Secrets in Equestria

Twilight had just returned from some shopping in Canterlot. The Grand Galloping Gala was coming up within the next week and she had to get herself ready. She wasn’t exactly ready for the most boring event of the year but she wanted to meet Sunset Shimmer and friends. Twilight would be living in Ponyville soon enough and was excited to meet the pony’s she would be living around. Until then, she had to work on a first impression. “Come on Twilight, focus.” Twilight breathed deep. “Hi my name is Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight froze and hung her head. “That’s all I’ve got, really?” Twilight sat down on her bed and sighed. Her mind was racing with things she should say but nothing came out modest. “Guess what everyone; I’m the student of a princess, cheer for me.” She shook her and disappointedly. “That ought to go swimmingly. Where is Spike when you need him?” Twilight asked and then heard a deep voice behind her. Twilight turned around with a big grin. “Good, you can talk me up and then I can shy away and claim that it’s not that great even if it is.”

Spike shook his head and chuckled. “Twilight, do you need a hug?” Twilight nodded. Spike chuckled and wrapped his arms and wings around her. Spike stood a foot above Twilight and his wings were big enough to hug her with them. Spike almost completely covered Twilight. Had any pony seen them, they would have thought Twilight was being attacked or eaten. It wouldn’t be the first time. “Twilight, do yourself a favor and just say hi to them. What are they gonna do, hate you for saying hi?”

Twilight gently pushed Spike away with a smile. “Thanks Spike, you always know just what to say.” Twilight said half sarcasticly. Most the time Spike really did know just what to say. “It shouldn’t be so difficult for me though.”

“I’m your best bud, no pony knows you like I do. Your family before me know you better of course and perhaps your foal sister but I know you better than the Princesses do.” Spike sat down on the floor next to Twilights bed. He indicated for Twilight to have a seat by patting the bed. Twilight sat down and listened to her dragon friend. “Twilight, you really should stop worrying about things like this. I know that’s how you are but seriously, stop.” Twilight nodded knowing she would only be calm temporarily. Spike knew this as well. “I’m just glad it doesn’t take much to calm you down. Now, pick out a dress and get ready for the gala.”

“Thanks Spike, I’m glad I have you around and if I don’t say it enough, I love you.”

“I love you to Twilight, now once you’re finished getting ready, go to the friends you have here and spend some time with them. You need a break from everything. All the work you’ve been doing isn’t helping you any.” Twilight reluctantly agreed to spend time with friends just to make Spike happy. “Good.” Spike gave Twilight one last hug. “I need to go to the Dragon lands for a bit.”

“It’s Garble again isn’t it?” Twilight folded her hooves and raised an eyebrow.

“Uh yeah, it’s Garble butt again.”

“You never told me exactly what happened when you went there the first time. Please tell me.” Twilight begged. She really wanted to know what happened the first time Spike went.

Spike knew Twilight would never give up and so he gave in right away. “Fine but you get yourself ready while I tell you.” Twilight agreed only because it wouldn’t take very long to get herself ready. “When I first arrived, I was greeted by Garble. He laughed at my size. I said I wanted to study them and they instantly freaked out. They thought I was there to investigate them. It was something about dragons being investigated for the choosing of a new Dragon Elder.”

“Dragon elder, what position is that to a dragon? Leader or something in that position I guess.” Twilight asked as she chose between a few different dresses she would wear to the gala.

“No idea, when I said I wasn’t doing that, they laughed at me. I was invited to join a few games so they could see what kind of dragon I was. I beat every dragon in every game. It was awesome.” Spike ignored Twilights eye roll. “Anyway, after that, they invited me to join a raid. I had no idea what that was but I went with them on the raid anyway. Long story short, I reached a Phoenix nest and was told to crush the eggs.” Spike paused and let some tears slip. He had killed an innocent creature and it haunted him.

Twilight saw the pain on Spikes face and hurried to comfort him. She had no idea what happened but she could guess. “Spike, did you crush the egg?” Spike tried to turn his head away but Twilight wouldn’t let him. “Spike, it’s ok.”

“Ok, how is killing an innocent creature ok Twilight?”

“You were young and you were pressured. That trip had to have been a lot for you then.”

“Yeah it was a lot but it is no excuse to kill any creature of any race. I killed a phoenix and then I saw the look on the faces of its parents before they became enraged and attacked me. I never felt so bad in my life.”

“Spike, that is in the past, you don’t need to feel guilty. That’s why you brought home a lost phoenix egg. You took care of it until it could take care of itself. You were making up for the mistake you made.”

“You can’t understand Twilight, the pain on the parents faces still haunt me. Imagine if you will, how you would feel if you had a child and some pony or creature came in and killed him or her in front of you. Nothing I do could make up for that.”

“Spike, is this why you never talk about what happened?” Twilight raised her hoof to Spikes face worriedly. She didn’t mean or expect for anything like this to be brought up.

“It’s why I go after Garble and make sure that he doesn’t harm a single egg.” Spike stood up and stretched out his wings. “I better get to the dragon lands before Garble has a chance to kill any creature.” Spike opened the window and flew off. “Garble, I will always hate you and myself.”

Spike reached the Dragon Lands and looked around while he landed. It hadn’t changed much since he was there last just like the last umpteenth times he had been there. He couldn’t be sure how many eggs Garble had squashed between the times he wasn’t there but it was the here and now that he was focused on. He couldn’t control everything Garble did but he did everything else he couldn’t control. The moment he landed, Garble walked up with a blue dragon next to him. “Garble.”

“When will you stop coming here pony boy?” Garble sneered.

“Wait, wait, wait, this is the dragon that lives with pony’s.” The blue dragons lips quivered and then broke into a fit of laughter.

