A Dragon's Tale

Chapters

The Note (Rewritten)
The Timer Starts
Night
The Truth

The Note (Rewritten)

Just to clarify, I have my own theory on the way dragon’s age. My belief is that Twilight was around five or six when she hatched Spike, therefore he is fifteen now, and the mane six are in their early twenties by fan speculations. But however, dragons may age slower than ponies, so those teenagers in episode 21 of season 2 could have been thirty for all I know. So pretty much, I just wanted to clarify his age and how I refuse to believe this paring is odd because of it… besides, 5 years isn’t that much if he was twenty five and she was thirty… now that that boring story is out of the way… this story is pretty much a combination of motherly Twilight/Sparity romance, mostly the second one.

With my ramblings out of the way, I hereby declare ONWARD TO THE SPARITY!

-----------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to The Hub, Hasbro, Studio B, and Lauren Faust. I do not own any of these characters in any way or how, nor do I claim ownership to the pony franchise. These characters are simply my toys.

-----------------------------------------------------

“You mean more to me than I let on. I just pray you’ll someday understand that.”

-----------------------------------------------------

A Dragon’s Tale
Chapter 1: The Note

The scratching’s of a quill on a piece of parchment is what kept Twilight Sparkle’s dreary eyes wide open. The owl sitting in the windowsill gave out a hoot into the nighttime sky. As the purple unicorn examined her notes, she sighed out and rubbed her tired eyes wearily with her hoof, desperately trying to stay awake for just a few more moments, if anything just to get these notes on advanced magic spells written for study purposes.

She opened her mouth and let out a large yawn, the snoring of a certain purple dragon from upstairs seemingly tempting her to go to her own bed so her own snores could mix with his. However she shook off the thought, putting sleep in the back of her mind as her quill glowed in a purple light, moving on its own to form words on the piece of parchment.

“For invisibility, mix a freshly made cloud, twelve ounces of morning dew, a rainbow’s colors…” She mumbled off, the quill forming her words. The more she learned about magic each and every day, the more she realized just how little she knew. It was amazing to her, learning new things every day as both her magic and knowledge grew; it all seemed like magic in itself to her.

As she smiled weakly, scribbling down neatly on how exactly to levitate objects using the air around her, she heard the sound of a rather large burp and saw a flash of green light from upstairs from under the crack at the bottom of her bedroom door. She could hear the groaning of a dragon that had been awoken from his sleep come from upstairs.

The unicorn dropped her quill down, gently of course, and trotted gently upstairs and into her bedroom. When she saw Spike, groaning at his now aching belly from the unexpected awakening, she rolled her eyes at his half-fake whimpering as he picked up the letter and rubbed his eyes “What does the princess want this late?” He whined.

Twilight trotted forward and the dragon didn’t protest when the letter was yanked from his hands. “Go back to sleep Spike,” Twilight said gently as not to irritate her number one assistant's head from his sudden awakening “I’ll see what the princess wants, you get your rest.”

Without another word spoken between them, Spike flopped onto his back and was asleep again within seconds. Twilight once again rolled her eyes and used her magic to force his feet back onto his tiny basket-bed, she really needed to look into buying something a little bigger, and she tucked him under the covers, letting out a small smile when his face grinned from how comfortable he was.

It had been two long years since they moved into this old tree-library, but if you asked Twilight, it had been a lifetime with all the fun and adventures she had with her friends. Spike on the other hand had clearly changed. Now instead of being a good foot and a half shorter than Twilight, he could look her in the eye and even stood a full three inches taller than her if he wasn’t slouching, which he usually was from how tired he was all the time. His back had sprouted wings in the previous month, they had started out small any puny, but it turns out dragon wings grew quite fast and they had already grown enough for him to fly for a short distance, and after many flying lessons with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, he had managed to keep himself afloat for more than three seconds at a time.

His fingers now had long, sharp claws that he learned he had to pay attention to, for he had accidently scratched Twilight on a number of occasions. His own teeth had gone from flat to sharp as a full grown dragon’s scale, luckily it seemed dragon tongues were teeth proof the same way dragons themselves were fire proof.

After Twilight’s hooves slowly clicked down the stairs near candlelight so she could read the letter, she used her magic so slowly unravel the letter. She blinked several times as she waited for her eyes to adjust enough to read the letter in the dark light.

“To my dearest pupil, Twilight Sparkle…” Twilight mumbled, her belly fluttering a little in joy about her greatest idol writing to her specially “It has been brought to my attention that…” The purple unicorn trailed off, her eyes scanning the parchment of paper. She paused, her fluttering tummy suddenly knotting tight as her eyes quickly rescanned the letter.

The unicorn fell on her haunches with her mouth slightly open as she stared off into space. Her mouth was dry, her eyes were wide and she couldn’t find the words, or any that she thought of simply became lost somewhere in her throat.

“S-S-Spike i-is…” was all she could get out before glancing down and ordering herself to close her mouth. Her cheeks suddenly felt wet and she wiped her face to see what was causing it, whatever it was it kept reappearing to her face the second she wiped it away.

She was crying… and she was too numb to even realize it…

Twilight groaned as water splashed into her face, her mane soaking wet and plastered to her face. She found herself grumbling and stamping her hooves angrily on the ground, causing the ground to vibrate slightly underneath her hooves.

A small hiccup was heard as the unicorn gasped and ducked her head as quickly as she could to avoid the ball of green fire hurling toward her face. The fire shot up and hit a nearby tree, one of the branches catching fire and falling to the ground, luckily going out in midair.

Twilight Sparkle found herself growling into the small, wooden barrel filled halfway to the brim with soap and water, she could barely look over it she was too short. And inside, a tiny purple baby dragon, whose eyes suddenly watered and he lifted his tail to suckle on the tip, avoiding eye contact with the unicorn.

The young unicorn rolled her eyes and focused her magic enough to yank the tail out of the dragon’s mouth “You have to stop doing that, it’ll become a habit if you constantly suck on your tail.” She said in a manner that seemed to stop the watering eyes of the baby dragon.

She had been forced to bath him outside, Celestia told her as part of her magic training, and for part of growing up, she was to look after the baby dragon she herself had hatched. She reached down and gently nuzzled the soft spines on the dragons head to show she wasn’t angry, and he lowered his tail and sat in the makeshift-tub calmly.

The unicorn closed her eyes and focused her magic, when she opened them, the small bottle of soap and a large sponge had risen into the air, glowing purple, the same as her horn. She smiled and watched as the two items began to bathe the baby dragon; the dragon who couldn’t even talk yet began giggling as the sponge rubbed against his head.

Twilight began hopping up and down, squeaking in slight joy at her success.

The baby dragon looked into her eyes, and began to suckle on his tail once again.

Spike slowly opened his eyes, looking around before grumbling and curling up tighter, covering his head with his blanket as the sunlight beat down on his eyelids, wanting him to wake up. He grumbled under his breath and smacked his lips to attempt to rid himself of the dryness of his throat.

It was a nice dream he had… he wanted to go back, he felt like he was happy, having fun… and Twilight was there with him… a memory maybe?

The dragon suddenly shot straight up, his gaze shooting straight to the window as he spotted the sunlight. “Twilight…” He said, imagining the punishment he would receive for not waking up early enough.

Spike threw the blanket off of himself and suddenly ran out the door, remembering to keep his wings pressed to his back to avoid them slamming into the door frame. As he jumped the last four steps down to the floor, the ground rumbling slightly, he huffed out air “T-Twilight, I’m sorry I overslept, what do you need for breakfast, eggs? Muffins? Or how about some nice daisy salad?” He called out, only to stop talking as his unicorn caretaker was bent over on her writing stand, her quill moving furiously on the parchment of paper.

She didn’t seem to notice him… how could she have NOT noticed him, he had come down the stairs loud enough to wake up Rainbow Dash in her cloud house over a mile away. He walked up to behind the unicorn and slouched down some to read the letter, squinting his eyes “Dear Princess Celestia…” He mumbled aloud.

“S-Spike!” Twilight called, spinning one-eighty as the dragon took a step back out of surprise “W-When did you come downstairs?” she said, her forehead sweating, she looked a little like when she was, Celestia forbid, tardy.

“I…” Spike said, moving his head to the side to try and read the parchment; however Twilight moved her head to follow his “I… I woke up…” He tried to move to the other side, only to have Twilight’s head follow his like she was a mirror. He made an annoyed face before mumbling “Whatever… do you want me to take that note?” he asked.

“N-No!” Twilight said, the parchment suddenly glowing in a light purple glow before the quill hastily scribbled down a few final words and the parchment suddenly rolled up “Just send this to the Princess, would you?” She said.

“What is it?” He asked, cocking up his left brow in question.

“Nothing…” Twilight said, faking a smile and avoiding the dragons eye “Just a… erm… note on friendship…” She said.

“But when did we learn anythi-” He stopped talking when Twilight glared at him and he took a deep breath and breathed out heavily, green fire erupting from his mouth as the parchment suddenly turned into ash and flew up and out an open window “O-Okay, it’s sent alright?” He asked, breathing a sigh of relief as Twilights glare faded.

Spike watched as the unicorn’s hooves clicked on the wooden ground as she lightly trotted past him “Do you need anything for breakfast?” He asked.

Twilight shook her head “No thank you, I am not feeling rather hungry this morning… how about you, do you want something Spike?”

The dragon’s jaw dropped. He thought things like that only happened in stories, but shock from Twilight offering to do something for him was… no, it had to be a dream. He wasn’t sick… it wasn’t his birthday… how on earth would this unicorn think he diserved any kind of respect? He thought about bragging about finally receiving some respect, however the shock was far too great to make much more than a squeak that was nearly silent.

“B-Breakfast?” He asked, not able to help but run forward and nearly tackle the purple unicorn as he felt her head and grabbed her tongue and pulled it out to inspect her throat. “Are you sick, you feel a little hot, Twilight are you alright?” He asked frantically, wondering what happened to his caretaker and who this imposter was.

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes narrowed in annoyance before shaking her head to get the dragon off of her “Spike, I’m fine, I just want to do something nice for my number one assistant for once, is that so much of a crime?” She sounded half joking, but the seriousness in her voice made the purple dragon stumble over his words.

