… inappropriately, to say the least. If you wear this while sleeping, you will be able to train your mind and your soul while your body recovers." Luna said, handing me the charm. Looking around, as if reminded that she really didn't like being down here, she began walking towards the exit. "Let us leave quickly."

I stared at the beautiful pendant, it was a strange metallic blue material, formed into the shape of a crescent moon. It seemed to reflect things that weren't around, like open fields, and laughing ponies. I looked closer into the reflection, while following Luna. Or at least I tried to follow her. Instead I managed to walk straight into one of the alcoves. Whatever it was holding decided to fall off, landing on my head. It was hard and heavy, both traits combined to make short work of my ability to remain conscious, and I blacked out immediately after registering what happened.

I couldn't feel anything. It wasn't that my nerves weren't working. But there wasn't anything to feel. The temperature was neither warm nor cool, and there was no light for my eyes to receive. In fact, I couldn't even feel the pull of gravity to be able to tell up from down. There was nothing here. Wherever here is…

Words started to etch themselves into the oppressive darkness:

When the end becomes nigh

The Six must become Nine

With great evil on the rise

Even a Knight must have allies

With pain as her only friend

The Coldest Heart seeks the end

I stared at the words, engraving them in my mind. Whatever this means, it was gonna be important.

"Spike…" a muffled voice called.

"Spike!"

"SPIKE!"

Light flooded my vision, just as pain flooded my head. Royal Canterlot voice again? At this rate, I would be deaf before I got back to Ponyville.

"Come on! Please get up! I don't want to explain to my sister how the first Knight to appear in thousands of years was lost before we could even start training him!"

It was Princess Luna. She was holding me and gently slapping my cheek. Raising an arm to stop her from slapping me anymore. "Jeez, Princess. A baby dragon needs to take a nap every now and then. Just so ya know." I said, grinning cheesily.

She scowled down at me. "This is no laughing matter, dragon. You just took a hit to the head from the book of The Timestream, and should consider yourself lucky that it was this one and not its brother, the book of The Nothing." She said, gesturing towards the chained book I had noticed earlier. "This book should have been secured in chains as well, as it is just as dangerous, but in a different way. Like the book of The Nothing, merely touching it has driven many to madness. I am… glad that you are mostly unharmed."

I looked up at the object that hit me. It was an average sized book, but the cover was made entirely of interlocking gears. While looking at it, I said, "So… just touching it can make you go crazy?"

"Indeed. It is known to impart some knowledge from time to time to those it deems worthy. Those that aren't worthy… lose their minds to the vastness of eternity. And sometimes, the ones chosen by the book go mad as well, from seeing things that they cannot process."

I shuddered. "Let's go. I don't want to take another knock to the head."

"My sister has requested that you stay here for the next few days, to assist in the beginning of your training and to answer any questions you might have. Simply send her a note containing your question by way of dragon fire, and either of us will answer in our free time." Luna said, smiling softly. She continued, "After I show you how to properly train whilst lucid dreaming, you may either work alone or with any member of the guard in the practice fields during your waking hours."

We walked up a (really, really long) staircase that spiraled around a tower, eventually reaching the room at the top.

It was getting late, and I had the opportunity to watch Luna raise the moon. After she raised the lunar sphere, she turned to me and said, "I will instruct you in your dreams. You may rest here during your stay."

I didn't even think about staying up. I had been standing and walking around for most of the day, and was exhausted. My head hadn't even hit the pillow before I was sound asleep.

My vision was blurry at first, but as it cleared, I found myself standing on an open field. I knew I was dreaming, but the detail was so realistic that it was easy to forget. I heard a *whump* sound behind me. I turned around, expecting to see Luna. It wasn't, unless she had decided to be a large, bipedal, purple and green dragon during her visit to my dreams. The dragon drew closer, and his/her height became apparent, as I had to crane my head back to look at his eyes. (if the dragon was a girl, she didn't have any feminine features) Yeesh… he was massive. At least eight feet tall. He was looking down at me. "Should I say something?" I thought. "…Hey big fella… have you seen an alicorn Princess around anywhere? Dark coat, mane made of magic glitter? I think she might have got a little lost, and I was sort of expecting to see her any minute now."

The dragon laughed, starting out at a hearty chuckle, then growing in volume until it was a full-throttle gale of mirth. After calming down, he said, "Princess Luna won't be joining us, I asked her to leave the training to me."

He was very well spoken, for his girth. I am not very prone to stereotyping, but I had seen with my own eyes how most sentient creatures spent their time building their minds or their bodies. Rarely did I see anything this big with any reasonable amount of intelligence. This guy, however, seemed to possess the rare combination of both. "What." I said, in a tone that I hoped would imply that I thought he was joking.

"Simple. The Princess of the Night is well versed in many subjects, but only a Knight could ever hope to properly train you." He said in his surprisingly soft, but still deep voice.

"You're a Knight."

"That's what I just said."

"I was under the impression that only Equestrian Drakes ever became Knights."

"That is true."

"I was also under the impression that there can only ever be one Equestrian Drake at a time."

"That is also true."

"So… you're an Equestrian Drake?"

"I am." He said, and continued, "However, while it may seem that my words contradict themselves, you should know that there can only be one Knight in the physical realm, whereas this is the dream realm."

This made me pause, he had answered the question before it left my lips, so I was at a loss for words briefly. He was staring at me, waiting for more questions, apparently. I gathered my thoughts, and asked the next question that popped into my head. "Then… who are you?"

"I am the manifestation of the cumulative memories of every Knight before you. And it is my job to pass down the secrets of the Knights." He said seriously.

Sheesh… I should have read the thesaurus Twilight got me. I only really heard 'Knight before you.' And 'Secrets of the Knights.' The secrets of the Knights? Where do I sign up? "What will you teach me first… uh, sorry, I didn't get your name."

"I don't actually have a name…" He said, a little uncomfortable. His voice then took on an embarrassed tone, as he said, "And most of the common things that a Knight is taught require the physical realm. In the past, dreams were used to build up the power of the mind, but you are in peak mental condition, so I can currently do nothing."

