Chapters Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Originally published on February 1st, 2017
It was a calm and relaxing morning in Ponyville. The sun was ready to rise, and all of its citizens were just starting to wake up. Just on the outskirts of the town lay the castle belonging to the Princess of Friendship Princess Twilight Sparkle. Inside the castle rested the princess, her No. 1 assistant Spike the Dragon. Her No. 2 assistant Owlowiscious, and her student Starlight Glimmer. Spike was Twilight's number 1 assistant for a reason, it was his job to do as Twilight requested, and he was more than happy to oblige every time. His loyalty to Twilight showed no parallel. The feels both shared for one another were strong as could be. Spike would go to the ends of Equestria if it meant helping out Twilight, and Twilight would do the same for him.
Everypony and dragon still lay dormant in their respective beds. Twilight started to awaken, letting out a heavenly yawn doing so. She peered over at Spike, who was sleeping like a baby in his little bed. Twilight smiled seeing her little Spikey-wikey so sound asleep. Twilight emerged from bed, and slowly crept up to wake Spike.
Psst "Wake up Spike." Twilight whispered. Spike rummaged and grumbled, and then his eyes slowly began to open. His vision was blurred, but he could clearly see a blurry outline of Twilight in front of him.
"Is it morning already?" Spike said. Spike was not a morning dragon by any means. Getting up was the single hardest part of the day. One of the only things that motivated him to get up were fun tasks for Twilight, or anything that involved Twilight's friends.
Spike slowly stood up, and stretched his dragon arms up and forward. Everyone in the castle enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of Starlight's pancakes. Starlight had heard that Twilight seemed to like pancakes... a lot. So she made pancakes her signature dish.
There wasn't much time for dilly dallying though, today was an exciting day for Twilight and friends. Pinkie Pie was throwing an outdoor party for a 1 year old Filly named Moon Beam. Pinkie had handled most of the planning and decorating, and had asked for friend for relatively small favors. Rarity had supplied a fashionable birthday filly-sized hat for Moon Beam. Applejack supplied apples for the apple dunking tub. Rainbow Dash was there just to make the party cooler, by about 20% or so. Fluttershy wasn't good with kids, but Moon Beam's parents owned an adorable pet cat that just so happened to need grooming. Twilight's only real job was to simple be at the party. Having royalty makes the party more special by default. Twilight wasn't was thrilled at the thought of being just an icon of being for the guests to admire, but she was happy to help in any way she could.
On their way to the party, Twilight let out a noticeable sigh.
"What's wrong Twilight?" Spike asked concerned.
"It's just... most of the ponies attending the party are just there because a Princess will also be there." Twilight said. "It makes it seem like I'm just using my title to attract attention, instead of actually doing things to help other ponies."
Spike teared up a little hearing Twilight's tale of woe. "Still worked up about this whole Princess thing?" Spike asked.
"Somewhat..." she answered.
"Come on Twilight, I thought you've moved on from this. Quit worrying about just being an icon, you know you're much more than that." Spike said. "Ponies look up to you for a reason, not because you have a crown, but because you are the embodiment and representation of Friendship. You know, the stuff that's so magic. The thing that makes every pony's life worth while? Friendship?"
Twilight sniffed a little. "You're right Spike, I should be less worried about being treated like a 2-Dimensional Princess, and be more focused on being the best pony I can for others to look up to."
"Exactly." Reassured Spike. Twilight reached her hooves over and gave Spike a little hug. "I knew can always count on you to know just what to say to cheer me up." Twilight said endearingly. "You'll always be my number 1 assistant, and best friend. I love you Spike."
Spike teared up a little, and hugged back. It was easy for the two to get sentimental sometimes. Each of them had things that bothered them. For Twilight, it was being admired for her title more than are actions. For Spike, it was more complicated, but it mostly stemmed from being a dragon living with ponies. Sure he was different, but most ponies didn't mind. Most anyway...
Twilight and Spike arrived at the picnic party set up just outside town hall. Pinkie had outdone herself with the decorations. Fillies and older colts enjoyed the apple bobbing Applejack had provided (kind of dangerous for a filly's party if you ask me). Rainbow Dash was flying laps as the little ponies (plus Scootaloo) watched enamored. Rarity gave Moon Beam the most fabulous hat one had every seen. Moon Beam was a small little pegasus filly. She had purple hair and light skin. She still had beady eyes. Fluttershy was tending to their cat who was a bit nervous around big crowds. Starlight was there because of course she was. Trixie was unfortunately busy on tour.
"Twilight!" Pinkie screeched right in Twilight's face. She could be a bit hyper at times. "I am so super excited that you and Spike were able to make it! It's not a party without the Princess of Friendship!"
Spike slumped a bit as he thought Pinkie had left her out, but then she finished her sentence "...and the most adorable baby dragon I've ever met, her No. 1 assistant Spike!" Pinkie concluded. Spike blushed at the flattering.
The party was an absolute hit. It had drawn the attention of many ponies all throughout Ponyville. It was as if the entire town had party fever. DJ-Pon3 and Octavia made a surprise appearance and provided a wicked soundtrack to the party. Soon a few ponies started to dance, and them some more, and soon a bunch.
"Wow Pinkie, this party is going better than I could have ever imagined." Twilight said, but Pinkie had somehow disappeared from her side, and was suddenly standing on DJ-Pon3's turntable!
"Come on everypony!" Pinkie cried out into a microphone. "I wanna see you shake those groove thangs!"
Soon just about everypony in sight couldn't resist the urge to boogie. Pinkie provided vocals to the music.
After a long day of partying, every pony was absolutely exhausted, and started to head home. The sun was just about to set. Twilight waved bye to the guests as they departed one by one, when Moon Beam's parents walked up to her. They didn't seem very enthusiastic.
"What's wrong Mr. and Mrs. Beam? Wasn't this not the most awesome party you've ever seen?" Twilight asked noticing the look of displeasure on the filly's parent's faces.
"No no it's not the party, although I could have done without the loud music. It's just I don't recall inviting a dragon to the festivities." Mr. Beam said as he pointed to Spike who was playing with Moon Beam herself.
"Pardon me?" Twilight asked confused. "I would imagine a lot of ponies showed up uninvited. This was quite the party.
"It's not so much the uninvited bit that bothers us, it's just dragons..." Mrs. Beam replied.
"You mean Spike?" Twilight asked still confused. "Surely you've heard of him right?"
"I'm afraid this is the first we've seen of your little pal in all honesty." Mr. Beam had said.
"Spike? Spike the Brave and Glorious? Assistant to the Princess of Friendship herself?" Twilight said.
These words struck a cord with Twilight.
"Hey, watch what you call my friend." Twilight snapped. "I don't go around insulting your friends. And who do you think you are judging Spike just because of his species!"
Spike was sitting down playing with Moon Beam, the latter of whom was wearing Rarity's hat. Spike had overheard the conversation Twilight was having, and was feeling real down about it. Moon Beam bopped Spike's nose and giggled, which was a warm pleasant surprise to Spike that made him smile. Even if her parents were rotten, at least the heart of the filly was pure and untainted.
"Your filly seems to like Spike." Twilight pointed out. "Why can't you?"
The parents grunted and scoffed.
"We've been inconvenienced for too long by dragons, and by family members obsessed with dragons." Mr. Beam said. "We are not going to allow our daughter to grow up like this!"
Twilight just stood perplexed, and kind of peeved. She'd never met ponies so prejudice to this extent.
Things were going okay with Spike and Moon Beam, until Spike had an itch on his nose, and felt a sneeze coming. Spike was directly facing Moon Beam, and as to not injure her Spike quickly turned his head to his left, and sneezed.
"AHH-CHOOO" Spike out out a big fiery sneeze. The sneeze caught a wooden post in fire, causing it to fall over onto a table cloth, setting that a blaze. A solid piece of flaming char landed on Moon Beam's hat. Basically the situation escalated from bad to worse very quickly.
The fire was all extinguished and no pony was seriously hurt, except for little Moon Beam herself who had a few burns.
"See? What'd I tell ya?" Mr. Beam said with anger. "Can't trust a dragon. They be nothing but trouble."
"We're terribly sorry about what happened Mr. Beam." Twilight apologized. "But-" Twilight was interrupted by Mr. Beam.
"But nothing, that dragon of yours is dangerous and we don't want any part of 'em." Mr. Beam said.
"Yeah well... well..." Spike tried to form a sentence but was too choked up to. Spike fled the scene in tears. Twilight chased after. Starlight and the others stayed behind to clean up.
After the disaster was taken care of, every pony returned home and called it a night.
Back at the castle, Spike was still beyond upset. He busted open the door and marched down the castle hall. Twilight followed.
"Don't worry about today Spike, it was all an accident that spiraled out of control. Accidents happened."
Spike entered his and Twilight's room without a word, slamming the door behind him. It was obvious he wanted to be alone to vent things out. Through the door Twilight could easily hear Spike in tears.
Twilight entered with care. Spike was in his little bed, crying. Twilight sat besides Spike.
"It's okay Spike, no pony was seriously hurt, and it's all over now." Twilight said trying to comfort poor Spike. "What happened back there doesn't represent who you are." Spike sort of let up but was still sad.
"It's not just the accident, which by it self is enough to cry over." Spike started. "It's those prejudice ponies. What if they're right? I caused all kind of damage, and I made little Moon Beam cry because I'm a monster!"
Twilight sat in silence with her mouth open. She had to think about what to say.
"Spike... don't let what two other ponies think about dragons make you feel like any less of who you are." Twilight said. "All that matters how you feel. You're an amazing being who does all he can to help any pony he could. Would a so called 'monster' do any of those things?" Twilight concluded.
Spike shivered, but he was feeling a tad better.
"No matter what happens Spike, I'll always have faith in you, and I'll always recognize your accomplishments where they happen. You've matured so much since you hatched from that egg, but you'll always be my little baby dragon. Just as it is your duty to assist, it's my job to always be there for you, to support you, through good times and bad, I'm here for you. Nothing can tear us apart." Twilight said.
Spike was still crying, only now his tears had hints of happiness to them. Spike arose from his bed and gave Twilight a really big hug.
"Thank you... Twilight." Spike said softly. "I know the world is far from perfect, and there will be days where all seems gloom and doom. But you somehow always manage to see the light in dark situations. And you always know what to say to make me feel better. I almost don't deserve somepony as kind and caring as you. I'm grateful that fate allowed us two to meet. I can't imagine myself under the watch of anypony else, or at least, not anypony like you."
"Oh Spike..." Twilight started. "When did you get all sappy?" She said jokingly to lighten the mood.
"What me? Don't pretend like you weren't getting all mopey dopey too." Spike said in a cheering mood.
Twilight giggled. "You're such a little rascal."
"I know." Spike said.
"And you're my little rascal." Twilight said endearingly. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Now... let's get rest Spike, I promise I'm going to make sure tomorrow is a better day." Twilight said.
"Thank you... Twilight." Spike said. They exchanged one last hug, and Twilight got up. She tucked Spike into bed, and then climbed into her own.
"Good night Spike. I love you, always." Twilight said.
"I... love you too... Twilight." Spike said choked up. He was still a bit congested from the tears.
The two closed their eyes and fell asleep. The beautiful light of the night was the only thing illuminating the room dimly lit room. Soon the sun would rise in the morning as it always does, shining light all across Equestria for all, except for Spike. Because the following sunrise would not shine upon Spike, as a very sinister somepony else had other plans in mind...
To be continued... in Chapter 2!
Author's Note
Chapter 1 of a long long fan fic still in the works. Expect at least 16 chapters if not more. Mainly releasing the first chapter to create awareness for the fic. Any feedback is appreciated.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 2: In Not So Plain Sight
Originally published on April 27th, 2017
Night had befallen Equestria. Twilight and Spike lay asleep in the same room, after Twilight had comforted Spike about events earlier in the day. Starlight had finally returned to the castle after helping to clean the mess made earlier. She walked slowly through the castle, unsure if either Twilight or Spike were asleep. Starlight opened the door to Twilight's room and saw them both asleep. She gave a little smile, and quietly closed to the door as to not bother them.
I hope Spike's not too upset over what happened earlier. Starlight thought. I wish I could have shown Twilight my new spell earlier today .
Starlight went inside of her room to go to sleep. She hopped into bed, but couldn't sleep, her latest spell was bugging her.
Several hours later, deep into the night, Starlight had awoken, feeling thirsty. She got out of bed, and walked to the kitchen.Gee, Twilight's castle sure is... scary at night... when it's dark. Starlight thought.
She poured herself a glass of water, and drank about half of it. She leaned on counter and bathed in the calm silence. That silence was interrupted however, when she started to hear a faint rumbling sound from outside the castle. She didn't think twice about it at first, but the noise grew louder, and the ground started to shake. Her eyes widened, fearing what the noise could possibly be. It wasn't typical to hear such a noise, let alone at night. She put her drink down, and ducked down behind the counter, wondering what to do. Should she investigate what was going on? Or wait it out? The ground was now really shaking, and the noise was very noticeable. She wondered if Twilight or Spike were awoken by the noise. Then, as suddenly as it came, the noise stopped. Some time passed, and there was a bit of silence. Starlight had wondered if whatever it was had passed by, but no. She could hear the main door slowly open, making a terrifying creaking noise. She'd never noticed the door creaking during the day, but it seemed amplified at night. Somepony, or something walked into the castle. She heard faint hoofsteps clash with the castle tile. They were trotting lightly, as if to be not heard, but she heard them.
Starlight wondered what to do next. Investigate? Or hide and hope they leave?I have a bad feeling about this. she thought to herself. Whatever it is, I'm not taking this sitting down. I defeated Queen Chrysalis without magic. There isn't anything I can't take on with magic. And whatever it is, I have to protect Twilight and Spike.
It's time I investigate what's going on. She thought to herself. She stood up and investigated. There was nothing at the main foyer, but she heard some rattling down the hallway.
As young fillies, we are told not to be afraid of the dark, but the truth is that the dark and the unknown never stop being scary. It's only a matter of having the courage to face the fear, that is likely what your parents meant when they told you that there's no need to hide when it's dark outside. Any fear you have, just think of one right now, it all has to do from the unknown, not knowing. Twilight is afraid of quesadillas, because she doesn't know how her body will react to so much hot melted cheese inside of a tortilla. Darkness is scary because it can conceal anteing, your deepest darkest fears could be standing right in front of you. Or there could be nothing, but you have no way of knowing without the light.
Anyway, Starlight cautiously followed the sound of the hoofsteps, and wandered through the almost pitch black castle. Twilight's castle gave off a completely different mood at night than during day. By day, the crystal like interior lit up its guests. But at night, the large open rooms and empty space made every hoof-step echo, and trapped more darkness.
After some cautious searching, the trotting just stopped.But surely there had to be something, it couldn't have just bee nothing. Starlight thought to herself. Why would the sound go quiet... probably means they stopped trotting because... *gasp*... they found what they're looking for! But what? The question Starlight should have was not what, but who.
She hastily trotted forward, trying to keep pace, but not make a ruckus as to give away her location. The mysterious trotting started up again, but this time, it was coming towards her.
Starlight panicked, and hid behind a nearby closet door. The door had no openings, so they couldn't see her, but she couldn't see them either. Whoever they were. Starlight was shaking in her hooves. She saw the shadows of somepony wandering outside the door. The shadows paced, as if they were looking for her. It's clear they knew they were being watched. The shadows then went back down the hall which they entered.
What could they want. What's down that hall anyway other than *gasp* Twilight and Spike! They must be in trouble! Starlight thought to herself.
Starlight now had a better idea of the situation. Whoever they were, they wanted something from Twilight or Spike, and Starlight wasn't ready to let that happen. She opened the door and trotted down the hall towards them.
Whatever it is you want, you ain't getting it. Starlight thought to herself, still trying to stay hidden until the time was right.
Starlight charged up her horn's magic, ready to strike at whoever they were. She paused, and took a deep breath. And then, she jumped around the corner and shot a beam of magic forward. It hit something, and made a bright flash, temporarily blinding Starlight. She tried to regain focus, but the split seconds she was impaired were enough. Some force knocked her to the ground, and then started constraining her. She could hardly breath, and felt her head getting lighter and lighter. And then everything went blank.
The sun began to rise upon Equestria, lighting up the castle. Starlight opened her eyes and found herself lying in her bed tucked in. But how? Did the nighttime investigation even happen? Or was it a dream? She wasn't sure. Starlight got up out of bed and walked around the castle. Everything was like it was the previous day. Nothing was touched or misplaced, as if nothing had happened at night. She got up and trotted to the kitchen. Starlight found Twilight in the cooking something with absolutely zero cheese for breakfast.
"Good morning Starlight!" Twilight said warmly.
"Um... morning Twilight." Starlight said with a hint of hesitation.
"Something the matter?" Twilight asked. "You seem a bit... startled. Did you have a rough night?"
"Yeah." Starlight replied. I couldn't sleep all night. All because of this spell I've been trying to master."
"Which spell?" Twilight asked. "I'm sure I can be able to help."
"Well..." Starlight tried to think of a difficult spell to avoid talking about her possible nightmare. "I saw from your tree chandelier a picture of that one time you cast a spell on Rarity to give her artificial wings." Starlight explained. "And I thought it'd be really cool to try on myself. Unfortunately I haven't successfully done it yet."
"Oh that one... *giggle* that was quite a day." Twilight explained. "The day Rainbow Dash pulls off a Sonic Rainboom right in front our eyes in an effort to save Rarity and the Wonderbolts isn't a day you forget so easily."
"But you know well enough that magic is trial and error. I have a feeling something else must be bothering you." Twilight peered wanting to know more.
"I uh... had a bad dream last night." Starlight confessed.
"Oh. Of what?" Twilight asked concerned.
"I um... don't remember. I just remember being scared." she replied half lying. Everything seemed so ordinary, that she wasn't sure if last night was fact or fiction.
"Is that so? Okay then. Dreams sure are elusive things." Twilight said.
"Heh heh yeah..." Starlight took a sip of water from a glass that'd already been sitting on the counter. Could it be the same water she poured and left on the counter the night before? Her eyes widened.I left a glass of water half empty last night didn't I? Or was it half full? Either way, if the glass is here, then did last night actually happen? Starlight thought to herself.
"By the way, have you seen Spike this morning?" Twilight asked. "He wasn't in his bed this morning and I haven't seen him yet today. So have you seen him?"
Hearing that had startled Starlight. Her heart sank, if her dream was real, she might have just figured out what they were after.
Starlight spit out her water in reaction to the realization.
"Uh he's... probably running some errands like he always does." Starlight said, trying to come up with an explanation. She didn't want to tell Twilight her dream in case it was just a dream and unrelated. She looked over and saw she spit all that water in Twilight's face...
"You know you could've finished your drink before you said something." Twilight said.
"Sorry Twilight." Starlight said.
"I just wish Spike would have left a note or something. It's not like him to leave unannounced. Where in Equestria could he have gone?"
Yes. Where in Equestria could Spike have gone indeed? I'll give you a hint, he was not running errands.
Find out the whereabouts of Spike in Chapter 3! (Or maybe find out in Chapter 4)
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 3: Where's Spike?
Originally published on June 1st, 2017
"You sure you haven't seen Spike?" Twilight asked.
"I haven't seen him since yesterday, sorry Twilight." said Starlight.
Twilight looked a bit down.
"Well um, how about I make some pancakes?" Starlight suggested. And like that, Starlight began making some delicious pancakes. Cooking gave Starlight time to think. Obviously what she saw last night had something to do with Spike's disappearance, but she didn't know what, and didn't want to say anything until she knew for sure. She didn't want Twilight to think Spike was in danger, even though he very well could be.
Finally, the pancakes were finished, and they looked great.
"Well, breakfast is served. I hope you like it." Starlight said with some hesitation.
"Thank you." Twilight said, albeit a bit quiet. Twilight grew worried.
It wasn't like Spike to just leave unbeknownst. Spike was Twilight's number 1 assistant after all, he'd do anything for Twilight, this was very unusual for him. Twilight didn't eat too much of her pancakes. They tasted great, but she had butterflies in her stomach thinking about Spike. Even though Twilight hadn't said a word since being handed her pancakes, her expression spoke volume to Starlight, she could tell Twilight was unwell.
Starlight couldn't just let Twilight sit and mope all day, she had to do something.
"You know what Twilight? How about a walk around Ponyville to help clear the mind?" Starlight suggested.
"Yeah... that sounds like a nice idea." Twilight said. She was slightly in higher spirits, but not by much.
"You wanna finish your pancakes before we go?" Starlight asked. "I hear from your friends that you really like pancakes."
"Oh, of course. hehe." Twilight giggled. She forgot about the pancakes right in front of her.
After Twilight ate Starlight's wonderful pancakes, the two left the castle for a walk around Ponyville. Starlight hoped the calm atmosphere of the walk would take Twilight's mind off of Spike's mysterious absence, and that hopefully he'd return by day's end.
"Any idea on where he is?" Twilight suddenly asked.
"I honestly have no clue." Starlight answered.
"Is that so..." Twilight said looking down.
"But that doesn't mean that other ponies haven't seen him either! In fact, if any pony other than us has seen Spike, it's definitely Rarity. Why don't we drop on by?" Starlight suggested.
"I suppose." Twilight said with a slump.
On that note, Twilight and Starlight paid Rarity a visit at her boutique.
"Why hello Twilight, oh and greetings Starlight." Rarity greeted the two.
"Hi..." Twilight said.
"What's the matter Twilight? You seem under the weather." Rarity said concerned.
"Neither of have seen Spike all morning, and we're really worried." Starlight explained.
"Oh dear, I hope the little guy's okay wherever he is." Rarity said.
"So I take it you haven't seen him either?" Twilight asked.
"I wish I could say otherwise, but I'm afraid not darling." Rarity said. "Would you like to lay down on my fainting couch and have some ice cream? It always cheers me up when I'm feeling down."
"Ice cream? Spiked loved to gorge himself with ice cream." Twilight said, reminiscing about Spike.
"Err um, how about-" Rarity said trying to correct herself, but she was interrupted by Twilight.
"No thanks, I'm good, but thanks for the offer." Twilight declined. "In fact, Starlight and I best continue our walk I feel. Thanks anyway."
"You sure you two don't wanna check out some new dresses? Or commission new designs I could make for you, or-" Rarity tried to help, but Twilight interjected yet again.
"Nah, not today, I'm just not feeling it." said Twilight.
And with that Twilight and Starlight left the boutique.
"Best of luck darling, and my heart goes out to Spike on behalf of his well-being."
Starlight looked back, but turned back and walked forward with Twilight who did not turn her head.
Twilight and Starlight next headed to Sugarcube Corner for some sweets to treat themselves. Spike loved to bake, maybe he was there looking for new cake recipes for his gem cakes.
They trotted into sugar cube corner. Inside they saw the usual, Mr. and Mrs. Cake busy with plenty of orders, and the pumpkin cakes on the floor playing. And of course can't forget Pinkie who was at the register. The two trotted up to Pinkie to ask her if she'd seen Spike. Although they already sort of knew the answer.
"Morning Pinkie Pie." Twilight said.
"Morning Twilight, here for some of more delicious if not nutritious cupcakes?" asked Pinkie.
"Not really, have you seen Spike today?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie replied. "I'm afraid I haven't seen him since yesterday when burnt down the whole-" Starlight gestured Pinkie to stop what she was saying, and she actually did. Twilight was not amused anyway.
"Not helping Pinkie Pie." Twilight said mildly mad.
"I'm uh... sorry Twilight. I didn't mean-" Pinkie said.
"No, sure you didn't. You're Pinkie Pie, you always know what to say." said Twilight with mild sarcasm.
"Are you trying to say something Twilight?" asked Pinkie.
"Never mind, don't mind me, if I get mad or anything, it's cause I'm worried." said Twilight.
"Understood, and will quote you on that if need be." said Pinkie. "Any-hoo, did you check every corner of your castle? It is a pretty big castle, I've always worried that eventually I'd get lost in there. Maybe Spike is lost in the castle.
"Hmm, did we check every corridor of the castle Starlight?" Twilight asked.
"Come to think of it no." answered Starlight. "But I doubt he'd get lost, he didn't exactly move in yesterday."
"We'll look, but after we say hi to a few more towns folk. Thanks for you time Pinkie." Twilight said.
"No problemo, see you Twilight, good luck on the search." said Pinkie Pie.
With that, Twilight and Starlight trotted out of Sugarcube Corner.
The two bumped into Applejack who was delivering apples. She was busy, but they had a talk anyway.
"Have you seen Spike today Applejack? We can't seem to find him." Twilight asked.
"Sorry to say no Twilight. You think Spike could be in any sort'a trouble?" Applejack suggested.
"Spike's a capable dragon, he can fend for himself... I hope." Twilight said. "But the mystery is just eating me up right now."
"Well shucks, wish I do somethin' to help, but, I'm in kind of a hurry." said Applejack.
"That's fine, we all got things to do apparently." Twilight said.
The two ran into Rainbow Dash a bit after that.
"Rainbow Dash, you're a pegasus, and you've been flying around all morning, have you seen Spike?" asked Starlight, who was doing most of the talking for Twilight.
Rainbow nodded her head in disappointment. "Sorry guys, but I haven't seen him since yesterday." Rainbow admitted.
"That's okay, no other pony has seen him either, thanks anyway." Twilight said, and slumped away.
"Want me to look or something?" asked Rainbow.
"Sure, just keep an eye out, and let us know if you see any sign of him." Twilight said.
"You can count on me Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said, and then flew off.
"Sigh. This is really killing me. It isn't just his absence, but the mystery of it to." Twilight said. "If he just left a note, or said to me 'Twilight, I have important dragon business to attend to don't follow me bye' or whatever, then that's one thing, but nothing."
"I'm with you Twilight, I miss the little guy too." Starlight said.
The two sat besides the Ponyville statue in silence for a few moments. Neither one knew what to do next. No pony had seen Spike, it was apparent that he was not in Ponyville.
Starlight, thinking of ways to help Twilight, came up with an idea.
"Let's go see Fluttershy!" Starlight suggested. "Maybe she needs help with animals or something we could help out with."
"I suppose, alright then..." Twilight said.
And with that they headed for Flutters' cottage.
End of Chapter.
The suspense must be eating you up too. Where in the heck is Spike? Well, find out (sorta) in the very next chapter actually. Answering one question, will only bring up two dozen more questions.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Originally published on August 10th, 2017
Where in Equestria was Spike? Well, he was right here. But where was here ?
Spike still lay sound asleep, as if nothing was wrong, but things were very wrong. He started to wake up slowly, yawning as he did. His vision was still bury from waking up, when he started to notice something wasn't quite right. He sat on his knees, and looked at his hands, he noticed they were handcuffed together. He panicked when he noticed this, and tried to pulled them apart, to no avail.
He wore himself out, and fell flat on his back. He surveyed the situation while laying back. Spike was in a dark and cold steel room, there was a steel bed, but not much else. Spike stood up to examine the room. He walked about half way to the wall, but suddenly his neck got caught caught on something. Spike only just now noticed around his neck, was a metal collar of some kind, attached to a chain connected to the floor in the center of the room.
Spike looked around in fear. What was this place? Why I here? Spike thought.
Surely this has to be a horrible nightmare. No way this can be real.
"If this is some kind of terrible nightmare, Luna can you please end it? I'm scared."Spike's request was met with silence.
Could it be this wasn't a dream? How could this be possible?
"If there's anyone here at all, please show yourself. If that's okay..." Spike's voice trailed off, fearing what could possibly be lurking beyond these walls.
It was mostly silence for what felt like an hour. But then suddenly, Spike heard hoofsteps from behind the door. It was the sound of heavy hooves against a metal floor. He knew he wasn't alone, his heart sank and quivered in fear wondering what lurked in the shadows.
Somepony, or something knocked on the door.
*knock knock*
"Wh-wh-who are you?" Spike asked. "And what I am I doing here?"
"I am your owner." a voice behind the door said. The voice sounded quite evil, as you would expect. Pick your favorite evil doer voice for this character.
"No you're not, you're just a door, and doors and I have a complicated relationship." Spike said sarcastically. Obviously the voice was coming from behind the door, but Spike was messing around. Anyone who's tried to have a conversation with another person with a door in between knows it's not easy and quite annoying. Spike had similar feelings. He didn't want to talk with some pony who couldn't even see.
He didn't need to guess any longer what was behind the door, as eye holes on the door opened revealing two sinister eyes.
"Is this better?" it asked, as their eyes gazed into Spike.
"Eh somewhat, but do whom do I owe this conversation to?" he asked.
"My name is both irrelevant and for you to never know. But if you insist on attaching a handle for the sake of reference, you may refer to me as Henry ." he said.
"Henry? What kind of name is that? I've never heard of a pony with a name like that." Spike said.
It was true Henry was not a very pony like name, but it wasn't actually the pony's name. No pony knew his actually name, so they just called him Henry.
"Okay so let me get this strait, you're Henry the pair of eyeballs attached to a door." Spike giggled. For being trapped and held prisoner, he hadn't lost his sense of humor yet. Key word is yet.
"No you idiot." Henry snapped. "I am the most powerful pony you will ever meet." he said.
"I ain't buying it, if you were so big and powerful like you said, you wouldn't be hiding behind the door like a little coward. I don't blame you. Not many ponies would dare mess with Spike the Brave and Glorious." he said.
The door unhatched and began to open, revealing Henry's true physique. He was a tall gray horse, wearing a black jacket. A hood covered the top of his head. The most striking thing was how study he looked. He was big, and had a study build.
"Satisfied?" Henry asked.
"...Somewhat." Spike answered, trying to conceal his fear.
"Now that we got the introduction out of the way, how about telling me what in Tartarus going on!" Spike said.
"Let me explain things in a way so even your dim witted mind can understand" Henry began. These words hurt Spike inside, but he waited to let Henry finish.
"You now belong to me, and you will be doing what I say from now on. Any task I request, you shall fulfill." Henry said.
Before Spike was dumbfounded. It was a lot to take in. Before he could say anything, Henry spoke again.
"This concludes today's lecture." he started to walk away.
"Wait! I have so many questions still! Where are we? When are we? What are these 'tasks' you speak of? If this is today's lesson does that mean there'll be more? And most importantly, why do you suddenly own me instead of Twilight? What authority do you have to decide who I belong to?" Spike concluded after a long breath.
Henry took a deep breath before he gave his answer.
"You are in an undisclosed location. Several important tasks shall be demanded. Many lessons will be enforced. And you belong to me because you're sitting right here in my captivity." Henry stated.
"No further questions will be taken. You will remain here until you are needed. Dismissed."
"Wait so that's it?" Spike interjected. "Just because you captured me doesn't mean you own me! You're a bully and a thief and I will never do anything you said!"
Henry seemed to ignore, and trotted out the room and shut the door. Spike thought that was it, but the eye holes of the door opened. Henry continued to speak.
"I captured a dragon, isn't that reason enough for ownership?" he asked.
"No! Twilight is who I really belong to. She is a good friend and I'm her No. 1 assistant. You on the other hand are evil and I will never do your bidding."
"Mmm hmm, Twilight eh." Henry said. "Do you honestly think that Twilight Sparkle cares about you?"
"Of course she does, she's been my friend for as long as I've been alive, and she'd do anything for me!" Spike said. Twilight was a touchy subject.
"Mmm hmm, ponies and dragons living together. You keep living that fantasy." Henry said.
"This whole place feels like a fantasy, that is to say it doesn't feel real." Spike said.
"If you want to stay alive, here's my advice; forget everything you learned from those namby pamby ponies taught you, because all of it is wrong. When I'm done with you, you will learn the true power of dragons." Henry said.
"Never." Spike said.
"Hmm, are you sure?"
"Absolutely sure." he said in defiance. After Spike spoke, a huge surge of electricity ran through Spike.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Spike was electrocuted.
"If you ever attempt to speak up against me, you are wearing a shock collar that will shock you if you attempt to do so." Henry said.
"That's... that's messed up." Spike said exhausted.
"If you don't like being shocked, then best you do as I say."
"I'd rather die than serve you." Spike said.
"Well at this rate, don't be surprised if you eat those words." Henry said.
The eye holes shut and Henry trotted away.
Henry left leaving a lot of questions unanswered. What was so bad about dragons and ponies living together? Spike found that most ponies were fine with who he was. Aside from that one day earlier in the week.
