Spike has always been very helpful to his friends, The mane six. But now that he is older and nearly stands as tall as his pony friends, they still consider him to be a baby dragon, and it begins to frustrate the young dragon. But during a visit to the Dragon Lands, Spike gets into a confrontation with his Dragon rival Garble which causes Twilight to interfere and make him feel that he can't take care of himself and that makes him even more angry and upset. But then during his birthday, he loses his temper showing his hidden dragon rage which scares all the other ponies including his friends. Spike then leaves ponyville and goes on a personal journey to figure out what is wrong with him. But when his friends discover that he has disappeared, they immediately go on a search party to look for him. But then they get overtaken by Garble and his group of thug dragons and captures them and overthrows Princess Ember. When Spike discovers what Garble has done with his friends, he knows what his true purpose is and what he must do.