Of Feathers And Scales

Chapters

Chapter 1: New Body, New Challenges
Chapter 2: Practice Makes Perfect
Chapter 3: Building Stratocumulus
Chapter 4: A Night To Remember
Chapter 5: The Origins Of Loyalty
Chapter 6: Nightmares
Chapter 7: Lonely Day

Chapter 1: New Body, New Challenges

Golden rays pierced the library windows; washing over most of Spike’s bedroom. His eyes were shielded from the sun by his blanket in a futile attempt to prolong his sleep cycle. Having long outgrown the confines of his own bed, his lower legs dangled limply over the edge. After numerous attempts to return to his slumber, Spike eventually conceded that he had no choice but to get up. Through much effort, he got to his feet. Something was wrong. ‘Was my bed always that small?’ He thought, shuffling to take a step forward. Upon his foot leaving the ground, Spike found himself falling towards it. A quick claw digging into the soft wood on the edge of his dresser being the only thing keeping him from face planting. It was as if a lead weight was placed in the center of his back with the exclusive intention of causing him to lose balance.

Pulling himself back up, Spike looked to the mirror. What he saw caused him to yelp in a rather loud and deep voice, stumbling backwards. A conveniently placed, surprisingly slippery, hard cover book literally caused his downfall. The purple dragon ingloriously fell backwards, hitting his head against the wall and slumping to the floor. Dazed, he sat there motionless.

A muffled shuffling of hoofs emanated from behind Spike’s bedroom door. “Spike? Are you awake?” Twilight Sparkles’ voice could be heard through the thin wood. With a soft creak, the door inched open.

Spike’s eyes went wide, “NO! Don’t come in! Some thing's happened. I’m... different.” He tried to hide himself in the shadows as Twilight opened the door; covering his face with a claw. He heard the soft tap of the door hitting the adjacent wall, signifying that the door had opened completely. He waited there for the inevitable scream. After a few seconds of silence, Spike parted a pair of his fingers. Cautiously, he peered out towards the purple mare who’s face he expected to have a horrified look. It caught him off guard when Twilight embraced him in a tight hug.

“Oh Spike, you’re going to make such an amazing adult dragon.” She spoke softly.

The last few minutes replayed inside the dragon’s head; his brain trying to decipher what had happened and even more importantly, why. “Wha-what? Twilight, I’m going to need an explanation. Why am I so big?”

Twilight relaxed her vice-like hold on him. She looked into his eyes, “Do you remember going to bed?”

“After engorging myself on gems and hay fries, yes. I felt like I was about to burst.”

She chuckled at his remark, “Yes, well... that was about twenty days ago.”

“WHAT?! Why didn’t you wake me? How did you take care of the library?” He paused abruptly. Sighing, he spoke in an accusing tone, “There are piles of books everywhere aren't there?” A suspicious eyebrow stretched up Spike’s forehead.

“Mountains of them. They could keep you occupied into the next month, easily. I would have tried to be more organised and put them away, had I known that it would take three weeks to complete your growth cycle.” Spike sighed and slumped back against the wall; which extracted another giggle from Twilight, who leaned in to embrace the demotivated dragon for the second time.

He shifted in his spot, only now realising everything his close friend had said. “Wait... what was that about a growth cycle?”

“It’s what your particular species of dragon does when they... come of age. You pretty much guts yourself and eat almost your own body weight in whatever you can find. You then go into something like a food coma. Over this time, your body enters this hyper-metabolic state and grows incredibly quickly.” Twilight backed up and studied the dragon as a whole. “Stand up and step out into the light will you?” She asked, holding a hoof to her chin.

Spike obliged and got to his feet. Looking down, he wondered why he hadn’t noticed the change to his legs -or more specifically, his knees- before. In what must have been a very awkward transition while sleeping, his knee caps had become inverted. A strange feeling of self destruction washed over him.

“... Fantastic. Now I need to learn how to walk again. I don’t even see a point to having backwards knees,” He sighed.

“It’s so you have the option of walking on all fours. You’ll find you can sprint much faster that way since your arms and legs are the same length now,” Twilight smiled reassuringly.

Spike took a tentative step forward, albeit feeling backwards. His foot, (or rather, paw, as it were, considering it was flat and had three thick ‘toes’) made contact with the floor.

He started to feel a little more comfortable in his new body. After a few seconds, he had completely regained his sense of balance. It would take some getting used to however; added weight some places; decreased or non-existent weight elsewhere. Slowly, the steps became easier and more controlled. With a sigh of relief, he came to a stop when he felt the warmth of the sun’s rays on his scales. Feeling his muscles aloof and slow to respond, he stretched out his limbs and let out a mighty yawn.

SHRA-HOOOMF!

Twilight made a sound reminiscent of a gasp but with shreds of a scream. Her pupils had shrunken to the size of pin pricks. Her facial expression was a mixture of shock and awe.

Seeing his friend’s sudden startled gaze, Spike took a step forward. “Twi? What is it?”

She mumbled incoherently; gesturing for him to look into a large mirror to her right. He braced himself for what could quite possibly turn out to be the biggest shock of his day. Slowly... silently... he began to see what he had grown into over the past three weeks. His head had become elongated; a thin muzzle narrowed to a point. His spinal scales seemed much smaller now, compared to the size of the rest of his body. A massive python of a tail protruded from behind him. It seemed to float on the air, unaffected by it’s own weight. His neck was far longer now, as well as the region just below his chest. Spike couldn’t help but grin as he positioned himself with a better view of his slender yet muscular arms, legs and chest.

“Whoa, was I working out in my sleep or what?” He flexed his muscles in the mirror with a mischievous smile.

“Now, now Spike, you were supposed to get a big body, not a big head.” Twilight retorted to her friends playful boasting. She chuckled lightly before continuing; “You still haven't noticed them.”

He scratched his head in confusion; moving to turn side on. “Noticed wha- OH DEAR CELESTIA.” If his eyes could have gone any wider, they would have been a sea of the black of his pupils. A pair of extra appendages extended from the middle of his back. “Wings? I can fly now? That is the coolest thing ever!” The pessimistic part of his mind asserted it’s presence. “They’re... a little big, aren't they? Oh no, I don’t even know how to control them yet! They’ll just get in the way of my work!”

It was only as he approached Twilight when Spike realised that he was now noticeably taller than her while on two legs. In terms of actual dimensions, he was probably only slightly bigger than her.

“Don’t worry about the little details. I’m sure any and all of these problems can be worked out in good time.” Twilight cooed, “Now come downstairs, you’re bound to be hungry. We’ll get you something to eat.”

Spike’s stomach roared to life at the mere mention of food. The low rumble made both of them look down, “I guess that answers that.” She concluded, trotting out the open door. He moved to follow her but was soon stopped at the door frame. His wings were fully extended and had gone completely rigid. He sighed as he backed up and moved out the door sideways.

Despite what Twilight had said, the library wasn’t in that bad of order. A few randomised stacks of books lounged around the ground floor but nothing her assistant couldn’t handle.

Walking down the stairs, Spike found his natural balance. He could now walk as easily as in his previous form. Without the need to concentrate on each step, his attention wandered. An idea came to mind that, although slightly dangerous, would certainly make for a very entertaining party trick. He had read about the strange properties of dragon saliva, as well as the supernatural heat resistance of his scales. With a few strokes of his now long and thin tongue, he drew out his name invisibly on his forearm. Now came the risky part. With great control, a small green flame silently licked out from his lips, engulfing a large portion of his arm as he emptied his lungs of breath. The flames danced around his skin but did not burn it; demonstrating the incredible amount of heat resistance in dragon scales. After a few seconds, the flame dissipated into the atmosphere of the library. The thin layer of saliva Spike had applied to his arm now glowed a bright fluorescent red, spelling out his name. It was only slightly warm, having converted most of the heat energy to light.

He smirked at his achievement. It worked perfectly. He walked through the doorway into the kitchen; wiping the evidence of his risky action from his arm. Upon seeing the tall figure enter, Twilight smiled brightly while placing Spike’s meal on the table. “Thanks Twi, looks great.” He said as he sat down.

Spike surprised even himself with how quickly he devoured his meal. He sat back, satisfied. “You must have been hungry.” Twilight smiled at the dragon. After a few long moments gazing at the now quickly maturing Spike, her eyes glazed over and she felt a pull at her bottom lip. She tried to blink away the moisture gathering in the corners of her eyes; looking away.

Spike noticed the beads of water cascading down his friend’s cheeks. “Twilight? What’s wrong?” No sooner had he stood up than his only motherly figure in his life had charged furiously at him. Her head was down and her eyes were closed; erupting in more tears. He barely had time to raise his hands as Twilight leaped up and tackled him to the floor. With almost supernatural force, she locked her legs around the dragon and embraced him tightly. This instance could have easily been the tightest she had ever hugged any pony, much less a dragon.

Unlike the two previous times, this hug was reciprocated. Spike tried to embrace her just as tightly but felt weak. The feeling was probably due to the fact that he was having the very air squeezed out of him by the bone-crushing force that was an upset Twilight Sparkle. He was pinned, with absolutely no option of tapping out.

Her eyes were screwed shut, trying desperately to hold back heaving sobs. She relaxed her grip and suddenly Spike could breathe again. With one swift movement, she thrust his muzzle to her chest. His face was buried deep into her lavender coat. She arched her neck over his and nuzzled his spinal scales. They both held that positioned for minutes; seemingly frozen in time.

Twilight finally broke the ensuing silence. “No matter how old you get, you’ll always be my little dragon assistant.” She kissed him tenderly on the forehead.

Spike smiled, “Yeah, your little dragon that can do this...” The lavender mare let out a giggling squeal as he placed one arm over her lower back and the other behind her haunches and lifted her into the air. His head was still held her chest; Twilight using it as support as he started spinning around the room rhythmically.

Once back on solid ground, Twilight wiped away the moisture that had gathered on the sides of her face. “I’m sorry for getting all sentimental and motherly on you Spike, but I guess you’ve always been like a... son, to me.” Her face flushed.

“Aw Twilight, there’s no need to be sorry. You raised me from my egg. You’re the closest thing to a mother I’ve ever had; in fact I think I remember going through a stage where I started calling you ‘mommy’.”

“Oh, you were so adorable back then!” Twilight grinned as she thought about those days. Spike had indeed started calling her ‘mommy’. She remembered the first time it occurred vividly.

It had been a day just like any other at their home in Canterlot. Despite only pronouncing a single word on occasion and only in special circumstances a complete and coherent sentence, Spike had shown that he could quite confidently stack books in alphabetical order according to their title or author. There were even times when the speechless baby dragon would help Twilight find a book she had misplaced. That night, she had fed Spike and put him to bed. She had turned away from his bed to blow out the candle as she spoke, “Good night, Spike.”

Then it had happened. Just before she had left the room, she was stopped as the dragon spoke up. “Good night... Mommy.” Her heart, she was convinced, had melted like butter under a summer day’s sun. She had stood there silently for minutes. If it were possible to paint a picture of glee, it would have bared a remarkable resemblance to Twilight’s features. The only difference being that her face looked much, much happier. Tears of joy had started welling in her eyes and the baby dragon had visibly fallen asleep by the time she continued out the door.

Spike had continued to call Twilight ‘Mommy’. She never could tell him not to call her by that name. She didn’t know why, but it somehow felt... right. She was almost disappointed when he had stopped it and started calling her ‘Twilight’ or ‘Twi’. No objections could be made though, after all, she wasn’t actually his mother. Regardless, an unspoken understanding had soon been formed. The relationship of the two would be no different to the relationship of a mother and son.

The memory of Spike first calling her ‘Mommy’ had always comforted Twilight as she got older. Whenever she was going through a rough spot, she could remember that, even lacking any blood relation to them, she meant the entire world to someone.

Twilight snapped out of her reminiscing when Spike spoke up, “Alright, enough of the mushy stuff. What is happening today? I should probably get started on those piles of books.” He turned toward the doorway.

She stopped him, “Actually Spike, every one's been really excited about seeing you after you woke up. Wouldn’t you like to go out and show off your new... form?”

His face fell as he let out a long sigh, “I’d like to, but I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“It took every pony a while to get used to a baby dragon living amongst them. Even a few weeks ago I still got some suspicious looks now and then... Now... now I’m even bigger and more threatening. I’m not too keen on getting run out of town by an angry mob.”

