Spike just stood there as he stared into the eyes of the griffon who had casually greeted him like a next door neighbor. If there was one thing he learned from seeing Gilda when she came to Ponyville, was that she could be one heck of a bully. Heck, she even made Fluttershy cry, and that's just plain nasty.

Gilda stared at Spike who just stood there as though he was facing a manticore. “Hey Spike, you alright?” asked Gilda who didn't think her crash would surprise him so much.

“G-Gilda? What are you doing here?” asked Spike who felt real nervous at seeing the griffon.

“What am I doing here? I live here Spike.” replied Gilda moving her claw to the young dragons forehead. “Did you bump your head or what?”

Spike just chuckled nervously before stepping back away from the griffons claw. “No I’m alright, just thought I’d go out for a walk.” replied Spike who slowly maneuvered his way around the griffon.

“Oookay. Maybe we should see if Trixie can see what's wrong with ya.” replied Gilda.

“Trixie?” Spike didn't notice he was backing too close to somepony and accidentally bumped into them, causing both to get tangled.

Gilda tried to hold in her giggling and watched as Spike pulled a purple hat off his face. He looked at the hat and saw that it was just like Trixie's.

“Could you get off me now?” Spike turned and saw Trixie's face right up close to his, causing his face to heat up a little as the blue unicorn was able to untangle them both and put her hat back on with her magic.

“Yo Trixie.” said Gilda who was able to chuckle silently as the two got themselves untangled.

Trixie saw Gilda and let a beautiful smile grace her face. “Gilda!” Trixie rushed towards the griffon and caused the both of them to fall to the ground.

“Heh, always with the hugs.” muttered Gilda from her spot on the ground as she returned the affectionate gesture to her friend.

Spike just scratched his head at seeing Trixie jump into a hug, and with a girl like Gilda no less. She seemed a little too enthusiastic from her usual arrogant self.

Trixie pulled herself and Gilda up and turned towards Spike. “Spike. Let me guess, out to help at Fleur's?” asked Trixie.

“Yeah, I was just on my way there when I bumped into you.” replied Spike.

“Spike, you said you were going out for a walk.” replied Gilda crushing his chances of making it past them with a lie.

“Well, I was going for a walk, but I then realized I needed to get over there and soon.” replied Spike who felt reassured with the quick lie.

“Anyways, I better get over there and fast.” replied Spike who turned around and quickly walked along the road leaving the unicorn and griffon where they were.

“Trixie, did Spike seem to be acting strange?” Gilda stared at where Spike was heading too as he would never turn down a greeting. Even if it was to go and help out at Fleur's.

“Yes, especially since he's going the wrong way.” replied Trixie who was gonna find out what was going on with the young dragon, and fast.

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Spike continued down the dark road as he let out a sigh of relief at getting away from that nervous moment. Right now he needed some time to gather his thoughts. All kinds of odd stuff has happened ever since he arrived in this town.

“OK, first, Sunset Shimmer was nice to me and actually showed worry. Next, Gilda lives in this town and is apparently friends with Trixie, who didn't seem to be arrogant here. The weirdest thing is that they've have some bad run ins with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. So why are they treating me like I’m their friend?” there were so many questions to what was going on that made no sense to the little dragon.

“From what I can remember, I was at home, and I found a tasty looking gem, took a bite out of it, then I end up here.” it seemed that last sentence finally got the light bulb to light up in his head. “That's it! It must have been that odd gem. If I can figure out what kind it was, maybe I can back home.” the young dragon was now excited now that he had a plan of action.

As he started walking down the road with new found confidence in his step, he suddenly stopped as he quickly realized one flaw in his plan.

“How do I find my way around here?”

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It seemed that our dragon was still having trouble finding his way around this odd version of Ponyville as Spike continued to pass different houses still trying to come up with a straight plan.

As he walked by, he failed to notice some of the mares that he passed by stare at him with a gaze on their faces that would seem like the ones he would give to Rarity before they let out a dreamy sigh.

Spike held his chin with one of his claws as he didn't take notice of the lightning zig zag pattern in the sky as it came closer and closer to his figure.

Spike brought his head up as he could hear a sound come closer and closer to him. He turned his head to the sky and his eyes widened in shock as a lightning pattern with two dark clouds trailing it were coming at him at high speeds. He quickly crouched into a ball as the patterns zipped past over him at the last second. He slowly uncurled from his spot and turned around to see the lightning pattern go straight up between the dark clouds as they spiraled together around the pattern.

The young dragon could only stand there and watch, along with other mares that were walking through, as the two clouds formed together at the top of the lightning pattern and watched in awe as lightning bolts could be seen shooting out of the cloud as an extremely large one shot out and zipper through the air as the pattern began to form into what appeared to be a dragon's fang. Add that with the clouds forming around it made it seem like a dark beacon of doom.

Spike was both nervous about the image, yet also impressed as it would could have only been done by experts with impressive skills. He watched as the image faded and three figures zoomed down to the ground before slowing down and landing in front of him. All three of them were pegasi and wore uniforms that looked like darker versions of Rainbow Dash's favorite team.

Two of the pegasi looked like Grey stallions, but the one in the middle seemed to be different as their mouth looked greenish in color. Spike could only wait in anticipation as the leader pulled their mask off and revealed a mare with aquamarine colored fur, a golden mane, and eyes that matched.

The mare looked down at the dragon and let a proud smile onto her face. “So, what did ya think?” asked the mare referring to the image that had already faded from the sky.

Spike finally found his voice and suddenly lost it again as he couldn’t find any words to describe the act. It was by far the most amazing pegasi act he had ever seen. Granted it was the only one he's ever seen, but still.

“I'm sorry, but what's your name?” asked Spike who was curious about this Pegasus.

The Pegasus just rubbed the back of her head with her hoof with a sheepish grin. “I guess it has been a while since we last met. Last time I saw you, you were just a hatchling. Let me introduce myself properly.” the mare just took a proud stance as though she was gonna be on the latest poster. “The names Lightning Dust, captain of the Shadowbolts!”

Author's Note

Bet you were all surprised to see a few antagonists of the others, right?