Spikes Journey

Chapters

Chapter 1: Canterlot I
Chapter 2: Canterlot II
Chapter 3: Canterlot III
Chapter 5: Intermission (The Truth Revealed)
Chapter 6: Intermission II (Realization)
Chapter 7: Cloudsdale I
Chapter 8: Intermission III (Breaking Down Apples and Diamonds)
Chapter 9: Cloudsdale II
Chapter 10: Intermission IV (Twilight's Suffering)
Chapter 11: Cloudsdale III (Final)
Chapter 13: Appleoosa I
Chapter 14: Intermission V (Rainbow Dash's Lament/ New Hope)
Chapter 15: Appleoosa II (Final)
Chapter 16: Intermission VI (Just Missed Him)/ Ponyville I
Chapter 17: Intermission VII (Wary Rarity)
Chapter 4: Canterlot IV (Final)

Chapter 1: Canterlot I

The Journey
By: That Drunk Pony

Spike the dragon, Princess Twilight Sparkle's number one assistant, was now in exile from Ponyville. The ruling on Spike was near unanimous that he be exiled. Even the harborers of the Elements of Harmony shunned him. Applejack didn’t want to hear him, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy always avoided him, Rarity told him to never come back, and even Twilight, his best friend, told him that there was no home for him here.

So Spike left Ponyville in exile to find a new home. The last time anypony saw him was when he took the Pony Express headed far away from Ponyville. But what happened that could have caused this much disarray? Only Spike knows.

As the train entered a tunnel, Spike started to reflect on the events that happened. Speaking to himself in total sadness, “Why wouldn’t they believe me?” Spike questioned, “After all the years I helped them? All the times we had? All the years we had been friends? But they were so quick to sever all the bonds.” Spike then yelled out “Well who needs them!” He noticed some of the other passengers were staring his way and he sat down quietly thinking again.

Once they got out of the tunnel the conductor had said, “We are arriving at Canterlot. We hope you enjoyed the Pony Express.”

“Before I disappear forever, there is one thing I must do.” Spike said as he departed the train. He then headed for the Royal Palace. As he walked by, he saw many old places that he and Twilight used to go to when they lived in Canterlot. As he was reminiscing, he started to get teary eyed, but stopped himself from crying.

After walking the streets of Canterlot, he finally reached the Royal Palace. It looks just as he remembered it. Tall, beautiful, a nice regal appearance, and stood out from the rest of the city. As he approached the door the guards stopped him.

“I am here to see the Princess” Spike had said with slightly saddened tone.

“We cannot let you pass unless you were personally invited here by the Princess” the Guards had stated.

“But I need to see her, she knows me personally” Spike had demanded” “I am Spike, Twilight Sparkle’s assistant.” ‘Well ex assistant’ Spike thought to himself.

“Sorry, but that is the rules around here. We can’t just bend them any time a pony or dragon in your case wishes to see her. Do you realize how many people want to see Celestia? If you want you want you can see her three weeks from now, when she will be available to the people.

Spike then was furiously thinking to himself ‘There is no way I can wait that long, I have to see her now.’ Spike then walked away with an angry face which slowly became an upset face. He walked until a pony recognized him.

“Hey Spike! It's good to see you around again!” the unknown pony said.

Spike then turned to see it was Pony Joe outside of his store. “Oh hey Joe” Spike had said with a still saddened voice.

Joe noticed his sad tone and asked, “Spike what’s the matter? Is it girl troubles? Come in my shop.”

Spike didn’t really have anything else to do so he took Pony Joe’s invitation.

“So Spike, what has you looking so bitter?”

“Well I don’t think the news reached here, but I was banished from Ponyville.” Spike then started to get teary eyed again. “Even my friends shunned me. I came to Canterlot to speak with the Princess before I left forever, but now the guards won’t even allow me to see her until three weeks. I don’t even know how I will last that long.”

Joe could see his pain. “I am sorry to hear that Spike. You need to calm down.”

Spike realized he was on top of the chair. “Yeah, sorry you had to see that.”

Joe thought of an idea that would benefit the both of them. “Well if you need a place to stay then why not stay with me and my family. As long as you help around the shop of course.”

Spike pondered only for a second. “Well I don’t really have a choice I suppose. I will take that offer.”

So now Pony Joe took Spike to introduce him to his wife and kids. They climb a set of stairs in the back of the shop. When they got to the second floor, Spike was met with a very warm reception. The Joe’s daughter, Candy Dumpling Joe, but most just call her Candy Dumpling. She is a very hyper active filly no older than those of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. When she saw Spike she charged at him and hugged him to the ground.

“OH MY GOD A DRAGON!!” The young filly had yelled.

Hearing this reminded him of the CMC. Of all the ponies only they had defended him before he was exiled so it made him smile just a little. During his flashbacks he noticed things going dark. “I can’t breathe!” the dragon said with his nearly last bit of air.

She loosened her grip as Spike turned blue. “Oh I'm so sorry. It's just I always wanted to meet a dragon, although I was expecting you to be much bigger.”

Spike then looked at Pony Joe who was looking away with a smirk on his face. It was like he planned this as a gift for his daughter, but Spike didn’t dwell too much on that.

Spike then was greeted by Joe’s wife who had been cooking dinner. “Hi there, Joe is this another one of your friends?”

“Yes, he's a friend from the past. He will be staying here for the next three weeks helping around with the business and will be foal sitting for us.”

Spike then thought to himself, ‘I didn’t agree to foal sitting. That was underhanded of him.’

Just then his wife had a fairly large smile on her face. She seemed excited of the idea. “Well then it's a pleasure to meet you Mr....”

“Oh sorry, I am Spike. It's a pleasure to meet you.” Just then Spike’s stomach started to grumble. He then blushed as his cheeks on his face turned pinkish.

“Well Spike, you came just in time for dinner.” Joe’s wife said grinning.

After dinner, Pony Joe showed Spike to his room. It was a simple guest room that had a T.V. and its own queen size bed. As Spike looked around the room, Pony Joe had told Spike to wake up early tomorrow for his first task. He then went to bed and Spike started watching T.V. in the bed. "I'm glad that Equestrian technology now has magically powered T.V.'s. One useful thing they got from the Human World."

Spike now thinking to himself ‘Well this isn’t so bad after all. I just hope these tasks won’t be too harsh.’ Spike then turned off the T.V. and fell asleep with a smile.

Author's Note

This story has been edited and hopefully better for grammar and spelling. I plan to do this for all of the chapters.

Chapter 2: Canterlot II

“Twilight it wasn’t me!”

“You’re the only one who can conjure green fire Spike.”

“Why would I burn it!? It must have been...”

All of a sudden a loud sound of crashing and clanging woke up Spike. He rushed out of bed to where the sound came from. He then saw in the kitchen Candy Dumpling trying to grab a box of cereal from the top cabinet.

“Dumpling what are you doing” Spike said with a little annoyance in his voice.

Candy Dumpling then slipped off the chair she was on. Spike then dove in to catch her in his arms, but instead she landed on top of him.

“Owwww. Are you ok Candy?”

“Yeah I’m ok. Just a little scratch.”

“Why were you up there anyways?”

“I was getting breakfast? I mean we ponies are usually hungry in the morning.”

“Why didn’t your parents make breakfast? Where are they for that matter?”

“Oh they are too busy in the morning. They always wake up extra early to get the shop ready. I am used to just making my own breakfast and going to school. I can do it all by myself.”

Hearing this worried the dragon. “Is that safe?”

“Sure, the school is only 2 blocks from here. Besides I know everypony from here to school.” Candy said with confidence as she then got back on the chair to attempt at getting the cereal.

Just then Spike offered to get the cereal since he had more reach and didn’t want to endanger her. After he got the cereal, they both enjoyed breakfast. Looking at the time, Candy Dumpling got her school stuff and headed for the door. Spike couldn’t let the young filly go by herself.

“Say Dumpling, do you want me to accompany you. I feel a little explorative today.”

Candy nodded and so Candy and Spike went downstairs to see Joe and his wife rushing around getting the store ready. When Joe noticed Spike he had a worried look on his face.

“Hey Spike, can you run out and get some extra frosting and flour from the store. With what we have in stocks we can barely manage for the morning.”

“Sure. I was heading out anyways.”

Spike and Candy left for school. Along the path all the ponies were waving to Candy. It’s like she said. She knew everypony from her home to school. As they walked, they were having a light-hearted conversation about food as they slowly approached the school. Before they reached the school gates she stopped Spike.

“Well Spike, you should go and finish your errands now. I don’t think the adults here would react well seeing a dragon even as small as you are” she giggled.

“I guess that makes sense. Well. Have fun then” Spike had said waving to her. He noticed something though as she turned around however. Her smile she had for him disappeared as she went in. Spike then went to finish the errands. Just as he returns to the Donut Shop he sees a pony and his eyes become burning with rage. It was Fancy Pants ordering a coffee.

“What did Rarity ever see in a shallow guy like that? All I hear him do is plan parties and only talk among the rich folk. He doesn’t care about anypony, but himself” the dragon said to himself angrily. He slowly tried to walk past him as if he knew Spike or something. Instead of blending in however he stood out more because of it.

Just as he almost made it behind the store counter Fancy Pants took notice of the dragon. His eyes were amazed to see a dragon and he just stared at the dragon. He then starting questioning Joe. Spike got curious so he started to ease-drop.

“Well Joe, I do say you make the best coffee in all of Canterlot. Um why is there a dragon in your shop helping?”

“Oh him, he is an old friend staying in Canterlot for a few days. A very kind fellow he is.”

“Hmm do you mind if I borrow him later on. I would love to have a dragon amongst my people. It would surprise the others” Fancy said with a little chuckle.

“Well Fancy, that is up to him.” Joe pointing at the dragon who is obviously ease dropping. Spike was caught off guard when Fancy had levitated him out of his hiding spot.

“Hey let me down you money grubbing rich pony.” Spike said as he flailed in the air.

As he was set down Pony Joe had a slightly scary look and whispered into his ear “Don’t be rude to the customers”

Spike then apologized to Fancy Pants. Fancy Pants then asked the dragon if he wanted to go to a little party tomorrow. Spike was thinking to say no, but it might hurt Joe’s business so he said “Yes.” So now he is going to be a representative for Joe sadly and is angry at the fact that he is kind of being forced into this.

Spike then continued to help around the shop while giving angry glances at Joe behind his back when he realized it was time to pick up Candy from her school. He walked out telling Joe he was going to get his daughter. As he continued down the road every pony seemed to be minding their own businesses not really paying attention to the dragon.

“Man, Candy really is just that popular around here. They don’t even care that I am a dragon walking down the road” Spike said with a hint of jealousy. Spike then arrived at the school and waited outside until he heard a scream. He ran inside the school yard to see that there was a pony on the ground and 2 others attacking it. Spike then ran in and yelling and scared the other 2 ponies away.

Spike, instead of chasing the other ponies, went to check on the one lying on the ground. It was...
*To be continued*

Chapter 3: Canterlot III

“Fairy Dancer!!” Candy Dumpling said while rushing over to Spike and the hurt filly.

Before Spike could react to Candy the other filly said “Don’t tell Candy.” She then blacked out.

When she awoke she saw the dragon who saved her and Candy sitting next to her on her right. She was resting in a hospital bed. When she looked over to her right it was her daddy, Fancy Pants. To her surprise, her daddy was full of tears instead of his usual calm and refined attitude.

“Da- daddy?” She said still in confusion.

“Oh thank Celestia, she is awake.” Now crying even more he tried to express his joy with a hug. “I am so happy you are alive.”

Candy Dumpling then tugged on the dragon to let them have their space, so they both left the room and waited outside. Spike still in shock of the events that just took place turned to Candy who was still a little shocked herself.

“Spike what happened to her” she said staring directly into his emerald eyes.

Spike remembered she said something about not telling her, but he just couldn’t keep it a secret from Candy’s glare. “She told me she didn’t want me to tell you”

“But you have to. Please Spike, she is my best friend” still using her cute puppy dog eyes and then with a single tear Spike caved in.

“She was getting beat by two ponies. I barely got a look at their faces, but I did see they had their cutie marks. One was a comedy mask and the other had a tragedy mask like the ones at a theatre.”

Candy Dumpling had a very surprised look on her face. She seemed to recognize the cutie marks and then looked down at her feet. “Spike... I know those 2 ponies. They are the captain and co-captain of the theatre club. Their names are Tippy and Todd. Fairy Dancer was telling me she would do anything to join the club, but I didn’t expect that they would do this to her.”

Spike’s anger now reached its peak. He punched a wall causing a hole in it. Spike then was about to march off to find those two *even though he had no idea where to find them*, but was stopped by Candy.

“Spike I know your angry, but violence isn’t going to solve this.”

Spike then became a bit more level-headed, but was still angry. “It’s true, but I can’t just let that go. Those two need to get justice.”

“I know, but beating them will only make you look bad. I know you got kicked out of Ponyville, you don’t want that to happen here too. I would miss you.” She then looked as if she was going to tear up again until Spike put his hand on her head and rubbed it gently.

“Don’t worry about that. I wouldn’t want to lose any more friends” Spike said with a slight smile. With this Spike was now fully calmed. Just then Fancy Pants came out of the room and had a smile on his face.

“Well Mr... Spike was it? I want to thank you personally for rescuing my daughter. The doctor’s said that her condition might have been worse if she was brought in later.”

“Yeah, no problem Mr... Fancy was it” Spike said with a smirk on his face. Fancy and Candy then started to laugh a little. “What will you do about the party tomorrow?”

“Well it was supposed to be a party for my precious dancer, but I don’t know. Maybe I should postpone-”, but once he said this he was interrupted by his daughter.

“Wait... father... we can still have the party. I don’t want to disappoint my friends or you father. I am a strong little filly.” She said while still having a couple of bandages around her body and her hind legs.

“But Dancer, I want you to fully enjoy the party. It is for you.” Fancy quickly replied.

“I will enjoy it. Seeing the smiles on other faces is what makes me truly happy.”

“Oh I can’t win against you. Fine, we will have the party still. Although it is sad because you found your gift early.” he said while turning to Spike. He and Candy then put their hoofs to their ears.

Spike then looked confused at both ponies. In the next moment a loud screech of a yell which was heard all the way to Baltimare, Manehattan, and even Las Pegasus came out of little Dancer’s mouth. It was loud enough to wake even a hibernating dragon. Once the yelling stopped the two ponies took their hoofs out of their ears.

“A DRAGON!!!!” Dancer had said with such happiness.

Spike who was now paler than snow and having his eyes roll to the back of his head just stood frozen. The pain was so great that his mind still needed to process the rest of it. He finally came to after 10 minutes of being frozen rubbing his ears and noticing the young filly with a pen and book.

“I always wanted to meet a real life dragon. C- Can I have your Au- Au- Autograph?”

Spike with a confused face again gladly signed her book. She then hopped around saying “I met a dragon” over and over. Candy then whispered into his ear.

“She is a bigger dragon fan than I am. Probably the biggest fan in all of Equestria.”

They all began to laugh until the doctor came around wondering what happened. Fancy Pants then went to talk to the doctor and the two fillies were left with Spike. Things got serious real fast.

“Dancer, I know what happened. Why didn’t you want to tell me?”

Dancer now with a surprised look. “I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t want anypony sad. How did you find out?” she then looked at the dragon.

Spike now trying to look away from her glare and staring at the floor replied “It was me. I just couldn’t lie to her.” As Dancer was about to get furious, she was stopped by Candy.

“It wasn’t Spike’s fault. I really wanted to help you and sort of forced him to tell me.” The 2 fillies then hugged and dancer regained her composure.

Spike then broke the atmosphere by asking “So what are we going to do about Tippy and Todd?”

Dancer looked down. “Well I don’t think we should-.” She was interrupted by Candy.

“No we have to do something or they will think they can boss anyone around. Those two bullies need a good scare anyways.” Just then an idea sparked into her head. She then told the dragon and filly. They all agreed to the plan while grinning at the idea. Just then Fancy Pants came by and said he got the O.K. from the doctor to take his daughter home.

Fancy Pants and Dancer both said good bye to Spike and Candy as they both walked their separate ways. Candy was hopping as they walked back home sort of the way pinkie always hops instead of walks. They reached home to a worried Pony Joe.

“Spike and Candy, do you realize what time it is?” Pointing at the clock which said 11:30 pm.

Before Joe said another word Spike said it was all his fault that he wasn’t paying attention to the time as they were playing in the park. Joe then sighed and told his daughter to go to bed. She wanted to stay to help defend Spike, but even he pushed her to go. She slowly crept up the stairs and stopped to ease drop, but the dragon knew she would try something.

“Candy stop spying and go to bed” Spike said with a little annoyance in his voice. They both heard an “eep” and her climbing the rest of the steps.

“Tell me now, what really happened?” Joe said not buying his lie.

“Alright you got me.” Spike then explained what really happened and his face was just in shock.

“I am sorry Spike for being a bit rude. If I had known what you been through I wouldn’t have jumped the gun so much.”

“It’s fine. Not the first time a pony jumped the gun on me. At least you listened to my side of the story” Spike said looking down again.

“Was what happened in Ponyville really that bad?”

“I lost the trust of all the citizens and even my closest friends. Not even Twilight had any remorse for me and I was hoping she would listen, but nopony listened. They just gave me that horrible look. Their eyes of disappointment and fear” Spike started to have tears in his eyes. He then brushed them off. “Well that doesn’t matter anymore. I am no longer a part of Ponyville and soon I won’t have to deal with any more ponies after I talk to Celestia.”

Spike seemed really hurt so Joe didn’t pursue anymore. He couldn’t say it was all going to be better because that would just be a lie. He just patted the dragon on his back and offered him a donut. The dragon accepted the donut and watched Joe head upstairs to bed. Spike now alone just sat there at a table thinking about his past again and slowly passed out on the seat crying.

Chapter 5: Intermission (The Truth Revealed)

A purple unicorn who was busy helping with the repair of her home suddenly feels a shock and a tear falls from her cheek. Twilight, now confused, looks towards Canterlot as if that is where her pain came from. Something important has just broken the final bonds. She tries her best to ignore it and continue to work still confused at what just happened.

Twilight doesn’t remember the last time she worked so hard with physical labor. She was glad her friends came to help, but even with her friends helping it still proved to be a very troubling task. All except Pinkie was there to assist her since she had other things to take care of.

Most of the library was burned and even a lot of the surrounding buildings were still damaged. Only the places on the outskirts of the town of Ponyville were kept truly safe such as the Apple Family’s farm, the Carousel Boutique, and Fluttershy’s Cottage. Rainbow Dash was lucky she lived in Cloudsdale and Pinkie’s house was amazingly the only house in the area that was also nearly untouched even though it was in the central area.

Twilight kept having random gazes at Canterlot. She stared at it for a few moments and then continued. It quickly got the attention of her friends, but none of them had the courage to really ask what was bugging her. They assumed it had to do with Spike. It was silent mostly until Pinkie came around...

“Howdy, everypony” Pinkie came with her usual smiling face and with AJ’s hat.

Applejack put her hoof on her head and noticed her hat was missing “Pinkie, why or how do you have my hat. I just had it.”

In a cheap thug like voice as to make a movie reference, she replied “I’d tell ya, but I’d have to cupcake you.” Right after she said that, she went into her usual chuckles and snorts.

Applejack just sighed, “Just give me my hat back Pinkie.”

After Pinkie returned the hat, she saw Twilight with a frown. Normally she would solve this with a song, but the writer who writes this can’t do songwriting or rhyme very well so sucks for you guys if that’s what you were expecting. Instead she asked the question that everyone was so afraid to ask.

“Twilight, what’s got you look-in so down.” Pinkie said in a concerned voice.

Twilight looked at her Pink friend. “I don’t know. I felt a sharp pain through my heart, it felt like something important was just taken from me. Now every time I look at Canterlot I get a lesser, but still painful feeling. I even felt tears start to form”

“Well Twilight, don’t hide your feelings. Bottling them is a big no no. You should just cry it out and then things will get better from there” Pinkie said seeming so sure of herself.

Twilight then tried to let her tears flow, but without a reason to cry it just seemed like she was looking more depressed. She just feels sad and doesn’t know why she was crying or getting those pains from Canterlot. Twilight’s friends were eavesdropping the entire time while seemingly working. They stopped only to surround her to try to reassure her that everything will be better.

As they all hugged each other, some powerful magic had slightly blown them back. The light it brought out could be seen from most parts of Ponyville. The ponies in the area had no idea what was going on and just ran away. The mane six all waited huddled together. Princess Celestia had emerged from the blinding light. The six ponies realized this when Twilight had jumped from their huddle.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said in an excited voice. She then bowed her head and the other five behind her did as well.

“Rise my little ponies” Celestia said with her usual regal voice.

“Princess, why are you here?” Twilight said, but then started going into a hysteria. “Did we miss an event, is this a surprise visit, Did Discord ESCAPE! DID WE MISS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!?” Twilight went on and on with endless possibilities until the Princess put a hoof over her student’s mouth.

“No, I am not here for any of those reasons” the princess said before coming to a slightly more serious look. “I came here to ask a question.”

The six ponies then gave confused looks at the princess. “What sort of question?” Twilight asked.

Just then Rainbow Dash came in front of the Princess with an excited look on her eyes. “Is it another adventure? Do you need us to vanquish some foul beast, or defeat a rampaging dragon?” When Rainbow said that, she was lassoed by Applejack and she put a hoof in her mouth.

Applejack then whispered into Rainbow’s ears, “Now why would you talk about rampaging dragons after this whole mess that we are still trying to fix.”

The two ponies then turned back to the group. “Well getting back to the matter at hand” Twilight stated turning back to the Princess. “What is the question you wanted to ask?”

Princess Celestia then went back into her serious mode. “What happened here in Ponyville and why wasn’t I alerted about this?”

The ponies then looked at each other then looked back at the Princess. “It was Spike” Twilight finally said almost forcing her answer out. “He rampaged and burned Ponyville. We didn’t want to tell you because Spike was already banished by the end of it and alerting you wouldn’t have changed much.”

The princess then raised her eyebrow. “Did any of you see Spike rampage through Ponyville?”

The ponies then looked at each other again and returned their looks at the princess. They answered together “No.”

Rainbow added, “But there was a green magical fire everywhere. Also his foot marks were at each location. That’s more than enough evidence.”

The princess then sighed and gave another serious look. “Did you even get his side of the story or give him a fair chance to defend himself?”

They all looked down and said together, “No.”

The princess then continued on. “Spike visited Canterlot after leaving Ponyville.”

All of them replied in shock, “He DID!?”

The princess then added, “Yes, he was there for a full month. He made quite an uproar while in town.”

The girls all were thinking of different ways Spike might have destroyed Canterlot. Rainbow thought of the general scenario of a Dragon burning everything, Applejack thought how he would be destroying every building with his sharp claws, Rarity thought about how he would destroy the rich cultured ponies and burned all the dresses, Pinkie was thinking how Spike would crash a party, and Fluttershy is just too much for the viewers. Twilight however couldn’t think much, since she was feeling more worried about how other ponies might have reacted to him. Their attention was then brought back to the princess.

“Yes Spike had gained a big reputation in Canterlot, even Fancy Pants and a few other noble families were now friends with Spike. He is somewhat of a hero on some level.” The princess gave a small grin at the pony’s faces. All of their jaws just dropped upon hearing this. Rarity’s was even further dropped considering he got to be friends with Fancy and the other upper class ponies.

“I was watching over him, although I was confused why he visited without his companions unannounced. He seemed sad at first and just as I was about to invite him to the castle, I noticed something. He was starting to feel happy and was living at Joe’s home. Seeing his smile brought a tear to my eye.” The princess had then changed from her grin to a more serious tone once again. Before she could continue, Twilight interrupted her.

“So Spike was happy then.” Twilight’s face began to frown. She was worried and was glad he was doing fine, but was sad because he didn’t need her to take care of him.

The princess then continued, “Spike only was happy for the moment, but I could still see in his eyes that there was a deep wound in his heart. I especially took notice when he visited me on the day that I would hear to all the ponies. He asked me for something that shocked me to my very core.”

The group then got in closer to make sure they didn’t miss a word. The princess took a deep breath and finally said, “Spike asked me to... actually I rather just show you all.” Her horn lit up and a light surrounded each pony showing the memories of the Princess.

