My Dragon Brother

Chapters

In the beginning
Terrible Twos
And 4 Misfits Shall They Be
Accident with balls
Sonic Barrier
Real Rainbows Rally for Rules
This First Act Ends When School Begins
Meanwhile in Town Hall
Hugs and invites
Working for Rarity
A breeze through town
Panic! At the Town Hall
Seize the awards!
Two new problems
The order of the Celestias!
Talks and Heartbreak
Arrival in Ponyville Police Station

In the beginning

Now edited by SpikeSupreme13!

Snuggled in a blanket, she looked up with bright eyes full of wonder.

“Oh, look at her. Ain’t she precious?” she heard a voice say. Her eyes blurred a bit before she focused on the object that had spoken. A mare, with deep violet eyes, pink fur, and dim blue hair looked back.

“Come here, Blitz!” the mare gestured towards another figure to the right. The figure was a stallion, with bright yellow eyes and a light violet coat of fur. His mane was a bit frazzled, no doubt from a recent and messy trip, and yet it still proudly shone the vibrant colors of the rainbow. He looked in along with the mare to see her coo, looking at them both with more wonder.

“My Dash…My beautiful Rainbow Dash…” was all the stallion would say.

“It’s a beautiful girl. Sorry, by the way…” the mare cheekily apologized. The stallion chuckled.

“I was never really serious about that. I can see she is still destined for greatness.”

“Mister Rainbow Blitz? Miss Firefly? Before we let you two go with the baby, I will need her name so as she can be registered and we can give you her documentation,” a nurse walked in, shuffling her glasses until they fitted comfortably on her nose.

“Her name is Rainbow Dash, and can we stay for a bit longer? It was a rather tiring ordeal to get here in time,” Rainbow Blitz asked.

“Of course! Take as much time as you need! I will be at the center desk if you have any more questions. The paperwork will be ready there. Have a nice Hearth’s Warming Eve. She’s a nice present to be given this year, I would say,” the nurse smiled. With that, she walked out of the room to let the two couple rest.

“Look at her. The perfect little present for us…” she whispered. Blitz leaned in to see his little Dash yawn and rest her head on Firefly’s chest, with a small little smile on her face.

High above the sleeping city of Cloudsdale, a fierce battle was taking place. Two dragons were locking talons and snarling at each other as they scratched at each other, intending to bring each other down. Both dragons held very precious and sacred items in their claws, although their intent for these items were nothing but good for the items. Between them were a clutch of eggs, stolen from a nest, all too ready to be eaten by these dragons. As for sharing though, they feuded over each and every one of the eggs.

One dragon got the better look against his enemy and managed to score a hit on its right eye. The other dragon screeched in pain, and in counterattacking, one egg dropped out of its clutch of few in its right back paw, but neither of them had noticed.

Sailing through the air, the egg had plummeted down into the city of Cloudsdale.

“Blitz, you are out of shape. That is what you’re going to tell me every time you tell this story,” Firefly stated. She looked towards her husband to see him shift his eyes in confusion.

“Honey, I’m not out of shape. What makes you say that?” he asked.

“You were huffing and puffing and almost fainted at the front of the hospital. I know how much weight you carry in your training, and everyone else probably knows as well. Are you really going to insinuate that I weigh more than your wing weights?” Firefly smirked.

“Uh, it was the baby! Yeah, Dashie is a little on the heavy side, right? That’s why it was more difficult to carry you than I thought!” Blitz looked left and right to avoid Firefly’s gaze while chuckling nervously.

“…Are you implying my daughter is fat, Blitz?”

“wh-What? No! No, that’s not what I… I mean…”

“Relax Blitz,” Firefly chuckled. “I’m just having a bit of fun. You’re cute when you’re flustered, remember?” she smiled.

“Hmmph. Yeah, how could I forget, I have you reminding me every time,” Blitz tried to look serious, but even he couldn’t hold back a grin.

“And don’t you forget that either!” Firefly turned around to smile before flying in front of Blitz. She slowed down to let him catch up.

The couple were flying back from the hospital in the small but bright light of the moon. They knew the way, and before long they arrived at their house. Firefly trotted in first, their little Dash sleeping soundly in a blanket wrapped snuggly around her chest.

“Oh, Blitz, could you by chance go grab the mail and make some water? I forgot to check the mailbox today and I would like some cold water, if you don’t mind. Here’s my purse, it has the canteen in-”

A small object landed into the purse, in front of both Blitz and Firefly.

“What was that?” Blitz asked. He dug his hoof into the purse to feel around for anything strange. Okay, soft and flexible, that’s the canteen. Hard and bendy, that’s the papers. Hard and…ball shaped? Blitz pulled out the foreign object and held it curiously in his hooves.

“An egg?” Firefly asked. She looked in bewilderment as she tried to comprehend how an egg could suddenly fall from the sky.

“It’s no chicken egg; It’s too big. Way too big. I might have to ask Scrolls about it tomorrow,” Blitz said, studying it.

“So…we should keep it?” Firefly asked. Rainbow Dash shuffled a bit in her blanket, but didn’t make a sound.

“I don’t see why not. We can keep it warm just in case another, uh, freakishly large bird comes here and asks about it,” Blitz was still bewildered at the size of the egg. And for that matter, how did it manage to fit in her purse so easily!?

“Well, if you say so, but since it’s your idea, you can keep it warm,” Firefly said.

“What? Me!? Why me? It’s usually the mother that keeps the egg warm!” Blitz whispered harshly, trying not to wake the baby.

“Then welcome to the first day of being a mother. Now, let’s head to bed, and we can figure out how to keep it warm.”

“So I come back before the party, and he’s still there, rolling it around. I ask, ‘Hey Scrolls, got any leads on leading it around?’ and he goes ‘Well, if you want to actually know instead of joking like an IN-SU-fer-a-BLE idiot, yes, I did find out what type of egg this is’.

Standing around Blitz was a group of stallions all from his work. They had all been invited for the Hearth’s Warming party hosted by the couple of Rainbow Blitz and Firefly. It was the best time to reveal little Rainbow Dash to their friends and family.

And also to reveal something positively interesting to the couple, and most likely their friends.

“It’s a dragon egg. I know, I couldn’t believe it myself until he told me the fifth time on his honor!”

“It’s true. The egg Blitz gave me is a dragon egg, and it’s rather interesting that it fell from the sky like he said. Also,I do not speak like that!” one of the stallions piped up.

“That might be because of the two dragons fighting last night. Oh, and yes you do, dear,” A mare walked up to the group, with bright blue fur and a long but beautifully brushed pink mane. The stallion, a cream yellow Pegasus with curly brown braids, sulked in defeat.

“Wait, dragons were fighting last night? Where?” Blitz asked.

“Somewhere above Cloudsdale, one of my reporters said. Unfortunately, both of them suffered wing injuries and, um… plummeted to their deaths. Around the area were a couple of smashed eggs as well…”

The group audibly hissed in sympathy. The mare turned to Blitz. “What are we going to do with the egg now?”

“Well I guess, if there’s no more options, my little Dashie gets a dragon sibling. In that case, I’ll have to go report it at the courthouse. Speaking of Dashie, how has Fluttershy reacted to her?”

“She was very curious. They’re cuddling and sleeping together in the crib though, so I think they are already good friends!” Scrolls replied

“Wait, they’re cuddling? Oh, I have to go grab a camera. This will be excellent to embarrass her with in her later years!” Blitz trotted out of the group of friends, rushing upstairs to find his camera.

“IT’S HATCHING!” someone cried. The group turned to another mare, rushing up to the group. “Where’s that blasted Blitz!? The egg is about to hatch!”

All members of the party stood back in a circle as the small object that had become the second most interesting thing in the room.

The first was Firefly hyperventilating.

“I don’t know how to take care of a baby dragon! Oh, I don’t know if we can take care of two kids at the same time; we only planned for one! Blitz, what are we gonna do? Blitz? RAINBOW BLIIIIIIIITZ!”

Most ponies don’t know it, but you can gain some interesting powers when you become a married couple. The phenomenon had baffled scientists and magicians for centuries, with tests coming up with inconclusive evidence and research.

One of these powers involve super speed. As a father, your reaction time is increased, so as to save the baby when it is in harm or to help your wife when she is having a mental breakdown and/or about to do something rash.

However, the most powerful use of this power is the strange and uncommon “Your wife is yelling your name in an angry manner” super speed.

Out of literal nowhere Blitz materialized with a camera on his neck, with a wide and happy smile and eyes that told only the most astute of ponies “ohcelestiashesmaditsokayitsokayjustdon’tscrewanythingup!”

“Yeees honey?” Blitz asked. Firefly glared at him while pointing with her right hoof towards the egg. “Huh, oh cool the egg’s hatching.”

Blitz’s eyes widened.

“The egg is hatching!” With a swoop, he embraced Firefly, shoving her muzzle right into his chest. “It’s going to be okay honey. You will be the greatest dragon mother ever. We can do this. I know we can! We’re a team honey, and we will stick with each other no matter what!”

Firefly shoved herself out of the embrace and held Blitz’s head at eye level. “Blitz, it was cute when you did the speech last night, but that was when I needed you to say something encouraging. Right now I need you to tell me how we are going to take care of a baby dragon!” she yelled.

“Shh! Quiet! It’s about to come out!” one of the co-workers shushed the couple as the egg kept shaking and stirring with each crack. The room went silent as the egg suddenly stopped moving. A small purple hand slowly pushed its way out of the egg, taking a large portion of the eggshell with it.

A mare whispered in Firefly’s ear, and she nodded back, moving through the crowd to go upstairs. Blitz didn’t notice as he watched the egg slowly break apart to open up the little dragon inside.

Despite his knowledge of dragons as being fierce and scary creatures, Blitz couldn’t help but go “aww” at the sight of the little dragon. It looked just as much as a baby purple pony, with round green bumps growing out the top of his head.

Blitz slowly trotted up to the baby dragon. “Hey little guy. Look at me,” he whispered. The moment felt like it demanded relative silence, and so the party tried to make as little noise as possible.

The dragon looked up at Blitz, and the stallion had a sense of déjà vu as it looked at him with wonder.

“Hey little buddy. I’m your daddy…” Rainbow Blitz felt a bump to his right, and saw his wife holding their daughter.

“Take him out of the egg. I want to see something,” she whispered. Blitz gave her a look of confusion before he walked close to the egg. He slowly picked up the baby dragon by the waist and dropped him gently near Firefly. She dropped Rainbow Dash near the baby dragon. Some of the party members gasped.

“I just want to see something,” Firefly told her guests. She leaned in closely as the two babies slowly shuffled to each other. Rainbow Dash was the first to make contact as she leaned out with her hoof to touch the dragon’s paw. At this, the dragon held the hoof up, looking at Rainbow Dash with a smile. With a giggle, the couple’s daughter nuzzled the baby dragon, and the whole party cheered.

“Heh, I guess that answers that question,” Firefly said as she nuzzled her husband.

“What question was that?” he asked.

“Whether the dragon would try to eat our daughter or not.”

She felt her headrest tighten before it loosened back. “Please don’t play with our daughter like that, dear. I’m fond of her, and I’m rather fond of her being alive and not eaten,” Blitz replied with a smirk, although he still kept on glancing at the two babies with more than a little worry than necessary.

“Oh, hush. Let’s take the babies up to their room. I’m sure there’s enough space for the two of them in the crib.”

“Hey, nice job on becoming parents of two now!” Scrolls walked up to them with his wife, who had a sleepy baby Fluttershy on her back.

“Well, it was no problem,” Firefly replied with a smile.

“No kidding. We didn’t do anything; It literally was no problem!” Blitz chimed in.

“…Blitz?” Firefly looked to Blitz with her eyes close and her smile wide. To anyone, this was just a happy expression. To Blitz though, this expression conveyed a message.

“Oh dear husband of mine, would you kindly shut up?”

Blitz nodded in understanding, gulping in fear of that expression.

“…well then. We best be off. Don’t forget about our daughter’s playdate. Congratulations again on taking a baby dragon for another child. That’s going to be a difficult one in court huh?” Scrolls laughed. Blitz started to laugh as well.

“Heh, yeah!...wait what?”

Author's Note

Thank you SpikeSupreme13 for editing this chapter!

And thank you for reading!

Edit: Thank you Blueright/Tmaggzz for making the artwork for this chapter!

Terrible Twos

Blitz walked inside his home, an unhappy expression on his face as he absorbed his surroundings.

“Firefly honey?” he called out.

“Yes, dearie?” Firefly answered. She wasn’t visibly anywhere, but Blitz knew her expression was just as tired as his was.

“Why are the kids duct taped to the floor?”

“I needed them to stop moving around the living room for an hour.

“They were fooling around again?”

“They’re two year olds, what do you expect?”

“I expected them to be in a crib, or at a daycare, or with a nanny, so we can work for this family in peace. I did not expect us to use more duct tape than a college engineer.”

“I didn’t use that much duct tape…”

“Honey, they look like they are about to burst from their tape cocoons to become beautiful pony-sized butterflies.”

“Well maybe they want to be butterflies, Blitz. Did you ever think of that?”

“…Honey, I left last Friday to help train some of the new royal guard recruits. Today is now Monday. That means I left for 72 hours. How many hours of sleep did you have?”

“About twelve. I think.”

“Dear, how long have you been awake today?”

“About eighteen, why?”

“Honey, it’s morning.”

“And I’ve been up since noon yesterday. Your point?”

“…Go to the bed; Take a nap for two hours, then get ready. We’re going to Scroll’s house to help you relax.”

“But I don’t wannaaaaaaa…”

“NO. We are GOING, and that’s FINAL!!!. Go take a nap. Now!”

“Blitsieeee…”

“Go to your bed right now, young lady! Or, rather, our bed, technically…”

“Do I have toooooo?...”

“Yes! Now go!” Blitz never let his eyes off of the two tape cocoons, but he could hear and imagine his wife slowly crawling up the stairs. “I swear, I share this house with three children,” he remarked.

“OH DON’T GET ME STARTED ON YOU BLITZ!” Firefly yelled from the stairs.

“GO TO SLEEP HONEY!” Blitz yelled back. He slowly trotted up to the cocoons, ready to save his children from the evil clutches of metamorphosis.

“Aww, and you had to use the extra-strength tape too!”

“Yup, the Terrible Twos. I remember those days as if they were yesterday…” Scrolls sighed distantly, as if he was recalling fond memories. He was sitting down on a lawn chair outside in the backyard of a yellow house.

“You had fond memories of Fluttershy when she was two?” Blitz asked Scrolls. He was lounging on another lawn chair opposite from Scrolls.

“Oh no, not at all. If she wasn’t crying up a storm she would be as silent as death, which I still can’t consider which was worse,” Scrolls’s wife was massaging the neck and upper back of Firefly, who had closed her eyes in utter bliss as she let herself be putty in the mare’s hooves.

“I would (*oh, right thereee…*) definitely take the silence, with what the racket our kids can come up with. They once somehow managed to get in the cupboards and pull out some of the pots and pans we use to cook. I got a complaint from the next-door neighbor asking why we were letting her grounded son use our house for his horrible rock band. Didn’t help that the colt later asked if the two could join the band,” Firefly said. The group laughed at the last sentence, imagining how a young high school aged colt going through an emo phase walked up to a most likely already tired and irritable Firefly and ask her if her two children were available as band members.

“Hey…remember our school days?” Blitz asked the group.

“Oh, yeah, I remember. You and Firefly used to hate each other. From elementary to flight school. How you two managed to agree to get married is beyond me,” the mare said.

“Well, we fought over who was the fastest pegasus alive. Then we just agreed that we both were the fastest pegasi alive. At that moment Blitz proposed; Weirdest proposal you would ever hear, in a stadium of all places!” Firefly laughed.

Blitz blushed. “You were going to leave for a whole month! It was then or never!”

“Enough you two. As long as you’re both happy, we’re happy with whatever madness led up to your marriage,” the mare smiled. She stopped massaging Firefly’s back and grabbed another chair to sit on.

“Thank you, Scoops. Don’t even get me started on the wedding. You know Blitz actually saw me in my dress before the ceremony?” Scrolls and Scoops gasped.

“It was an accident, really! Someone had ripped off the signs of which bathrooms were which, and I stumbled into the wrong one. I only saw the coat-tails, I swear it on my life!” Blitz tried to justify himself, but he stammered and almost fell out of his chair.

“That’s still bad luck, Blitz. Maybe that dragon baby is that bad luck, huh?” Scrolls suggested with a smirk.

“Never! Spike is an awesome son, I will never consider him to be anything negative to our family!” Blitz stood up and yelled more forcefully than necessary, leaving the other three to reel back in their chairs.

“Wow. Your husband really does love both children, Firefly. He’s definitely a lot better than most fathers I’ve had to work with. You’re respectable, Blitz,” Scoops stated with a smile.

Blitz leaned back into his chair with a huff and crossed forearms. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Speaking of…” Blitz twisted his head around, scanning the area. “Where are the tykes anyway?”

“They’re upstairs, in little Fluttershy’s room. Also speaking of dragons, do you know what I read yesterday? I was assorting through the Cloudsdale Central library, and I came across this old scroll in the archives…

Fluttershy was horrified.

Two little intruders, both of them she didn’t know, were making a mess of her room. She knew that her mommy was not going to like the mess.

So she sat silent. Silence always brought her parents over, so why not with the two intruders?

Unfortunately, her room became more messy. Her clothes were on the floor, her bed’s sheets were ripped up, and her small bookshelf of books were strewn to anywhere that the two intruders could climb and explore.

She backed herself into a corner and cried. She didn’t want the intruders; She wanted mommy and daddy. She was so scared of the two that she tried to cry quietly, so she didn’t attract any attention.

Again, she failed.

One of the two, a baby that she could tell was not a pony like her mommy and daddy, slowly walked up to her with curious eyes. She tried to shy away into a corner with her pink hair covering her vision, but the heavy breathing told her the purple intruder was still there, looking at her. With a little shuffle of her hoof, she moved her hair in order to see the intruder.

“Um…h-hi?” Fluttershy could speak a few words, one of them a word that her mommy told her to say to ponies.

“Wah?” the intruder in front of her replied. He leaned in close to inspect her, and she leaned back in fear.

A small bang made Fluttershy squeaked in fear. The two looked to the source of the noise, where the other blue intruder was trying to pull out another book. The purple intruder crawled up and nuzzled the blue intruder, pointing to Fluttershy with a…well, Fluttershy couldn’t tell what was on his hoof. A claw? Was the intruder a kitty? It didn’t look like one, but why did it have claws like a-

Both intruders walked up to her corner and sat down, looking expectantly at her, while she shied back into her hair. Fluttershy didn’t know what to do. She could try to call for mommy, but she figured that if she didn’t come when she was quiet, she probably was at “work”, as mommy told her once.

She looked up to see the purple intruder walk up to her and wrap his arms around her. She froze. As far as she knew, only mommy and daddy would hug her. She never got close enough to other kids to be hugged.

The blue intruder cooed and walked over to Fluttershy, hugging her on the opposite side from the purple intruder. Both intruders laughed happily while Fluttershy only mewed in terror.

At some point, the blue one stopped laughing and looked up at a small desk. On the desk was a pink box that opened up to a small ballerina, who was jumping in mid-air. It was a wind-up box that mommy used to help Fluttershy go to sleep.

And the blue one wanted it.

Before the intruder could get there, Fluttershy, in a rare burst of emotion, shouted “No!” as she grabbed the box and put it behind her back. She pushed out with one hoof as the blue one tried to reach for it.

“WAHHH!” the blue one cried, as she struggled against Fluttershy’s arms. Fluttershy was scared before, but now she was angry, as she did not want the blue intruder to touch her pink box at all. The blue one stood back, furious that she did not get the coveted pink box, and lunged for it again, pushing harder into Fluttershy’s hoof.

Fluttershy held to the box tightly, and used all the strength she had to keep the blue intruder away. The two suddenly stopped when they heard another bang near them. They looked to see the purple intruder holding a book in front of the blue intruder.

Fluttershy recognized the book. It was a small picture book showing the Wonderbolts. It was a gift that her mommy recently gave her to try and start reading on her own. While she hadn’t been successful yet, that did not stop her from admiring the pictures inside.

The blue one immediately gave up on the pink box, focusing instead on the strange but interesting object that the purple one led away from Fluttershy. She considered following to take the book away from the blue intruder, but stayed back when she saw the purple one lay down the book farther away, letting the blue one inspect it and watch the pictures, cooing in awe at the sight of the Wonderbolts performing various stunts.

The purple one walked back to her and looked at her expectantly. She put the pink box back where she had it before, and looked back. She wondered what the purple intruder wanted when she felt a pair of arms around her. The purple one hugged her again, and she almost squeaked again before calming down.

The purple one helped her by showing the blue intruder a book and leading her away, keeping her pink box safe.

The purple one was a friend.

Fluttershy smiled, and she hugged back.

Author's Note

Let it be known that I CAN'T KEEP UP with simple little updates.

At least this is at a weekly schedule... (edit 09/03/2016: LOL NOPE I don't update frequently)

Thank you to SpikeSupreme13 for editing this chapter. I may also get another editor so as to have another opinion on some technical aspects of my writing.

Next up we'll have the duo at their first day of school!

