Storm Dragons

Chapters

The Storm Dragons Pt.2
Family
Canterlot Pt.1
Canterlot Pt.3
The Storm Dragons Pt.1
Canterlot Pt.2

The Storm Dragons Pt.2

Spike looked at Garble. "Seriously, why did you think we were actually going to switch sides?"

Garble glared at Spike. "Oh, I don't know, why are you such a great actor?" Asked Garble as he grumbled.

Ember groaned. "Garble, we are not ever going to leave the order."

Spike nodded as he grabbed the contracts from Crows body, he looked them over. "Ok, I'm not so sure of that, look."

Ember and Garble looked at the contract. "500 bits a month, free food, free housing, education, free wings up to 3000 bits, including mods, vacation, training."

Ember and Garble dropped their jaws. "I know, that's really great, but look at the fine print." Said Spike as he pointed to an asterisk at the very bottom of the page.

* only available to officers with 6+ years in the Empire.

Spike shrugged. "Yeah, I knew it was too good to be true." Said Spike as he burned the contract into ash and letting it be taken by the wind. Spike looked at his crew. "Ok, lets head back to the wings and head back to the Flame Wing, Garble this time keep an eye out for umbra, Ember contact Ruby and tell her to get the Flame Wing to the extraction point."

Ember nodded. "Right, I'll get on the coms."

Spike nodded. "Good, we should only be a half mile from the wings, let’s move."

After trekking through the woods that scattered the large island in the sky, the group of dragons reached their wings. Wings are gem powered vehicles that allowed Sky Knights to travel from island to island quickly, and in the academy each knight was given a model of their choosing and given 2 weeks to customize it. Spike got a Paragon class wing, a 2 wheel motorcycle with a 20 foot wing span, at first it was barely able to keep above the clouds for more than 10 minutes, but when Spike was done with it, he changed out the engine for a supercharged elemental converter system that runs best on fire and lightning gems, then he added a twin boost system for when he needed extra speed. Then Ruby added a detachable side car for the team’s scout and Spike's best friend Peewee. Once it was all done, Spike painted the Paragon red, purple and green, to match his and peewee's colors.

Ember had a Hydra class wing. Hydras were mostly hover based that were slower in general but more durable than the Paragons. But Ember kind of said screw that and made it faster and more durable. She exchanged the normal 4 wheel design for a 3 wheel setup, she changed out the engine for the same elemental converter system as Spike, but she got a model that ran best on ice and wind, which made the wing faster and only something she could pilot. Adding a blue paint job and a few elemental cannons for attacking, Ember really made her wing into her own.

Lastly Garble had a Basalis class wing. The Basalis wings were the slowest of all the 8 wing types, but they were built like tanks. They used powerful jets to keep them up, but this had the effect of being cost heavy when it came to fuel. So once Ruby got her hands on it, she knocked Garble out and set to work. She swapped out the fuel system to an experimental bio gem converter, that used plant and water gems to produce a massive jump in power and fuel efficiency. Then Garble, once he was calm about Ruby touching his ride, added a triple gem cannon for defense and attacks. A triple gem cannon utilized the elements of three gems to make a powerful blast of energy, but the only caveat was the gems had to be compatible with each other. Fire can't be mixed with water, but can be enhanced with plant and air, while water can go with air and cold, air can work with lightning and fire, but not with earth. So, this was either for the first attack when the Dragons had the most gems on hand, or the last ditch chance and pray that they had a good combo on hand. But most of the time, thanks to the very vibrant red paint job on the Basalis, it was mainly for the first counter attack when they were spotted by the Empire.

Spike hopped onto his Paragon. "Spike, I'm in position, but you better hurry, I just got word that every Sky Knight squad has been summoned by the council. They want us to meet on Canterlot. Something big is happening, the princesses are even going to be there." Said Ruby as she popped up on the communication screen.

Spike sighed. "Really, why are they calling the Sky Knights, don't the ponies have the Sky Guard?"

Ruby sighed. "Spike, you got to let this go, don't you think 5 years is long enough?"

Spike growled. "What, my mother shipped me to the Knight academy, without a word, I only get a letter on my birthday from her, and she didn't even say goodbye. I'm not sure that can be resolved with just a meeting." Spike sighed. "We're going, but the moment its done, we're going back out on patrol, I don't want to talk to any of them if it can be avoided."

Ruby sighed. "Fine, but the meeting is in two days, and it'll take us just over 1 and a half to get there if we book it."

Spike nodded. "Fine, heading to the extraction point."

Author's Note

Yeah, I know the first two are short, but this is the world building chapters, next one will be short as well, but the one after that is a lot longer and more reveling.

Family

The Flame Wing, a massive air ship that acted as the Storm Dragon's home, workshop, and command center, was a Leviathan class wing, that ran on magic gems. Each knight squad was granted access to a leviathan wing for long distance patrols, but they had to store them when they returned to the base in Dracona, this was for repairs and maintenance, while the squad got debriefed, patched up, and in a few cases involving Spike and his crew, reprimanded for being reckless. But the Flame Wing and her crew was kind of overdue for all that. But thanks to Garble and Ruby, it really didn't matter, they got fuel from umbra bases they raided, they got food instead of payment from islands they helped, and parts from trading gems with whoever would sell to them.

Spike and group flew into the hangar of the Flame Wing and pulled their wings into each of their work areas. Ember walked over to Spike. "Spike, you going to be ok?"

Spike sighed. "I'm not sure, I haven't seen them in 5 years, and I'm not sure if I even want to." Spike sighed as he really didn't want to talk about this right now. "Ruby, close the hangar and set course for Canterlot island."

"On it Spike." Said Ruby through the ship’s intercom. The whole crew felt the ship turn to the left before leveling. "ETA to Canterlot is 37 hours."

Spike nodded. "You guys do what you need to do, but don't expect to stay in Canterlot for very long, we'll resupply somewhere when we arrive but we're leaving that night. I'm going to my room."

Ember sighed and tried to follow Spike to help him, but Garble stopped her. "Hey, just let him think, this isn't something he was expecting to do." Ember nodded at Garble.

Spike was laying down in his bed, he was trying to figure out a way to get in, get out, get gone, before he had a chance to talk to anyone. 'Ok, so if they have the meeting in the castle, I'm going to stay in the back. If it's in the council hall, I'm not even going to be able to get in, so that's great. Ember or Smolder can just report back to me about what they said, and I don't even need to get off the Wing.' Thought Spike, he then groaned. "Why did you do this mom?"

Suddenly a large phoenix flew into the room and landed on his perch in the corner. The phoenix looked at his best friend and owner and noticed how upset he looked, so he squawked.

Spike looked over at his bud. "Hey Peewee, sorry you couldn't come on this mission, there were just too many defenses and a large fire bird could have set the whole island on fire."

Peewee hummed and flew over to the bed. He walked over to Spike and started pecking his head. "Hey stop that Peewee." Said Spike as he tried to swat his buddy away, but Peewee wasn't having that, so he just kept pecking. "Seriously what's your deal?" Peewee squawked something and Spike sighed. "Oh, well, you know how I feel about them." Peewee nodded. "But, why summon everyone, why not just use the normal messenger system like always. But no, all Sky Knight squads are getting summoned to the one place I rather not step foot in again." Peewee sighed, he had known Spike before he was shipped to the academy, and he knew how much pain his mother did when she shipped him away. Peewee rubbed Spike's back with his wing.

Spike sighed. "Thanks bud. Hey, let’s just blow this thing off and head to Joe's for a few dozen while this whole thing is going on. What do you say?" Peewee smiled. "Sweet, think he remembers me?" Peewee shrugged.

The island of Canterlot, was the center of the pony kingdom. It was ruled by the five princesses of Equestria, while only two resided in this city, it was these two that were the most powerful, as they controlled the sun and moon. But right now, the eldest of the two was getting her ear chewed out by her little sister. "I mean seriously, why would you lie to him, and how did you get Dragon Lord Torch to agree to this?" Asked Luna Solaris, the princess of the moon and dreams. She was a tall pony with a magical horn and wings showing that she was an alicorn, her navy blue fur and magical night time mane contrasted with the pissed off face she had. "Spike must think this is for an important meeting, how will he respond when he finds out that his squad was the only one to get this message?"

The older of the two sisters, a very tall white alicorn, with a long white horn and wings, hid behind her three color mane as she sat on her throne. "Luna, please calm down."

Luna glared at her sister. "Celestia, I have seen into Spike's dreams, like you asked, and what I saw was horrible. He believes that you never cared for him and just decided to toss him away to the dragon's Sky Knight academy."

Celestia sighed as she was trying to hold back her sadness. "I know, and if that is the cost to know he was safe from Sombra, then I don't care if he hates me."

Luna sighed. "So, then why summon him to Canterlot?"

Celestia sighed. "Luna, the summoning is not only for me to see him, but to reunite him with them. I want the knight's best squad, and the guard's best squad, to work together as a sign of our peace and united effort against Sombra."

Luna growled. "Seriously?! How the hell are you not insane? You want to have Twilight and the others to join Spike after you completely cut him out of their lives?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes."

Luna rubbed her eyes. "What makes you certain that he will even show up?"

Celestia smiled. "I know he won't, that is why I've already made plans to talk to him."

Luna sighed. "Sister, I hope this doesn't end with more heartache for him."

Celestia nodded. "As do I."

Author's Note

I really dont know where this was going at first, but I will reveale everything in the next chapter.

Canterlot Pt.1

After a long flight, the Flame Wing arrived at the Sky Guard Academy at the edge of Canterlot island, the only place for Leviathan class wings to safely dock in the equine kingdom. Spike decided to blow off the meeting and head to an old haunt of his with Peewee, the little fire bird flew off earlier, and said he would meet Spike there. Spike looked at Ember and Smolder. Smolder was a teenage dragoness, with orange scales and a magenta fin, she always dreamed of being a sky knight like her older brother, and she was a great knight, but a little ego driven. Her ego got worse when she got assigned to the Storm Dragons squad, a few months after her older brother, Garble was. She wanted to impress her brother and that normally ended with her causing a problem, but Spike liked her spirit and he liked the idea of having some fresh blood in the crew. "Ok, Ember, Smolder, you two are heading to the meeting in the academy's meeting hall." Spike looked to Garble and Ruby. Ruby was a tan colored dragoness with deep ruby red hair that brightened at the tips, one of the the smartest dragonesses to ever enter the academy and she was the pilot of the Flame Wing on top of being the one in charge of maintenance. Normally dragons don't have hair, but it was possible for dragonesses to have hair, and for drakes to have facial hair. "Garble, Ruby, you two head to the market and buy some stuff that we could use."

All four nodded. "What are you going to do Spike?" Asked Ember.

Spike shrugged. "I'm going to head to a donut shop not too far away and see an old friend. I'll bring some back for everyone." Said Spike as he walked down the ramp.

Everyone sighed. "Come on, let’s go." Said Ember.

Spike walked into the shop; it was the same as he remembered it. A few tables and booths, a long counter with bar stools, a display case of donuts, and the smell of oil in the air. Spike smiled as he walked over to the counter and took a seat. Soon a large tan stallion walked over to Spike, he had an apron on and a happy smile. "So, what can I get you?"

Spike smiled. "I'll take 1 dozen glazed, 6 chocolate, 2 sprinkles, 1 coconut, 4 jelly filled, and one 3 bird seed for my friend that is going to come in soon."

The stallion nodded. "Sure, want a mug of hot chocolate to go with that Spike?"

Spike smiled. "You know me so well Joe, how's life?"

Joe shrugged as he walked over to a machine to start Spike's drink. "Pretty good, I get the students in the morning, get the professors at night, get the odd pony in-between, but today the place has been rented out, we were just waiting for the special guest."

Spike sighed. "Mother fucker, Celestia set this up, didn't she?"

"Hello Spike, you're looking well." Said Celestia as she walked out of the kitchen in the back.

Spike rolled his eyes. "Hello Princess, I take it this was all a lie then?"

Celestia sighed as she took a seat next to Spike. "Spike, can we not do this, I'm sorry for lying to you and your crew, but I had my reasons."

Spike just looked forward. "You have a lot of reasons then."

Celestia nodded. "Spike, there is nothing I wouldn't do to protect you."

Spike balled his fist. "Protect me? You sent me away from my home, without a word, without a chance to say goodbye to anyone. How is that protecting me?"

Joe sighed. "Spike, I have been read into the details, just because princess Celestia knew this was where you would go. Spike, Sombra tried to have her assassinated 6 years ago." Said Joe as he brought a mug of hot chocolate to Spike.

Spike looked at Celestia. "Wait, really?" Asked Spike, he didn't know about that.