Twilight took a step forward. “Spike... No one’s going to run you out of town. I promise. They’ll just have to get used to the new you.” She made her way to the door, “It’s a beautiful morning, come on. I want to go to Applejack’s to get more of those wonderful red-delicious apples.”

Spike forced a smile, “Okay.”

The dragon squinted in the bright daylight of the morning. Large groups of ponies were already hustling down the street; continuing their daily routine. He winced at the feeling of dozens of nervous gazes settled upon him. Fresh glances would drill into his back every time he looked the other way. Twilight didn’t seem to take any notice as she led Spike through the streets. He tried to keep up, but felt himself lagging behind. His thoughts drifted to the new appendages on his back. He didn’t have much feeling in them. Twilight had explained to him that the feeling would become more sensitive and easier to control over the next 24 hours. While very limited, he had some movement of them at least. He flexed them as much as he could.

Without warning, the road on which they travelled was enveloped by the far-stretching plantations of apple trees that was Sweet Apple Acres. The pair casually rounded an intersection onto a smaller road that lead to the Apple family farmhouse. As they got closer, they started to hear a pair of voices. One was a low, mare’s voice with a thick southern accent; the other was higher, missing the accent and very tomcoltish. They were arguing about something. This was no surprise when it came to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. At any one point in time, they would be arguing over who won this or that.

The echos drew nearer, but from no particular direction.

Both voices fell suddenly quiet.

“WHOA!” They both gasped in unison. Spike spun around to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash looking up at him in awe. Dash immediately took to the air; circling him slowly. Applejack simply continued to stare wide-eyed at him; her mouth agape.

Her expression turned to one of nostalgic happiness, if one were ever possible. She chuckled, “Well, well, it looks like Ah haven't see ya in years. Last time Ah remember, you were only this tall.” She gestured an arbitrary height with her hoof. “Stop growin’. Yer makin’ me feel old, Spike.”

Dash had started poking Spike’s new wings with a smug look on her face. “...Wings.” She beamed. “I didn’t know you would be able to fly.” Floating up a little higher, she teased, “Come on! Show me what you got!”

Spike shook his head. “I only just found these this morning, Dash. They’ll be numb for a little while. Besides... I wouldn’t know the first thing about flying.”

“Well, we’ll just have to change that won’t we?” The cyan mare struck a triumphant pose and puffed out her chest. “Lucky for you, you’ve got the best flier in Equestria as a coach! A bit of training from me and you’ll be able to fly like a pro!”

“That will have to wait a day or two, Dash.” Twilight interjected. “Like he said, the nerves inside his wings are still yet to fully develop. It will be hard to control or feel anything from them for a while.”

“Fair enough.” Dash shrugged. “Come and see me when you’re ready.”

“I will.” Spike replied. Predictably, Twilight started trotting off with Applejack to get the apples she had been talking about earlier. He was temporarily left alone with his thoughts.

‘Huh. This is going to be interesting. Probably won’t end too well, though’.

Author's Note:

First of all, why am I writing this? The answer? Because I think it will be a challenge to create an interesting relationship between two characters who never really interact in the show itself. Interesting concept, no? I do want to make it clear that this is the main reason I am writing this. I simply want to push myself out of my comfort zone as a writer. I want a challenge, gosh darn it and I will have one.

Looking back on it now, this wasn't as well written as I would have liked it to be, but HEY no one's been complaining... M. Bison seems to appreciate my work!

Chapter 2: Practice Makes Perfect

“Come on, Spike. All you have to do is flap your wings.” Rainbow Dash called from above.

Spike’s expression turned to one of annoyance, “Easy for you to say, Dash. You’ve had wings all your life. You’re familiar with them. Do you know what it’s like to suddenly have two extra limbs?” He retorted; to which Dash just huffed. He flexed his wings once again. Slowly, they fanned out. He lifted them up and braced himself for whatever may happen in the next few seconds. Resuming what he found to be the most comfortable take-off position, Spike aligned the length of his body parallel with the ground. The purple wings descended powerfully. The resulting wave of pressure collided with the surrounding shrubbery. The sound of rustling leaves and twigs filled the air as his wings ascended once more.

Another thrust and Spike could feel his pressure on the ground decrease sharply. By the third thrust, his limbs were no longer in need of touching the ground and supporting him. It took him longer than he would ever admit to realise he was flying; or at least, hovering, just above the ground. His wings seemed to continue beating without the need for conscious thought as he travelled onwards and upwards.

Rainbow Dash grinned at the now airborne dragon. “Awesome! We have lift-off!” She cheered, “See if you can make it over here.”

Spike’s eyes locked on his target; the cyan Pegasus with the wild, multi-coloured mane. His mid-section rose and fell with each flap of his wings as he picked up forward speed. He curled his limbs to be flush against his body. He focused on the control of his wings. The air felt thick; each beat feeling as if they were pushing through syrup. Dash’s mouth appeared to be moving but any voice would have been hopelessly drowned as he attempted to block out any external distractions. She was almost invisible against the backdrop of the sky. Her multi-coloured mane and tail waved lazily in the breeze. She was smiling; twin pools of rose red absorbing his being.

Spike lost focus. His lapse in concentration caused his gaze to slip downwards. He almost screamed in surprise at the realisation of just how high he had flown. The dragon was at least fifty metres in the air. As his confidence fell, naturally, his body followed suit. His wings instinctually snapped to his sides as he tumbled from the sky. Horizons flew past his vision in a blur of light blue and olive green. Anticipating a rather hard landing, he braced himself. It was incredibly fortunate that the pair had chosen to start practicing over a wheat field.

The streak of purple and green never felt the impact. Instead, he felt the stinging shock to his nervous system that accompanied such a collision mere seconds after it. The momentum caused the dragon to roll across the tall stalks of wheat several times before coming to a rest on his back. His limbs were splayed out in random directions. A screen of dust started to form around the impact site, encasing it in a thick shroud.

The entire world was pitch black. Clearly, something was amiss. There was no feeling; just pain. A muffled voice called over the darkness. His vision slowly returned but it was of little use at first. It was far too blurry to distinguish one shape from another. The voice was still shouting something unintelligible. He could only assume it was Dash. Spike shook his head, trying to shrug off the effects of the fall. After blinking a few times, complete clarity returned to his vision. Dash was standing over him with a concerned look on her face.

Disregarding any potential spinal damage, the cyan mare placed her hooves on the dragon’s shoulders and shook him vigorously. “Spike! Are you alright?” She called loudly.

Spike’s eyes stared off into space while he mumbled hazily, “You... wings... sky... fall... ground... ow...” His voice trailed off at the end.

Dash frowned, “Uhh... You landed on your head, didn’t you?”

He blinked; his gaze drifting as if he was watching a tennis match in slow motion. Green eyes met Dash’s own with a blank expression. “Ahuh,” He managed to utter.

Scanning the mass of scales, Dash failed to find any significant external damage. A few skin-deep scrapes scalded the arm he had used to shield his face but were only skin deep and drew no blood. “Anything broken?” She asked hesitantly.

Spike groggily sat up and looked at her, his eyes no longer boggling. “I doubt it. Dragon bones are as strong as their mass in steel... Or was it Titanium?” Only just seeming to notice the damage to his arms, he added, “Flesh however, is a different story.”

A veritable symphony of cracks and pops echoed from Spike’s spine as he stretched out on the dirt. “Ugh,” He stood up and stretched his wings. “This is really going nowhere,” pausing, he let out a long sigh before continuing. “Maybe these flight lessons weren’t such a good idea. I appreciate your help, Dash, I really do but maybe I’m just not ready for flight.” His face was rife with disappointment.

“You’re just going to give up?” Dash raised her brow in a genuine look of surprise.

“No, I... I...”

“A couple of little slip-ups and suddenly there’s no point in continuing. Is that how it is?” Rainbow Dash’s face twisted into a scowl.

Realising mere words could not help him, Spike relented. “...Yes.” He looked shamefacedly at the ground.

A sky blue hoof planted itself firmly into the centre of Spike’s chest as she leaned in close to his face and whispered harshly, “You’re not giving up while I’m your coach, kid.” She punctuated the sentence with a not-so-gentle clop to the side of his head. The tension in the atmosphere noticeably dropped as Dash moved away. She tapped a hoof on her chin in thought. “You may have a point though, Spike.”

“With what?”

“Your body might not be ready to fly just yet,” her face suddenly lit up, “but that just means we’ll have to try less conventional ways of training.”

Spike looked at the now excited mare with suspicion. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

“You’ll just have to wait until we get to AJ’s, won’t you?” She said excitedly. With a single stroke of her wings, Dash was airborne. “Race you there! Onetwothree GO!” In burst of light of colourful brilliance, the Pegasus disappeared.

Spike blinked several times, not completely understanding what had just happened. As quickly as she had left, Dash was back, with an embarrassed look on her face. “Heheh, I... I guess I got a little carried away and forgot you couldn’t fly yet.” Failing to see any logical reason behind her actions, he just shrugged nonchalantly. “How fast can you sprint?” She made her way a little closer.

“I don’t really know, I haven't tried.”

Dash smirked, “Down on all fours, kid. We’ll make it your warm up; as fast as you can, to Sweet Apple Acres. Go.”

Celestia’s sun hung high in the sky, overlooking the vast apple tree plantations that were Sweet Apple Acres. Had the nuclear giant possessed the blessing of vision, it would have beheld a most unusual sight. Amidst the sea of green and brown, a blur of purple snaked quickly through the groves. A speck of blue lead a few lengths ahead.

With each lengthy stride, the purple mass increased it’s speed. The soft ground beneath it crunched and was indented with a small crater at each footfall.

Spike found his body naturally shaping itself into a missile. His pointed snout sliced through the air with great ease. The air would flow around midsection and over his wings, flush against his side to avoid creating air pockets. His long, pointed tail was designed with the most important task: to rejoin the airflow behind him. Had his profile ended in a flat rump, he would have trailed a turbulent slipstream. The wave of negative pressure would slow down his movement significantly. With his tail pointed straight though, he was almost frictionless moving through the atmosphere.

His thoughts turned to the pony soaring above him. She was far less aerodynamic than he was, yet she could exceed speeds he could currently only dream of. Her short and flat muzzle would meet with enough resistance as it was, not to mention her flank. Her tail would work with the same principal as his, but not nearly as efficient. He had to respect her; she let no disadvantage hinder her ability.

Spike swerved sharply to avoid a post in the pathway that seemed to come from nowhere; his feet sliding involuntarily. He had lost a substantial amount of speed in order to avoid a head-on collision. ‘Ugh!’ His internal monologue erupted, ‘How does she do that?’

Spike had no time to consider the question as he skidded to a halt. Dash had landed next to a large shed and was waiting impatiently for him.

She smiled slyly before whispering just loud enough for the dragon to hear, “Let the games begin.”

It was intended to be a harness, but it felt more like a noose. Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Big Macintosh all took hold of the same rope and attempted to hoist Spike into the air. The rope lead up and around one of the rafters in the shed’s high ceiling then back down and around his torso. A strong pull at the rope could be felt, but only enough to make him stand on the tips of his claws. All three of the supposedly strong ponies were groaning in effort. Sweat began to bead on the trio’s brows as they increased their efforts. Painfully slowly, he started to rise.

Finally, when Spike was far enough off the ground, the rope was fastened to a large hay bale.

“Hoooweeee Spike, ya’ll are a lot heavier than ya look.” Applejack panted, wiping her face with a hoof.

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh managed to squeeze out in concurrence.

Spike looked away in embarrassment. The momentum of the movement of his head immediately transferred to the rest of his body and he started to pivot clockwise on the end of the rope.

The farmer pony continued. “Well, Ah guess Ah’ll see ya’ll later. Me an’ Big Macintosh have a tonne’a work ta do.”

“That’s okay, AJ. See ya!” Dash smiled as she waved the other pony off. She quickly turned her attention back to the dragon suspended above the ground. He was turning on the rope, against his will. She lifted up her hoof and brought his slow movement to a halt. “Better?”

Spike craned his neck to look back at her, sporting an unhappy glare. “Thanks. You still haven’t told me what the point of this is.”

To this, Dash lifted her head and spoke proudly, “We’re going to make sure you have the proper flying posture.” She scanned Spike’s posture briefly before instructing, “Extend your wings, keep your spine straight and face forward...”

Spike felt no problem with his original posture for flying but knew better than to question the pony’s knowledge of aeronautics. For every adjustment he had made, Dash seemed to notice several other things wrong. As time progressed, his position began to grow uncomfortable.