----------------------------------------------Transmission back to Palace--------------------------------

“Ok Spike. It is done. You are no longer bound by the contract we have. We can no longer send messages nor can I track you any longer.” The Princess said in a very sad way.

“Thank you Princess,” Spike said as he was now ready to leave the pony race behind. He turned to walk away.

Before he left however the Princess asked, “Spike, why did you want this?”

“Because I am no longer Twilight’s assistant nor am I a resident of Ponyville.” Spike said with his back still turned to the princess.

“What happened? Tell me everything... or rather allow me to see it.” the Princess then slowly walked to the dragon. Spike turned slowly only to be met by the princess’s horn to his forehead. She had saw the memories of everything that had occurred. All the recent memories and all the emotions he felt, she felt as well.

When the spell broke, Princess Celestia couldn’t stop her tears from flowing. To know the pain he felt and how he was still standing there without crying was truly amazing. She couldn’t stop crying until Spike had hugged her.

“Do not worry for me princess. If I am not crying and I am still a young dragon, then you shouldn’t be either being many centuries older.” Spike added to comfort the still crying princess.

She slowly stopped crying and tried her best to regain herself. “Spike, I am sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was not your fault nor was it anypony else’s fault. Just the one who caused the trouble and framed me” Spike had said in quick reply to the princess.

The hug then broke and both the dragon and the princess had regained their composure. Spike then turned around once more as to leave, but was stopped by the princess yet again.

“Spike, before you leave.” The dragon turned only his head towards the princess. “Will you do I a favor and go to Cloudsdale to deliver something for me?”

Spike then replied in a confused way. “How do you expect me to do that if I can’t really fly there or even stay on a cloud?”

“Do not worry Spike. I have this potion that will give you temporary wings for a few days. Maybe a week at max if you don’t overdo it” the princess said as she levitated a potion from a table near her throne. Why it was there no one knows but the princess.

“Why can’t you send a guard or the Wonderbolts to handle this? They can do it faster.” Spike had pointed out.

“The Wonderbolts are performing in Baltimare and my guards are short at this time. Please do this favor for me.” The princess pleaded with cute begging eyes. “You just need to deliver this to Spitfire. She hasn’t been feeling too good and this package should be just what she needs.”

“Hmm fine, but after this I will leave to live with the dragons. Where is the Package I need to deliver?” Spike said with a slightly annoyed attitude.

As Celestia levitated the package she also added, “Make sure you use the potion when you are as close to Cloudsdale as possible.” She then also levitated one ticket for Vanhoover.

“But this ticket is to Vanhoover that’s like after Cloudsdale?” Spike asked the princess.

“There is no station for Cloudsdale directly, so you will have to make a special stop. I wish you well on your journey Spike.” The princess concluded herself with that.

Spike then started making his way out of the castle. “See you later princess.”

When Princess Celestia got to her throne she whispered to herself, “See you later. Spike.”

Chapter 6: Intermission II (Realization)

The shattering look of Twilight’s face was one that would halt any pony. The endless tears ran down her face and she felt as though her head weighed a ton. She could no longer raise her head an inch above the ground. The devastating news of Spike’s true innocence in combination with how she treated him all came rushing into her head. It swarmed around her head like thousands of wasps with each memory of that dreadful night giving her a sting of true pain.

Her other friends were also in shambles. They all were in a breakdown of their own seeing Spike’s memories directly. The intense pain of seeing his point of view of what his friends did to him was just tragic. The most pain they felt from Spike was when he entered the train and the only ponies to see him off were the three little who stood by his side throughout the entire endeavor. To see how they were crying for him and begging for him to not go was a truly heart wrenching sight especially towards Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.

Once the crying slowed, Princess Celestia tried to pick up Twilight’s head in order for her to listen to what she was about to say. Twilight struggled to hold it up, but she held her head with the occasional sniff and shiver. Her other friends gathered around Twilight to try their best to support as they wait for what the Princess has to say.

Celestia then continued, “Twilight. You realize the error in your judgement now right?” Twilight only replied with a nod while her head started to hang even more. “Well, then you should apologize to him before it is too late. Spike is going to the land of the dragons and it might be too late then.”

The sudden shock of Princess Celestia’s message was enough to raise the pony a bit. Knowing Spike is trying to leave Equestria would mean her baby would leave her forever. This realization allowed her to slowly rise up from the ground, knowing that she would have to get her baby back. Spike may not have been as little as he first was, but he wasn’t ready to survive out there in the dragon lands.

Twilight then replied to the Princess, “I must find Spike. I have to...” She then paused for a second as she looked up to the Princess with still tears in her eyes, but now full of ambition, “I will find Spike to apologize for not being fair and get him to return home! I must get ready now for the journey ahead.”

She then turned around and was about to walk back into the renovated library to get her things only to be stopped by her friends. She was wondering why they stopped her with a confused and slightly angry face on her.

Applejack was first to speak, “Well, if that is what y’all plan to do then I’m coming too. I owe Spike just as much as you do and you are gonna need Ponyville’s top athlete.” After she said that a rush of wind blew her hat off and she looked back at Rainbow and glared at her.

Rainbow then scoffed at Applejack’s claim, “Ha. You the top athlete? Don’t you remember I won the Iron Pony Competition hands down.”

Applejack then retorted back, “Y’all only won that competition cause of y’er wings. You couldn’t beat me with just y’er hoofs.”

Rainbow then got into her competitive mode. She got into Applejack’s face, “I can beat you without my wings in any of those silly events again.”

As the two were about to be in a heated battle Rarity held Applejack back with her magic and Pinkie pinned down Rainbow’s wings and sat on her back.

Fluttershy then turned her attention to Twilight who was almost smiling at the comical fight that Applejack and Rainbow were having. Fluttershy then spoke to Twilight, “Twilight, even though I am not sure how much I will help and I am slightly frightened at the idea of an adventure... I will support you and help out as well.”

Pinkie who was riding an angry Rainbow Dash like a bull rider then added, “Yeah, we all have to apologize to Spike and get him home.” Pinkie then started waving what looked like Applejack’s hat around in the air while Rainbow was trying to get Pinkie off, “YEE- HAW, ride’m cowpony.”

Rainbow was starting to get even more infuriated until a lasso wrapped around Pinkie and was brought down by Applejack. As Applejack was busy tying Pinkie and getting her hat back, Rainbow then added her part, “Yeah, I will help as well. I mean you are gonna need a pegasus to help guide you around Cloudsdale.”

Rarity then added her own contribution, “I am not sure I should go.” She then put her head down.

All the other ponies stopped what they were doing in shock at what Rarity had said. Even the Princess was a bit taken back, but she sort of knew why Rarity felt uneasy about going to Spike. When Celestia played Spike’s memories, she did it in a way that no pony saw what each other did to Spike. They only saw their own actions, and Rarity’s was one of the worst.

Applejack then questioned the fashionista, “Why wouldn’t you want to go and help bring Spike back?”

Fluttershy put her input as well, “Rarity we need you to come too.”

Pinkie added still tied up on the ground, “Yeah! How can we have a full party without you.”

Rarity then returned the instigators with a sorrow filled reply, “What happened between Spike and I... I just can’t face him.” Now her head was hanging while she was lost in thought of what happened to Spike.

Twilight then tried to reason with Rarity, “Look Rarity. I know we all have hurt Spike in one way or another, but we have to get him home, before he gets seriously harmed. We can’t do this without you.”

Rarity just continued to look down. It got Rainbow a little ticked off so she said, “Whatever, she clearly doesn’t care about Spike enough to look past her mistake.” The other then looked at Rainbow in shock while Rarity still hung her head over. Rainbow then continued, “What? The longer we wait, the farther Spike gets. We have to reach him as soon as possible.”

For once Rainbow was right, but still to just leave Rarity also felt wrong. As Twilight was thinking of what to do, Rarity spoke once more, “I do care about Spike.” All attention then was on her. “I may be scared of facing him again, but never say that I don’t care about my little Spikey. I will join you as well and hopefully get Spike’s forgiveness.”

With that note Celestia then turned as her plan was now set in motion. Before she took off for Canterlot, which was probably in chaos at the sudden disappearance of the Princess, Twilight said, “Thank you, teacher.” Celestia smiled and flapped her white, long, glorious wings and soared into the sky in the direction of Canterlot. The ponies then waved to Celestia, then got serious.

Twilight started devising a plan. “Alright so girls this is what we will do.” They all were listening impatiently. “Rainbow and Fluttershy will go to Cloudsdale directly. The rest of us will get some provisions and go to Canterlot to do a little research on what Spike did and join you in Cloudsdale with my magic of course and Pinkie’s ballon. Everypony know what their tasks are?” All the ponies gave a nod. “Then we meet back here in an hour. Fluttershy and Rainbow, we will see you both soon.”

Rainbow gave a salute and started to fly away with Fluttershy slowly behind her. The others went back to their respective homes and got ready for the journey that lies ahead.

“Spiiiiike” a voice whispered. Everything was dark. Spike looked around, but it was too dark and Spike’s eyes seemed to still be adjusting to the darkness. He tried to rub his eyes to see if it would help, but just then a strong gust of wind rushed past him. It nearly threw him on the ground, but he regained his balance.

“Spiiiiiike” the whisper returned again, but Spike couldn’t recognize the voice.

Spike then said furiously to try and intimidate whoever was whispering “Whoever you are, come out and show yourself you wimp. I am a dragon so don’t take me lightly!” As soon as Spike said this he was knocked down from his front and layed out on his back. He noticed that a dark figure was on him. The figure was about his size roughly but it seemed too strong for him to get up.

He noticed he could see his surroundings more now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. It was odd, he was on a cloud with no lights from the sky. Not even the moon was out nor the stars because they were surrounded by dark clouds which explained why it was so dark. As he looked over the edge of the cloud he saw Ponyville with dim lights. He looked back at the figure and recognized that it was a pegasus. He tried to focus more, but was denied by the pegasus who stomped on his chest.

The pegasus then slowly raised her head up above Spike. “Jeez Spike. You were always so weak. You were just so pathetic and innocent. Just like easy prey. You will never survive on your own.” Spike was getting furious at the pegasus. He then remembered he could blow fire, but as he tried to nothing came out. “Aw, the poor little dragon can’t make a little fire. You fail as a dragon. All your good for is being my prey.”

Spike then got even more aggressive, “I’m not weak. I can take you on any day.” Spike then turned the tables on the pegasus. He held the pegasus down with one claw on its next and the other raised into the sky as if to claw at the pegasus. Just as Spike was about to strike down he saw that it was Rainbow Dash.

“Well do it you wimp. What? Can’t hit me cause I am your friend?” Rainbow Dash spat at the dragons face. “Come on you wuss. Give me your best shot.” Spike then brought his claw as if to strike. He however hit next to her face. “You disappoint me, just like all the ponies in Ponyville”

“Just SHUT UP!!!” Spike roared in a thunderous voice similar to Luna’s Royal Canterlot voice.

Spike then awoke on the train. Luckily no other pony was on his car of the train since he had been talking throughout his entire sleep. Spike then was thinking to himself “Man what a nightmare. They have been happening very frequent recently. Well I should get ready to get off the train and head to Cloudsdale.”

Spike then alerted the conductor to make the sudden stop by presenting the Royal Canterlot Symbol. The conductor had stopped the train and let the dragon leave before restarting the train down its regular route. Spike then looked above and saw Cloudsdale.

Spike opened the potion he received from the Princess, “Well bottom-up.” Spike drank the green liquid. After he finished he was coughing in disgust, “It tastes just like medicine.” He then looked around his body and noticed nothing had changed. “Is this thing a dud or did the Princess troll me again” Spike said with a annoyed look on his face. After he said it though he felt a sharp pain through his back. The feeling of having his Spikes being shoved aside and the growing of wings sprouting from his back. He collapsed to the floor yelling at the intense pain. It was only 5 minutes for the process to take place, but it felt like forever for the dragon.

He eventually got up from the ground. His body was covered in sweat and tears. His back still ached, but as he looked he noticed his wings. They were large, green, and looked powerful like regular dragon wings although they seemed a little larger for his size of dragon. Still he got his wings and was now ready to go to Cloudsdale. He wondered to himself, “How do you even use these things?”

Chapter 7: Cloudsdale I

Spike stretched his large wings. The were a nice green color matching his green spike’s on his back. They felt like another pair of arms with no claws. He first tried to generate a gust of wind to see how it works. He then raised his wings in a near upward vertical direction to get as much wind as possible. As he pushed down full force with his wings, he was instantly propelled in the air.

The unexpected ascension left the dragon in a state of fear as he flailed around in the air. Spike then noticed his ascent slowed and he started to decent. He tried flapping as much as he could to stay up, but he did not realize that the more you flap in quick succession that the harder it is to stay up in the air. He then landed on the same spot he took off from with a hard impact.

The dragon ached as he got up and noticed his body was imprinted into the ground. He rubbed his stomach and checked to make sure he wasn’t injured. He thought he heard laughter, but the sound vanished almost as fast as it came. All seemed fine, but he really needed to control his flight if he was ever going to get to Cloudsdale. He then tried again and fell back to the ground. He tried again ... and again ... and again ... and again ... and again. By the time he gave up, the land around him had his imprints in the dirt all over.

He thought to himself what he was doing wrong. He sat on a rock, put his claw to his chin, and began to think and reflect. Each time he tried he did something right and something wrong. He got flipped when a simple breeze hit him, he spun out of control when his wings weren’t in sync. He plummeted every time he tried to flap harder to stay up.

He was tired and it was only noon. He then started feeling hungry and went into his bag which held the gifts from Canterlot. He got himself a doughnut from the bag. His lips watered from the sweet circular ring of deliciousness and began to drool slightly. As he regained himself from his daze, he opened his mouth, closed his eyes just waiting to taste that wonderfully sweet first bite.

A gust of wind quickly rushed past Spike He took a bite only to discover he had bit his own claw instead. “AHHHH!!!!” was all that could be heard from the dragon. It scared any animal watching the dragon. Spike was holding back the tears. As he checked his claw if it was alright, he noticed the doughnut was gone. He searched around for it, but the sound of laughing stopped his search.

When he looked up at a tree he saw a pegasus eating his doughnut with a smirk on its face. Upon closer inspection he noticed it was a mare with a white coat and a cutie mark that was all to similar. Three party balloons with a bit of confetti as her cutie mark. Her mane was almost exactly like Pinkie Pie, but was blonde. His initial thought was that it was Pinkie who had changed her colors, but the wings denied his theory.

As he kept pondering, he didn’t realize the pegasus coming closer and closer. The pegasus landed on Spike with a tree branch. The dragon let out another roar of pain and threw the pegasus off his back along with the branch.

The white pegasus then got up and brushed off her coat. She looked at Spike with a big smile, while Spike was doing the exact opposite and with a more menacing look. Spike then asked the question, “Who are you?” with a very obvious angry tone.

The white pegasus then replied with a smiling face “Well isn’t it more appropriate for a person to introduce themselves first?” Spike’s eyes grew narrow in annoyance. The white pegasus picked it up and continued. “Sorry, my name is Surprise and I like to have parties, play games, eat sweets, play small pranks with friends, ...”

Spike sort of tuned out Surprise for a second, since it sounded just like how Pinkie described herself. If there was one thing he learned from Pinkie was the ability to tune out noise. The dragon’s belly then grumbled again. He went back into his bag to pull another food item as Surprise continued her endless rant. He got himself an emerald from the bag and started eating it while nodding to whatever Surprise was saying.

An idea then came into his head. Spike then tried to stop Surprise from talking by putting his claw on her mouth. He then began to question her “Say that is all very interesting and I know a pony who is almost exactly like you, but can you help me?”

Surprise was first upset about getting forcibly being quieted, but then smiled again when she was asked for help. “Sure! What do you need? A party!? Well we will need lots of streamers and sweets. Mmmm” She started gazing into the sky, fantasizing about many different delectable sweets.

Spike shook her back to normal and continued, “Hold it. I need help getting to Cloudsdale. Can you teach me how to fly? I really need to get there by order of the Princess and I don’t have much time.”

Surprise was surprised when she heard that it was from the Princess. “I will do my best or you will die trying!” she said with her smile.
Spike felt uneasy about the ‘dying’ part. “Right... well lets get started I guess.”

“Yes, lets do this. Now follow me. This is the way almost every pegasus learned to fly who weren’t naturally able to” she said as the dragon followed her to the top of a very large hill. When they stopped they were at a cliff.

Spike looked over and gazed in amazement since the walk had not seemed that long. He then took a nice breeze, full of fresh air, down his nose in a large inhale and exhaled. The air was simply wonderful, fresh, and smelled sweet like a hint of honey. This wonderful moment didn’t last long, however, since Surprise had rammed Spike off at full speed.

Spike was flailing in the air even more than before, but then got calm when he heard Surprise’s whisper. “You need to calm down. Otherwise you really will plummet to your death,” she said while pointing out some jagged rocks from below. Pointing it out didn’t calm the dragon down at all, but then Surprise continued, “Okay Spike, flight lesson number one. You must open your wings and hold them stretched out. Don’t flap them like a crazy pony otherwise you wont be able to fly.”

Spike was still terrified, but did as he was told. He didn’t really have much choice in the matter anyway. As Spike’s wings reached it’s full length he noticed his decent was slowing a bit, but at his angle he would still hit the ground hard. In his head all he could think was how insane that pegasus was.

“Alright Spike, flight lesson number two. Try to angle your wings up only slightly to change your direction upward,” Surprise said with a calm demeanor. Spike tried his best to do it only a little but then he did it too much and started to pull up too fast. He was nearly flipping out until the pegasus had pushed Spike’s head to stop him from loosing control.

“I said only slightly. Don’t over do it,” Surprise said still with a calm attitude.

Spike had yelled back, “You are probably the most insane pegasus I have ever met!!” Spike tried again as he watched the ground get closer and closer. ‘Alright keep calm. Just keep calm and everything will be easier,’ Spike said to himself as he started to angle his wings upward. He noticed his angle was changing and eventually he was in the clear as he rose up above.

Once He got higher and higher in the air, he started getting the hang of it. He gave the occasional flap to power himself, but not flail around with his wings as before. He finally soared through the clouds with the Pegasus on his tail. They both then landed back on top of the large hill.

Surprise was expecting a thank you, but instead she got a hug. A very strong hug which felt more like a bear hug. Spike then said, “I will KILL YOU!!!! That was the most frightening experience of my life!” Spike eventually let the pegasus go however. If it wasn’t for her he would have never been able to fly in time for the potion. “Thanks though,” the dragon said while turned around with eyes still full of anger.

Surprise was first in pain, but when she heard the ‘thank you’ from Spike. She became very ecstatic and hugged Spike’s back. This warmed Spike since he hasn’t been hugged since he was back in Ponyville by Rainbow Dash oddly enough. Although Rainbow Dash’s hug was more of in the moment cause she got frightened by the sound of thunder made from Pinkie and her newest toy. The Prank Noise Maker which allowed her to make many different kinds of noises.

Surprise finally broke the hug and asked the obvious question, “So now that you are able to fly, should we go to Cloudsdale?”

Spike then replied “Well of course. I have a mission to do there.”

Surprise then offered her services of being his guide and Spike was hesitant, but allowed it. They both took off to the clouded city in the sky.

Surprise then got an idea to make things fun, “He Spike, lets race. Whoever get’s there first owe’s the other a drink.”

Spike with a smirk replied, “Your on!” and they both took off at full speed.

Surprise was easily pulling away towards the beginning as she easily dodged each cloud while Spike ran into almost each one, but Spike started getting the hang of the agility and started to catch up. Surprise noticed it and started playing dirty by sending clouds his way. He was able to dodge most of them, but it slowed his momentum.

As they neared Cloudsdale, Spike’s competitive side started kicking in even harder than before. It was similar to Rainbow Dash and the day she got her cutie mark. The speed and the adrenaline was like nothing he felt before. His heart was racing more than when he almost plummeted to his death and he kept gaining speed.

Surprise was surprised when she saw Spike was just drilling through each cloud gaining a lot of speed and only going faster. It was like nothing could stop him and he felt the freedom that pegasus felt on a daily basis and what other ponies only dreamed of. The endless sky all around him only made him want to go faster and faster. He zoomed past Surprise with ease and still kept going until he started feeling the sound barrier.

Spike wasn’t going to let a simple sound barrier stop him from achieving more speed. He kept pushing until it broke. He broke the sound barrier and did the equivalent to a sonic rainboom, but was just a regular sonic boom. The thunderous noise shocked all the pegasuses in Cloudsdale. When they looked, they only noticed a dragon flying at extreme speeds. The guards were alerted and a messenger went out to the wonderbolts.

Spike realized it only too late that he was going too fast and was probably going to zoom past Cloudsdale at his speed. He tried his best to slow down only to be tackled down and netted by a bunch of guards.

“Yeah! We stopped him. We caught the dragon.” The guards cheered as they lowered the dragon onto a cloud in town and made sure he couldn’t escape. Surprise finally caught up only to see Spike tied down. She tried to get Spike, but was halted by the guards to make sure nopony got too close. Surprised struggled as much as she could to get past, but was pushed back.

“This is an accident. Spike isn’t a bad dragon. We were just racing,” was what Surprise kept repeating, but the guard ignored her every plea. She never gave up and Spike saw this and he then told Surprise, “Don’t worry about Surprise. I wasn’t thinking when I was rushing to Cloudsdale as a dragon.” Surprise only got sad when she heard that since he didn’t do anything wrong and yet he was about to be arrested.

Just then another pegasus walked past her. The guards quickly moved out of the way. A guard said, “See, we caught him without your help. We are capable.”

The pegasus then turned to the guard’s face, “Wonderful, you caught a messenger of Princess Celestia and a friend of mine.” The guard was shocked to hear this. The pegasus then cut the net that held Spike down and Spike looked up and recognized the pony. It was ...

To be continued......

Chapter 8: Intermission III (Breaking Down Apples and Diamonds)

Silence surrounded the four friends in their thoughts of sorrow with each reminiscing of that last moment they saw the dragon. Not long ago did they see the truth of a young dragon's innocence, a dragon whom they have shown nothing but scorn and disgust recently, and forced him out of their lives. Many tears were shed when they saw the innocence, yet the most came from a particular lavender mare. A mare who could not even think a joyful thought after realizing what she has done to the dragon known as Spike, who she thought of at times as a son... but now those feelings were prominent in her search for the boy.

Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack were now flying to Canterlot with the help of magic power. How painful it really must have been even though they could never truly know what it was like when the world turned on you. All except for Twilight who has experienced the same at the wedding of her brother and his sister in law. She probably was the closest to knowing that feeling, but to put Spike in that same situation at his young age is something that should have never been.
The silence was broken by Pinkie who just couldn’t stand the quietness. “Hey why don’t we all play a game to pass the time?”

Twilight gave a rather lifeless sigh, “Sorry, but I am not really in the mood for games. Besides I have to keep channeling magic if we are ever going to get to Canterlot quickly.”

Rarity then put a hoof on Twilight, “Twilight, let me take over so you can have a break. This is probably hardest on you and you need a break.”

Twilight scoffed her off, “No, I’m fine. I can handle this.” Though her legs started to gave, most likely due to exhaustion, which Rarity picked up on.

“Twilight you should just go rest for a while. I have enough magic to get us there in no time.” Twilight just ignored it so Rarity then brought the two earth ponies in a small huddle. “Girls we need to get Twilight to relax before she passes out. She won’t be able to help if she is gonna be sleeping the whole time.”

The huddle was broken as Applejack was first to speak. “Twilight, don’t you think its not safe to be overusing your magic constantly without taking a break? You might not be able to do much in Canterlot to help search for clues on Spike.”

“Yeah, besides we can play cards like Black Stallion! You love that game.” Pinkie Pie added with excitement.

“Twilight dear, you really must rest. None of us can bare to see you like this.” Rarity said with great concern.

Twilight finally just caved in. “Fine, I’ll take a nap. You girls can go play cards.” She then went to a corner and went to rest. Rarity took control of using magic to get to Canterlot faster. It was silent the whole way there.

While Twilight rested, she kept thinking about Spike. ‘Was Spike okay? Where was he now and where was he headed to? Will he ever forgive me for all this? Do I even deserve his forgiveness?’ Her mind finally drifted into a sleep.

Twilight was then woken from her slumber by Pinkie as she jumped around and shook the basket of the balloon dangerously while saying “There it is. We are almost at Canterlot. YAY!”