Celestia nodded. "Yes Spike, and they were so close that they were able to do this to me." Said Celestia as she lifted her left wing, there was a large scar on the underside of where it met her back. "If they got that close, there was a possibility that they were able to get close to Luna and Cadance, they could take care of themselves, and Twilight was still in the academy. But you were innocent, just a little youngling that didn't know how bad the world could get. That's why I did it Spike; I didn't want to lose you too."

Spike laughed. "And look where that got me, I fight umbra's every day, I deal with the Empire's corruption and tyranny, I got held hostage just two days ago. I'm just lucky that the guard that was holding us was a good friend and an idiot." Spike sighed. "I knew I should have listened to Ember when she said this was a little weird."

1 hour ago, when the Flame Wing was nearing Canterlot, Spike and his crew were sitting in the helm. Ember was looking at the island. "So this is the place?"

Spike sighed. "Yep, welcome to my old home, the place I was hatched, raised, and lived, until I was torn away 5 years ago, by my mother." Spike leaned back. "I just hope she doesn't corner me on the streets if she spots me."

Ember sighed. "Spike, please, we'll go to the meeting, get back to the Wing and head out again in no time."

Spike nodded. "Right, but maybe we'll run into the old man, I haven't been yelled at in like 6 months."

Ember giggled. "Oh, I would love to see my father, but I don't see the Bloodstone, are we early?"

Spike hummed. "Nah, you know your father, he loves to make an entrance, and he's a big target, he probably is already here and the Bloodstone is probably just anchored on a nearby island."

Ember hummed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Spike sighed. "Really need to start listening to her more often."

Celestia looked at Spike. "Wait, Ember? As in Dragon Lord Torch's daughter?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, she's in my squad, and my nessfriend."

Celestia smiled. "Oh, you've grown up so much, I remember when you had that crush on Cadance when you were a toddler."

Spike sighed. "Mom, can we make this quick, I gave my crew orders to get things done and get going."

Celestia sighed. "Right, but that is not going to happen, I have grounded your ship for much needed repairs, and were retro fitting it with a few pocket rooms for your new crew members."

"What new crew members?" Asked Spike.

Celestia smiled. "You are now the commander of the first ever knight guard squadron, Spike."

Spike groaned. "How long have you been planning this?"

Celestia giggled. "Ever since you became the leader of the Storm Dragons."

Spike groaned. "If they're in the kitchen now, I'm going to be very upset at you."

Celestia chuckled, but she wanted to have a private conversation with Spike, so the others are moving right now. "No, they're meeting your crew right now."

Spike sighed. "Joe, can I get the donuts to go?" Joe suddenly dropped 5 boxes of donuts on the counter in front of Spike.

"I had a feeling this was going to happen Spike. So, I got them ready for you."

Spike sighed. "But I only ordered 2 boxes worth?"

Celestia smiled. "Well, one's for me, the rest are for your crew and Peewee."

Spike nodded as he took the boxes. "Ok, lets head back to my ship."

Celestia nodded. "Thank you again for letting us use your establishment Joe."

Joe bowed. "Think nothing of it Princess, Spike is a good friend and I am glad to have been able to help."

Celestia smiled as she opened the door for Spike.

Meanwhile on the Flame Wing, Ember was trying to not kill the new crew members that decided to get in the way of how things work. "I'm telling you; Spike is old enough to make his own decisions, you have no say in what he does anymore."

"And I'm telling you, that as his older sister and the one who hatched him, that he will not be allowed to have anyone in his bed at night." Yelled a lavender alicorn with long purple hair, with 2 highlights of differing shades of pink.

Ember growled. "I don't care, and some sister, you didn't even talk to him for 5 years, did you even know that he had a nessfriend?"

Twilight growled. "I told you, it was to protect him, his life was in danger and the Princess wanted to protect her son."

"HOW?! By shipping him to the Sky Knight academy, where he trained to be a great knight, and fight off Sombra's empire? I'm pretty sure that is the exact opposite of protecting him."

"Captain, please calm down." Asked a yellow Pegasus mare with a long pink mane. She was trying to calm down her squad leader.

Twilight took a deep breath. "Thank you Fluttershy, but I will not let some harlot sleep with Spike."

Ember growled at the insult. "Coming from the prude."

"SLUT!" Yelled Twilight.

"BITCH!" Yelled Ember.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?" Yelled Spike as he and Celestia walked into the Flame Wing and heard most of the insults.

Ember looked at Spike. "Spike, what is she doing here?" Asked Ember as she pointed to Celestia.

Spike sighed as he placed the boxes of donuts onto a table. "Well, right now, I'm more interested in finding out why my nessfriend and my older sister are fighting in my ship."

Twilight smiled at Spike as she walked over to him. "Spike, it's great to see you, you've grown so much."

Spike sighed. "Twilight, we're not going to just jump back to how it was, I know why my mother sent me away, but it doesn't make everything ok."

Twilight looked a little sad, but she understood. "Ok, you're right, but I did miss you Spike."

Spike smiled a little. "Yeah, I missed you too, Twi, and please do not insult my nessfriend, I do love her."

Ember smirked and stuck out her tongue. "And Ember, stop being a brat." Said Spike not even needing to look behind him to know Ember was being a brat. She pulled her tongue back into her mouth and remained quiet. "Twilight, I don't care what you think of my relationship, but me and Ember do sleep together, I don't care about your opinion on that matter, yes we do use protection, so there is no worry there, and no I will not stop sleeping with her, and knowing you my words won't hold any ground, so as your new commander I'm ordering you to drop this matter." Said Spike, closing the conversation right there... or so he thought.

"What, you're the commander, but as princess I should out rank you?"

Spike hummed, she wasn't wrong, but she is also a Sky Guard, and is thus subject to the princesses herself. "Well, that is a real pickle, but I was informed that I will be the one in charge of this marry band, until it is deemed that we are no longer needed."

Twilight looked at Celestia. "Princess?"

Celestia nodded. "Twilight, he is your commander, and you have not even been inducted into the royal courts, meaning that you are only a princess in title alone. I know that you are a smart mare Twilight, and I haven't gotten word of you using your title before, so I will let this incident slide. But for the time being you are under the command of Spike Solaris."

Twilight sighed and saluted Spike. "Yes, Sir. Captain Twilight Sparkle reporting for duty."

Spike nodded. "First off, lose the sir, my crew is my family and I don't like titles. Second, I will forgive you for questioning my authority. Lastly, who is the mare holding onto our main power cable above me?" Asked Spike as he pointed to Fluttershy.

Twilight gasped as she used her magic to pry the mare off the power cable. "Fluttershy, come down here." Said Twilight as she got the mare off the important cable. Twilight moved Fluttershy over to Spike. "Spike, you remember Fluttershy, right?"

Spike dropped his jaw at the sight of his old friend, but he needed to ask a few questions. "But she was a cry baby, how did she get into, let alone graduate from the academy?"

Fluttershy whimpered. "I'm the medic, Spike, I hope that's ok?"

Spike smiled at the mare. "It's fine Shy, I'm glad you got through, and we've been needing a medic for a while since the last one jumped ship."

Ember sighed. "Yeah, expecting him to run into artillery fire on his first week may have been a little too much."

Spike shrugged. "Well, maybe, but that town was being attacked, and we didn't have much of a choice."

Ember sighed. "You bolder head."

Spike smiled. "Love you too babe." He looked at Fluttershy. "But, I'm happy to see you Shy, and seeing that you're here means that the others are here as well."

Twilight nodded. "That's right, we have the whole gang back together."

Spike chuckled. "So, I got to know, what did everyone end up doing?" Asked Spike.

Twilight smiled. "Well, AJ and Rainbow are fighters, Pinkie is part chef and part mechanic, Fluttershy is our medic, Rarity is our navigator, and I'm the captain and chief engineer."

Spike nodded. "Ok, where are your wings?" Asked Spike.

Twilight was confused, she looked to her back and showed her wings. "These?"

Spike shook his head. "Sorry, that's on me, I'm talking about your I.T.I transports." (Island to Island)

"Oh, they’re going to be loaded before we depart, their getting retro fitted with the latest parts by the academy's brightest minds."

Spike chuckled. "So why are you here, I thought you would have been there helping?"

Fluttershy giggled. "She got kicked out for interrupting their work."

Spike laughed his tail off at hearing that. "Oh, that's classic Twilight." Twilight blushed in embarrassment. But Spike needed to get his crew together, all of them. Spike walked over to the intercom. "All crew members of the Flame Wing this is Commander Drake, please report to the hangar." Said Spike, he walked back to the group.

Celestia sighed. "I see you took to that name well."

Spike nodded. "Didn't want to use my real one, seeing as I kinda hated you for the last 5 years or so, and I just kinda got used to it."

Celestia nodded. "No, I understand, like you said, we can’t expect things to go back to normal like nothing happened."

Spike nodded. "Right, but now that I know, I kinda feel bad about the dart board with a picture of you?"

Celestia winced. "Really, why would you do that?"

"I was taken from my home of 13 years, thinking that you just decided to get rid of me, and I was a teenager. I had a little... a lot of emotions to deal with."

"Spike, you put 5 dragons in the hospital during combat training." Said Ember.

Spike scratched his cheek. "Ok, maybe a massive amount of emotions to deal with, but if it helps, I'm a terrible shot."

"Yeah, speaking of that, don't you owe me 7 bits from like 2 years ago?" Asked Garble as he walked into the hangar.

"Yes, but then we had an arm wrestling contest and you owed me 15 bits, so you still owe me 8 bits." Said Spike.

Garble whistled as he looked away. "Oh look, ponies." Said Garble as he changed the subject. He walked over to Twilight. "Hi, I'm Garble, the Flame Wing's resident demo drake and gunner."

Twilight smiled. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Twilight Sparkle, I'm going to be joining the crew, I was captain and chief of engineering, and this is Fluttershy, our medic. We were the Elements of Harmony, but we were reassigned to the Storm Dragons."

Garble winced at Fluttershy, the last medic didn't last long. "Spike, is she going to last longer than Scale?"

Spike shrugged. "Probably, she's actually a strong mare when she needs to be."

Garble looked to Fluttershy. "Really, but she looks spineless?"

Fluttershy grabbed Garbles hand and forced him down to her level. "What did you just call me?" Asked Fluttershy in an angry tone.

Garble gulped. "Nothing Ma'am."

"I thought not." Said Fluttershy, but then she noticed that Garble was rubbing his hand. "Oh dear, I'm sorry, please forgive me?"

Garble wasn't sure if he should be scared or not, so he decided on not, just to make sure he didn't make her mad. "Um... don't worry about it Doc, I'll live."

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, still, once the others report in, lets head to the medical office and make sure I didn't cause any damage."

Garble nodded. "Sure."

"Then I said, you call that a cannon, I call that a squirt gun, then I shocked him with my shock gem batons." Said Smolder as she walked into the hangar with two mares. One was an Earth Pony, with an orange coat and long blond hair, the other was a sky blue Pegasus, with a mane in the colors of a rainbow. "So yeah, that's pretty much the whole place, well besides the Commanders room, I'm kinda banned from going in there because of that dumb bird."

"You set his nest on fire, he had all right to be mad." Said Spike.

"He's a bird that makes fire, I thought he would like it." Responded Smolder.

"Just drop it, where were you?" Asked Spike.

"Oh, just showing the new members around, why didn't you mention that we were getting new crew members?"

"I just found out a little while ago." Said Spike, he looked at the two mares. "Hey AJ, Rainbow, been a while hasn't it?"

"SPIKE!?" Yelled the two as they ran over to him. "What are you doing here?"

Spike sighed. "You're in my ship, I'm the commander of the Storm Dragons."

Rainbow blew a raspberry. "Nah, there's no way that that fat little baby dragon from 5 years ago could become the best of the Sky Knights."

"Hey, hurtful, I was not fat, I was just shorter, and the excess didn't have many places to go." Said Spike, he could hear Ember giggling at finding out he was a chubby youngling. "Ember, please?"

Ember smiled as she pinched Spike's cheek. "Awe, did you used to have chubby cheeks as well?"

Celestia giggled. "Oh, you have no idea, he was the most adorable little baby, and he loved to suck on his own tail."

Spike groaned. 'I wonder if Crow can get me into the Empire now?' thought Spike. He took a deep breath. "Mom, please do not embarrass me in front of my nessfriend, and my crew."

Celestia giggled. "Ok, Spike, I'm sorry."

Spike sighed. "Changing topic. Yes, I am the leader of the Storm Dragons and as of this moment you're commander." Said Spike.

AJ nodded as she gave a salute. "Sargent Applejack reporting." She then elbowed Rainbow.

"Yeah, Sargent Dash, reporting or whatever." Said Rainbow as she gave a salute.

