The One Where Spike is The Mane Characterby Rex The KitsuneChaptersA Dynamic ImaginationThe Situation EscalatesThe Mane 6 Get InvolvedSneaking OutNight DragonA Dynamic Imagination"SPIKE!" "What is it, Twilight?" "Could you clean up the library? I'm going out to get ice cream with the girls." "Why can't I come?" "Sorry, Spike. Maybe next time." Twilight trotted out of the library. Spike wondered why he couldn't just get out of the library for once. Twilight was making him do what seemed like an unnecessary amount of work recently. He began with the bookshelves, dusting and sweeping, polishing. It was hard work, but he made it look nice! "Twilight is gonna love how that looks!" he exclaimed. He moved on to the bedroom. He fixed up Twilight's bed, tucking in the sheet and blanket, dusting underneath his basket bed. He washed the window as a finishing touch. He finished sweeping and cleaning the floors of the library, and picking up all of Twilight's old checklists. He went down into the basement, where it was extremely dusty. All of Twilight's old research projects and machines. It took awhile to dust the place and polish the machines. He remembered when Twilight put Pinkie Pie down here for a test. Twilight didn't believe Pinkie sense, a talent Pinkie Pie had. Spike still wondered how that was even possible. But, Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie. After lots of cleaning and dusting, he realized how boring this was. He was bored. And alone. Which was AWESOME! What could he do while Twilight was gone? Spike decided to let out his inner child and build a book fort. He promised himself he would put the books back right after he was done. First, he gathered all the needed materials. Books! Lots and lots of books. He brainstormed, and realized he would need some sort of enemy. He drew up a bunch of monsters and Diamond Dogs on spare sheets of paper. Finally, he cut up some cardboard and doodled on it to make it look like a sword. He arranged the books so it looked like a castle. Then, he tied his blanket from his basket around his neck and wore it like a cape. "The forces of evil are attacking my castle! It seems they want queen Rarity!" Spike ran into his book castle and grabbed a cardboard sword, and then talked to a crudely-made Rarity. It was made out of books with white and purple covers. It sort of resembled Rarity, but not much. It didn't matter to Spike, though. "Ooooh Spike, my fair king, protect me!" The fake Rarity said. Spike made his best Rarity voice impression. "Fear not, my damsel in distress! I shall do as you say!" Spike responded. He puffed out his chest and marched out of his castle. Spike then wildly swung his cardboard sword at pictures of terribly drawn monsters and Diamond Dogs. "Back monsters, back I say!" he called out in a triumphant voice of courage. He then tore up the pictures of the monsters into shreds, showing their defeat. With this, he turned around on his small dragon heels and proceeded back into his book fort. "You were so BRAVE!" "Why thank you, Mrs. Rarity! Now for my reward?" Spike pressed his face into the fake Rarity, as if she was kissing him. Although, in his imagination he was actually getting a real kiss from her. "Well. That was fun, now time to clean up these books." Spike said, and he placed the books back on the shelves in no time. He heard a hooting from above. Owlowiscious looked down on him. "Not a word to Twilight, got it, owl?" Spike snapped. "HOO! HOO HOO!" "Alright, my secret is safe with you!" he said, with a sigh of relief. Spike thought that was a fun activity, but then boredom began to settle in. He was bothered by how easily he got bored, but he couldn't think of any way to stop it. Then, an idea struck! "Aha! I know, I'll write a book!" Spike said. "It won't be great, but I'll read some of Twilight's for inspiration." He looked upon the shelves, until he spotted a copy of Daring Do. Rainbow Dash's favorite book! If she liked it, no doubt it would have some good stuff in it. He pulled it off the shelf and began reading it. He was captivated! In fact, reading it made him a bit sleepy. His eyes were getting heavy. Then, he was fully asleep. "Okay, big guy, we're going to show you how to use your powers for good!" "Fluttershy, I don't need your he-" "Nonono Discord! Ever since you've been reformed, you haven't used your powers correctly." Discord sighed and gave in. If anything, Fluttershy would be the perfect person to help him out. "Fine, Fluttershy. What's first?" Discord asked. "Well, first of all, you need a target." Fluttershy said, looking around. "Got it, why don't we use Twilight's treehouse over there?" Discord replied. Fluttershy had left the ice cream social to help out Discord. She glanced at the library. If Discord did something bad, would Twilight forgive her? She sighed. She had to give Discord the trust. "O-okay, Discord. Now, try something!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Hmm...let's see..." Discord said, rubbing his chin. He snapped his fingers and a bolt of magic shot out of his hand, it struck the library, although it didn't appear to do anything at all. Fluttershy looked confused. "What did that do?!" Fluttershy asked. "I don't know. I didn't really even think of a specific thing to do." Discord said. "Let's go check on Spike, and see if anything happened." Fluttershy said. "Just in case." "Where'd Spike go?" Fluttershy asked. They were in the library, but there was no sign of Spike. Just an open copy of Daring Do, lying on the floor. There was something strange about it. Fluttershy trotted up to examine it. "SPIKE?!" she exclaimed. There was a picture on the page. It was of Daring Do, all tied up and trapped by one of her enemies. Except there was one problem. Spike was tied up next to her. The Situation Escalates"DARING DO?!" Spike yelled. "You hearda me?" Daring Do asked, struggling to get out of her ropes. "Y-yeah! I was sleeping in the library, but how'd I get here?" Spike asked, gnawing his claws. "I dunno, kid. But I need your help." Daring Do said. "You're a dragon, right?" Spike nodded. "Alright, use your claws to cut the ropes. We don't have much time!" Spike looked down at his rope and began to repeatedly rub his claws against the rope, in an attempt to cut it. "Okay, on second thought, use your fire breath!" "Duuuhh!" Spike breathed a small burst of fire and burned away the ropes. He ran over to Daring Do and burned off her ropes. The walls were slowly closing in. Daring Do motioned for Spike to hop on her back. Spike hopped on. Daring Do grabbed a hold of a ledge and hoisted both of them up into a hole in the ceiling. Spike hugged the ground and Daring Do stood in triumph. "Nice work, skit. What's your name?" Daring Do asked. "I-I'm Spike!" Spike