*sniff* They grow up so fast... :ajsleepy:

Thank you Blueright for the artwork!

And 4 Misfits Shall They Be

Stupid morning.

Stupid sun.

Stupid stairs.

Stupid brother.

Stupid mom and dad.

Stupid family.

Stupid breakfast.

Stupid stairs. Again.

Stupid room.

Stupid toothbrush.

Stupid door.

Stupid school.

Stupid cold!

Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed huff as she shivered again from the brisk fall cold. She walked up to the school with her mom and dad beside her.

Well, at least her mother beside her. Her father was busy being beside Spike.

Stupid brother. Again.

“Now this is first grade, Spike. No more of foolin’ around like in flight kindergarten, ya hear?” Blitz asked.

“Yes dad,” replied the dragon through chattering teeth.

Spike was just as annoyed as Rainbow Dash. On the ground, the cold wasn’t a problem, but up in the clouds, even in the early stages of fall, the cold was as unbearable as winter. And since he was a dragon, he was cold-blooded, which made him even more perceptible to the weather.

It was for this reason that beside Blitz there was a moving pile of jackets, courtesy of one overbearing and stern Firefly.

“Spike, remember, you’re cold-blooded. I do not want you out of that jacket in this cold!” Firefly reprimanded.

Spike looked at Rainbow Dash. Both their eyes told the message every kid says at this time of year.

“I wish summer lasted longer.”

“Ah, Firefly and mister Rainbow Blitz! So nice to meet you two! And are these two your children?” A mare with blue fur and a grey mane wrapped up in a bun greeted the family at the front of the school. Before the school day started, all the parents and the faculty would meet up to greet the kids and let them mingle for a bit before the teachers took them inside. As it was the first day of school, the meeting was more formal than usual, in order to allow the faculty to tell the parents what to expect for the new year.

However, this meeting was not formal in the slightest.

Word spread that Spike, the dragon son of two of the most well-known pegasi in Cloudsdale, was at the school, and everyone wanted to see him. Students, parents, and school staff alike.

For their curiosity, they were treated to the humorous sight of a mass of jackets shivering in fear under Blitz, with the father only blushing in embarrassment as he tried to coax the young drake out.

“Y…Yes, this is our children. Dashie, honey, say hi to your teacher, Miss Wing Check,” Firefly coaxed her daughter out from under her, although she wasn’t hiding under her mom in fear; She just wanted to not speak to anypony.

Yeah, that’s what she wanted.

“Hi…himisswingcheckitsnicetoseeyouokaythanksbye!” Dash scuffled back under Firefly, desperate to get away from the mare. Firefly sighed while Wing Check looked in confusion.

“You’ll have to excuse my daughter. Her kindergarten teacher wasn’t the, uh, nicest teacher around. Of course the teacher has been reprimanded but...I suppose the damage is done.” Firefly looked to the ground and sighed. If Dash couldn’t get through the first year of real school because of a fear of teachers, she might have to homeschool her. With her work, it would be impossible.

“Don’t worry, my dear Firefly. Your husband was quite adamant in pulling some strings in the administration to have me as her teacher. Apparently they considered me most qualified to handle this…peculiar situation. You have my word she will pass this phobia and forget all about it!” Wing Check closed her eyes in a triumphant grin.

If she had kept her eyes open, she would have seen Firefly smirk, with a dangerous flash of her teeth. “Thank you, Miss Check. However, should we hear that you are acting…most unpleasant to my daughter, or especially my son, my husband will wish to…” Firefly leaned closer, “request a private parent-teacher conference.”

Miss Wing Check could only gulp in fear.

“Wow, a real dragon!”

“Lemme see! Lemme see!”

“Those scales are so cool!”

Spike could only cringe in fear as he was boggled by all the kids in front of him, held back only by his dad.

“Hey now, stay back! My son here is no freak-show attraction! Please do not get any closer to him! Ack, where are your parents when I need them-gah! You bit my leg!"

The only thing Spike could do was to take off his layers of jackets. With each layer removed, the crowd of kids oohed and ahhed at the sight of more scales and the slow reveal of his tail.

Blitz briefly had a mental image of a dragon stripper. He then grabbed the image, threw it on the ground, set a big bonfire on top of it, lit the bonfire until it was nothing more than ashes, scooped up the ashes into a canister, and then set the canister on fire by way of flamethrower.

He then silently prayed in the back of his head that his son wouldn’t become a stripper.

“ENOUGH!” he yelled out. The sudden silence that ensued gave Blitz whiplash, and he felt a headache start to form.

“Um, hi?” Spike quietly spoke.

“HIIIIIII!” all the kids yelled out in reply. Blitz could feel more of his headache come to him, and he desperately wished he had stayed with Firefly instead of trying to show his son around the school. They had only gotten to see the gym before they were swarmed.

For his part, Spike tried to curl up into a ball to ignore all the eyes and voices, just like his friend would do.

Wait. His friend!

Spike stood up and scanned the kids, looking for that unmistakable mix of pink and yellow. Not finding the filly, he spoke up, “Has anyone seen Fluttershy around? She’s pink and, uh, yellow!”

Some of the kids quieted down in order to look at each other, looking for the filly the drake mentioned. “No. We don’t see her.”

“Wouldn’t Fluttershy be in second grade, Spike?” Blitz asked.

“N-no…she was in flight kindergarten with us…”

Blitz shivered. He hoped the next teacher wasn’t going to be as bad as…her. He couldn’t help but growl in indignation at the memory, what that damn mare did to his daughter and son-

“Daaaad, you’re not a wolf. Please stop growling at the kids,” Spike whined. Blitz blinked as he suddenly stopped growling and looked to see the kids leaning back in fear of him.

Huh. So that’s what shuts them up. Gotta remember that.

At that moment, the bell rang.

“YES! I mean, um, HMPH that’s the first bell kids, time for you to get to class! I’m sure my son will be so happy to meet you all! ROOM ONE HUNDRED AND SIX SPIKE!” Blitz yelled out, running away quickly from the pack of kids.

Spike could only face-claw.

“Do, uh, any of you know where that room is?” Spike asked tentatively. Some colts and fillies in the group excitedly raised their hoofs and gestured for him to follow them. With a singular gulp, Spike grabbed his jackets and his backpack, tentatively walking behind the few kids going to his room. They stopped when they heard a scream at the end of the hall.

“AHHH! THAT WAS THE SAME LEG!”

“Alright class, hush! We won’t go anywhere with you talking away the day!” Ms. Wing Check chided the room of colts and fillies, who had stopped talking per her command after a few seconds. With relative silence, the teacher cleared her throat before she began.

“Today is an important day, fillies and colts! Today marks the beginning of your journey into the wondrous world of education! First, you will go through your primary education of first through fifth grade. Then, you will go through intermediary education in sixth to eighth grade, where you will learn your first lessons in flight. Those lessons and many more will be continued in Flight School, a nine to twelfth grade education where you will learn how to use the sky to your maximum potential, and start to form ideas of where you wish to go in life!” Miss Wing Check ended her speech with her signature smile, and looked towards her class…

…to see most of them already fallen asleep from her lecture.

Sigh. There’s more of them every year…

“Miss Wing Check?” A filly with white fur and grey hair raised her hoof.

“Yes, miss Fortuna Light, anything you wish to say?” Wing Check was glad that at least one filly managed to pay attention.

“Why can’t we learn how to fly sooner? My sister knew how to fly when she was ten!” There were murmurs of agreement between the students, each one also wondering why they were learning to fly later rather than sooner.

“Your sister was probably in an advanced class, where their education is faster and more challenging, as opposed to ours. She may have also started with her parents tutoring her. She also could be what we call an early bloomer, where her wings are already fully developed by the time she was ten years old. That is a rare case, and I do not recommend any of you learn how to fly that young, unless your doctor and your parents agree that your wings are ready. Now, any more questions?”

Some of the students murmured, but none of them had a definite question.

“Miss Wing Check? What about me? Will I have to learn how to fly, even if I don’t have wings?” A clawed hand was raised in the air as all eyes turned to the source of the hand. A purple dragon with green spines was sitting next to a blue filly with rainbow hair on his right, and on his left sat a yellow filly with bright flowing pink hair.
“Well, with you, mister Rainbow Spike, I’m not sure. I am not knowledgeable in dragons, I’m afraid. However, I do know that most dragons do grow their wings in a matter of time, so unless you’re a special exception, you will have your wings in time. Maybe not at the same time as your peers, but in definite time. Now, if there aren’t any more questions, let’s go on to introducing ourselves to the class. My name, if some of you do not know, is Miss Wing Check…”

It was now noon, and the kids were outside for recess and lunch on the school playground. Three kids, one dragon and two fillies, sat comfortably on a cloud a little far from the playground, but still in seeing distance for the supervising teacher.

Well, two kids and a pile of jackets, in either case.

“Blegh! Mustard and daisy sandwich?!” Spike gagged. He loved his mother, he really did, but he just didn’t understand her mother’s ideas on “healthy” food. What he really wanted was the gems she kept in the back of the cupboard. Now those were delicious.

“I can, uh, trade you mine?” Fluttershy said. The dragon looked to see her sandwich had onions and pickles. Not really better, but he knew how Fluttershy loved daisies, so he quickly swapped sandwiches and bit into the new lunch.

Mayonnaise.

“Yissss…” Spike sighed happily. Mayo was an ingredient he believed should be mandatory on all sandwiches and protected by law.

“Bah, next time I get her sandwich then,” Rainbow Dash pouted. She looked at her own sandwich, a replica of Spike’s original, and dared a bite. When she didn’t immediately die from poisoning, she kept on taking small bites, not willing to risk chomping down and having a gag reflex.

“You know, I can’t believe we’re already getting homework on the first day. Like, at least let us learn a little bit before you give us work!” Spike complained.

“Wow, never thought you wanted to actually learn in school, Spike. You hated the math lessons in kindergarten,” Dash replied.

“Well, who didn’t?”

“Eh, Fluttershy here, probably.”

“Mmm mmm,” Fluttershy shook her head. “I didn’t like her lessons either.”

Rainbow cringed. “Leeeet’s not talk about her. Please?” she asked.

“Oh, um, yeah…” Fluttershy sighed. As far as she knew, none of the other kids in their class went to the same kindergarten class as they did.

“Hey, look over there,” Spike pointed with his right claw at a small object on another cloud. The fillies leaned in and saw that the object was the griffon who was in the same class as they were. If Spike remembered correctly, she said her name was Gilda, and she just came to Cloudsdale. She didn’t say anything more, nor did it look like she wanted to at the time.

“Aww, she’s sitting all on her own,” Fluttershy remarked.

“Well, she shouldn’t! She’s a griffon, and they’re one of the coolest guys around! If no one wants to be friends with her, then we will!”

“Dashie, wait, I don’t think…ugh,” Spike made his second face-claw of the day as his sister ran as a rainbow blur up to the griffon. With a shrug towards Fluttershy, the two walked over to the young pegasus and griffon.

“So where are you from? Who are your parents? Where do you live?!” Rainbow asked.

“Rainbow Dash!!! Let her go. She just doesn’t want to be bothered,” chided Spike. He glared at his sister, who replied with sticking her tongue out.

Gilda flinched back and looked down. Spike swore he could see tears. He walked up to the griffon to try and calm her down before she bawled, but was pushed over by Rainbow.

“Ahhhh, don’t listen to my brother. He’s a real meanie sometimes,” Rainbow laughed.

“W-wait… You two are…?” Gilda asked.

“Yup! Bro and sis! I’m older though, so he has to follow me!” Rainbow put her arm around Spike’s neck with a smile, while he only rolled his eyes.

“Dashie, you’re only a day older than me,” he whined.

“Buuuut I’m still older. And as the older sister, I command you to say sorry!” Rainbow commanded.

“For what?!” he cried.

“You hurt her feelings!”

“No I didn’t!”

“Yeah you did!”

“Actually he didn’t…” Gilda whispered, but she was ignored by the siblings.

“No I did not!”

“Yeah you did! She was about to cry!”

“Um, guys?...” Gilda tried once again to get the two’s attention, but once again she was ignored.

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t because of me!”

“Spike, Rainbow, I think Gilda’s trying to say something…” Now Fluttershy was trying to reign in the two siblings, but she was ignored as well.

“What are you talking about, you were about to say sorry before I pushed you away!”

“No I wasn’t! And thanks for that by the way!”

“HEEEEEEEY!”

Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Spike flinched back in surprise at the yelling griffon, and stared at her wide-eyed when Gilda herself hunched with a small blush on her cheeks. She cleared her throat before sitting up.

“It’s…it’s fine, Rainbow Spike and Rainbow Dash. I just didn’t want you guys to leave since, well, you’re the first ponies to talk to me…”

“Hey, I guess I am sorry for trying to get us away. Rainbow can just be a little jumpy to new ponies…er, griffons, I mean. Oh, and just call me Spike. My sister likes to be called Rainbow,” Spike replied.

“Wait, why do you two have the same first name?” Gilda asked.

“My dad’s family likes to name everyone Rainbow something. We’re part of a really important family!” Rainbow again grabbed Spike by the neck and pulled him close with a smile.

“What she means is,” Spike began, “the Rainbows are a very special family to the history of Cloudsdale. Not only are we one of the oldest pegasi clans, we also are the family from which the great Commander Hurricane came from-“

“Blah! You actually listen to dad?” Rainbow gagged.

“Yeah? Don’t you?” Spike asked.

“Nah, I just go to sleep sitting up. Who wants to hear all of that nerdy stuff?”

“It’s not nerdy, Dashie!” Spike whined.

“Yeah it is, and now you’re a nerd!”

“I’m not a nerd!” Spike yelled.

“Oh yeah? Well, would a nerd be…” Rainbow smirked and crouched low, “…ticklish!” Rainbow pounced on Spike, plucking a feather out from her right wing in order to tickle the drake. The two rolled away from Gilda and Fluttershy, laughing and panting.

“Are…they okay?” Gilda asked.

“AHHHH NOT THE ARM!”

“They’ll be fine. They always like to wrestle after a fight to see who’s right. I’m Fluttershy, but, um, of course you already know that, so, um…” Fluttershy blushed, realizing the faux-pas in saying her name after she had already told the class.

“Ah, Gilda, again. Nice to meet you, Fluttershy! And nice to meet your friends too! They’re really funny!”

“Hey, no pulling of my hair!”

“You’re more than welcome to join us at the park, Gilda. We always like to meet up there,” Fluttershy said.

“Sure, I’ll come!” Gilda replied.

“Okay class! Time to come back inside!” the teacher yelled.

“Oh…” Fluttershy sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Gilda asked.

“Nothing, it’s just…I…have trouble with…math,” Fluttershy blushed with embarrassment. The four were walking back, Gilda and Fluttershy side by side with a fuming Spike and smirking Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, I can help you! I know math!” Gilda replied happily.

“You do? Oh, thank you!” Fluttershy smiled.

“See? Now even Fluttershy likes her. You need to lighten up a little,” Rainbow Dash whispered.

“Yeah yeah yeah, so what do you need help with on your math also?”

“I can do my math just fine, meanie!” Rainbow punched Spike’s side.

“Ow! Same arm, same arm!”

Author's Note

Oof. This one came up a little later than I wanted to. Hopefully that won't happen again.

So, what do you think? Now that we have our 4 misfits together, what sort of trouble will they get into?

Oh, a whole lot, I'll say.

Next up we'll have our four friends in fifth grade hanging out at the park, and show some hints at our first romance of the story! Who will it be? And with who?! You guess!

Also, I'm still looking for a second editor for the story, someone who can criticize some aspects of my writing. Drop me a PM if you're interested!

Fair Warning: the next chapter will be the last for a month, and then we'll begin again in September.

Accident with balls

“Spike?”

“Yeah?”

“Next time, I’m picking the art project.”

Rainbow Dash and Spike were at the park. The area of clouds that held various recreational activities also held empty spaces where the two, along with their friends Fluttershy and Gilda, could relax and hang out to talk about idiots at school, new things in their neighborhood, or recently, the Wonderbolts.

Right now, though, the four were helping out on the Rainbow siblings art project.

Which, for some strange reason, involved bowling balls.

“Urgh, remind me again what you two are doing?” asked Gilda as she carried one of the bowling balls.

“It’s not what we are doing; it’s what Spike is doing,” Rainbow grunted under another ball.

“It’s Starswirl’s cradle!” Spike piped up while carrying two more bowling balls. “Basically, when you connect five balls together, and have one ball on the end swing up and down to hit the ball next to it, through kinetic energy and some weird law of physics, the ball on the opposite side will swing up as well, and then-”

“Blah, blah, blah; you know what, you’re such an egghead sometimes Spike,” Rainbow remarked.

“I’m not an egghead! You just need to pay more attention to Miss Reflect!”

“Borrrring! Spike, seventh grade science is worse than last year. At least in fifth grade, we got to make a volcano!”

“We almost did, but somepony forgot to bring in the lab sheet, and for punishment, we had to watch others instead of our own blow up!”

“Yeah, well, mom’s volcano was better than all of them. Who knew you could make it spew different colors?”

“Dashie, just because mom helped us to make our own afterwards doesn’t make it-“

“Ahh!” In a moment of distraction, Fluttershy tripped and dropped her bowling ball. It rolled harmlessly across the cloud, as the blue magical aura around it made sure it stayed on the cloud and not drop down on some helpless bystander on the ground.

“Are you okay, Fluttershy?” Spike walked up to her, putting his bowling balls down to help her up on her four hooves. Her wings were now almost fully grown, the same as Rainbow and Gilda’s were. Spike had only begun to grow his wings in. They had started to grow back in the summer, but he still couldn’t feel nor move them much. He still walked on two legs, but Scrolls said that the wings will make him walk on four soon.

“I’m…I’m fine, um, thank you,” Fluttershy replied.

Spike sighed. “Flutters, you have to stop saying ‘um’ every single sentence you say. It’s cute and all, but… it’s… help me out here Dash.”

“Oh, nonononono. If you think it’s cute, then let ‘Flutters’ say it. I’m not stopping her,” Rainbow replied with a cocky smile, dropping her ball down to rest her back.

“Aw c’mon! It’s…degrading, I guess,” Spike sighed again.

“Degrading? What do you mean by that?” Gilda asked. She dropped her bowling ball to rest her claws.

“I mean that it’s not good for her to be like that….... to be shy and not… confident. Fluttershy,” Spike put his arm on her shoulder, “You don’t have to be scared around us. I know I ain’t a knucklehead like Dashie,”

“Hey!”

“Or funny looking like Gilda,”

“Oi, what?!”

“But we care about you, and don’t think we don’t see you starting to stay away from the others in middle school.”

“I…” Fluttershy was speechless. Had she been shying away from the other ponies at school? She did talk a lot to her friends though.

In fact, she only ever talked to her friends. The only ponies she talked to who weren’t her friends were her parents.

“It’s just that, you know…”

“Know what, Fluttershy?” Now Dash and Gilda wore worried expressions for her. They too noticed how Fluttershy kept to herself in school.

“I…” What did she have? What was her excuse for her behavior? Oh, she didn’t even have an excuse, she didn’t even have a reason! She was a horrible friend, and a horrible blank flank…

“Their cutie marks. Everyone in our class already has them, and we…don’t.”

The trio blinked at her. Rainbow looked at her flanks, bare and blue, and Gilda and Spike passively glanced at theirs.

“Hey, it’s okay. Who needs a stupid tattoo on their butt anyways? We’ve got a dragon and a griffon in our group! If anyone thinks we aren’t awesome, then they could go stuff it!” Rainbow finished with another one of her trademark cocky smiles. All four laughed, Fluttershy smiling with a tear. She wiped away the tear, content that at least she had three other friends who would be there for her.

She looked towards Spike and sighed. He had always been there for her, helping her out with homework and standing up for her when some bullies would target her.

Plus, he had gorgeous eyes.

It happened suddenly in fifth grade. She took one look at Spike and felt a little awkward near him. Her cheeks felt hot whenever he spoke to her, and she could only reply in stammered bursts. She had a crush on Spike!

Rainbow managed to find out one day when they were in her room together for a school project. Rather than telling, she decided to keep it a secret too.

Over time, she managed to control herself when she was around Spike, but she still sometimes slips up. Or in this case, drops the bowling ball.

That smile when she said that Spike called me cute was probably meant for me, she realized.

"Well, these bowling balls aren't going by themselves, so let's keep going. By the way, where did you find these balls?" Gilda asked.

"Eh, I found them (I'll take this one too, Fluttershy, don't worry) near the garbage can of the bowling alley. The manager said I can take whatever old balls there were as they were replacing them for new ones."

"These look like new ones though, how are they old?"

"Don't know. They were the prettier ones in the lot so I took them." All of the bowling balls were bright neon colors.

"What about the cradle? What are we sticking these balls into?"

"I've set the cradle up where we are going now. I also left a power driver there, I'll drill through the balls and loop some rope between them. Rainbow, I'll need you to hold the balls at that point."

"Ya got it boss!"

After two hours, Spike pulled the last bit of rope that connected the last ball up to the cradle. With a satisfied sigh, he made one more knot before stepping back and admiring his handiwork.

"Well, guys, what do you think?"

"I think," Rainbow began, "that we've done well, bro. Well, at least you did..."

"Whadoya mean I did? You helped too!"

"I only held the balls so you can drill them. You did everything else yourself."