Spike smirked. "Ok, for improper conduct. Sargent Dash, I want you to clean the whole hangar." Said Spike.

Rainbow looked at Spike. "Is this payback for all the times I messed with you?"

Spike nodded. "Yes, but I'm a fair drake, you do a great job and we'll call it even."

Rainbow sighed. "Fine, where are the supplies?"

"Right here Dashy." Said a pink earth pony mare with a large glob of pink hair. She hopped in to the hangar with her lower half in a bucket. "Hi Spike, I'm sorry for the mess I made in the kitchen, I finished cleaning it up already."

Spike nodded. "Hey Pinkie, how you been since we last saw each other?" Asked Spike.

Pinkie hummed. "Well, I kept my promise to you, I didn't tell any of the girls that I ran into you guys 3 months ago, during that transport mission. Hey, how is Crow doing?"

Spike shrugged. "Pretty good, we just ran into him a few days ago, Silvia is pregnant, so next time we run into him I'm planning on taking him out for a quick drink, before I knock him out, want to come?"

Pinkie smiled. "Absobpositvly. Oh," Pinkie then saluted Spike. "Captain Pinkie Pie reporting for duty, Commander Drake."

Spike smiled. "Thanks Pinkie, but just Spike is fine."

Pinkie nodded. "So, when can I throw the 'Yay Spike got laid, is our new commander, we missed you' party?"

Spike hummed. "How about when the Flame Wing gets out of dock?"

Pinkie nodded. "Ok, well, I got all my supplies ready for the moment we get going, though there maybe a little oil in the cake."

"Pinkie, I keep telling you to wash your hands before you bake, you remember the party you threw for my birthday." Said a white unicorn with long rolled royal purple hair.

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, I know, and I've been really good, but with the whole move, I'm just being cautious, Rarity."

Rarity smiled. "Well, as long as you make sure to wash your hands, it should be fine." Rarity looked around. "Oh, it seems that I was late to the little gathering, now where can I find the commander?"

Spike sighed. "Hello Rarity." Said Spike.

Rarity looked at Spike. "Oh, hello Spikie, you are looking fine after such a long time, do you know where the great leader of the Storm Dragons is?"

Spike sighed. "Yes, he's right here." Said Spike pointing to himself.

"Yes, I see you Spike, but I want to see the leader of the Storm Dragons so I can ask him out to dinner before we leave. Oh, I hope he's single, I've had a thing for him for the last 2 years since he saved that transport ship from the Empire."

Spike sighed and Ember growled. "Rarity, I am the leader of the Storm Dragons." Said Spike.

Rarity nodded. "Yes yes dear, that's a great dream you want to have."

Ember leaned over to Spike. "Is she really that dense?"

Spike sighed. "I can't believe I had a crush on her when I was little." Said Spike as he rubbed his eyes. "Ok, now all we're waiting for is Ruby."

"Under here Spike." Said Ruby as she popped out a grate. "I was looking over our system and I found that we were using a little too much fuel for such a long trip. So since we are docked, I thought to check our fuel system, and I found that we had a gunked up converter that was just wasting fuel." Ruby pulled herself out of the hole. "But I got her all cleaned. So, once we get the new members stuff on board, we can shove off and head back out there."

Spike nodded. "Good, well, let’s all have a bite, I brought plenty of donuts."

"Sweet, I'm starved." Said Ruby.

Peewee flew into the hangar and landed on Spike's shoulder. Spike looked at his friend. "Where the hell were you?"

Peewee looked away for a moment and played innocent. Celestia sighed. "Hello Peewee, thank you for keeping track of Spike for so long, I'm sorry for making you lie to him."

Peewee sighed and squawked. Spike looked at Peewee for a moment. "You little rat, is that why you left for a week last month?" Peewee nodded. "You told me it was to find a mate, but when you came back without a girl, I got worried that you couldn't find one." Peewee squawked angerly. "Hey, I was worried, I'm not saying that I didn't have confidence in your looks, but still." Peewee huffed and looked away, Spike sighed. "Peewee, I'm sorry." Said Spike. Peewee sighed and hugged Spike's head. "I love you too bud."

Celestia smiled at seeing that Spike and Peewee were so close. "Well, I believe that we have donuts to enjoy, shall we?" Asked Celestia.

Spike nodded. "Sure, lets head to the helm and meeting area." Said Spike.

Once everyone was in the meeting area, everyone sat down at the large table in the room...or tried, there were only 6 seats, and 13 creatures. So, Spike, Garble, Smolder, AJ, Ember and Rainbow stood, Peewee perched on a rail, and everyone else took a seat. "Ok, for the rest of the day, I want everyone to get to know each other, when the new I.T.I units show, I want Ruby, Twilight, and Pinkie to look over them. No offense to the academy engineering groups, but they test in labs, we test in real life. Ruby see what improvements you can make to make supplies last longer. If I remember, the 4 wing types of pony culture are based on the 4 races, earth are like Basalis, but lighter, they utilize hover tech. Pegasi use something similar to Paragon style propulsion, are less durable, and can fly farther and faster. Unicorns are kinda like a mix of Basalis and Hydras, they hover but can be fitted with extra armor and cannons. Alicorns are the jack of all trades, usually they have hover tech and jet tech, thinner armor than a defense Unicorn but faster than one too, but it takes a lot of concentration to handle one."

Ruby nodded. "Sure, I'll take a look at them, but we may need to head to Atom for some parts."

Spike nodded. "That's fine, Atom is not too far from here, besides Capper owes us a discount."

Twilight gasped. "Spike, you guys don't use illegal parts, right?"

Spike nodded. "We do, Twi, no offense to the good tech that the Knights and Guards make, but their nothing compared to empire tech and crazy guy tech. In fact, Garble has a triple gem cannon on his Basalis, ponies consider that a class 2 or class 3 hazard part, right?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, but the dragons have no rating for parts, and since you are on a dragon leviathan ship, you are all not subject to pony limitations. But do please be careful, some of those parts are known for blowing up during use or installation."

Ruby laughed. "Yeah, that gem fusion prototype that we snatched from that Empire base works great, half the time, the other half always ends in with a explosion."

Celestia rubbed her eyes. Gem Fusion tech was a illegal practice, that both the Knight's and Guard's banned, because of the danger. "Please tell me it is destroyed?"

Ruby smiled. "Nope, I perfected it about a week ago, the problem was the harmonizing lenses were all wrong and the gem ratio was supposed to be inversed. My first real success should be ready, want me to go check?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, but what did you use?"

"Um... let’s just say, that I'm really glad you didn't need your fire sword during the last mission." Said Ruby as she quickly ran away from her leader.

Spike groaned. "Ok, Dash you get some help cleaning today." But Spike looked confused. "Wait, I keep my sword in my room, when did she even grab it?" Asked Spike.

Ember shrugged. "Oh, that's why she needed to go into the room, I thought she ran out of scale polish." Said Ember as she munched away at a donut.

Spike looked at Ember. "She uses my scale polish, but I ran out three weeks ago?"

Ember nodded. "Yep, I remember now, and she's the reason." Said Ember.

Spike sighed. "Ok, parts and scale polish in Atom it is."

Ember gave Spike's back a pat. "Don't worry you can use mine."

Spike groaned. "Thanks."

Ruby walked into the meeting area with a pair of gloves and a bright glowing gem in her hands. "Here you go Spike, the first stable Fire Lightning gemstone in the arsenal, but please be careful it's still untested and might not be 100% stable."

Spike grabbed the gem and noticed that everyone was ducking in cover just in case. "Ok, seriously you all just hand me a gem and then take cover, I'm the leader, why do I have to be the guinea pig?"

Ember shot her head up from behind the table. "Your ship, your gems, your sword, your life, also if you die, can I have Peewee?"

Spike looked at Ember. "No, he goes to my mom, and his aunt Philomena, and why are you talking like I'm dead already?"

Ruby shot her head up next. "I did a test before I came up, it's producing over 300% more power than either your gems alone. I think that gem is powerful enough to either run 3 Basalis or destroy the Flame Wing."

Spike looked at the little gem, It was only the size of his thumb, and the gem to power a Basalis was as large as a donut. "So, what would happen if I popped it into my wing?"

"Well, one of two things, first it will gain a power boost and send you to the other side of the island in a second, or..."

Spike sighed. "Blow up in a horrible and painful manner?"

Ruby shook her head. "No, you wouldn't feel a thing, because you would be vaporized in an instant."

Spike shrugged. "Ok, Ruby, take this back to your shop, find a way to contain the mini bomb, and see if you can lessen the power output to a level where I don't die in a fireball."

Ruby chuckled. "About that, I had to use some parts from the gem containment to fix the fusion machine, and unless we want to make it to Atom, it can't go back in or no more Canterlot."

Spike sighed. "Ok, so I'm holding a bomb, we can't defuse it, we can't contain it, and we can't set it off or we die?"

Ruby nodded. "Yep, sounds like a Tuesday doesn't it?"

Spike laughed. "No, Tuesday's are kidnapping, this is more of a Saturday."

Garble chimed in. "But today's a Thursday."

Spike nodded. "Meaning it's experiment day." Said Spike as he smiled.

Ember sighed. "No, you are not going to pop that thing into your wing, and lose the smile, the last time you had that smile, you destroyed an island."

Everyone looked at Spike. "Oh, come on, how was it my fault that the umbra commander decided to activate the 6 gem bomb, I was just lucky that he didn't short change on the timer."

Ember sighed. "You are an idiot."

Spike smiled. "Love you too babe." Said Spike as he walked down to the hangar. Everyone was worried but couldn't help but follow.

Celestia tried to talk Spike out of whatever he was about to do. "Spike, think for one moment about the consequences, what will happen if it blows?"

Spike shrugged. "Peewee goes home with you, and Ember has to take over, while I drink a nice cocktail on a cloud."

Celestia sighed. "No, Sombra will win, and everyone will be enslaved."

Spike shook his head. "No, I'm just a dragon, I maybe a great knight, but I'm only a single soul, there will be more."

"But what about Peewee, what about Ember, what about me, don't you care how we would feel if you died?"

Spike hummed. "Peewee would get over it and move on, Ember would probably call me an idiot but I want her to find love, and you, you would have Aunt Luna, Cadance, Twilight, and the new princess Flurry, plus your stronger than this, and the ponies need you to be strong. Besides, we keep talking like this is going to kill me, Ruby said there's a possibility It won't."

"It's an 86% chance." Said Ruby.

Spike smiled. "See, that's better than living with us for a day."

"That's the odds that it's going to blow." Said Ruby making sure that Spike knows that he had a 14% chance of surviving.

Spike shrugged. "Eh, still not the worst odds I've had." Said Spike as he arrived at his wing.

Rarity gasped. "Spike get off that. That's the commanders I.T.I, The Dragon Comet."

Spike looked down at his wing. "Seriously, that's a stupid name, and seriously get it through your head. I am the commander of the Storm Dragons, what is so hard to understand about that?"

"But the commander is said to be smart and tactical?"

"Top marks in problem solving and infiltration at the academy, I just like a fight more."

"He's said to have captured an umbra fortress single handed."

Spike nodded. "Broke my arm a year ago, and had to gather data. I found some citizens and freed them while the others provided a distraction. We took the fortress with their help."

"But he said to have a brand on his tail that was given to him by the leader of the last generation of Storm Dragons, Blitzkrieg."

Spike nodded. "Yeah, I do miss that old coot, fucking hurt my spade for a week though." Said Spike as he showed the brand on the underside of his spaded tip.

Rarity looked at the brand and remained silent. Spike looked at Rarity. "Yeah, that got your attention, didn't it?" Rarity nodded. "Do you now see that I'm not the same little dragon that used to follow you around?" Rarity nodded. "Were you really going to ask me out for dinner?"

Rarity nodded. "Yes."

Spike shrugged. "Sorry, but I got a nessfriend." Said Spike as he popped the fusion gem into the wing. Nothing happened, which was a huge relief to Spike. "See, we're not dead." But no one responded. "What, I thought we would all be cheering?"

Ember pointed to the wing, Spike looked down to the bike he was on, and noticed that it was glowing and arcing electricity. "Ok, well, we're not dead." Spike then reached for the throttle and the moment he did, Spike wasn't there anymore. Instead he was speeding across Canterlot island with his eyes closed and crying for his mother.

Ember looked at the open hanger door. "Ok, that just happened."

After Spike was recovered from his ride, he got a lecture from Twilight, Ember, and Celestia about how reckless that was, and when it was all over with, it was late enough to go to bed. And that's what Spike did, with Ember joining him. "So..." Said Ember.

"So... Today was weird."

Ember nodded. "Yeah, but not as weird as the time my father walked in on us doing it."

Spike laughed. "No that was weirder, where did he even get the 'I'm going to be a grandpa' hat anyways?"