“W-Well er… no, I guess no… b-but… it’s not natural for you!” He said, throwing his hands in the air as he stepped back several steps “I’m supposed to be your assistant… I just…” He paused looking down “It just doesn’t feel right…” he shook his head, unable to comprehend why it bothered him that he was being treated nicely.

Twilight rolled her eyes “I’ll just make some blueberry muffins and if you don’t want it, I’ll just give them to the mailpony!”

“N-No… I’ll eat them…” He said “Besides… I think Ditzy needs to take a break from…” He paused, shaking his head like a dog getting water out of its fur “No, t-that isn’t the point, are you sure you’re alright Twilight, you don’t seem… yourself…”

He could see the fur a tad messier than usual on the unicorn’s mane, her eyes held something deep, almost as if the emotions on her face were wrong, and she was feeling unimaginable guilt. She kept glancing back at Spike, almost expecting him to cough up his own heart by the way she intensely looked at him.

“I was thinking,” Twilight mumbled “We haven’t spent much time together in a long time, just the two of us I mean, why don’t we go out today and just have some fun together?”

Spike ran through possible reasons why the unicorn would be acting to strange, but couldn’t settle on anything “Didn’t you promise Applejack to help her on the acers today?” he asked, cocking up his brow.

Twilight shrugged “I just wanted to spend some time with my number one friend today, I’m sure she’ll understand if I explain things to her…” By the way she bit her lip, Spike could tell she wanted desperately to not break that promise, but something was holding her back. The way she called him her number one friend only meant she wanted him to feel better.

“Twilight… is something wrong?” He asked, walking up and seeing as she avoided his eyes “You’d tell me if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?”

He could hear how hard the unicorn swallowed before forcing out a warm smile “I’m not hiding anything, gee, you’re such a worrywart.”

“Um… Okay?” Spike said, shrugging slightly as he walked forward and rolled his eyes. It likely wasn’t anything he should be worrying about anyway.

However he couldn't help noticing she didn't promise.

The warm sunlight beat down on the small dragons scales as he quietly licked an ice cream cone, his spines were flapping slightly in the wind as he glanced up into the sky, using Twilight as a pillow as she read her book, seemingly a little forcefully to herself.

The sky was so clear… so bright… everything seemed perfect. Except however for the question nagging in his mind.

“So Twilight… is there really any reason you are spending time with me today?” Spike asked, sitting up as he threw the rest of his cone down his throat, licking his lips as he smiled slightly at the taste of strawberries.

Twilight shrugged “I…” There it was again. Twilight held those guilty eyes she had this morning, Spike could tell, after many years when she was upset, he could not however read her mind, her poker face was amazing and only Princess Celestia had been able to beat it from the faces Spike had seen “I just think my number one assistant needs a day off.” She put simply as she used her magic to close her book.

Spike opened his mouth to say something as the purple unicorn stood up “C’mon, what do you want to do now Spike?” Twilight asked, trying her best to hide that undeniable guilt under her poker face.

“What I want to do?” He asked. All day it had been the same, Twilight hadn’t imposed on what exactly he wanted to do once, and if he tried asking her, she would simply ask him saying she didn’t know. “Twilight… you…” He stopped, shaking his head. “Why don’t… why don’t we just go and see Rarity?”

Twilight shrugged, rolling her eyes and chuckling as Spike saw a small heart above his head which he growled at “She was supposed to be back yesterday, why not?” She asked.

As they traveled to Rarity’s dress shop, they found the lights to be dim and the door to hold a closed sign on it. Spike sighed, thinking of all the times in the previous year Rarity had been absent from all of the group’s fun. She had been gaining a rather large amount of fame as she and Fancy Pants began to see each other more often in Canterlot to discuss dress expansion deals. Sometimes she was gone a day, other times a few weeks, and this time, it had been over a month.

Spike sighed “She was supposed to be back by now…” He almost whimpered out, rubbing his arm with his other hand and sighing.

Twilight nudged him gently with her hoof “C’mon, I’m sure there was something important holding her up for a little while longer… she’ll be back by the end of the week…” The unicorn seemed like she was trying to convince herself this, and didn’t take the possibility of having the marshmallow colored unicorn return at a later date “She’ll be back…”

“Twilight… maybe we should just go home…” Spike mumbled, seeming a tad bummed out by his crush not being in Ponyville, and instead being where he used to live. How ironic.

“Alright… if that’s what you want… are you sure there’s nothing else you want?” Twilight asked “Really nothing at all, are you sure?” She seemed alarmed, almost shocked at his behavior of wanting to go home so early.

Spike shrugged “Can’t think of nothing.” He said, he could tell Twilight simply wanted to glare at him for his improper grammar, but she held it back… something must be really REALLY off with her today.

Twilight trotted up to him and walked side by side with him. The purple dragon was imagining curling up in his tiny bed as his belly suddenly exploded and his cheeks puffed. He vomited up a flamethrower of green fire and a scroll appeared, landing on the ground. Before the little dragon can grab it, it glowed purple and Twilight lifted it out of his reach as it unrolls only to her eye sight.

As her eyes scanned the page, the little dragon is left to fiddle with his thumbs for several moments before Twilight made a half gasp, half whimper. Spike jumped at the sudden noise. Twilight fell straight back on her rump and curls up on the ground, seemingly hiding tears from her assistant.

“Twilight!” Spike shouted, getting down on his knees and stroking his caretakers head with his scaly hand “What is it, what’s wrong?”

Twilight didn't seem to hear him, for she was too preoccupied with quietly crying her little heart out. In fact it was so obvious, several ponies had stopped walking and stared at her, pondering whether or not to go and comfort her or simply leave.

“Twilig-” Spike cut his speaking short as his knee hit the parchment. He gazed down at it before picking it up and scanning a random line. His own mouth drops as the paper suddenly began to glow purple and was ripped from his grasp. Twilight looks at him with tear filled, furious eyes “Spike, t-this is private!” She shouted, obviously wanting to cry herself to death by the looks of it.

“What that about?” Spike asked numbly.

This throws Twilight off guard, at least more than she already was “N-Nothing… just the princess…”

“Let me see it…” Spike ordered. The crowd now was in a circle around them, almost as if they were waiting for a fight to break out.

“Spike, it’s nothing…” Twilight said, the notes glowing increasing, almost as if Twilight is holding it tighter with her magic. Spike narrows his eyes and suddenly grabbed Twilight’s horn as the Unicorn gasped out in surprise, her magic distracted for a moment. The dragon gives eyes pleading for forgiveness before grabbing the letter and suddenly jumping, his wings shooting out as he flew into the sky.

“Spike!” Twilight yells down below, Spike’s own eyes watering in tears as he begged to be forgiven by his caretaker for potentially hurting her.

“SPPPPIIIIIKKKKEEE!”

Once…

Twice…

Three Times…

And then four…

Spike read the letter again and again, but each time the words were the same, each time it spelled out to him the reason he was pretty much bawling at the moment, curled up in a tiny ball with tears streaking down his face.

He was somewhere on the outskirts of Ponyville, under a small tree where he decided it was safe to cry in peace. There was a skid mark in the earth where he had crash landed, Rainbow and Fluttershy didn’t have many details on landing it seems.

“S-She doesn’t… she doesn’t l-love me anymore…” Spike said to himself.

That had to be the answer. That had to be why she had refused to tell him something this important. Was that the reason she had been acting so nice today? Had she just wanted to hurt him even more?

He lifted his head, covering and attempting to wipe his eye with one of his hands, only to have the hand become soaking wet with his tears, the parchment becoming soaked in the process.

“You two are such ruffians!” A voice in an unmistakable accent yelled. Spike glanced up and saw Rarity yelling at two castle guards who had likely been hired to return her to Ponyville. The white unicorn threw her head up as one of them tossed her luggage off the chariot. Spike sniffled lightly as he watched her threaten to rip off their head, for it contained “Newly designed dresses with materials from Canterlot”. Rarity usually didn’t get rough, but if her dresses were hurt, in her words “It is on!”

Spike could see the guard stand emotionlessly as he threw the remaining fifty bags off the cart without blinking an eye, causing Rarity to stomp her hooves in frustration “You two are so un-fabulous it is unbearable!”

The little dragon watched this for a few minutes before the guards finally unloaded the last bag and flew off before Rarity could seemingly expel all of her anger. “Wait, isn’t anypony going to carry my bags?” She cried.

Spike, almost as if on instinct after two long years found himself standing up and walking forward, however he stopped, but it was too late. Rarity spotted him.

“Oh it’s my little Spikey-Wikey!” She all but squeaked, trotting forward rather quickly and hugging his face “It’s been forever since I’ve seen him and his cute little face!” She called. The way she acted around him made him blush beyond belief. She felt something on his back and gasped “And you grew your wings, my little Spikey-Wikey is growing up so fast!”

Spike broke away “I-It’s nothing special…” He mumbled, blushing despite his attitude.

Rarity opened her mouth, almost to ask him to carry her luggage. That was however, before she saw his face. “Spike… is something the matter?” She asked, softly, no longer using her “Adorable creature is near” voice.

Spike opened his mouth to say something as his mind stopped thinking of Rarity and her beautiful scent, mane, and voice, and traveled back to the note. His own face was covered in tears, which soon began to become flooded again as he sniffled. “I just…”

Rarity must have seen the note, because within a moment of seeing it, her horn glowed white and the paper was lifted from his hands. He only feebly fought back, feeling a tad numb as the memories hit him again.

She scanned the letter before her mouth dropped a little, she used her hoof to lift it back into place before clearing her throat “Well… Spike,” She said, looking down at the little dragon who couldn’t meet her beautiful eyes “It seems that, you need a good friend right now.”

Spike’s eyes watered, and began to spill over as a leg wrapped around him and pulled him close for a hug, he began to openly sob, not caring his crush saw him at his weakest, he just wanted somepony to hold him to this earth, to hold him to his family.

My Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle,

I understand your concern with you dragon, Spike, and that he is quite dear to you. However, I must strongly disagree and say that we should retrieve him as soon as possible, before he becomes a potential threat to my citizens. I understand your feelings for him, but you must know that even you cannot control him once he becomes out of hand, he has already sprouted his wings has he not?

Either way, I am truly sorry for what has to be done, I will be retrieving Spike in one week from today. I wish both you and him the best, and you will always be in my thoughts.

