Chapters Spike, what have you done...
Foreword: I got the idea for this story a couple days ago, and upon requesting permission from Flamesinger599, was granted permission to use a part of his story in this one. Once I was granted permission, I texted my friends for a brainstorming session on what to call this, and what to do. Thanks to Nighthawk853 for giving me the inspiration needed to write this new fanfic, which I will not focus on solely. I am still going to be focusing most of my efforts into Maple Meets Equestria, but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head. So, instead of taking down some notes and leaving it for later like I have been doing with a couple other ideas, I decided to give this a head start.
Also, lines in ' marks are thoughts, while the lines in between ' marks in italics are Spike arguing with himself.
Spike was sitting alone in the corner of the library. He may have been surrounded by his mother figure, Twilight Sparkle, and her friends Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity, but he felt like he was the only one there. This wasn't the first time that Spike had thought this, seeing as how he was a dragon, and his "friends" were ponies. Even though they acted friendly towards him, praising him whenever he did somethign remarkable, or being there to comfrot him when he was sad, like when he found out Rarity had a crush on Prince Blueblood, he knew they were never his true friends. They could act friendly or console him when times were tough all they wanted, but they would never understand what it was like for him, being the only dragon in a town populated entirely by ponies, with the exception of one zebra living not too far into the Everfree forest.
He looked up to see Rainbow Dash deep in discussion with Fluttershy about sticking up for herself more, and the others talking about the latest cake Pinkie had managed to perfect. He sighed, wondering if he would ever meet anyone like him, but then quickly realising this was impossible, as most dragons he knew of were either too vicious to bring into PonyVille, or were nice enough, but had no intention of mingling with ponies. All these thoughts were clearly showing on his face however, as all six ponies stopped their respective conversations, and were looking worriedly at him.
Twilight finally spoke up, "Hey Spike, how come you're just sitting in the corner by yourself?"
"Yea," interjected Rainbow Dash, "and how come you look so sad?"
"Hey yea, he does look a little sad. Why don't we make that frownie go upside downie!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie with her trademark bounce and smile.
"Gosh, if I didn't know any better, ah'd say you were lonely Spike. Now what in Equestria could have ya feelin' so down in the dumps?"
Spike looked away for a second, before turnign back with a huge fake grin, that had everypony fooled but Applejack.
"There's nothing wrong, I was just daydreaming is all."
Applejack squinted at him, clearly not buying his daydreaming story. She turned back to her friends, who were continuing their conversations, but kept watching Spike from the corner of her eye. When Spike left the library, Applejack excused herself from the library and trotted to catch up with Spike.
"All right sugarcube, ah know you weren't just daydreaming back there. You know that I'm the element of honesty, and that also means that I can tell when others are lyin' as well, so spill it."
Spike tried looking everywhere but at Applejack, trying very hard not to look her directly in the eye. He ended up just looking at the ground and mumbling, "You wouldn't get it AJ, nobody here would. That's just the problem."
Spike turned towards the center of town and started walking away, all the while being watched by Applejack with a curious look on her face.
"Wonder what's got into him to make him act the way he is. I've never seen the li'l guy act like this before."
Spike was walking through PonyVille, just thinking on what he had said and heard earlier.
'I should've just told them what was going on, maybe they could've helped me.'
'Helped me how? They're just a bunch of ponies, what could they possibly know about what you're going through? '
'They may be ponies, but they're my friends. That has to count for something, especially 'cause I've known them since we came to PonyVille so long ago'
'Friends? Hah! They are ponies and you are a dragon, the only way for someone to know what you're going through is if you find another dragon. '
"Thats it! All I have to do is summon a dragon, one that's friendly and doesn't mind living with a bunch of ponies. Thanks brain, you're a genius!"
'You're welcome. '
Spike spent the next hour contemplating how he was going to summon a peacful dragon to PonyVille.
'I can't ask Twilight or Rarity. Twilight would just lecture me on how every dragon out there is violent and dangerous, and Rarity would do just about the same thing, only focusing on the facts that dragons have no sense of fashion.'
Spike continued on this train of thought for hours, before he finally came to a solution.
"I got it! Lyra could help me. She's always been fascinated by things that most ponies find wierd or dangerous, so she just might be the best pony to ask."
Spike was so happy that he practically skipped all the way to Lyra and Bon Bon's house. Once he reached their house, he knocked on the door three times, and waited for somepony to answer the door. Ten seconds passed before he could hear the tell-tale sounds of hooves moving across wood, closer to the door. When the door opened, Bon Bon looked around before finally noticing Spike just below her field of vision.
"Oh Spike, what a nice surprise. Did Twilight send you to retrieve the books Lyra borrowed last week?"
"No Bon Bon, I actually came here by myself. I just wanted to ask Lyra a question."
"Oh, well she's not home just yet. She's still out in the park, playing here lyre. If you want, you could come in and sit down while you wait. I just pulled out a plate of fresh cookies."
Spike licked his lips, thinking of the last time he had Bon Bon's delicious mega chocolate chip cookies.
"Yea, that sounds great! But, do you know how long before Lyra comes back?"
"Well, she's normally home by now, so I'd say it should only be a few minutes. Mind if I ask what you came here to ask her?"
"Well, actually... I was kind of hoping I could ask her in private." Spike said while scuffing his feet against some pebbles outside.
Bon Bon gave him a skeptical look, but let him in saying, "Well, I've known you for a while, and I guess I can trust that you're not up to any funny business, but I'd still like to know what you were going to ask her."
"If you really want to know, let's just say I need to speak with her about issues I've been having lately that I can't really talk about with Twilight or the others. They just wouldn't understand."
"But why Lyra? Why not anypony else?"
"I'd rather not answer that. Let's just say that I think Lyra will be the most sympathetic with my situation."
Bon Bon raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she led Spike into the kitchen for some cookies. Fifteen minutes later, Lyra walked through the door yelling, "Bon Bon, I'm home!"
"I'm in the kitchen Lyra, and you have a visitor!" Bon Bon yelled back
Lyra walked into the kitchen to see Spike sitting at the table munching on a cookie.
"Oh hey Spike, are you here to get the books I borrowed from the library last week? Let me just go get them for you."
Before Lyra could dash out of the kitchen, Spike grabbed her hoof and said, "Actually Lyra, I came here on my own. I wanted to ask you a question in private."
"Well, sure you could ask me anything. Hey Bon Bon, you think you could give me and Spike some privacy?"
"I suppose so. I'll be upstairs in the bedroom if you need me."
Bon Bon walked upstairs, while Spike and Lyra walked into the living room and both sat down on the couch. Spike waited until he heard a door upstairs shut before facing Lyra.
"Hey Lyra, I actually came here to ask for your help. I figured if anyone in PonyVille could help me, it was you. You see, I've been feeling lonely lately, and I know nopony here would understand, because that's just it; they're ponies and I'm a dragon. Do you see what I'm getting at here?"
"Not exactly, but go on."
"Well, seeing as how you have an interest in humans, and there was that one time when you managed to summon one to PonyVille, I wanted to know if you could help me summon a friendly dragon."
"Whoa, a dragon!? Spike, I don't think-"
"Now just hear me out. I said a friendly dragon. I just want someone here who can understand me, you know. Someone who knows what it's like to be a dragon. Isn't there some way you can, I don't know, filter out the results so that you can only summon a friendly dragon?"
"Spike, magic isn't like a computer, where I can pick and choose what comes out."
"Pleeeeease. Can you at least try? I really don't have anyone else to turn to. I figured since you have had experience with summoning creatures from other worlds, it wouldn't be a problem to summon something from our world."
"I still don't know Spike. If I summoned a dragon, then there would be some serious hell to pay, if in the most likely event it does turn out to be violent."
"Actually, I thought ahead on that one. I remember reading somewhere in an old textbook that there was a spell that could trap a being in a certain area, designated by rune petals. I read it one day when I was supposed to be reshelving book, and one fell open. I thought it was intriguing, so I continued to read. I also managed to snag a good supply of rune petals on my way out of the library without anyone noticing."
Spike pulled out a small jar with what looked to be like hundred upon hundreds of miniscule onyx colored petals.
"Spike, where did you get that from?"
"Oh, Pinkie Pie just taught me a few tricks."
Lyra face-hoofed, before saying, "Why am I not surprised by that statement?"
"Okay Spike, if you agree to take responsibility for the dragon once I summon it, and you can guarantee that this containment spell will work, then I'll summon a dragon for you. But if it turns out to be violent, I'm sending it straight back to where it came from, and I'm sending you straight back to the library with a full explanation of what happened here to Twilight."
Spike gulped, considering his options. If there was any time to back out, it was now. He hesitantly overrode the cautionary part of his brain and began spreading the rune petals around in a decently large circle, before instructing Lyra on how to perform the containment spell. Lyra's horn began to glow, as did all the rune petals, before they started to levitate off the ground, and formed an invisible barrier.