“Hold it there!” Dash commanded, unfurling her wings. She stood in front of the dragon, facing the same direction. Her wings started their natural and rehearsed motion, gently at first, then progressing to a stronger variant. She held herself in position, doing her best to simulate the wind sheer of flight.

The feeling on Spike’s end, he found interesting. He could feel the air passing over every inch of his body. The appendages protruding from his spinal column caught the breeze and started exerting a light upward pressure. Remembering another correction Rainbow Dash had made, he pulled his limbs in closer to his body. ‘I could get used to this feeling.’ He thought. Was this what gliding felt like? If so, he couldn’t wait to try it for real.

A sigh of disappointment whisked out of Spike’s throat when he realised it was over.

“So, did you feel it?” He snapped up at the sound of Dash’s voice.

“Uh... Feel what?” Spike frowned.

“You know! The feeling of flying. Being suspended in the air, the wind in your mane -uh, in your case, scales- you know, freedom!”

“I guess... It did feel really good, but I think it’ll be better when I actually get to fly.”

“Okay, I think it’s time for some wing exercise.” Dash beamed as she untied her student from the harness.

Spike smiled to himself, realising the humour in the situation as the cyan mare worked meticulously underneath his belly. He shuffled his hind legs, trying to give her more room to do her job. Dash attempted to say something, though her voice was muffled by the hard, pink object in her mouth.

“Gee Rainbow, couldn’t make this scene any more awkward, could you?” Spike rolled his eyes, remembering her insistence that this was the best course of action.

There was a soft click as she secured the second last hoofcuff. She took the last pink ring out of her mouth and began securing the last leg to the ground. “Hush up. We don’t need you taking off accidentally when you have made it abundantly clear you can’t control your own flight yet.” She grinned deviously. “Besides, some stallions would give anything to be in this situation.”

Ignoring her comment, Spike let slip the other question dancing on his psyche. “Just why do you just happen to have four brightly coloured hoofcuffs just lying around, anyway?”

“I... Uh... That’s not important.” Had he been looking, Spike would have seen something of a rarity; Dash’s face flushed a deep shade of crimson. She positioned herself a couple of metres directly behind the dragon and shouted for him to start flapping his wings. She suddenly took on a very serious demeaner. “Five minutes, all you got, go.”

Unfortunately for Spike, everything sounds easier in theory. At the start, there was no problem, beating his wings with little effort and great strength. As time wore on, however, that order would be reversed. The muscles in his wings ached at each contraction. If anything, it took more energy to perform this exercise on the ground. The air was confined by the barrier beneath him. That meant his wings met an already compressed cushion of air on each down-beat. Five minutes becomes an eternity when exerting strong physical effort.

Everything not tied down securely behind Spike was waving wildly in the gale. Apple trees erupted in a chorus of chatters within the branches. Even some apples could be seen falling to the ground. Baskets full of fruit were knocked over; splaying their contents in random directions.

That was it. Whether it had been five minutes or not, Spike didn’t care. The ground looked unusually comfortable as he collapsed in a tired heap. He stared ahead at the soil that moved slightly and dispersed a small amount of dust every time he

took another heaving lung full of oxygen.

A firm pat on the shoulder broke his temporary trance. Rainbow Dash leaned in close to Spike’s ear. “You did good, kid.” She consoled. The cuffs around his wrists and ankles were quickly removed. “Same time on Thursday?”

“Yeah... can’t wait.”

Author’s Note:

I apologise for this terrible, terrible chapter. I am really quite disappointed in it, myself. I do have a feeling this will be the one that could lose me some readers. Oh well, it had to be done. At least now I can get to the good stuff...

Chapter 3: Building Stratocumulus

The sky; an essential limitless expanse dotted with soft clouds. The world of the third dimension was largely unoccupied; a wandering pegasus would have next to no chance of encountering another sentient flying creature. The sun bled bright orange into the surrounding blue pallet as it kissed the horizon.

A dark violet dragon soared across the sky; his wings beating powerfully. A sliver of prismatic light weaved through the air behind, mimicking his path. He flew erratically; trying to evade the relentless pursuer. Every manoeuvre made by the dragon was matched perfectly by the sliver. A steep bank left would be matched by an even steeper bank. Any angle of ascent or descent would only serve to bring the two closer. Their path was becoming more daring with each passing second as the chase got more desperate. The risk involved with entering small, patchy clouds at those speeds so close to dangerously tall mountains with sheer rock faces was completely forgotten.

Spike knew he hadn’t long before Rainbow Dash caught up with him. There was no way he could possibly lose her with the same techniques he had used before. He needed something different. Looking around, he saw a freshly formed band of very low stratocumulus clouds; bingo. As he turned towards his goal, Rainbow gained ground on him slightly by turning more sharply than him. Of course, every time she did this, she ran the risk of losing ground if he suddenly decided to turn sharply back to his original heading. This course of events was unlikely, though, given the dragon’s weight. The inertia would be simply too great.

The muscles inside Spike’s wings burnt with exhaustion as he pushed his way through the air. The clouds were much closer, though the pegasus trailing behind didn’t seem to notice. She pushed forward with almost frightening ferocity. He didn't dare look back from then on, lest he be put off with one of the mare’s “You-havn’t-won-as-long-as-I’m-still-breathing” looks he knew all too well. Neither of them slowed down, even slightly, as they plunged into the thick cloud formation.

Flying blind. It is one of the most difficult tasks any flying creature can attempt. It is impossible to gauge position or speed without some sort of instrument.

Dash stiffened her wings and bled off speed to the resistance of the atmosphere; noticing she had completely lost sight of her target in a thick wash of white. Her ears perked up, to hear only the flapping of her own wings (though strangely louder than usual). That wasn’t right. The sound of his movement would be amplified by the higher pressure; yet there was no sound whatsoever. She flew upwards, and poked her head out into the afternoon sunlight. Concerned by the dragon’s sudden disappearance, she called. “Spike! Where’d you go?”

“I’m right here.”

With her heart rate exploding into something comparable to a techno-dance rythm; Rainbow Dash spun around to see Spike hovering just behind her. “AAAAAAAAH! Don’t do that!”

“Sorry, I thought you knew I was behind you. Every other little competition, you seem to always know where I am...” Spike feigned a gasp, “I didn’t lose you did I?”

“No! I just... didn’t know you were behind me.” She said dismissively. Realising what her student had done to shadow her, she added, “I will admit though, synchronising wing beats? Nice... very nice.”

Spike failed to notice the pegasus silently backing away from him as he raised his chin proudly, “Why, thank you. I got the idea from whe-” He was abruptly cut off as Rainbow burst off of the metaphorical mark and ploughed into his chest.

Initially knocked upwards by the angle of impact, they travelled in a wide arch; gravity eventually taking over and landing them both on a fluffy mass of water droplets. They rolled a countless number of times, arms and legs locked playfully. They both wore wide grins as they struggled against each other for supremacy. Spike had the overwhelming advantage of size and strength but Rainbow Dash somehow ended up pinning him under her. He was flat on his back, looking up at a very confidently smirking mare. She leaned in, positioning her face dangerously close to his.

“Give up?” Her tone made it sound more like an order.

Spike reached up with a free forearm and grasped his chin thoughtfully; staring into the distance. He pretended to ponder for a long moment before answering casually, “No.” He shook his head. He made no attempts to move.

Dash parted her lips and frowned in confusion. Why did he seem so content to just sit there? Her body tensed as she felt something thin run through her mane. Before she could completely rotate her head to see the foreign entity, Spike seized the opportunity that presented itself with the momentary waver in focus. He brought his hands up to either side of the pony’s chest. With claws retracted, purple fingers plunged into the soft hide where the inside of the foreleg met the shoulder. Multiple muscle spasms erupted throughout her body as she tried to stop herself from collapsing on top of the dragon in a fit of laughter. She laughed almost maniacally as the indescribable feeling of being tickled shot through her being.

Dash was then thrown from her seat of authority over Spike as he reversed their positions. Scaly flanges continued to prod highly sensitive areas of skin as her legs flailed wildly in a fruitless effort to halt the onslaught.

“Say ‘uncle’, Dash, you know there’s no other way.” Spike shouted over the cackles of laughter.

“Ne...Ne-ne... Never!” She managed to squeeze out.

Spike narrowed his eyes. “We’ll see about that.” He whispered before moving on from her chest and running his fingers down the sides of her belly. Dash convulsed almost violently as she exploded into an even bigger fit of laughter. It went on to the point that she was expelling more air than she was taking in.

Taking in a lung full of air sharply, Rainbow Dash relented. “Uncle! UNCLE!” She threw her head back against the cloud and wiped away the moisture that had gathered in the corners of her eyes. They were both panting heavily as their gazes locked.

An uneasy silence ensued, met only by the rhythmic breathing of both creatures. It was Rainbow that broke the silence.

“Spike, I... I wanted to tell you that, you don’t really need any more flying lessons. You’ve pretty much got the whole
general flight thing perfected, but...” She hesitated; trying to see the right words somewhere on a distant cloud. She looked back to him. “It’s just been... nice, having someone to practice with. Would you... like to... I mean, it would be pretty awesome if we could...”

“Keep going?” Spike finished for her.

“Yeah... It would be awesome if you did.” She smiled hopefully.

“I’d love to.” They smiled at each other for a few long moments before Dash looked down. Neither of them had noticed that Spike had lowered himself over the course of the conversation to be essentially lying on top of her.

“Uh... Spike?”

Catching on, Spike looked down. He leaped off Dash, stammering apologetic phrases. He looked away and scratched the back of his head. “Sorry! I didn’t know... Please don’t take it the wrong way... I was just relaxing, that’s all. I-.” He silenced his rant when he heard Dash stifling a chuckle.

“It’s fine, Spike,” Dash waved a hoof dismissively “Forget about it.” Her eyes drifted to the sun, steadily disappearing beyond the horizon as if only just realising the time. “It’s getting late and I’m parched. Smoothie at Sugar-cube Corner?” She offered.

“Sure” was Spike’s reply as he spread his wings, readying himself for takeoff.

The gentle tinkling of the door bell could barely be heard over the loud metallic clangs reverberating from the kitchen in the back of the shop. They were random outbursts of sound; uncontrolled. Whatever it was, it was making quite a racket.

Spike and Rainbow Dash stood in front of the counter; completely bewildered. Dash leaned across and called into the kitchen, “Pinkie? Is something wrong?”

She winced as a series of rapid crashes peppered the air. There was the sound of clopping hooves as something approached the kitchen doorway. “Dashie?” Pinkie Pie merely poked her head out of doorway, only to be shoved all the way out as an invisible force rocked her body. “There it is again! Twitch, twitch, twitch! My Pinkie sense!” The others in the room fell to the ground, covering their heads while scurrying away from any doors.

After yet another wave of twitches, Pinkie smiled widely. “No, silly, it’s not a dangerous twitch. I’ve been having little twitches for the past few weeks. Heart skipping a beet, itchy back, jerky knees means something to do with romance. They only got really strong when-” She cut herself off. Her face went blank.

“When what?” Asked Spike, while getting up from his position on the floor.

Pinkie grinned madly and tried to push the subject aside. “Oh, nothing!” She rested her head in her front hooves. “So what can I do for you... two?”

Dash eyed the pastel pink mare suspiciously before answering slowly, “We just stopped by to get a couple of smoothies... You know, after training and all.”

“Oh, of course. Coming right up!” Pinkie sang as she cantered back into the kitchen.

Spike looked over at Dash with a bemused expression. “What was that about?”

She continued to stare with a cocked brow towards where the pink pony had disappeared. “That? She’s Pinkie Pie, Spike. I think that about sums it up.” He nodded in silent agreement.

Pinkie came bouncing gleefully back into the room; somehow managing to keep a tray balanced on her back as she did so. “Order up!” She sang as she placed the tray on the counter.

“There’s only one large cup and two straws here.” Queried Spike.

Pinkie shrugged saying, “I’m running low on cups, okay?”

Dash shook her head. “Whatever, I’m parched. We’ll just go halves in it.” She took a sip before offering it to Spike.

He took it after some delay and hesitated as he brought it up to his face. “Um... Ah...”

“What’s the matter, Spike? Afraid of Rainbow cooties?” Dash teased, puckering her lips and kissing at the air towards him.

“No! I’m not afraid of some foal’s story!” Without a second thought, a mouthful of the smoothie disappeared down the dragon’s throat. He intentionally used the same straw she had. He passed it back to Dash, who was smiling slyly.