Yours Truly,

Princess Celestia

WOOOOOT I FUCKING LOVE THIS… maybe it’s just me, but compared to my old one… “Shudders” I hope the next chappie will be up soon!

The Timer Starts

I’m in to Florida… that is all…oh yeah, and I’m terrified of lizards… that’s nice… ;_;
And… five days later, this still isn’t finished…FUCK.
ONWARD TO THE SPARITY!
-----------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------

“I want you to know, I’ll still love you no matter what”

-----------------------------------------------------

A Dragon’s Tale
Chapter 2: The Timer Starts

“Keep following her, Spike.”

“Breathe in Spike.”

“You have to keep moving, don’t stop, Spike.”

The little dragon was so numb, that his own thoughts had to direct him on what to do as he followed Rarity, his mind ordered him to put one foot in front of the other when he felt like curling up and sobbing until he couldn’t sob out another squeak. He had no idea where he was going, if Rarity was leading him to her dress shop or back to Twilight’s tree-library, the last place in Equestria he wanted to be.

He sniffled gently, the twilight sky slowly but surely vanished into nothing but a black sky with a starry pattern, Spike found his feet numbly following the marshmallow colored unicorn trotting in front of him. Sometimes he would just stop for no reason, lost in thought with tears streaming down his cheeks, but the unicorn never once tried to rush him, she let him walk at his own pace, only serving as his guide to wherever they intended to go.

His scales slid against one another as he made a fist, his claws poked his wrist, yet his scales were too tough to let them sink through, the letter likely now having holes through it he was gripping it with such force. After reading that letter, he felt more self-conscious than he had his entire life, even more than when Twilight had to explain to him that he was “Different” from all the ponies in Equestria. His claws, his wings, his scales, his fiery breath, the way he stood above everypony around him made him feel… monstrous. He stopped really noticing just how different he was from normal ponies sometime after he tried to find out what real dragons were like, but after that letter…

His thoughts trailed off as he squeezed his eyes shut, attempting to block out his thoughts to avoid sobbing like a baby once more. His mind kept drifting to Twilight, how she lied to him the entire day, how she tried until the very end to keep him from seeing the letter, to keep him from the truth. He clenched his fist tighter, following Rarity numbly as his eyes wallowed in tears he couldn’t control, no matter how hard he tried.

Rarity trotted forward, glancing behind her every few moments to ensure that her little follower was keeping up. Her horn was illuminating a light blue as several bags emitting the same light were floating at her sides. It was likely hard work, to keep the bags afloat for so long, the heavy weight likely killing her head, but it didn’t cross her mind to make Spike carry a bag or two, for he seemed too lost in his own thoughts to talk, even if spoken too.

It only took fifteen minutes to reach Rarity’s dress shop, however with the awkward silence plus all of Spike’s current thoughts, it took longer than a thousand years for him to reach his destination.

All of the bags crashing onto the earth forced Spike to snap out of his hazy state and look around with wide eyes, briefly wondering how or when he came to the dress shop. Rarity’s slight panting made him look at her, but by the time he had turned his head, she was simply adjusting her mane and looked as beautiful as ever. So many times of getting dirty on adventures with the other five must have put her on the spot to look fabulous as quickly as possible, though there were still a few beads of sweat on her brow. “It’s a good thing Opalescence is at Fluttershy’s, I wouldn’t be able to handle him tonight…” She grumbled, more to herself than to Spike.

“Now let’s get my little Spikey-Wikey in and out of the night, he must be exhausted!” Rarity said in her baby voice, turning back to the dragon, making Spike blush furiously despite his sorrowful attitude at the moment. He was pushed in with a gentle hoof that had likely just been polished before she left, making it soft and pleasant to the touch. He tripped into the building, seeing dress upon dress and ponyquins upon ponyquins. He blinked to adjust his eyesight from the blinding lights from above.

“Ew, icky!” Rarity said, stepping in with tentative hooves as she looked with disgust around the room “Gross, simply dreadful!” She cried out, being over dramatic as usual.

Spike looked around the room for a moment, not noticing a bedazzled ribbon out of place until he glanced closer, and saw what the unicorn had been staring at.

“This dreadful dust is everywhere!” She cried as Spike saw a thick layer of dust was covering nearly everything. Normally Spike himself would have offered to carry his perfect princess across the dust onto her bed and then dust the room himself, but at the moment he was rocking himself back and forth where he stood, glancing down at his scaly feet as if they held the meaning of his now pointless life.

Rarity glanced over at Spike, her face looking disgusted by the sight of everything in her shop. However, she still knew what was the most important thing to do at a time like this, and it wasn’t dusting. Rarity was the kind of unicorn who got dirty when the time called for it. She glanced down to his hand; the paper he was clenching was so tight it had crumbled up. He hadn’t said a word since he stopped sobbing; the way he was acting was seriously starting to worry the unicorn.

She cleared her throat “Come now Spike, let’s get you to someplace where you can rest, I’ll get rid of this… horrid dust later.” She said, putting both hooves on the back of his shoulders and giving him a little shove.

Spike numbly followed her commands, he felt strange, almost out of place from all of the beauty in this shop. “Sweetie Belle usually uses a spare bed when she comes to visit,” Rarity said, her shoving had ceased and she simply gave the dragon a little nudge with her head, avoiding using her horn of course, when he needed to be directed or simply stopped dead. “It’s lucky I came back a few hours off schedule I suppose, she usually comes and visits me the moment I return, mother and father must have forced her to stay home with the day being so long gone.” Rarity was rambling at this point, simply trying to take Spike’s mind off of that letter, she wasn’t even sure if he was listening.

She sighed, wincing as her hooves stepped on dust with every trot.

It took what seemed like an eternity for Spike to find his way to the spare bed, to which he simply hopped on and curled up in a tiny ball, reading the letter over and over again, trying to find something he missed.

Rarity on the other hoof, was walking around the room with a small feather duster floating around her, dusting off everything “Honestly, leave for a second and everything becomes simply dreadful!” She grumbled to herself.

The letter remained the same, and tears kept falling out of his eyes. He had no idea what to feel, he had little to no idea what the letter was about other than “Equestria’s safety”.

All of his memories of Ponyville were coming to the surface when the letter glowed cyan and it was yanked out of his hands. Apparently Rarity had finished, or at least dusted to the point it would stop bothering her so badly.

“Now now, none of that!” Rarity stated, holding her head up boldly as Spike blinked slowly “B-But I…” He started, only to be interrupted by the unicorn.

“Spike…” She said, resting a hoof on his leg, to which he uncurled from his ball slightly at her gentle, delicate touch “You should stop worrying, I’m sure this has to be some kind of mistake… an unflattering mistake I might add, but still a mistake, that’s all.”

“I doubt that…” Spike grumbled, turning away from the unicorn. He simply closed his eyes and sniffled gently “Why would Twilight act like she did if it was a mistake?” He mumbled, rubbing his knee with his scaly palm, his thoughts tossing and turning like waves in his mind.

“We have a week… correct?” Rarity asked, her magic forcing the blanket on the small bed to come forth and cover the dragons lower half, it wasn’t much, but it felt warm and caring, which was more than enough for the dragon in his current state. Spike nodded glumly “The letter said a week from today… so six days tomorrow…” His eyes watered up in tears once more. He felt like such a baby… it only made him more upset because he couldn’t control himself.

“Ah-Ah-Ah!” Rarity said, bringing up the edge of one of the blankets to dab at the dragon’s watering eyes “We’ll have none of that, no crying, it looks so unflattering on your face darling.” She looked a tad angry, but not at the dragon himself, more at the force that was making him cry without any control.

Spike found himself grumbling as the blanket dabbed his eyes, he felt like he was being babied over. He was a baby dragon, however he was pretty much as mature as the rest of the pony gang at this point, or at least only a few years off. “I…” He mumbled, rubbing his scaly hand up and down his arm, unable to say anything else as he sniffled loudly.

Rarity did the last thing Spike ever expected her to do, she leaned in and kissed his cheek, making the purple dragon blush furiously as his mouth hung agape and his whole body tensed up. “Nopony is putting a single hoof on you…” She said, her eyes narrowing as her hoof kicked the ground “Spike, taking you away for something you can’t control is almost as bad as a crime against fashion, unforgivable!”

Spike blinked. A crime against fashion? This must be serious in Rarity’s eyes. He then looked at the letter Rarity was holding “One Week…” He mumbled. He thought about Twilight again, and then squeezed his fist as tight as he could

“The timer starts.” He mumbled.

Twilight’s eyes opened to the sound of light whimpering, she glanced around the room a moment before remembering about the tiny basket next to her bed. She grumbled lightly and crawled over to the edge of her bed, seeing a tiny dragon whimper and shiver while he hid under the blankets.

“Spike?” She asked, her eyes drooping with sleep “What are you doing?”

The little dragon hiccupped, which caused his already holy blanket to get another burnt spot. She knew he honestly couldn’t help his breath, he was simply too young to understand why it was bad he burnt the ceiling whenever he yawned.

“Spike?” Twilight Sparkle asked, rubbing her eye with her hoof as she used her magic to force the blanket off of the baby dragon. She saw him curled up with tears running down his eyes, he was suckling on the end of his tail like he used to do when he was younger.

It had been five years since she had hatched Spike, his body had slightly changed from the babyish form to a slightly larger, slightly chubbier dragon.

“Have a nightmare?” She asked, causing the dragon to jump. He glared at her, however his covers were pulled off even more as Twilight sighed, smiling softly as she patted the spot next to her “C’mon, no use trying to sleep with all that sniveling!” She said.

It took less than a second for Spike to hop up on the bed and curl up in Twilight’s front legs. He was about half her size, and was only just now just learning how to read and write. Twilight didn’t say it too often because he became cocky rather easily, but he was becoming a big help as of late.

He sniffled again, and Twilight ran her hoof up and down his back in circles, avoiding his spines as he nuzzled into her flank.

Twilight Sparkle smiled softly, the little dragon’s breathing slowing as his sniffling ceased. She hummed quietly to sooth him off into sleep as he began to settle down.

Taking in a pet dragon on top of her studies, sometimes seemingly paid off more than she realized.

Spike’s eyes cracked open. The dream he had for some strange reason made him feel all warm and fuzzy, almost like another happy memory, he couldn’t exactly remember. He had been dreaming about those a lot lately. He wondered why for half a second before realizing he didn’t care.