I stared blankly at him. "You're telling me that this whole lucid dreaming thing is a waste of time?"

"Yes and no. Yes, because again, I cannot currently help you train. And no, because the charm Luna gave you sped up the process of me contacting you, which sometimes takes years of me trying to break into the mental barrier that some Knights instinctively put up while they're sleeping. As such, I can now help you in the physical realm by talking to your brain."

"Talking to my brain?"

"Just think of me as your conscience."

"Ah." A horrible thought crossed my mind. "You won't be doing that a lot, right? My friends won't think I'm going crazy?"

"You needn't worry. I will try to be discreet, and only talk if it is necessary."

"Okay…" I looked around. "How long until I wake up?"

He tapped the tips of his index claws together, then thoughtfully said, "Currently you are processing time at a different perspective. What seems like days is only mere seconds in reality. If you want to wake up, you simply need to will yourself to dream normally."

Dream normally, huh? I focused my thoughts on dreaming, and suddenly I found myself in a familiar ice cream house.

I woke with a yawn, stretching my arms out high above my head. I was in the bathroom doing my stuff when I heard a voice, clear as day.

"Go to the training yard"

Needless to say, it startled me, and toothpaste went everywhere. Sheesh, I was gonna go there anyway, he didn't have to scare me like that.

"I apologize for scaring you" he said. (I really needed to get a name for him, because then this would only be half as creepy.)

After doing my usual morning routine, I headed to the training field next to the barracks. It was a short way away, being as it was part of the Palace. The longest part of the trip was the seemingly endless staircase down from the suite I was staying in.

I wandered around for a little bit, seeing what different exercises the guards and trainees were doing. I realized to my dismay, that most of them weren't meant for a bipedal dragon to do. As I wandered around some more, I took note of the things I could participate in. There was jogging, various forms of muscle work, and… sparring. The sparring part of the training yard was the last place I reached, and my first thought was, "Well, I guess I had better get jogging."

My second thought, admittedly came after I noticed three trainees ganging up on a smaller trainee. And after I heard snippets of the words coming from the largest of the three, things like, "pathetic shrimp" and "weakling" my blood began to boil. I knew what type of ponies these were. Bullies, like Garble and his gang. Before I knew what I was doing, I walked up to the ringleader of the bullies, stepping between him and the lone trainee.

The pony I had confronted sneered down at me, and said, "Looks like the puny pansy has a dorky dragon for a friend. Step aside pal, me and my buddies need to teach gimpy here a lesson in combat."

Apparently only the palace guards were aware of my status as Knight. I began to speak; my voice was so icy and cold that it would have made Jack Frost shiver. I said, "Combat lessons, huh? Whatever. Let's quit the lying game, kay? I don't like ponies like you. You only start fights that you know you can win, you pick on ponies you see as lesser, and you put on a sweet face for the guys in charge. In all, you're just another coward with an ego complex."

His face gradually turned a deep shade of red, a startling contrast to his mustard yellow coat. "Coward? Who do you think you are!? I am the most talented pony in Equestria, you had better start apologizing real fast, punk."

I ignored his demand, instead looking him in the eye and saying, "'The most talented pony'? Should we put that to the test? I challenge you to a spar-off, one on one, melee combat only." Although, in my head I was screaming "What are you doing?! Are you crazy?" The gold bandanna wrapped around his right front leg told me that he was in his last year of training, and the diamond mark on the same bandanna meant that he was the leader of a squad, therefore the best fighter out of the group (because that totally reveals key leadership qualities, fighting for the position of leader).

My gut sank when his eyes lit up at the challenge. He liked close quarters combat, meaning I had probably made a huge mistake. "Challenge accepted." He said with the biggest grin on the planet.

It took a very little time to set up. We were already standing on an unused field, so the Pony behind me quickly stepped out of the ring, as did the lackeys of my opponent. I sat down and began stretching, trying to ease my nerves (I was quite aware of the fact that anxiety and fear would only hinder me during the fight) while at the same time observing my competitor (In my haze of anger, I had not taken the time to note any features other than the band.) He was an earth pony roughly the size of Bic Macintosh, but with a light green coat and a spiky white mane and tail. His Cutie mark was a depiction of a stone wall with holes apparently smashed into it. These were mostly unimportant, though. What I was actually looking for were clues revealing his fighting style, which he unwittingly gave away. There were heavy steel weights on his hooves (the rules of traditional melee combat allowed them, for whatever reason), and when he kicked at the ground and snorted in an attempt to make himself look intimidating, a patch of grass was ripped up, revealing that he was wearing horseshoe spikes (also allowed into the rules without much reasoning).

Having lived in a library for most of my life, my free time had obviously been reading any books that piqued my interest. And while I was hardly as well learned as Twilight, I knew a lot about cooking, muscle building, gem identification, and, admittedly, fighting. He was a heavy hitting style of fighter, the shoe-spikes allowed him to transfer all of his movement into a punch. That punch, in turn, had much more heft behind it, courtesy of the weights attached to it. The weights had a fairly obvious weakness, in the fact that what the user gained in power, they lost in speed. I created my strategy and stepped up to the center of the field.

"I was expecting to have to tell you to spar, but you did it yourself. My advice is to not become arrogant or reckless, and take advantage of his emotions." The voice in my head said.

Looking my opponent in the eye, I asked, "What's your name?" with the same cold tone I had used earlier.

Sneering he said, "What's it to you, shrimp?"

"Oh, no reason. I just want to know who you are before I send you to the hospital." Obviously, I was bluffing. I would only try to knock him out, but he didn't need to know that, now did he?

His bravado seemed to die down a little. "My name is Quarry Breaker." He replied.

"I am Sir Spike, Knight of Equestria."

His reaction wasn't quite what I expected. He laughed hard, rolling around on the grass and clutching his midsection. This had two effects. Firstly, I realized that the title wouldn't be recognized until I made a name for myself as a Knight. And secondly, it shattered my last-ditch effort to bluff him into backing down. "I see what you're doing." He gasped for a fresh breath of air. "You have no chance of winning, so you're trying to get me to back down!" he said between bursts of mirth.