‘You mares, however, scare the CRAP out of me.’

Author’s Note: I get a strange sense of Deja vu with this. Anywho, the point is, it’s plot development. Hold on, folks, I have some things planned that I’m pretty sure will interest you greatly. [SPOILER ALERT] This includes an exploration into why a certain pony is the element of loyalty [END SPOILER ALERT]. For those of you who might be concerned by the deteriorating length of the chapters, I promise to try to go into more detail in the coming chapters. Oh, and on a final note, I’m definitely going to try my hand at ‘Ship - teasing’.

Thanks for reading,

~MagaSpark

Chapter 4: A Night To Remember

-Advanced Guide to Magical Creatures-

Page 375

The reptilian species, draco agilitatus (more commonly known as ‘dragon of agility’) is most notably defined by it’s astonishingly small size compared to other dragons. An average draco agilitatus will only grow to approximately one and a half times the size of a large stallion. Apart from this radical difference, the agilitatus is anatomically identical to it’s closest relative, draco virtutem (more commonly known as ‘dragon of strength’) which can grow to over fifty metres tall. The agilitatus and virtutem are thought of as metaphorical ‘fraternal twins’ by most biologists due to evidence that suggests that the two branched off from the same evolutionary ‘parent’ and took on completely different strategies of survival. This theory would explain the remarkable similarity in both of their appearances.

The two different variants are on almost completely opposite ends of the personality spectrum. The virtutem is highly independent, aggressive and and protective of their property and territory almost to the point of paranoia. The agilitatus has developed a very different strategy. It has proven itself to have very social behaviour, lacking the aggression of the virtutem. It is not rare to find small communities of this dragon living and working together. The agilitatus does have a far shorter life span than the virtutem, lasting around 150-200 years, most likely because it leads a far more physically intensive life. Unlike most reptilian species, it does not ‘hibernate’ at any point in the year, unlike the virtutem which can spend more than three quarters of it’s life in a comatose state.

While it is unlikely a lone agilitatus will actively seek a community, it will not hesitate to join one should the opportunity present itself. In these communities-

…

The agilitatus, as the name suggests, is undoubtedly a dragon built for speed and agility. It has the most powerful wings of all dragons proportional to it’s size. It’s body is highly streamlined, allowing for almost frictionless movement through the atmosphere. It should be noted that the agilitatus has a body shape more closely resembling a distant serpent cousin, draco marus (‘dragon of the sea’), however obviously with added legs. In this regard, the agilitatus has a very slender build, however does have a greater muscle density as to compensate. This compensation does mean, however, that the agilitatus cannot float in water.

The agilitatus naturally walks on all four legs to allow for maximum muscle efficiency. Upon preliminary inspection, it could be deducted that this is the only method of movement they have apart from flying. However, there is a hinge at the tip of the spine, where it meets the base of the skull. This joint allows the agilitatus to crane it’s neck downwards at an almost 90 degree angle; making bipedal movement quite possible-

…

The agilitatus is completely monogamous, in that it chooses one mate for life. If it’s partner were to die, the agilitatus would likely not obtain another. There is no defined ‘mating season’ for this dragon, more that it passively seeks companionship constantly. When courting a female, the male agilitatus will-

A dull thud resounded as paper met paper, sealing off words that one might not want to hear.

Tiny fragments of dust drifted lazily through the air; only made visible by the saturated orange sunlight streaming through the window. The rays were being scattered by their reflective surfaces and contrasted heavily with the darkness behind them. There looked to be hundreds of them, drifting through their often short and uneventful lives. They were only a tiny sliver. Most of the light was halted by thick sheets of fabric designed for just such a purpose. A calm silence echoed throughout the room. Everything in the space was perfectly still, save for the dust particles and a steadily rising and falling bulge beneath a midnight blue blanket.

At least he wouldn’t become as large as the virtutem and have to leave his home. At least he wouldn’t have to watch as countless relationships faded and disappeared with age. At least he would not lose who he is, as obsession with belongings crept in on his psyche. At least he wouldn’t lose relationships as a result. At least he could lie on his back with his head tilted downwards, stare blankly at the ceiling and ponder all of these implications.

Relationships: exactly what Spike had hoped reading would take his mind off of, returned with all of their troublesome thoughts. Rarity, the subject of his infatuation for who-knows-how-long, had found a relationship of her own. It was unexpected, to say the least; a most unlikely pairing. Apparently she had completely fallen for a pony only new to the town. The newcomer’s name was Iron Ingot. As his name suggested, his trade was metal working. The strange thing was, Spike couldn’t help but respect the guy. He certainly couldn’t fault his taste in mares.

How did Rarity fall for someone so... different? What did she see in him? What did he see in her? How in love were they? Would Spike have ever even gotten together with Rarity had Iron not been there?

All of these questions could easily be dismissed as ‘the universe works in strange ways’ but one question still lingered; nigh unanswerable. Why was he not disappointed in the slightest?

Staring at Ponyville from incredible heights, little detail was revealed. The area seemed like nothing more than a series of random patterns and colours on a patchwork quilt. A soft sigh escaped Dash’s lips as she thought. The sky could be a lonely place, especially when you knew the joy of flying with someone.

A strange sense of pride ran through Spike as he went about his work. He had always needed a ladder to reach the higher shelves and put the books back to their original positions but with his recently added height, it wasn’t really necessary. With wings, it was completely redundant. He could simply glide around the room with a few wing beats. Sure, he could now do far more impressive things with his flight than simply hovering, but sometimes it is important to appreciate the small things.

Flying certainly made the work flow more quickly. Before, Spike had to categorise all the loose books into groups that had homes close to each other, position the ladder in the right spot, and do a careful balancing act with the books he had categorised while climbing it. He would then repeat the second and third steps over and over again. Now, a job that would have taken minutes took only seconds to complete.

As he flew another stack of books across the room, Spike spun through the air in a frivolous barrel roll.

Having seen the action out of the corner of her eye, Twilight Sparkle looked up from her studies and shook her head. “Now I just know you’re showing off, Spike.”

The dragon paused in mid flight and smiled deviously. “Are you okay Twilight? You’re looking a little green.”

Twilight answered calmly, “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not jealous. You can fly around and grasp things, but I can do this...” Immediately after saying this, the unicorn’s horn began to shimmer with a feint purple aura. An identical aura appeared, encompassing one of Spike’s ankles. He was violently yanked from the air by a heavy ball and chain. As logic dictated, the ball made contact with the floor first and shook the entire library with a resounding thud.

After his fifth attempt to break free of the ball’s unwavering grip, Spike narrowed his eyes and conceded, “Touche.” Both the ball and chain began to dematerialise and finally vanish as Twilight ceased to concentrate; her mind on other things.

“Speaking of flying, I take it there’s no longer any need for your lessons with Rainbow.”

“There isn’t, but we agreed for me to keep going, if only to be her training buddy.”

‘Something tells me you’re a little more than buddies.’ Twilight unintentionally verbalised one of her thoughts. “No surprise there,” she whispered to herself.

Her comment did not go unnoticed. Spike folded his arms and stared incredulously at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” she lied, “just that I was wondering if you ever thanked Rainbow for those lessons. She did it all out of generosity, after all.” The unlikely segue worked as Spike looked to the floor and scratched the back of his head.

“I... I’ve been thinking about it. I want it to be more than just words.”

“Oh? Do you have anything in mind?”

“Nope. I haven’t the slightest clue.”

Unknown to the old friends, far across town, through the bustling streets, in a building with what seemed to be a cake-themed decor, their conversation had indirectly triggered something. Someone's inexplicably accurate sixth sense tingled with activity. They quickly interpreted what the small muscle cramps and twitches were and gasped in surprise. Someone needed their help; whether they knew it or not. They then, quite literally and without exaggeration, sprang into action, having been given an idea from a poster advertising a competition. For this to work, she would have to ‘borrow’ a name.

Long fibres danced across the smooth surface, flicking up debris that had collected there for countless hours. As they swept across, they left behind a shining slab of polished oak. It was the impact upon another, somewhat less grand slab of timber that broke the concentration of the creatures busying themselves with various sundry tasks around the hollow tree.

The door remained unanswered for a long while before it was finally opened by one of the inhabitants of the building. Strangely enough, a straight and inquisitive gaze was met with only half of another. The other half was looking in an arbitrary direction.

“Oh. Hey Derpy, got mail for us?” Unlike most other ponies, the wall-eyed pegasus did not so much as flinch at the sight of the dragon towering over her.

“Yup.” She beamed. The mail-mare produced an envelope from her saddle bag and passed it to Spike.

Taking the letter, he asked out of curiosity, “Did you have any trouble finding the library this time?”

“Nope,” she answered happily, “I’ve been closing one eye. It makes it a lot easier. It doesn’t do good for my depth perception though.” She closed her saddle bag and turned away. “Either way, I’ve got letters to deliver, bye.”

“Bye.” He called. After waving Derpy off, Spike retreated back into the lirbrary. “Twilight, mail!” He looked to the addressee and frowned. “For me...” After using a claw to tear the opening, he lifted a slip of paper and skimmed his eyes across the message; searching for the point.

He involuntarily started whispering the words to himself. “Congratulations, Mr Spike, you have won...” His eyes widened. “...Your story, though unusual, pulled on our collective heartstrings and we wish you the best of luck in wooing that cyan pegasus mare of your eye.You will find the tickets and forms to fill, included with this note. Once again, congratulations on winning the competition.”

The envelope was torn asunder with frightening speed. They were all there, the forms and tickets. Spike scanned through every document; looking for the instructions to make a payment to a foreign bank account. No, all official, all he had to do fill out the legal and preference forms and nothing more. He already had the tickets. If it was a scam, it wasn’t very well thought out. It didn’t even ask for a signature.

Yup... It was legit... He won a competition without entering.

“So what are you going to do with them? Just let the tickets go to waste? The show premiers in a week. Opportunities like this don’t arise often.”

“But I didn’t even do anything to win them. Isn’t that wrong?”

“Something tells me whoever did write in wanted you to have these. They used your name and from what I can tell, your recent experiences.” In honesty, Twilight had an idea of who it might be. ‘

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask for this. I guess I’ll go.”

“Ahuh, and who are you going to take?”

“Well, from the letter -which I still find very suspicious- I think they expect me to take Rainbow Dash. So I might ask her?” Spike idly toyed with a globe, walking his fingers along the equator.

“Fair enough, I can’t think of anypony else whom I could describe as the cyan pegasus mare of your eye.” Twilight could get used to the stare that Spike shot across the room whenever she teased him. It was just priceless. “It’s also the perfect way to thank her. I’m pretty sure she’s the Wonderbolt’s biggest fan.” She continued while moving to the front of the building, “So are you going to go ask her or what?” She opened the door for him.

“What? Now?”

“There’s no time like the present. Besides, I highly, highly doubt she’ll turn you down.”

The dragon proceeded out the door much like an escaped convict might enter a police station while still wearing the orange jumpsuit.

‘Quit it, brain, I don’t even like that song.’ Regardless of his effort, Spike’s mind would drift back to the same song in every minute of mental silence. He couldn’t help but sing it softly to himself, despite his aversion to it.

“I've got two tickets to paradise,

Won't you pack your bags, we'll leave tonight,

I've got two tickets to paradise,

I've got two tickets to paradise.”

Shaking his head, he refocused on his task. It was midday and sunny with a cool yet comfortable breeze. That meant that Rainbow would be... napping on a cloud just on the outskirts of the town.

It wasn’t as much Spike knowing the mare well, as it was that he could see her. He swooped down and landed softly next to her, careful not to disturb her slumber. She looked so peaceful and content. Oh, well. As he extended a claw, making to shake her back to this world, he paused at a particular thought.

He withdrew his hand and placed himself above and behind Dash. Inhaling deeply, he prepared his best impression of an instructor from the Junior Speedsters Flight School. He never thought listening to Dash’s anecdotes about her time there would pay off in this way.

“Rise and shine, fillies!” He boomed. Dash shot up from her nap and looked around in confusion.

Spike didn’t wait, her daze would not take long to wear off. “Come on! Left right left right left right left right!” Her body stiffened as she started to trot on the spot. “Drop and give me twenty!” She complied unquestioningly and began the exercises.

The mare quietly counted to herself with each physical heave. The sight became too much for Spike as he fell to the floor of the cloud, writhing with laughter.