Spike was just left in the dark, both figuratively and literally. All he could do is sit and wait. Wait for what exactly is what really worried Spike.
Spike was still chained to the ground, so there was very little he could do, besides sit... and cry. And cry he did. He was trapped, and he missed his friends. Who knows if he would ever get out of this one.
Normally this would be where the chapter ends, but a few more things happened.
Spike sat in the dark for an unknown amount of time. There was no way of telling time, so it was hard to say, but after what felt like a substantial amount of time, hours perhaps, Henry was back.
The steel door opened and Henry walked in.
"Your time has come dragon." Henry said.
He flipped back his hood revealing that he was a unicorn. He used the magic to undo Spike's chain holding him to the ground. And then he dragged Spike by the chain connected to his shock collar out of the room, and through some dark hallway.
Spike tried to pull the other way, but he wasn't strong enough to overcome Henry's magic.
"Let me go! Where are you taking me!? HELP!" Spike could do nothing as he was dragged... somewhere. To do something...
Where was Spike being dragged? What horrors awaited him? Who the heck is this Henry character? And how and why did he capture Spike?
Stay tuned and find out in Chapter 6!
That's right, Chapter 6. From now on, chapters will alternate between Spike chapters, and pony chapters. Even number chapters being Spike, and odd number being ponies. So next chapter we will see the ponies' POV again. There may be some exceptions say if there are events big enough in either that warrant two chapters, then that mixes things up. And of course much later on, the two stories will... collide...
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 5: Under the Weather
Originally published on September 4th, 2017
Last time we met up with Twilight Sparkle, she was feeling a bit under the weather about Spike to say the very least.
Fluttershy was in her cottage caring for animals as she typical did, when she heard a knock on the door.
"Oh, it sounds like I have guests." Fluttershy said.
She walked up to the door, and it was Twilight and Starlight.
"Hello Twilight." Fluttershy said.
"Hi Fluttershy.." said Twilight.
"Oh, is something the matter Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.
"Something the matter? Why no, of course not. Everything's... fine." Twilight said, trying to not think about Spike.
"Well alright then, come in girls." Fluttershy said.
Twilight walked into the cottage, passing Fluttershy by. Starlight spoke to Fluttershy.
"Spike's gone missing." Starlight said.
"Oh dear, that just awful." Fluttershy said.
"Yeah, but try not to mention it, Twilight's been taking it pretty hard to say the least." Starlight said.
"She seems alright to me." Fluttershy said.
"She's been trying to cope. She may look alright, but it's really taking a toll on her internally." Starlight said.
Indeed, Twilight at this point was mostly trying not to think of Spike, not because she didn't miss him, she does, but she doesn't want her feelings to make her vulnerable or something. So she tried to act confident.
"So Twilight, what brings you around here?" Fluttershy asked.
Starlight nudged Fluttershy, as if her question was too pushy.
"Oh you know, I was in Ponyville, and then I ended up here... isn't that something." Twilight said.
"I suppose." Fluttershy said puzzled.
"So how have you been Fluttershy?" Twilight asked trying to change the subject.
"Oh the usual, I've just been helping animals. Cause you know, that's... what I do." Fluttershy said.
"Helping animals huh?" Twilight said.
"Yes, there was this adorable flying squirrel who had a broken leg. You just missed him, he made a full recovery and I released him into the wild." Fluttershy said.
"Cool story." Twilight said who was hardly paying attention. She was hovering with the birds inside the cottage.
"Twilight are you listening?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah totally." Twilight said.
Fluttershy started coughing to get Twilight's attention.
*cough cough cough* Fluttershy pretended to cough.
"Fluttershy are you okay?" Starlight asked.
*cough Spike* Fluttershy said.
"Fluttershy are you sick? That was an unusual sounding cough.
"Oh no I'm fine. What, did the cough sound unusual?" Fluttershy asked trying to get Twilight to speak about Spike.
"It was just sharper than usual that's all." Twilight said.
"So Twilight, why don't you like quesadillas?" Starlight asked, trying to change subjects.
"It's just all that cheese. Tortillas are fine, and so is cheese, but all that melted cheese confined between two tortillas is... bleh." Twilight said.
"But you're okay with pancakes? From what your friends say, youreally like pancakes." Starlight asked.
"Oh yeah, me and pancakes have a long history." Twilight said.
"You know who else you have a long history with?" Fluttershy asked.
"Um... Owlowiscious?" Twilight asked.
"Well sure, but I was thinking of Sp-" Fluttershy was interrupted.
"You know I've always been wondering, is it spelled O-w-l-o-w-i-s-c-i-o-u-s? Because I've received letters from Celestia spelling it as O-w-l-o-y-s-i-u-s." Twilight said.
"I don't see why it matters the-" Fluttershy was interrupted.
"I mean the latter spelling is more faithful to the name Aloysius, but then there's that time Mayor Mare wrote a letter spelling it O-w-l-i-c-i-o-u-s." Twilight said.
"Twilight!" Fluttershy said.
"Gee, no need to shout." Twilight said.
"I'm sorry Twilight, but you were going off on a tangent." Fluttershy said.
"Yeah I tend to do that." Twilight said.
There was a moment of silence, Fluttershy saw this as a chance to jump in and change the subject.
"So Twilight, how's Spike?" Fluttershy asked.
Starlight nudged Fluttershy roughly to remind her not to speak of Spike. Twilight wasn't expecting the question, and was caught off guard. She sat in silence for a few moments before speaking.
"Oh, Spike, he's you know, busy." Twilight said.
"I already told Fluttershy." Starlight said.
"Well gee, thanks for breaking the news." Twilight said stern, to try to conceal her feelings.
"Twilight, we need to talk." Fluttershy said.
"Do we need to?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, because if we don't, you're never going to feel better just bottling up your feelings." Fluttershy said.
Twilight faced the other way, and tried not to entertain the question.
"Twilight, if you don't get this off your chest, you're never going to feel better." Fluttershy said.
Twilight grunted and didn't want to to talk.
"Come on Twilight, it's just you me and Fluttershy here, we're all ears." Starlight said.
"I..." Twilight's voice trailed.
"You what?" Fluttershy asked.
"*sigh* I miss Spike." Twilight said.
"Are you worried?" Fluttershy asked.
"...Yes." Twilight said.
"It's very unfortunate what's happened." Fluttershy said.
"It is..." Twilight said.
"Tell me more about Spike, and what he means to you." Fluttershy said.
"Spike's always been... delicate." Twilight said.
"Oh, is that so?" Fluttershy said.
"When I recruited Owlowiscious as an extra assistant, Spike was very paranoid, and ran away because... he thought I didn't... want him anymore. But of course that wasn't true. No one can replace Spike. He's my no. 1 assistant, and... my closest friend." Twilight said.
Twilight was showing a lot more emotion, now that she was letting her feelings show.
"Spike had been doing so well lately too. He saved the Crystal Empire twice, but every now and again, something comes up that reminds him that he's different from us. And he lets it get to him, no matter how much he seems to be coping. And then... this happens." Twilight lamented.
"I don't know where he could have gone. I don't even knowwhy he left..." Twilight said.
"Twilight. We're here for you." Fluttershy said leaning in closer.
"Wherever he is, I just hope he's safe." Twilight said.
"I'm hope so too." Fluttershy said.
"I'm sure he is." Starlight said, trying to be optimistic. Of course we know she was being over optimistic.
There was some knocking on the door.
"There's someone at the door." Fluttershy said.
"Perhaps I shall get the door." Starlight said.
Starlight got up and opened the door. It was the rest of the main six, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.
"Hey Twilight. How are you doing?" Rainbow Dash said, sounding more reserved.
"Oh you know." Twilight responded.
"I brought you some of this Twilight." Applejack said. AJ had brought some apple cider.
"It's some apple cider to help... calm your nerves." she said.
"Thanks but no thanks. Drinking won't directly solve anything, it just makes you not think." Twilight said.
"Well, I just thought I'd try to help." Applejack said.
"Thanks AJ, I appreciate it, but right now I just need some time alone." Twilight got up and trotted out of Fluttershy's cottage.
"Where are you going darling?" Rarity asked.
"Somewhere, where I can be alone for now." Twilight said.
"But Twilight, we're here for you, you don't have to go through this alone." Rainbow Dash said.
"It's not that I don't appreciate your help, but I just want to be alone right now." Twilight said.
She trotted off in the other direction, leaving her friends behind.
"I feel so, useless right about now." Starlight said.
"I know, me too. I feel like no matter what I say I may say the wrong thing." Pinkie Pie said.
"Twilight's our friend, and I'm sure ain't nothing you could say that would change that Pinkie." Applejack said.
"Oh I don't know Applejack, you don't want to say the wrong thing to Twilight at the wrong time. She can be quite... touchy." Starlight said.
The girls sat around Fluttershy's garden all wondering how they could help Twilight cope with Spike's disappearance.
"You girls get the feeling that we're overlooking a very obvious solution?" Starlight said.
"Is it writing a letter to Spike since he has the ability to send and recieve letters?" Fluttershy asked softly.
"Whatever do you mean darling?" Rarity said, she did not hear Fluttershy.
"You know, like there's an easy way to find Spike we're not thinking of?" Starlight said.
"Like how Spike used to write letters to Celestia and she'd write back?" Fluttershy said.
"You're killing me sugarcube with all your cryptic, encoded drawl." Applejack said.
"Encoded... encoded... like letters, like the letters Spike would write to Celestia!" Starlight brainstormed.
"Um... that's sort of what I was getting at-" Fluttershy was interrupted.
"That's it! Let's write a letter to Spike and send it via dragon mail!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Let's go get Twilight right now and-" Applejack shoved her hoof in Pinkie's mouth to get her to be quiet.
"Hold on there sugarcube, let's not be too hasty." Applejack said.
"Indeed, let's all of us go visit Princess Celestia where she receives Spike's letters, so we may send one to... wherever Spike is." Rarity said.
"And let's just do it ourselves and not tell Twilight yet, in case we get a... unfavorable response." Starlight said.
"Or worse, no response." Applejack said.
Everypony looked at her.
"What?" she said.
"You bring up an interesting point darling, what's worse? No response? Or bad response?" Rarity asked.
"Well, we'll only know once we try out dragon mail, so, no time like the present." Starlight said regrettably.
With that, the mane six sans Twilight, plus Starlight went to Canterlot to see Princess Celestia, where they would try writing a letter and sending it Spike, and seeing what happens. What happens? Well keep reading and find out.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Originally published on September 24th, 2017
Last time we saw Spike back in chapter 4, he was being dragged by sinister dragon tamer Henry to an unknown part of the facility.
"Let me go! When I get loose, I'm going to claw you to shreds!" Spike said.
Henry said not a word, as to not entertain Spike. He just kept dragging Spike deeper into the cold, dark, metal facility. Finally they had arrived at their destination. Henry flung Spike into a small cell, and slammed the door, trapping Spike inside.
"Let me out!" he pleaded.
"You won't have to wait long." Henry said.
"What's going on here?" Spike asked.
Spike was in the middle of a circular arena.
"Garble?" Spike asked.
"That's right pipsqueak. It's me." he said.
Indeed it was Garble. That jerk red dragon who teased Spike in the previous episodes 'Dragon Quest', and 'Gauntlet of Fire'.
"Heh, this is what I'm up against? This little pipsqueak? This'll be a piece of cake." Garble said.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Spike asked.
"Put up wha-" Garble punched Spike and knocked him over.
"Wait, I don't want to fight!" Spike pleaded.
"Aaahh!" Spike screamed.
Garble continued to pummel Spike right there, while Henry and his henchponies watched from the side, safely outside the arena.
"I think you've totally lost it Henry." said a henchpony.
"Yeah, you've trained many fierce dragons, and now you're training this runt?" asked the other henchpony.
"What do you mean boss?" asked the first henchpony.
And just like that, Henry's two henchponies names have been introduced as Jeff and Sawtooth .
"You should just cut him open right now. We'll get more use outta him." Sawtooth said.
Spike continued to get pummeled, until a bell rang.
"Victory!" Garble exclaimed.
"The winner is Garble!" yelled a loudspeaker.
Gems showered down on Garble as a reward. Spike got zilch. Spike was an unrecognizable pile on the ground. He was alive, but he had been injured quite a bit.
"I suppose I better clean up the mess. You two put Garble back in captivity." Henry requested.
"Dang Henry, you used to tame some of the strongest of dragons, often dozens at a time, and apprehend them. I don't see what you see in this little dunce." said Sawtooth.
"You will see. You will all see." Henry said.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Every step necessary, and believe me, the payoff will be huge." Henry said.
Henry got up to retrieve Spike. Jeff and Sawtooth put Garble back in captivity using their advance tools. Dragons may be strong, but they were no match for their futuristic tools. One of which was a muzzle preventing them from breathing fire, not so high tech. More futuristic tools included the shock collars. Made controlling dragons possible.
Henry retrieved Spike and dragged him using a rope tied to him.
"That was the most pathetic display I've ever seen. You should be ashamed to call yourself a dragon." Henry said with most displeasure. He flung Spike into his room.
"I don't care what I may look like on the outside, or what you may think I am, but I know one thing for sure. I am Spike, and I would never fight another dragon for the amusement of others!" Spike said.
"You speak with such nobility, and just, we'll have to fix that over time." Henry said.
"Well I think you ought to rethink your stance, you're not leaving anytime soon." Henry said.
Henry chuckled. "You think that that princess pony Twilight is looking for you. How sad. She's a pony, and you're a dragon, why would any pony care about a dragon?" Henry said.
"You're wrong! Twilight's my friend, and she'd do anything for me!" Spike said.
"Impossible. Dragons are feared and hated by ponies of Equestria. You're no different. You may be small, and live among ponies, but you'll never be one of them. Ponies will always look twice when they see you, try not to sit near you on the train, and you're more likely to be pulled by authorities while over driving a carriage. You think you have friends, but no matter what, Equestria will look down upon you for what you are. That's why you should side with me, I'm on your side. Do what I say, I can show you how to take revenge on those ponies. You're better than them, so why should they oppress you? Together we can destroy pony kind and rule Equestria for ourselves." Henry's long speech concluded.
Spike was about to cry, he tried not to succumb to Henry's words. Could he be right? Was it true ponies of Ponyville were biased against Spike just because he was a dragon?
"No, no, you're wrong! You're wrong about everything, and I'll never join you for as long as I live!" Spike said, standing tall in resentment.
"For as long as you live? So be it. Either join me, or die resisting." Henry said.
"Well then, I'll just let you think for a while, when I come back, you better have changed your mind." Henry said, and he exited the room slamming the door.
Spike held back his feelings, but after Henry had left, he immediately collapsed to his knees, put his hands to his face and started to cry. He eventually gripped his tail, curled up and continued to cry. This was the worst situation imaginable. Spike wished this were just a bad dream, and that when he closed his eyes, he would appear in Twilight's hooves, but no, this was all too real.
"Twilight... *sniff* I'm scared." Spike said stuffed up. "Where ever you are, I hope you find me soon."
Spike laid down for what felt like an eternity ,until something knocked on the door.
*knock knock*
"Whoever's behind that door just go away!" Spike screamed.
The door opened anyway. On the other side was a cloaked figure that walked in with two legs.
"Go away! I mean it!" Spike yelled.
The figure walked up to Spike, and knelt down, and put its arm on Spike.
Spike was still mad, he couldn't think strait, but the voice oddly soothed him.
"I'm a friend, I mean no harm, I just want to help." it said. Spike sat up, and tried to wipe some tears away.
"Reveal yourself." Spike requested.
"I said reveal yourself!" Spike demanded.
They rolled back their hood revealing themselves to be none other than Princess Ember!
"Spike... it's me." Ember said.
"...Ember?" Spike couldn't believe his eyes.
"When did you get all sympathetic? You're a dragon, you're rough, and not sympathetic at all." Spike asked.
"Okay... then can you please get me out of here?" Spike asked.
"I... can't." Ember said.
"Not... really... yet." Ember said.
"Okay so if you can't help me, then, not to sound rude, but why are you here?" Spike asked.
"To... to check up on you." Ember answered.why are you here ? Why are you wandering around in a cloak and not chained up like the other dragons? Why are other dragons here?" asked Spike.
"I can not say too much, but basically Henry's captured many dragons from Equestria, and locked them all up here." Ember said.
"Where is here ?" Spike asked.
"So why aren't you in captivity like the rest of the dragons?" Spike asked.
"Well that's just dandy." Spike said.
"How are you feeling Spike?" Ember asked.
"How am I doing? Let's see, the diagnosis reads; Spike is in a lot of physical and mental pain! That's how I am!" Spike said.
"I'm so sorry to hear." Ember said.
"I told you I can't!" Ember said.
"Because... Henry he... he..." Ember said.
"That's the other thing I've been wondering, who exactly is this Henry. Why did he kidnap me? How did he find me? And what's he trying to do with me?" Spike asked.
"I'm not able to tell you anything about who Henry is, nor can I disclose his plans. To be honest I'm still figuring out those details." Ember said.
"Some help you're turning out to me." Spike said rudely.
"Doesn't seem like it." Spike replied with sass.
"So why'd you even drop by in the first place?" Spike asked.
"Because I want to help." Ember said.
"I can't..." Ember said.
"...yet. I want to help you escape, along with the rest of the dragons. I'm working on a plan. So just hang in there while I come up with something." Ember said.
"So is that it? Today has been awful. And you're just going to let me suffer through many more hoping you actually develop a plan?!" Spike asked in tears.
"I know you're in a lot of distress Spike, and even that's an understatement. But the longer I stay, the bigger chance of me getting caught, and getting in a lot of trouble." Ember said.
"We're up against a threat like no other. Henry's technology is years ahead of anything that exists Equestria, and he is very dangerous." Ember said.
"Well isn't that just great..." Spike said in a slump.
"Don't worry, I'll visit frequently to help keep your moral up." Ember said.
"Spike, don't say that. You've got to keep going. For me, for your friends. For Twilight. I promise, there's light at the end of this... very dark tunnel." Ember said.
"Yeah right, Twilight probably doesn't even notice I'm gone." Spike said.
"I'll try." Spike said.
"Anyway, good night Spike." Ember said hesitantly walking away. She didn't want to leave Spike, but there was little else she could do.
"Any last words you want to say?" Spike asked.
"...Adieu... Ember." Spike said.
Ember walked out of the room and quietly closed the door. There was a glimmer of hope, but not much, but it was better than nothing, I suppose. Spike curled up and cried himself to sleep.
Well then, there you have it. What happens next? Does Ember come up with a decent plan for rescuing Spike and thwarting Henry's evil plan? Whatever his plan is. Does Spike ever reunite with his pony friends? Didn't Starlight say she was going to try to write a letter to Spike and send it via dragon mail? How does that pan out? Keep reading and find out. See you in chapter 7. And if don't like this fic because it's too mean to Spike, well... though luck. The fic is what it is. If you don't like it, here's a secret, you don't have to read it. Although keep reading if you want to know what happens next.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
In the last chapter, we saw what Spike had to endure. But what were Twilight's friends up to in the mean time?
Last time we saw her friends, they were in Fluttershy's cottage wondering what they could do to help Twilight.
Anyway, with that out of the way, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Starlight, all took a train to Canterlot, and visited Princess Celestia. Twilight had written countless letters to Celestia, and sent them via Spike. And Celestia had written plenty of letters too, so they figured she could help. Twilight herself was at home in her castle, they didn't want to include Twilight in their experiment, in case they got... undesirable results.
The mane 5 plus Starlight went to Canterlot and visited Celestia in her throne room.
"Greetings ponies. It's been a while since we last spoke." Celestia said.
"Yes, it's been a while since Chrysalis returned and kidnapped all of us." Rainbow Dash said.
"Twilight's... um..." Applejack thought about how to word the situation.
"Blunt, but true. Spike's been missing for a little while now." said Rarity.
"Not a clue, but that's why we're here." Starlight said.
"That's a brilliant idea! What are we waiting for? No time to lose, let's do it." Celestia said.
`With that, all of the ponies went to Celestia's... observatory? Library? Whatever room she used to be in when she recieved letters. They were in that room.
"So how do you want to do this little ponies?" Celestia asked.
"I don't know, just write a letter, send it... and see what kind of response we get." Starlight said.
"We didn't want to get her hopes up, in case this idea didn't go to plan." Applejack said.
"I'm sure any letter from any of us oughta be just as good. We're his friends too after all." Rainbow Dash said.
"Okay then! What should we write...?" Starlight asked.
"It better be grammatically correct to ensure that it isn't mistaken for spam mail." Rarity said.
"Ask him why we weren't invited to wherever he is!" Pinkie Pie said.
Starlight started scribbling down the letter.
"Okay! With all of your suggestions taken in to account, here's what I have so far." Starlight began to read.
'Howdy Spike, how are you doing we-" Starlight was inturpted.
"Right, duly noted." Starlight said.
Starlight erased the word and rewrote it. She read the next revision.
"Greetings Spike, how are you doing? We are very-" Starlight was interrupted again.
"Greetings!? Are we welcoming him to the Grand Galloping Gala!? No! This is an urgent letter!" Pinkie Pie said.
"No no, let me fix it anyway." Starlight said.
Starlight corrected the 'mistake', and read the next revision.
"Hi Spike, we-" Starlight was interrupted once more.
Starlight furiously redid the first word again, and then began to read.
"Dear Spike." Starlight paused to see if any of her friends had suggestions.
"Okay? Good. 'Dear Spike' we-" Starlight was interrupted after all.
"Maybe you could-"
"Oh Fluttershy, I'm so sorry." Starlight said.
"That's a sweet idea, I'm going to do just that." Starlight said.
She made some last minute scribbles.
"Alright, I think I got it this time." Starlight said, she read her final revision.
"Dear Spike, this is a letter from your friends. We are writing to you because we are very concerned. You left Ponyville so suddenly, and without a note or any thing explaining your absence. We are all worried, and would love to hear back from you. Sincerely, your friends in Ponyville. xoxo. How's that?" Starlight asked.
"Perfect. Now send the letter!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Should we? I mean. If Spike didn't leave a note, then maybe he doesn't want to be found." Starlight said.
"I don't know. I'm having second thoughts." Starlight said.
"No reply. Or worse..." Starlight said.
"Or, Spike replies with his location and asks us to find him!" Rainbow Dash said.
"If we forgot about dragon mail, and I don't blame us, we haven't used it in forever, then he probably forgot to." Rarity said.
"Any other objections? No? Good. Let's send it Princess Celestia." Rainbow Dash said.
Celestia used her magic, and (somewhat reluctantly) sent the letter. Her horn started to glow, and the letter curled up and positioned in front of her horn. Her horn grew brighter, until the letter went poof. It was gone. It was sent.
"...So, now what do we do? Fluttershy asked.
"We just wait I guess." Applejack said.
And so that's what they did. They waited... for about an hour or so. Ponies were pacing, were laying down, some even dozed off. Fluttershy rested her head on Rainbow Dash's stomach. Rarity took careful observations of the decor. After enough time passed, Starlight figured it'd been long enough.
"It's been an hour and still nothing." she said.
"Maybe we should head back to Ponyville. Twilight probably needs our support." Rarity said.
"We appreciate your help in these times Princess." Starlight said.
And with that, our little fillies left the observatory, and headed back for Ponyville, empty hoofed.
Celestia wasn't ready to put all her eggs in one basket though, so to speak. She thought about sending a second letter, in case there was a fluke with the first letter. And so she decided to do just that. Celestia wrote a second letter, and sent it through dragon mail. This second letter, unlike the first one, reappeared in front of Celestia moments after she sent it.
"Huh? That can't be right." Celestia said.
She tried to send it again, but the same result. This could have only meant one thing.
"This letter isn't even reaching its destination. That can only mean *gasp* that the receiving end has been disconnected!" Celestia panicked.
Princess Celestia had a flashback to long ago. When Twilight was still a filly, and soon after she had first received Spike, and the day she granted Spike the ability to send mail. Specifically a flashback to what was at first an ordinary day at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
"Okay little fillies, that's it for today. It's time to head home." Celestia said.
"Already? But I still have so many questions for you Princess." Twilight said. "If only there was some way we could still talk after class."
"Hmm, perhaps there is." Celestia said.
"Why don't I just show you little filly?" Celestia said. "Now if you don't mind. May I see Spike?" she asked.
Celestia put her horn up to Spike, and her horn glowed. Celestia had cast a spell.
"What just happened?" Twilight asked.
Celestia took a piece of paper, and used her magic on it. Moments later, Spike burped out the letter and it appeared in front of Twilight.
"Wow! Did you just send a letter through Spike!?" Twilight asked in astonishment.
"Yes, I did exactly that. Whenever you feel like talking, just write a letter, and Spike can send it." Celestia said.
That evening, Celestia must have received at least a dozen letters from Twilight. Celestia chuckled "That little filly's mind knows no limits." she said.
Thus concluding the flashback.
"...I hope Spike is okay. That little dragon means the world to Twilight." Celestia said. "It's extremely unlikely Spike could ever undo the spell himself. So it can only mean, somepony else did. But who? There's only one pony I can think of who could have taken Spike, but... that's not possible is it? *sigh* Please be safe Spike..."
On that... depressing note, that concludes the chapter. What happened to Spike's ability to send and receive letters? If they can't send letters, how else are they possibly going to figure out where Spike is? What horrible things await Spike next? Find out in chapter 8.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 8: Hope Has Faded
In the last chapter, we saw Twilight's friends attempt to send a letter to Spike. They sent the letter, but didn't receive a response. Celestia sent a second letter herself later on, but it came right back, indicating that the dragon mail spell had been undone. But how? Let's find out.
Spike was sitting alone in the cell for... hours? Days? All reference of time was gone. All he could do was sit and think out loud to himself.
"If my friends really do miss me, shouldn't they have found me by now?" Spike thought. "Unless... are we even friends?"
Spike had flashbacks of times he disappointed Twilight, and there were a surprising number of moments.
Spike sat in the cell, cold, and alone, the loneliest he'd ever felt. When all of the sudden, he felt something in his stomach rumbling.
"Oh man... what did I have for lunch?" Spike said feeling his stomach rumble.
And yes, it was the letter from the previous chapter.
Spike gasped.
"It can't be... can it?" He read the letter in his head.
"It's a letter from... my friends... Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Starlight, Rainbow Dash, Celestia, Pinkie Pie and... Twilight... they do miss me." Spike said in tears.
"I gotta reply!" he thought.
Spike pulled off one of his scales to use as a quill, but it would not write without ink.
"Oh shoot, come on. What in here can I use instead of ink?" Spike wondered.
"Oh man, am I that desperate?" Spike asked himself.that desperate." he answered.
Just before Spike was about to (you know what he was going to do), Henry walked in.
"Uh, Henry! How's it... hanging?" Spike said hiding the letter behind his back.
"What have you got behind your back?" Henry asked.
Henry used his magic and yanked the letter from Spike's claws.
Henry read it, crumpled it up and tossed it when he was done.
"So, still pen pals with that namby pamby princess?" he asked mockingly.
"We'll just have to fix that." Henry said.
Henry stomped on Spike, and forced him against the ground.
"OW! Get off of me!" Spike pleaded.
Henry used his magic on Spike.
"What are you doing-?!" it felt like Henry's magic was strangling Spike. Spike's life flashed before his eyes.
"What did you...?" Spike grabbed the crumpled letter, and breathed fire on it, but it simply disintegrated.
"Now you won't be able to send or recieve any more letters." Henry said.
Henry just grined. He had removed Spike's ability to send letters.
"Yeah well... well... I can still breath fire!" Spike said.
Spike breathed fire right in Henry's face. The fire scorched his face, but he didn't seem phased by it.
"What? But how...?" Spike was astonished.
"I've been burnt so many times it doesn't affect me anymore." Henry said.
"Enough horsing around, it's time for your next fight." Henry said.
"No! Not another fight! I don't think I can take a single other one!" Spike pleaded
"For the sake of my time, let's hope you don't." Henry dragged Spike by his chain collar.
"NO! Twilight! Any pony! Help!" Spike pleaded.
"You're lying! They wrote me a letter!" Spike exclaimed.
"Stop lying!" Spike yelled.
Spike was tossed into a small cell, where the floor underneath him collapsed, leading him to the arena for his next dragon fight.
And thus the cycle continued. A nightmare cycle that Spike had been living through for what felt like a few days at least. The letter incident happened relatively early on, but the fights went on for days thereafter, maybe weeks.
No matter how many dragon fights Spike had to endure, it never became easier.
Spike was pulverized by Whip's tail. Torched by Fume's... fumes. Smashed by Clump's tail. Slashed by Snake's claws. Constricted by Baff's tail. Rex chewed up and spit Spike right out. Vex's horns made quite the impression. And those were just a few examples.
Despite how brutal these beatings were, Spike still would never attempt to fight back. How could some pony pit fellow dragons against each other in such a cruel way? Spike refused to fight for that reason, but the other dragons didn't see it that way.
There were many questions Spike had on his mind. How did Henry managed to capture all these dragons? Why were they all doing as he commanded? The mystery was made deeper by Princess Ember, who was not in captivity at all. She wore a black cloak and seemed to wander the facility freely. But why?
The fights were devastating. After each fight, Spike was battered and bruised. Spike was then chained up, muzzled, and dragged by to his room to be scolded by Henry. Henry put a shock collar on Spike early on, but he didn't use it very often surprisingly. Mostly he let the dragons do the damage, but from time to time he'd shock Spike.
Here's just one of example of a typical conversation following a fight.
"You are such a miserable pile of defiance." Henry said.
"You can crush my bones, and you can crush my limbs, but you can't crush my spirit." Spike said struggling to stand up.
"I will never , do as you say." Spike said sternly.
"You can't resist forever." Henry said.
"The longer you resist, the longer our agenda will take." Henry said.not do your bidding." Spike said.
"If you don't lift and claw and fight back against those dragons, I'll make sure your next few fights will be your last." Henry said, as he slammed the door behind him and exited.
After Henry left, all that was left for Spike to do was sit and cry. Soon thereafter, Ember would walk through the door and visit. At least most of the time. She would visit to comfort Spike, which was about the only thing keeping him going.
Here's how their latest conversation went down.
"How are you doing Spike?" Ember asked.
"So how's that plan of yours Ember?" he asked.
"You have no plan do you?" Spike asked.
"Okay..." Spike said.
"I'm trying..." Spike said.
"And I miss them even more. I wish I could see them again, even just one more time." Spike said.
"Can I trust you? You still haven't explained why your fellow dragons are being held captive while you aren't. What's with that?" Spike asked.
"I don't have time to explain during these meetings. All I have time to do is comfort you briefly." Ember explained.
"I have to go." Ember said.
"Oh no you don't, I'm getting some answers. I'm sick of being in the dark, both literally and figuratively." Spike said.
"Your fellow dragons are being enslaved and forced to fight each other! But you, you just wandering around and let Henry get away with it!" Spike said.
"I realize that..." Ember said looking away.
"..." Ember didn't say anything.
"..." Ember covered her mouth she didn't want to speak.
"...It's complicated." Ember said in tears.
"I just let this all happen... I'm a terrible leader." Ember said on her knees, and covering her face.
"Oh Ember, we're both victims aren't we?" Spike said.
"I've never seen another dragon cry before." Spike said. "It's not like dragons to be all vulnerable."
"I'm glad we have each other." Spike said.
"Whatever's on your mind, you can tell me." Spike said.
"Is it because you can't tell me? Or you don't want to tell me?" Spike asked.
"Aww... but I feel like we're finally getting somewhere." Spike said.
"But I want to know what exactly is going on." Spike said.
"Okay..." Spike said.
"I'm not sure who to trust anymore. Reality feels so skewed." Spike said.
"Good night Ember." Spike said.
Ember walked out of the room. It was dangerous for Ember to stay in the room for too long, so there was no time for exposition.
And once Ember left, the cycle would repeat. Fight, then scolding, then Ember, and then maybe an hour to nap if Spike was lucky, but it never felt like long between fights. It was like an endless nightmare with no end. The cycle went on for days, maybe weeks at this point. No sign of hope, just bruises.
And that brings us to now. Spike sat in the cold cell, when Henry entered.
"It's time." he said.
Henry dragged Spike by the chain to the arena.
"What's your big idea anyway? How and why have you captured all these dragons? And for what? You're just making us fight each other. What's your plan? What's the goal here?" Spike asked.