It crossed his mind as to why he didn’t see Twilight glaring over him for slumbering so late in the morning, and instead saw a ponyquin covered in feathers and gemstones. Then it hit him. The memories, the note, flying off, find Rarity, her conveying him to the dress shop. All of the memories hit him at once and he groaned, pulling his head back under the covers.

He tried to get up, only to find his head was killing him. He placed his scaly hand against his forehead as he whimpered gently, wanting to pass back out and go back to the warm and fuzzy dreams.

It was only the sound of humming with a certain tone of an accent that was unmistakable that made him come back to the world. He uncovered his head and glanced over to see Rarity, humming one of Sapphire Shore’s songs “Equestria Girls”. Strange, the dragon didn’t expect somepony like Rarity to listen to something that seemed more of Pinkie Pie or even Rainbow Dash’s crowd. The dragon shook it off, just supposing even Rarity liked get-me-up songs like a lot of ponies did.

He sat up, breathing out in a sigh as he took in her beauty. She was honestly unlike anypony else in Equestria, beautiful, talented, amazing… plus she did the last thing he expected her to do, take in a dragon covered in dirt from crash-landing into her dainty shop. He paused, looking at his scaly feet a moment. He suddenly felt less ‘lovey-dovey’ and a little more depressed. The reality of what happened hit him hard, his light-headed mind plus his happy dream faded as fast as lightning, being replaced with the deep pain in his chest from the previous night.

She glanced over to him, her ocean-blue eyes staring straight at him, looking purer and more beautiful than any jewel he had ever seen in his life. He blushed deeply, wanting to obey her every command. “Oh, my little Spikey-Wikey is awake!” She said happily, trotting forward pleasantly and kissing one of his cheeks, causing him to sigh happily once again, hearts in his eyes. It was obvious she was being slightly more kind to the dragon than usual, his depression lifting slightly was proof enough for that.

The dragon shook his head to get the floating hearts away. He grumbled slightly as he got out of the bed, looking Rarity straight in the eye for a brief moment before blushing and turning away toward the feathery dress on the ponyquin “New dress?” He asked, trying to take his mind off of his thoughts “Didn’t you sleep? You just got back, don’t you think you should take a break?”

“Oh come now darling, don’t you know fashion doesn’t rest a single moment?” She asked, swishing her head to move her curly mane from her eyes before adjusting it with her hoof once more “I have to keep up with the demands of my people!” She said.

Spike blinked, not understanding Rarity’s importance in fashion for a single moment, all he knew was that her dresses brought joy to her, and that was enough for him.

“I spent all night just working on getting the feathers in correctly the right places, but I think that hard work paid off, and they go with the gemstones just perfectly don’t you think?” She asked, acting quite proud of her work.

Spike nodded “It looks… nice?” He asked, simply seeing a dress with feathers glued on, but maybe that was just him.

Rarity rolled her eyes before glancing down at the baby dragon a moment, Spike looked back only to feel something be plopped on his head a moment later, when he lifted the brim a mirror was glowing cyan and was being pulled in front of him. He blinked to see a giant hat with a brim covered in gemstones and several feathers sticking out of the top. He had to admit, it looked alright on him. “You look smashing!” Rarity said, walking up behind the dragon as Spike blushed from his embarrassment.

He saw no guilt in her eyes, none of the guilt he felt when he was near Twilight the previous night, none of the shame or wanting to please him to the point it became creepy. Rarity was genially being herself, with an extra dash of kindness toward the scarred dragon of course. It made him feel… warm… along the lines of his dream, just a little fuzzier.

“Say darling, Fancy Pants wanted five of these new designer dresses in Canterlot by sundown tonight, and I made an itty-bitty lie and told him they were almost finished, I know, naughty me, would you mind helping be complete them?” Rarity asked, pushing the mirror away and pointing toward the feathery dress with her hoof.

“What about the…” He paused, thinking about the letter as his grip tightened on the hat in his hands, pulling slightly on the brim “S-Sure…” He mumbled, forcing his wallowing tears to calm down.

The next few hours were spent with Spike doing something different in Rarity’s shop. He didn’t bend to her every command by sticking needles in his spines nor doing petty chores for her, she let him have his own opinion on the dresses she made. Usually she only received a “Nice” or an “Okay”, but she still seemed to care about his opinions. She wasn’t very bossy either, only snapping at him to grab things quickly when she suddenly got a rare bout of inspiration, which in itself only lasted a few moments.

He hated, and he REALLY hated to admit it, but he was having a good time designing frilly and girly dresses. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t a slave this time, more like an assistant, and he was able to almost see through her eyes the same way he usually acted for Twilight with, plus coming over whenever he could, he almost knew where everything in the shop was better than the unicorn herself.

It took his mind off of the pain in his chest, and he even laughed a bit at Rarity’s over-dramatic way of expressing her mind when a dress didn’t turn out correctly (After she fixed it of course, to avoid the death glare)

Rarity didn’t bring up the letter once, and Spike was more than grateful, for he did not want to start sobbing in front of his crush once more if they talked about it. He just wanted to take his mind off of it, even for a few seconds, even for one second, just to find some peace.

All of that peace however, came to a crashing end.

Spike was busy snacking on gemstones after a long day’s work, it was twilight once more and the sun was just about to go down. Rarity had given him permission to feast upon the remaining few gems to his heart’s content for being such a wonderful assistant. They had finished with time to spare, and Rarity had gone to deliver the dresses. The letter was the last thing from his mind when a knock came to the door. He slowly blinked, looking at the door.

Rarity said to let any customer in, but he still debated, as if opening that door would bring him nothing but trouble. But he still got up, not wanting to think of the scolding he would receive if Rarity found out he didn’t answer. He got to his scaly feet and went to the door, shoving a final gem in his mouth as he gently suckled on it before answering the door “Hello and welcome to Rarity’s dress sho-”

Spike stopped mid-sentence, his gaze locked, the pain and pressure from the previous day had returned full force “Twilight…” He mumbled, looking at the lavender unicorn standing in front of him.

“Spike…” Twilight Sparkle puffed out, her eyes droopy with heavy bags underneath, her mane looked similar to when she was tardy so long ago. She must have been exhausted. “I’ve been… galloping everywhere… looking… for you…” she huffed.

Spike took a step back, not saying a single word as he clenched his fist, however Twilight still came in. Spike saw somepony behind her that made his jaw drop “Y-You said you went to deliver dresses!” Spike shouted, pointing to none other than Rarity, who suddenly bit her lip and hid behind Twilight “W-Well Spike, I can explain, you see I…”

“Spike, I made her tell me, don’t be angry with her…” Twilight said, finally catching her breath. She had to have been out since last night looking for him. Spike supposed he should feel guilty, but all he felt was anger.

She took another step forward, Spike took two steps back “Get away from me!” He cried, looking into the hurt unicorn’s eyes. She had lied to him, she had told him nothing was wrong, she deserved to feel bad, she deserved to worry!

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but Spike could tell the words had likely gotten lost “Spike… The Princess…” She took another step forward, and something, he wasn’t sure what, but something snapped in Spike’s mind.

“I said get away from me!” Spike bellowed, fiery breath coming from his mouth as he absent mindedly took a step forward and reached out his claws.

A scream, a thud, something warm splashing against him. All of these things registered to him, but the reason why his caretaker as on the floor with a giant gash going down her flank didn’t piece together until he looked at his own claws, seeing red blood, feeling the sticky warmth of the liquid.

“Spike, what did you do?” Rarity shouted, galloping forward toward Twilight, who was looking up at him with pleading eyes, she mouthed something, but Spike couldn’t hear the words, everything became numb once more.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Spike screeched, suddenly running past Rarity and Twilight and into the twilight of the night, wings spreading as he took off, tears flooding his face so he couldn’t see. Twilights screams filled his mind, the visions came as he wanted to die right then and there.

Blood, he could still smell her blood.

Night

------------------------------------------------------------
"Lately, I've been feeling like a monster."
------------------------------------------------------------

A Dragon's Tale
Chapter 3: Night

Twilight Sparkle found herself limping as she paced back and forth in front of the five ponies. Each of them were taking long looks at her bandaged body when they thought she wasn't looking. Whispers were head among them, all except for Rarity, about what had happened. She paused, her body steadily swayed back and forth and her brow was covered in sweat, her purple mane sticking to her forehead. She looked ill.

The lavender unicorn had bandages going from her neck, where the claws had initially dug in and had the worst possible cuts, down to her cutie mark. She wasn't ready to tell her friends why she had them, nor was she willing to show them the four claw marks underneath the red-tinted bandages. She looked tired, a little pale, as if she were sick and about to pass out. Her steps were staggering, but she kept her head held high, even though the unicorn winced with every step.

"Twilight… I um… are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, hiding behind her curtain of a mane as she finally became brave enough to ask the question everypony had been wondering about.

"Yeah, what's up with the bandages?" Rainbow Dash asked, her cyan wings flapping so she hovered a foot off the ground. "This isn't Nightmare Night; you aren't a mummy, what happened?"

Twilight stopped her pacing; taking a moment to catch her breath, even slight movements caused her to become fatigue quickly. She needed serious medical attention, that much was obvious.

"I've gathered you all here tonight because we have a crisis," Twilight stated, ignoring her fellow friend's questions as she continued "I can't go into detail at the moment, but Spike is in trouble, and I have no idea where he went, and I know I can trust you all more than anypony else in this entire town." She stated, looking over her friends faces to see their reactions. All showed worriment at the name of Spike's trouble, but seemed a little frustrated about the lack of detail, all except for Rarity who remained stoned faced as she nervously adjusted her mane, no doubt the screams from both dragon and unicorn haunted her mind.

"Now wait jus' one horseapplin' minute sugarcube, ya'll can't just tell us he's in troubl' without nothing else!" Applejack stated, lifting up her cowpony hat with a hoof as she stared at her unicorn companion with sympathetic eyes "It's the middle of the night, what happen'd? And what's with that der bandages, why'd ya hall us all out here?" She asked, flustered at her friends lack of detail.

"I don't have time to explain everything in detail, he could be anywhere by now..." Twilight growled angrily at her friends, lowering her head in apology to all of her friends "He's afraid, lonely, and I can't do this on my own!" She cried out "He can be anywhere in Equestria with those wings, I have no idea where to even start, and if anypony found out, and it reached the princess what he did…" Twilight was keeping her eyes squeezed shut to prevent the tears.