"Yeah, but without someone holding them steady, I wouldn't be able to drill perfectly into them."

"You could have asked Fluttershy or Gilda to hold them."

"Eh, details. Now," Spike looked around, "who wants to try it out?"

"Oh, me! I wanna start it!" Gilda raised her talons up before running to one end of the cradle.

"Just lift the ball up and let it go. The cradle will do the rest!" Spike said.

As instructed, Gilda raised the ball up before parting her talons to let it drop. The ball collided with a bang to the second ball, and in a blink of an eye the ball on the opposite side of the cradle rose up into the air.

"Woohoo! It works!" Spike cheered. "Gilda, get away so it can swing back!"

Gilda realized her position when the ball started to drop, and she was in front of the other ball that would be thrown in the air. Instead of moving out of the way, she locked up and held her talons to her face, bracing herself with her eyes closed.

She felt an impact and tumbled over, but it wasn't in front of her. She landed to the side with a heavy object on top of her, pressing her down. When she opened her eyes, she saw Spike on top of her, pushing her out of the cradle's way.

She then looked down to see their lips together.

"Get offa me!" she cried. With a push of her back legs she crawled away from Spike, who was left stammering away from her. Both of their cheeks blushed bright red.

"I swear, I didn't mean to do that! I was just trying to push you out of the way!"

"No, just... No! Ugh, I hope you don't have any Dragon germs or whatever..."

"What?! No I don't! Rainbow, tell her that it was an accident!"

"Nah, it wasn't an accident," Rainbow stifled a giggle.

"Rainbow!" Spike cried in indignation. Rainbow couldn't hold it in anymore and fell to the ground laughing. She took a quick glance at Fluttershy.

Her posture was rigid, and her face was expressionless, save for a violent twitch in her left eye.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about her crush. Whoops...

"Well, you two kissing aside, looks like your contraption works, Spike." Rainbow widened her eyes. Fluttershy had all but spat out her brother's name at the end.

Rainbow stood up. "Heeeeey, it’s a grrrrrreat day out! I mean, it really is a great day, there's so much we can do like...stuff and stuff?" Rainbow wanted to try and steer the incoming train wreck away before it got any worse.

"Actually, I'm pretty beat. Let's head back home, Dash," Spike replied. He finished his point with a yawn, cheeks still burning. He just wanted to get away from everyone before he made himself look like more of a fool.

"What? C'mon, we still can hang around. Tell us about what we're gonna do with the cradle!"

"Enter it in the school competition and see how far we can go, now let's go, Rainbow."

Rainbow Dash held her head down in shame. Mouthing an "I'm sorry" to Fluttershy, who was now on the verge of tears but still stood very rigid, she walked with Spike out of the park, where he decided to leave the cradle and grab it later, after he didn't feel so embarrassed.

"...wa...wait Spike," Gilda called out.

Spike turned around with a full blush on his face. "Uh, y-yeah Gilda?"

"I...I just wanted to say I'm sorry for, uh, lashing out like that. You, uh, want me to take the cradle so you can pick it up at my house?"

"I mean, uh, sure. If you can push it around, that is..."

"Well, that's why you put on the wheels, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Spike scratched the back of his head with a goofy smile, "heh, that's why!" Both he and Gilda giggled hesitantly before looking away with brighter blushes.

"So, uh, I'll see you later?" Gilda asked.

"Y-yeah, I'll see ya later," Spike replied. Both looked at each other with a nod before Spike turned around to walk back to his house with Rainbow.

"So... You and Gilda, huh?"

"S-shut up!"

"Hey, I ain't judging. I'm glad my little brother has someone. Especially since it's someone I know."

"Little? I'm only a day younger."

"And I'm a day older. Say, why Gilda? What about Fluttershy?"

"Fluttershy...she's cute and nice, but she's so shy. I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me like that anyway. I like her more as a friend than anything else."

Well I tried, Fluttershy.

The two Rainbow siblings stopped at their house. Unlike the regular houses nearby, this house was more grand, with four pillars from the pre-harmony era supporting the front of the house, with each base having intricate and ornate carvings. As Gilda once said, they lived in a house meant for kings.

Inside, though, the family was anything but regal.

"Hi sweetie! Did you and your brother finish your project?" Rainbow and Spike looked up to see Firefly and Blitz haphazardly duct taped to the ceiling.

"Uh, yeah, we...did. Dad, why are you and mom?..."

"You're too young to understand and we're too old to explain why, now could you two be dearies and get us down?"

Spike sighed. "I'll go get the scissors..."

Author's Note

Chapter 5 will be uploaded tomorrow.

Sonic Barrier

"Aachoo!" Spike sneezed. He wasn't expecting Spring to bring quite the change in weather, which was now causing him to sneeze once in a short while.

"Geez, could you at least cover your mouth? I don't want any Dragon germs on me!" Rainbow cried. She stood on another cloud close to Spike, as her wings were flapping gently up and down as a small habit that she developed.

"I'm *achoo!* sorry. It's the change in weather!" he reasoned.

"Doesn't matter. We gotta work on your speed."

"Aww, do we have to?"

"Yeah we do! Dude, this Fall we're gonna be in high school! High School!, and you're still having trouble flying!"

"It's not my fault! My wings grow differently than yours! Remember what Scrolls said?!"

"Do you?! You're ready to go, by all accounts, and we just gotta teach you three years worth of flight school before we graduate in two months!"

"And how is it that you alone will be able to teach me?"

"Not me. Us," Rainbow looked to the side to see their two main friends flying up to them. Fluttershy landed near Rainbow while Gilda landed next to Spike.

"Hey babe," Gilda greeted Spike with a kiss on his lips as the two settled down.

"Heh, what took you so long? I thought I was going to have to suffer Rainbow's teaching by my lonesome," Spike quipped.

"Well now you'll have to suffer mine too. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're my boyfriend, Spike."

"Eh, you'll probably still be better than Mister Toad Swipe!" The Dragon and griffon laughed out loud at the joke, before nuzzling each other in affection. Rainbow silently gagged at the lovey-dovey display, and looked towards Fluttershy for assistance.

Yup, she thought, she's still twitching her left eye. I feel sorry for her. She's jealous, through and through, but she doesn't want to go between two of her friends. Man, if there isn't a way to help her...

"Alright, Spike, loving time's up. Just because you hooked up with Gilda in seventh doesn't mean you get any relaxation. We’ve got work to do," she ordered. Gilda gave one last peck to Spike before flying to the other side of Rainbow, opposite Fluttershy. Unlike Rainbow, she wasn't aware of Fluttershy's crush on Spike, and so she didn't understand why her friend was glaring at her.

"Okay, so first up, lets start hovering," Rainbow ordered. She and their two friends climbed up into the air, hovering a bit away from Spike and the clouds they were sitting on.

With some hesitation, Spike managed to finally flap his wings enough to get him airborne. With a few more powerful flaps he reached the same level as the trio.

"Okay, so Scrolls said that your wings are more designed for power in the air, rather than our feathery wings for gliding and control. Since there's no wind today, you're only relying on your wings for support. It's the best time to train you, as Scrolls said. Now, you see that cloud over there?" Rainbow pointed to a cloud not far from the group, "Just fly over there and back. Don't worry about speed just yet."

With a nod, Spike flew over to the cloud and back as instructed. Without speed, it took him a fair amount of time before he came back.

"Okay, good! Now I want you to go there and back again, except do it as fast as you can. You ready?"

Spike nodded before looking back at the cloud. He tried to remember some of the knowledge he learned about bats and how they flew, since their wings were as close to his as he could get, other than another dragon.

"Go!"

With a powerful flap that almost knocked the trio off balance, the dragon surged forward. Rainbow was happy that her brother could be quick, possibly as quick as her, but there was still one problem.

He had trouble stopping himself.

Before they knew it, Spike smashed clean through the practice cloud, dissipating it before he had a chance to turn back around. Now flapping haphazardly, he screamed as he started falling towards a bigger cloud that was already holding some ponies.

Before he could hit the cloud, however, he felt a vice-like grip pulling on his back. He descended enough to land on his fours and keep running, slowing down to stop himself. He looked back to see that it was Rainbow and the gang who had saved him.

Rainbow hovered up to his face, a deadpan expression showing her thoughts on Spike's progress.

"C'mon Spike, what have I told you about stopping? You tilt your wings up with your neck..."

"...and flap away from where you don't wanna crash. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just forgot in the heat of the moment," Spike apologized.

"Sigh, what are we gonna do with you?..." Rainbow thought out loud. Spike hung his head in shame. He already was teased by everyone in school for not being able to fly.

He hated this. He hated learning how to fly, he hated school, he even hated himself for not knowing how to fly...

"Heh heh, wow, I've never seen a dragon fail like that ever!" Spike heard a voice from behind him. He looked up to see his sister snarling at the ponies behind him. If that laugh was any indication...

He turned around to see Dumbbell and his cronies laughing at him. "Well speak of the devil, he thought.

"Hey, pick on somebody your own species, bub!" Rainbow stepped in front of Spike in a defensive stance, snarling at the trio of bullies in front of them.

"Hah! Look at this guys, Rainbow Crash is trying to defend the stupid dragon!" Dumbbell laughed.

"Hey, Spike isn't stupid! He even has better grades than you dumb...dumb...dumb mule!" Rainbow tried to find something to mock Dumbbell, but the only thing she could think of was a pack animal.

"Eh, all dragons are stupid. He's lived with ponies, so he's the exception that proves the rule!"

"That's...that's speciest! You're speciest!" Rainbow cried.

"I'm not speciest, I'm just a species realist. Think about it, all other dragons hoard gold and just grunt. They are raised alone and unwanted. If Spike wasn't raised by ponies, that's what he would have become. Instead, he got it worse by having a crasher like you for a sister!" The trio of bullies laughed again.

"What do you mean by species realist?" Gilda asked. She and Fluttershy walked up next to Rainbow and Spike, not letting them fight the bullies alone.

"It means the same as a speciest, but they think they're more entitled to share their opinions," Rainbow replied, snarling. "Hey, bub, if you're so confident that you're better, why don't you race me?!" she challenged.

"Hah! I'm waaaay faster than you! I can fly circles around you any day!" Dumbbell replied.

"Prove it! See that cloud over there? Waaaay over there? First to reach it and back wins!" Rainbow set the parameters down.

"Fine! If you win I'll take back everything I said about your little freak of a brother and your friends. If I win..." Dumbbell rested a hoof on his chin before smiling deviously, "...you have to wear a dress to school tomorrow. My choice."

Rainbow Dash shivered. She hated dresses, and Dumbbell would probably make her wear the ugliest one. Still, she wasn't worried, because Dumbbell WILL apologize.

"I accept. Fluttershy, go out a bit and be our stop pony," Rainbow said.

After a few minutes, a crowd of school foals gathered around to watch the impromptu race. Fluttershy was hovering a bit further away from the group in front of the racers, holding her front hooves high in the air.

"Rainbow Dash, are you ready?" She asked. The racer on the left nodded.

"D...D...Dumbbell, are you–"

"Yeah, yeah, lets go!" he yelled on the right. Fluttershy flinched, and Rainbow Dash tightened her stance.

"One..."

The whole crowd was silent. With no wind the air was deathly quiet.

*koff*

"SHH!"

"Two..."

*koff* *koff* *THUMP*

"Sigh. Always with your asphyxiation attacks, Cloudy. I'll take her home..." A lone colt grabbed a filly that passed out among the group and dragged her off by the leg. All of them, including Spike, looked at them bewildered.

"Wait, did he mean asthma attacks or..."

"THREE!" Fluttershy screamed as hard as she could. Lapsing from the distraction, the two racers shook their heads and blasted off at the same time towards their marker. The crowd whooped and cheered as the two flew as fast as they could towards the far off cloud.

"Yeah, Rainbow Dash! You go sis!"

"C'mon Dash, beat him. I know you can do it!

"Yeah!...wait. Gilda, where's Fluttershy?"

"I have to say, Twilight, this is one of the better receptions I've seen yet."

"Why thank you Princess! I'm sure your academy's qualified will love it as well! Now let's head back to see some of the tests. I'm excited to see if I will find my own apprentice!" the longtime Prized Student of Celestia responded.

"Yes indeed. Give me one moment to place Philomena in her cage."

Philomena, standing tall on Princess Celestia's back, suddenly dropped down to the ground, screeching as it tried to scratch her ears off.

"Oh dear, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"I do not know. It seems something is bothering her hearing!" Celestia replied.

Philomena rolled around a bit more before bursting into flame and flying around the room.

"Oh no, she's headed for the reception table!" Twilight spotted.

"NO! NOT THE SANDWICHES!" Celestia cried.

"Eh, she's probably watching somewhere away from the crowd. You know how she is," Gilda replied.

Dash and Dumbbell were neck and neck. Both were pushing their wings' limits on trying to beat the other.

"Give it up Dash! Maybe I'll go easy on the dress!"

"As if! You're eating your words!"

It took another two minutes before the racers reached the marker. Both of them tried to stop and immediately turn back. For all her emphasis on stopping in Spike's training, she wasn't very good at stopping herself. When she turned around, she saw Dumbbell already flying back, and picking up speed.

"No, I can't go to school in a dress!" Rainbow flapped her wings harder than ever before. The air pressure was too much, so she closed her eyes and tried to flap harder.

What happened next surprised everyone.

In a brilliant flash of chromatic light, a ring of a rainbow blasted away from Dash with a loud boom. She zoomed past Dumbbell and the crowd to win the race, taking a few minutes to slow down and circle back, jaws open at the scene before her.

Rainbow Dash just did the impossible.

Rainbow Dash made a Sonic Rainboom.

Rainbow Dash had to celebrate with her friends.

She flew down to the crowd of ponies that was slowly but surely dissipating, off to tell their family and friends.

"Wow! Did you see that!"

"She did it! She did the Sonic Rainboom!"

"I thought the Rainboom was a myth!"

"Well now it isn't!"

"Rainbow Dash!" she heard a familiar voice. She looked to her left to see her brother wrap his arm around her neck.

"Ya did great, Dash! That'll teach Dumbbell never to mess with the Rainbow family... LOOK!" Spike pointed a finger at Rainbow's flanks. On them were...

"My Cutie Mark!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I've got my Cutie Mark!" Indeed, on her flanks was a symbol of a white cloud with a chromatic lightning bolt piercing out.

"Congratulations! We gotta go tell mom and dad now!" Spike said.

"Yeah! Hey Gilda, catch up with you later!" Rainbow flew off.

"See ya! Spike, you should go. Your family will probably want to celebrate," Gilda said.

"Aww, but we had plans tonight!" Spike whined.

"Eh, we can postpone. Tomorrow night then?" Gilda asked.

"Tomorrow night." Spike kissed the top of Gilda's forehead before flying off after his sister. Gilda sighed happily, watching him fly away, and giggling each time he dropped in flight.

"Hey...where is Fluttershy?" she finally wondered.

"PRAISE BE THE YELLOW ONE,
SHE WHO FELL FROM THE SKY!
WE'LL NEVER HAVE TO FLEE OR RUN,
HORRIBLE DEATHS WE SHALL NOT DIE!"

A crowd of butterflies sang and marched around Fluttershy as she was carted away from an animal that had been the cause of millions and millions of butterfly casualties in their war against their short life-span. She landed on it as she fell from the race in terror.

"Oh, it's quite alright. I just need to go back and see my friends up there," she replied.

"Let us at least give you a sacrifice, to show our appreciation for your arrival!" one of the butterflies said.

"Oh no, really, I don't want to impose on..." The butterflies parted to reveal the juiciest and most delectable salad she had ever seen. It had tomatoes, apple slices, and even an orange slice on the side of the bowl. She could not keep her eyes off the sacrifice, and her stomach rumbled in anticipation.

"Maybe I can stay around for a little bit..."

"THREE PRAISES TO OUR GOD FOR OUR SAVIOR! PRAISE!"

"LERAR!"

"PRAISE!"

"LERAR!"

"PRAISE!"

"LERAR!"

Fluttershy looked a little bewildered at the sight of the god-fearing butterflies between bites of her salad. She felt a small tingle at her flanks and glanced to see three pink butterflies. It was her Cutie Mark! She finally got her Cutie Mark! She felt the need to jump up and down in joy, but she settled down with a frown.

...she'll go tell the others when she's done here. She wouldn't want to impose on Rainbow after she wins her race...or on Spike and Gilda...

Author's Note

I feel I need to clarify this:

Yes, the Rainboom did happen later than canon, which is why Twilight is already Celestia's student.

While Fluttershy and, obviously, RD are tied to the Rainboom, the rest of the mane 6 are not, and have their own ways of discovering their Cutie Mark, except for Pinkie, but that will be telling...

Regardless, thanks for all your support! In the next chapter, we're going to be near 8th grade graduation, but something is bothering Spike, and it involves Cutie marks...

Real Rainbows Rally for Rules

Rainbow fell on her bed with a loud flop. All her hooves ached, her mane was more of a mess than usual, and her eyes could not take the sight of another sliver of light.

“Too...many...gems…”, she uttered.

Before she slept though, she took one last look at the item that she had flopped on the bed with. She held it up in what little light there was in the moonlight coming from the window. It was a golden chain necklace, with a small adornment hanging down the bottom.

She strained her eyes to see the adornment as a brooch that hanged from the necklace. The brooch was in a flame shape, with several sections of the flame colored in a different gem, cut to fit in diagonal shapes down from the top of the flame. The top was a ruby, then a gem stained orange, then a gem stained yellow, then green, then blue, indigo, and violet.

~~~~

“It's… a rainbow flame?” asked Spike.

“Yeah! All of us in the family have some kind of rainbow to mark us, but you, uh… didn't have anything. So I worked at the jeweler’s for a couple weeks to get her to make the necklace. Now, you're an official member of the Rainbow family!” Rainbow grinned.

“Wasn't I already a part of the family?”

“Yeaaaah, but now you have a mark to show it to all the world! Think of it like it's your Cutie Mark! Although, I don't think that mom and dad would want to throw another cuteceñera…”

“Hey, it wasn't my fault for what happened! You and the others just decided to grab that roll of duct tape and cocoon poor Fortuna Light onto the ceiling!”

Rainbow put a hoof up to her chin. “Wait, didn't you also get wrapped up?”

“Don't… talk about it.” Spike replied hesitantly.

~~~~
Rainbow Blitz and Firefly looked up at the ceiling of their expansive house.

“Honey, there are two wiggling cocoons up there on our ceiling,” Firefly stated.

“I see that, dear,” Blitz replied.

“Honey, which one do you think is our son?”

“I do not know, dear.”

“Honey, I'm willing to bet ten bits it's the one on the right.”

“I'll keep you on it, dear.”

The front door violently opened. Two ponies of light silver and light blue burst in with worried looks on their faces.

“We got the call. What happened to Fortuna?!” the stallion of the two asked.

Firefly blankly pointed up.

“What the…” the mare of the two said. “Are those… cocoons?”

“Made out of duct tape, and unfortunately the only one that can cut duct tape that strong around here is also wrapped up there with your daughter,” Blitz stated.

“What?! This is horrible!” the mare replied.

“This is normal,” Firefly stated.

“Which one is our daughter?” the stallion asked.

“Firefly has ten on the one on the right being our son,” Blitz replied in a professional tone.

“Ten what? Ten bits?” the mare asked.

“Mom, is that you?” a voice asked.

“Fortuna Light? Is that you, dearie?! Which one are you?!” the mare flew up to the cocoons along with her husband.

“I'm over here, mom!” a filly’s voice on the right piped up.

On the ground, Firefly threw her pocketbook at Blitz smug face.

“Oh dearie, I should have never let you outside to go to this dangerous neighborhood!”

“Don't you live around here?” Firefly asked.

“Now come with us. We'll go home, cut you out of this cocoon, and we'll get you some vegan ice cream. How does that sound, dearie?”

“Yay!” the filly in the cocoon replied.

Blitz raised a hoof in worry. “But… but… you can't! That's industrial strength duct–”

“WE'LL FIND A WAY!” the mother screamed. Blitz flinched back wide-eyed, same as Firefly.

With a small hum from the filly in the cocoon, the family quickly flew out the door with smiles.

“Well… that was something…” Firefly hesitantly spoke.

“Mom? Dad? Can you help me out here?” a male voice was heard from the other cocoon.

“Don't you have claws to get yourself out?”

