“Spike!” Apple Bloom cried out as surging flood waters rose up her hind legs. Three pairs of filly eyes were fixed on the riverbank, as she and her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo clung fast to each other and the lone tree up which they had clambered in a panic. The trio now clung for dear life as the torrent rose inexorably higher, threatening to pull them off their precarious perch.
The youngsters had been exploring in a dry creek bed when they were caught unprepared by the flash flood. Luckily, Spike had been up on the stream’s bank, scouting out a likely anchor point for a zip-line, when the wall of water had roared-in faster than a pony could gallop. Waving his stubby arms in alarm, he shouted a warning and pointed upstream. Turning their heads in unison, the girls had seen the approaching hazard, and had mere seconds to climb up the elm tree that rose from the middle of the streambed. It wasn’t very tall, but its branches spread widely out to brush up against the banks.
While the fillies shimmied up its trunk, Spike had dropped a coil of rope he was holding and with trembling claws had dug frantically from a pouch slung over his tiny shoulders. Pulling out a clipboard and pen he had hastily written a note. He tore it off the pad and with a puff of green flame it disappeared.
“Hang-on, girls! I’ve sent a call for help!”
“Well they had better be quick!” responded Sweetie Belle. “That water’s getting deeper awful fast!”
Transfixed and helpless, Spike held his head in disbelief as the flood rose. There were no adults nearby. Feeling sick in the pit of his stomach, he recalled how the youngsters had specifically chosen this spot for its remoteness from prying eyes.
Less than a minute later, the waters had crept high enough to touch the fillies’ lower extremities. He scanned the skies and saw nopony coming. His gaze caught the fillies’ and he felt his heart skip a beat.
“There’s no time left!” shouted Spike. “We have to do something!”
“That’s easy for you to say!” shouted Scootaloo. “You’re not stuck up a stupid tree!”
Spike’s eyes grew wide. He gulped. “No. I’m not.”
He tore away his eyes away from the desperate fillies, and looked down at the rope he’d dropped at his feet. Acting quickly, he picked one end up and tied it around his waist. He then tied the other end to another tree well above the surging flood. With a look of determination, he ran to the edge of the chasm and leaped onto one the elm tree’s highest branches, limbs spread wide.
The girls screamed in alarm as his grip slipped and he dropped from one tree limb onto a lower one not once, but twice. He landed standing the lowest branch above the water. Spike’s look of relief turned to sheer panic as the limb bent ponderously lower, ending up mere inches above the speeding torrent. The branch above was out of his reach by several arm lengths.
His short arms spread wide for balance, Spike took a moment to catch his breath, and then carefully shuffled forward, inching his way towards the trunk and and the trapped fillies. Every movement he made caused the branch to bend lower, even as the waters rose. Three steps into his rescue attempt and Spike’s feet were submerged. The current pulled at his stubby legs, and only by digging the claws of his feet deep into the wood did he managed to avoid slipping off into the raging river.
With every step, the waters rose higher up Spike’s stubby legs. The three fillies exchanged glances. “Don’t try it!” cried Scootaloo.
“Yeah, the water’s too high!” cried Sweetie Belle.
Spike gulped and took another step forward. “D-don’t worry. I g-got this!” he replied. The tip of his tail dipped momentarily into the water, suddenly tugging him downstream. His arms windmilled as he fought to maintain his balance.
“Eeeeee!” Sweetie squealed, eyes wide. “Spike, that rope won’t save you if you fall in! You’ll drown!”
Having somehow regained his balance, Spike clutched his heaving chest until his furious heartbeat slowed down and he felt he could speak. “Don’t worry about me, I’m a great swimmer. Just ask Twilight!” He took another step down the limb, inching ever closer to the trunk of the tree and the three fillies. Focus, Spike! he told himself, and maybe if you manage to do this fast enough nopony’ll have a chance to call you out on your lie!
“Spike!” Twilight called while standing in the knee deep in the lake, “come-on in, the water’s fine!”
