The Life of a Dragon

Chapters

Prologue: I love it when a plan comes apart.
A Breakfast of Champions
Equiferus
Grand Opening
Icing on the Cake

Prologue: I love it when a plan comes apart.

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. If I did, Spike would be the main Character for season 3. After the initial opening boss battle against an ancient sealed evil of course. (I'd pick Cthulu, just for fun.)

"Speech"
'thought'

Beta approved by N/A

Chapter 1: I love it when a plan comes apart.

With the annual Grand Galloping Gala only two days away, he thought himself a little nervous. In truth though, he was nervous enough to make Rainbow Dash's breakdown at the Best Young Flyer competition look tame. He paced in front of the door, sure to wear a groove into the ground, while he waited for her to answer the door.

'She was probably just in the middle of breakfast or something when I stopped by' he assured himself. "But I really shouldn't do this to her..." he mumbled to himself. "It's not fair of me to ask her so much, with only one day to prepare."

His problem was a date. Well, not exactly. His full problem was that he didn't have a date to go to the Grand Galloping Gala with, and he wasn't able to attend without one. He had lost his invitation two days before and was certain that he would not be able to get another from Princess Celestia. He then spent an entire day searching and retracing his steps trying to find his magic golden ticket to the world famous event, but he couldn't find it anywhere. So he had spent the next day searching Ponyville trying to find anypony who would be willing to part with theirs for anything he could offer, but everypony knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and he couldn't burden his friends with such a request.

That evening though, he realized the most common reason a pony wouldn't part with his ticket was a fillyfriend he was taking to the Grand Galloping Gala as a date. He had finally found the solution to his dilemma. He simply had to find a mare that that had a ticket and wasn't already going with somepony. Unfortunately, this was easier said than done, as every mare that was found to have a ticket to this exclusive extravaganza had already been sought out by a stallion or, in a few cases, another mare. He simply couldn't find anypony that wasn't taken already. Then, while he was thinking of all the wonderful things that would be there and the famous ponies that would be attending, his mind strayed across a brilliant idea. As he recalled, from his previous times at the Gala, none of the Mane Six had ever brought a date. He would simply ask

So, here he was, standing in front of her door, waiting for her to answer.

"Good morning, sir. May I help you?" She asked the white maned, brown pony standing in front of her boutique.

"Uhm...*ahem* g-good morning to you as well Mrs. Rarity. My name is Elise B. Fur, I'm sure you've heard of me after my performances at the Gala and at the Vienna Musikverein. As to what you could help me with, well... it's about the Grand Gall-"

"I do apologize" She cut him off, "but as I'm sure you know, the Gala is only two days away and I simply do not have the time to make any new suits. Though if you could stand it, I'm sure I could tailor up one of last year's designs for you that I still have in the back, and since it would be old" she shuddered at the thought, "I would certainly not charge my regular price." said Rarity.

"Actually, I already have one of your wonderful outfits to wear for this coming Gala."

"Oh, that's wonderful! But, what else could I possibly help you with?" Rarity asked, now confused and curious.

"It's a matter of attending, actually. You see, since this year's music at the Gala is being performed by Octavia and that new up and coming Disc Jockey, Vinyl Scratch, I am required to have a ticket to attend this year. Most unfortunately, though, I lost my ticket just a few days ago and have been dreadfully unsuccessful in procuring a new one. I have come here wondering if you would perhaps help me...umm...attend the Gala?" "Please?" he finished in a quiet and hopeful voice, 'definitely not begging though' he thought to himself.

"Are you asking me" she started slowly, "to use my best friend's connection to Princess Celestia to get you another ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala? How dare you! I would never use my friends for who they know, no matter what the case! Especially not for somepony I hardly know!" She nearly yelled at him.

"What?" He had thought about how she might react to his request, but he certainly had not expected this. "I wasn't asking that of you at all! I was hoping that you might take me to the Gala as your date!"

"Huh?" she stated eloquently as a fur-hidden blush slowly rose on her cheeks, both from his statement and her previous outburst.

"I was...umm...hoping that you would take me as your date, if you aren't taken already of course!" he finished hurriedly, lest he insult her more.

"Oh," she stated shyly. "Well, I didn't plan on taking anypony as a date, but," she started, her pride coming back as she realized this famous pianist was asking her to take him to the Grand Galloping Gala, "I suppose we could have a wonderful time together. You will also have to be introduced to my friends of course, I'm sure you know of them."

He broke out into a smile as he realized he would be going to the Gala and had a beautiful, famous mare to go with as well. "Thank you so much Mrs. Rarity, I will do my best to make sure we have a wonderful time. Shall I pick you up here, or shall we meet in Canterlot?" Elise asked.

"I will meet you there Elise. My friends and I are going to be travelling there together, you understand." Rarity replied.

"Oh of course Mrs. Rarity, I will see you there. Till then, and thank you ever so much." he said as he turned to walk away.

"Goodbye." she said, waving a hoof and then closing the door as he walked back down the street.

Spike backed away from the corner he was hiding behind, leaving behind a small bouquet of purple Irises, white Azalea and a single tear.

A Breakfast of Champions

Birthday Arc Part 1: A Breakfast of Champions

Spike made his way to the park and watched the ponies that were enjoying the wonderful weather. 'Rainbow Dash and her team have put together some great weather this morning'. He had thought this morning would start a great day. Spike had managed to find some wonderful puple and white flowers in the Everfree Forest on his day off yesterday that matched her coat and mane perfectly. He had finally built up the courage to ask Rarity to this year's Grand Galloping Gala as his date. Now that he had finally grown to a decent size, he thought Rarity wouldn't think of him as just "Spikey-Wikey" anymore. He leaned back on the bench and stared up at the fluffy white clouds, thinking of the day that this all started.

FLASHBACK starting - This will be the first arc of this story, the Grand Galloping Gala arc will continue when we catch back up to the present.

"Spike! Wake up!" Twilight yelled, way too early in his opinion. Princess Celestia may have raised the Sun, but he was still stiff and sore from the overhaul to the library that they had finally completed yesterday. They had added in three new shelves, because one or two wasn't worth the effort, for Twilight's seemingly endless quest for books and had to move all the rest of the shelves as well to make sure the new ones fit. In order to even move the large shelves though, every book on them had to be taken down and packed into the basement in a neat, organized and checklisted system. Twilight even had him go through them twice (once when they were taken off the shelves and packed, and again when they were unpacking and replacing them) to make sure none of the books got misplaced or damaged. Spike was so exhausted that he didn't even bother with dinner; he had gone straight upstairs so he could curl up in his basket.

"Spike, please wake up, you really don't want to be sleeping in today, well unless you really want to of course, do you?" Twilight asked at a normal volume, now that she could see Spike was starting to wake up.

"Why wmldn't I want to schleep hmm gehdaay?" he answered, face still buried in his pillow.

"Spike, did you forget? Today's your sixteenth birthday!" As she said this, his blanket glowed purple and flew from his grasp, spinning him around in the air before he landed back in his basket.

"Oomph, I'm awake, I'm awake already. Why didn't you just tell me that sooner?" Spike asked while glaring at Twilight.