He was right, but I didn't let it show, instead bringing things back to the fight. "Well… you have half of it right, at least. So… does this mean you're not gonna back down, then?"

As an answer, Quarry Breaker stood up and immediately lunged out, trying to catch me off guard. I saw his muscles bunch together, and easily sidestepped. Whoa, I'd never done that before… while he was unbalanced, I jabbed his ribs below his extended hoof, I struck him with as much force as I could muster, but hadn't expected him to be sent flying end over end across the field. He felt really light when I made contact… What was going on? For an earth pony, he was quite the acrobat, though, managing to right himself and land on his hoofs before hitting the ground.

The inner dragon guy (I really needed to get him a name, and maybe a bell, too) seemed to sense my surprise, and said, "That would be your Knight abilities kicking in. You have greatly enhanced reflexes and strength. The other abilities you have at your disposal need to be taught first. Because they aren't automatically activated."

Much like unicorns, intense emotions could increase the magical power of Pegasi and earth ponies, however, their magic was mostly physical enhancement. Quarry breaker had a really bad temper, and was probably used to the anger giving him an extra boost in strength. That was the case right now, 'cause he was pissed. The enraged earth pony roared, an animalistic rage showing on his face. I wasn't worried, he was stronger, sure, but I knew how he would attack, his fury making him predictable.

He dashed across the field, and lashed out with a wide swing, taking full advantage of the weight and size of his left hoof to make a wide attack that I couldn't sidestep. The look on his face was priceless when I vaulted over the top of the attack, letting the hoof keep going. I heard a sickening *pop*, and Quarry Breaker was laying on the ground, clutching the base of the leg that I had recently dodged. Ah… the momentum must have dislocated it. I looked around to see if I could spot a medic, or maybe one of the Training overseers (The overseers having basic first aid training) and discovered one already approaching. She was a medic pony, and she had just come outside, judging from the way she was squinting.

"Alright, I heard Quarry was fighting somepony, where's the guy he fought?" She said in a resigned tone.

Yeesh, the medic was apparently used to fixing up his opponents. I raised a claw in the air, getting her attention. "Yeah… that was me." She raised an incredulous eyebrow at my unharmed appearance, and I continued, gesturing to Quarry Breaker, "I'm fine. But he swung too hard and dislocated one of his front legs. Could you…?"

A huge smile bloomed across the medic's face. "You're telling me that bully finally got what's coming to him? And he injured himself? He's sent so many trainees to the infirmary, we have a section just for his opponents."

The pony walked towards him with a spring in her step, and I turned to see the Pony that I had rescued from receiving a beatdown. The wings on his back told me he was a pegasus, and he had a blue coat and his mane and tail were a frosty gray, in a style that was reminiscent of anything cold. His Cutie Mark was of a shield with a snowflake emblazoned on it. He nodded his head respectfully, and said, "Thank you, sir. I wasn't looking forward to a trip to the emergency room. If you need a favor, just ask for Frost Shield."

"I'll remember that." I said as he walked away.

I spent the rest of the day doing the other exercises. When I went running, I was able to sprint at my maximum controllable speed (my enhanced strength allowed for some incredible speed, but I could only maintain about half of it without losing my footing.) for ten minutes straight before needing to stop and catch my breath. There was an obstacle course, and I set a new record on it. And I finished up on the tactical training, which was really just an over-glorified game of capture the flag, where if you got hit hard enough, instead of being hurt, you were teleported to the jail zone. I had a lot of fun doing that one, and the final round was stacked against me by the supervisors just to give the others a chance. I won in the end by jailing the entire other team (this consisted of pretty much every guard and trainee on the training grounds, because it was tradition to finish the day with tactical training, and I was literally the only one on my team).

I returned to my suite in the castle. There was only one thing on my mind. A cold shower, which I quickly grabbed. Usually I preferred to bathe instead, but I didn't feel like sitting in a pool of sweat and grimy water.

As I stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my head, I stopped dead in my tracks when I found not one, but two princesses standing in the entrance to the suite. "Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! How can I help you?" I said, slipping into my number one assistant attitude like a fish into water.

"Really Spike, you don't need to be so formal when we are alone. We merely came to see how your first day as a Knight went, and to see if the rumors I've heard floating around are true." Celestia said warmly.

"Is it true that you singlehandedly emerged successful against every guard and trainee in the tactical drills?" Luna asked animatedly.

"You mean that capture the flag thing? Yeah." I said, a little wierded out by the admiration in both Princesses eyes.

"I also heard that you did some sparring. I believe that a young trainee was hurt?" Celestia prompted, discreetly asking for an explanation.

"Ah… him. Truth to be told, I didn't actually do much to hurt him. You see, he swung a punch and missed, and the force of the swing dislocated his right front leg pretty hard."

"Hmm… how did you come to be fighting a trainee in the first place?"

"Him and his buddies were ganging up on another trainee. I don't like bullies, so I went and told him off. Things escalated a bit, so I ended up fighting him one on one." I replied.

Luna snorted a little, and said, "It sounds like he got what he deserved."

Celestia smiled, and said, "Indeed. In any case, you have proven that you are capable of controlling your newfound strength to some degree. You may return to Ponyville tomorrow, if you want."

"But, I thought that I was going to keep training for a few more days." I asked, a little confused.

"The extra days were in case you needed more time to adjust. Most of your ancestors had problems with breaking things and the like."

Luna glanced at her sister and said, "You are forgetting something, dear sister"

The Princess of the Sun acquired a puzzled look on her face.

"Remember? The suggestion from the headmaster?" Luna prompted.

Realization dawned on Celestia's face. "The headmaster from the training academy has suggested that you participate in the graduation ceremony that trainees usually do. Nothing is official yet, so you can still refuse."

"Sure, I'll do it. What is it, though?"

"A simple duel against the Captain of the royal guard." Luna said casually, as if talking about the weather.

"WHAT!? Isn't Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire?" My confidence disappeared like a Cupcake in front of Pinkie Pie. Shining Armor was Captain of the guard because he was the best at everything involving the Royal guard. Tactics, combat, etc. You name it, he can do it by tomorrow morning like he was born to do it.

