Childsplay

by Twilightclopple

Rating: mature
Tags: Comedy
Length: 6638

The CMC are at it again, and this time, they're showing Spike who's boss.

Spike is cast out again, thanks to Twilight's mysterious sleepovers. At least the CMC invited him over for an evening of fun shenanigans at the clubhouse, and how was he supposed to know that the next 'get-a-cutie-mark-fast' scheme featured… him?

This story… Just don't judge me TOO hard, okay?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-07-03 13:34:02 UTC

Dawning in Fire

"Louder." The orange filly demanded.

The dragon growled, teeth clenched in a razor-sharp grip as he tucked his head down toward his chest wearing an expresion that mimicked chagrin. A jolt shot through his chest as the chained monster caught a peripheral glimpse of a splash of yellow and red, and a streak of pinks and white. Both fillies had their eyes on him as the orange filly above put an irrationally strong pressure on his chest.

"Louder!" Scootaloo demanded against, her voice growing hoarse as she pushed against him once more.

Spike's tail lashed beneath him in fiery fury, threatening to slash any pony in range with dagger-like spikes. He clamped his eyes shut under Scootaloo's pressure from above, growling once more, feeling the fire bubble and rise in his chest. The minute dragon's muscles pulled taut as he starined, whatever coherent thought he may have somehow strung together replaced by what rivaled the static sound of a million bees.

Applebloom leaned into his ear, quietly telling him a message while tugging gently at one of the green spines cresting his head. Spike felt the wisp of her red mane against his cheek, unwilling to open his eyes, though at the vice-like pressure with which he squeezed them together, they were probably already welded shut anyway.

"Y'all better listen to Scootaloo, Spike, she's the dragon tamer." Applebloom conveyed, her voice playful yet sultry enough to send a shiver down the dragon's spine.

In response, Scootaloo flicked her feather-like magenta hair from her eyes and turned to her friend, throwing her a wink. Refocusing her attention to the dragon, she attacked his chest with a final push of unearthly strength, placing every ounce of strength she was able to wring from the fibers of her body into once and for all claiming her title of Scootaloo, Dragon Tamer.

The orange filly leaned into Spike's throat, trailing her snout down from his spines, eyes closed and breath deep, like a succubus marking her point of entry. A strand of purple hair, more gently than a whisper, traced his scales as she reached his ear, purring in what was hardly more than a menacing growl. Spike buried his chin against his chest, his hitched breath entangling with a hammering, irregular heartbeat; he could almost feel her smirk as she growled a final command into his very psyche.

"Louder."

The clang of chains rattled through Spike's head, accompanied by a choking, primal revelation as it penetrated his core, hardening as it permeated through his chest and rooting itself at his brain. The dragon fell into the maelstrom as a hellish beast in his chest gave a thundering growl, tearing through the shackles as the walls came crumbling down. Rearing out of the pit from which it came, the internal beast unfurled colossal leathery wings, spreading them to full glory as it threw its head back, infernal fire reigning alongside an earthshattering, eternal roar.

Spike's eyes flew open, pupils nothing more than serpentine slits surrounded by a ring of acidic green as he snapped his head back, focused to the sky, swelling under Scootaloo's pressure from above. His mind fell into a primal, instinctual fritz of electricity and raw, undivided power as he reared back into a roar that shook the heavens and the earth.

Tonight, it would rain in fire.

-An unspecified amount of time earlier, not too short, not too long-

     Twilight's gaze was firm and unwavering as she stared him down in a manner he'd only witnessed between Fluttershy and an unruly animal. Spike gulped, swallowing his nervousness under the glare with a spoonful of exasperation.

     "Now shoo," She ordered, the playful edge returning to the unicorn's voice. Spike grinned inwardly; he could almost hear the underlying schoolfilly in his typically professional friend. Her eyes positively gleamed with foalish excitement, leaving the little dragon to only imagine what sort of fun stuff Twilight had planned on doing with the other holders of the Elements at her sleepover.

     Spike felt his brows sink over his eyes in a most displeased facade as he pondered all the fun and laughs he was sure the group would have. Without him. Again.

     He hardly had a moment to brace himself before feeling the muzzle of a purple unicorn nudge him in the back, pshing him foreward comically as his claws skidded over the wooden floors. Spike cocked a brow; if it meant scuffing up her impeccable hardwood floors, Twilight must certainly have been eager to get rid of him.