“PINKIE!” Twilight yelled to try to control the energetic pink pony.

Pinkie had stopped noticing what she did. She had a sheepish smile and then said, “Oopsie. Sorry everypony.”

The three mares just glared with manes all messed up from being shook all around the basket. They then landed on the outskirts of Canterlot to avoid any problems with the guards and flying balloons.

Twilight then devised their plan of action. “Okay we will split into groups to cover more ground. Applejack and Rarity you will find Fancy Pants and see what you girls can get from him. Pinkie and I will go to find Joe. They are probably our best bet for getting information based on Spike’s memories. We will meet at Canterlot Castle after we get all we can.” The other three nodded and headed to each designated location.

As Twilight walked through town, it seems some ponies still recognized her. What really caught her attention from the looks she got were that some smiled and some glared. ‘How many ponies knew of Spike’s tale and how did they find out? Surely some knew that Spike was exiled by the papers, but it seems like they were only glaring at me?’ Twilight thought as she observed the passing mares and stallions. ‘Spike must have had a lot of influence.’

Twilight then overheard two ponies speaking behind her back. “Oh my, is that Twilight.” one said. Another then added “Oh it is. Wasn’t she the one who threw Spike out of Ponyville?” The rumors then continued all around her with other ponies saying things like, “Isn’t that Twilight, I thought she was the one who abandoned Spike? Why is she in Canterlot?” Another mare said, “Oh I heard all of Twilight’s friends had forced him out of Ponyville.”

As they walked onwards, the rumors just got worse and worse. Some even going as far as saying she was torturing Spike and he finally ran away from her. The rumors were getting Twilight from upset to annoyance and anger. She was relieved when she finally got to Pony Joe’s.

Before she entered, however, she noticed that Pinkie was nowhere to be found. She was already angry at the rumors and she just face hoofed herself and decided she would find her later. She entered the shop and the bell from the door opening rang.

As Twilight walked in further she heard Joe, “Hold on. I’ll be right there in a minute.” Joe then came from the back. “Welcome to--”, but before he could continue he saw Twilight at the door. ____________________________________________________________________________ __
For some reason, Rarity didn’t seem so sad knowing she is going to see Fancy once again. She even seemed a bit too excited actually. Applejack on the other hand looked more distracted by how there were some ponies giving them more of a ‘They look horrible’ look rather than a hateful one.

They reached Fancy’s place without trouble. The place was enormous to them. Even Applejack was amazed by the size even though she lived on a farm with acre’s of land. Rarity then went to the gate and rang the doorbell.

Rarity then turned to Applejack with a serious face, “Applejack, please try your best to act like a proper lady. We are about to meet Fancy Pants here and I am sure he would not welcome anypony who does not have proper etiquette, poise, and sophistication.”

Applejack gave her the ‘Are you serious?’ look. “Rarity, we aren’t asking the guy out. We are here to find out about Spike or did you forget as you drooled you whole way here.”

Rarity then gasped, “I was not drooling.” She wiped off her face to make sure there wasn’t any evidence. “And no I have not forgotten our purpose for visiting.”

The gates then opened to reveal a stallion who was dress up in a fancy butler outfit. “How may I help you?” the stallion asked.

Rarity tried to speak, though her voice gave off a shaky response. “W- well we are here to um...”

“We’re here to see Fancy Pants. We need to ask him something important.” Applejack interjected herself, sensing Rarity too flabbergasted to speak properly.

The stallion looked at them both. It got Applejack and Rarity a bit worried of the butler’s gaze, “What important business exactly?”

Applejack coughed slightly, “We are here to ask Fancy about Spike. We are looking for him and Fancy might know something to-”

“SPIIKE!” A voice of a young filly filled their ears, as they entered the mansion. Rarity and Applejack were a bit shocked thinking that they found a lead on Spike’s location, with a little filly running towards them and looking as if she was searching for something. It was little Fairy Dancer.

“I heard somepony say Spike. Where is he!?” Fairy Dancer asked excitedly, looking from every side and corner where she was standing.

The stallion butler unfortunately shook his head with his eyes closed, “Oh no milady. These two are asking about him is all. Now please go back to your room and get ready for supper.” Fairy then went upstairs grumpling in a low tone.

The butler had then turned to the two mares who stood stock still behind him. “I shall fetch Master Fancy. Wait here and please refrain from touching anything. I just cleaned the place.” He then walked off with his nose up high toward another room.

The two then just sat on the smooth velvet chairs in silence. What was on Applejack’s mind was what did the little filly know about Spike. Rarity’s mind was a bit more focused on Fancy. The silence, however, broke when Fairy Dancer appeared behind Applejack. She whispered into Applejack’s ear, “Why do you wanna know about Spike?”

Applejack was surprised and fell off her chair. Fairy Dancer then started apologizing numerous times. She helped Applejack up though Rarity didn’t even notice as she was too lost in her mind.

“Who are ya sugarcube?”Applejack asked.

“I am Fairy Dancer. Daughter of Fancy Pants.” she said with a beaming smiling

Rarity popped out of her dream-like state when she heard that. “Your... his... daughter!?” Fairy just nodded her head. “I didn’t know Fancy was a father!”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t talk about mommy much anymore. I never really knew my mommy. I have no pictures or anything of her.” Fairy said with a lonesome face.

Applejack’s sisterly instincts kicked in at this moment, “Well lets not talk about the glum and talk about Spike.” Fairy’s face then lit up with excitement again. “Well what do you know about Spike?”

“Are you the pony police?” Fairy asked Applejack, who just chuckled at the filly’s question.

“No, we are friends of Spike. We are looking for him.” Applejack replied.

Fairy rose an eyebrow and placed her hoof upon her chin, “Are you the same friends he had from Ponyville?”

“Yeah, we are close friends of his, but we made a small mistake.” Applejack replied somberly, looking down on the floor.

Fairy’s anger lit up as her gaze turned into a glare and her nostrils flared, “So you were the ones who hurt Spike! I’m not talking to meanies like you.” She then ran off into another room.

Applejack and Rarity were both shocked to hear that. Applejack went after Fairy. Just as Rarity was about to follow behind she was stopped by a voice.

“Rarity, is that you?”. Rarity turned and saw it was Fancy Pants. “Hello, Rarity. What brings you to Canterlot?”

Rarity just melted, but quickly snapped back to not loose her poise. “Hello Fancy. I actually came to Canterlot with a few of my friends to ask about Spike. We need to find him and any clues you can give us will be helpful.”

Fancy then changed his demeanor. It changed from his usual regal demeanor to a more serious one. “I heard all that happened back in Ponyville to Spike. I learned from Joe who heard it directly from Spike himself.” Rarity was a bit upset to hear it. Fancy continued on, “Spike also told Joe what you did to him...” _____________________________________________________________________________

Applejack searched around the mansion for Fairy. She then heard sobbing from a room that was in the dark. She walked in and turned on the lights. “Fairy. Ah’m sorry about what you heard about us, but we are trying to fix everything.” Applejack didn’t see or hear any movement from the filly. “We are sorry for what we did to Spike. Sorry may not be enough to fix everything, but we all are willing to work hard for his forgiveness. Just please help us any way you can.”

Fairy then appeared with a strong glare with tears still around her once happy face. “You ponies are heartless. I overheard everything from daddy and Mr. Joe about how you ponies threw him out and abandoned him. You didn’t even give him a chance. To think he would help me even though he has been so much.” Applejack then tried to comfort her by saying sorry, but was denied and Fairy said angrily in return, “YOU PONIES SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES! Sorry doesn’t mean anything to me. You should be sorry to Spike and all the trouble you caused him. If I only knew I would have done my very best to be his friend. He is a kind dragon.”

Applejack really didn’t know what to say. She was taken back by Fairy’s words. She put her hat over her face to not show the tears that eventually emerged from her eyes. Fairy then finally saw the sincerity in her apology. Applejack tried her best to not show weakness in front of such a young filly, but it was already too late. Fairy walked up to Applejack and rose her hat that shielded her flowing tears from her eyes.

Fairy then decided that she recognizes her mistake and it was not helping to just snap at her. “Look I am sorry for going all out like that. I just really wish Spike didn’t have to go through this.” Fairy said trying to calm the situation.

Applejack wiped the remaining tears away, “Ah’m sorry too, but Ah want to tell Spike... no Ah want to show Spike how sorry Ah am and Ah am sure everypony wants to as well. Looking back on it, I really hate how we handled that situation. We didn’t even give him a proper chance to defend himself.”

“But now you can change all of that. It may take you all a while to earn his forgiveness, but as long as you are all sincere to working for his forgiveness then I am sure he will open again.” Fairy said trying to cheer up Applejack.

“Ya, Ah suppose you're right.” Applejack said putting back her hat in its proper position. “So um Fairy, do you know anything about where Spike was headed or any information so we can find him.”

Fairy shook her head, “Sorry, but only my daddy and Mr. Joe would know where he is or headed, but I do know something has been affecting Spike.” Fairy answered. Her answer caught Applejack’s attention. “Spike always looked sleep deprived. It was as if he barely slept and my friend Candy did mention he was making odd noises in his sleep. Like he was in pain and having a nightmare. It got better the longer he was here, but it came back the nights before he left. If you really want to know more you should talk to daddy. He should be in his study.”

Applejack then thanked the little filly and walked out of the room into the hallway. She just realized that she was lost in the mansion.
______________________________________________________________________________

Fancy and Rarity were seated opposite to each other. The butler came with tea and offered biscuits. It was still silent so the butler just left the tray and walked out to do other things. Fancy then began while levitating his cup to him. “Rarity.” Fancy said, but as soon as he did Rarity jumped up from her silence. Fancy then coughed slightly as he continued, “What were you and the others thinking? Sending such a young dragon on his own is just irresponsible. It was like you turned your back on a child.” Rarity just kept her head down in silence. She was just fiddling her hooves as she levitated her tea to her mouth. She clearly did not want to face the truth. “Well Rarity, what have you to say?”

Rarity put the tea down and cleared her throat, “I know we were all wrong. Everypony now knows this in Ponyville after the Princess came to clear things up. I really did not want to believe it at first. I was so sad to learn the truth and after what occurred, I really don’t want to face Spike, but I must for the sake of my friends.”

“Rarity,” Fancy began again, “That reason is as if you were saying that you do not really care if Spike is wandering about Equestria all alone. How long ago was he banished? It’s been over a month since he has come to Canterlot. Imagine if how easily he could have been brought to harm and all you can say is that you are doing this because of your friends? How unladylike can you be?”

The words of Fancy had struck Rarity like a thousand needles to the heart. She wanted to tell him why she did not want to see Spike, but she was scared of the reaction. “Fancy.” Rarity began while Fancy rose an eyebrow as he awaited her response. “I do care for Spikey, but I don’t know how to face him again.” A string of tears started going down her face as her some of her make up started to flow within her tears, “I am scared to face him again. I just don’t know what to do or what to say to him after what happened.”

Fancy, once he saw the tears in her eyes and the expression of pure sadness, knew that she was in great pain. He took his noble and chivalrous stance and tried to reassure her, “I really must ask, why would you be so afraid to face Spike when he is a very kind and forgiving dragon. He may not forgive you immediately, but if I know one thing about him is that he isn’t one to hold a grudge. However, the longer you all wait, the worse it will be when you face him. Can you truly live with the regret of knowing you let an innocent child go out into the world thinking that his closest friends hate him?”

Rarity then looked down back at her reflection in the tea as one of her tears dropped into it. “No. I don’t think I could ever work on anything ever again.”

“Well then Miss Rarity. Do you now know what you must do?” Fancy asked. Rarity nodded as Fancy levitated a handkerchief to her face and wiped the tears away. “Well I suggest we find your friend then. One thing that has my curiosity is what happened between you and Spike personally?”

“Sorry Fancy, but I can’t reveal that to you or anypony. It is something between Spike and myself.” Rarity said as she got up from the couch. They both walked out to the large foyer, where they were met by Applejack and Fairy Dancer.

Before Applejack and Rarity parted off to go meet Twilight and Pinkie, Fancy gave some important information. “From what I know. Spike is headed to the badlands and beyond to where the dragons live.”

“Well then Ah suppose we will have to meet him there, but Ah doubt Spike will escape Rainbow Dash’s sights.” Applejack said with confidence.

Both Fancy and Fairy said their goodbyes as Rarity and Applejack waved back. Applejack noticed the make-up that was still slightly messed up on Rarity’s face. She knew that she was crying as well. “Rarity, whatever happened back there it’s going to be alright, but y’all should really fix up yer makeup.” Applejack said with a smirk on her face. Rarity then saw in a reflection of one of the store windows how her mane and her make up were messy. She shrieked and ran inside one of the nearby bathrooms.

Applejack then waited outside the bathrooms thinking about past memories and she hardly remembers really doing anything with Spike. The only times she really saw Spike was when Spike was with Twilight. ‘Spike did really love my apple pies’ Applejack thought to herself. Then her mind started to wonder off to the last time she saw Spike. It was the day before Spike was accused of his crime. It was the probably the first time when Spike had visited Sweet Apple acres on his own.

“Heya Applejack.” Spike said cheerfully.
“Oh howdy Spike.” Applejack said as she was pulling a carriage of apples into the storehouse next to the barn. “It is surprising to see you here without Twilight today.”

“Well Twilight just sent me here to pick up some of your delicious Apple Pies. You know tonight is a special night of course.” Spike said with such a big smile on his face.

“Yeah, it will definitely be one of most amazing nights.”Applejack said with her own smile on her face.

Just then Rarity came back out and Applejack put her hat on as they continued to the meeting point.
______________________________________________________________________________

Joe was in shock at the sight of Twilight. He almost dropped all that he was carrying as he stumbled over his hooves trying to catch himself. “Twilight Sparkle!?” was all he could get out.

“Are you alright Joe?” Twilight said as she used her magic to help.

“Why are you here? What are you doing in Canterlot?” Joe asked as he set down all that he was carrying.

“I am here to look for Spike and to bring him back home.” Twilight answered.

Joe then changed his attitude from shocked to one of anger. “Home? You mean the place that points hooves first and asks questions never? I would never consider that home.”

Twilight who was still annoyed by the passing ponies from before then replied, “Look most of those rumors around Canterlot are mostly exaggerated. Don’t believe in those rumors.”

Joe then said, “Twilight. I heard everything from Spike himself. I know the truth already. How dare you just come into my store and just demand things.”

“Joe, I just want this thing to end and the sooner you help, the sooner everything will return back to normal.” Twilight said as her patience was wearing thin.

“Are you even listening to yourself? You don’t even sound like you care that Spike was hurt by this experience. How do you plan to apologize to him? Just saying sorry isn’t really going to cut it.” Joe said in retaliation.

“I don’t know, but I have to find him soon.” Twilight said before getting cut off by Joe.

“And then what? Will you just try to return back to normal and have him do the chores again while you all just have fun?”

“What!?” Twilight said shocked by Joe’s accusation.

“Spike told me how even before that he practically cleaned up all the messes you made. When you came to Ponyville, tell me how often was Spike involved in your activities and when he was involved was he actually involved or was he there for the convenience of everypony.” Joe pointed out.

Twilight took a moment to think to herself. Then she said, “Well for Spike’s birthday we-”, but was cut off yet again.

"Only his birthday? Where was he on your birthday?!" Joe angrily added.

Twilight was stumbling over her words. "He was.... he was….”

"He was in the library waiting for you and the others but then realized you just went off to Canterlot leaving him behind... to cry no less! I mean really! Only his birthday is all you can say!? That is truly disappointing. Don’t you realize these things? I did kind of found it hard to believe that what Spike said was true, but after hearing this I suppose all of it was true.” Joe said now on the complete offensive.

Twilight’s anger was instantly put out at the realization how true Joe’s accusations were. She tried to speak, but her voice felt as if it were muted.

“I can’t really blame Spike for not wanting to return. You know I remember when you and Spike used to come here to visit after your classes ended and how you both used to do so many things together. What happened to that? Did you just replace Spike with new friends and forget your oldest and closest friend?” Joe said in addition.

Twilight was absorbing in all the words from Joe like a large dried sponge in an ocean of somber truths. She was reminded of her past before Ponyville. The tears in her eyes formed as she did not even realize these simple things could build up so much. As she was about to break down a stallion stood in front of her.

“What are you doing to my sister? Making her cry like this?” The stallion then turned around. “Twilight, is everything alright?”

Twilight looked and saw her brother. Shining didn’t want to hear anything out of Joe so he said, “Come on sis. Lets go.” They walked out and Joe went back to his business. She was brought to Canterlot Castle.

Rarity and Applejack were already there waiting for Twilight and Pinkie. “Hey! Where did Pinkie Pie go!?”
______________________________________________________________________________

Spike was at shock at the pony who called off the guards. It was a friend that Rainbow introduced to him when the Wonderbolts came to Ponyville one time for a competition and Rainbow had VIP passes after winning that competition for herself and six other guests. Spike was lucky number seven and got to meet the Wonderbolts as well. They became rather good friends after that meeting.

“Fleetfoot!? What are you doing here?”

Author's Note

EDIT: I removed Cadence from the ending for special reasons. No I cannot spoil it.

Chapter 9: Cloudsdale II

"What's wrong Spike? Did you forget that I live here?" She said as she lifted off the net that held him down. "Seriously, it hasn't been that long since we last spoke." She looked up and pondered how long it has been. "Its only been a few months." Then she lowered her head to Spike's face "or maybe you missed me that much?"

Spike just glared back, "I am just surprised to see you is all." Spike then got up and dusted himself off. "Besides it's not like I know where you live since being a wonderbolt means you travel all over Equestria. Weren't you supposed to already be at Baltimare anyways?"

"I guess that is true that we do travel all over Equestria. Also I am taking care of somepony so I had to stay along with..." Before she finished she looked up and down and noticed something different about Spike. "So my first question is how did you get those wings? I don't suppose you grew some in that short amount of time and secondly why did the Princess send you anyways? I was expecting her usual messenger."

"Well sorry, but you have to settle for me then." Spike snapped back. "Also about the wings, it is just a spell so you don't have to worry about me being a threat of being a better flier than you." Spike said with crossed arms and a smug look on his face to taunt at her.

"Oh well look who finally got a back-bone. Well you certainly have changed since our last visit. We should race so I can make you eat your words!" Fleetfoot replied with all her competitive juices flowing to her head.

"Well I would, but I already got arrested for racing and I don't want to go through that again." Spike said, even though he really just didn't want to race a wonderbolt. He has watched and studied almost all of the current wonderbolts. Enough to know he had a small sliver of a chance to win. "Besides I have to finish my delivery and then be on my way south."

"You are just being a chicken." She said to provoke him, but he was not budging. "Did the Princess make you her official messenger or something?"

"Nah. This is the only delivery I have to do and then I am leaving Equestria." Spike said calmly as he headed toward the delivery site.

Before she could show her reaction, another pony interjected and tackled Spike. "Oh Spike, you aren't in cuffs and whats this about you leaving!? You still haven't gotten a tour of Cloudsdale yet. I mean there is so much I wanted to show you and..." Fleetfoot then stuck her hoof out and stopped Surprise and her rambling.

"Spike. Why are you leaving Equestria? Did something happen? Are you going on a trip with some friends or something?" Fleetfoot asked worriedly. Spike then got off the ground again and dusted himself off with Surprise still on his back. He said nothing to her, but she could see it in his face that he was truly upset about something. "Spike. What's wrong?"

Spike then unwrapped Surprise's arms from his neck and set her down. He then said with an obviously fake smile, "Don't worry about it. I am just going on a little journey. I'm not leaving Equestria forever." Spike then continued walking as that smile quickly fell and turned serious.

Fleetfoot then dashed in front of Spike placed a hoof on his chest. "Spike. Tell me the truth."

There was a long silence between the two. A tumbleweed blew past by. The sound of munching from popcorn came from Surprise's mouth. Spike grabbed her hoof. As he lowered it he emphasized each word. "Don't. Worry. About. It."

Spike continued to walk forward, but Fleetfoot was just in shock. She then grabbed Spike and put him in a submission hold. "Tell me!"

"Why won't you let it go already!?" Spike said in retaliation. Surprise then came out with a referee uniform and watched as if it were a wrestling match. Spike then tapped out and Surprise rose Fleetfoot in the air.

"The winner by submission and still reigning champion is... FLEETFOOT!!!" Surprise yelled as confetti and cheers rained from all around. Spike rubbed his arm in pain, but then used the opportunity to escape. He snuck away and quickly rushed to his destination.

Fleetfoot was still caught up in the cheering that was coming from nowhere. "So Spike, are you gonna tell me..." She lowered her head to where her mane was covering her face a little. She had a snarl on her face as she burst into a rage yelling, "SPIIIIIKE!!!"

Spike saw the clouds shift in the opposite direction when he heard the sound. That was a signal for Spike to go faster. Spike began flying as fast as he could to Spitfire's home. There he could hide away from Fleetfoot and hopefully escape out of Cloudsdale alive.

He was so pumped full of adrenaline that by the time he saw Spitfire's home he had already gone faster than he has ever done flying, even though he only has flown like 5 times properly. Even though he felt like he was flying at high speeds he could hear Fleetfoot drawing closer in a bit of a rampage. He was both confused and shocked at how angry she was over something so small.

Spike was too distracted by Fleetfoot's chase that he smashed right through Spitfire's door. He even continued into her kitchen. When he stopped he was outside in a patch of cloud of her backyard, upside-down, and confused. He then heard Fleetfoot enter the home yelling "SPIKE! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Spike took cover in a cloud bush in hopes he wouldn't be seen. Then he heard an even louder yell. "WHAT THE-!? FLEETFOOT FRONT AND CENTER!" Spike heard then a fluster of hoof steps. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DOOR!! AND JUST LOOK AT THE KITCHEN"

"But Captain..." Fleetfoot tried to plead.

"No, I don't want to hear excuses. Now just go and find that messenger." It was obvious the pony was severely sick since her voice, even when she yelled, sounded very sickly although Spike could tell it was Spitfire*cough* WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?"

Spike then heard an intense gust of wind rushed out of the house. It sounded either fearful or very angry. "I pray to Celestia, that wasn't anger.", but it was her anger. Spike then got out of the bush and went around the house and knocked on the front door to avoid suspicions.

Before the door opened Spike heard the mare inside grumbling, "Fleetfoot, you better be back here with that messenger otherwise I am going to..." but then the mare inside opened the door and saw the a purple dragon outside her door. She just had a confused look and it was silent between them for a good two minutes.

Spike then took the initiative since she clearly wasn't going to, "Um, ...hi?"

"Hello?" Spitfire didn't know what to say since she was not expecting a dragon and he seemed rather young. She didn't want to yell since he might be an infant. She really didn't know the aging process for dragons and such.

The whole situation just seemed awkward. Spike just went out with it since he didn't really have time to play around. "Um, look Spitfire. I was here to deliver this medicine and I really need to go." He then handed over the medicine and then as he turned around to leave he began saying "I am glad to have met you at least once. I am a big fan of the wonderbolts and to meet the amazing Spitfire herself."

"Well, I can't say that I was expecting the Princess to have a dragon deliver a package." Spitfire was still a bit lost for words. "Well, thanks for delivering this and its nice to know that I even have a dragon fan as well."

"Alright, see ya later then..." As Spike finished the sentence he saw Rainbow Dash flying around town. His mood went from happy to terrified instantaneously. Spike then jumped right into Spitfire's home. Spitfire thought he was trying to attack or something so she immediately threw him away.

Spitfire in a quick rage yelled, "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!?"

Spike then explained as he hid behind her couch, "I am hiding from somepony out there."

Spitfire took a look outside and saw only a few pegasi flying about. One in particular seemed as if she was searching for something. "Did you mean Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes." Spike said shamefully.

"Why would you be hiding from her? Is this a game or something?"

"No, things happened in Ponyville and well I just can't see her or any of the other harbors of the Elements of Harmony. I just need to escape out of Equestria and I will be free."

"Are you wanted or something?"

"No it's a complicated story. Did you ever hear about Ponyville getting attacked?"

"Yeah, but that was weeks ago."

"Well, they blamed me for that and exiled me. I wanted to leave Equestria forever, but I wasn't expecting to run into Rainbow Dash. It feels like years since I saw her even if its only been a month or so. I don't think I can handle seeing her again. She will probably just yell more and turn all the, already angry, pegasi at me."