"Weeeeell, I thought that you would remember your own birthday Spikey-Wikey." She answered in an eerily similar fashion to Pinkie Pie. "So come on already, we have so many activities on our list of birthday things to do today!"

"Can't we just rest one more hour? Pleeaaase Twilight?" he begged with his eyes going large and shiny, and his claws gripped together in front of him as he smiled widely.

"Well, I suppose we don't have to go eat breakfast too soon. I'm sure Rarity can make breakfast a little later…" she said in an almost bored tone, as she slyly watched Spike's eyes go even larger than they were before.

". . ." then after his slight pause he yelled, "Why are we still here?" as he grabbed one of her hooves and started dragging her to the door.

When they arrived at the boutique about ten minutes later (Spike was disappointed that Twilight refused to teleport them or even walk a little faster), Twilight had to grab Spike with her magic and remind him that he should knock instead of just barging into her home.

*Knock Knock Knock* He hammered out on the door, eager to see Rarity as soon as possible. It was Sweetie Bell who answered the door though and Spike was only a teeny bit disappointed that Rarity hadn't answered the door herself since he figured she was probably making the breakfast Twilight had mentioned.

"Happy birthday Spike!" Sweetie Bell yelled when she saw who was at her door. "Rarity's in the dining room setting the table up for breakfast, but she told me I still wasn't allowed to do anything other than cleaning up. I haven't broken a dish in over two months though!"

Spike rushed into the boutique as soon as she told him where Rarity was; well he might have, if Twilight had not subtly nudged his shoulder with her hoof that is.

"Wow that's great Sweetie Bell. Just imagine how much you'll be able to do once you get better with magic!" Spike said happily. He may have wanted to talk to Rarity more, but she was still one of his friends.

"I know right! Now let's get inside. I think I can already smell the food." She said and walked back into the boutique with Spike and Twilight trailing behind her, while Twilight shut the door with her magic.

When they rounded the entryway into the dining room, Spike nearly fainted. Rarity was standing near the table carrying a stack of plates with a single fork on top with her magic, while the table was covered in the most amazing display of food he had ever seen. On the end closest to him, sat a pile of grass, dandelion and other flowers, wheat and regular pancakes, while on the other end Rarity had placed a chair for Spike to sit at, in front of what looked to be a spread of jewel encrusted foods that varied greatly. He could see hash browns with cobalt and rubies in them, pancakes that had at least three sapphires in each one, a large omelet that he assumed also had at least one type of gem in it, and finally a bowl of what looked like the entire rainbow, along with a stripe of deep, shiny black.

"Happy birthday Spike! I certainly hope this will taste as good as it looks." Rarity said cheerfully after watching Spike's eyes glaze over and never leave his side of the table, for once not being focused on her. "Please take your seat and we'll be able to begin this wonderful breakfast Spike." Spike appeared in his chair and looked toward the rest of them before settling on Rarity.

"Rarity, this is just so wonderful." He thanked her as the rest of them sat down around the table. "You didn't have to work so hard and use so many of your gems just to make breakfast. I would have been happy with anything you would have made."

"I know Spikey-Wikey, but this is your birthday and the perfect time to try out these new gem recipes I've thought of recently. Ever since you had that sapphire cupcake last year, I just knew that there must be dozens of new ways to use gems in a recipe for dragons." Rarity said with some pride at her ideas and creations.

"Wow… so many different ways to eat a gem, I had always thought that they could only be eaten plain, and now I've got Pinkie Pie and you making all these wonderful foods for me." Spike wondered aloud.

"I only ask that you save the soup for last, as it has a very special ingredient in it."

"Sure Rarity, let's just get started, this is all looking so delicious and I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday." He replied.

"Oh, you poor, poor dear! Please dig right in, don't mind us, we have plenty of our own to eat, not that we could eat gems anyways." Rarity encouraged Spike to eat his birthday breakfast.

They weren't sure exactly how he managed it, but he had eaten everything but the porridge in just under an hour. He currently sat in his chair rubbing his belly. He was sure he couldn't even lick another gem, much less eat this special bowl of soup that Rarity had made for him, no matter how cool and delicious it looked. Everything had just tasted so good that he couldn't stop to move on to the next dish until he was done with his current one. But Rarity had made this, so he was going to try his hardest to eat it. He was also pretty curious about what the mystery gem would taste like. He dipped his spoon into the bowl and managed to get a little of every color at once. He could taste the ruby, opal, topaz, emerald, sapphire, and jasper immediately. Then a new flavor spread onto his forked tongue. It had to be one of the best things he had ever tasted. He quickly grabbed another spoonful of soup, but this time mostly black. He was in a state of euphoria as he ate the last of his breakfast. He soon found out though, that all good things come to an end as he brought an empty spoon into his mouth. He quickly grabbed the bowl and tipped it over, trying to find anything left. Rarity, Twilight and Sweetie Bell had all noticed his actions and started giggling and laughing.

"So, I take it you enjoyed your breakfast Spike?" Rarity said with a hint of pride and humor in her voice. Her voice made him pause in his search as he turned to the wonderful mare that had made the food in the first place.

"That was absolutely amazing Rarity! I never imagined so many ways to eat gems. I've been making food for Twilight for years now and never thought of any of these recipes." he exclaimed. "You must be a culinary genius. But, whatever you added to make that soup taste so perfect must have cost a lot of bits. I hope it wasn't too expensive..." he trailed off, hoping he hadn't caused Rarity to be in any sort of financial trouble. "Don't worry though, I'm sure I can find enough gems to make up for it somehow." he said, determined to make up for this expensive birthday gift.

Rarity nearly fell over from laughing. Twilight and Sweetie Bell both started laughing as well, both from Rarity's laughter and the confused look on Spike's face.

"What's going on everypony? I'm not joking, I'll find whatever ever I need, and maybe I'll even come across another Fire Ruby!" Spike was getting a little annoyed at them now, he knew the chances of him finding gems on his own without a unicorn's help were not so great, but dragons could usually smell gems pretty well.

Sweetie Bell was the first to calm down, probably because she didn't know why Spike would be so enthusiastic about repaying a debt to her big sister. "Spike, it's not that we don't think you can find enough gems to pay for it. It's just that we've had the 'special ingredient' to that soup for a while now, so it was free. If I remember right, it was even a gift technically." she said, trying to calm Spike and have him understand why they were laughing.

"You mean that whatever that black gem was, it didn't cost you anything? It was free? Then, where did you guys get it from?" Spike asked perplexed by how this super delicious gem had apparently been free. He knew that for dragons, most of the time, whatever they thought tasted good meant that the gem was of a high quality.

"Like Sweetie Bell said, it was a 'gift', one that I Pinkie Promised not to mention ever again. However, I'm sure Rarity would love to tell you how she got it." Twilight explained, while trying to stifle her laughter.