answered. "Well, thank you. Without your help it would have been much more difficult to escape!" Daring Do said, and Spike gave her a brohoof. Suddenly a dog/ape creature appeared and stood over them. "Ahuizotl!" Daring Do growled. "Ahahaha, I can't believe you escaped, Do. But no matter, I still have the treasure!" Ahuizotl laughed. "No way!" Spike gasped. "It's Ahuizotl!" "Yes, little dragon. Guards, immobilize these two!" Ahuizotl commanded. Daring Do and Spike stood their ground. A guard charged at Daring Do, but she flew up and kicked him in the face. The guard rolled away. A smaller guard ran towards Spike, but he jumped onto the guard and pushed it to the ground. Woah! He could do things in Daring Do that he couldn't do in real life! "Nice one!" Daring Do cheered. "Drat!" Ahuizotl growled. "Spike, go for the treasure! He's holding it in his tail!" Daring Do exclaimed, pointing with her hoof. "Wha?" Spike gasped. Spike ran and jumped at Ahuizotl, who in turn smacked him to the ground. Spike realized he may have overestimated himself quite a bit. He groaned and looked at the very small crater he was in. "Nice try, but I was just joking!" Daring Do laughed, jumping at Ahuizotl. She bit into his arm. "AAAHHH!" he screamed, trying to get her off. Spike stood up and watched what was unfolding before him. Ahuizotl was frantically jumping around, trying to throw Daring Do off, meanwhile Daring Do was on his back, trying to snatch the treasure from his tail. "Fluttershy, what did you call us back for, again?" Twilight asked. "And where's Spike?" "It's j-just...oh...my..." Fluttershy mumbled. "L-look at the b-book..." Twilight trotted over to the book and began flipping pages, the first half of the book was normal. But then Spike started appearing in pictures and descriptions. He and Daring Do were battling Ahuizotl on page 105. "WHAT?!" she yelled. "Well Sugahcube, this doesn't look vereh good." Applejack commented. "It's actually AWESOME! Spike is in my favorite book!" Rainbow Dash laughed. Twilight and the gang decided to stop flipping pages. They didn't want to see if something bad would happen to Spike. "Who did this?" Twilight asked. "D-dddd-dd-Discord..." Fluttershy muttered. "I thought he was reformed!" Twilight exclaimed. "It was an accident, we were practicing his powers, and then..." Fluttershy broke down and started crying. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie trotted over and comforted Fluttershy. They all got into a big group hug. Fluttershy looked up at them and realized that she would be forgiven. "It's okay Fluttershy! We'll get Spike back!" Pinkie cheered. "I forgive you, Fluttershy. I'm sure we can get him back." Twilight assured her. "T-thank you!" Fluttershy said, wiping her tears away. "But wait, if we're going to get Spikey-wikey back, does that mean we'll-" Rarity asked before being interrupted. "Yes. We have to go into the book." Twilight finished. "Please don't get yourselves killed in there." Discord muttered. "We'll try! But we'll all make it, right girls?" Rainbow replied. "Right!" "Yes-in-deedly!" "...I guess?" "Certainly!" "Yee-haw!" The girls stepped up to the copy of Daring Do and all put their hooves on it. Discord stepped back and charged up lots of power. Books around the library were frantically spiraling all around them. Finally, Discord released and the bolt hit the book. The Mane six were now inside. Discord looked at the page. They were helping Spike beat Ahuizotl! "Heh heh, those are my girls." Discord laughed. The Mane 6 Get Involved"AHHHHHHH!" Shrieks pierced the sky as the six equines fell from the clouds. The girls seemed to be falling in slow motion. Twilight thought quickly. "APPLEJACK! GRAB MY HOOVES!" she yelled. Applejack grabbed onto her as she began to flap her wings. Rarity grabbed onto Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie grabbed onto Fluttershy. They all floated to the ground safely. "That was close! Good thinking, Twilight!" Applejack said, patting her on the back. "Oh, thanks. Usually I forget I even have these things!" Twilight laughed. "You know, Discord could have chosen a better landing spot!" Rarity said, dusting her hooves off. "Now one problem, how are we going to find Spike?!" Rainbow Dash asked, raising a hoof. Everyone looked around, and then Pinkie pointed to a huge tower, which looked like it was about to fall over. "I think it would be right there!" she yelled, and then pulled out a huge rocket. "Don't worry, I've got a way up there!" "Oh, Pinkie." Twilight began to say, before Pinkie gathered them all onto the rocket and lit the fuse. "KA-BLOOOO!" Pinkie yelled as the rocket blasted off towards the castle, with Fluttershy screaming her lungs out. "Spike! Grab the treasure!" Daring Do growled, as she was distracting Ahuizotl. Spike lunged for the tail, and grabbed on tight. Ahuizotl was now jumping around the room like a bucking bronco, AND shaking his tail around. "GET OFF OF ME, YOU PESKY DRAGON!" Ahuizotl snapped. Spike managed to wrastle the treasure from his tail and held it up triumphantly. It was a statue of a pony, with a red gem in the middle. Oohhh, gems, his favorite snack. He was distracted as Ahuizotl slammed him into the wall, taking back the treasure. "Heh heh heh. Who's going to help you now, Daring Do? I doubt you would e-" Ahuizotl began, before getting blasted against a pillar by Pinkie's rocket. "Woo wee! That was FUN!" Pinkie yelled, as Ahuizotl growled in pain. "TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled, and ran up to her. The rest of the girls got off of the rocket, dizzy from the flight. "Never. Again." Applejack groaned before vomiting. Rarity looked disgusted. Ahuizotl got up from his spot and glanced at the treasure. Twilight saw it too. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" she exclaimed, and they both raced for the treasure. Twilight got to it first, and Ahuizotl raced after her but got poked painfully in the eye by her horn. "Ponies are so DANGEROUS!" Ahuizotl growled, clutching his bruised eye. All of this wall smashing was making the tower dreadfully unstable, and the thing began to crumble. "We have to get out of here." Daring Do said, looking around for an exit. "Wait, up there!" She said, pointing with her hoof to an opening in the wall. "Good idea!" Twilight replied, and they all charged for it. Spike was riding on Applejack's back, he hollered "FOR PONYVILLE!" They all smashed out of the wall in a cinematic style, with Ahuizotl left trapped in the crumbling tower. They all turned and watched as the whole thing fell into ruin, with Ahuizotl screaming one last threat: "I'LL GET YOU SOMEDAY, DARING DOOOOOOOOOO!" Everyone cheered. Spike hugged Twilight. "That was some nice work!" Daring Do exclaimed. "I hope I might meet you sometime in the future!" "Oh believe me, you will." Rainbow Dash said, winking. "Whaddaya mean?" Daring Do asked, as Discord's escape portal formed in the side of the hill. "SORRY CAN'T HEAR YA, BUSY GOING THROUGH A PORTAL!