"Him and Cadence make a trip up here every now and then to visit. And while the Captain is here, he usually does a few duels. In fact, they are visiting tomorrow." Celestia answered.

I swallowed hard, and said, "I said I'll do it, so I won't back down now."

"Good to hear it, Spike. We will see you tomorrow." Celestia said as she turned to leave.

As the door shut behind the two royal sisters, I heard, "This is going to be fun to watch, sister."

Great. I was fighting for the entertainment of the Princesses. I got into bed for the night, and in spite of my anxiety for the coming day, I fell asleep quickly, although I forgot my amulet.

I awoke to a knock on the door. I quickly made sure I was presentable, and opened the door, and was greeted by a member of the royal guard in his or her (it's always hard to distinguish genders with those sets of enchanted armor) easily identifiable uniform.

He just stood there for a moment, the silence was becoming more and more uncomfortable, so I said, "…can I help you?"

"Their majesties Princess Celestia and Luna have requested that I escort you to the throne room." He said stiffly.

I was confused. "The Princesses know that I know the palace like the back of my claws, right?"

"I am sure that they know. This is simply a formality. Please follow me."

I was given little choice in the matter, since the guard, turned around and began his descent down what I had come to call 'The Eternal Staircase' after speaking.

I was ushered into the spacious throne room, and reached Celestia and Luna.

Celestia spoke first, saying, "Cadence and Shining Armor will be arriving shortly, so I will make this quick. Me and my sister wanted to play a small prank on our guests. So, they are being kept unaware that you are a Knight and that you will be fighting. All Shining Armor knows that the duels today are receiving more publicity than usual, and that the final challenger will be a surprise."

"We ask that you play along until you are announced during the tournament we have set up." Was all Luna could say before the 'guests' arrived.

"Presenting Princess Mi Am- *cough* Princess Cadence and her consort, Captain Shining Armor."

I immediately stepped to the side and stood by the two solar princesses, maintaining what I felt was a respectful distance from them.

I figured that they wouldn't even notice me, so I was surprised when, after greeting Celestia and Luna, Cadence turned to me and said, "Spike, nopony said you would be here in Canterlot. What a pleasant surprise!"

I guess this is the part where I get to 'play along'. "I'm here to help Princess Celestia with some stuff." I said, sticking to a simple half-truth.

They continued talking about various things, until Celestia began guiding everyone outside, towards an arena that had apparently been erected for the occasion. Celestia turned to Cadence, and said, "Spike will be helping in the back." She turned to a nearby guard. "Spearhead, could you give Spike an escort to where he needs to go?" she asked, subtly winking at him.

"Of course, your highness." Spearhead said, smoothly taking the hint. The guards must be in on this as well.

I followed him through some halls in the arena walls (seriously, when did they build this thing?). We reached a room with several trainees waiting inside. The others in the room recognized me from yesterday. I paid them no mind, simply walking to a bench in the corner and sitting down. I reviewed what I knew about traditional arena duels in my head. The contestants would file out, one at a time, and there would be a second room where they could suit up one at a time. This second room usually had a selection of armor and weapons. Upon the contestant that went in before being defeated, the guard next to the exit would send the name of the next contestant to the announcer up top, and send them out. The contestant would then fight until defeated, which was decided by a complicated spell that would teleport them away if they would have taken a lethal hit or passes out. Usually both sides had a lineup behind them, but Shining Armor had years of experience under his belt, not to mention the raw talent that had earned him his position.

"Sir, you're up next."

I was snapped out of my thoughts and led to the second room. I didn't need to do much because the armor was for ponies, and the weapons were too big for me anyway. Shining armor was probably making mincemeat out of the poor trainees, because there wasn't much time after I entered the second room before it was time for me to leave it. I waited in the shadows of the arch leading into the central ring.

"Alright fillies and gentlecolts. The moment you've all been waiting for has arrived! The mysterious champion that Celestia and Luna have announced will be fighting in the arena against our very own Captain Shining Armor! I have to admit, even I don't know who he or she is. Here we go, the champion who will be fighting today is… Sir Spike Fire-Bane!"

At the announcement of my name, I stepped out, walking in a straight line to Shining Armor, who sat dumbfounded in the center of the arena.

As I reached him, he said, "Spike? What are you doing here?"

"Didn't ya hear? I'm Celestia and Luna's champion. Sir Spike Fire-Bane." I replied.

He seemed to be at a loss for words, so I continued, "Whatever you do, don't take it easy on me. If you do, you will lose." I glanced up at the royal pew and saw Cadence staring at me, wide eyed. She immediately turned to Celestia and began speaking frantically with her I couldn't hear her over the crowd, though.

"Alright boys. I want a nice, clean match."

The captain shook off his surprise and raised his sword and shield with telekinesis.

I assumed a fighting stance.

"Three… Two… One… Begin!"

I jumped forward, going straight into a brutally fast offensive. It was really only to test the water, and I didn't put much force behind it, but Shining Armor barely got his shield up in time. I think it also convinced him to fight in earnest, because the next thing he did was swing the sword at me in a downward strike. I sidestepped it and punched his shield. A strong enough disruption could usually break a telekinetic hold on things, for example, the shield that was ripped from his grasp and hit him directly in the face. While he was stunned, I used a trick that I had discovered on accident while doing the tactical drills. I jumped, twisting in the air to land on his back. He had recovered from the shield to the face, and picked up the offending tool by the time I had landed. I gave him a good whack to the back of the helmet, and was suddenly forced off of him by an expanding pink bubble.

Shining Armor was probably trying to stop seeing double and was stalling with the force field. I wasn't about to let him catch his breath. I rushed straight at him, and punched the pink bubble. Again, I was just testing the water, I could hardly expect to break something that could hold off an army of changelings when it was spread across Canterlot and when it was at its weakest. When my clenched claws met the barrier, I saw the light around the Captain's horn waver. Ah… feedback. Forming an idea in my head, I began punching the force field rapidly. With each hit, the wavering effect on his horn got worse. Then he started flinching every time I hit. A crack appeared in the field, and I focused on it.