"Did you really do it?"

"No. Somepony or something framed me and I wasn't really given much chance to defend myself at trial. They felt I was too young for ‘other options' so they exiled me." Spike then took a look outside and saw that Rainbow Dash was gone. *sigh* "I should already be in dragon territory right now, but certain things happened and now I am a delivery boy for the Princess."

"Well that sounds like an adventure."

"More like a painful journey."

"Well whatever you call it, it seems like it isn't over yet. Well Mr..." She signaled him to introduce himself.

"Oh! I'm Spike."

"Okay, Spike, what's next for you? You can't just hide forever in my house from Rainbow Dash."

"I suppose that is true."

Just then they heard knocking on the door. Spike jumped into a closet. Spitfire then tried to convince Spike to just face her. "Come on Spike. Take it like a dragon. Not a bunny." Spike wouldn't budge so she took it from verbal fire to physical. She dragged Spike out of the closet by his tail while his claws dug deep on the cloud-like carpet.

Spike protested constantly yelling "No! Please stop it! I don't wanna be a dragon! I am a bunny! Don't tug on my tail! Somepony save me!"

When they got to the door, Spitfire opened it and Spike just turned away in horror. When he heard nothing he turned around to see it was Surprise and Fleetfoot at the door with blushes on their faces. Spitfire just turned her head in confusion, "What? Something wrong?"

Fleetfoot and Surprise both have their mouths open in shock at what they were hearing inside. Then seeing Spike huddled up and about to break out in tears just made it look much worse. Fleetfoot's face grew redder than before and nearly passed out from all of her visions of what might have happened.

Spike then broke the silence by saying, "Oh thank Celestia! It's just you two." He got off the floor and dusted himself off. Fleetfoot and Surprise couldn't even... they just can't begin to understand what was going on. "So what brings you both here?"

Surprise answered since Fleetfoot was lost in her extraordinary imagination. "Well Spike, we came here to find you. Fleetfoot was about to tear Cloudsdale apart. She seemed really steamed about something."

"Oh, right." Spike remembering what he did earlier and then let Fleetfoot take the fall for it. He thought to himself. ‘How unmanly was that!? I can't believe I let that happen.' "Fleetfoot. I'm sorry for what happened earlier." Fleetfoot was still in a trance, lost in her crazy thoughts, but creepily beginning to start getting a nosebleed while smiling.

Spike didn't hear anything so he thought that she was still angry. Spike then latched on to her front hooves and began to grovel, kiss, and beg at her for forgiveness. What Spike didn't know was that Fleetfoot, much like Rainbow Dash, didn't like having her hooves touched by another. She immediately snapped out of it to see Spike kissing her hooves like a mad stallion in love. With her face redder than ever, she lifted her hoof and that was all Spike saw before blacking out.

Spike awoke on a cloud in the night. Nothing unusual since he was in Cloudsdale, but the cloud was dark like a storm cloud. Underneath was Cloudsdale with a light that looked like either sunrise or sunset, but that didn't make sense that the glow would come from underneath him. As he looked at Cloudsdale he saw that everything was on fire. As he was about to descend down to the city, he was held down by somepony behind him.

"SPIKE!!! You just couldn't be satisfied with attacking Ponyville! Now you even set fire to Cloudsdale!?" the mysterious, but familiar mare stated. "Now I will make sure that no pony else will get hurt ever again."

Spike turned around to see Rainbow Dash with a malicious smile and a weapon of some sort. Spike barely dodged it and tried to talk to her, "RAINBOW DASH!! We don't have time for accusations or fighting! We need to help out those in Cloudsdale!"

"Oh don't worry about them Spike. Once you're finished, no pony will have to worry anymore." Rainbow said turning around slowly.

Before Spike could give a response he heard the cries of a few pegasi. He recognized right away Surprise yelling for help. Spike then stared down Rainbow Dash, "Well for the element of Loyalty, you seem real loyal to your hometown." Spike said to provoke the mare. Rainbow Dash then charged at him as he charged right back. It caught Rainbow Dash off guard a little, but she continued. Before they collided, Spike vanished.

What happened was that Spike just flew through the cloud they were on to sneak by and help out Surprise. When Spike found Surprise and Spitfire, he noticed they were trying to lift a pony out of trouble. "Surprise! I am on the way!!" Spike landed by and helped lift the log that trapped the pony. Spitfire went in an helped the hurt pony.

Spike only now noticed it was Fleetfoot before he heard a loud boom. Spike turned around to see Rainbow Dash coming at high speeds. Spike then gave the order, "Surprise and Spitfire! Get her out of here! I got something I need to do." With only a head gesture the 3 pegasi left for a shelter.

Rainbow Dash had stopped in the center of the city where things were burning all over. Spike was just on the opposite side staring her down. "Rainbow Dash. You don't want to do this."

"Spike. After all that you did. I want this more than anything!" Rainbow yelled as she readied herself for another charge.

"More than becoming a Wonderbolt!?" Spike's tears started to appear.

"Way more than that!!" She charged as she said this with pure rage in her eyes.

"Then you aren't the Rainbow Dash I once knew." Spike dropped his stance and just stood there.

Rainbow Dash stopped and looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"RAINBOW DASH!! LOOK AROUND WILL YOU!!!" Spike pointed out the burning homes and how some ponies are flying to safety, "The Rainbow Dash I knew would never allow this to happen. She was loyal to her friends and was always there to lend a hoof to those in need. Your passion was to join the Wonderbolts to join the best fliers and to BE the best flyer in all of Equestria. That is why I say you aren't the real Rainbow Dash."

The words seemed to have a real effect on her as she backed away a bit, but then she shook her head and charged once more. Spike, however, didn't protest. He just stood there open arms like he was ready to go. "Just remember Rainbow that if you kill me now that you will be killing an innocent dragon."

Spike then woke up sweating bullets on Spitfire's couch. He looked around and grabbed his head. It was hurting like he had trampled on. Spike then took notice that Spitfire, Surprise, and Fleetfoot seemed having a serious conversation in the next room.

Spike rolled out of the couch and quietly got down. He then snuck to the door to listen in. He knew it was wrong, but curiosity never hurt anyone. Spike then remembers a time he *accidentally* saw Rarity take a shower. Spike also remembers the hoof mark it left him. Normally Twilight or some medicine could have cleaned that mark up quickly, but Spike insisted that he keep it as long as he could since it was a mark from his love.

Spike snapped out of it and listened in. He heard Spitfire speak first, "Alright girls. That's all I know about him. So will you help out now?"

Spike could barely make out all the words so he then got closer. He began to think, ‘Were they talking about me?'

Fleetfoot then was next, "I feel so bad for Spike. I can see why he didn't want to talk about it."

"Yeah." a sad Surprise said, but almost instantly turned it around, "How about we throw him a PARTY!!"

"I don't think that's what he needs right now." Fleetfoot stated.

Surprise then tried to convince her with crazy ideas. "We could invite all of Cloudsdale!"

"Why would they all come for a random dragon messenger. It's not like he was famous for anything."

"Well how about... A RACE!!"

"Remember that Spike is trying to avoid attracting attention?"

"Then how about a private party for just the 4 of us and we can use Spitfire's home."

"Hmm, well I guess that could work."

The two mares looked at Spitfire for approval "What?" The two then started using the puppy dog eyes with a single tear. "I'm not gonna authorize that." As a final attempt they used the under lip quiver and even bigger eyes. "Fine, but try to leave the damage to a minimum."

Spike then came out from his hiding spot and began to speak. "Look, its alright. You don't have to throw me a party." The others were a little shocked. "Thanks for your concerns though. It seems pretty late so I should just get going. I doubt Rainbow Dash is out there at this time. She does love to sleep."

As Spike turned around he gets tackled down by Surprise. "NO!! We have to have at least one party! Just one." She was really sad at the idea of Spike just leaving like that.

Spike then tried to calm her down. "It's ok Surprise. When I come visit next time, we can party all you want. I promise."

Surprised then wiped a tear off, "Re- really!?"

"A dragon doesn't go back on his promises. It's dragon code." Spike said with a proud look. "Well I guess it is time I go." As Spike opened the front door, he saw Rainbow Dash questioning some ponies on the next cloud over. He immediately took cover behind Spitfire.

"Real manly there Spike." Spitfire said sarcastically. "I think we need a plan to get you out of Cloudsdale first."

Fleetfoot then offered an idea, "Well the Wonderbolts come back in like a week. Since Rainbow Dash is such a huge fan we can use them as a distraction."

Spike then brought a problem to the table. "Um, my wings are temporary and they only last for a few more days."

"Shoot."

"Well, why can't you distract her Fleetfoot."

"Uh" Fleetfoot recalls a bad experience she had with a fan. Lets say it ended up with a broken bat. "I can't. I get ... shy around fans."

Spitfire then gave her advice, "Alright, I got a plan. Here is what we will do." The others drew close around Spitfire. "Okay, I will distract Rainbow Dash."

"But Captain, that medicine won't work that fast. Don't you think you might be too sick to do it?" Fleetfoot responded concerned for her friend.

"I might be a little sick, but I can handle one pegasus. I have to drill hundreds almost daily, you don't think I can handle one fan. Besides we don't have much choice." The others wanted to say something back, but she was right and Spitfire is scary when she is serious. "Alright then, we should start as soon as possible. Surprise and Fleetfoot. Make sure you escort him without bringing attention and this should be nice and easy."

They all nodded, but then Spitfire's stomach began to growl. Surprise then suggested, "How about after we get something to eat?" they all nodded again. Spike couldn't leave the house so he stayed to watch over Spitfire while Surprise and Fleetfoot went to bring the grub.

Spike then went to clean the mess that the others seemed to have forgotten when he crashed landed in the house. Spitfire offered to help, but Spike made sure that she had enough rest since she was still weak. Spitfire just laid there on the couch, watching some old videos from her days as a new Wonderbolt.

Before she knew it, Spike already had finished cleaning the kitchen. To him it was a simple mess from what he dealt with on a regular basis at the Library, but Spitfire was shocked. "I finished my duties mam!" Spike said mockingly with a salute.

"Very funny. Well there's nothing much left to do except wait."

"Yeah." After a few minutes of watching the videos, Spike sat there in amazement the entire time. He always did enjoy the Wonderbolts, but he had never seen the older generation of the Wonderbolts. Looking at the Wonderbolts though, reminded him of Rainbow Dash however. Spike also remembers the bizarre dream he had earlier and it gave him shivers.

"Say Spitfire."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Rainbow Dash has a chance of becoming a Wonderbolt?"

"Hmm..." She paused for a moment and pondered the question. "Well Spike, there isn't a guarantee, but her chances are pretty high. When we saw how well she was in the physical portion, it made us believe she would be a perfect wing ponies. She seemed to enjoy the freedom, which drove us to that early decision, but when she also showed amazing leadership. It made us reconsider our quick judgement. When she first applied, she was very agile and swift, but she was in it for herself. She matured a lot since that time and I now can see her becoming maybe even the next Captain. Don't tell her I said that though. It may go to her head."
-Somewhere in Cloudsdale-

*Sneeze* Rainbow Dash rubbed her nose. ‘What was that about? Whatever, I got to find Spike and hurry. The others are counting on me.'

-Back to Spitfire's house-

"Don't worry Spitfire." Spike did the gesture for a Pinkie Promise "I promise."

Spitfire gave a confused look, but he said he promised and that was good enough for her.

Spike then asked a question out of the blue. "Say Spitfire. What happened when I blacked out?"

Spitfire recalls exactly what happened. She's surprised that Spike is still alive. Fleetfoot sure did a number on him. "Uhh... We don't know exactly." She tried her best to lie, but she was a poor liar when it was spontaneous. She noticed Spike eyeing her like he didn't buy it. She then tried to change the topic, "Well Spike, I am going to go get some juice from the fridge so I will be back." She gave a weak laugh and then dashed to the kitchen.

Spike's curiosity peaked. He then began to pester her until she spilled the beans. "Come on. Just tell me. It's not gonna hurt anypony or me so just say it. Say it." What Spike failed to realize was that Spitfire doesn't take pestering well. All that was heard was a loud cry for help.

Fleetfoot and Surprise were at the door again when they heard the cries. When they entered, it was not what they expected. The found Spike tied up with Spitfire on top of his stomach to pin him down while taping his mouth shut. Fleetfoot's imagination ran wild once more.

Spitfire looked down and realized that it didn't look right. "Um, I can explain this... Spike was asking questions about ... things and he wouldn't stop bothering me..."

Fleetfoot's trance then broke when she heard that. "So you tied him up and tapped his mouth?"

"I know it wasn't the best course of action, but I wasn't really thinking alright." Spitfire actually showed some genuine weakness around her for the first time. It made Fleetfoot happy that Spitfire showed some emotion other than being tough.

Surprise's stomach then caused an awkward silence. "Anypony else want pizza!? We got a bunch of cheesy pizzas!"

Spike asked, "What's a pizza?"

Surprise put on her Italian outfit and began speaking in a terrible Italian accent. “It’s cheese on dough with squished tomatoes in between. Then cooked to perfection. I have no idea where I got the idea for it though. It just came to me I guess."

Reluctant to try the odd mix of food, Spike tried the first bite. That first bite was a golden moment for him. Once the others saw Spike alright, they tried it. By the time they finished, they were too tired and stuffed to follow through with the plan, so they passed out and put it off for tomorrow.

Spike, however, was still a little shaken from his last dream. He just watched out the open window at Luna's white moon. Looking at it gave him peace of mind as he gradually fell asleep next to the other mares.

Author's Note

*For those reading the end you should get your mind out of the gutter.* Anyway there is more chapters coming for this story. I just had no mojo until recently.

Also we aren’t finished with Twilight and friends. Stay tuned for the next chapter.

Chapter 10: Intermission IV (Twilight's Suffering)

Chapter 10: Twilight’s Suffering

Twilight Sparkle, honored student of Celestia, was out with her friends having a picnic in the park on the outskirts of Ponyville. They were all having a joyous time. Rainbow Dash was having fun with tank in the skies above. Fluttershy was readying the snacks along with Applejack. Pinkie Pie was sneaking around, trying to get away with eating some of the food. Rarity was laying under the tree’s shade and taking a nap on her ‘Drama’ couch.

She felt so happy being around all her friends. Giggles and laughs were thrown all over the park. They pulled random pranks on each other. They had a water balloon fight, but it was an unfair match since Twilight and Rainbow Dash team were a powerful combination. Even for Pinkie Pie and Applejack’s team. Rarity of course didn’t want to take part in it and Fluttershy was well… Fluttershy.

As Twilight and Rainbow Dash took an offensive lead, they were halted by Celestia and Luna. Twilight began frantically panicking and asking why she had come. Twilight grabbed her chest in pain. The other ponies had stopped what they were doing as well and waited as Celestia stared down Twilight. Instead of an answer, Twilight got a water balloon to the face by Celestia herself. Celestia and Luna began chuckling before the battle continued, but to make things fair they had Luna with Fluttershy and Rarity with Celestia.

After things settled down with the water fight, they all began snacking on the food that they had prepared. Before they began to eat, Twilight felt another sharp pain to her chest again. The pain however, as quickly as it came, had vanished. She looked around for a second, but then shrugged it off and began eating. They began to tell jokes and reminisce in memories, but with each memory they talked about, Twilight could feel a presence. It grew stronger with each story.

Twilight then noticed something was staring at her and her friends behind the single tree on the hill they were eating at. Twilight went to investigate, but didn’t see anything there. She then heard rustling in the bushes just beyond the tree. She teleported to it just to see a shadowy figure run away. She chased after it as if it were something important.

Without realizing it, Twilight ended up in a new area. She found herself in the Crystal Empire inside the castle. She was confused at first, but then saw the shadow figure again. She chased it down the stairs of the throne room. It felt like an endless spiral, just like last time she was there. Soon the darkness cloaked the shadow figure so Twilight made a light source, but as soon as she did the figure had disappeared. Last time she was there in the bottom of the staircase, there was a door, but now there was only a mirror and nothing else in the room.

Twilight inspected the mirror, but was confused. It didn’t show her reflection, but it did show a reflection of the room she was in. Just then she saw the shadowy figure within the mirror entering a door behind her. She first tried to enter the mirror, but failed. She then turned around, but saw no door. She looked back at the mirror. She noticed the light emitting from her horn was still visible so she backed slowly into the door that was still open while using the mirror as her guide.

She passed through the wall onto the top of the Crystal Castle. She was confused on how she got there, but then saw the shadow was in the middle of the floor. She sprang up to catch it, but she just phased through it and then was surrounded by a cage of dark crystals like before. This time however, the crystals began to make a dark aura that shrouded Twilight and engulfed her slowly. She sank into a dark cave, surrounded by crystals.

Twilight didn’t see a way out, but then saw the shadow figure once more inside the reflection of the crystals. She then began blasting at each crystal until a tunnel was revealed and the shadow began running away once more. As she gave chase to the shadow, she yelled things like, “Stop! I just want to talk!” and other things, but of course the shadow didn’t stop. They reached a door which the shadow had phased through. Twilight opened the door to find herself in the throne room of Canterlot Castle at night.

She was confused once more, but she excused it from her mind and continued to chase the shadow into the next corridor. She chased it into various rooms around the castle. Each room however, held a memory from her past. She constantly found herself in a past memory with her bro in the castle or with her sitter. Sometimes even with Celestia teaching her a new trick, but each time something was missing. She finally cornered the shadow in the hall of the elements. The shadow was backed into the wall where the elements were stored.

She slowly stepped towards the shadow figure. She noticed how it looked a little scared of her. Before she could get close enough to identify the figure, the seal that protected the elements before had once again been activated. The doors began to open and a powerful light shone through. The shadow had continued forward and Twilight was not going to let it escape so easily. She gave chase into the next place, wherever it took her.

She found herself walking out of the Rainbow Factory in Cloudsdale. She was confused and scared since ponies normally can’t walk on the clouds without a magical spell, but for some reason, she seemed fine. She then gave chase to the shadow around. Jumping from cloud to cloud and sometimes teleporting just to keep up with it. Somehow the shadow had sprouted wings and flew around each place.

They rushed past the wonderbolts facility, beyond the weather control facility, and even past Rainbow Dash’s home. They finally stopped at the huge Cloud Coliseum where they hold most of the Pegasus flying contests and events. Twilight thought she had the shadow cornered on the stage where the fliers began each event from. The shadow then turned around the wings on the shadow had fallen off.

The shadow began descending through the clouds. Twilight jumped after it, trying to save it for some reason. Just as she got close, a dark cloud had swallowed first the shadow and then Twilight. Leading it to the next destination.

Twilight landed on a large pile of hay. She quickly surveyed the area and found herself now in Appleoosa oddly. It was still night, but she could still see with the full moon out. She gave chase to the shadow once more. Going around various parts of the town. There were no residents in the entire town, which struck Twilight as very odd. She eventually was led to the Apple forests made by the ponies of the town. The shadow had vanished from her line of sight within the forest.

Twilight became frustrated at losing sight of the shadow after coming this far. She entered the forest in hopes of catching a glimpse of it. The forest began changing slowly from apples only to a much more dense forest. It had houses in the trees in random places. Twilight wasn’t familiar with this new terrain.

She ran around aimlessly for what seemed to be hours until she exited the forest near some train tracks. Just as she lost hope of catching it, a shadow version of the Ponyville express, rushed on by with the shadow figure as the train’s engineer. She teleported onto the back of the train and began running through each section of the train.

She then felt something odd happening. The train began accelerating. Twilight held on using magic around her hooves to make them attract like magnets to the floor. She slowly walked along slowly to the front. Just then she felt her car of the train wobble. It was derailing! Twilight quickly entered the next car and saw the cars behind her had flung off the track over an excessively large bridge. She was now only one car away from the fuel car and two from the front of the train.

Twilight had climbed onto the top of the train. She then prepared a leap to the next car and then jumped. She landed on the coal of the fuel car and then made her way to the front part of the train. Twilight quickly noticed that nothing was there. She then felt the train accelerate more. The car behind her had latched off and she saw the shadow was in that car.

She looked forward where a dead end was. She tried to use the brakes, but it was removed. The front car along with the fuel car had fallen overboard. A loud crash followed by an explosion happened. The car the shadow was in had stopped. It had looked over and saw the train ablaze. When it turned around, it saw Twilight right behind it. The shadow made gestures that resembled, ‘How is that possible!?’

Twilight answered the shadow, “I bet you are wondering how I escaped! Well I am a unicorn that can teleport.” She felt proud of herself. The shadow had then tried to run again, but was ensnared by Twilight's magic. As she drew it closer, she saw it was a grey Spike.

Her eyes were filled to burst in tears. Her magic stopped and her mind went into recollection overdrive. She then realized each of her memories of her assistant and how many times Spike was either there for her or wasn’t invited at all. The time he was kidnapped in Appleoosa, the time he saved the crystal empire, the countless hours of sleep he lost just to make sure she was alright for her tests and exams months ahead of time. She only now realizes that Spike was her first friend, her best friend, and after all the time they had been together. She now sees Spike as her own.

She let him down. When she returned from her realization, she noticed the grey Spike had begun running again. The scenery had changed once more. This time they were in Ponyville. Twilight could see the sun was coming soon as half the sky had begun to get lighter. She chased after grey Spike yelling again, “Spike! Please stop! I’m sorry!” All the she got in return was a trail of tears that followed the grey dragon.

She would not let him escape that easily. She tried to use her powers to focus her teleporting, but she was exhausted from chasing him all over Equestria and constantly using her powers to catch him. Her only chance was to corner him again. Spike ran around Ponyville in an odd order. He went by Rarity’s boutique, then past Sugercube Corner, then past Fluttershy’s home, then past the Apple Family’s farm, then ran past the library.

Twilight was unsure of where the dragon was going. She then chased Spike up a hill to where a single tree stood. Spike stopped and turned to Twilight. Twilight stopped with tears in her eyes. Spike somehow seemed unusually fine with all the chasing that had just occurred. Twilight slowly walked to the dragon once more hoping he would not run anymore. She then got close enough to where she was now a hoof away.

There was a silence among the two. Twilight hadn’t planned for this moment. She let her natural instincts kick in and embraced the dragon as hard as she could. She noticed Spike’s colors returning to him. It was truly a magical moment in time. Then Spike turned into dust right in her hooves. It was now just purple and green dust. She couldn’t even begin to react herself. She was confused, angry, sad, and lost all at the same time.

She hugged the dust, using whatever magic she could on it, but nothing was working. Her tears flowed more than Neighagra Falls. She tried to ask ‘Why did this have to happen?’ but all that was heard was sad sounds and no syllables. The world around her had cracked and the dust then began swirling around her. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a hallway that was dimly lit and the light itself was flickering on and off.

She heard voices coming from the room at the end of the hallway. She heard a heartbeat censor going off slowly. As she drew closer to the door she could make out some of the words. “We are losing him. Send in the special doctors.” The heartbeat censor was increasing the closer she got. When she reached the door, the censor was going really fast.

Twilight entered the room and the heartbeat censor was flat lined. The sounds vanished and she entered the room where there was only one table lit. It had a white cover over something. Twilight was terrified at what it might have been. She walked closer to it only hearing the occasional bell toll. The bell noises that you normally heard at funerals. She slowly drew back the covers and then wakes up.

Shining Armor then enters the room as he hears Twilight screaming in terror. “Twily! Are you alright!?”

Her face was soaked in salty tears, her mane was worse than ever, and she was babbling to herself saying, “I’m sorry.” Over and over and over again. Rarity and Applejack then entered the room and saw Twilight in her wrecked state of mind. They finally snapped her mind out of it, by all hugging her and telling her that it was alright. That it was just a nightmare.

She was still crying, but at least she was sort of sane again. Rarity asked, “What in Equestria happened?”

Twilight looked down at her sheets and tried her best to recall the events, but unfortunately with many dreams and nightmares, we forget a lot of it. All she could really remember was that it was about chasing Spike.

Shining Armor then had brought news to her attention. “Twily. I know you just woke up, but… our parents are here. They know about Spike already and wish to speak to you.”

Twilight wasn’t happy at the news brought before her. Applejack did her best to try to reassure her. “Don’t worry Twilight. We will be there with you. It was our fault as well.” Applejack and Rarity hugged Twilight once more. Shining looked away, considering it wasn’t his fault. She then got out of bed and followed behind Shining down the corridors of the Canterlot Castle.

