Dangerous Dog and Pony Show

Rarity was groggy as she slowly regained her senses but once they returned she was glad to see that her friends and family were all around her – regardless of where she was or what happened, with friends and family at her side there was nothing to be worried about.

It took her a while to realise exactly where she was, and then everything started coming back to her. Her first thoughts were asking where Spike was as the last thing she remembered about her dragon helper was seeing his battered body lying on the floor as she stopped fighting to save him. And given he wasn’t at her bedside she started to become really worried - afterall the dragon found any excuse to be near her, his attraction for the unicorn clear for everypony to see since his very first day arriving with Twilight in Ponyville

Twilight calmed down Rarity, explaining that Spike was safe and sound, and that he had fully covered from his injures. She went on to tell the story of how he had come and found them all to start off the rescue attempt, making Spike sound so brave  – Twilight was always the best wingpony to her dragon son/brother without her ever realising it.

“So Rarity, what do you remember?” Fluttershy asked gingerly.

“Apart from the…beatings” Rarity sobbed “I don’t remember much about the rescue or anything. I seem to remember you girls arriving, and that’s about it...” she trailed off

“So you have no idea who saved you?”

“Wasn’t it you girls? Ohh, was it a tall handsome stranger, maybe a... a Prince? Prince Blueblood? And now he has saved his damsel in distress he’s going to marry me?” Rarity went straight into her ideal dream mode.

It would have been funny, but everypony looked at each other – they were not sure how to bring up the new Spike to the unicorn

“So…how was I saved?” Rarity composed herself.

Twilight stepped forwards and put her friends hoof in hers “Well, we were in a bad spot…” and the unicorn went on to explain their capture. “I was preparing a spell to save us all, but it wasn't required”

“Oh, so somepony else did save me, I mean us?”

“Not exactly somePONY” Applejack said, her eyes soft

“So, not a pony…was it a griffin, another dog?” Rarity’s eyes then opened up fully “Wait, it was a dragon! I remember one from my dreams, a huge vile beast!”

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie stood there in silence; this was important stuff and knew that their party ideas or brash attitude wasn't going to work right now.

Twilight gulped “Well, hopefully Spike didn’t hear you say that!”

“Oh, but Spikey Wikey is such a kind nice baby dragon, not like the beast that I seem to be remembering!”

“Yes, but the dragon that saved you was also nice…very nice!” Fluttershy added “He saved you, and brought you here, even if he wasn't a baby”

Rarity thought about it and things just started to click “So, where is Spike exactly?”

“He’s outside right now. I think it’ll be best for you to recover more before he sees you…seeing you like this would just break his little heart” Applejack responded.

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Spike had been listening into the conversation, his super-dragon hearing allowing him to hear. everything. Whilst at first he was glad to hear Rarity awake and smiled when she started asking over him, he became crestfallen when he heard the love of his, albeit young, life describe him as a beast!

He looked down at his new body and the massive claws with sharp talons. They may be claws that carried his precious gem to safety, but could easily tear her, and anypony else, to pieces. He looked over his scales and what used to be a lovely warm and soft scales to hug had become hard, cold and dark. When I was a baby dragon everypony used to think I was cute, but now I am a beast he internally choked on the word Who would love me now?

Everypony inside heard a massive roar, and as Twilight came running out she saw her Dragon assistant flying away. Having brought up the dragon she knew what the base roars of a dragon were – this was not a roar of anger, a fighting roar or even a sulking because he isn’t allowed any more ice-cream roar. This was a roar of pure sadness.

Twilight focused on the dragon speedily moving away from her, and performed some quick calculations regarding his size, speed and distance. She closed her eyes and activated her magic…

…and teleported directly onto Spikes back. She nearly fell off but managed to activate a gravity spell just in time to keep herself on him. It would have been a long fall had she miscalculated but would have given her enough time to recast a teleport to the ground, and also scold herself for miscalculating in the first place!

Spike was obviously upset, so much so he hadn’t even noticed Twilight land on his back. He soared through the air, and quickly reached the edge of the Ghastly Gorge where he landed. Twilight climbed up his back and sat on his shoulder, causing the dragon to finally notice the pony.

“Look Spike, given everything that Rarity went through that day you can’t really expect her to take everything in right away” Twilight started “I'm sure she is going to be delighted when she finds out who really saved her.”

“But we need to take it slowly. Her mind is a bit of a mess right now. I fear that if she found out that she’s changed the little dragon that had a crush on her into this all powerful beast, it may upset her and push back her recovery”

Twilight started using her magic to scratch Spikes back, something he used to enjoy as a youngling. “I’m not sure if you have realised that Rarity doesn't think about you the same way as her other friends” Spike turned and looked at his mother figure “Now, she may not quite have the same strength of feelings that you have for her, but there’s definitely something more there. Afterall, what was the first word she uttered when she woke up?”

The dragons face was hard to read emotion on, but Twilight could swear Spikes face lit up a little. They sat there in silence for a while – Twilight nuzzling the dragon’s neck and Spike just looking out over the land.