     Suddenly, and vividly, Spike felt like nothing more housefly being flicked away by an owner that no longer wanted him around.

     The little dragon was yanked from his thoughts by the sound of a door shutting behind him as his feet met Twilight's fuzzy welcome mat. Though muffled by a closed door, Spike was almost certain he could hear purple hooves happy-dancing across polished hardwood.

     With a huffing sigh, Spike looked to the sky, as if blaming the clouds for his misfortune. The cloud-deities answered him with a holy raindrop, directly into his left eye.

     "Ow, geez," The dragon remarked to no one in particular, rubbing his eye once with the back of his claw. Figuring it was probably a better idea to move along before he was caught in a tempest, he left the library doorstep, dragging his feet as though they were in shackles.

     Spike held his head low as he trekked, hardly noticing the yellow figure brush against him.

     "Oh, I'm shorry, Shpike." Fluttershy apologized, turning to face the dragon, speech muffled from under the woven basket she held in her mouth. Spike turned and smiled, shrugging.

     "Aw, it's no big deal. Whatcha got there, Fluttershy?" He asked, tilting his head to the side as he speculated what could be under the thin white cloth covering the mouth of her basket.

     The yellow mare went cross-eyed as she looked at her basket. "Oh, nothing great really, jusht shome shnacks for Twilight'sh party." She explained, smiling and blinking slowly as she fluttered her wings lightly.

     Twilight's. Twilight's oh-so-top-secret-higher-than-classified-maximum-clearance sleepover, lovely. "Oh. Okay then, have fun, Fluttershy." Spike replied, trying his best to contain his animosity toward his purple friend's party, which, despite his efforts, still leaked through the cracks.

     "Oh, a-alright, I'll shee you later then, Shpike..." Fluttershy bid to Spike's back as he continued on, replying with a brief wave, leaving the timid mare to wonder if it was something that she said.

     Spike continued on, claws hanging limp against his side as he strode through the town. One raindrop rolled down his spines, then another, as the little dragon sped up to match the increasing frequency of the annoying droplets.

     Staring at the pebbles beneath his feet, Spike hardly noticed the small white shape join him in his stride.

     "Hi Spike," Sweetie Belle greeted, bouncing merrily in a trot, "You coming over today?"

Oh yeeeeeah, Spike recalled suddenly, CMC sleepover!

     The purple dragon lit up like a sparked flame, turning to the filly next to him with a wide smile. "Yeah I am!"

     The white filly beamed gleefully, hopping once as she walked. "Great, let's go!"

     She sped up, giggling carelessly, leaving her dragon friend behind as he followed her through the slowly-emptying streets.

     *~*~*

     "Shh." Scootaloo whispered through the darkness, holding up a hoof nopony could see to make her point. "Nopony say a word."

     Sweetie Belle receded, drawing her hooves together to instinctively make herself as small as possible as her head turned this way and that out of crippling fear. "What is it Scoot?" She whispered, her voice cracking in trembling terror.

     The orange filly looked up, her wide eyes almost glowing in the darkness as she wore a look of determination. "I don't know, but we've definitely got something." She explained in a whisper, before addding, "Just be quiet for a sec, we don't wanna scare it off."

     Sweetie Belle responded with an 'eep' than echoed through the blackness, while Applebloom seized up like a statue, moving no more than her eye muscles as she scanned for the entity that was sure to swoop over their heads any second now.

      "Just look at my instruments." Scootaloo held up a peculiar device with a beeping screen; a makeshift heat signature detector. Spike furrowed his brow in the darkness; Celestia knew where she got anything like it.

     While the screen represented nothing more than a few fluctuating lines, both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom's eyes widened in all seriousness, as if they truly recognized the impact of the zig zags. Scootaloo spoke again, her whisper coming loud in the silent black.

     "My readings are off the charts, and it's close." She began, before her whisper became laced with excited determination. "This is it, girls. This is the day we get our cutie marks in ghost hunting."

     Applebloom nudged Spike in the darkness, smiling an invisible smile. "This was a great idea, Spike."

     Spike returned with a grin she couldn't see, before Scootaloo's voice pierced the quiet again, high with excitement.

     "Applebloom, it's r-right next to you!"

     Spike and Applebloom froze up as though fresh out of a carbonite bath, resisting the urge to leap into each other's arms for sheer terror.