"All right, guess there's no time like the present to summon a dragon. Let's just hope it's friendly."
Lyra began to concentrate on an image of a dragon. She thought of the scales, the wings, the tail, the way it stood on two hind feet, kind of like a human, and also it's clawed hands, which also seemed to resemble a human's.
'Oh no, I need to start over. I thought too much of humans along with dragons. This is bad, very bad.'
Before Lyra could cancel the spell, a bright light engulfed the room. When the flash of light disappeared, both Lyra and Spike opened their eyes, and saw something scaly lying on the floor of the living room.
Jeremy was an average kid for his age. He was fourteen, approximately 5'7, had decent grades in school, and played basketball after school with his friends. There was nothing extraordinary about him. In his mind, he was just another kid who went to school like everybody else, played a sport like everybody else, and got passing grades like everybody else in his class. One day, he was walking home after a rather heated game of basketball, one that ended up a tie, when he noticed something strange about his house. He had a two story house, and his room was on the second floor, with a window looking out onto the street. But when he looked up, he saw a strange green light coming from his bedroom window. He passed this off as his sister sneaking into his room to play Xbox, and he hurriedly ran up to his room to tell his sister to go and do her homework like she was supposed to. When he got to his room, he noticed that his sister wasn't there. In fact, what he saw there was like nothing he had ever seen before. Floating in the middle of his room, was a strange floating green orb. He looked at it, confused as to what it was, but more importantly, what it was doing in his room. He reached out to see if he could touch it, still unsure if it was real. The second his hand got within an inch of the sphere, he felt his arm being pulled forward. He tried to pull back, but all that accomplished was get him close to the green orb. After ten minutes of struggling against the pull of the orb, and his entire right arm plunged into it, he finally lost the strength to resist, and he was sucked in. After he got sucked in, all Jeremy could feel was an intense tingling feeling across his whole body, and the fact that it felt like he was being squeezed through a tube. The last thing he could remember was seeing a light not too far away, before everything went black.
All right, now that I finally got this out of my head and onto the computer, it's time to go back to Maple Meets Equestria while I wait for this story to be approved. Also, I put in a reference. Let's see if anyone can figure out what it was, and what it's from. If you want a hint, I can give it to you, but only a hint.
Spike, what have you done...
Foreword: Took me freaking forever to figure out a name for Jeremy, seeing as how a new name would be needed for his new life. At the beginning, he will be called Jeremy, as that is what he's used to back on Earth.
Jeremy couldn't remember what happened, but all he knew was that he was laying on the floor, with voices nearby. If he heard correctly, a Spike was talking to someone called Lyra. He opened his eyes to see that he was lying on a wooden floor in the middle of what looked like a small house. He groaned, which immediately stopped the voices he heard earlier. Very slowly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked around, immediately noticing a small seafoam green horse, no wait. It was too small to be a horse, so it had to be a pony. He saw a seafoam green pony and what looked to be like a purple lizard. They seemed to be staring at him with looks of incredulity on their faces, and he was wondering why.
Very slowly, he looked down at his arms, noticing they were almost completely covered in crimson scales. He was shocked by the sight, but he was even more shocked to hear the seafoam green pony say, "Um, hello?"
The shock of seeing himself covered in scales, and the fact that it seemed like the pony had talked, were too much for Jeremy. He passed out, landing hard on the wooden floor.
Spike and Lyra both looked up after the flash had filled the room. They saw what looked to be a dragon lying face down on the floor. The only problem was, it wasn't completely covered in scales. It was obviously not a dragon, and that much scared Lyra a little. She started to send it back to where it came from before Spike leapt up yelling, "No! Don't send him back just yet!"
"Spike, I don't know what that thing is, but that's not a dragon. Also, how do you know it's a he?"
"Read the first paragraph."
"Wait what? Oh god, you better not be turning into another Pinkie Pie," Lyra states as she face-hoofs once more.
"Still, he doesn't look like a normal dragon, so maybe that's good news. Maybe he's friendly. Come on Lyra, give him a chance."
"Spike, I still don't think it's a good idea to keep it here, what if-"
But Lyra was interrupted as the creature groaned, and slowly picked itself up off the ground. It looked at itself, then around the house, before finally noticing Spike and Lyra.
"Um, hello?"
The creature stared at her, clearly in some sort of shock, before it collapsed onto the floor.
"See Lyra, it didn't try to attack us, so that must mean it's peaceful."
"Maybe, but it clearly wasn't expecting what it saw when it looked around. It looked especially shocked after it looked at itself."
Spike and Lyra waited for another ten minutes before Lyra suddenly bolted upright before exclaiming, "Oh no, I forgot that Bon Bon doesn't know what we were planning to do! If she comes down here now and see this thing passed out on the floor, she's going to freak!"
"Hey, easy Lyra, easy. How about you go upstairs and explain to Bon Bon what happened while I stay here and watch over our guest."
"Yea, yea that sounds like a good plan. Thanks Spike, I'll be right back after I explain to Bon Bon what's happened."
She ran upstairs to the bedroom, and as soon as Spike heard the door close, the creature opened its eyes.
"Oh man, I could've sworn I heard that colorful pony talking to me. Must've been a dream."
"Actually, it wasn't a dream, but you did pass out."
Jeremy froze before turning around to face the little lizard from earlier. "Did you just talk?"
"Of course I can talk, all dragons can."
Jeremy looked at him with a blank expression before trying to clean out his ears and saying, "I'm sorry, did you just say you're a dragon?"
"Yea, I said I'm a dragon, and so are you."
"No, I'm a human. How can you say I'm a dragon when..."
He stopped, remembering the scales on his arm. "Hey, you don't suppose you could get me a mirror, could you?"
"Yea, but what do you need it for?"
"Just get me a mirror quick."
While Spike went to grab a mirror, Jeremy could hear shouting from upstairs.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU SUMMONED A DRAGON!? DON'T YOU KNOW THAT'S DANGEROUS?"
"Bon Bon, calm down, people are going to hear you. It's okay, Spike found a method of containing it before we summoned it. Everything's all right, but it doesn't seem hostile. In fact, it seemed almost scared of me when I said hello."
After that, he couldn't hear anything, as their voices seemed to have dropped to what he thougt were whisper levels. He turned his attention back to the kitchen once he heard Spike's feet thumping along the wooden floor.
'Wait a minute. I can hear his footsteps? That's odd.'
Spike came out the kitchen, holding a decent sized handheld mirrior in his right claw.
"I still don't see why you need a mirror."
Jeremy looked into the mirror, and screamed at what he saw. He was now almost completely covered in scales, although parts of him like his midsection, head, and shoulders were still flesh. He had claws on each hand and wings on his back, which he extended with ease to the surprise of Spike. He also saw he had a tail, which like the wings felt like just another extension of his body, even though he knew for a fact that he had never had wings or a tail. He then looked at his teeth, which were now shiny white and very sharp, as well as his new pointed ears. 'So that's how I was able to hear this little guy coming. These ears must be extremely sensitive, and able to pick up sounds better than my human ears could.'
No sooner had he finished his evaluation of his new body, then Lyra and Bon Bon came galloping down the stairs. They stared at him, examining his new body in the mirror before Lyra spoke up.
"See Bon Bon, he doesn't seem to be hostile. By the way Spike, why are you holding up that mirror for it."
"He asked me to go grab it."
"Wait, he can talk? Fascinating."
At this Bon Bon finally cut in, "Well Lyra, are you sure you have it contained? I don't like the look of it."
"Relax Lyra, Spike here taught me a spell to contain him in a limited area."
Jeremy perked up at this, staring around him. He didn't see anything, and reached towards the mirror, so he could geta better look at himself, but his hand met a solid surface about a foot in front of his face. He looked at the invisible wall questioningly. He didn't like it that he was being caged like a wild animal, and decided to test out his new body.
He reached forward and tapped the barrier a couple of times, testing to see if it made a sound or not, like it would if you rapped your fist on a pane of glass. When it did make a sound, it sounded almost like that, but something was off. After that, he tried gently clawing at the barrier to see if his sharp claws would do anything. After a few swipes, he looked to see that he hadn't made a dent in the barrier. He turned to the one he heard was called Lyra and spoke up.
"Lyra right?"
Lyra looked back at him, confused at how he knew her name.
"Yes, how did you know my name?"
"I heard the little one call you that while I was still gaining consciousness. I also heard her," pointing at Bon Bon, "yelling at you upstairs."
Bon Bon and Lyra blushes.
"We were really that loud, huh?"
"Oh yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if a neighbor heard the commotion. You do have neighbors right? We're not out in the middle of nowhere or anything, are we?"
"No, we do have neighbors."
"Okay, well anyways, getting back on topic. Could you please lower the barrier so I can have room to stretch. It's getting kind of cramped in here, " he said while trying to extend his wings, punctuating the fact that he was feeling confined.
"Well you see, Spike only told me how to perform it, not how to take it down. Spike, do you know how to take it down?"
