"I am gonna be really honest here with you. I am trying really…really hard not to yell at you, Spike, I really am," I said a few minutes later as I paced the ground, the young Dragon sitting on the ground sith his legs crossed and looking at the ground in fear. "But…what the hell are you doing here?!" I shouted, stopping and yelling at him anyway. "Sneaking into a bag that I'll be carrying across an ocean and in the cold?! What if you got hurt?! Or got hypothermia!?" I quickly embraced him in my wings, helping him to warm up as I scooped him up carefully. He was indeed really cold, so I focused on warming him up first. "You can't just go scaring me like that!"

When I heard him start to cry, I realized I'd gone a bit too far. I calmed myself down and held the poor boy close like he was my own son. Or younger brother. "Spike…I'm sorry," I said, "but…I don't want you getting hurt. You're one of my closest friends, almost like a little brother to me." I pulled him closer in my wings as I continued warming him up, "Why did you do it?"

With a small sniff, the poor drake said, "I…I didn't want you going alone!" he finally said with determination. "I don't care what Dragon Lord Torch says! I wasn't gonna let you go alone! You're like my big brother too!"

The last remark caught me a bit off guard. I never knew he thought so highly of me. We did hang out on a regular basis playing O&O for a few hours each week, and I did see him when I went to talk to Twilight, but that was it. I sighed, admiring his loyalty and determination to help out a friend, but inwardly groaning at his stupidity. However, what was done was done. I couldn't just fly him back. That would waste valuable time. And I only managed the teleportation spell once, and that was an act of desperation. "Did you tell Twilight about this?" I asked.

He shook his head. "She…she doesn't know I'm here yet," he said. "I said I was going to sleep and put pillows in my bed…"

I groaned and facepalmed. "Spike…I have to tell Twilight and the others about this. You know that, right?"

He slowly nodded. "I know…"

I pulled out my phone and opened up Skype. The alternate account I made wasn't online yet, so I sighed and put it away. "But since she isn't online, you're safe for now."

I looked around, then spotted a large rock that I could sit against. I grabbed the bags with my magic (the one Spike had did have a few things in them, like grilled cheese sandwiches and a thermos of Spike's famous tomato soup) and walked over to the rock, leaning against it as I sat down. I held Spike close, warming him up carefully. All the while, Spike kept on muttering, "Sorry…sorry…"

"It's not just me you need to apologize to, Spike," I said as I put a comforting hand on his head. "I know you want to help, but-" I stopped. Inwardly I cursed myself for what I was about to say. I was about to fall into the same mistake the others did with Spike. Sure, he was a baby Dragon, but he was smarter than the average Dragon. He was brave and loyal and true. However, I wouldn't be a good adult if I didn't say this. "But…you know it's dangerous here, right? What would Twilight think if you got hurt here?"

"I can take care of myself just fine!" Spike said, a bit of childish defiance creeping into his tone. "I don't care about the dangers! I just want to help my friends! And that includes you!" He glared up at me defiantly

I held his gaze for a good ten seconds before finally allowing a smirk to slowly play over my face. "Good answer. Honest, Loyal, a true friend," I said as I knelt. I held out my hand, palm outstretched. "I forgive you, okay? But you do realize that there's no going back for you now, Dragon-boy. Are you ready?"

Spike straightened up and briskly walked over to me. He put his claw in my hand and squeezed. "Damn right!"

I closed my hand over his claw. "Whoo boy…Twilight is gonna kill me for teaching you that language," I laughed as I stood up, releasing his claw.

"Not as much as I'll hurt you if you break her heart," Spike said as he gave me the protective brother look.

"You heard all that, huh?" I asked as I grabbed both bags, slinging them over my shoulder and starting the walk towards the entrance to the ancient Dragon ruins.

"Every. Single. Word." Spike was glaring up at me now. "You might be like a brother to me, but I've known her my whole life. If you hurt her, so help me Celestia, I will burn you."

I sighed and faced him, straightening up taller. "I would never, in a billion years, go out of my way to purposely hurt her. She's an amazing mare and, just like the others who've confessed to me, deserve a chance."

He looked up at me curiously. "The others? Who else?"