     The little dragon's heart hammered in his chest, a flood of adrenaline accompanied by a terrified thrill thundering through his veins. All of a sudden, from the darkness, a web of rope entwined him, and he let out a strangled yelp of surprise.

     "Don't bother yelling, demon! You're in the net of Sweetie Belle, Ghost Hunter now!"

     Spike wriggled under Sweetie's net, battling with her stroke of bravery, unable to make a sound apart from grunts of strain.

     Sweetie Belle pushed harder, going full-out knight vs. dragon on her squirming captive. "Oh hoho! Got some fight left in you! Scoot, get the light!"

     A flash of light illuminated the clubhouse, revealing a frozen-solid Applebloom, a frenzied Scootaloo armed with an odd beeping device, and a courageous, knightly Sweetie Belle piled on a struggling and morbidly confused Spike.

     "Spike?" Sweetie Belle clambered off of her captive, who was entangled like a fly in a spider's web. "What did you do with the ghost?"

     Pullling himself free, the dragon merely gasped for breath, unable to reply immediately.

    Scootaloo wore a sheepish grin, looking from her device to her friends, and back. "Oh uh, it might have been you the whole time, Spike."

    Spike flicked the last rope from his arm, sitting back and looking at the orange filly, grinning. "Oh, sorry, dragons have a higher heat signature than ponies. Y'know, fire breathing and stuff..." He shrugged, his sheepish expression rivaling Scootaloo's. "Guess I forgot."

     Sweetie sat on her haunches, her face falling. "I guess we're not Ghost Hunters, are we?"

     Scootaloo joined her friend, planting herself on the floor. "Guess not."

     The two and Spike looked over to Applebloom for her two cents. She was still frozen in fear, earning her a light punch from Sweetie Belle.

     "Oh uh, what? Oh yeah, Ah guess we aren't after all." She agreed, before shuddering. "Y'all hafta admit that was scary though."

     Three little ponies and a little dragon broke out into a chorus of giggles before scooting in a circle. Scootaloo shrugged.

     "So... What do we try now?"

     "Mane styling?" Sweetie Belle suggested, her voice cracking mid-sentence.

     Scootaloo shook her head, grinning at Spike. "Spike's a boy."

     At the mention of his name, Spike threw in his own suggestion. "Making things explode?"

     The orange filly lit up, before faltering again. "Nah, do you know how hard it is to get the proper equipment these days?"

     "Skiing?" Applebloom chimed in, shrugging.

     Scootaloo sighed, resting her head in her hooves. "Snow is so hard to find at this hour."

     Stumped silence befell the group. The only sound was the occasional gasp signifying a new idea, only to be quickly shot down by one reason or another.

     Sweetie Belle bit her lip, looking between her circle of friends, unsure of whether to put in her suggestion or not. She couldn't exactly explain it, but it might just as well be the fabled road to a cutie mark.

     "Well, there is that one thing..." She began, treading on thin ice. Three pairs of wide eyes turned to her.

     "What thing?" Scootaloo asked, tilting her head to the side. "I thought we tried pretty much every-"

     She was cut of by Sweetie, who propped herself up for further explanation. "I don't know exactly, it's like a game or something, I saw Rarity playing it once."

     Applebloom playfully nudged her friend in the shoulder. "Well shucks, ya should have mentioned it earlier if there was somethin' we haven't tried yet!"

     "Wellll, Rarity was playing it with a stallion, so I guess that's what we were missing!" Sweetie figured, her face lighting up with her revelation. "But now we've got Spike!"

     Spike grinned, just as confused as the other two were. "Well if it's a game, I guess I'm in..." He shrugged.

     Applebloom giggled and turned back to her unicorn companion. "Is it fun?"

     Sweetie Belle wrinkled her nose, recalling the memory. There was Rarity, and a stallion with a very upscale appearance and a fancy trimmed moustache, and her sister was making all sorts of faces-good faces?-and moaning-surely a good thing...

     "Yeah, Rarity was having a whole bunch of fun, so I'd say yes!"

     Scootaloo piped up, sitting up on her haunches. "Alright, let's play the Rarity game!" She declared, commencing the activity before turning back to Sweetie Belle. "How do you play?"

     The white filly frowned slightly, looking to the ceiling in thought. She had a game, it was fun, and everyone could play, except for one thing, the only hole in an otherwise watertight idea. How in Equestria do you play? What are the rules? Who keeps score?

