Despite the fact that he had only woken up a short time ago from his unintended slumber that had lasted for at least a hundred years or so, Dragon Lord Spike was glad that the land of Equestria was now safe from harm once again. Opaline had been defeated, and it was all thanks to the work of Sunny Starscout and her friends.
Thinking it over more in depth, Spike knew he shouldn't have been surprised. Sunny really reminded him a lot of Twilight, even if she could only transform into an alicorn temporarily. Like Twilight, Sunny Starscout was a pony who didn't give up hope when the odds were stacked against her, and like Twilight she was a pony who would always stand up for others because that was what true friendship was all about. If only Opaline could've seen it that way.
Well, there would be plenty of time to think about such things later. For right now, in the ruins of what had been Opaline's castle and unity tree, the mighty dragon lord was joining his fellow dragons in celebrating their freedom from the scourge of Opaline. Never again would the fire alicorn threaten them, take away their magical powers, or enslave them to do her bidding. For the first time in many years, they were free to live their lives in peace.
So why was it that Spike couldn't bring himself to be happier? Why was there a hole in his heart that gnawed at him and refused to leave him be? It was a silly question, he knew what the reason was. There was somepony who he wished more than anything could've lived to see this great victory. Somepony who had sacrificed everything to stop Opaline and entrusted Spike to do his part to make sure that fire alicorn didn't seize all the magic in Equestria for herself. Try as he might, the dragon couldn't stop thinking about the pony who had hatched him, raised him, and made him part of her family: Twilight Sparkle. He didn't even know what had happened to her, he just knew she was no longer around. She was gone, forever.
The dragon with scales a vibrant shade of purple and spines a dazzling shade of emerald green did his best not to let his sorrow show outwardly. Yes, dragons cried. But right now, he and his subjects had every reason to be happy. There would be time for him to mourn and reflect on his sorrow once he returned to his home. Home, even that word didn't feel right. The Equestria he knew was gone, the Isle of Scaly was very much the closest thing he had to a home now.
Sunny was the first one to notice the tear that Spike was trying to hide. "Is everything okay, Spike? Something on your mind?" She asked him.
Spike didn't bother to lie. "Yes. I know this must sound silly and selfish, but I can't stop thinking about Twilight, about the Equestria I left behind. Things have changed, I don't recognize anything or anypony now. All my friends are gone."
"Spike, I'm really sorry. Of course I should've considered how you'd feel," Sunny realized as she trotted towards him. "You and Princess Twilight were close. Everything I ever read or heard about you mentioned that. You were more than friends, you were family," She flashed a sympathetic look. "If anypony knows what it's like to lose a part of your family, it's me. Not a day goes by where I haven't thought about my dad, about how he left me so suddenly. I wish more than anything he could be here. And I'm sure he is... in spirit."
The dragon lord didn't reply with words. He didn't know all the details about Sunny's personal life, nor did he feel comfortable trying to ask for them. He just turned away and lifted a claw to wipe away his tears as best he could. How could anyone know what she would think if she were here right now? Even he could only guess.
Fortunately, the conversation was abruptly interrupted and redirected when none other than Zipp came trotting by. "Hey, Sunny," She called in a blissful and unaware tone. "Our friends look just about ready to head back to Maretime Bay so we can spread the word of Opaline's defeat. You ready to go?"
"Huh?" Sunny blinked and turned around fast to lock eyes with Zipp. Hastily, she added. "Y-yeah, sure, just give me a minute. I was just having a little talk with Spike, that's all."
"You were talking about Princess Twilight, weren't you?" Zipp quickly deduced. "You said she and Spike were close during Twilight's adventures."
Sunny nodded. "He wasn't just the princess' number one assistant and royal advisor, he was part of her family."
The pegasus mare with a coat the same shade of white as clouds in the sky took a step back in hesitation. "Oh." Was all she could bring herself to say.
Spike turned back around to face not only Sunny but also Zipp. "It's alright, it helped just having someone else to talk to about it," He willingly confessed. "The other dragons, my subjects, they wouldn't truly understand even if they might say they do. They didn't know Twilight like I did."
"You know, now that I think about it more," Zipp confessed as she adopted a perplexed and contemplative look, tapping a hoof against the side of her head. "You mentioned that the Dragon Stone was a part of her plan for Opaline, like with the unity crystals."
The dragon lord gave a firm nod. "Yes, though I only briefly saw them. The last thing I remembered was Twilight telling me she was splitting them up to keep them away from Opaline. Then she gave me the Dragon Stone and told me I had to go away with the other dragons so we could be safe," A sorrowful look returned to his eyes as he recalled. "I tried to argue with her, tried to change her mind, but she refused. I get the feeling she didn't intend our separation to be permanent, or she never would've sent me away. I could still see how much it pained her to do it."