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, as they all passed through the portal, leaving a confused Daring Do with her treasure. "So I'm guessing you all had fun?" Discord asked, he was in a maid outfit, dusting the library, even though Spike had done it not ten minutes ago. "Fun? We had to stop an evil dog guy and escape from a crumbling tower!" Applejack groaned. "I thought it was fun!" Pinkie screamed, leaping out an open window. "It was...enjoyable." Fluttershy whispered, and then smiled at the group. "I will tell you one thing, all of that old dust in my mane is NOT going to work!" Rarity exclaimed, frantically trying to rub all of the dust particles out of her mane. Everybody laughed. "Twilight?" Spike asked. "Yeah?" She replied. "Does this mean I can come with you to the next ice cream social?" Sneaking OutSpike leaned over a small pile of books, groaning. It had been a long day. Twilight and Spike were re-sorting the library, and Spike's job was to put the books into groups by category. "Twilight, do we have to do this?" Spike complained, pushing his quills back with his claws in stress. "I don't hear sorting!" Twilight replied in a sing-song voice. "Fine. Fine." Spike said, giving in. He began sorting the books like nobody's business, book after book after book, and then finally, it was finished! The pile of books was gone. "Yahooo!" Spike cheered. "Spike, we still have to work on the other three fourths of the library." Twilight said, her emotion unchanging as she moved to the next set of bookshelves. "Twilight, can I take a break? Just for a few minutes?" Spike asked. "Fine, Spike. But don't rest for too long." Twilight sighed. Spike silently celebrated, and then tip-toed over to the door. He opened it quietly, and slipped out without Twilight even noticing. He skipped down the path cheerfully. Suddenly he was being lifted. He was heading back to the library! He kicked his feet, trying to get away, but he floated through the door. Twilight's horn was glowing. "Nice try, Spike. But you know we need to get this done." She said, before dropping Spike on the floor next to the new book pile. Defeated, he began sorting again. "Hey." Twilight said, examining a book. "I don't remember having this one." She opened the book and began to examine it's contents. "What's this gibberish? I thought the book was on the Everfree Forest!" She showed Spike the open book, and sure enough, jumbled letters and words took up the heading of a page. They looked like they were hoof-written instead of printed, and were scrawled out in almost unreadable handwriting. "Maybe it's some kind of code!" Spike exclaimed. Twilight and Spike stopped sorting and began trying to decode the book. "The letters on page 4,90, and 74 say..." "Maybe it's a..." "Aha, I think I've got it!...wait, no I don't..." "The subheadings..." "Spike...Spike? Are you asleep?" "Maybe the page numbers go to a letter..." "Page 8's paragraph lettesr are an anagram..." After an hour or two of trying to figure it out. Twilight laughed triumphantly. "Ha-ha! I figured it out!" "Really?" Spike asked, excited. "It says: Beware of the forest they share, in the moonlight's glare, or become a dead mare?" Twilight read it carefully, and she realized Spike was gone. "Spike...? SPIKE?!" Spike awoke, it was damp, dark, and cold. "Hello? Twilight?" He got up, and winced as his leg snagged on a branch. It was nearly pitch black, like night. He couldn't see his claws in front of his face. He pulled his leg free, but in doing so, tripped and began rolling. He rolled down a small hill and kept going, he yelled as he finally stopped, slamming against a rock. He could tell he was now in a cave, as it was darker than before, and his voice echoed. "Helloooo? Anybody?" He got up and began wandering in the darkness. Something pushed him down, and pain shot through his arm as he felt sharp teeth plunge into his hand. Spike moved his hand around on the ground and found a rock. He hit it against the creature's head, and it backed off, running away. His hand was throbbing, but he was too afraid to worry about it. He couldn't find his way out of the cave. He sat down, and curled up into a ball. "I'll never get out of here, I'll never find ponyville again, I'll starve to death!" He broke into sobs, wondering how this even happened in the first place. The constant pain in his hand wasn't helping him, either. Suddenly, he was being lifted into the air. "I got something, I got something!" "Is it Spike?" "Yee-haw, sugarcube!" "Hooray! We found him!" "Yay." "Spikey-wikey!" He could barely see them, but it was his friends! Twilight embraced him. "Oh Spike. That code we found in that book was a spell, it must have sent you here!" Twilight cried. "W-where am I?" Spike asked, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "You're in the middle of the Everfree forest, Spike. The whole town was lookin' for ya." Applejack exclaimed. "But now you're safe, so we can go back to Ponyville and PARTY!" Pinkie yelled. The team all cheered and they began to head home to Ponyville, Twilight's glowing horn lighting the way. Spike scratched his cheek to get a bug off, and cut himself. "Oww!" he yelped. He noticed his claws were a lot sharper than usual. It was the hand that got bit. Night DragonSpike was having trouble sleeping. It had been two nights since he had been rescued from the Everfree forest, and life was as usual. Ponyville was celebrating the full moon, but after the festivities ended, it was time for Spike to hit the hay. Little did he know, that as he slept, small bits of fur were poking out of his tail, and up his spines. Fangs began to protrude in place of his baby dragon teeth, and his claws sharpened to a point. His snoring turned to low growls. His eyes shot open, revealing deep yellow snake-like eyes. He stood up in bed, and then scurried towards the window, Twilight still asleep. He launched himself out into the night. Spike found himself in a bush. He had no idea how he had got there, but he figured it was a joke, pulled by the town citizens who were drunk on apple cider. That's all! He laughed and climbed out of the bush. He brushed himself off, as a middle-aged colt stood over him, holding a torch. "Did you see anything suspicious last night, little dragon?" he asked. "No, I was out for the night." Spike answered. "Okay. Let me or Mayor Mare know if you see anything." The colt said, walking away. "That was strange." Spike said to himself. As he walked home, he saw destruction everywhere. All the