     "I-I don't know." Sweetie admitted, receiving a chorus of laughter from her friends in return. "Not funny! I couldn't really see that well how they were playing!" She defended, her voice shrill in agitation

     Scootaloo let out a last chuckle before sitting back up, furling her wings to her form. "Okay, so I guess we can't play that one then. Any other ideas?"

     Applebloom shook her head, magenta bow flopping back and forth as she did so. "Ah got nothin'."

     "Spike?"

     The little dragon shrugged his shoulders. "Me either."

     "And I'm guessing Sweetie Belle's all out of ideas." Scootaloo teased, earning a glare from her friend as she slumped back down.

      "Am not!" The little white unicorn argued, tapping her hoof against the wooden floor. "We can...uh...color!"

      Spike perked up, smiling largely as he sat up straighter, tail swishing slightly. "I like coloring!" He agreed eagerly.

       "Spike and I like coloring, so I say we should color." Sweetie Belle declared in a tone of finality. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Fine Artists?" She offered, looking between her friends.

      Scootaloo whipped up, almost toppling Applebloom, whlo didn't have quite as enthusiastic a reaction. "Great idea! I'll grab the pencils!"

*~*~*

    Three little fillies and a baby dragon lay sprawled on their stomachs, three gripping a pencil between their jaws, one holding it in a tightly grasped claw. The room was quiet for the second time that evening; this time, however, for an entirely different reason.

     Spike shifted slightly in place, not allowing his pencil to disconnect from the paper, eyes squinted while he scribbled like a professional artist. After each line he made, the little dragon was beginning to feel more and more like one; he could already almost map out where he wanted the beret to go on his head.

     Sweetie Belle and Applebloom's faces mirrored one another's; wide eyes  and small, gleeful grins, focusing on etching out what was sure to be no less than a delightful scene of sunshine and flowers galore.

     Over the sound of her friends' carefree drawing, Scootaloo's sketching came like metal on stone as she scribbled furious lines, eyes narrowed with the intensity of her work. She tilted her head this way and that, feverishly filling in areas in a pattern that seemed rather erratic as she engulfed herself in the drawing in front of her.

     After a few more minutes of pencil-scratching, Scootaloo spit out her pencil, which rolled across the floor over Sweetie Belle's own sketch. "Hey, what gives-?" She began.

      She was cut short by her triumphant friend. "Done!" The orange filly announced in nothing short of victory, waving her paper through the air like a flag.

     Applebloom and Spike each dropped their own pencils, looking up from their respective drawings to their excited friend.

     "I wanna see!" Spike exclaimed, flicking his tail and grinning

      "Yeah, Scoot, show us!" Applebloom chimed in, as Scootaloo cleared her thraot and sat up a little straighter, ready to present her drawing like an executive advocating for a merger.

     "This," she began, motioning to the main figure, an orange character with wildly spiky fuscia hair, "Is me in the future. Scootaloo," She looked to her audience, her eyes narrowing as she gestured to the cerulean suit framing her character's figure. "The Wonderbolt."

    Spike's eyes widened  "Wow, Scootaloo, that's awesome, you'd make a great Wonderbolt!"

     The orange filly hated herself for blushing.

     "What'd you draw, Spike?" She asked, saving face.

     Spike glanced down at his own drawing, crinkling his nose before holding it up for display  "I drew me in the future too, I guess." He nodded to a drawing of a ferociously roaring dragon that looked rather stickish; claws were not the ideal pencil-grasping devices. The oddly-shaped beast had his head to the sky, a jet of vermillion flame blazing from his snout.

     "Whoa, that's neat!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, before appraising her own drawing. "You guys drew awesome things, all I drew was our clubhouse."

    The sketch she held up was indeed the clubhouse, comprised of impeccably straight lines and precise edges that dropped the others' jaws. She had colored it in with bubblegum pink, leaving a quaint, adorable, and expertly-executed scene.

    Spike's eyes widened while Scootaloo gave a low whistle of her appreciation, leaving Applebloom to comment, "Nice job, Sweetie Belle! Ah think Ah'd rather have that clubhouse!"

    Sweetie Belle smiled, pinking slightly, tucking her head down bashfully, before speaking. "What did you draw, Applebloom?"

     The creamy yellow filly sat up, flopping back her bow before displaying her own picture in her mouth. "Ah drew mah family!" She explained, speech slightly muffled under the paper, though this did not deter the beaming filly. "That's me at the end, then Applejack, then Big Mac, then Granny!" While the sketching and coloring itself was done as perfectly as could be, the lack of height difference between the figures was rather amusing. Sketch Applebloom rivaled Sketch Big Mac in size, providing quite the odd illusion.

