Prologue Pt.1: the dragon`s will
Prologue: The Dragon`s Will
It was another peaceful day in Equestria, and the assistant of the mane six, spike the drake, had just came in to sugar cube corner searching for favors, to the pink party master.
“mmm, how weird,”–said spike, noticing no one was around, “Pinkie are you there?”
Loud noises were heard through the back of the kitchen, until the pink baker got to the entrance, dressed in a long blue dress with an apron stained with frosting, showing all the work she had in the morning before spike get there
“Hello spikey, sorry I’m working on a special order right now”—Pinkie greeted while eating some of the frost in her apron.
“oww, sorry you seem a little busy, I just wanted to ask you a favor since my Fourteenth birthday is soon to come”- he said scratching the back of his neck- “will you mind to invite few people, apart from the usual? I’m not telling that having a lot of people makes the party less enjoyable, but the last party you throw on me was extenuating”
“don’t worry silly,”—Pinkie was still cleaning and feeding herself of the frost in her apron –“I had already a backup plan if you didn’t want a big celebration” she acclaimed, proud of knowing every little detail about how each of her friends liked their party`s
A sequence of Beeps alarmed the baker —“Oh, the third layer it’s done, sorry spike I´m indeed in a hurry right now, could I tell you the details of your party later? ”—she said before running back to the kitchen
“Sure, I’ll be back in a while, after all I told applejack that I will help her in the farm today”- he said before turning to the entrance, not hearing anything from the back of the building but quick *clink* noises.
Right back in his way t sweet apple acres, Spike noted that Celestia might have miscalculated the position of the sun today making it a little hotter that what he anticipated.
Being a drake meant that the thermal control over his body was his sole responsibility, so as an alligator that submerged into the swamps to recover, he used now to bring a bottle full of water and pour some of his content over his head, letting it drip to his torso to refresh himself, emulating the act of sweating. Alongside that, twilight had indulged him to wear only shorts or pants, so he could breathe out fire without the worry of burning his shirts off.
“Thermal control would be easy if I could just spurt out fire without worrying, but almost everything in this town is flammable; now I know why the other dragons likes to live in Rocky Mountains,”— he said to himself in his way to the farm —“mmm… I wonder what other reasons they have to live in such an uncomfortable place”
After some time spike arrived to the farm, noticing the blonde cowgirl from afar, he hurried to catch her.
“Hey, applejack”—he shouted while jogging towards her direction
“Howdy spike, yer came almost jus´ in time”—she answered loudly while finishing his morning labors kicking the apples out of the last tree
“Yeah? And I thought I would get here late, had to go to sugar cube corner first”—the tired drake said while taking some breathe just beside her
“Already tired sugar cube?” The farmer said jokingly
Spike forgot that it wasn’t prudent for him to jog in the current wheatear, taking some air back, he reached his sight up to the blonde farmer, which was wearing a white with brown plaid shirt and blue short`s with suspenders.
“It’s not that!, I only got hot, I think Celestia didn’t fit the sun well today”—the drake explained, dripping more water in his head, making a little cloud of vapor for a brief moment
“ar’ yer sure you want to help sugar cube? Indeed today it`s a hot day, maybe it will be bes’ if you rest so—” applejack was interrupted for spike actions, holding the two buckets full of apples that she supposed to bring back
“don’t worry AJ, I`m not tired at all, just a little water every now and then and I will be fine, besides Twilight doesn’t have anything for me to do in the castle so I will be bored there”—said spike confident
“Well then,”—the blonde farmer said grinning, taking out one of the buckets from spikes arms—“but still, getting thos’ apples back was mah job, but since you seems so glad to help, I’ll let you take that one”
Back at the entrance of the barn, she explained what his labor’s would be, the apple family needed to put out the cider barrels, clean the place out, and search for any indication of rodents or cockroach in the process. Spike job was to take out the empty cider barrels, leaving the filled ones to big mac`s, so his job were easier.
“welp ahm going to take this apples to granny and take a quick shower, could ya’ handle all of this without me?”—She asked while punching spike elbow
“Don’t worry, this would be a peace of apple cake,” the drake answered.
