“I don’t know girls, I’m worried about Spike. He’s been acting pretty weird lately.”

Twilight had brought up the topic during one of the bi-weekly friendship meetings. They would discuss whether or not something significant happened or stay the night in case the map would call for them. It would also give them a chance to catch up in case they were too busy with their personal lives. Today was just another one of those meetings in which the girls got together in lieu of their busy schedules.

“What do you mean darling?”

“Yea, I haven’t noticed anything different. Then again, I haven’t seen the little guy for quite a while.”

“Rarity and Rainbow are right. I haven’t really noticed anything different about Spike. What exactly have you noticed?”

“Are you sure you haven’t AJ? I only ask you specifically because he’s been helping you out on the farm a lot more lately.”

“What are you talking about Twilight? He’s barely been at the farm since he’s helping Rarity”

“Nonsense, much like Rainbow Dash, I haven’t seen him since he’s been helping out Fluttershy this past month.”

“Oh my goodness. He told me that Pinkie has been needing his help with some of her parties lately.”

The group looked towards the hyperactive pink party pony for the next sequence of he said this only to be answered with a shoulder shrug.

“Pinkie, I find it hard to believe that you of all ponies don’t know what Spike is doing. Are you hiding something?” Twilight asked as the rest of the girls looked at pink mare with a questioning glance.

“Sorry girls, I made a Pinkie Promise.”

“So from that we take it that you do know what’s going on?”

“Oh, no. I have no clue as to what Spike is doing. The Pinkie Promise was just to stop keeping tabs on him. I don’t know what he’s doing, where he is, or why.”

“We can ask that?”

“Well, Rainbow, no pony else ever bothered to ask before so I just didn’t bother.”

The rest of the girls pondered on the newly acquired information but decided that it would be best not to ask the same of Pinkie due to the possible new ways she’d find to do what she did. The matter of her eerie knowledge of anyone she’d met aside there was still the matter of Spike’s activities.

“You still haven’t answered what you’ve noticed Twi.”

“Well, aside from the fact that he’s obviously creating multiple alibis, he hasn’t been doing any of his chores during the day. He makes breakfast then goes outside for the whole day only returning for dinner. I’ve also noticed that he seems to be talking to someone when he thinks he’s alone. I’m not sure who it is but he keeps arguing with them nonstop and, if not just hearing things, my name keeps coming up.”

“Wow, that’s kind of creepy.”

“Hush Rainbow, though, I do admit that she has a point. Behavior aside, I am worried about Spikey. Does any pony know anything?”

“Um, I might know something.”

They turned to the yellow Pegasus who spoke up not expecting much from her.

“What do you know Fluttershy?”

"Well, Twilight, I was doing my weekly visit to Mrs. Fluff since it was the second Tuesday of the month and we usually talk about what her children are doing since she has so many. I try to steer clear of her eldest since he’s passed away but she’s always talking about him because of how proud she is about starting his own family.”

“Fluttershy?”

“Hmm?”

“Spike?”

“Oh! Sorry, Twilight.”

“It’s ok.”

“Darling, just for my own sake who is Mrs. Fluff?”

“She’s the Tarantula that lives in the woods near my house.”

“How nice...”

“Can we get back to Spike already?!”

“Eeep.”

“Rainbow! Take your time Fluttershy, but I would appreciate it if you got to the point.”

“Thank you, Twilight. Anyways, she said that the day before she’d heard something close to her web. Usually, she would leave it alone because her web is near the border between the regular forest and the Everfree but it had been terribly close. When she went to investigate she saw Spike going walking through the Everfree.”

“What?!”

The girls all yelled at the new information concerning their friend.

“What in tarnation would he be going in there for?”

“Yea, doesn’t he know how dangerous that place is for a little guy?”

“Just a minute. If Spikey has been seen going through the Everfree, where exactly is he now?”

They looked at each other in realization of what Rarity had said. Within seconds they ran out of the castle and towards the Everfree. Ponies watched as the six sped through the center of town some tried to get their attention but they ignored them as they couldn’t think of anything other than the wellbeing of their friend. As they reached the edge of town and saw the forest come into view they felt anxious knowing the baby dragon might be in there doing Celestia knows what.

“Ok girls, Let’s comb through it as best as we can. Fluttershy and Rainbow search from above for any signs of Spike. Applejack and Pinkie, you two check with Zecora and see if she’s seen him around at any point or noticed anything weird. Rarity and I will go to the Castle of the Two Sisters on the off chance he went there. If you don’t find anything just come back here and wait for the rest us.”

“Got it!” The five mares answered as they started to spread out to their respective groups and began to search according to Twilight’s plan.

They spent the day searching through the forest not finding any leads as to where the baby dragon had gone. Zecora had not seen or heard anything about the dragon and neither Rarity or Twilight found any signs of him searching the castle. During that same time Rainbow and Fluttershy had swept the span of the forest avoiding the dangerous weather twice before landing at meeting point. Unable to stand still the two pegasi decided to join the ground search with the other four mares only to come up just as empty. As the sun was setting they decided to wait until morning to begin their search again and headed back to the castle so they could start early in the morning.

As they reached the towering crystal structure they noticed that lights were on. They rushed inside to find the purple scaled drake putting the finishing touches to dinner for two.

“Spike!” all six mares shouted as they rushed towards him only to stop as he stepped out of the way of their group tackle.

“Whoa. What are you girls trying to do? I’m still carrying food here.”

“Spike, where have you been? We’ve been looking for you all day.” Twilight asked as the relief on her face turned to frustrated anger.