Henry did not answer, he just threw Spike into the arena.
Spike's next opponent, was a rematch with Garble. The first rematch surprisingly.
"So squirt, back for another beating?!" Garble said?
"But beating up defenseless pipsqueaks like you is too much fun." Garble said.
"No can do. We've all tried individually, but Henry is untouchable." Garble said.
"You use big words for a dragon who doesn't fight. Now fight!" Garble demanded.
Henry and his two hench ponies watched from the sidelines.
"I just don't know what you see in this dragon, boss. Maybe it's time to call it quits on him." Jeff said.
Henry growled, he was clearly getting impatient.
"I've had enough of this. Hit your opponent!" Henry yelled.
"This is your last warning! Either fight that dragon, or I'll make you!" Henry threatened as he held up his remote control.
"Have it your way." Henry said, he then turned up the dial, activating the shock collar around Spike.
"Shocking your own dragon to death? Fine, just get this match over with." Sawtooth said.
"Trust me, I got this." Henry said, as he dialed his remote to continue the shock.
Spike continued to be shocked.
Spike threw his fist forward, and miraculously hit Garble square in the chest, knocking him back, onto the ground. Garble was out cold. The shocking stopped.
"Oh my gosh are you okay?" Spike ran to Garble's side, but he was out.
The moment was interrupted by the sound of applause over a loudspeaker, followed by gems raining down on Spike.
"G-g-gems?" Spike was surprised to see gems raining from the ceiling, his eyes widened. He picked one up, and put it in his mouth.
"Yum. Maybe things aren't all bad." he said.
After the fight, Spike was still dragged to his room, only now Henry's hench ponies Jeff and Sawtooth dragged bags of gems into Spike's room.
"So, what does victory feel like?" Henry said.
"I see you're still being a bit rebellious, we'll continue to work on that." Henry said.
"You so sure about that? Don't those gems taste good? Don't they make you forget all your troubles?" Henry asked. Spike started to feel memorized.
"Just put up a fight, and more gems could be yours." Henry said in a hypnotic tone.
"No way! Don't think this means I'll pony up and serve you. I still refuse to listen you." Spike said while laying on a pile of gemstones.
"Heheh, we'll see about that." Henry said with a smirk.
Henry and hench ponies left the room, and slammed the door.
"What's his deal?" Spike wondered, and then proceeded to eat more gems.
Ember entered the room a few minutes later.
"Are you okay Spike?" Ember asked.
"Wow! What a load of gems you got!" she said.
"Where'd they all come from?" Ember asked.
"Oh no, you're not giving in to Henry's orders are you?" Ember asked concerned.
"What are you going to do next fight? Are you going to fight back or...?" Ember asked.
"Okay then... Mind if I?" Ember reached for a gem.
"Claws off!" Spike said knocking Ember's hand. "I earned these myself! I won all these in a fight. Not you." he said, sounding a bit rude.
*GASP* Ember gasped.
"You sure you're okay Spike?" Ember asked again.
"What about your friends?" Ember asked.
"My... my friends?" Spike hadn't thought about his friends in a while.
"You know, you're right. I do still miss them, a lot." Spike said.
"You're right, they definitely miss me, and they probably aren't feeling too good without me." Spike said.
"Okay... so, breaking out. How's that plan?" Spike asked.
"You still don't have a plan do you?" Spike said.
"...really." Spike said doubtfully.
"Well anyway, I gotta go. And remember, stay true." Ember said.
"Well alright then... bye." Ember said.
Ember turned around and exited the room, and was quite worried. Normally Spike is in shambles after a match, and is in need of comfort, but right now he was just enjoying his gems, not giving much thought. Was Spike honest when he assured Ember that he was fine? Or was he starting to slip? And what of all those questions still unanswered? Who is Henry? What's his plan? Why are all these dragons in captivity? Why wasn't Ember of all dragons in captivity? Where is this secret location anyway? Can Twilight and friends ever hope to locate Spike? Just what, happens next? Gotta keep reading to find out.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 9: Twilight Snaps
In the last Chapter, we saw where Spike was being held captive, and things were not going very well. In this chapter, we will see how the ponies in Ponyville were doing. And as of late, not well. The ponies still had no clue as to Spike's location.
There was a huge search effort across Equestria dedicated to finding Spike. There were several search parties spanning many locations over the course of days, but every attempt to locate Spike turned up empty. No pony could find Spike. Twilight Sparkle lead most of the searches. She lead searches in Appaloosa, Manehatten, Griffonstone, and more. Many ponies would volunteer to help, but no matter the number of volunteers, it didn't seem to matter. Though all their help was appreciated, it was so far all for not.
Twilight grew more distraught with each failed search, she was in utter shambles. Her friends all felt awful, but there was not much they could do. What could they even do with Spike's whereabouts still unknown?
It had been days now, nay, weeks since Spike disappeared. Finally, enough was enough, and Twilight made the difficult decision to halt searches for the time being, to the surprise of everypony. Twilight decided to put official searches on hiatus until further notice.
And that brings us to the present time. Just how were Twilight Sparkle and friends coping at this stage of the story? Let's take a look.
Ponyville was fairly quiet. Ponies still went about their daily lives, but there was an unsettling atmosphere in the air. Twilight's sadness seemed to flow through the air and affect everypony to an extent. Twilight rarely come out of her castle anymore, and her friends were growing worried. Fluttershy had decided to visit Twilight. She hadn't spoken with or seen Twilight in a few days, and was worried for Twilight's well-being.
"Twilight? It's me, Fluttershy." she knocked on the front door of Twilight's castle.
"Hello? Are you home?" she asked.
The door opened, it wasn't locked, or even closed all the way. Fluttershy decided to enter.
"Twilight?" she asked wandering the castle. The castle was eerily quiet. No activity in the front room. Fluttershy decided to check the library.
"You in here Twilight?" she asked.
"Hi Twilight. So how are you doing?" Fluttershy asked.
"Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked.
"Because, you know who is still..." Fluttershy said hesitantly.
There was a pause in the atmosphere.
"So, what have you been up to?" Twilight asked, quickly changing the subject, and changing mood.
"Oh the usual. Or at least, as usual as possible." Fluttershy said.
"Oh? You sure you don't want to talk anymore?" Fluttershy asked.
"But what about Spike?!" Fluttershy asked through the front door.
Twilight stopped in her tracks when Fluttershy mentioned the name, Fluttershy could hear her hoofsteps from inside. But then she soon continued to trot away. Fluttershy was confused. She kicked her hoof in the dirt, and thought. And then she got an idea. She knew what she had to do.
Later in the day, there was some more knocking on Twilight's door. Twilight trotted to the door, and opened it. It was her friends. Fluttershy had gathered Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash together.
"Oh, hey girls." Twilight said peaking through the door.
"Hello darling, we need to talk." Rarity said.
"Too bad, it's been too long, we got some catchin' up to do." Applejack said.
Twilight lead her friends to the map room, where they each sat down in their own respective thrones. Starlight Glimmer joined the ponies, and stood beside Twilight. And now they were all ready to talk, or rather ready to try talking.
Twilight was in such a calm, yet stern mood. No pony wanted to say anything that could upset Twilight, but at the same time, they did want to talk about Spike. It was kind of troubling that first she called off the searches, and now she didn't even seem want to talk about him at all. They all sat at the map table in awkward silence, not sure what to say, until finally some pony spoke.
"So Twilight, how's your... wings... working out?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to start a conversation.
"Oh just fine." she replied.
"You know, I'm confident I definitely could become a wonderbolt if I tried, but I'm already Princess of Friendship. And although first Princess Wonderbolt would be neat, I think that'd be overachieving." Twilight said.
"Is that... so." Rainbow Dash said, awkwardly ending the conversation.
"So Applejack, how have your apples been?" Twilight asked.
"Oh you know. Apples, have just been... apples." Applejack replied.
"Since when has grape juice been your specialty?" Starlight asked.
"And Rarity, have any ideas for new fashion lines yet?" Twilight asked.
"Not as of late darling. New ideas are very hard to come up with. Some days I come up with new lots ideas without even trying, and then there's long periods of creative drought. Just depends on my mood, and right now my mood has not been the best." Rarity replied.
"Mmmhmm. So is that all?" she asked.
The atmosphere was growing especially awkward. Normally having conversations wasn't so hard for her friends to do, but something was off about Twilight that didn't resonate well with the other ponies.
"Okay, since we're all thinking it I'm just going to say it; is anypony going to mention Spike?!" Pinkie stood up and exclaimed.
The awkward silence now became an uncomfortable awkward silence.
"Um, Pinkie? We try not to mention the S word in the castle." Starlight said.
"Why not?!" Pinkie asked, gritting her teeth.
"No no, it's fine Starlight. She wants to talk, so let's talk." Twilight said.don't you want to talk about Spike?" Pinkie asked.
"It's not that I don't want to talk about... you know who, it's just, not the right time." Twilight said. She didn't stare Pinkie in the eyes, she sort of wandered off.
"So when is it the right time Twilight?" Pinkie asked.
"So what you're saying is, just because you can't find Spike you've decided to both give up the search, and forget about him?!" Pinkie exclaimed.
The room went silent.
"Well, give up is a harsh way to put it but-" Twilight started, but was interrupted by Pinkie.
"BUT! That's exactly what you're doing!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I just can't believe you would do such a thing!"
Everypony was shocked and looked at Fluttershy. Twilight gave her an angry scorn.
"I mean... that's just my... opinion." she slumped underneath the cutie map.
"You think I haven't been trying to find him?" Twilight started to show her true feelings.
"You think I haven't tried?! I searched everywhere! I've spoken to leaders across Equestria! None of them have seen him! Not in Appaloosa, Crystal Empire, Manehatten, nowhere!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Just because nopony has seen Spike, doesn't mean he isn't out there somewhere!" Pinkie argued.
*GASP* everypony in the room gasped.
"How can you say that Twilight?!" Rarity asked.
"If there's anything I've learned in my studies, it's that the theory with the most evidence is typically the one that's correct. And right now, evidence saying that Spike is still out there is... is non-existent!" Twilight blurted out.
"Even if we assume Spike is... *gulp* is choosing to not think about him the right way to handle this situation?" Applejack asked.
"If anypony has any better idea, I'd love to hear it!" Twilight said in tears.is our friend too." Rainbow Dash said.
"Spike was your friends too, but Spike and I were... extra special friends." Twilight said tearing. "None of you know what I'm going through!" she said.
"Twilight! You're not the only one with a reptilian companion! Me and Gummy share an inseparable bond, just like you and Spike." Pinkie Pie said.
"And remember when Tank went into hibernation? Remember how devastated I was? We've all gone through hard times Twilight. You're not alone on this." Rainbow Dash said.
"Well this is different. Hibernation is temporary. With Spike it's just... gahh!" Twilight said.
"I want to be left alone! Now get out of my face! " Twilight snapped in Pinkie's face.
Everypony went quiet. Pinkie got choked up.
Everypony looked at Twilight.
"What are you all looking at?! This meeting is dismissed!" she said and trotted out of the room.
Meanwhile, Pinkie was quite peeved outside.
She walked away from the castle in spite.
"Gee, it's sure not like Twilight act so rude. Not to mention she didn't appreciate my advice. She just shot down everything I had to say!" Pinkie thought out loud.
"Then why not help ponies with more open minds? Ponies who'd appreciate your help." said a voice.
"Psst . Come here." said a mysterious pony in a trench coat, standing adjacent to Pinkie.
"Try Ponyville hospital. There's lot of sick ponies who can use some positive energy, maybe a laugh or two. You may even find somepony there with something shocking to tell you." said the trench coat pony.
"Hmm. You know what? You're right! I think that's a swell idea. Thanks stranger!" Pinkie turned around and trotted the other way.
"Wait a second. What do you mean somepony might have something shocking to tell me?" Pinkie asked, but when she turned around again, the trench coat pony was gone.
"Huh. Where'd they go? Oh well, maybe they had somewhere important to be. When you gotta go, you gotta go!" Pinkie said.
"Well then, I guess I know where I'm heading off to." she said as she trotted off.
Back inside the castle, Twilight's friends were at a loss for actions.
"Should we...?" Fluttershy asked, not knowing how to end her question.
"*sigh* This is taking a bigger on toll on Twilight than I could have imagined." Starlight said.
"Yeah well, nothing like this has happened before to her so..." Starlight said.
"Wow, Rainbow Dash is calling out another pony for their actions." Applejack said.
"Oh nothing." Applejack said slyly.
"Agreed. You can face the bull head on when it's angriest, or wait for it to use up its energy and crash." Applejack said.
"Girls, stay focused. I think we've done all we can for now. It's probably best if we gave Twilight room to breathe." Starlight said.
"I don't know, it doesn't feel right to just do nothing and wait for Twilight to get better." Rainbow Dash said.
"Touche darling." Rarity said.
"I guess it is. I wish Twilight the best of wishes." Fluttershy said.
"Well, see you later girls." Starlight said.
With that, her friends all left the castle, and they waved good bye to each other.
"Where do you think Pinkie Pie went?" Fluttershy asked.
"Probably doing whatever Pinkie does." Rainbow Dash answered.
Meanwhile, Starlight broke her own rule, and wandered to Twilight's bedroom door. Rainbow was right, it didn't feel right leaving Twilight all to herself, even if she says it's what she wanted.
"Twilight?" Starlight knocked on her bedroom door. "Are you in here?"
Starlight wandered into Twilight's bedroom. Twilight was laying on her bed, face planted into her pillow. She was crying, Starlight could hear, and see the tears pouring from her face.
"Are you okay? It's not like you to snap at your friends." Starlight said.
Twilight said something, but her voice was too muffled to hear what it was.
"You know, your friends have a point. You cant just stop thinking about Spike and let yourself forget about him." Starlight said.
Twilight sat up and looked at Starlight.
"Whether Spike is out there, or... not. It's important to acknowledge him. I know how special Spike was- I mean is to you." Starlight said.
"...But it hurts to think about him." Twilight finally said.
"The more I think about, what he means to me *sniff* and what I mean to him, the more it hurts." Twilight said. "And the more I think about how much I love him, and how much he loves me... *sob*."
"Well no matter how much it hurts, you aren't going to feel any better by pretending he never existed." Starlight said.
"Tell me about Spike. I'm sure you have a hundred stories you could tell me about you and Spike." Starlight said.
Twilight sat, and reminisced about Spike...
She had a flashback to a cold night in the castle.
"Twilight?" asked a scared Spike.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"Okay. Anything for you my sweet little prince."
Spike climbed into bed with Twilight. He brought his own blanket, and laid snuggled beside her.
"What was your dream about?" asked Twilight.
"In my dream, everyone in Equestria had disappeared besides me. I was all alone. It was so awful." Spike said.
"I feel so safe in your grasp. I hope that never changes." Spike said.
"Really?" Spike asked.
"I'm glad I can count on you Twilight." Spike said.
"*yawn* Good night Twilight." Spike was falling asleep. Twilight's story put Spike to sleep, in a good way.
They both closed their eyes.
"...I love you Twilight." Spike said.
"...and I love you too, Spike." Twilight said.
Flashback concluded.
"Spike is... Spike's my best friend in all of Equestria. I love all of my friends, but Spike, has a special place in my heart, reserved just for him." Twilight said.
"I promise you he's out there. I just know it." Starlight said.
"So why should you?" Starlight asked.
And there you have it. Twilight tried to hide her feelings, but all she was really doing was bottling them up.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 11: Pinkie Investigates
It had been several weeks since Spike's disappearance. This chapter takes place one day after the events of Chapter 9. Without Spike, Twilight was in shambles, and her friends grew worried. They wanted to help, but they had done all they could. Or rather I should say, they've done almost all they could do. A certain Pink pony wasn't ready to give up, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. How were Twilight's friends doing since their conversation yesterday?
Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were all having lunch at the Ponyville Café. Twilight and Starlight were in the castle, and Pinkie Pie... well we'll get to her.
"I just feel terrible, we've done everything we could, but after searching most every inch of Equestria, nothing. And now Twilight's more heartbroken than ever." Rarity said.
"I know right? This sucks, I've never felt so helpless before. I wish I could just fly to wherever Spike is and bring him back home where he belongs." said Rainbow Dash.
No pony wanted to admit defeat, or give up, but the odds were stacked against them.
"You've been quiet sugarcube, anything on your mind?" Applejack asked Fluttershy.
"My biggest worry, is that if Twilight remains in isolation for too long, what that can do to her psyche. If she continues to mope in her room alone, I fear after enough time she may fall into a spiral of depression..." Fluttershy said.
"Wow Fluttershy, way to be a downer." Rainbow Dash said.
"Maybe not, but I'm still concerned." Fluttershy said.
"I think she mentioned something about helping out ponies in the hospital. She said something about wanting to help any pony she could, as she didn't feel helpful around Twilight." Applejack said.
And that brings us to Ponyville Hospital, where Pinkie Pie was indeed there helping out. She had walked up to the clerk's desk, and asked what she could do to help. The clerk told her she could hand out flowers to help cheer up the sick and injured ponies. The clerk pointed Pinkie in the direction of the rooms, and she went on her way.
Okay, here we go. Should I be cheery and over the roof? Or is that not appropriate? Twilight didn't seem to appreciate my energy, so why would these patients? Maybe this wasn't a good idea. I took that stranger's advice yesterday, but now I'm not so sure what to do.
"What's the hold up? Why are you standing there?" asked a doctor who was passing by.
Alright Pinkie, you can do this. You gotta believe in yourself. Keep it lively, but not too over the top. she thought.
Finally, Pinkie worked up the confidence to enter the room.
"Hey every pony, it's your neighborhood party planner Pinkie Pie!" she said.
"And while I am known for parties, I'm here just to put smiles on your faces with smaller, not so loud acts of kindness, like handing out flowers." Pinkie said.
Pinkie surveyed the room. There were three patients in this particular room. She walked up to the first patient on the right.
"What do we have here? A case of the pony pox? I remember when Apple Bloom had the most severe case of pony pox I'd ever seen. You look to be in better shape than she was, and I hope you get well soon." Pinkie said. She put a flower on the desk next to the patient.
The patient couldn't speak, but they nodded and smiled.
Pinkie walked to next patient, a pony who looked sick to the stomach.
"Oh what's this? Looks like some pony's eaten baked bads, been there done that. Least fun experience involving sweets I've ever had. Here's a token of my good will, and I hope you recover soon." Pinkie sat the flower on the patient's lap.
Finally was the last, and most perplexing of the patients in the room.
"And here we have... huh? What do we have here? I don't recognize this. This pony is completely frozen! But without ice!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
"Excuse me Nurse, what's going on here?" asked Pinkie the nurse in the room.
"Tell me nurse about this Paralysisasisasisasis." Pinkie asked.
"Hmm, electricity. That is pretty shocking... Shocking, that's what the stranger told me yesterday. Is this what they were talking about? Pinkie thought.
"How long has the patient been here?" she asked.
"The day after Baby Moon Beam's party? Hmm, *GASP* Spike went missing the day after Moon Beam's party! Coinkydink!? It seems unlikely, but it's a lead, and we haven't had any lead until now. Something tells me this pony knows something important." Pinkie said.
"Whatever you say, but looks like he won't be speaking anytime soon." the nurse said.
"Darn. So tell me nurse, do you know what caused this?" Pinkie asked.
"Interesting, hmm, wait... WHAT TRAIN DERAILING?!" Pinkie asked.
"You didn't hear? The night of the party, the Friendship Express derailed late at night on its way to Ponyville for docking. The incident injured the few ponies who were on board, but thankfully no lives were lost." The nurse said.
"I'm mostly surprised that the train derailed and nopony told any of us! Was this talked about at all?" Pinkie asked.Spike the Brave and Glorious, Gone Missing.
"How does an entire train derail anyway?" Pinkie asked.
"Who is they ?" Pinkie asked.
"Alrighty then, so what do we have in front of us? A pony who was paralyzed in a train accident that happened on the same night Spike went missing. We don't know how the train derailed, or how this pony here was paralyzed, or how Spike fits into this if at all." Pinkie pondered. "GAH! So many questions! This looks like a job for Detective Pinkie Pie!"
Pinkie pulled out her detective hat and put it on her head. She then pulled out her pipe and put it in her mouth, and blew bubbles. All in the name of unleashing Detective Pinkie Pie. Equestria's Greatest Detective.
Pinkie paced back and forth.
"Let's do some deep thinking. Spike just might have been involved in this incident, and that pony is the only one I know who definitely saw it. Did Spike attack the train? What did the pony see?!" she thought out loud.
"But without his eyewitness account, my ideas have no evidence to back them up! Oh, if only you could talk. The things you could tell me." she said.
Pinkie was thinking of solutions, when she got an idea.
"Maybe he can! A little medicine always cured something to an extent. I'm no expert on medicine, but I know a Zebra who is. Leave the detective work to me, and the healing to her." Pinkie said.
Pinkie zoomed out of the hospital, and returned soon thereafter with an elixir.
"Alright so normally I would've have shared my conversation with Zecora, but I handled everything behind the scenes. All you need to know is that she gave me this elixir that she said will cure this pony's paralysis. She said "If this pony has, what you seek, a dash of my brew, will make him speak." I know that this seems anti-climactic, and you're probably already typing up a review saying "You introduced a mystery just to solve moments later? There's no build up!" Well first off, thank you for the feedback, and second, this is only a small piece of the puzzle. I'm on a mission to solve the big mystery of Spike's location. I thought I'd just cut to the important details. Sometimes if you have a lot of ideas, it pays to streamline them." Pinkie said.
"Who are you talking to?" the nurse asked.
"Nobody. I'm just thinking out loud." Pinkie said.
"Zecora gave me this medicine which is supposed to cure the paralysis." Pinkie said.
The elixir didn't seem to do anything at first, but then the pony started to twitch. Then got up in a pinch.
"AAHH! I'm sorry I just wanted to help sir!" the pony sat up and screamed.
The Conductor narrated his flashback of the night Spike disappeared.
"Me and the other ponies in charge of operating the Friendship Express were on the train. We had departed from the Crystal Empire and were bound for Ponyville to dock the train for the night. We were about halfway there, when..." His voice tailed off.
Everything was going well, when all of the sudden there was a massive collision at the front of the train. Every pony in the cabins flew forward, and then sideways as the train fell of its rails and landed on its side. It landed on its side, and made a deafening sound of metal screeching against the ground. The train came to a screeching halt. As quickly as it happened, things went quiet.
All the ponies were in the dark, and injured. Most couldn't get up, and even fewer had any idea what to do. The Conductor was miraculously fine, he was in the front cabin. He used an emergency exit on the ceiling to get out of the train. He made his way outside to investigate what they could have possibly hit.
"What did you see? What hit the train?" Pinkie asked.
"I approached the carriage, and then..." he explained.
The Conductor was gripped by a powerful magic force. The eyes of the largest of the ponies lit up, and stared into his soul.
"What are you doing? Stop this! AAAHH!" the Conductor screamed. And then his world went blank.
"I felt a huge sensation of pain throughout my whole body, and that was the last thing I remembered before everything went blank. And the next thing I knew, I was here woken up by you, which brings us to now." he said.
The flashback concluded.
Pinkie thought deep about the story.
"So... the night Spike vanished, a horseless carriage made of metal crashed into the Friendship Express? What has that got to do with Spike?" Pinkie asked. "You didn't see Spike there did you?"
"Right, if it collided head on, and you were heading to Ponyville, then the horseless carriage was going the opposite direction, meaning they came from Ponyville and headed somewhere North." Pinkie said.
"Are you still hurt?" Pinkie asked.
"You're welcome. And thank you very much for your insight Mr. Conductor Pony. Any evidence is valuable evidence." Pinkie said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a baby dragon to find!"
Pinkie Pie wasted no time assembling the evidence. She theory crafted in her secret party planning room. She had a giant map of Equestria on her wall, with all the areas the ponies had searched for Spike crossed out with red marker, and thumbtacks embedded in the map. Pinkie was using her new knowledge to try to figure out where Spike could be.
"Assuming there really was a so called horseless carriage that collided with the train but survived, and assuming Spike was inside said carriage, then it leaves reason to believe that Spike was taken by whoever the driver of the metal horseless carriage. Metal horseless carriage, metal horseless carriage, gee that's a mouthful. I should shorten it. Horseless carriage? Carriage? Ca-ca-... car? Sure we'll go with that car." she said.
"The train was heading South to Ponyville when it collided with the car, meaning the car was doing the opposite. It was departing from Ponyville after kidnapping Spike, and heading North." she said. "So we can safely assume that Spike is North of this latitude." She drew a latitude line in her map.
"Hmm, but we already searched North, but maybe we didn't search far enough North." she thought.
Pinkie looked at her map.
"The furthest point North we searched for Spike was the Crystal Empire, however, that isn't the Northernmost point in Equestria." Pinkie looked beyond the Crystal Empire.
"Could Spike, be hidden... in the-" Pinkie's thought was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.
Pinkie went outside, and met with Derpy who was delivering the mail.
"What do we have here? It's a letter from the Yaks!" she said.
"Wait a second, I never wrote a letter to the Yaks! So what gives? Is there an identity thief sending letters under my name? Eh. I'll worry about it later." Pinkie said.
She kept reading the letter in Yak impression.
"Yaks no see purple dragon in snow, however, Yaks do find mysterious tracks in snow. Tracks not made by Yaks, or ponies, or dragons. Not sure if related to purple dragon, but Yaks thought Pink Pony be interested." -The Yaks.
Included was a photo of the tracks in question. Pinkie took one look at the photo and gasped.
"These tracks look like they were made by something traveling on rubber wheels! They match exactly with the Conductor's description of the metal horseless carriage car thingy!" she exclaimed.
Pinkie ran back to her investigation room, and placed the photograph on her map where the coordinates said it was taken.
"If we follow the coordinates, that would mean the photo was taken here. If North is that way, then the tracks were heading East, this way." Pinkie drew a line on her map.
"If Spike was kidnapped by somepony driving a metal horseless carriage car heading North of the Crystal Empire but East of Yakyakistan, then all this evidence paints an picture pointing..."
Pinkie drew an arrow on her map. She then drew a circle that the arrow pointed to.
*GASP* "Oh my gosh!"
Pinkie had figured it out.
"TWILIGHT! I KNOW WHERE SPIKE IS!" Pinkie ran out of Sugercube Corner with the news, yelling and screaming through Ponyville. She ran strait for Twilight's castle to deliver the news.
"Twilight! I-" Pinkie busted through the doors of Twilight's castle, where Applejack immediately put her hoof in Pinkie's mouth. The other members of the mane 6 were in the castle too.
"Hold on there sugarcube. What's got you more riled up than a dog at a barking convention?" Applejack asked.
"Oh hey girls." Twilight and Starlight walked into the room. Twilight greed her friends. "Didn't know you were here. And Pinkie, sorry for yesterday." she apologized.
"I forgive you. How are you feeling yourself Twilight?" Pinkie asked.
"You girls aren't going to believe this." Pinkie said.
Pinkie took a deep breath, and spoke.
"I think I might know where Spike is." Pinkie said.
"As you can see, these are all the locations we searched for Spike. We've searched almost everywhere, except for..." Pinkie pointed furiously to the Northern section of the map.
"I believe Spike was taken North, beyond the Crystal Empire. He's hidden somewhere in the snowy region of Frozen North." Pinkie Pie said.
Every pony was silent.
"I can see you're all silent with awe. Allow me to explain myself." Pinkie took a deep breath before beginning her lengthy explanation.
"Here's what happened; Something broke in and entered your castle and stole Spike right from under your snout! They stuffed him in some kind of horseless carriage, and drove North. On the way, they collided with the Friendship Express, causing it to derail. The carriage was unharmed, which is remarkable, and scary. They paralyzed a pony who I met at the hospital, and they continued to drive. Normally that'd be it, but my friends the Yaks found, THIS!" Pinkie pointed to the picture of the tracks. "Tracks that match the Conductor's description of what he saw. The truth is obvious. Spike was kidnapped and taken to some secret facility in the Frozen North!" Pinkie exclaimed.
She and the other ponies looked at her map, and read the notes she'd written. After a couple of minutes, all the ponies in the room were up to speed.
"Twilight? Twilight?" Pinkie asked, but Twilight stood silent.
"I think what everypony's trying to say is, is that this is a lot to take in at once." Starlight said.I was going to say, was that I have to admit it, but your evidence is... compelling. Spike didn't run away, he was taken, and based on this evidence, that's where he was taken." Twilight said. "For weeks there's been no trace, and now to have a solid lead, it feels, I don't know how it feels."
"So even if you've potentially figured out where Spike is, the question remains; who took Spike?" Rarity asked the dreaded question.
There was another period of silence, that was soon interrupted.
*knock knock*
"There's somebody at the door." Applejack said.
Twilight opened the door, and there were two ponies at the doorway.
"Hello Twilight." said the pony.
"More on that later, but we're here about your lost dragon." Mr. Beam said.
"We don't need your insider info! I already figured out roughly where Spike could be." Pinkie said. "He's very likely based on our evidence around this red circle North of the Crystal Empire. Take a look."who took Spike?" Mr. Beam asked.who took Spike." Mrs. Beam said.Our son... " they said simultaneously.
Wait... what?! Things just got weird. These characters we saw in just the first chapter aren't one offs? How can this be? Their daughter was little baby Moon Beam, but their son... took Spike? It's all very strange indeed. Tune in next chapter where the story continues. Who's perspective next chapter? Find out later. You won't want to miss it.
Apologies if this chapter is on the longer side, but there is a lot of information to get through.
Also, my other fics aren't abandoned, they're just taking more time than this fic, but they are coming.
Have a nice day.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 12: Some Back Story
It was a typical day at the dragon lands. Princess, I mean, Dragon Lord Ember was basking in the glory of being the newest, and youngest Dragon Lord. She had all the dragons beneath her knees, and at her bidding. Being Dragon Lord should have been easy. Dragons are mostly loners, they don't require maintenance, or guidance, just the occasional scolding to put them in place. That is what Dragon Lord Ember thought, but there are some things... you just can't prepare for.
"Ah, this is the life. Becoming Dragon Lord is the best thing that's happened to me." Ember said to herself. She sat on her throne like the royalty she was.
Yep, she was enjoying the life.
As dragon lord, she didn't have many responsibilities, however, she did find herself answering some questions from time to time.
"Uh Ember? Where do you want this rock?" Vex came into her throne room and asked her.
"Put it rest rest of the rocks. Duh." Ember said.
"You don't say?!" Ember said.
Vex flew off to do other dragon duties.
"Any more questions? No? Can I relax now...? Good." Ember leaned back and relaxed, basking in the glory of being dragon lord. That didn't last long until she was interrupted yet again.
"Dragon Lord Ember!" Clump and Fume flew towards Ember. They looked very worried, and were basically panicking.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Ember asked, expressing genuine concern.
"He what!?" Ember raised her voice.
"Well then go back and find him!" Ember demanded.
"What? No! Because he owes me a foot rub! Besides, no dragon is going to slack off on my watch! Now go and find him!" Ember said.
"Right away your dragon lord-ship." they said.
With her command, Clump and Fume flew off to look for Garble.
A few days passed, but neither Clump or Fume ever came back.
Ember was taking a walk through the dragon lands, searching herself for Clump and Fume.
"Ugh. Where are those slackers?" she asked herself.
In fact, the rest of the dragon lands was beginning to feel a lot more... quiet.
"What if something bad actually happened to them?" Ember wondered to herself. "Where are all my dragons going? Either everyone decided to ditch at once, or something bad's happening."
"What do I do? I'm the leader, I should know what to do, but I'm not so sure right now." she said to herself.
"Lord Ember!" Fizzle called out. He flew to Ember's side.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Who's coming?" Ember asked.Them ." Fizzle pointed over yonder.
Ember could see a tower of smoke in the distance, and something heading their way. She had a very bad feeling about what was coming, but wasn't ready to step down from any threat.
What they saw stunned all of them.
It was an armored car, and it was driving into the heart of the dragon lands. The dragons watched as it came in closer. It rolled up to, and parked only about a dozen meters from Ember.
The dragons weren't sure what to do. Was it was worth attacking now? Or should they wait to see what could be inside the vehicle?