After half and a quarter on an hour applejack got back to spikes location, wearing almost the same outfit but in a blue pallet, holding the basic clean tools in the way. From not so far she could see spike sitting on the ground patting a little
“Spike, try not burn yerself ou— I mean, in , since big mac will get here at four we still have 3 more hours to—“ Applejack asked as soon as she got close, but soon got distracted for the interior of the barns, only five barrels were left.
“Wait, did you? ... Eight of those barr’ls were full!”—She exclaimed, seeing the young drake full in water, panting –“ar’ yer right sugar cube?”- she asked with fear, lifting barrels that heavy would break the spine of any boy of spike`s age.
“Don’t worry AJ… I just got heated again…”—he took a huge breath before keeping with the explanation—“And well I just used all the water I had; since the place it’s all wood I can’t breathe out the slightest of fire to control myself”- he explained, making the worry blonde girl sigh of relief in the process
“but I have to apologize, after the second filled barrel I knew I needed to rest, hehe”—the drake said shyly rubbing his neck—“I overworked myself, give me ten minutes and I will—” applejack gave him a sudden knock in the head”—Ouch” Spike yelled of pain, letting a little cry out while the pain passed away.
“I told you to only take out the empty barrels! Whoosh, what would happen if yer broke some bone on the process?”—The fellow farmer shouted worry—“sorry twilight I just broke your little assistant spine, not big deal right?”
Spike gulped in sorrow, she was right, only one mistake while lifting those barrels and he will be in a chair wheel for the rest of his long life
“I’m sorry applejack, what I did was wrong and reckless”—he sighed—“can I do something to compensate for the sudden shock?”
After relaxing a bit, she knelt close to him “don’t be so sad sugar cube, actually ya’ already helped me out more than what I was actually expecting, big mac would be glad to see how little work he has left,” smiling at him the cowgirl patted the shoulders of the still panting young dragon.
The pat stopped but her hands stay on spike shoulders, applejack stuck herself contemplating spike for a while at his skimpy and scaly body
“Being capable of lifting that amount of weight at such age, he could be a real asset in the future to the farm,” she though.
“Ahm, I have something on my face AJ?” said spike, who was close to recover the pace of his breathing.
“nutin’ sugar cube, just thinking of how cute yer growing up”—she happily answered peeking the drake`s checks before helping him and herself getting up.
In the meantime, some loud voices could be hear coming to the barn, it was the crusaders, who just got back from their tree house, Applebloom and Scootalo were wearing blue shorts and t-shirts, yellow and purple respectively, while Sweetiebelle had a one piece white dress, with each edge decorated with ribbons patterns; they yelled greetings in unison while going towards applejack and Spike.
“Hey sis’ I just asked the girls and they accepted to help us cleaning the barn”-Applebloom said.
“hey girls, sorry but I just ended my work here, and well”—Spike shifted his eyes to his wet pants—”I need to change my clothes before a cold gets me”.
The girls were blushing a little while looking to the young drake body—“yea’ that will be the best…”—the red farmer said shyly.
“Actually I could get used to watch this,” Murmured sweetie
“Oh... oh! I almost forgot, we got to see Fluttershy in the way here, she said that she needed to talk to you in her house,” said scootalo which seemed a little lost before.
“Well then, thanks for the message young lady`s”—he bowed, sweetie bell mirrowed him, before leaving the farm in order to change his clothes in the castle.
As soon there was no sight of spike, the blonde tree-kicker looked toward the three young lady`s
“If ya’ll keep looking like that in every encounter with our little spikye-Wickey, ah’l have to talk with twilight about getting him a sweater,” she proposed, making the crusaders blush.
As Spike got into the town`s castle, he remembered by force that spell twilight put into the it to keep the interior cold enough for his number one assistant thermal needs; making him now rush to his room before getting a cold because of his wet attire.
