Spike's Bad Week

So here I am, king, king over the Griffon Kingdom. I’m sitting in the griffon throne room surrounded by the strange fellows that I had the misfortune of encountering during my misadventure. Don’t mind them for now I’m sure you will get to know them soon enough.*

Now you may ask yourself ‘how did Spike become King’? It’s a good question actually and it’s a long story and if you want stay a while I’ll tell you. It all started one week ago, and what a week that was. I was visiting Prance along with six good friends. It was supposed to be a vacation but I had other things in store. Apparently so did Fate, and so begins what I would like to call a very Bad Week.

╠═════════════╣

The sun was setting as the moon began its climb up the sky. The stars glimmered as as they began to light up the night sky. It would have been the perfect sight to end a romantic date. Unfortunately not for the young dragon marching crestfallen down the street. By dragon standards he would be considered a child, yet by pony standards he was old enough to be and adult. Being an adult of course had it’s privileges such as going to a tavern to drown out his sorrows.

It was business as usual at the Cock and the Plucker, the Griffon owned bar at the edge of Paris. Named after Paris the Great, one of the great Griffon king that originally conquered the land or at least that’s how the legend goes. Paris of course being the capital of France or as ethnocentric ponies called it, Prance. The Cock and the Plucker wasn't a tourist attraction and mainly catered towards locals. Of course that the meant that a certain young purple dragon, slightly taller than the average pony, stood out when he entered. The natives didn’t minded of course, dragons are cool.

"So what can I get for you?" the griffon bartender asked the dragon as he approached the counter.

"I'll take an one of your finest beers,” said the dragon as he sat on the stool. “Might as well enjoy myself.”

"A tourist seeking beer, we don't get much of those." the bartender chuckled as he while serving the beverage on a frosty mug.

"Why is that?" the dragon asked putting down his money as he took the mug.

"Apparently when ponies think of Prance they think of fine wine and cheese. Most beer aficionados tend to visit Griffon Germane which isn't far from here." The bartender said as the he cleaned the counter with a white cloth.

"Wine and cheese huh, eh sounds like those high society gatherings in Canterlot" The dragon muttered bitterly as he took a swing from his mug "That's good stuff right there, I'll take another."

"Coming right up, so I take it that you don’t like the ‘high class’ folks?" the bartender asked.

“You can say that, I’ve lived around them for a while” the dragon said observing the rest of the tavern. It had a homely feel to it. The interior had a cabin look to and he could tell that the tables and chairs were made with high quality lumber. A griffon band was playing jazz at one end and the music fused with chatter amongst a mix of ponies and griffons, “Nice place you got here.”

“It’s what we strive for kid, we don’t many tourist here so what brings you out to humble join?” The griffon said with a smirk of pride.

The dragon nursed his beer before responding, “Well you can say that I need to cool off after a rough day.”

“Well after a long day many ponies and griffons here like to sit down and relax. Anything else you need?” the griffon asked.

“Well there’s one question on my mind since I came here, why does everyone in Prance know how to speak the Equestrian language?” the dragon asked. It’s been on his mind ever since he arrived in Prance. Everypony and griffon seemed to speak Equestrian as well as French and other languages.

The barkeep chuckled before answering the question, “Well it’s for convenience and for the sake of the the PLOT.”

“The what?”

“The PLOT, Pony Language Overseas Treaty, it was a treaty by the Sun Princess had with most countries. The pony language became the official language to be taught is every country. In theory it was to help establish international trade and diplomacy. But in reality the princess was too lazy to learn many languages and decided it would be easier to have everyone speak the same one.”

“Well that make sense I guess.” the purple dragon muttered drowning himself in his mug, “Sweet Celestia this beer is good. Hey barkeep keep them coming!”

╠═════════════╣

A few drinks latter the dragon found himself in a table with a mix of ponies and griffons. Each of different background brought together by sweet nectar of life that is alcohol. Such prized liquid that is good at solving problems as it is creating them.

"Well here’s the thing, when you plan this romantic date for such a long time only to find yourself friendzoned, you can say it’s been a crummy day. That’s the main reason I even agreed to come on this vacation." the dragon said as he nursed the stout, "You know what they say about Paris, it apparently is the ‘city of romance’ or some nonsense like that. So I thought it would romantic to confess to the mare that I've had a crush on for years in front of that famous tower. And you know what happens? She just gives me that 'just friends' nonsense and I look like fool in front of everypony. City of romance, yeah right."

"It happens, love is a bitch like that sometimes." the one of the ponies told him before taking a drink from his mug. “Besides I thought Canterlot was the city of love, why else would the changelings chose to invade there?”

“You go a point there,” he responded after which the dragon proceeded to chug down his mug before continuing “But I lived in Canterlot for a while, me tell you that the snobs there are same as the snobs here. The only difference is that the waiters here actually speak French.”

A chorus a laughter broke out amongst the group. Which the dragon asked, “So whose turn is it pay for the next round.”

“Yours!” the coalition of griffons and ponies answered with glee.

“Wait, again? Well okay…” the dragon muttered as he laid the coins on the table.

╠═════════════╣

A few hours later, the dragon left the Cock and the Plucker only fall face down when he came in contact with the sidewalk. Turning his head ups he saw that the streets began to stretch and expand. He saw the cobblestone began to spiral down as a sense nausea came crashing. The dragon felt his stomach burn as he threw up in an alley. His headache made it hard to concentrate. He was drunk or as others would say he was wasted.

The dragon proceeded to wander aimlessly hoping to spot a familiar landmark to lead him towards where he was staying. “Maybe I could call a cab” he told himself before he remembered that he had just spent all his money, “Whatever it was good booze.”