Rarity had now stopped laughing as she realized Twilight had set her up. She glared at Twilight, who looked a little sorry, but it was ruined by the small smirk on her face. "You see, Spike, I had obtained this during our 'adventure' with Discord. It seems that in order to make Tom heavier, Discord had filled the boulder with a volcanic glass called Obsidian. We had found out what was inside of it two weeks ago, when we were moving Tom over to Applejack's. She was going to use it to divert a stream towards her orchards, but while we were pulling it over there, the rope snapped and we lost it over that cliff at the end of the road out of Ponyville. When we made our way to the bottom of the cliff, we found that the rock had shattered into thousands of sharp, black rocks. Of course, we didn't know what they were until Twilight looked them up. After we found out what they were, we didn't know what to do with them, but I thought they might look good and brought some here. Unfortunately, they were too sharp and cut the outfits I tried to use them on, so I just kept them at the bottom of my gem chest until I had the idea to use gems recipes for your breakfast and found them." she happily finished her story of Tom's demise.

"Wow... so Discord is the reason that Tom was used to make the best soup I've ever tasted..." he trailed off, stunned at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Well, it does seem a bit silly when you put it that way." Rarity stated with a smile, while Twilight and Sweetie Bell laughed at the thought of Discord getting Spike a birthday present. Soon, however, Twilight noticed it was time to visit their next stop.

"Spike, it's time to go. We have to stick to the schedule in order to visit everypony if you're going to enjoy all the birthday gifts planned today."

"Okay, Twilight. Thanks again for the wonderful breakfast Rarity, and you might want to help Sweetie Bell out before those break." Spike said with a laugh as he watched Rarity grab a stack of plates from Sweetie Bell's head with her magic.

Equiferus

I have no imagination, just ask my friends Mac and Blue.

This chapter has the Official Rainbow Dash Seal of Approval

Birthday Arc Part 2: Equiferus

"Sooo Twilight, I think you forgot to tell me where we're going next." Spike said as he absentmindedly scratched his itchy green scales.

"I've already checked my list twice now Spike, but I'll go through it again." Twilight answered his implied question while pulling said scroll from her saddlebags, and levitating in front of herself while they walked. "First, wake up, check. Second, brush my coat and mane, check. Third, brush my teeth, check. Fourth, wake up Spike," she said while grinning slyly at Spike.

"Check" Spike stated grouchily. 'That is definitely going to be the worst part of this day, but today will certainly be better than last year. Nothing could be worse than that.'

"Fifth, go to Rarity's for breakfast, check. Sixth, don't be tricked by Spike into spoiling his surprises today, check." Twilight finished, while rolling up and putting away the list.

Aww, c'mon Twilight, just a little hint, pretty please?" He asked, while making his lip quiver, and tucking his tail around himself.

"Well... okay Spike I'll give you a hint if you can answer my question from your studies last week."

"Lay it on me Twilight, I can handle anything you give me!" Spike nearly yelled, excited as he was.

"Just give me a moment to think...hmmm... should it..no, that's too easy. Maybe I should ask you about...hmm I don't think you reached that far in your lessons yet. How a bout... no pony anatomy is a bad choice. I'm not sure you actually speak Latin, so that won't work. Spike, have you learned any Latin yet?"

"Twiliigghht" Spike whined, realizing she was just stalling.

"Okay Spike, I was just teasing you. Here, you'll need this." Twilight said while handing him a blank scroll, quill and a small hoofheld calculator.

"Aww, I hate math." Spike's complaint went unheard by Twilight however, and she proceeded withh her question.

"Remember when Rainbow Dash performed her sonic rainboom while rescuing Rarity and the Wonderbolts?"

"Of course Twilight, I don't think anypony there could ever forget that."

Twilight grinned, "Okay then, since her Mach Angle was measured at 21 degrees, what was her speed, in miles per hour?"

Spike began his scribbling on his sheet of parchment, and tucked the calculator above his ear-scale. ' Hmmm, well, her Mach would be 1/sin(x/2). So it would be 1/sin(10.5).' Spike grabbed his calculator while sticking the end of his quill in his mouth. Spike typed in his completed equation on his calculator. ' Okay, her Mach is 5.487 (switch tools and scribble), so what's her speed? The speed of sound is about 767mph so Rainbow Dash should have been going... '

"Rainbow Dash was going about 4,200mph!" Spike answered with glee.

"Very good Spike, now for your hint." Twilight said as her magic sparkled around the things being put back into her saddlebags. "Our next stop is in a place surrounded by animals and trees." Spike waited for more, but none was forthcoming.

"Really? That's it? But, that's like, all of Ponyville!" Spike grumbled in frustration. He really wanted to know what was going on.

"You know Twilight, when you said it had trees and animals, I was thinking about Ponyville Park, Whitetail Forest, Fuscus Lake, or even Fluttershy's home. Everfree is definitely a surprise." Spike said, while trying not to focus on the eyepatch covering Twilight's left eye again.

Pinkie Pie had shown up as they were headed out of town, wished Spike a happy birthday, and then given Twilight the eyepatch. Pinkie Pie had claimed that her 4th molar twitched a minute ago, so Twilight should wear an eyepatch until she returned to Ponyville.

He was still a little wary of the forest, but it was the only way to get to Zecora's. "Are you sure you can't teleport us there?"

"Spike, the spell I use must have the target destination coordinates within my mind. If I try to teleport like I did after the dragon migration, I'll just be teleporting in that general direction, since I haven't memorized the way to Zecora's yet. I'm sure you don't want to go visit any random place in the forest we've never been to before, do you?"

"Nope. Definitely not. How about levitation then?"

"Sure Spike, I bet a one-eyed horned, flying, purple, ponies are wholly unappetizing to anything that might want to eat me." She deadpanned.

"Okay, let's just get to Zecora's as quickly as possible, I can't wait to find out what she has planned."

"WHEN I SAID AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, I DIDN'T MEAN THIS!" Spike shouted.

Both Twilight Sparkle and Spike were rushing through Everfree forest as fast as they could, mostly because of the Tiger and giant Python that were chasing them.

Spike and Twilight were weaving in between the trees and bushes, trying to avoid their lunch date with the Grim Reaper. The tiger was bounding through the bushes and saplings, leaving a crushed trail in his wake, but had to slow slightly in order to manuever around the thicker trees. The python would glide through the canopy above and spring across from branch to branch. Twilight would turn her head around and let loose a few blasts of purple magic, but since she was galloping at full speed, she may as well have aimed in front of herself. Spike just ran faster. Twilight saw something on the ground and snapped it up with her magic as she galloped. She didn't know what would happen, but she was sure her plan couldn't make things too much worse.

"There it is!" Twilight shouted over to Spike. "It's only another 30 yards Spike!"

"I see it, just keep running! " he replied frantically, while jumping over a bush, and slicing a branch into the way of the tiger with his little claws. The tiger jumped over the branch, but landed in one of the python's loops dangling between the trees. Spike hurried into the clearing surrounding Zecora's hut and noticed Twilight holding a pile of blue powder in her magical thrall. Panting he asked "What *huff huff* are you doing *huff* with that?"

"Saving our tails." she replied, narrowing her eye. As the tiger and python came out in to the clearing, she through the powder into their direction and watched as they coughed and hacked violently (she later realized that snakes shouldn't be able to cough) as they inhaled her biological weapon. After they had both settled down, the two animals looked at eachother with resigned faces, as though expecting what was to come. First, the tiger's tail zipped backed into it body like a tape measure, snapping against it and causing it to let out a yowl. Then it's orange started turning black as the snake was coiled up like a slinkie, with it's head stuck out the top. Suddenly, both were surrounded by a small puff of blue smoke and were replaced with green eyed, black shelled beetles about the size of a foal.