At the moment he got into his room, he noticed somepony was in his bed, covered in the sheets
“Hey! I just changed those sheets in the morning! Who is there?” the drake asked upset
The movement within the sheet stopped suddenly by the question, and after a brief moment, starlight glimmer show off; wearing his teal pajama
“oh… sorry spike, I was making a new potion and I found out that there are no records of the properties in the dragon scales… so I though you wouldn’t mind if I get into your bed looking for some you may have scraped off”—she explained, shameful of her actions—“I’m sorry for not asking first…”
“Ugh”—spike chuckled for the coldness of the room—“I- I forgive you, just give me a time to change my clothes in the bathroom please”
As soon as spike got into the bathroom, glimmer rushed out the room while asking forgiveness.
”this is like the third time I got to see him almost naked and wet…. I hope this doesn’t get to keep happening after he grow… or maybe… no- no star he is the princess assistant and his little brother!”—she though while shaking his head—“I will be like his aunt or something and nothing more it’s going to happen, uhg~ this friendship things are kind of confusing! Especially when the little boy its growing so well- no! - no, starlight focus yourself!”
After regaining the hold of her thoughts glimmer got herself back to the library, not so much after spike showed off, using a purple denim shirt with sport shorts.
“Hey starlight, I almost leaving but I remind myself that I didn’t forgived you for what just happened, or and about those scales… sorry but my scales won’t change until two years at least, if what ember told us was right…”—he said scratching the back of his neck—“so you’ll have to wait to use me in your beverage`s,” he joked.
The pink scholar grimed at the joke while blushing a little-“hehe, it’s alright spike, my plans of making dragoon beer can wait”—she joked before focusing on the clock at the wall near the entrance of the library—“oh right, twilight told me that Fluttershy needed to talk with you, and it’s almost six of the noon, better not keeping her waiting,” she said waving his hand off signaling him to go
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot that too, better go quick so I can arrive sooner and make the dinner,” the rushing drake said leaving the room, and then the castle.
The peaceful end of the day was even more peaceful near the Fluttershys cottage, birds were singing and chirping while flying to their respective nests, bears, rodents, Quimeras and other animals were in their way back to the forest.
and waiting at the entrance, there was the kind housekeeper, Fluttershy itself, waving to the animals departure, using a long white dress with stains of her daily work, alongside yoga pants that were cut to be more like shorts, her attire did well to show off his slim and fragile figure, and her kind and hardworking personality when it comes out to help others.
“Hey Fluttershy, seems I arrived just in time,” Spike shout while getting close to her.
“oh”—the yellow good Samaritan reacted to the drake—“good to see you spike, sorry for calling you today, twilight told me that you’ll have a rough day at the farm, so I didn’t knew at first if telling the girls and twilight itself to call you, but she insisted there wasn’t a problem,” She said while stroking his long ping mane
“Don’t worry Fluttershy, I can handle a good talk after a long day of work”—he said before clenching his tense muscles—“but… I’ll be honest to say I would appreciate a cup of tea so I can relieve some tension”
Fluttershy let the purple dragon get into the cottage in no time, leaving him in the living room while she make the tea; the animals left the place immaculate before leaving, it was even more clean than the Canterlot castle.
After a while fluttershy got back to his dragon friend, holding a cup of hot steaming tea—“sorry if it’s too hot, but you could wait for me to get some new clothes while it gets cold,” she said with her shyly tone of voice
Spike nodded to her and proceeded to smell the flavor out of the tea while waiting for his friend to get back to the room, once she came back, spikes jaw dropped, almost touching the hot tea in the process; Fluttershys attire were guilty without doubt of stunning the young dragon, wearing a midnight yellow dress, which top was see-through, while the bottom of the dress ended just 4 centimeter before her knees, its was a sight that no stallion neither drake could handle.
“Spike? Oh goodness I knew this was a bad idea, I’m sorry I—” She thought for a second, his hands crossed trying to cover her bra “—no, this is what needed to be done; ahm… spike, how do you feel about my attire?” She asked shamefully
Spike didn’t have an answer, so he faced away from his outstanding good looking friend so he could focus, but nothing clear came to his mind.
“I don’t know…”— he said confused—“my hearts is pounding harder, I feel hard to breath, and my inner fire looks like it’s going to blow out of my mouth in any second but…”
He though once more, trying to assemble the word in his head-“no, nothing I just can’t explain my thought’s right now”
After getting comfortable with the young drake confusion, fluttershy leaned close to him, reaching her friend face with her right hand at, exposing herself in the process—“don’t worry spike, its called puberty… and it means that you are getting into a troubled age, let me explain you… a little history about bunny’s and timber wolfs,” she said before starting the explanation.