“Sir? Spike? What are you-” Dash slapped a hoof against her forehead in realisation. Her facial expression turned from one of annoyance to an embarrassed smile. “Heh, you got me,” She admitted.

Spike sat up and wiped a tear from his eye. “Did I ever! You should have seen the look on your face.” He was still barely able to contain his chortles.

“Yeah, yeah. So, you woke me up, what do you want?”

“Oh, yeah. Well you see...” His mind raced. Everything he had mentally prepared was lost in the jubilation of the past few seconds. “I just wanted to thank you for your flight lessons, so...”

A smile crossed her features as she leaned in closer to the dragon. “Sooo?”

“I don’t know how, but I won these in a competition,” he took out the golden slivers of plastic and held them up to Dash’s line of sight. “...and I thought you might want to go with me.” Realising the implications, he quickly added, “Just as a friend, I’m not... you know...”

Rainbow Dash took one of the tickets and began reading it. Her facial expression remained blank as she finished. She seemed to move in slow motion as she looked up at Spike. “This... This is for the next Wonderbolts performance. It’s one of their best yet.” The calm in her voice was almost eerie. “Tickets sold out in ten minutes.” She looked back to the ticket. “Oh look, this can get you into their after party... to meet them...” This was getting a little creepy, she was obviously building up to something.

Spike stumbled back at the impact to his chest. The shock was almost too much to hear the gratitude coming from the head and neck wrapped around his shoulder. It took him a few seconds to reciprocate the hug.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” She squealed. Spike silently thanked Celestia that he was a dragon and therefore cold blooded. If it wasn’t for that fact, the sides of his face would have turned bright red at the feeling of something warm and moist pressing against his jaw.

“Have a good night.”

“I will, see ya.”

“Oh, and Spike?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t expect you to be home tonight. A night out is a night out.”

“What? Wouldn’t you worry about me?”

“You’re a big dragon now, Spike. You’ll be with Rainbow anyway. I know she wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you.”

What? That was certainly a curve ball. It wasn’t unwelcome though.

The hall was comparable to the style used at the Grand Galloping Gala, if a little less decorated. It contrasted somewhat, that despite the grandeur of the building itself, the items of furniture, while equally luxurious, were out of place. Truth be told, it was a far cry from a formal affair and the intense physical exertion from the display of flight skills would be tiring to say the least. It was not completely daft to assume the Wonderbolts would want a comfy couch or bean bag to lay upon at the ‘post-flight-party’.

To Spike’s relief, Rainbow Dash had remained nonchalant even when talking to her idols. The last thing they needed after a show was a babbling fan girl and a dragon trying to calm her down. He couldn’t help but notice knowing looks he was thrown every now and then. Although it completely baffled him why they were doing so. As if by natural progression, the males and females separated as the night wore on.

“So Spike,” Soarin’ began, lightly swirling his glass of punch, “how long have you and Dash been together?”

It wasn’t until Spike started coughing up the liquid that he had accidentally inhaled that Soarin’ realised his question was ill timed.

“What?” Spike spluttered. “Me and Dash? No!”

“Me and Spike? No! What gives you that idea?” How fortunate it was that Rainbow Dash had already finished her punch.

Spitfire laughed to herself at the severity of the reaction. “Don’t act so clueless. You’ve been smiling at each other most of the night, you both stand close when talking in a group to the point you’re leaning against his shoulder and I’ve seen your pupils dilate when you look at him. The last one at least proves that your mind likes what it sees.”

Dash made her best effort to close her mouth and quell the accusations. “Okay, even if Spike and I did have those sorts of feelings for each other -and we don’t- it wouldn’t work anyway. He’s a dragon, I’m a pony, we’re too different. It would be too weird.”

“Dash, I think I speak for all of us Wonderbolts when I say that, we’ve been all over the world performing. While I’ve never seen or heard of a dragon and pony getting into a relationship together, it wouldn’t be the strangest thing we’ve seen.”

“That’s great, but Spike and I are just friends anyway and that’s how it will stay.”

Spitfire shrugged; accepting the answer. “Fair enough, just remember what I said.”

It wasn't long until the group of 8 fliers weathered down, one by one as they took their leave. It had been a long day for all of them. Spike and Rainbow Dash moved to the balcony to say their final goodbyes before they returned to their respective homes. As he spread his wings, he felt something press against his side.

After taking a long look at the mass resting flush on his scales, he turned to Soarin', who was looking like he could do the same. "The punch was alcoholic, wasn't it?"

Soarin' stretched his legs; replying, "Yep, helps you wind down after a show." He leaned across and saw the reason for Spike's question. "Hmm, do you think you can take her home?"

Spike looked back to the mare currently using his stomach as a makeshift pillow. Dash was out cold. He almost grimaced at the thought of carrying her. Whisking books around the library was one thing, but carrying a fully grown pegasus? Oh well, it had to be done. He began hovering above her. She didn't even react when he picked her up and started cradling her. While he could support her weight, it took a lot of energy.

'Tonight's going to be a long night' With that final thought, the lone agilitatus set out on his arduous quest.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash's mind was elsewhere, reminiscing bittersweet memories that had until then, been almost forgotten.

Author’s Note:

I didn’t think it would turn out THIS long but hey, I ain’t complaining. User loliger_rofler (yes, you just got mentioned in the author’s note) asked for some additional information on Spike’s species, to which I say, “ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE”. Like how I did that? Anywho, I’m on the look out for any potential cover art for this. I could ask one of my friends, who draws like a boss but I don’t think she’s a pegasister, if you know what I’m getting at.

Edit: Okay, so a few of you were saying it ended abruptly, which is true (also, a mistake, which doesn't surprise me). So I extended it slightly, so it won't be so... awkward. Still, I need the final scene... I think. One final note, just to tease you, the next chapter will be titled, "The Origin Of Loyalty". *Tee Hee*

As always, thanks for reading,

~MagaSpark

Chapter 5: The Origins Of Loyalty

It wasn’t just synthetic wool, wrapped in fabric and coated in soft ‘furr’. It meant so much more to her than that. A filly taking an exceptional liking to a particular stuffed toy was hardly unheard of but it was what this cuddly little dragon symbolised and reminded her of that made it special. Far from the usual, “It’s so cute,” or “the fur is so soft,” this toy let her feel closer to both her dreams and someone dear to her.

The spectrum of colours that graced the room were comparable to the filly’s mane and tail. They were so bright and vivid. No cost was spared in making this day one of the filly’s best. To her parents, it was completely called for. It’s not every day you turn a year older. It was by no means packed with many ponies, but a select few of her closest friends and family. The happiness and joy shared that day the filly of the hour would never forget.

A rapid tapping of hooves against the hard wood floor echoed as a young Rainbow Dash galloped to the pony she had been waiting most of the day to see; careful to avoid slipping on any of the streamers or confetti. “Grandpa Bolt!” She beamed as she crashed into the old stallion, nearly knocking him over.

“Whoa!” The pegasus stallion faltered. “Careful there Dashie, Grandpa’s not as tough as he used to be. Happy birthday.” He returned the embrace after regaining his balance. His originally sky blue mane had lost almost all colour with age and upon smiling, his face resembled a prune. Still, he had the most caring, green eyes Dash had ever seen.

After the embrace broke, Grandpa Bolt spoke once again in his usual soft and kind voice. “Hey, I heard you’ll be heading off to that Junior Speedster’s Flight School in a few months.”

Dash smiled proudly as she responded, “Yeah! I can’t wait. I want to grow up to be just like you!”

“A stallion?” Bolt tittered.

“Eww, Grandpa, gross,” the filly retched before correcting him, “I want to be a Wonderbolt!” Dash jumped in the air excitedly at the mention of the name.

Bolt couldn't help but smile as fond memories flooded back to him. He brought a hoof up and ruffled her mane. “It’s been a long time since I was a Wonderbolt, Dashie.” He swept the room with his bright gaze. “So, what’s the occasion? My memory’s a little faulty.”

“What?” Her confounded expression, Bolt found adorable. “How could you forget my birthday?” Before a hurt expression could take hold of her face, it turned to a knowing smile at the realisation of a joke her grandfather had pulled at nearly all of her birthdays. She could never get over how cheesy his sense of humour was.

Oblivious to her knowledge, Bolt continued. “Birthday!? Oh my, it seems that I have forgotten.” He turned around and picked up the handle of a bag in his pristine teeth. Returning to Dash, he set it down on the ground while casually saying, “Oh well, I guess this will have to do.” Out of the bag came a white box with a simple crimson red ribbon wrapped around it and tied neatly at the top. Without missing a beat, the stallion hinted. “This is something from my foalhood. Needless to say, it’s very old,” he laughed. “Luckily, I know a unicorn and he used his magic to keep it in as good a shape as the day I bought it. I dare say it would be pretty valuable nowadays. I’ve never seen another like it. It’s very important to me, so I hope you look after it. You could probably give it to one of your foals some day.”

Immediately after Bolt finished speaking, Dash took one of the ribbons between her teeth and gently unravelled the bow. As it came undone and fell limply to the floor, she lifted up one of the corners of the lid. She could see... something furry. As she lifted the corner further, two green, slitted eyes stared out at her.

Noticing Rainbow’s hesitance, Bolt spoke up. “It’s not going to bite you. It’s not a real dragon.”

Dash smiled sheepishly to her grandfather before opening the box fully. Inside was a plush dragon; a smile adorned on it’s muzzle. Whomever made such a toy went to extraordinary lengths to make it the highest possible quality. Every seam was carefully hidden by the tightness of the stitching. Meticulous effort went into defining each ivory coloured stomach scale, so that each valley was the same distance from the last and the border traced the way from the half way point of the tail, to the jaw perfectly. The deep amethyst fur, while inaccurate to the real thing, was silky and soft. Green, felt spinal scales ran down it’s back, all the way to the tip of the tail. The creature rested of all four of it’s stubby yet muscular legs. It would remain a mystery how the artisan managed to capture such a complex shape. Value essentially oozed from every crevice.

Rainbow Dash locked Bolt into a one legged hug, cradling the dragon in the other. “Thanks, Grandpa. I love it.” Out of the sea of wonderment, sailed an unexpected question. “What’s his name?” Inquired Dash.

Bolt furrowed his brow in thought. “Um, I think I used to call him... Draco. Yeah, that’s it.” Dash returned her gaze to the dragon. “I suppose I should explain why I kept him all these years. You see, he is supposed to be a particular type of dragon.” He poked Draco’s belly. “The real thing is a lot less chubby. Anyway, the species is called the ‘dragon of agility’, which means they can move very quickly.” She looked up at him and blinked. “This creature always inspired me. They are natural fliers. Some of them could easily give the Wonderbolts a run for their money! More than that, they have one trait that I think is one of the best any pony could ask for.” He looked into the filly’s eyes. “They are the most loyal creature in the world. This dragon’s loyalty, is forever. They will do everything in their power to help their friends in need and then some. It’s always been something I’ve looked up to.”

“Why is loyalty so important?” Asked Dash inquisitively. She was genuinely curious as to why her grandfather held such a solemn tone when speaking about it.

“Because, Dashie; loyalty means to follow blindly, without questioning, even when your guts tell you something else, you stick to that pony’s ideas and thoughts. Stand one hundred percent behind them and no matter what the consequences are; you protect them. The best thing is, loyalty gets loyalty back, so your friends will do the same for you. Most importantly, if you stay loyal, you will never, ever hurt those you love.” Bolt started stoking her mane while asking, “Dashie, do you think could promise me something?”

Dash’s ears perked up. “What is it?”

He put the tip of his hoof to her chest. “I want you to promise me, that you’ll always be loyal to your friends and family.”

Rainbow Dash spoke with as much sincerity as her maturity would allow, “I will, Grandpa Bolt.”

Four weeks later, Ex-Wonderbolt, Lightning Bolt, suffered a fatal heart attack.

Draco’s coat was quickly becoming soaked with her tears. She held it close to herself; practically wringing it’s neck. The gesture did little to console herself, death of a loved one couldn’t just be fixed by a simple toy. Despite all logic, it did make her feel better, even if it was by only a fraction. It was like she held a piece of her grandfather in her hooves. A part that could not be taken away from her.

They had told her not to take it hard; that there was nothing that could have been done to save his life. Why did he have to go? Would it have been different if she had been there? Was he dead because she hadn’t been there to protect him? The thought only brought more tears to her eyes. That was it. She lost her idol; the one she looked up to most in life, because she hadn’t tried hard enough to be loyal. She made a promise to herself that she would never let that happen again.