“Nuh-uh!” he whined, “I’ll get water on my cool new sunglasses!” Standing under the parasol on a huge beach-blanket, he looked towards the mare in the water, crossed his arms, and struck a pose he hoped looked cool. “And I’m more of a basking-in-the-sun kind of dude, anyways!”
Twilight trotted out of the water, coming to a stop right in front of him. He hoped she wouldn’t notice the tremor in his knees. She looked down at him, dressed in a polka-dot swimsuit Pinkie had given her, worry written all over her face.
“Is there a problem, Spike?” she asked in her best imitation Celestia voice, the one that fairly dripped with concern and made him feel like a hatchling again.
Not going there, Twi! he thought. Swallowing, shook his head in negation, and tried for nonchalance. Grinning crookedly, he asked: “Say Twilight, why do ponies wear bathing suits when they go to the beach?”
She blinked twice at the sudden change of subject, then gritted her teeth. “Because... sand!” He felt his glasses lift off his head and float down onto the beach towel. “And don’t try to distract me! Come on, the girls are waiting! Get in the water now, mister!”
Spike chewed on a claw and took a hesitant step towards the water’s edge. He couldn’t prevent his traitorous knees from shaking visibly. Inevitably, Twilight noticed, which set in motion the part he dreaded most of all. Her frown softened, she trotted in close.
“Look Spike, I’m sorry! That wasn’t very patient of me.” Guilty eyes looked into his, and then widened as a thought struck. “You’re not still afraid of the water, are you?” she asked.
Spike looked down and doodled in the sand with toe-claw. “Maybe... I guess I am,” he said miserably.
“Come-on Spike, you’re a hero in Equestria and in the Crystal Empire! You even have a stained-glass window in your honour in Canterlot Castle! You’re sure to overcome this fear of water sooner or later.”
“I really want to Twi, but I keep having those dreams about drowning and... ” He looked away.
Twilight wrapped him in a hug. “You’re still getting those nightmares?” They had started not long after Twilight’s coronation. They both had figured it was just a phase he was going through.
He looked out at the lake and couldn’t suppress a shudder. “Yeah. I am. Maybe it’s a fire-breathing dragon thing... I dunno,” he sighed.
She gazed into his eyes again, and smiled sadly. The look on her face almost broke his heart. “It’s no big deal, Spike. Next time, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Next time for sure!” She released him from her embrace and he waddled back to his beach towel, a sour taste in the back of his throat. He put the shades back on, hoping they hid the shame on his face. There was no hiding Twilight’s disappointment.
He waved in the direction of the lake. “Go ahead, the girls are waiting for you. I’ll catch up on my reading.” He held up a comic book he’d brought along for the outing.
With a last last glance in his direction, Twilight turned hesitantly back and trotted into the water.
Real slick, Spike! he berated himself. You’re real action hero material! He thumbed open the comic book, but for some reason he had a really hard time focusing on the story.
“Nothing,” shouted Scootaloo, “dragons included, can resist a flash flood, ya’ ijit!”
Spike tried to think of anything other than the water. Annoyance at the filly provided a distraction.
“If I were you I’d be more worried about that tree, ‘cause it won’t be able to resist the flood for much longer either!” he shouted back angrily, as he gingerly worked his way in closer. The water was now over his knees and the pressure from the current was so great it felt like his claws were being pulled from his toes.
“Yer’ almost there!” drawled Apple Bloom, closest to Spike. She extended a hoof towards the struggling dragon. He was reaching to grab a hold of it when Sweetie Belle screeched.
“Look out! There’s a wave!”
Both Spike and Bloom turned their gazes upstream. The wave hit, and Spike slipped below the flood’s murky surface.
“Spike!” the fillies screamed in unison.
Apple Bloom scanned the torrent downstream, hoping to catch a glimpse of purple or green. “Ah cain’t see ‘im!” she wailed in despair. The other two fillies joined-in.
