Feared Love Divided: Chapter 11/Wanderlust
Spike had completely lost track of time, of day and night... and... he had never felt more free. They roused when they wanted to rouse, slept when they wanted to sleep, and flew when and where they wanted to fly. They flew as much under Luna's beautiful night as they did under Celestia's wonderful day. They flew up to the tallest mountains and down into the deepest valleys. The Dragons came to rest on a rocky island, looking out at the waters around them.
Solace, as Spitfire, flew to catch up to them. She found herself being grasped out of the air and reverted as Spike brought her in for a cuddle.
"It always amazes me..." Ember voiced, "how something so small can be so dear to you. It's also amazing how something so small can be so unafraid of you."
"A lifetime among Ponies has made it easy for me." Spike grumbled. He then intently looked at Solace. She felt his burning gaze without seeing it and turned to looked at him. She gently craddled his face and pulled his jaw open, staring into his gaping maw with teeth that can cut through stone. She then gently closed it and looked at Ember.
"I will admit, it took a lot of getting used to..." Solace voiced.
"You did a great job of hiding it." Spike voiced.
"You would probably be the only one to say so..." Solace uttered, "I can still feel myself shaking..."
"So can I..." Spike grumbled, and at that moment Solace felt herself shaking once again.
"I... I didn't mean..." Solace tried to say.
"Shh..." Spike softly said to her. "Please just finish your story."
"If you insist, Thorn." she replied, and turned to Ember. "I will admit at first he was... large, powerful... and worst of all, intense... But then, all too quickly, that I nearly forgot my fear, he treated me like a precious jewel... Okay, maybe I should rephrase that, consider Dragons eat precious jewels..."
"Maybe we don't need to bring that up..." Spike grumbled.
"Bring what up?" Ember asked.
"That fact that he sometimes eats me like a precious jewel." Solace warmly, enticingly stated from within his grasp.
Ember looked at first her, and then him, with a confused expression on her face.
"Maybe Dragons do not know of such things..." Spike uttered.
"Or maybe she has never?.." Solace asked, and Ember looked about nervously.
"B... Being a Dragonlord... makes it hard... to..." Ember nervously uttered.
Spike looked at her intensely before looking away.
"Not going to say anything?" Solace asked him.
"If she wants to share, she can, if she wants to keep it to herself, she can." Spike said dismissively.
"That's not what I mean." Solace stated, "I can feel how much she loves you."
"I do n!.." Ember exclaimed.
"I... can feel it... as well..." Spike grumbled. "But you know I would never... without..."
"Without Rarity's permission..." Solace voiced.
"Permission?" Ember asked.
"I am faithful to my wife." Spike said to the Dragonlord.
"You want me a beg?" Ember asked, "To a Pony?!"
"I said no such thing..." Spike replied, "other than that I am faithful to my wife. That is what marriage means."
"Do Dragons pairbond?" Solace asked Ember.
"Only those raised by Ponies, it seems..." Ember grumbled.
"Freedom has a price, it seems." he uttered, "As much as I have enjoyed my time..."
As he said this, Ember tried to hide her gasp.
"My life is not complete without the most precious gem of all..." Spike said to her.
"But, your freedom?.." Ember asked.
"Means almost as much to me as Rarity does... as nobility does... I cannot keep to myself any longer. Equestria needs me."
"What if someone else needs you..." Ember begged.
"Do you have any idea of what Ponies face?" Spike asked. "Even as a drake we have Dragonfire. Ponies are naked and alone."
"Funny you call them naked," Ember added, "as they are the only ones who wear clothes."
Spike let Solace go who quickly fluttered away, and as soon as she was out of range he stood up to his new height, thrice that of Ponies. "This means I get to play scholar! It has been some time, but this seems like a great place for tea."
"I can hardly deny you." Ember grumbled.
The Dragons sat around the table as Solace poured their tea. Spike looked at her for a moment. "Are you cold."