"What are you doing to my two friends? Now I will have to make amends." Came an African accented voice from behind them, startling both Twilight and Spike, who jumped in the air and turned toward the zebra they had come to see.

"Hey, Zecora, I think we've come up with a new way to use Poison Joke as a non-lethal weapon." Spike said with a grin on his face, while Twilight blushed a little.

"Hello Zecora, and I didn't even know that would work; I just thought that inhalation would distribute the chemicals and magic in a faster way. If it hadn't worked we would have been in huge mess and left Zecora with these two beasts." Twilight replied, while turning to look at the two beetles. They seemed to be watching Zecora, and weren't trying to run away like she expected. Zecora just walked past them both and stepped toward the beetles, stunning Twilight and Spike.

"Zecora what are you doing, they could still attack you, even without claws and fangs!" Spike shouted, while running with Twilight to help Zecora.

"Spike, pythons don't have fangs, they kill by squeezing their prey." Twilight corrected him, she was never one to let ignorance go unanswered, even if they were rushing to save their friend.

"Both of you are wrong," Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Zecora kept going, "these two beings here wish none of us harm. If you allow me to explain, you have no cause for alarm. Please, Novus, Alida, do not hold a grudge against this pony. As you well know, hate can often cause catastrophe. Please, do wait right here, while I make the cure." Zecora finished as she turned back to her hut and left the four alone.

"So, umm Novus..." Twilight spoke slowly, trying to determine who was who. The beetle on the left, the one that used to be a tiger, let out some clicking noises and blinked it's green eyes rapidly. It turned to the other beetle and let out some more clicks. They proceeded to click, and buzz their wings a few times, but neither Twilight nor Spike knew what they were "saying" to eachother. They seemed to reach a decision though and Novus, or so twilight assumed, moved a small rock in front of itself and began tapping it and dragging it's front, right forleg on the ground.

"What is it doing?" Spike asked in a whisper.

"I'm not sure, it seems like it's... Ohh, it's clop code!"Twilight said in surprise. "It's used by mute ponies to communicate." Twilight stated, still very surprised that the beetles, no wait, the tiger and python, knew this. What in the heck was going on here? "Could you please start over, I didn't catch all of that."

The beetle seemed to nod and started over ".... . .-.. .-.. --- / - .-- .. .-.. .. --. .... - / ... .--. .- .-. -.- .-.. . / .- -. -.. / ... .--. .. -.- . --..-- / -- -.-- / -. .- -- . / .. ... / ...- --- .-.. ..- ... / .- -. -.. / - .... .. ... / .. ... / -- -.-- / ... .. ... - . .-. / .- .-.. .. -.. .- .-.-.- / .-- . / .- .-. . / -... --- - .... / ...- . .-. -.-- / ... --- .-. .-. -.-- / .-- . / ... -.-. .- .-. . -.. / -.-- --- ..- .-.-.-"

After a moments pause, "Well, we forgive you both, don't we Spike?" Twilight said while staring at Spike.

"Oh, umm, of course. Twilight I don't really know what they're saying." Spike whispered the last part.

"That's okay, I'll fill you in on any important parts." She turned back toward Novus and Alida and asked, "So, how did you meet Zecora?" then she realized something else, "First, tell us how you knew our names, no one has said them since we got here." she said while glaring at them slightly.

Alida looked frightened for a second, but Legere offered her some comforting clicks and responded to Twilight ".- .-.. .-.. / -.- -. --- .-- / -.-- --- ..- .-. / -. .- -- . / - .-- .. .-.. .. --. .... - / ... .--. .- .-. -.- .-.. . --..-- / .- ... / - .... ./" he paused, unsure of what to say. He asked Alida a question and then continued ".-.. . .- -.. . .-. / --- ..-. / -.-. . .-.. . ... - .. .- .----. ... / --. .-. . .- - . ... - / ..-. --- .-. -.-. . --..-- / .- -. -.. / -... . .- .-. . .-. / --- ..-. / - .... . / . .-.. . -- . -. - / --- ..-. / -- .- --. .. -.-. .-.-.- / --.. . -.-. --- .-. .- / ..-. --- ..- -. -.. / ..- ... / .-.. .. ...- .. -. --. / .. -. / - .... . / .-- --- --- -.. ... / .- -. -.. / .... . .-.. .--. . -.. / ..- ... / .-.. . .- .-. -. / - --- / ... ..- .-. ...- .. ...- . / .. -. / - .... .. ... / ..-. --- .-. . ... - --..-- / .- ... / .-- . .-.. .-.. / .- ... / ..-. . . -.. .. -. --. / ..- ... .-.-.- / ... .... . / .... .- ... / - --- .-.. -.. / ..- ... / .... --- .-- / -.-- --- ..- / .... . .-.. .--. . -.. / .... . .-. / .-- .... . -. / ... .... . / ..-. .. .-. ... - / .- .-. .-. .. ...- . -.. / .... . .-. . .-.-.-"

"So, Zecora told you about how she first met us?" She said aloud for Spikes sake. They both nodded, sort of, their bodies rocking back and forth.

"I have prepared the cure for the Poison Joke. Both of you should find a pond and take a soak." Zecora rhymed as she came back out of her hut, with the mentioned bottle in her saddlebag.

Alida turned toward Zacora and coded "-- .- -.-- / .-- . / ... - .- -.-- / .- -. -.. / - .- .-.. -.- / .-- .. - .... / - .... . -- / .-.. .. -.- . / - .... .. ... / .. -. ... - . .- -.. --..-- / .. / - .... .. -. -.- / .. - / .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. / -... . / ..-. --- .-. / - .... . / -... . ... - .-.-.- / .- - / .-.. . .- ... - / ..- -. - .. .-.. / .-- . / --. . - / - --- / -.- -. --- .-- / - .... . -- / - .... .- - / .. ... .-.-.-"

Twilight was curious as to why they would want to stay beetles, but she realized they would probably have to go all the way to Ponyville to use the spa instead of a pond in the Everfree, which isn't the best idea.

Before anyone could say anything else, Spike spoke up "Zecora, Twilight, Novus and Alida, could we please go inside and eat some lunch?" His stomach growled on cue, as if it was voting for lunch as well, "All that running made me really hungry." the beetles made some clicking noises that sounded like laughter.

Grand Opening

Approved by Pinkamena Diane Pie for all children under the age of zero.

Birthday Arc Part 3: Grand Opening

"Mmmmm" Spike sighed contentedly as he scratched his itchy scales. Zecora had already made him a whole couldron of vegetable soup before they had showed up, and Spike had slowly made his way fown to the bottom of it as he listened and commented on Twilight's stories. She had decided that the best way to tell Alida and Novus about herself and her friends was to regale them with an on-hoof perspective of Luna's return from the Moon and Discord's return to Equestria.

"So, then I told Spike that he was going to be the new Element of Loyalty-" Twilight she continued as she spun her tale, but Spike interjected.