Ember smiled. "I don't want to know, but I think he's still waiting for that to happen."

Spike sighed. "Trust me Ember, I want a clutch too, but until we know Sombra isn't going to win, I don't want our children to grow up in a world like that."

Ember smiled as she kissed Spike's cheek. "I know, and I agree, I just wonder who's going to be more annoying when they find out, my father, your mother, or god forbid Twilight."

Spike laughed. "Twilight, without a doubt Twilight, she has no boundaries."

Ember nodded. "I know, it’s not hard to tell she's right outside the door."

"EEP!"

Spike nodded. "I know, did you know she wanted to make sure I was safe, by making me sleep with her until I was 5, all because I had a single nightmare."

Ember giggled. "Really, but that would make her a teenager?"

Spike nodded. "I know, and she drooled in her sleep."

"I DID NOT!" Yelled Twilight.

Spike was surprised. "Wow, she stayed, she must really not want us sleeping together. Twilight, unless you want to hear your little brother have sex with his nessfriend, I think you should head to your room."

Ember snickered. "Spike, really, but we don't have any more condoms for you. Awe screw it, put a clutch in me big boy."

Spike chuckled. "Oh, come on, play it up a little more."

Ember nodded. "Oh god, I love how full you make me, I wish we could do it raw more often, those barbs are really turning me on, and that knot is going to stretch me here to the castle, the eggs are just going to slide out."

The two then heard a thud outside of the door. "Sweet that worked, let this be a lesson to her for meddling in our romantic affairs." Said Spike.

Ember yawned. "Well too bad, that was the closest you were going to get, at getting lucky tonight."

Spike looked at Ember. "But come on babe, why can't we go around, I hear almost dying sex is great."

Ember smiled. "Because, you're the one that almost killed us, your sister is outside the door and I had to drag your scaly tail back to the ship, I'm tired."

"I'll rub your feet." Said Spike, he really wanted to make love to his nessfriend.

Ember sighed. "Fine, but I want 30 minutes of rubbing and we can go around."

Spike smiled as he kissed Ember. "Worth it, I love you babe."

Ember smiled. "You're an idiot, but your my idiot."

Author's Note

This was day one of three in Canterlot. (Pt.1 of 3 or 2) Tomorrow will see Ember and Spike heading down to the acadamy, the girls wings will show, and Pinkie gets the party ready.

Canterlot Pt.3

"That was pathetic." Said Spike as he and Ember were going over what the girls did wrong during the training match. They went until Celestia lowered the sun and all the girls were exhausted, and Spike was just disappointed. "How the hell are you girls the best the guard has to offer?" Asked Spike as he and Ember were watching the girls nurse their wounds.

Rainbow groaned. "What, you guys cheated, you used your I.T.I's to ram us."

Spike rubbed his eyes. "Dash, that happens to us on a weekly basis, nothing is cheating when on the battlefield."

Ember nodded. "Sneak attacks, sabotage, dirty tricks, those are all perfectly legit ways to win a fight, it's not our fault that you didn't decide to use them."

Twilight rubbed her head. "But those are cheap tactics that Sombra uses. Aren't we better than him?"

Spike nodded. "We are, but you can never win if you don't use the full deck. But let’s focus on what went wrong."

Ember nodded. "Ok, let’s start with team Butterfly. Pinkie, you need to focus on your surroundings. Do not focus on what Fluttershy is doing, you're the gunner, not the pilot. Fluttershy, you're flying a 3 ton hunk of metal so stop flying it like a grandma, if you're scared of getting attacked, don't be, Pinkie is there for a reason."

"Come on Flutters, turn left, now right, go down, now up. Spike's on our tail."

Fluttershy was crying as she was trying to get away from Spike. "I'm trying, but I'm scared."

Spike sped up and disabled Pinkie's turret, and jammed Fluttershy's steering. "Out!" Yelled Spike.

Pinkie and Fluttershy sighed. Ember looked at Rarity. "Rarity, you did good, but you're magical camo is still not perfect, you need to improve you're piloting skills, so you're not a one trick pony."

Rarity was cloaked and trying to stay undetected when Spike noticed a shimmer. "Smolder, below, right, open fire." Said Spike.

"On it." Said Smolder as she started blasting where Rarity was.

"Oh no." Said Rarity as she dropped her cloak and started panicking and flying sporadically. She dodged for a while, but Smolder landed a solid shot on her I.T.I.

"Sorry Sweetie, you're a stain on the island, you're out." Said Smolder.

Rarity huffed. Ember looked at Rainbow. "Rash, tunnel vision, hard headed, need I go on?" Asked Ember.

Rainbow was trying to take Spike on in a 1 on 1 fight, and at first it looked like she was going to win, but she forgot about Ember and the defense cannons. Ember took out her I.T.I's wing and Garble took out her propulsion. "Glide in with your broken wing, little bird, you're out." Said Garble.

Rainbow growled. "Cheaters."

Ember rolled her eyes. "AJ, you're a tank, not a racer, don't try and act like 1, pride is a stubborn thing to get over, but in the skies, pride is the fastest way to die."

Ember and Spike had to double team AJ's unit to take her down, but it was taking time. "Ember, take the left and I'll take the right." Said Spike, Ember nodded as they both took a swipe at the I.T.I.

This was their fourth pass and AJ was getting upset that she couldn’t hit them. "That's it, I've had it." Said AJ as she deactivated her hover mode and tried to use her primary cannons to take them out while clearly not being able to keep up with them.

Spike took this opportunity to get behind AJ and disable her forward propulsion, sending her into a tail spin before she stopped spinning. "Sorry AJ, but you're out." Said Spike.

AJ sighed as she looked at her hat, she had to clean it after training. Ember looked at Twilight. "And little miss princess, clearly has a grudge with me, seeing as she didn't even try and attack Spike."

Twilight was focusing on Ember. "Spike is too young to be sleeping with a female, I don't care, if he's my commander, he is my baby brother, and I will protect him." Said Twilight as she was trying to line up a good shot.

Spike sighed. "Twi, please, I do love her, and I know what we did last night was mean, but we're happy together, and I do want to start a family with her." Said Spike as he was flying upside down, right above Twilight and heard the whole monolog.

Twilight looked up at Spike and blushed. "But you're too young to have a nessfriend?"

Spike sighed as he pat Twilight's head. "I'm 18, and we started sleeping together at 17. Shining was dating Cadance at 15 and they had sex at 17."

Twilight glared at Spike. "That's different, you're my baby brother, I hatched you're egg, and I don't like it."

Spike nodded. "Well, I don't care, also..." Said Spike as he used his fire to overheat Twilight's system, causing it to enter hover mode. "You're out."

Ember looked at Twilight and glared at her. "Now, aside from all that, none of you guys tried to take out Smolder and Garble's defenses, there were 5 of you, and only 2 of us, we couldn't have stopped you even if we tried. Second, if you teamed up, we'd be having dinner now. Lastly, this is only a taste of what we go through in training at the Knight academy, we'll be training like this every day until we're sure you guys won’t die." She handed each of the girls a report of what else they needed to improve upon. "Hand to hand starts at 10am, then its Ruby's class on in the field repairs, Peewee's stealth and infiltration, then lunch. After that, Spike will be going over our normal strategies, and then it's flight training until dinner. After that we're going to do some maintenance and repairs on the ship and wings, then until 10 you're free to do what you want, lights out at 11 and Twilight we would prefer to not have you listening outside the door." Said Ember giving the girls the basic time table of the crew.

Twilight blushed; she wasn't going to do that again. Spike nodded. "Ok, I'm going to the kitchen and starting dinner for us. Read over Ember's report and try not to feel too bad, you girls were trained like guards, but you need to be knights." Said Spike as he walked out of the helm and headed for the kitchen.

All the girls sighed as they looked at the reports. "Hey, seriously don't take it too hard, we are not sure about all of this as well, but soon everything will seem normal." Said Ember as she left the group and headed to her room to rest until dinner.

Twilight looked at the others. "This is weird." Said Twilight, everyone nodded. "Spike is our leader, he has more experience than us, and we got our tails handed to us by him. I did some research when I got our reassignment orders. Turns out that Spike and his crew are some of the youngest knights to graduate the academy. Spike is only 18 and he's already has the rank of major, and he's thought to be the next Dragon Lord. Ember is only 19, she's Dragon Lord Torch's daughter, and could have her own crew with how well she's regarded. Garble is only 22, he has flown almost 100 missions and he's known for being super strong and dependable. Smolder is 16 and she's already earned Spike's trust and while only on probation, she has seen more action than any of the cadets at the Guard academy. Ruby is 20 and even among the tech groups, she is like a super star, she developed hundreds of innovations that have helped both Guards and Knights alike." Twilight sighed. "I kinda feel like we're going to hold them back." All the girls were in their 20's, haven't flown as many missions as the Storm Dragons combined, and clearly didn't have as close a connection as they thought on the battlefield.

"Well, trust me, it's not all great." Said Ruby as she walked into the meeting area. "Spike is a great leader, but when he's emotional he tends to never see what's in front of him." Ruby took a seat and showed the back of her neck, there was a patch of broken scales and a large scar. All the girls looked at the scar and guessed Spike was somehow involved. "Spike and I were heading to a market one day, an Umbra soldier noticed us and decided to follow us. He knocked out Spike and kidnapped me. I was held prisoner for 3 days and tortured so I would work for the empire." Ruby sighed. "Spike and Ember broke into the facility I was being held in, and Spike didn't take what they did to me lightly. This was back when we were starting out as the Storm Dragons, but that wasn't always our name, we were just the Flame Dragons. But after Spike got me back, the Umbra started calling us the Storm Dragons. I'm not sure if it was because how Spike stormed the place, the fact it was storming when they did, or how loud Spike roared when they attacked, but the name stuck, and we've learned to live with it." Said Ruby.

Twilight gulped. "What about the others?"

Ruby nodded. "Everyone has scars, physical or emotional, but time heals all wounds and it helps to have friends and family."

The room fell silent as that sunk in. Ruby sighed. "Girls, trust me, I'm not going to tell you that everything is going to go as we plan, but Spike is not one to accept that laying down. He is going to do everything in his power to keep it right, until the moment we do something that earned us the honor of problem squad." Ruby then chuckled. "Just make sure you can handle explosions." Said Ruby laughing.

Spike heard the conversation through the ship’s intercom. "Which time are we talking about?" Asked Spike from the kitchen.

Ruby looked to the intercom. "I'm talking about how we blew up the island formally known as Yigal."

Spike winced. "Ok, not my best moment, but how was I suppose to know that Empire leviathan's core was going to blow?"

Ruby sighed. "I told you right after you destroyed the limiters, we're just lucky that we evacuated the crew and the little village before it atomized the island."

Spike laughed. "Oh, it wasn't so bad, the island is still there."

Ruby groaned. "Spike, it was reduced to only 30% of its size, and the place is barely floating anymore."

Spike sighed. "Like I said, not my best moment. Also, tell everyone that dinner is almost done, and grab Peewee some feed from my room." Said Spike.

Ruby sighed. "Fine." Said Ruby as she got out of her seat and headed to Spike's room to get Peewee and some of his feed.

Twilight looked at the girls. "What are we going to do about this?" Asked Twilight.

"About what dear?" Asked Rarity.

"About proving to Spike that we're helpful, we're the best the Sky Guard has to offer and we couldn't even handle a group of knights that we outnumbered, and he's right, we need to stop thinking like guards, and start thinking like knights."

"But we've never been in combat as a full team." Said Fluttershy in a meek tone.

AJ sighed. "She's right, we've fought off the empire fine, but we don't have any group combat training, it's normally divide up the work and get stuff done."

Twilight nodded. "That's right, so why didn't we do that this time?"

All the girls looked at Twilight. "What are you talking about?" Asked Rainbow. "We did."

Twilight shook her head. "No, they picked us off one at a time, while the others didn't do anything to help. When Spike was attacking Pinkie and Fluttershy, why didn't we try and take out Ember as a team, or help them to take Spike down?"

Pinkie hummed. "Because he didn't tell us to?"

Twilight sighed. "Exactly, is Sombra going to take us on one at a time? No, he'll have an army of troops to try and take us out. Like they said, if we don't learn to fight like them, we won't beat them. So, here's the plan..."

Five minutes later Spike walked into the room with dinner in his arms and around his tail. "So, finally figured out what to do?" Asked Spike.

Everyone looked at Spike. "Wait, how did you know?" Asked Twilight.