"Scarlet, Pinkie and Fluttershy," I said.

"Humans don't have herds, do they?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow and looked back down at the little drake. "You're not as innocent as Twilight believes, are you?" I asked. I thought back to my time back on Earth as a pre-teen, and how I would ocassionally sneak glances at my Dad's Men's Health magazines, especially at the articles or ads about sex. At Spike's slight blush, I said, "I won't tell anyone, but I think it's about time either Twilight or myself had a talk with you. But to answer your question, normally humans don't have anything like a herd. It's seen as wrong by the majority of our race. But I've been reading some testimonials from the staticnet about humans who have successfully managed a relationship much like that of a herd."

"Really?" he asked.

"Really really," I said. "But enough of that for now. We need to really get moving. And my wings are too tired right now to fly any more, so we're walking." Without wasting any time, I picked Spike up, put him on my back and began quickly walking towards the ruins.

It was clear to see that in its heyday, these ruins had been a sight to behold. As I had seen before, there were many various towers, blackened by what might have been Dragonsfire or something that the Fae had torched the ancient palace with. On the battlements, I saw the same large statues of various Dragons, and to my surprise they looked a lot more regal even than Torch. Almost more civilized than any Dragon I'd seen in the show, aside maybe from Ember. I could almost hear Twilight's voice in my head: "Maybe Dragon civilization was once like ours, but fell in some apocalyptic event! Ooooh, this is so exciting! I can't wait to write a book on this!" A smile came to my lips as I thought about the adorkable, bookish, and quite lovely mare back home. Despite the urgency of the mission, I pulled out my phone and took a few dozen images of the castle ruins, a panoramic shot or two, and a quick thirty second video.

Unlike most palaces and castles I'd seen in images online and in Equestria, this one looked big enough to fit the largest Dragon I'd seen in Equestria, namely Torch. There was no moat around the castle, which made sense to me since why make something that any kind of flying being could easily surpass. Instead, I noted long metal spikes coming out of the battlements, presumably placed there to keep any kind of flying attacker out. Some had fallen loose and I reached out with my magic to examine it more closely. I wasn't stupid enough to touch the tip, since for all I knew there could be some poison on it still. I made a mental note to mention this form of defense to Celestia just in case, and tossed the rusted spike aside.

As I moved closer towards the massive metal doors that led to the inside, I saw some kind of hollow pipes located in the walls themselves that were curved. Right above each one were small black windows I tried to reason what their purpose was until I realized that since Dragons breathed fire, it could very well be that they used these holes to blow fire out at enemy invaders and the windows to see their enemies.

This ruin hadn't been a castle. It had been a well fortified fortress. There didn't really seem to be any haste in the construction of the spikes or the fire tubes. This was meant to withstand a siege.

Spike, who'd also been looking around, clung a bit tighter to my head as he sat on my shoulders. "I don't like this place," he said. "It's creepy."

"All ruins are," I said. "Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to you. In fact…here." I looked around and saw five to six spikes scattered on the ground. Using my magic, I picked them up and surrounded us with the spikes, ready to shoot them off in the event of any kind of danger. As we made our way forward, I picked up a few more spikes, surrounding us as the spiked glowed in my slightly golden silvery magic. I spread my wings, ready to ignite them with Phoenix fire just in case.

Finally, we reached the gate. It towered over us and was probably twice as tall as Torch was high. The size of this place was starting to impress itself on me even more. I frowned. "Well, looks like we're gonna have to go up, then."

"But how? You said your wings were tired," Spike said.

"Well, I still have my magic, don't I?" I reasoned. "Maybe I can open these doors." So saying, I temporarily put down the spikes and held up both my hands. I felt the magic all around me as and focused it on the doors themselves. First, I tried pulling, but when that failed, I pushed. The door moved slightly, but then stopped as if something on the other side was blocking it. Taking a deep breath, I doubled my efforts, and I heard something on the other side snap, then two large pieces of metal fell to the ground behind the doors.

With whatever was blocking the doors now gone, I pushed against the doors. Spike covered his ears as a loud screech of metal scraping metal filled the air aroud us. I didn't have that luxury, so I bore with it until the door was open just enough for me to step through.