They entered the throne room. Twilight noticed that it was late in the evening. Twilight’s parents were there with the Princess. Twilight wasn’t prepared for this encounter so soon, but she knew she had to. Her parents took notice of Twilight entering the room. The room quickly became quiet. Neither side didn’t know what to say.

Just then Twilight’s mother had walked up to her daughter and hugged her. They both began crying as Twilight constantly apologized to her. The others tried to avoid watching until it finally died down. Once the waterworks ended, Twilight’s mother then began asking “Why? Why did you send little Spikey out into the world like that?”

Twilight was still stumbling over words, but she answered, “I *hic* I didn’t want to. I just felt that Spike would be better off with his own kind, before anymore destruction happened. I thought Spike was finally having his instincts take over as a dragon. I didn’t want anypony to get hurt, but I was wrong. I falsely accused Spike for something he didn’t even do.”

Twilight’s mother asked, “Why did you accuse him so easily? You have been with him since he was born!”

Twilight had an answer for that too. “It’s because I was the only pony who saw the beast. It looked just like Spike. It had purple and green, it resembled when Spike had went into a greedy rampage through Ponyville before, and it appeared inside the library. I just figured it was Spike. I chased the beast until it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. All I saw was Spike huddled up.”

Twilight’s mother and father were a bit taken back by this since they had not even heard of Spike’s rampage the first time. Twilight then continued with the second half of her explanation. “I then realized I was wrong, when Celestia showed me Spike’s memory of that event. Spike was taken by the monster. He even tried to escape, but it would not let go of him. Once it had stopped its destruction, it simply vanished and only Spike remained at the scene of the crime.”

All of the other ponies were shocked at the testimony that Twilight had given. Twilight’s mother was about to speak, but then was stopped by her husband. He then said, “Twilight. Whether or not Spike did rampage through the town. He was still a child. He was still family, even for us. Even for me and I didn’t even liked the idea of keeping a dragon in the first place.”

Twilight held her head down and replied, “Yes father. That is true.” She then rose her head, “But now I want to correct my biggest mistake. I want… no I WILL do whatever it takes to make Spike happy again and to bring him home!”

With that declaration, Twilight’s parents stood back and smiled. They hugged together and even her two friends and Celestia joined in. Shining Armor tried to stay out of it, but got a glare by the Princess and he joined in. Twilight’s parents had then left the Castle. Celestia then led both Rarity and Applejack to their rooms so only Twilight and her brother remained.

As they both headed down the halls back to where Twilight was sleeping before, Shining Armor had wanted to give a little talk of his own. “Say Twily. I’m happy you are going on to retrieve Spike and his forgiveness. Out of all of us Twilight, you should be able to relate to Spike the most.”

Twilight let out a confused, “Huh?” She didn’t really know what he was talking about, but she let him continue.

“Well, you remember my wedding. I falsely accused you, my own sister, for something because I was too blind and so sure that you were lying. I didn’t believe you when I should have listened to you the most. You saved me from marrying a changeling queen and letting Canterlot fall. After all of that I had begged for forgiveness from you and had to buy you whatever you wanted while you and Cadence had all the fun. Those were dark times, but well worth earning your trust and forgiveness.”

Twilight smiled from listening to Shining, but he wasn’t finished yet. “It may be hard at first trying to get his forgiveness or even getting his attention, but just don’t give up.” Twilight and Shining then stopped at Twilight’s living quarters. “You know Twily. I forgot to say I’m sorry didn’t I?” Twilight thought about it for a second and realized he was right. “Well. I’m sorry sis for doubting you.”

Twilight entered her room and said, “Apology accepted.” She then entered and went back to her sleep. She had a big day ahead for her. Hopefully no more nightmares would haunt her.

Author's Note

Yeah I am going to start naming the intermission chapters, but only inside the story. It will still be labelled as intermission, I apologize to Twilight fans for doing this much, but its a fan fiction. For those who hate this version of Twilight, well what would you guys do in her situation. Lie probably.

Oh and I have to say. I must thank TheMyth for the outstanding ideas put into this chapter. All those feels you are probably getting are probably from him. I just added a little detail to it. This chapter felt more like a collab.

Chapter 11: Cloudsdale III (Final)

Cloudsdale III (Final): It ends here?

“The time has come…”
A deep ominous voice shook the very core of Spike. He woke up shivering like he was frozen for centuries. He looked around, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He slowly descended back into his bed. He turned his head and noticed he was face to face with a sleeping Fleetfoot. Spike didn’t know that she pommeled him multiple times already, but his body’s natural instincts kicked in and warned him to stay away from her.

Spike tried to crawl away, but was being held by something. Fleetfoot hooves was wrapped around his body. He tried to wiggle his way out, but it was no use. She just grabbed harder the more he pulled away. Spike didn’t know what to do. If he pulled too much she might wake up and if he doesn’t get away she will wake up inevitably.

Just then Spike hears Fleetfoot beginning to wake up as she begins to yawn. He notices her eyes are just opening, so Spike did a desperate maneuver. He decided to throw a pillow at her face and hide as she squirmed around in confusion. Her extreme rustling woke up the other two mares. Spike made sure he closed the door behind him. All he heard from beyond the door was confusion and slightly angry mares. Spike hurried to the bathroom make it look like he was using the bathroom to not arouse suspicion of why he randomly left.

The girls then came out of the room yelling “SPIKE! Where are you!?”

“I’m in the bathroom! No need to worry about me!” He replied.

“Alright Spike. Hurry up so we can eat breakfast and then get on with the plan!” Spike heard Fleetfoot exclaim.

He then remembered that today was going to be his final day. He began to reminisce on all the events that happened since he began this journey. He became friends with Candy Dumpling and Fairy Dancer and even stopped those two jerks from the party, he became a well-known dragon in Canterlot, and he even met up with Celestia who sent him to do a task for her. He thought to himself ‘If it wasn’t for Celestia, he would probably be well into dragon territory, but I wouldn’t have gotten to see Fleetfoot again or meet Surprise and Spitfire. I guess it wasn’t all bad.’

“HEY SPIKE! YOU DONE IN THERE!!!” he heard Fleetfoot scream.

“Yeah! Just hold your horses!” Spike said as he exited the bathroom.

After a quick meal, they got down to business. Spitfire began the recap so everypony and dragon knew what to do. “Alright, the plan is that I find Rainbow Dash and distract her by whatever means necessary. Surprise will be our eyes in the sky. She will direct and flag each of us if anything happens.”

“Rodger dodger!” Surprise said with a salute.

“Fleetfoot!” Spitfire pointed to her to emphasize on getting her attention.

“Yes mam!” Fleetfoot militarily responded.

“Your task is the most important. You will escort Spike out Cloudsdale to the city limits. If anything goes wrong, it is your duty to guard him at all times.”

“Consider it done Mam!” Fleetfoot saluted.

“Alright. Spike, we begin in an hour so get your things ready and say your good-byes. I will go look for Rainbow Dash in the meantime.” Just as Spitfire opened the door, she began to cough a little. She was still sick, but not as bad as before. Still everyone was still worried for her. Before they could offer any help or any worry comments she glared back to make sure they wouldn’t take pity on her. She left on a mission while the others waited for their time.

Spike already had his things practically ready to go. They got bored very quickly. They tried to pass the time playing games, but Spitfire didn’t really have any games they could play. Surprise then decided to go into the kitchen for a snack. Spike found it hard to believe that there was another pony who had a bottomless pit of a stomach like Pinkie. It was just Fleetfoot sitting across Spike now.

It was quiet between the two. Spike was thinking about Cloudsdale still in the short time he was been here, but all the various things he already had to deal with. Fleetfoot, however, was focused more on the dragon himself. All the times he surprised her with affection, only to be told after that it was a misunderstanding and Spike took the fall for it. She felt she had to truly apologize to him, but when she looked toward him she turns away.

Fleetfoot then decided that it was wrong to run away from the problem and instead take it head on. She began her apology by grabbing his attention quickly, “Spike!” Spike quickly snapped out of his thoughts and had his full attention on her. “I have to tell you something… important.” Fleetfoot was getting more nervous per word. Spike was really focused, but at the same time a little scared. “I- I wanted to te-tell you that-.”

Just then Surprise interrupted her by shouting out, “LETS PLAY TRUTH OR DARE!!!” Both Spike and Fleetfoot both fell over from the shock Surprise gave. Spike was a little thankful and Fleetfoot was upset she didn’t get to apologize. Her pride made it hard to apologize with others around. Surprise didn’t know what was going on between the two of them, but they obviously were busy. She was going to apologize for interrupting, but Fleetfoot suddenly wanted to play the game.

Spike and Fleetfoot both had evil smiles on their faces. Surprise sort of knew it, but didn’t fully grasp at how competitive those two REALLY were. She would soon find out.

TRUTH OR DARE ROUND 1
Surprise presented them three sticks. The one with the longest stick gets to go first. The tension was high as the stakes between Spike and his rival in game Fleetfoot were about to commence with Surprise too. Spike states in his head, ‘I will use the technique that Pinkie once showed me. The one to pick is the one that is in the MIDDLE!” Spike reaches out to grab the middle stick, but Surprise picked the stick first from Fleetfoot’s hoof.

Surprise wins the first challenge. “Yipee! I’m first! I’M FIRST!!!” The other two hold their heads down in defeat. “Alright, Spike! Truth…” She paused. Then in a deeper tone, “or Dare!”

“Dare.” Spike said without worry. What’s the worst Surprise could come up with? Spike, however, underestimated her thinking she was just a liability in this game.

“Spike. I dare you to… wear one of Spitfire’s undergarments.”

Spike’s face was an instant shock. He felt the pressure hit him like a 1 ton block landing on his head. Fleetfoot couldn’t stop laughing at the suggestion then chuckled out, “Well Spike! What are you waiting for? Do the dare!”

Spike grumbled up the stairs into the darkness. He checked each of the rooms to find her bedroom. When he finally stumbled upon the room while still in darkness, he flipped the switch expecting like a hardcore military style room. What he got was a bunch of plushies or numerous cutesy items and even a bunch of games for the cute characters. He was now even more terrified than before.

He slowly walked through while holding a claw to cover his eyes to find the dresser. He bumped into a lot of plush dolls until he finally reached the dresser. He gulped and started searching through the dresser with the claw to his face so he wouldn’t see. His face looked redder than a cherry and shaking like he was before. Fear was taking hold of him, but a dare was a dare. When he felt the right fabric, he quickly put it on in shame. He didn’t even want to look at it in the mirror. He just wanted it to be his turn so he can have his revenge.

When he arrived downstairs, the mares were shocked to a new level. Spike still didn’t look and had a claw over his eyes. The girls thought they were going to laugh, but seeing Spike in sexy lingerie made them unable to process anything. They were both thinking of, “Why would Spitfire have this? Why did Spike choose this? Why did he look so cute in it?” The questions coming to their heads caused Surprise to overload and Fleetfoot to have another nosebleed.

“Well. How is it?” Spike asked in a very Fluttershy way.

The girls just couldn’t handle him. Surprise finally said while looking away, “Alright Spike. You win this round. It’s your turn Fleetfoot, but Spike. Please take it off.” Spike gladly took it off and threw it away to never see what he wore.

Fleetfoot now was in control. “Spike! Truth or Dare.”

“WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE ME!?” Spike questioned as he felt that they were purposely ganging up on him.

“Because Spike. You are just the perfect target.” Fleetfoot was really excited. Spike just grumbled angrily as he waits for his turn for revenge. “Alright Spike. I want you to-.”

“HEY! I didn’t say I was taking a dare!?” Spike didn’t want to suffer another dare from the girls.

“Alright Spike. I guess I’ll have to ask you about what happened back before when you wouldn’t tell me that SECRET.” Fleetfoot already knew what happened, but she wanted to provoke him to choose dare.

Spike pondered a bit, but submitted, “Alright fine! Dare…”

“Spike I dare you to eat Spitfire’s special dessert and make sure you leave a message behind with your name on it.” Fleetfoot snickered to herself, but Spike was not phased at the idea. He quickly ate the pudding she had in the fridge and left a little card saying “Sorry, but I got hungry –From Spike” Spike didn’t care because he wouldn’t be back in Equestria for a LONG time. Fleetfoot was laughing at how she sees Spitfire hunting Spike down. Even Surprise knew that know pony messes with her special dessert, but Spike won’t know until later.

After everypony calmed down, Spike rubbed his hands together in a revengeful manner. “Well well well. Now it’s my turn to get my revenge.” Surprise was a little terrified at the look in his eyes. Fleetfoot was happy that she wasn’t going to get it or so she thought. “I choose Fleetfoot! Truth or Dare.”

“What! Why me!? Mine wasn’t half as bad as hers!” Fleetfoot said as she pointed at Surprise.

“You are just the perfect target.” Spike mimicked Fleetfoot’s earlier statement.

“Whatever. I choose truth.” Fleetfoot was not feeling risky.

“Aw, come on. Be a sport and choose dare!” Spike pleaded.

“No way. I don’t trust you with a dare.” She was not having it today.

“Fine.” Spike thought to himself of what he might ask that will have a great impact on her. He could ask of her most embarrassing moments or about why he blacks out every time he was near her trying to be nice. Just then Spike got a devious one that is good material for future escapes. “Who do you love?”

Fleetfoot actually reacted to the question and put her head down. “Can you choose another question… or can I choose dare?”

“NO WAY! Why would I allow a juicy moment like this pass?” Spike finally got her into a corner.

“It’s Soarin.” She said quickly while avoiding eye contact.

“I don’t believe that. You’re lying.” Spike called her out.

“N- No. I am not lying!” She still wasn’t making eye contact.

Surprise then came out of nowhere with a little contraption. “This is a lie detector. If she is lying, the red light will go on and green when she is telling the truth.” They hooked her up to the machine as she started sweating bullets.

Spike then asked again. “Alright. Who do you LOVE?”

Fleetfoot was shaking furiously. “W- Well, It’s an old friend of mine.” The machine’s light was green. “I don’t quite know his name.” The machine’s light was red.

“Don’t lie now. This lie detector is the best.” Surprise was truly proud of this machine. For what she uses it for, nopony knows.

“It’s an old drake friend okay!” She yelled out. The light was green. She was on the verge of tears. Spike felt really bad and decided to turn off the machine.

“I’m sorry for pushing you so far Fleetfoot. I didn’t know this meant that much to you. I won’t bother you with it.” Spike’s apology really hit her.

Before she could respond to it, it was time. The clock rang and everything was quiet, until Surprise said, “Alright. I guess it’s my turn. Make sure to watch the skies!” She quickly flew out the house leaving only Fleetfoot and Spike.

Fleetfoot thought this was the best chance she had to apologize for thrashing him. “Spike!”

“Yes!” He was a little caught off guard.

“I wanted to tell you that-.” Spike listened earnestly. “I am sorry for hurting you before. Each time you blacked out, it was my fault. I am so sorry.”

Spike sighed and went over to pet the pegasus. “It’s alright. I don’t even remember it.” He jokingly said. It did bring a smile to her face, which made Spike a little happier inside. Spike then looked out the window and saw the signal for them to move out from Surprise. “Okay. It’s time to go.”

They quickly walked out the house and continued to the southern part of Cloudsdale. Spike soon sees the intersection where he made his entrance into town. He then continues past the Rainbow Factory. Fleetfoot began giving him a tour, while they were still able to chat. It was more of a casual walk for them than an escape. Spike then noticed Rainbow Dash talking to Spitfire. He ducked in cover behind a cloud bench. Fleetfoot was confused, until she spotted Rainbow Dash. She looked up and Surprise was signaling them for a while. Spike then snuck through a back way with Fleetfoot and found themselves by the weather control center.

Since they rushed so quickly Spike was a little out of breath. Spike then regained his composure and continued to head to the south part of Cloudsdale, while this time paying attention to Surprise. They had small chats here and there, but one really caught Spike’s attention.

Fleetfoot was asking things to Spike like, “If he still liked Rarity?” which he responded with an “I don’t know.” And also asking other things about him and his personal life. Spike finally decided to tell her about what happened to him, even though she already knew the basic part of the story, but now she was fed the details as well. It was even more tragic hearing it the second time from the dragon himself.

When they finally reached the city limits, she was giving her goodbye, “Spike. I am glad you came here. At first you and I got off on the wrong foot like we usually do.” Spike scratched the back of his head realizing how true that statement was. “But this time we spent was really… interesting.”

Spike then replied with a smug look, “Just ‘interesting’.”

“No. I mean yes! I mean… it was fun okay.” Fleetfoot finally let go of some of her pride.

Spike then gave her one last hug. She was shocked at first, but just went with it and melted into the hug instead of beating him senseless. Surprise up in the clouds saw this and had a ‘DAW’ moment. Spike turned around with his wings fully extended and ready to fly out of town.

Just then he saw a yellow pegasus stare right across from him. His entire body became frozen. Fleetfoot didn’t understand what was going on, because Spike didn’t mention Fluttershy as another accomplice. Before Fluttershy could say anything, Spike grabbed Fleetfoot and dashed away as fast as he could. Spike thought he heard her say “Wait.” but spike was not going to wait for anything.

Unfortunately for Spike, he also attracted Rainbow Dash’s attention. Spitfire tried to stop her, but wasn’t in any condition to do so. All Spike heard now was “SPIKE! LOOK OUT! RAINBOW DASH IS AFTER YOU!!!” from Spitfire. Spike knew this was pretty much the worst case scenario next to the town being on fire like that dream he had before. Rainbow tried to call his name, but at the speed they were going he couldn’t hear a word. It’s amazing what adrenaline does for a dragon, but Rainbow Dash was still catching up.

Fleetfoot saw this and decided to stop her at all costs. Fleetfoot whispers to Spike, “Good bye” then breaks away from Spike and tackles Rainbow Dash, stopping her speedy chase and giving Spike a great window of opportunity to escape. He finally flew away from the city. He thought he was safe, but then noticed Fluttershy was catching up to him. He was so tired from the chase that she was actually catching up. She looked pretty determined too.

He thought this was the end, but then Surprise intervened and stopped Fluttershy. She wouldn’t let her pass him. What happened next was truly unexpected. Spike’s wings disappeared. The potion ran out quicker than anticipated because Spike over used them. Spike was then descending at an extremely high speed into Neighagra Falls. Fluttershy screamed at the sight and Surprise turned around and saw him falling as well. They both tried to reach him, but he was just too far.

Just then Rainbow Dash zoomed past along with Fleetfoot to catch him, but Spike hit the raging waterfall and was lost in the many routes of the rapids. They tried their best to find him, but it was to no avail. Spike was gone.

Author's Note

EAT IT! I F***ING DID IT! FINALS ARE DONE! and I was so happy I even had time to do this. I can't wait for the comment storm though for both grammar, critiques, and especially for the "MOAR" people. I also look forward to others who will say "F***ING FINALLY" and "Are you going to ship these two?" Lets count them up before the end of the week.

Chapter 13: Appleoosa I

Chapter 13: Appleoosa

Last we heard of Spike, he was drifting down the rapids that lead him to fall over neighagra falls where he was carried away by the river. The impact he had with the rapids initially knocked him out. The fall over the falls sure didn’t help. Spike now slowly begins to wake up from his blackout. The sounds of creaking wood floors and rattling pieces of metal along with the bumps on the dusty road woke up the slumbering dragon. Spike had no idea what was going on. He was trying to open his eyes when they met with another pair of eyes staring back at him.

Spike jumped as well as the pony who was watching over him. The pony then got back in Spike’s face and asked, “What are you doing!?”

Spike recognized that it was a female’s voice. Confused, Spike shouted “Hey! I should be asking that!? Who are you anyways? And why does my head hurt so much?”

“Well, I am-” just before the mare introduced herself, the station wagon they were in made an abrupt stop. Spike wasn’t fastened down so he toppled to the front of the wagon. He looked out where he was at and saw that they had stopped in a very dusty town. He could barely see five feet in front of him.

Spike then heard an elderly southern pony greet him, “Well howdy there youngin! Finally awake are ya?”

Spike saw the old bag of bones before him. He readjusted himself and asked the questions that has been hanging over him since he got up a minute ago, “Who are you and where are we?”

The old pony gave a hearty laugh and said, “Well boy. I am just an old prospector travelin these parts to make my fortune. As for where you are? I can’t really tell myself. We at least we made it to town. Now then sonny, who are you?”

“Well I am Spike the Dragon.” Spike looked around, but could hardly make things out. Spike then tried to remember what happened before he woke up. He could remember falling and a lot of water… How did he end up in a desert town? “Um excuse me… prospector?” Spike attracted the old pony’s attention, “Where did you find me?”

“Well it wasn’t me that found ya. It was my granddaughter” The old timer said.

As if on cue the granddaughter popped her head out of the caravan. “Yep! I found you on by the river near the San Palomino Desert.”

Spike could only wonder how he got here from northern Equestria. “Well thanks for the ride to town.”

The young mare worriedly asked, “Are ya leaving already? You don’t even know where ya are!”

“Well that may be true, but I am kind of looking for my home or rather a new home and the best place for a dragon like me is among my own kind.” Spike replied.

The granddaughter pleaded “Well can’t ya stay for a little? It gets boring round these parts. Besides we can help you get to the city!”

The prospector added, “That’s where we are headed. Ya might want to get some supplies there.”

Piggybacking the granddaughter said, “They have lots of foods, but are known for their apple pies. They even got one of those fancy trains. I never got to see one in my life.”

Spike couldn’t deny their nice southern hospitality. “Alright, you convinced me. Besides going to the city would be a nice final goodbye to Equestria.”

The granddaughter jumped with glee, “YAY!!! We got a traveling buddy!” She hugged Spike, “Oh by the way, I go by leafy.”

Spike smiled, “Good to know.” It had been a little while since he could relax.

Leafy exclaimed, “ONWARDS TO THE CITY!!” acting like she were on a pirate ship or something.

Some traveling later

“How long have we been on this dusty road?” Spike asked sick and tired of the same scenery.

“Only an hour or so.” the prospector was clearly used to this. The granddaughter and the drake, however, were not.

Leafy suddenly asked Spike, “So tell me about yourself Spike.”

Spike’s barriers were weakened by his boredom so he easily told her about who he was, “Well I was born in Canterlot.” Leafy gave out a gasp. “Princess Twilight back when she was just a filly was supposed to hatch me when I was an egg using her magic. That was the first time she showed her extreme magical prowess and where she got her cutie mark by hatching me.”

Leafy could barely contain herself as Spike continued, “Growing up I was being trained by Princess Celestia herself to be a good dragon. She had me learn all kinds of things like playing various instruments, learning how to write and read, and I even learned how to cook and clean. Looking at it, I feel like I was just being trained to be the perfect butler.”

“P- pr- Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight!?” She let out excitedly.

“Yeah I was raised by both of the princesses. Later I became Twilight’s assistant and then…” Spike continued telling her of all the adventures and even some of the hidden things he did. He didn’t tell her any secrets or names. That was meant to be kept between his friends, well ex-friends. He had a dragon code to upkeep.

By the time Spike finished his tale, it was getting pretty dark. Leafy was at a lost for words. To know that they are traveling with a dragon of such nobility, she could not fathom everything at once. Just blankly stared out into space.

Spike waved his hand in front of her face and even snapped his claws a few times, but she wasn’t reacting to anything. “Hey are you alright?” All spike got in return was that blank stare of hers. ‘I guess it was a little shocking to hear’ Spike thought to himself as he decided to go to sleep.

Just as he was about to shut his eyes, she finally exploded out, “OH MY CELESTIA!! You are the MOST interesting travel buddy EVER!!! Did all of that really happen?”

Spike shot back a bit surprised, “Yeah. I even kept a little thing to remember Princess Twilight and her friends before I left.” He took out a picture taken of all of elements and Celestia after their first time to the Grand Galloping Gala. He shed a tear when he looked at the photo.

Leafy felt a bit of his sadness as he looked at the photo. “I’m sorry.”

When Spike heard her, he realized that he had tears coming from his eyes. He quickly wiped away the tears and tried to reassure her, “It’s alright. It’s just…”, but Spike’s fortitude broke and he started to shed more tears.

Leafy didn’t say anything. She just rubbed his back and started crying with him. Spike was confused when she cried too. “Why are you crying?”

“Well, it’s better cry together than alone.” she said giving a smile.