Spike placed the food down on the table. "The intercom wasn't turned off, and I'm glad you girls finally figured out the first lesson that Blitz taught me when I joined the Storm Dragons. One is smart, many are dumb, but one is weak, many are strong, if a smart leader is leading the many, they are unstoppable, that is why we train in random teams, so we all know our strengths and weaknesses, and we can compensate for them. Take me for example, I'm impulsive, Ruby is smart and calm, we work well together, but Ember is easily embarrassed when sensitive subjects pop up, but Garble is older and knows that that doesn't matter. This is where we have problems, and you girls just needed to find that as well."

Twilight nodded. "So, are you willing to have one more round after dinner?"

Spike smirked. "Sure, loser has to clean up dinner?"

Twilight smiled. "Deal."

"Cool, and this time we won't hold back."

Peewee flew into the room and perched on Spike's shoulder. Spike scratched his head. "Peewee, me and you are going out on Smolder's wing with Ruby after dinner." Peewee nodded.

Ruby and crew walked into the room and Ruby placed down a pile of seeds for Peewee. "So, I heard my name, am I going out?" Asked Ruby.

Spike nodded. "Yep, one more round, the girls think they figured out what went wrong."

Ruby nodded. "Cool, I'll get Hawk out and ready after we eat." Ruby then licked her lips. "So, what's for dinner?"

Spike smiled. "Nothing much, just some burgers for us, and a hay casserole for our new crew members."

The girls gulped as they looked at Spike. "When did you start eating meat?" Asked Twilight.

Spike shrugged. "Not much else in the academy, sure they had salad, but grilled meat was too tempting."

Twilight gulped. "But..."

Spike grabbed a burger and placed it on his plate. "But what? I have fangs for a reason, I still like pony food sure, but meat is something I need to eat, now shut up and eat, it's getting cold."

Twilight sighed as she started grabbing the food.

After the crew had dinner, Spike, Peewee, and Ruby in her fully done Basalis, Hawk, flew out of the hangar and waited for the girls to get ready. They flew out moments later and got into formation. "Ok, Smolder, Ember, same configuration as last time, Garble, you're on standby. Girls, you have 10 minutes to stay up." With the rules stated, Spike started counting. "5...4...3...2...1...0."

Peewee flew off Smolder's wing to do his job, and Spike went forward, while Ruby was acting as support.

Twilight ordered the girls. "AJ, you're going to act like our shield, Fluttershy, spread out and provide perimeter fire for the group, keep an eye out of for the ships defenses. Pinkie, head on a swivel. Rainbow, speed is key, keep the defense cannons on you and out run them. Rarity, surprise attacks, I'm on support." With the orders given, the girls separated, leaving AJ to take on Spike's first attack.

Spike and group landed in the hanger, and the girls were upset, they lasted longer than before, but Spike and Ruby still beat them. Spike pulled Smolders wing into her workstation and looked at the girls. "Ok, that was a large improvement from before, and I'm proud that you girls did so well. But you still lost, head to the helm, gather the mess and head to the kitchen." Said Spike.

All the girls sighed, as they went to clean up dinner. Spike smiled as Ruby walked up to him. "They still need a lot of work."

Spike nodded. "Oh, I know, they would be dead it this was real. You and Moondancer weren't there for the first one, that was brutal, but that was an hour ago, and they have already improved. Ruby I'll man the helm tomorrow, you spend most of the time going through their wings and seeing what's holding them back, and when we hit Atom, listen to them about what improvements they should make, don't just go throwing a triple gem cannon onto AJ's or strapping rockets to Dash's."

Ruby shrugged. "Fine, but you want the good news?"

Spike sighed. "Ruby, with you, good news could be anything from not dying in an explosion to a great upgrade, so can you be more specific?"

Ruby huffed. "Hey, I resent that, not all my news is not dying, but just to make you happy, that cutie Moondancer helped me finish something to help you."

Spike cocked an eyebrow. "Cutie? I never pegged you for a ness snatcher, no offense. But what did you 2 come up with, and keep quite if it has more than an 80% of blowing me up."

Ruby smirked. "I play for both teams, and it was your fault that I didn't have time to install the new gem system onto your wing, before you decided to pop it in. The new system should be able to handle the fusion gem in the tank, without sending you across the sky, but I'm adding a boost button just in case you want to do that again."

Spike looked at Ruby. "Wait, are you into Ember?"

Ruby sighed. "Shut up, and no, I have a ness back home and a drake in the sky, waiting for me. You remember Onyx, right?"

Spike hummed. "Tall, black horns, facial hair, or the short one, with a black fin down her back?"

Ruby smirked. "Yep. I'll try and install the new system tonight, but I can't promise until tomorrow." Said Ruby as she smirked and walked away.

Spike looked at Ruby as she walked away from him. "Man, lucky bastard, Onyx was cute as hell back then."

"You better be talking about the drake Onyx?" Asked Ember, a little upset that Spike would be thinking about another ness.

Spike gulped. "Hey, you did great tonight." Said Spike, he really wasn't in the mood to die.

Ember glared at Spike, but her expression softened. "You know, Onyx, the ness came onto me during our time in the academy, but I had you, and she was also into Ruby who was into Onyx the drake, who I kinda liked but..." Ember shrugged. "Meh, it's not important, and thanks Spike." Said Ember as she kissed Spike. "But just so you know, Mina from the tech course had a thing for you."

Spike gulped. "Really, I wouldn't have ever guessed." Lies, Mina was a cute little brown dragoness with pink hair and blue horns, and honestly, she was very clear with her intentions at points. When he and Mina first met, Spike was coming into the workshop every day to get his sword repaired or his armor patched. Over time Mina and him got to know each other, and somewhere down the line that developed into Mina thinking that Spike liked her, which he did. She was smart, funny, a little short, but he had no right to talk seeing he didn't hit 5 feet until 2 years ago, and Mina's chest scales were some of the largest he had ever seen on a dragoness. Ponies have breasts, most of the time, they used their natural magic to conceal them, but it did leave some definite curve in the chest. Dragons don't have breasts, but from what Spike learned, every male no matter the race likes a girl with something in the front, and dragonesses had something close.

Ember smirked at Spike. "What would you say to seeing her when we stop back at Dracona?"

Spike was in hot water, say yes and get sent to the dog house, or say no and lose the possibility for a threesome. 'Shit, why can't I be defusing a bomb right now?' Thought Spike. Ember looked at Spike waiting for his answer. "Um..." Said Spike, still thinking about it.

Ember smiled. "I wouldn't mind."

Spike smiled. "Ok, Atom, the north for a day, rescue ponies, head home for a little R&R. That's the plan."

Ember rolled her eyes. "Fine, but just so you know, Mina is one horny ness."

Spike looked at Ember. "Wait, how do you know that?"

Ember giggled. "A dorm mate like her, you're bound to see her clawing herself, then you join in, and then... Well, I'll leave it to your fantasies." Ember stretched her arms. "Well, I'm going to get a shower, then I'll see you in bed."

Spike blushed as he just thought about Ember and Mina, then he looked down at Embers rear. "You know what, I'll join you." Said Spike as he followed his ness.

After a little shower fun, Spike was still up, and Ember was going over some reports that Luna had sent over about the attack on Ponyville. So Spike decided to go to the helm. When he got there, he headed to the window and looked at the night life of Canterlot. "I missed this sight." Said Spike.

"Bit for your thoughts?" Asked Celestia, as she stood next to Spike, her day finally over.

Spike sighed. "Mom, something has been bothering me for a while, long before I left."

Celestia leaned next to Spike as the 2 looked out at the bright city. "What's up Spike?"

"Why did you adopt me? Why not send me to the dragon lands?" Asked Spike.

Celestia smiled as she wrapped her wing around Spike. "I don't know, in all honesty that was the original plan, that or let Twilight raise you. But when I first saw you, something in me felt warm. Spike normally alicorns can only mate with magical beings with equal or greater magic. Meaning that unless a super powerful stallion capable of moving the sun suddenly drops from the sky, I'm kinda out of luck. Luna has a little better chance, but she's not holding her breath. Hell, Flurry Heart is only around because Shining Armor was a one in a million stallion with a massive magical reserve, and is just as powerful magically as Cadance, but that's not a long shot, she is the weakest of all of us. So, when I saw a little baby taking his first look at a world that he knew nothing about, something in me told me that I was destined to guide him, raise him, love him, like a mother would. 2 days later, and a lot of trying to figure out a good name for you, I had some adoption papers made and boom, Spike Solaris was my son, you're lucky too, it was between Spike or Scale, I'm just glad I went with Spike."

Spike looked at Celestia. "Really, Scale Solaris?"

Celestia nodded. "Hey, I was stressed, you wouldn't stop crying, and when I nursed you, your claws scratched."

Spike looked at Celestia in shock. "I nursed on you?"

Celestia nodded. "Yep, meat was hard to come by here, and I learned a spell back in my younger years. So, I brought them out and you just latched on for a solid 20 minutes each until I was dry."

Spike groaned. "I knew there had to be something, I guess that's why I like breasts." Said Spike as he shrugged.

Celestia sighed. "Where did the time go Spike? I remember holding you, sleeping with you, giving you a bath, hell I remember the day you asked me if you were just a scaly pony, then in a blink I had to send you away."

Spike sighed. "Yeah, I wonder that sometimes as well, I think it all started when I took an interest in I.T.I's. Then I met the girls with Twilight, we became close, and I started spending less time with you, until that day."

Celestia nodded. "Well, you did have a weird fascination with Rarity."

Spike laughed. "Yeah, it was kinda creepy that a 9 year old was in love with a 16 year old." He looked at Celestia. "But there was one mare that would always be the most important pony in my life."

Celestia smiled as she hugged Spike. "Thanks Spike."

Spike laughed. "Not you, Aunt Luna." Celestia glared at Spike. "She did something for me every night to help me go to sleep." Spike returned the hug. "She gave me a dream where you would sing me a lullaby to help me sleep." Celestia sighed. "But you are the only mare that will ever be my mother."

Celestia smiled as she kissed Spike's cheek. "You're lucky I love you."

Spike smiled as he missed being so close to her. "I love you too mom."

Celestia muffled her tears of joy at seeing that her Spike was still in there. "My little fireball."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Really, I'm pretty sure I'm not a little fireball anymore."

Celestia giggled. "No, you will always be my little fireball."

Spike sighed. "I don't even know why you called me that?"

Celestia giggled. "You sneezed one day and burned my mane with a fireball."

Spike sighed. "Ok, that makes sense." Spike yawned, which didn't go unnoticed by Celestia.

Celestia smiled as she decided it was probably time for Spike to head to bed. "Hush now, sleep now, my little dragon, it’s time for those tired eyes to close for the night. Tomorrow will be great, but first you rest. Hush now, sleep now, my little drake, for night has fallen and the stars will watch till the time you awake, and greet the morning with the last snore. Close your eyes and rest your mind, for tomorrow will have no sorrow for the sleepy little drake. So, fill your dreams with all that you hold dear, and upon the time you wake, they will be there with you."

Spike yawned, that was the song Luna made his dream Celestia sing, and it was working like a charm. "Mom, I still need to get to my bed." Yawned Spike.

Celestia smiled as she just kept singing. Spike felt his eyes close, and soon he was asleep leaning on Celestia. But she kept singing for a few more minutes, until she was sure Spike would sleep well tonight. Celestia sighed as she turned her head to the side. "Hello Ember." Said Celestia.

Ember sighed as she walked over to Spike and Celestia. "Princess." Said Ember as she leaned next to the mother and son.

"Ember, please protect my little Spike."

Ember smiled as she watched Spike sleeping. "I'll do my best, I do want a clutch, and that's kinda hard when my mate is dead. You know at night he talks in his sleep, most of the time I just ignore the rambling, but every once in a while, he talks about his mother, and how he wanted to be with her."

Celestia smiled as she looked at Spike laying on her chest. "So, does he really have a thing for boobs? I know dragons don't have them, but even you have a curve."

Ember shrugged. "He likes to kiss and play with it, but I don't mind."

Celestia sighed. "Ember, do you love him, truly love him?"

Ember smiled. " Truly, he's a health hazard, an idiot, a bolder head...."

Spike mumbled in his sleep. "Love...you too... Babe."

Ember sighed. "But... he is the drake that I am willing to overlook those qualities for, he has a heart of gold, and a will to fight for what's right."

Celestia smiled. "Thank you, and is the sex good?" Asked Celestia.

Ember blushed. "Whew, out of right field with that one."

Celestia frowned. "What is my baby not able to make you happy?"

Ember blushed. "No, he's just fine, a little big for me and his knot is a pain sometimes when he goes in my tail hole, but he never leaves me unsatisfied."

Celestia was confused. "Wait, how many can you take at once?"

Now it was time for Ember to be confused. "What do you mean how many? Spike only has one, just like 80% of all drakes, right?"