“Why’d he hafta to do that?” cried Sweetie Belle. “Rarity’s g-gonna murder me, even if I don’t drown!”
“Poor Twilight!” Scootaloo added miserably. “She’s like, practically his mom.”
The three youngsters wept as the water rose up the tree trunk.
Spike felt the tree limb slip from between his clawed feet. The dirty, turgid water closed over his head, cutting off all light. Panic came a second later, when tumbling through the water he realized he didn’t know which way was up or down. Desperately, he held his breath and thrashed his limbs, hoping to somehow make the surface. As if from a distance, he heard his own voice mocking him.
Good going, hero! First time swimming and you drown. Twilight will be so proud of you! the voice taunted.
Panic gave way to anger. He managed to stop thrashing and hung loose in the current.
We only have ourselves to blame, buddy! he replied to his alter ego.
His ruminations were cut short when he felt a sharp tug as the rope around his belly slipped up to jam under his armpits. He could feel the current now as it flowed over his snout and down his body, his long tail slithering back and forth like a snake. After the effort of fighting the current while walking on the tree limb, and his subsequent tumble into the drink, the motion was almost restful. At least now he knew which way was upriver.
And if you had at least tried to learn to swim you might have been able to do something with the information! said the voice.
Who says Twilight could’ve taught me to swim anyway! he replied. My stubby limbs would be useless for treading water the way a pony does. I’m built more like Gummy than a colt.
The memory of Pinkie’s pet alligator swimming sinuously like a fish in a tub filled with bobbing apples made him smile.
Maybe I should’ve gone to Gummy for swimming lessons!
His slitted reptilian eyes opened wide in the murky waters.
It was Scootaloo who noticed first. Through her tears she glanced at the rope still connected to the tree on the river bank.
“Hey, girls! The rope’s moving!” she called.
“What?” exclaimed Apple Bloom.
Indeed, the taught part of the rope extending above the brown flood seemed to be moving closer. The fillies watched in rapt silence as the point where the cord entered the water swiftly progressed towards the base of their tree.
There was a flash of green and purple just below the surface, and the impression of an incredibly rapid sinuous motion, when a purple clawed hand emerged from the water to dig its nails into the tree’s rough bark. It was followed a moment later by another, and a familiar set of green spines broke the surface, followed by an equally familiar face with slitted eyes.
“Spike! You’re alive!” screamed Sweetie Belle.
The dragon spat water from his mouth and took in several huge breaths. He grinned back up at the fillies. “Toldja I could swim!” he sputtered between gulps of air. He clambered carefully up the trunk, one claw at a time. Fully emerged, he waggled his long dragon tail behind him. “This here ain’t just for show, you know!”
I took him a moment to notice that all three fillies staring at his backside. He blushed under their gaze. “Uh... I mean, uh, it’s really good for swimming fast...” They continued to stare. “Er... girls?”
Scootaloo pointed a hoof at his flank. He glanced down and saw a dark stain on his hip. Oddly, there was no pain. He shook his head. You’ve got more important things to worry about than a flesh wound, he thought. With a claw he carefully unwrapped the rope from around his waist and looped it around the tree trunk. He grunted as he pulled it as tight and secure as he could manage. It hung suspended less than his body length above the flood. Just then the whole tree shook.
“Okay, girls! Ya gotta hold onto the rope and work your way up over the limb and back to the bank.”
“But what if one of us slips?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Then I’ll swim out to you and get you to the river bank the hard way,” said Spike.
Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked in apprehension at the rope strung above the water.
Scootaloo’s eyes narrowed. “Common girls, we can do this!” Her stubby wings buzzed in excitement. “Besides, we’ve done harder things before!” She moved carefully to the rope, and hooking all four limbs around it a began inching her way to the bank hoof-over-hoof, her wings hanging inches above the water. It took her less than a minute to reach safety. With a triumphant smile she waved at her friends. “Easy peasy! Just like Rainbow Dash would say!”