decorations from the night before were torn or broken, ponies crying, and houses broken into. "Who would have done that?" Spike asked nobody in particular. He got to the library and opened the door, and he was shocked to see Twilight curled up on the floor, silently weeping. "The books. Spike, the books." She cried, pointing to all of the ripped and destroyed books. "Who would have done that?" Spike asked Twilight. He helped Twilight pick up the books, and put the ones that were still readable back on the shelves. He decided to take a stroll down to Fluttershy's house. "S-s-Spike...they're gone...they're all gone!" Fluttershy cried. "WHAT?!" he yelled. "The animals...their chew toys are all gone!" Fluttershy wailed, covering her eyes with her hooves. "Who would have done that?" Spike asked Fluttershy. Spike's eyes flashed open, yellow and snake-like. He stood up in bed and once again bounded for the window. He leaped out, and landed on all four hands...rather paws. He ran on all fours with ease, and jumped from roof to roof with no problem. He growled and avoided the gaze of ponies who were carrying torches, wandering through the night. He bounded over the Sweet Apple Acres fence and watched in caution. Granny Smith was carrying a pitchfork, and Applejack held a lantern, protecting the orchard. She had almost lost it to a bunch of bats, and now she wasn't going to lose it to some prankster. Big Macintosh was helping watch the carrot farm. Spike knew in the back of his partial-dragon mind that this was going to be difficult. He bounded over the fence and into the orchard, ripping up leaves and jumping from tree to tree. Applejack looked wildly around her. "GRANNY SMITH, BIG MAC!" she yelled. They ran over to the orchard and began chasing Spike's figure. Spike jumped off of a tree and landed in front of the barn. He looked up to see Big Mac standing over him. "Eeyup, that'll be enough of that, pardner." Big Macintosh said, grabbing Spike by the neck fur. Spike whimpered as Big Mac carried him into the barn. Spike found himself tied to a stake, with the entire town of ponyville in front of him, chanting and yelling. "END THE DRAGON, END HIM NOW! END THE DRAGON, END HIM NOW!" Spike was afraid. He looked around, not knowing what to do. Why was he tied up? Why was the town trying to kill him. Mayor Mare walked up to the stake and stood in front of it, she turned to Spike and whispered. "Spike, you were such a good little dragon. Why would you do this?" "I don't know what you're talking about, Mayor Mare! I'm innocent." "I can't believe you would try to lie, even after Big Mac caught you. I'm aorry, Spike. But you must be punished." Mayor mare turned back to the giant crowd and began to wave her hooves to settle them down. Eventually the crowd noise died down, and she began talking. "Spike The Dragon has been sentenced to death for crime, damage to property, senseless destruction, and harming ponies. It is here today that he will be-" "WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?" Twilight yelled, walking up to the stake from the crowd. The town all gasped. "Spike is innocent, he would never do these things." "I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle, but your dragon here was caught by Big Macintosh last night, he was trying to cause harm to Sweet Apple Acres. Scratched up Macintosh pretty bad, too." "Eeyup." Big Macintosh said from the crowd, his ear and front hooves in bandages. "There has to be something wrong here. I know Spike wouldn't do that. At least let me take him in for testing." Twilight said firmly. "I...Okay." Mayor mare said, before speaking to the crowd once more. "Spike The Dragon is temporarily removed from his death sentence." Two guards let Spike off of the stake, and Twilight pulled him into the library. "Spike, you were lucky." Twilight said, hooking up some wires and straps to Spike. She also chained him up for good measure. "Twilight, I swear, I didn't do anything! I don't know what I did!" Spike pleaded. "I know you didn't, that's why I'm conducting some tests. I'll have to leave you here for the night, but it's for a good reason." She said, heading up the stairs. Spike felt himself drifting off to sleep. He caught a glimpse of Twilight curled up in the basement, watching the test results. It wasn't long before he was snoring. It had to be night time now. Twilight watched in amazement as Spike began to transform, claws, fur, eyes, and all. "Oh Spike." She said to herself, as Spike began to viciously claw at the chains, attempting to escape. The machines were growing crazy, printing the results into the basket. She ran up the stairs and out the library door. Bounding towards Fluttershy's house. Meanwhile, Spike's chains were getting looser and looser, until he broke free. "FLUTTERSHY!" she yelled, pounding on her door. Fluttershy, half awake, opened the door. "What's the Twilight, problem?" she mumbled. "I need Discord. Now." Twilight exclaimed. Fluttershy stepped aside as Twilight searched around. Discord was sleeping on the rug. "Discord. Wake up." Twilight said, shaking him awake. "WHAT WASA- HUH?" Discord yelled, shooting up to a sitting position. "We need to get to the library quick!" Spike was wrecking all the books and knocking down all the shelves. The Mane 6 all stood in position, ready to take Spike down. Discord was waiting, half asleep. Spike jumped on Applejack, but Rarity jumped up and kicked him off with her back hooves. "That was for your own good, Spikey wikey!" Spike ran for the stairs, but Pinkie grabbed his tail. "I got him, I got him!" she screamed, but Spike kept running, dragging her along the floor. RainbowDash flew in front of him. "Hey buster, you're not-WOAH!" she yelled, landing on her back as Spike knocked her over. Twilight stepped in front of Spike, charging up her magic. "I'm charging up a spell to undo his condition, but it's going to take a minute, distract him!" Twilight said, sparks flying from her horn. Applejack pulled out a lasso, spun it around, and then looped it around Spike, pulling it tight. Spike growled and started cutting the ropes. Finally, Twilight released the spell, magic flying from her horn. It hit Spike. The ropes burned off of him and he flew into the air, magic enveloping him. The magic turned into a cube, which enclosed Spike. After a blinding flash of light, Spike was free. He floated gently to the ground. "Spike." Twilight said, shaking him awake. "Huh?" Spike said, rubbing his eyes. "What happened?" "You're okay!" Twilight said, hugging him. Suddenly, Spike remembered everything he had done. "I'm so sorry, Twilight!" he cried, burying his head into her arms. "It's not me you need to be apologizing to." Twilight said, shaking her head. Spike leaped up to look out the window, where an anticipating crowd was listening to the commotion. "Uh oh." Spike said.