"I... am..." Solace nervously replied. Spike waited for her to finish pouring the tea before using his wing to pull her in. "The breeze off of the sea is quite cold. Now, Ember, what does naked mean?"
"Without clothes?" Ember asked,
"Without protection." Spike replied. "Clothing protects Ponies from the world. It protects them from the cold and the hot. Even dirt is abrasive."
"I suppose that Ponies don't Dragonscales, but I figured their fur gave them some sort of protection."
"When they are running wild on the steppes..." Spike stated, "But Ponies are explorers. And this might not seem like much to a Dragon, especially not after you taught me a Dragon's freedom, but Ponies have to struggle through every façet of society. If they do not grow enough food, they starve. If they don't get enough fire wood, they will freeze. Everything in the world can hurt a Pony."
"And that's why he protects them." Solace said, head poking up from under his wing.
"For creatures so weak to control the sun..." Ember uttered. "Your princesses control the sun and moon, do they not?"
"Sun and moon," Spike repeated, "but Princess Luna also guards the night against our darkest imaginings. You probably cannot even fathom it... I wouldn't either, if I had not gone with Luna on her nightly journey through our dreams."
"You've flown through dreams!" Ember asked him.
"And nightmares." he replied. "I have had a privileged place among the princesses... seen more than any one Pony could imagine..."
"Have you ever thought?," Solace asked, "why it's the 'fraidy-Ponies who control the sun?"
"If I had to guess?.." Spike asked, "Dragons do not care if it is day or night. We can see nearly as well at night, and do not need day to warm us."
"I have never thought of that!" Ember exclaimed. "Ponies are so afraid of everything, they worked to changed their environment? Dragon society did not develop, because we did not need to?.."
"It's amazing what knowledge you can just stumble upon if you let yourself go for a ramble." Spike beamed.
"You thoroughly enjoy this, don't you?" Ember asked.
"I was raised in a library." Spike stated, "I grew up as Twilight's assistant. I have several published papers."
"He founded an order of scholar knights." Solace stated. "Knights-scholar?"
"Both are valid." Spike lightly replied.
"So, that's a yes?" Ember asked.
"Have you never wondered about the nature of the world?" Spike asked.
"Yes, but I never thought I could change it." Ember replied. "You seriously grew up thinking you could change the world?"
"You are the Dragonlord?" Spike asked.
"I never thought about being the Dragonlord when I was a whelp..." Ember stated. "I honestly did not think of it until I saw you. You were so small... Dragons in the creche are not summoned, but you were, and you stood among the much older Dragons as an equal."
"You can choose who is summoned?" Spike asked.
"Not choose..." Ember stated, "Adult Dragons are not summoned, as only drakes can become the Dragonlord. Whelps are kept in the creche, guarded by the older Dragons. This is what stops them from being summoned."
"What stops adult Dragons?.." Spike asked, and Solace hicced.
"The laws we are bound to." Ember stated, "No Dragon knows what they are, and we only discover what they are when we run into them. One of the most important ones is non-interference."
"What?" Spike asked, and Solace hicced again.
"We cannot attack..."
"That's not what I mean..." Spike uttered, "I only challenged the Gauntlet of Fire to protect the Ponies of Equestria!"
"That's why you did it?" Ember asked, "After all these years, it came down to friendship with Ponies?! I honestly do not know why I am surprised... Everything you do seems to be for Ponies..."
Spike looked at her as he thought he heard something in her voice. Was that... jealousy? "I love them... dearly..." Spike uttered.
"Clearly." Ember replied, and Solace hicced.
"So?" Spike asked, "We are fettered?"
"A sad consequence of our freedom..." Ember stated, "We can do what we want, so long as we leave this freedom for others."
"But what about the Dragon who fell asleep over Ponyville?," Spike asked, "who nearly covered Equestria in a century of smoke?!"
"Sleeping does not count as an attack." Ember said with glee. "We don't know how the rules are enforced, just that they are."