     "Oooh, pretty!" Scootaloo exclaimed, before picking up her pencil once again to draw a small checkmark in the corner of her page. "Drawing, check!"

     The other fillies and Spike giggled, before mimicking her with checkmarks of their own. Satisfied with her work, Scootaloo tossed her drawing aside, wriggling back into her place on her stomach and propping her head up with both hooves.

     "So, Spike, you drew yourself as a dragon when you grow up." The orange filly began, absently fiddling with a strand of magenta.

     Spike turned to her, confusion etched in every feature of his face. Wasn't he already a dragon? "I am a dragon..." He replied slowly, unsure of where this was going.

     Scootaloo snickered. "I mean a fierce dragon when you grow up, like all flying and fire-breathing and stuff." She clarified, shifting her head in her hooves.

     Spike felt a surge of pride at the image of what he would one day grow to be, striking terror in the hearts and minds of those who didn't know him. Oh hay yeah, he was going to be a fierce beast, alright. "You bet! Walls of fire, a hundred hooves long!" He flung his short arms as far as they would go to emphasize the enormity of the fire he was destined to spew.

     Scootaloo nodded and put on an expression that explicitly conveyed a silent 'not bad', while Applebloom joined in the conversation, firing another question.

     "So, y'all are gonna be real dangerous, then?"

     Spike nodded, beaming, chest expanding in a swell of pride, before hurridly adding, "Oh but don't worry, only to those who deserve it!"

     The four children joined together in another peal of laughter before Sweetie Belle piped up. "I just had an idea!"

     The attention of the room turned to the little unicorn, who wore a huge smile of excitement. "There are always going to be dangerous creatures out there, and with dangerous creatures come ponies who can control them!" She was met with a group of stares. Sweetie sighed and rolled her eyes at her friends' confusion, as if it should have been quite obvious. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Dragon Hunters!"

     At the mention of 'hunters', Spike's pupils grew small as he resisted the urge to curl up into a scaly little purple ball. The word itself was terrifying; being hunted was not part of his agenda. Scootaloo, noticing the shiver that ran down the dragon's spine, opted for a name change on his behalf.

     "Um, Sweetie Belle, maybe hunting dragons isn't the best idea... Dragon Taming, maybe?"

     Sweetie Belle tapped her chin with a thoughtful hoof. "Hmm, maybe you're right..." She broke back into a grin. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Dragon Tamers it is! And we can use Spike for practice!"

    Three little hooves met in the middle accompanied by a chorus of "YAY!", reluctantly joined by one hesitant purple claw, from an even more hesitant purple owner.

*~*~*

    Scootaloo turned, lifting her hooves high in a stately manner as she marched back and forth, addressing her team of stock-straight and stony dragon tamers. She cracked her tail like a whip, preparing to check whether every pony at her command fully understood the tactical plan.

     "Alright, listen here, troops," She began, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle breaking into a salute, chests out and proud, faces serious. "Does everypony have the plan down? Do I need to make myself clearer? I hope not!"

     To her pleasure, the orange filly was met by a rigorous chant of "Ma'am yes, ma'am!"

     "Now that's what I like to hear!" Scootaloo stomped, halting in her tracks, before whipping around and staring straight into the eyes of her troops. "I don't wanna see any mistakes out there today!" She demanded, before lowering her voice and boring a hole into Sweetie's retinas. "I've got my eye on you, Private."

     The white unicorn gulped, narrowing Scootaloo's eyes even further.

     Satisfied with the aptitude of her troops, the orange filly turned harshly on her heel. Adjusting the bowl, er, helmet atop her spiky mane, Scootaloo was enjoying the spoils of Defcon 1. "Move out!"

     Upon hearing his cue from just outside the clubhouse door, Spike burst in, claws flailing above his head, making sounds he likely thought to be truly frightful roars. With every stomp of his little feet foreward, he envisioned the thundering footfalls of a magnificent beast, each step mighty enough to pulverize a building. He growled again, showing off pointy little teeth that may as well have been 10-inch daggers, gleaming in the bloody sunlight and threatening complete shredding to anything that might have the misfortune to get attacked by him. Every lash of Spike's little tail topped with little spines paralleled the almighty whips of an enormous weapon, from which giant spines glinted obscenely, protruding from every angle of the unholy mace.