Zipp nodded back ever so slowly. "Yeah, but that's not what I'm thinking about," When Sunny shot her a harsh glare and she realized her mistake, Zipp hastily added. "N-no offense, Spike. I'm sure it must be hard for you to think about such things. It's why I could never bring myself to leave Zephyr Heights despite being forced to live a lie. I just couldn't bear the thought of being away from my mom and Pipp."
"It's alright, I know you weren't trying to hurt my feelings," Spike replied as he then questioned. "But I'm curious. What were you thinking about?"
The elder pegasus princess somewhat sheepishly and uncertainly confessed. "W-well this is just speculation on my part but... if Princess Twilight managed to record a message inside of the unity crystals to warn us about Opaline, then maybe she also recorded a message inside the Dragon Stone."
Sunny nearly gasped! "I can't believe I never even considered that, Zipp. That would be something she would do! And I'll bet whatever message she might have recorded would've been intended for Spike."
Spike could only shrug his shoulders. "Well, nothing I've tried has done anything with that stone. It obviously only kind of responds to dragon fire magic, including my own kind. And I saw with my own eyes what it could do when it was in Opaline's clutches."
"Then maybe we need to try a different kind of magic," Zipp proposed as she looked across to Sunny. "Maybe Sunny's alicorn magic could produce a reaction."
"You're welcome to try," Spike encouraged as he carefully handed over the Dragon Stone in all its intricate, carved detail. "And if you find anything... well, I'm sure you'll find a way to reach out to me," He unfolded his wings. "Now I'd better go round up the other dragons so we can head back to the Isle of Scaly. I reckon it'll be a while before ponies are ready to start mingling freely with dragons once again." Soon after he'd spoken those words, he departed from the ponies.
Zipp and Sunny, for their part, just eyed the Dragon Stone with mixes of curiosity and concern. But Spike had given it to them to more or less experiment on. Surely, there would be no harm in studying it more in detail to see if Sunny's alicorn magic actually could reveal something hidden in it.
Well, that would have to wait. For now, the two mares knew they needed to return to their friends and head back to Maretime Bay. Once ponies got wind that Opaline was no longer a threat, there was sure to be a big celebration!
Indeed, Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood all hosted their own festivities once the inhabitants learned of Opaline's defeat. Even ponies such as Phyllis (who had been noticeably absent from the singing in front of Maretime Bay's unity tree) were more than happy to sing the praises of the six ponies (and their little dragon) to whom they credited the victory. Now it seemed that, perhaps, things would truly be peaceful.
It was only the following day, when the partying and celebrating had concluded and ponies were back to going about their daily lives, that Sunny and Zipp finally had time to begin trying to unlock whatever hidden secrets might be housed within it. By a stroke of luck, they had the Brighthouse all to themselves, the rest of their friends had gone to work (or in Misty's case had decided to go back to Bridlewood to be with her father for a while).
Zipp was the one to carefully place the ancient stone in all its glory on a small table on the first floor of the Brighthouse. She eyed it closely, looking to see if there was anything that seemed off about it or might indicate where to begin the search. Even with its swirled design, nothing about it indicated that there was more to it than what had already been demonstrated by Opaline.
But neither Sunny or Zipp were the type of ponies to just give up. Just because the Dragon Stone did not appear to house any secrets did not mean that was actually the case.
The elder pegasus princess thus turned to her earth pony friend and said to her. "Well, Sunny. I think we both know what needs to be done. Are you ready?"
Sunny gave a firm nod. "You know I am, Zipp! Let's see if alicorn magic can do anything."
"Just make sure to get really happy." Zipp advised the earth pony mare.
Sunny giggled and shook her head. "No need for that, Zipp. I think I'm getting the hang of being able to trigger the transformation at will. Being really happy helps, but I don't need to do that if I want to transform." Then she shut her eyes and concentrated deeply. In a matter of seconds, with a dazzling flash of magical glitter, her golden yet translucent wings and horn appeared. Her alicorn form had emerged in all its splendid majesty!
The pegasus mare smiled. "Good job, Sunny. Guess if we ever need your alicorn powers again, we won't have to worry."
The earth pony mare turned temporary alicorn nodded as she opened her eyes, turning her full attention to the Dragon Stone that rested on the table. "My battle with Opaline made me realize I don't need to hide or be ashamed of my alicorn form. It's part of who I am. I was given it for a reason, it would be wrong not to use it," Then she tried to surround the Dragon Stone with her magic, only to find that merely grasping it with magic was easier said than done. Levitation was something she didn't have much practice with. "Hold on. This thing's surprisingly slippery for being made of stone." She said with a blush.
"Take your time, Sunny," Zipp encouraged. "I'd rather not have you drop it and break it by accident. Who knows what would happen in that case?"