Twilight snapped her eyes open when she felt the nuzzling of a certain mane, she opened her eyes to see Pinkie Pie, giving her a big smile "It's alright Twilight, we can talk later, just tell us what to do and we can find him easy-pleasly-cupcake-squeezy!" She said "Alright?"

The unicorn nodded slowly, tears in her eyes, wincing at the pain in her neck, she looked at all of her friends sternly as Pinkie hopped back into place. They looked ready for orders, understanding the seriousness of the situation with ease. Twilight gave one final, painful sniffle before looking at her friends seriously.

"Rainbow, I need you to take to the sky and try to spot Spike from above, you're familiar with the skies around Ponyville, and so night-flying shouldn't be too much of a problem." Twilight said, to which the cyan pegasus saluted her and took to the skies, gone in a heartbeat.

"Applejack, the Apple Acers are even bigger than Ponyville, he might have run and hid in the apple tree forest, go check and see if he is there." The orange pony galloped off in an instant.

"Fluttershy, you can communicate with the animals differently than us, try and see if any of them have seen him run past in any direction." Fluttershy saluted the same as Rainbow did "Got it!" she said, flying off toward the fields of animals near her house.

Finally Twilight turned to Pinkie "Pinkie Pie, your senses may be able to help us find which direction he went toward, gallop around town for a scent."

"Eye flutter, tail spin, then knee buckle means tracks!" Pinkie said happily before hopping off once more, bouncy and full of life even in this dire situation.

That left Rarity. Twilight honestly had no orders to give the marshmallow colored unicorn, but she could tell Rarity had guilt in her eyes, the lavender unicorn began to walk up when Rarity spoke.

"You really need a doctor…" She mumbled, scanning Twilight's wounds "My fabrics are not nearly enough for something so serious, no matter how much they feel like bandages, they aren't!" She cried.

"Rarity…" Twilight said "If we go to the hospital, they will ask how I got hurt, and that information will reach the princess eventually, how do you think she will react to him hurting me, she would personally come here this very second and take him away from us if she knew!" Twilight cried, stamping her hoof down "No, I'm not going to let that happen to him!" She suddenly winced painfully and looked like she was about to pass out from the pain, the makeshift bandages grew a tad darker in red.

"Twilight… oh this is all my fault!" She said, putting a hoof over her face dramatically, yet somehow remaining serious about the problem at hand "I was only trying to help, I knew you would be looking, and you would never look at my place without my help and…" Twilight held up her hoof "It's alright Rarity, you did what you thought was best." The unicorn looked a tad sick, wanting to collapse and pass out to relieve her pain.

Rarity trotted forward and her horn glowed as she lifted up Twilight slightly to take the pressure off of walking "Thanks…" She mumbled, leaning on Rarity for extra support. Just like the element she represented, generosity, Rarity looked her friend in the eyes, her eyeliner slightly smudged from the tears in her eyes, but she remained strong, for Twilights sake, who looked like she wanted to sob herself to sleep this very moment.

"Still…" Rarity said, looking up at the starry sky "He could have flown anywhere, he might not even be in Equestria anymore for all we know! Good heavens he makes me so worrisome at times…" She trailed off, her hoof messing with her mane once more.

"I… I hope he isn't crying…" Was the first thing Twilight could mumble, the image of a tiny baby dragon crying tore her heart up, and she didn't even question why, because she already knew "I… I always tried to keep him civilized, not spoil him like n-normal Canterlot ponies, o-or neglect him… why… how in Equestria could the p-princess not see… he isn't going to hurt anypony…"

Rarity glanced at the bandages on Twilights neck before gently nuzzling her friend, it was obvious she was delirious, fighting to stay awake. "I would think telling you to go get rest wouldn't work." She mumbled, earning a small smile from her unicorn friend with teary eyes, she blinked them away and nodded glumly.

"Still… I didn't know what to do or say to him…" Rarity mumbled "I suppose I should have comforted him better, but I have no idea what to say, you're the better one with words, I just had to think of something to distract him till I could slip off and find you…" The unicorn sighed "It feels like a dream, and it's so tacky and unfabulous that it makes me positively sick!" She stated, stamping her hoof on the ground gently.

Twilight chuckled, it was a tad forced, but it was partly real "We'll find him." She said, wincing with each step she took, even with the help of her unicorn companion "But I… I don't know what I'm supposed to do…"

Rarity gently nuzzled her friends cheek "Celestia won't lay a hoof on his scales, now try and take it easy darling, you look simply horrid, and we need you for when we find Spike…" Rarity mumbled. Twilight looked at Rarity, leaning on her with more weight as her knees tried to buckle.

Rainbow Dash felt the wind whipping through her rainbow mane as she flew through the sky. She grumbled to herself as she looked below, unable to see anything or anypony on the ground, even a bright purple dragon who hiccupped out fire with his sobs. She grumbled, unable to spot any sudden bursts of flame or see a dragon in the sky around her.

Twilight was upset… the pegasus had never seen her unicorn friend so distressed before, and what was up with all of those bandages? The cyan pony grumbled as cold winds whipped through her wings, causing the feathers to tremble in the wind. She wasn't fond of flying in cold, it made her exhausted far too fast.

It didn't make sense. Why in Equestria would Spike run away, he had no place to go, she herself had been there to see him call her and her friends his family, only her, Rarity, and Twilight knew he really felt that close to all of them. She felt anger rising in the pit of her belly as she flew, and she only got angrier as she realized she couldn't direct it any anypony, or any dragon, she knew!

Rainbow huffed out in anger when she heard a high pitched screech that caused her feathers to tingle and become ruffled. She paused as the owner of the voice clicked in her mind

"Pinkie Pie!" She shouted, and suddenly dove down into the town.

She couldn't see anything, and cursed herself for being so weak in the time her friends needed her. It wasn't until yet another scream erupted, this time little more than a squeak in Rainbow's sensitive hearing, that she zoomed in the direction of the sound and found a ball of pink curled up on the ground, trembling in fear. Pinkie Pie was in the middle of the street, yet nopony had come to check on all of the noise as of yet.

"Pinkie!" Rainbow shouted in fear, yet quietly, making sure not to wake anypony up. (Although Pinkie Pie's screaming might have done that already.) She rushed over to her friend, her rainbow mane bouncing when she lied down in from of her. The mare's usually frizzy and fluffy hair had gone flat, and her eyes were wet in tears, not the sobbing, miserable kind, the kind that only hit when you were truly terrified.

"Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash asked, gently stroking her friends flat mane "What happened, you alright?" She asked, gently, not wanting to startle the flustered filly.

Pinkie looked up, she looked unnatural with a face full of tears, almost as if she didn't belong.

Pinkie sniffled loudly "I…" She began "I felt something…" She mumbled.

Rainbow reached out a hoof and helped Pinkie up, the mare's eyes were wide "I felt a twitch that I've never felt before…" She mumbled "I… I can't say for sure, but I think Spike is in danger… I think he's… he's really REALLY scared for some reason, I don't know why but I feel like he's in trouble."

Rainbow Dash blinked, living in Ponyville for quite some time had taught her the same lesson as everypony else. When Pinkie's twitching, you better be careful "What do you mean, i-is he hurt or something?"

"I don't know." Pinkie said, looking worriedly at her cyan friend. "But I think… I think the twitch came to me from the Everfree forest."

Rainbow looked down, hiding the sudden bolt of shock running through her "Why would he go through the Everfree forest, why not stay someplace safe?" She growled to herself. She couldn't help but feel like Twilight knew something, knew something that she wasn't telling anypony else simply because Spike was in deeper than any of them had thought.

"Darn it," She growled out through grinded teeth "We gotta go and help him!" She suddenly jumped in the air and took off before halting and flying back to Pinkie "Wait here, I'll get the others then we can search for him!" Rainbow Dash might have not been the smartest one in the group, and it was true that Spike was in danger, but she had learned more than enough times to tell that she needed her friends for this.

Pinkie Pie's mane suddenly exploded back into frizzy fluff "Oki Doki Loki!" She said, giving a salute, bouncing back to bright and happy in less than a second. Rainbow still hadn't quite comprehended how that was possible yet, but she didn't have any time to ponder on the matter.

Rainbow took a deep breath before shooting off "Damn it." she grumbled as the wind rushed past her as she dodged house after house.

"Damn it, Damn it, Damn it, be alright Spike!" She yelled, trying to fly with every ounce of her strength, without doing a Sonic Rainboom to wake up the entire town of course.

"I'll kill you if you die!"

Spike sniffled loudly as his own scaly feet splashed into a puddle of water, he shivered slightly, however he wasn't positive it was the water that had done it in the first place. Maybe he was trembling, he didn't feel much cold anyways since his entire body had flames built up inside.

A sudden howling caused him to jump as he took a quick three-sixty swing around him only to spot nothing. He looked down and clamped his claws shut into a fist. His hand was red… red with Twilight's blood.

His stomach suddenly felt queasy, and his head began to spin as the memory flashed before his eyes. How long ago was that? A second, minute, hour, month maybe? He couldn't tell, it seemed that ever since he crash landed back in the forest that he hadn't stopped even once to sleep or look for food. He was starving, his rumbling belly told him that, but if he even thought about food, his mind replayed the scene again, and he became scared and dismissed any thought.

He lightly kicked a pebble and watched it fly out into the darkness of the forest. He glanced up into the sky and saw Luna's moon, it was bright and full tonight. Her power must be at its maximum. Even so, the Everfree forest was dark as black.

Would anypony miss him if he ran away with his tail between his legs, would anypony even care for his wellbeing? He could imagine Twilight being upset, but then moving on and hatching another little assistant simply to cast him away as well when the time came.

"Number one friend my scales." He mumbled. He got down on the ground and picked up a small stick. His eyes watered and a few tears slipped out against him will. He growled and snapped the stick in half, feeling a disgusting satisfaction at the snapping noise, almost like a bone. He blinked and realized what he was doing, but also realized he didn't care. He snapped the half in half, then the other half. Halfway through he was breathing slightly heavily.

He suddenly imagined Twilight, and how he had wanted to do this to her the moment his mind snapped in anger.