A Dynamic Imagination"SPIKE!" "What is it, Twilight?" "Could you clean up the library? I'm going out to get ice cream with the girls." "Why can't I come?" "Sorry, Spike. Maybe next time." Twilight trotted out of the library. Spike wondered why he couldn't just get out of the library for once. Twilight was making him do what seemed like an unnecessary amount of work recently. He began with the bookshelves, dusting and sweeping, polishing. It was hard work, but he made it look nice! "Twilight is gonna love how that looks!" he exclaimed. He moved on to the bedroom. He fixed up Twilight's bed, tucking in the sheet and blanket, dusting underneath his basket bed. He washed the window as a finishing touch. He finished sweeping and cleaning the floors of the library, and picking up all of Twilight's old checklists. He went down into the basement, where it was extremely dusty. All of Twilight's old research projects and machines. It took awhile to dust the place and polish the machines. He remembered when Twilight put Pinkie Pie down here for a test. Twilight didn't believe Pinkie sense, a talent Pinkie Pie had. Spike still wondered how that was even possible. But, Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie. After lots of cleaning and dusting, he realized how boring this was. He was bored. And alone. Which was AWESOME! What could he do while Twilight was gone? Spike decided to let out his inner child and build a book fort. He promised himself he would put the books back right after he was done. First, he gathered all the needed materials. Books! Lots and lots of books. He brainstormed, and realized he would need some sort of enemy. He drew up a bunch of monsters and Diamond Dogs on spare sheets of paper. Finally, he cut up some cardboard and doodled on it to make it look like a sword. He arranged the books so it looked like a castle. Then, he tied his blanket from his basket around his neck and wore it like a cape. "The forces of evil are attacking my castle! It seems they want queen Rarity!" Spike ran into his book castle and grabbed a cardboard sword, and then talked to a crudely-made Rarity. It was made out of books with white and purple covers. It sort of resembled Rarity, but not much. It didn't matter to Spike, though. "Ooooh Spike, my fair king, protect me!" The fake Rarity said. Spike made his best Rarity voice impression. "Fear not, my damsel in distress! I shall do as you say!" Spike responded. He puffed out his chest and marched out of his castle. Spike then wildly swung his cardboard sword at pictures of terribly drawn monsters and Diamond Dogs. "Back monsters, back I say!" he called out in a triumphant voice of courage. He then tore up the pictures of the monsters into shreds, showing their defeat. With this, he turned around on his small dragon heels and proceeded back into his book fort. "You were so BRAVE!" "Why thank you, Mrs. Rarity! Now for my reward?" Spike pressed his face into the fake Rarity, as if she was kissing him. Although, in his imagination he was actually getting a real kiss from her. "Well. That was fun, now time to clean up these books." Spike said, and he placed the books back on the shelves in no time. He heard a hooting from above. Owlowiscious looked down on him. "Not a word to Twilight, got it, owl?" Spike snapped. "HOO! HOO HOO!" "Alright, my secret is safe with you!" he said, with a sigh of relief. Spike thought that was a fun activity, but then boredom began to settle in. He was bothered by how easily he got bored, but he couldn't think of any way to stop it. Then, an idea struck! "Aha! I know, I'll write a book!" Spike said. "It won't be great, but I'll read some of Twilight's for inspiration." He looked upon the shelves, until he spotted a copy of Daring Do. Rainbow Dash's favorite book! If she liked it, no doubt it would have some good stuff in it. He pulled it off the shelf and began reading it. He was captivated! In fact, reading it made him a bit sleepy. His eyes were getting heavy. Then, he was fully asleep. "Okay, big guy, we're going to show you how to use your powers for good!" "Fluttershy, I don't need your he-" "Nonono Discord! Ever since you've been reformed, you haven't used your powers correctly." Discord sighed and gave in. If anything, Fluttershy would be the perfect person to help him out. "Fine, Fluttershy. What's first?" Discord asked. "Well, first of all, you need a target." Fluttershy said, looking around. "Got it, why don't we use Twilight's treehouse over there?" Discord replied. Fluttershy had left the ice cream social to help out Discord. She glanced at the library. If Discord did something bad, would Twilight forgive her? She sighed. She had to give Discord the trust. "O-okay, Discord. Now, try something!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Hmm...let's see..." Discord said, rubbing his chin. He snapped his fingers and a bolt of magic shot out of his hand, it struck the library, although it didn't appear to do anything at all. Fluttershy looked confused. "What did that do?!" Fluttershy asked. "I don't know. I didn't really even think of a specific thing to do." Discord said. "Let's go check on Spike, and see if anything happened." Fluttershy said. "Just in case." "Where'd Spike go?" Fluttershy asked. They were in the library, but there was no sign of Spike. Just an open copy of Daring Do, lying on the floor. There was something strange about it. Fluttershy trotted up to examine it. "SPIKE?!" she exclaimed. There was a picture on the page. It was of Daring Do, all tied up and trapped by one of her enemies. Except there was one problem. Spike was tied up next to her.
The Situation Escalates"DARING DO?!" Spike yelled. "You hearda me?" Daring Do asked, struggling to get out of her ropes. "Y-yeah! I was sleeping in the library, but how'd I get here?" Spike asked, gnawing his claws. "I dunno, kid. But I need your help." Daring Do said. "You're a dragon, right?" Spike nodded. "Alright, use your claws to cut the ropes. We don't have much time!" Spike looked down at his rope and began to repeatedly rub his claws against the rope, in an attempt to cut it. "Okay, on second thought, use your fire breath!" "Duuuhh!" Spike breathed a small burst of fire and burned away the ropes. He ran over to Daring Do and burned off her ropes. The walls were slowly closing in. Daring Do motioned for Spike to hop on her back. Spike hopped on. Daring Do grabbed a hold of a ledge and hoisted both of them up into a hole in the ceiling. Spike hugged the ground and Daring Do stood in triumph. "Nice work, skit. What's your name?" Daring Do asked. "I-I'm Spike!" Spike answered. "Well, thank you. Without your help it would have been much more