“Yeah, but I kinda… broke those…”
~~~~
“Oh right, that's why your fingers are bandaged,” Rainbow said.

“Hey, if you hadn't asked me before to dull them before the party, we could have avoided the worst of it!” Spike accused.

“Ugh, that wasn't even the worst of it! Dad had to go and growl at all of us in order to kick us out and call Fortuna’s parents…”

“It somehow worked though. I mean, did you see Surprise’s face? Completely scared. Poor girl…”

Rainbow looked up and wrapped her arm around Spike. “Hey, at least we still had something of a good time. At least Fluttershy and Gilda had fun, right?”

At the mention of Gilda, Spike flinched.

“She… hasn't told you yet, has she?” Spike asked ominously.

“Told me what?” Rainbow replied.

“She, uh, isn't going to be here for Flight School. Her parents told her they're leaving a few days after graduation to go back to Griffonstone…”

Rainbow visibly deflated. “Aww, and I wanted to have a race with her after graduation…”

Spike perked up. “Hey, she said a few days after graduating, so she'll still be here for a bit. We'll make sure to all hang out together to give her a proper goodbye from Cloudsdale!”

“OK… so, what now?” Rainbow asked.

“What now? What do you mean, ‘what now’?”’ Spike replied.

“C’mon, it's the weekend. We gotta do something, right?”

Spike held a claw up to his chin. “There's actually something I have to ask. Why did you work at the jeweler’s instead of just buying this?” Spike pointed to the necklace.

“I worked so I could raise enough money to buy a custom-made brooch for the necklace. Do I look like I have a million bits?” Rainbow sarcastically replied.

“Well, technically, yeah. We are Rainbows, you know. Dad could have probably given you the money if he knew it was going to be for me.”

Rainbow was as still as a stone as she stared forward.

All those weeks of work… setting gems in place, flying around the warehouse to deliver orders, dealing with stuck-up pegasi who wanted what was not sold anymore…

Rainbow screamed.

~~~~

“So, Gilda’s not going to be around anymore?” Fluttershy asked.

“Seems like it. Spike said she'll only be around a few days after graduating. We’re gonna hand out with for a couple more times before she has to go, do you wanna join?” Rainbow said.

Fluttershy took a couple seconds to respond before she hesitantly nodded her head.

“Great! And hey, think of it this way. Once Gilda’s gone, then you will have a chance with Spike!”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh no, I wouldn't want to betray Gilda’s friendship like that…”

“Meh, it's your call. Do whatever you want,” Rainbow replied.

Author's Note

Ugh. This has been one of the worst school years I've ever had. Sorry for making you all wait for this shitty chapter. I decided to just upload what I have and get this out so people know I'm not dead.

Also sorry if it's a bit rough around the edges. Gonna put the edits in later, once both of my editors chime in.

Hopefully this weekend I can actually be worry free so I can work on stuff here. Fingers crossed.

This First Act Ends When School Begins

In the sanctum of his house, Spike loved one thing above all the other things he could do.

Sleep.

Spike slept on his right side as he snored loudly in his sleep, as the first rays of morning flittered through his window. Small wisps of smoke sometimes came out of his nostrils, a fact that would scare his mother into fire-proofing his room years ago.

With a particularly loud snore, Spike rolled over onto his left side and wistfully sighed, dreaming about meeting his girlfriend Gilda again.

BANG BANG BANG!

With an obnoxious grunt, Spike pulled over his pillow on top of his head.

“Go away…” he muttered.

“Spike! C’mon, it’s today! Flight school starts today!” Rainbow Dash yelled from behind the door to his room.

“No, not today…” Spike muttered again. Rainbow Dash let out a loud sigh before kicking the lock in, opening the door. She thanked her luck that dad hadn’t repaired the lock to Spike’s room yet.

She looked back to see Spike sleeping even after the noise. She groaned and walked over to her brother’s bed, nudging his body with no luck.

“Okay Spike, you can’t get angry at me for this,” she said. She grabbed Spike’s right arm and, with a form that took her two summers of self-defense practice, threw her brother over her body and across the room, landing him at a door to his closet.

“OW!” Spike yelled. His body propped up against the door, with his head being the only part of his body that touched the floor. With a pained grunt, he righted himself up, holding a hand to his neck.

“You up now?” Rainbow asked.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks a lot for basically suplexing me!” Spike retorted.

“You’re welcome. Now get ready! We don’t have much time left until we have to fly to school!”

Spike rubbed his head. “You seem really excited to go to school…”

“It’s flight school, Spike! Since you can fly now, you and I can both race each other now in the school competitions! Course, I’ll win every time, but still, FLIGHT SCHOOL!” Rainbow jumped into Spike’s face with a large grin.

Spike stepped back to regain his personal space before moving out of the room, Rainbow following behind. “And what makes you think you’ll win every time?”

“Spike, it’s me. Rainbow Dash! The fastest Pegasus alive! I’ll show them all what I can do, and by the end of flight school, the Wonderbolts will want me to join on the spot!”

“The Wonderbolts will hire you right out of flight school?” Spike asked skeptically.

“Well of course! I’ll have all the friends and flight-mates that I want too!” Rainbow closed her eyes in another large grin.

Spike raised his eyebrow and smirked. “And all the colt-friends you’ll want too, huh?”

Rainbow widened her eyes as she blushed. “Well, I mean, uh… What about you!?” she pointed a hoof at the drake, “Are you gonna try to get any marefriends? Or even just a girlfriend?!”

Spike raised another eyebrow. “I already have Gilda, remember?”

Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, but, she’s gone now, remember?”

“Bu-But she said she’d visit!”

“Right, she’ll visit all the way from the griffon kingdoms, which is like, what, 100 miles away?”

Spike sighed dejectedly. “It’s about 2045 miles…” he muttered. He held his head low as he walked down the stairs of their home, stepping out onto the main living room of the Rainbow mansion. “Where’s mom and dad anyway?”

“They left early for work. Hey,” Rainbow wrapped her foreleg around Spike’s neck, “it’ll be okay. There’s loads of fillies out there that probably can stand you and your morning breath!”

Spike couldn’t help but smile as he raised an eyebrow again. “Well gee, thanks for the encouragement…”

“You’re welcome. And hey, trust me, you can definitely get a marefriend. I mean, I hear Fluttershy is single this time of year…”

Rainbow smiled, but on the inside, she mentally slapped herself repeatedly for the admittedly very stupid segue of raising up the topic of Fluttershy. Because seriously, “this time of year”? As opposed to, what, other times where she actually isn’t alone?!

“Don’t you remember?” Spike asked. “She’s also leaving. She’ll be heading down to the surface to see about getting an apprenticeship in…whatever her cutie mark makes her good at.”

Once again, Rainbow mentally slapped herself. Of course Fluttershy is gone. Well I tried, Shy, you can’t blame me…

“Heh, it’s just like kindergarten, with it only being us two. Except without Missus… uh, what her name was.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, don’t remind me of her any more than I need to remember. But… yeah, I guess we’re on our own then…”

The rest of the morning was silent as the two siblings ate their breakfast lost in their own thoughts. Spike was missing Gilda and Fluttershy, and Rainbow was wondering what life would be like without them.

The silence was deafening, and Spike had enough. “Hey, let’s not dwell on them anymore. They both went on their own, so now we have to too. Didn’t you say you wanted to try out for the hoofball team?”

“Well, yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, I’m gonna try out too! Someone has to make sure you don’t embarrass yourself, or at least pull you out when you do.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Well gee, thanks for the encouragement…”

“Don’t mention it, and hey, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of friends in Flight School!”

After taking a few minutes to clean up the kitchen and grab their backpacks full of school supplies lovingly supplied (emphasis on supplied) by their mother, the duo left the house and flew to where they were told their new school was going to be. They didn’t take the chance to have an impromptu race, as they were a bit loaded down by breakfast, and both of them learned the hard way why you shouldn’t race right after breakfast.

Fluttershy also knew the hard way too. Good thing there was a raincloud nearby, or else she probably would have smelled like half-digested gems for the rest of that day.

“So…” Rainbow began. “Are you gonna keep the necklace on all day? I don’t exactly know the school’s policy on uniforms or attire or whatever sort of clothes, but I don’t think you can wear that inside.”

Spike glanced down at the brooch that Rainbow had gifted him, its vibrant colors of the rainbow shining brightly in the rising sun of the morning. “Eh, I’ll keep it on and see if anyone gets mad at me for it.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Alright, but don’t lose it, please. I worked hard for the bits to pay for that thing, I don’t wanna have to work anymore like that.” Especially for that stuck-up mare of a jeweler…

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it stays on. Not like we’re gonna be doing so much flying today, at least.”

After a few minutes of easy flying, the pair spotted the building that they assumed was the school. Flying closer, they could see some of their old classmates from their own middle school, along with other colts and fillies they didn’t recognize.

Some of the less familiar pegasi went wide-eyed at the sight of Spike the dragon, but he shrugged it off.

“…Wait,” Spike stopped in the air. “Do we even have our schedules?”

“Uh, I thought mom said you were going to pack them when you woke up?”

“No, I thought mom already packed them…”

The two Rainbow siblings’ eyes went wide as they spun around to grab their backpacks. Opening up and searching around with their hooves and claws, they found that, indeed, they did not have their schedules that included where they need to go right at the start of school.

With panicked eyes, they looked at each other before blasting away from the school back to their house as quick as they could.

After only a couple minutes of rapid flying, the pair came back and went through the front door of the school and scanned their schedules.

“Okay, I’ve got Cloudsdale history in room 110, which according to the map,” Spike panted while he pointed at a map of the school provided on his schedule, “Is right around the corner. I think you have P.E. at room 213, right?”

“Uh, right, but where…”

“Can’t talk, gunna be late, see ya!” Spike dashed down the hallway filled with unlocked lockers before turning right and finding the room number he needed. Merely seconds after he entered, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of school.

With several students shocked to see a dragon of all things suddenly barging into the room, it took a couple seconds before the teacher also entered the room.

“Ah, Mr. Rainbow Spike. I’ve heard great things about your intellectual prowess. I am glad you have decided to choose my class.”

“Yeah, yeah, no problem…” Spike panted, before he felt a sudden unpleasantness in his stomach. “Excuse me for a moment.”

Spike dived to the nearest trashcan he could find before throwing up breakfast inside.

“Oh, it will be fine, Rainbow Spike. I know how hard it is to stomach the first day of school as well. Why, when I was your age…”

Spike wished he could die.

Author's Note

Ya'know, I'm starting to see a trend here on my stories.

I always seem to have half-assed updates during school time.

This is why you don't take AP classes, kids.

Anyways, yadda yadda yadda, sorry for long wait on bad chapter, I blame school and life and everything, the works.

On the bright side I have another project coming up soon that'll be a little more dramatic and a bit different in the way how usual HiEs go.

Let me know what you hate most about this chapter.

Oh, and this is the end of the prologue arc. Next time when we come back, we'll be seeing the Rainbow duo fresh out of Flight school, with memories both good and bad.

Mostly bad.

Enough for them to move out of Cloudsdale and into Ponyville.

Meanwhile in Town Hall

Murmurings and whispers filled the air as the town’s ponies entered Town Hall. Mayor Mare had an idea of what sort of whispers and rumors were being passed around.

“Attention! Attention everypony!” the mayor called out, “I need your attention!” Mayor Mare pulled out a gavel that she rarely used in any courts, and the sound of it hitting the wooden podium echoed around the room, causing everypony to stop talking.

Many eyes of pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies were suddenly upon her, and Mayor Mare had a brief flash of her childhood stage fright, before taking a deep breath and looking at her notes.

“Good evening, fillies and gentlecolts. As you are aware, there was a dragon sighted with a blue Pegasus earlier today, and I just wish to answer some questions regarding the two.”

“Wait, a dragon with a blue Pegasus?” one voice shouted. “Was that dragon purple, with, like, green spines?”

“Yes, that is the dragon. Why?-”

“Aw yeah!” a dark Pegasus colt with a blue and white Mohawk shot into the air. “Spike’s here! I haven’t seen him in a year! Is he still growing or is he still only a bit taller than everypony?”

“Sit down, Thunderlane!” Mayor Mare ordered, “They are nobility, and should be treated with the utmost respect!”

Thunderlane flew down with a frown, “Aww, did Fortuna finally get to them about status?...”

“I do not know who this Fortuna is, but I can assure you they were acting like most Canterlot nobility.”

“So they’re stuffy and uptight?” one mare asked. The room filled with sniggers at the comment.

Mayor Mare could only sigh, “While I do not wish to say that, they certainly felt as if they needed to be above us. Nevertheless, the purple dragon named Rainbow Spike and the blue Pegasus named Rainbow Dash are going to be staying in their cloud house and will be citizens of our humble town of Ponyville. Now, whenever they come to town-”

“Wait!” Mayor heard a very familiar and unwelcome voice, “They’re still here? And they’re going to stay here?!”

“Yes Pinkie, they are still here. They have paid in full for the cloud house and-”

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Pinkie Pie, an earth pony with a vibrant pink coat and poofy mane, jumped up into view of everypony in Town Hall.

She started bouncing towards the exit. “So that’s what my pinkie sense was sensing! New neighbors! Oh, I’ve got to get started now if I want the party to be tonight!”

“Party…?” Mayor Mare asked absentmindedly before realizing whose party it was going to be, “Wait, no, Pinkie!”

Pinkie was already gone by the time Mayor Mare called out. All eyes, which were focused on Ponyville’s party planner leaving the building, now turned back to the mare on the podium.

Mayor Mare once again felt the childhood stage fright, and could only wince while repeating out loud, “Oh dear, oh dear, ohdearohdearohdear…”

Author's Note

Wrote this in the morning as an afterthought to the 'dragon sighting in Ponyville'. Thanks a lot to Flutterbrony539 for the early morning editing job!

By the way, if y'all didn't know, I've got two other stories that I'm currently working on.

Santa Rosa. It's my attempt at the HiE genre, with a lot of 1980s South American street influences. Check it out if you like HiEs.

Bared Spikes. This new one is another older Spike fic that is a little it more dark and edgy. If you like dragons with self-esteem issues and had been slaves under ponies before they escaped to Ponyville, than check this one out as well. This one will feature FlutterSpike as well! (along with a love rectangle for the guy...)

Thank you all for the feature board on 08/07/16 too. You guys rock!

Hugs and invites

“Heh heh, we missed you too, Shy,” Rainbow chuckled as Spike was tackled to the ground in a hug by Fluttershy.

Spike, while initially happy with the hug, soon felt that he couldn’t breath. “Air… air…”

“Oh, sorry!” Fluttershy apologized. The hugging duo let go of each other and stood up, with a little bit of blushing at the sudden and close contact. Fluttershy felt a tap on her back and turned around to receive a hug from Rainbow.

“I’m glad to see you’re alright,” Rainbow said. “How you’ve been the last few years? We didn’t get a letter from you for about two years now.”

Rainbow put a leg around Fluttershy’s neck and pulled one of her ears close. “And between you and me, Spike was worried sick about you when he realized first the letters weren’t coming…”

Fluttershy at first looked at Rainbow strangely, before she realized what the cyan Pegasus meant. “Oh, um, I just didn’t want you to worry so much about me after what I was doing in the last letter...”

“Worry about what?” Spike asked, the last of the dirt getting swiped off from his knees.

“Nothing!” Fluttershy yelled, before bending her knees and receding back into her now massive amount of hair, “It’s… nothing. Just something Rainbow and I talked about before I left Cloudsdale. How is it anyway?”

“Ah, the usual. Stuck up noble snobs, jocky athletes thinking they can woo mares with just a couple of words, aaaaand wonderbolts,” Spike answered.

Fluttershy giggled lightly, holding a hoof to her mouth. “I guess nothing changed since I left all those years ago?”

“Bah! Spike’s just forgetting everything again. For one, Spike’s bigger, and two, he can actually challenge me at a race. I still am the fastest Pegasus alive though,” Rainbow looked at her hoof with mild interest as she smiled smugly.
“And I’m the fastest dragon alive. Now we just need to find out who’s the faster one between us.”

“Oh, you simply must tell me everything that happened since the last letter. Oh, and um, sorry about that…”

“Nah, it’s no big deal,” Spike said, waving it off. “Things got crazy on our end for a while too. You know I got laid off of the hoofball team after what happened at Canterlot freshman year, right?”

“Oh, no, I didn’t. What happened?” Fluttershy asked with worry in her tone.

“Well, some hot-shot colt complained that Cloudsdale High having a dragon on the team was just unfair. Since his family was part of the nobility in Canterlot, they easily got the league to tell my coach to cut me off the roster or else they were out of the season. At least they gave Rainbow here a chance afterwards though!”

“Hmph,” Rainbow pouted. “They still chose you first over me.”

“Ya see Dash, I was a dragon and I was hard to hit. For speed, you outmatched me, and really, they just needed a speedster on the team. Oh, Fluttershy, did we also tell you about the-”

“Whoaaaaaa,” the three heard a familiar voice. “I’ve never seen a dragon this close before!”

“Uh, Fluttershy? You’ve known us since we were babies,” Spike dead-panned.

“That wasn’t me,” Fluttershy defended herself. “That was, um, Pinkie...”

“Pinkie? Who’s that-“

Spike’s personal space was invaded by a very large set of blue eyes.

“AHHH!” he yelled, stumbling back.

“Hiiiiii…” the blue eyes spoke. Spike, after getting over his shock of surprise, figured out that the eyes didn’t speak, and instead it was a pink earth pony, with poofy pink hair and a cutie mark of three balloons on her flanks.
“Oh, um, hello?” Spike hesitantly greeted her. He received a reply of two bounces and a letter from the mare.

“Welcome to Ponyville! I’m Pinkie Pie, and I’m friends with everypony in the town! I wanna be your friend too, so I wanted to invite you to your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party!”

“Welcome to Ponyville party?” Spike said out loud as he looked at the contents of the letter. Indeed it was an invitation, and it was going to be at some place called Sugarcube Corner.

Guess we should have asked for that tour…

“Sugarcube Corner? Where’s that?” Rainbow said over Spike as she read the letter next to him.

“Ooo, it’s the building that looks like a giant cupcake in the center of Ponyville! You can’t miss it!” Pinkie replied with another hop. “Well, I gotta go get everything ready. See you guys tonight!”

Spike watched the pink mare literally bounce back towards Ponyville. Both the dragon and his sister shared a confused look before turning towards Fluttershy. “Uh, what’s up with her?”

“She’s Ponyville’s party planner. If there’s a party, Pinkie probably organized it. She’s a great baker too,” Fluttershy explained.

“Did she try to throw a party for you when you came here?”

“Um, well, she came here after I arrived, so no. She’s only been here for two years, living with the Cakes couple in Sugarcube Corner. She immediately tried to be friends with everypony in town but… for some, it didn’t end well. But with her parties all of us saw that she means well to everypony, so she was accepted. Now she helps to bring smiles to everypony, especially when they feel down or…” Fluttershy hesitated as she looked away, “alone. You should definitely try to be her friend.”

Spike looked down at the invitation again. “Well, Fluttershy, the problem is that we kinda do have a reputation to maintain. Not to bash on Pinkie, but-“

“Spike, c’mon!” Rainbow moaned. “There’s probably, like, two ponies from Cloudsdale here. And maybe three ponies from Canterlot. This is supposed to be a fresh start for us, you know?”

“Well yeah, but…”

Rainbow laid a hoof on her brother. “It’s going to be fine, Spike. Fortuna isn’t here, and I doubt that stuck up brat will ever try to go near a ‘mud-pony’ town like Ponyville. We make some friends, we’ll find some work, and we’ll be living a quieter life. Least until I get into the wonderbolts that is.”

Spike chuckled at the last sentence. “I guess it is going to be quiet for us here. Well, what have we got to lose?”

“Our dignities?” Rainbow replied.

“You still have some after Fortuna?” Spike dead-panned.

“Mmm, yeah, you’re right.”

“Of course I am. Well, the letter says the party isn’t for a few hours. What do you wanna do before then?”

Rainbow raised her eyes up as she thought about what to do, before she looked back towards her old friend Fluttershy. “Hey, Shy, you wanna check out our house before the party?”

“Oh, if you’re not bothered by me coming in…”

“Of course not! Our doors will always be open to friends, Fluttershy. Mi casa es su casa.”

“Shouldn’t it be tu casa, since you’re directly speaking to the pony?” Rainbow corrected.

“C’mon, I had a D in foreign language; give me some slack!” Spike complained, before he chuckled with Rainbow. With a steady flaps of their wings, the trio flew up and towards the cloudhouse the Rainbow siblings would now call home.

The duo were happy that they had a fresh start to their lives, and Fluttershy was secretly happy that Spike was back.

Author's Note

So I'm churning this one out before schoolwork starts piling up. A bit short, but I hope y'all like it.

Thank you Blueright for making this chapter's art!

Working for Rarity

Spike’s eyes rolled around in his head, dazed and confused by the sudden impact on the top of his skull.

“Oh no!” a young, fair, and elegant female voice cried out in surprise. Spike heard hoof steps come near him; right up to where he had been hit on the head. “Sweetie Belle! What have I said about hitting ponies on the head when they come in!?”

“Rarity, get away! It’s a monster!” A squeaky little unicorn spoke up next to Spike, and his vision finally focused enough to see the filly was elevated from the floor with a big plank. He wasn’t sure how that filly could even hold up the plank with her mouth, much less sneak up behind him and give him a good whack right as soon as he came through the door.

“Sweetie, that’s the dragon I was telling you about last night.”

“Ya mean the one that got your mane all stuck up with sticky taffy?”

“Not by his own fault - but never speak of the taffy again!” the older mare chided. Spike slowly got up from the floor with a major headache while Sweetie hopped away from him, both scared of the dragon and scared of her sister’s wrath for doing something wrong. She quickly scampered off to her room upstairs.

While Spike rubbed the back of his head, he looked around the room. It was a cozy little lobby for the building, as the right wall and the wall behind him formed a part of the circular walls seen from the outside. In front of him stood a doorway through which he could see some threads and an industrial sewing machine. To his right was another doorway where, unlike the purple rug and decorations around the walls of the lobby, he could see only white with a table in the middle, possibly making the room a kitchen. All around the lobby were purple rugs and purple linings on the furniture, some shades of purple darker than others. Mannequins lined the walls with different dresses and styles, on display for potential customers. He quickly noted that there weren’t any clothes for males.