Finally after some tense moments, two doors on opposite sides of the car opened, and two ponies stepped out of the vehicle, one marginally larger than the other, and both wearing fireproof body armor and masks. They had heavy gear attached to them.
"May I help you pony?" Ember asked the mystery ponies.
"Yes you can. I'm conducting a little experiment, and I require that you and your dragons all surrender this instant." the pony said.
The dragons laughed at the idea. Surrender? No way!
"Pardon my manners, allow me to introduce myself. They call me Henry , and this is my second in command Jeffery. You may consider us researchers of sorts. Now then, if you would, surrender at once." Henry said.
"Why should we!?" Ember asked.
*gasp* "What have you done with Garble and the others!?" Ember asked startled.
"Pfft. You make big talk, but you're just a pony. What could you possibly do to harm us!?" Ember asked.
"I'll give you the count of three to surrender." he said.
"What do we do Ember?" asked Vex.
"I don't know yet." Ember said.
"One..." Henry counted down.
"You're not actually afraid of this pony? We're dragons. We're tougher as nails, ain't no pony knock us down!" said Billy.
"Two..." Ember and the other dragons were getting in fighting positions.
"Alright dragons. Get ready for the fight of your lives." Ember said.
"That's what I like to hear!" Fizzle said.
"Three!" Henry called out.
At that, Henry and the dragons engaged in combat.
Vex lunged forward, when Henry pulled out his weapon of choice. He fired an electric harpoon directly into Vex. It electrocuted him, tied him up, and brought him crashing to the ground.
Every dragon gazed in shock and horror.
"Don't hold back! Keep going!" Ember commanded. She commanded her dragons while she stood a safe distance away.
Fizzle flew up to try to breath fire onto Henry. Partly thanks to his armor, Henry resisted the flames long enough for Jeff to fire a harpoon into Fizzle, which electrocuted him, and brought him to the ground.
Snake flew up and tried to claw Henry. He dodged it, lunged forward and kicked Snake in the jaw, knocking him out cold.
Whip snuck up from behind, and tried to knock over the car with his massive tail. Henry spotted him, grabbed him by the tail and flung him up and over, slamming him onto the ground.
Prominence flew after Jeff, but Henry pressed a button on his remote control, which detonated a net that launched from the side of the car, trapping and electrocuting her.
"No!" Ember cried out, watching her dragons fall one by one.
Billy breathed fire from distance, it was ineffective against Henry and Jeff's armor.
"So they're fighting smarter, but not smart enough." Henry said to himself.
"Sawtooth, it's time. Deploy it now!" Henry ordered through his walkietalkie.
With Henry's command, Sawtooth piloted a flying machine with a giant propeller (some of you may know them as 'helicopters'). It flew up from behind the hill, and hovered overhead.
The helicopter looked menacing, so the dragons regrouped around Ember to strategize.
"What is that thing?" asked Ballista.
"I don't know what that flying machine is, but I know that I don't like it!" Ember said.
"Here's what we're going to do. Half of you attack their air machine, the other half attack the land vehicle!" Ember commanded.
The few dragons remaining swarmed, covering half and half like Ember said.
The first swarm of dragons flew towards the helicopter to attack. They attempted to breath fire on the helicopter, but it was ineffective. Sawtooth dropped a net on the dragons, trapping most of them. He then pressed a button in the cockpit that electrified the dragons entangled in the net.
Henry and Jeff continued to fire harpoons into the dragons that swarmed on the ground. None of them stood a chance.
Henry twisted Viverno's neck, and threw him onto the ground. And just like that, Ember's army of dragons were reduced to a bunch of broken spirits. There were no remaining dragons in the immediate vicinity that were able to fight.
"It's over Lord Ember. Your army's defeated." Henry said. "Do you surrender now?"
There was one last hope. Ember wielded the Bloodstone Scepter, as a last resort. She pulled it out and used its powers to try to zap Henry.
"Fighting with magic huh? Two can play at that game." Henry pressed a button on his remote, which activated an antenna that retracted from the top of the vehicle. Ember zapped the car, but the antenna acted like a sort of lightning rod, and absorbed the blast.
"What the?!" Ember wasn't prepared for this.
Ember looked upon her dragon subjects, as she and they were tortured and brought down. They were no match for Henry's advance technology. Maybe they could keep fighting, but Ember couldn't stand to watch her subjects be pulverized any further.
"So, what's it going to be?" Henry asked.
"I... I surrender." Ember said.
"Jeff, Sawtooth, round up the dragons. They're going on a little trip." Henry said.
Jeff tied up all the downed dragons, and rounded them in one place, where Sawtooth hoisted away to Henry's secret location.
"You're coming alone too. You'll be our official ambassador for dragon and pony communication needs." Henry walked up to Ember and handcuffed her.
"Very well, I will do as you wish." Ember conceded defeat.
And just like that, Ember agreed to let Henry take her dragons away to his lair, and to join Henry by his side in his efforts.
The events you just read were all Ember's flashback. These were events that took place even before Spike was captured. And so that brings us to the current events.
To recap, last time we saw Ember in Chapter 10, she had double crossed Henry and tried to escape with Spike, but her plan didn't work, and she was captured. Being Henry's ambassador didn't work out as she planned. She had hoped that even after surrendering, she could find a weakness or a way to exploit Henry, and save her dragons, but things don't always go according to plan.
Now, after being captured, she sat in a chair, tied up and muzzled in a dark room, waiting for whatever punishment Henry had in store. Waiting gave her time to reflect on things, hence the really long flashback.
Finally, Henry entered the room.
"It's time." he said.
"Do your worst." Ember said.
Henry pushed Ember on the swivel chair through the facility's prison hall, where all the dragons were held captive in cells. He wanted to humiliate Ember before the next phase of his punishment.
Ember looked to her side, and saw to what extent the dragons were being treated. She saw all the dragons were muzzled, behind bars, and their wings were tied up. It was truly horrific sight to behold.
Dragons in captivity included Garble, Fume, Clump, Vex, Fizzle, Crackle, Snake, Whip, Billy, Baff, Rex, Prominence, and more.
"Look everyone, it's Dragon Lord Ember!" Garble said mockingly.
There was a huge uproar of hate and disapproval coming from the dragons. The dragons roared with disgust.
"You suck!"
How could I just let this happen indeed? Ember thought with deep regret.
Finally, they made it to the end of the passageway, where they entered a door into another room.
"Double crossing your dragons was your first mistake. Double crossing me was your next mistake." Henry said.
"Being leader is a hard job. How does it feel to have to have completely failed?" he asked.
"Don't worry about it. You weren't a total failure. After all, you did give me the excellent idea to capture Spike the Dragon." Henry said.
Ember's eyes widened, she had forgotten that at some point, she had mentioned Spike, and where he was to Henry.
"And he's become quite the fighting machine I must admit." he said.
"You're not going to get away with this you." Ember threatened. "Twilight Sparkle's going to find this place, and she's going to save Spike, and all the dragons, and kick your sorry flank into oblivion!" Ember exclaimed.
"Even if Twilight did find this place, I don't think she'd like what she would find." Henry said as he attached an apparatus to Ember's head.
Henry exited the room.
"Now then, any last words?" he asked through an intercom.
"I hope you rot in Tartarus." Ember said.
"Finally we'll get some good use out of her." he said.
Later, Henry went to check on Jeff, who was doing maintenance on the car.
"How are repairs on the vehicle?" Henry asked.
"They're going as routine." Jeff said.
"Well the rail way is built directly on the fastest route from Ponyville, a passage cutting through the Crystal Mountains, leading to our secret location here in Frozen North." Jeff explained.
"Still doesn't change the fact you collided with a train and almost derailed our entire plan. How shortsighted. You're lucky I didn't fire you right then and there." Henry scolded.
"Sorry boss. I promise to make it up to you." Jeff apologized.
"Also, I've been wondering, why did you build the gas station outside of the compound?" Henry asked. "It's a pain to have to go out in the freezing cold just to fill the gas tank."
"But boss, keeping a large deposit of gasoline in this building full of fire breathing dragons is just asking for disaster." Jeff answered.
"That actually makes a lot of sense. I didn't think about it that way." Henry said.
Jeff continued to repair the car. The same car that was used to invade the dragons lands, and used to capture Spike. It was damaged after Jeff (who was the pony driving on that fateful night), crashed it into the Friendship Express, exactly as Pinkie predicted.
"Boss, do you ever think about...?" Jeff started a question.
"Think about what?" Henry asked.
"Never. Not for a second. I made the right decision by leaving those back stabbing ponies behind." Henry said.
"Do you think about your pathetic little life before you were fortunate enough to run into me?" Henry asked.
"And you shouldn't. We're so close to achieving great power. Don't let the opportunity pass you by." Henry said.
"What's Sawtooth up to at the moment?" Henry asked.
"He's having lunch. He's eating spaghetti again." Jeff answered.
"I know. And he never shares!" Jeff complained.
"Well, it's no big deal. Everything is going just as I planned. At this rate, nopony can stop us, not even Twilight Sparkle." Henry said.
"Why aren't you worried about Twilight?" Jeff asked. "What if she finds us? It's entirely possible."
"Let me tell you a story. Capturing these dragons was easy. Do you know why?" Henry asked.
"Because they are so uncooperative. They attack individually, which made exploiting their individual weaknesses a cake walk." Henry said.
"Twilight Sparkle on the other hand, does know the power of friendship, and what it can do. So I had to think of a less direct approach, to get under her skin." he explained.
"That's why I captured her dragon. Without him, she's probably miserable, to the point of treating her other loathsome friends less. This will weaken their friendship. The Princess of Friendship is most powerful when united with her friends."
"By her self, she's strong, but beatable, but with her friends she's almost invincible. That's why, the hope is that by this point, their friendship is broken just long enough, that a fully grown Spike will trample all of them." Henry explained.
"Simply an ingenious plan." Jeff said.
"But what's the plan in case Twilight does find this place?" Jeff asked.
"If she comes with her friends, we unleash the dragons, and it'll be one hell of a throw down. If Twilight shows up alone, well then, she'll walk strait into our trap." Henry said.
"Speaking of Spike, how's our little secret weapon coming along?" Henry peaked into Spike's room. Spike was unrecognizable. He was a very large dragon consumed by greed, exactly as Henry planned. Spike was about twice Henry's height.
"The power of a mighty dragon, all under my control." Henry gloated.
"Just one more fight, and then it's time. For the next run, I want him to rip and tear a dragon to shreds." he said.
"Eh, why not? Spike's only one fight away from being an indestructible killing machine. None of the other dragons stand a chance anyway." Henry said.
"I can't wait to see the look on Twilight's face when she sees what's become of the little dragon. Soon Spike will be capable of mass destruction, and our takeover can begin. I can see it now, a mighty dragon, under my control, trampling those puny little ponies. I'll be unstoppable." Henry said.
"Even if Spike ends up not working out, there's always Plan B., which I think Ember would be glad to help us out with." he said.
"Have you convinced Ember to help us for real this time?" Jeff asked.
"My plan is full proof, Equestria will be mine in no time at all." Henry said.
And there you have it. Some backstory on how Ember and the dragons ended up in the sticky situation they were in, and a glimpse at things to come. What happens next? Pinkie just discovered the location of Henry's secret lair, so what are Twilight and friends to do next? Will Henry's plan succeed? Or can it be stopped? It's going to take nothing short of a miracle to save the day this time.
Pinkie already figured out where this location is, so tune in next time to see what Twilight and friends plan to do with this newfound knowledge.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 13: End of the Beginning
Last time we saw Twilight and friends, they were paid a visit by Mr. and Mrs. Beam. Pinkie had thrown a party for their daughter Baby Moon Beam way back in Chapter 1, where the elder Beams were rather rude to Spike. Here we are now, and they have admitted that their son is the pony who took Spike. This information shocked everypony in the room. How could it be? Their daughter was a little filly, how could theirs on have taken Spike? Well there's a lot to explain so let's just jump into it.
"Your dragon took my son?! Er- I mean your son took my dragon?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Yes. I mean, we don't technically know for sure, but there's a very strong chance." Mr. Beam said.
"Well we weren't sure, but based on new revelations, it's clear Spike was taken, and if any pony would steal a dragon, it's our son." Mrs. Beam said.
"How could little Moon Beam's brother possibly steal Spike?" Pinkie asked.
"We thought you didn't like dragons. What's your son doing meddling with dragons anyhow?" Applejack asked.
"Well, it's a long story, but we wouldn't want to bore you with the details." Mrs. Beam said.
"No no, go ahead. Tell us. What happened to your son that would possess somepony to do such a thing?" Twilight gave them the okay to explain.
"Well, okay. Here's what happened." Mr. Beam said.
Mr. and Mrs. Beam began telling their woe filled story about their son.
"Our son's real name is Shine Bright Beam , he was always fascinated by dragons as a filly. He wanted to grow up and study dragons. He was always so disappointed that there were almost no books written about dragons, so he took liberties into his own hooves." they explained.
"He would sit outside for hours, sometimes days on end, observing the sky with his binoculars, hoping to catch a glimpse of a dragon flying on by. He mapped out their migration patterns, and learned about their yearly migration gathering."
"One day, he set out dragon food on our porch to try to catch a close of look of a dragon, and it worked. One showed up, and he was able to study it up close. He discovered that dragons also spoke our language, and they became friends. It took a while to get used to, but we didn't mind at first."
"And then came that fateful day. It was show and tell day at his school, and he wanted to share all the knowledge he had learned about dragons with the school fillies. He was so excited. We'd never seen so much joy on his face. He had brought the dragon to show and tell."
"And then what happened?" Twilight asked.
The show and tell went horribly wrong. A huge inferno had engulfed the schoolhouse. The fire burned the entire schoolhouse to the ground, leaving a smoldering pile of ash where it one stood.
"We don't know if it were an accident, or deliberate, but the schoolhouse burnt to the ground."
"All the fillies made it out of the schoolhouse safely, but we never saw our son again after that day."
"From that day forward, we wanted nothing to do with dragons, they'd brought us nothing but pain and suffering. We vowed that if we were to ever have another filly, that we'd keep them as far away from dragons as possible, hence our poor behavior towards your dragon earlier. And for that, we sincerely apologize." they apologized.
"I accept your apology." Twilight said. "That sounds like a terrifying situation for sure, I give you my fullest condolences.
Mr. Beam walked forward, pulled a folder out of his coat, and placed it on the cutie map table.
"Where'd you get this folder?" Twilight asked.
"We can't tell you, but it has some information you might want to see." Mr. Beam said.
Twilight looked through the folder, and read the first sheet of paper out loud.
"Property of *****; Updated report written by Agent S****** *****." (the * represent letters that were blacked out with marker)
"Day LXIV, strange tire marks once again found running parallel of the Celestial Sea, and pointed in the direction of the dragon lands. The markings do not appear natural, most likely made by ponies."
"Day LXV, it was becoming clear based on other prior evidence, that whoever these mystery ponies were, they were mapping out some sort of plan, and we had to intercept."
"Day LXVII, we came the closest we'd ever come face to face with the perpetrator. Our evidence concluded they'd be north west of dragon peninsula, and lo and behold, there they were. We approached with caution, but our cover was compromised. I managed to escape, but the other agents were not so fortunate. I still haven't been able to locate them since."
"Day LXIX I returned to the dragon lands, this time under cover, but it was too late. I didn't see a single other dragon roaming the area, unlike the weeks prior. Not even the leader of the dragons was present, and the bloodstone scepter was also missing. I was too late, he had captured all the dragons and had vanished into the unknown. Weeks of careful planning, wasted. We had failed."
Twilight took a step back after reading the report.
"So... what exactly does this all mean?" Starlight asked.
"The dragons are in trouble. Spike's just one of many dragons who have been captured." Mr. Beam said.
"Our son is part of a group of rogue ponies. They've invaded the dragon lands and captured most of the dragons." Mrs. Beam said.
"How do you know your son's a part of this group?" Twilight asked.
"These rogues are almost certainly using code names, but we're not sure what those names are." Mr. Beam said.
"Unknown until now!" Pinkie smirked and pointed at her board of evidence.
"It makes sense. Some sort of structure most be there, to keep dragons warm inside. With an icy cold environment, outside, they wouldn't be able to escape, and make the complete journey." Twilight said.
"So where does this so called "metal horseless carriage" fit into all of this?" Rarity asked. "That's where I get lost."
"That's a great question. And a great reminder that we must issue a great warning." Mrs. Beam said.
"You know how Nightmare Moon used her magic to shatter the Elements of Harmony? Or how Queen Chrysalis used her changing powers to plan a sneak attack on Canterlot? Well our son has his own tactics. He uses advanced technology and weapons, and clever strategies to accomplish his goals." Mrs. Beam said.
"What kind of advance technology are we talking about?" Twilight asked.
"So then what are you saying? Are you saying it's too dangerous to proceed?" Twilight asked.
"Well I appreciate the word of warning, and what you describe, and what this report describes sound intimidating, but I've survived a number of dangerous situations just fine. Besides, if all this evidence means Spike could be there, I have take the chance, no matter the risk." Twilight said.
"We understand. We'd do anything for our little one back, and we're sure you'd do the same." Mrs. Beam said.
"So was that a yes or was that a yes?!" an eager Rainbow Dash said.
"Yes, I'm going, and getting Spike back." Twilight said.
"Yeah! Let's do this thang!" Pinkie said.
"The plan is, you ponies stay here while I retrieve Spike myself." Twilight said sternly.
"Now hold on there sugar cube. You can't be serious right? You're not just seriously going to fly to this cold and dangerous place all alone are ya?" Applejack asked.
"I have no choice." Twilight said.
"I have to do this alone." Twilight said.
"This is different. In the past we've saved Equestria from villains bent on world domination. But this is personal. That pony took Spike from me. This is between us. I'm going to settle this by myself." Twilight said.
"But Twilight, Spike's our friend too." Fluttershy said.
Twilight grabbed a map of Equestria from her shelf. She scribbled some notes and copied Pinkie's map, circling the area in the North where Spike was.
"I've made up my mind. I'm going alone." Twilight said.
"Think about everything we've worked for as friends. All the hardships we've been through. All the challenges we've overcome. You're just going to ignore all that?" Pinkie asked.
"I've already said it. This is personal." Twilight was growing short tempered.
"Like Fluttershy said, Spike's our friend too. We miss him just as much as you. We want to help." Rainbow Dash said.
"Have you neglected that fact that we all love Spike just as much as you?!" Pinkie asked.None of you loved Spike as much as I did! I hatched him! I raised him from birth! He's my dragon! And I'm getting him back myself!" Twilight snapped.
Twilight's words shocked everypony. Everypony went quiet.
"Oh you guys, I didn't mean..." Twilight started.
"We just wanted to help Twilight..." Fluttershy said, feeling down.
"You guys... I-I meant..." Twilight wasn't sure what to say.
"We understand how much Spike means to you. That's why we want to help. It's not that we don't believe in you. It's because we care about both of your safeties." Starlight said.
Tears poured down Twilight's face.
"It's our problem too. Somepony messes with Spike they mess with all of us. We're in this together." Applejack said.
*sniff* "Very well then, if you girls want to come along, then by all means." Twilight said.
This temporarily lifted some spirits.
"WOOHOO!" Pinkie cheered.
"However..." there was a catch to Twilight's plan.
"However... what?" Rainbow asked.
"So then how are we participating?" Pinkie asked.
Her friends thought about her plan.
"..Seriously?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I mean, whatever works for you Twilight, I guess..." Starlight said.
"Think of it as, I do all the hard work, and hopefully I finish before any of you have to lift a hoof." Twilight said with a phony grin.
"Yeah... sure... wouldn't want us to lift and hoof in the name of helping our friend." Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.
"You can take the Friendship Express. Trains go remarkably fast for their huge size." Twilight answered.
"That was weeks ago. The train's probably fixed by now. Is it?" Twilight asked.
"Well there you go. Anyway girls, I'll see you later-" Twilight was about to fly off.
"This is some lousy good bye." Fluttershy said.
"Sure I guess that works..." Rainbow Dash said unsure.Honestly you're making this more complicated than it needs to be darling. Either bring us along, or abandon us, instead of this phony middle ground you're trying to pull. Rarity thought in her head.
At the train station, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Starlight waited for the now working Friendship Express. Twilight was courteous enough to wait until they got on the train before she just left them behind. Mr. and Mrs. Beam were also there at the train station.
"Ugh, trains take forever to show up." Twilight said.
"Um, you can leave Twilight. If you don't want us holding you back, you can just go." Rainbow Dash said.
If she was really courteous, then we'd be doing this together, as a team. Fluttershy thought.
The newly repaired Friendship Express had arrived, and was ready to take the mane 5 + Starlight to the Crystal Empire.
"Well, here we go. It's the beginning of the end isn't it?" Twilight said.
"Are you still sure you want to go alone?" Starlight asked.
"I have to. Spike's in trouble, and I have to save him myself. Can't afford anything slowing me down." Twilight said.
"I'm not saying that but..." Twilight started.
"You would slow me down... in a technical sense. Nothing personal." Twilight said.
*sigh* "I just want to get this over with. The longer I wait, the more trouble Spike could be in. I just want Spike back." Twilight said teary eyed.
"Don't worry, we have your back. Even if it physically takes us longer to get there than you, we're with you in spirit." Starlight said.
"You got this Twilight." Fluttershy said.
"Whether you do this alone, or with us, bring Spike home where he belongs." Rarity said.
"There isn't any villain too big or too bad for you to defeat. You got this!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Good luck Twilight, I know you can do this." Starlight said.
*sniff* "Thank you girls, I wouldn't be able to do this without your moral support. Even though I have to go alone, that doesn't mean you aren't supporting me." Twilight said.
"That's exactly what it means actually." Applejack said.
Twilight got ready to fly, by stretching her wings. She tried to be confident, but she was very nervous.
"And Twilight, what are you going to do to our son when you meet him? How exactly do you plan on... you know." Mr. Beam dared not finish his sentence.
"You're not going to, you know..." Mrs. Beam alluded to.
Twilight took a deep breath. "Well, here I go. I'll see you girls later, and hopefully with Spike by my side."
"We will Twilight. We will." Starlight said.
"...good bye." With that, Twilight flapped wings, and took off into the sky, and headed north, to look for Spike. Her friends watched as Twilight flew further and further away until she vanished due to foreshortening.
"So... now what?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well I guess that just leaves us then." Rarity said.can do it alone, but we could have done it together."
"Well, Twilight is the Princess, and she knows best... I hope." Starlight said feeling unsure.
The mane 5 were feeling... bipolar. One the one hand, sure they were all on a journey to save Spike, but on the other, Twilight had basically abandoned them. She flew ahead of them, and had every intention of settling things herself. None of her friends were thrilled with the idea, but they couldn't convince her otherwise.
The mane 5 plus Starlight boarded the train.
"Y'all coming along Mr. and Mrs. B?" Applejack asked.
"Nah. Not right now. But we'll catch you later for sure, to see what's become of our son." Mr. B answered.
The Friendship Express departed for the Crystal Empire, where Twilight's friends would have to figure out what to do next.
"Are they gone?" asked a mysterious voice.
"They just left. You can come out Ms. Sweetie Drops." Mr. Beam said.
"Thanks for your invaluable information Ms. Sweetie Drops, you helped us a good deal, but more importantly, gave Twilight an idea on what to expect." Mr. Beam said.
"It was nothing. Besides, Pinkie Pie deserves a lot more credit. She did what all of our agents failed to do, she found villain's secret hideout location. I guess it took a mind as silly and creative as hers to do it." Bon Bon said.
Bon Bon (Codemaned; Agent Sweetie Drops), was the one who wrote the report that Twilight read. She works for secret agent society S.M.I.L.E. She and her team had been investigating the attacks on the dragon lands. She was the anonymous pony who gave Pinkie the tip in chapter 9. She can't let the mane 6 know about S.M.I.L.E., but she and her agents worked in the shadows, guiding the mane 6 in the right direction from time to time.
"Are you going to follow them?" Mr. Beam asked.
"Nah. I had my chance. I've done all I could. I did the field work, now it's time that Twilight and her friends to do the dirty work..." she said.
Twilight was flying through the sky, through the clouds and past the wind.
"Hang on Spike, I'm coming." she said to herself. This should have been a big, heroic moment, soaring through Equestria on her way to save Spike, but Twilight couldn't help but have this sinking feeling that had mistreated her friends.
"Am I wrong for leaving behind my friends?" she asked herself. "No way. You're fine. I'm saving them the trouble of having to fight my battles. You'll be fine without them. This'll be a quick and easy task... I hope..." she said under her breath.
On that note, here is where the story stands right now. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight all sat in a train heading for the Crystal Empire. As for Twilight herself, she flew through the skies of Equestria where she was heading for the Crystal Empire, where she would prepare herself, before she embarked on her toughest mission yet. Will Twilight succeed in rescuing Spike? Or will she finally met her match? Will the evil Henry and his gang of dragon hunters have their way and use Spike to cause mass destruction? Or can he be stopped? Can Twilight do this alone? Or does she need her friends more than she realizes?
To be continued...
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 14: Beginning of the End
Originally published on March 13th, 2018
It's been a wild ride so far, but the ride has only begun. Chapters 1-13 were phase 1, but now with Chapters 14 onward, we enter phase 2, the homestretch, but things are far from over, they're only just getting started.
To recap, Twilight Sparkle and friends had figured out where Spike was hidden! According to evidence gathered by Pinkie Pie, he was taken far up into the Frozen North region by a dastardly group of ponies. In addition, two ponies, Mr. and Mrs. Beam had informed Twilight that one member of that group was their long lost son, Shine Bright Beam. With this new knowledge in tow, Twilight embarked on a journey to Frozen North to find Spike. She flew through the sky while her friends followed behind on land, as Twilight wanted to do this alone. Twilight's first stop was the Crystal Empire, where she planned to meet with Cadance and Shining Armor, before venturing into the arctic tundra in search of Spike. But was it too little too late?
As for Spike, he had grown in size to a large sprawling dragon. The evil pony Henry had manipulated Spike's mind by filling him with greed. It was Henry's ultimate goal to turn Spike into a large vicious dragon, and use him to conquer Equestria.
Dragons are greedy creatures by nature, but Spike was different. He may be a dragon in looks, but living with ponies had taught love and kindness. Dragons naturally aged by gathering as much stuff as they could. But since Spike practiced kindness instead of greed, so he remained small for the most part. Besides that one time in Secret of My Excess, and of course now.
What set Spike apart most of all from other dragons, was a spell that Twilight Sparkle had cast on Spike's egg. Because of the spell, Spike had hyper accelerated growth powers. Meaning, when presented with greed, Spike can grow very large very quick, much quicker than any other dragon. This spell however came at the cost of wings. It is theorized that Spike was prematurely hatched, which explains his odd color and lack of wings, although that's just hearsay.
Henry knew of Spike's accelerated growth powers, and it is this reason that made him coveted. Taming a large dragon was not practical, and raising a smaller dragon to adulthood would take... a very long time. And then there's Spike, a naive, and easily manipulable dragon, with great potential to become large and powerful in only a matter of days, rather than years.
Which brings us to now. Henry figured that just one more fight would be enough to make Spike a full sized dragon. At that point, the invasion on Equestria would begin.
Was all hope lost? After all, Spike's growth is not permanent. A side effect of Twilight's spell, is that Spike's the only dragon who's been observed to age backwards. When Spike went on a rampage in Secret of My Excess, Rarity was able to revert Spike back into a baby dragon. If love could set his heart free once, can love prevail again? Or will hate win this time?
Henry slowly opened door to Spike's room, and entered. Inside, was a large sprawling dragon, who besides sharing name, bared no resemblance to Spike, but nonetheless was indeed Spike, but with his mind corrupted with greed, and his body grown as an effect.
"My gosh you've gotten big." Henry said.
Spike simply growled. Larger dragons aren't known for their speech.
"Today's the big day. The day we've been working towards. Just one more fight, and then the real fun will begin." he said.
Henry pulled on Spike's collar to drag him to the arena. Actually, there was no need, with a push of a button on his remote, it activated the shock collar around Spike's neck, which directed him to follow Henry to the arena, where the last fight would happen.
Henry put Spike in the pit, and met up with Jeff and Sawtooth in a balcony overseeing the large arena.
"So, this is it. Everything we've worked towards, has been building up to this." Jeff said.
"Those ponies won't know what hit 'em." Sawtooth said.
"It's hard to say. Spike's the only dragon of his kind, so it's not like this has been observed before. We're treading uncharted territory. His capacity could be limitless for all we know, or maybe it isn't. Greed isn't binary after all." Henry said. "Just know this, after this point, he'll be stronger than any dragon in all of Equestria, and those ponies will stand no chance."
"I see..." Jeff said.
"So, who's the unlucky dragon you selected Jeffery?" Henry asked.
"You're about to see him." Jeff said.
Indeed, Henry allowed Jeff to pick Spike's final opponent.
The door opposite Spike opened, revealing his opponent was... Crackle! Not a very climactic last fight. Crackle was not a very capable dragon, in fact he didn't even speak much at all.
"An interesting choice for an opponent Jeff." Henry said.
"Heh, yeah well, I figured since it wasn't super important who his last opponent was, I thought I'd make it an easy one, so he doesn't injure a claw or something before the invasion." Jeff said.
"Smart thinking, for once." Henry said. "Start the countdown Sawtooth."
On that cue, the fight began. I'll spare you the details and just say that Spike won hands down. It wasn't a competition really. Spike had become a fighting machine.
To finish Crackle, Spike lifted him up and over, and threw him halfway across the arena, thus ending the conflict.
"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here til Thursday!" Spike basked in the glory of his latest victory. He grabbed as many gems as he could hold.
"Now then, to finish the job." he said.
"What the...?" Spike heard groaning from Crackle, but it didn't sound like Crackle, it actually sounded even more familiar.
Crackle peeled away his skin revealing...
"TWILIGHT!?" Spike exclaimed and dropped all his gems.
Underneath the fake skin, was Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle? It seemed that that was not Crackle he pounded, but instead a disguise made by Rarity.
"What the hell Spike?! You totally messed up my wing! Ow!" Rainbow Dash said in pain. She trotted off with anger.
"Rainbow Dash wait! I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you!" Spike tried to apologize, but things only got worse.
"I thought you were different from other dragons. I thought you were civilized!" Rarity yelled. "But clearly I was wrong, you're just as savage as any other beast. Good day sir!" Rarity trotted away as well.
Spike was absolutely devastated by what Rarity said, and he hadn't even heard what Twilight had to say yet.
Twilight faced away from Spike, and stared at the ground, intentionally trying not to look at him.
"Twilight... you know I'd never harm any pony on purpose right?" Spike asked her.
Twilight said not a word, she just look down at the ground, so that Spike could not see her eyes, nor could he begin to imagine what she was feeling.
Finally, Twilight spoke.
"If I were you, I wouldn't show your face in Ponyville anymore, or anywhere in Equestria for that matter. Everything I thought I knew, was a lie. I lied to myself for all those years, but today I saw the truth. You're a dangerous dragon that cannot trusted. Consider your status as royal assistant revoked." Twilight said.
Spike could barely speak he was so torn up. Spike ran after Twilight.
"Wait! Don't go! I-I-I didn't mean to hurt you! Really!" Spike said, but Twilight didn't respond.
"I'm so sorry! I've never regretted anything in my life more... but, I swear this isn't who I am!"
"Don't come crawling to Ponyville unless you want to be chased away. And don't ever think you could be anything more than what you are." And with that Twilight flew out of view.
"Twilight! Don't go..."
Spike collapsed on his knees, put his claws against his face, and began to cry. How could he have let himself injure his best friends? Was he really just a savage beast after all?
"Is this who I am...? No, it can't be! No! NOOOO! *ZAP* AAAAAHHHH!" he felt a enormous pain in the form of an electric shock. Spike screamed inside his head.
This shock woke Spike up and temporarily brought him back to reality.
Fortunately, Spike did not actually hurt Twilight, it was just a hallucination. Fighting Crackle brought back memories of that time Rarity, Rainbow, and Twilight, were all disguised as a dragon resembling Crackle, so fighting Crackle messed with his memory, and so he thought he hurt the real Twilight, even though he didn't. Twilight was somewhere else in reality.
Henry meanwhile had zapped Spike with the shock collar. From his perspective, Spike had stopped in his tracks after defeating Crackle, he wasn't even accepting any of the gems, and he was confused why.
