Author's Note

I am really, really, reaallly sorry about not having updated this story. Hell, I have not even gave you guys a proper reason as to why I was gone for so long, so I must apologize for that. I'll probably posting a blog or something detailing that so I wont bore you guys on the chapters I post.

Anyways, enjoy. Do expect more in the future as I will updating quite a lot in the next couple of days to try and balance off the time I was silent. Anywho, for this story at least, expect one extra chapter as well some mini-stories.

Once again, I must apologize for you guys. I know must have worried all of you with my absence and I cant just forgive myself for that.

"I don't Understand..."

"...So then I told her, 'Hey! If you don't act now, Twilight will make a fool out o herself!'. And the next thing I realized when I came back from the deepest part of her mind was that she was making a fool out of herself!" Spines roared out in laughter as she recalled the faint memory of a certain dragoness' minor embarrassment. Mike, who was sitting next to her in a soft bean bag, was wiping a tear from his eye as he laughed along with her.

"H-Ho-Holy shit! Wh-What the hell was she thinking!?!" Mike tried to ask in between pants as laughter overtook his breathing. His back was sprawled onto the soft beanbag, which enveloped his body in a green slime-like bounciness.

"I have no idea!" Spines replied, as she continued to laugh. "B-But! What made it worse was that Princess Luna joined in as well!"

After a good, long laugh, the duo had settled down, their loud uproar cooled down into mere chuckles. Mike had clenched his sides as they had began to prick him from the intense laughing, bringing a slight stinging sensation. Mike sat up as he shakily used his left hand to grab hold of one of the self-refilling glass cup. He passed one to Spines, whom gladly took it from his hands, before taking one for himself. Spines thanked him before chugging down the cold water with gusto, which Mike did as well although a bit slower.

"Thanks Mike. Needed that" Spines replied, smiling at the human.

"Hey no problem" Mike replied, returning the smile with gratitude. He placed his glass back to the metal tray where he took it from and grabbed Spines, returning it as well. Once placed back on the tray, the glass cups had refilled itself back to the brim. "Glad to have met you, although excluding the whole nightmare scenario" Mike joked, causing Spines to sneer.

"Don't care. Worth it" She replied, chuckling a little which caused Mike to look unamused. She stopped herself before grabbing her glass yet again. "Anyways, I have to say Mike....You are really bizarre, you know that?" Spine asked. Mike merely gave her a look of confusion as he did not understand what she meant. "I suppose I have an idea as to why Barb...." She spoke at first before shutting her mouth, her eyes wide opened as she had almost spilled something important.

Mike stared at her intently, his eyes half-lidded as he was beginning to suspect something was amiss. "What about Barb...?" He asked, leaning forward a little, his mouth curved downwards into a frown.

"Ummm..." Spines replied with her claw still to her mouth, her eyes darting around the room nervously. She was starting to panic a little, small bullets of sweats trailing down her forehead. "I....Uhhh....W-Well..." She stuttered, waving her hands around and making odd gestures in the air. Mike's stare only hardened even further, which caused her to act even more nervous than before. She was starting to lose this battle.

She swore to herself about not taking Barb's advice into consideration. She didn't realize that he had this sort of effect on her, but it should have been obvious since she was part of Barb in a sense.

Spines sighed, giving up hope in her struggle to contain the secret. "Alright....I'll spill the beans for ya. But only if you stop staring at me like that. It's kinda scary" She said, looking away with and making a small pouty face. Her eyes inched towards the very edge to see whether if Mike had kept his end of the bargain, finally sighing yet again when she noticed he did. "....You see....Barb, before you came, had been feeling left out in all the crazy things that keep happening in this town"

"She would often be left behind in the library, with her sister and the rest of the gang trying to fix the problem. She'll be really bored out of her mind and...." Spines stopped for a moment, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. "...Well, during those moments, she'll head off to goodness knows where, which would only land her into trouble non-stop"

Mike, with his hands clasped together and placed onto his mouth, he listened intently to what Spines had to offer. He understood what she was saying and pitied Barb. Those days must have been really shit for her, according to what Spines was saying. Maybe even more so than what Mike could think of as being boring.

"And also, due to her being a dragoness as well as being the daughter of Princess Celestia, Stallions and other males tend to stray away from her. Since they know that she is this incredibly powerful being with a divine mother, both of which are able to kick their asses into oblivion, they wouldn't want to have her as a potential partner" Spines added, which made Mike raise a brow. "You know....As a marefriend. Er.....Girlfriend? Well, you know" She tried to explain as best as she could.