“Huh. So this is the famed ‘Carousel Boutique’,” Spike mused out loud.

“Oh please, you flatter me,” he heard a voice behind him say. “But my business is not famed yet. It is not even well known in Ponyville, even less so in the important cities like Canterlot or Manehattan.”

Spike turned around. The white mare with the purple stylized coiffure stood behind him closing the entrance of the boutique. He met this mare last night at Pinkie’s party, before the taffy incident. They didn’t see each other much, not even bothering to get names, but she did notice his dexterous claws, and asked if he would like to apply for a part-time job at her business, the Carousel Boutique.

He accepted rather quickly.

“Well, I see that you cleaned up better than most of us after the party,” Spike chuckled.

“Yes, well, perhaps. I can still smell some of the bubblegum taffy on you,” she replied with a slight smile, turning back to him and walking up to the center of the room.

Spike sniffed his arms and, oddly, under his arms, trying to see where the smell could be coming from. He swore he cleaned up extra well this morning before he came. “Uh, you can smell me from that far?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. If I didn’t know the truth, I’d say it’s a… unique perfume for anypony to wear.”

“Yeah, about the taffy last night…”

“No!” the mare stomped her hoof on the ground, glaring at Spike with an angry expression. “You will not remind both of us what happened last night! Am I clear on that?” she ordered.

Spike nodded his head, but his mind still flashed back to last night.

For Spike and Rainbow, the party invitation was a good idea to show off their real selves instead of the “petty noble” side they showed during the police station incident.

It did not help that Mayor Mare was very insistent for everypony to stay away from them, as she feared a single hoof touch on either the blue Pegasus or the purple dragon would somehow cause an explosion of canceled tourist events.

Or just an explosion.

However, as it was wont to do, explosions and general mishaps did happen to the duo.

Spike was held up onto the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner by, of all things, pink bubblegum taffy. His limbs were splayed back in awkward positions, his arms pinned back while his legs were tucked in, as if he was about to run along the ceiling.

He wished he could - at least he could get away from the taffy.

Meanwhile, Rainbow was also stuck onto the ceiling, although not exactly how Spike was. She was held down by her back legs deeply entrenched into the ceiling taffy. Her wings were also stuck into her sides by the gum, but her forelegs were free to grab anything.

This left her in the position of hanging upside down, blood rushing to her head.

“Hey, uh, Dash?” Spike called out behind her. His call was a bit muffled from the gum on his jaws but otherwise heard. “How, uh, how are you doing?”

“Oh, you know, I’m just uh, hanging around,” Rainbow spat, seething with anger, and trying not to look at her brother out of spite.

“Yeah…” Spike sighed awkwardly. He knew that parties can tend to be wild when he’s involved, but he never imagined Pinkie Pie’s party to get this wild.

He also should have known all that taffy wasn’t going to end well.

“Ugh…” Rainbow moaned, the blood in her head clearly making her feel a bit dizzy and uncomfortable. She’d been upside down like this before; she had to since she was an athlete at Flight School, but it didn’t mean she liked to be upside down. “Where’s?...Ugh, where’s Fluttershy?”

A “squee” could be heard from the duo’s right, a large mass of gum that looked almost like a cocoon.

“Yeah, not our finest moment with this town, I’d say…” Spike spoke.

“Oh, don’t be so worried. Now the town knows that you’re a rather rambunctious group up there in the cloud houses. For a couple of nobles, you and, er, Dash Rainbow, was it?” the mare asked in the middle of her sentence.

“Rainbow Dash. I’m Rainbow Spike, by the way,” Spike held out his hand in order to shake the mare’s hoof, “But most call me Spike, while they call my sister Rainbow.”

“Ah, you two are siblings? Rarity, by the way,” Rarity shook her hoof with Spike’s hand.

“Yup. I was born a day later after Rainbow. My egg was dropped right in front of our parents, if you would believe that!” Spike laughed. Rarity laughed as well, and Spike noted to himself that he liked her laugh.

“Well, as an older sister, I expect that Rainbow has been a little obnoxious to you?”

“Ugh, you wouldn’t believe. Just because she’s a day older than me, she thinks she can call all the shots because she is, and I quote “more experienced” than me. Yeah, more experienced by, like, 20 hours.” Both of them laughed, the slight pain now all but gone from Spike’s head.

“Yes, well, as I was saying, our town is more than used to the couple odd ponies and events here and there, that isn’t even the craziest ending to a Pinkie Pie party, you know. Easy-going nobles like you and Rainbow are in good company here.”

Spike silently hoped he wouldn’t have to be at the other parties where it could get even crazier. There’s fun with a crazy party, but something about Pinkie just… unnerved him.

“Uh, glad to hear that!” Spike replied. “Truth be told, we just wanted to get away from the business of Cloudsdale. Also, some things that had happened there, but they’re not important now. You said last night you needed someone like me to help around in your shop?”

“Why yes, I do,” Rarity walked over to the room with the threads and the sewing machine, beckoning him to come inside with her. Walking in, Spike noticed that while there was an industrial machine, there were also several smaller home sewing machines around the room. Spools of different colored thread and different pieces of materials were piled high and clumped on a shelf near the big machine. In the back of the room was a table where several scraps of paper and charcoal were spread about, a closer look revealing patterns and designs for dresses. Fabric rolls in different colors and materials were near the work table, with several of them looking like a couple feet had been cut out of the rolls.

“Tell me,” Rarity spoke, making Spike focus his attention back on her, “Do you by chance know how to sew, or at least use a machine?” She pointed to one of the home machines, Spike assuming the big machine belonging to her.

“No, can’t say I do, but I am a quick learner though - if you can teach me how.”

“Oh, excellent! Before we begin, however, I would like to talk a bit about your… payment,” Rarity hesitantly spoke. Spike was slightly surprised. Not at how much he was going to earn, but that he was going to be making anything at all.

“What about it?” he asked.

“Oh, well, this is the part where you will, um… reconsider working with me. Most ponies do not like what I am offering right now for the position…”

Spike smiled in his mind. It seemed Rarity was forgetting who, exactly, she was talking to. He wondered if she even saw his custom Rainbow fire necklace.

“You see, as I have said before, I am not yet well known in the fashion world. While I try my best to get new customers to start coming, we aren’t exactly making a lot of money here. The best I can do is pay the minimum wage…”

Spike pretended to be shocked, and added to the act by making a couple steps to the door, as if he was going to bolt away from the shop. He could see the tears already starting to form in Rarity’s eyes.

Seeing the tears made him feel like a real jerk for even pretending like he was going to run, and he quickly dropped the act. “Relax, Rarity, I’m not going,” he assured the mare, smiling and coming back towards her.

“W-what, really?” she replied incredulously, clearly expecting him to run and leave her on her own again.

Spike tapped the necklace on his chest with a finger, pushing his body high and proud. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m a Rainbow. We’re not exactly needy for bits in our family, and my parents send us a good amount of money to cover all our bills and some more. Really, Rainbow just wanted us to get jobs so we don’t laze around like bums.”

Rarity stared at him, eyes full of hope of finally having somepony, er, somedragon to help her. “Do you mean it? You can stay and help?”

“Of course! If you think minimum wage really isn’t enough, I can maybe get some clothes for myself too, if you wouldn’t mind…”

“Oh no problem!” Rarity waved her hoof, “I can certainly create some very fashionable clothes, even for a dragon like yourself! Perhaps some items that can be worn for when you are on a date with a special somepony?” Rarity smirked.

“I dunno. Will you fit me at 7, then we go out to eat at 8?” Spike, while not normally being the flirtatious type, certainly wanted to see the kind of reaction he could get.

Evidently, all he got was a little punch in the arm. “Oh, don’t be like that! I will have you know that I already have somepony to catch my eye, if I am not already married to my work.”

“Oh? And who is the lucky fellow that has caught your eye?” Spike smirked, leaning in like it was a secret.

“Oh, nopony more than the great Prince Blueblood, of Canterlot! I can see it now, I’ll be wearing a dress that perfectly accents both my mane and my eyes, and when he sees me, ohhhh it will be love at first sight!” Rarity lifted up her hooves in giddy anticipation already, sighing in bliss. “Oh, to be a part of the high noble society of Canterlot! Class, soirees, wine tastings!”

“So, you’d like a noble to sweep you off your feet? I mean, I’m right here, and I can pick you up off the ground with my wings,” Spike joked, giving his wings a couple test flaps in the room.

“Oh, I’m not a shallow gold-digger, thank you very much!” Rarity harrumphed. “But, I’ll make you a little deal. If, on some factually improbable chance, I meet Blueblood and our relationship doesn’t work out like it should… I would certainly not reject an offer to be treated to a nice night by a gentle dragon like yourself.”

“But as for now…” Rarity walked up and raised up her hoof with a casual smile, “I would like us to be friends and business associates. Would you accept?”

Spike smiled and shook her hoof, “I would like that very much, Ms. Rarity.”

“Oh, don’t call me miss yet!” Rarity pulled back her hoof with a sheepish smile. “It makes me sound old and single. Just call me Rarity, dear Spike.”

“Very well then, Rarity,” Spike grinned and nodded. Rarity suddenly gasped and grabbed his arm, startling him a little.

“Your scales… I can certainly come up with a fashion line based straight off of them. Think of it as bringing out the wild side, of showing that you are the alpha predator in a sea full of prey! Could I by chance pluck all your scales off you?”

Spike recoiled in horror, imagining what he would look like if all his scales were forcibly removed. He imagined his sister Rainbow wearing a dress made up of purple and light green scales. She was loving the way it protected her from random arrows that were being shot at her for some reason.

He was brought back to reality with a light boop on the nose, courtesy of a giggling Rarity. “And that’s for acting as if you would run from my shop, you silly dragon.”

Spike, dumbfounded, sat on the ground, watching with an open mouth as Rarity walked out of the room.

“Dang… she’s good,” he thought to himself, seeing her wiggle her hips just a little bit with each step as she walked out of the room.

Author's Note

What do ya know? The author does remember his old stories!

Took him long enough, anyway...

A breeze through town

“Oh?” Sparkler gasped. “Am I… am I interrupting something?”

Sparkler, a unicorn with a purple coat and a mane with alternating streaks of dark blue and pink, looked up at the ceiling of City Hall, where a fashionista and a dragon were currently wrapped up in spectral colored ribbons underneath the chandelier.

Both of the victims of the wrapping were blushing as Rarity called down, “NO! No; just, get us down with one of the bigger scissors we were using, over there!”

Sparkler wasted no time in grabbing the scissors with her magic and taking a few test snips before reaching up to where the duo were tangled.

“Wait wait wait NOOO-“ Spike tried to warn Sparkler about snipping right away, but she already snipped the top part of the ribbon that held up the duo, and they tumbled down to the floor.

Both Rarity and Spike yelped as they hit the ground. Rolls of the ribbon rolled off of them as they struggled to stand up. When they finally did, Rarity still had her leg strapped up, while Spike couldn’t move his wings.

“What… happened?” Sparkler tentatively asked. She really hoped she didn’t see the rumors about Rarity and Spike coming true right before her eyes.

“Oh, it was, um, a workplace accident!” Rarity nervously chuckled. “Yes, an accident, and not the reaction of when somepony was scared by a cruel joke and sent various rolls of ribbon all around themselves and tightened the ribbons so that she couldn’t use her horn or her assistant’s claws to get them out!”

Sparkler stared at the duo, nothing passing her mind except just having complete focus on Rarity and Spike, with the latter suddenly massaging his side and hissing in pain at some unknown punch to his body.

“Was there anything you needed, Sparkler dearie?” Rarity asked, pulling Sparkler out of her staring. She looked down to the clipboard she had dropped when she had picked up the scissors.

“Oh, uh, yeah; there’s supposed to be a mare coming from Canterlot to check in on the Summer Sun Celebration’s preparations for the princess. Are you all done here, or should I just try to stall her before she sees how unprepared we actually are?”

Rarity’s eye twitched. “Well we should be done in just a few more moments, but what do you mean ‘how unprepared we are’?”

“The clouds aren’t cleared yet, Fluttershy is still having to work her birds back into singing in a choir, Applejack is busy with a random family reunion and hasn’t set up the nourishments for the celebration, and Pinkie is… not being Pinkie surprisingly. She’s trying to set up a party for the Canterlot mare instead of helping us setup for the celebration.”

“Clouds look cleared to me,” Spike interrupted. He looked outside one of the windows in Town Hall to see the sky completely devoid of the clouds that were plaguing the sky only a minute ago.

“What?! But, but, but that’s…” Sparkler was at a loss for words. She was sure that the clouds were dotting the sky right before she came in.

“Heh, I guess Rainbow saw the mare and wanted to impress her. I’d say she took out the clouds in ten seconds flat!” Spike spoke with a little bit of pride for his sister’s speed.

“Ugh, whatever, I’m gonna go check on Bon Bon and her new friend to see what her shop is planning for the celebration. You two keep working, I guess,” Sparkler groaned. She left Town Hall with an apathetic frown, Rarity and Spike blinking at her dismissive behavior.

“I swear, that mare is the best we have for organizing events in this town, and yet she acts as if she should be doing things other than the job she signed up for. There’s no wonder we’re always unprepared for events,” Rarity huffed.

“I agree with ya on that one. Also, did you have to hit me that hard?” Spike whined.

“Hmph!” Rarity turned away from the dragon. “Serves you right for scaring me half to death and making us get tangled up with these ribbons.”

“… I mean, it can’t look that bad, can it?” the duo heard a high pitched squeaky voice ask. They turned to the door to see another purple unicorn, with a strange floating object right next to her.

“AIEEEEEEEE!” Rarity screamed at the sight of the unicorn’s hair. It looked like it got soaking wet and then blow dried by a tornado that didn’t like fashion.

“Okay, it is that bad,” the voice from before spoke again. Spike squinted his eyes at the floating orb near the unicorn, as he was mostly certain the voice came from that object itself.

“Oh no! Oh no no no no this won’t do!” Rarity quickly trotted over to the lavender unicorn and picked her up with her magic. “Darling, I’m afraid I cannot let this attack to fashion stand. We need to fix your mane this instant!”

“Aw c’mon,” Spike whined, finally free of the ribbons on his body. He was about to complain that they really needed to get back to work, if Sparkler was any indication about how far they were in preparations.The words quickly died on his lips as he saw the looks of fear from the unicorn.

“Dra…dra…” the mare tried to speak in her shock, but her lungs failed. The object flew up in front of her.

“Dragon! Don’t worry, Twi, I got this bastard!” the object yelled. It quickly lit up two tiny orbs around it, before sending two beams of energy at Spike.

“Wat,” was all Spike could say before the beams hit him, sending him flying across Town Hall and landing hard on the side of the wall.

“Hey, I said I’m sorry!” The object flew up close to Spike’s eyes, making him have to cross eye in order to see it.

Up close, he could see what the object was. It looked like a sort of pony fairy, with long antennae and butterfly-like wings. If he could remember correctly, the fairy thing was called a Breezie, but what one was doing with a unicorn from Canterlot instead of going on its migration route was beyond him.

He puffed fumes of smoke through his nostrils at the breezie, making it cough while it flew away. “Geez, no need to be a bitch about it…”

“Fenella, no! What did we say about language?” the unicorn chided. She was busy having her mane braided and combed by Rarity, who kept fussing over every single movement she made.

“Well, he’s being a bitch! The fook am I supposed to say when he won’t accept my apology for smashing him into a wall because I thought he was dangerous!?”

“I accept your apology,” Spike muttered, still trying to work out a few aches from his side.

“See, there we go. Was that so bad, tough guy?” the breezie cooed, flying close to the dragon’s eyes again. She was met with a snap of Spike’s jaws, barely dodging his sharp teeth as they resonated in the room with a sharp “SHING”.

“Whoa! Lady, put your pet on a fooking leash, huh?” the breezie asked in anger.

“Spike, behave yourself,” Rarity casually said, not bothering to look behind her as she worked on the other unicorn’s mane.

“Fen, please. Don’t embarrass me right now…” the mare sighed.

“There we are! What is your name, sweetie?” Rarity asked, turning behind her to look through a drawer for a mirror.

“Twilight Sparkle, ma’am, and we were just coming through the town to see how the preparations were going for the Summer Sun Celebration,” the mare said.

“Well, Twilight Sparkle, what do you think of this?” Rarity held up a mirror to Twilight’s face with her magic, being careful not to accidentally smack her with it.

It's happened before, and no, she doesn't want to talk about it.

“This… is exactly what my mane was before it got messed up by Rainbow,” Twilight deadpanned, her bangs flopping down with her head as she glared at Rarity.

“Oh… well, um, you have a nice natural style, I must say…” Rarity chuckled nervously.

“Wait, Rainbow? As in Rainbow Dash?” Spike spoke up. He ignored Fen flying around his head for the moment.

“Yes, her. Do you know her?” Twilight, for the first time since the attack, finally got a good look at the dragon. She had never seen a dragon like him in any creature anatomy books she had read, but she knew there were some dragons that were living among ponies in Equestria, a certain scholarly writer in Cloudsdale being one she wanted to meet someday. If she didn’t have… that legend currently her #1 priority on her mind, she would totally want to stay and study this dragon closely.

“Yeah I know her. She’s my sister,” Spike explained.

“Your sister?” both Twilight and Fen exclaimed, recoiling in shock.

“Uh, yeah. My sister. Our parents are up in Cloudsdale, but we decided to move here a couple months back.”

“Wait, what are your parents?” Fen asked, stopping in mid-air a little away from Spike’s chest.

“What do you mean? They’re the Rainbow family, a noble family of pegasi that can trace their lineage back to Commander Hurricane.”

“Pegasi parents?...” Fen muttered, before flying up close to the side of Spike’s head, where his ear fins were. “Dude, I don’t want to alarm you, but I think you might be adopted.”

Spike stared at the breezie, not knowing what exactly to say to her ‘revelation’. “Um, thanks? It, uh, doesn’t take a genius to realize that, you know.”

“Hey dude, whatever helps you cope with knowing that you’re adopted.”

Spike simply kept staring at the breezie, words forming and dying in his mind on what to say to her.

“Fen, please!” Twilight stood up from the chair where Rarity was combing her hair before. “I’m sorry, miss, Spike, but we really need to go and finish up our checklist for the preparations. We’ll leave you two alone, heh heh…”

With a slight blush, and an angry glare at Fenella, the two exited out of the Carousel Boutique.

“Well… that was something,” Spike simply stated. “Uh, what time is it exactly?”

“Oh dear,” Rarity glanced at a nearby clock. “I need to pick Sweetie up from school soon. Would you be so kind and finish up the remaining decorations over at the town hall?” The duo walked towards the exit of the boutique.

“Of course! Tell Sweetie Belle I said hi. I’m gonna go find Rainbow after Town Hall, and ask what exactly she did to Twilight to mess her hair up like that.”

“And tell her to stop doing it?”

“No, to teach me how.”

Rarity, even though she feared for the poor soul that might be maimed fashion-wise, still chuckled at the childish yet fun dragon that she had grown accustomed to over the last few months of working together. “Well, it is getting late. Till tonight, Rainbow Spike?”

“Till tonight, Rarity,” Spike nodded, smiling as she turned away and started trotting down the road towards the Ponyville schoolhouse.

Spike, not wanting to waste any time, quickly took to the air, flying back towards Town Hall. In his mind, he wondered what a Summer Sun Celebration in a small town such as Ponyville would be like. He imagined the princess standing on the stage of the hall he was about to decorate, raising the sun behind her as everypony cheered, including him, his sister, and Rarity.

He even imagined what it would look like if he and Rarity kissed as the sun rose.

Author's Note

Yay quick updates!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Panic! At the Town Hall

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!”

“SOMEPONY GRAB THE FOALS BEFORE SHE EATS THEM!”

“I SWEAR TO CELESTIA, YOU’D BETTER HAVE GIVEN HER STATUE YOUR SHARE OF CANDY, TIME TURNER!”

Pause. Zoom in. Spike is currently standing in the middle of panicking ponies as Nightmare Moon, the Mare, the Myth, the Legend, was somehow alive and now trying again to plunge all of Equestria into eternal darkness.

Yup. This is Spike. You’re probably wondering how he got there.

After the mare from Canterlot had checked up on all the preparations for the festival, she proceeded to go back to her lodging at the local library with Fenella when they were greeted by a surprise party that Pinkie decided to surprise them with.

Needless to say, they did not like the surprise.

So after Twilight and Fenella apologized (repeatedly on Twilight’s part) for the breezie having blasted Pinkie up to a wall, the pink mare, with an unfaltering smile, gladly welcoming them “officially” to Ponyville. With the way their day went, along with how the ponies were acting at the party, both of them had wanted nothing more than to sleep and/or figure out a plan to stop the other surprise waiting tonight. Unfortunately, due to a certain duo of assistants, they had barely any time for both choices.

Soon, the town shifted out from the library to begin the Summer Sun Celebration in Town Hall, where Spike was just cleaning out the last bits of uncut ribbon. He missed the party partly because of work, and partly because it was a Pinkie Pie party.

Rainbow told him it wasn’t really one of her better ones anyway.

