Master Thief Dragon

At Spike's place one night, Celestia was up late and speaking to Starswirl through online vid chat, "How is Spike holding up, Celestia?" the old man inquired.

"It's been a week, and he's gotten better, but still has ways to go before getting his groove back." she answered.

"I see. You did say he took a very hard beating against this Byakko."

"That's putting it mildly," Celestia sighed as she replied, "The master came close to losing his life. Byakko is a skilled opponent, perhaps even more skilled than the master. That's why I've been running him through combat training harder and longer."

"Not too hard I hope." the old man raised a brow.

"Sir, I understand the master shouldn't be pushed past his limits after taking such a blow, but if there are more mercenaries hired to eliminate him, then he must be prepared for when the time comes."

"I'm well aware of that fact, but just remember that if they don't get to him than the stress will."

Celestia wanted to respond with a retort but nothing came to her. She sighed, and answered, "Yes, sir."

"I'll check back with you in three days. Goodnight, Celestia." he bid her adieu.

"Goodnight, Starswirl." Celestia replied, as they ended their transmission. She shook her head as she thought back to the beginning of the week when she started training Spike.

(Flashback)

Spike and Celestia were in their training garbs, sparring. Spike was throwing various punches and kicks at Celestia, but his servant deflected most of them and those she took felt like a tickle. She spoke to her master sternly, "Master, your performance is lousy. You're not coming at me hard enough!"

"What're you talking about!? Of course I am!" Spike retorted.

"If you were, then how is it that you can't break through my defenses?" she noted.

"I'm just getting warmed up."

"Sure you are." Celestia answered sarcastically, as they sparred some more.

Spike dodge and blocked some of Celestia's strikes, and when he caught both her fists, she raised her leg, kneeing him on the chin, before spin kicking his head, knocking him to the floor. Spike groaned from the hits, and spoke, "You know I would be finding this side of you sexy if I wasn't constantly getting my ass handed to me."

"And your ass will continued to get handed to you if you don't come at me with the intent to win!" his head servant scolded him.

"I am!" Spike argued.

"You are not!" she argued back, as the two screamed and continued to spar until Spike fell to the floor in exhaustion.

Celestia stood over him, "Master, I love you. And I want to make sure you're more prepared than ever. But I can't keep pushing you like this unless you make a better effort. Help me help you."

Spike looked up at Celestia and couldn't deny her words. As hard as he was pushing himself, he wasn't giving it his all. He picked himself up, and answered her, "Very well, Celestia. You want my all? I'll give it my all!"

Spike got up and charged towards Celestia, launching a hard right punch towards Celestia. Unfortunately for him, Celestia swiftly dodged the strike, got behind him and gave Spike a hard chop to the back of his neck. Spike fell to the ground, unconscious. Celestia sighed and looked at Spike in disappointment.

(end of flashback)

Back in the present, Celestia shook her head as she drank her coffee and sighed at how complicated things have gotten for them all.

Meanwhile in the training room, Spike was practicing his martial arts to the best of his abilities. Due to still recovering from his wounds he wasn't practicing to his fullest, but carried on, not wanting to stop for anything. Yet he was still distracted by the events of what happened to him a week ago, 'I was this close to staring death in that face that night. If we both didn't wear ourselves out, I might not be here right now,' he thought to himself, 'Tia, Luna, and Cadence were so worried about me for being so bullheaded and I can't blame them for that. I've never worried them this much before even with all the other risks I've taken.'

He sat down on the bench and toweled off before drinking some water, "Even with this extensive training Celestia's got me under I still don't feel like myself." he told himself.

The door to the training room opened, and stepping in were both Luna and Cadence, "Pardon us, Master." Cadence began.

"Luna. Cadence. What's up?" Spike asked.

"Cadence and I have done some investigating while you've been recuperating this week." Luna started.

"And what've you found?" he asked curiously.

Luna began, "I've been running through FBI and Interpol records and found plenty of mercenaries and assassins that could be under contract with Tirek."

"Knowing a crime boss like Tirek, he'd only want the most dangerous of people working for him." Spike replied.

Cadence spoke up, "I on the other hand have been taking a more direct approach with intel gathering. Over this last week I've been going out late after putting Flurry down for the night and after Twilight falls asleep. The places I've gone to were the most seediest pubs in the whole city, the ideal meeting point for hit-men. After cross referencing the files Aunt Luna dug up from Interpol I've confirmed several of those bounty hunters are in this city and under Tirek's order to take you out."

"Oh, that's comforting." Spike grumbled.

"But you're not the only target now." she noted.

"What do you mean?" Spike asked, as he drank more of his water.

"I overheard from a biker gang called the Maulers, they've been ordered to take out Byakko for his failure to catch you." she explained.

"Tirek certainly doesn't take failure too well." Luna added.

"Byakko will be fine," Spike assured, "An international bounty hunter of his skill should be able to avoid a Biker Gang no matter how armed or dangerous they are. My biggest concern is Twilight and the girls. Tirek knows they're close to Dragon, and will order those assassins of his to find them and use them against me."

"It's a good thing I still have their phones tracked so I can monitor their whereabouts when they're not at home or at school." Luna stated.