Dash pulled Draco closer, buried her face in it’s fur and cried, until uneasy sleep silenced her weeps.

The pale moonlight washed over the room as Rainbow Dash tried to capture ever elusive sleep. It must have been her nervousness; performing a trick she had only done once before, and that time had been by accident. She threw her head against the cloud in frustration with an audible grunt. She wriggled around on her ‘bed’; trying to find a comfortable position. Her efforts were in vain though. The pressure to perform well the following day was too great. Her mind swirled with all the possible outcomes. The cynical part of her mind made sure all of the possibilities resulted in failure.

Rainbow Dash shot up from her lying position when the realisation struck her. A smile crossed her face as she trotted to a nearby storage cupboard. Inside it was nothing but a synthetic leather case. Upon releasing the latch, she threw the lid open and took out the contents. After gingerly setting the case in it’s original position and closing the door, she lay back down on her side with the object resting against her belly. She pulled it into a tight embrace, resting her head on the tiny purple dragon’s surprisingly comfortable neck. With that, she drifted into a far easier sleep. It was just a shame she couldn’t take Draco to the competition. It would have comforted her greatly.

She was holding Draco again; a rarity during those days, however certainly not unwelcome. Having only just drifted back into some form of consciousness, her eyes were still shut; not having the will to open them. It came as a surprise when she moved a hoof to stroke the plush dragon’s coat and was met with a smooth, scaly surface. Suddenly, he was no longer small enough to fit in her forelegs. They stretched across his sides but could not connect. She could feel Draco’s stomach scales pressing against the entire length of her body. Her face was pressed against what she assumed to be his chest. Draco was bigger than her, much longer. One hoof glided up his neck but could not reach as far as his head; to touch his face. One of her hind legs stretched down and slid across one of his haunches. It could touch the base of his tail but no further. She could feel the end of his tail in the middle of her back. It curled up, lay across her multi-coloured tail and cuddled her spine.

It was almost enough to make her blush in embarrassment; the amount of time it took her to realise where Draco’s arms were. They were much longer than she remembered. The appendage exposed to the cool air of the cloud house (the other, crushed between Draco’s torso and the bed) was draped over Dash’s shoulder with his palm embracing the centre of her back. Her head lay on his other arm; using the bicep as a pillow during the night. It’s hand was placed softly on the back of her head. She could feel it’s claws through her mane.

Her hoof quivered slightly as Dash stroked the side of Draco’s belly. It was stone cold; as were most places new to her warm touch. It was when she took notice of this lack of heat, that she felt it; that small spark of life.

Thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud.

The sound was dull and quiet, but unmistakably there. Putting her ear against Draco’s chest, she could hear it more clearly. There was another, slower sound; of lungs being inflated and deflated rhythmically. Dash adjusted her position to make herself more comfortable. In doing so, she only got closer to the dragon. She could get used to this. A cool, dry and smooth surface to sleep on; unlike clouds. While they were soft and cool, they were most certainly not dry. The moisture that would build on her coat could be annoying at times.

Throughout her time experiencing this new Draco, Rainbow Dash had been in a semi-conscious state. Of course, the living figure beside her was even less conscious; still in a deep dormancy. As such, the mare was the only one to crack open her eyes when a meek and familiar voice echoed through the room.

“Oh my...”

Dash craned her neck to see the source of the disturbance. “Fluttershy?”

There she was, standing on the balcony just outside of Dash’s bedroom; hiding behind her candy pink mane and tracing circles in the cloud with the tip of her hoof. Her voice was barely audible. “I... Um... I’m sorry to disturb you two.”

Two? It was then that Rainbow Dash became aware of the intimate embrace she had somehow gotten herself into with Spike. Quickly, she rolled onto her back and sat up to face a slowly leaving pastel yellow mare; blushing furiously. “Fluttershy, wait! I-it’s not what it looks like.”

Instead of being woken by the broken cuddle and loud words, Spike subconsciously did something to worsen the situation. Feeling the absence of the pony, he slid on his side and wrapped himself around Rainbow once more. His side propped her up at a lazy angle as his neck arched his head one hundred and eighty degrees to rest on her chest. He made a throaty sigh in what could only be the equivalent of a dragon purr.

Fluttershy stared at the wide eyed pegasus and her dragon recliner before remembering her purpose for being there. “Twilight... Twilight sent me to check if you were here.”

“Well,” Dash forced a laugh, “we’re here and fine. You can tell her she can stop worrying.” She tapped Spike’s head a few times, trying to rouse him from his sleep.

“O... Okay then.” Fluttershy took one last look at the pair before taking off.

With the other mare gone, Dash redirected the rest of her attention to waking spike. She leaned down close to spike’s oddly designed ear. “Spike.” How she planned to wake him with such a soft voice was a mystery.

The dragon stirred, and groaned incoherently. “I’m in pain is cupcake,” he frowned, “I will eat you.”

She shook his head again, this time using a much louder and forceful voice. “Spike! Wake up!”

Finally, Spike’s eyes cracked open and looked up at her. “What? Dash? What are you doing in my bed?”

She shook her head. “It’s me who should be asking you that question.”

He groggily looked around the room. “Whoa!” Dash fell back when the body supporting her leaped up.

Spike stood upright and scratched his head frantically. “I brought you here when you fell asleep last night.” He spoke quickly. “I must have... dozed off.”

The mare looked up at the dragon from her position on the floor. “I’ll say, but do you mind explaining why you were snuggling up to me?”

“Ah, that one’s easy. I’m cold blooded and you’re warm. It must have been a chilly night and clouds don’t make very good blankets.” He wearily tugged at his spinal scales.

“You... You should probably get back home. Fluttershy was here not too long ago looking for you.” The pair moved to the balcony overlooking Ponyville. Dash spoke, “I’ve got weather detail, so I’ll see ya round.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you too.” Spike replied. Neither of them moved. They both froze; not sure of what to do next. After several seconds, the dragon awkwardly extended a hand. Dash responded by raising a hoof to meet it. The two creatures joined together in a somewhat absent hoof shake. Without another word, they flew their separate ways.

Author’s note:

First order of business:

As a friend put it, “SHIP JUST GOT REAL!”

Second:

NO! This is most definitely not the sad part I was talking about. If this made you feel sad, you probably shouldn’t read this from here on, because shit’s about to go down. Speaking of that, I might give you a bit of a clue. After reading the sad part (which is a MAJORLY MAJOR plot development, in fact, the entire lead up boils down to 500 words of weapons grade depression) a friend said that this song goes with the development very well. I shall not say how accurate it is, as the omnipotent author, though I will say the lines to pay particular attention to are:

And if you go,

I wanna go with you

And if you die,

I wanna die with you

Take your hand and walk away.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I love teasing people.

Third:

I submitted the first chapter to EqD a while ago when this fic was first released. It was turned down because of bad grammar. Since then, I have corrected what I think is all of said mistakes. The question is, should I submit it? I am fully aware of the length requirements, but if I were to submit the fic upon completion, it would be far greater than the minimum length of a one shot.

Anyways, as always, thanks for reading and please do leave a comment on what you like/didn’t like. Don’t worry, I can take criticism, as long as it’s well founded.

~MagaSpark

Chapter 6: Nightmares

The workshop was filled with various metal-working tools, most of which required a high level of skill to operate. Each device was kept in pristine condition, seemingly dull coloured surfaces forming strange distorted mirrors. Black bench tops lightly reflected the heavenly glow from the fluorescent tubes embedded in the ceiling. The cleanliness to which the room was held, coupled with the complex instruments arranged in an almost obsessively neat manner along the work benches, made the room look almost like a laboratory. On an elevated, circular platform in the corner of the room, a dragon stood at attention while a stallion circled him, holding a long strip of tape.

“- And we haven’t spoken since. I’m not looking forward to speaking with her, either.” Spike adjusted his posture as the stallion continued to take measurements of his body shape. “What should I do?”

The stallion frowned and shook his head; backing away momentarily. “Sorry, I’m still trying to get over the mental image of you and Rainbow Dash spooning.”

Spike slapped a claw against his forehead frustratedly. “Ugh, Iron, I get enough of that from Twilight.” At least Iron Ingot was more understanding. Twilight just gave him a funny look when he tried to explain what happened. It didn’t help the situation when he had shrugged and said that he, ‘slept with Rainbow’.

Iron waved a hoof in the air dismissively. “Oh, don’t worry, I understand. You slept with her, without the sleeping part.”

“Exactly! Wait, NO!” The glare that Spike shot to Iron only intensified his laughing, however. He sighed, “Could you take this a little more seriously?”

Iron regained his composure and offered, “Okay, you want my advice?” The dragon nodded. “Talk it over with her. You need to clear the air.” Seeing the hesitant look from Spike, Iron pat him on the shoulder firmly. “Hey, you’re both really good friends. Just talk about the situation and what means to both of you. It’ll work out in the end regardless.”

Spike lowered his head in defeat. He was afraid that would be the advice he’d get. “I... I suppose I could do that...” All confidence in his voice had left long ago.

To this, Iron perked up with a wide smile. “Good, because Rainbow Dash is going to be performing with you.”

The door creaked as a unicorn with a snow white coat and an indigo mane pushed her way in with a shoulder; levitating a large plastic case in front of her. “I brought the supplies you asked for dear. Where should I put them?” Rarity chimed.

“Just put them on any bench. I got the measurements while you were out. We can start properly designing now.” Iron walked to her side and nuzzled her neck lightly as she set the case down; eliciting a giggle.

Perched on a small cloud, high above the possible earshot of any other living being, Spike still felt as if he would be judged and graded on every word that he uttered. The light from the moon gave the normally white cloud a pale navy hue. There she was, less than a stride away from him, yet a thick barrier of silence had formed between the two. To his relief, her attention was fixated on the ground below; at the giggling foals, bright lights and costumed ponies. Rainbow Dash smiled down at them through the same yellow tinted goggles she had worn the previous year. He had to say something to clear the air. He began summing up the courage to make the first move, as was obviously required. He lowered himself onto the cloud next to her, staring blankly in the same direction.

It couldn’t be that hard. All he had to do was start out with a general comment, then find a careful segue into the awkward subject of what happened that one night when Dash got drunk and him ending up taking her home and sleeping with her. Piece of cake.

“So...” He started, only to have every cognitive thought leave him when she looked up. Her smile deteriorated somewhat as she locked gazes with the dragon, but held onto the curls at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes were just barely visible through the goggles. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to continue. ‘To hay with being discreet, be forward for once!’ His inner voice of reason betrayed him.

“Rainbow, we need to talk about... what happened the night of the Wonderbolts performance.” The words were forced, but carried what he hoped was a tone of neutrality.

Dash tilted her head slightly. “What’s there to talk about? You said yourself, nothing happened.”

A large part of him wanted desperately to believe that. “Things have been... awkward, since that night. I don’t want it to stay like that. We need to put our feelings out there.” She looked back down at the celebrations taking place.

She remained silent for a few moments before responding, “Couldn’t you have picked a better time to talk to me about this?” She’d got him there. It would have been more appropriate to approach her some other time, but he had managed to finally bring it up and he wasn’t about to lose momentum. If he had waited for another, less perfect opportunity, he probably would find another excuse not to talk about it. No, it was a case of now or never.

Smoothly, he slid closer to her. “It doesn’t matter, how do you feel about it?”

Dash chuckled softly; shaking her head. “I don’t need a shrink, Spike, I’ve got Twilight for that.”

Spike joined in on her subtle chortles. “Fair enough.” As the humour subsided, he looked up, into the night sky. “Look, I don’t really want things to change between us. Just because we woke up together... It doesn’t mean anything.” A voice in his head, silent until now, spoke up. ‘That’s a lie and you know it!’ It called. Dash appeared crestfallen as she shuffled uncomfortably on the spot. "Maybe we should just... Forget it ever happened. Move on."

Her voice shook slightly as she responded, “Yeah... I guess.”

Spike put a claw to her muzzle and turned her face gently to look her in the eyes. Dash attempted to avoid eye contact at first, for fear of the dragon seeing the quiver in the windows to her soul. It was unlikely that he knew what her body language meant. “Hey, things don’t need to be awkward. That’s all I’m saying. No matter what, I want us to be friends. I always want to be there for you.”

She returned the smile somberly. “I… I always want to be there for you too, Spike.”