The moment I crossed the threshold, Spike seemed to be pulled back just a bit, like he was being pushed against an invisible force. However, after another pull, he passed through and I put him down. After pushing the doors closed, I held up my hand, letting a finger start to glow. "Let me risk a little more light," I said in an imitation of Gandalf, creating a large ball of light which I put in the air and made to follow us.

What I saw took my breath away. We were both standing in a massive arched hallway. I saw large and small armor sets standing against the walls. Nearly half were knocked over. I walked over to one that looked about my size, grabbed the sword that had fallen and examined it. It looked nearly brand new, with crossguards that resembled Dragon wings and a handle that resembled a Dragon's tail. The blade itself had a few spikes at the bottom which eventually smoothed out. I whistled in appreciation as I found the scabbard, a golden one with gems encrusted on it and sheathed it carefully after brushing the dust off of it and the sword. It slipped in with barely a sound. What surprised me even more was that there was some sort of leathery strap around it that allowed me to carry it behind my back.

As I walked away, I accidentally stepped on something. Looking down, I saw another sword on the ground similarly shaped, only this one was still in its scabbard. I reached down and picked it up. I was equally surprised to see a similar strap on it. It was about the perfect size for Spike, so I turned to the young drake who was still looking at the suit of armor. "Spike. Here."

Spike turned, then saw the sword I was holding out. It was more of a dagger than anything else, at least by normal human standards, but for him it was the perfect size. He swallowed nervously. "Do…I really need that?" he asked, not looking particularly enthusiastic.

"I really hope not, but it's better to be safe than sorry," I said, moving it closer.

Spike hesitantly took it, then drew it out to its full length, looking it over with a worried expression. Just like my own new sword, it was in surprisingly good shape. He gave it a few experimental swipes before sheathing it once more. "I don't know how to use this," he said nervously.

"Simple: the pointy end goes into your opponent," I said, some of my dry humor coming to the surface before I could stop myself. Upon seeing how Spike's face went pale at that, I quickly added, "It's for self-defense only, Spike. I know you don't like the idea, but we're in the Dragon Lands now. This isn't the Kingdom of Equestria. Dragons here aren't nice. It's better to be prepared and not need it than be unprepared and need it."

Spike moved closer to me, grabbing my pants leg. "I don't like it," he said.

"I don't either, but it is what it is," I said. At that very moment, my phone began ringing with the Skype tone. "Ah, that's gotta be Twilight," I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling it out. Sure enough, my alternate account was calling me. I hit the answer button, only to be greeted by a frazzled and terrified looking Twilight sitting in the middle of the library. Sunset was behind her, looking equally as concerned. "Hey, Twi."

"Jethro! Spike's gone!" Twilight said frantically. "His bed was just full of pillows and he didn't even leave a note!"

"Twilight-"

"He could be lost out there, wherever he is! Or the Changelings kidnapped him!"

"Twilight-"

"Oh dear Celestia, what am I gonna do?!"

"TWILIGHT! CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"

The force of my shout echoed through the massive castle hallway. Twilight's eyes widened at my language, but before she could say anything, I lifted Spike up in my magic and brought him into frame. "Spike's fine. He's with me."

When Twilight saw the nervous looking Spike waving at her, she narrowed her eyes at him. "SPIKE?! What in Celestia's name are you doing in the Dragon Lands?!"

"I…I'm sorry…" he muttered, tears coming to his eyes. "I just…" his voice trailed off.

"Okay, time out everyone," I said. "Twilight, I'm looking after Spike. He snuck into the bag because he wanted to come with me. I'm upset too, but it's too late to change it. I've only managed that teleportation spell once, and I'm not about to try it again just to get Spike back to Ponyville. And I don't want you coming here to get him. You remember what Torch's rules were."

Twilight was about to reply when Sunset approached and put a hoof on her back. "Calm down, Twilight," she said. "Just take a few deep breaths, okay?" As Twilight did what the bacon haired mare said, she turned to me. "Where are you two right now?"