"Twilight, why did you pick me anyway? I'm nowhere near as cool as Rainbow Dash." He added. 'Though I could be if you could give me a moustache and a really cool hat.' He continued in his head, but he didn't blame Twilight, he knew she was one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria, even if she would never brag about it like Trixie would.

"Spike, the Element of Loyalty isn't based on 'coolness'." She said with a stern look, but it softened when she continued. "I picked you because you've been with me for most of my life, longer than anypony else actually. You've always been by my side."

"Aww, c'mon Twilight, don't start with the mushy stuff." Spike complained. "Besides, you've raised me from when I was an egg, of course I'm gonna stick with you Twi'."

"I suppose I have, haven't I..." She trailed off, staring in thought. "Oh! Zecora I'm sorry but if we don't leave soon we'll be late for Spike's next surprise!" Twilight apologized. Luckily, Spike was on the ball today and calmed her down before she could start to worry to much.

"Twilight we'll be fine. It's not like they can start until the guest of honor shows up, right?"

"Well I still don't want people to be left waiting for us to show up, you are not the only one who gets to enjoy the party you know." She replied, still a little miffed.

Alida decided that it was time for her and her brother to leave as well ".-- . .... .- ...- . -... --- - .... . -. .--- --- -.-- . -.. .... . .- .-. .. -. --. .- -... --- ..- - -.-- --- ..- .-. .- -.. ...- . -. - ..- .-. . ... --..-- -... ..- - .-- . -- ..- ... - --. --- ..-. .. -. -.. .- .--. --- -. -.. .. -. --- .-. -.. . .-. - --- --. . - -.-. ..- .-. . -.. .- -. -.-- .-- .- -.-- --..-- .... .- ...- . .- -. .. -.-. . -... .. .-. - .... -.. .- -.-- ... .--. .. -.- . .-.-.- "

"-.-- . ... --..-- .... .- ...- . .- --. .-. . .- - -... .. .-. - .... -.. .- -.-- " Novus added

"Thank you guys. I had actually forgotten you were under the effects of Poison Joke, I'm still sorry about that." Twilight replied with a cringe.

".-- . .-.. .-.. - . .- .-. - .... . ..-. .-.. . ... .... ..-. .-. --- -- -.-- --- ..- .-. -... --- -. . ... .-.. .- - . .-. " Novus tapped before they stood up.

"Alright then, see you guys later." Twilight waved as she and Spike stood up as well.

"Before you leave the forest Spike, I have a gift you will like." Zecora said as she walked over to her shelf. "Here you are young dragon, a book that will help in the times ahead. Just be sure to read it on before you go to bed."

"Thank you Zecora, your soup was great and I'm sure I'll find the time to read this once the sun goes down." Spike replied.

"Okay Spike, it's time to get a move on." Twilight said as she levitated him onto her back, "I'll have to carry you if we're going to make it on time, so just put that in my saddlebag. Bye Zecora, see you later."

"Thanks again for the gift." Spike said as Twilight started out down the path from Zecora's to Ponyville.

After a much less eventful gallop back to Ponyville, Twilight was still carrying Spike as she walked down the street, between the homes and businesses of the town. Spike would turn, wave and thank everypony who was wishing him a happy birthday, which was a surprising amount more than last year for some reason. Though that probably had to do with the trauma burning the date into their minds for several years to come.

At last, Twilight came to a stop and straightened out her tail for Spike to slide down like he usually did. Twilight sighed as she remembered when he first learned to do that without hitting his head, but soon drew her attention to the grey door with blue trimming that seemed to stick right out of the ground.

"Here we are Spike."

"Twilight what's this supposed to be, it's just a door, though it is a cool looking door."

"Silly Spike, it's what's beyond the door that's important, so let's get moving." She replied as a purple glow surrounded the knob and pushed the door open, revealing a staircase leading underground. She motioned for Spike to go first, and he found a lightswitch that lit up the stairwell, revealing a spiral staircase that went down about 20ft.

"So, why are we going underground?" Spike asked as they made the last turn.

"It's built this way so people can't hear what's going on inside. Oh, I almost forgot." Twilight turned to Spike and her horn glowed for a second. After she was done a blue glow traveled from his head down to his feet and tail.

"So, what was that for?" Spike said as he looked over his body, but nothing seemed out of place.

"It was just a simple shield charm, I figured that if my brother was able to shield all of Canterlot, then I should find some spells to shield my friends. So, I borrowed some spell books from the Canterlot Library the last time I visited. This particular spell allows for 2 Bucks of force to be absorbed and should stay charged for 3 minutes if left unused. I have a few stronger spells, but I don't think they will be neccessary tonight." She finished.

"Well, I guess we better get going before the spell wears off then." Spike said as he turned and reached out to open the door. As soon as his claw was about to grab the knob, the door flung inward and revealed a cannon pointed right at him. Twilight hurridly threw up a shield around herself as the cannon coated the stairwell in cake batter.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPIKE!" a pink pony shouted over the music playing in the mostly empty room behind her.

"Thanks Pinkie Pie, and thank you as well Twilight, that could've been a lot worse." Spike said as he wiped the usually sticky batter off himself with ease. He could see a few ponies setting up some tables and chairs by the walls on the left and right, a buffet type setup wrapped around a corner on the right with a kitchen behind it and a few pegasi hanging disco balls, lights and what looked like a speaker system along the far walls and ceiling about 50ft high. "Pinkie Pie what's going on in there anyway?"

"It's the grand opening of Vinyl Scratch's very own super-duper-awesome club. The mayor agreed that it would be a great place for me to throw parties without waking up the rest of Ponyville, so she let Vinyl build it here on the condition that I Pinkie Promised the place would be soundproof. I tried to build walls out of cake that were sound proof, but the spongieness didn't help absorb the sound at all, and cupcakes didn't work either, so I ended up building it undergound! It took all of yesterday, but it was so totally worth it to see the smile on Vinyl's face when I brought her down here!" Pinkie then took a big breath, so Twilight took the oppurtunity and interrupted.

"Pinkie Pie this place is huge, how in the world did you manage to dig all this out in one day, especially without carting all the dirt through Ponyville?" Twilight inquired of her logic defieng friend.

"Well, Vinyl and I were talking about how to soundproof her new club at Lyra and Bon Bon's Spa and luckily Fluttershy and Rarity were coming in for an appointment as well, so when Fluttershy heard about our problem she told us about how her home's basement was really good at blocking the noise from thunderstorms for her more timid animals and herself. Vinyl liked the idea of having a really cool underground club, but then she also remembered that we didn't have anything to dig it out with and would have to ship in construction stuff from Fillydelphia or Manehatten. Then Rarity offered to get the Diamond Dogs to help dig it out so we went and asked them. They didn't really want to help dig this place out for ponies, but Rarity offered to help them find a good jewel vein with her magic if they helped, and if they didn't she would start crying again, so they helped dig this place out for us!" *Huuuuaaahhhh hhuuuhhh huuaahh* Pinkie huffed while trying to catch her breath.

"Well, I think this place looks great Pinkie Pie and I can't wait until we get this party started!" Spike yelled as he dashed past Pinkie to look at the decorations, leaving her and Twilight to trot in behind him.