difficult to escape!" Daring Do said, and Spike gave her a brohoof. Suddenly a dog/ape creature appeared and stood over them. "Ahuizotl!" Daring Do growled. "Ahahaha, I can't believe you escaped, Do. But no matter, I still have the treasure!" Ahuizotl laughed. "No way!" Spike gasped. "It's Ahuizotl!" "Yes, little dragon. Guards, immobilize these two!" Ahuizotl commanded. Daring Do and Spike stood their ground. A guard charged at Daring Do, but she flew up and kicked him in the face. The guard rolled away. A smaller guard ran towards Spike, but he jumped onto the guard and pushed it to the ground. Woah! He could do things in Daring Do that he couldn't do in real life! "Nice one!" Daring Do cheered. "Drat!" Ahuizotl growled. "Spike, go for the treasure! He's holding it in his tail!" Daring Do exclaimed, pointing with her hoof. "Wha?" Spike gasped. Spike ran and jumped at Ahuizotl, who in turn smacked him to the ground. Spike realized he may have overestimated himself quite a bit. He groaned and looked at the very small crater he was in. "Nice try, but I was just joking!" Daring Do laughed, jumping at Ahuizotl. She bit into his arm. "AAAHHH!" he screamed, trying to get her off. Spike stood up and watched what was unfolding before him. Ahuizotl was frantically jumping around, trying to throw Daring Do off, meanwhile Daring Do was on his back, trying to snatch the treasure from his tail. "Fluttershy, what did you call us back for, again?" Twilight asked. "And where's Spike?" "It's j-just...oh...my..." Fluttershy mumbled. "L-look at the b-book..." Twilight trotted over to the book and began flipping pages, the first half of the book was normal. But then Spike started appearing in pictures and descriptions. He and Daring Do were battling Ahuizotl on page 105. "WHAT?!" she yelled. "Well Sugahcube, this doesn't look vereh good." Applejack commented. "It's actually AWESOME! Spike is in my favorite book!" Rainbow Dash laughed. Twilight and the gang decided to stop flipping pages. They didn't want to see if something bad would happen to Spike. "Who did this?" Twilight asked. "D-dddd-dd-Discord..." Fluttershy muttered. "I thought he was reformed!" Twilight exclaimed. "It was an accident, we were practicing his powers, and then..." Fluttershy broke down and started crying. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie trotted over and comforted Fluttershy. They all got into a big group hug. Fluttershy looked up at them and realized that she would be forgiven. "It's okay Fluttershy! We'll get Spike back!" Pinkie cheered. "I forgive you, Fluttershy. I'm sure we can get him back." Twilight assured her. "T-thank you!" Fluttershy said, wiping her tears away. "But wait, if we're going to get Spikey-wikey back, does that mean we'll-" Rarity asked before being interrupted. "Yes. We have to go into the book." Twilight finished. "Please don't get yourselves killed in there." Discord muttered. "We'll try! But we'll all make it, right girls?" Rainbow replied. "Right!" "Yes-in-deedly!" "...I guess?" "Certainly!" "Yee-haw!" The girls stepped up to the copy of Daring Do and all put their hooves on it. Discord stepped back and charged up lots of power. Books around the library were frantically spiraling all around them. Finally, Discord released and the bolt hit the book. The Mane six were now inside. Discord looked at the page. They were helping Spike beat Ahuizotl! "Heh heh, those are my girls." Discord laughed.
The Mane 6 Get Involved"AHHHHHHH!" Shrieks pierced the sky as the six equines fell from the clouds. The girls seemed to be falling in slow motion. Twilight thought quickly. "APPLEJACK! GRAB MY HOOVES!" she yelled. Applejack grabbed onto her as she began to flap her wings. Rarity grabbed onto Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie grabbed onto Fluttershy. They all floated to the ground safely. "That was close! Good thinking, Twilight!" Applejack said, patting her on the back. "Oh, thanks. Usually I forget I even have these things!" Twilight laughed. "You know, Discord could have chosen a better landing spot!" Rarity said, dusting her hooves off. "Now one problem, how are we going to find Spike?!" Rainbow Dash asked, raising a hoof. Everyone looked around, and then Pinkie pointed to a huge tower, which looked like it was about to fall over. "I think it would be right there!" she yelled, and then pulled out a huge rocket. "Don't worry, I've got a way up there!" "Oh, Pinkie." Twilight began to say, before Pinkie gathered them all onto the rocket and lit the fuse. "KA-BLOOOO!" Pinkie yelled as the rocket blasted off towards the castle, with Fluttershy screaming her lungs out. "Spike! Grab the treasure!" Daring Do growled, as she was distracting Ahuizotl. Spike lunged for the tail, and grabbed on tight. Ahuizotl was now jumping around the room like a bucking bronco, AND shaking his tail around. "GET OFF OF ME, YOU PESKY DRAGON!" Ahuizotl snapped. Spike managed to wrastle the treasure from his tail and held it up triumphantly. It was a statue of a pony, with a red gem in the middle. Oohhh, gems, his favorite snack. He was distracted as Ahuizotl slammed him into the wall, taking back the treasure. "Heh heh heh. Who's going to help you now, Daring Do? I doubt you would e-" Ahuizotl began, before getting blasted against a pillar by Pinkie's rocket. "Woo wee! That was FUN!" Pinkie yelled, as Ahuizotl growled in pain. "TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled, and ran up to her. The rest of the girls got off of the rocket, dizzy from the flight. "Never. Again." Applejack groaned before vomiting. Rarity looked disgusted. Ahuizotl got up from his spot and glanced at the treasure. Twilight saw it too. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" she exclaimed, and they both raced for the treasure. Twilight got to it first, and Ahuizotl raced after her but got poked painfully in the eye by her horn. "Ponies are so DANGEROUS!" Ahuizotl growled, clutching his bruised eye. All of this wall smashing was making the tower dreadfully unstable, and the thing began to crumble. "We have to get out of here." Daring Do said, looking around for an exit. "Wait, up there!" She said, pointing with her hoof to an opening in the wall. "Good idea!" Twilight replied, and they all charged for it. Spike was riding on Applejack's back, he hollered "FOR PONYVILLE!" They all smashed out of the wall in a cinematic style, with Ahuizotl left trapped in the crumbling tower. They all turned and watched as the whole thing fell into ruin, with Ahuizotl screaming one last threat: "I'LL GET YOU SOMEDAY, DARING DOOOOOOOOOO!" Everyone cheered. Spike hugged Twilight. "That was some nice work!" Daring Do exclaimed. "I hope I might meet you sometime in the future!" "Oh believe me, you will." Rainbow Dash said, winking. "Whaddaya mean?" Daring Do asked, as Discord's escape portal formed in the side of the hill. "SORRY CAN'T HEAR YA, BUSY GOING THROUGH A PORTAL!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, as they all passed through the portal, leaving a confused Daring Do with her treasure. "So I'm guessing you all had fun?" Discord asked, he was in a maid outfit, dusting the library, even though Spike had done it not ten minutes ago. "Fun? We had to stop an evil dog guy and escape from a crumbling tower!" Applejack groaned. "I thought it was fun!" Pinkie screamed, leaping out an open window. "It was...enjoyable." Fluttershy whispered, and then smiled at the group. "I will tell you one thing, all of that old dust in my mane is NOT going to work!" Rarity exclaimed, frantically trying to rub all of the dust particles out of her mane. Everybody laughed. "Twilight?" Spike asked. "Yeah?" She replied. "Does this mean I can come with you to the next ice cream social?"