"What's going on? Why isn't he taking any more gems?" Henry activated the shock in Spike's collar in an attempt to regain control.
Spike screamed in agonizing pain trying to resist the electricity, whilst Crackle stood in place awkwardly. No matter how hard Henry zapped, Spike wouldn't listen.
"What happened!? Why, isn't, he, responding!?" Henry was growing impatient.
"Uh, I don't know sir. Maybe a malfunction with the collar, or um, perhaps you uh-" Jeff was interrupted.
"Uh-what? No no no way boss." Jeff said.
"This is your doing isn't it. You selected Spike's opponent. Something about that dragon triggered a reaction within Spike, and you knew this would happen." Henry said.
"That's ridiculous sir, I would never do something like that." Jeff lied.
"I knew I couldn't trust Ember, but one of my own cohorts? I should have seen this coming a mile away. You're weak, and always hesitant when given difficult commands. You and Ember were in cahoots all along." Henry said.
"Maybe I was, and you know what, maybe I'm done taming dragons! Maybe your promise of 'learning more about dragons' has gone too far!" Jeff stood his own ground.
"So, finally standing up to me aren't you." Henry said. "Tie him up Sawtooth."
"I'll deal with you later. Right now, I must find a way to salvage this." Henry said.
"Now then, let's turn things up." Henry dialed his remote to near full blast, and Spike continued to scream. But the screaming, didn't stop. Despite the electricity, Spike endured more pain than he normally could. It was almost as if his mind was somewhere else.
"How is he resisting this? What's going on in that dragon's mind?!" Henry asked himself.
Spike went into another trance. He had another hallucination.
Inside of Spike's mind, there was a lot of complicated abstract things going on, so I'm going to visualize it it.
Imagine if you will, Spike, little baby dragon Spike we all know and love for this visual representation, laid inside of a bubble, in a fetal position. Inside the bubble, it was calm, almost too peaceful. And outside the bubble was utter chaos. Hate and anger gathered outside of the bubble. Every negative thought Spike had ever had, or could ever have, manifested outside, and the bubble was the only barrier between Spike and these negative thoughts.
But what force conjured up this bubble? And what was keeping it in place? Why it was his conscience of course. His good conscience to be specific. Good conscience we shall refer to as Angel Spike. Angel Spike quite literally descended from above, and sat next to Spike's bubble to speak to him.
"Spike? It's me, your good Conscience." Angel Spike said softly as to try to comfort Spike. "It's okay Spike."
"Not it's not okay! I hurt Twilight!" Spike raged. "I hurt her because I'm a monster! A cold-blooded scaly slimy monster!"
He still thinks he hurt Twilight for real. He had been under so much stress lately, that the line between reality and imagination was blurred, to the point where they felt like one in the same.
The angrier he got, the more violent the outside of the bubble became.
"Why did ever think I could be with ponies?! I'm a dragon! I've witnessed some horrible things in my time here., but it's exposed me to the truth. Dragons are monsters. Ponies and dragons can never live together!" Spike ranted.
"You know that's not true! You're a part of Twilight's family!" Angel Spike said.never be a part of Twilight's family! I never was in the first place!" he cried.
"That's not true Spike! You ARE Twilight's family!" Angel Spike said.
Devil Spike ascended from the depths below to rain on the parade.
"Greetings wusses." Devil Spike said.
"Go away! We're having a moment." Angel Spike said.
"Listen Spike, why hold back who you really are? You're right, you're an almighty dragon! Your entire life you've been neutered from that reality, and taught to be weak. You shouldn't have to listen to any pony! Not Twilight, not Henry, not any pony at all! Take Equestria for yourself." Devil Spike said.
"That's ridiculous, don't listen to what he said." Angel Spike said.
"Like you said Spike, dragons are terrible vicious creatures. Look at these claws, and those teeth. Truly terrifying. Strike fear in the pony's eyes. Ponies hate dragons, and dragons hate ponies. You have the wisdom of ponies, but the might of a dragon. You have the best of both worlds, and you can rule over all of them." Devil Spike.
"That's not true Spike! Dragons and ponies don't have to be separate! They can join hands and assimilate in peace. You being Twilight's assistant is the first step to that future!" Angel Spike preached.
Spike didn't respond to either of their takes, he just sat in the bubble and remained stressed.
"You're your own dragon, now when you get back out there, I want you to take a stand, state your dominance, and attack those ponies yourself ." Devil Spike said.
"I don't know what to believe anymore!" Spike cried.
The anger started to seep through the bubble, and the bubble started to crack under the pressure, like a submarine at the depths of the ocean.
"Spike! I can't hold the bubble any more! It's going to burst! When it does, just remember, Twilight's looking for you!" Angel Spike pleaded.
"Pfft. When you get out into the real world, put on a show. I wanna see sparks fly! Put your foot down and be your own dragon!" Devil Spike said.
"...no... No...! No!... NOOOO!" Spike let out a blood curdling scream. The bubble burst, and the negative aura surrounded Spike. His mind became a void hot it was too bright to see anything.
Outside in the physical world, at that burst of anger, Spike managed to rip the shock collar off of his neck, tearing it to shreds.
"Uh oh." Jeff said.
"That's... not good." Sawtooth said.
"I've worked too hard to let this all go to waste." Henry said.
With Spike now free from the shock collar, and all his anger had built up, he was about to go on a blind rampage.
"This is really frustrating. That dragon possesses so much power, and controlling it should have been a cinch, but instead everything's gone wrong." Henry said.
"What do you suppose we do now boss?" Sawtooth asked.
"But boss, Plan B hasn't been tested yet." Sawtooth said.
"If Spike doesn't want to cooperate, then let's show him the way out." Henry said dastardly.
Meanwhile, at the Crystal Empire, Cadance and Shining Armor paced anxiously at one of the balconies on the castle. Sunburst was there too holding Baby Flurry Heart in his hooves.
They waited nervously for Twilight's arrival. Finally, she had arrived. She came into view, and landed on the balcony.
"Twi-ly, good to see you sis." Shining Armor said.
"Good to see you all again." Twilight said.
Twilight was still in a bit of a sour mood to put things lightly.
"So... how have you been lately?" Cadance asked awkwardly.
"I have been okay, all things considered." Twilight answered.
Cadance and Shining Armor had already been informed of Spike's disappearance. They had been contacted and requested to help ready Twilight for the journey into Frozen North.
"Do you have everything I need?" Twilight asked.
Twilight looked through the supplies.
"Alright, just as I requested, I got my map, compass, warm coat, rations, mask."
"In case things get... smokey." Twilight replied.
"Do you even know where you're going Twilight?" Sunburst asked.
Twilight put on a heavy snow coat, and made sure she had only the essentials, as to not carry too much that would weigh her down while flying.
"Alright, this should be all I need. I think I'm about ready for liftoff." Twilight said.
"So about that..." Cadance began.
"Cadance and I have been talking, and we think that the journey across the icy landscape is extremely dangerous." Shining Armor stated.
"And we thought that it'd be wiser to send some royal guards in search of Spike instead, and-" Cadance said before she was interrupted by the angriest Twilight she'd ever seen.
"WHAT?!" Twilight yelled.
"I can't even believe what I'm hearing. First my friends and now you!?" Twilight said.
"Yes! Allow me to talk. I'll be fine, I'm adequately equipped! Y'all crazy if you think I'm gonna let anypony else fight my battles! I'm flying north in search of Spike! Alone!" Twilight yelled.
"Twilight, even if we were a bit rash about decision making, you can't just go!" Cadance warned. "At least have some back up."
"Why does everyone feel the need to fight my battles for me?! This is personal, I'm not gonna have a bunch of guards do my job for me!" Twilight said.
"This is Spike we're talking! My life has been so empty and miserable without him! I can't stand the idea of him being held captive for a moment longer!" Twilight tried to speak but couldn't articulate the words she was so teared up.
"We understand how much Spike means to you." Cadance said.
Everypony gasped. Even Flurry herself, gave Twilight a pair of sad eyes.
"Oh my gosh, what have I become?" Twilight reflected on her actions since arriving.
Twilight gazed at Flurry Heart, who looked so sweet and innocent. Flurry looked sad about what Twilight had said. Flurry's face said all the words Twilight needed to hear. Her expression said something along the lines of "You're not acting like yourself auntie Twilight."
Flurry Heart smiled at Twilight, filling her with just enough hope, and confidence.
"If this is something you need to do alone, we understand, just... please be careful, please." Cadance said.
"Thank you... both of you, for... just thank you." Twilight said. She didn't need an exact reason to thank, she just felt thankful all of the sudden.
"I'm just about packed, I got oats, I got heavy clothing in case it gets cold, I'll be fine." Twilight said.
"Sure thing." Shining Armor replied.
Twilight gave some last minute hugs, took another look at her map to see where to go, and then was she ready. She got into take off position, took a deep breath, and took flight. She flew into the cold, desolate mountains north of the Crystal Empire, and she knew somewhere, Spike was there.
"Are we really going to let her go alone?" Shining Armor asked.
"We'll give her an hour and then we follow her." Cadance said.
"I hope so too."
Meanwhile, back at the hideout, things were still going pretty catastrophically.
Spike had broken free of the shock collar, and was about to go on a rampage. Fortunately for Henry, he had a backup plan, just in case Spike proved too difficult to tame.
"You ready boss?" Sawtooth asked.
"Absolutely." Henry answered.
"Are you sure about thi-." Sawtooth cautioned.
"Just do it!" Henry said.
With the of a button, Henry's Plan B was in effect. Just opposite of the arena, a large door opened, revealing what Henry had been working on. Now stay with me on this one.
On the other side of the door stood all of the other dragons, except something was different about them. They were geared up with body armor, and wore specially made helmets that controlled their minds. The helmets were still in the prototyping phase, and building one big enough for a larger dragon like a fully grown Spike wasn't yet possible. So Henry had built proof of concepts and controlled the teenage dragons he'd captured. Ember was the first test subject after her betrayal, and after some encouraging results, he built more to control the other dragons.
There stood a weaponized Garble, Fume, Clump, Ember, and many more were all his puppets.
"What do think the ponies will fear more? One large and powerful dragon? Or an army of smaller, but still vicious dragons?" Henry asked.
"The pony who practiced one move 1,000 times is deadlier than the pony who practiced 1,000 moves one time." Jeff said.
"Pff, what do you know?" Henry dismissed Jeff's comment.
The dragon army was a backup plan in case Spike didn't work out, and at this point Henry had given up on raising Spike.
"Attack the dragon." Henry had ordered his armor of mind control dragons to attack Spike.
Things were looking bleak. Spike was on an out of control rampage, and was about to fight against an army of mind controlled dragons.
Meanwhile Twilight was flying through the icy cold of Frozen North, in the hopes of finding Spike. How would Twilight react to what she found? Who's to say she'll even find Spike? Their best guess was just that, a guess based on the best evidence they had. By no means was she certain she'd find Spike there.
The area marked on Twilight's map was a very rough approximation of where Spike could be, and Frozen North was quite an expansive region.
Even if Twilight knew where she was going, Frozen North is a savage and icy cold region. Is Twilight really prepared for the journey, or the destination?
It's the beginning of the end, but the real action is only getting started. You don't want to miss what happens next.
Also, as you may have noticed, from this chapter onward, we will see Twilight and Spike's perspective in the same chapters, rather than alternating like before.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 15: A Clash of Metal and Claws
Originally published on April 22nd, 2018
In the last chapter, we saw Twilight Sparkle embark into the frigid region of Frozen North, in hopes of finding Spike. She had gone by herself, despite the danger that lay ahead.
Meanwhile, Spike had broken free of Henry's control. But the bad news was that he was an out of control rampaging dragon. To salvage the operation, Henry initiated his Plan B, which involved unleashing an army of mind controlled armored teenage dragons to attack Spike.
It is safe to say that both Twilight and Spike were in trouble.
But before we check on either of them, let's check on Twilight's friends, since we haven't heard from them in a while, and as a matter of fact they had just arrived at the Crystal Empire.
Twilight said that they could follow her, but to stay behind because she wanted to save Spike herself, so that's exactly what they did.
The mane 5 plus Starlight had now arrived at the Crystal Empire, and met up with Cadance and Shining Armor, and Sunburst, atop the castle balcony. Twilight had already met up with them last chapter, but now it was their turn.
"Sunburst!" Starlight greeted.
"Starlight!" Sunburst greeted back.
"It's good to see you too." she replied.
"Greetings fillies." Cadance said.
"Between me and you Sunburst, we have really got to hang out when there isn't a crisis going on." Starlight said.
"Yes, the entire reason we're here. Where's Twilight? Has she passed by yet?" Applejack asked.
"And you let her go into that weather alone?!" Pinkie Pie pointed North at the icy landscape ahead.
"She didn't at least wait for us once she got here?" Fluttershy asked.
Her friends were very concerned.
"We have to go after her!" Rainbow Dash rushed out, but AJ halted her.
"Now hold on there. Twilight said that she didn't want any of us followin' her." Applejack said.
"True, but see here's the thing. I've been thinking, and maybe Twilight's right. Maybe we're the ones who've been selfish, and we should abide by her wishes." Applejack said.
"Are you serious?! She needs us more than she thinks she does." Rainbow Dash argued.
"No, but a little help doesn't hurt!" Rainbow Dash replied.
"I can't say I disagree with Rainbow Dash here." Fluttershy said. "Even if Twilight can save Spike by herself, it would be easier as a team. Not to mention the snow storm may prove too formidable."
"You want us to follow Twilight into that icy landscape, just to get told off again? She acted so rude earlier." Rarity said.
"Frankly, if her previous behavior is anything to go by." Rarity replied.
"Why? She left us." Applejack said.
"She needs our help!" Fluttershy asserted.
"Look, Twilight's just a little upset over losing Spike. If we find him, she'll be happy again." Rainbow Dash said. "How could you not want to help!?"
"She's got everything handled. She is a super duper alicorn princess after all. She doesn't need our help. She said so herself!" Applejack argued.
The arguing was getting pretty heated. The other ponies watched it unfold.
"What about you Pinkie Pie?" Starlight asked. "What do you think we should do?"
"Well I sure hope you would! You're the pony who said Spike would be here, you outta have a stance."
"What do you know about Twilight? You're just her little student! You haven't known her as long as we have!" Applejack said.
"Excuse me!?" Starlight was offended.
"Come on girls, talk it out." Cadance said.
"Let's all take a moment and think this through rationally." Shining Armor said.
"I'm Twilight's friend too AJ. And I didn't spend an entire season being her apprentice, nor did I save your sorry flanks from Queen Chrysalis, just so some country pony could tell me to buck off!" Starlight said to Applejack.
The ponies all continued to argue.
"Why couldn't your investigation and evidence have said that Spike was located in some tropical resort? Instead of this icy hellhole!?" Rarity asked rudely.
"Excuse me?! For once, you sound even more ridiculous than I do!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I just followed the trail of clues. It's called deductive reasoning! Facts care if you're a little cold, or if your mane gets a little frizzy! Science speaks the cold hard truth!"
Rainbow and Applejack butted heads while Starlight yelled with anger. Pinkie and Rarity found the most interesting thing to argue about. Cadance and Shining Armor tried to be the voices of reason.
Fluttershy backed away from the arguing and slumped onto the tiled floor.
"I don't get it. We all have the same goal. We all want to help Twilight find Spike. What are we arguing about?" she said to herself. "They're arguing about what Twilight would want, but I know this for sure, we're not doing her any favors by fighting. I sure hope she's more coordinated than we are."
Unfortunately, she was much worse off.
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was flying through the vast icy region of Frozen North, in search of Spike.
She carried a map and compass in front of her using her magic to hold them. The map showed Frozen North in its entirety. On it, was drawn a circle which (based on Pinkie's data), was where Spike was most likely located.
She was moderately equipped for the journey. A relatively thin snow coat was the only thing that protected her from the cold. The coat couldn't be too thick, as it would have weighed her down, and made flying harder. Flying was already difficult enough as it was.
She wandered through the icy winds, and I do mean wandered. Navigating the landscape proved very challenging. Clouds covered the entire sky, making the sun impossible to see. Luckily Twilight had the compass, so she knew which way North was. Her map was actually of little help. The area circled covered a large and vague area, making a precise location to search difficult to pinpoint. Not to mention, the fast winds made it hard to hold the map steady in order to read it. And even when she could read the map, the snowy hills and rocky terrain underneath the snow all looked the same, so it was hard to gauge where she was on the map, and where she was going. A mild snow storm limited her field of view, which was like the icing on the navigation cake. All of these factors combined made for a miserable time, and one of the toughest challenges she had faced, but she didn't give up. Spike's life was on the line, and no weather nature could throw was enough to stop Twilight from trying.
Inside, Twilight felt conflicted. She had snapped at Cadance and Shining Armor for attempting to send guards to look for Spike instead. Although she did make up with them, she never formally apologized, or said sorry. She hadn't yet had a chance to say sorry to her friends either. Was she letting herself get carried away?
Twilight was shivering, but she barely thought twice about it, as she was more concerned with locating Spike than her own safety by this point. She flew slowly, as to conserve energy, constantly looking back and forth between the map, the compass, and the area around her. The wind kept pushing her hair into her face, distracting her. She used her magic to move the hair out of her face.
Twilight was so distracted by her hair, and the rest of the elements, that she finally lost concentration and dropped the compass.
"Oh no no no no no no!" she cried.
The compass plummeted downward, and embedded it self deep into the thick snow below. Twilight panicked and flew down after it. She searched desperately for the compass, but surprisingly, a metal compass in the snow proved impossible to find. Twilight had lost the compass, a crucial tool for navigation. She fortunately still had the map, but what little good it did. She looked at the map, and then at the landscape, but she had no idea where she was, or which way she was oriented.
"Ugh! What use is a map without a compass?!" she cried. She crumpled the map and tossed it away.
"SPIIIIIIIKE!" Twilight cried as loud as she could.
She got up and flew around in a panic.
"Didn't I already pass this rock? Was I going this way or that way?! GAH! Everything looks the same!" she cried.
She was officially lost and didn't know where she was.
"AAAAHHH!" Twilight screamed as loud as she could. Out of anger and frustration, she lit up her horn, and fired a concentrated beam of energy onto the snow beneath her hooves. This created a mild explosion of snow and magic around her.
The blast created a clearing in which Twilight stood in place breathing heavily, while she come to terms with failure. She had then run all out of energy and collapsed onto her knees, and then her side. She laid down on the ground, while a steady stream snowfall slowly piled on her.
"Well, this is just great! Fan-pony-tastic! You've really gone and done it now!" she said. "Ugh, I guess this is it then. Is this how it ends? Not slain by some big evil pony, but instead overcome by the hands of mother nature herself."
Twilight sat in the cold, shivering, while the snow started to cover her.
She felt absolutely defeated. She had failed in her search for Spike. She had come all this way, she was almost there, but navigating the snow proved too challenging. Now it seemed like the end of her road. One simple mistake may have sealed her fate.
*sigh* "I guess Spike won't ever be seeing me again. I made one promise to Spike, and that was to protect him, and I failed to keep that promise. I failed in my duty to protect my little... friend."
Twilight couldn't get up, she was too cold to move her limbs. So she took the time to think, and reflect on... life... while she still could.
"If only I had known that that last good night, really was our last good night. I wish I could have just one more conversation, because, there are a few things I've been wanting to tell you."
Twilight took a deep breath, and spoke out loud.
"Oh Spike, if I could speak to you one more time... I would tell you how much you mean to me. I'd tell you that I would not be where I am, without your love and support. I'd tell you that, I appreciate everything you do for me. I'm so grateful to have such a generous little guy like you as my assistant. Whether or not you're successful in your efforts, your heart is in the right place. You put others' needs before your own, and you live to help other ponies. You should be proud of yourself for that. You should really pat yourself on the back from time to time, you deserve it - you stress yourself out too much. I know it's been hard for you, being a dragon living with ponies, living with that identity crisis, but it's truly remarkable how many friends you've made. You're proof dragons and ponies can get along, and live together. *sigh* Lastly, if I could talk to you just one last time, I would tell you that... that I love you. You are loved and appreciated, and you mean the world to me, Spike. I'd go to the ends of Equestria in order to save you. And well, I guess I did exactly that. But um, I guess it just wasn't meant to be..."
She sat in the snow for a moment reflecting on what she had just said.
"Who am I kidding? Words are useless. If I could see you again, I would just want to give you the biggest hug that I can. A hug would express my feelings better than words ever could. But, that's not likely either... I guess I'm never going to hold you again..."
*sigh* "Oh Spike, wherever you are, I just hope you're better off than I am..." she said.
A few drops of tears poured from her face. Twilight laid in the frigid ice storm, and closed her eyes... The snow had buried about half of her body.
...
She tried to relax, but she felt uneasy, as if she was forgetting something.
"Who am I fooling? I don't deserve any sympathy. Some princess I turned out to be. I was a lousy princess, and lousy friend. Ironic, as I was supposed to be the Princess of Friendship. I failed to live up to both halves of that title. All my friends wanted to do was help and I spat in their faces. I was so focused on finding Spike, that I let myself forget about my other friends."
"I let myself forget how important my other friends were to me. Pinkie Pie, bringing endless laughs to me and countless other ponies. Rainbow Dash, with her determination and loyalty. Rarity's generosity is unparalleled. Fluttershy with her profound kindness. Applejack was an honest pony I could always count on. Being Starlight Glimmer's teacher felt just as much a learning experience for me as it was for her, and I'm grateful for the time we spent together. Shining Armor's the best brother ever, and Cadance is the best sister-in-law I could have asked for. And I feel just beyond blessed and grateful to have been an aunt for precious little Flurry Heart."
A stream of tears covered her face, which crystallized in the cold.
The snow continued to fall steady.
"If I could talk to the rest of my friends one more time, I'd say I'm sorry for being so selfish. I never would have been Princess of Friendship without them. I let my love for Spike turn to hostility towards everypony else I cared for. I don't deserve to be Princess of Friendship with behavior like that."
"Well... I guess this is it..."
Twilight closed her eyes. The the snow kept coming down, until it had now almost completely buried her...
Meanwhile, Spike was in for the fight of his life. He was a large (but not too large yet) dragon, with sharp claws, and a ferocious attitude. He had broken free of Henry's control, and was about to go on a rampage.
But Henry was not ready to give up so easy. He had a back up plan in case 'Operation Spike' didn't go as intended. He had equipped all the other dragons with armor, and mind control helmets.
"I want you to attack the purple dragon. Do what you must to apprehend him. Letting him live is optional. Now, go!" On Henry's command, the dragons, attacked. The dragon army rushed in and piled on top of Spike.
Spike was caught off guard when he was tackled and pinned down. He found himself piled underneath the other dragons. Their sheer numbers made them formidable. The dragons ganged up and pounded Spike while he was down.
Spike did not fight quite yet. He stayed in place and endured the pain. The onslaught of dragons made him quite angry, and the tension was building up.
Let's take another journey inside of Spike's mind, since there is a lot going on in his head.
Imagine this time, Spike's body floating, and in a lot of pain, no longer safe from the protection of the imaginary bubble.
Angel and Devil Spike returned have a word with him.
"Look at you, you're literally the dragons' punching bag!" Devil Spike chuckled and mocked.
"How are you feeling Spike?" Angel Spike asked.
"That's right! And who are you angry at?!" Devil Spike asked.
"But Spike, how is that possible?" Angel Spike asked.
"If she really cared, she would have found me by now! But she hasn't! And she only raised me because she felt sorry for me!" Spike proclaimed.
"Nah, she only raised you because Celestia made her." Devil Spike said.
"And you're right, she never did. If she cared for you, she never would have let you leave her sight. But she just let you go." Devil Spike said.
"That's not true! You know Twilight cares about you! She's probably one her way right now to rescue you!" Angel Spike said.
"Well then where is she?! What's taking her long?! I have no doubt she's not coming!" Spike said.
Devil Spike's words provoked more anger in real Spike.
"Stop it!" Angel Spike cried. "You're making him angrier!"
"There is no point! She made me feel like I had meaning. She made me think I had self worth. I worshiped her. She brought meaning into my life. But it was all a lie! If she wanted to find me, she would have done so by now! She's probably not even looking for me! That ungrateful... b-b-backstabber!" Spike exclaimed. "The only thing I know now is pain!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Devil Spike was beaming with glee.
"It's simple. Dragons grow by feeding off greed. However, greed doesn't necessarily have to be satisfied with physical objects. It can also be fueled with emotion." Devil Spike explained. "The angrier Spike gets, the more he wants to be angry and destructive. And it's that lust for destruction that can make Spike an unstoppable killing machine! Together we can defeat all those other dragons."
"That's terrible! Spike would never say or do anything of the things you're saying." Angel Spike said.
Angel Spike paused to think for a moment.
"You and I are two sides of real Spike's mind. You're the optimist who still believes in friendship, and magic, and all the other pony junk, while I'm the realist. I'm a manifestation of Spike's doubts and grievances. Everything I tell him to do is still true to his character." Devil Spike explained.
"But, it isn't right. Violence isn't the answer!" Angel Spike said.
"Come on Spike, shake my claw, and we can do this together. You, and me, your evil side, can win this fight, and rule Equestria with an iron claw." Devil Spike offered Spike.
"Don't do it Spike. Shake my hand, and we can set things right." Angel Spike offered his claw too. "We can prove that love always prevails."
Spike closed his eyes, extended his arm, and shook... Devil Spike's claw.
"NO!" Angel Spike cried.
"Excellent." Devil Spike evaporate, and his particles merged into Spike.
Angel Spike evaporated, and faded away slowly... Almost a metaphor for Spike's vanishing innocence...
Spike opened his eyes, and his pupils had a very lizard-like glare to them.
"...Let's do this." he said.
In the physical world, Spike was ready.
Spike mustered his strength and emerged from the pile of dragons. He stood up and blew them away.
Henry and his henchponies watched the event in awe.
"Woah, that's some real power." Jeff said.
"Now this is what I call a fight." Sawtooth said.
The three horses made their way to the upper balcony of the arena. It was a higher vantage point to view the sparks fly, while remaining out of harm's way.
Spike stood across the entire army of mind controlled dragons. He and the rest of the dragons stared down intensely, waiting for someone to make a move.
The moment was tense, but it was interrupted when Snake was the first to lunge forward. He reached out to claw Spike, but Spike grabbed him by the wrists, twisted his arms, and tossed him at the rest of the dragons.
The dragons all charged at Spike, and he charged head first into them. Billy took a bite out of Spike. The bite hurt, and Spike swatted away Billy with immense force. Fizzle circled overhead, Spike grabbed his tail, reeled him in, and pounded him against the ground. Even Whip's enormous tail was like a twig against Spike. Spike used his own tail to easily topple over Whip. Revenge sure felt good.
The cannon fodder had gone, now it was time for the real dragon to come. It was Garble's moment, he lunged forward with fury, but Spike intercepted, and managed to throw him over. Garble proved to be probably the most formidable foe. He stood up, and breathed fire on Spike, he resisted, and Spike charged forward and knocked Garble in the head. Angry Spike was bigger and stronger than Garble. He then lifted Garble over his head, spun him around and flung him at high speed into the wall. Garble impacted the wall at such high speeds, it shattered his entire armor, including the helmet. He hit the wall so hard he stuck for a couple moments, until falling forward, and fainting on the spot. Spike had knocked Garble out completely cold.
"Such destruction." Henry watched as both his plans fight each other.
"What exactly are you hoping to accomplish by having the dragons battle each other? HUH?! You'll have no army to conquer Equestria with when all is said and done." Jeff said.
Henry was about to smack Jeff, but at the last second decided not to.
"Pfft, I'll think of a proper punishment for you later." Henry scoffed. "I can assure you that everything is fine."
"Silence him Sawtooth." Henry commanded.
Clump charged forward and wrestled Spike. The two interlocked, but Spike was stronger. Spike lifted Clump, despite his enormous weight. And then tossed him up and over, and then he landed on Fizzle and Baff, knocking them all out and shattering their gear with the impact.
Fume stood up and breathed fire a huge stream of fire onto Spike. Spike endured the fire. Once it cleared, Spike breathed his own fire onto Fume, melting the armor and knocking him out.
Finally, Ember sprung into action. Next to Garble, Ember was probably the strongest of the bunch. She flew up and stabbed Spike with her claws. Spike screamed in agony from the pain. The pain caused him to grow in size. Ember also tried to twist Spike's neck, which also induced a lot of pain. A bunch of dragons ganged up, and pinned Spike on his back. Spike's anger grew, and he too grew even larger in size physical size. Spike now towered over the other dragons.
Henry, Jeff, and Sawtooth watched in awe as Spike grew so large, he was almost at eye level with them at the upper balcony of the arena. He was about the same size as his maximum size from Secret of My Excess . Was that his size limit? Or could he grow even bigger?
"It's magnificent. Such power, still untapped." Henry said.
"Exactly." Sawtooth added.
Spike swatted Ember away. He breathed fire all over the room. He was so big, that the amount of fire was a large inferno. He sprayed the dragons beneath him with a shower of fire. It melted the armor and helmets of the dragons in its wake, and he kicked the dragons out of the way for good measure. He stepped on Prominence, and kicked her aside. He was so big, basically trampled over any grounded dragon in his way.
Ember was ready for more, she came flying in for another hit, but Spike tail whipped her across the room. Shattering her helmet, and knocking her out cold.
Rex and Scalio circled overhead. Spike shot streams of fire at them, but in doing so, he actually blasted a hole in the ceiling, opening an exit to the outside. Spike also breathed fire down the corridors of the facility, breaking the cells, and freeing any remaining dragons.
The hole in the ceiling let light in. And miraculously, the sun was shining, and a beam of light shined into the arena directly onto the fainted Garble. The sunlight hit Garble's eyes and slowly woke him up.
"...What? What's happening?" he looked around and watched his fellow dragons getting beat up by Spike. The helmet was shattered, and he was under his own free will again.
Vex was knocked out by Spike, and he fell right beside Garble.
"Hey, look! Light!" Garble nudged Vex. "It's an exit!"
The other fainted dragons who had their helmets broken off started to wake, and they noticed the exit too.
"Look everyone! There's an exit!" Garble shouted. He caught the attention of the other dragons.
Garble whistled. "Come on everyone! Let's get out of here!" he commanded.
The dragons all got up, and followed Garble's orders.
Ember stood up and looked around. Spike was huge and out of control, and the rest of the dragons were injured, but just starting to stand up.
"Come on Ember, we're getting out of this place!" Garble said.
"He'll be fine. Look at him. He's a killing machine." Garble replied.
"NO! You all come back here at once!" Henry yelled as he watched the dragons escape. All that hard work that went into capturing them, gone to waste. He so loud, that Spike noticed, and drew his attention towards Henry.
"He's got this under control. Come on!" Garble said.
The dragons all fled the building. Ember hesitated. She wasn't sure if leaving behind Spike was a good idea. Surly Spike could take on Henry on his own right? Anyway, against better judgement, she followed the other dragons out. She grabbed the bloodstone scepter on her way out. Can't forget that.
"They're getting away!" Sawtooth cried.
"Doesn't matter. They're cold blooded. They won't survive for long in the icy landscape. They'll freeze to death long before they reach the dragon lands. Precisely the reason why I built this facility here." Henry said confidently.
Or so he thought. The dragons all breathed a ball of fire that surrounded the group. The ball of fire kept the dragons warm, so they didn't get too cold as they traversed Frozen North.
Henry was distraught to see the dragons cooperating, and figuring out how to escape alive.
"It looks like they'll be fine out there." Jeff tantalized.
"What's the new plan wise guy?" Jeff asked.
The three looked over Spike, who was still in the building. Spike had his sights set on Henry and his two henchponies. Jeff and Sawtooth were fearful, but Henry was unphased.
Spike walked forward slowly, eyes set on Henry. He charged his fire breath, and was ready to fire, until...
With the press of one button on Henry's remote, harpoons shot from the wall, and embedded themselves in Spike's body, sending strong pulses of electricity through his body. This caused Spike to roar in agony.
"I didn't expect I'd have to use this ." Henry said.
A giant contraption hanging overhead from the ceiling lowered next to Spike. It was a giant electromagnet, and it was pointed right at Spike. He had fallen into Henry's final trap.
*gasp* "Y-you wouldn't! You told me we'd never actual use this device on Spike!" Jeff said. "You wouldn't do this to Spike would you?"