Apple Bloom was closest to the rope. “Ah recon’ Ah’ll go next,” she said. In less than a minute she was standing next to Scootaloo, her back wet from having dipped into the water a few times. Together, they waved at the two youngsters still clinging to the tree.
Sweetie Belle gulped and grasped the rope hesitantly. “I can do this! I can do this!” she repeated to herself. Cautiously, she clung by all fours onto the rope and began to move towards the shore. Everything went fine until she approached the midpoint of the crossing. Her slightly greater weight made her hang lower, causing her body to dip further into the water.
“Eeee!” she cried. “I can’t hold on much longer! Help”
The two fillies on the bank squealed in horror as their friend’s legs began to shake with the effort, when abruptly, Sweetie Belle’s body rose smoothly completely out of the water. Just below her, Spike was inching forward again on the submerged branch, pushing upwards with his shoulders to keep the filly above the torrent. His snout barely protruded from the water next to her white coat.
“Move it, Sweetie Belle! I can’t do this all day!” He grunted with the effort.
As soon as she felt the drag from the water reduce, Sweetie Belle carefully extended a trembling hoof forward and shakily inched her way up the rope. It seemed to take a much longer time than it had taken the other two fillies, but finally she reached the river bank and her friends pulled her onto solid ground.
The moment she was off, Spike pulled himself up onto the rope, and hanging from his claws quickly reached safety. He stood on the bank, breathing hard and looking down at the raging floodwaters. “Phew!” he exclaimed as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “That was a close one!” The lack of response made him turn back to the fillies. They were all staring at his rump. Again.
“Uh, girls, you’re really beginning to creep me out!” he exclaimed nervously. Maybe it’s worse than a flesh wound! he thought with a gulp. He took a deep breath to steady himself, and then glanced down... and exhaled in relief. There was no nasty cut or bruise, but something colorful. He bent as far as his chubby body would allow to get a closer look. It was a drawing in the shape of a shield with a figure on it.
A heraldic lion, Twi would call it. Just as if it were a cutie-mark! he thought.
He straightened up abruptly, his eyes wide as dinner plates.
A cutie-mark? On a dragon!?
Just then, he spied Rainbow Dash, flying fast and low to the raging river and coming-in for a landing.
Only when they got back to Ponyville did Spike begin to get a true inkling of the way his life had just changed. To his embarrassment, all the way to the Castle Tree, the three fillies kept telling everypony they met how Spike had saved them from the flood. By the time they arrived a small crowd of ponies stood in front of the guards at the entrance, Princess Twilight Sparkle at the fore, looking both happy and scared in equal measure.
I wonder why she’s wearing her Element of Magic crown, he thought. We weren’t scheduled to have guests at the Castle today.
Twilight galloped down to the four youngsters and enfolded them in her wings. “Are all of you okay! Nopony’s hurt?” she asked anxiously.
“Nope!” answered Apple Bloom. “And it’s all because of Spike!”
“Yeah” added Scootaloo. “He swam through the flood water, just like he was a fish! It was awesome!”
“Spike is a real hero.” concluded Sweetie Belle. “I for one am not going to complain anymore when he visits the Boutique and moons over my sister!”
Twilight folded her wings back and gave Spike a hug. “I’m so relieved you’re all safe and sound and...” She paused as her gaze drifted down to Spike’s flank. Her eyes opened wide in surprise.
This is not becoming any less embarrassing! he thought. “Er, Twi. Didja ever hear of a dragon getting a cutie-mark?” he asked to fill-in the awkward silence.
She shook her head. “No.” Her expression grew thoughtful. “But maybe it explains something else.” She rose and spun on her hooves. “Follow me, Spike.” She re-entered the Castle with him in tow.
He ran to keep us with her pace as she trotted to the throne room. “It explains what?” he asked breathlessly.
“You’ll see!” was her cryptic reply.
They burst through the huge doors that led into the throne room. The first thing he noticed were the element bearers each sitting in her throne, leaving Twilight’s, and next to it his throne, empty. Each of the girls was wearing her Element.