Mike could only reply with a look of pure surprise. Huh....Who knew that guys wouldn't date her? Mike was certainly frowning from this, seeing as how they were probably stupid not to date her. Either way, he thought, they were missing out on how amazing she was.

"Especially during Hearts and Hooves Day. Oh man, that day is absolute Tartarus for her. I mean, you can probably guess how pissed she might be. Being single during that day and on how no male would want to date her. She fucking flipped her shit once and nearly broke one of the houses" Spines informed, chuckling a little.

"What the heck?" Mike replied, seemingly stunned from that portion of information. "Are you serious?"

"Yea but ever since you came, as far from what she told me, things just turned better" Spines admitted, shrugging her shoulders. It was as if she was unsure of the information, but Mike didn't pry further. "Believe it or not, she was expecting the same old shit when she was going on an errand, the same day when she met you. She was trying her best to be optimistic and, lo and behold! Something interesting happened!" She chuckled with Mike making an amused look.

"She couldn't be any more happier these days.....Well, except on a few occasions where....Well you know the details. The whole chase and the current misfortune" Spine ushered a gesture with her hands, which Mike nodded in reply. Thankfully, she didn't have to explain, otherwise it would have been awkward on her end. "She keeps on repeating to me over and over on how much fun it is to be with you. And quite frankly, I can see why that's so" She smiled warmly as she lowered her head a little, leaning forward.

"Ever since you came, there has been a lot of chained events that happened right after another where Barb herself is included. There have been talks behind your back around town about how you came into existence, and all those ponies keep on targeting Barb for questions or answers, seeing as how close you two currently are" She stopped for a moment, grabbing her glass cup and taking a small sip.

Spines breathed a sigh of relief, happy to take a small breather after what she said. She placed down her glass back on the tray and had continued with her explanation. "Not only that, you are by far the first guy who is genuinely nice to her, and not nice to her on a whim. Others respect her, but honestly, you're her actual first guy friend"

"Hell, in a span of a few days, she already considered you to be her closest friend. She admires how nice you are to ponies, as well as to her family members friends and herself. She finds herself generally to be in a better mood whenever you're around her. She also finds it cute whenever you're being teased slightly, confused or when placed in an embarrassing scenario" Spines grinned, making Mike blush when she had said the last sentence. She laughed heartily when she saw his flustered face, his head looking away in embarrassment.

"You see Mike, she cherishes every moment spent with you. She enjoys being with you. She..." She stopped halfway before shaking her head. "...Screw it. She likes you to a huge extent. Barb finds you attractive, especially in that suit you wore, looking all suave. She finds your smile charming at all times where at times she'll try to think of something just to make you smile!" Spines exclaimed, waving her hands comically in the air to further prove to Mike about her point.

"She is practically in lo-!" She said before being interrupted when the whole floor shook, causing both her and Mike to be caught off guard and lose their balance. "What the heck?!" She yelled, looking around.

The whole interior of the place was crumbling bit by bit, with darkness seeping in like a thick fog, blanketing those areas that had crumbled to dust. Mike, after finding his bearings, stood up and looked around the room in a state of panic. He was trying his best to fix the damages but his efforts were only made in vain as nothing he did seemed to be working. He turned his head and faced Spines, "What the hell is happening around here?! I thought I was in charge?!" He yelled through the loud sound of the tremors pummeling the room.

Spines looked around for a moment before realization had struck her like a freight train. She laughed out loud, which only made Mike worry even more. She calmed herself down before turning her head towards Mike, a grin plastered on her face like a cheshire cat. "What's happening?!" She exclaimed loud enough for Mike to hear. "You're finally waking up dipshit!!" She exclaimed yet again. She laughed yet again as she admired the room slowly being obliterated.

"Waking up?!" Mike asked desperately. "I don't understand....What do you-?!" He stopped his sentence halfway before finally remembering the events that happened. With all the talk and the chasing that Spines had to offer, he had almost forgotten about the predicament he was in in the real world. His stance loosened as he placed a hand on his hip, a grin now forming on his face. He snickered at first, before it grew in strength, finally stopping at him laughing loudly. Spines seemed to be happy with the turn of events and had laughed along with him.

"Welp, that's all from me then!" She exclaimed, her grin never faltering. "Who know's when we'll meet again! But hopefully it's on better terms!" She chuckled.

"Yea yea, I get it!" Mike rolled his eyes, placing a hand out towards her. "I guess I'll see you....God knows when, then!" He joked as Spines grabbed his hand, giving it a firm shake.