"Sooo, are there going to be drinks served at this place Pinkie?" Twilight asked with a little aprehension.

"Of course there are silly-filly! Pinkie replied while looking at Twilight like she was acting wierd.

"Pinkie Pie, I meant are they going to serve drinks here."

"Twilight, you just asked that, are you sure nothing's wrong with your head from all that studying you do?"

"I'm just fine, besides, I don't study as nearly as often as I did in Canterlot. What I mean Pinkie is are they going to serve drinks with alchohol in them?"

"What? No way! If we did that then we wouldn't be able to have kid's birthday parties here. All the food and drinks that I provide this club with will be 100% alcohol free." She said with a huge smile on her face.

"I just noticed you still haven't told me what the name of this club is yet Pinkie Pie."

"Yup!" ...Twilight waited for her to continue but Pinkie Pie just stared at her.

"Pinkie Pie, what is the name of the club?" Twilight asked with a little exasperation at Pinkie's antics

"I can't tell you Twilight!" she replied happily.

"Why not?"

"Because Spike hasn't named it yet of course."

"Why is Spike naming the club Pinkie? Shouldn't Vinyl Scratch name her own club?"

"She was going to, but when I asked her if she would let me use the club's grand opening for Spike's birthday party, she told me she'd be glad to and even let him announce the name and everything" Pinkie replied cheerilee. "Spike will you help Vinyl set up her equipment while Twilight and I help with the decorations?" She yelled.

"Sure Pinkie Pie!" Spike called out from where he had his head stuck through the doors to the kitchen area.

"Okay Spike, go over the controls for me." Vinyl Scratch Said to Spike as he stood behind the turntable and other DJ equipment.

"Okay, we got the record players right here on the sides, the volume slider things here in the bottom middle with two for each side, the rows of knob things that I'm not allowed to touch above those, the other buttons I'm not allowed to touch to the side of those, a whole bunch of stuf you didn't tell me about and the master power and volume right here." Spike finished, accidently pushing the mute button. Vinyl noticed and quickly turned the sound back on by pushing the button with her magic before to many ponies noticed anything was amiss.

"That's right. So are you ready to be our first DJ for the night?" She asked with a gleam in her glasses.

"Wait, what? Pinkie said I was going to be your assistant, so you could take breaks and stuff. I can't actually be a DJ!"

"Well, how else are you supposed to announce what your naming this place in a couple minutes?" Vinyl smirked.

"WHAT?!" Spike's yell was drowned out by the background music still pumping through the speakers.

"Oh, did Pinkie not tell you that either? It's fine dude, you still have about 10 minutes before we actually open the place to the public, so I'll help you out with that." Vinyl said as she pulled a chair over for Spike to sit on. "And this is your birthday gift from me, so go with whatever you like, as long as it's not stupid."

Twilight may have magicked him up his suit and mustache, but he was still hoping Princess Celestia would drop by and say Discord had broken out again, that was much easier to deal with.
"Hay everypony! Happy birthday to me and welcome to the Dragon's Lair grand opening. I'm Talon Scratch and I'm telling you we're going to burn this place down tonight!" with that he shot a small jet of green fire up over the crowd (whic stomped their hooves, though he also heard a loud yell of "yay" from the corner to his right) and started his mix list.

"That was pretty good Spike, though your mustache kind of went up with your pyrotechnics." Vinyl said, smirking at the little dragon.

"Oh c'mon, can't these things ever last!" Spike complained as he wiped a little bit of ash off his upper lip and suit. He was still pretty pleased about how well things had gone though, he was sure he would start stuttering or just faint. His suit was still itching like crazy though. "Well, maybe I can convince Twilight to give me another one before I go up again."

"Good luck with that, I'm pretty sure she's out there dancing like a maniac right now." Vinyl commented while pointing a hoof at a purple pony making some erratic movements on the far side of the dance floor.

"I don't know who that is. In fact I'm pretty sure I've never seen her before in my life." Spike replied in a monotone voice as he left the turntable to Vinyl as he went to drag Twilight off the dance floor before she hurt somepony. As he made his way around the dance floor though, Pinkie Pie popped in front of him.

"Spike it's time for you to cut the opening cake!" She half-yelled over the KeepOnRockingBrony song playing in the background.

"Why doesn't she tell me anything before hand?" Spike questions some random pony as he's dragged over to his friends who are waiting for him. 'Wait a sec, if Twilight's over here then who was..' As Spike looked back, he was really glad Pinkie Pie stopped him, because now he can see that it wasn't Twilight who was dancing like crazy, but Trixie. 'When did she even get back in Ponyville?'

"Happy birthday Spike, the suit looks good on you and that was a pretty cool stunt you did at the end there, and I'm definitely the best judge of what's cool." Rainbow Dash congradulated him as he made it into the corner booth that was set up for him.

"Happy birthday as well, and I'd reckon I couldna' dun a better job ma'self Spike."

"It was quite an exciting way to stir up the audience Spikey-Wikey"

"Happy Birthday Spike. You did a really great job and it looked good." at least that's what he though Fluttershy said, she would probably have to yell to be audible in here.

"I thought you did a wonderful job Spike, though I think your mustache would have lasted longer if it wasn't set on fire." Twilight said as her horn glowed and a new mustache appeared on his face. "There, that one should last you around thiry minutes or so."

"Thanks Twilight." He said as he wrapped an arm up and over her shoulder to give her a hug.

"Don't forget about cutting the cake Spike!" Pinkie reminded him of why he was brought over here in the first place. Sure enough she pulled a sheet off the object at their table and revealed what looked like a five tier cake that would easily feed everyone in the Dragon's Lair and probably the rest of Ponyville. This was almost the norm when Pinkie was involved though. The truly astounding part that left everyone's jaw on the floor was that the entire cake seemed to be made of Diamond, with a little Obsidian statuette of Spike on the top.

"Pinkie dear, wherever did you manage to find a large enough Diamond to make this from, this would have had to been made from something the size of Tom." Rarity was the first to recover (though she was stunned enough to forget mentioning Tom), as she worked with precious stones the most out of the six friends, but her famililiarity with them also made her all the more amazed at what Pinkie had made.

"Silly Rarity, I didn't make this out of Diamond." Pinkie explained to her stunned group of friends and a few ponies who had seen the revelation and were similarly awestruck. "I made it out of sugar!" seeing that they only became more confused she continued. "See, I learned about how Rarity had made so many awesome dragon foods by mixing gems into pony food, that I had the great idea of making pony food out of dragon gems, but then I thought about how hard gems are to eat. So I figured I would need to find a way to make gems softer! But nothing I tried worked, so I made cupcakes to help me think. While I was pouring out the sugar I realised I had a nice little edible crystal with me all along! It was so great that I wanted to start singing and have everyone join in, but I had work to do first, so I started trying to make the sugar into one solid gem-type-thing. It took all of five long minutes, but I finally figured out that if I heat the sugar in a pot and then add a crytal seed for the sugar to form on as it cools I can make solid sugar gems. After that it was easy to get my giant cake pans and make the cake, so now I call it my Crystal Candy Cake!" She finished her tail.