Celestia looked at Spike. "Oh, you probably were worried that others would find it weird." She looked at Ember. "Ember, Spike has 2, I should know I've seen them both when he was a baby."

Ember looked at Spike. "But drakes with 2 are always smaller than guys with one, and I've seen some drakes, Spike is big."

Both women looked at Spike, still asleep leaning on his mother’s chest. "Ok, Ember, you can question Spike about this tomorrow, but first he should get to bed."

Ember nodded as she helped Celestia take Spike to his room. They placed him on the bed and watched as he just snored away.

Celestia sighed. "Take good care of him Ember, I'm not asking as the princess, I'm not asking as the sky guard leader, I'm asking as a mother."

Ember smiled as she sat on the bed. "He can die, when I tell him he can."

Celestia smiled as she gave Spike a kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight Spike, mommy loves you."

Spike growled in his sleep. "Come on my little lusty lizard. Mina I'll get to you in a moment. Ruby stop sucking on my tail." Said Spike having a fantasy.

"I'll tell Luna to avoid this one." Said Celestia as she teleported to her castle.

Ember sighed as she just had to put the idea of Mina into his head, she crawled into the bed and got close to Spike. "Spike, you wanna fuck?" Asked Ember.

Spike snored. "Sorry, fucking Ember right now, have fun with Mina and Ruby." Said Spike.

Ember sighed. "Well, at least I know I'm having fun." She kissed Spike's cheek. "Love you Spike."

Spike growled. "Really? But...Awe fuck it, I'll do both." Said Spike as he just kept dream fucking Ember.

Author's Note

Yeah, I don't know where the time went with this one, I'm sorry for the long wait.

The Storm Dragons Pt.1

"So, care to explain why we are tied up in chains, hanging off of the side of Riverdale island?" Asked a blue dragoness with downward scooping horns and red eyes. She was looking at her leader and kinda sorta boyfriend, but right now the most accurate term would be idiot.

"Well don't blame me; I was the one who saved your scales from taking that lightning gem blast to the face." Responded a tall, purple and green dragon. "Why not look at the guy that set off the alarm?"

"I would, but he's on the other side of me and I can't turn my head."

"You guys do know that I can hear you right?" Asked a very large red dragon with orange fins and spikes.

"Yes, but somehow you didn't hear us when we said, multiple times, to watch out for security." Chastised the blue dragoness.

"I said I was sorry; I was a little too busy dealing with Peewee trying to peck out Smolders eyes." The Red dragon shot their leader a glare. "Seriously, put a leash on Peewee, Spike."

The purple dragon sighed. "Well, tell her to stop messing with his nest and maybe he won't attack her, Garble."

The blue dragoness sighed. "Will you two knuckl heads shut up?!"

This made the two guys sigh. "Sorry Ember."

Ember really wished she could rub her eyes. "I swear, if I didn't like you Spike, and my father actually grew a brain, I would have been ranked Dragon Lord by now."

Spike chuckled. "Really, but I remember you complaining that it was way too much work, and you rather stay a knight and kick ass. Plus, we wouldn't see each other as often as we do."

Ember rolled her eyes. "Yes, because hanging over the clouds is a great date."

Spike smiled. "Well, it was how we met."

Spike and Ember were flying between islands, but they were attacked by a Roc, a massive bird that had a taste for dragons. It wasn't that hard to take out, but Ember got hurt in the process, so Spike had to carry Ember to the closest Island. "If you drop me, I'll kill you." Said Ember.

Spike smiled. "If I don't, you have to go on a date with me."

Ember sighed. "I'm going to kill my dad for assigning me to your patrol route. Deal."

"And I've regretted that moment for all of my life." Said Ember.

"I love you too babe." Said Spike.

"You guys done?" Asked a stallion dressed in a black suit of armor. "I kinda got somewhere to be in like five minutes and I didn't want to interrupt at first, but..."

Spike shrugged. "Yeah, sorry about that Crow, how's the legion?"

Crow shrugged. "You know, same old same old, storm a town, steal all the gems, recruit everyone into the empire."

Ember nodded. "And Silvia?"

Crow smiled. "Oh, I need to tell you guys. She's pregnant, I'm going to be a father."

Spike smiled. "Wow, congratulations man, I'll leave you enough bits to buy a drink after we break out."

Crow sighed. "Spike, why do you do this every time?"

Spike shrugged. "Well, Sombra is a tyrant, that wants to control the whole world and doesn't care who he needs to go through to get there."

"Well, yeah, but the food's good, pay is great, and we get full health and dental, plus 6 weeks off a year and he matches our 401k." Said Crow.

"Wait, seriously, we only get 2 weeks off and we don't even get dental, we're dragons, dental is not cheap." Said Spike.

Crow shrugged. "Well, with your skills Spike, I'm pretty sure you could raise through the ranks rather quickly."

"Cool, where do I sign up?" Asked Spike.

Ember and Garble looked at Spike. "What the fuck, Spike, you're just going to leave the order because of dental?" Asked Ember in shock.

Spike shrugged. "Well, yeah, sorry babe, I'll make you my second if you want to come as well."

Crow smiled. "They give full 9 month maternity leave, and the guys tell me that the daycare is great in the Empire, we're thinking of sending in an application."

Ember hummed. "Really? My mother only got 2 months, and she was back right after I was laid. You got a second contract?"

Garble looked at his two former friends. "Guys, why are you doing this?" Ember then kicked Garble in the leg. "Hey, stop that Ember." Spike joined in. "Spike, why are you helping her?"

Crow smiled. "Cool, let me just pull you guys back to the island and we can sign the contracts." Said Crow as he used his magic to levitate the group back to solid ground. Once they were on the ground, Crow used his magic to undo their bindings. "Ok, so I'm going to need a few bits of information."

Spike nodded as he rubbed his wrists. "Sure, what do you need?"

"First I need to know what class of wings you guys have."

Spike nodded. "2 wheel, 20 foot span, runs best on fire and lightning, she's a little kitted out, so just call her a custom." Said Spike.

Crow nodded. "Ember?"

"Trike, 2 in the front, 1 in the back, hover cycle. Runs best on Ice and wind, modern parts with old shell, so a custom as well."

Crow hummed. "Well, I'll talk to the commander about finding the equivalent of them in the garage area, but I make no guaranties. Next, would you two prefer to live together or apart?"

Spike smiled. "We practically live together already, but is there a real difference?"

Crow nodded. "Yeah, me and Silvia got 2 extra rooms, 3 extra bathrooms, plus all baby expenses are easily requested by a form. But we signed up for a family home. My friend, got an apartment that would barely fit a mouse."

Ember nodded. "Well, just as long as I get most of the sink for my stuff."

Crow smiled. "Two sinks in the master bathroom, with a large mirror."

Ember smiled. "Together, definitely together."

Crow nodded. "Ok, lastly do you both pledge your full loyalty to the great king Sombra, of the Shadow Empire, willing to give your lives to the cause?" Asked Crow.

Spike hummed. "Nah. Ember?"

"Oh, no I'm pretty sure that's all too boring."

Crow sighed. "Oh, well, I'll just put you two back in the bonds."

Spike shrugged. "No, we'll just walk away with Garble. Tell Silvia that we said hi and give her a kiss from the Storm Dragons." Said Spike.

Crow groaned. "I screwed up."

Ember nodded. "Hey, but look on the bright side, we'll make it look like you fought hard, and you'll get a promotion."

Spike smiled. "See you later Crow." Said Spike as he punched Crow in the face and knocked him out.

Author's Note

New idea that I been thinking of doing. Tell me is you remeber this show. Just a little heads up, all dragons are wingless, everytime I mention flight or wings I'm talking about the vehicles. Crow will show up every so often, as that likeable bad guy.

Canterlot Pt.2

Spike woke up in his bed and Ember was with him, nothing unusual for them, but what was unusual was the fact that Celestia was standing in the room. Spike noticed his mother in the room and decided not to give a fuck. "Ok." Said Spike as he leaned up on the bed. Thankfully all dragon important bits are hidden inside, and ponies have fur that covers them, so modesty wasn't much of a concern for them. Spike looked at Celestia. "Did Twilight put you up to this?" Asked Spike.

Celestia shook her head. "No, don't worry Spike, she's still passed out in the hall."

Spike sighed. "Are you the reason I keep seeing Aunt Luna in my dreams at night?"

"Yes, I asked her to check up on you to make sure you were doing ok, but please refrain from having her enter your more explicit dreams."

Spike shrugged. "What, I got a nessfriend that I often let into my dreams. But that's here nor there, what are you doing here so early?"

Celestia hummed. "Well, I thought we could have breakfast like we used to Spike."

Spike sighed. "Well, that doesn't sound so bad, but what about my crew?"

Celestia hummed. "Spike, it's 8:30 in the morning, everyone else is up."

Spike sighed. "Right, can you head outside while me and Ember get cleaned up?"

Celestia nodded. "Sure." Celestia then walked over to the door and opened it, showing that Twilight was still on the floor. "Come on Twilight, let’s get you some coffee." Celestia used her magic to pick up Twilight and close the door.

Spike sighed. "She really is trying to make up for it?"

Ember nodded, she was awake the whole time. "Yeah, it's pretty easy to tell."

Spike looked at his nessfriend and kissed her cheek. "Morning Ember."

Ember yawned as she sat up and stretched her back. "Morning Spike."

Spike smiled at his nessfriend and noticed that she was cuddling with him, in her own way. Ember's tail was wrapped around his. "Hey Ember, can I have my tail back?"

Ember blushed, she looked at her tail and quickly removed her tail from Spike's, she then shot him a glare. "You saw nothing."

Spike chuckled. "I didn't see anything Ember, but the rest of me is a lot warmer." This earned Spike a punch to the arm. "Ok, I'm sorry." He leaned over to his nessfriend and kissed her. "But it was nice to know that you like to cuddle my tail." Said Spike. "But I won't bring it up again." Spike got out of the bed and headed to his bathroom to take a quick shower and clean up.

Ember sighed as she already missed having Spike's warmness, but she needed to get up for the day, so she decided to hop in with Spike, much to his joy and then his disappointment, they didn't have any shower fun.

When Spike and Ember got out of the shower, Ember went to her room next door to get her horn file and scale polish. But when she walked back into the room, she noticed that Spike had gotten out his ceremonial armor from his closet. Ember looked at the armor, it was just a set of the academy armor every dragon cadet was given, but once they graduated, they had the honor of customizing it for battle if they wanted. Ember made hers dark blue and with gold trim, along with a pair of thick gloves, that went up her elbow. While Spike made his gray, green, and purple, with large armor shoulder plates that had the emblem of the Strom Dragons on it. Spike chuckled at seeing his ness looking at the armor. "Reminds me of the day we graduated, and the first night we spent together, before I was shipped out to Blitzkrieg's watch."

Ember sighed. "No, it reminds me of the time when I caught you changing it before graduation, and then helping you steal one from storage because my father would have had your head if you showed up in this during the ceremony."

Spike laughed as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Nah, you know he loves me, he just hides it with insults."

Ember sighed, Torch was loud, angry, impulsive, arrogant, quick tempered, but he was also very protective of Ember, and he loved her very much, going so far as to deny any request from any Sky Knight's that wanted to recruit her into their squads, for her protection. The only reason she was with Spike, was because she told her father that she wanted to be with Spike, and the only reason he agreed was because Spike was the best Knight of that year and the only one to earn his respect. "You know, just one word from me, and we could have a great place back home and we can finally start a family?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, but then we would get bored all day, and just run out and fight the Empire anyways."

Ember laughed. "Yeah, besides, you're lazy, if I let you laze around all day, you would lose those good looks you have."

Spike shrugged. "Probably, but to me, you will always be beautiful."

Ember smiled. "You bolder head."

Spike nuzzled his head on her neck. "I love you too Ember."

Ember purred at the feeling of Spike's scales. "So, why is your armor out?"

Spike sighed. "Well, I got a message from my aunt, she wants to see me at the academy today, and I can't just show up in my scales. Hey, you want to come with me? She's seen some of my dreams, and she should know the dragoness that is in most of them."

Ember blushed. "Ok, first off, what kind of dreams, second, why would she see them, and lastly why am I not in all of them?"

Spike smiled. "Explicit, she can enter the dreams of creatures, and you're in like 90% of them, the rest are my cooking dreams or just memories before I met you."

Ember sighed. "Sure, I would love to meet your aunt, just don't make things weird."

Spike snickered. "No promises."

So, after getting their armor on, Spike and Ember joined the crew at the meeting table in the helm, but what was weird was that the table had been replaced with a larger table. This new table had 12 seats and a massive platter of food on it already. Everyone was already sitting down and chowing on the spread. Celestia noticed Spike and Ember. "Well, I was wondering if you 2 decided to have some early morning fun, but I see I was wrong." Said Celestia, she used her magic to place a large portion of food onto 2 plates and placed them at the two empty seats. "Well, come and eat, we have a few things to discuss."