Spike's face blanched before respinding, "Uhh, sorry Lyra. I only remember the spell used to put it up. Maybe Twilight still has the book, and I can go grab it."
Before Spike made it out of the living room, Jeremy spoke up.
"Nah, it's okay little guy. Let me try to get out myself before you rush off and bother your friend."
Jeremy stood up, thinking of the best way to break out of his invisible cell. He closed his hand into a fist, and tried punching the invisible wall. When that didn't work, he tried again and again, sure that soon enough, he would cause a crack.
After what felt like an hour and 100 punches later, Jeremy began to get annoyed. He glared at the invisible wall seperating him from freedom, and tried clawing at the barrier, willing it to shatter. To his immense surprise, and the surprise of everyone else in the room, his claws glowed with a black aura as he sliced across the barrier before it shattered.
"Wha- How did you do that?" asked the awe struck Spike.
"I don't know, let me see if I can do it again."
He focused on his rigth hand, wanting to see a dark aura again, but nothing came. He swiped at the air multiple times, but nothing happened.
"Huh, I guess I just got lucky is all, 'cause I can't seem to do it again."
"Well, while I'd love to ask you a few questions, I believe that our neighbors might be coming over soon to find out why we were screaming. We need to think of a place that we can hide while we discuss things."
The group sat there in silence, thinking, while Jeremy just looked around the room, taking in all the details. Finally Lyra's face lit up before saying, "I got it! You could hide in Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack just started harvesting the crop, and if you hide near the far end of the orchard, then you should be safe, away from prying eyes for quite a while. The one problem is, how to get you there without anypony seeing you."
"Wait a minute Lyra, if he can fly, maybe he can hide in the clouds until he reaches Sweet Apple Acres. You can fly right?"
"No idea, but I can try." At this, he spread his wings out and started to flap them. It took him a while to get the rhythm down, but once he did, he could easily control himself.
"All right, what you're going to want to do is head over to Sweet Apple Acres. It's the farm just east of here with a huge orchard out back. You're going to need to fly through the clouds to stay out of sight, but also make sure to land at the part of the orchard furthest away from the barn."
"Okay, I got it. Just one question... Which way is east?"
Lyra groaned and pointed towards the back door.
"Just go through the back door, and head left. You'll spot Sweet Apple Acres eventually. Now hurry, before somepony shows up."
"Got it, see you there."
"Wait, one more thing before you go. Just so we know what to call you instead of calling you a thing or he."
Jeremy thought about this for a second before replying, "Scorch. My name's Scorch."
Just as Scorch was about to leave through the back door, he heard a knocking coming from the front door, and hurriedly made his way outside before flying up into the clouds. He made it safely up to the clouds and turned left like Lyra had told him. With his improved senses, he could easily see a farm off in the distance, and he started to lazily fly that way thinking, 'Glad today was a pretty cloudy day, otherwise this would've been that much harder.'
Rainbow Dash was flying towards Lyra's house at a steady pace. Earlier when Applejack had told the others what Spike had said, Twilight asked Rainbow Dash to go look for Spike. When she got to the marketplace, she saw Colgate buyign some celery from one of the stalls and went up to her to ask if she had seen Spike.
"You know, I do remember seeing him earlier. He was mumbling to himself about something, but I couldn't hear what. I did hear him say something about Lyra though. I hope he isn't causing her any trouble."
"Thanks Colgate, I'll go check Lyra's house."
"Any time."
When she got close to Lyra's house, she saw could've swore she saw something red fly out the back of Lyra's house and into the clouds. She looked very carefully at the clouds, before seeing the same red "thing" fly between two clouds. Noticing it was headed in the general direction of Sweet Apple Acres, she flew back to the library to tell Applejack.
"Well what do ya mean, you saw something flying towards Sweet Apple Acres. How do ya know it wasn't just a pegasus pony, doing your job I might add."
"Because for one, that thing looked nothing like a pegasus. It was too big. And second, it wasn't bucking clouds. It was just flying through the clouds, like it didn't want to be seen."
"Well, if it'll make ya feel better, how bout we all head down there to investigate. Y'all don't mind headin out there with me and Dash do ya?"
"Not at all darling, if Rainbow Dash here saw something with those excellent eyes of hers, maybe it's something we should all be worrying about."
"If you say you saw something, we should go check it out. And if it turns out to be nothing, then no harm. At least this will give us a bit more exercise."
The Mane 6 set out for Sweet Apple Acres, not knowing what was in store for them. Meanwhile, Spike, Lyra, and Bon Bon, were explaining that the shouting was just a silly misunderstanding, and that they were merely playing a game Spike and Lyra had created. After they managed to waive off the quesioning ponies, all three managed to make their way towards Sweet Apple Acres. When they got there, they saw Twilight and the rest of the group moving into the apple orchard.
"Oh no, what if they find Scorch before we get to him first?"
"Relax Lyra, I doubt he'd just sit there waiting for anypony to find him. I'm sure he's probably hiding until he sees us."
Scorch had flown quite a distance between Lyra's house and the end of the apple orchard, and it took more out of him than he thought it did. Feeling sleepy, and a little bit hungry, he grabbed an apple off of a tree and ate it, before lying on a branch and falling asleep, thinking a quick nap wouldn't hurt.
The Mane 6 had searched almost the entire apple orchard, thinking about giving up, before Applejack reminded them, "We're almost done. Just one more acre of land and we'll have searched the entire farm.
As they neared the end of the orchard, Rainbow Dash called the rest of the girls over to her before saying, "Hey, just letting you know, but we were being followed the entire time that we've been searching the apple orchards. Lyra, Bon Bon, and Spike are all hiding behind a tree a few yards back. What should we do?"
"Well, why not just ask them why they're following us?"
Twilight turned around and called out, "Lyra, Bon Bon, Spike. We know you're there, so just come out."
All three did as they were told and walked up to the Mane 6.
"Howdy Lyra, howdy Bon Bon. Mind tellin' us why you felt the need to follow us?"
Spike cut in before Lyra or Bon Bon could say anything.
"Oh, no big reason. We wanted to talk to you but you seemed busy, so we didn't want to disturb you. We hid so you could concentrate."
As Spike said this, he looked behind the Mane 6, who were all staring at him, and noticed a crimson red scaly tail hanging from a nearby tree. 'No, no no no no. Scorch you idiot, what are you thinking?"
Noticing Spike's worried expression, she starts to turn around.
"Spike, what are you staring a-"
She turned around and saw the tail hanging from the tree. She looked at it for a second before motioning for the rest of them to come up. As soon as all six ponies were in range, she grabbed the tail and pulled as hard as she could.
Scorch was rudely woken from his nap by a pull on his tail, and the next thing he knew, he was lying face down in the dirt, moaning.
"Oh Celestia, it's a dragon! Spike, what's a dragon doing here?"
"Hehehe, well you see Twilight... We kind of summoned it here."
"WHAAAAAAT!?"
Spike, what have you done...
And So it Begins *revised*
And So it Begins *revised*
Spike looked at all the ponies that were staring at him as if he had started spouting water from his ears. Twilight was the one to finally break the silence.
"Spike, did you just say you summoned a dragon to PonyVille?"
"Well, Lyra did the actual summoning, but I convinced her to let me summon him."
"That still doesn't excuse the fact that you, wait. Did you just say him?"
"Yes twilight, HIM. He's a guy."
"And just how do you know that, mister?"
"Well for one, he had a deeper voice than any girl I've known. For another, you have to admit, he is kind of muscular."
Just as Spike said this, Scorch groaned before getting up off the ground.
"You know, that wasn't very nice pulling my tail like that." He said while rubbing his head.
Seeing him get up, Rainbow Dash turned around and flew straight at him, clearly thinking he was a threat. Before he knew what had happened, a dark, translucent sphere appeared around Scorch, and Rainbow Dash just bounced off. All the ponies looked at the sphere, clearly at a loss for words. However, one of the ponies was looking at the sphere with a completely different expression. Twilight was looking at the dark sphere with fear in her eyes.
"No, it couldn't be. Girls, back away! That's chaos magic!"
Somewhere in the Royal Canterlot Gardens a statue began to shake, nefore a slight voice could be heard.
'OH HELL NO! '
At the time Princess Luna was leaning out the window, and heard this outburst.
"Shut up Discord!"
Meanwhile, back in PonyVille.
"Chaos magic!?" the other ponies, including Spike exclaimed.
"Um, am I the only one at a loss to why this 'chaos magic' is bad?"
The others just stare at him, not knowing how to respond. They were sure that it was Discord trying to fool them. But then again, Discord wouldn't flinch when he saw Rainbow Dash coming at him. He'd just flick her out of the way, or do that wierd hypno trance thingy he did on them all.
"Wait, so you're telling me you don't know what you just did?"
"Nope, first thing I know that rainbow one is flying at me. Next thing I know, I'm surrounded by that dark bubble. Your guess was as good as mine. But chaos magic huh? Sounds very interesting."