"Yep! And don't forget about what I said, you hear?!" She asked, knocking him lightly on the head with her fist. "I swear, if you fucking hurt Barb, you're dead to me!" She exclaimed with a little seriousness in her voice. Mike nodded his head, giving her a thumbs up and a grin of his own.

"Wouldn't think of it!"

After their short exchange of goodbyes, they waited patiently, watching how the darkness slowly eroded the floor and the carpet on it. All other furniture in the room was already gone, or was still being engulfed by the darkness. Eventually, the thick blackness was covering their feet and was slowly creeping up their legs. Mike took one last look towards Spines, who smiled warmly, waving a hand goodbye as the darkness had overwhelmed her first. He took one last deep breath and waited for his vision to grow dark, smiling peacefully as he didn't struggle against it.

All that was left of the illusory room was two glass cups floating in the dark abyss, still filled with water to the brim.

Mike woke up from his eventful slumber, slowly opening his eyes with extreme difficulty. He blinked a few times to readjust his line of sight, finding the whole....whiteness of whatever he was staring to be very blurry. He tried to recall what happened prior to....wherever he was at the moment, but was only immediately rewarded with a stinging pain directed to his head. He gritted his teeth in pain, finding it to be unbearable at the moment.

After a short while, the stinging pain had subsided, giving Mike some well needed relief. Perhaps if he were to look around other than this white blank in front of, then he would be able to recall what might have happened. Thinking this to be a good idea, he turned his head around and looked at his surroundings thoroughly.

It had seemed as thought he was in a room, a small one at that. The walls were painted white with a nearby wooden shelf being the only thing other than white in color. He seemed to be on a bed, a comfy one with fluffy pillows, with a table right beside it. On it was a vase with a bouquet of flowers, many of which he didn't recognize. A window was nearby, which provided the room with sunlight, although the curtains were dimming it by a smidge.

From the looks of things, he seemed to be in some sort of sick bay. If not, a hospital. He looked down at his body, finding his arms above the blanket he was wearing to be wrapped in some sort of cloth. He tried to move his arms around only to find it extremely difficult to do so. Perhaps he was in a hospital. He seemed to be injured and his body felt really weak, so it must have been. But what for?

As he was pondering on this question, he felt his chest feel heavier with the blanket he was wearing to have slightly moved. This made his eyes shrink. Did....he suddenly gain a sentient tumor? Hopefully not, otherwise that would suck really badly. Nobody would want a tumor on or in their body, especially if it were to gain sentience. So deciding against the idea, he wanted to find out for himself. Thus, with the amount of strength he had at the moment, he used his arms and lowered the blanket. What he found had caused him to stop breathing for a moment.

There on his chest, lying peacefully, was a female dragon with purple scales and green hair, fully clothed like a human. She was currently asleep, using his chest as sort of a pillow as her breathing was relatively calm and content. Mike's head started to hurt a moment later after he saw her sleeping form. All the memories he had were starting to come back to him all at once, causing him to clutch his head in pain.

The wolves made of oak wood.

.....

The blood that he spilled.

.....

Scent of something being burnt.

.....

Green flames spewing forth.

.....

Scarlet eyes full of rage.

He remembered it all, which caused Mike to take in deep breaths to try and regulate his heart. He was shaking at the moment, unable to comprehend everything that happened. But even so, he was able to calm down when he remembered the very reason why he fought those wolves in the first place. Her serene face was enough to send him back to normal.

"Barb...." Mike softly spoke, using one of his hands to brush away a few of her messy green hair, admiring her sleeping face with a smile. He was glad everything managed to turn out alright, but he knew that she was probably worried sick about him. After all, he was special to her.

"She cherishes every moment with you. She enjoys being with you...."

His mind recalled of the exchange he had with Spines. He smiled warmly, stroking one of Barb's exposed cheeks softly, causing the dragoness to squirm a little under his touch, smiling a little. Mike chuckled a little, thinking how cute Barb's expression was and the sound she was making, almost as if she was purring under his touch.

Mike looked up and had wondered for a moment about what Spines might have wanted to say before she got rudely interrupted. He focused his eyes on one spot in the room, focusing intently on the thought. However, he gave up and didn't continue further. He would have to try and figure it out at a later point of time. Maybe even get some advice from the others, but he doubted that would end up well.

As he continued to stroke Barb's cheek softly, he casted his gaze out the window, finding the beautiful blue sky staring back at him. He wondered what the future held for him and whether or not it would go badly or not. But either way, he thought, as long as he were to stick by Barb's side as she is to him, perhaps any outcome would be alright.

After all, he had a promise to make.