Chapter 9: This Little Chat of Ours

When morning came to the torn about Equestria, those who slept in were clearly unaware of the happenings just outside their home. Another attack had begun on the camp's grounds . This attack was yet another simple offense of Archenstein's dragons, the kind of small troop of a few Dragonichs with swords and an archer. Of these specific ponies was Spike, performing his last snore before jerking awake. He heard shouts from outside his shack, and sighed frustratedly.

"When are these Dragonichs going to understand, we are on the DEFENSIVE?! If they're going to try and break us at our home, then they better at least make it interesting." As soon as those words finished retreating his mouth, a loud roar followed by a crashing sound of more than a shack falling to the ground. Spike jumped up and yelped at the sudden deafening sound. He whipped his head to the side of the bed Fluttershy slept on. Empty... Spike cursed under his breath as he pulled himself out of bed and put of the shack as fast as he could.

"Get back! Get back!" A stallion shouted as he was suddenly launched from his spot and just over Spike's head. Spike was as quick as he could be to duck under the unidentified flying pony. He looked at the fallen stallion quickly for a moment before looking back at whatever tossed him in the first place.

"Oh my stars..." Spike breathed as he saw the most frightening thing he had since the war started. Well, second most frightening thing he'd seen. There was an armor-clad being, taller than most Dragonichs he had ever seen or fought back. His armor seemed to shine brighter than any metal in Equestria, an aura surrounding the protection in multiple, transparent colors. The being bared a shield half the size of himself, and a sword just as long as he was tall. The armor itself seemed of casual silver, but Spike knew it wasn't, just as much as he knew who wore the armor.

"Where, if none of you mind my asking, is my right-hand spy, Fet?" The being's voice seemed to boom out. Nopony responded, all too busy watching the being with very close intent. When the armored one caught that no response was going to be heard, he gave off a simple noise, one not too loud nor real quiet. It was barely a grunt, and a shrug later before the armored being turned and started to leave. This absence of any true response to everypony ignoring what the armored one asked bewildered almost everypony. Almost.

"Stop right there, you fiend!" A sudden shout came from behind the ponies. It was definite who's voice it was, but to see her out of the infirmary so soon was a complete shock. The dirtied, injured beauty mare stepped forth, revealing herself with different bandage coverings over her ear, left forehoof, and tri-diamond cutie mark.

"Hm?" The armor-clad invader stopped and turned his head, barely acknowledging the outburst.
"Who do you think you are, coming into our refuge and hurting out civilians for a silly spy like Fet?" Rarity shouted, obviously angry and trying her best to show it. She had heard of the previous and somewhat recent attack of Fet, the Dagonich spy who had taken Rainbow's ability of flight. The mourning the rainbow-maned Pegasus felt will never leave Rarity's mind. Said Unicorn stepped forward, her bandaged forehoof giving her a very clear and painful limp with each step. "That slimy bastard was nothing more than a cheater, using some sort of invisibility to fight. A coward! Just like the rest of you Dragonichs!" The fashionista shouted more. The armor wearing monster turned completely around, chuckling softly.

"Cowards, are we? Hm, interesting. Then how come we've been picking off your soldiers and defenses one by one, slowly poking at your bellies with a searing prod, hm? Answer me this you snot-nosed little twat!" The creature finished by shouting back, quickly regaining his composure. "We are not cowards. And we will continue to show that we are not cowards, for as long as this war wages." He added, much calmer and definitely much more confident.

Rarity squinted her eyes at the tiny slit of the helmet where the wearer's eyes should be looking from. She seemed to stare into them for the longest time before stepping forward even more, dragging more limps out. Before the mare could speak again, however, another outburst from a deeper voiced source was brought forth.

"This war won't wage long, Vloknaad! You can count on that when I get my claws on you!" A purple dragon stepped forth, revealing his furious expression and his relatively defensive stance. The dragon seemed to immediately catch Archenstein's attention, as said being turned quickly around to look at him. Archenstein smiled widely under his helm.