"And that isn't all that concerns me about them." Spike said.

"What do you mean?" Cadence inquired.

"The girls have taken notice of my bruises and limping during school hours. They've been constantly questioning me about them and coming up with so many different excuses has not been easy."

"So what'll you do?" Luna wondered.

"I just have to keep playing it cool until my bruises fully heal. In the meantime, you two keep up with your work and monitor the criminal underworld for any updates that may link to Tirek." he instructed.

"Yes, Master." the two servants bowed their heads and took their leave.

Spike got up and looked out the window and into the city. He spoke to himself, "I wonder if my ancestors had to deal with this kind of trouble?"

Meanwhile at Pinkie Pie's house, she and the rest of the girls were there in their pajamas and having a slumber party. Pinkie was on her laptop, Fluttershy was cuddling with a stuffed bunny, Twilight was reading, Rarity was doing a pedicure on herself, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash were playing video games.

Rarity took notice of Twilight looking worried while she read her book, "Twilight, whatever is the matter darling?"

Twilight snapped out of her focus and spoke, "Huh? Oh, sorry, Rarity. I was just thinking."

"Do we even need to ask about what?" Rainbow asked rhetorically.

"It is about Spike, ain't it?" Applejack called it.

Twilight sighed, "It is. You saw how he's been acting all this week?"

"He has been very off in his work." Fluttershy noted.

"Exactly, and those bruises on his face." Twilight added.

"Spike said he just fell down some stairs." Pinkie reminded them.

"Those don't look like stair injuries, Pinkie," Twilight replied suspiciously, "They look like bruises from getting punched."

"Yeah. I've seen those bruises before plenty of times." Rainbow noted.

"Not to mention he was limping every time he walked these past few days." Twilight finished.

"Maybe he got mugged and he's too ashamed to tell us?" Applejack suggested.

"Or maybe Spike is part of some gang and at night he goes out to pick fights with other gangs." Rainbow joked.

"Spike doesn't look like the gang type." Fluttershy disagreed.

"Yeah, you just think Spike is secretly is the defender of the Everfree Forest and all he wears is a loincloth," Rainbow laughed as Fluttershy blushed.

"Ya think Spike got into some trouble, like big trouble?" Applejack inquired.

"If he is, then whoever worked Spike over must be a boxer, judging from the bruises on his face," Rainbow replied.

"Girls, do you realize how much we don't know about Spike?" asked Twilight, making the girls curious, "He keeps everything to himself, he rarely talks about himself and we don't even know where he goes after school. For all we know, Spike could be some international secret agent fighting masked would-be dictators or maybe he's a police informant who hangs out in the darkest and dangerous parts of the city to spy on criminals or any illegal actions going down," there was a pause, before she laughed, "Wow, everything I just said just sounds ridiculous. What was I thinking?" she said between laughs.

"Hey, it could be possible," Rainbow said, "I mean none of us could've ever imagine Spike would be in a relationship with Cadence, and what do you know."

The girls were appalled Rainbow would say such a thing especially in the presence of Twilight. The girl herself started getting sad, as the others gave their rainbow haired friend angry stares, "Really, Rainbow?" they asked rhetorically.

Rainbow realizing her slip up spoke to Twilight, "I'm sorry, Twilight, that was a low blow on my part."

Twilight sucked it up and answered, "No. It's all right. Spike is with Cadence now. I've accepted that. I just have to face fact he and I may be friends but still have to maintain a student and teacher relationship."

"Twilight." Applejack said with worry.

"I mean, Cadence deserves to be happy and she certainly seemed happy when I caught her and Spike making out at the school auditorium. I certainly wouldn't mind it if they made love right next to my bedroom because that's where Cadence's room is and considering how thin the walls are, I'll be able to hear everything...every moan, every thrust, every high pitched-"

"Um, Twilight," Fluttershy spoke up.

"WHAT!?" Twilight shouted, causing Fluttershy to back away.

"I think we get the picture." Fluttershy responded.

"Vividly." Rarity said, her cheeks taking on a deep shade of red.

Twilight looked at her friends and they were giving her these awkward looks. She gave them an apologetic look and said, "Sorry, it's just..."

"Twilight, we're here for you," Applejack said, placing a soothing hand on Twilight's shoulder. Twilight couldn't help but smile as she and the girls shared a hug.

"Thanks, girls."

Meanwhile out in the city, in an alleyway a few motorcycles were parked. The sounds of fighting could be heard as someone was thrown out of the alley and knocked into two trash cans. Down in the alley laid multiple bikers, and among them were the Maulers, Big John, Desertstorm, and Candy Girl. The three laid on the ground as Byakko stood before them glaring daggers.

"You common thugs actually thought you could take me out? You're a big joke," he began, "But I'm not gonna end your lives. One, because you're not worth it. And two, I have a message I want you to relay to Tirek."

"And what message is that?" Candy Girl winced.

"That it's better to keep me around than trying to eliminate me. I don't care if he no longer believes I can get the job done. I'm sticking around so that one day I will find Dragon again and when I do, I will be the one to make a trophy out of him." he turned and walked away leaving the bikers with their pride destroyed.