Not so long ago, fluttershy, rarity and applejack got the same talk with the crussaders. The common thing to do was to twilight to explain his little assistant how mother nature worked, but after a talk with the group an evening 4 weeks before, they all concluded twilights methods were too descriptive, confusing, and that without doubt, she will scare the little dragon for at least four years with that explanation.
The arousal approach of fluttershy was a rarity joke, which twilight proved to be the best approach actually, since she knew his little brother would take the lecture as a girly thing at first and maybe wouldn’t care until mid-conversation.
All this things were told to spike once she ended the main topic of the long chat.
“So… I’m going to feel like this every so often while I watch some of you? That`s wrong, I don’t want that! … I even was getting rarity off of my head as a crush…” the worried young drake said before stomping his back in the sofa.
“it’ll be difficult spike, but remember we are your friends and we will be there for you, twilight and me specially”— she blushed after the phrase echoed in his head— “while its noting inappropriate of course,” she clarified.
Spike grunted, and stood up before clearing his flammable throat—“I need to think for a while, besides, it’s getting late… thanks Fluttershy, maybe I’ll come by tomorrow if I have any question, well of course if that doesn’t bothers you”
The kind caretaker nodded in agreement—“don’t worry spike ill answer any question you have, except the most explicit ones, left those to Twiligt,” Fluttershy said grinning.
And so spike leaved fluttershy`s cottage, deciding to go for a long walk to home, so he could clear his mind. But he was stopped abruptly, by his own body, who had turned incandescent as a flashlight in a rat hole, and was softly itching
“The dragons lord call? So late at night?” Spike asked himself before hearing something approaching from within the clouds
Amber, the dragon lord itself, was in her way to spike`s position, landing with ease in front of him, wearing nothing but her bare scales, she grinned at the drake—“have a good night, spike the ex-dragon lord”
“Amber, long time no see,” spike said before greeting her with a hug
“ow…”— the dragoness said blushing—“I can manage my entire country with ease, but none of your hugs”.
The purple youth understood his partner embarrassment and pulled away from her—“so how has everything and everyone doing in the dragon lands?” He asked
“good… for now…”— she said discontent—“I have doubts about the future of our land spike, and thats one of the reasons Im here, you, are the other reason”
“Me? How I could help you? I mean I know a lot about politics and others subjects, but when it comes to fight… I know most of the troubles that the dragon lord had to handle involves the use of brute force”- the drake faded his head to the side
“indeed the brute force it’s what I seek right now … this is going to be hard to say”— said the lord, catching spikes jaw, moving his head so he could face her in the eyes—“spike as a filly dragon, you were stronger, agile, and more intelligent than any dragon I knew at that age, you have potential, but only one of your assets would grow in here with these ponies taking care of you 24/7”
The dragoness turned her back to his subordinate-“I want to offer you the chance to those other two assets to grow, but you must understand that it wouldn’t be easy, and I would demand a lot of things from you, starting with 3 years of your life”
Spike didn’t hesitate at the offer—“it doesn’t matter what it takes amber, I would do it”— Amber was shocked at the sudden answer—“the only time I helped the girls was as a counselor, every time they life`s were risked… every catastrophe they faced… all those times the only thing in my mind was: what should I do if I lost them in one of their missions?”
For a brief moment amber heard a grunt of pain coming from spike, but she ignored it when he faced her back, his eyes filled with determination
“I want to be capable of protecting them if it’s needed, I don’t care your demands, I would happily do anything you ask,” he said before kneeling to his queen
Amber felt power and will in his words—“its sealed then, we leave right know, I would tell you the details while we are going, you can leave a message to one, and only one of your pony friends. But, I need you to clarify, they can’t know where we are; because as soon as they know that you are in danger they will come at your rescue, and believe me, our life will try to run out our claws as soon as we properly start our journey”
The drakes parted towards the Everfree forest, an obscure and dangerous place, but nothing in comparison to the things they’ll had to handle through his journey in the future…