"We're already at the ruins and made our way inside," I said, then flipped the camera around, showing the massive interior slowly. Twilight came back on screen, looking at the view in awe. After about ten or so seconds, I turned the screen back to me. "This place is massive. Here, let me show you the outside." So saying, I attached a few of the images, then sent them.

After they loaded, Twilight and Sunset looked them over, Sunset being the one to maneuver the mouse. Twilight's eyes practically bugged out of her skull as she looked over the images. By this time, Spike and I had found a portion of wall that was empty and had sat down, Spike sitting on my lap and my wings around him protectively. There was no way I would let anything happen to him on my watch. After about a minute or so, Twilight looked back at me. "If something happens to Spike, so help me I will…" she trailed off, her angry appearance slowly changing into concern.

"I'll keep him safe, that's a promise," I replied.

"P-Please do…and come home safe too, please…" she whimpered.

"I will." I gave her a reassuring smile, then asked, "What's going on over there? How are things going?"

Twilight became serious, as did Sunset. "The Princesses are pretty much doing damage control," Sunset quickly explained. "Princess Celestia's back at the Castle overseeing some of the relief efforts. Princess Luna is back in Canterlot dealing with normal morning court. Prince Blueblood is joining her since he knows a bit more about modern politics than she does. Princess Cadance is in Ponyville making sure everyone's all safe here and keeping them calm. Zecora is still at her house doing God knows what. Rarity came by earlier and borrowed a book on defensive magic and said she was going out to practice. Fluttershy's still back at the castle, tending to the animals there. I think Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie are with Gemini, training their asses off. I've only known Pinkie for a while, but I've never seen her looking so serious. They all do."

I nodded stoically. "I see…and the Fae?"

"I don't know what's going on with them," Sunset admitted. "Chrysalis is still in the dungeons, and I did see a few of the Changelings in the halls, but I think Celestia put them all in the soldier's barracks for the time being."

"Ah, alright. And what about the rest of Ponyville?"

"They know something happened last night, but they don't know what yet," Twilight said, "and Cadance is going to talk to them later this evening about it."'

"What's she gonna tell them?" I asked.

"The truth," Sunset said.

My heart dropped and I felt my face go cold. "Oh God…"

"No shit," Sunset said.

"Things are never gonna be the same, are they…?" Spike asked, sounding upset.

"I can't say for sure, Spike," I admitted. "Maybe eventually things will calm down. You Ponies seem to be able to spring back from disasters a lot easier than humans do. Then again, I doubt anything like this has ever happened in modern history. All I can say, is that I will do what I can to bring back the days of peace."

Spike seemed to relax at that, as did Twilight, but Sunset looked unsure as she said, "I hope you're right…I really do."

"Me too," I said softly.

Just then, I heard the door open in the Library, and a familiar older voice called out, "Miss Sparkle? Are you here?"

"Over here, Miss Mayor!" Twilight called.

Mayor Mare stepped into frame, looking at Twilight. "Miss Sparkle, I know Princess Cadance said she'd explain everything later, but I feel like I have a right to know just what's going on? I wake up and find out that there was a massive fire in the Everfree, then you six come back with those Lycans acting in an unusual…" she trailed off as she finally looked at the laptop for the first time. She tilted her head in confusion.

I waved. "Miss Mare, nice to see you again."

Mayor Mare jumped in surprise. "Celestia's flowing mane! What sorcery is this?"

"Relax, Miss Mayor. It's an advanced long range communication device from my planet that I'm letting Twilight borrow so we can talk," I explained.

"Long range…?" she looked confused. "Sir Jethro, where are you right now?"

"It's a long story," I explained. "Long story short, I'm out of the country trying to stop things from escalating farther than they already have. I shouldn't say more."

Mayor Mare frowned, then pointed at me slowly. "You'd better come back, young stallion. You do owe me something, after all."

"Yeah, yeah. Friendly sail and Manehatten Cuisine," I smirked a bit.

Mayor Mare finally smiled. "Good colt." Her smile vanished, and a look of concern formed on her face. "Just come back safe, you hear? I don't have many friends, and I consider you chief among them."

"I will."

The mayor turned to Twilight. "Sorry for bothering you, Miss Sparkle."