"Not to us it's not. We were put through tartarus and back when we had to deal with another who could control chaos magic. His name was Discord, and he tricked all of us into seeing things that weren't there. It really tore us apart."
At these words, the six ponies looked down at the ground, clearly remembering whatever had happened to them.
"Whoa, I never meant for you to remember anything painful, I was just saying that this is all new to me, especially all of you. Where I'm from, ponies don't talk, and we certainly don't have dragons."
"Then how do you explain all the scales, wings, and a tail?" interrupted Rainbow Dash.
"Again, I have no clue. The last thing I remember was waking up in Lyra's house, face down. As for me being covered in scales with wings and a tail... again you got me, but I think it's pretty cool. I can't explain it, but I feel, for lack of a better word, powerful ."
It was after these words that Lyra finally spoke up.
"Um, I might actually have an explanation as to why you're like that. But first, am I correct in assuming you were a human?"
Everyone looked shocked as Lyra asked Scorch if he was a human, but he slowly nodded.
"Yea, I was a human, how'd you know?"
"Well you see, when Spike asked me to summon a dragon, I was concentrating on a mental image of a dragon. While I was concentrating on that mental image, I started making connections how dragons had claws similar to the hands humans have, and how they stand on their back feet, just like humans. I guess I was thinking about humans too much, 'cause when I summoned you, it must've mixed the images of the dragon with you once you were summoned here, and something in your DNA-"
While Lyra was talking, Scorch and the rest of the ponies started to lose focus on what she was saying. Scorch soon became bored and looked up at one of the tree. Unfortunately, as he wasn't used to his new body, he accidentally let loose a stream of fire from his mouth, lighting a nearby tree on fire.
"Oh, shit! Sorry, sorry. Here, let me help."
Scorch then proceeded to flap his wings at the fire, eventually extinguishing it.
"I guess I should be thankin' ya pardner, but then again you were the one that set that fire to begin with."
Scorch blushed a little and rubbed the back of his head, clearly embarrased about the problem he caused. "Sorry, I didn't know I could do that."
Twilight cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. Once she had it, she stated, "Well, I guess from what I've seen, we can trust you... for now. We'll be keeping a close eye on you, but I do have one other question for you before we, and by we I mean me and my friends, head back. Where are you going to stay that doesn't draw attention to you?"
"Well, I never thought of it. I guess I could stay here, but I doubt you'd be willing to agree with that."
Applejack just shakes her head before he continues, "Well in that case, I don't have anywhere."
Spike turns around to Twilight with puppy dog eyes before pleading, "Oh please Twilight, can he pleeeeeease stay with us? I'll finally have someone around who knows what it's like to be a dragon."
Twilight listened to Spike plead with her to let the newcomer stay with them, but she had already made up her mind before he had said anything. She was a sucker for puppy dog eyes. "Ugh, fine Spike. But it'll be your responsibility if something happens, do I make myself clear?"
Spike replied, "Crystal." before jumping up and down with joy and running over to Scorch. "C'mon Scorch, our house is this way. Ooh, I can't wait to-"
"Spike, I think you're forgetting something." Twilight said before Scorch could hear what Spike couldn't wait to do.
"What's that Twilight?"
"Well, don't you think that the fact that he looks like a dragon might upset the town if they saw him walking towards PonyVille? Even if he was with us, there would still be a panic. We need to find some way of disguising him so that nopony will freak out before we can introduce him to the town."
"Well, if it's okay with you, Twilight, I think I have a solution."
Twilight turned around to ask 'what solution,' when she saw a dark cocoon wrap itself around Scorch, before opening to reveal a crimson red unicorn with a fireball cutie mark.
"Well, what do you think?" asked a grinning Scorch to an awestruck crowd of ponies. "Pretty cool right?"
Twilight sighed before turning around and heading back towards PonyVille. This was one of those times she was just going to have to drop it, unless she wanted her head to hurt. 'Damn you Pinkie Pie for your randomness. It's just rubbed off on both Spike AND the new guy.'
Scorch started walking back towards PonyVille, eagerly chatting with Applejack about her huge apple orchard.
"So all this land is yours, and you work it with just you, your older brother, your little sister, and your grandma?"
"Well yea, that's the gist of it. Although Granny Smith doesn't actually work the land, 'cause she's too old for manual labor. And Applebloom helps out sometimes, but she never really does much. She'd rather be out crusadin' with her friends. So really, it's just me and mah brother who work on the farm."
"Wow, just two ponies to work on this gigantic farm?" Scorch lets out a low whistle of apprectiation. "Must take forever when it's harvest time."
"Yea, but the girls here help out sometimes, so it's not as bad as it seems. We can usually harvest every apple off of all these trees within a week."
"Wow, that's really impressive. Anyways, you said something about your little sister 'crusading' with her friends. What exactly did you mean by that?"
"Oh, well mah little sister and her two friends came up with a club to find their cutie marks. They've been tearin' through town doing all sorts of things to earn them. They call themselves the-"
But before Applejack could finish a loud shout came from somewhere nearby.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER FREE RUNNERS!"
"Wait, did I just hear them say 'free runners'? Oh god, this can't end well."
Out from around the corner, three little fillies come speeding by Scorch and the others before trying to vault over a fence and failing miserably. Scorch could've sworn he heard them skid across the dirt.
The group ran over to the bruised fillies, before they sprang to their feet.
"Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, what have we told you about doing dangerous stunts without anypony watching you?"
The three little fillies all respond at the same time, "To not to."
Suddenly, their eyes all lock onto Scorch, before roaming down to his flank to look at his cutie mark.
"Hey mister! What's with your cutie mark, Ah've never seen anything like it. How'd ya git it?" said the little yellow filly with a red bow in her hair, who Scorch realised must be Applebloom, considering she had the same accent as her sister.
"Well, as you can see, it's a fireball. It just shows that my specialty is controlling fire."
"Woah, that sounds neat, do you think you could show us? Hey, maybe we could get our cutie marks by controlling fire."
"Hey, slow down girls. I discovered my cutie mark by accident, and I don't want to be responsible if any of you gets hurt. Now promise me you won't go trying to mess with fire."
All three of them rolled their eyes before replying, "We promise."
Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie appears to the right of Scorch with a serious look on her face.
"Do you Pinkie Promise?"
The fillies look at each other nervously before looking back at the rest of the group. They sigh and say, "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." While making an X gesture at the beginning and almost poking themselves in the eye at the end. They walk off in lower spirits than they came with, and when they disappeared from sight, Scorch finally broke down and asked Pinkie what a Pinkie Promise was.
"Well, it's an unbreakable promise, and nopony has ever broken it. Well, except Applejack, but she found a loophole."
"But why is it unbreakable? Is it some kind of magic?"
Before Pinkie can respond, Twilight pulls him off to the side.
"Look, if you really want to know, I can tell you later, but you don't want to get into this discussion right now. Especially not with Pinkie Pie."
Scorch and Twilight rejoin the group, and they soon reach PonyVille. Before Lyra and Bon Bon could make their way back to their house, Twilight steps in front of them and blocks their path.
"You two need to promise us not to tell anypony what you saw today concerning Scorch. And I need you to Pinkie Promise. There's no telling how anypony else would respond if they found out we had a dragon living in PonyVille besides Spike, they might panic."
Lyra and Bon Bon just look at her before saying, "Well, he seems friendly enough, so I guess we can trust him." then nodding and reciting the Pinkie Promise, gestures and all.
"All right, thanks you two. I guess we'll see you later then. Lyra, if you ever want to ask Scorch some questions, just drop by the library."
"Thanks Twilight. Is it okay if I come by tomorrow? I'm wondering if Earth has changed since the last human I summoned."
"Wait, I'm not the first human you've summoned?"
"No, but you're definitely the first 'dragon' I've summoned."
"You know, I'm not even going to question the fact that I'm now half dragon anymore. I'm just going to pretend that I am a dragon, considering that this place has got to be better than where I came from."
"Wait, what do you mean by that?"
"Not right now, just wait until tomorrow to ask your questions."
After that, everyone went their own seperate directions, with Twilight, Spike, and Scorch all heading towards the library. They passed many different colored ponies on their way back to the library, including a gray pegasus with mismatched eyes, which Scorch found odd, but decided to let it slide, seeing as how the only other pegasi he'd met were Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and that yellow pegasus that had been staying as far away from him as possible.
Once they reached the library, Scorch looked around for a second before cancelling the transformation spell he had cast earlier. Once again in dragon form, he stood up and stretched, focusing on each muscle and joint in turn until everything was loose. He walked over to the rows of bookshelves lining the walls, before turning back to Twilight.
"Hey Twilight, mind if I grab a couple books? I feel like I'm going to be stuck here a while and I'd like to at least read as long as I'm going to be shut inside."
His face lit up for a moment before he was encased in the dark cocoon once more.