Sneaking OutSpike leaned over a small pile of books, groaning. It had been a long day. Twilight and Spike were re-sorting the library, and Spike's job was to put the books into groups by category. "Twilight, do we have to do this?" Spike complained, pushing his quills back with his claws in stress. "I don't hear sorting!" Twilight replied in a sing-song voice. "Fine. Fine." Spike said, giving in. He began sorting the books like nobody's business, book after book after book, and then finally, it was finished! The pile of books was gone. "Yahooo!" Spike cheered. "Spike, we still have to work on the other three fourths of the library." Twilight said, her emotion unchanging as she moved to the next set of bookshelves. "Twilight, can I take a break? Just for a few minutes?" Spike asked. "Fine, Spike. But don't rest for too long." Twilight sighed. Spike silently celebrated, and then tip-toed over to the door. He opened it quietly, and slipped out without Twilight even noticing. He skipped down the path cheerfully. Suddenly he was being lifted. He was heading back to the library! He kicked his feet, trying to get away, but he floated through the door. Twilight's horn was glowing. "Nice try, Spike. But you know we need to get this done." She said, before dropping Spike on the floor next to the new book pile. Defeated, he began sorting again. "Hey." Twilight said, examining a book. "I don't remember having this one." She opened the book and began to examine it's contents. "What's this gibberish? I thought the book was on the Everfree Forest!" She showed Spike the open book, and sure enough, jumbled letters and words took up the heading of a page. They looked like they were hoof-written instead of printed, and were scrawled out in almost unreadable handwriting. "Maybe it's some kind of code!" Spike exclaimed. Twilight and Spike stopped sorting and began trying to decode the book. "The letters on page 4,90, and 74 say..." "Maybe it's a..." "Aha, I think I've got it!...wait, no I don't..." "The subheadings..." "Spike...Spike? Are you asleep?" "Maybe the page numbers go to a letter..." "Page 8's paragraph lettesr are an anagram..." After an hour or two of trying to figure it out. Twilight laughed triumphantly. "Ha-ha! I figured it out!" "Really?" Spike asked, excited. "It says: Beware of the forest they share, in the moonlight's glare, or become a dead mare?" Twilight read it carefully, and she realized Spike was gone. "Spike...? SPIKE?!" Spike awoke, it was damp, dark, and cold. "Hello? Twilight?" He got up, and winced as his leg snagged on a branch. It was nearly pitch black, like night. He couldn't see his claws in front of his face. He pulled his leg free, but in doing so, tripped and began rolling. He rolled down a small hill and kept going, he yelled as he finally stopped, slamming against a rock. He could tell he was now in a cave, as it was darker than before, and his voice echoed. "Helloooo? Anybody?" He got up and began wandering in the darkness. Something pushed him down, and pain shot through his arm as he felt sharp teeth plunge into his hand. Spike moved his hand around on the ground and found a rock. He hit it against the creature's head, and it backed off, running away. His hand was throbbing, but he was too afraid to worry about it. He couldn't find his way out of the cave. He sat down, and curled up into a ball. "I'll never get out of here, I'll never find ponyville again, I'll starve to death!" He broke into sobs, wondering how this even happened in the first place. The constant pain in his hand wasn't helping him, either. Suddenly, he was being lifted into the air. "I got something, I got something!" "Is it Spike?" "Yee-haw, sugarcube!" "Hooray! We found him!" "Yay." "Spikey-wikey!" He could barely see them, but it was his friends! Twilight embraced him. "Oh Spike. That code we found in that book was a spell, it must have sent you here!" Twilight cried. "W-where am I?" Spike asked, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "You're in the middle of the Everfree forest, Spike. The whole town was lookin' for ya." Applejack exclaimed. "But now you're safe, so we can go back to Ponyville and PARTY!" Pinkie yelled. The team all cheered and they began to head home to Ponyville, Twilight's glowing horn lighting the way. Spike scratched his cheek to get a bug off, and cut himself. "Oww!" he yelped. He noticed his claws were a lot sharper than usual. It was the hand that got bit.
Night DragonSpike was having trouble sleeping. It had been two nights since he had been rescued from the Everfree forest, and life was as usual. Ponyville was celebrating the full moon, but after the festivities ended, it was time for Spike to hit the hay. Little did he know, that as he slept, small bits of fur were poking out of his tail, and up his spines. Fangs began to protrude in place of his baby dragon teeth, and his claws sharpened to a point. His snoring turned to low growls. His eyes shot open, revealing deep yellow snake-like eyes. He stood up in bed, and then scurried towards the window, Twilight still asleep. He launched himself out into the night. Spike found himself in a bush. He had no idea how he had got there, but he figured it was a joke, pulled by the town citizens who were drunk on apple cider. That's all! He laughed and climbed out of the bush. He brushed himself off, as a middle-aged colt stood over him, holding a torch. "Did you see anything suspicious last night, little dragon?" he asked. "No, I was out for the night." Spike answered. "Okay. Let me or Mayor Mare know if you see anything." The colt said, walking away. "That was strange." Spike said to himself. As he walked home, he saw destruction everywhere. All the decorations from the night before were torn or broken, ponies crying, and houses