Bam! Pow! Smash!

The field shattered on my last hit. Shining Armor was teleported away, probably from passing out.

The audience probably would have erupted into chaos, if not for the fact that they were a bunch of Canterlot snobs. Instead, they gave me a golf clap. We ('We' being the three Princesses and myself) quickly made the traditional congratulatory ceremony, and then rushed into the halls of the arena to make sure Shining Armor was okay. He was. In fact, he was giving the trainees he had defeated some pointers.

"You need to learn when it's time to switch to the defensive." He stepped towards the next one. "You need to remember that your opponent could potentially do anything to gain the upper hand, and need to learn to adapt." He stepped to the next in line, and I realized that I was standing in the spot he was looking, right where I had entered. "And you have some explaining to do, kid."

Celestia cut in, "Perhaps we could wait until we have all eaten? After all of that fighting, you must be famished."

Luna smirked from behind her. "Tia's getting hangry."

We took a walk to the Royal Dining Hall. Once again, the number of chairs greatly exceeded the sum of those present. A meal had already been prepared, so I sat down and dug in as soon as it seemed appropriate. Celestia proceeded to explain to Cadence and Shining Armor about the ancient Knights of Equestria. It was all stuff I had already heard, though, so I continued eating. Halfway through the pile of biscuits that had been generously placed nearby where I was sitting, I noticed something. "Hey." I asked Cadence, "Where's Flurry Heart?"

Cadence smiled and said, "We left her with Twilight, a baby would hardly be entertained by dueling, so we asked if she could foal-sit for us. Which reminds me, we should probably get going, royal duties and all."

"If you guys are going to Ponyville, could I catch a ride? I was going to head back home anyway."

"Of course you can, Spike."

We headed out, and reached the Crystal Express. The invention of the locomotive hadn't existed when the Crystal Ponies had vanished, so it was made by the best engineering minds they had. And what it lost in stealth, it made up for in speed. The world was soon zooming by impossibly fast, as if we were being thrown forward by the world itself trying to rid it of the horrible screeching noise. We reached Ponyville in a few minutes.

Cadence and Shining Armor dashed towards Twilight's castle. It looked like this happened a lot, because the crystal guards didn't even try to keep up, instead waiting the entire thirty seconds it took for them to get back with Flurry Heart. I barely had time to step off the train and say, "Bye!" before the train was already gone. 'Huh, they must have been late for something.' I thought to myself.

I still had some bits from the trip (I had expected to need to pay for the doughnuts), so I took a trip to Sugarcube corner. On the way there, I saw Big Mac, and walked over to him. When I reached speaking distance, I asked, "Hey, Macintosh, are you gonna be able to make it to guys night tonight?"

"Eyup."

"Awsome! I'll see you there!"

We headed our separate ways. Upon reaching Sugarcube Corner, a pleasant smell drifted past my nose. I didn't know what it was, but it was coming from the sweet shop, so I headed in.

"Hello dearie! What can I getcha?" Cupcake said from the counter.

"Whatever it is that I can smell from outside." I said, looking around for the source.

"Oh, that? It's called the Secret Surprise, Pinkie just made a fresh batch."

"Is it new? I've never heard of it before."

"Pinkie recently invented it. Every bite you take has a different flavor, but she won't tell me the recipe."

"Really? Well I'll take one" I slid the required bits across the counter.

The treat was by far the strangest I had ever seen. It was some kind of cookie, and was covered in blue spots on top of its purple tinted outside. My first bite I took tasted like peanut butter and chocolate, and the next one tasted like cream soda. I would have thought that the two tastes would clash, but instead, the flavor of the first bite transformed into that of the second, removing every last trace of the peanut butter and chocolate. It was amazing, almost magical. I wondered what Pinkie had used to make it taste like this… I would assume that she had found a new ingredient somewhere in the Everfree, because that could be the only explanation for the logic defying pastry. Wait a minute… Everfree. Blue spots… I rushed back into Sugarcube Corner, and asked, "Do you know where Pinkie Pie is? It's urgent."

"She's in the back, baking." Cupcake saw the look on my face, and with a questioning look, asked, "What's the matter, dearie?"

I ignored the question and marched right into the kitchen. There she was, cotton candy hair and all.

"Oh, hi Spike! Did you just get back?" she said.

I walked up to her and said, "I just tried one of your new recipes. the Secret Surprise, wasn't it?"

"Yep. That's the one!" the pink mare said, oblivious to my serious tone.

"Well, I couldn't help but notice that it looks a lot like a certain plant from the Everfree."

"Oh really? I never noticed." A bead of sweat rolled down her brow.

"Pinkie, is there Poison Joke in this?"

She broke down crying, then and there. "There is! Please don't tell anypony!"

"Do you realize how dangerous these could Be?! Like, Baked-Bads-Land-everypony-in-the-hospital dangerous."

"Dangerous? Not at all! Me and Zecora did a whole lot of tests before I started selling these." She had stopped crying, and revealed no signs of having done so mere seconds before. "The only thing that came up was that one of the million different possible flavors is really spicy. But it's only a one in a million chance, and doesn't actually hurt anypony."

"Oh. Okay." I was reminded that Pinkie Pie was a lot more considerate than what most ponies (and dragons) were led to believe. "If it's so safe, why were you crying?"

"I was worried you were going to tell everypony my secret ingredient and completely ruin my career as a baker, forcing me out of a job and sending me into a downward spiral of despair from here on out." Pinkie said cheerily.

I took a moment to recover from the cheery way she said that, then said "Alright, I trust your judgement, but if something happens, get Zecora as fast as possible, okay?"

"Oki-Doki-Loki!"

I left the building, heading straight to the castle. It was almost time for guys night, after all. We had started having guys night every week, since the girls had started cleaning up the Castle of the Two Sisters, Celestia had sent out a group of construction workers to the site, Twilight and her friends now only needed to check in with them every Thursday night. That same Thursday night had been turned into a regular time for guys night. Discord had also become a regular participant after the first time we invited him.

Upon reaching the castle, I found the girls (including Pinkie, but I was used to that stuff from her) already leaving.