"Right, we wouldn't want that." Sunny admitted as she continued concentrating her magical power on the Dragon Stone. Golden sparks began shooting off from the tip of her horn as she poured her alicorn magic into her horn and directed its energy at the stone. Still, the stone refused to budge, and nothing seemed to be happening. Yet Sunny just concentrated harder, squinting and then shutting her eyes as her whole body seemed to suddenly lift off the ground! All the while, the sparks kept pouring out, and an ominous crackling sound could be heard!
To say that Zipp was alarmed would be an understatement! Above the almost deafening noise and with eyes widened in horror, she cried out! "Sunny, that's enough! You don't have to try this hard! You're gonna blow a hole in the Brighthouse or something!" Alas, she received no reply, no acknowledgement that her plea had been heard.
Instead, there was a bright, blinding flash as what appeared to be a golden shockwave shot out from Sunny's chest! Zipp did the only thing she could think to do in her situation and dove for cover, throwing her hooves over her head! At any moment, she expected to hear a loud boom and a crash!
But when at last the lights show faded, the crackling noise had stopped. Against her better judgement, the elder pegasus princess removed her hooves from her head and stood up. What she saw made her mouth drop open in shock!
The Dragon Stone was being held aloft, glowing brightly (albeit not so brightly that you couldn't see without protective glasses or goggles). Sunny's alicorn form had not disappeared as one might have expected. She was in fact still channeling faint reserves of magic into the stone, and the stone itself was reacting.
Then, suddenly, rising from the stone was a swirl of light blue magic similar to that which had been seen rising from the unity crystals when their secret recording had first been discovered. And sure enough, like with the unity crystals, there was a shaking image that slowly came into clearer view. There was no mistaking the pony shown in said projection: It was none other than Twilight Sparkle in all her glory, though she looked even more concerned in this image than she did in the one shown by the unity crystals.
"Spike," The voice of Twilight spoke, sounding strained and anything but composed. It was as if the recording was being done in the midst of a very desperate situation. "If you're hearing this, I'm afraid the worst has happened and you need to know. I'm sorry it had to be this way, I'm sorry that our time together had to end the way it did. It seems I underestimated just how much damage Opaline had caused during her brief reign of terror here in Equestria. All that I worked so hard to build and maintain is threatening to be ripped up. I guess that all it really took was enough fear and mistrust to turn ponies against each other."
"Never thought I'd say this, but I wish Pipp was here right now," Zipp commented to Sunny. "We could have her record this entire message on her phone."
Sunny, however, made a shushing motion with her hooves and whispered. "It's not done yet, Zipp."
And indeed, the recording continued with Twilight now adopting the most sorrowful and regretful look on her face. Her tone of voice became tinged with remorse, grief, and above all else guilt. "You must've suspected as much, even if you held out hope like I did that what Opaline did could be undone. My friends and I are trying our best. I had hoped that splitting the crystals up amongst the three pony tribes would remind them how strong they are together, but it seems it only made things worse. Magic is starting to disappear from Equestria, nothing I've tried seems to be able to stop it. It's happening gradually, most ponies haven't even noticed it yet. But it's only going to get worse over time. And after what happened with Opaline, the other nations are finding it hard to trust us."
The two mares listening to the recording couldn't help but feel shocked anew. Much as they might have suspected Opaline's role in bringing Twilight's legacy to an end, neither of them had ever thought until now just how much she might truly be responsible for. And now that she was gone, there was little hope of asking the fire alicorn if she fully realized the consequences of her selfish actions.
The recording of Twilight started shaking visibly, struggling to maintain itself. Yet Twilight herself was calm, she was not on the verge of tears despite what her posture and tone of voice might suggest. "I promise you, it won't end like this if I have anything to say about it! My friends and I will do all we can to keep Equestria united and keep magic from disappearing anymore. But I don't know how long we can hold on. I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll be coming back to Equestria. I suspect you've already sensed it: Things are changing, the crystals and the Dragon Stone are warping magic in ways we never thought possible. I hope someday, someway, we'll be together again," In a more serious tone of voice she added. "Until then, you must keep the dragons safe from Opaline. She will inevitably try to strike again. I can't think of any dragon more qualified than you to make sure she doesn't succeed."
And then, just like that, the recording stopped. The Dragon Stone stopped glowing. And seconds later, Sunny descended back to the ground as her alicorn form tapered off. The Dragon Stone now lay on the table, giving no indication of anything that had just happened.
Zipp and Sunny exchanged glances. Neither one needed to say it. They knew at once what needed to be done, who needed to hear that recording they'd just uncovered.
The only question now was to get back to the Isle of Scaly with the Dragon Stone.