Spike turned to face Dash fully and cooed, “Come ‘ere.” He drew her into a tight hug. The mare returned the gesture fully, wrapping her forelegs around the dragon’s scaly neck and resting her head on his shoulder. She sighed contently.

The embrace broke when the ground far below the cloud on which they rested suddenly became brighter. Several elevated torches cast dancing orange light on the area around them.

“Show time.” Spike sang. At the same time, he internally winced. He didn’t like what he had to do.

Looking at the festivities from an omnipresent view, one might wonder why no pony noticed the fingers of fog that slowly crept in on the scene. At first it was only a few small pillows of evaporated water that lingered in the crevices and corners of objects low to the ground. These were merely seen as part of the décor. As time went on, the low clouds grew bigger, spreading and flattening along the ground. It was when they began to lap at hooves that they started drawing attention. Playful foals started enjoying it’s presence; kicking and disturbing it’s natural flow. As they learnt that flicking the more dense clouds would produce a focused wave of smoky wisps that could be aimed at one another, hilarity ensued.

As the fog reached it’s desired thickness, multiple unseen figures went to work finishing the scene, creating a thick cloud cover and blocking out the light from the moon. Deafening cracks of thunder and lightning rang out and every pony turned to gaze at the spectacle unfolding. One of the cloud formations began to form into a spiral. The tip began spinning faster as it descended to the ground at a frightening pace. Just before the navy finger collided full force with the earth towards the edge of town, it swerved sharply and began running parallel to the horizon. It flew over rooftops, ponies running for cover as the sound of continuous, heavy hoof beats filled the air. Those who could see the supernatural occurrence watched in horror as it neared the town square, where most of the citizens were gathered. It finally touched down a small distance from a few of the game stalls, the tenders of which were strangely calm about the whole display.

The sound of stomping hooves ceased and the cloud started to dissipate. The more adventurous ponies of the town approached with trepidation. They gasped in unison when the smoke cleared enough for them to correctly see the entity that had been brought forward. Six jet black pegasi stood to attention, manacled to a carriage which resembled the shape of a grossly contorted pony skull. Their armour was in the same theme as the carriage, each piece representing a bone on the inside. The style almost made them appear to be inside out. Thankfully, not so much as to make any pony in the audience empty the contents of their stomach.

A shadowy figure sat in what looked to be one of the skull’s eye sockets. They lifted a hoof and gently waved it in the air, making the cloud still lingering around the carriage instantly disappear.

The princess of the night leant back in her seat and smiled deviously. “Greetings, my most unfortunate subjects!” She rumbled. “I see every pony’s having a good time. Well, that ends now!”

There was a sudden screech from somewhere in the sea of faces as one of them yelled, “It’s Nightmare Moon! She’ll eat us all!”

Luna’s smile only grew. “Oh, I’m not going to eat any of you. As for my pet dragon, well, I can’t promise anything!” With an echoing cackle and blinding flash of light, she was gone, along with the pegasi and chariot. For a while, everyone gathered in the town square just gawked at the place Luna had been just seconds before.

Their stunned silence was interrupted by an unnatural roar. The source of the sound was invisible, hiding somewhere in the still lingering fog. Another roar, this one was much closer. Out of the shroud, a large figure burst. It’s wing beats caused the fog behind it to spiral in the turbulence. The beast landed in front of the crowd of ponies and made the ground beneath them shake. It was clad in silver armour, however only over the most vulnerable parts, such as the soft underbelly. On the back of the chest plate was a chain that extended to a smaller figure. From their positions, most concluded it was a black pegasus pony with intense yellow eyes. The few who knew of the Wonderbolt’s counterparts, instead figured it was indeed a Shadowbolt.

It battled with the dragon for control; tugging sharply at the chain. It reared up on it’s hind legs and belched a wide arching green flame in frustration. The Shadowbolt gave the it some slack on the chain and the mass of purple stormed toward the crowd. They kept their distance, which is to say, most turned tail and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. For the group that had remained, an action a little more drastic would be required to make them do the same. They suspected it to simply be an act. A few of them even laughed as the beast swiped at them with razor sharp claws.

Another forceful pull at the chain and the dragon screeched at it’s master. It was only one more that sent the creature’s rage over the edge. It flared it’s wings and jumped at the Shadowbolt, who was caught off guard by the act of defiance. They both crashed to the ground and the dragon pinned the pegasus under his claws. The crowd couldn’t see the helpless pony; obscured behind one of the stalls.

The foals in the remaining spectators (and indeed a few of the stallions) fled from the scene; making no effort to save face. There were only about thirty ponies left. Their legs looked like they were about to give way in fear. On last act would seal the deal.

Screeching once again, the dragon brought up a fearsome looking claw and swept it across the area in front of him. An ear splitting scream rocked the atmosphere as a stream of red flew through the air and painted a nearby wall bright crimson. With a final roar, it plunged it’s head into the area beneath. The screaming intensified. After a sickening crack, the voice fell silent. Slowly, the beast brought it’s blood covered head back up to look at the crowd. Instead, it found only empty space; completely devoid of any living creature.

Spike and Rainbow Dash flew back to the cloud they had been on before the performance. Both were smiling and laughing all the way.

“Spike, that was amazing! I never knew you could act so well.” Dash touched down and removed her flight goggles.

“Me? What about you?! You made all the right moves with the chains, the tomato sauce at the end was a brilliant idea and that scream was… It made me want to cry.” Spike touched a claw to his face and grunted. “Ugh, I just wish it wasn’t so messy.”

She chortled at her draconic friend. Tomato sauce was squirted randomly all over it. “Hold on. I’ve got you covered.” Taking a piece of the cloud between her hooves, she gestured for him to lie down. He complied and Dash stood over his head. She flapped her wings to avoid falling forward. She held the cloud over his face and squeezed it. Droplets of water cascaded from under it and washed over the dragon’s face. Gently, she used what was left of the cloud to wipe his face. When he opened his eyes again and looked into hers with a soft smile, all thoughts disappeared.

Before Rainbow Dash had any chance of second guessing herself, she closed the distance between their faces and planted her lips firmly on Spike’s. Her eyes fluttered shut as she moaned softly into his maw. Her tongue eventually found it’s way out of her mouth and into his. The first thing she noticed was not the most obvious. Even here, he felt cool. It was an odd enough sensation kissing a dragon, much less that his tongue and saliva were cold. His taste reminded her of some sports drinks, with their mineral twang. What confused her most was that his saliva felt like it was carbonated. She straddled his mid- section and neck; his arms splayed out between her front and back legs. Her wings started to unfurl in an automatic response to the stimulation. As she circled her tongue around his, it remained distinctly motionless.

Dash peeled herself away and looked at the dragon. Her heart sank when she saw his shocked expression. His eyes were wide and distinctly lacking any reciprocated emotions. “Dash?” He began. “What the hell was that?”

She started to panic. Had she just taken his first kiss? Had she just forced herself on him? Did he not return those feelings? Was it unnatural for her to do that? Why did she do that just after things between them stabilised?

“I… I’m sorry,” was all she managed to say before her wings took her out into the night, wanting to be anywhere but there.

She had ruined everything.

Author’s Note:

MagaSpark and Karl the Living Statue are proud to present to you, these amusing facts.

* Statistically, I am young enough to be your younger brother/sister or even niece/nephew.

* This is the longest thing I have ever written as of chapter two.

* At some point in their life, 1 in 6 children will be abducted by the Dutch.

* According to a few of my friends, I can sing / should be a voiceover (And part of me wants to do a dramatic reading of this.)

* When directly referring to dialogue, I have only used the word ‘said’ twice in this entire fic. Something like ten times in total. I avoid that word like the plague.

* I am just a little OCD. E.g. The volume on the television MUST be a multiple of five and I sometimes vacuum the walls (they are FILTHY).

* The person who discovered cow’s milk was drinkable was very thirsty.

* I was looking forward to writing the kissing scene WAAAAY too much.

* This the first time I have ever tried to write something deep and meaningful / cute. Hopefully I’ll get a lot better at it.

* A pig’s orgasm lasts for thirty minutes.

On a final note... IT. BEGINS!

Chapter 7: Lonely Day

Crying would have made it easier to deal with, a few tears to wash her internal battlefield. For some reason, the ducts blatantly refused to open. Rainbow Dash grunted in frustration and leaped from the cloud she was standing on. Her mind was a swinging pendulum of two distinct groups of emotion. She was furious at herself for what she had done the previous night and terrified of the consequences. Why had she done it? Why had she forcefully kissed him just after...? ‘I don’t really want things to change between us.’ The words flashed through her mind, teasing her. She grit her teeth and forced herself to fly faster, heading in no particular direction. She wanted to escape, to not have to think about it, but every time she tried to stop all the anger, frustration and fear would just come flooding back even stronger. ‘I always want to be there for you.’ No matter how fast she flew, there was no way to outrun her thoughts. A warmth spread around her waist and over her chest as she subconsciously recalled the feeling of Spike curled around her body, resting his head on her chest. Feeling those cool purple scales against her her flesh brought forth-

“NO!” Dash slapped herself across the face hard enough to leave a mark. She couldn't feel that way about him. He was a dragon for Celestia’s sake. When she kissed him, it must have been the spur of the moment. She just got over excited and... kissed him with more passion than she thought she possessed. Her lips tingled in remembrance. Her body demanded that she stop, but she pushed herself further. The dry wind berated her eyes; stinging them painfully. She screwed them shut as they began to water. They were only an automatic response and did nothing to console her. ‘You are truly amazing, Rainbow Dash.’ That tore it. She reared up and bucked an impressive hole in a cloud. Grunting again, she collapsed on another nearby nimbus; defeated. Burying her head in the fluffy mass, she whimpered. Still, she couldn’t release her pent up emotions. They would remain in her psyche until she could come to terms with them. That just made it all the more painful. Who could help her? She couldn’t tell any pony about what happened, lest she be ridiculed for having potentially romantic feelings for a member of another species. She had to do this on her own.

“Dash!”

She could have sworn she heard glass breaking. How could he have possibly found her? Sure enough, upon looking up, Dash saw a purple dragon approaching her from afar. No, she couldn’t bare to talk to him now. Before Spike could get any closer, she rolled over and off the cloud. After dropping a dozen or so metres, her wings unfurled and started beating powerfully.

“Dash! I just want to talk to you!”

What would he say? That he just wanted to be friends? Not wanting an answer to the question, Dash tried to outrun him. Normally, it would not have taken all that much effort, but her outburst not long before had already tired her. The sky spread out before her, offering no refuge from her pursuer. She needed an escape, somewhere she could lose him. The consideration that he would eventually find her never entered her mind, however. All she wanted to do was avoid the problem. Little did she realise that there was no running or hiding from herself.

She saw it, Ghastly Gulch; a jagged swath through the earth. It was indeed an odd rock formation, but an easy way of evading the dragon. She banked towards it and dove into it’s maw. The rock walls swallowed her instantly. Naturally, the dragon followed her in, if at a far slower pace. The blurs of turquoise and violet weaved through the twists and turns; the distance between them undeniably closing.

Dash could hear Spike calling something, but his words were unintelligible over the roar of the wind. Every time she glanced back, he seemed to have gained ground. A tangle of thorny vines that grew across the gorge loomed in front of her. Each needle-like spike was visible and glared threateningly at her. A small gap in the hazardous wall was all she needed. It was small, but she could make it. The spikes around the gap looked sharper than the others, daring her to make one mistake and be butchered. She flew low to the ground on the approach, building up speed. Perfectly timed, she angled her trajectory upwards toward the hole and collapsed her wings against her body. Her momentum carried the pegasus into the hole.

Her flank stung as a rogue needle sliced it’s way easily through her flesh. She roared with pain but luckily did not falter. She continued through the cylinder of space and out the other side. Behind her, Spike halted. It was far too small for him to fit. He groaned in frustration as he began ascending, intending to go around it.

The delay significantly widened the gap between the pony and dragon. Had she been capable of looking at the situation normally, Dash would have had to give it to him; whatever it was he wanted to say, he was determined to let it be known. Despite being on the verge of losing her in the maze of bare granite, he still pressed on with as much effort as he had when he started. The fact that he was about to lose sight of her only bolstered his resolve.

A mass of red erupting from the wall of the cavern forced Dash to swerve sharply in order to avoid being crushed between the opposite wall and a large serpentine head. The creature’s open snout impacted the rock wall with a high pitched thud.