The dragon stopped, he threw the sticks as far as he could and fell on his behind "No!" He shouted, covering his eyes as he whimpered and sniffled. He didn't want to imagine Twilight like that, regardless if everything she had ever told him, everything she ever did that was nice for him was fake… he still… he still thought of her as…

He couldn't say the word. He couldn't even think it, not after these past two days. He sniffled, realizing just how short his happy life had gone by. He never once had a friend back in Canterlot, and now he had so many he thought he might burst with joy at times, but he always kept his cool outside of being near Rarity.

Spike let out a small chocked out sob, tasting ashen flames. He didn't want Fluttershy to see him as a monster, he didn't want Rainbow to choose between her princess and him, he didn't want Pinkie Pie to throw a goodbye party where everypony cried, he didn't want Applejack to hate him, he didn't want Twilight to get hurt because of him, but most of all, he didn't want Rarity to think of him as a cold and heartless beast, not like the last time he became greedy.

He wanted to die, wanted to disappear, just so none of this would happen. That was why he kept walking, he wanted to remember all of his friends… as nice, and loving toward him, disregarding the horrid memory of Twilight, he wanted to think they cared about him, and would stand up for him if the time came.

"I'm… sorry… everypony…" He whimpered out, wiping his tears away with the back of his arm as he forced himself to stand up "Monsters… belong here… don't they?" He asked, more to himself than his invisible friends. As he said this, he glanced at his hand. Blood… her blood was still on it.

A loud, screeching sound suddenly made him jump. He jumped once more as he heard footsteps. Right where he threw the wood chunks. It was only a pair of bright yellow eyes and the simple sight of teeth that forced him to turn around and run in fear.

Spike spread his wings, ready to take off and fly. However a pair of teeth clomped down on one, and he felt himself be thrown to the ground. Blood poured from his damaged wing as it twitched slightly. It hurt… a lot. He felt pain for a change, instead of the numbness.

Something tackled into him and teeth bit down on his side, more warm liquid trailing down his body.

Monsters belong with other monsters.

It took Rainbow Dash thirty minutes to round up all of her friends. Twilight limped heavily on one of her legs as Rainbow Dash practically drug her through the down. She was breathing heavily, and dizzy, sick, and tired, but something kept her moving. Spike, her friends? She didn't know.

Rarity was galloping behind them "Slow down, Rainbow!" She said, her voice in anger.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she merely sped up, and Twilight felt herself be lifted off the ground. "Spike could be getting mauled by an Ursa Major as we speak; we have to M-O-V-E!" She spelled out to the unicorns.

They reached the forest a minute later. It was the same entrance Twilight used to get to Zecora's when she wanted to visit somezebra else intelligent like herself. Her friends weren't… bad… she just liked it when the zebra used bigger words.

Twilight breathed out heavily as she felt herself be dropped gently on the ground. She lifted her five ton head to see Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow, Applejack, and even Fluttershy were standing tall. Even Fluttershy was ready to go into the Everfree forest, albeit she was holding onto Pinkie Pie like to tomorrow, but she wasn't quivering on the ground.

This for some reason motivated Twilight as she forcibly got to her feet with a grunt. Rarity ran to her and supported her with magic.

"C'mon slow pokes, let's G-O N-O-W!" Rainbow said, once again spelling as she pointed toward the Everfree forest, throwing her hooves in the direction. Pinkie Pie was nodding with such bouncy energy, one might think she was heading into a fun house she seemed to excited!

Rarity glared at the floating pegasus before glancing back to Twilight "Darling, are you ready for this, it won't be easy."

"F-F…" Twilight paused "For Spike."

"So um," Applejack began "How do we fin'dis scent?" She asked "I mean, the Everfree forest is huge!"

"Oh, Oh, Oh!" Pinkie suddenly said, slamming her face into the ground as she began to sniff much light a dog. The others looked at her in pure confusion before Applejack got the idea, pulling a rope out of seemingly nowhere and lassoing it around Pinkie's neck. The strange pink pony tugged on the rope and began to lightly bounce forward like a frog.

"She got a scent!" Applejack shouted happily "Ho, nelly, let's go!"

Fluttershy needed a tiny reassuring push from Rainbow Dash in order to get her to follow into the large, mysterious forest.

Rarity helped Twilight along with a tiny nudge, and the lavender Unicorn limped along, only one word screaming in her mind.

"Spike."

Spike whimpered gently as warm breath hit his body. He felt pain, unimaginable pain. There were teeth and bite marks covering his blood bathed body. A creature that looked like a wolf made of wood with razor sharp teeth stood above him. His mind raced, trying to remember something, anything that Twilight might have said in order to describe these things.

Timber-Wolf was the only name coming to mind.

The wolf's log body seemed to move on its own, no magic, no nothing. It was somehow alive, and it had found a snack it seemed. Spike realized that if he wanted to, he could escape, however his will to live had vanished. He silently wished that the creature would sink its teeth into his soft neck so he could simply stop causing all of his friend's trouble.

He felt the razor teeth sink back into his arm once more, breathing through the scales as if they were nothing. Even if he wanted to fight, he couldn't, the amount of blood he had lost was too great. He simply squirmed and whimpered gently, thinking of Rarity, imagining her beautiful mane, her baby talk toward him. It always made him feel better, but this time it only hurt more, because he would likely never see her again.

Spike felt the teeth rip out of his arms. The wolf was teasing him with death. He closed his eyes as he felt the breath hit his neck, and could feet a small trickle of blood leak out. He wondered briefly what it was like… to be dead…

"Yee Haw!" A sudden shouting noise came as Spike saw out of the corner of his eye a rope lasso its way around the Timber-Wolves neck as he forced his head to turn, and saw Applejack kicking the wooden creature with all of her might.

He tried to sit up, but found it impossible until a sudden swoop came and two pegasus grabbed him, one was breathing heavily with tears going down her cheeks and the other was flying swiftly and fast as he was swooped out of the area. He felt himself slam into a tree and words being franticly sputtered out.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, there's s-s-so much b-blood!" Fluttershy squeaked as her hooves hovered around Spikes ruby red stained body, unsure of where to treat first. She looked frantic as Spike blinked slowly, still somewhat in shock.

"That's it, now it's personal!" A cyan pegasus shouted as her and her bright rainbow mane shot out of the tree like a bullet and down onto the Timber-Wolf, smashing into its body and knocking it to the ground.

Fluttershy frantically glanced around the tree and grabbed one of the large leaves and pressed it to the dragon's chest "Spike, just try and keep the blood from flowing." She wasn't sure if the dragon heard her, he seemed to be in a daze. She whimpered gently as she heard Rainbow Dash cry out in pain, and she turned her head to see both her and Applejack be shot back to the ground.

"Oh no." She cried out, Spike looked down, his vision blurry. He kept looking for Twilight, but couldn't see her. He didn't care about the fight, he wanted to see Twilight, to see she was alright.

"Take that you ruffian!" Spike heard Rarity scream. He turned just in time to See Pinkie Pie holding the wolf down by its head as Rarity kicked it with her back legs, only to have it roar in her face. She made a disgusted face before saying "Ew, someone needs a head to toe makeover, and your breath, my Celestia!" she cried.

Suddenly the wolf reached out a paw and swiped at the unicorn, knocking her back as it threw its head off to throw Pinkie in the other direction.

"Rari-" Spike began to call before Fluttershy flew down from the tree right in front of the wolf.

"Um… hello, normally I would um…" Fluttershy squeaked as a paw swiped at her, but she managed to avoid it "I would n-normally, a-avoid this k-kind of t-thing, o-o-or try and tame you, b-but… you hurt my friends." Another paw swipe that she dodged easily "And all you are is a big. Dumb. Meanie!" she shouted, tackling the creature to the ground with such force that the ground itself shook.

The creature stood up and threw Fluttershy off. He growled and looked around him, heading toward the pegasus he just threw off, Fluttershy's burst of energy gone as a ball of pink was curled up on the ground trembling.

"Wait!" A Tired voice called.

Spike glanced lazily toward the sound, however his eyes lit up as he saw a purple mane with a single pink strip. Her body was lavender, with a Cutie Mark of stars. She was limping, but her voice was still strong.

The Timber-Wolf looked at her, as the unicorn's horn suddenly began to glow. It stopped as she began to heave out air, the horn gave several sparks, and then died out. It was at this point that Spike realized just how tired she looked. She was about to faint, and in the blink of an eye she was lying on the ground, whimpering and breathing out in pain. The wolf lifted a paw, ready to strike.

Something snapped once more.

"TWILIGHT!" The dragon shouted, spreading his damaged wings and diving out of the tree. He crashed into the wolf with full force, wood meeting his body. He raked his claws down the bark, finding a strange, green blood covering up the previous red hand of his. He clawed and bit in anger, ignoring his searing pain.

He was breathing heavily, the animal sounding like it was crying softly. Spike took a deep breath, and breathed out a giant ball of fire and rolled off, breathing heavily as the creature burned and squirmed, howling in agony before it slowly became very silent, and the fire simply burnt.

Spike was silent for several moments. He blinked slowly. He had killed something… he had… taken something's life, an animal, a living creature. He… he was truly a monster.

He sat up just as his friends started to come around, except for Twilight, she was still limp on the ground.

Spike forced himself to get to his feet as he began to limp off as fast as he could. A rope suddenly lassoed him "We ain't lettin'… ya leave so soon." Applejack's voice came. She was hurt, her cheek and flank were both bleeding.

Spike tugged at the rope, but Applejack pulled harder. He didn't say anything, just trembled as tears began to well and spill from his eyes. He must be dehydrated, he had cried a river full these long, hard, two days.

He slashed his claw down on the rope, feeling it snap as he spread his wings, wincing slightly as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy grabbed his arms "Please…" Fluttershy asked, her eyes begging. Rainbow growled "You aren't leaving." She stated.

Spike whimpered gently, and shook off the two with enough force to knock them to the ground. Why did they care anyway? He spread his wings, and flapped them. But before he could take off, a body crashed into his back.

"Why do you want to go?" Pinkie Pie screamed, her usual self gone "After we looked for you, after we saved you?" Spike whimpered gently as tears ran onto his shoulder. He growled and threw her off "Stay away!" He cried out, his eyes watering as he turned to face the four. Tears flowed freely from his eyes. Why did they care, why didn't they hate him, they should want him dead after hurting Twilight so badly.