Before they could start the festivities, however, an alicorn as black as night and as edgy as a star suddenly appeared. She claimed that she was Nightmare Moon, and was planning to bring eternal night to Equestria. The guards reacted as best as they could, but the ensuing fight caused pandemonium and panic to the civilians.

Speaking of the guard, one is currently hurling towards Spike, head first.

Spike probably should have braced for him.

“Oof!” the dragon groaned. Both he and the guard were knocked back a couple meters, almost hitting a wall opposite the deranged alicorn. While both Spike and the guard have had years of training of getting hit hard (the guard from his duty, Spike from his sister’s random suplexes to get him to wake up), Spike’s sturdy and strong scales were probably worse than a wall. The guard slumped unconscious as Spike rubbed the sore spot where he was hit.

Dragon scales are tough, but any solid blow will still hurt.

“Fools! You are only delaying the inevitable! Soon, Celestia’s power will wane over the sun, and soon I shall have complete control over Equestria!” Nightmare Moon cackled. “If any more of you foolish foals dare to fight me, show yourself, so that I may smite thee and show your place!”

“We’ll stop you!” a lone mare called out. Spike turned his head up to see Twilight Sparkle and Fenella walking up to Nightmare Moon, the unicorn’s horn charging with power. “We know who you are, and we know how you were defeated once before! We’ll find the elements, and we will win!”

“What? A simple little unicorn and her pet think she can stop me?!” Nightmare rhetorically asked, laughing afterwards. “Don’t be so rich, young filly. Why, I can tell that you are a powerful unicorn on your own right now, so why don’t you think about joining me, and together we shall… wait. Is that… Is that a Breezie next to you?”

“You’re damn right it’s a Breezie, but I’m not a regular Breezie you black bitch of a witch!” Fenella called out, two orbs circling around her small form as she charged up her own magic.

“A breezie companion that can use magic? My, you must have some very interesting friends…” Nightmare wondered in public amusement.

“Nah, she’s pretty much a shut-in, likes to be with her books instead of other ponies!” Pinkie chimed in, popping up behind Twilight (and almost scaring Fenella enough to launch Pinkie back to the wall another time) with a smile on her face despite the chaos.

“What the, why are you telling her that?! That isn’t helping anypony at all!” Twilight exclaimed, glaring at Pinkie for the sudden intrusion.

“Oh, sorry Twilight! I just wanted to say that I also want to stop that evil meanie Nightmare Moony with you too.”

“And ah’m with you too!” Applejack replied.

“Me too!” Rainbow flew over to the expanding group of mares that dared to stand against the Nightmare.

“And you have us as well!” Rarity called out, with Fluttershy standing next to her. While Rarity seemed that she was okay with being courageous, Fluttershy looked like she all but wanted to just run and hide, until she was dragged into the company of now 6 mares.

“Hmph. A bunch of mares without any sort of training or expertise think they can stop a Nightmare?”

“Cloudsdale Flight School, one year of military exercises. Let’s go you over bloated piece of…!” Before Rainbow could charge at the dark alicorn, she felt something tug her tail back towards the group. She turned around to see it was Spike that grabbed her tail, with a scared look on his face.

“Dash, wait, you need to think! Just because we had that one year of training doesn’t mean you can take down anything, especially a magical being with powers beyond us!” Spike exclaimed.

“A dragon? In this backwards town? Well, I must admit I am surprised by what this world has become since my absence, but it will not stop me. Farewell, you foolish mares. I do hope you have a better plan than ‘repeatedly charge at me’, as your friend has so carelessly exposed.”

With that declaration, the Nightmare shifted into a blue spectral form, where it flew through a window and dispersed into the late night. The few remaining conscious guards took to damage control, trying to calm down civilians while helping those that were hurt in the chaos. Nopony was seriously harmed, thankfully, but there would be a couple bruises here and there.

“Great. Now she’s gone. I could have taken her Spike. You know I can go hoof to claw with you easily. What’s a dragon to a pony?” Rainbow harshly muttered.

“Not a pony, Rainbow Dash. An alicorn, and a very powerful one at that. Just because you can fight Spike here doesn’t mean you can defeat Nightmare Moon as easily as you would think,” Twilight retorted. As the guards filed some of the town ponies outside of the hall in order to get some fresh air, the six mares that had declared they would be stopping Nightmare Moon gathered around Twilight, with Spike following a sulking Rainbow.

“Speaking of stopping her, you said ya know what happened last time ponies defeated her? Thought ah heard you say something about, what, ‘elements’?” Applejack piped up.

“The Elements of Harmony, yes. Celestia used them last time to stop Nightmare Moon and banish her to the moon, a thousand years ago. We need to find those elements in order to beat her again. There are six of them, but only five are known. Fenella and I know where they are, but… Fen, I need you to stay here.”

“What?!” Fenella screeched, flying erratically in anger near Twilight’s muzzle. “C’mon, Sparks, why you leaving me to hang here? Both of us knew about Nightmare, both of us have to stop her!”

“Fen, I need you to stay here and help with the hurt ponies. You have the best healing magic anywhere around, and you’re good at organizing. They need someone to at least keep them feeling safe and secure, after what’s happened.”

“Well if you want safe, why don’t you let the fooking dragon stay here? He’s the one with fooking fire breath!”

“Um, actually…” Spike raised a claw up hesitantly, “I uh, I don’t actually have much control over my fire like most dragons do…”

Twilight, Applejack, and Fenella all looked at Spike like he was a strange creature.

“Wait, pardon?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow. “Are y’all telling me you’re a dragon that can’t breathe fire?”

“He can breathe it, just doesn’t come naturally to him. Found out during Flight school, don’t know why,” Rainbow replied. “The pixie thing did say something right though; Spike, you need to stay here and make sure nothing else bad happens. The guards don’t look too good anyway.”

Spike sighed, pinching his snout as he looked down from the group, a little disappointed that he also wasn’t going to help stop the Nightmare. “Spike, if it isn’t too much trouble, could you find Sweetie Belle and let her know I’ll be off helping miss Twilight here find these so called ‘Elements of Harmony’? I’m afraid I lost her during the commotion,” Rarity asked.

It was something to do, at least. “Yeah sure, I’m on it,” the dragon replied.

“Fenella, go find the mayor,” Twilight commanded the breezie. “Tell her you can help with the hurt ponies. Also, can you find out where those two idiots Brakken and Moody went?”

“On it, boss!” Fenella saluted, before flying away outside to find the mayor. A couple of the mares creaked and cracked their bones as they prepared for their harrowing journey ahead. Rainbow tried swinging a few punches around in the air, before Spike called for her again. “Rainbow, please don’t do anything stupid while you’re gone. Just, find the elements, let Twilight use them, and then come back before mom and dad hear you went somewhere dangerous.”

“Aw, like I’m going to do anything dumb. You know who I am?” Rainbow asked.

“You’re the mare that panicked when her science experiment blew up in flames and almost burned down half of the school,” Spike snarked.

“Hey, the lab sheet said nothing was supposed to really happen other than a color change, someone messed up my chemicals!” Rainbow retorted.

“Enough you two. Rainbow, we can’t waste any more time, we have to go,” Twilight commanded, trotting out of the ruined Town Hall with the rest of the girls. Spike and Rainbow shared a glance before the cerulean mare saluted her brother with a smirk, joining up with the gang outside.

Spike again pinched his snout as he breathed heavily, sighing in discontentment with the whole situation. “Just be safe Rainbow… alright, time to find Sweetie. She must have ran when she first saw Nightmare Moon, but she hasn’t come back inside to find Rarity. Maybe she tried to hide under the tables?” the dragon mused, heading towards the remains of the refreshment tables that didn’t survive a couple guards falling on top of them.

Man, and he worked so hard on setting them up too! Those tables were a pain to even stand up straight, the legs barely swinging out unless you practically threw out your back to pull them into position.

“Is… is she gone? I don’t hear the laughing anymore…” a voice asked underneath one of the tables, with its speaker covered by the cloth on top. Spike knew it was a young pony’s voice, but he honestly couldn’t tell if it was a colt or a filly.

“Yeah, I think she is. I think I heard my sister talking before, and she wasn’t screaming like usual, so maybe everything is fine…” another voice spoke, this one definitely familiar to the purple dragon.

“Sweetie Belle?” Spike asked, lifting up the tablecloth to find the sources of the voices. He expected two foals, but instead found practically a whole classroom hiding underneath the mishmash of destroyed tables.

“Spike!” Sweetie Belle called out happily. She clung to his neck with a bone-crushing hug, happy that her friend was okay.

“Sweetie… choking…”

Mostly okay.

“Oh, sorry!” Sweetie apologized. “What happened? Where’s Rarity?”

“Rarity went with that new mare from Canterlot to go find the things that will stop Nightmare Moon, something called the Elements of Harmony, I guess. What are you all doing underneath the tables?” Spike asked the kids.

“We were hiding from that scary pony! Why does she want ‘eternal’ night? What’s that?” a foal near Sweetie asked. He was a little chubby colt, with a coat that switched between brown and white.

“It means she wants the night to last forever, and the sun to never come back up,” the dragon replied.

“Night forever? Will we get to sleep through it all though?” the same colt asked.

“Er, no, you would wake up and it would still be dark. You would have to go to school in the dark.”

“I don’t like the dark!” another foal cried somewhere else.

“Hey hey hey!” Spike yelled, raising his arms to try and stop the incoming crying storm. He did NOT want a room full of yelling foals. “Don’t worry. My sister, my boss, and their friends are going to stop the scary mare, I promise on that.”

“Your sister?” the ambiguous voice from before piped up again. Spike looked to see it belonged to a definite filly, with a slightly scraggly orange coat and a messy purple mane. A tomboy if he ever saw one, other than his sister’s antics sometimes. He realized he hadn’t seen the filly anywhere in Ponyville, unlike the other fillies and colts who he knew some by name because of how they liked to pester him sometimes, being a dragon and all.

“Yes, my sister, Rainbow Dash. Are you new around here?” the dragon asked.

“Um…” the filly scraped the floor with a hoof, looking down in some apparent shame. “I’m not new to Ponyville, but I came here yesterday after a year of being, uh, somewhere else…”

Spike guessed correctly about the filly. She had barely known him or Rainbow Dash, probably. “Well, some welcome back party this is, huh?” he joked. A couple foals giggled, and even the new filly chuckled once or twice. The dragon went up to the little filly and held his arm out to shake her hoof. “My name is Spike. Actually it’s Rainbow Spike, but everypony just calls me Spike. My sister is Rainbow Dash.”

“I’m Scootaloo. What’s your sister like? Is she a dragon too?” the filly questioned. She raised out her hoof and shook Spike’s hand, thinking his scales felt really cool.

“No, she’s not a dragon, she’s a Pegasus. Actually, the fastest Pegasus alive, if she could be believed.”

“The fastest? No way!”

“I believe her. If you ever see her in action, it’s like she’s in some place one moment, and on the other side of town the next. In fact, she once even did a sonic rainboom…” Spike sat down in the Hall, and the kids sat down with him, eager to hear another story about Rainbow Dash. “When we were young, right before we went to Flight School, Rainbow was one of the last ponies in her class to get her cutie mark. She was trying to help me learn to fly, since I wasn’t really a great flyer at the time. One day, I had a problem stopping and crashed into a cloud, and of course some bullies tried to tease me about it. But then, she flew in, and challenged those bullies to a race since they thought they were so good at flying…”

As Spike continued telling stories about Rainbow Dash to pass the time with the foals (with the parents occasionally coming in trying to find their foal only to see the resident dragon talking to them, and they trusted him enough to keep them still as they waited for the 6 mares to come back), Scootaloo’s active mind went into overdrive, imagining a mare like Rainbow Dash facing down bullies and winning races and beating the odds against her again and again.

The orange and purple filly desperately wished she could see Rainbow Dash when she got back, and ask her more questions.

Author's Note

So the google drive formatting thingy is definitely shot up something awful. Maybe they changed their code or something and it messes up FIMfiction when it tries to get the document from the link?

In any case, now we have Scootaloo coming into the picture, while Fen gets taken out of the picture of being a hero, even though she's a magically (over)powered breezie. Kinda like Spike in the show, cuz I mean, how many problems could have been solved if they just asked Spike to light that mofo on fire?

On second thought, that would have been a bad idea. The fire might just transport the problem back to Celestia, in that case...

Next up, we're gonna be at the awards ceremony after the defeat of Nightmare Moon (that is also considered similar to the ending ceremony for Star Wars, A New Hope, hilariously enough), with a nice family reunion of the Rainbows. And perhaps a family reunion for Fluttershy too...

Including a lazy brother.

Seize the awards!

Horns blared. Ponies stomped in glee. Guards stood tall and proud, as Twilight Sparkle walked slowly down the row laid out before her with red carpet. She, along with 5 other mares, saved Equestria, and had brought the sister of Celestia, Princess Luna, back from the darkness that had consumed her and twisted her into Nightmare Moon.

(If that didn’t deserve an awards ceremony, then a lot of ponies were ungrateful about the good things given to them. Ungrateful little…)

Thus, Celestia had arranged a ceremony to commemorate the 6 brave heroes from the little town of Ponyville. Twilight’s family sat in the front row seats, right next to the aisle she was currently walking in. The families for the other heroes were in the same front row, with Spike holding a wing in support of his adoptive parents. It dampened somewhat all the cheering and stomping of the other ponies, which in their older age, Spike’s parents were starting to become sensitive of hearing.

Don’t tell them they’re getting older though. It usually ends in tears… for the pony that told them.

As Twilight walked up the steps towards the princess to receive her medal, Spike glanced towards the other medal bearers, the other 5 that had saved the day along with Twilight. Rainbow Dash, his sister, made eye contact with him, and he winked at her with a smirk. Since she was sitting (or rather, hovering) next to the Rainbow family, Fenella saw this exchange, and decided she would try the same with Twilight.

As Twilight came around to the crowd with the medal on her neck and the shy pride that came with most ponies accepting an award in public, Fenella caught the unicorn’s eye and tried winking at her. However, she kept blinking her eye in rapid succession, and Twilight witnessed in silent and repressed horror the breezie falling to the ground and twitching violently. Spike, also witnessing the poor breezie’s sudden dilemma, quickly cupped his talons over the writhing Fen and pulled her close to his body, away from any prying eyes that might have spotted them. While putting a hoof over her eyes to shield them briefly from the camera flashes, Twilight mouthed a thank you to the dragon.

Spike winked back, and could swear he saw a brief blush on the unicorn’s cheeks. He looked back down quickly to see Fenella still twitching, and suppressed a sympathetic sigh. An idea came to him, however, and with a devious smirk he reached for his mother’s camera that she brought along to Canterlot. He quickly snapped a picture before putting the camera back, careful not to let his parents see the flash.

He had to remember to take the camera film to a dark room and get the negatives before his family did. It would be a good piece of blackmail, if the breezie ever tried something against him.

“Ah, Canterlot cuisine! Fresh cuts, straight from the farms, and the first pick too!”

“Dad, you seriously like these ‘or derves’, or whatever the fancy looking butler called them?”

“Spike, what have I said about food?” Blitz reprimanded. “Don’t question the free food, just eat the free food.”

“A stallion after me heart!” Fenella called out, before diving into the plate magically held by Twilight, who was walking up to the two male Rainbows.

“Fen! Ugh… Well, how are you two doing? I assume this is your father, Spike?” Twilight asked.

“Yup, that’s me. Been his father since the two days we had his egg before Hearth’s Warming,” Blitz confirmed, holding out his hoof to shake with Twilight’s.

Twilight looked at Blitz’s mane as she returned the gesture. “Rainbow hair? I guess Rainbow Dash gets her hair from you, huh?”

“All Rainbows get the hair. It’s some sort of family magical identifier that our ancestor Commander Hurricane did on himself and his descendants.”

“So it’s true! The Rainbows are descended from Commander Hurricane! I have so many questions, like…. do you happen to have his legendary spear or armor?” Twilight inquired, jumping in glee at technically finding a primary source of Equestrian history.

“Uh, no, most of his stuff that was passed down in the family is all in museums everywhere. We get the benefits as nobility, sure, but the hair came at a price. We Rainbows can only have one heir to the family legacy, which stops the mother of the family from having more than one foal. Firefly, my wife, was completely fine with having only one foal, however. We held busy jobs, you see, so we were okay with one foal. Then, as we’re bringing back Dash from the hospital in Cloudsdale, this guy’s egg,” Blitz draped a foreleg over Spike, who listened with apprehension at his baby story, “dropped right in front of us, or rather in Firefly’s purse, exactly. A day later, in the middle of the Hearth’s Warming party, he hatches. Dash, as a foal, quickly took to him, and we adopted him there.”

“Wow…” Twilight awed. “That is like…”

Blitz waited for exclamations of ‘amazing’ or ‘beautiful’ or even ‘heartwarming’, as most ponies would’ve said whenever they heard Spike’s egg story from him.

“…extremely improbable and unlikely that the egg could drop in such a precise location with such ease, and yet not have any sort of damage to it!”

What?

Both Spike and Blitz witnessed Twilight pull an abacus out of… somewhere, and start tinkering with it. “If we set the height to an altitude above Cloudsdale’s usual airspace, and we calculate the odds of location displacement based on an arc of an dragon egg across several meters, the odds of Spike’s egg landing in your wife’s purse is…” both Rainbows saw the beads on the abacus soar across the board as Twilight picked up a napkin and a pencil (while still holding the plate that held a now chubby little breezie enjoying the food in her belly) and began to write random numbers, “…7,908,009 to 1 odds!”

Spike and Blitz stared at the young unicorn prodigy, as she diligently smiled at her quick and concise work she demonstrated in front of them. Blitz leaned over to whisper in his son’s ear, “No offense to how you were, but that’s a real nerd alert right there.”

“Dad…” Spike whined quietly. “She’s a smart unicorn. Don’t be rude.”

“Smart and well-mannered, but not totally bland. I think I recall you saying how you wanted a girl like that, back in Flight school…” Blitz smirked.

“Dad!” Spike quietly exclaimed, looking briefly back to Twilight to see if she heard them, but the unicorn was only looking back at the napkin she drew on, mumbling if some of the numbers were correct, and not paying attention to them. “It’s not like that with her, Dad. She’s just a friend, er, more like she’s Rainbow’s friend who I also coincidentally know. Plus, I’m already looking at another pony anyway…”

“Oh, Fluttershy finally got you?”

“What?”

“Who’s the pony you’re ‘looking’ at?” Blitz asked, not missing a beat.

“Um…” Spike flinched at the different question, but decided to drop the topic there. “Rarity. Who’s also… kinda my boss too…” Spike mumbled, scratching his back as he looked at his father with an apologetic grin.

“Rarity? I think she’s that white and purple unicorn that was also with Dash and the rest of the award ponies. Eh, go for her, but in my honest opinion, that mare looks like high class trouble. If things don’t end out great,” Blitz grabbed Spike’s head and turned it towards Twilight, who was busy now recalculating the odds she exclaimed before, “you have a fallback plan.”

“Daaaaaad…” Spike whined, shaking his head away from Blitz who was snickering into his hoof. “Right now I’m fine with just being Rarity’s employee. Besides, she’s got her sights on Prince Blueblood anyway, so I don’t really have a chance.”

“Prince Blueblood? You mean the prince from here, in Canterlot?” Blitz asked with a very confused expression. “You do know he outed himself as a colt cuddler two weeks ago, right? It was the talk of the nobility when he showed off his new beau, the baron of, er, someplace or another.”

Spike’s eyes grew wide. “What? How come Rarity didn’t tell me about that! She’s usually on top of gossip like this!”

“Meh; it grew down after they broke up a week later. Something about how the baron was just trying to use Blueblood to get his family closer to the princess. Er, princess Celestia. Wow, it’s going to be crazy thinking about there being two princesses now…”

Spike tuned out his father when he saw in another corner of the reception area his mother and his sister talking with a familiar green coated and blonde mane stallion.

A familiar stallion that made him grate his teeth ever since he met him.

“Sorry dad, but I gotta go. Zephyr is talking to Rainbow Dash…” Spike seethed.

“Whoa now. You’re the brother, but your sister can date whoever she chooses in the end. Although…” Blitz looked back to see how Zephyr was strangely leaning closer to Dash, somewhat casually talking to her in a way that inflicted some sort of creepy and unnecessary tone towards Dash. “Yeah, chase that guy off, will ya? I’m gonna go get some more free food.”

With a skip, Blitz bounded towards the refreshments table while Spike walked towards Zephyr and his sister, intent on setting the record straight about what he thought of the stallion.

“I was a little off, it’s actually a 632 to 1 chance of Spike’s egg landing in the purse… Spike?” Twilight finally looked up. “Where did that dragon go?”

Author's Note

Thanks to Eagle for some points during the editing process! Thank you Blueright and SpikeSupreme13 too!

I swear to all that is holy, if they make Rainbow Dash have a brother in the show, I do not know how I'm going to write him in...

Two new problems

Death.

Burning.

Fire.

Rip.

Tear.

Crush.

Kill.

Destroy.

Fortuna?

Spike’s thoughts about what he was going to do with Zephyr died when he spotted the Pegasus from Flight School that he desperately did not want to meet now. Unfortunately, due to being in his way, Fortuna saw Spike and waved a dainty little arm to say hello.