Spike and Ember shrugged and took a seat, they started eating with everyone. After a few minutes of just eating, it was time to discuss matters. "Ok mom, what matters are in need of discussion?" Asked Spike through a mouthful of eggs.

Celestia sighed as she shook her head. "Spike, don't talk with your mouth full."

Spike swallowed. "Sorry, what's up?" Asked Spike.

Celestia nodded. "Nothing too important. I just received word from the academy that the Elements I.T.I units will be arriving some time midday."

Spike nodded. "Good, Ruby, Twi, Pinkie, do your things and check them out, Ruby, make a list of parts so we can send them to Capper in Atom."

Ruby nodded. "Sure thing Spike, I have one already started, but it's going to add up quickly."

Spike nodded. "That's fine, we have plenty of bits in the hold, make sure to use that first."

Celestia looked at Spike. "Spike, why do you have so many bits?"

Spike shrugged. "Raided an Empire safe house, found 75000 bits, gave 30000 to the nearby town, took the rest for us to use."

All the girls dropped their jaws, their salary was 2000 bits a year, and the dragons had the same, but Spike and his crew were just sitting on 45000 bits.

Spike looked at Ruby. "Also, stop using my scale polish, Ruby."

Ruby shrugged. "No, it's nice on my scales and I love the scent."

Spike sighed. "I'll buy you a few jars."

Ruby smiled. "Sweet."

Spike looked at Celestia. "What else mom?"

Celestia sighed. "I have an important meeting today with the nobles, about trade with some of the smaller islands in the area, so for most of the day I will not be able to oversee the repairs."

Spike nodded. "Garble, you make sure they don't screw up the place, Smolder you're with Gar-Gar."

Smolder's eyes lit up as she smiled at her older brother. "Don't worry Gar-Gar, I'll do my best."

Garble smiled as he rubbed his little sister's head. "I don't doubt that."

Spike smiled at the loving relationship between the 2 siblings. "Twi, you and the girls help where you can, make sure the I.T.I units are loaded and are ready, then make sure Dash and Ruby clean the hangar."

Twilight nodded, but it was half hearted. She didn't get much sleep last night, I wonder why? "Sure Spike, what are you going to do, and what's with the armor?" Asked Twilight as she yawned.

"Well, Aunt Luna asked for me to meet her today in her office at the academy, and Ember is going to join me. As for the armor, I just thought, if I'm going to walk into the Sky Guard academy, might as well show them what a Sky Knight looks like." Said Spike.

Celestia nodded. "Very well, it will be nice for Luna to see you again, outside of your dreams. But Spike, please do not resent her for my actions, she was against the idea of sending you away, but I let my worry cloud my mind."

Spike sighed. "I'll try my best, but you could have told me the reason in the first place, you know?"

Celestia shook her head. "I wanted to, but I knew you Spike, better than any other, if I told you the truth, you would have done anything in your power to help me, even if your life was on the line."

Spike looked at Celestia. "Mom, I would have, but- No, it is not a child's job to protect his mother, it is the other way around. I didn't care about my own safety, just as long as you were safe." Started Spike but he was interrupted by Celestia.

"But, why not send me to the Guard Academy?" Asked Spike.

Twilight chimed in at this point to tell the truth about why that wasn't a good idea as well. "Because Spike, soon after we found out about Sombra's plot to kill Celestia, the whole academy was searching for anyone that was planning on killing Luna or me. We found that 2 teachers, and Luna's assistant were spies that were waiting for an opening to kill us both."

Spike was surprised to hear that. "But what about Cadance, is she safe?"

Celestia smiled. "She is Spike, the moment we found out about this plot, she was relocated to the northernmost island in the kingdom."

Spike sighed in relief. "Thank god." He looked at Celestia, and her horn was glowing. "Um...Mom, why is your horn glowing?" Asked Spike.

Celestia sighed. "That's a spell telling me that someone is waiting in the courtroom. I need to go now." Celestia looked at Spike. "I love you Spike."

Spike gave her a small smile, he wasn't ready to tell her the same, but he still felt it. It hurt Celestia a bit, but she understood that it would take time. She teleported away to get to work for the day, leaving Spike and his crew to go about their business. Spike looked at his crew and noticed that Twilight was looking at him a little worried. "Twilight, I know you; you only make that face when you're worried." Said Spike.

Twilight sighed as she looked fully at Spike. "I just always remember you saying I love you back to Celestia."

Spike sighed. "Twi, even if I don't say it, it doesn't mean I don't mean it. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to say it after so long."

Twilight nodded. "Sure, it takes some time."

Spike nodded. "Yeah." Said Spike as he kept eating.

After the food was gone, Spike sent Ruby and Rainbow to work cleaning the hangar, and the rest of the crew went to work as well. But for Spike and Ember, they were walking down the loading ramp, headed for the Sky Guard Academy. The Sky Guard and The Sky Knights were the 2 protectors of the skies. The guards were the shield and the knights were the sword. Together they fended off and pushed back the ever growing fear of Sombra.

The Sky Guard academy was built on the edge of the island, built in the same style as the castle as a show of loyalty and devotion. But it was more so, that it matched the rest of the city. Large halls, giant windows, white tiled floors, and even whiter cadets.

The Sky Knight academy was more for action, hard stone halls, massive training fields, magma pools for when a cadet got stupid and tried to prove that they were ready to fight. This happened a lot, the knights had a custom, if you could defeat a full-fledged knight in a single fight, you would be allowed to instantly graduate from the academy and would be placed in a squad. On record, those fights usually never got past the minute mark, most never even got past the 20 second mark. Spike even tried, and he got his tail handed to him by Torch, but the fight lasted for a whole 5 minutes, the second longest to ever happen. The first was from Torch himself back in his younger days. He actually was the only dragon in history that actually defeated a knight and jump started his career as a knight.

Spike and Ember walked over to the large golden entrance of the academy. Many ponies were walking around in the school’s uniform, a simple set of pony armor, similar to the dragon armor, but pure white, with either Celestia's cutie mark or Luna's cutie mark on the chest. Those who wore Celestia's mark were more fit for leadership roles, and those with Luna's mark were training to be on the front lines with a squad. Ember looked around at all the ponies, who were all looking at the two knights in the courtyard. "Spike, why are they looking at us?" Asked Ember.

Spike sighed. "Ember, it's not every day that a dragon walks the academy, let alone 2 full knights, and really not with our reputation." Ember nodded and gulped as she stayed close to Spike.

But a large white stallion with a blond mane walked over to them. "So, you're finally back Spike."

Spike smiled at hearing the voice, he turned around and smiled at one of the instructors of the academy. "Well if it isn't Mr. Jackass." Said Spike as he looked at Professor Blueblood. "I see Twilight didn't actually kill you for giving her a B in your magic class."

Blueblood laughed. "Nope, she was close though." Said Blueblood as he pulled Spike into a hug. "Look at you, all grown up and not making my life a living hell."

Spike chuckled at the memories. "You took my comic away, so I burned your lesson plan, I call that a fair trade."

Blue smiled at Spike. "Spike, what my aunt did was not right, I was with Luna on that."

Spike sighed. "It's fine Blue, what happened, happened, and I'm actually ok with how it turned out. I'm a knight, I got my crew, and most importantly..." Said Spike as he wrapped his tail around Ember's waist. "I got my Ness."

Blue smiled at hearing his cousin was happy. "Well, she's clearly crazy, I've known you since the day you were hatched, and 99% of that time you were a pain in my flanks."

Ember smiled. "Oh, he's still a pain, but it has its charm at times."

Blueblood smiled. "Well, I think introductions are in order. I am Duke Blueblood Solaris, the head of magical defense and attack classes at the Sky Guard Academy, and Spike's cousin." Said Blueblood holding out his hand.

"Ember, Ember Torch, second in command of the Storm Dragons, and Spike's nessfriend. It's a pleasure to meet you." Said Ember taking the hand.

Spike smiled. "Well Blue, Luna asked me to come see her, and I thought I would bring Ember, so..."

Blueblood nodded. "Don't worry, I have class now, but do drop by my room, we're going over fire defense spells today, and a dragon is a better stand in than a dummy with a fire gem."

Spike nodded. "Sure." Said Spike. Blueblood nodded and walked away to get to his class. Spike looked at Ember and smiled at her. "So, let's head to the armory and then we can go to my aunt’s office." Said Spike. Ember was confused about why they needed to head to the armory first, but she just went with it.

After heading to the armory, Spike grabbed a lightning staff, and checked out a shock gem from the check out, while Ember went with a pair of daggers and one ice and one fire gem. Ember was still very confused on why they needed to be armed to see his aunt, but her question was answered the moment Spike and Ember walked into Luna's office. But it was very clear when a sword was thrown through a solid wood door, about 6 inches from Ember's head, why they needed to be armed. "Spike!" Yelled Luna as she ran over to her nephew. Spike smiled as he pulled Luna into a chockers hold, but Luna was nimble and brought her hoof onto the top of his head, forcing him to let her go.

"How have you been Aunt Luna?" Asked Spike as he pulled out his staff and popped in the gem.

Luna smiled. "Pretty good, and thank you for coming today, I was worried that after seeing Tia, you would've said screw it and left." Said Luna as she pulled out her sword from the door, that's when she saw Ember. "Oh, it's nice to meet you, please feel free to help Spike, he was never able to take me down when he was younger."

Spike chuckled. "Sorry, you're what, 1500 years old, I was 13 the last time we fought, and you didn't hold back." Spike then took a jab at Luna, who used her wings to dodge the attack.

Luna landed on her desk and smiled at Spike. "Really, shock staff, I thought you were a sword user and loved to use fire?"

Spike shrugged. "I still have Percy in my ship, but my engineer kinda stole my gems." Spike got closer to Ember. "Oh, Aunt Luna, this is Ember, Ember, this is my aunt, Princess Luna Solaris, ruler of the moon, dreams, and unofficially the strongest fighter in the kingdom."

Ember sighed as she got her daggers ready, she looked at Spike. "Really, is this how you were able to send 5 dragons to the hospital on the first day of combat training?"

Spike shrugged. "Well, kinda, mom was really against the idea of me fighting, but Luna wanted to make sure I was safe. One second." Said Spike as Luna decided to lunge at Spike and Ember, but Spike kicked her in the gut sending her back, all while not taking his eyes off Ember. "Also, just have some fun Sweetie, it's relaxing." Said Spike as he kissed Ember's snout quickly.

"Awe, I can tell that Cadance would love to meet her, make sure to stop by the next time you're in the north." Said Luna.

Spike shrugged. "Sure, we need to head to Atom first, but it's not too far from the northern islands, so we might stop by. Do they still call me Spike the brave and glorious?" Asked Spike as he tossed his staff and rushed Luna to take her to the ground.

But Luna was expecting that, she had taught him that move, so she stood her ground and used her sword to deflect the staff. "Oh, well, you did save the region from Sombra 2 years ago, but I think they added a new statue last month."

Spike groaned. "Really, why, I told them not to do anything, that's why I left the island before they started a parade."

Luna giggled at Spike's opinion as she jumped over to the wall with a shield on it and pried it off. She attached it to her arm and got into a defensive stance. "Well, you did save 9 foals from being taken."

Spike looked at Luna and her shield. "Really, I'm that much of a threat to you now, either I'm getting better or you're getting old." Said Spike, in all his training with Luna, she had never gotten a shield out, mostly because she never needed one to take Spike down.

Luna smirked. "Oh, don't flatter yourself." Said Luna as she was more like a knight than a guard, she rushed Spike and used the shield as a weapon and tried to bash Spike's snout in. But she was stopped by Ember cross blocking the shield. "Oh, so the lusty lizard can fight?"

Ember blushed. "Hey, only Spike can call me that!" Yelled Ember as she used her strength to push Luna back. Ember looked at Spike. "And you, why does she know that?"

Spike gulped, he was prepared for a 2 on 1, but not a 1 on 2 fight. "Remember, I said she can see my dreams, I call you that in them."

Luna smirked. "He also calls you his scaly bitch as well." Said Luna taking full advantage of Ember's anger.

Ember looked at Spike with death in her eyes. "You What?!"

Spike gulped. "Um... I say it with love?" Spike then shot Luna a glare. "Shut up, are you trying to get me killed?" Asked Spike.

Luna smirked. "No, I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to do this." Said Luna as she pointed to the floor.

Spike and Ember looked at it and found a gem trap placed between them. "Mother Fucker. Ember don't move, its motion sensitive and can detect the slightest movement. I can deactivate it, but you'll have to take Luna on." Spike bent down and started working.