Twilight noticed me approaching first and said, "Spike, you're back! What did you learn?"

I chuckled a little. "I'll tell you when you get back, okay? It's a long story."

They left with some parting words, and I went inside to prepare for guys night. Setting up wasn't hard, I just pulled out some snacks and made sure the table was clean. Before Discord started coming over, we would usually have Ogres and Ogliets set up, and occasionally have a night devoted to Hoofball. Now, we could do anything imaginable. We had walked on the moon, jousted, and even gone on pranking sprees in alternate dimensions.

Checking the clock, I found that there was still half an hour till Big Mac and Discord would be here, and said to myself, "I guess I'm early."

"Find a spot where you won't be disturbed, I want to teach you something while you wait."

Great. The voice in my head was talking again. I made my way to my room, figuring that would work. Out loud, I said, "Okay, I have about twenty minutes of guaranteed solitude. What is it?"

"I have a quick lesson to teach you. One of the few common abilities every Knight has had. Luckily, I can directly give you the knowledge, and then you can practice it."

I felt a buzzing feeling inside my head, and suddenly I knew what he was talking about. I closed my eyes, searching deep inside myself. I found what I was looking for, and pulled on it. It was hard to hold on to, but that was because I needed practice. Opening my eyes, I looked into the mirror, which was seemingly smaller than I remember it being. I didn't see a baby dragon, I saw the eight-foot hulking dragon that was very similar to the one I saw while I was dreaming. I smiled at my success, and retuned to my normal form. The newfound knowledge I had gained had told me why I needed to be alone while I did this. The abilities of the Knights of Equestria, bar the strength and reflexes, were a closely guarded secret, and not even the Princesses knew about all of them. I repeated the transformation process a few more times, finding it to be easier each time. My twenty-minute mark came, so I returned to the table to wait.

As usual, Big Macintosh arrived first, and Discord popped himself in after that.

"What do we want to do tonight?" I asked the other two.

The Spirit of Chaos spoke first, saying, "I happen to have three tickets for a Las Pegasus freestyle fighting event, but watching ponies fight seems a bit dull. How about…" he snapped his 'fingers' and we found ourselves standing in a costume room, and I heard muffled cheering. I looked at Discord and panicked as I realized that I was now standing at his height, I hadn't transformed willingly, so what had happened?

I looked down at myself and asked, "What did you do?"

"Well I can hardly condone having a baby dragon fight against a fully grown professional wrestler, now can I?"

I looked around, and discovered that we were wearing concealing outfits usually worn by wrestlers. With masks that only revealed our eyes and mouths. Discord's was red with a yellow cape, and had 'C.G.' stitched on the front. Big Mac's was a darker red, with green spikes on the sleeves and face. And mine had a sort of tiger stripe theme, colored purple with reflective green stripes, and 'Thorn of Justice' on the front.

Without letting us say anything, Discord briskly walked out of the room and into a connecting hall. We followed him and the cheering got louder.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts, for your viewing pleasure, we will now have the Triplet champions put up against three newcomers!"

Wait a minute, was that the same announcer from earlier today?

"Presenting… Captain Goodguy…"

Discord ran down the aisle. Waving to some fans (the 'fans' were just duplicates of himself wearing t-shirts and foam fingers that said, 'Go Captain Goodguy!').

"…The Thorn of Justice…"

That was me. I walked down the aisle, letting my footfalls be a bit heavier, and for dramatic effect, I let loose a primal-sounding roar. Needless to say, the audience went wild.

"…and The Peeler!"

The Peeler? I had to stop myself from laughing as Big Mac strode down the aisle, the mask on his costume probably hiding an unenthusiastic expression.

As we entered the ring, I began sizing up our opponents. One had a long mane and a goatee, another had a spiky mohawk, and the third had no hair on his head at all, and piercings in both ears. Other than their hairstyles, there was no way to tell them apart, with muscle builds that made Snowflake back at Ponyville look puny, and the exact same mane and coat color (Tan coat, dark brown mane that looked like they woke up with it like that. You know the one.). Their Cutie Marks were only slightly different, with comic book expressions with explosion backgrounds. Goatee had 'Bam!' Mohawk had 'Pow!' and Baldy had 'Smash!' each on their respective flanks.

"Alright boys. I want a nice, clean match."

It was definetly the same announcer. I got ready to fight.

"Three… Two… One… Fight!"

Instead of my usual tactic of rushing into a ruthless offensive, I let them come to me. They obviously perceived me to be the threat, because they practically ignored Discord and Macintosh and rushed at me. Big mistake.

Macintosh turned around and delivered a buck to the side of Goatee.

"Ooh, that one is gonna hurt when he wakes up! It looks like Bam-Bam is out for the count."

Discord found an opening while Mohawk was distracted by his teammate's loss, and threw him out of the ring with a strength I hadn't realized he had until now.

"And Captain Goodguy strikes again! Powdered Nose is down!"

I was caught off guard when the announcer said 'again' while referring to Discord, and was barely keeping myself from rolling around laughing when Mohawk had his name shouted thought the speakers.

My companions stepped back, the rules being that when the opponent had one last standing member, the fight became a one on one. They were giving me the task of taking down the last giant. I stepped forward, as did he. I looked around at the audience, they were here for a show, and I was going to give them one they would never forget. We began our fight.

Baldy led with a left hook, and I let it fly harmlessly past me. From there I kept letting him miss, stepping back and allowing myself to be cornered. When he thought he had me in a spot where I couldn't dodge, he turned around and bucked. However, as he turned around, jumped over him and the attack, landing in the center of the arena. I had twisted midair and was facing him once again. He charged at me, intending to use his weight as a weapon.

At the last possible moment, I stepped to the side and stuck out my foot, tripping him. He was sent sprawling, and I was very surprised when he got back up, he had fallen pretty hard. He then proceeded to rush me again. My muscle over brains theory yet again proved to be true.

I decided to end things before he could strain his tiny brain with a rudimentary plan. I didn't particularly want to hurt him, so I caught him in a headlock, and knocked on the top of his head like a door, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"And there you have it, folks, Smash-mellow is down, and The Thorn of Justice has officially won the title belt!"