The little Pegasus from grade school had certainly grown since then. The grey mane had grown to levels that could rival Fluttershy’s mane and was expertly curled like Rarity’s. Her white fur was immaculate, with the simple lacy grey dress only dulling, but not stopping, the color from showing off of what was supposed to be a beautiful Pegasus of high class and culture.

Spike knew she was way into that high class stature, however. She always was a stickler for the rules of the nobles.

“Sir Spike! Such a pleasure to meet you!”

“Uh, you too, Fortuna. Heh, how’s it going since, uh, Flight School?” Spike tentatively asked, one claw scratching the back of his neck in an awkward fashion.

“Oh, please, Sir Spike, you must call me by my true name, Miss Fortuna Light,” she giggled, waving a hoof airily around. “However, it may be soon that you’ll be calling me Missus Light. Or rather, Missus Breeze, but I think I’ll keep my name as a symbol to my family legacy.”

“Missus? What, like, you have a boyf – er, a spouse?” Spike corrected himself so he could at least not listen to Fortuna correcting him on matters of how nobility should talk.

“A true spouse, not yet, but a love, yes. Sir Zephyr Breeze, if you must know–”

“YOU’RE SEEING ZEPHYR?!” Spike exclaimed, causing a few ponies around him to glance over and shush at the sudden loud voices. He shrunk his head in to ignore the stares.

“Er, yes, I am. Why, is this a problem?” Fortuna asked, cocking her head to the side. Typically, that stance would be unladylike, but Spike knew Fortuna; if she wasn’t a stickler about noble rules and policies, at least she never lectured about stature.

“I mean, uh,” Spike scratched his neck again, trying to phrase his next words so as not to offend the Pegasus. “See, the thing is, Zephyr has always had a big crush on Rainbow, ever since we met him at Flight School. He was at a charter school somewhere else in Equestria before he came, and apparently he’s the brother of Fluttershy.”

“Yes, that is why we are here with his family. To congratulate Lady Fluttershy in her endeavors to save us from that dreadful Nightmare Moon. I could hardly believe that Nightmare Moon had actually existed until we heard that laugh from Cloudsdale, and the sun wasn’t rising when we had counted the time from our Summer Sun Celebration.”

“…Right. Anyways, he would never take a no from Rainbow. She could handle him easily if he got too pushy, but I… well, I like teaching that punk every once in a while to take a hint and take a hike.”

“Well!” Fortuna spat, “I can assure you that my Zephyr is not like the Zephyr you remember from Flight School! I admit that I did have to teach him a little about manners and class when I became smitten with him, but he has grown wonderfully since then!”

“Oh really?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “Then how come he’s getting awfully close to my sister over there, who looks ready to clock out your lover?” he pointed to the wall where his mother, his sister, and Zephyr were together, the stallion leering too close for Spike’s comfort.

Fortuna looked in the direction he pointed and scrunched her mouth in anger. “Why that little…! Sir Spike, please tell your sister to please stop seducing my soon-to-be spouse!”

“What the, this isn’t Rainbow’s fault! It’s obvious that Zephyr is still in love with… and she’s gone,” Spike deadpanned, looking at Fortuna walking quickly (or rather, stomping quickly in a ladylike manner) towards Zephyr. He couldn’t hear what she said to her lover as he walked towards the group, but he saw Rainbow recoil in disgust, glancing rapidly back and forth with Zephyr and Fortuna. As soon as he was within range of hearing, Fortuna took one glance at him before grabbing Zephyr by the hoof and practically dragging him away from the family.

He shared a quick hug with his mother before turning to Rainbow. “So, uh, some news. Fortuna Light and Zephyr Breeze are a couple, apparently. And no, I don’t know how they found each other agreeable, especially Fortuna for Zephyr.”

“Are you sure they’re a couple?” Rainbow seethed as she watched the two lovers go. “That guy was trying to flirt with me as usual. Great, he’s a creep and now a degenerate…”

“Well, at least you can use that mare’s name to ward him off, if he ever tries again.”

“Yeah, I guess I could… wait a sec,” Rainbow turned to her left to see Twilight and Fenella next to her. “Whoa! Don’t sneak up on me like that, Twi! Barely heard ya above this party!”

“It’s not a party, Rainbow, despite what Pinkie may believe. It’s a reception, and it comes from the ancient tradition of–”

“Princess… of… rambling!” Fenella squeaked out, her belly bulging from the earlier food binge as she rested on top of Twilight’s forehead. She slurred her words slightly, feeling the effects of being more than full from all the food she ate.

“Speak for yourself, Miss Chubby Breezie,” Twilight sighed.

Fenella waved her off. “What? It’s like I always, blurgh, said. (Could you not move so much, please?) You ramble a lot to ponies. Ya need ta stop doing that.”

“And you need to stop gouging yourself out on all the food you can get at every social gathering we go to.”

“And ya need ta get a coltfriend so that I’m not the, urgh, only living thing you’ll talk ta for days at a time.”

“You’re not the only thing I talk to!”

“You’re right. You’ll talk ta either Celestia or even your own books, glaring at them and yelling at them to tell ya their secrets if they’re particularly hard books ta read. Bleugh,” Fen gagged.

“Ugh, you’re insufferable…” Twilight muttered, laying her head slightly low intentionally to move Fenella and make her uncomfortable again.

“Speaking of her…” Rainbow asked, a hoof raised at the breezie, “what was up with her suddenly having a seizure of some kind during the ceremony?”

“Oh, she gets random seizures all the time. It comes from her heightened magical powers from when a dark mage captured and tried to experiment on her and her family when she was young.”

Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Firefly recoiled back in shock at both the sudden tragic information and the nonchalant way Twilight spoke about it.

“Wait, a dark mage…?”

“Hey Twilight let’s go see the princess or something since ya know we haven’t talked ta her in a while and just get us away from here and such,” Fenella rapidly spoke, pulling Twilight’s hair to guide her away from the Rainbows.

“Ow, ow, ow, okay, I get it, you don’t want to talk about it. I was just trying to answer the question and–OW!” Twilight mumbled as she walked away from the open mouths of the Rainbow family.

“O… kay… Rainbow, you sure do choose some strange friends,” Firefly remarked.

“Well, we are a pretty strange family, mom,” Spike replied.

“Aw c’mon,” Rainbow complained, “We’re not that weird.”

“AHHHHHHHHH SAME LEG, SAME LEG! I’M NOT THE FOOD YOU BLIND CANTERLOT IDIOT!”

“…most of the time.”

Celestia stared. She had caught sight of the dragon once before, at a Young Ponies hoofball game where she disguised herself as a fan among the crowd to watch up close, and she had seen him play for the Cloudsdale team. She thought him a quirk, but it wasn’t too serious to start wondering if he was good for pony society; yet seeing him without his gear, in his full colors, she recognized immediately who the dragon was.

I’ve got to contact Celly and Molly later tonight, she thought in her head, ignoring the commotion with some ponies near the refreshments table. This is the dragon in both their worlds that is supposed to be Twilight’s assistant.

The order of the Celestias!

Princess Luna, as the protector of dreams before she was banished, thought that she had seen any sort of vision that any pony could ever think up. Nightmares of monsters mixed together, strange dreams about other ponies, stranger dreams about what a pony would do to other ponies (and for some, it was what they would do to their family), and the most embarrassing and dramatic moments in ponies’ lives had been seen before her eyes.

This was certainly a new idea.

“She looks mostly like my Luna,” Celestia remarked.

“I believe yours had her mane grown out. My Luna here still has her light blue foal mane, somehow,” another Celestia replied.

“It happens when they turn evil. You reform them, they turn into the younger version of themselves. Something about how that portion of them never grew, it was only the darkness that grew within them and into them,” a third Celestia pointed out.

“I still have the pictures of when my Luna was a child. Yours definitely has the same hair as she did,” a fourth Celestia offered her opinion.

In private and dimly lit chambers retired from the rest of the world, Luna found herself sitting on a rug with four Celestias. Each of them had a tea cup that magically refilled itself with… whatever tea they were drinking, and they all sat in a circle as they continued polite conversation.

“Oh, and before she can be confused, let’s introduce Luna to ourselves,” the Celestia next to Luna announced. “Dear sister, I am Celestia to you, but to our circle here, I am Tia.”

“Hello,” the Celestia opposite of Luna raised a hoof to shake. “I am Princess Celestia, but in this circle, you may call me Celly.” This Celestia looked almost identical to Luna’s own sister Tia, except her royal regalia had deep purple gems embedded in them, instead of the pink that Tia’s regalia held.

“Name’s Molly. Nice to meet you in this universe, Luna~” the third Celestia said huskily. Unlike the other Celestia’s in the room, Molly’s mane was pink, as Celestia’s mane was in her youth. She was as tall as the other princesses, however, and took a moment to walk up to Luna and bump barrels. Luna stared wide eyed at Molly’s own, the last sane vestiges in her mind not currently feeling extremely awkward at the intimate contact noting that Molly’s eyes had a slight crazy sheen to them.

“Molly, please do not already start flirting with the other Lunas of ours. It’s bad enough you do with your own…” The fourth Celestia chided. She, very much unlike the other princesses, was not at all clothed in royal regalia, instead wearing a shirt and a brown suit jacket, with purple dress pants cover her back legs. Also very different was the lack of wings or a horn, having to hold her teacup instead of just levitating it like the other Celestias. She turned back to Luna after shoving Molly away from the blushing night princess, “I am Principal Celestia, but you may call me Celest for now. I am not of anything royal where I am from, however,” she giggled.

Luna, quickly glancing thru the roster of ponies sitting in their circle, felt a little feint. “Celestia, how is this possible?” she asked.

“Starswirl,” all the Celestias answered, before looking at each other. Celly coughed, “what we mean to say is, Starswirl had found a way to bridge gaps between dimensions. It was supposed to be his way to find a permanent way to change time and save you, and all our Lunas, from Nightmare Moon’s control. However, his attempts in each of our dimensions made their persons into a single entity, and he traveled between worlds to try and warn both Luna and us, thinking he was only traveling through time. Once he realized the discrepancies between my timeline and his original, he realized he was going through dimensions, and found out later about the merging of his person. Eventually after a time, we all came to know each other and devised a spell to freely travel between each others’ worlds, though always with reasons. Most of us are also at different times compared to other universes as well, we all had our Lunas saved by the wielders of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Except for me, my Luna was just a little rash in her early years and got herself arrested and imprisoned for a couple years. It was horrid trying to get her into the position she has now as vice-principal, but I do say she’s past her “Nightmare Moon” goth rebel phase,” Celest rambled, before glancing at the stares from the other Celestias and shrunk in her posture. “Sorry, I tend to talk a lot when I’m with you all, don’t I?”

“Thou… all?” Luna asked.

“Yes, though there may be 4 here, there are other Celestia’s that we have met and shared tea with. We are just the ones that said we could immediately come to Tia’s summons. Speaking of,” Celly turned to her counterpart, the Celestia that was the true sister of Luna, “Why did you summon us?”

“I believe I’ve found the major difference between your world and mine, Celly,” Tia said. “Take a look for yourself,” she asked, taking out a photo and handing it with her magic to Celly.

“Huh. Is that Spike? All grown up and with… a rainbow fire necklace?”

“Yes, it is. I believe that along with Twilight’s breezie assistant being the difference among us, Spike here is also the adopted brother of Rainbow Dash,” Tia explained.

“Wow. He looks… healthy~” Molly remarked, leering over the photo of Spike at the awards ceremony, next to his mother and father Firefly and Blitz.

Tia swiped the photo away from Molly and floated it over to Celest. “Please do not lust after citizens in my domain, Molly. You can wait for Spike when he gets older and looks like that.”

“Well, I’m no dragon expert or anything,” remarked Celest as she studied the photo, “but it looks like Spike (in his dragon form, anyway) isn’t that much older than the dragon I saw in Celly’s world. Maybe you, uh, won’t have to wait long, Molly?”

“Don’t encourage her, Celest,” Tia chided. Molly stared into the distance, lost in thought as she imagined the drake she knew in her universe suddenly all grown up.

“Okay, that’s unhealthy to think about, especially considering how I practically raised him first when Twilight couldn’t…” muttered Celly, also lost in thought of how an adult Spike could act towards her.

Tia coughed loudly, catching the attention of everypony in the room. “Well, if you are all done with your incessant thinking about adult dragons, and especially you, miss ‘Discord love me’,” Tia glared at Celly, “that will be all for these sum–”

“What dost thou mean, ‘Discord love me’?” Luna asked, horrified that Celly, though not her sister exactly, would have feelings for the dreaded lord of chaos.

“Oh, they tried reforming Discord in their world to various successes, and so it will be our turn soon,” Tia casually explained.

“WHAT?!”

“Calm down, it’s easy!” Molly hushed the terrified lunar princess. “Just find a way he can make friends with the elements of Harmony! Usually Fluttershy tames him, but I’m betting that her way is going to be a little different than what my world’s Fluttershy did.”

“And… how did your Fluttershy tame your, um, Discord?” Celest asked.

“DON’T SAY IT DON’T SAY IT!” both Tia and Celly yelled, waving their hooves as they tried to magically muffle the words from Molly’s mouth. Luckily, they acted in time, and Molly only sulked as her explanation was never heard.

“You two are no fun,” she muttered. Celly and Tia sighed in relief while Luna and Celest looked at each other with confusion over what just happened.

At that glance, Luna again noticed the lack of alicorn features on Celest. “One more question before we retire and try to burn the memory of this meeting permanently from our mind. Why dost thou look like the common Earth Pony and not a member of the alicorns as we are?” she asked the clothed Celestia.

“Oh, um, well, I am the newest member of this circle, quite frankly. After Celly’s Twilight traveled through her mirror to complete a mission and told her about my existence, it wasn’t long before I was included in the Celestial Circle.”

“Fair note, that’s what she calls it, not us,” Molly remarked.

“I am not an… ‘alicorn’, yes. I am a human in my world, we’re like bipedal apes but with less hair. I’m not immortal, either. (“Not yet,” Luna heard Molly mutter under her breath.) I am just a regular principal at Canterlot High in my universe. Although many of the students at my school have counterparts in other universes that I’ve seen, might I add.”

Tia sighed. “I still have to fix relations with my Sunset Shimmer soon, don’t I?”

“Sunset Shimmer?” Luna questioned. There was just too many things she missed while she was gone, and she hated that she had so much catching up to do.

“A story for another time, Luna. At least you’ll get to meet an alternate version of yourself soon, Celest,” Tia noted.

“Another me? Well I hope she’s nice, and not like Molly’s version of me,” Celest said, sipping the last few drops of her tea.

“Hey, I’ll have you know Celine is a very well-mannered human me! She’s just a little excitable, is all,” Molly retorted.

“…Right. Well, now that the business of meeting Luna and learning of Spike’s appearance in this world is done, I’d rather head back home. My Luna is probably playing video games and drinking herself into an inebriated stupor, cursing out random strangers over the internet. On a school night. Again.”

“Agreed. Er, somewhat. I have to get back to my universe and make sure Thorax is fitting well as the new king of the changelings.” Celly yawned, the long hours of the night getting to her somewhat.

“I’m just wanting to sleep after such a strange and exciting day,” Tia said sleepily, laying a wing over Luna. While many thoughts flew through her head about the various Celestias, the younger sister didn’t hesitate to lean into the embrace of the older sister.

The three Celestias looked towards Molly to hear what she would be returning to, which made the pink-haired princess raise an eyebrow. “You really want to know what, or who I’m getting back to in my universe?”

Everypony’s eyes widened and glanced in different directions, not wanting to make eye contact with Molly. For her part, she giggled, and Luna couldn’t help but note that the giggle sounded innocent with a sinister, lustful purpose.

She had a pretty good idea how Molly acted in her world. The thought of her sister being that lewd almost made her empty her stomach.

In a minute, everyone said their goodbyes and clicked the main gem in their regalia (Celest took out a necklace underneath her suit jacket and clicked it against her chest) and instantly blinked out of existence in the current universe they inhabited.

After a few minutes of letting the events of the meeting stew a little, Celestia rose up from her spot in the private chamber. She lit her horn and teleported Luna and herself to her chambers in the tower.

“Your chamber is still being prepared, last I heard from the servants. Would you like to sleep in another room or…” Celestia glanced back to see Luna already asleep on the floor, curled up almost like a kitten. Suppressing a little giggle, and a little squee, at how cute it looked, Celestia gently lifted Luna up to her bed, laying her on one side while taking her own side.

Sliding the covers over them, Celestia draped one wing over her sister and snuggled into the covers, smiling for what felt like the first time in a thousand years.

Author's Note

Wow. Two updates in one day. Y'all are lucky. :raritywink:

And now, we get straight into the meat of the canon of the show. Took us two years, but we're getting there!...

Talks and Heartbreak

The first day of summer. The sun stood high in the sky, but it was a couple of degrees off from where it should have been an hour before noon. Some speculated that the princess might have had a few too many drinks and had a massive hangover that morning, but the gossip quickly quieted down when somepony pointed out that the princess retired to her chambers a good time before many others.

Still, it was funny to think of the sun princess as not being a morning pony.

Spike walked leisurely down the street, taking time to enjoy the day and the summer activities of the townsfolk. While at first many ponies were intimidated either because of his species or his nobility, Ponyville had all but accepted him now, with many of the ponies native to town waving or saying hi to him as he walked past.

Last night was a barrage of emotions and tragedy. One of the guards that had tried to stop Nightmare Moon before was apparently in a coma, and it seemed that nothing short of magic might wake him up. Using magic on a pony in a coma was risky, and usually the hospital had to ask officials in Canterlot to try and use magic to bring the victim back.

However, technically, Twilight Sparkle was a Canterlot official.

Spotting the tree house in the distance, Spike hurried his walk. Coming close to tragedy himself when his own sister risked her life to stop Nightmare Moon, Spike was on a mission to make sure everypony got their happy ending, including the family of the poor guard in the hospital. Right now, he only needed to tell Twilight to head to the hospital to help out. He wasn’t going to exactly tell her what was wrong with him.

Both he and the nurses agreed that she might be a stickler for the rules and deny she was a “Canterlot official”. Might as well push her into the situation so she can be won over by the nurses with the stallion in sight. A bit devious, but if the stallion wakes and his family becomes happy again, then no harm no foul, right?

When he got to the treehouse, Spike was greeted with the odd sight of a bunch of mover carts he hadn’t spotted from afar, with Moody and Braken shelving various boxes onto the carts.

“Hey!” he yelled, getting their attention. “Is Twilight already leaving? I thought she was going to stay a while.”

“Hello, Sir Spike! Actually, Twilight is our supervisor from Canterlot’s School of Scholars. You know, the reason why we came here to Ponyville?”

Spike stared at the two scientists. It felt like a whole half year ago when he last spoke to the two, even though it was only a few weeks ago he had to talk to Moody Eye about some flat rocks he had found somewhere.

Turns out there was a deer in the area. One who ate some bad grass.

“Uh, remind me again?” Spike asked, scratching the back of his neck and smiling awkwardly.

Moody sighed. “Like I said, we were in Ponyville to study the local flora and fauna, before our supervisor, Twilight, would come and take over the operation herself. Plans went quicker than expected when Celestia asked her to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration, although you know how that went.”

Images of being blasted across Town Hall’s main room by a breezie flashed through Spike’s mind.

“Now, Twilight will be staying indefinitely to study “friendship”, according to Celestia. Honestly sounds more ridiculous than somepony of Twilight’s position to do, but it’s an order from the top, so we cannot complain. Me and Bracken are heading back to Canterlot, so we’ll soon be out of your hair, er, spines soon enough,” Moody explained, correcting himself when he noticed the green spines protruding from Spike’s head.

Admittedly, Spike grew self-conscious at the mention of his spines, and he tried to flatten them as per a habit he made back in high school.

“Uh, well, if you go back inside, can you ask Twilight to come to the hospital?”

“What for?” a voice asked behind Spike. He turned around to see Twilight Sparkle walking back from grocery shopping, her saddle bags overflowing with various fruits and vegetables.

“Oh, so, the nurses need you at the hospital for something. Probably just want an opinion on medicine or whatever,” Spike said, trying to play the ‘indifferent’ card to not let her get suspicious.

“Ooo, professional opinions! I love giving those!” Twilight giggled, hopping in place for a few moments before she reacted to a carrot almost falling out of her bags. “I’ll, uh… Just tell them I’ll be there soon!”

“No problem. Also, glad you’re staying around. It’s… kinda cool that you’re the Princess’s personal assistant,” Spike complemented, again scratching his neck and smiling.

“I’m her personal student, but thank you! One of these days, I’d really like to get to know you more, Spike. There’s so many questions I have to ask about dragons!” Twilight replied.

“Ah, I’m no one interesting. I just work as an assistant to Rarity’s shop. My sister is the one who you want to talk to more, she’s the Wonderbolt. Or at least, she’s trying to be one.”

“Rainbow Dash? Um, no offense, but I think I’ll pass on that. She’s a bit too full of herself, even if she’s a friend.”

Spike raised a brow. “A Canterlot type calling another pony ‘full of themselves’?”

“You know what I mean! And not all Canterlot ponies are snobs!” Twilight defended herself, blushing at the jab to her home.

