Silver Hollow

Spike awoke groggily to a faint beeping noise. He opened his eyes slowly to see that he was laying on a bed. That was odd, he didn’t remember going inside. Memories from the day before came flooding back, making him sit up and look around the room. He was in a hospital room. He looked out of the window to see a few buildings. It looked like a small village. Ponies walked around, enjoying there lives. The room door opened, causing Spike to turn around.

“Ah, I see that you’re awake.” A red unicorn mare said, which he assumed was the doctor. She had a name tag that said ‘Dr. Crown’. She pulled out a clipboard and a pen. “Last night you got struck by lightning and fell about twenty feet to the ground. A nice stallion found you and brought you here.” Dr. Crown explained. “Are you feeling any type of pain?” She asked. Spike shook his head.

“Not really, my wings are just a little sore but I think that’s from flying all night.” Spike stated. Crown nodded her head and wrote that down.

“You seem perfectly fine, let’s just run a few test first.” She stated. Spike nodded his head and got off of the bed. This was going to be easy.

Spike looked in the mirror, waiting for the results of his test. He had multiple pinkish tan scars across his chest, arms, back, hands and neck. It made him feel bad to look at for some reason. It stung a little. Dr. Crown walked into the room with a smile on her face.

“There’s nothing wrong with you so you’re free to go. But I do recommend getting some ointment for those scars so it doesn’t become too irritating.” She commented. She handed him his medical bill, which was surprisingly cheap. Only twenty bits. Spike nodded his head and reached into his bag, and pulled out a ruby and a sapphire from his bag. He handed them to the doctor and placed the back on his back.

“Goodbye, have a nice day.” Doctor crown said as Spike left the room. He walked down the nice clean hallway. Everything was shiny, it didn’t even look like a hospital. It wasn’t that big for a hospital, maybe the size of a business building. He had only seen a few ponies there that weren’t workers. Spike finally made it to the front of the building, standing in front of two glass doors. He opened them and walked outside. He looked at the sign for the hospital which read out ’Silver Hollow Hospital Unit.’

”Silver Hollow.” Spike repeated to himself in his head. He had never seen that town on any maps before. He looked around. Ponies happily walked and talked to each other. There were plenty of houses on both sides of the street. Some of the houses even had stores attached to them. A certain store caught his eye. There was a store called ’Jolly’s Bakery’ and in the window there was a help wanted sign.

“I know how to bake.” Spike said to himself. It would be best if he got a job. If he lived by himself, he needed a job. Spike walked into the shop and up to the counter to see a brown stallion. He had cheerful green eyes and blue mane that had a curl to it. His cutie mark was a key lime pie and his tail with blue and curly.

“Welcome to Jolly’s Bakery, how may I help you?” He asked happily. Spike pointed to the sign in the window.

“I would like to work here.” Spike stated. The stallion beamed and gestured for Spike to follow him.

“Come with me so I can interview you.” He said. Spike followed him behind the counter, into a back room. It was a well furnished kitchen. He placed his backpack next to the counter. The stallion picked up a clipboard and a pen.

“First question, how old are you.” He asked.

“I’m thirteen.” Spike answered. The stallion nodded his head and wrote that down.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“Spike the dragon.” He answered. The stallion wrote that down.

“Are you still in school?” He asked. After a pony got there cutie mark, it wasn’t uncommon for the child to leave there home and school to discover themself and get jobs.

“I never went to school.” Spike replied. He wrote that down.

“What are your qualifications?” The stallion asked. Spike thought for a moment.

“I can cook, clean, and work at the register.” Spike stated. The stallion put his clipboard down.

“Can you bake something for me right now?” He asked. Spike nodded his head. He walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a bag of flour and a cake pan. He walked over to the oven and preheated it. This was going to be a piece of cake.

Literally.

Spike pushed over the cake pan to the stallion. It was a very well decorated cake. It had little flowers made out of icing. The stallions picked up a fork and took a bite of the cake. His eyes widened.

“This is delicious.” The stallion said happily. He stood up and shook Spikes hand. “You’re hired!” He said happily while taking another bite of the cake.

“I didn’t get to properly introduce myself, my name is Jolly and I own this bakery.” Jolly said happily. “My daughter can only work after school so it’s great to have the extra help around here. She’s about your age so you two should get along great.” Jolly stated, his curly blue tail wagging a bit.

The door opened, revealing a pale pink chubby filly about Spikes age. Her red hair with black streaks was pulled up into a bun and her bang messily was covering her left eye, almost touching the ground. Her eyes were a very dark blue and her tail was pulled up into a tight bun. Her cutie mark was a cherry cupcake with frosting on it. She was a few inches shorter than Spike.

“Hi Dad.” She said with a small wave. Jolly smiled widely.

“Cherry, we have a new person to work here. His name is Spike” Jolly said while gesturing to him. Spike waved to Cherry.

“There’s a line forming outside.” Cherry said in a deadpanned voice. Jolly’s eyes widened.

“You two start baking and get to know each other.” Jolly said as he ran out the room. The door closed with a slam.

“It’s nice to meet you Cherry.” Spike said with a friendly grin. Cherry pressed her nose up against Spike and let out a snarl.

“Listen up, you will not call me Cherry you’ll call me Cherry Truffle, understood?!” She asked, now flying a few inches off of the ground. No one had yelled at Spike like that. He let out a small whimper, making Cherry’s eyes widened.

“Wait no don’t cry I just wanted to seem tougher.” Cherry said while standing back on the floor. She rubbed the back of her neck and stuck her hoof out.

“I’m Cherry Truffle, but you can call me boss.” She stated. Spike smiled and shook her hoof.

“Let’s get to work boss.” Spike said with a smile. They both went over to the counter and got to work.

Spike swept the waiting area as Cherry Truffle wiped down the counters. Jolly walked in from cleaning up the kitchen.

“Spike, you did great today. You can go home now.” Jolly stated. Spike gave a nervous look.

“I don’t have anywhere to go.” Spike muttered. Jolly gave him a sympathetic look.

“I have a spare room that you can stay in, come with me.” Jolly said as he led Spike through a different door. On the other side of the door there was a living room. It was well furnished and very nice. Jolly led Spike up a flight of stairs and opened a door right next to the stairwell. In the room there was a twin size bed pressed against the wall with a light blue blanket on it. There was a small black night stand with a lamp on it. Other than that is was pretty much empty.

“You can stay here as long as you need.” Jolly said before walking back down the stairs. Spike closed the door put his bag on the bed. He reached in his bag and pulled out a Power Ponies comic and a flashlight. It was surprising that neither of them had gotten destroyed when he got struck by lightning. He turned on the flashlight and snuggled up into his blanket. There was a knock on the door making him look up.

“Come in.” Spike said. The door opened to reveal Cherry Truffle.

“It was nice to spend time with you today. I’m looking forward for tomorrow.” She said. Before Spike could say anything, she slammed the door shut. Spike smiled.

He was going to like it here.