"It's for the best. He'll be the most powerful dragon in Equestrian history, and he shall follow my command!" Henry said.
Henry stepped forward, and started operating on the control panel in front of him. "Now then, let's see exactly how much power is locked within you."
Will Twilight's friends get over themselves and agree on a plan? Or will they keep arguing and make no progress? Is Spike done for this time? Or can he still escape? Will the other dragons go back to help him? Or have they learned nothing from this experience? And is Twilight... okay? Is she getting out of this one in tact? Or not?
Find out the answer to all of these and more, in Chapter 16.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 16: The Two Faces of Spike
Originally published on May 21st, 2018
In the last chapter, Twilight Sparkle had gotten lost in the snowy region of Frozen North while looking for Spike. Twilight's friends were arguing about whether Twilight wanted their help or not. All of the dragons that Henry captured, Ember, Garble, etc, had all escaped. All the dragons escaped, except for that is Spike. Spike himself was a bit... tangled up at the moment. As Spike was trying to escape, he was caught in Henry's final machine. One that he had built to control larger dragons should the opportunity come about.
Can Spike escape? Can Twilight be saved? Will her friends agree on a plan? Let's find out.
Spike had grown to about his full size. Although it was unknown if he could grow any bigger. He was caught in Henry's machine, which was designed to control larger dragons.
Henry operated the machine from inside the safety of the control center. It was a little room that hung from the ceiling, at about eye level with Spike. Inside were also his henchponies Jeff and Sawtooth.
"All of the dragons escaped. Your plan to rule Equestria with an army of dragons didn't work." Jeffery said.
"We're going to need the full power of the generator!" Henry pulled a lever which powered up the machine. The machine was powered by the main generator, which also powered the facility. And indeed it was pushed to its limit.
"What exactly is this machine going to do?" Jeff asked.
Jeff had double-crossed Henry earlier. It was his idea to have Spike fight Crackle. When Spike saw Crackle it brought back memories of Dragon Quest , and his mind spiraled out of control, leading to the disaster happening right now. As a temporary punishment, Henry's other partner Sawtooth kept an eye on Jeff. His ultimate punishment would be determined later.
Spike was caught in the middle of the large machine. Harpoons fired from the walls stuck into his side, sending energy through him. His limbs were bound by the large grips.
Spike roared as the pain flowed through his body.
"How does this big 'ol machine work boss?" Sawtooth asked.
"Yes, keep him silent." Henry ordered.
Sawtooth withheld Jeff to keep him silent.
Jeff watched the horror unfold outside the safety of the control room. Seeing large dragon Spike roar in agonizing pain was almost more painful to watch. It is about then when Jeff had noticed that something seemed wrong.
*alarm*
An alarm went off, along with a flashing red light.
"Uh oh, hey um.. boss?" Sawtooth noticed the alarm, and was worried.
*reactor level reaching critical level* said the loudspeaker.
"We're almost there, just a little more..." Henry said while operating the machine.
Spike continued to roar while trying to break free.
"Should we... do some...thin..." Sawtooth was saying, but Jeff silently knocked him out. Jeff had known Sawtooth for so long, he knew about his pressure point. If he just applied pressure there, he would lose his balance and get dizzy. Quite convenient!
Jeff did the thing, and slipped free of Sawtooth's grasp. Using the crucial seconds he had, he slowly snuck up to the control panel, to try to do something to stop this horrible operation.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Henry turned his head suddenly. His cover had been blown pretty quick.
Jeff's eyes widened and he pushed a random lever.
"Don't touch that!" he yelled.
Pushing the lever sparked and caused a short circuit. The control panel sparked and electrical smoke poured out.
Henry used his magic to bind Jeff. Sawtooth regained his balance.
*error error* the loudspeaker said.
"What did you do?!" he said with anger.
*system overload*
"Now you've done it." Henry said.
The two watched Spike as the catastrophic events unfolded. With the machine broken, more power surged through Spike than expected. The entire thing was out of control.
Let's take another look into Spike's mind.
Devil Spike was puppeteering real Spike, as part of their agreement from earlier, but the metaphorical strings were tangled. There was an immense amount of energy, but it was too much to handle.
"How's it going you two?" he asked.
"So what's the plan now wise guys? How's anger worked out for y'all?" Angel Spike sassed.
Spike tried once more to break free, but he was bound too tightly in the physical world. Not to mention the whole machine going out of control.
"Look, I don't like you, and you don't like me, but we can agree on one thing. Spike's in trouble, and we have to do something." Angel Spike said. "Twilight's not coming, so we have to take matters into our own claws."your big plan huh?"
When his claws made contact, they burst in to flames.
"What are you doing?!" Devil Spike exclaimed.
"You know what, I think I can handle things without a conscience. You guys are lunatics." real Spike said to his good and bad conscience.
The two united together, forming a more powerful being.
"Come on Spike, those horses are literally handing you free energy. Joins us, and we can be the ultimate life form!" his united conscience said. "Stronger than any dragon, more smart than any horse! The best of both worlds, we can rule over all of them!"
...
All the energy injected by the machine flowed all through Spike's body efficiently, and in a way in which he could actually use. He was now fully charged and ready to leave his mark.
In the outside world, Spike started to move, and his head faced the control deck balcony. He had begun to charged up his fire breath.
"Um, Henry?" Sawtooth said.
The three ponies looked at Spike.
"He's going to fire!" Jeff cried. He panicked and tried to pressing more buttons on the control panel, maybe in hopes of stopping it.
*glass shatters*
Henry charged forward and pushed Jeff out the window of the indoor balcony. They both plummeted downward.
The very next moment, Spike fired his breath at the control panel they were just in, and the entire thing blew up in a fiery explosion.
Meanwhile, Twilight was still lost in the snow. She sat underneath the snow. She was cold, but surprisingly fine.
"Ugh, how long does it take for a pony to freeze?!" she said. "Don't you remember the first rule of thermodynamics? The snow is made of water, which is an excellent insulator. The snow is actually keeping you warmer than open air would." she nagged herself.
*humph*
Twilight sat in the snow, mostly just bitter now. She let out all her anger and sorrow earlier, so now she just sat to catch her breath. Maybe try to get up later, maybe not. She didn't have a plan, just kind of sit and see what happens next.
...
*roar*
She heard a faint roar in the distance.
*gasp* "I recognize that roar!" Twilight sat up immediately and surveyed the area. The field of view had gotten better, as the storm had calmed down slightly. She panned her head from left to right, at first there wasn't anything but the same old frosty landscape, until, she spotted a tower of smoke peering over the horizon.
"Has that tower of smoke always been there? *gasp* That must be where he is! There's no doubt about it!" Twilight sprung to life. She jumped out of the snow, stood up and stretched her legs.
She took a deep breath, gazed at the smoke, terrified of what it could be, but there was no turning back now. She stretched her wings and launched herself into the sky.
"Hang on Spike! I'm coming!" Twilight soared towards the smoke. But was it already too late?
Meanwhile, Twilight's friends continued to argue with each other.
Shining Armor, Cadance, and Sunburst tried to calm them down, but the uproar was too great. Flurry Heart smiled devilishly as they argued. Smug little twerp.
Fluttershy did not participate in the crude banter. She had a pair of binoculars, and peered into Frozen North, hoping to catch of glimpse of what could be going on. She surveyed the distant landscape for quite some time, until she spotted the same tower of smoke.
"Ooh. Oh my. That looks bad." she said. "Um, girls."
Fluttershy tried to get her friends' attention, but they didn't seem to listen.
"Even if were did venture into the snow, how are we supposed to find Twilight and Spike?" Applejack asked.
"Don't think I'm done arguing AJ." Starlight said. "I still have a few words to say."
*sigh* Fluttershy slumped in shame. Twilight and Spike were in danger, and her friends couldn't get over their argument.
Meanwhile, back at the facility, Henry's plan was in flames.
He and Jeff fell from the upper balcony down to the ground below. It was quite an impact, but they were both able to get up.
"Way to go." Henry said sarcastically.
The balcony fell down and impacted the ground. It made a loud metal crashing sound and broke apart into a bunch of fiery fragments.
"Sawtooth no!" Jeff cried.
He and Henry rushed to the control panel. Henry however wasn't concerned about Sawtooth, he just cared about his objective. The control deck had been blown to pieces. There was one functioning monitor that showed Spike's power level, but he couldn't start or stop the machine.
Although Spike was able to fire his breath, he was still tangled in the machine, and couldn't move to escape the building. His energy levels surged out of control.
Jeff was searching for Sawtooth, when Henry used his magic horn and pulled him in.
"This is all your fault!" he said. "You somehow knew that Crackle would trigger a reaction in Spike!"
"No, I ran away. You were exiled for your crimes." Jeff said.
"You signed up for this by joining me!" Henry said.this ." Jeff pointed at Spike who was not doing well. "You promised me that we would work together and further Equestria's knowledge of dragons. But I hasn't learned anything, other than that dragons aren't monsters, you are!"
Henry just gave a stern glare.
"All this time, you've been capturing dragons so you could rule Equestria. Well no more! I'm putting my hoof down now!"
Henry used his magic on Jeff.
"Ow ow! I can't... breath... please... *gasp* stop..." Jeff gasped for air.
Jeff slowly ran out of breath, until his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
Henry dropped his body on the ground with a thud, and total disregard for his well being.
"Good riddance." Henry said.
He walked forward and surveyed his base. The entire place was in shambles, and on fire. Smoke filled the entire building.
*Reactor core at critical level*
"What a shame." he said.
*Meltdown immanent*
He stood mere feet from Spike, whose mind was spiraling out of control. He caught in the reactor, and large amounts of electricity continued to surge through him.
"Perhaps I did bite off more than I could chew." he said.
Twilight flew towards the smoke as fast as she could. But was she fast enough?
Meanwhile, the dragons continued their path home, but Ember was feeling uneasy. She regretted leaving Spike, she only did so because the other dragons were in a hurry to escape.
"I'm kind of worried. Spike's still in there, and he hasn't escaped yet?" Ember wondered.
Ember let her own subjects push her around. She could have commanded them to go back for Spike, but she chose not to. Her status of dragon lord was already on shaky grounds, because after all, she did surrender and let her subjects get captured while she sat pretty by Henry's side up until she double-crossed him. She didn't want to do anything more that could spark a rebellion.
Back at the facility.
"Well, talk about my plan going up in smoke." Henry said.
"My dream of furthering Equestria's knowledge of dragons (using force) proved too ambitious." Henry said. "Years of technology research, burnt to a crisp. So much for advancing Equestria's technology as well."
Spike was stuck, and Henry had no way of influencing what happened next.
Inside Spike's mind,
"This is ridiculous. It feels like we're never going to rule Equestria at this rate." Devil Spike said.it ."
"But Spike, it is incredibly dangerous." Angel Spike warned.it backfires, and that's the end up us?" Devil Spike sobbed.
"And if we don't make it out alive, you two were the best positive and negative sides of my brain a dragon could have asked for." Spike said.
"You ready?"
"Let's do it. It's time for a new beginning." Spike said.
His mind lit up bright, until everything was white.
"Hmm?" Henry noticed Spike... started to glow! "Can it be?" he was amazed.
Henry rushed to the last monitor to read the power level.
*Power level exceeding triple xxx*
"Amazong. A phenomenon theorized long ago, but never observed... until now." he said.
*total meltdown in t minus 10 seconds* the loudspeaker said.
*9*
"Whether or not a dragon's power was limitless or not is what stumped ancient pony scholars for generations. But today, it appears that I finally have the answer." he said.
*8*
Henry thought about his next course of action, whilst Twilight raced towards the smoke.
*7*
"Before, the plan was to keep filling Spike with energy and see what happens, but now that we know his exact limit, we can do it much more efficiently and effectively next time. This is actually quite useful information." Henry smirked.
*6*
Spike's glow grew brighter.
*5*
"I never thought I'd see this with my own two eyes. Truly a miracle of nature."
*4*
Twilight hurried to the facility as fast as she could, but fast wasn't fast enough.
*3*
"You win this time Spike, but don't think this marks the end of our endeavors. This is only the beginning. Equestria's darkest day is still to come."
*2*
"Heh heh. Oh Spike. We hardly even knew thee..." Henry said.
*1*
Twilight was flying, when all of the sudden, an extremely bright light flashed where the smoke was. As bright as day. It was enough to blind her.
The flash of light was so striking, that time felt frozen. There was no sound, just light, until, the shock wave had reached her.
*BOOM* "AAAAAAHHHH!" The powerful shock wave sent Twilight flying back many meters, and into the snow. A powerful gust of wind and debris flew by.
*BOOM* The shock wave passed by the dragons.
*gasp*
The dragons were a safer distance away. They observed the large explosion coming from the facility. They were in awe at the size of the blast.
"Woah, that's one heck of an explosion." Garble said.
Back at the Crystal Empire, Twilight's friends were still arguing.
Fluttershy continued to view the smoke from her binoculars, when she saw the same bright flash of light.
"Um, girls?" Fluttershy urged.
The shock wave shook the entire ground, and everypony felt it.
"Wow Fluttershy, you've been working on your shout I see." Rainbow Dash said. "Or hear, would be more accurate."
"Yeah, so anyway, it's just-" Fluttershy started.
The ponies all looked off into the distance, and indeed, it was true. There was so much smoke now, it could be seen without binoculars.
"That looks bad." Cadance said.
"Is there any doubt now that Twilight is in trouble?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Say no more." Cadance said.
"Awesome. I don't even mind that all of us traveling by air would be slower, so long as we're all there supporting her together." Rainbow Dash said upbeat.all of our help." Dash said.
"So what do you say? You girls willing to help Twilight?" Sunburst asked.
"There's something I gotta say first." Rainbow Dash said. "I'm sorry AJ for arguing with you earlier." she apologized.
"Pinkie Pie, I'm sorry for whining, I have a bad habit of doing that." Rarity apologized.
"And Starlight, I'm sorry about what I said earlier." Applejack apologized.
Everypony apologized to each another.
"Stop it with the apologies girls, you're making Shining Armor liquid pride again." Cadance said jokingly.
"Whether she wants to admit it or not, she needs our help!" Starlight said. "We're her friends, and it's our responsibility to help Spike too."
"So what do you say girls. Are you all ready for an epic mission to save Twilight and Spike?" Sunburst asked.
"Let's do this thing!" Rainbow Dash said.
Back in the heart Frozen North, Twilight got out of the snow, and gazed upon the sight in horror.
What was originally a pillar of smoke was now a giant plume of smoke and fire.
Twilight's heart sank the more she took in the sight. Spike had to be here, there was no doubt about it. All the evidence said so. But this, something very very bad must have happened here.
"I'm... too late." she said.
She flew closer to see exactly where the smoke was coming from. It looked like a metal structure peeking out of the snow. And inside, Twilight could only guess, especially now after the disaster.
*cough* *cough* *cough* She got too close and breathed the smoke.
I better put on my gas mask. Twilight put on her gas mask.
She took a deep breath, terrified of what kind of disaster could have happened, and what could still be lurking within. Was Spike okay somewhere in the depth of the ruins? Or... not?
But despite all these fears and concerns, she took a deep breath, and entered the fiery remains of the facility.
To be continued...
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 17: The Confrontation
Originally published on June 10th, 2018
Previously, Twilight Sparkle had finally found the secret location where Spike was being held captive. Unfortunately, she was too slow, and a large explosion occurred in the heart of the secret base. The odds were bleak, but with all due caution, Twilight readied her gear, and slowly ventured into the smokey remains of Henry's hideout.
Twilight entered the facility, not knowing what to expect inside. She descended slowly through the smoke and into the depths of the burning building, not knowing when her hooves would touch a floor.
"SPIKE?!" she cried. "ARE YOU HERE!?" But no response. Nothing but the sound of burning rubble and sparks from electrical wires gone loose.
Eventually, her hooves touched down on the metal floor. She surveyed the area, but the viewing angle was limited by the smoke.
Well... you're not going to find him just standing here. she thought.
It was bad enough just standing in place, but she found the courage to explore this awful location further.
She wandered through the scorching hallways. The mood was as worrying as it was eerie. She wasn't sure what was more scary, the idea of there being no life, or the idea that something unknown was still lurking inside...
Twilight found many notable features in the facility. She found a circular pit which looked like an arena (The very same one you may recall being where the dragons battled for Henry). She wandered through a set of empty halls containing over two dozen jail cells. She dared not imagine what they were used for. (You the reader should know this as where most of the dragons were kept captive in between fights).
Finally, Twilight found a small metal room containing many shattered gems. The walls were marked with claw marks, and some scales littered the floor in the room.
"He was here, I know it." she said out loud.
Indeed. You the reader may remember this as the very same room where Spike first woke up and realized the horror bestowed upon him. This is where Spike first met Henry, and where he was held captive.
"But where is he now?" she wondered. Oh no...
She was starting to piece together the picture, and she didn't like what it implied.
"I'm too late... aren't I..." she said. "I wasn't fast enough..."
"SPIIIIIIKE! WHERE ARE YOU!?" she cried, but still no response. The place was by all accounts empty.
She continued to explore the ruins of the facility, hoping to find just a glisten of hope, but each passing moment only lead to more and more sorrow.
There were a lot of papers that littered the ground. She stepped one pieces of paper in particular that looked important. She read the paper, and what she found confirmed her worst nightmares.
"Let's see... *gasp* oh no..." she read to herself.
The papers detailed a plan to make Spike big and greedy by exploiting his greed induced growth with the allure of gems. The ultimate goal of the operation was to control Spike and use him as a weapon of mass destruction.
"Hidden deep inside of this dragon is enough magic to wipe out an entire army. Once he is fully grown, nothing will stand in my way when I unleash Spike upon the land. It's the perfect revenge plot after what the Princess took from me-" The rest of the text had burnt away.
"So it's true... You were kidnapped for nefarious purposes..." she said.
Twilight was appalled by the plans. Her worst fears had been confirmed. She crumpled the paper out of spite and tossed it into a pile of flames.
"I don't understand though, what happened here? Where did everypony go?" There was zero doubt Spike was kidnapped and taken here. But where was everyone? What lead to the horrible disaster that took place?
The sheer emptiness of the facility had Twilight gravely worried for the worst.
"SPIIIIIKE! WHERE ARE YOU!?" she cried.
*sob* "I can't believe I'm too late."
Tears fell from Twilight's face as she had begun to cry.
"I... *sniff* I've failed you, Spike. You always helped me no matter what, but this time, I failed to return the favor. I let my guard down, and this happens to you. I wasn't able to save you..."
"All I want is to see my little baby boy again, so I can tell you how much you mean to me." *sniff* Twilight kept crying.
Twilight got on the ground and let all her tears out. She was so close, but still so far from seeing Spike again.
Just as Twilight let her guard down, she heard what sounded like other hoofsteps against metal. She immediately lit up, turned around and blasted magic in that direction with all her fury. She went from sad to angry in less than a second.
*BOOM* The blast sent metal and flames flying.
"WHO'S THERE!?" she shouted.
She used her magic to lift the debris and see who was lurking.
*cough cough*
Twilight approached to see what it was. There was definitely a pony lurking, and it stared back at her.
"Princess... Twilight Sparkle?" the pony looked up.
"WHO ARE YOU!?" Twilight shouted with anger.
"I'm, uh, Jeffery , and..." he said. Indeed it was none other than Jeffery! You know, the pony who double-crossed Henry. He looked up and couldn't believe his eyes.
"Oh thank goodness it's really- *gasp* you ." Jeff said, but Twilight gripped him with her magic.
"He's not... here?" Jeff replied.
"Look, I'm just-" Jeff began, but Twilight interpreted.
"You got a lot of nerve sneaking into my castle and stealing Spike from me!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Oh you have nothing to explain!" Twilight exclaimed. "I know everything! You captured Spike so you can turn him into your weapon!"
"That's technically true, but-" he said shaking.
"Please... *gasp* let me go." Jeff pleaded. She put a tighter grip on him.
"How could you just take Spike away from me?!" Twilight's voice started to choke up. "Ripping away an innocent child from his... *cough* Have you no soul?!"
"I don't know... I did a truly horrible thing..." Jeff replied.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just blast you away right now!" Twilight said.
"I have no excuse... what I did was inexcusable. So go ahead and do your worst. I deserve your harshest punishment for my crimes." Jeff admitted defeat.
Twilight stared down Jeffery with an angry glare. The angriest glare I think she'd ever given any pony. Her heart was in such emotional turmoil, and she was ready to unleash it all on Jeff.
As for Jeff himself, he looked defeated and lost. He had given up, and accepted his fate.
Twilight's horn glowed, she was ready to just release all of her anger out all at once on Jeff.
But at the last second, she turned around and directed her powerful magic blast towards the opposite direction, resulting in a large magic explosion.
*BOOM* *CRASH*
*breaths out* "I can't... I just can't do it." Twilight said.
"You put me through so much pain and suffering, but hurting you won't bring back Spike." Twilight started to cry again. "I expected to find an absolute villain, but you're just pathetic. You're nothing." she said. "I came all this way... for nothing...
*sniff*" she began to cry.
"I know an apology will do no good, but I am well and truly sorry for everything I've done, Twilight." Jeff said.
"I know what you're going through Twilight." he said.
"Losing your family is... *gulp* the pain is indescribable." Jeff said. "I was separated from my family long ago. The feeling is terrible, losing the ones you care so much about."
Twilight stood in place thinking about what Jeff just said. How could he possibly know sympathy?
"Wait a second..." she wondered. It is about now when she remembered what Mr. and Mrs. Beam had told her back in Chapter 13.
"I wonder if this is how Mr. and Mrs. Beam felt when their son ran away... *gasp* I almost forgot." she said aloud.
"We know who kidnapped your dragon. Our son." their words echoed.
"Could their suspicion be correct?" Twilight wondered. "Is their son really the one responsible for kidnapping Spike? If that's the case, then that would mean...?"
"Listen, your name wouldn't happen to be Shine Bright Beam, would it?" Twilight asked Jeff.
*gasp* "I can't believe it, it's really is you." she said.
"As luck would have it, I've actually met your parents." Twilight replied.
"You have?!" Jeff was astonished. "When did you meet them?"
"I met them when Pinkie Pie threw a huge party for your little sister's birthday." Twilight said.
"Yep. And she is adorable. In fact, she even made buddies with Spike." Twilight said.
"How did my parents know I was here?" Jeff asked.
"Do they miss me?" he asked.
"What happened on that fateful day anyway?" Twilight asked.
"I made it out of the school fire alive, but I chose to run away from home. I was so ashamed of what had happened, I never wanted to talk to any pony again. I ran away as far as I could." Jeffery said.
"And on my way out of town, that is when I ran into him ." Jeff explained.
"My boss, the real mastermind behind all of this. The pony whose idea it was to capture Spike in the first place. That is the day I met Henry ." Jeff said.
"Henry ? What kind of name is that?" Twilight replied.
"Well then what is Henry's real name?" Twilight asked.
"What's so funny?" Twilight asked.
"Oookay then." Twilight said.
"So anyway, Henry took me in, and he promised me that together we would research dragons and spread our knowledge across Equestria. But instead, he built tools designed to capture dragons. He rounded up as many dragons as he could, and trained them to fight for him. Until eventually... *gulp* we took Spike."
"Look, if I had known that one day I would be stealing a baby dragon from the Princess of Friendship, I never would have joined him." he said. "I regret ever joining Henry's crew."
Jeff's story seemed believable, and his tone sincere. His story lined up with everything else she had heard.
"Anyway, let's get down to this." Twilight said. "What's the deal with this Henry guy anyway?" she asked.
"Everything. The entire operation was his idea. He built this facility, it was his plan to capture all the dragons, and it was his plan to kidnap Spike and turn him into his weapon."
"So he's the one who drove to Ponyville and snatched Spike from me." Twilight said.
"I see." Twilight raised an eyebrow of suspicion.
"Why should I believe any of what you're saying?" Twilight said. "If you want my trust, tell me where Spike is."
Twilight paced back and forth and brainstormed on where Spike could be.
"Hmm. They're not here at all. It's almost as if, they... escaped." she theorized.
"Of course! Why didn't I think of it earlier? Henry is one heck of an escape artist, I know exactly where Spike and Henry are, but you better hurry." Jeff said.
"But what about you?" Twilight asked.
"Okay, just tell me where they are." Twilight requested.
"Alright, makes sense to me. In that case, I'll be on my way." she said.
Twilight got ready to depart away from the hideout.
"And Jeffery..." she said.
"..." Twilight wanted to thank him, but thanking this pony seemed wrong, so she just stood in silence.
"Oh and Twilight, be ready for Henry. Do not underestimate him. Do not let your guard down for a moment. He doesn't fight fair, he will stab your back the moment you turn around." Jeff said. "He is a powerful unicorn, do not underestimate him."
"Duly noted." Twilight said. "But, I'm a Princess and an alicorn, how powerful could he possibly be?"
"Hmm, not head on, then maybe I should have a less direct approach..." she wondered.
"One last thing before I go Jeff. Please tell me, who exactly is Henry? If you're Mr. and Mrs. Beam's only son, then who the heck is Henry?" Twilight asked. "What's his backstory if any?"
"I better tell you Henry's backstory, it will put a lot of things into context." Jeff said. "Indeed, I am Mr. and Mrs. Beam's only son, but Henry on the other hand You see, Henry is-" Jeff was speaking, when he noticed another figuring sneaking up from behind Twilight.
"TWILIGHT LOOK OUT!" Jeff pushed Twilight out of the way, pulled out a sharp weapon and stabbed the horse. It was Sawtooth! He wielded a sharp blade, and tried to sneak attack Twilight, but Jeff ran up, and the two stabbed each other.
"Oh my gosh! Are you okay!?" she asked.
"No you're not, you have a giant wound." Twilight said. "Should I go find help?"
Meanwhile, the dragons were continuing their journey home to the dragon lands. They witnessed the huge explosion from Henry's hideout, but kept on flying anyway.
Ember however was growing worried of Spike, and had to speak her mind to the rest of the dragons.
"Guys, we have to go back! That was a really big explosion and there's no sign of Spike." Ember said.
"No way? Spike could be injured or worse!" she argued.
"Why should we listen to you? After all, you betrayed us and joined forces with that Henry guy." Garble said.
"No way!" Garble shouted.
"In case you forgot Ember, dragons don't do friendship." Garble said.
That familiar phrase blasted Ember, and got her thinking in the moment.
"You know, I've been thinking, and you know what I've thought of?" Ember said. "Have you ever wondered why ponies are the dominant species? I mean dragons are much stronger than ponies, so why are they the ones who rule the land?"
"Well that's because of... uh..." Garble wasn't actually sure, nor was any other dragon sure.
"Well I have a wild theory, so hear me out. Maybe, just maybe, ponies rule the world because of their friendship! Think about it, they've cooperated and built a society together! By unifying the earth unicorn pegasus, they've come together and built an advanced society." she said
"But us dragons have done the complete opposite! We don't cooperate, we're just a bunch of loners who keep to ourselves! Whether it's because of pride, or spite, or whatever, but let me tell you. We may be full of ourselves, but guess which species rules this world. I'll give you a hint, it's not the self indulgent scaly nimrods! We dragons have made zero progress in the past several thousand years because we refuse to!"
"What are you saying?" Garble threatened.
Every dragon gasped, shocked by what their Dragon Lord just said.
"The ponies learned to work together and they've done some incredible things, and maybe, just maybe, we dragons can learn to do the same thing. We can do great things if we all come together! And we can start by looking for Spike. So who's with me!" Ember said with excitement.
Unfortunately, despite her... interesting speech, there were no takers.
"Wow, no takers? I guess friendship is lame after all!" Vex said.
"I don't want no namby pamby pony friendship junk crampin' my style!" Fume said.
"Fine, I'll do this on my own." Ember flew off embarrassed and disappointed.
"FYI, I'm still your Dragon Lord. I'll be back, and when I am... ugh." she just flew off. The warmth of the Bloodstone Scepter kept her warm while she flew alone.
Ember flew back to find Spike, while the rest of the dragons flew in the opposite direction.
"Pff, could you believe what she said Garble about ponies being smarter than us!?" Fume said.
"Um, Garble?" Fume nudged.
Meanwhile, Spike started to awaken.
He started to open his eyes. The outside world was very white, a stark contrast from the blackness of his eyes being closed.
"Ugh... I feel like I intercepted an atomic bomb with my face..." he said. That wasn't too far from the truth. Spike was completely exhausted and out of energy.
Spike looked at his claws, and touched his head, from this, he was able to tell that he was back to his normal baby dragon size.
"Where... am I?" he wondered. He looked up, and saw a blank sky above him. He was completely desensitized, though he could tell it was cold.
"Am I... dead?" he wondered.
*gasp* "Henry!" Spike exclaimed.
Spike started to gain consciousness, and was able to take in the surroundings better. He laid in the snow while Henry pulled on him with a rope tied to his neck.
"Ugh... Hey! What's the meaning of this rope!?" Spike asked.
"Nah. It's just kind of uncomfortable, but thankfully we dragons have tough necks." Spike replied. "So tell me, where are we going?"
"Places. We still have much to accomplish." Henry replied.
"Wait wait wait. Slow down. I just woke up. What the heck just happened?" Spike asked.
Spike looked upon the fiery remains of the facility in awe. What used to be Henry's hideout was now a huge fireball, with a plume of smoke pouring out. Truly a terrifying sight to behold.
"Did I... do that?" Spike said.
"I... I..." Spike teared at the sight of destruction he had caused. "...I can't believe it, such raw destruction, all because of me..."
"Yep. It is truly a marvelous sight." Henry said.
The height of the smoke cloud amazed Spike. "That smoke really does climb high into the atmosphere, almost as high as the tall mountains that surround us." he said.
Though they were on a flat plateau, not to far away were a range of tall mountains, including the tallest mountain in Equestria, Mount Everhoof.
"Wow, Mt. Everhoof sure is tall." Spike gazed at the mountains in awe.
"That is a big mountain, but you know what else is big? You at full size." Henry said. "That was an impressive show you put on Spike, but that was only the beginning of what is still to come."
"So that's the thing. What are you gonna do now that your stupid plan to weaponize me literally blew up in your face?" Spike asked.
"This is only a minor set back." Henry assured.
"Think of this as a fresh start, with new opportunities." Henry said.
Spike reached behind his back and scratched. In fact, he couldn't help but scratch.
*errgh* "Why am I so itchy?"
"What the? But why?"
"Well whatever it is, it's really *ugh* irritating." Spike said.
"So tell me, Mr. Henry the not so capable, where exactly are going anyway?" Spike asked.
"That's it! I'm done with all the secrets!" Spike said. "You've done nothing but keep secrets! And I am so sick of it! I want answers already!"
"Answers such as..." Henry said.
"Just who are you anyway?!" Spike asked.
"No, who are you really? Where did you come from? What is your ultimate goal?" Spike prodded.
"Revenge for what? Who in Equestria did you any wrong?" Spike asked.
"But why me in particular? Why do you put so much emphasis on me? Why would you spend so much time training me in particular instead of any other dragon?"
"You have unique abilities that no other dragon possesses." Henry said. "All dragons grow with greed, but no dragon is capable of growing as fast as you." he explained. "During that brief moment of your maximum capacity, you were for that time the most powerful dragon Equestria had ever seen. Plus, your mind is feeble and easy to manipulate, which makes such power immense free for the taking... in theory. That is what makes you special."
"...So that's it? I'm just some freak of nature that you're exploiting?" Spike asked.
"Lies!" Spike shouted. "You're leaving out important details! There's something else you're not telling me!"
"None of this makes sense! How do you know about my abilities in the first place?!" Spike asked. "I demand that you tell me!"
"HOW DO YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT ME?!" Spike demanded an answer.
After the response, Henry walked right past Spike, who was frozen after being denied an answer. Henry continued to pull Spike through the snow.
Spike kept walking, and stared at the ground, bitter and full of angst. As they were walking, Spike had bumped into Henry, who had stopped in his tracks.
"Um... why are we stopping?" Spike asked.
There was a mysterious pony way off in a cloud of fog. The pony said nothing as it walked forward. Henry was on guard, he readied his magic in case the pony was hostile, but it simply walked forward. Henry and Spike kept a watchful eye as this mystery pony walked forward. The pony wore a hood, and a gas mask, covering their face. The pony was now face to face with Henry.