Birthday Arc still has one more chapter left, but for now I'll leave you with a list of all the allusions and references from the previous chapters.

A-Team
Willy Wonka and the Chocalate Factory
Wheaties
Equiferus (wild horse - scientific name for Zebra)
Shikamaru Nara
Rock Soup
Physics is Magic (not quite sure if it counts)
Fuscus Lake (Sea Pony Lake)
One-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people eater song
Jungle Book (Shere Khan and Kaa)
Lord Monocrhome (Adventure Time's genderbend episode, he talks by doing morse code with his hoof, it's awesome)

Here are pictures of Vinyl's turntable and Twilight's drinks. They belong to their owners, who are not me.

Icing on the Cake

This chapter is my favorite.
Birthday Arc part 4: Icing on the Cake

"Spike, are you almost done with your cake yet?" Twilight asked with growing impatience. This may be her little Spike's birthday, but she had a schedule to stick to and this was his sixth chunk of cake, not including the one he had been snacking on while at the turntable with Vinyl Scratch learning how to do more than just let his chosen list of songs (all classical piano remixes, of course) play. "We still have more things to do today and it's already getting late. At least I'm fairly certain it is, I can't seem to find a clock in here..." she trailed off as she turned around, looking at the walls.

"Oh, oh, oh! I have a Sundial you can use Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed while holding a Sundial on her hoof, as she appeared behind Twilight, in between her and Spike's table, somehow. Twilight jumped a little, as she still hasn't gotten used to Pinkie Pie appearing without a resonable explanation.

"Thanks for the offer Pinkie Pie, but since we're underground I don't think it will be able to use the Sun to accurately tell time." Twilight replied as she contemplated where Pinkie Pie would have gotten the Sundial in the first place.

"That's okay Twilight! I charged it up with sunlight earlier." Pinkie replied.

Twilight facehoofed. She then sighed as she glanced at Spike, whose mouth was still full of sugary goodness, and said what she would probably regret.

"Fine Pinkie Pie, what time does your Sundial say?" Twilight asked.

"Hmmm" she said as she stared at the carved rock sitting on her hoof. "It's 2 minutes to nine o' clock." Pinkie answered.

"Oh no!" Twilight shouted. She jumped up on Spike's table, ignoring his complaints when she crushed his leftover 'cake' with her back hoof, and searched the crowd of dancers, ceiling, and everywhere in between frantically for a speck of rainbow mane. When she had double checked the entire room, she used her magic to quickly place Spike on her back and with a quick goodbye to Pinkie Pie, she teleported Spike and herself straight up.

"What are you doing Twilight?" Spike yelled as he gripped the mane of the pony that had just teleported them about fifty feet above the darkening streets of Ponyville. Before they had begun falling though, Twilight had once more teleported, but this time they appeared next to the lit lampost near the front of the door they had entered earlier.

"Twilight!" *pop* another teleport, this time down the street "Wait a second!" *pop* "What's going on!?" *pop* Spike had started getting a little sick from the near-constant teleportation, but before the Crystal Candy Cake could make a return visit, Twilight stopped near Fuscus Lake. He remembered waking up in this lake after the first Winter Wrap he and Twilight participated in. 'This year I'm just going to let all the quadrupeds do the work. I'm staying in my nice warm treehouse...library...home' Spike was interupted from his planning by the pony underneath him collapsing to the ground on her haunches. He slid off her back and on to the ground.

"Okay Twilight, I know you planned a bunch of really cool surprised today, but this last one could have been skipped." Spike started.

"I'm so sorry Spike, I've ruined everything! All because I forgot to pack a watch!" She moaned out in hysterics. "I shouldv'e expected that I would lose track of time, I could have planned for Dash to let me know when she left, or had Rarity remind me when it was time to leave the party! I had so many chances to prepare for this but I've ruined your birthday." She screamed out in frustration. A pegasus laying in one of the nearby trees had finally spotted them due to Twilights antics and dashed over to them.

"Hey Spike! Hey Twi-" Rainbow Dash stopped as she saw the state Twilight was in. "Oh, c'mon Twilight, it's not that bad. The sunset was only a few minutes ago so your not really that-" She was stopped as Spike clamped her muzzle shut by wrapping his claws around it.

"It's okay Twi'. You've made this the best birthday I've ever had so far, and yes,that includes the couple years Princess Celestia was able to join us in our tower." Spike tried to comfort her as she mumbled to herself about being tardy, Celestia banishing her to the Moon and being locked away in a dungeon on the Moon.

"She probably has some secret facility called Lunar Max or something up there too." she sobbed as Spike turned a questionable glance over to Rainbow Dash.

"Well, we planned on having me fly you up to see the Sunset and stuff, but the Sun is already down so we'd have to skip that bit." Rainbow Dash replied to his silent question.

'Well, that's hard to fix.' Spike thought to himself. 'Twilight might know a spell to go back a week in time, but that wouldn't really help much if she went back to see the Sunset without us.' Rainbow Dash watched quietly as Spike's face lit up and he whispered something in Twilight's ear. Twilight stopped and looked over at spike with confusion but conjured up a scroll and quill for him anyway, since her saddlebags were back at the Dragon's Lair. Spike scribbled out a quick message and lit up the scroll with a enlightening burst of green sparkling fire.

Thirty seconds later Spike clapped his claws twice and the Sun moved back above the horizon. Twilight promptly fell over unconscious. Rainbow Dash's jaw hit the ground, she reared up in shock and her wings flared open to steady herself.

Spike started laughing hard enough to fall over next to Twilight as she was starting to come to. Rainbow Dash's brain had finally caught up to the fastest flier in Equestria.

"That was SO COOL!" she squeeled while pressing her front hooves to her face. Twilight was now fully awake and looking at Spike in the same way she did when she found out about Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense.

"SPIKE! What did you do! Why did Princess Celestia give you control of the Sun? How do you even have the power to control the Sun, you're not a unicorn! You don't even" Twilight was interrupted by Spike coughing out a letter. "have ...magic...except for sending messages through fire." Twilight finished with exasperation while Rainbow Dash was laughing.

"Occam's Razor." Twilight sighed out while Spike scribbled a "yes, thanks for the birthday gift Celestia" on the scroll, rolled it back up and sent it again.

"So what did she send back to you Spike?" Twilight asked.

"She just wished me a happy birthday...and asked if she timed it right." He replied with a huge grin across his face.

"Are you sure you want to do this Dash? Last time you fainted, remember?" Twilight asked while Spike wondered what he two ponies were talking about.

"Come on Twilight, stop being such a worry-pony, your the one who figured that there wasn't enough breathing air up there. You'd think we Pegasi would have figured that out first." Rainbow Dash replied, waving her concerns off with a wing.

"Well, as far as I know you and the Wonderbolts are the only Pegasi who fly fast enough to convert their natural magic to propulsion, instead of flapping their wings for flight. Since the Wonderbolts always stay low enough to be visible during their flight shows, they wouldn't discover the inefficient oxygen at extreme altitudes, and of course wing flight wouldn't work once any other Pegasus went high enough." Twilight explained away her discovery, while still trying to correct Dash's vocabulary.