“I’ve been around town all day. I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to be on my own even in town.”

The girls stood back a bit shocked that the dragon who usually responded positively towards their friend had a touch of scorn in his voice. They watched as he disappeared into the kitchen while Twilight tried to lecture him.

“Spike, that is not the issue here. I know you’ve said a lot of different things to all of us in order to keep whatever it is you’re doing a secret. I also know that whatever it is that you are doing might involve going into the Everfree. Spike what is going on?”

“Are you girls staying the night?” He asked coming out with extra plates for the table.

“Spike! Answer me, what is going on?!” Twilight at this point was the angriest the girls had ever seen her. Her fur was standing and her wings her open making her look bigger which was an act of establishing dominance. Whether she was doing it on purpose or accident it didn’t faze Spike in the slightest as he finished setting the table and sat down in his usual seat.

“Nothing is going on. I just wanted time alone and I couldn’t exactly do that if all of you came asking for something.”

“That’s not an answer Spike!”

“It’s the only one you’ll get. Unless you want to invade my privacy then I suggest you drop the matter Twilight and sit down. All of you sit down.”

“I am not dropping the matter Spike. We’re your friends and we have a right to…”

“Sit down!” Spike yelled as he slammed the table making the plates and food shake.

The outburst caught every one of the girls unaware and caused them to shrink back before taking a seat. Twilight was the only one still standing, however, the bravado she had before had gone and she looked a bit nervous. She didn’t know whether it was because of the sudden shouting or from instincts. It took a minute before she finally decided to sit down and the food was passed around. Dinner was eaten in silence as Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, AJ, and Pinkie kept looking back and forth from Spike and Twilight. The Princess of Friendship kept a stern look on her face as she ate and glared at the dragon across the table. Meanwhile, Spike was treating everything as if nothing had happened. It was an odd sight to see for their friends as the two were known to be the closest out of all of them.

“The food is excellent Spike.”

“Thanks, Rarity. I made a chocolate soufflé for desert. It should be finishing around this time. Let me go get it for every pony.”

They watched him leave for the kitchen and waited until he disappeared beyond the curtain.

“This is getting really uncomfortable. I’ve never seen him acting this way at all. He’s like a completely different Spike from the one we know.”

“I gotta agree with Rainbow on this. I’ve never seen him talk like that to you before and then there was that outburst. Are you sure you have no idea what’s going on with him Twi?”

“I don’t and that’s what makes me worry. He’s never been this way before at all. He’s always so nice and gentle. He never complains about his work and he certainly never yells at me. What could have happened to make him so different?”

“Maybe he’s just been having a bad month? I could try throwing him a Turn That Frown Upside-down party.”

“Darling, I don’t think it’s a party that Spikey needs right now. Frankly, I’m not sure what we could do to help him.”

“Maybe we should just let him be?”

They turned to the yellow mare as she whispered the suggestion. They had huddle together a bit away from the table in order for them to talk without Spike being able to listen and the opinion of leaving their friend be when he was acting strange was something they didn’t expect from the shyest member of their group.

“What makes you think that Fluttershy? This is nothing like the normal Spike at all. Why are you suggesting to leave him like this?”

“Well…”

“Yea, Fluttershy. Twi is right; we can’t just leave the Spike like this. He’s not acting like himself and it seems to be getting worse by the looks of it.”

“It’s just…”

“Shy, we need to help Spike out of this. Who knows what this’ll lead to? Heck, maybe it’ll even lead him to go all greedy again.”

“Perish the thought. I couldn’t stand seeing my Spikey Wikey turn into such a horrible beast again.”

“Stop it!”

The yell, for lack of a better term, had caught them off guard and caused their attention to shift towards Fluttershy. She gasped and covered her mouth before taking a moment to see if Spike was going to come back out.

“Sorry for yelling girls. It’s just, I think we should let him work through this on his own and if he needs help he’ll seek us out. Spike might be a baby dragon and I understand that the behavior isn’t something we’ve seen before but, he’s a male on top of being a dragon. Maybe it’s just part of him growing up?”

“You’re right… I guess that we’ve always just seen him as a baby that thought we needed to do something to get him back to how he was. If this is truly part of him growing up, then we need to step back and wait for him to come to us. I’ve been with him the longest yet I didn’t even realize how little I actually know about dragons growing up.”

“Hope you girls like…”

There was a sudden flash as they appeared in their seats with the help of Twilight and looked towards Spike as he walked out with the dessert he’d prepared for their meal.

“Fresh fruit in your soufflé… what’s going on?” He asked eyeing their obvious looks of nervousness. He’d long since figured out when they were hiding something and knew what signs to look for in case they brushed a subject aside.

“Nothing, it looks delicious Spike.” Twilight said with a smile as the girls nodded in agreement.

“Anything for you, Twilight.”

Those words alone sent chills down everyone’s spines. It was the same words they’d always heard but there was something different about them. Something that made their instincts as prey come alive for the brief moment they were said. They turned to look at the one responsible for such a reaction only to find him smiling and staring straight ahead. He stared straight and sat undaunted by his surroundings as if full of conviction in the words he’d said. The source of this, as the girls followed his field of vision, was Twilight Sparkle.

Author's Note

This story, oh man. Well I can say for certain that I'll be making the chapters longer from here on out. I really don't expect this to be a long story like the other ones I have out. Look forward to more substantial chapters in the future with a relative schedule of a chapter every other month as I want the chapters longer for this series.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my story. Please leave a comment or critique below as any critique helps me grow as a writer. Have a great day!