"My, my, is that a threat?" Archenstein stepped much closer to Spike, his steps very fast paced. It was barely a few seconds before the much taller being was in front of the purple dragon. "Because I would be so happy if it is..." He responded in a sick, deep tone. Spike gulped, beginning to think he may have made a fatal mistake. However, he wasnt going to let it show to the Dragon King, so the smaller dragon leaned forward.

"Maybe it was." Spike responded just as sickly and intimidating as he could, which was very difficult to look the Dragon King, the starter of a 15 year long bloody war, dead in the face to do so. With those words spoken, Archenstein leaned back a bit, seemingly staring death holes into Spike for a moment. It was only a moment though before a large, plate-coated hand reached out and snatched the smaller being up by the throat, lifting poor Spike a whole foot off the ground.

"Now you listen here, you disrespective little brat!" Archenstein's tone took much more evil tone, easily reminding the surrounding ponies of just how evil this dark creature could be. "I could kill you right now if I so pleased, right damn now!" The Dragon King stopped, and shocked both the crowd and Spike when he let the purple dragon down. Archenstein stepped back, stretched his neck a moment, and continued to speak. "But I won't. Because I can't kill you." Spike's expression took on one of complete and utter confusion at this point. Spike knew full well that Archenstein could kill him, in the blink of an eye as a matter of fact! But why 'can't' he all of a sudden. The bastard literally had Spike in his hand! The smaller dragon couldn't believe what he heard, and quickly put this point out.

"What do you mean, you can't kill me? Come on, what are you, scared?" Spike said, actually accidental. He definitely didn't want to add fuel to the raging fire known as Archenstein Vloknaad, but surprisingly, the armored being only sighed as a response.

"Listen, Spike... Have you ever stopped one day, and thought about your life? Never stopped and thought, 'Hey... I'm a dragon, surrounded by all of these ponies... This is kind of strange?'" Archenstein asked, now with a tone of a half hearted voice. Spike, meanwhile, did listen, but feared he knew what the taller monarch was trying to get at.

"Well... Honestly yes, but what is it of your concern? Why do you care, all of a sudden?" Spike started asking accusingly, knowing Archenstein is definitely NOT one to concern of others thoughts. Archenstein gave another sigh, a moment of hesitation, and continued.

"I don't. I don't care at all, as a matter of fact." Archenstein stepped back a bit more and shrugged. "At least, not if you help these horses, that is." Spike instantly knew what Archenstein was going for, and moved to stop it there, but was quickly and easily cut off. "Besides, you're obviously on the losing team. If you were to help me, like you should be anyway, then I could easily stop and take some time to listen to your problems. Like, your interest in that yellow assassin, one of which who is very annoying." Archenstein finished the last line very quickly, as if trying to hide it.

"Yellow assassin?" Spike's interest was almost immediately peaked at the Dragon King's words. "You mean Fluttershy?" The purple dragon accidentally spilled again.

"Is that her name?" Archenstein responded a bit quietly, putting an armor coated finger to his just as armor coated chin. Spike shook his head madly.

"That doesn't matter, what of her?" Spike retorted with a bit of a venomous sting to his tone. This caused Archenstein to smile again under his helm.

"... Well, that's not important right now." Archenstein stepped close to Spike again, even going so far as to put a hand on the purple one's shoulder. Spike definitely didn't seem happy that Archenstein had even though of touching him, but the much smaller dragon wasn't going to try to fight off the much larger... Creature. "What is important..." Archenstein took a deep breath. "What is important to you, Spike?" Said purple scaled Spike furrowed his brow at Archenstein's puzzling words, rethinking what the dragon lord may be up to.