"On second thought Twilight, I just had an idea. I'll be right back." He said as he started to walk out the door.
Twilight galloped in front of the door and used her body as a barricade. "Oh no, you're not going anywhere. I still can't fully trust you yet."
"If you're that concerned about me doing something, then why don't you come with me? I just need to run outside and grab something, then we'll be right back."
"What do you need to grab?"
"Oh, just something that I think will make my stay here a little more entertaining."
Twilight looked around outside nervously, before finally agreeing with him.
"Great, this shouldn't take long. just point me in the direction of the closest tree that you don't mind seeing cut down."
Twilight raised an eyebrow before motioning for him to follow her.
They walked for about ten minutes before they reached the everfree forest.
"Well, seeing as how nopony goes in here, I don't think anypony would mind if you cut down a tree."
"Excellent, just give me a minute to find a nice tall one."
Scorch spent the next half hour looking around for a tall tree, until he finally found the one he was looking for.
"Hey Twilight, this is a secluded area so nobody's going to barge in on us, right?"
"Yes, but why does that matter?" she face-hoofed as her question was answered the second she turned to face him.
Once again Scorch was back in his dragon form, and sizing up the tree. He looked at it for all of five seconds before he swiped at it just below the top to cut off the leaves, and just above the stump. The result was a large log that was now being carried by a crimson red unicorn.
"Well, are you coming back with me or not?"
The two walked back towards the library, earning a lot of curious glances towards them, seeing as how they were carrying a huge log into town.
Once they got back to the library, Twilight stopped him and asked, "All right, so why is it that you brought this back? What are you planning to do with it?"
"Oh my dear Twilight, that would just spoil the surprise."
Twilight groaned, but eventually relented and let Scorch bring the log into the library.
"All right Twilight, I'm going to need your help on this one. But before we begin, I have one simple question. Is this tree magically enchanted to resist fire, seeing as how it's a library and all."
"Yes, the tree itself is fireproof, however the books aren't. Why are you asking me this?"
Scorch reverted back to dragon form before grabbing the log and flying up to above ceiling level, before lining the log up so where the two flat ends touched each wall of the library. "Hey Twilight, can you hold this here for me?"
Twilight did as he requested, and held the log in place with her magic. When she had a firm grip, Scorch flew over to where one side of the log met the tree, and breathed fire onto it to weld it to the wall. He then flew over to the other end of the log and welded that side to the other wall.
"Okay Twilight, you can let go of it now."
Twilight released her hold on the log, and to her surprise, it stayed there. "Okay, you welded the log to the tree, now what?"
"Now this," Scorch said as he flew up with a book in hand. He turned upside down and wrapped his tail around the log, now hanging upside down and reading 'Daring Do and the Search for the Sapphire Sphinx' .
Twilight just groaned as Scorch started reading his book. Spike came back into the main room, and upon seeing Twilight there, he asked, "Where's Scorch?"
"Up here Spike," Scorch waved at him from the ceiling.
"Mind telling me why you're hanging from a log on the ceiling by your tail."
Scorch just looked up before answering, "Simple really. One, it's fun. And two, it's great exercise." He said as he started doing a tail version of pull ups on the log.
Spike groaned before turning back to Twilight.
"Hey Twilight, I'm going to bed now. Dinner is in the kitchen."
"Thanks Spike. Good night."
"Night Twilight. Night Scorch."
"Alright, good night Spike." Scorch said without looking up from his book.
AN: Some point in the middle of this chapter, I actually typed everything in 2nd person. Thank you "The Color of Apples" you brain washed me into typing like you. Sorry if this seems to lack detail. I'm typing this at about 1 in the morning, and I'm having trouble concentrating, so sorry if I leave things out that should be included. If you spot anything like this, just leave a comment, and I'll try to fix it. After writing this chapter however, I just feel like writing one thing: Cannot brain, I have the dumb.
Spike, what have you done...
Foreword: Again, sorry for not updating in a while. Got stuck with writer's block, but my friend gave me a suggestion for what could happen next. Started to write about it, but I ended going off on another tangent. Came out of nowhere, so i just went with it.
Scorch woke up the next morning to find himself looking up at... the floor? He started to flail around a little before realising, 'Oh yea, half dragon. So it wasn't all just one wierd dream?' He looked at his tail still curled around the tree trunk he had brought in the previous night.
'Note to self: tails are awesome'
He uncurled his tail and started to drop towards the floor. Just before he could hit the floor, he unfurled his wings to slow his descent. As soon as he touched the floor, he could hear clanging noises coming from what he assumed was the kitchen. When he got to the kitchen, he found Spike leaning over the stove, frying some eggs in a pan.
"Hey Spike, do you normally cook breakfast here?"
"Oh, hey Scorch. Yea I normally do the cooking instead of Twilight." He looked around to make sure that they were alone before leaning in and motioning for Scorch to do the same. "Between you and me, I'd say Twilight is the worst cook in all of PonyVille, if not all of Equestria. She manages to burn toast. Freaking toast! I mean, come on. How does somepony screw up making toast!"
Spike didn't realise it, but his voice had steadily begun to grow louder and louder, before his rant was interrupted by a very annoyed, and very sleepy Twilight Sparkle.
"Well excuse me if I can't cook. I find my time better spent studying than trying to learn how to cook."
Spike grumbled under his breath, "Wouldn't kill you to learn some basic cooking skills though. At the very least you could help me out."
"I heard that Spike!"
Spike's face quickly turned a deeper red than Scorch, embarrased that Twilight had heard his not so mental outburst.
Twilight turned to Scorch. "Hey Scorch, you do remember you promised to answer Lyra's questions today right?"
"Well... technically you volunteered me. I never actually promised her anything." Upon seeing the look of anger on Twilight's face, he quickly corrected himself. "I never said I wouldn't. I was only pointing out that I never personally said anything about it. You two just decided that behind my back." He said with an accusing stare at Twilight.
Twilight just looked at the ground. She knew she had promised Lyra that Scorch would answer her questions, but she had never thought about asking Scorch. She made a mental note later to apologize, and ask in the future.
She looked up to find Scorch was just inches away from her face, before she yelped and jumped backwards.
"Could you please not do that?"
"Do what? Look at you? Last time I checked, this was a free country... wait is this a country? Or is it a kingdom? Come to think of it, I barely know anything about this place."
"Well that's to be expected. After all, you've only been here for a day. Maybe before Lyra shows up, you could ask me some questions of your own."
"I'd like that very much, thank you."
"All right, ask away."
"Okay. For starters, exactly where am I?"
"Well, right now you're inside a library."
"You know what I mean. What is this world called?"
Twilight smirked before replying, "We are in Equestria, but to be more precise we are in PonyVille."
"All right, thats better. Now on to my second question. Why did you and the others come to the apple orchard in the first place? I was under the impression that I would be able to wait there for Lyra and Spike."
"We ponies have dragon radars implanted in our brains."
Scorch just gave her a deadpan expression before sighing and asking, "Can I expect a smart-ass comment for every question I ask?"
"Maybe."
He groaned and faceclawed before continuing. "Why is it that Spike is the only dragon I've seen here so far." He took a minute to look at his scaly arms and tail before adding, "Besides me of course."
"Actually, the reason for that is because besides you and Spike, you are probably the only dragons for miles. Dragons usually keep to themselves, away from ponies."
"Okay, then why is Spike here?"
"Because I've had him since he hatched. It's a long story."
"I got nothing better to do."
"Maybe some other time."
"Fair enough, anyways on to more questions."
Twilight and Scorch spent the rest of the morning asking and answering questions about Equestria, from dragons to alicorns, and everything in between. After Scorch was satisfied with the amount of knowledge he had gained from his little Q&A with Twilight, he looked up at the clock to see it was exactly noon.
'Wow, noon already. Where did the time go?'
Before he could do anything else, there came a loud knock on the front door, followed by someone shouting, "Hey Twilight, Scorch! I know you're both still in there. I need you guys to come out here real quick."
Scorch looked over at Twilight, asking her a question with his eyes that was clearly supposed to mean, 'Should we go see what she wants?'
"I suppose we should. She sounds rather excited, so it must be something important.
When they opened the door, Rainbow Dash burst in exclaiming, "Hey guys, something happened over at Sugarcube Corner! I need you to come help out. No time to explain, just move!"
As soon as she finished her sentence, she flew off towards PonyVille, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.
Scorch and Twilight each shoot each other a worried stare before Scorch transforms back into a unicorn, and they begin to gallop towards Sugarcube corner. Not knowing his way around PonyVille, Scorch follows Twilight as she twists and turns through multiple streets, all of which were surrounded by houses. It didn't help with the fact that every house looked almost the exact same, as did the streets.
After what felt like the 50th street that looked the exact same, Twilight spoke up. "All right, we're almost there. Sugarcube corner is just a couple blocks straight ahead."
Scorch, hearing this, started to gallop faster towards Sugarcube Corner. When he got there, he saw a worried looking Rainbow Dash hovering out front.