"Who are you?" Henry asked.
"Who am I? Who are you? You shouldn't be out here in the cold all alone? And that dragon, he's going to shiver to death." they said. "Not to mention, the critter is probably just dead weight hanging on your back."
"...So?" Henry replied.
"Hmm, thanks, but no thanks. This dragon is sticking with me." Henry walked passed the pony with Spike.
The pony ran to catch up to Henry and Spike.
"So, you wanna hang on to the dragon I see." they said. "Funny, because want that dragon too. Yes, I must have that dragon! I mean, it's just so weird!"
"Hmph." Spike grunted.
"Nice try, but I'm not some creature for sale!" Spike said.
"I got an offer that you just can't resist. Wait for it, 1,000 bits!" they pulled out a bag of bits. "Is it a deal or is it a deal?"
"Ahh, a higher bidder, I like that. Right, 10,000 bits?" they pulled out a bigger bag.
"Hang on, I got a deal you can't resist. 1,000,000 bits!" they pulled out a ridiculously sized bag.
"Not a fan of cash? I can't blame you. You must be a pony who prefers checks." they wrote a check and presented it to Henry. "There you go."
Henry used his magic to rip up the check.
"No deal because this dragon isn't for sale!" Henry said.
His harsh tone froze the pony, and he continued walking with Spike.
"Of course, how silly of me. Selling a dragon. He isn't worth the raw material of his scales." they said.
"So you don't want the dragon after all. Alright then." Henry said.
"This is a priceless dragon." Henry said. "He represents... many things. He is both my greatest accomplishment and greatest weapon. Why I tell you, I nabbed this little dragon from a sorry little pony princess, but she had it coming to her. Why I tell you-" Henry went on and on, but the pony and Spike started to tune him out.
"...Twilight?" Spike said softly.
"-it's just another example of what comes around goes around. Isn't that just the funniest thing you've ever heard?" Henry said finishing his sentence. His glare turned to spite when he realized they weren't listening.
"Uh, yeah! Ha. Hilarious." they said, not knowing what was so funny.
"Spike is no ordinary dragon. He's a dragon domesticated by ponies, but also a dragon possessing an incredible untapped power." Henry hovered over the pony in a very terrifying and entrancing and hypnotic way.
"He makes quite a good assistant doesn't he? Wouldn't you say?" Henry asked.
"Spike is a very special dragon. Wouldn't you say? Princess Twilight Sparkle ?" Henry said.
*gasp* Twilight let out a loud gasp, it was Twilight in disguise the whole time. Her cover was blown, and her identity was discovered.
Spike's eyes widened. "Twilight?" he said.
Twilight removed her mask and undid her hood, revealing her face. She turned and faced Henry.
"It really is you..." Spike said in amazement.
"Hello, Princess." Henry said.Henry ." Twilight said.
To be continued...
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Originally published on August 10th, 2018
In the last chapter Twilight Sparkle finally caught up to Henry, the horse who had kidnapped Spike. Unfortunately, Henry wasn't ready to give up Spike so easily.
"So, Henry I presume." Twilight said.
"Yes, that is me." Henry said. "It's about time you caught up Princess. I'm almost surprised it took you this long. Almost." Henry said.
"You've got a lot of nerve stealing Spike from me. You didn't even have the guts to do it in front of me, you did it behind my back."
"Twilight! You're here!" Spike clamored.
"Of course I am Spike. I'm here to rescue you. You didn't think I wouldn't show up did you?" Twilight said.
"Of course. I've been so worried ever since you went missing." she replied. "I'd travel to the end of Equestria to save you, and well, heh, I guess I did just that."
"Oh Twilight, I'm so glad you're here-" Spike was interrupted by Henry.
"So, Princess. Where are your friends?" Henry asked, referring of course to the mane 5.
"They're... not here." Twilight answered.
"Because..." Twilight's voice trailed off.
Henry raised an eyebrow.
"Because I don't need them to stop you!" Twilight said.
"You came all this way for the little dragon, but in doing so, you've neglected your friends in the process." Henry said.
Twilight was reminded of her other friends. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight Glimmer. She felt terrible about the way she'd treated them over the past few weeks. She was so eaten up by the loss of Spike, that she turned against them bitterly. After her brush with near death in the snow, she wanted to apologize to them so dearly. So much so, it was the first thing on her agenda after rescuing Spike.
"It's a that shame you came all this way for nothing. Spike isn't going anywhere. He's staying with me." Henry said.
"Twilight, I'm scared." Spike said.
"Look, I don't want any trouble." she said. "Just hand him over and we can make this easy."
"Don't make me have to use force." Twilight threatened. Her horn started to glow.
"Daww, the little pony princess wouldn't use violence to solve her issues would she?" Henry teased.
"Are you sure about that?" Henry asked.
Twilight's composure was slipping. The guilt of her friends was eating her up, and she was nervous in the face of this new adversary. Henry was so calm it was almost disturbing. It was almost as if this was all part of his plan. Could Twilight be walking right into some trap? Spike could see how nervous Henry made Twilight, and he wasn't going to let him get to her.
"You better watch yourself Henry! Twilight is no ordinary pony! She's one of the four princesses of Equestria! She is the Princess of Friendship, and represents the Element of Magic! She plays an important role in Equestria, and has saved the land time and time again! Whether she's standing alone, or besides her friends, you're no match for her determination and power! So you better think twice before you mess with her!" Spike said. "You can make all the threats you want, but Twilight's duty to unite ponies and stop evildoers like you! If you think you can rattle her with your words then you have another thing coming!"
"Thanks Spike. I needed to hear that." Twilight said. His words gave her a much needed confidence boost.
"Spike's right! I'm not afraid of you! Spike rightfully belongs to me and I'm not leaving without him!" Twilight said.Rightfully belongs to you ? That's funny." Henry said.
"You two put so much unjust trust in each other." Henry said. "Poor naive Spike. He puts too much blind faith in the four princesses of Equestria, totally unaware of their dishonesty."
"And you Twilight, you should think twice about letting your guard down around a dragon. If not, you might get... BURNT!"
"AAH!"
Henry squeezed Spike to force out a breath of fire, but nothing came out, as the rope was tied too tight around Spike's neck.
"HA! You flinched! You were scared he was going to burn you wasn't he?" Henry said. "Dragons are vicious creatures, so it's best to keep them in check."
"Look, I don't know who you are, or what your agenda is, but I am not going to let you demonize dragons. Not now, they're so close to an alliance with the ponies, and I'm not going to let you undo all of that." Twilight said. "Just give me Spike and turn yourself in, and I won't have to teach you a lesson."
"Hmm, I tell you what, since you're so sure that Spike belongs to you, I'll make this easy after easy after all." Henry said.
"How so?" Twilight asked.
"Pfft. Answer a question about Spike? Easy! I know everything there is to know about Spike. I know his favorite gem cake recipe, the book I got him for his first birthday, as well as the book I got for his second birthday, and the birthday after that, and-" Twilight said.
"Where did Spike come from? " Henry asked.
Twilight was ready to answer any question... except that one!
*gasp* Spike gasped. The dreaded question that haunted his life. The answer to this mystery stood between him and Twilight.
"Um... hmm." Twilight thought.
"Hey! That's not fair! You picked a difficult question on purpose!" Spike argued.
Twilight thought, but she could not come up with anything.
"Well?" Henry asked, growing impatient.
"Um... He came from the dragon... region... you know the one... where dragons roam... " Twilight answered.
"I don't know!" Twilight snapped. "But it's not like I haven't tried to find out! I must've asked Princess Celestia at least twenty times where Spike came from, but every time, she either doesn't give me a straight answer, or drops the subject!" she ranted.
"Typical. If there's anything Celestia's good at, it's secrets." Henry said.
"Well if you don't know the answer, then I guess no Spike for you." Henry teased. "Pity, it's as if you don't even know Spike at all."
"What do you know about Spike?" Twilight was growing mad. "Wait, how did you even know that Spike was hatched in Canterlot?" Twilight asked.
"I know more about Spike than you apparently." Henry replied.
"Spike is my dragon!" Twilight tugged on Spike. "Give him back!"
"YOUR DRAGON?! HA!" Henry tugged the other way.
"What's so funny Henry?" Twilight asked.
"Finders keepers Princess. I found Spike, so therefore he belongs to me." Henry said.stole Spike, from me." Twilight corrected.
"Found, stole. What is possession in the first place?" Henry pondered.
"Whatever you call it, could you two not pull so hard?" Spike cringed in pain as they each pulled on him.
"Give up now Princess!" Henry exclaimed.
"Twilight? Please help me." Spike was getting nervous.
"But if you took Spike by force, how does that make you any better than me?" Henry teased.
This made Twilight very angry.
"I'm nothing like you!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I think you and I have more in common than you want to admit." Henry said.
Tension in the atmosphere built. Until that tension snapped.
"If you want Spike so bad, then take him!" Henry said.
In a flash, Twilight fired a powerful beam of magic at Henry! But he blocked it with an equally powerful magic shield. The magic collided in an intense concentration of energy. Twilight's blast was powerful, but Henry's shield withstood it. The magic connected and made for a stunning light show.
The magic spells wore off, and Twilight flew forward, but Henry used his magic to grab Twilight and throw her onto the ground.
"GAHH!" Twilight cried. *plunk* she landed in the snow.
Twilight jumped out of the snow, charged her horn, and lunged towards Henry. But in an instant, he and Spike disappeared into the ground!
Like that, Henry and Spike were gone again!
"SPIKE! WHERE ARE YOU!" Twilight cried. Searched the ground, but it was solid.
"I'M DOWN HERE!" said a muffled Spike's voice.
*alarms sound*
The ground started to shake violently. Something heavy was rumbling underneath. A big hole opened up from beneath the snow.
"What the..." Twilight thought.
She heard the sound of... engines revving up? And then, fast like a speeding bullet, something drove out from beneath the snow.
*VROOM*
Twilight stopped in disbelief. It was some kind of metal horseless... carriage! It was Henry's car! The same vehicle Henry had used to kidnap Spike! Now he was using it to make his getaway with Spike.
The vehicle drove circles around Twilight, kicking up snow. That and the blur made it difficult to get a clear look at the vehicle. Twilight circled around in disbelief. The car stopped and stared Twilight dead on. The headlights shined bright as day, into Twilight's retinas.
"AAHHH! I CAN'T SEE!" she cried.
In this moment, Twilight's life flashed before her eyes.
Henry hit the accelerator. All Spike could do was scream from inside the car.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY TWILIGHT!" Spike cried.
The car accelerated towards Twilight!
"AAAHH!" she screamed.
The car crossed Twilight's path. So much snow had been kicked up, that it was difficult to see what had happened. Spike's only view outside of the vehicle were two windows on either side of the cabin.
"TWILIGHT!" Spike cried.
Spike witnessed Twilight's dislodged coat fly past his view.
"NO!" Spike screamed.
"Looks like that princess really doesn't know how to put up a fight after all." Henry said.
The car drove away.
Was Twilight...? No of course not. Her head popped out of the snow. She managed to dodge the car just in time.
"HEY! COME BACK HERE!" Twilight yelled.
She spread her wings and took flight, chasing after Henry's vehicle.
And now begins the long awaited car chase. I know I've been looking forward to this since almost the start. This has been hinted for a long time.
Twilight flew after Henry's car. In the air, she got a better look at what she was up against.
Henry was driving a four-wheel vehicle, engine at the front. Henry sat in the front compartment with the steering wheel. Spike was tied up in a compartment in the back.
Henry drove fast, but Twilight flew faster. But it would take much more than speed to overcome this challenge.
"You're not getting away from me!" Twilight said. "Not with Spike you ain't!"
She fired a blast of magic Henry's way, but he swerved out of the way and dodged the blast. When that didn't work, she fired a barrage of magic blasts at Henry's way, but his driving skills were superb, he dodged every blast.
*PEW PEW PEW* "SWERVE* *SCREECH*
"So, you wanna play with magic? I'll give you magic!" Henry exclaimed.
Henry pressed a button in the cockpit, activating the car's secret weapon. A weapon that Henry hoped was powerful enough to defeat the Princess of Friendship herself. On the top of the car, extended a large antenna. It looked troubling, but Twilight scratched her head as to what it did.
"Now then, try this one for size!" Henry exclaimed.
Inside the car, Henry attached a probe to his horn, which tapped into his magic directly. The probe sucked as Henry used his magic.
"Ew... that's kind of gross." Spike said.
He aimed the antenna carefully, and then...
*PEW*
"WOAH!" a fast blast of magic nearly hit Twilight dead on, she barely dodged it.
The probe connected Henry's magic directly to the vehicle, so when he fired a blast of magic, it came out of antenna, with great force. Almost as powerful as Twilight's shots.
Henry fired a barrage of magic blasts at Twilight.
*PEW* *PEW* *PEW*
* BRZZZTTT *
Twilight maneuvered around the blasts, while charging up her own magic. She fired a magic blast back at the car.
*BAM* *POW*
The two exchanged beams of magic back and forth, while the car raced forward at high speeds through the snow. The car's special tires were well equipped for snow traversing.
"I'm putting an end to this right now!" Twilight exclaimed.
She took careful aim, and fired an especially powerful beam at the front of the car. But the shot was redirected and absorbed by the antenna! The antenna on top of the car sucked and pulled on Twilight's magic, like some kind of magic lightning rod. It put a near death grip on Twilight's magic.
"AAAHH! LET GO LET GO LET GO!" Twilight cried.
The antenna sapped Twilight's magic strait from her horn, and pulled it into a storage tank in Henry's car.
"TWILIGHT! BE CAREFUL!" Spike pleaded.
"Heh heh. This device sends magic both ways." Henry said.
The magic was deposited into a containment chamber in the middle of the car.
"First Spike and now my magic?! Is there anything you won't steal?!" Twilight cried.
"AAHHH!" she cried.
*BOOM*
The blast hit her square in the face. The blast blew up a puff of smoke, obscuring the view. Twilight fell from the dust cloud and landed in the snow.
Spike watched in horror as Twilight fell from the sky.
"TWILIGHT! NOOO!" Spike cried.
Twilight's body impacted the snow below as Henry drove away. She tried to maintain consciousness, but was losing it.
Twilight watched helplessly as the vehicle escaped.
Henry continued to drive, when all of the sudden.
*KA BOOM*
The car hit something that released a blast wave. It hit a landmine? The car hit a colorful landmine, filled with confetti and streamers? That's what it looked like alright.
The blast knocked Henry's car against a stone wall.
"WHAT THE?!" he exclaimed in disbelief.
He put his hoof against the accelerator, when, in an instant, a flash of light circled around his vehicle, and tired a rope around the car and a boulder.
Henry pressed the accelerator, but the car was stuck! It was tied to a boulder.
"I can't move!" Henry cried. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?"
*PLOMP*
"NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Henry said.
Something landed on the hood of Henry's car. It was none other than...
"RAINBOW DASH!" Spike exclaimed.
"So you're the jerk who took Spike!" Rainbow Dash said.
"We don't take kindly to your behavior sir." Rarity said as she hopped into view.
"RARITY! PINKIE PIE! You're here too!" Spike said joyfully.
"You make me so angry! Stealing a baby dragon!? How could you!?" Fluttershy also appeared.
"We're gonna have a field day mowing you down." Applejack said.
"FLUTTERSHY! APPLEJACK! STARLIGHT! I can't believe it! You're all here!" Spike rejoiced.
"Girls! You all made it!" Twilight flew besides her friends.
"Are you kidding? I've never been happier to see you!" Twilight said.all came, for me!" Spike said.
"Of course we did silly. We love you." Pinkie said.
"We can't imagine our lives without you." Rarity said.
"Also, side note: I called it! Big metal horseless carriage!" Pinkie giggled.
"No, no, NO! This is not how it was supposed to play out!" Henry ranted. "I was supposed to steal the dragon, and defeat the lonely princess! You other ponies weren't supposed to show up!"
"You underestimate our bond Henry!" Twilight said. "Alone, you and I may be evenly matched, but your machines give you an unfair edge. With my friends by my side, there isn't anything we can't do! Now come on girls, let's save Spike together!" Twilight said.
"So now that you've reunited with your dumb friends, what are you going to do? Blast me with your rainbows and friendship and stuff?" Henry said mockingly.
"Hmm, that's actually not a bad idea." Twilight said.
The mane 6 started to glow. They all joined forces, and started to activate their Rainbow Powers.
"NO! I was being rhetorical!" he cried. Henry got very nervous at this sight.
"Oh hey. Rainbow Powers. You go ahead and... do that." Starlight said, watching them unify without her.
Spike was enamored by the rainbow colors and the glowing.
Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy all joined forces, and united, activated their Rainbow Powers!
"There's got to be something in this car that can stop them!" Henry said frantically.
Their manes transformed, and they were fully girls were charged up... but right before they could make a move, things went south very fast.
*FLASH*
"HEY! WHAT THE!?" Twilight cried.
* BBBZZZZ *
"AAAH!" screamed Rarity.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" exclaimed Fluttershy.
"HE'S SUCKING OUT OUR MAGIC!" cried Twilight Sparkle.
Their Rainbow magic was being sucked out by the antenna and into Henry's vehicle.
"I've never held this much magic at once." Henry said nervously. "This had better work!"
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" the mane 6 all screamed simultaneously.
Their rainbow magic drained from the mane 6 and filled the container inside the car. Starlight and Spike watched in horror.
"SAY GOODBYE PRINCESS!" Henry aimed his laser at the girls, and fired!
"NO!" Starlight cried.
*BOOM*
"WHAT THE?!" Henry exclaimed.
"OH MY LORD! STARLIGHT!" Twilight yelled.
Starlight leaped directly in front of Henry's blast, and absorbed the entire thing!
"WHAT THE?!" Henry was starstruck by Starlight.
With their magic drained, the mane 6 fell to the ground. *plump* Rainbow Powers were gone, they were back to normal. Starlight on the other hand was super duper charged! She held onto all six of their collective energies. She held so much energy, she could hardly control it.
"Starlight Glimmer!" Twilight cried.
Starlight fired the powerful blast away from anyone. Everypony watched in awe as the blast flew away... or did it?
"Uh... why is the magic heading back this way?!" Applejack asked.
The magic was absorbed back into Henry's vehicle.
"Don't want the magic Starlight? Don't mind if I do." Henry said.
Henry floored his vehicle, breaking the rope, and he drove away from the scene.
"HEEELP!" Spike cried.
"What the heck just happened?!" Rainbow Dash cried.
"We got totally got pummeled!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"No! He just sapped our magic using his cheap machinery." Twilight said.
"Mine's gone too!" Rarity replied.
"But where did your magic go?" Fluttershy asked.
"Or in layman's terms, Henry's got our magic." Twilight said stern.
"But how are we gonna defeat him without magic?" Rarity asked.
The ponies watched as Henry's car drove towards the mountainous area.
"Then that's where we're heading!" Twilight said.
"Then it's our chance to catch up, let's go!" Twilight said.
Starlight used her magic revealing the hot air balloon, which she made invisible earlier.
"You brought the hot air balloon?" Twilight asked.
"How else are we going to lug around so much dead weight?"
"It's so we all travel together. But the balloon may not cut it for this job." Starlight said.
Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Starlight Glimmer hopped into the air balloon.
"Rainbow Dash and I will fly ahead to try to slow him down." Twilight said.
"Ahem, I think you mean Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and you." Fluttershy said.
"Okay, so the three of us will fly ahead, while the rest be our support." Twilight said. "Once we stop the vehicle and get our magic back, you get the jump on him. He won't know what hit him."
"Affirmative." Starlight said.
With that, the two pegasi and alicorn princess flew after Henry in his car, in order to rescue Spike trapped inside. Rainbow Dash flew above Henry, and then dove down at great speed. Rainbow was planning on hitting Henry with a Sonic Rainboom! She accelerated faster and faster, but she couldn't get fast enough.
"Why aren't I going faster?" Rainbow wondered.
*PEW*
"Guess the magic drain does affect us pegasi too." Rainbow Dash said. "I couldn't get enough speed to generate a Sonic Rainboom."
The three flying horses flew after Henry. Dash kicked a patch of snow, to try to snow in Henry's car, but the avalanche missed and he drove past it. Fluttershy waited up ahead on a cliff face. She pushed over and dropped a boulder over the edge. Unfortunately, Henry drove so fast, he was already past the impact zone before the boulder contacted the ground. Twilight flew in closer to the vehicle, but she got too close.
*PEW*
"I wouldn't get too close if I were you!" He fired their Rainbow magic at Twilight. Using their own magic against them.
Twilight backed away to regroup with Dash and Fluttershy. The three regrouped with the rest of the friends in the hot air balloon.
"This would be much easier if we all had our magic!" Starlight said.
"Well we can't! Okay!? Because whoever this pony is, he is managed to invent a magic lightning rod that is both powerful enough to work on us! And compact enough to fit onto a motorized automobile!" Twilight said.
"Calm down Twilight. Let's just think of a new plan." Rarity said.
"We're going to need a better plan if we're going to penetrate his defenses." Applejack said.
"I have an idea. How about we drop a bunch of pies on the car so he can't see?!" Pinkie suggested.
"Hmm, I still got plenty of rope. It may not have been enough to hold down the entire car, but maybe it's strong enough to tie around that antenna and pull it right out." Applejack proposed.
"Again, how about a real... actually that could work." Rainbow Dash admitted.
"Well whatever it is, I'm down." Starlight said.
"And me." Pinkie Pie assured.
Twilight whispered her plan.
Meanwhile, Henry continued to drive through the mountains.
"No sign of those ponies anywhere." Henry said. "Looks like they don't care after all, and have given up on you."
"No way! I'm sure they're just... regrouping." Spike said. "And you know, you're a pretty terrible driver."
"I'd rather be flying out of this dumpster on wheels." Spike sassed.
The coast seemed clear for now, but that intuition was incorrect, as Henry was in for a surprise .
Twilight and Rainbow Dash waited some ways up the road.
"Ready..." Twilight waited for the vehicle to be in just the right spot.
"Now!" she commanded.
On her command, Pinkie initiated phase one of the plan.
"Look out below! Or don't!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
She dropped a load of pies from the balloon down below.
The pies landed on the windshield of Henry's car.
The car swerved around blindly.
Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy waited just up ahead for phase two. Twilight and Fluttershy waited on one side of a gorge, while Rainbow hid across from them.
"Ready girls!?" Twilight asked.
"Um... are you sure about this..." Rainbow Dash took a metaphorical step back and realized just how ridiculously dangerous this plan was.
Henry's car had just about reached them.
"NOW!" On Twilight's command, they lifted up a rope to catch the antenna.
"AAHH!" they all yelled.
The rope attached to the rod, but it did not give immediately, and it pulled them along for the ride.
The three pegasi held on for dear life.
"HANG ON GIRLS!" Twilight cried.
"TWILIGHT!" Spike cried.
Henry used his windshield wipers to wipe away the pies. He could now see out the window.
"THERE YOU ARE!" Henry exclaimed. "So this is your plan! A rope?! Seriously!?" he laughed.
"TWILIGHT! RAINBOW! FLUTTERSHY! CAREFUL!" Spike exclaimed.
Henry aimed his blaster at Twilight.
"I can't hold on! I'm sorry!" Fluttershy let go and tumbled onto the ground below.
"FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight and Rainbow exclaimed.
Twilight braced herself.
The two needed a miracle this instant, and a miracle was on the way!
Henry fired a blast of magic at Twilight, but the blast was intercepted by none other than...
"EMBER!?" Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Henry all cried simultaneously.
YES! Ember came back to help! She used the Bloodstone Scepter to absorb the shot of magic.
"Twilight! Rainbow Dash! Let go!" Ember exclaimed.
Twilight and Rainbow nodded in agreement.
"AAAHH!" the two let go of the rope and tumbled through the snow. They watched as Henry and Ember sped off.
"I hope she knows what she's doing." Twilight said.
Ember took a deep breath, and prepared herself for the daring stunt she was about to attempt.
"It was foolish for you to come back Ember. You should have escaped when you had your chance!" Henry exclaimed.
Ember pointed the Scepter at Henry's vehicle and fired a blast of energy.
*BAM!*
The antenna started to suck on the Scepter.
"I BLASTED YOUR SCEPTER ONCE BEFORE! I'LL DO IT AGAIN!" Henry yelled.
Ember flew in closer. The transfer of energy made the Scepter heat up, but Ember endured it, she had to. She flew in even closer, until she was right next to the antenna, on top of the car.
"AAHHH!" Ember yelled in pain, but this was the point of no return.
She flew next to the antenna and put a grip on it with her claws.
"THIS IS FOR EQUESTRIA! AAHHH!" Ember pulled with all her strength, and pulled the antenna clean out of the car!
With the magic free, all of the magic returned to Twilight and friends! Their magic flew through the sky, and returned itself to their rightful owners!
The car, now out of control, swerved and careened its side into the rocky side.
"Look out!" Spike exclaimed.
*crash*
The car had a minor collision, resulting in the cracking, but not shattering of the window next to Spike. The entire vehicle came to a stop.
"EMBER!" Twilight, Dash, Fluttershy, and Starlight ran to Ember's aide.AHH ! And you went all close and shoved that Scepter in, totally wrecking the whole thing!"
*vroom*
*gasp* their hearts sank at the vroom sound, because it meant that Henry's car wasn't out of commission just yet.
"TWILIGHT!" Spike cried.
"Come on Twilight! Now that the antenna is gone and our magic restored, we can use our Rainbow Powers and blast that Henry into oblivion!" Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight hesitated however.
"What are you waiting for?!" Rainbow asked.
Twilight analyzed her surroundings. Henry was getting away, while the hot air balloon with the rest of her friends was still a fair distance away.
"There's no time!" she exclaimed. She flew after Henry herself.
Twilight flew ahead of her friends and after Henry by herself.
"Twilight! No!" Rainbow Dash cried.
Henry continued to drive recklessly through the perilous and rocky mountains, desperate to escape.
Inside the car, Spike nudged himself, trying to free himself from the seat belt. "Hrrgh, mmm, aah!" Spike peaked his claws through, and managed to cut one belt, and from there he was unbound!
"Hey! I'm free-ish." Spike said.
Spike looked out the window, and saw...
"Look it's Twilight! She's coming!" Spike rejoiced.
Twilight had caught up to Henry.
"It's over Henry! You're defenseless! Pull over and I'll go easy on you!" Twilight threatened.
Henry floored the vehicle, which sent Spike to the back of the cabin.
Twilight flew after him. She used her magic on Henry's tires to try to slow him down!
*SCREEEEEECCHH*
The two fired powerful beams of magic at each other
*PEW* *PEW* *PEW* *PEW* *PEW* Back and forth!
The car's autopilot was smoother than Henry's own driving, and so, Spike took advantage of this.Hmm, there's got to be a way out of this thing. he thought.
Come on claws, don't fail me now! *POW* Spike dug his claws into the cracked window, trying to finish the job.
Outside the car was the fast paced magic duel of the century.
Twilight and Henry fired shots of magic at each other, until ultimately...
*BOOM*
Their beams interlocked, and formed one solid and continuous beam of magic in between Twilight and Henry's horns. The beams were so powerful that they cut through solid rocks that got in between. The ground shook as this epic clash of magic waged on at breakneck speeds! It was now a matter of whose beam would win.
"GIVE! HIM! BACK!" Twilight exclaimed.
"NEVER! SPIKE BELONGS TO ME!" Henry yelled back.
The power of the beams grew stronger, so much so that somepony had to give in. But unfortunately, it is not the pony you want it to be.
"HOW COULD YOU TAKE A BABY DRAGON AWAY FROM HIS RIGHTFUL OWNER!" Twilight exclaimed.YOURSELF !" Henry exclaimed.
Henry turned the car and slammed the brakes, causing to fall over on its side. *CRASH* Twilight came falling to the ground.
"TWILIGHT! NO!" Spike cried. But he and Henry weren't out of the clear just yet.
The car toppled up and over.
"Ugh, what now? Ah!" Spike had awoken, and was horrified at what he saw.
Henry's car had been completely totaled. Debris littered the ground. What remained of the car was a fiery mess of massacred steel and rubber. Spike laid on the ground just fine, aside from some bruises. He wasn't concerned about himself or the car however, he was worried about Twilight, who laid motionless on the ground.
"TWILIGHT!" Spike ran to Twilight.
"Please be okay Twilight..."
"...oh no." he said.
Spike turned around, and his heart sank.
"NO! IT'S YOU! BUT HOW?" he cried.
"My uh, strong will kept me going. But Twilight, apparently Twilight Sparkle doesn't want you as much as I do." Henry said. "She didn't have the spirit or determination to finish the job."
"You're horrible!" Spike exclaimed.
"Either way, with Twilight out of the picture, you look like you're in need of a caregiver." Henry said. "And I know someone just right for you."
Henry carried Spike away...
"NO! STOP IT! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Spike tried to run, but Henry pulled on him with his magic grip.
"NO! TWILIGHT! HELP!"
Spike's voice became less distinguishable as Henry took him away.
"TWILIIIIIiiiii..."
...
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 19: Memories Part 1
Originally published on September 15th, 2018
"What am I? Where am I from? Who am I supposed to be?" Spike's voice echoed.who found you or where they found you." Twilight's words echoed.
"I DON'T KNOW WHO FOUND YOU OR WHERE THEY FOUND YOU."
That one sentence from Twilight's past haunted her the more it repeated in her head.
.
.
.
"Do you have a question young Twilight?" Celestia echoed.
"Yes I do. I just wanted to ask. Where did Spike come from?" filly Twilight asked.
"Okay... where do dragons come from?" she asked.
Twilight waited for an answer.
"I already know that. I'm the one who hatched Spike after all." Twilight said.
"But where do the eggs come from?" Twilight asked.
"I already know how breading functions!" Twilight interpreted. "Who layed Spike's egg? Who are his mommy and daddy? How did a dragon egg end up at Canterlot? If hatching a dragon egg was your entrance exam, how come Spike's the only dragon in Canterlot?"
"Twilight I!-" Celestia snapped.
Celestia's outburst brought startled Twilight, and brought out a single tear to her face.
She noticed this and immediately felt bad.
*sigh* "You're too curious for you own good..." Celestia sighed.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"There is a lot about Spike that even I don't know..." Celestia's voice faded away.
.
.
.
"What do you know about Spike?" Twilight echoed.
"I know more about Spike than you apparently." Henry echoed.
.
"Who are you Henry? What do you know about Spike that I don't? And why do you look so familiar?" Twilight wondered. "Could Henry somehow be hiding the answer to Spike's origins? And if so, how is that possible?"
"What else might he know? Could he know possibly the whereabouts of Spike's parents? The chances are slim, but it's the closest I've ever been to answers. I have to find him, and find out whatever he's hiding."
"Twilight!" an outside voice exclaimed.
"Huh? Who's calling my name?"
"TWILIIIII-
-IIIIIGHT!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
"AHH! I'm awake!" Twilight woke up from her dream.
Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Starlight, and Ember all surrounded her.
"Are you okay Twilight?" Starlight asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Where am I anyway? What happened?" Twilight was dazed and confused.
"We're still in Frozen North. And you..." Starlight said.
"That was one heck of it hit you took just now." Applejack said.
"The wreckage? *gasp* Oh my goodness!" Twilight turned her head and noticed the car wreck.
The ruined remains of Henry's car sat in a blazing inferno, melting the nearby snow.
Twilight was now more aware of her situation. Her friends were all there, but she couldn't help but notice someone's absence.
"Girls? Where's Spike?" Twilight asked.
None of them spoke immediately. Applejack took off her hat and held it.
"Oh no..." Twilight feared the worst.
"We searched the wreckage, and the nearby area, but unfortunately..." Starlight started.
"There weren't no sign of anythin'." Applejack said.
"No..." Twilight covered her mouth, and her eyes watered.
"Twilight, listen. We know you're upset, but we just wanna say-" Applejack was interrupted.
"Well then what are we standing around for?! They're still out there aren't they?! We have to keep look-OW!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Twilight!" her friends ran to her aid.
"What hurts?" Starlight examined Twilight.
"Your leg is broken!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
*gasp*
Twilight back left leg was broken.
"But how did this happen?" Twilight asked.
"We found you on the ground beaten and bruised. It must have happened when you were... *ahem* knocked out." Rarity said.