“Relax, I’m just joking! But really, give her a chance. I heard that she gave up the opportunity to be a ‘shadowbolt’ or whatever. Trust me when I say it’s not the first time she gave up an opportunity so she could stay with ponies. She’ll be there for you whenever you need it.”

“Yeah, well,” Twilight absent-mindedly kicked the ground as she looked away from Spike, “It was ‘awesome’ of her to stay loyal. Guess that’s why she’s the element of Loyalty, huh?”

“I can’t think of any pony better than her, to be honest,” Spike agreed. “Well, I gotta go. It’s my day off, but I want to see Rarity about something.”

“What’s going on?” Twilight pried.

“Oh, just, some personal stuff between us, nothing concerning. Get to the hospital as quick as you can, once you’re done with whatever you’re doing.”

“No problem. See you soon!” Twilight waved as she walked towards the treehouse, catching a falling box from Moody’s cart and glaring at him. Spike turned around, lightly chuckling, and walked towards Carousel Boutique.

When he arrived at the boutique, he noticed a couple of carts and some random ponies standing in front. Scrunching his brow in confusion, he went up to one of the ponies to ask what they were doing.

“Waiting around for the clients to come out. Said they were meeting their daughter for a brief visit before heading to Baltimare to board an all summer long cruise.”

“Daughter? What do you mean dau–”

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!” A loud and very angry voice screamed from within the boutique.

“…Was that Rarity?” Spike spoke out loud. He walked up close to a window near the door, and looked in.

Two ponies he hadn’t seen before were glaring at Rarity, whose hair was frazzled like he had never seen before. The only part of her that didn’t seem to be reacting to what was happening was her tail, where he was pretty sure she put in a tail extension to cover up the fact she had cut her tail last night.

“Rarity! We’ve taught you better than for you to use such crass language! You’re not in Fillydelphia anymore,” the mare of the two ponies spoke up. She looked like a mare who was trying to use makeup and clothes to cover up her age, which was certainly much older than Rarity.

“Yes, I’m not. And neither is Sweetie Belle, these days…” Rarity seethed. Spike had never seen her this angry before, even when he had made big mistakes in sewing during his first few days on the job.

It was oddly attractive.

“Now now, you said before you would love Sweetie Belle to be with you here in Ponyville. Where’s the bright young mare we remember - the one that had many dreams and is finally achieving a big one of them?” the stallion asked. Like the mother, he too was older than Rarity, and clearly trying to grow a mustache to assert his masculinity, although to Spike the facial hair looked more hilarious than macho.

Months of working with Rarity had clued Spike in on some of her tics, along with an uncanny ability to read her lips. In the room, Rarity lowered her posture and relaxed her body, leaning away to avoid eye contact with the two ponies. He knew this wasn’t her relaxing, but her accepting the situation despite her complaints, as he’s seen her do with pushy clients. Tilting her head away, he read the lips of what Rarity said under her breath.

“She grew up and realized who was holding her back.”

“I… I will take care of Sweetie Belle while you two are off on this blasted, AHEM, lovely cruise that will last the whole summer,” Rarity spoke out loud, turning back to the ponies.

“Wonderful!” the mare replied. “We’ll send you postcards whenever we can! Let’s go, dear,” she said, gesturing to the stallion to move out the front door. Spike heard shuffling behind him and saw that the cart ponies also tried to eavesdrop like him. With no cart to hide quickly, and sticking out like a sore thumb since he was a dragon, Spike dove into the bushes near the door, and waited.

Luckily, the two ponies hadn’t seen him dive in, or even saw how deformed the bushes were. They exited the boutique, barked a few orders to the cart ponies, and left. Releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding, Spike leaned out and peeked through the open front door and into the boutique.

Shaking off a few leaves and branches and walking in, he witnessed Rarity, a kind and generous soul that would never try to hurt a fly, on the verge of a breakdown, glaring harshly at the door her parents walked away from. She didn’t even recognize Spike in her glare until he was almost right up to her, where she only glanced up at his face and back down to the door.

“I’ll… I’ll take care of Sweetie Belle. Better than they ever took care of me…” Eyes clenched shut and teeth gritted, she choked back the tears threatening to run down her muzzle from her eyes. She breathed in short bursts, trying to establish control of her emotions as Spike had seen her do many times with Sweetie Belle, whenever the little sister made a mistake.

It wasn’t until Spike gently hugged her that the dams flew open, and even then it was quiet sobs and wretched shaking, much unlike her other sob-fests where she would cry loudly with a bowl of ice cream after a bad review from a client. Spike held her close to his chest as he idly scratched her back, a little move that helped wonders to calm her down when she was particularly stressed.

A few minutes passed by, and Spike noticed that she was breathing somewhat normally again. “Hey, let’s get you upstairs to the bathroom, clean your face before we go and get Sweetie Belle from her early dismissal at the last day of school. We’ll go get some lunch, my treat. I’ll get you your favorite mint chocolate surprise from Sugarcube Corner. What do you say?”

Rarity nodded her head up and down Spike’s chest, a small smile peering out before returning to a neutral expression. “Just… just stay here a little bit more. Please…” she silently pleaded, her voice wracked by a sore throat from the crying.

“Sure thing. Take as long as you need,” Spike replied. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, gently rocking back and forth.

Anything to help Rarity.

Author's Note

I have an idea of how to develop Rarity's character more, but it's going to take a little experimentation. If successful, it will be a more fulfilling role about following your dreams despite the sacrifices. That's if it's successful...

Also, I need to write a Rainbow chapter one of these days...

Arrival in Ponyville Police Station

A train ride is a different experience for everyone. One might like the tranquil countryside speeding by the windows while another may feel nauseous from all the shaking and bouncing throughout the ride, as if the train was a Pegasus-pulled carriage meeting turbulence the whole time.

Those ponies were always jealous of the ones who managed to sleep through it all.

Currently, a single rainbow maned Pegasus was one of those sleeping ponies, along with her brother.

The only thing different about this train ride was that the brother was a dragon. And it was snoring smoke.

Luckily, for the two terrified ponies that were forced to sit opposite of the two siblings, the train conductor was smart enough to open the window right next to the snoring dragon. Under normal circumstances, that would be a safety violation, but the small opening from the window at least provided enough of a filter to get out most of the smoke that would have otherwise filled the car.

Celestia only knows how the train company would love to have a, “death by suffocation in car,” on their list of accidents.

The two ponies sitting across from the siblings, were identical, right down to their eyes. Both had brown coats with blonde scraggly manes, and both had deep blue eyes. The only difference was that one of the ponies wore a simple pair of reading glasses.

Suddenly, the car lurched, and the dragon smacked his head against the barely opened window with a loud thud. He woke up with a hiss, clutching his head in pain.

“Ow, ow, ow…” he mumbled. Talk about a rude awakening.

“Ngeh…” Rainbow mumbled as she woke up to Spike’s pained shuffling.

“Yeargh, can’t this thing go any smoother?” Spike complained.

“Oh stars, you talk,” the pony with the glasses stated in a terrified manner.

“Meh, wha?” Rainbow heard a voice, and she wasn’t sure if it was her, or her brother speaking.

“Er, yeah, I talk. What, you never seen a dragon before?” Spike asked the two ponies.

“Not particularly in close quarters such as the current situation unfolding.”

“…huh?”

“What he means is,” the pony without the glasses said, holding a hoof out, “we have never seen a dragon specimen, like you, up close. At least not a dragon your size, anyway.”

“Oh, well then…” Spike was at a loss for what to say. “Thanks?...”

“It truly is a remarkable event in the present. Us, among all the trains, cars, and seats, and we get to view a reptile of fire and might, and beast of muscle, right in front of our very own disbelieving eyes…” the pony with the glasses sighed in bliss, staring with a bit of a lustful gaze at the aforementioned dragon.

Spike shivered. “Is he… is he always like... that?”

The train rumbled again, “You have to excuse my brother. We’re scientists, you see. Graduates of Celestia’s school of gifted children and Celestia’s school of gifted scholars. We’ve been around Equestria for the past year and have seen many sights. It’s our job to document them all, even if it means putting our lives at risk,” the brother without the glasses explained. “My name is Moody Eye, and my brother here, is Broken Eye.”

“Moody Eye?” Rainbow finally decided to join the conversation, “What kind of stupid parent would name their kid that?”

“Like a vacuum, our parents’ skulls were. Nopony would they listen to, and to none they would follow except their own ideas, which spawned from the heart, but given no thought to function,” Broken Eye spoke. Both Rainbow and Spike looked back at Moody with confused expressions.

“Our parents tried their best, but they were very stubborn and they were not very intelligent. I’m not that moody, and Broken isn’t that, well, broken. His mind thinks differently, but on a very advanced level, according to some professors at our school. Fast thinking is basically what he’s good at. I’m just good at writing really, really fast,” Moody explained, closing his eyes as he continued his lecture, “We’re on this train to Ponyville, to scout out a library we heard they have there. Apparently, the library is literally carved out of a big tree. Our head supervisor and her assistant wants to see if it’s possible for us to live at the library, not only for the books there, but for the close and convenient study of the nearby Everfree forest. Furthermore, we will be interviewing local townsfolk for their ideas and experiences with the forest, which we will then analyze and…”

Moody felt a slight jab at his ribs, and looked towards Broken, who was pointing at the again sleeping duo in front of them. He huffed and pouted, “Why do us scholars never get credit? So much for an interesting dragon…”

“Whoa, you smell that?” Spike asked Rainbow as they left the station. Being the stronger one (much to Rainbow Dash’s secret chagrin), the rainbow necked dragon carried both his luggage, and Dash’s. While he walked on the ground, away from the station, Rainbow chose to hover beside him. Partly to stretch her wings, as she felt a bit cramped from the car, and partly because hovering was an instinctual habit for her.

“What, the apples? Yeah, we did pass by an apple farm, remember? Ponyville was made after an apple farm family bought all the land. Apples are probably what the town sells to Equestria.”

“Not just that though…” Spike physically sniffed the air, almost inhaling his entire breath through his nose in one second. “Rocks. Rocks that are filled with gems. I think there might be a quarry nearby!”

“Nuh uh, mister,” Rainbow said, hovering in front of Spike’s path, “You know what mom said. Don’t burn yourself out with all the gems and eat your heart out. You know gems are fattening for you!”

“Yeah, but c’mon,” he whined, “It’s been ages since I’ve had a good gem. All that training P.E. put me through, and then the coaches kept me on constant check for the hoofball team…”

Rainbow huffed, partly because she didn’t want a whiny Spike, and partly because she was reminded that the coaches picked Spike over her. “Oh, pony up! Maybe once we get jobs and figure out our bills, you can set up a plan or something to figure out how many gems you can eat in a day. Now c’mon,” Rainbow turned around and hovered away from Spike, “We need to find the mayor so we can get the deed to that house I liked.”

“DRAAAAAGON!” the duo heard somepony yell. They turned to see an earth pony mare, cradling her foal as they sped away, “EVERYPONY RUN!”

In no time flat, the bustling town street which the Rainbow siblings were walking in, was suddenly deserted, as ponies quickly boarded up their windows in all the buildings. Crickets chirped as Rainbow Dash and Spike stood alone on the stone path.

“…Well then,” Spike broke the silence. “I guess that means we can’t ask for directions…”

“I don’t think we’re welcome here either…” Rainbow sarcastically huffed, the chains on her hooves rattling as she crossed her forelegs together in anger.

After the immediate yelling of ‘dragon’ in Ponyville, the local police force subdued a very surprised, and shocked Rainbow duo, using tranquilizer spells. They were then locked up in the local police station, and their luggage was taken to who knows where.

Spike, for his part, was laying down on his prison cot. Along with the luggage, the police also took his Rainbow necklace. He was not very happy with that. At all.

“Stupid ponies…” he mumbled. “Why do they always have to assume…”

“Rainbow Dash!” they heard somepony yell. Both the mare and her brother turned to see a distraught earth pony mare with a faded brown coat and an old silvery grey mane come down the steps of the entrance to the jail, with another officer pony behind her.

“Go noble,” Spike suddenly said as he stood up. Rainbow looked back at him with a critical eye before standing up in what other ponies would call a regal posture. Her brother stood next to her, making sure to accentuate his back so he could go to his full height, a head taller than Rainbow. Masking their faces of any emotion, they were a peak example of high-born, noble class pegasi.

Or, pegasi and dragon. Spike felt a bit naked without his necklace.

“What is it that you want?” Rainbow asked, in an accent that sounded as if she should be above all this common peasantry, and was clearly peeved that she wasn’t.

“I just want to say first of all that I am so sorry for the misunderstanding, Madame Rainbow Dash and Sir Rainbow Spike of the Rainbow family. I had arranged for an escort to first show you around town before we show you the cloud house where you had wished to stay, heh heh. But, well, unfortunately, due to some circumstances involving the captain being a bit overworked last night, and oversleeping in the morning, you had to arrive in town without anypony greeting you, and the townsfolk weren’t aware of Spike and the police heard screaming and they acted out of instinct and- oh please, please don’t leave us, and tell others about it!” the mare said exasperated, begging on her knees near the end.

The Rainbow duo finally recalled from pictures of the house that in the town they were staying in, the local leader was Mayor Mare. Spike spoke up, “Mayor, we are most displeased at the lack of performance and quality that we expected from a quaint, and small town such as yours. You must know that attacking members of the noble class, unwarranted, can result in severe penalties,” he noticed both the mayor and the officer pony cringe in horror, “and taking their belongings and searching them without a warrant can result in even more severe penalties.”

Spike saw the officer visibly gulp, and turned his head towards him. “So I suppose there better not be a single piece of linen out of place on our, and I must emphasize, very expensive and very important baggage.”

Immediately, the officer ran up the steps, and the three in the prison could hear yelling and cacophony from upstairs. Soon, the officer came back down with a worried smile, the luggage in between his teeth. “Shee? Noh ah air er eh!” the officer said, trying to appease the noble Rainbows.

“Please do not bite our bags,” Rainbow Dash ordered. The officer, on instinct, let his mouth open, dropping the bags unceremoniously onto the ground. Realizing his mistake, the officer picked them up with his hooves. He slipped as he held them, dropping them onto the ground again. Finally, he held one in each hoof as he sat down to keep his balance, forcibly trying to smile despite his embarrassment and fear of the Rainbows’ wrath.

Spike and Rainbow tried very hard to not bust out in laughter.

“W-ha!-ell, ahem,” Spike’s struggle with laughter made his voice crack for a moment, “well, it seems everything is in order. I only have one complaint.”

Both the mayor and the officer’s eyes grew wide in fear.

“…I was wearing a Rainbow flame brooch necklace. It was a gift from my sister here. I am sure you took it away from me for a good reason?”

The officer laughed nervously, “Uh, of course! It was just, uh… it was just dirty! I’ll be right back!” The officer zoomed up the steps again, and with some very loud shuffling and some random screaming in the background, the officer came back down again with the necklace, holding it in one hoof as he tried to make sure it didn’t fall, while also coming as quickly to Spike on three legs.

“Here you go!” the officer gave the necklace to Spike, who immediately put it on. Spike felt less naked than before.

“Now, if you don’t mind,” Rainbow spoke up, “We would like to be free from this establishment, and simply wish that we can just be told where to go, to get to our new home.”

“Of course! Just follow me!” the mayor smiled, albeit with a little bit of nervousness, and walked up the steps.

The Rainbows raised their eyebrows in disappointed confusion, as the officer’s eyes grew wide in fear that the mayor left without them.

“Again, I just wish to apologize for the very much inappropriate lack of behavior and hospitality on my part for simply leaving you there in jail without unlocking the door, and again I apologize for the unkempt state the police offices were, and again I apologize…”

“We get it! er…” Spike interrupted. “We simply wish to be undisturbed for the rest of the day.”

After a brief and hectic exit from the police building, where Spike and Rainbow saw the offices in utter disarray as everypony realized that they apprehended a couple of nobles, the duo were personally escorted by Mayor Mare to a spot a little out of the main town center, where they were brought to the cloud lot, a space of houses that belonged to the pegasi of Ponyville. While their house wasn’t the most expensive, it was certainly one of the biggest in Ponyville, a cloud mansion fit for a king.

Or for a blue Pegasus, and her dragon brother.

“Oh, um, yes, ha ha… I will be, um, taking my leave now. Have a good day, your graces, and enjoy your stay in our humble Ponyville!” The mayor turned around and, at a pace faster than politely allowed, trotted away from the duo. Seeing her walk off, Spike grabbed their bags before launching himself in the air, Rainbow following behind him. Once they were on top of the cloud, Spike unlocked the door (“we need to get a different door. It looks like a griffon lived here before, if the doorknob is round instead of a press and pull lever.” he thought), and the two of them entered with the poise and gait that nobles such as themselves ought to arrive in any chamber.

Once inside, Spike laid down the bags and turned towards Rainbow Dash, “Well, madame Dash, while the welcoming committee was less satisfactory than we hoped, it seems we may enjoy ourselves in this quaint community.”

The Rainbow siblings stared at each other, before finally falling to the cold cloudwood floors laughing, “Oh man!” Rainbow exclaimed between breaths, “When that guy just dropped the bags and immediately realized what he did, his eyes grew so wide you could have used them as dinner plates!”

“Hah! And did you see the offices!? Like a hurricane just ran right through!” Spike laughed even more, “Oh man, I’m gonna love this place.”

“Right?” Rainbow flipped over onto her stomach, looking over Spike’s head on the ground. “What did I tell ya? A town on the ground might be cool, and here we are seeing how crazy this place is!”

The siblings took a moment to compose themselves, Rainbow lying down on her back again with her head staring to the ceiling, opposite to Spike.

After a couple minutes of relaxed silence, Spike spoke up, “When are the movers gonna get here with the rest of our stuff?”

“Like, about a day after we come in, they said. Hope mom doesn’t make them not take anything, because she wants our stuff to stay there to remind her of, well, us.”

“Nah, I don’t think she’ll do that. We were specific with the movers about what to take, and we did warn them mom and dad might try to say we don’t need whatever. I think they’ll be tough enough.

“Look, ma’am, we have it right here in the list that she needs this exact bag that was labeled, ‘foal-hood magazines’.”

“Not the Wonderbolt posters! Dashie, WHYYYYYYYYY?!”

“Yeah, I guess they’ll pull through somehow,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “Spike, do you think that was too much?”

“Too much what?” he asked.

“The whole, ‘we are high born citizens rah rah we’re uptight’ shtick. You know that’s just not us. Even though we are Rainbows, it doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun, right?”

“Eh,” Spike shrugged on the floor, “I’m sure that sooner or later the ponies here will realize that we’re just ponies like them who like to have fun.”

“Pony and dragon that likes to have fun,” Rainbow corrected in a mocking tone.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Spike smiled as he tried to wave off the correction. The two sighed in content as they stared at the ceiling, bare of anything except the white color which the house was painted with.

“Ponyville, Ponyville…” Rainbow suddenly spoke up. “You know, it dogged me at the train, and it’s dogging me here. Where is it that I heard that name?”

“I dunno,” Spike shrugged again, “Maybe we know someone who lives here?”

“Thunderlane lives here, I know that. Probably can go visit him later and see if he can hook me up with a job with the local weather service. He owes me for setting him up with Blossom that one year. I wonder if they’re still dating?... But no, that’s not it. Maybe it’s someone who wasn’t at flight school?”

“Who do we know or remember, that didn’t go to flight school?” Spike inquired.

“I dunno… we didn’t hang out with a lot of kids before flight school. We only hanged out with Gilda and…”

It suddenly clicked. The letters that the Rainbows sometimes got from an old good friend of theirs that was, at the time, working on an apprenticeship on taking care of animals from an old mare in Ponyville.

“Fluttershy! I think she’s supposed to live here!” Rainbow sat up. Spike sat up too, eager to know what Rainbow was planning. “We have to go see her. I remember she said in one of her letters that she lived in a cottage near the Everfree. Let’s fly and see if we can find the cottage!”

While Rainbow was excited to go meet Fluttershy again, Spike initially sat back. He looked around the room for a moment, trying to see if anything would spark his mind on what important things they needed to do.

“…Meh, we’ve got nothing better to do. Let’s go!”

After a brief search, the duo found a lone house on the outskirts of Ponyville that was near the Everfree forest. A quick check around confirmed that house as the only building that could match the cottage Fluttershy wrote about. Settling down from their flight, Spike decided he wanted to knock on the door to surprise their old pal.

“One moment!” he heard a melodious voice ring. Spike wondered, was that Fluttershy?

“You have to forgive me, Sir or madam, I don’t think I can see any more pets todaaaaaaaaaay…” Fluttershy had certainly grown since the last time Spike saw her. Her pink hair was now much, much longer than he thought could be possible, and the pegasus that used to be bullied at school for being weak certainly looked a bit stronger, with both her forelegs and the thighs in her hind legs having bigger muscles than the demure little filly that Spike knew.

“Hiya, Fluttershy! Me and Rainbow were just around the neighborhood, and were hoping we could stop by for a quick chat and catch up on-”

Spike never finished his sentence as a speeding yellow and pink bullet tackled him to the ground in a hug.

Author's Note

I'm back.

So uh, yeah. Pretty shitty, sure. Went through more rewrites and scraps than Duke Nukem Forever.

At least we can get to seeing the Mane 6 soon.