With this Spike looked distant and simply drank his tea. "Thorn?" Solace asked, and he looked at her. "Would you care for a massage?" she said, and hicced. He did not reply, but his face showed how much he wanted one. He finished his tea and withdrew from the table, laying on the rocks overlooking the waters. Solace turned into Fluttershy and flew up to his back. All the while Ember watched as Spike groaned gleefully from her ministrations. Solace, as Fluttershy, looked over at Ember before whispering something to Spike, and he grumbled and nodded. She flew over to Ember, who looked at her quizzically, and the simulacrum of Fluttershy smiled widely.
"Lay down and enjoy yourself." Spike bellowed, and Ember slowly moved to comply. The massage was indescribable. So wonderful, in fact, that she fell asleep from contentment.
Ember awoke to hear something great splashing about in the waves, and opened her eyes to see Spike frolicking with a Sea Pony. She was taken aback for a moment until she figured the Sea Pony was simply Solace. She stretched and groaned in an unladylike fashion and paused, remembering just how good the massage was. She felt as if she were made of clay. She was surprised that Spike could recover from the massage that quickly. Ember stood up and walked to the edge of the island. Once she was awake enough to feel, the only thing she felt was jealousy and longing.
The Sea Pony noticed her and Spike followed her gaze. He burst from the water and flew into the air, spiraling around the island before landing beside her. "It's been wonderful to see you, again." Spike said to her.
"No..." she quietly replied.
"I... um... appreciate... what you have done for me..." Spike continued.
"Why does it sound like a goodbye?" Ember asked.
"Because I have my quest." Spike replied, "And I want nothing more than to see my very special somepony."
"Why?.." Ember asked, "can't I?.. be... your very special... some... pony?.."
"Because he already has one." Solace said, fluttering beside her, and this gave Ember quite the start.
"To think I could be afraid of a Changeling?" she asked.
"Ponies are afraid of what they do not understand." Solace lightly added.
"Are you saying I'm as afraid as a Pony?" Ember asked.
"You don't have to hide it from my master," Solace stated, "or from me. I love him, and he loves you."
Ember was taken aback by this and could do nothing more than sit on the ground.
"I'm sure if you ask," Solace continued, "he would let you come with him."
"Of course I would," Spike stated, "but you love freedom, and I love duty."
"You... you wouldn't mind?.." Ember asked him.
"There is something I would miss..." Spike grumbled, "but..."
Solace whispered into Ember's ear, and she immediately grew flustered. "He does have a Dragon's appetite." Solace added.
"Wouldn't your Ponyish politeness have you stop her from saying that?" Ember asked Spike.
"She doesn't even deny it." Solace said with a wide smile.
"Pony politeness works for Ponies..." Spike muttered, "but it just... fetters... me... I can do more for Ponies if I am less polite... I have grown accustosmed to being feared, and no longer fight it."
"They are afraid of you?!" Ember asked.
"Of course they are!" Spike roared, "I'm a Dragon! I could fit most Ponies in a single claw. I could destroy a town if I wanted to."
"You... have..." Solace lightly added, and Spike visibly winced.
"The Ponies have every right to fear me..." Spike grumbled, and clutched his right claw into a fist.
"But you still fight for them?" Ember asked.
"I am a noble Dragon." Spike stated, as if that were reason enough.
"Noble Dragons fight for Ponies?" Ember asked, "I know how much you love Ponies, but just Ponies?"
"Any who need protection would qualify." Spike stated. "The strong protect the weak."
"It's amazing you are able to." Ember stated. "Our laws should stop you from interfering, but they do not..."
"Maybe Dragons were meant to protect?" Solace asked, and the two Dragons looked at her curiously. "Why else would they exist?"
"Why do Changelings exist?" Ember asked.
"To steal love." Solace simply replied, and Ember was surprised she could not answer it. "Though..."
"Though?" Spike asked her.
"Now, maybe Changelings exist to earn love. It feels so much more wonderful being earned than stolen."