"Finally you guys are here! Pinkie Pie is hurt around the side, and she's bleeding pretty badly! I didn't want to move her, in case I made it worse, and I figured your magic would do a better job."
Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash and asked, "Wait, if you needed magic, why didn't you go get Rarity? She's closer than we were. And for that matter, why didn't you get a get a doctor?"
"Well, I was panicking. I wasn't thinking. Anyways, as long as you're here, maybe you could help Pinkie Pie."
Scorch sped off towards the side of Sugarcube Corner and saw a bleeding Pinkie Pie. He didn't know how to describe it. It wasn't gory, but she was almost completely covered in blood. he hurried towards her, but before he got to her, he felt the ground collapse from beneath him.
Scorch soon found himself in a giant pit, at least twenty feet deep. He looked up to see a giggling Rainbow Dash and... Pinkie Pie?
"What the hell? Rainbow Dash, what's the meaning of this?!"
Rainbow Dash just snickered before responding, "Well, I would think it's obvious don't you? It's a giant pit, and you just got pranked!" She then burst out laughing like a madmare.
Scorch just stared at her, before it hit him. But when it hit him, it hit him like a sack of bricks right across the face. His face contorted into an expression of pure rage that only lasted for a second, before it formed into a small smile.
"Okay, Rainbow Dash. If that's the way you want to play it, then let's play. I may not be able to turn intoa dragon and fly out, but there is one thing you overlooked."
"Oh yea, what's that?"
Scorch's hooves turned into sharp claws, before he looked back at her with a creepy smile. "Why fly out, when I can dig my way out? And I will remember this. I'll get you back for this, just wait and see." And with that, he turned towards the wall of the pit and started digging his way into the dirt.
While Scorch was digging his way out, Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. "All right, what's going on?"
Rainbow Dash looked up from the pit first. Pinkie Pie was still looking down into the pit, more specifically at the hole that Scorch had just disappeared into.
"Well, we wanted to prank Scorch, seeing as he's new here. We decided it was only fair of us to take it upon ourselves to be the first to prank him. Oh, and that's not blood on Pinkie Pie, it's ketchup."
Twilight began to scold Rainbow Dash, saying that it was irresponsible, and what if they did that next time if Pinkie Pie really was hurt. Before she could finish lecturing Rainbow Dash, she was interrupted by Pinkie Pie spastically moving about in place. First her tail swished side to side three times, then both her ears flattened against her head. Finally, her back right hoof started to jackhammer against the ground.
"Pinkie Pie, what is it this time?"
Pinkie Pie looked up at Twilight before responding, "I don't know. I've never had this combo before. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."
They sat there for ten seconds before the ground below Rainbow Dash erupted in a shower of pebbles, gravel, and dirt. Rainbow Dash was thrown about five feet to her right, and she looked back to where she just was, having guessed what had burst out of the ground. Standing right where Rainbow Dash had been sitting not five seconds ago, was Scorch. He had a mischevious grin on his face, and was clearly enjoying his payback for the prank earlier.
Rainbow Dash was still breathing faster than normal from the surprise when she spoke up. "Okay, you got your revenge. Happy now?"
Scorch looked over to her with a look in his eyes that stated all too clearly what he was about to say next. "Oh, but Rainbow Dash, I am far from happy. You see, I may have gotten revenge for the pitfall trap, but I still believe you deserve more. You have declared a prank war on me, and I intend to win. I'll see you later, but you won't see me." With that comment, he turned around and started to walk back towards the library.
All Rainbow Dash could do was stare at him as he walked away. For once in her life, she had no comeback.
Twilight looked from Scorch to Rainbow Dash, silently thanking Celestia that someone had finally gotten Rainbow Dash back at her own game. She had grown quite sick of Rainbow Dash and her pranks. She trotted away to catch up with Scorch, and started to walk next to him.
"I will tell you right now, that if you destroy my library in your prank war, there will be hell to pay."
"Twilight, what exactly constitutes as a prank here? Destroying property doesn't exactly sound like my idea of a prank."
"Well, knowing Rainbow Dash, I'd say that destroying my library would be the least of my concerns."
"Is it now? I believe things just got interesting around here. By the way, I'm going to need more lumber, so if you'll excuse me, I need to go see Applejack. I have a favor to ask her."
"What do you mean by a favor?"
"Oh, just need her help with something that I doubt I'd be able to do by myself or with you."
Before Twilight could say anything else, Scorch had dashed off towards Sweet Apple Acres. When she made it back tot he library, she burst in yelling, "Spike, emergency Rainbow Dash prank bunker, now!"
Spike came down from the second floor looking really worried.
"Did you do something to make her want to prank you?"
"Even worse Spike. Scorch challenged Rainbow Dash to a prank war."
"Oh Celestia, we're all doomed." Spike looked around before motioning Twilight towards the aforementioned bunker, before continuing, "You head down to the bunker, I'll go grab some snacks and meet you down there."
"Sure Spike, but first I have to write a letter to Princess Celestia. There's no telling how long we'll be down there, and I don't want the princess to think something bad has happened."
"Um, isn't that the reason we're going into the prank bunker anyways? Because something bad could happen."
"I know that Spike, but I still need to write a letter to Princess Celestia telling her what's going on."
"Fine, but I'm locking the bunker door in ten minutes. After that, you're on your own."
Spike went to fix some snacks for the two of them, even though they had enough supplies to last them weeks in the bunker. He still wanted to grab some extras. Meanwhile, Twilight was busy writing a letter to Princess Celestia.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I just felt that i needed to inform you, that Spike and I will be hiding in the emergency prank bunker for a while. A new friend of ours, which I can't write about right now as I'm not sure how much time until the pranks begin, has challenged Rainbow Dash to a prank war. I don't think I need to remind you what happened last time that Rainbow Dash got in a prank war. The memories still haunt me. Anyways, you probably won't hear from us for a while. I will send you a letter explaining everything when this is over, but for now I have to hurry.
Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle
Twilight rolled up the letter before grabbing another piece of parchment and began to write another letter.
Dear Scorch,
Spike and I will be hiding in the emergency prank bunker. The last time Rainbow Dash got into a prank war, it didn't end well. I won't be telling you where the bunker is, but just call out to us when you and Rainbow Dash are done with your prank war. We'll hear it.
Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle
Twilight placed the letter for Scorch on the table before walking away towards an unkown location. As soon as she reached the prank bunker, she found Spike waiting by the door. She had him send the letter to Princess Celestia and locked the door behind her.
Meanwhile, Scorch had just made it to Sweet Apple Acres. He looked around the farm, but couldn't find Applejack anywhere. He made his way back to the front of the barn and spotted a rather large red stallion with caramel colored hair.
Scorch walked up to him and asked, "Hey, do you know where Applejack is?"
The new pony just squinted at him before asking a question of his own. "Who wants to know?"
"Um, me? I thought that would be obvious, considering I'm the one asking the question."
Several seconds of akward silence followed as each pony tried to stare the other into submission. Fortunately for the other pony, Applejack walked out of the house at that second. She looked over to where Scorch and the big pony were having a staring contest, before walking up to the big one.
"All right Big Mac, no need to get hostile here."
Without looking away, Scorch spoke up with a smirk, "No Applejack, let him get hostile. I'd welcome the challenge."
Big Mac continued to stare at Scorch for a couple more seconds before he burst out laughing.
"Hey, what's so funny? What, do you think I'm bluffing? I will take you on, and I will win."
Big Mac stopped laughing long enough to reply, "You challenged me to a fight. That shows me you got balls kid. You're all right in my book." After that he walked away towards the house, before going inside.
Applejack looked over at Scorch and said, "Don't worry about him, he's just protective is all."
"I wasn't kidding you know. I would fight him, and I would kick his ass."
"I don't doubt that. But don't you think it'd be a might unfair? After all, you're a dragon and he's a pony. A very strong pony, mind you, but still a pony."
Scorch rolled his eyes before saying, "Anyways... I came here to ask you a favor."
"What kind of favor?"
"Well, I need to grab some supplies from the Everfree forest, and I'd need some help carrying them back to the library. I figured you were the strongest of your friends, considering you work on a farm and all, so I thought you could help."
"Ah could help, but first answer me this. What exactly are you bringing back to the library?"
"Oh, just a lot of lumber. I need to set something up at the library."
"Does Twilight know about this?"
"Oh yea, she was there when I told her."
"Fine, but exactly how much lumber are you going to be bringin' back?"
"In order to save time, I'm just going to say a lot."
"Well then, ah might need Big Mac's help for this. He's even stronger than I am, and if I asked him to help, he probably would. Besides, I think he's takin' a shining towards ya."
"Okay, but we'll need to have him stay outside the forest until I'm done cutting down the trees. I doubt he knows I'm a you-know-what."
"Ah see where you're comin' from. All right, that could be arranged."
Applejack went back inside the house to fetch Big Mac and Scorch sat there, just planning pranks for Rainbow Dash.