broken into. "Who would have done that?" Spike asked nobody in particular. He got to the library and opened the door, and he was shocked to see Twilight curled up on the floor, silently weeping. "The books. Spike, the books." She cried, pointing to all of the ripped and destroyed books. "Who would have done that?" Spike asked Twilight. He helped Twilight pick up the books, and put the ones that were still readable back on the shelves. He decided to take a stroll down to Fluttershy's house. "S-s-Spike...they're gone...they're all gone!" Fluttershy cried. "WHAT?!" he yelled. "The animals...their chew toys are all gone!" Fluttershy wailed, covering her eyes with her hooves. "Who would have done that?" Spike asked Fluttershy. Spike's eyes flashed open, yellow and snake-like. He stood up in bed and once again bounded for the window. He leaped out, and landed on all four hands...rather paws. He ran on all fours with ease, and jumped from roof to roof with no problem. He growled and avoided the gaze of ponies who were carrying torches, wandering through the night. He bounded over the Sweet Apple Acres fence and watched in caution. Granny Smith was carrying a pitchfork, and Applejack held a lantern, protecting the orchard. She had almost lost it to a bunch of bats, and now she wasn't going to lose it to some prankster. Big Macintosh was helping watch the carrot farm. Spike knew in the back of his partial-dragon mind that this was going to be difficult. He bounded over the fence and into the orchard, ripping up leaves and jumping from tree to tree. Applejack looked wildly around her. "GRANNY SMITH, BIG MAC!" she yelled. They ran over to the orchard and began chasing Spike's figure. Spike jumped off of a tree and landed in front of the barn. He looked up to see Big Mac standing over him. "Eeyup, that'll be enough of that, pardner." Big Macintosh said, grabbing Spike by the neck fur. Spike whimpered as Big Mac carried him into the barn. Spike found himself tied to a stake, with the entire town of ponyville in front of him, chanting and yelling. "END THE DRAGON, END HIM NOW! END THE DRAGON, END HIM NOW!" Spike was afraid. He looked around, not knowing what to do. Why was he tied up? Why was the town trying to kill him. Mayor Mare walked up to the stake and stood in front of it, she turned to Spike and whispered. "Spike, you were such a good little dragon. Why would you do this?" "I don't know what you're talking about, Mayor Mare! I'm innocent." "I can't believe you would try to lie, even after Big Mac caught you. I'm aorry, Spike. But you must be punished." Mayor mare turned back to the giant crowd and began to wave her hooves to settle them down. Eventually the crowd noise died down, and she began talking. "Spike The Dragon has been sentenced to death for crime, damage to property, senseless destruction, and harming ponies. It is here today that he will be-" "WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?" Twilight yelled, walking up to the stake from the crowd. The town all gasped. "Spike is innocent, he would never do these things." "I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle, but your dragon here was caught by Big Macintosh last night, he was trying to cause harm to Sweet Apple Acres. Scratched up Macintosh pretty bad, too." "Eeyup." Big Macintosh said from the crowd, his ear and front hooves in bandages. "There has to be something wrong here. I know Spike wouldn't do that. At least let me take him in for testing." Twilight said firmly. "I...Okay." Mayor mare said, before speaking to the crowd once more. "Spike The Dragon is temporarily removed from his death sentence." Two guards let Spike off of the stake, and Twilight pulled him into the library. "Spike, you were lucky." Twilight said, hooking up some wires and straps to Spike. She also chained him up for good measure. "Twilight, I swear, I didn't do anything! I don't know what I did!" Spike pleaded. "I know you didn't, that's why I'm conducting some tests. I'll have to leave you here for the night, but it's for a good reason." She said, heading up the stairs. Spike felt himself drifting off to sleep. He caught a glimpse of Twilight curled up in the basement, watching the test results. It wasn't long before he was snoring. It had to be night time now. Twilight watched in amazement as Spike began to transform, claws, fur, eyes, and all. "Oh Spike." She said to herself, as Spike began to viciously claw at the chains, attempting to escape. The machines were growing crazy, printing the results into the basket. She ran up the stairs and out the library door. Bounding towards Fluttershy's house. Meanwhile, Spike's chains were getting looser and looser, until he broke free. "FLUTTERSHY!" she yelled, pounding on her door. Fluttershy, half awake, opened the door. "What's the Twilight, problem?" she mumbled. "I need Discord. Now." Twilight exclaimed. Fluttershy stepped aside as Twilight searched around. Discord was sleeping on the rug. "Discord. Wake up." Twilight said, shaking him awake. "WHAT WASA- HUH?" Discord yelled, shooting up to a sitting position. "We need to get to the library quick!" Spike was wrecking all the books and knocking down all the shelves. The Mane 6 all stood in position, ready to take Spike down. Discord was waiting, half asleep. Spike jumped on Applejack, but Rarity jumped up and kicked him off with her back hooves. "That was for your own good, Spikey wikey!" Spike ran for the stairs, but Pinkie grabbed his tail. "I got him, I got him!" she screamed, but Spike kept running, dragging her along the floor. RainbowDash flew in front of him. "Hey buster, you're not-WOAH!" she yelled, landing on her back as Spike knocked her over. Twilight stepped in front of Spike, charging up her magic. "I'm charging up a spell to undo his condition, but it's going to take a minute, distract him!" Twilight said, sparks flying from her horn. Applejack pulled out a lasso, spun it around, and then looped it around Spike, pulling it tight. Spike growled and started cutting the ropes. Finally, Twilight released the spell, magic flying from her horn. It hit Spike. The ropes burned off of him and he flew into the air, magic enveloping him. The magic turned into a cube, which enclosed Spike. After a blinding flash of light, Spike was free. He floated gently to the ground. "Spike." Twilight said, shaking him awake. "Huh?" Spike said, rubbing his eyes. "What happened?" "You're okay!" Twilight said, hugging him. Suddenly, Spike remembered everything he had done. "I'm so sorry, Twilight!" he cried, burying his head into her arms. "It's not me you need to be apologizing to." Twilight said, shaking her head. Spike leaped up to look out the window, where an anticipating crowd was listening to the commotion. "Uh oh." Spike said.