Spike was still confused, but then started to snicker that turned into a laugh. Leafy’s pouted thinking he was laughing at her. “ Hey! That’s rude!”

“Sorry. Sorry.” Spike chuckled, “ I wasn’t laughing at you. I just somehow feel happier.”

Leafy felt a sense of accomplishment. “See it does work! Grandpa taught me that. I can’t wait for you to meet my family! It’s huge. I haven’t even met all of them yet. This will be my first time going to our reunion.”

Spike while grinning added, “Sounds like fun.” Leafy nodded in agreement. “So do you want to hear another story? Like what happened after I left Ponyville?”

Leafy excitedly said, “YEAH!!”.

Just as Spike was about to start, the cart stopped. Tossing Spike forward and out of the carriage.

The old prospector said, “We finally made it to our destination.”

Spike looked up at the dusty town. It kind of looked familiar to him. “Where are we?”

“Why you’re in AAAAAPPPLEOOOSAAA!!!” the prospector yelled. Spike’s face went cold as he knows that this is apple country and he might get recognized here. He suddenly realized that he was traveling with some of the members of the apple family. This was bad for him. He jumped back into the carriage in fear that someone might recognize him. It has been awhile since Spike has been to Appleoosa. A few years in fact, so maybe they wouldn’t remember him. There is still one pony he had to avoid at all costs.

As if on cue Spike heard his voice, “WELL howdy there great uncle Kazoo and where is my little cousin at?”

Kazoo said, “She is playing with her new friend in the carriage.”

Spike had no time to explain the situation to Leafy, so he quickly said, “I have to go. I’ll come back later.” Before hearing her reply he jumped out the back and slithered away. Past a crowd of ponies.

The stallion opened up the carriage and saw only his little cousin. “Hey little cousin! How you been and where is that friend of yours?”

“He jumped out the back…” Leafy said pointing out back.

“Well maybe he needed to use the outhouse or something. Anyways how are you Apple Leaves?”

“I’ve been great cousin Braeburn.” She was happy to see her family, but the way Spike panicked and ran off didn’t sit too well with her.

Spike was watching the carriage so he wouldn’t lose it, but he had to disguise himself. There are very few dragons who associate themselves with ponies so Spike would stick out like a sore thumb. He got himself some cowboy get-up and masked his face. Still a bipedal masked stranger is better than his current state.

He really wished he could just get on the train and leave right now, but he left his bag in the carriage. It held too many important things to just leave. Spike instead tailed the carriage until it finally set down. Unfortunately for Spike it was right at the Apple Orchard, which means he was dangerously close to Braeburn’s home.

Spike would have loved to sneak in the carriage and get his stuff, but with his current costume, he would be mistaken for a thief and he might get captured. Just then Spike heard a rumbling sound. He looked up the top of the apple trail and saw that the buffalo were coming through. This might be a good distraction for him to get his stuff at least.

As he left his hiding spot in a bush to the carriage he was caught by none other than Apple Leaves herself. She almost yelled, but Spike closed shut her mouth. He pulled down the bandanna to reveal his face and clearly tell her, “Shh. Keep it quiet.” She nodded while he still covered her mouth. He led her back to where he was hiding and began trying to explain his situation to her.

“Sorry Leafy. I came back for my stuff so I can leave. It isn’t safe for me to be here.” Spike worriedly said.

“But Spike. Why are you hiding from everypony? Why isn’t it safe for you? What’s going on!?” She kept questioning him louder each time.

Spike put a claw to her lips to shh her and continued, “I am kind of a fugitive. Well I was exiled for something I didn’t do. It’s hopeless to try to clear my name. I tried for a long time, but they wouldn’t believe a dragon. I pretty much abandoned any hope of staying in Equestria and decided to go back home. Back to the land of the dragons.”

“That sounds horrible.” She couldn’t resist feeling sorry for him.

“It hasn’t been so bad. I made a lot of friends, while I was exiled. I do miss Ponyville, but they don’t want me there anymore.” Spike felt sad after that statement.

“But you’re not in Ponyville here. Why are you so scared here? Why not make a living in another part of Equestria?”

“Being a dragon in Equestria isn’t exactly easy. I doubt I could just move somewhere else and thrive like I did in Ponyville. As for why I am scared, it’s because a lot of members of the Apple Family are here and one of my ex-friends from Ponyville happens to be one important member of that family.”

She quickly asked, “Who?”

He simply said,“Applejack.”

“Oh you mean cousin Applejack! You and Applejack are friends!?” still speaking in her happy state.

That kind of shocked Spike, but it instead just confirmed his suspicions. “Just what I was expecting. No we aren’t friends anymore as sad as that is.”

“Well you should just make up with her when she gets here tomorrow. I am sure cousin Applejack would be thrilled to see you again.” She smiled thinking she was helping.

Spike, however, really became shocked now, “What do you mean by getting here tomorrow?” as he slowly turned his head hoping he misheard her.

“Didn’t I tell you? The Apple Family Reunion is tomorrow and this farm is hosting it!” She happily said, not knowing the fright that brought to Spike.

“This is even worse than I thought! I need to get out of here pronto!”. The fear of being caught was too much for him.

She suddenly grabbed him. “NO!! You can’t leave now. We’re friends. At least enjoy today. We are having a little pre-reunion today before the whole family gets here.”

“But what about Braeburn! He will tell her and then I will be in big trouble as all six will come after me!” Spike added.

“Then just wear your disguise! No one will know it’s you and I will just introduce you as my friend. Please don’t go.” Her vice grip was comparable to Twilight's magic grip.

Spike wanted to just get his stuff and run, but when he looked at her face he saw tears in her eyes. It looked almost like his own from before. He was probably going to regret it later, but he finally said, “Alright. There is no fighting a mare with the puppy dog face.”

She shouted “YAY!!” and dragged him out of the bush and into the festivities.

The first pony they ran into was of course, Braeburn. “Howdy cousin! Is this your friend you mentioned before?”

“Yep! He likes to call himself ‘The Masked Stranger’.” She chuckled nervously.

“Well I hope you two have a fun time. The real fun comes tomorrow. I hope you can stay for that long.” Braeburn replied.

Spike tipped his hat and said, “I’ll see if I can.” He then grabbed Leafy and pulled her away saying, “I’ll see you later Braeburn!”

“Alright then!” Braeburn walked a few steps when he realized, “How did he know my name already? Maybe Leafy told him about me. Still something about him seems familiar.”

Author's Note

I am a little rusty, but time to get back to work and no. This fic isn't dead yet. Just felt uninspired to continue writing for who knows how long. I am ready to finish this thing now. At least I hope so. Sorry it is a little short in comparison to past chapters. Also if you're wondering why this is Chapter 13 instead of 12, I will release chapter 12 after I finish the story and when I revise it a little. Let's just say, it explains how Spike got from Northeast Equestria to the Southwest.

Chapter 14: Intermission V (Rainbow Dash's Lament/ New Hope)

Rainbow Dash's Lament/ New Hope

One week earlier from the last chapter. Rainbow Dash, Fleetfoot, Fluttershy, and Surprise flew back to Spitfire’s home, after searching for what seemed like forever for even a trace of Spike. It was a fruitless effort.

When all four met up near the falls, Rainbow Dash was filled with rage. She just failed to bring Spike back, who was within his grasp. Most of her anger came from the fact that two pegasi stopped her from reaching him. She glared at them in pure resentment.

Rainbow Dash broke the silence with a loud rant, “WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING!? WE WERE SO CLOSE TO GETTING SPIKE AND YOU BOTH GOT IN THE WAY!! WE COULD HAVE GOT HIM!!! We could have got him.”

Hearing that enraged Fleetfoot, “ARE YOU SERIOUS!? ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IS CAPTURING HIM!? YOU MAKE ME SICK!! IT’S NO WONDER WHY HE RAN AWAY FROM YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS!!! IT’S YOUR FAULT THAT HE IS DEA-... LOST”

Rainbow Dash irrationally yelled back, “IF YOU DIDN’T GET IN THE WAY I COULD HAVE EASILY REACHED HIM!”

Fleetfoot didn’t back down, “WHAT SO YOU CAN TORTURE HIM!?”

Before it could escalate into a brawl, Fluttershy pulled Rainbow back and Surprise did the same with Fleetfoot. Fluttershy then asked, “What do you mean by torture him? We just wanted to bring him home.”

Surprise was confused, “You mean you aren’t here to take Spike back to Ponyville to harm him and possibly execute him?”

Fluttershy responded in horror, “Oh goodness no! We would never do those things to any creature.”
This snapped Fleetfoot out of her anger, “So then why was Spike so intent on avoiding you guys?”

Rainbow Dash calmed down a little as she answered, “I don’t know!”

Fleetfoot asked, “How about we go back to Spitfire’s house so we can understand each other?”

Fluttershy and Rainbow were a little worried not being able to go quickly tell their friends about what happened, but at the same time how could they tell them that Spike fell into a waterfall and is probably gone forever. That would devastate Twilight. Not having much choice they went to Spitfire’s house.

It was awkward going back because they witnessed what was most likely Spike’s demise. Rainbow had no idea how to tell any of her friends that Spike was within her grasp, but she wasn’t fast enough. Fleetfoot couldn’t accept Spike being dead and had faith he was still alive somewhere. Surprise still felt deflated after seeing her new friend collide with a waterfall. Fluttershy was completely silent on their flight back.

Once they reached Spitfire’s place, Rainbow told Fluttershy “Go to the rendezvous spot. Twilight will need a guide here.”

Fluttershy was a bit hesitant to just leave her friend there, but Rainbow was right. Besides these are some of the elite wonderbolts. Rainbow wouldn’t do anything too crazy right? Fluttershy nodded and flew off. While Rainbow was speaking to Fluttershy, Surprise and Fleetfoot entered Spitfire’s place.

Spitfire asked “What are you guys doing here?”

“Well we brought Rainbow Dash here.” Fleetfoot said looking down. “We have a serious situation.”

“What do you mean by serious situation?” Spitfire felt anxious.

“Well Spike fell into Neighagra Falls.” Fleetfoot concluded.

Spitfire was taken back hearing that. She really didn’t know him long, but she could tell he was a innocent unlike most tales of dragons. She may not have been as attached as the others, but she still considered Spike as a friend.

“How did this happen!?” Spitfire spat out.

Surprise answered, “Well Spike’s wings went poof and he plummeted into the waterfall. We tried to reach him, but it was too late. Not even Fleetfoot or Rainbow Dash could reach him in time. Rainbow was probably the closest to rescuing him.”

Just then Rainbow walked into the house. The room got quiet as she entered. Before Dash could speak, Spitfire said, “What happened to Spike? Give me as accurate of a description as you can.”

Rainbow was confused, “Why would you want to know that?”

Spitfire yelled, “This isn’t the time for questions! Tell me when, where, and what happened. We need to track him down. A dragon like him wouldn’t let a simple waterfall be his grave. Dragons can withstand a lot of punishment. I know after having battled a few.”

Rainbow explained all that happened from her eyes and so did the other two. With the information gathered she quickly wrote down a letter. Spitfire then sent Surprise to deliver the message immediately to HQ.

As Surprise flew away, the three left in the house then sat down. An intense silence was broken by Spitfire who wanted to know more about why Spike was exiled. “Rainbow Dash… I’ll go straight to the point. Why was Spike exiled? I want to know your angle of what happened back then.”

The realization and sudden pressure of having her long time idol look down upon her with a flare she normally doesn’t show even when she is training new recruits. Still Rainbow Dash decided not to flake out and face her and her questions.

Spitfire then asked, “Why are your legs shaking? Is it cold for you?”

Rainbow looked down and noticed they really were shaking. She thought to herself, ‘Just calm down. I can do this.’ She took a deep breath and began answering, “I’m fine. It’s not cold.” She then continued to her side of the story. “It was really early in the morning when I smelled smoke. When I looked outside, I saw was a lot of green fire in Ponyville. I flew quickly to the town and got a glimpse of a monster attacking the town, but once it reached the Carousel Boutique. It just stopped and vanished. All that was left was ash and Spike, who was in the middle of it. He was just waking up when we arrived.”

Spitfire then concluded, “So that’s why you thought it was Spike?”

Rainbow continued, “Well this wasn’t the first time Spike went on a rampage through town. Luckily the damage was kept to relatively small back then. This time however, the town was a lot worse. The town and everypony decided it only could have been Spike.”

Fleetfoot was having trouble keeping herself steady. She then had a quick outburst. “Didn’t you consider it being another dragon or another monster!?”

Spitfire then replied to Fleetfoot’s question, “Fleetfoot. They would’ve seen another dragon or monster leave the area.”

“But Spike couldn’t have done that!”

Rainbow gave a serious reply, “You haven’t exactly seen Spike when he changes into a full dragon. If it wasn’t for Rarity and I guess himself, he could have done much worse damage to the town.”

Spitfire was growing tired of Fleetfoot’s unnecessary outbursts. “Fleetfoot. Wait for her to finish and then we can give any judgements after.” Fleetfoot put her head down and continued to listen. “Now then Rainbow. Continue with what happened.”

“Well I was the first to confront him. When I got in front of him I kind of yelled at him…”

Spitfire didn’t like Dash dancing around details. “Tell me in full detail. No ‘kind of’ or ‘sort of.’”

“I pinned him down and yelled at him alright! I know he was a friend, but after endangering everyone I kind of lost myself. Spike didn’t even seem like he knew what was going on.” Fleetfoot was becoming restless again, but Spitfire gave her a glare and then whispered to her to go cool down and get something to drink.

Fleetfoot angrily walked away and Rainbow continued her story. “After the destruction, one week later, the town had a meeting and decided he was too dangerous to keep here. Some ponies were a bit cynical and wanted to actually execute him, but that was crazy. Spike was too nice and well behaved. Not to mention he is still young and it wasn’t his fault for his dragon greed. Still the vast majority of the town decided to exile him back to his kind. It was sad for a lot of us to see him have to leave at such a young age and being so kind to everyone for the years he was in Ponyville. For some reason Rarity didn’t even show up to the occasion and neither did Twilight. Twilight had a reason not to come. She had probably the most devastating experience, but Rarity I was shocked.”

Spitfire figured that was the end of the story. She began to interrogate more, “Well I can see why he would be fearful of being by you and why he was terrified of going back after some ponies wanted to execute him. Who is Rarity?”

Rainbow should have realized she wouldn’t know, since they never talked directly. “Well Rarity is who Spike is crushing on really hard. The whole town practically knew it. For some reason Rarity never seemed to get it.”

Fleetfoot made an audible gasp in the kitchen. Spitfire then continued. “So Rainbow Dash, what was your purpose for being here?”

Rainbow answered, “To bring Spike home.”

Fleetfoot came out yelling, “You think Spike would EVEN want to come ‘home’!? After what you, your friends, and even your whole town did to him!? You guys didn’t even trust him. Even the dragons would probably be better than you guys!”

Rainbow Dash swiftly responded, “You trying to start another fight!?”

Spitfire quickly ended the fight, “Fleetfoot! I told you to stop! You’re an Elite Wonderbolt! Act like one already!”

“But Spitfire! You know I am right. Spike didn’t even look like he wanted to go home. When anyone mentioned Rainbow Dash’s name he went almost pale. The look in his eyes even confirmed how much he disliked them.” Fleetfoot then faced Rainbow Dash, “What was your plan? To just tell Spike ‘I’m Sorry’ and EVERYTHING would be normal again!?”

The room went silent after Fleetfoot’s exploding words. Rainbow wanted to say something back, but those words hit her in a way she wasn’t normally used to. Rainbow didn’t even expect it, but a tear came out of her angry eyes. She knew what happened to him was terrible and traumatizing, but knowing the truth and seeing through his eyes what happened. It hurt a lot and even shattered the iron wall that is Rainbow Dash’s heart.

Fleetfoot didn’t paused waiting for Rainbow’s response, but then continued. “So is that it then. You have nothing else, but a simple sorry. You don’t deserve Spike’s forgiveness.”

Fleetfoot turned her back and began heading out the door. Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop her tears from flowing no matter how hard she tried to fight it. For once she felt backed into a corner and none of her friends were there to help her out. It was painful, but Rainbow finally said, “I know I don’t deserve his forgiveness…” Fleetfoot stopped to listen. “But I would do anything to get our friendship back. I should have had his back when the town was against him in that ridiculous trial. I shouldn’t have yelled at him when I saw the look of innocence in his eyes. I’m not just sorry. I want him back for both my friends and myself and to have us back as a whole.”

Fleetfoot paused for a second before walking out the door saying, "I need to go track down a dragon.” Fleetfoot then dashed out the door and into the sky.

Spitfire then added as they watched Fleetfoot leave, “You probably don't realize it, but you at least got to her a little.”

Rainbow Dash said, “Are you sure? She seemed pretty mad at me. Well now comes the hard part.”

“And what’s that?” Spitfire wondered.

“Getting Spike back.” Rainbow said as she saw Fluttershy and the balloon coming in.

Spitfire had debriefed all six on what happened, but kept the private chat with Rainbow and Fleetfoot confidential. They all then decided to go home since Spitfire had called in the reserve Wonderbolts to go searching around Equestria and if anypony could find Spike, it was the Wonderbolts.
________________________________________________________________________

Back to the present.

Twilight and her friends all returned to a fully repaired Ponyville. They were worn out and haven’t heard word from the search parties. Each of them returned home for the time being until new news came from them. They were searching far and wide around Equestria for the little dragon. They all went back to doing their jobs, but it didn’t feel right.

Twilight went back to doing her library duties and tried to distract herself by reading, but she began seeing things. She would often have visions of Spike and it always made her cry.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t able to concentrate on clearing the clouds, so the days always had a partly cloudy weather.

Pinkie wasn’t making new and crazy recipes. All she did was make purple and green cupcakes no matter what she put into the recipe.

Fluttershy went back to tending the animals, but it felt a little more quiet. She seemed a little more clumsy due to her distractions. All the animals seemed to tend to Fluttershy more than she did to them.

Rarity kept herself working day and night to distract herself from any thoughts that she kept hidden.

Applejack actually woke up late. She has never woke up late. As she headed outside, she noticed her family was packing up. “What’s going on around here?”

Applebloom was a little surprised, “We are going to the Apple Family Reunion. Did you forget that it’s tomorrow?”

Applejack was so distracted by all that happened that she forgot all about it. “Sorry. I’ve been a little busy these past few days. I don’t think I will be going this time.”

They all stopped and had a collective gasp. Granny asked, “Now why would you not come to the reunion!?”

Applejack answered, “I haven’t exactly been well these past few days. I barely get any sleep and I am not well. I would just be a downer there.”

They wanted to object, but just looking at her it was obvious she was right. They let her stay home and they decided continue preparations. Applejack decided to check on her friends to see how they were doing.

She reached Sugarcube Corner and noticed the odd amount of purple and green around the bakery. “Pinkie? You alright?”

Pinkie darted up after messing around with some icing on the table. “Yeah! Of course!”

Applejack could tell that was a lie. “Pinkie.”

“No I guess not...” Pinkie should have realized that it’s hard to lie to the element of honesty.

“How about we gather everyone and try to do something?” Applejack suggested.

Pinkie suddenly sparked up! “How about a Slumber Party!?”

Applejack remembered the slumber party with Rarity. That turned out to be crazy, but it would be what they need right now. “Alright Pinkie. We should have it at Twilight’s place.”

“We could go SURPRISE her!!” Pinkie jumped around happily.

“Alright then. I’ll go tell Rarity and you go get Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.”

“Okie-dokie.” Pinkie said. She zoomed off immediately leaving a little afterimage of herself.

Applejack purposely went to Rarity’s. She noticed Rarity was acting odd this entire time ever since the incident. Rarity is definitely hiding something, but she couldn’t just interrogate her. Applejack entered the shop. She was nowhere in sight, but Applejack could hear a noise upstairs.

She saw a crack of light in her workshop and heard sobbing. Applejack was about to open the door, but stopped as she heard Rarity say, “If only we didn’t find that stupid thing.”

Applejack thought to herself, ‘What is she talking about?’ She then opened the door and gained Rarity’s attention.

Rarity surprised asked, “What are you doing here!?”

Applejack kept that suspicious piece of info to herself and decided to answer her. “I came here to invite you to a slumber party. Everyone else is coming to Twilight’s place to cheer her up and to be honest ourselves too.”

Rarity was a little hesitant, “I don’t know. I guess I could go.”

Applejack tried a little harder to convince her. “Rarity. You of all people need to relax and what better way than with friends.”

Rarity surrendered fairly easily. “Alright. I’ll go. I guess I better get ready and close up shop early.”

Applejack was content with that and decided to head home and get ready herself.

They all met up in the late afternoon at Twilight’s place ready to surprise Twilight. They knocked on the door and heard no reply. They were beginning to feel worried. They knocked again when the door magically opened. They were shocked at how bad Twilight looked.

Her eyes were starting to have a little baggage on them. It looked like she had been crying and not getting any sleep since they returned. She looked a little thinner and weaker than before as well.

Applejack asked, “Twilight, are you alright?”

She weakly tried to speak, but passed out in front.

They all yelled “TWILIGHT!” and immediately came to her care. When she woke up, the library was back to normal. She was confused at what happened.

Rainbow noticed she was awake first. “Twilight! You’re finally awake!”

The others then gathered around her telling her how worried they were about her. Twilight tried to calm them down, but they were full of emotion.

Twilight then asked, “Why is everypony here?”

Pinkie answered excitedly, “We came here to have a Surprise Slumber Party!”

Applejack added, “Pinkie and I thought everyone needed a little friendship.”

Twilight smiled for the first time all week. Twilight pulled out her little book for slumber parties and they partied into the late evening. As they were all around the lantern in the middle of the room telling ghost stories, they heard a frantic knocking at the door. Pinkie and Fluttershy jumped when they heard it.

Applejack opened up the door and saw a flustered out Applebloom with a note. She was out of breath and just handed over the note. She read the note and was filled with both shock and happiness.

Applejack turned to her friends and announced, “Braeburn found Spike in Appleoosa!!”

All of them cheered and immediately went to the train station. Rarity lacked behind, but only Applejack seemed to notice. Once they got there they got lucky and got the last ticket to Appleoosa for the day. They got on the train and headed to Appleoosa determined to bring Spike home.

They all went to sleep, but Rarity only could stare at the moon. Applejack noticed this, but decided it was only beneficial to go rest so they can have the stamina to keep up with Spike this time and earn his forgiveness.

Rarity was the last pony to go to sleep. She noticed another train passing by in the opposite direction and in one quick glimpse thought she saw Spike, but that was impossible. Spike wouldn’t head back to Ponyville. She decided to go to bed thinking she was staying up too late and seeing things.

Author's Note

These were two short chapters and I didn't want to make you all wait so I decided to combine them into one. It does seem a little off with that break in the middle though. Also I'm looking back at older chapters and editing all the glaring mistakes I've done. It won't change the story for those who already read the past chapters. Just look a lot nicer for the new readers.

Chapter 15: Appleoosa II (Final)

Appleoosa Finale

Spike was enjoying himself and helping set up the reunion. Apple Leaves did her very best to keep him entertained and was doing a good job of it. Spike then noticed that the buffalo had stopped by the farm too. Spike wondered how Little Strongheart was after all this time. Luckily he was in a pretty good disguise.

He looked around the farm wondering if she was even here. Sure enough, he found her in line for some apple baked foods. Spike noticed a bit of a difference as she seemed a bit larger, but more importantly she is wearing the Chief Thunderhooves’ headdress. It made him feel a little uneasy. Did this mean he finally passed away?

Spike wanted to avoid asking that question. He got close to her and said, “Hi there!”

Spike got Strongheart’s attention, but something happened that was unexpected. Strongheart recognized him almost immediately. Strongheart welcomely said, “Oh hi Spike!” Spike felt a deep shocking and queasy feeling. He couldn’t even respond. “You alright Spike?”

Spike then jumped and covered her mouth. This suspicious act got the attention of all the buffalo and ponies in the area. He quickly whispered into her ear, “Stop saying my name so loudly.”

She whispered back, “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Well yeah!” he responded a little loudly. He then whispered again, “I’ll tell you later everything. Just keep my identity hidden.”

Strongheart just thought it was some kind of surprise or something childish. “Alright then. Let’s go to the picnic area and talk there.” she said with a smile.