"It's fine. And you can call me Twilight."

"Very well, Twilight. I'll get out of your mane now." And with that, the Mayor turned and walked out of the library.

"Sounds like things are gonna be getting really serious over there," I said.

Twilight sighed, facehoofed and nodded. "Yeah…" Turning back to me, she said, "That castle looks big…are you sure you'll be able to find the Sunsword in time?"

"I'll do my best," I said. "We still have a few more hours of daytime left before I need to set up a camp for the night. This castle is relatively well protected and from what I was told by Torch, no Dragons can enter it. Hell, I had to pull Spike in since there was some sort of magic barrier holding him out."

Twilight's eyes widened. "He's not hurt, is he?"

"I would have told you if he was," I said. "Spike?"

"I'm fine, Twilight," he said stoically. "But check this out!" Despite his earlier reluctance regarding the sword, he held it up to the camera for her to see. "Jethro found it for me!"

Twilight and Sunset both gaped at his small sword. "That has to be an ancient relic from before Ponies founded Equestria," Sunset said in awe.

"I've got a larger version," I said, holding mine up for the camera. "And the weird part is, they look nearly brand new. Not dull, no scratches, hell even the scabbard itself only needed a small brushing to get the dust off."

"Amazing…" Twilight said. "When this is all over, can I study it?"

"I am so not surprised you asked, and sure," I said. "But I think it's about time we cut the call short. Spike and I have a lot of exploring to do."

"Right, right. Sorry," Twilight said apologetically. Then, she leaned forward, looking directly into the camera instead. Lowering her voice, she said, "I love you, Jethro."

I smiled. "Thank you, Twilight."

"Love you too, Spike," she said right after that.

"Love you, Twilight," Spike said with a small smile.

"We'll see you when we get back, okay?" I said. "Good luck over there."

"You too," Sunset said, and she maneuvered the mouse a bit. There was a click, and then the screen went black, the call ending.

I looked down at the Dragon in my lap, and he looked back up at me. "Well, let's go, Dragon-boy. These ruins aren't gonna explore themselves."

He nodded and stood up, standing stoically with one claw on his sword handle as I stood and stretched. "Man, this place just looks like something out of Skyrim," he said.

"Nah, the graphics here are infinitely better," I joked back as we walked down the massive hallway again. "That, and there aren't any skeletons or Draugr lurking around every corner waiting for us to go all Dragonborn on their behinds."

Spike chuckled a bit and I was relieved to see him relax just a little. Spike clearly enjoyed the Skyrim video game from what I'd seen of his reaction to playing it, so I knew just what I could get the little tyke for Christmas now.

As we continued walking, I looked around and used the spell I'd dubbed Candlelight to look more closely at the walls. There were depictions of Dragons painted or etched painstakenly on the walls. The colors were faded from millenia of not being tended to, but they were still recognizeable. I saw little Dragon children running through fields of grass, a few Dragons clad in armor kneeling before a massive throne being apparently knighted, and lastly a depiction of a regal looking Dragon with his claws and wings spread wide, with one claw holding the sun and the other the moon.

However, as I looked, I clearly saw that the image was depicting not one, but two, seamlessly painted together to look like one. The one on the left held the sun and had crimson scales and a white underbelly, while the one on the left was almost the same color blue as Luna's fur with a black underbelly. The Dragon on the left had an outward pointing horn, while the one on the left had a horn that looked a lot more like Ember's. Both their eyes were closed, their expressions serene as they held their charges.

Spike took notice of where I was looking, and gazed up at the mural. His eyes widened. "Who are they?" he asked.

"I don't know," I admitted. "If I had to guess, they're the Dragons who once raised the sun and moon long before Celestia and Luna did. If that even happened."

"Whoa…crazy," was all Spike said.

The two of us stared at the painting for a few more moments before I turned the light away. "We should move on. Come on, Spike." And with that, the two of us continued onwards.

A few minutes later, we came to the end of the hallway, with another hallway intersecting it, leading right and left. Strangely enough, I saw late afternoon light coming from the left. Curious, I approached the intersection and turned around.

And saw a perfectly intact naval vessel sitting in the middle of the hallway.