A referee handed me a gigantic belt with an equally gigantic gold plate on the front. I held it up for the audience to see, basking in their cheers. After a few minutes of deafening congratulations, we headed back to the costume room. Seconds after the door closed behind us, I heard the sound of a lot of ponies outside.

Discord sighed, and then said, "And now we make our mysterious disappearance."

He snapped his 'fingers' again, and we found ourselves in our game room. And I was my original size. On the table sat a package addressed to me.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a souvenir from the occasion, of course!" Discord said. "I sent yours to the apple farm already, Mac."

I opened the box and found the suit I had been wearing previously. As I held it up to inspect it, Big Mac gasped and bolted out the door. Probably to keep the suit away from prying eyes. The Draconequus handed me an envelope, and said, "I need to get going as well, chaos to wreak, and all that." He disappeared with a flash.

I opened the envelope and pulled out the paper within. I read:

To Sir Spike Fire-Bane of Equestria,

I believe you should be aware that you cannot hide anything from the Lord of Chaos. Secrets have the potential to create a lot of chaos and, as such, are within my influence. Lucky for you, I am very good at keeping them. I am aware of most of your abilities. However, you can tell your imaginary friend that I won't be 'spilling the beans' any time soon.

Your friend and confidante,

Discord

It actually took me a very long time to read the letter, because, while it was well written, the Lord of Chaos had taken it upon himself to change the font for every word. He even used Comic Sans. The monster.

I headed to my room with the envelope and box. I slid the box under my bed, and burned the letter. I also donned the amulet I had received from Luna. I felt like having a chat from my 'imaginary friend'. As I rested my head on my pillow, I managed to come up with a name for him.

Apparently, he wanted to talk too. I found myself in a pleasant grassy meadow, and immediately saw him sitting on the grass. I used the freedom of the dream realm to create a comfy lounge chair next to him for myself. "Sorry for not showing up last night." I said. "I forgot to put the amulet on."

He lightly chuckled, and replied, "Wearing the amulet is inconsequential. If I had felt the need to speak to you, I would have done so."

Accepting that, I changed the subject. "I needed to call you something other than 'he', or 'him', so I came up with a name for you."

"Well, spit it out, so I can decide whether or not to keep it."

"I was thinking… Drake."

After a moment of thought, he said, "I accept. It is a fitting title."

"Good. It was the only name I could come up with."

We sat there in silence for a while. Drake broke the silence first, to my surprise. Saying, "So much has changed since the last Knight served Equestria."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The city you were in when you were training didn't exist when we were last here. And the device you rode to arrive here was the likes of which I had never hoped of imagining. And there are apparently two new alicorn princesses, which is quite shocking. I can only tap into your five senses, so I could only observe and wonder who they are."

"Wow… When was the last time the Knights of Equestria were around, then? Canterlot is a very old city."

"It was a few years after Equestria was founded."

"Wait, so does that mean you've seen Windigos before?"

"Windigos?"

"Frost demon things, look kinda like blue wispy horses."

"You mean the frost demons controlled by Frozen Heart?"

"Frozen Heart? Who's that?" I asked, feeling like I was missing something.

"Ha! The record keeping hasn't changed much, then. Letting the important stuff slip through the cracks as usual. Frozen heart was an alicorn who held a coldness in her heart that fed off of negative feelings, the more ponies were cold to each other, the stronger she got. By secretly pitting the three races against themselves, she became strong enough to create beasts that fed off of negative emotions like her, and sent them out to freeze the world. She was defeated by the Knight currently serving at the time and the army of dragons he was leading."

"Wow, the story must've gotten twisted at some point, because the only thing we have is that the Windigos made it really cold. Anyway, why hasn't there been a Knight since then? That was thousands of years ago." I said.

"Thousands…?" Drake seemed to be shocked at the length of time the Knights had missed. "I suppose that is understandable." He paused to gather his thoughts. "You see, the Equestrian Drake holds a trait similar to that of the phoenix, in the fact that they go through a form of rebirth cycle. When the time comes that the Knight's Patron passes away-"

I cut him off to ask a question. "Uh… What's a Patron?"

"The pony that you bond with when you hatch. The egg can only hatch when a pony does something to earn their cutie mark, and links the hatchling Knight to the pony's destiny. As I was saying, when the Knight's Patron passes away, the Knight becomes an egg again, and somehow manages to make its way back to one of the alicorn princesses. The only explanation I have for the time we weren't around is that the appearance of a new alicorn or two scrambling the magic, or a newly ascended alicorn found it and didn't know what it was."

As usual, this brought up more questions than it answered. "How does the egg get to the Princesses?"

"I will not pretend to know how it works, but I can give you an example. Let's say a small filly discovers you're egg, and, thinking it to be a pretty rock, picks it up and begins to carry it home. While that filly is walking, she trips and drops it. The egg, by mere chance, rolls down a slope, and ends up in a river, it gets carried down that river, and ends up in a fishing net. The owner of the net finds it, and eventually sells the egg to a traveling merchant, who then sells it to a wealthy noble. The noble, seeing one of the Princesses, realizes that the merchant had convinced him to buy something he didn't need, and decides to make the most of things and presents the egg to the Princess as a gift. It has worked similarly for generations, and everypony who tries to study it has given up."

I nodded, his answer made sense, somehow. I didn't have any pressing questions, so I said, "Well, you've answered my questions, so I'll answer yours."

He had a baffled expression on his face. "What?"

"Simple, you said yourself that you haven't seen some of the stuff in my time, so you can ask about it." I answered. I also wanted to start a simple conversation so I could get to know him better.

He paused for a moment, and when he spoke, he looked like he was holding back a tsunami of questions. "Who were the new Princesses that you saw?"

"The pink one was Princess Cadence I think she's the princess of love and compassion, but I'm not sure. And the Purple one was Princess Twilight but she really doesn't like the formal stuff because she's the Princess of Friendship. And Cadence has a daughter called Flurry Heart, who is technically an alicorn as well, but she was born like that."

"Friendship and compassion? Do you have any idea how they ascended? Those are very vague things to rule over."