     A baby purple dragon with a lopsided bowl on his head stomped into the room, and Scootaloo and her band of merry Dragon Tamers were on him in the blink of an eye.

     "Apple Alpha, grab the rope!" Commander Scootaloo ordered, assuming offense formation.

     "Got it, Commander! Er, Ah mean Apple Alpha, roger!"

     A smattering of hoofsteps, a muffled grunt as Apple Alpha bit down on the twine.

     "Great! Uni 1, prepare to stun!" Commander ordered again, Uni 1 responding with a curt nod and a short "Copy that."

     Apple Alpha laced around them like a true rodeo pony, rope whipping behind her as she entangled the offending dragon in a twine loop, nearly tripping him. Spike responded with another growl, batting his claws around at nothing. "Y'all are no match for mah lasso, dragon!"

    The Commander adjusted her battle helmet, watching the mighty beast tremble and roar into the skies before her, her men scattering like furious insects. Ah, the horrors of war.

     She directed to Uni 1, heavy weapons engineer, who looked back with a stony yet pained expression, exchanging a look of mutual understanding before the Commander placed her next order. "Uni 1, ready the missles! We'll send this devil right back to the Gates of Tartarus!"

     "Got it, Commander." The battle-hardened engineer made to lift an enormous, ominous rocket into the launcher, wiping the sweat from her brow and narrowing her eyes as she took aim at the towering monster, still caught by the quick work of Apple Alpha.

     "Fireeeee!" The Commander hollered, hardly audible over the sounds of infernal explosions from every direction.

     Three mini marshmallows sailed through the air from the hooves of the little white filly, each following the other as they bounced off of Spike's head. He snorted in amusement before resuming character with another small roar. Uni 1's eyes widened.

     "That didn't do it, Commander!" She yelled over the sounds of another mighty roar from the beast, dodging a bit of flaming debris from the destruction below as the town was ravaged.

     A voice yelled to them from the pit of demolition. "Y'all had better hurry up, Ah don't know how long Ah can hold'm!" Apple Alpha grunted past the rope she still held in her jaws with the strength of a buffalo.

     "We're getting crushed, Commander! What are the orders?" Uni 1 asked, her voice hoarse with adrenaline.

     The Commander said not a word, her expression becoming grim as the realization of her duty as commander sunk it, rattling her to the core, tainting her mind with just another image of the casualties of the battlefield. She turned away, helmet shielding her eyes as she readied her mind and body for the sacrifice of the century, for her team, for her town, for herself.

     "Orders, Commander!" Uni 1's voice was beginning to grow desperate. The Commander inhaled deeply, turning to face her private.

     "You are a brave soldier, my friend," She began. The engineer's eyes grew shocked as she was handed the rusty helmet of her long-time and seasoned commander. "But it's time I do this alone."

     "You don't have to, we have another round, we-!" Uni 1 was drowned out by another grunt and yell from the straining Apple Alpha.

     "No. I can do this." The Commander finalized. "I'm finishing this."

     Without another word from herself but a strangled cry from the engineer, the Commander took off at breakneck speeds, thundering the hill as her heart thundered with her. The dragon grew in view, screeching and roaring as it sent down fist after mighty fist of annhilation, unaware that it's reign of terror was coming to an end. An end at the courageous hooves of Commander Scootaloo's last stand, the one with which she would mark her name in iron ink across the pages of history.

     She took an all-powerful leap, rocketing through the air, falling in slow motion as her face contorted with determination, aiming right for the heart of the beast.

     "Aaaah!" Scootaloo cried as she jumped, her little beating wings propelling her foreward. She tackled Spike, breaking Applebloom's hold on him as the two kids went crashing to the floor of the clubhouse, mini marshmallows from Sweetie's assault glancing off their backs.

     Spike was caught completely and utterly off guard. Scootaloo had him pinned, the blood rushing away from his brain as the dragon unwillingly experienced a sensation he never before had, a pleasant tingle from between where their two bodies connected. He felt something extremely peculiar swell out of the blue, and his eyes widened in fear as he began to struggle against his orange friend on top.

     "Aha! No use fighting now, Spike! We gotcha!" Scootaloo declared in triump, still holding the panicking dragon down with two firm hooves on his shoulders. From behind the two, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both exchanged looks of victory, meeting in the middle with a celebratory hoofbump.