The second thing he noticed was his own throne, which had grown in size to match those of the girls.
The third thing he noticed was a glowing golden torc, floating in the air above his throne and sporting the same design as had appeared on his rump.
He screeched to a halt as Twilight took her seat.
Spike felt a lump in his throat.
“What’s going on, Twi?” he asked in a hushed voice.
Instead of answering, Twilight rose to her hooves, as did the other mares. Spike felt a tingling feeling and felt his feet dangle as he levitated upwards in front of his throne.
“Twilight? What gives? I feel kinda weird...”
All of a sudden, he could no longer speak. His body rotated to face the other thrones. He noticed that Twilight and her friends glowed and hung suspended as well, their eyes become beacons projecting a bright white light. He felt a weight touch his brow. There was a flash of light, and...
...he found himself sitting in his throne. A glance to his left showed Twilight rising from her own throne, and the other element bearers converging in his direction. He was still trying to find his voice when the girls clustered around him, smiling like it was gift-giving time on Hearth’s Warming Eve.
“Eh heh, heh...” He swallowed and wriggled stubby digits in greeting. “‘Sup, ladies?”
Twilight move-in close, floating a small hoof-mirror behind her.
“Looks like we have a new Element of Harmony in town!” drawled AppleJack.
“Really?” he asked. “I thought there were just the six.”
“Well now there are seven, squirt!” said Rainbow Dash.
“Wow!” Spike was amazed. “And so who’s the new mare?”
“Not a mare. This time it’s a really nice guy,” said Fluttershy.
“And dashingly handsome, I might add!” said Rarity with a wink that made his heart beat faster.
“Oo! Itchy ear and trembly elbows!” called out Pinkie Pie. “Company’s coming!”
There was another flash, and the unmistakably tall silhouettes of the rulers of Equestria approached.
Princess Celestia smiled at him and at Twilight. “Once again,” she said in her regal voice, “we have felt a new Element of Harmony brought forth by the actions of a worthy bearer.”
Spike was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the crowd of happy faces. “Sooo,” he asked, “when do I get to meet this guy?”
Twilight floated the mirror in front of his face. Instead of something cool like an alternate universe, all he saw inside was his own reflection, crowned by the golden torc he’d seen levitating above his throne. It rested on his head as if it were made to sit there.
“Spike,” said Twilight, “meet the new Element of Courage, Spike the Dragon!”
Spike looked into his own disbelieving features. His jaw dropped.
“Me? But I’m not courageous!” he squeaked. “I... I get scared all the time!”
“True courage is not the absence of fear, Spike,” said Princess Celestia.
“T’is the will to do what needs be done, despite one’s fear,” said Princess Luna, “And doing so in the hope of safeguarding others is what makes one a hero.”
“Jes’ like y’all saving those fillies today,” added AppleJack, nodding in emphasis.
He looked at all the happy ponies around him, before once again focusing on Twilight’s beaming face.
“I always knew you had it in you, kiddo!” she said.
Spike’s face grew pale, and the corners of his mouth barely drew up in a weak attempt to smile. Noticing his discomfort, Twilight leaned in close.
“I guess this is all a bit overwhelming,” she whispered in his ear. “My number one assistant is growing up, and being recognized for the truly outstanding guy he is. I’m so proud of you Spike! And it’s normal in times like these to be a bit afraid. I know I was was.”
The tension didn’t leave his chubby face entirely, but it did recover its normal coloring. He took a deep breath.
“So, Twi, what happens now?”
She bit her lower lip. “A lot of work, Spike.”
Pulling back, she ruffled his head spines with a hoof. “But we’ll worry about that tomorrow,” she said loudly enough for everypony to hear. “Tonight –” Twilight cocked her head as if expecting something.
“– tonight, we party!” shouted Pinkie Pie, one rose-colored hoof raised high.
The sound of party canons going-off shook the hall.