"I don't know about Cadence, but Twilight became an alicorn from completing a spell. From what I could figure out, the spell literally turned friendship into a form of magic, and made it possible to be used."

"Hmm…" Drake took a moment to process this, then asked, "What about the device you travelled on? How does it work?"

"It's called a train, and while I don't entirely know how it works, it basically uses steam to turn the wheels." I answered.

Receiving the answer, he immediately shot out another question. "What is Poison Joke? And who is Zecora? You made it sound pretty serious that there was Poison Joke inside that amazing treat-" he paused when I gave him a funny look and said, "I tasted it when you did. But you made it sound like it was poisonous until your friend said 'Zecora' helped test it."

"Zecora is a friend of mine and an expert in the flora of the Everfree. Poison Joke is a plant that has similar affects as Poison Oak, but instead, when you touch it, the next day you will have a random thing happen to your body, it can make hair grow really long, or shrink you down to the size of an apple. There is no possible way to know what it will do, unless you have already experienced it. If Zecora said it was safe, then I don't need to worry, because she's a professional."

"What does it do to you?"

"I've never touched it, so I wouldn't know."

He then proceeded to shoot out another question. I couldn't really blame him, Equestria had been founded such a long time ago that the records referring to its beginnings had to be kept behind glass to make sure nopony breathed on them too hard.

"What was the strange creature you met with? The one who isn't going to 'spill the beans'. I have never heard that expression, but I can guess that it means he won't be revealing our secrets."

"You mean Discord? He's a draconequus. I used to be terrified of him, but found out that he's pretty fun to hang out with."

"Hang out?"

"You know, when you do fun stuff with your buddies?"

"Buddies?"

The language gap was becoming even more noticeable with each question. "Another word for friends." I interrupted the flow of questions with my own (I also wanted a break). "You keep mentioning that you are teaching me the things that are common among Knights. But… what things end up being different?"

Drake didn't answer for a while. After what seemed to be a really long time because of the silence, he said, "You must understand that it isn't easy to explain because each Knight is different. While there are some abilities that appear repeatedly throughout the line, each Knight is unique. I can only show you the bits and pieces, you must find your own inner strength."

I did understand. In part, anyway. "Well, what's stopping you? I don't want to have half of a puzzle stuck in my brain, give me the pieces so I can finish it."

He chuckled, but I had no idea what he was laughing at. "You have a mental strength that exceeds that of any of the previous Knights, I doubt I could withhold anything if I wanted to. The clues that will help you are found within your own memories. The moments and allies that have influenced your life the most are your greatest strength. And judging by the few days that I have observed you and this new world, you have many friends to learn from. You need to look back on these things and discover what you can learn from them."

I was about to respond, but suddenly the ground shook, and the grassy meadow began to shred away like paper, randomly disappearing in jagged swathes. I glanced a Drake, and relaxed a bit when I saw that he wasn't worried.

He noticed me giving him a questioning look and said, "Something is waking you. Your consciousness is being drawn back."

The shredding got even faster, and when it finished, I felt as if I were falling.

When I regained my senses, I realized that I really was falling, and far. I flailed wildly until I remembered the techniques used by freefalling professionals. I relaxed and spread my limbs out. I doubted that it would do much, because I was falling from the balcony set into the side of the castle. How had I gotten there?

I had very little time to think about that, because I hit the ground as my mind brought it up. It was the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. I knew bones were broken, and couldn't even draw a breath to cry out. As it turned out, that was a good thing, because I heard voices from where I had fallen.

"Why are we doing this, again? He's just a baby dragon, after all."

The voice came from high above me, and I probably couldn't have heard it if I didn't have dragon hearing.

"If you wanna know, ask the boss yourself. I just follow orders, and she told us to get rid of Sparkle's pet dragon, and to make it look like an accident." A second voice, more commanding than the other spoke this time.

"Should we go make sure that he's dead?"

"Na, leave him, it was hard enough to use telekinesis without leaving a magical imprint, and nothing could have survived a fall like that, especially after we literally threw him down."

A few minutes passed before I heard the voices again.

"Are you sure we shouldn't just check the pulse?" This voice was much closer.

"No, the stupid thing fell and landed like that, when they find him, it needs to look natural."

I heard hoofsteps fade away.

The pain became too great to bear, and I blacked out.

I woke up and groaned. I ached everywhere. The events of the previous night rushed back to me. I sprang to my feet, and looking myself over, the only thing that related to last night was that I had been sleeping outside. In the exact spot that I had landed.

Twilight. She was in danger.

My thoughts to how I was unharmed vanished as I rushed inside, running as fast as I could without losing control, straight to her room. I reached the door, and found it locked. Strange, she never locks the door.

I knocked and I heaved a sigh of relief when I heard her speak. This relief vanished when I noticed the forlorn, empty note in her voice. "What do you want!? Here to laugh at the friendless Princess of Friendship, are you? Well you can laugh at me from the other side of the door, I'm not seeing visitors."

"Twilight, open the door, I just want to talk."

"No!"

My impatient dragon instincts kicked in, and I said, "I'm not gonna ask again, open the door so I don't have to break it."

"No! And you couldn't break this door if you tried, I reinforced it."

Something was wrong. I could feel it. I widened my stance and punched the door. Just like she said, I couldn't break the door. Instead, the piece of the wall that the hinges were attached to broke, ripping from the wall with a crack.

The door fell over, and I squinted into the dark room. I found Twilight's reading candle, and lit it with a burst of fire breath. I walked over to the lump in the bed, and pulled the blankets off of it. I recoiled quickly, and dropped the candle, and found myself in total darkness again. I felt my way to the window, and pulled back the curtain.

And stared at Twilight Sparkle. The candle light hadn't been playing tricks on my eyes. She had red rimmed eyes from crying, and her coat and mane were a dull grey color.

Hey, thanks for reading Spike's Origins! My other story, The Burden of the Gods, was getting depressing to write, so I started writing this. I already have the entire story planned out, so I just need to write it. This is just the preview chapter, and the following chapters might be a bit shorter, or a bit longer. Thanks again!

-SmartAlek7