"... Everything against what you stand for." Was Spike's rather simple, yet impacting words. Archenstein raised an eyebrow at the response, seemingly unsure of what to say or even do in reaction. What he did do was remove his plated hand away from the small dragon. He seemed to think really hard about something a moment before quickly turning around and beginning to walk away. Spike almost seemed angry at this response, the feeling proved as the small dragon stepped forward and called back at te leaving being.

"And where are you going?!" Spike shouted just a bit louder than he had originally intended. Archenstein stopped, looked up and forward a moment, than turned back around, a hidden, sickening glare staring back.

"... If going against me is so important to you..." Archenstein unsheathed his sword, the aura-induced metal glinted in the faint sunlight, actually shining brighter than the dusty sunshine. "... Than show me just how important it is."

"Stop!" Came the loud and pleading scream of Unicorn leader Twilight Sparkle. The poor mare had just witnessed one of her best and only remaining friends being brutalized by the inhumanly sharp, fatally dangerous blade of Dragon Lord Archenstein Vloknaad. The esteemed Lord sent his opponent back with another devastating slash across the chest, poor Spike having yet another large scar across his scaled body. The bruised and battered Spike bled from his newfound marks, the purple almost being stained by the excessive amount of liquid death flowing from his wounds.

"Stop this! Please!" Twilight shouted again, in desperate tears as she was held back by several stallions just trying to keep her from getting hurt. Almost as if by a miracle, Archenstein stopped his offense and allowed the crimson stained Spike to slowly and shakily stand on his newly marked legs. Spike didn't seem to want to stop, however, rusty sword gripped tightly in his claws and stance, shaky, but aggressive. Though Archenstein was very overpowered, his magic armor and weapons laying a massive hurt, he barely showed any effort to fight off Spike's strongest offensive. Archenstein stepped back, glaring over Spike who didn't change his position at all.

"... Fine. I'm bored with him anyway." Archenstein finally claimed, sheathing his sword and turning to leave. Spike growled furiously as he watched the offender simply leave, thinking it was almost cowardice.

"HEY!" Spike practically screamed, bewildering all the surrounding ponies who were very unexpectant of the strong outburst from the weakened dragon. Archenstein, just as surprised, stopped. Spike took heavy breaths, before putting on the angriest expression anypony had ever seen the once baby dragon make.

"I'm not taking this from you anymore! You wanted a fight, I'm more than willing to provide the heat. Now get back here and fight!" Spike shouted out, knowing deep in his mind that it was stupid to not just give in and walk away barely alive. However, something else in his mind seemed to fight hard against this tiny voice. Something like... Pride... "Well?!"

Archenstein looked at the sky and silently shook his head. "No. I have left my mark on you. Like Equestria has left it's mark on me. Bruised... Bloodied..." Archenstein turned back to Spike. "... Suffering... All things I felt while held behind the borders of pony land. Hungry... Alone... Insane..." Spike listened to the Dragon Lord's words, somewhat with remorse. It threw him off, but he knew it was remorse.

"... You have the 'insane' part right. Your methods of getting more are definitely insane." Spike replied, his tone still up and strong, but seemingly lightening up. Archenstein made a sound that everypony believed was a chuckle.

"Well... If they work, they are good methods. Sane or not." Archenstein crossed his arms and looked directly at the tired eyes of Spike. "... You learn to do whatever it takes for your people to have a better life. Especially for those you actually care about."

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying I don't care for my people?" Spike quickly asked, slashing right into Archenstein's sentence. The being didn't seem to care however, only turning back around. After what seemed like a few minutes, the Dragon Lord finally replied.

"... This was nice. This little... Chat, of ours... I'll be sure to remember it." Archenstein said, his tone hinted with a bit more smugness than he usually showed. Just as Spike felt ready to charge the bastard, Archenstein rose his arms and threw his hands towards the ground, launching himself airborne through the PonyVille sky, clear out of sight, almost as if he had pushed himself away from the area, leaving all of the ponies to answer the book of questions left for them. Especially the now boggled Spike.