“Cool it Princess Ember, it’s not that funny. I find the twerp disgusting.” Garble said and Ember immediately stopped. This didn’t go unnoticed by Spike as the two turned around. “Let’s return, I’m obviously not getting anywhere for a while as long as Sparkle Warkle is here.”

Spike smirked and folded his arms. “That’s the first smart thing you’ve ever said Garble.”

Ember stopped and flipped around glaring. Truth was she wanted to laugh but knew that wouldn’t look good for her. She would most definitely be punished. The only thing she could do is defend Garble as much as she hated him. “Who do you think you are?”

“I’m smarter than you dragons, that is for sure. It means more than your brute force you seem so fond of.” Spike knew he was going to get some backlash but he also knew that he could take on most dragons here, Garble included. The princess however, he could assume she had Garbles intelligence but something told him otherwise. “So Garble, go do whatever you want to do but don’t think I can’t stop you. I always have and always will.”

A crowd had formed by now and Garble wasn’t about to stand down to a pony loving dragon and neither was Ember. Ember however didn’t get to say anything. “You faster than me, that means nothing. The elders bet that I would be the next Dragon lord. You can’t do a thing to me.” Spike just laughed and it angered Garble. “I challenge you Sparkle Warkle. This ends with whoever is the last living dragon. Your smarts can’t beat me.” The crowd including Ember agreed.

“You’re insane but you want to prove you’re the best then be my guest but beating you won’t take long.” Spike waited for Garble to take the first move and then stepped out of the way of Garbles attack. Garble attacked over and over with all his strength but couldn’t touch Spike. “Come on, I thought you were gonna prove something Garble.” This only served to anger Garble more than he already was. The crowd of dragons were shocked by what was happening. After about fifteen minutes and Garble was out of energy. Spike walked over to Garble and gave him a swift round house kick and knocked him out.

“How was that about smarts?” Ember growled. “You’re a coward.” Her words were angry but her face betrayed her.

“Au contraire Ember. I knew I couldn’t beat him with brute force. With that in mind, I also knew how Garble would act. He is stupid and all around a big brute who has no patience. I knew he would attack me non-stop and so I used that as my advantage. All I had to do was wait it out until he ran out of energy. I know my opponent and he is not the brightest.” Spike felt the ground shake. “Let me guess, the Dragon lord is here?”

“Dragon, you dare to insult our kind?”

“No, I insulted, well yes actually. Dragons care for nothing but themselves. Your greedy and don’t care about anyone and I can tell that Princess Ember isn’t happy. I’m sure that is due to serving Garble.” Spike could only guess but he really didn’t have a clue why Ember did as Garble said but he could tell that Ember wasn’t happy.

“You continue to insult us even now when you know nothing of our customs and traditions. For this insulance, you shall fight me.” Torch demanded.

“I guess there is no getting out of this, so why not.” Spike ready himself for a fight that wasn’t going to go well and everyone could tell. Spike was going to die but he would go down fighting.

“You may know Garble but let’s see how you do against a dragon ten times bigger then you.” Ember yelled hoping in a way that Spike would live. She didn’t know why but she hoped.

“I’m dead.” With that said, Spike faced the dragon lord who was laughing. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” As before, Spike waited for his opponent to make the first move and Torch did. Spike was barely able to dodge out of the way before getting swatted away and slid along the ground. “Think Spike, think. He is a giant dragon that only cares about strength? Can’t knock him out or wait this out. he is was too big and probably has more than enough stamina. I can only take so many hits, guess would be three or four.” Spike looked at his surroundings and only saw dirt and rock and then smiled. “Let’s hope this works” Spike stood up and got grabbed by Torch.

“So dragon, where are those smarts now?” Torch said squeezing Spike and then found himself with dirt in his eyes. Torch screamed but kept a hold of Spike until he felt a sharp prick on his hand. “The smallest of wounds can hurt no matter how big the creature you are.”

Spike flapped his wings and created a dust cloud making it impossible to see him. When the dust cleared, Spike had disappeared or so it seemed. Not much longer after the dust cleared then Torch fell to his knees in pain unable to move. Blood dripped from the wound Spike had made. It may have been a splinter sized rock to Torch but it was still going to hurt. Spike stood on top of Torch with a large rock. Torch’s scale rested on top of the rock which served to put more pressure on him. Every dragon in the crowd had dropped jaws. “How, how did you beat my father?”

“It wasn’t easy, I had to use all the strength I had to do that to him. Now, before you say anything, I’m not against using force. I’m against the mentality that only brute force counts. Now as to how I beat him, it took a little knowledge and a little strength. To be honest, I wasn't sure at first and then I remembered a pressure point just beneath the scales." The dragons cocked their heads in confusion. "You don't know?" Spiked mouthed the word "WOW". "Ok, well it is super painful. Dragons have scales for a reason. I got a tiny pepple between my scales and flesh once and i couldn't move. Had to get a friend to help me get it out once one came around. Anyway, back to what I was saying. The problem at first was getting to the pressure point. Blinding him was the only way to get to his pressure point without him knowing. The second problem was getting underneath his scales far enough to hit his pressure point. Being such a large dragon, it made it easier. I also knew I needed some extra strength, more than just myself. I created the dust storm to make me invisible to everyone. I grabbed a sharp rock and since Torch was so busy trying to clear his vision, he didn’t notice me on his shoulder. I lifted a scale and slammed the rock down, sharp end first. I had to keep up the pressure which wasn’t easy. In the end, he crumbled like a baby. I’ll admit though, I wasn’t sure it would work but it was the only chance I had.”

“Spike, I don’t know what to say although this does make things a bit awkward. How do I say this, anyone who beats Garble becomes my new temporary mate.” A loud thud was heard and Ember looked down. “Spike?” Spike had fallen unconscious. “We should get him to my fathers cave.”