     Applebloom let out a foalish giggle. "This was the funnest thing we've ever done!"

     Sweetie Belle sucked in her next breath as though it came through a straw, turning her head toward her yellow friend as though she had just uttered the filthiest, most sordid curseword. "Funnest," she began in frustration, "is not a word."

     Scootaloo's voice cut through what was sure to be a round of less-than-friendly banter. "Relax girls, fact is, we got him." She stated simply, grinning brightly.

     With each motion from above, with every bit of friction, the foreign yet strangely pleasurable sensantion in Spike incresed, until his mind was nothing but the panicked fray of a clipped wire. Scootaloo really needed to get off, or she would be surely freaked out... If only he could say something, anything, without tipping her off on the fact that something weird and potentially humiliating was happening to him.

     "Ha, yeah we did, didn't we?" Sweetie agreed, forgetting all about Applebloom's blantant misuse. "We're great Dragon Tamers!"

    Scootaloo laughingly agreed, before turning bac to the drgon, shifting her weight over his lower half in a way that sent sudden shocks of pleasure down his spine. It was the most curious yet frightfully nice thing, like somehow that certain part of his body was solidifying.

     His mind began to cloud, leaving him unsure of whether he really wanted Scootaloo to dismount him or not.

    "Spike? Are you okay?" The orange filly asked with genuine concern at the panicking dragon beneath her. "You seem a little red."

    "I have no idea!" Spike gasped, his mind completely taken over by terror, not to mention insane pleasure. Scootaloo wasn't buying it.

     She leaned foreward to touch his forehead with the back of her hoof, gently checking for a temperature above the norm. Her shifting of her flank over his crotch blanked his mind again, and as terror began to lose ground to pleasure, he let out a little involuntary moan.

     Scootaloo sprung back, worried. "Did I hurt you?"

     Spike shook his head vigorously. "N-no, I don't know, I just-" His mind slowly caught up with his mouth as Spike realized he had no idea what he was saying. Out of the blue, and probably regrettably, he took a leap of faith. "It feels good."

    Sweetie and Applebloom, who had seated themselves on either side of Scootaloo, exchanged glances, no more enlightened as to what was happening than any other being in the room.

     "Good. Good?" The orange filly rationalized, as if she had never heard the word before. "You mean when I do this?"

     Another accursed shift sent a bolt of pleasure through Spike's dragonhood and a flash of fear through his mind. What in the hay was happening? Did he ever want it to stop?

     "Y-yeah, that..." Spike groaned, unable to contain himself. Every part of him screamed for her to co tinue as she practically read his mind, though not quite in the way he had hoped for.

     A wicked grin unfurled itself over Scootaloo's features. "Girls," she started, addressing her curiously-observing cronies. "I think we may have found another way to tame a dragon."

     Sweetie Belle cocked her head, armed and ready with another question, but not before Scootaloo began to gyrate again, moving over Spike only on the surface. She went rhythmically and torturously slowly, grinding over Spike as his mind completely drowned in crazy pleasure.

     Spike's claws found the sides of her flank, gripping where her cutie mark should have been, moving instinctively with her as she pressed against him. The orange filly's own eyes widened as she too felt the unfamiliar tingle spreading where they connected. It was so strange, so foreign, yet so nice as a tiny bit of fluid began to seep from her, making their connection far smoother.

     While Scootaloo found herself undeniably entertained, Spike's ragged gasping under his friend's grinding made it obvious he was having a far better time. Urging Scootaloo to press harder and move faster, the dragon's eyes squeezed tighter and he let out the tiniest growl.

     At the primal noise of pleasure, Scootaloo's greatest idea of the evening hit her brain at once. This was it, their best chance to earn their badges as CMC Dragon Tamers. She would teach this particular dragon a lesson he would not soon forget.

    "Louder." The orange filly demanded.

    The dragon growled, teeth clenched in a razor-sharp grip as he tucked his head down toward his chest wearing an expresion that mimicked chagrin. A jolt shot through his chest as the chained monster caught a peripheral glimpse of a splash of yellow and red, and a streak of pinks and white. Both fillies had their eyes on him as the orange filly above put an irrationally strong pressure on his chest.

   "Louder!" Scootaloo demanded against, her voice growing hoarse as she pushed against him once more.