Spike nodded and immediately went to Apple Leaves to tell her the change in the situation. “Apple… Someone recognized me…” Apple wasn’t pleased with the news. Spike continued his fear, “She found out so easily through my disguise!”

“Spike.” Apple Leaves did her best to calm her friend down before he does something crazy. “Just calm down and tell me everything that happened.” After Spike told her about his interaction with Strongheart, she said, “Spike. She doesn’t seem like she would be the one to turn you in. She is even keeping your secret. We just need to talk to her in the picnic area and clarify everything.”

Spike wasn’t exactly cool with it. He was scared at how easily she broke through his disguise. Was he really so easily recognizable? Apple Leaves did whatever she could to keep him calm, until they reached the picnic area and saw Strongheart eating by herself underneath an apple tree.

Spike finally calmed down enough to hold a proper sentence and headed with Apple to the spot. What they didn’t notice was that Strongheart had a guest of her own joining in. Spike sat down near Strongheart who was chuckling. He then noticed who was right next to her.

“Howdy there Leafy! Nice to see you and your friend enjoying yourselves.” Braeburn said loudly.

Spike began hyperventilating as Apple Leaves immediately took over the conversation for him. “Yeah! We are having a great time!” Spike nodded nervously unable to say anything.

Braeburn noticed how shaky he was and asked, “Is your friend alright? Is he sick or something?”

Apple noticed he was shaking too and made up a quick excuse, “OH! Um he just saw Grand Uncle’s nails and it scared him. He still hasn’t recovered yet.”

Braeburn had a shiver run down his spine as well. “Not many can recover from seeing that.” He then faced Spike, “I hope you recover soon.”

Spike started to calm down as he noticed Braeburn couldn’t see through his disguise. If he keeps acting suspicious, he might blow it. He finally spoke, “Oh don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Braeburn rose his eyebrow. Before he said anything, Apple Leaves then grabbed Braeburn’s hooves. “Lets go and get more food. We are almost out here and you are the host!” Braeburn just noticed the food was getting low and followed Apple, but the feeling he had before came back when he heard Spike’s voice.

Spike, once Braeburn was clear from the area, immediately told Strongheart, “Why was he here!?”

Strongheart confused replied, “What? Wasn’t he in on the surprise?”

Now Spike was confused. She clearly didn’t understand how serious it was. He tried to keep the volume low, but still wanted to shout, “I am not planning a surprise or anything! I’m running away and leaving Equestria. There are people who are trying to capture me, however, and I can’t let them find me. Braeburn nor any other pony or creature you know can know I am in Appleoosa.”

Shocked at the gravity of what happened, Strongheart said, “What happened that caused all of this!?”

Spike then began explaining in a very general way what happened in Ponyville and his adventure to Canterlot, Cloudsdale and now here. Strongheart could only feel sorry for the little dragon and was still surprised at how much has happened to this little guy. She finally understood the situation and decided to keep it all a secret.

Shortly after Apple Leaves returned with a few apple pies and a little out of breath. Spike asked, “Are you alright?”

She caught her wind a little and replied, “Yeah. Have you seen Braeburn? He left me in the dust when he suddenly tried to race here.”

Both of the shrugged in a negative fashion and they all wondered what happened. Braeburn eventually came later after they continued their secret talk. He too was out of breath, “Sorry guys. Something happened and I had to go immediately. I hope you saved something for me.”

Apple said, “I BEAT YOU!!! You owe me big!”

Braeburn acknowledged her win, “Alright. Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.”

Strongheart shared a fritter with him and they continued their casual chat. Spike felt a lot better that all the loose strings were tied up again and he can enjoy himself again. After it was getting late, and things were winding down. They were cracking jokes and something slipped out that wasn’t supposed to happen.

Braeburn was saying, “SO Masked stranger. Do you have a special mare in your life?”

The three were very curious to what he was going to say. “Well there was one mare I liked, but I doubt that is going to happen.”

“Oh come on!” Braeburn said, “You just need a little confidence and fortitude and you can bag anyone!”

“You can’t say that yourself you know Brae.” Strongheart said chuckling.

Braeburn put his hat down to hide his little blush. He then returned with, “Well Spike is a very talented guy. I remember when he-” That pause was all it took. The truth was out. Braeburn had let it slip out of his tongue.

When Braeburn looked at Spike, all he saw was a face of pure fear. Spike immediately ran away. Braeburned called out to him, “WAIT STOP!!”, but there was no way Spike was going to stop. He immediately pulled out his rope and lassoed Spike.

‘This is it!’ Spike thought to himself as he was pulled back to Braeburn. “Spike! I have no idea what’s going on, but don’t run!”

All Spike said was, “LET ME GO!” He then blew out his fire and burned the rope. Just as he was going to make a second attempt, Braeburn wrestled him to the ground. Apple and Strongheart were shocked at all that was going on.

Apple finally said, “Let Spike go already!”

“But Applejack wanted to see him!” Braeburn yelled as he finally pinned him down. “She will be here tomorrow along with her friends to pick him up.”

“But Spike doesn’t want to see them! He has a really good reason for not going back to them!” Apple pleaded.

Strongheart then added, “Braeburn. Listen to his story. This time Spike go into full detail about what happened.”

Braeburn eventually let up and began telling his story again. This time he held very few secrets behind. As he told his story, Braeburn began feeling more and more in pain as he felt Spike’s agony these past few days. He had a few choice words he wanted to deliver to his cousin when she arrived.

Braeburn said after it was all done, “I am so sorry about all that happened. I hope you can forgive what I did.”

Spike was humble about it, “Braeburn. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know. I should have trusted Apple Leaves to tell you about it instead of acting all suspicious about it, but now I have to go.” Spike then took off his disguise since it really didn’t matter anymore. “Time to get rid of this goofy thing.”

Braeburn then asked, “Why not stay the night before leaving?”

Apple added, “You do look tired. You wouldn’t get far in your condition and it’s the least we can do. Give you some southern hospitality.”

Spike wanted to go, but they were right. He wouldn’t do well in his condition. “Alright then, but as soon as the trains open I leave alright?”

The three had no objections to it. They then spent the rest of the evening finishing the final part of the reunion. They were proud how well it turned out. Just as everyone got ready to go and rest, suddenly lights came out of nowhere as a gust of wind came around them.

“We found the target.” some voices said. Spike looked past the light and noticed they were pegasi. He recognized one from Ponyville and thought they were there to take him away.

Spike then began running. As the flyers were in pursuit. Just then Braeburn gathered up so of the earth wranglers and tied down the pegasi. Apple Leaves then threw Spike’s belongings to him. “RUN SPIKE!” was all Braeburn could muster as the pegasus struggled to get loose. Spike ran away heading to town. He ran into a corner. Other pegasi cornered him and ordered he come with them. Just then a buffalo charged through and opened a path.

It was Strongheart telling Spike, “GO NOW!”

Spike then ran past as a lot of buffalo ran past him with nets between every pair of buffalo to capture the pegasi. One escaped all of their efforts. The only one from the Wonderbolts and leader of this search party. Of course someone from the Wonderbolts would be too skilled to be caught. Spike did his very best and finally reached the train station. Luckily for him, the wonderbolt was being distracted from all the mayhem. Spike then noticed there was only one train left. He didn’t look at where it was headed, but dived into the train. The doors closed as the wonderbolt flew into the door.

It looked like he was going to say something, but was caught by Braeburn. He and Apple Leaves along with Strongheart all on the platform waved goodbye. This wasn’t the way they wanted it to go, but whatever it took for him to be free. Spike then sat down and relaxed as the express train departed. The express trains ran on highly powerful magic as well as the a special locomotive that channels the energy as well as fuel. Whenever the pegasi eventually escaped, there would be very little chance for them to catch up to Spike in time. Unfortunately for Spike, he didn’t realize he was headed on a one way express train straight to Ponyville.

Spike then noticed another train going across. He thought he saw Rarity in the train across from his. They made direct eye contact for that one split second, but he just thought he was imagining things. Spike finally passed out after seeing the train to get rest so he can do whatever he needs to get back on track, wherever he was going.

Back in Appleoosa as the crazy mayhem ended, the leader of the group began talking to Braeburn, “We were told to search and bring Spike back by Spitfire. We were just following orders.”

“It’s alright. We just had wanted Spike to be safe. He didn’t want to be found.”

Apple then recognized the name Spitfire. She then asked, “Spitfire from Cloudsdale?”

The wonderbolt answered, “Yeah. She is one of the Elite Wonderbolts.”

“Why were you trying to capture him?” Apple asked in return.

“Well she was going to bring him to Ponyville to straighten out a matter. She didn’t go into detail, but we have been searching around Equestria for him. We even got his an artist sketch of him and specific locations of where he might’ve ended up.”

Apple then pulled Strongheart and Braeburn to the side and told them, “They weren’t here to harm Spike. They wanted to just fix everything between Spike and his other friends.”

Braeburn gave his opinion, “What if they are lying to get trick us?”

Strongheart added, “That shouldn’t matter. Spike didn’t want to go see his old friends anyways. It’s his choice whether he wants to forgive them or return. We should tell them to let him choose. He is old enough to make his own choices anyways.”

Braeburn then turned his attention to the pegasus. “We will let you all go. Just don’t pursue Spike anymore. If he wants to return home, he will do so on his own free will.”

The pegasi gave up and agreed. They were let go and flew away straight in the direction of Cloudsdale.

After they saw them leave, they saw a train come in. Suddenly they saw all six of Spike’s ex-friends jump out the cart of the train. Twilight yelled, “WHERE IS SPIKE!?” as she came out of the pile and ran to Braeburn.

Braeburn then said, “Well… You see…”

Apple Leaves and Strongheart just realized something. If they came from Ponyville, that means Spike was headed for… “Oh no.” They both said to each other.

Author's Note

You guys are probably wondering why Appleoosa was so short. This was intentional to be honest. My original plan however had a little difference, but this is better than before. Sorry I kept the Pegasi v. Earth pony/ Buffalo battle to a minimum. I wouldn't imagine any bloodshed between these ponies and buffalo anyways. Also don't hesitate to point out errors or contradictions in the story. At the speed I am working on this, I will possibly miss a few things.

I got to keep on trucking through this story to make up for all that lost time and I will finish this story no matter what. I don't know which other story I want to finish, but I am leaning toward the Spike de Lis story next and then reconstruct the other two stories. Or I can add my new story which will be my first story supporting my favorite ship. The ship that actually got me into the show.

Chapter 16: Intermission VI (Just Missed Him)/ Ponyville I

Chapter 16: Intermission VI

Braeburn, Strongheart, and Apple Leaves along with the six went from the train station to Braeburn’s home. Braeburn told the six that Spike was no longer in Appleoosa and left already. They all grew increasingly frustrated with Braeburn since he was the one who sent the message. They immediately began questioning him.

Twilight was first to ask, “WHERE IS HE NOW!?” while Pinkie and Rainbow also got in his face.

Braeburn was not ready for Twilight’s fury and Applejack noticed how bad the situation was already getting. She got Fluttershy and Rarity along with Strongheart to move them away and talk to them in a different room. Now it was just Applejack with Braeburn and Apple Leaves.

Applejack then calmly questioned, “Where is Spike cousin?”

Braeburn didn’t want to answer, but he had to tell her, “Spike just left on the train when you arrived…”

Applejack then asked, “Why didn’t you stop him from leaving?”

Braeburn then explained, “Well some pegasus surrounded Spike and he bolted off. We got into a little tussle with them and Spike left on the last train out of here.”

Applejack felt like something was off. Like if she was being put on the hook by him. “Braeburn. Are you hiding something from me? I can tell if you’re lying you know.”

Braeburn backed up a little and began sweating, “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Applejack’s stare became a glare and Braeburn almost spilled everything when Apple Leaves interrupted. “Spike is in a better place away from you and your friends!”

Braeburn shushed her and told Apple Leaves, “I’ll handle this. Go help out Strongheart.” Apple Leaves then left the room grumbling to herself. He then told Applejack, “Spike told me what happened after I sent the letter to you. I didn’t expect you to arrive so quickly to be honest.”

Applejack now understands that Spike’s influence is already here and it looks like Spike didn’t hold back either. She would now have to explain everything and hopefully get them to understand that they were wrong and ready to do anything to get Spike’s forgiveness.

Applejack started by giving her side of things. “Since Spike was honest to ya. I might as well tell you my side of things.” Braeburn was intrigued and let her continue, “It happened late at night. There was a sudden explosion and it woke up our family. We saw a lot of smoke and couldn’t see too much, but we saw a large beast spewing green flames. It eventually threw a large burning cart at our barn. It left a pretty decent hole, but we needed to act quick to stop the flames from spreading. When the flames were quenched, we immediately ran into town. By then the destruction had already ended. I saw Rainbow yelling at Spike and both Pinkie and Fluttershy stopping her. Other ponies started coming around the area and started agreeing with Rainbow’s comments. Spike passed out almost immediately and so we took him away before anything else happened. We took him to Fluttershy’s house who had very minimal damage. She was a little scared to take care of him, so we had Pinkie stay with her for the night. After Rainbow and I went to help around town and check for any pony hurt or trapped. Strangely there were no ponies harmed in the destruction, but a lot of buildings were damaged, but not irreparable. The only real place that was heavily damaged was Twilight’s home.” She then thought to herself, ‘It was stranger that Rarity’s home was completely untouched even though Spike was found right next to it.’

Braeburn was shocked from the imagery. He could only imagine what he would do under those circumstances, but at the same time knowing the truth, he only felt worse for Spike. He had no chance to really defend himself and feeling the pain of the entire town turning against him and his close friends must have only made it worse.

Applejack then continued, “After a few weeks after Spike was exiled, we were shown the truth thru the eyes of Spike by Princess Celestia. What I saw was Spike yelling back at the beast and trying to protect the town from the giant creature’s destruction. We couldn’t hear what was being said sadly, but it seems like whatever Spike said stopped the destruction. It’s why we are doing whatever we can to make it right! Spike didn’t deserve to be put into his position. Even if he did become the monster, he is still our friend and we should’ve listened to him. It’s not like anypony was hurt, but how everything played out only made it worse. We have to bring him back, but I wouldn’t know what to do even if we could talk to him face to face.”

Tears began falling down her face, “We were so cruel to him even after all the fun we had together before. I am glad that at least my little sister and her friends were still around to make him feel better that week while the trial was going on, but I still wish we listened to them and Spike. They were telling the truth. I’m sorry Spike. I’m so sorry.”

Braeburn was silent as Applejack continue to say sorry with a weak voice. Braeburn then noticed a crack in the door where somepony was eavesdropping. He then turned back to Applejack and let out a hefty sigh. “Applejack. You seem like you’ve been through a lot, but what if’s aren’t going to change what's already happened. Truly if I were in Spike’s position, I wouldn’t know how to forgive anyone after all of that. The bridge has almost burned down already.”

Braeburn’s words really stung her. She said, “I know…” very weakly.

Braeburn then turned it around by saying, “Still you should try. At least make it right between the both of ya. If he doesn’t return isn’t the problem. Make sure that you and your friends at least end it on good terms. Spike has grown a lot since I last saw him here. All the adventure’s he’s been through really seems to have matured him quite a bit. I know if anyone can get through to someone, it’s you cousin.”

Behind the door, all the ponies were listening in as best as they could. They all heard the craziness that ensued before from Strongheart and Apple Leaves. Apple, however, wasn’t pleased to hear what Braeburn said. She understands family is strong, but they had really damaged the dragon. They really couldn’t understand the damage done to him. She made it her mission to help out in whatever way she can.

____________________________________________________________________

Spike woke up covered in some straw-like substance. He kept crawling upwards to escape the darkness. He finally reached could see light as he continued to crawl up and out of the mountain of hay. He talked to himself out loud, “Oh no. It’s going to be one of those kind of dreams again. From the look of things it’s probably going to be a nightmare with Applejack.”

Sure enough Spike heard Applejack’s voice. “What are you doing in my barn?” Applejack said in a threatening voice. Spike noticed something odd about this Applejack. Her eyes were giving off a weird smoke and it looked as if she wasn’t fully formed yet. The mutated Applejack realized this and immediately screeched and woke up Spike.

Spike woke up terrified and looking all around. Just as he woke up, the conductor said, “Last stop for the night! Everypony get your things!”

Spike began gathering his things and getting ready to exit. When Spike heard the conductor say, “Alright, last stop! Welcome to PONYVILLE!!” his body went at a stand still. The place he was avoiding since the beginning. The home of all the ponies that he was running and hiding from. And he was now in the heart of it all.

The Conductor then told Spike, “Hey buddy? It’s time to go.” Spike just stood there with a blank face. The conductor wasn’t going to wait for him so he magically lifted him out of the train. “Alright see you later!”

Spike had no idea what he was going to do. Everything looked back to normal so at least everything got repaired. Spike began sneaking around town until he heard a high pitched voice yelled “Spike!”. Spike hid and took for cover in a trash can, not knowing who recognized him.

The pony opened the trash can and asked Spike, “What are you doing?” Spike recognized that voice. It had to be Sweetie Belle.

Spike then popped out of the trashcan happy it was just her. He also noticed Scootaloo was also with her. “Hey guys!” Spike said feeling glad it was just them.

Scootaloo asked, “What are you doing here Spike? Weren’t you forced out of town? I mean it’s great to see you and everything, but we don’t want you to get in trouble.”

Sweetie also asked, “Can you please get out of the trashcan? You are going to get smelly if you stay in there longer.”

Spike crawled out, but was still scared some other pony might recognize him. “Say um, girls? Can we go somewhere where I won’t be so easily spotted?”

Scootaloo proposed, “Well Spike, we were going to Applebloom’s place for a sleepover. Why don’t you come with us?”

Spike argued, “So Applejack can turn me in?”

Scootaloo realized Spike didn’t know that she and her friends are all having a sleepover of their own. “Spike. They are having a sleepover. We weren’t invited so we decided to have our own.”

Spike added, “Well what about Big Mac and Granny Smith?”

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment and got an idea. “How about having a sleepover at the clubhouse? It will be fun! We changed a lot in there since you left!”

Well it was Spike’s only chance of staying the night without being caught. Besides it’s nice to have fun with his friends one last time before he finally leaves Equestria tomorrow. “Alright! Let’s do it!”

Sweetie had one more idea to make him less suspicious. They went to Rarity’s shop. Sweetie had a second key to the place. She looked around for an outfit for him, while Spike headed upstairs along with Scootaloo so he can go take a shower. Spike felt weird walking through the room of his long time crush. It felt wrong and Spike felt a little headache coming on. He finally went into the bath trying to clean himself and ignore the headache, but it got worse the longer he stayed.

It had been a few minutes before Sweetie and Scootaloo finally asked, “Hey Spike! You alright in there!?” There was no reply. They were a little worried for him, but also wanted to respect his privacy. Scootaloo finally opened the bathroom door and saw all the steam escape the room. She then noticed Spike passed out in the bath.

Scootaloo yelled, “SPIKE!!”, but he was already down and out. They quickly got him out of the bath and moved him out of the shop.

Spike woke up again in the dream world, this time the evil Applejack resembled the real Applejack. Spike, however, was already convinced that this one was a fake just like the others.

Just before the evil Applejack was about to speak, Spike spoke first. “Whoever you are! Stop taking the forms of my old friends!”

“I have no idea what you’re talkin about Spike.” Applejack said looking confident, but oddly drew a bead of sweat.

Spike noticed her sweat. “If you’re Applejack, then why are you looking so scared?”

“ME SCARED!! HA! A crybaby like you shouldn’t be talking!” Applejack said gaining confidence. “Enough of this. Time to wrangle you up.” She said as she pulled out a rope.

“I’m not scared of you. You’re clearly not Applejack.”

“You can keep saying that, but I will still take you down.” She then lassoed Spike and then tied him up well. “Now that will show you that I am the real deal.” She said with a sadistic smile.

Spike didn’t care, his resolve was stronger than this faker. “You are just trying to scare me, but clearly that’s not going to work.”

“You’re still not scared? How about I give you a reason to be scared!?” She then pulled out a match. She lit it and said, “I hope you like fire.” She dropped it and exited the barn. She then sealed the barn doors so he wouldn’t escape and burn alive inside.

The barn burned brightly quickly. It had a very intense flame. She was sure that she got Spike. After burning for awhile, all that was left were some ashes. She looked around for his corpse, but out of nowhere he dove out from where he was hiding and grabbed her neck and rode her back.

She began bucking asking frantically, “How did you escape and survive that!?”

Spike said, “I’m a dragon. We bathe in lava. Did you really think a simple fire would burn me alive?”

She kept bucking around until she tripped on one of the charred pieces of wood. Spike then grabbed searched quickly for something to use. He found that Applejack still had her rope. He took it and tied her up the way she taught him long ago. She tried to struggle her way out, but couldn’t escape.

Spike felt like this was the final fact he needed to prove she was a fake. “If you were the real Applejack, you would have easily escaped that rope already. Admit it already and tell me who you are!!?”

Just then the screeching began again, but he wasn’t going to lose that easily. He covered his ears, until she was done. After she was finished her loud yells, she was too tired to do anything to him. “You done yet?” Spike asked.

Breathing heavily, “Fine! I’m not the real Applejack.”

“Who are you then?” Spike asked again. The evil Applejack was about to say something, but Spike suddenly felt cold.

Spike woke up in shock that he was covered in ice. “What happened!?” Spike looked around frantically wondering where he was. He realized he was in the Cutie Mark Crusader’s Clubhouse. Scootaloo was laughing in the background while Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had a look of concern for Spike.

He realized that they forcibly woke him up. He was kind of upset that he couldn’t uncover the truth, but would it have uncovered the truth or was that really just a nightmare that he is having because of what happened in the past?

While Spike was in deep thought, Scootaloo used another bucket of ice on his back. He yelled in pain. “Why did you do that again!?”

“Because you were ignoring all of your friends.” Scootaloo said in defense.

Spike just realized everything around him. “I’m sorry guys. I just had a weird dream. It’s a randomly recurring dream that happened ever since I left Ponyville.”

Sweetie Belle excitedly said, “You should tell us about it!”

Spike felt a little tired. “I feel like I have been telling stories too often on my journey.”

The CMC got really curious of Spike’s Journey. “Tell us already and leave no details.”

Spike felt like he was a story teller. He then began his story again from after he left Ponyville. He decided to spice up the story so he wouldn’t bore himself again.

The girls all listened and had their laughs and tears. Spike then finished his story and they were all clapping. Sweetie still wanted to know about his dreams. “Spike. Why don’t you talk about those dreams you were having?”

“Well I am a little tired. I’ll tell you tomorrow alright. I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep these past few days.” Spike bargained.

Sweetie wanted to hear it now, but it’s better if he got his sleep. “Alright then, but you better tell us tomorrow!”

“Ok.” Spike promised. “Now I’ll go sleep. You all can do whatever I suppose. I doubt you guys will wake me when I pass out.”

The girls allowed him to go rest and immediately had a devious grin on their faces as the pulled out some make-up.

Author's Note

Well we seem to be getting close to the end. Will it end where it all began? Who is the real villain or the villains behind it all? Hopefully it doesn't become too predictable.

P.S. These two chapters were too short to be kept separate, so I just combined them. Also I recently looked back at previous chapters before my new chapters and I find so many mistakes or just poor writing. I guess I have a lot more cleaning to do, but the story won't change if anyone is worried. Also I missed you guys from the comment section and apologize for the long wait for all of this.

Chapter 17: Intermission VII (Wary Rarity)

Spike felt a little tickle on his nose. He kept swiping at it, but it kept coming back. He sneezed and woke up. When he opened his eyes, the sun glared right back into them. It blinded him for a bit as he rubbed his eyes. With blurry eyes he looked around and was shocked as he saw a multicolored mane in front of him. His first thought was Rainbow Dash, but then he noticed a pure white coating and felt a different sort of presence around him. Their wasn’t a malicious intent in her eyes, but a much more soothing and pleasant feel. Seems like his nightmares may have come to an end.

When his vision cleared however, he noticed no pony was there. ‘What was that weird presence.’ Spike thought as he wiped his eyes. He noticed the crusaders weren’t in the treehouse. Spike then thought to himself, ‘Well I should probably get going. I’d hate to overstay my welcome here. Heh, like this town would ever welcome me again.’ He looked out the window to judge the time and it looks like the train is probably already running.