"Well, this is only a minor set back. We're still going to keep looking for Spike right?" Twilight said.
Her friends stood for a moment.
"Who wants to say it?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"WHAT!?" Twilight exclaimed.
"Look at yourself. You're in no condition to keep going." Starlight said.
"What, because of a broken leg? Pfft. That's nothing. Who needs legs!? I can just fly perpetually like Rainbow Dash. She always hovers, even when idle. Have you ever noticed that?"
Rainbow noticed she was hovering during this time, and landed she on the ground awkwardly.
"Listen Twilight." Starlight said.
"You're going to keep hurting yourself if you keep going!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Twilight, believe us, it's not an easy call to make. But you're injured, and we're out of options." Starlight said.
"No Twilight, that's not it. We just-" Applejack started.
"This entire time, none of you have been supportive!" Twilight exclaimed.
"You seriously think I should just abandon Spike now in his time of need!" she ranted.
"I'm uh... not gonna get in the middle of this." Ember said, backing away from the argument.
"Are you girls afraid? What are you afraid of? Are afraid of the danger?" Twilight said.
"Are you afraid that Henry's going to sneak up on you and steal your little buddies too?" Twilight asked.
"Are you all afraid that you're going to DIE?!" Twilight yelled.YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!" Fluttershy stepped forward and shouted.
Everypony went silent at her words.
*sniff* "...Seeing you lay motionless on the ground... we thought that you were... that you had..." Fluttershy cried. She was so choked up she couldn't finish her sentence. Rainbow Dash flew next to her for support.
"We weren't sure if you were gonna get up or not. *sniff* We were so worried, we feared the worst." Pinkie Pie said.
The weight of the situation all of the sudden hit Twilight in that moment. She put herself in danger, to the point where she put her own life at risk. Her friends were more concerned about Twilight's life than she was herself.
"I understand your concern. Honest, I do. I'm not saying that this isn't dangerous, but we've come so far, and this could be our only chance. What if I never see Spike again?" she asked.
"What if we never see either you or Spike again? Losing one friend is awful, and we don't even want to think about the idea of losing two." Rarity said.
"But we're so close, we can't give up now." Twilight said.
"Twilight. Loss is a terrible thing to deal with. Trust me. But Spike ain't gone for good. We found him once, we can find him again." Applejack assured.
"We got LUCKY once. There's no guarantee we'll get lucky again. We may not see him again until... it's too late..." she replied.
"Are you saying my investigation was just dumb luck?" Pinkie asked.
Twilight broke into more tears. It felt like Spike wasn't the only friend she'd lost along the way.
"I couldn't save Spike, and I mistreated you along the way. All this effort has been for nothing..." *sniff* Twilight cried.
Starlight inched forward, and let out huge sigh. She was about to say something that she thought she might regret.
"Twilight, there's one fact that you have to accept." she said.
"You, lost." Starlight said.*STOMP* "WHAT?! YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Twilight snapped.
"Listen Twilight! I know the truth is hard to face. But look around, Henry got away with Spike, and almost killed you! He's probably long gone by now, miles away, and you have a broken leg. You. Lost." Starlight said.
"And this is supposed to cheer me up HOW?!" Twilight sassed.
"I'm just saying that it's time we cut our losses. These mountains are savage, and you could injure yourself if you don't turn back. We just don't want you to get more hurt than you already have. We gave it our all, but unfortunately it just wasn't enough this time. Henry got away, and it's time you accept that reality, and try again another day." Starlight said.
"Normally I would listen to reason, but there's so much more on the line this time. If there's even a slim chance of saving Spike, I have to take it. Any less would be a disservice to him *sniff* I love him so much, I can't abandon." Twilight cried.
"We love Spike as much a you Twilight. And we're not giving up on him. Henry won the battle, but not the war. He has no idea who he's messing with. After we rest up and recuperate, we'll be back and show him what happens when he messes with one of us." Starlight said.
"Yeah! Nopony can hide when Detective Pinkie is on the case!" Pinkie said.
"We'll find him, that's a promise." Rainbow Dash said.
"It's not over Twilight, we'll find him." Applejack said.
Twilight thought long and hard about what her friends said. She looked over at Ember, who had mostly sat back and watched the conversation unfold.
"And what about you Ember?" Twilight asked.
"What are you doing here anyway Ember? How did you get wrapped up in all of this?" Twilight asked.
"What do you mean win back the dragons?" Starlight asked.
"Sounds like you and Spike had it rough." Fluttershy said.
"Believe me Twilight, as a dragon, the thing I hate most is losing and quitting. Dragons are typical known for never giving up, and fighting til the end, but your friends have a point. We're best off coming back another day and trying again." Ember said.
Twilight gave a firm stare. "Okay, I know what I need to do now."
She walked behind the car wreck.
"Twilight? Where are you going?" Starlight asked.
A few awkward moments passed, and then Twilight walked back from behind the car.
"You girls are right. I tried my best, but I was outwitted. They're out there somewhere, but right now, I need my rest. This isn't over, we will find Spike." Twilight said in an uncanny tone.
"So does that mean you're willing to retreat?" Applejack asked.
"Don't worry Twilight, this isn't over." Starlight said.
*giggle* "No it isn't." Twilight winked.
Our heroes had came to the difficult decision to retreat. The non-winged equines climbed into the hot air balloon basket, and took to the air. The pegasi followed, and Ember joined the group.
And on that difficult note... wait, this chapter's not over yet! You didn't think Twilight would give in to her friends' demands like that would you? NAH! It was a lie. That wasn't actually Twilight retreating, she actually conjured up a doppelganger out of magic to go home with her friends instead. That way, she could continue to search for Spike. The real Twilight hid behind the car wreck until her friends left. How absolutely dishonest.
"I hate that I had to lie to them, but I couldn't let them hold me back. I know I can do this. A little more searching couldn't hurt right?" she said to herself. "Hang on Spike, mama's coming. I don't know who you are Henry, but I'm going to find out."
Twilight searched the mountainous region for Spike alone. She spent a good few hours searching, but was coming up empty.
*sigh* "This is hopeless. And I don't know how much longer I can continue..." Twilight's wings grew tired, so she rested in the snow to not put any pressure on her leg. "Ugh. Face it, Henry's nowhere to be found. Starlight's right, he won."
Twilight thought long and hard about what to do next.
"So far, you've been searching for where you think he would hide, and that thinking has gotten you nowhere. But what if Henry actually wants me to follow him? And if so, where would be the most obvious place to go?"
Twilight peered her eyes around the area. Until, one landmark in particular caught her eye.
"The top of Mt. Everhoof?" she looked at the mountain peak, and noticed some activity at the top of the mountain. "That's got to be it. They're up there, I know it!"
"heeelp!" cried a faint but familiar voice.
*gasp* "That's Spike alright!" Twilight recognized Spike's voice coming from the summit.
Her intuition was right, she took a closer look, had successfully located Spike and Henry.
"There they are! Hang on Spike! I'm coming!" Twilight flew towards the summit, as fast as she could.
From Henry and Spike's perspective, they could see Twilight flying in closer.
"Twilight! You're alive!" Spike rejoiced.
Twilight flew up and fired a beam of magic at Henry.
*BLAST*
He deflected it with his shield.
"Twilight you're okay!" Spike cheered.
"So Princess, I'm surprised to see you still alive." Henry said.
"Nothing is too hard for me." Henry said.
*ZAP* Henry fired a beam at Twilight, but she dodged it.
"You should have stayed in the dirt where you belong!" Henry exclaimed.
Twilight chased after Henry in an intense race up the mountain. Ultimately, they had reached their destination. The top of the world, the summit of Mt. Everhoof..
They had arrived at the summit of Mt. Everhoof.
Near to the top Mt. Everhoof was a circular plateau. A nice level plane if you will. On one side was a sheer drop off, which lead all the way down to the ground. It was so high, that it was above the clouds, and the drop off lead to a dense cover of clouds. On the other side of the plateau was a rocky wall which made up the remainder of the mountain's height. Halfway up the wall was a ledge that could be stood on. Just a few more meters higher was the tip top of the mountain itself. The area was of course covered in snow. Icicles hung from the ceiling of the ledge. This area is pretty pivotal, so keep the description in mind.
Twilight made her way to the top plateau of the mountain.
"Don't worry Spike, I'm here to-AH!"
Spike couldn't move, nor could he breathe fire. He felt useless in the moment.
Henry leaped down in front of Twilight, who laid on the ground after the blast.
"Daw, the little pony princess came back for her little friend whom she doesn't even deserve." Henry said.
Henry charged his horn and fired a beam of magic.
Henry fired multiple shots, while Twilight evaded them from the air.
"What's the matter Princess?! Scared?!" Henry teased.
Twilight hid behind a wall of rocks.
"This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea! " Twilight cried in panic. "Your friends were right, you can't do this! You're injured, alone, and he's more powerful than you anyway!"
"Did you come here to fight Twilight? Or to hide like a filly?" Henry teased.
"Spike's right, I can do this!" Twilight said in her head.
Twilight built up courage to fight back. She flew back out, and fired her own magic at Henry, creating quite the spectacle. Henry retaliated with his own blasts. Their beams intersected, causing a magic explosion.
*BOOM*
They both flew backwards.
*GAH!*
Twilight landed on her feet, hurting her broken foot. She lost her footing, Henry used this as an opportunity to strike while she was done. Henry used his magic to grab a bunch of frozen ice crystals to throw at Twilight.
"AH!" she screamed.
"Twilight! No!" Spike cried.
Was Twilight defeated? Nope.
She flew out of the smoke.
"Tell me where Spike came from!" Twilight demanded.
"So you do know!" Twilight said.
"If you won't tell me, then I'll make you tell!"
Twilight a fired beam of magic up at Henry, but not just any ordinary beam. This beam put a grasp on Henry's head.
*gah* "What? What is this sorcery?!" he said.
"No more secrets Henry! Time to open your mind!"
The spell activated, and a stream of magic aura surrounded Henry's and Twilight's heads, linking their minds together. Twilight and Henry entered suspended animation.
"Hang on Twilight! I'm coming!" Spike said.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"AAHHH!" Spike was falling! Until...
*ker plunk* he fell face first onto the ground.
"Oof, that's gonna hurt in the morning." he said.
"Spike? Is that you?" said a familiar voice.
"Twilight?" Spike looked over, and there she was.
"Twilight!"
The two ran up to each other and reunited.
Twilight and Spike joined together in a great big hug!
"Oh Twilight, I missed you so much." Spike said.
Tears of joy ran down both their faces.
"I thought I would never see you again Twilight." Spike said.
"You came all this way to save me." Spike said.
"Speaking of, how have you been? What has Henry been doing to you this whole time?" she asked.
"Oh it's been absolutely terrible! Henry kidnapped me at night in my sleep, and he took me to his secret hideout where made me fight other dragons! I refused to fight at first, but then I did, and when I won, Henry started to feed me gems so that I would grow big and turn into a monster!" Spike said.
"That's horrible. So he really was exploiting your greed." Twilight said.
"That sounds terrifying." Twilight added.
"What a relief I was able to find you when I did." Twilight said. "What happened next?" she asked.
"Yep. You've been through a lot Spike.
"Well I'm just so glad you're here." Twilight said.
Twilight and Spike snuggled once more.
"But where exactly is... here ?" Spike asked.
"I don't know Spike." Twilight answered. "It looks like we're... nowhere."
"Where did Henry go? What the heck spell did you do anyway?" Spike asked.
"I thought I used a memory spell on Henry to peer into his mind, but I have no idea what we're here." Twilight answered.
"Maybe I did the wrong spell?" she guessed.
"Heh. I'm flattered." Twilight said.
"Then why isn't he here." Twilight asked.
It was true. The two wound up at some rock quarry. The sky was dark and overcast. Overall an unpleasant location. But here was something very special about this location.
Spike started walking off.
"Where are you going?! This place could be dangerous!"
"I'm having a look around. Surely this place has some significance, and I'm going to see what it is." Spike said.
They both looked around, and tread with caution. Twilight stepped on a set of bones, which made her nervous.
*gasp* "What's this thing?!" Spike exclaimed.
"Spike wait!" Twilight rushed over to Spike.
"This." Spike replied.
In front of the two was a nest. Made from twigs and rocks.
"It's some kind of nest." Twilight pointed out.
"Mmm hmm. And it's giving me... strange vibes..." Spike said.
Spike inched forward.
"What are you doing Spike?!"
"I'm going to look inside if that's okay with you."
Spike started to climb in, when Twilight spoke out again.
"You what?"
"What is it Twilight? Why are you acting so strange?" Spike asked.
"Just what Twilight? What's the problem? Do you not what to keep going?"
Twilight didn't say anything.
"Do you NOT want answers?! Do you not like the narrative the evidence is painting?! Are you afraid that the truth is going to change the way you look at things forever?!" he exclaimed.
"...maybe..." Twilight said hesitantly.
"Look, I thought I wanted to know the truth, but the closer I get to the reality of the truth, the more afraid I get." she said.
"Twilight. You can't be afraid to face the truth. The truth isn't always pretty, but I have to know. I've been searching for answers my whole life, and the biggest revelation of all could be in that nest right now. I have to see what's inside."
A few moments passed, and seemingly nothing, until...
*gasp* Spike let out a big gasp.
"Spike!" Twilight panicked, and jumped inside the nest.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I knew it..." Spike said on his knees.
Twilight and Spike laid their eyes upon an incredible sight. There in that nest, was a single lone egg. One lonely spotted purple egg...
"It's..." she was at a loss for words.
"Listen Spike, I know it's a lot to take in, but listen, I-"
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Spike, calm down!" Twilight said.
"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Oh Spike... I'm sorry we couldn't find your parents. I thought for sure this was it, but I guess not." Twilight said.
But what does this have to do with Henry? Is the spell looking into Spike's memories instead? But, if he wasn't born yet, then how... Twilight thought.
*sigh* "At least we have each other buddy." Spike said.
"I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to me." Spike said, snuggling his own egg. "It's just you, me, some bones, and a large pair of talons..."
"WAIT WHAT?!" Twilight exclaimed.
*CAAAAW*
Right there in the nest was a giant bird. A roc specifically. The roc swiped Spike's egg with its talons, and took flight!
"NOOOOO!" Spike cried.
Twilight tried to blast the roc with magic, but it had no effect.
"Why didn't your magic work?" Spike asked.
"OH COME ON! CAN THINGS POSSIBLY GET ANY WORSE?!" Spike exclaimed.
They needed a miracle, and well. I don't know how you define miracles, but here's what happened.
*BANG*
There was a loud and thunderous bang sound. The shock wave pierced their ears.
"What was that sound!?" Spike asked.
"Look!" Spike pointed.
The roc dropped Spike's egg.
"OH NOO!" Spike cried.
The egg fell, but it came to a slow stop in midair, as somepony's magic caught it.
"Nice catch Twilight." Spike said.
"That wasn't me..." she said.
It was none other, than...
"HENRY?!" they exclaimed.
"Don't act surprised." present Henry said, sneaking up on Twilight and Spike.
"I've been hinting at this for ages. It should've been obvious by now." Henry said.
"Well there it is, right in front of your eyes." Henry said.you ... you're the one who found Spike's egg." Twilight said.
"Mmm hmm." Henry confirmed.
*CAW*
The roc wasn't done just yet.
Past Henry hopped into a prototype version of his car, and tried to escape with the egg, but the roc was quick. It swooped down, and landed on Henry's car. Its talons put a tight grip and crushed the vehicle. Past Henry kicked open the driver door, rolled out of the vehicle, and pulled out and held some kind of object... it was shaped like a long stick. He took careful aim with the mystery object.
*BANG*
*CAW* the roc cried.
Whatever the object was, it made a loud sound.
*BANG BANG BANG*
Henry made three more bangs to scare the roc.
"I didn't want to have to do this, but if I must." he said.
*BANG*
*CAWWW*
The roc was hit by some kind of fast projectile. It was a glancing blow, and it was enough to scare away the roc for good. Now that it was clear, past Henry rushed to the vehicle, and pulled the egg out of the wreckage. The egg was miraculously okay.
"You saved Spike's egg from a roc?!" Twilight was astonished.
Past Henry pulled out a paper, written on it a spell.
"And now, using this spell, I will hatch this egg, and finally have my own dragon." he said.
"enim eb lliw gnirpsffo eht taht os gge siht hctaH .rewop elbarusaemmi fo erutaerc ythgim a em nopu wotseb ,cigam yht hO!"
*FLASH*
A flash of light, too bright to see through, blinded Twilight and Spike. The light had subsided, revealing... that the egg did not hatch.
"What?! That should have worked!" past Henry grunted.
He tried again and again, but couldn't hatch the egg using his magic.
"Dang it. So if my magic can't hatch the egg, then maybe I should find somepony more powerful than I."
"So I'll just take this egg to somepony more powerful than I, the most powerful alicorn in the land." he said aloud to himself.
*gasp* Princess Celestia..." Twilight said under her breath.
"All this time, I've been searching for the pony who brought Spike's egg to Canterlot, and this whole time, it was you ..." Twilight said.
...
"I think when you hatch, I'll call you... Spike ." past Henry said. Or Spica if you're a girl
"You also named him?! WHAT?!" Twilight exclaimed. "I can hardly believe this. Can you Spike? Spike?"
"Say something Spike." Twilight said.
"But if you found Spike's egg, how exactly did he end up with me?" Twilight asked.half the reason of why." Henry replied.
"I presume you're referring to the fact that I hatched him, but what about the other half?" Twilight asked.I found Spike, next I'm going to show you how you took him away from me!"
*ZAP*
Henry zapped Twilight and Spike to the next part of the flashback.
Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 20: Memories Part 2
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 21: The End of Harmony
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 23: Not Quite Back to Normal
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee
Chapter 10: Remember Who You Are
In the last Chapter, we saw to what extent Spike's absence was affecting Twilight Sparkle and friends. So what exactly was going on with Spike you ask? Twilight and friends may not know where he is, but you the reader are fortunate as to be able to see him every other chapter. Last time we saw Spike, he was still being held captive by a mysterious and villainous dragon tamer, whom is referred to as Henry. We saw how worried Twilight was, so how was Spike himself fairing at this time?
Spike was sitting alone in his room as he did. Most of the time he was sitting and waiting for things to happen.
"Oh Dear Celestia, I know you can't hear me but, I'm so lonely. I miss my friends so much. The nights are cold and lonely, it's as if even Princess Luna isn't able to find me using my dreams." he said.
"Oh Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, F-Fluttershy, R-Rarity. I never got to tell Rarity my secret feelings for her. I think she already knows, kind of. But... I never had to opportunity to really tell her how I really feel about her." Spike said.
"In fact, I don't think I've told any of my friends the fullest extent of my feelings."
Just as Spike was feeling sad, he grabbed a gemstone and ate it. He'd been laying on a pile of gems the whole time.
"Mmm. Good thing I have these gems to help drown out all my sorrow. Heck, I can't even remember what I was so upset about a few moments ago." he said, quickly forgetting his woes.
"It's time for you next fight." Henry said walking into the room.
"You got it." Spike said. Yes you read that right, Spike actually said that. He didn't resist like he did before.
Spike had changed since we last saw him. Before, he was defiant, but now, he was starting to slip. Two chapters ago, when he won his first fight against Garble, he was awarded gems for winning. Since then, Spike had become hungry for gems, and the only way to get some more was to win more fights. Spike could not overcome his desire for gems, and so he gave in to Henry's commands.
Henry brought Spike to the arena, where he battled other dragons. Spike was a formidable foe, completely mindless and only after gems to satisfy his greed. The Spike we knew was lost. Henry and his two henchponies, Jeff and Sawtooth watched from the sideline as Spike fought other dragons.
"Wow, Spike's really on a roll now." Jeff commented.
"I never should'a doubted you boss. Leave it to ya to tame any dragon!" Sawtooth said.
Spike had basically become a fighting machine. The dragons that pounded him before, now barely stood a chance. One match he won using only the one two punch. Another match he showed his opponent dragon the power of fire breath. Each time Spike won, he was awarded gemstones, which served to feed his ever growing hunger for gems. He no longer thought about the immoral nature of fighting, he cared more about satisfying his thirst.
His mind was growing corrupted with greed.
It wasn't just Spike's mind that had changed, his physical appearance also changed. He appeared larger, taller, and more lizard-like. I think you're starting to see what's going on.
After each fight, Spike was put back in captivity, and was given gems for his efforts, which of course fueled his greed.
Henry had this to say after his latest fight.
"I knew you couldn't resist. You stood your ground longer than I expected, but with enough prodding, I knew you'd succumb to your dragon roots." he said.
"Isn't it great to be powerful? This is only the beginning. I have big ambitions, and you're going to fulfill them." Henry said, observing how much Spike had grown in the past few days. Spike again didn't respond as he was more interested in his gems than Henry's words.
"Anyway, keep this up, and Equestria will be ours in no time." Henry said and exited the room, slamming the door behind him.
A few minutes later, Ember entered the room as she usually did, but unbeknownst to either her or Spike, this would be the last time they would meet like this. Ember had her hands behind her back, as if she was holding something...
*gasp* "Spike!" cried Ember. "Oh no. It's so much worse than I thought. This is happening faster than I could have anticipated. I'm too late aren't I?"
As mentioned, Spike appeared very dragon like, not like his usual baby dragon appearance anymore. He wallowed in his gems, greed had gotten the better of him. It started with one punch against Garble, and has only grown into something worse. Spike was about ten times his original size, walked on all fours, and didn't act like his old self. He could speak, but most of the time chose not to, and when he did, his speech was quite crude, and his tone all deep.
"What blue dragon lady doing in Spike's den?" Spike asked, except it didn't sound like Spike at all.
"This is exactly what Henry wants isn't it?" Ember said.
"Is it? You're his accomplice, you tell me." Spike was also getting sassier.
"Sure, that's why you're letting him torture your fellow dragons while you do nothing." Spike said.
"Hey, gems come first." Spike said.
"Look, I do what that Henry guy says, and I get all these gems. So really, I don't see the downside." Spike said.
"You're Spike the dragon, messenger and friend of the Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle!" she said.
"You can't ignore your past Spike. Think of your pony friends. Aren't they worried sick about you? What about Rarity? The pony you have a crush on. What about Fluttershy? Pinkie Pie? Applejack? Rainbow Dash? Twilight? Sparkle?" Ember said, hoping that mentioning Spike's friends would be enough to snap his mind back to normal.
Spike's eyes widened, things were looking up, but hope was lost when Spike shook his head.
"Are you gonna eat that gem?" Spike asked, sounding like an older dragon again.
"Didn't you listen to what I just said?!" Ember exclaimed.
"What you're saying sounds familiar-ish, but I really couldn't care enough to try to figure out why. Now why don't you walk back through that door you came in from, and just leave me alone!" Spike demanded.
There was a period of silence where Ember stood speechless.
Spike wasn't just missing, he was lost.
"So can I eat these gems or what?" Spike asked.
"You know what, I'm going to eat this gem, to discipline you! Maybe that'll knock you out of this." Ember said grabbing a gemstone.
Spike hissed. Ember gave back to gem to stop from making a loud noise.
Spike snatched the gem away from Ember and devoured it.
"Why blue dragon still in Spike's den?" Spike was growing upset.
Ember had to figure out a why to snap Spike back to normal, or risk losing the old Spike forever. She could leave and think of a plan later, but by then it may have been too late. She had to think of something quick. And luckily for her, she had a something behind her back.
"Alright, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice Spike!" Ember said.
"What is blue dragon on about now-" Spike's eyes lit up.
Ember pulled out the Bloodstone Scepter from behind her back, and held it to Spike's face.
"This is sort of a last resort, but it just might work." she thought out loud.
The same scepter that was the prize at the end of the gauntlet. The same scepter, that whoever holds it is Dragon Lord. But why was it here?
"Now listen to me Spike!" Ember said. "You are Spike the dragon. Don't remember what that means? Well take a look!"
Ember used the scepter to mess with Spike's head, and bring up past memories.
Spike's life flashed before him literally. He saw the moment, he emerged from his egg, actually more like the moment he burst out of his egg in a big magic explosion. His early days in Canterlot with Twilight. Moving to Ponyville and meeting his friends. The many hardships, but also the many touching moments.
We remember the past abstractly. You're not going to remember every word in this fanfiction, but what we take away are abstract feelings. Though small details were cloudy in Spike's partially corrupt mind, the abstract feeling of love he used to feel around his friends was breaking through.
"Remember who you are!" Ember's voice echoed within Spike's mind. "Spike the dragon, assistant to the Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Finally, Spike's mind cleared and he finally snapped out of it.
"GAH! Ember is that you? Where am I?!" Spike yelled in his normal voice.
"It's me, Ember. But is that you Spike?" Ember asked.
"You've been fighting other dragons to earn gems. Henry's been filling you with greed, and this is exactly what he wants." Ember explained.
"That's terrible. I can't believe I let myself lose control." Spike said.
"Well what do we do now?" Spike asked.
"Right now? What about your plan?" Spike asked.
"That doesn't strike me as confident." Spike said.
"Anyway, how we gonna escape if I'm still big? Why am I still big anyway?" Spike was indeed still big. His mind returned to normal, but his body didn't. He even had a gem in his hand without realizing it.
"I don't know. It's as if the scepter only cured half the problem." Ember suggested. The scepter's effect was only partly effective, and actually seemed to be wearing off slowly. They needed a more permanent solution.
"Your mind is back to normal, but not your body. So we're halfway there. We cleared your mind, now we need to clear your heart completely." she said.
"So then how do we do that?" Spike asked.
"It did once before." Spike answered. "This is just like that time in Ponyville where I got all super greedy and turned into a huge beast and broke a lot of things in Ponyville."
"Yes... yes that's it!" Ember came to a realization.
"But I don't want to be used as a weapon of mass destruction used to conquer Equestria. I just want to be Spike! And I want to go home! With Twilight, and Rarity, and all my other friends back in Ponyville!" he cried.
He kicked gems out of his way to resist the greed.
"Think, what made you normal again the last time this happened?" Ember asked, hoping for a solution.
"Well, it'd gotten so bad to the point where I had kidnapped Rarity, and it was when I saw the jewel around her neck. That jewel, that I gave to her. She said it was given to her by a true friend, and hearing her say that, brought back fond memories, and reminded me that I I-... that I have strong feelings for Rarity." Spike explained.
"Hmm, alright then, so only a special gem was able to trigger that reaction. And without your friends here, simply thinking about them doesn't seem to be enough." Ember thought out loud.
"When you went on a rampage in Ponyville, only an act of love was able to bring you to normal, I guess that's why the scepter only cleared your mind, it isn't capable of filling you with love." Ember speculated. The scepter didn't quite work all the way, they needed something more... personal.
"Um, I have one idea, but... you probably won't like it." Ember said.
"Whatever it is, doesn't matter, we're desperate." Spike said.
"Just say it Ember." Spike demanded.
Spike paused for a moment.
Spike was still silent. He was processing what she was saying.
"Uh..." Spike wasn't ready to answer.
"Alright, if you say so, let's do it." Spike said.
Ember and Spike got into position. Tall Spike had a different... feel from small Spike to say the least.
"Ember? This kiss is purely a means to an end right? It doesn't actually... mean anything?" Spike asked.
"...This kiss is whatever you want it to be Spike. Whatever it takes. We'll discuss the technicalities later. " she replied.I can't believe I'm actually about to do this. Ember thought in her mind.
The two puckered their lips and kissed. Gross. Or maybe you're into that kind of thing. Spike enjoyed it quite a bit, he felt very relaxed. The plan was working, his body began to shrink to normal size. Everything was going well, but then the worst thing imaginable happened.
*ZAP*
Spike's shock collar had suddenly activated and began zapping the two. Ember fell back in pain. Spike screamed in agony. Ember turned around and saw Henry and his two hench ponies Jeff and Sawtooth standing at the entrance.
"So this was your big plan? You know, if you wanted to make love to the dragon, you could have just asked." Henry said with snark.
"It's over Henry, you can consider our alliance over!" Ember said.
"Too bad! I'm busting Spike out of here. I'll be back with reinforcements, and we're going to free the other dragons!" Ember called out.
"Hmm, quite the tall order. You're not going anywhere traitor." Henry threatened.
"Nothing! He's talking about nothing!" Ember said.
"Shut up!" Ember exclaimed.surrendered all of her dragons to me?" Henry said.
"What is he talking about Ember?!" Spike demanded answers.
"Am I? Or are you afraid of the truth? Afraid to admit that you've failed?! You failed your dragons." Henry inched forward with his weapons. The moment grew ever tense. Ember had to do something fast.
Without a moment to spare, Ember grabbed Spike, and breathed fire in Henry's way. It was enough distract him, and fly past him and escape the room.
"After them!" Henry yelled. He and Sawtooth ran after, but Jeff trailed slightly slower.
Nevertheless, a chase ensued.
"Do you know the layout of these halls!?" Spike asked.
"Too well!" Ember answered.
"The exit!" Ember responded.
"We'll be back with reinforcements!" Ember answered.
"Hang... on... Spike! We just need to get out of range!" Ember said in pain.
As suddenly as it started, the shock collar stopped.
"It stopped!" Spike said.
"We must have gotten out of range of Henry's remote control!" Ember said. "I think the exit is just beyond this turn!" she exclaimed.
"So what exactly happened between you and Henry!?" Spike asked.
Unfortunately, Ember would not be explaining what happened to Spike, as fate had other plans.
"Where are we anyway? What lies beyond these walls!?" Spike asked.
"We're in the middle of-" Ember started to say, but she was unfortunately interrupted.
"I have to hand it to you Ember, I admire your efforts, but not enough to let this go unpunished." Henry said looking at them from above.
Jeff and Sawtooth jumped down, each carrying electric spears.
"I never trusted you, you know." Henry said as he jumped down into the pit. "I anticipated your rebellion from a mile away."
Ember did her best to fight off Henry's henchponies, but they didn't play fair. If it was just one opponent, Ember may have been able to take them on, but against two, it wasn't so easy. Ember breathed fire into Jeff, who was hesitant, but she was literally stabbed in the back by Sawtooth's electric spear, he was a lot more blunt. Ember was shocked and fell to the ground.
"Ember nooo!" Spike cried in horror, watching Ember collapse in pain.
Ember tried to get up, but Jeff and Sawtooth chained her up.
"You don't have to do this Jeff!" Ember said.
"I'm sorry Ember, but I have to. The boss' orders come first." Jeff whispered.
"Quit your yappin' dragon! You're our prisoner now." Sawtooth said. He got out his chain and tied up Ember.
Henry walked up to Ember.
"I knew you'd try to pull a stunt like this, which is why I have a special punishment for you." Henry said, as he put a muzzle over Ember's mouth.
"No! Stop this! You can't do this!" Spike cried.
"Oh, but I already have." he said.
"...Heh, we'll see about that." Henry pulled a gem from his coat pocket, and tried to shove it in Spike's mouth.
"Eat it!" Henry demanded.
"Stop this now!" Ember called out trying to move, but she was tied up.
Henry struck Spike in the head, knocking him to the ground. While Spike was down, Henry shoved the gem into his mouth.
"Mmm, delicious." Spike's pupils dilated and appeared more lizard-like again.
"Quit yelling blue dragon." Spike said. It was too late. Greed had consumed his mind already again.
Henry dragged Spike to his room, while Jeff and Sawtooth dragged Ember towards a dark room in the compound.
"Spike! Don't succumb to greed again! Remember Henry's plan! You don't want to be a weapon! Don't forget who you are! Don't forget about Twilight! Spike! Spiiiiiiike!" Ember yelled, until a metal door slammed, and her voice cut off abruptly.
Things were looking very grim at this moment. The Spike we all know and love was lost under a cloud of greed. Henry had so far successfully used greed to control Spike. Ember's sacrifice was seemingly in vain. She had been captured, only to have Spike be controlled anyway. With all the other dragons in captivity, and with all the ponies unaware of Spike's location, had Henry won? Would his terrible plan to turn Spike into a giant dragon and conquer Equestria succeed?! What's going to happen to Ember now that she's captured?
Will Twilight ever find Spike? Finding Spike certainly won't be easy, there were hardly any clues as to his whereabouts. It's going to take some expert detective pony skills to find Spike. And who was the pony with the expert detective skills up to the task? Find out in Chapter 11.