Twilight then stood up “I need to get back to the Hospital. Rarity still needs a lot of help with her magic recovery, and I’m sure that she'll want to find out what happened to you. We just need to take it slow, okay?”

Spike stretched out his wings, indicating he was about to fly off. Twilight climbed down off his shoulder and nestled between his wings. The dragon leaped into the air and started flying back to Ponyville. Twilight wasn’t sure what Spike was thinking, but hoped she was able to make her charge’s spirits a little more buoyed.

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Spike dropped his passenger off at the Hospital before flying off again. Twilight had only been gone half an hour, but on her return Nurse Redheart approached the unicorn before she entered the ICU

“Twilight, Rarity was asking about her magic…she seemed a little upset”

“Well, that’s understandable, what did anypony say?”

“Nopony said anything, and just told her that you were the expert on all that ‘Fancy Unicorn Stuff’ as Applejack put it”

“Thanks” Twilight said with a bit of sarcasm as she walked into the ICU, where Rarity was cuddling up to Sweetie Belle on her bed. Yeah, leave it up to me to break bad news!

“Hello everypony” Twilight said cheerfully “Just had to deal with a bit of an emergency, but it’s all good now!”

“That’s a relief” Rarity replied “I wasn't sure what made that roar but it sounded powerful. But now you’re back, can you explain something to me?”

“Sure, anything Rarity” Twilight beamed a slightly too big a smile back

“Well, I was thirsty so I tried to bring myself over a glass of ice chips, but I couldn't levitate it. In fact, I don’t seem to be able to do any magic right now? Is that a side effect of the drugs?”

“I’m afraid not directly…” Twilight started

Rarity started hugging Sweetie a little tighter “But, my my magic! It’s coming back right?”

Twilight bit her lip then continued “Look, your body and mind went through a lot in a short space of time. Your magic should start to return in due course, but for a while at least I’m afraid you…won’t have any magic”

“Oh, this is just the worse possible thing!”

“Now hang on a darn tooting minute!” Applejack interrupted “Okay, it must be terrible to lose your magic right now, but given the situation we were in we're all lucky to be safe back and sound back in Ponyville!”

Some of the ponies just stared at the earth pony’s brashness “Applejack, how can you say that” Rainbow Dash flew into the farmers face

“No no no” Rarity exclaimed “She’s right. Given how they almost killed Spike, and threatened poor Fluttershy here, this is just…a minor inconvenience. Applejack, I apologise”

“No I apologise, I shouldn’t have snapped like that. It’s just I think back to the situation we were in, and how none of us except Twilight could help you…and it’s just hard okay?”

Before Fluttershy, the natural comforter of the group, could give Applejack a hug, the farmer found a different wing over her shoulder. “Applejack, I know exactly what you are going through” Rainbow half hugged her friend “I mean, when it comes to the rough stuff, it’s usually me and you leading the way…but this time we couldn’t!”

The two brasher ponies of the group gave each other a semi hug, and everypony knew that they must have both been feeling guilty over the whole thing. Still, a hug and the fact they got it off thier chests made everything seem much better.

“So, when do I get out of here?” Rarity asked “Those dresses aren’t going to design themselves”

“Well, I would want to keep you another day in the ICU just to continue to monitor your vitals” Twilight looked over at the doctor, who just nodded

“Another day?” Rarity and Sweetie moaned in unison.

“Afraid yes, and then a couple of days on the ward. It’s best you are in the hospital whilst your magics down. Have you ever had magical fatigue before?”

Rarity and Sweetie Belle both shook their heads Poor old Sweetie hasn’t even used her magic yet their parents thought to themselves

“Well, I have, especially the night after I got my cutie mark. It can create some very nasty pains, enough to make your sick. And, with no offense intended, as you’ve not been trained in magic recovery then it may be really bad”

“Talking of the day of our cutie marks, where is Spike?” Rarity asked, ignoring the potential pain to come.

“To be honest, I don’t know!” Twilight shrugged her shoulders.

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The next morning Twilight woke up and again instinctively looked down at her former assistants basket. As per the morning before, and when she went to bed last night, it was empty and everything came back to mind.

Spike hadn't been seen all day after he left ponyville, and Twilight was worried about him but looking out of her bedroom window, she saw him sound asleep outside. Galloping outside to greet him, she noticed Spike was now only able to curl up round half the library, and when he stood up he seemed to be significantly shorter than the day before

“Morning Twilight” Spike croaked, cracking his limbs as he stretched.

“Morning Spike” Twilight beamed back “Hey, you can talk again!”

“Wow, you’re right. And I seem to have shrunk quite a bit more” Spike smiled as he looked over his body. He was still a battle ready dragon, but was probably now half the size he was from a few days ago.

Twilight went back inside and shortly brought out all the gems she had, as well as some toast for herself. She levitated the jewel breakfast over to her assistant, and they sat outside for breakfast

“So what did happen yesterday?” Twilight asked