'Oh Rainbow Dash, you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into.'
On the other side of PonyVille, Rainbow Dash suddenly felt a shiver go down her spine.
AN: This took me quite a while from start to finish of writing this chapter. I also tried to lengthen the chapter to make up for the time spent with writer's block, but i felt that here was as good a place to stop as any. One thing that helped, somehow, was listening to music on my PS3. Don't ask me how it works, because I have no idea either. Also, the reason this chapter took me so long is because I went brain dead for a short while, just staring off into space. Anyways, don't worry about Twilight and Spike. I don't intend to drag the prank war out for very long. You'll probably see them again in another chapter or two. This prank war was just my way of getting the creative juices flowing. One more thing before I forget. Lyra's absence for questioning Scorch will be explained by the time I bring Twilight and Spike back, so I do have a plan for that.
Spike, what have you done...
Foreword: It's finally done! Again sorry for the delay, got caught up in life. Also, I've been reading some really good stories on this site. Originally put them in this FW before I deleted the previous one. Two good fics are listed below, and I highly recommend reading them.
And just so you don't have to search for them, Oh to be Old Again and The Dragon that Would be Pony . Enjoy!
Also, be warned that this chapter goes off on a completely different path than what I had originally intended. I sat down and started to right this chapter, and some random idea popped into my head. Almost one week later, and BOOM! new chapter with a completely different ending than what I had in mind to begin with.
Scorch waited for all of five minutes before Applejack came back outside with Big Mac following.
"All right sugarcube, give us a minute to grab the cart, and we'll be right with ya."
They trotted over to the big red barn that Scorch had passed on the way in, and disappeared inside. They soon came out with a wagon the size of a small pickup truck, and Scorch was amazed they had carts that size. He figured that he could easily fit all the lumber he needed in that cart, and maybe then some. He walked up to Applejack and Big Mac, still marvelling at how big the cart was.
"You just gonna stare at the cart, or should we head to the everfree forest?"
Scorch snapped out of his mental reverie and turned to face Applejack. "Yea, that sounds like a good idea. The sooner we get to the forst, the sooner we can get back."
The three ponies made their way to the Everfree forest in absolute silence. I wish I could say something interesting happened, but nothing did. They walked, they didn't talk, and they made it to the entrance to the Everfree forest in about thirty minutes.
"Ahlright Big Mac, Scorch and I'll head inside and we'll call ya when you're needed. That okay?"
"Eeyup."
Scorch and Applejack walked into the Everfree forest in akward silence, neither one wanting to say something for fear of making the moment even more akward than it already was. Considering the fact that they had just met yesterday, it was a small miracle that he had actually managed to talk Applejack into accompanying him.
After about ten minutes of walking through the forest, they reached a clearing with a large amount of very big, and very tall trees. Scorch shifted back into a dragon and set to work cutting down all the trees he could. He managed to cut down at least 30 trees before he decided that was enough and changed back to a pony.
He turned to Applejack and stated, "Hey Applejack, why don't you go get Big Mac to bring the cart in while I roll the logs into a pile over there." As he pointed his hoof towards the center of the clearing. He then started to move over to a rather large log and started to roll it towards the center of the clearing.
"Ya sure you're gonna be alright Scorch? This forest's mighty dangerous, even during the day."
Scorch shot Applejack a reproachful glance before turning back to continue his task.
"Applejack, I thought we'd been over this. What in here could possibly harm me? It's not like I'm some defenseless child."
"All right, but I'm gonna hold ya to that."
As Applejack goes off to retrieve her big brother, and Scorch continues to roll the next log onto the pile, he hears a small rustling coming from the bushes off to his right. He stares at the bushes for a minute, and when nothing else happens, he returns back to the task at hand.
No sooner had Scorch turned back to work, then five wolves jumped out of the very bushes he had just been staring at. All of them bared their fangs at him and let out a low predatory growl.
Scorch looked at the wolves but something seemed off about them.
'Huh, are wolves normally that large? And for that matter, what is their fur made of? Wait a minute, is that wood? Holy shit, it's a bunch of wolves made out of wood! If that's the case, guess I'm going to have to call them timber wolves.'
Before Scorch could snap out of his thoughts, the lead timber wolf, presumably the alpha of the pack as it was taller and bulkier than the other ones, leapt at Scorch. Still caught in his thoughts, Scorch was snapped out of them immediately by a very intense pain in his right front forehoof. He looked down to realise that the alpha wolf had just bitten him.
Suddenly, Scorch felt very weak. he staggered a little, but managed to stay standing.
'Oh no, is this the end? Not even one full day into this wierd new world, and I'm going to end up as some wolf's dinner. This is just great! But why am I feeling this weak? Surely one bite shouldn't be able to do this to me.'
The rest of the pack began to slowly make their way closer to him, but before they could leap at him, the smallest one was suddenly lifted into the air. Scorch looked at this wonder and noticed that it was surrounded by a wierd glow. Unless he was seeing things, then that glow was black. As in darker than the night sky black.
The small timber wolf was then rammed into a tree before being slammed against the ground and then into another tree. This process was repeated until the timber wolf was thrown high into the air before landing with a sickening crunch .
The next timber wolf stumbled around, running into trees and the other timber wolves before it ran off yelping at the top of it's lungs. It was as if it was seeing things that nothing else around it could see, but it was clearly scared out of its mind. Scorch also noticed that its eyes were covered in a black aura just like the previous one had been surrounded by. A black puddle started to form at the feet of the other two timber wolves, and they started to run away in fear of what it meant. No sooner had they made it five meters away from the puddle, then black claw like appendages shot out fo the puddle and grabbed onto the ankles of the fleeing timber wolves. As the two wolves were slowly dragged back towards the puddle, more and more claws started to appear and latch onto various parts of the timber wolves' bodies. They were soon dragged howling and yelping in terror through the black puddle, before it disappeared, leaving no trace of any timber wolves having been there.
The alpha looked around and noticed that it was the only one left, then looked straight at Scorch. It must have deduced that the pony on the ground was the cause of death for his packmates, as it shot straight towards him, mouth wide open in an attempt to bite his head off. As the alpha timber wolf approached Scorch's face, it was stopped just short by the same black aura as before. The alpha timber wolf was then dragged backwards about 10 meters before it suddenly stopped. Scorch watched as the timber wolf started to suddenly shake very violently. The shaking went on for all of ten seconds before the timber wolf's head exploded in a shower of wood and saliva.
Scorch watched all this happen, completely silent. After the leader's head exploded, he heard more rustling coming from the opposite side of the clearing. His vision started to go blurry, and his legs gave out beneath him. As he slowly slipped into unconciousness, the only thing he could see was a black shape coming closer to him. He could've swore that he heard it mutter something about poison before he finally blacks out.
A couple hours later, Scorch bolted upright and looked around him. The last thing he remembered was those timber wolves and that black shape saying something about poison. He looked around the room and saw a number of tribal looking masks on the walls, with various liquids and items littering the shelves underneath the masks. He looks down at himself and realises he's still a pony.
'Good thing too. No idea what lives in this house, but it's probably for the best if I appear friendly.'
Scorch continues to look around the room before he notices something in the very center that had somehow eluded his sight when he first looked around. He sees a black and white striped pony, 'No wait, black and white stripes? Ah, I get it, it's a zebra.' mixing ingredients into a giant black cauldron.
The zebra then turned around and saw Scorch looking at it, before speaking up.
"Hello stranger, and welcome to my home. You are quite the lucky pony that you are still able to roam."
Scorch looked at her for a second before replying, "Uh, thank you? Mind if I ask who you are and where I am?"
"My name is Zecora, expert on all things fauna and flora. As for where you are, the answer to that is easiest by far. You are in my house in the Everfree, where creatures thrive, and ponies flee. My nephew is the one that brought you here. You were bitten and poisoned by a timber wolf I fear."
"Okay, at least I know who you are and where I am. But I have one more question for you."
Zecora nods her head.
"Why are you speaking in rhymes?"
"Rhyming makes my diction crisp and clear. Not to mention it's very pleasing to the ear."
Scorch didn't have a chance to reply, as the door to the hut opened and what looked like a unicorn walked in.
The unicorn in question was an odd one. It did have a horn just like every other unicorn, but that was where the similarities ended. This one had a coat as black as night with brilliant red stripes adorning its body. If that wasn't enough, it had even wierder eyes. It had regular looking sky blue eyes at first glance, but if you looked closer, you would notice that the pupils were slits. Its mane and tail followed the same color scheme as its body, black and red striped, and were both pretty disheveled.
The unicorn levitated its saddlebag over to Zecora and turns to head into another adjacent room.
"Ah, thank you my dear nephew. With these ingredients, I should be able to finish this healing brew."
Scorch hadn't noticed until after Zecora said the words 'healing brew' that he couldn't feel his right forehoof. He looked down to see it was entirely green and hanging limply at his side.