He took a step back before bumping into something, something warm. He did a one-eighty as he saw Rarity eye to eye, he suddenly fell back onto his rump. "Why?" He whimpered "Why won't you just… l-l-let me go?" He cried out.

Rarity blinked, and got down in front of Spike before suddenly questioning him "Why would we do that?"

"B-Because…" Spike spit out "I-I-I'm just a monster, I-I-I d-d-did those things to Twilight, I-I killed that Timber-Wolf, no wonder Celestia wants me gone."

He almost didn't register the gasp from the others at the last line, but it was clear, they hadn't been filled in.

Rarity smiled warmly, and leaned down to wrap her arms around him "You are not a monster, you are our friends, and my little Spikey-Wikey, nothing will change that." She assured.

Spike should have been blushing. He should have been fighting to escape. Something! But all he managed to do, was let out the sobs contained in his aching heart. He hugged Rarity back with all of his might and cried out loud for what seemed like the first time in his life.

"I-I-I don't… I don't want to go!" He wailed out.

He suddenly felt a body at his side, and glanced to see Fluttershy hugging him, to his other side Pinkie soon followed, and he felt Applejack hug him from behind. Soon he was in the middle of a group hug, and all he was doing was sobbing like an idiot.

"D-D-Darn it!" Rainbow cried out, sounding upset, almost as if she was crying, she suddenly flew into the hug and wrapped her hooves around his waist "I don't g-get what's goin' on with the princess, or what happened, but why in Equestria are you making me so soft?" She cried out.

And so they sat, the five ponies hugging the hurt dragon as he began to feel the blood loss hit him, and he hung on only for simply something to show him he wasn't worthless. Twilight was still passed out close behind them, but nopony was willing to let go to check on her, afraid Spike might leave.

The sounds of hoovesteps came from behind them, as the five ponies glanced toward the noise to see a shadowy figure. It was cloaked and the mist made it impossible to clearly see. However, Spike found he didn't have the energy to care as he gently tightened his hold on Rarity, and closed his eyes as the blood loss took over him, and he passed out in the middle of all his friends.

"What is this, for it is not bliss?" It asked, emerging from the mist.

The Truth

I can't help but feel that I wouldn't have those dislikes if I hadn't done a crappy job the first chapter before the re-write.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"They say the truth can set you free."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Dragon's Tale
Chapter 4: The Truth

"T...ght"

In the blink of an eye, darkness shattered as sounds entered her mind. The sounds echoing deep in Twilight Sparkle's head banged and pounded inside of her skull, trying to find a way to freedom, and therefore harming the lavender unicorn in the process. She couldn't even whimper.

"Twi...ht"

She wanted to go back to sleep, back the peaceful and warm place where everything didn't hurt so much. Back to the place where Spike was safe and sound, and nopony else was going to try and harm her or her friends anymore. The letter that came this week had only been a bad dream, a horribly bad dream in which the truth behind all of it remained unclear to even her.

"Twilight!"

The voice screaming at her made her brow furrow. She couldn't move, not matter what she did, she couldn't move. It was as if she were trapped in a cage that perfectly fit her entire body, and was unnoticeable to the touch. She couldn't even make a sound, she could only lie there in pain as her flank burned. The more she struggled, the more distant she felt from the voice calling to her.

"One with so much spunk, you are in luck," A voice came, with an accent that rang familiar in the ears of the unicorn. Something was being rubbed against her flank. It felt like fire and ice at the same time, every single muscle inside of her screamed for her to wake up and run from the pain, run as far as she possibly could. However after quite some time, it began to cool and left a pleasant, cool feeling on the previously burning spot. "For if this one was off any worse, she could have ended up worse than a sickly horse."

"Zecora's right Sugar Cube, let the zebra use her fancy schmancy potions and medicines, she know's what she's doin'" This voice had an unmistakable southern accent. It seemed older and more mature than the others, a voice of reason one might say. Twilight wanted to whimper gently, but her enclosed throat would not let her.

"Oh my goodness, Rarity, please, get me more bandages will you?" This voice was quiet, and seemed more distant than any of the others, as if distracted or busy. "He's hurt worse than when Angle Bunny ran into that nasty old badger. That wolf was such a meanie..."

"Darling, it's alright, just please try and do your best, Zecora is helping Twilight, and believe it or not I think the more dear is in worse condition than Spike." This voice was more proper than the others, and seemed dainty.

Spike! Twilight's body jumped once, and then refused to move. No matter how much she tried to, it simply refused to move. Was Spike alright? Why did they need bandages? How was she any worse off than him after what had happened these past few days, it didn't make any sense whatsoever!

"Woah." A high-pitched voice came "Did you see that, Twilight just hopped!"

"Pinkie, she did not hop, and she ain't waking up. It's just a natural reaction, her body went through a lot of shock." The country accent once more spoke. Twilight felt her entire body explode several times on the inside as she fought to open her eyes, wanting to see Spike, needing to know if he was safe, needing to know just how bad he looked.

A light whimper came, and the tone seemed to come from Spike. Twilight fought harder, but remained unmovable, and found her eyes could still somehow water, despite her being unable to move.

"Shhhh, It's alright, the little Spikey-Wikey is going to be just fine, go back to sleep darling." The high class sounding voice was back. It sounded like it was soothing something who was hurt and needed to be healed, or something who was crying...

Twilight wanted to be the one to help comfort Spike right now, but gentle whispers from the shy voice came back, and Twilight found she was not needed. Her... friends were there for Spike... they were his friends too, just as much as they were friends with her. But where were they? What happened to the forest, the wolf?

"She must better, as not to be under the weather." The eastern accent returned.

Twilight found herself struggling to awaken less and less and more time passed. She wanted to be there for her friends, for Spike. But the voice was correct...

She was going to be useless hurt... the encounter with the Timber Wolf had proved that.

She let herself be consumed in Darkness once more.

Twilight Sparkle found her eyes snapping open in an instant. A wave of nausea took over her, and she felt like vomiting over herself. She began to pant and groan as she struggled to move, fire spreading through her entire body. Her head felt light as she managed to sit up and take a sweeping glance around the room, albeit it was a slow sweeping glance. She forced a hoof to come up to her mouth as her stomach lurched. She recgonized this place... the wooden floors, the masks...

Zecora's... how had she gotten here?

She glanced around the room, and saw five sleeping bodies on the ground. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy... no Spike...

She attempted to get to all fours, but ended up only making a bunch of grunting and groaning noises as she managed to drag herself several feet forward. She realized she was covered in bandages, with the bloody ones next to the bed, she guessed they had been changed at least once... how long was she out? How much time was left? Spike... she needed to find him.

As if answering her thoughts, the corner of her eye caught something. It was in the window, just a small piece, but it was still there.

A purple dragon wing.

It moved from view of the window as if it sensed her presence, in all likelihood Spike had just been stretching. Twilight jumped up "Spike!" She called in a horse voice. She ended up tumbling over a small step and landing straight on a Pink body.

"Ah, Timber Wolf!" Pinkie Pie screeched, as if Twilight had triggered a nightmare. The pink pony had caused an enormous commotion in a matter of moments, everypony jumped up at the mention of a Timber Wolf, and began to panic. Rainbow had awoken from her sleep and had already manged to smash into a wall. Fluttershy crashed straight into Applejack in fear, knocking the two of them down. And at the current moment, Pinkie Pie was running around the room screaming.

"Twilight!" Rarity cried out as she saw the lavender body on the ground in pain. She seemed to be the only one calm. At the mention of her name, the panic almost ceased instantly as all of the ponies stared at her. The next thing Twilight felt was a pink body crashing into her, giving her the biggest hug of all time.

"She woke up!" Pinkie pie cried.

"Oh Sugarcube, ya have no idea how worried we've been fer the past two days!" Applejack said, letting out a sigh of relief.

Two days...

"Two days?" Twilight cried out, sitting up so suddenly that she knocked Pinkie Pie off of her body. She ignored the pain and began to drag herself as fast as she could. Two days... she only had three days until Celestia came! How could she have let herself sleep for so long? How could she have been so stupid, so careless, so unorganized! Why was this happening, why was any of this happening?

"Twilight, chill!" Rainbow said, fluttering next to her and putting two hooves on her shoulders to stop her "He's fine, he's right outside." She said "He's with Zecora, you can go and see him if you want, don't push yourself girl!"

Twilight replied with a grunt of pain. She felt her body be lifted up with a magical force as she began to glow a light blue. Rarity's magic helped her to her hooves as both Applejack and Fluttershy were by her side, helping her walk for the first time in days. She must be dehydrated, and needing food more than ever. The two ponies helped her walk to the doorway.

"Do you... think I'm a monster?" The voice belonged to Spike, and it was speaking to Zecora. The dragon's voice seemed... defeated... weak, and helpless. As if his heart had been shattered.

A long silence occurred, until a sigh from Zecora came "A monster, is much like a lobster." She said "It can choose to use a pincer, or to simply run and hinter."

Twilight blinked several times. Spike felt like a monster right now... she felt like she should be out there with him, to tell him everything was a lie, and that he was just a harmless baby dragon who would never have hurt anypony if he hadn't felt like he needed to. "Spike..." She mumbled to herself.

The door opened by Rarity's magic, and Twilight found herself coming out before the two holding her. She whipped her head toward Spike. The dragon held a poker face. He seemed... depressed. He just glanced down and sighed. Twilight saw his body... it was covered entirely in bandages. Not only that, but his wrists were tied behind his back, along with his ankles.

"Why... why is he tied up?" Twilight mumbled, not to anypony in particular. When she was greeted with no answer, she whipped her head around, ignoring the pain "Why is Spike tied up?" She cried.

"Twilight... he asked for us 'ere to do it." Applejack mumbled, glancing down "Said he might... hurt somepony if we wouldn't... he was afraid he might... hurt ya again." She glanced to the bandages on Twilight's side "Case he lost control 'gain."

Twilight glared at her friend before looking back at Spike "Let him go." She stated. Spike glanced at her this time, slight worry in his emerald eyes. He blinked them several times, the melancholy mood in them stayed. The unicorn glared behind her "Well?" She asked "Let him go!" she shouted.

"Twilight..." Rarity mumbled. She paused, noticing the anger in Twilight's eyes. She used her magic to pull on the ropes until they snapped. Spike didn't move, just sat there in silence. The only difference was that Spike now looked frightened.