Spike got up to find himself a mirror to tidy up. When Spike looked for a mirror, something surprised him. He looked behind him and saw a beautiful heart shaped message reading, “Dear Spike, Sorry we couldn’t be here to say good morning to you, but we had to go eat breakfast. We will bring you some so wait for us ok? Don’t just go leaving us again. Love Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. P.S. Don’t be mad at us.”

Spike was confused by that last part of their message, but reading it brought a tear to his eye. He then decided, “Why not stay a little longer. Besides, I guess I promised them a story.”

Spike then found himself a mirror and his face went from a happy smile to one of terror. It instantly clicked in his head what they meant by ‘Don’t be mad at us’ as he saw his face looked like a geisha from Japony. He clenched his claws, but let loose. He then began to chuckle which turned into a hearty laugh. How could he be mad at such a light-hearted prank. Spike then went to clean his face with a rag and waited patiently for the crusaders to return.

Meanwhile in another part of Equestria, Twilight and her friends were already Ponyville bound. They entered the first train to Ponyville. This was their best opportunity to at least get a chance to speak to Spike. It’s sad, but they will have to somehow capture or corner him without harming him in any way or he will run again.

Twilight was having mixed feelings as they were riding the train. She didn’t know what she was going to even say to Spike. Their is no amount of sorry that can cover this up. She was happy that she had a chance to set things right, but the doubt that Spike would leave still haunted her. She wished that everything would go back to the way it was before the catastrophe happened.

Twilight looked around and noticed that the others were also having a rough time too. They were probably thinking the same thing. One thing that did bother Twilight was how Rarity was acting. She was cold, unmoving, and just staring out the window. Throughout this entire adventure, Rarity seemed always to be hesitant and distant. She didn’t even offer to come. Something isn’t right here.

Twilight then decided to chat with the others and see if she can learn any extra info about Spike and maybe a little about Rarity. She first went to Applejack. Twilight didn’t get to learn much from yesterday and Applejack was with Rarity in Canterlot.

Twilight asked, “Can I sit here?” Applejack motioned it was ok. Twilight then continued, “Applejack. I know we haven’t had much time to talk about everything, so can we just talk about this?”

Applejack guessed she meant about last night, “Well other than what I told you about Spike heading for Ponyville for some reason, Braeburn talked to me about how Spike was acting. This is going to be really rough for everyone.”

Twilight wondered, “What do you mean by it being rough for everyone?”

“Well Braeburn described Spike as someone who was hiding under a mask. On the outside he looked happy, but he was keeping everyone distant. The only one who got close was Apple Leaves, but even still he kept a safe distance. It’s like he is acting more like a… dragon.”

Those words offended Twilight. Spike isn’t like those other dragons. “Spike will never be like those other dragons! He actually cares for his friends!”

Rainbow Dash stopped eavesdropping and entered the conversation, “Well we know Spike isn’t like those other dragons. He is probably scared of getting hurt again. Let’s face it. We were Spike’s closest friends and we messed up bad. I’d be surprised if he didn’t keep himself distant from others.”

Pinkie and Fluttershy then joined the conversation, leaving Rarity by herself still looking out the window in deep thought. She hasn’t even noticed the chatting from behind.

Fluttershy added, “When I saw Spike face to face, I wanted to say something to him, but my voice wouldn’t come out. I saw the look on his face and it was the first time I’ve ever seen anyone look at me with those eyes.”

This was new to Twilight, “What do you mean?”

“Spike just looked at me as if I were a monster. The look he gave flooded me with emotions. It just hurt to look him in the eyes even for the quick glance we had. It makes me scared to see him again. Everypony is probably going to go through the same feeling too.” Fluttershy warned.

They all began wondering how they would face Spike. If it’s like how Fluttershy described, then it will be a truly terrible experience. Rainbow Dash then sprang up and said, “No matter how painful it is, we have to do this! For both us and Spike! The pain we feel from this is nothing compared to what he felt. We aren’t going to cower now when he is just around the corner!”

This gave the other ponies confidence. They all agreed in unison that they would not falter. Twilight however still wanted to talk to the others about Rarity and her odd behavior. Even now she isn’t participating in the conversation. “Hey girls, I have to ask a personal question.” All ponies were all ears for Twilight, “Have you noticed Rarity acting weird throughout this entire fiasco?”

The girls then began thinking back since the beginning and realized that she has been a little odd randomly. They even noticed how she wasn’t with them even as loud as they were being. Twilight started with, “Like since the beginning of this, Rarity was really against talking about Spike. She didn’t even want to come with us to get him back.”

Applejack then added, “Well Rarity was a little odd when we were walking to Fancy’s place. She avoided anything relating to Spike. She always talked about Fancy. This doesn’t sound too odd from the usual Rarity, but it’s like she used Fancy to change the topic and cover things up.”

Pinkie and Fluttershy decided to defend Rarity. Pinkie started, “Come on gals. This is Rarity. She is probably just deeply hurt about Spike. She may not want to share it. When I was in Canterlot after talking to Candy Dumpling, she took me to her friend’s house, which was Fancy’s house. I didn’t want to bother anypony, but I overheard a little piece of Rarity’s talk with Fancy and it sounds like she genuinely cares about Spike.”

Fluttershy also added, “Rarity wouldn’t hurt Spike after all the times Spike was there for her and how she cares for him.”

This kind of quelled the group’s suspicion. Pinkie then went to Rarity just to help prove her point. “Rarity! Tell everyone how much you care for Spike!”, but Rarity didn’t respond. It was as if she was in her own world. She was murmuring stuff to herself creepily.

Pinkie then overheard Rarity mumble, “If only I never found that thing… I’m so sorry Spike.” Pinkie let out an audible gasp and walked backwards back to the main group. Now even Pinkie was suspicious of Rarity. She told the group what she just heard and they all began to feel uneasy around their friend. Rarity, however, just continued sighing and thinking about past events.

----------------------------------------One month prior to the story----------------------------------------

Rarity and Spike were locating gems near the Smokey Mountain region, just northwest of Ponyville. Rarity had been getting strong responses from there using her gem detecting spell. They found a few common gems there, but never found the big one. As much as Rarity hated it, they decided to camp out near the base of the mountain. Luckily Rarity packed pretty much everything that wasn’t nailed down to the floor in her bags that Spike brought up.

Spike began setting up her extravagant tent, while Rarity was looking at a map that was full of X’s for places they’ve been. Rarity thought to herself, ‘How is it this tricky to find the source of the gem. It’s almost as if it were moving by itself. The source also seems to be too strong when we get close and my spell has very little use then. We have to find it soon, I can’t stand being here another night.’

Spike then reported to Rarity holding a salute, “I finished setting up camp.” The camp was ready with a fire pit lit, her tent set up properly, and even had a cup of tea ready for her. Rarity thanked Spike and entered the tent. Spike then went to work on his own simple tent, which took no time for him to set up.

Rarity thought to herself, ‘Well at least I have Spikey Wikey here to make things better.’ She then went to where Spike was setting up his tent and offered, “Spike, shall I lend you a hand?”

Spike responded, “You don’t have to do that. A lady like you should just relax. It’s my honor to help you.”

She knew Spike didn’t mean anything negative about treating her as just a lady who just needs rescuing. “Spike. I may be a lady, but I am more than capable of helping. I’m not just some weak mare needing to be rescued.”

Spike then said, “But I already finished.”

Rarity sees the completed tent and wants to say something, but what was there to say. “Well Spike, how about I make us dinner and then we can go to bed.”

Spike objected, “Don’t worry Rarity I can-.”, but Spike was cut off with a hoof silencing his lips.

Rarity then gave him a stern look, “I will make dinner okay? You just sit over there and wait.”, she said pointing to the chair beside the firepit.

Spike just nodded and waited patiently. Spike began thinking to himself, ‘What did I do wrong?’

Rarity then brought out an fancy looking dish. Spike, feeling famished, was ready to destroy the food, but he also didn’t want to look like a pig. He restrained himself from eating quickly and ate calmly like Rarity was doing.

Rarity brought up, “I’m surprised that Twilight let you come with me so easily Spike.”

Spike rubbed the back of his neck nervously saying, “Well you know… a dragon’s got to grow up at some time right?” Spike then remembered, 'But you HAVE to let me go Twilight! This is a great chance for me to impress her!' Spike thought to himself, 'Thank Celestia she let me go after begging all day.'

Rarity then joked, “Just don’t turn into a rampaging beast again.”

Unfortunately it struck Spike a little too close to the heart. Rarity immediately noticed and apologized, “I am so sorry Spike. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Spike just put a smile on and said, “Don’t worry Rarity. I know you didn’t mean anything bad by that. Just joking around.”

Rarity hates when Spike puts on a facade from his true feelings. She can always see when he does it and it truly bothers her. The rest of the meal became an awkward silence. After eating a delicious meal Spike felt very sleepy. He thanked Rarity and excused himself as he headed to bed. Rarity felt bad for Spike and felt idiotic for utter that terrible joke.

When they both entered their respective tents and got ready for bed, Spike happily said to Rarity, “Good night Rarity!”

Hearing that put a little smile on Rarity as she calmly replied, “Good night Spike.”
Rarity was still annoyed by the source being so elusive, but maybe they’ll have better luck tomorrow.

After waking up, they immediately began traverse the mountain side again. Rarity was already getting tired from the walking, but pushed on to discover this gem. Rarity then jumped onto Spike after hearing terrible crashing noise. They heard the noise come from the inside of a cave. When they entered the cave, it was pitch black. Spike had a small gas lamp with him to illuminate the place fortunately. As they walked deeper into the cave the light went out.

Rarity shrieked, grabbed onto Spike, and they closed their eyes from the sudden darkness. When they both began to open them, they noticed that there were gems lined along the ceiling illuminating everything with a light blue shade. They then continued into the cave and found a room that was surrounded in gems everywhere.

They had found it! They have found the one piece of treasure they were looking for. Rarity quickly marked the spot on the map where they found the treasure and started to take inventory of the gem cave. She told Spike, “Spike we found it! This is what I was detecting! I’m so happy!” Spike was happy that she was happy, but Spike also wanted to chow down a little. Rarity then hugged Spike and continued, “I couldn’t have found this without you Spike! You’re the best!”

Spike pretty much melted in her grasp. Rarity then got back her composure and then asked Spike, “Spike could you be a dear and grab the cart so we can begin excavating this mine.” Spike without hesitation left immediately to grab a cart. Rarity began thinking, ‘This is going to be at least a few days, maybe even weeks of excavating to get all of this out of here.’

Rarity then noticed something. All of the gems were growing towards one direction. She began heading towards it and noticed a random horn. It looked red towards the tip, but darker towards the base. She then saw something amazing. It was generating crystals slowly. This horn was the cause of all the crystals that she sees around her. She then takes the horn, but then hears another crashing noise. She turns behind her and noticed that one of the large gems hanging on the ceiling fell off.

The gem then began rising up and took the form of a beast. It became very aggressive when it saw that Rarity had the horn in her magical aura. It charged at her immediately and Rarity stowed the horn in her little pouch and took cover. The beast tried to claw at her, but couldn’t reach. She then took a deep breath to calm down as this beast tried to smash it’s way through. Rarity then began charging her horn in the direction of the beast. In a flash she disappeared. She then reappeared near the entrance of the exit. The beast then senses her and begins charging after her as she tries to exit.

With the beast in pursuit of Rarity and Rarity being tired from all the walking, it began closing the gap. Unfortunately for the gem beast the exit was getting smaller and smaller. It eventually got to the point where it could not continue chasing her. In a desperate move the beast then shed a bit of itself to pursue her. It got faster because of this and closed the gap once more. It was stopped again by being too large and shed again until it was the size of a filly.

When Rarity exited the cave with the gem behind her, she turned and noticed that it was now smaller than her. It tried to attack, but was held off by a simple hoof to its head. It was like a small child going versus an adult. Spike then returned with the cart and noticed the weird tiny gem beast trying to attack Rarity. He rushed to her, but then noticed how unthreatening the beast was.

Spike asked, “Should I be worried about this?”

Rarity responded by levitating the beast and tossing it off the cliff. “Not anymore.” She then began to tell Spike about what happened, “... After you left, that beast fell from the roof and was much larger before. It chased me out of the cave and you saw everything after that."

Spike praised Rarity, "Wow! You're amazing Rarity."

Rarity then proudly said, "Well I am more than just a lady after all." Spike then realized why she was a little upset last night. Rarity then added "It appeared after I took this.”

Rarity showed the horn to Spike. “Doesn’t this look familiar.” Spike announced. Rarity was thinking the same thing. “So what’s so important about his horn anyways?”

Rarity told Spike, “Well those gems were being made from this.”

Spike was surprised, “WOW! That’s incredible!”

Rarity replied, “I know right! Now all we need to do is collect the rest of those gems...” Spike and Rarity then heard a loud boom, followed by the entire cave collapsing. “Well at least we have the source of the gems and we can always make more with this.”

Rarity and Spike then headed back to camp to pack things up and head home. Unfortunately for them, they had no idea what they brought back with them.

Author's Note

I have a question. Should I change the title of each chapter to better reflect what's going on in the chapter or just continue my current trend?

Chapter 4: Canterlot IV (Final)

“Spike! The library is on fire!! All of my studies, books, everything is all gone. Just get out of my sight!!!”

“But Twi if you would just listen-”

“Spike just go away. Don’t call me Twi either. JUST GO!!!”

Spike wakes up sweating and in a puddle of his own tears on the table. He looks outside and see’s that it is still not yet dawn. As he tried to get up his body was aching from sleeping so uncomfortable. He then stretches and walk toward upstairs and goes to his room and lays on his bed. He tries to sleep, but that last statement from his dream keeps him awake.

“Why wouldn’t she just let me speak? She didn’t even try to hear my side of the story” Spike said while sobbing. “If she let me talk she would have known that-” Spike then sees a figure at his door. He was thinking that he might have been too loud and awoke one of the ponies. The door opened with purple magic.
‘Wait purple magic?’ Spike thought to himself. He then noticed the pony figure getting closer to him.

“I am sorry that I woke you-” before Spike finished he gave a fearful gasp. “Tw- Twi- Twilight!?” he said as he jumped back a bit.

“Hi Spike.” She looked happy, but in a crooked way. “How are you?”

“I- I’m just fine. What are you doing here?”

“Oh I am just here to... finish what the other ponies couldn’t. You know how much happier everypony is after you left?”

“Huh?”

“They are all doing so much better since you left. Fluttershy is getting along more with her friends and is more open. RD is now in the wonderbolts. Pinkie is now running Sugercube Corner and the business is blooming. Even Rarity got her own Stallion and her business is much better. AJ got her whole farm fixed thanks to what you did.”

“But Twi it wasn’t-” Spike was cut off yet again.

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT” Twilight looked insane and heavily breathing, but then regained her composure. “Well now to ensure we keep our happiness we agreed to get rid of the “problem” in case it ever returned.” her horn began to glow and an ominous black magic goo ensnared the dragon’s limbs.

He tried to escape, but what being strangled by the magic. “Twilight, it wasn’t my fault”

“What are you talking about? Of course it was. Now go away like a good dragon.” The smile on her face was so beyond insanity. As he started to blackout he was hit by a splash of water. **As if you guys didn’t see this coming**

Spike was awoken in his bed soaked. He looked around and saw Candy with a bucket. He then put his claws around his neck and checked his body.

“Sorry Spike. You were moving around so much and saying weird things. I was getting scared and worried” she said with such a sad face.

“Thank you Candy.” She gave Spike a confused look. “You saved me from that nightmare. What time is it?” He looked outside. “Aren’t you late for school?”

“No it’s the weekend.”

“Oh right. Sorry I sort of lost track of time.” Spike then remembers the party was also today and of course the plan they made. “Shouldn’t we get ready for the party and our surprise”

“The party isn’t for a few more hours”

“But it is better we get ready now. We should go as soon as we can to set up. Also Dancer might need us to help.”

“Aww, but she has her butlers and maids to do that.”

“Well let’s see what we can do anyways. Stop being lazy”

“Fine” Candy had groaned and made her way to her room to get dressed.

Spike then waited for her to finish. When she got out Spike was a little shocked. She looked very nice in her dress. When Spike then turned away while blushing. Candy noticed this and started glaring at Spike.

“You’re not falling for me are you”

Spike felt a needle strike at him with that comment. “Yeah right, I fall for someone as young as you. Not in a million years”

“Then why are you blushing”

“I’m not blushing. Whatever let’s just go.”

They both left the shop with Candy giggling. When they arrived at Fancy Pants Manor they were halted by the guards. The guard recognized Candy, but were staring at Spike.
“Sorry sir, do you have an invitation?”

Spike was flustered when he realized he left his invite back at the house. “Uh sorry I sort of forgot it.”

“Well it is obvious that we can’t let you in then.”

“Candy go on first. I will return with my invitation.”

Just then Dancer came through the door. “SPIKE!!! I am glad you could make it”

The guards then looked at each other and rather than getting a scolding from the little filly, they let Spike through.

When they got passed the gates they walked for a few minutes passed a garden filled with different birds and plants of all kinds. They had beautiful flowing streams and a mini waterfall which had a small cave inside. Only rich people... err pony’s right? They finally arrived at the front door after being lost for a while and having a bad run in with a chicken.

“Seriously, who even owns a 10 foot chicken? Why do they even need it?” Spike said almost completely out of breath.

“I don’t know. I never had that problem when I come here by myself.” Said Candy out of breath as well. “Well at least we are able to relax inside.”

As they entered the main room, Spike was at shock at the size and beauty of the place. The pillars were statues made of white marble of ponies holding the ceiling. The ceiling looked as if it were painted by angels. The floor had a design which was Fancy Pants’ logo for his company. It truly was amazing. It looked like no other building in Canterlot.

As Spike let his mouth hang for a while, Fancy Pants came walking down one of the double spiral staircase. “Spike and Candy Dumpling. You are early”

“Well we came to see if we could help out.” Candy said with a big smile on her face.

‘I was the one who thought of it. She didn’t even want to’ Spike thought to himself.

“Well my maids and butlers will be handling that. Although you are welcome to stay.” One of the cooks then asked Fancy for what to serve. “Well I will be off making preparations.”

When Fancy left the two fillies got serious. “Alright everything is ready for the plans. Now we wait.” Dancer said with a devious tone. “But first... Spike you can’t go to a party with that attire.”

Spike wore nothing. He really had nothing to dress in considering he had outgrown most of his old clothes. He was practically a teen dragon now. The size of an average stallion and still bipedal. “What’s wrong with this?”

“Spike you must wear the proper attire. Even if you aren’t a pony.” She then called her personal makeover professionals to take care of the dragon. Before he got to say anything he was taken and dragged away by them. All the two fillies could hear were heavy machinery and the occasional scream.

“So Dancer, are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“Of course”

It soon became evening. The two fillies played games while the dragon was still in “intensive care.” The guests started to arrive. A lot of her classmates from school showed up all wearing wonderful dresses and suits. After enough guests arrived, the music started, played by Ms. Octavia and Vinyl in a classical techno duet. The ponies were dancing and cheering. It was truly a fun time for everypony. After a few hours of dancing, party games, and great laughs Spike finally was released from the torture of the makeover specialists.

When Spike walked down the stairs, everything just stopped. There was one pony still laughing obnoxiously, but was quieted by another. They were all staring at the dragon. Spike didn’t know what to think. Were they scared of him or shocked he was a dragon? Well it was neither. All the ponies, even the older ones, were all amazed at how well he looked.

“Spike you finally joined us” Candy said out of nowhere.

“Why are they all staring at me?”

“Probably at how amazing you look. I was worried by how long it was taking, but now I think they did a great job.”

Spike had a sleek black tux with a single red rose. His scales shined like amethysts and his spikes were a little more back rather than how they usually stood upward. He looked like a true gentledrake. All the mares were eager to talk to him and the stallions had both eyes of respect and jealousy.

With this Spike was swamped by the overwhelming number of ponies trying to speak to him. It wasn’t until Fancy Pants called for everypony’s attention that he was safe. Spike and the two fillies met when this happened and started putting their plan into action. Candy quickly got out of her dress and into another. Spike found the two boys by the punch bowl.

“So how do you boys like the drinks” Candy asked.

The two were surprised she would even speak to them. They tried to ignore her.

“Hmm you know, you two are real weak when it takes both of you to beat up one little filly. You both must feel so manly after that.”

The two boys spat out their drinks at each other and were surprised to hear what she said. They both got angry and started chasing her. As they got in the crowd they found her headed for the stairs. As they caught up to her on the stairs they cornered her at the top of the stairs.

They were about to attack until a spotlight was on them. “Well well, looks like we have two party poopers trying to attack one of our guests.” Candy said in the mic on stage. When the boys looked they were being watched by quite a few ponies. Even their teacher was in the group. When they looked back at Candy it was actually Dancer.

Everypony was just in shock as they saw Dancer, who was crying with fake tears, about to be attacked. Fancy Pants was probably the most shocked. The parents of the two ponies then came and apologized to Fancy and Dancer. As they walked out of the party they were met with eyes of detest and disgust. They were only reaching the tip of their punishments. As they walked from the door they saw the two fillies smiling happily and waving good-bye to them.

Spike then came out of the shadow of the stairs with a smile. “Well it worked out all good. You won’t need to worry about them anymore.”

“Yeah, I was scared a little though. I was wondering where you were hiding in case things didn’t go as planned.”

“Sorry, I had to be hidden well. Everything still went perfectly.”

“Now let’s enjoy the rest of this night!”

They partied well into the night making wonderful memories. Only one more guest was put out for drinking too much cider. It was still a great party and ended with fireworks which left a note from Fancy to his daughter saying “Number one daughter, Fairy Dancer.” By the time things ended, Spike was carrying Candy on his back. Fairy Dancer was also passed out on Fancy’s back.

“Well Fancy Pants, I am truly surprised. I never thought of you as a stallion who could party or even be down to Equestria.”

“Well I didn’t start out as a rich man Mr. Spike. I had to work hard to get where I am now.”

“Well Fancy for what it’s worth you have my respect and sorry for calling you a money grubbing stallion.”

“Think nothing of it. I do hope you come visit again.”

“Well see ya later. This little filly on my back needs her rest.”

“Well good night then.”

Spike went home happy. When they got home he put the filly in her bed and dropped in his bed. Spike wouldn’t be having nightmares tonight.

The four weeks went by fast after that. Fairy Dancer became the new club leader of the drama club and Candy was still popular. The day came when Celestia would meet her guests. Spike woke up early to sneak out, but just before he left the shop he was met by Joe and Candy.

“Well Spike it is time for you to see the Princess right.” Joe said surprising Spike.

“We knew you would try to sneak out like this” Candy added.

“Sorry guys. After all that you have done, saying good-bye would have been hard for both me and you all.”

Before Spike could continue he was given a bag, it had a lot of equestrian currency. Spike was confused.

“It is for helping around the shop and with our family. Know that you will always be welcomed here.”

“But Joe, I can’t accept this.”

“Of course you can. Just think of it as pay for working.”

“Well there is no fighting you guys is there.” Spike said with a sigh

“Nope” Candy added.

“Well then this is good-bye” Joe said finally.

“Nah, this isn’t good-bye. Just a see you later.”

When Spike said this, the two ponies started to have tears. Candy hugged the dragon. It felt like it lasted for hours when it really lasted like 2 minutes. When they broke the hug the ponies saw Spike crying as well. Spike then turned and started walking out the door. Oddly enough there were more ponies outside. All the ponies he helped, even Fancy and his daughter were there. They were all saying their good-byes.

Spike was in total shock and even more tears flowed from his eyes.

“Sorry Spike, but I just couldn’t keep it a secret from the others” Candy said with a smile and still tear eyed.

“No, don’t be sorry. Thank you.”

Spike continued walking and saying good-bye to each pony and receiving many gifts. Spike’s personal favorite gift was the suit from Dancer. As he turned at the small crowd he waved good-bye and they waved back. He then started walking to the royal palace.
There was already a line outside the palace. When he got into the line, all the ponies recognized him and let him go by. Even the guards from before showed a token of respect to him. He entered the palace without any troubles. That is where he saw Celestia in all her magnificent divine beauty. She was surprised to see Spike.

As he walked slowly to her he presented her with a scroll. She read the contents and was even more shocked.

“Spike, is this what you really want?”

Spike just looked down and nodded with tears in his eyes still. Her horn started shining bright and she shot a beam of light. **To be Continued**