Spike was unaware of the existence of these possible relatives and made no attempt to avoid alerting them to his presence. The first serpent to lunge at him misjudged the dragon’s speed and did so prematurely. He flared his wings vertically to bleed off speed quickly and avoid a collision.

Just as he came to a complete stop, another of the serpents sped at him from the other direction, long, dagger like teeth bared. Spike had only enough time to turn in the direction of the oncoming beast when it slammed into him, taking part of his body into it’s jaw. With incredible strength, it bit down on his comparatively meagre frame. His vocal chords worked on their own as he yelped in pain. The sharper canine teeth of the serpent pierced his soft belly scales easily and were quickly coated in the dragon’s blood. Clutching at his wounds with one hand, he lashed out with his other claws and swept them across the serpent’s eye. It released it’s captive quickly. Pulling it’s head back and shaking it furiously, the creature looked at him with it’s undamaged eye. With it’s mouth closed tightly, the serpent leaped forward again and rammed Spike with it’s muzzle. He was powerless as he was slammed into the wall of the gulch with a horrible cracking sound. Having not braced himself, his stomach was oriented towards the monster. The impact broke several ribs and tore the ligament in the elbow of the arm he used to try to shield himself.

Winded and dazed, he plummeted towards the ground; a dry creek bed.

Ghastly Gulch, being far from the reaches of pony civilisation, was notorious for unstable rock formations. At times, the movement of a seemingly insignificant pebble could trigger a small landslide. Using that logic, one could estimate that the force of Spike slamming into the wall of the gulch, applied to precisely the right position, would be enough to significantly change the landscape.

Rainbow Dash, after hearing a considerable commotion, glanced over her shoulder. Not wanting to put her lead in jeopardy, she doubled back and looked around a bend in the fissure just in time to witness an horrific sight. A heavily bloodied purple dragon dropped lifelessly toward the ground, relentlessly pursued by a cascading wall of boulders. His wings, completely taught, caught enough atmospheric resistance to slow his descent so that the heavier and more aerodynamic boulders fell faster. This did mean however, that several of them berated Spike with bone shattering impacts.

With a thunderous rumble, the leading edge of the rock slide completed it’s journey; the dragon quickly depositing itself between the larger rocks beneath and the smaller rocks above.

A sky blue pegasus searched frantically through the rubble. Dash called his name, hoping for a response that she had no hope of receiving. Nothing protruded from the mountain of jagged rocks. Her eyes scanned over the scene; nothing but granite and dust. Everywhere she looked there was only the repeated cobblestone pattern. An eerie silence fell, betrayed only by the sound of beating wings.

She saw it, the small patch of red diluting the sea of grey. A single, clawed hand could be seen unmoving. A large gash over the back of the hand was bleeding profusely, creating the crimson puddle that had first drawn her attention.

An icy chill flooded her heart with panic. “Spike!” she shrieked. Dash started lifting away the rocks that had buried him. When she lifted piece of debris that had entombed his head, an eye absently opened. It rolled around to look at her. She paused from her digging to look into the emerald shrouded vertical slit. It simply stared up at her pleadingly. The orb became glossy and blinked twice, droplets of water trailing from the corners. “Spike...” The eye closed before she could continue.

Dash went back to shifting away the rubble. “Hold on, Spike, I’ll get you out of this!” She winced as she revealed more of his scaly body, covered in scratches and deep cuts.

“Nurse Tenderheart, transfer all of my appointments for the next few hours, see if you can get Doctor X-ray in here, and have the operating room prepped. Nurse Redheart, get to the supply locker and get as many compression bandages and gauze rolls as you can carry. We’re going to need a lot. As for the rest of you, get him on the bed and hooked up. I want his vitals shown on these screens five minutes ago. Come on ponies, we’re still on golden hour time here! Let’s keep it that way!” The grey coated doctor barked orders as he wheeled an unconscious Spike through the sterile hallways of the hospital, flanked by nurses and fellow physicians. Rainbow Dash followed closely behind, watching anxiously as they brought the gurney next to a fixed bed.

A nurse took up position opposite to the doctor as they prepared a well rehearsed action. “1, 2, 3.” On the third signal, the doctor and nurse simultaneously rolled Spike onto the fresh sheets. The assistants attached various electrodes and monitors across his figure as the stallion running the show turned to face Dash.

“Ms Dash, you need to tell me what happened,” he instructed bluntly.

Countless thoughts and reservations flowed through the mare’s mind. “I... he... well...” she stammered.

The doctor clopped a hoof to his forehead and groaned. “Ugh, I don’t have time for this. I don’t care why it happened right now, just tell me what,” he urged as he levitated a clip board in front of himself.

The pegasus swallowed her nerves and tried again. “I think he was attacked by one of those serpents at Ghastly Gulch, I’m not sure of it though, I didn’t see it. I only saw him get buried under a tonne of rubble-”

“Doctor!” Their attention was drawn to a nurse standing over a trembling but still unconscious purple dragon. “He’s going into shock!”

The doctor threw his clip board to the desk beside him and rushed over to the nurse. “He’s in second stage. Get an IV drip and begin intubation, stat.”

Rainbow Dash stood there, frozen in place and with a blank expression. She winced as a doctor proceeded to open Spike’s mouth and drive a pipe down his throat. At the same time, nurse Redheart struggled to insert a large needle into his wrist as he began to shake more violently. The spasms escalated in intensity, eventually needing two of the security ponies to restrain the dragon from hurting one of the staff by way of a flailing arm or leg. The mare couldn’t stop watching as her best friend was relieved of the responsibility of breathing by an oxygen pump.

One of the resident doctors spoke up. “Sir, we’ve patched up the external wounds but I can see heavy bruising around the ribs.”

The lead doctor carefully inspected the area of steadily darkening scales before announcing, “We’ve got internal bleeding here, and a lot of it. Tenderheart, is the operating room prepped?”

“Yes doctor,” the nurse pony replied swiftly.

“Good, in that case, we’re going in for emergency surgery. If we let this go for much longer, he could enter the third stage.”

Shortly after, Spike was whisked away to the operating theatre, escorted by several hospital staff. The dull grey double doors reconnected and the group disappeared, leaving Rainbow Dash alone yet again.

The pegasus slumped further into her seat. The only sound in the room was the rhythmic ticking of the wall clock. All other seats in the room were empty, as would be wanted. One would hope that these particular occurrences were rare. She stared blankly at the floor, too terrified to blink. With every brief moment of visual silence, that cruel work of the imagination would surface. She would see Spike lying there dying, surrounded by complete strangers. She could feel his fear; of leaving this world suddenly, violently and alone.

Dash briefly looked at the door that led through treatment area and ultimately, the operating room, before returning her gaze to the floor. There was no doubt in her mind that Twilight would be there soon. The messenger sent to find the legal guardian of the patient made sure of that.

A frantic clopping of hooves sounded from the direction of the entrance signified the expected mare’s arrival. The supposed fastest flier in Equestria flinched as the doors exploded outwards, bathed in a purple aura.

“WHERE IS HE? WHERE’S SPIKE?” Twilight Sparkle’s mane and tail had become disheveled, the normally straight pink and purple streak askew. Her eyes darted around the room, before settling on the sky blue mare. “Oh, Rainbow! What happened?” Her tone was commanding and certainly conveyed the seriousness of the situation. The unicorn quickly drew closer, awaiting a response.

Dash stiffened in her seat, hesitant to recall the events of the day. “Uh... Well, you see... I didn’t see it all, but... He was flying through Ghastly Gulch and-”

“Ghastly Gulch?!” Twilight leaned back slightly and looked the pegasus over. “What was he doing there?”

Dash couldn’t maintain eye contact as she answered, “He was... chasing after me.”

“What?! Why was he chasing after you? Was this another one of your little races? What could make you do something so STUPID?!” Rage started building in her eyes as she brought her face closer expectantly.

“It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t a race. I just... really didn’t want to see him at the time.”

“Mmhm, and why is that? What reason could you possibly have for wanting to get away from him so badly, that you deliberately put him in danger?” The words made Dash feel sick. As much as she wanted to try, she knew there was no way to defend herself from the accusation.

The pegasus bit her tongue. “After what happened on Nightmare Night, I was... I dunno...”

“Rainbow? Why were you trying to avoid him?” the other mare asked flatly.

Dash could feel her heart beating faster at the recollection of that moment of ignorant bliss, whatever the consequences for such an action may have been. “I... I kinda... kissed him.”

Twilight appeared to unhinge. A dozen different emotions flashed across her face in the space of a few seconds. Before it could settle on disapproval, they were interrupted by an intentional cough.

“Are you both here for Spike?” asked the doctor, his face sobering. The two mares approached the stallion.

“How is he?” Dash beat Twilight to the question, but neither were sure whether they wanted to hear the answer. The unicorn physician’s expression did not ease their worry.

“We’ve done everything we can.” The standard response from the grey unicorn filled the room with an unholy tension. “He’s alive, but only just.” He brought the clip board from earlier up to his face and listed the injuries. “Severe concussion, high blood loss from the wounds to his abdomen, five broken ribs, one of which almost punctured his aorta, another one punctured a lung. He also clinically died three times. The good news is that we’ve fixed his punctured lung and his aorta remains intact...”

“And the bad news?” Twilight prompted.

“He’s lost a lot of blood; more than I think he can survive and we don’t have any way of supplementing it. Plus, that concussion might have done some damage we can’t detect. For now, we’ve put him in an induced coma to give his body a fighting chance. I’m sorry to say at this point we can only wait and see. I’m not going to lie to you; I don’t even know if he’ll survive the night.”

“Can we see him?” Twilight’s voice trembled under the weight of the tidings. Her legs shook ever so slightly.

“Of course. He’s right this way.” The doctor motioned for the two to follow.

Dash, still trying to rid herself of the shock, turned to her trembling friend. “Twilight, I’m-”

“Don’t talk to me,” she scolded, before following the stallion.

All present in the room remained silent, watching as a mother grieved for her gravely injured son. The soft hissing of a pneumatic pump and the quiet beeping of the dragon’s heartbeat were the only sounds the to pervade the respectful quite. From the inside, through the viewing window of the hospital room, many of the lights had been turned off as working hours ended and the graveyard shift began.

Never before had any of the group seen Spike as vulnerable as he was now, laying on a bare and sterilized bed. Two shafts snaked their way up his snout to assist in his breathing. Patches of white material marked the positions of numerous external injuries. A drip had been introduced to ensure his blood had the proper levels of nutrients.

“You can do this, Spike. You can get through this...”

Gradually, each of the members of the group departed, their thoughts still dwelling on the plight of their draconic friend.

Her legs would not take her out of the room, no matter how much she willed. Whether it was from the guilt, worry or frustration, Rainbow Dash found herself approaching the bed.

Dash squeezed her eyes shut as tears ran freely down the sides of her face. Through the course of the day, she had wept not a single tear. Now that she was alone, with nothing but her thoughts and a sight that had chilled her soul with a fear greater than anything she could have ever imagined, the floodgates had opened with a torrent of pent up emotions. Gently, she worked a hoof under one of Spike’s cold and lifeless hands, so that the fingers fell around it, as if grasping it. With a deep, ragged breath, she made a simple plea.

“Spike...” She bit down on her free hoof as she winced. Even uttering his name was like an icy stab to her heart. After a few moments of gathering willpower, she made another attempt. “Spike... If you can hear me, squeeze my hoof.” She looked to his face with pleading, bloodshot eyes. No response came; not a single discernible movement. “That’s all you have to do,” she continued, “just... squeeze me hoof... please.” Silence fell upon the scene of desperation. Minutes past and Rainbow Dash kept waiting.

The bitterest feelings of defeat engulfed the cyan mare. She pressed her forehead against his forearm and shut her eyes tightly. “Please, Spike! Don’t go!” her voice shook erratically. “I’m sorry! I don’t care if you hate me, just don’t DIE!” The white sheet beneath Spike’s arm was quickly being soaked with tears as the beads rolled off of his waterproof scales. “You mean so much to the others! You mean so much to... to ME! Please, don’t go! Please don’t go. Please don’t go. Please... don’t go...” Heaving sobs convulsed her chest.

Spike could not hear her cries, however. He could not wrap his arms around the distraught filly and tell her it would be okay. He could not wipe the tears from her face and end her sadness. He could not run his hand through her mane to comfort her. He could not tell her that he would never hate her, no matter what she did. No, Spike could not do any of these things, because his mind was no longer of this world, with a part of Rainbow Dash about to join him.

“I... I... I... love you, Spike. Please don’t leave me...”