The lavander pony went forward, and saw Spike slowly back away. Zecora didn't move, just watched the scene unfold. "Spike..." She mumbled "Are you hurt?" She asked, reaching out a hoof to touch his cheek.

Spike smacked it away with the back of his claws so not to hurt the unicorn. Rainbow Dash looked ready to charge until Applejack grasped her tail and shook her head, earning a grunt in return. "S-Stay away!" Spike cried out. There was fear in his eyes, fear he would hurt the pony who had taken care of him his entire life. He trembled slightly "I... I don't want to hurt you again..." He whimpered out, eyes shimmering.

"Oh, Spike." Twilight mumbled, taking a step forward. "You won't hurt me..."

"I mean it!" Spike shouted, getting to his feet and taking several steps back until he was against the house. "I... I killed that animal, and I didn't feel bad for it!" He yelled. He was trembling. "A-And... what if I hurt you worse than before?" He cried out. His eyes were shut, afraid tears might find their way out of his eyes. "I... If you come any closer... I might kill you!"

His eyes snapped open when a pair of upper legs wrapped around his body. He felt fear, and confusion. He was mostly confused as to why Twilight was hugging him, and not listening to his threats. She gently stroked down his spines and nuzzled the top of his scaly head. She hadn't hugged him like this for years... Spike felt something inside of his chest expand. It began to hurt as his eyes watered. He closed them once more, not wanting to cry as he wrapped his arms shakily around Twilight, sniffling gently. She began to rock his back and forth for several minutes. He felt loved again...

When Twilight broke away, she looked into his eyes, which the dragon had now opened. She looked sternly into them, her eyes not breaking concentration for a moment.

"I... I think it's time that you find out what's going on... what's really going on." She mumbled.

Spike found himself fumbling with his claws like a featherbrain as he leaned against the wall. He glanced at the group of ponies surrounding him, plus one Zebra. He glanced to his left and saw Rarity, and straight in front of him was Twilight. All eyes were on him, and he began to feel self conscious. He gnawed on his lip with his razor sharp teeth, thankful for his rough scales. His eyes kept darting from pony to pony, seeing different looks on each of their faces.

Twilight looked at him. She was a good four feet from him, staring straight at him. "Spike..." She began. "I know this is going to sound... horrible at best..." She paused a moment, perhaps pondering how to explain it gently. "You were... never supposed to exist."

A long silence filled the room, Spike felt like somepony had shot him in the chest with a bolt of lightening. He didn't make a noise, just waited for Twilight to continue. "Go on dear." Rarity said to Twilight, obviously noticing the uneasiness in the dragon.

"Well..." She said "W-When I hatched you, back during when I was trying to get into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns... during the entrance exam where I had hatched you." She paused briefly. "The egg you were born in... was meant to be a dud, I'm not sure who found you, only that they decided to donate it to the school itself." She said "It was specially sealed with a strong force of magic, that only an exceptional unicorn would be able to open. From what Celestia told me, they couldn't find a heartbeat in the egg... they think that since I had such a strong force of magic, that I somehow kickstarted your life... life a sudden burst of energy brought you back to life."

"Wait... so Spike was dead?" Rainbow Dash cried, sitting up straight and shooting her gaze straight to Spike. the dragon's eyes were wide with both fear and wonder. It wasn't like he remembered how he was born... he was so young. He curled up tightly into a ball. The thoughts going through his mind scared him. He could feel Rarity's hoof stroke his side, it at least helped to comfort him...

"According to Celestia..." Twilight mumbled, giving her assistant a worried glance "It was a miracle that he didn't have any damages, the lack of air to the brain should have made him brain dead. I'm not sure what kind of magic I used, the only other time I've felt myself use such powerful magic was... when we used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon and Discord... and I haven't been able to trigger such a large quantity without the elements since."

Spike looked down at the floor intently. He should have been dead... he should have never been born, all of the pain and misery he had caused Twilight should have never happened.

"As... as expected," Twilight said clearly, snapping Spike out of his thoughts as his gaze shot back up. "Celestia sent him someplace where they tried to figure out the cause of him being brought back to life... he was only a baby dragon... and I mean a BABY baby dragon." She mumbled, glancing up at the dragon in front of her "I didn't get him as my assistant straight away..." She said.

Spike was silent. Something brief flashed through his mind, startling him. He glanced up at Twilight.

"Spike... Spike wasn't treated like a pony would..." Twilight mumbled "He was treated like an animal." She was silent for a long time after that "For the first month or so of his life... I really don't know what they did to him... but when Celestia found out about it... and asked me if I wanted to keep him as an assistant..." She paused, looking up at Spike "He wouldn't come near me for the first six months... and he had a lot of scars on his body..."

"Spike?" Rarity asked, looking at the dragon next to her. The dragon's eyes were wide. He was trembling. Images were flashing past his eyes. Blood. Pain. Cage. Needles. Everything he saw scared him, but it still screamed and screeched into his mind. He finally let out a half-sob and clamped his claws over his ears, and quietly trembled. "Twilight!" Rarity said before wrapping her upper legs around the dragon and kissing his cheek to gently sooth him. All of his friends were looking at him strangely, not sure how to take this new information on him. Spike let tears flow down his cheeks quietly, trying to block out the images emerging. "Stop this very instant, do you not believe he has been through enough?" The unicorn snapped.

Twilight looked at Spike with saddened eyes, giving a silent apology. "When... When Celestia gave him to me." She continued "She told me something... something I thought nothing of at the time, and I forgot about it until this week." She began. "She told me... that in the years to come, he would grow, and grow, and begin to get more and more violent, and one day she would have to take him away from me..."

Spike looked up. Hurting Twilight, killing that Timber-Wolf...

"I tried to treat him like he was just an assistant... but the more time I spent with him, the more I helped him learn, and teach him things like how to speak... I took care of him for so many years... I just forgot what I promised the Princess... I treated him like he was my son..." She half-whimpered the last part. Spike glanced up, shifting in Rarity's arms. "He is my son... we're close enough, I've taken care of him for so long, he's more my son than anypony else..."

Twilight sniffled loudly, and wiped her eyes with her hoof. Spike felt something strike him once more. "Spike... I think you need to read this." Twilight said, suddenly levitating a letter over to him as it glowed a deep purple. He grasped it in his claws. It was the letter he got five days ago... the day everything began...

He felt his claws slowly unravel the parchment of paper. Rarity's head got closer to him and began to read along with him.

To My Dearest Pupil, Twilight Sparkle,
It has come to my attention that your friend Spike has sprouted his wings, and is also close to growing bigger than you and your friends. I am deeply sorry for dropping this news on you so suddenly, but I simply cannot let a dragon roam free as it becomes more dangerous. Because of this, I am afraid the time has come for me to take him away from you. I hope you have mentally prepared for this over the course of the past fifteen years. I apologize deeply once more, I know just how much of a close friend he is to you.

Princess Celestia.

Spike read over the letter carefully, feeling Rarity gently tighten her hold on him. It made him feel safe. "I think... everypony here needs to read this." He mumbled. Twilight nodded. They were now just as involved as everypony else at this point, it didn't seem right to keep them in the dark. Spike gently tossed the letter to Fluttershy, who was to his right. She caught it and unfolded it and began to read it.

"Oh my goodness..." She mumbled. Each and everypony had different reactions, some reacted in anger, others in shock, and others simply gave sympathetic glances to Spike. He hated those glances... it made him feel as if he were dying. He supposed he was as good as dead anyway.

"I wrote the princess a letter the next morning, and made you send it... you know what happened once you spit it out." Twilight mumbled "I was just trying to distract you that morning... to think out a plan... the letter came too soon for me to come up with anything... and we got sucked into this chaos."

Spike blinked, and looked down, feeling a deep guilt in the pit of his belly.

"I'm sorry everypony, for dragging you all into this." Twilight said. "I'm going to try my best to protect Spike, from the princess, from anything that tries to hurt him... I understand if any of you want to leave now."

"Twi, are you crazy?" Applejack was the first to speak. "Spike is all of our friends, ain't no way I'm leavin' him in the rain!" She cried.

"Me neither!" Pinkie Pie shouted, bouncing up, half excitement, half anger "The only way Spike is leaving is if it's through me!"

"I don't want a dragon running around... I don't think anypony does." Fluttershy mumbled, glancing at Spike intently "But Spike is different... he's still Spike no matter how big or nasty he gets... we saw he was still kind after Rarity reminded him of how generous he was right after his birthday." She mumbled. "I'm... I'm going to try my hardest... if that's okay..."

"Rainbow?" Twilight asked, glancing to the pegasus who seemed to be thinking deeply.

"I don't know..." Rainbow Dash mumbled. She blinked several times. "I'm always loyal to the princess, and I'll always be... But I'm loyal to my friends the same way." She closed her eyes, biting her lip, as if frustrated that this decision was so difficult for her. "D-Darn it!" She cried, suddenly standing up and flapping her wings in anger "Why do I have to think about it? It's going to be for Spike! I'm in!" She shouted with pride.

Spike felt his chest grow. So many ponies... were fighting... for him. "No..." He suddenly mumbled, standing up. Everypony looked at him "All of this... it isn't worth it, not for me!" He cried out, breaking from Rarity's grasp. "I'm not worth this much, it's like we're having a revolution just for some stupid baby dragon!"

He was trembling. He didn't want all of his friends to risk their life for him... he wanted them to stay safe, no matter what happened to him! Something landed on his back. "Pardon my language Spike, but regardless of if a Princess or a ruffian lays a single hoof on you and your cute little head, I'LL RIP THEM TO BUCKING PIECES!" She cried, huffing in anger as she lifted up her front hooves life Spike would for fists.

"Yeah, Spike, I think we all know that friendship is worth taking risks." Rainbow Dash said, smiling at him.

Spike felt his body freeze. He was surrounded by ponies who loved him. He looked down a moment, flapping his wings in frustration. He... He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay with these ponies until he died. He glanced up with wide eyes at Twilight.

The lavender Unicorn stayed sitting, unable to get up without assistance. She still lifted a hoof in the air. "For Spike!" She shouted "To keep him safe!"

"For Spike!" Everyone cheered.

A war was starting for him... Spike wasn't sure how he felt about this.