He knew that he was lost in dark alleyways of Paris at the middle of the night. He couldn’t make out details of the buildings as they all appeared as a blur to him. The dragon lost his sense of balance as he once again tripped and fell face down to the street. With a grunt he lifted himself from the street and continued. Walking down the streets he came across a familiar park. He then collapsed on the soft grass deciding to lean on a tree next a flower garden. In the distance at the center of the park was a water fountain with the statue of some famous pony artist. Look further, the dragon could see damned tower where he was rejected. “Stupid tower.” He muttered bitterly before taking a deep breath.

Well at least he had a clue where he was and the hotel was only a few blocks away from the tower. Two blocks away from the hotel he found himself in front of the Saddle Arabian Embassy when he heard a familiar voice in the distance.

“-ke.” said the voice.

The dragon turned his head towards the direction of the sound. Turning his head north to at the end of  the street he saw the silhouette of a pony running towards him.

“-ike.” said the familiar voice.

The silhouette faded away as the pony approached the dragon. Closing the distance the dragon began to see familiar features of a lavender unicorn with a starburst cutie mark.

“Spike!” the unicorn shouted giving the dragon a hug. “Spike we were so worried about you! We noticed that you didn’t return to the hotel and were worried something happened to you as it go late. Where have you” - the unicorn took a sniff off Spike- “Have you been drinking?”

“Uh, calm down Twilight. Yeah I’ve been drinking-”

*SMACK!*

Spike saw the ire of  Twilight's eyes as he rubbed his head where she smacked him. “How could you?” she asked disappointment taking over her tone. “How could you Spike? We were worried that something had happened to you and it turns out that you are just goofing off and getting drunk. How could you do this to us. Couldn’t you have at least have the courtesy of telling us that you were going out?”

“I- I’m sorry. I wasn't thinking-”

“No you weren't mister.” Twilight chide him in a harsh tone causing Spike to flinch backwards. “Well I’m just glad that you’re safe.” she said softening her glare. Twilight took a deep breath before continuing, “Spike I’m not going to scold you, we both know that you did something foolish. Besides the girls are probably going to do that anyway.”

Spike felt guild building up with in for what had transpired. Maybe drinking wasn’t the best way to solve his problems. But it sure was the fastest and most convenient solution if you ignore the more problem it causes. He lifted his head to look towards worry in Twilight’s eyes and felt his heart melt. “Twilight I just want to saw that I’m sor-”

“I know Spike.” Twilight answered with a reassuring smile. “We can deal with this tomorrow when your reasoning comes back. But for now let’s just go back to the hotel and get a good night’s sleep.”

Twilight began walking up the street for a few steps before turned her head. She was Spike stumbling, leaning left and right, trying hard to walk in a straight line in front of him. “Spike are you sure you can make it to the hotel?”

“Yeah, yeah I can manage,” the dragon stubbornly said. As a demonstration he took  a few steps forward only to lose his balance and trip face down.

Twilight gave a sight, “Spike what am I’m going to do with you?” she asked.

A glow soon followed Twilight’s horn as an aura began to surround Spike. The dragon felt nerved as he found his being lifted and carried by the unicorn. “Twilight I don’t feel so good can you slow down?”

“Should have thought of that before you went and got yourself drunk.” she said. Spike simply groaned as he closed his eyes as sleep took over. Twilight continued walking down the sidewalk holding the dragon in her magic grasp. She didn’t noticed to shady individuals hiding in an alley way they were passing by.

“Hey pretty lady, what’s a lovely mare like you out here in the middle of the night?” asked a voice. Twilight turned around to see to rugged stallions heading towards her, one was an brown earth pony with blue mane and the other a lanky white pegasus with an orange mane.

Twilight raised her eyebrows are she confronted the stallions. “Excuse me?” she asked them, “have you any idea on who I am?”

The pegasus gave a confident smirk, “No but we do know a mare that’s about to have the time of her life.” that said the stallions began creeping towards Twilight.

Twilight remained calm and issued her ultimatum, “Okay you creeps. You can just turn around and go back to the dumpster where you came from and I will ignore that this whole thing just happened or you can be a fool and dare see what happens if you even try to lay a hoof on me.”

The pegasus snorted and turned said to the earth pony, “She’s a feisty one isn't she?” Then turning to Twilight he simply grinned and took a step forward, “Doesn't matter I like them rough any-WAAAAAAAY!”

The white pegasus felt himself yanked from the floor surrounded by a purple aura. He was flung across the street smashing into the side of a brick building before falling into an open trashcan.The earth pony stood there with his jaw in shock as the saw his buddy picked up thrown like a ragged. He gave a nervous chuckle as he turned to face unicorn.

“If you don’t want up like your buddy over there then I suggest that you turn around and run.” she told him.

The stallion simply ran away in fear. Twilight stood at the sidewalk watching his silhouette disappear in the distance before turning to the pegasus climbing out of the trashcan. He yelped as felt himself trapped in the unicorn’s aura. “Don’t you think that I’m going to let you get away easily. Come on Spike let’s take this menace to the local authority.”

Hearing no answer, she turned around to see that her dragon companion was missing. “Oh come on! Spike where are you!”

*SMASH!*

Unknown to Twilight, she had sent the dragon flying when with her magic when she flung the pegasus. Spike groaned in pain as he landed on a carpet. He opened his eyes and saw that he was surrounded by a group of irritated griffons.

"So, no hard feelings right?" he asked the guards as he leaned over a large container to empty the contents of his stomach before he lost his conscious.