   Spike's tail lashed beneath him in fiery fury, threatening to slash any pony in range with dagger-like spikes. He clamped his eyes shut under Scootaloo's pressure from above, growling once more, feeling the fire bubble and rise in his chest. The minute dragon's muscles pulled taut as he starined, whatever coherent thought he may have somehow strung together replaced by what rivaled the static sound of a million bees.

     Applebloom leaned into his ear, quietly telling him a message while tugging gently at one of the green spines cresting his head. Spike felt the wisp of her red mane against his cheek, unwilling to open his eyes, though at the vice-like pressure with which he squeezed them together, they were probably already welded shut anyway.

     "Y'all better listen to Scootaloo, Spike, she's the dragon tamer." Applebloom conveyed, her voice playful yet sultry enough to send a shiver down the dragon's spine.

     In response, Scootaloo flicked her feather-like magenta hair from her eyes and turned to her friend, throwing her a wink. Refocusing her attention to the dragon, she attacked his chest with a final push of unearthly strength, placing every ounce of strength she was able to wring from the fibers of her body into once and for all claiming her title of Scootaloo, Dragon Tamer.

     The orange filly leaned into Spike's throat, trailing her snout down from his spines, eyes closed and breath deep, like a succubus marking her point of entry. A strand of purple hair, more gently than a whisper, traced his scales as she reached his ear, purring in what was hardly more than a menacing growl. Spike buried his chin against his chest, his hitched breath entangling with a hammering, irregular heartbeat; he could almost feel her smirk as she growled a final command into his very psyche.

     "Louder."

     The clang of chains rattled through Spike's head, accompanied by a choking, primal revelation as it penetrated his core, hardening as it permeated through his chest and rooting itself at his brain. The dragon fell into the maelstrom as a hellish beast in his chest gave a thundering growl, tearing through the shackles as the walls came crumbling down. Rearing out of the pit from which it came, the internal beast unfurled colossal leathery wings, spreading them to full glory as it threw its head back, infernal fire reigning alongside an earthshattering, eternal roar.

     Spike's eyes flew open, pupils nothing more than serpentine slits surrounded by a ring of acidic green as he snapped his head back, focused to the sky, swelling under Scootaloo's pressure from above. His mind fell into a primal, instinctual fritz of electricity and raw, undivided power as he reared back into a roar that shook the heavens and the earth.

     A complete, powerful, thundering feeling  drowned his mind, pulsing over him as unearthly release came to him, pounding in his temples until Spike was certain his head would explode. It was agony, beautiful, unimaginably wonderful agony that overtook his life and limb, draining him of whatever energy he may still have had.

     Realizing it was time to slow after Spike's motion became almost non-existant, Scootaloo came to a stop, gasping heavily for a reason she couldn't exactly place. She heaved over, resting her head on Spike's chest as he came down from his euphoria.

     After a minute of silence, she dared speak. "Well...that was fun."

     Applebloom laughed playfully. "Well, it sure was weird to watch... Got a cutie mark yet?" She asked eagerly, craning her neck to examine her friend's backside.

     "Forget cutie marks, I found my special talent anyway." Scootaloo joked, giving a tired, airy laugh.

     Sweetie Belle only sat motionless, her eyes squinted as though she were recalling something distant. Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, she let out a fit of giggles. "Heeheeheehee, I think I just figured out how to play Rarity's game!"

*~*~*

Spike walked back, a blissful spring in his step, reveling in the crisp, clear morning air. Everything just seemed so blissfully perfect, he couldn't place it. Either way, it would be alright with him if things could forever remain just the way they were right then.

     Despite his bliss as he strolled, a thought nagged at the back of the little dragon's mind. Of all the certain things in the universe, one thing was among them; he had had an undeniably great time, from the Ghost Hunting to the... other thing.

     His thoughts progressed from there as the realization he had made last night came back to bite at the back of his mind once more. The thing... What in Equestria had actually happened? Something so incredibly amazing it could not be expressed in decent words could only be the product of...

     Witchcraft? Spike had helped Twilight long enough to realize there were no such things as curses, hexes, and hocus pocus, so likely not.

     Regular magic? Not any spell he knew of, but if there was one, Spike vowed to spend the rest of his days searching for it.

     A vivid dream? He certainly hoped not.

     Twilight. Twilight was a well-informed, well-read, and trustworthy friend of his, surely she would be able to prpvide the slightest Inkling of an answer.

     If so, Spike rationalized in his blissful cranium, Twilight would have some explaining to do.

     ....

     On the other hand, maybe he would wait until after the next sleepover to start asking questions.