'How the hell?! How couldn't I have noticed that I have control over one of my own appendages?!'
Zecora noticed Scorch looking at his limp forehoof and set the saddlebag that her newphew had given her down next to the cauldron before turning back to Scorch and speaking up. "I see you have discovered your leg is green. The bite of a timber wolf tends to be quite mean. It amazes me though, that you haven't succumbed. By now your body should have been completely numbed."
Scorch just continues to stare at his green forehoof for a minute, before he looked away and towards Zecora.
"Is there any way to fix it? I don't really feel like going the rest of my life with a useless limb."
"My dear nephew brought me the ingredients for a healing brew. Within the hour, I should have it ready for you. But for now I suggest that you rest. This medicine will cause pain, of that I do not jest."
After that, Zecora left to continue mixing ingredients in her cauldron, and Scorch laid back down. If what Zecora said is true, then he wanted to be asleep when the medicine was administered.
A few hours later, Scorch woke up to the same surroundings. Same tribal masks, same liquids and ingredients on the shelves, and the same black and white zebra standing over the cauldron in the center of the room. He looked down at his right forehoof and found out it was back to normal. He silently applauded Zecora for the job well done and he set about to test wether or not it was the same as before. He sat up and slowly put his hoof on the floor. When no pain or any indications of the hoof failing, he started to put more weight on it. After five minutes of slowly putting more weight on the hoof, he was standing on all fours.
Scorch walked over to Zecora and got within ten feet of her before he spoke up.
"Hey Zecora, I just wanted to thank you for healing me. It would've been really annoying to go through life with only three hooves."
Zecora turned around and smiled before replying, "I just did what anypony would do, but it is not I who deserves thanking. Your gratitude is rightfully my nephew's for the taking."
"Oh yeah, you said he was the one who brought me here. Do you know where he is?"
"My nephew said he would be back in a flash. Though I doubt he will be back as a certain Rainbow Dash."
"Okay, that last rhyme sounded really sloppy."
"Do not blame me if my sentences sound choppy."
Just then Scorch realised that Zecora had just rhymed off of his last sentence. 'Damn that was clever. How does she just make that up on the spot?'
Just then, the same dark unicorn from before walked into the hut with a bulging saddlebag.
Zecora turns her attention to him and says, "I was wondering what was causing you to lag. Would you mind telling me what is in that bag?"
The unicorn just turns to the saddlebag and opens it, taking out what looks like a serpent's tail, three fangs as big as Scorch's body, and two bat-like wings.
Zecora's eyes scanned over each of the items the unicorn had brought in before speaking up. "Is that a cockatrice tail and manticore wings I see? Even hydra fangs, not one but three."
The unicorn nods to Zecora and heads out of the hut again. Scorch realises this is probably the best time to thank the unicorn personally, and dashes after him. "Hey Zecora, thanks again for healing me, but I gotta run."
Scorch gallops out the door and after the unicorn already at least 30 meters away. He gallops even faster and shouts, "Hey! Wait up!" causing the dark unicorn to stop and look back at him.
After Scorch caught up with the unicorn, he skidded to a halt and started talking, "Hey, I never did get to thank you for saving me from those timber wolves. It was much appreciated man."
The dark unicorn just stares at him for a fraction of a second before replying, "I was just passing by when I saw you get bitten. I've seen what those bites can do, so count yourself lucky I happened to stumble across that clearing where you were attacked."
"Well thanks anyways. My name's Scorch, what's yours?" Scorch held out his hoof, expecting the dark unicorn would want to shake hooves if they were introducing themselves.
"I don't do names. Makes it easier on me whenever somepony turns their back on me. Makes it less personal."
Scorch looked at him with a facial expression that could be interpreted as only one thing, even by the most novice of face readers. Shock.
"Why would anybo- anypony do that? And what motivation would I have to betray you? You saved my life after all."
"The same reason as anypony else. Because I'm different, a freak."
"So what if you're different? What does that matter? I happen to know that not everypony judges just by looks. Well, thats not entirely true, I do know one pony who would judge on appearance, but I think her heart's in the right place at least. Besides, I happen to know about being different myself."
"Oh yeah, what could you possibly know about being different?"
"If I show you, will you at least tell me your name?"
"I'll consider it."
"Well, that's a start. Now I must ask you not to scream or anything okay?"
"Why would I scream?"
"Oh, no reason."
After that last remark, Scorch engulfs himself in a dark cocoon of chaos magic again and changes back into a dragon. The dark unicorn manages to restrain himself from gawking, but it is clear he is definitely surprised.
"So, now that I've shown you, will you tell me your name?"
The dark unicorn just nods slowly.
"Arcanus, it's Arcanus."
"Arcanus huh? Neat name, kinda suits you. So, now that we know each other's name and you know my secret... Wanna come back to town with me? Maybe I can introduce you to a few of my new friends."
"I don't know. Give me a second to think about it."
Arcanus turns around and begins to mumble to himself. He stays in the same spot, clearly conflicted, for a while before he turns around. "All right, I guess we can go. Just understand that I'm not going to be the best company on the way back."
"Eh, not a problem. I spent the entire walk over to the Everfree in absolute silence. I doubt a walk out of the everfree could be much worse."
Arcanus turns to leave the forest before he realises Scorch isn't going with him. When he turns around to ask why he isn't coming, he finds Scorch is a pony once again.
"Don't the ponies in town know you're a dragon?"
"Only a couple know, and I'm not a dragon. At least not a full dragon anyways. Don't ask me to explain it, 'cause I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. For that, you would have to ask either Twilight or Lyra."
"All right, so should we go?"
"Sure."
The two slowly made their way out of the everfree, not having to worry about dangerous creatures, which Scorch found wierd. At one point in time he could've sworn he saw some more timber wolves, but they ran away too fast he couldn't really tell if they were timber wolves or not.
"Soooo, wanna tell me why you live out in the middle of the everfree forest?"
"Personal issues. Don't trust ponies all that much."
"Mind explaining?"
"Maybe some other time, but not now."
The rest of the trip passed by in relative silence, with the occasional probing question thrown out by Scorch in an effort to find out more about Arcanus. The result was always the same though, a quick shake of his head with a possible "Not now, some other time."
They finally made their way out of the forest, but as soon as they cleared the treeline and started to walk towards the small field between the forest and PonyVille, they both heard a loud "SCORCH! "
Scorch looked over towards the source of the noise and spotted a cyan streak followed by an orange one, speeding towards them at unprecedented speed.
"Oh shit."
Arcanus looks from him to the two colored blurs before asking, "Something I should be worried about?"
"No, but let's just say you're lucky to not be me right now. I have a very bad feeling about this."
AN: Alright, I finally managed to put chapter 5 up. I feel really good right now. Anyways, sorry for the long wait. I've been writing this chapter for just under a week, and I probably would've had this finished a couple days ago if not for one thing... Zecora's lines. If I can say only one thing about them, it would be this: They are a BITCH to write. Hopefully I won't have to make up more rhymes for a decent amount of time, but I wouldn't count that possibility out. If I find myself in this situation where one option is to bring her back in, I will not shy away. If bringing her back in is the best course, I will grit my teeth and suck it up. Also, sorry if some of the rhymes sound crappy. Some my friend helped with, others I made up on the spot. I personally think my friend was the only one giving me good rhymes.
Anyways, one last thing to say. The last few sentences, I think you all know who yelled Scorch, it was pretty damn obvious. Anyways, I need an opinion before I can get a good grip of what my next chapter will include. I will say right not I will try my best with some shipping, even though I have no experience in it, but I can say one thing: Scorch and Rainbow Dash. Now here is where my question comes in. Should I have RD start out pissed at him for being "reckless" or happy to see he is safe?
*SPOILER ALERT*
And for Twilight fans out there, don't even think about suggesting I ship Scorch or anyone else with her. That honor belongs to Arcanus.
Spike, what have you done...
Okay, well this fic has been cancelled. I put some thought into it, and the way I went at it was all wrong. I wanted to center this story around Spike, and give him someone to relate to. Sadly, with him still being a baby dragon (I'm going to assume an age of 8 for purposes related to other stuff) and Jeremy/Scorch was a 14 year old teenager, there wasn't much I could do. Plus, I really started to get off track. I wasn't even focusing on Spike; I was more focused on just Scorch and the Mane 6. So in light of all this, I am cancelling this fic... But , I have recently gained a new idea, one which could work a lot better if done correctly. I know not everyone reads blogs, so this is here as a notice to literally everyone who has this favorited. When I manage to get things straightened out and put the story up on the site, I will post a link in a new chapter here.
And for those of you who want a sneak peak of what is to come... well you're not getting one. Most of the ideas are spaced randomly over separate periods of time, and I don't have enough to string together into one coherent preview.
June 19, 2013- Yeah, I've pretty much lost what I was working on. The redo may not ever be posted. Sorry, but at the moment I don't even remember what I was doing with it.