The Isle of Scaly had just wrapped up a celebration of their own. With the two dragons Opaline had imprisoned now freed from her custody and control, all the dragons were certain they were safe on the Isle of Scaly. No one would ever again pose a threat to their existence the way Opaline had. And with any luck, perhaps other ponies might be more accepting of them and trusting of them the way they had briefly during Princess Twilight's reign.
Suddenly, from the sky emerged a familiar looking pair of ponies, both of whom were now frantically flapping their wings to keep from impacting the ground at what would be a very unsafe speed!
Spike didn't hesitate to jump into action! He unfolded his wings and took to the skies, quickly snatching up both Sunny and Zipp and bringing them safely to the ground. He couldn't resist making a teasing remark afterward. "Hello girls, how nice of you to drop in unannounced."
"Sorry, sorry," Zipp apologized. "We were gonna take the Marestream, but when we saw a portal appear in the Brighthouse we assumed it would lead us straight to you. Guess we should've anticipated where it was gonna spit us out."
"Well, at least you're safe now," The dragon lord replied, before asking. "So, did you find out anything about the Dragon Stone? Any secret recordings or messages from Twilight?"
Zipp carefully held out the aforementioned stone and gave a firm nod. "We did. But you might wanna stand back, Spike. It's gonna take a lot of alicorn magic!"
Spike chuckled even as he obeyed. "Right. Don't want anything bad to happen to me. After all I am the dragon lord. Still takes some getting used to."
Sunny then repeated the same process she had performed before. This time it proved slightly easier to energize the Dragon Stone enough to activate the recording hidden within it.
The moment Spike's strong yellowish-green eyes saw the image of Twilight appear above the Dragon Stone, he was utterly astounded and almost transfixed on it! He had to blink and rub his eyes just to be sure he wasn't somehow seeing or imagining things. "Twilight?" He hesitantly asked, despite knowing that the image of her wouldn't reply to him.
The message that Sunny and Zipp had heard at the Brighthouse now repeated itself for Spike and all the dragons around him to hear. As Twilight's message played on and on, the dragon lord himself was at once reduced to tears. And this time he cared not who might see him.
Even once the recorded message had ended and the Dragon Stone returned to its normal state, Spike didn't say a word. He seemed to be struggling to process a complex storm of emotions swirling and whirling around inside. He briefly opened his mouth, only for no words to come out. He just stood there in sadness and silence. And his subjects and fellow dragons did not know what to say or do. They had never seen this sort of behavior in their leader before. He'd only ever briefly alluded to the fact that he'd once been with Twilight and had played a part in many of her adventures.
"Spike..." Sunny began, hoping to try to cheer him up.
Spike replied by raising a claw. "-I know what you're going to say to me, Sunny, and you too, Zipp. You're going to tell me that Twilight wouldn't want me to be like this. She wouldn't want me to cry and get so emotional. She'd want me to carry on."
But the earth pony mare swallowed hard and said in response. "No, Spike, I don't think that's what Twilight would want at all. In fact, I'm not sure Zipp or I can speak for what she might have wanted. We're not her. We don't know what she would do in this situation."
Zipp slowly and reluctantly chimed in. "Yeah, what Sunny says. We may know more about what she intended to do with the crystals and the Dragon Stone, but there's no telling how she might react if she were to be here now. And the fact is, I don't think she's ever going to be coming back. She's... gone."
Slowly wiping away the tears, the dragon lord managed to nod ever so slowly. "I know. From the moment I first woke up, I've always known. Part of me was holding out hope that it wasn't the case, but deep down I knew it was silly and foolish to think that way. That's just like Twilight, to scarifice herself to try to save everything she worked so hard for. Knowing her, she probably used up all of her magical powers just to keep the rest of magic in Equestria from disappearing. She knew what would happen, she knew it was only prolonging the inevitable," Hesitantly, he concluded as he drapped a wing across his heart. "And she didn't want me to be around to see it. She knew I'd try to stop her. She wanted the last memory I'd have of her to be a good one, not a bad one."
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Sunny sincerely apologized to the dragon. "I know how much Twilight meant to you: Not just as a pony or a friend, but as your family. She was the first thing you saw when you hatched from your egg."
Spike nodded. "Yes. Even if it took her a long time to acknowledge that I was part of her family, I always felt proud to be with her, to be by her side and help her as best I could," Sniffling a bit, he said to both Sunny and Zipp. "Despite what you might think, I'm glad you showed me that recording. Knowing now just what Twilight had in mind when she made me dragon lord and sent me away, it feels like... a burden has been lifted from my heart," A smile slowly crept onto his face. "Plus, knowing that there are ponies like you to carry on her legacy, that's something I can be happy about. Even if I'll never see Twilight again, being able to have ponies like you makes me have hope for the future."
The two ponies nodded their heads and repeated in unison whilst making motions with their hooves. "We'll do our part, hoof to heart."
The dragon lord's smile brightened. "That's all I could ever ask for."