"Ya ya, I think we should just get a move on before Princess Celestia has to tell everypony turn their clocks back an hour. Hmmm, Spike do ya think she would do that for me on April Foals Day?" Dash asked.

"NO! I mean, no Rainbow Dash. It was bad enough that Spike misused our friendship with Princess Celestia just to make me feel better-" "Oh c'mon!" Spike complained in the background. "but you are definitely not asking her to help with an Equestria wide prank, that's horribly inappropriate to ask of her and she would never do such a thing!" Twilight finished.

"AAACHOOO!" important documents fluttered about in the air and landed in a huge mess. The door opened and the Princess looked at the room.

"We heard that all the way across the hall, are you alright?" She asked with a smile on her face as she observed her sister's newly arranged room.

"I'm alright sister, though I have a feeling that I've just been issued a challenge." Celestia replied with a furrowed brow.

"Now Rainbow Dash, spread your wings." Rainbow Dash did so and Twilight's horn glowed as she conjured a saddle onto her friend.

"Whoah, that's awesome looking." Spike said as he saw what Twilight had conjured. It was a saddle that had two straps along along each flank for a pony's hind legs and one on each of the shoulders as well. The main color was a matte black, but it had a purple fading to pink racing stripe that started under the PommelHorse logo (PH) on the shoulders and ran diagonally to just in front of Rainbow's hind legs. It had PommelHorse written in bold under both wings and over the flank was an insignia of three raindrops falling from a cloud with rainbow lightining arcing down between them.

"Thanks Spike." Twilight and Rainbow Dash said in unison. "Now hop on and strap yourself in or the next spell won't work correctly." Twilight continued. Spike hopped in the saddle and strapped his legs and his left arm in, but then he stopped.

"What's the matter?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh, I got it for you." Twilight said as his right arm and the corrosponding straps glowed purple and fixed themselves together.

"Thanks Twi', but I could have used my teeth. I just realized this doesn't have anything for my tail."

"Oh, do you think that will be a problem Dash?" Twilight asked. She may have learned about some atmospheric and meteorological physics, but flight was Dash's specialty.

"Nah, as long as he holds his tail flat it won't provide too much resistance." Rainbow Dash replied, even if she was only geussing based on how a pony's tail worked.

"Okay then, both of you take a deep breath." They both inhaled as much as they could while Twilight's horn glowed with one extra layer of overglow and two different sized teal-blue crystal like grew from the tip of her horn. As soon as the both closed their mouths, Twilight shot the spell towards them. When it made contact with both of them they glowed the same teal-blue color briefly before returning to normal.

"This feels pretty wierd." Spike said while Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, bringing them both into the air.

"We'll get used to it, Twilight told me it's because the spell was originally for allowing ponies to breathe underwater for exploring stuff. It prevents the air from leaving our mouths and noses and recycles it like a tree or something." Rainbow Dash explained it the same way Twilight had when they tested if the spell would work out of water as well.

Rainbow Dash quickly brought them above any cloud cover to a height easily a mile above Cloudsdale's highest spires, and two miles or so above Princess Luna's observatory. The Sun was a minute or so away from fully dipping below the horizon and the veiw of the sunset from this high up was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

"Thank you so much Dash, this is the greatest gift ever! Besides Rarity's Obsidian Soup of course." Spike added.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash turned her head away from the atmospheric rainbow covering the horizon. "I was just getting enough room for a dive." She said with a smirk on her face.

"Huh?" Then Spikes eyes widened as he realized what she was about to do.

She tipped forward and started flapping her wings as fast as she could until she started leaving a quickly fading rainbow trail behind her. Her face twisted in concentration as she quickly broke the sound barrier and continued accelerating toward the lake (where Twilight stood by, horn flaring brightly, just in case). 'This is so awesome! Spike though to himself as he felt the adrenaline rush through his veins with each beat of his heart. He was extremely thankful for the saddle, as he would have been blown off Rainbow Dash's back before they had even broke the sound barrier without it.

Soon Rainbow Dash and Spike both noticed the white cone forming around them. 'Oh Celestia, this is going to be the most fantastic thing ever' Spike though as he noticed swirls of color start to form in the cone. Just a second later, the color spread around the entire cone as it wrapped around them both and was punctured by Rainbow's acceleration.

Rainbow Dash then tilted her wings and pulled out of the dive in a small arc as she continued to shoot through the slowly darkening sky. She straightened when she was finally perpendicular to the ground again, only this time she was headed for the stars that dotted the twilight sky. 'Where the heck are we going!' Spike thought to himself in a slight panick as he tried to regain his bearings. He could barely see anything past the Rainbow streaking beside his face, and they had accelerated fast enough that he would feel pulled back (again, he was really grateful for the saddle) no matter which direction Ranbow Dash headed.

After only a few seconds though, Rainbow Dash leveled herself out again and slowed back down to where she was no longer leaving a Rainbow in his face, but was still fast enough to be using her magic to fly instead of her wings as she circled around in a wide arc. As this was the first time anypony had gone this high, without blacking out on the way up, it was a new sight for both them and any Equestrian besides Luna.

"Wow." Spike sighed in amazement at the perfecttly clear view of the stars above, where he noticed a slowly moving sphere with a yellow glow, the Sunset peaking over the rounded horizon. 'Wait, what?

"Ya, I didn't think anything could ever be better looking than a Sonic Rainboom but this wins, wings down." Dash replied in her own state of awe as her red eyes scanned the stars above and rainbow ring spreading so very far below. She felt that no view in Equestria could possibly be better than what lay before her right now.

As Spike wondered at the workings and beauty of the universe while Rainbow Dash refused to blink in case she woke up from her dream, neither noticed what was forming on Rainbow's tail and wings tips.

After another thirty seconds of wonder Spike felt Rainbow Dash shiver beneath him and realized he was getting chilly as well. He turned his head back to ask her if she would go back down, but he noticed forst forming along her wings and mane as well as a little bit on his claws as well."Rainbow Dash! We need to go back! It's too cold!" He shouted as loud as he could in the little air around them.

"I-it's f-f-fine Spike, I feel really wa-" her voice faded as she lost conciousness high above the planet once again. Her magic stopped propelling them and Spike felt her flip downward as gravity started getting back to work once more. He realized in a adrenaline fueled moment of clarity that she would actualy die from the fall and not the impact. Her frozen wings would probably snap off once the air was dense enough to provide more resistance, and then she would burn up like the meteors Twilight watched through her telescopes. He quickly did the only thing he could think of and breathed his fire onto her wings. He saw them defrost and bit through his slightly frozen armstraps to free his claws. Spike used his arms to put himself on bottom and closed her wings against the building wind. He could feel it as the heat quickly built up on his back. 'I guess it could go worse than my last birthday...'

Author's Note

Credit for the saddle brand and inspiration for it's insignia go to Kwakerjak , I would greatly appreciate anyone who wishes to draw the insignia for me, that would be awesome and I would give you a cookie.

If you watch the Wonderbolts or Rainbow Dash flying at high speeds they always leave a contrail instead of flapping their wings, so that's where my inspiration for Pegasus Magic Propelled Flight comes from.