Ember gulped as she looked at Luna. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to attack you, I'm just going to ask some questions. First, how did this all come about?" Asked Luna.

Ember blushed. "How we met, how we started dating, or how we started sleeping together?"

Luna smiled. "I know how you started sleeping together, it's one of his favorite memories. Let’s talk about how you 2 met?"

Ember nodded. "Well, it was the first week of our first year at the academy, Spike was really upset about getting shipped off, so he decided to try and take the quick route to graduation. He challenged my father to a fight, no weapons, just fist and fire, my father cleaned the floor with him, but he was impressed at how strong he was for a little youngling, so he asked me to take Spike to the magma pits and the medical wing of the academy, where I yelled at him for doing something that reckless."

Spike smiled. "Yeah, good times."

Luna nodded. "How about how you 2 started dating?"

"It was during a training mission, I was assigned with Spike, when we were attacked by a Roc, my wing was damaged and I had to bale over an island, Spike saved me from falling to my death and flew me back to the camp, but because of that I had to go on a date with him next time we had a break." Said Ember.

Spike hummed; he was really close to finishing defusing the trap. "You looked so weird out of the armor and in a dress, I didn't even recognize you when we met up outside of the academy gates." Said Spike.

Luna smiled. "Ok, do you love Spike?" Asked Luna, she wanted to know if this was real.

Ember smiled. "As much as one can love a boulder head like him, but I'm still here after 2 and a half years with him, so yeah."

Spike nodded as he finished defusing the trap, now it was time for him to repurpose it. "Well, I can say the same, though she snores at night, but I find it cute." Said Spike.

Ember blushed, and Luna smiled. "Ok, can I expect some grand nieces and nephews that I can spoil rotten?"

Ember blushed even harder. "Wow, too personal, I mean, we have talked about it before, but..."

Spike sighed as he got the trap ready. "We have talked about it, Aunt Luna, but we both agreed to start trying after Sombra is gone. Also think fast." Said Spike as he tossed the trap over to Luna, but it wasn't a trap anymore, it was now a grenade that exploded into a large burst of shock energy, frying Luna, and thanks to the shield she had, it was not going to tickle.

Spike smiled at seeing Luna on the ground, she was still breathing, and spike couldn't smell burning fur or flesh. "You good?" Asked Spike as he walked over to Luna.

Luna coughed out a puff of smoke. "Yeah, I guess I got distracted, but she seems perfect for you, don't screw it up Spike."

Spike nodded as he helped Luna to her hooves. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on doing anything to piss her off, she's terrifying when she's mad."

Ember smirked. "Damn straight." Said Ember as she had a proud smirk on her face.

Luna laughed. "Well, she definitely has Torch's blood in her." Luna walked over to the dragoness and pulled her into a hug. "Though if you hurt him, I will skin you and turn your scales into a nice belt."

Ember gulped as she didn't think that was an idle threat, so she nodded. "Yes ma'am."

Luna smiled, because it really wasn't idle, but also because she knew Torch raised her to be honest. "Good, well, now that we're finished, it's time to get down to business, please come take a seat, so I can give you the girls files and recent mission history." Said Luna. Spike nodded and took a seat near the desk; Ember did the same. Luna got to the back of her desk and pulled out 6 files, each with the girl’s cutie mark on them. "So, the 6 of them are considered the best squad in the Guard, and they have proven themselves time after time. But this has taken a toll on them mentally and physically, their last mission even more so."

Spike nodded and took Twilight's file. "WHAT!?" Yelled Spike as he looked at the report of the last mission the girls were on. "How, why, but that's?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, Ponyville was raided by Sombra a month ago. Thankfully, the girl’s families were evacuated, but 40% of the population was captured. We tried everything in our power to stop the transport from crossing over the border, but they had a day ahead of us."

Spike looked at the files, he knew all the girls minus Twilight came from Ponyville before joining the academy. "Why Ponyville?" Asked Spike.

Luna sighed. "To show that the Elements and the Guard that Sombra can get to their families, even if they are so far into the kingdom." Said Luna.

Spike growled as he started shredding the file with his claws, Ember placed her hand onto Spike's shoulder. "Spike, calm down, anger is going to cloud your judgement."

Luna nodded. "Yes, please listen to her dear nephew, we have word that many of those ponies are being held in a facility not too far from the border, but still too far for the guard to not get slaughtered if we try and invade. But a single leviathan shouldn't make too much noise." Said Luna.

Spike took a deep breath. "One week, one week and I'll have them back home." Said Spike as he got out of the chair and walked out of the office.

Luna sighed as she looked at Ember. "Please, keep him safe."

Ember smiled. "It's Spike, safe doesn't exist in his vocabulary, only come back alive, but when he means one week, he means one week." Said Ember. She got out of her chair and followed Spike.

Luna sighed as she looked at the door to the office. "Oh, I know, I'm a big fan of his work." Said Luna as she pulled out a magazine of recent Sky Knight activity with the Storm Dragon's Flame Wing on the cover, but the head line was 'Biggest Problem Squad.'

Spike was stomping down the halls, trying to figure out the best attack plan for taking that facility, normally the Storm Dragons would go in gems a blazing, but with ponies on the line, that wasn't going to be an option. 'Ok, Peewee will scout and report back with guard locations, buildings, and possibly a route in and out. Garble is going to be our main wall breaker, while me, smolder, and Ember infiltrate and extract. Ruby can man the defense cannons while we do our jobs.' Thought Spike, but he was thinking only with half a deck. 'Wait the girls! But I don't know their styles or their pitfalls. Ok, we're starting training tonight.'

Ember sighed as he looked at Spike's face, that was his planning face. "I'll get the report started." Said Ember, when Spike was in charge of plans, it always ended up with a long report about how much they blew up, or how they got captured and broke free, and the only reason the Storm Dragons weren't disbanded was because Torch got the reports and Ember always wrote them.

Before leaving the academy, Spike and Ember stopped in the magical defense and attack department of the school to see Blueblood. Spike found the directory and after walking to the right class, he proceeded to interrupt with the loudest entrance he could make. "Blue, throw up a shield, I need to vent." Yelled Spike. This outburst startled the whole class of unicorns and the professor himself.

"Spike, I'm in the middle of teaching them how to project an elemental shield to counteract gem blasts, instead of conjuring up an all-purpose shield and draining their magic." Said Blueblood.

Spike sighed as he grabbed a piece of chalk and started drawing the correct magical equations for elemental shields while changing the variables for which type of shield. "Look at this, read this, memorize this, and practice it, fire and water, air and earth, plant and lightning, with the variations of elements, they can be nullified by one of the others, but if you are unsure which attack is coming, use a full shield and don't die." Said Spike.

Blueblood sighed as he checked the math, and it was all right. "Well, I guess that moves us to the demonstration part of the class. First, I will show you all a flame counter shield, with our intruders as a stand in for the gem." Said Blueblood as he walked to the middle of the class and started projecting a water shield, the best counter for fire gems. "Ok, Spike I'm ready." Said Blueblood.

Spike growled as he started breathing a large amount of fire from his mouth, filling the room with steam, but Blueblood noticed that his shield was starting to evaporate away. "Ok, so this is the best for a flame gem, but right now it appears that the dragon is producing stronger flames, who can tell me what to do?" Asked Blueblood.

The class raised their hands. "Yes Lyra?" Asked Blueblood.

A green unicorn stood up and answered. "If he is producing more power than a flame gem, it is best to change to an Ice or glacier shield."

Blueblood nodded. "Right, I will be changing to an ice first, then to the glacier." Said Blueblood, he could feel that he was going to need that glacier shield. Blueblood concentrated his magic and soon the shield was now a solid piece of ice. Then it changed to an even harder piece of ice composed of salt water, making it a glacier shield. Thankfully Spike's fire wasn't strong enough to melt through it, so Blueblood was fine.

Spike stopped breathing his fire after a solid 3 minutes, he looked visibly calmer and more composed. "Thank you." Said Spike as he really needed to vent.

Blueblood was huffing but smiled when he dropped the shield. "No problem, but what gives?"

Ember sighed. "He got word about the town raid last month, he's not taking it well."

Blueblood nodded. "Oh, that is understandable, if you need to go, please, don't feel obligated to stay." Said Blueblood.

Ember smiled, but Spike looked to the class. "Ok, what the professor just demonstrated was only a taste of what really could happen on a mission, so all of you, it is important to practice in teams, and changing elements on the fly, the Empire won't care about what you learned in a class room. So, you need to be prepared for it." Said Spike. Ember nodded; she knew that Spike was 100% right in his statement.

And Blueblood agreed, he was in a squad before becoming a teacher, and he had seen how quickly the battle field could all blur together. "Well, take that to heart students, that can be the difference between life and death on the battlefield. Now, I'm sure that our guest has somewhere to be, so let us not keep them from their duties."

The class thanked Spike and Ember for helping with the demonstration, and the 2 walked out of the halls, out of the school, and back to the Flame Wing to get everything ready.

When Spike and Ember got back to the Flame Wing, they arrived just in time for the girls I.T.I's to be loaded into the hanger. Spike walked over to a cream coated unicorn mare with her mane of crimson with two highlights of purple done up into a bun, and a pair of thick framed glasses resting on her muzzle. "Careful, but hurry up, we don't have all day, the princess gave us orders to have these I.T.I's loaded by noon and it’s only a quarter till." Yelled the mare.

This seemed to get a fire lit under all the movers. Spike walked over to the mare and smiled at her. "Still as much of a perfectionist as ever aren't you Moony." Said Spike.

The mare turned around and gasped at seeing her old friend and her first crush standing behind her. "Spike?" Asked the mare.

Spike nodded. "Yep, long time no see Moondancer." Said Spike.

Moondancer smiled as she pulled Spike into a hug, pressing her chest into his, much to Embers rage. "I can't believe you're back, I missed you so much."

Spike smiled at the mare. "Well, I've been told I'm hard to get rid of." Said Spike.

Moondancer smiled and chuckled as she looked at Spike's eyes. "Spike." Said Moondancer getting closer to Spike's lips.

Spike looked at Moondancer and he could tell that she was trying to kiss him. "Oh, where are my manners, Moondancer, this is my nessfriend Ember, Ember this is my old friend Moondancer."

Moondancer looked at the dragon in question and the first thing to pop into her head was 'fuck off bitch, he's mine', but Moondancer was smart enough not to kill her chances with Spike, so she played nice for now. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that he was attached, please can we start over?"

Ember was none the wiser and snorted some smoke out. "Fine, but just don't get so close to him."

Spike sighed. "Ember, she's an old friend." Said Spike.

Ember sighed, and internally Moondancer was flipping her off. "Fine." Ember stuck out her hand. "Ember Torch, it's nice to meet you Moondancer."

Moondancer smiled and took the hand. "It's nice to meet you Ember, as you know my name is Moondancer, but I'm head of the technology department for the Sky Guard's. Was that you're hydra in the hangar?"

Ember nodded. "Yep, though she's not a normal Hydra, she's more like a Paragon with how fast she is."

Moondancer was surprised. "Really? But it looks like an older model, there's no way it's as fast as a Paragon?"

Ember shook her head. "Normally no, but me and our engineer, Ruby installed a prototype gem fuel converter."

Moondancer gasped. "Can I meet her, please, oh please?" Asked Moondancer, begging to meet Ruby.

Ember looked at Moondancer a little confused. "Um... Sure?" Ember looked to the ship. "YO, RUBES!" Yelled Ember.

Soon Ruby came into view. "What's up?" Asked Ruby as she looked at the group. Spike motioned for her to come down and meet Moondancer.

Spike smiled at Ruby. "Ruby this is my old friend Moondancer, she's the head of the tech department for the Sky Guard."

Moondancer was shaking as she stuck out her hand. "It's an honor to meet you." Said Moondancer.

Ruby Smiled as she took the hand. "It's nice to meet you too, and might I say, your thesis on gem harmonization was really great."

Moondancer blushed. "You read my thesis?"

Ruby nodded. "Yep, it really helped with my work."

Moondancer gasped. "It did, but it was only a theory about gem fusion, there's no way it should have helped?"

Ruby grinned as she pulled Moondancer to her workshop to show her the fusion machine. "Oh, you're going to love this." Said Ruby.

Spike groaned. "Just make sure to not blow up the ship." Shouted Spike.

Ruby hollered back. "No Promises."

Spike sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "Come on, let’s go see the girls I.T.I's." Said Spike, really annoyed that Ruby can’t promise not to blow up the ship.

When Spike and Ember got onto the ship, all the girls were helping load their I.T.I's into their new work areas. Spike walked over to the first one in the line, it was Fluttershy's. "Hey Flutters." Said Spike.

Fluttershy eeped but she calmed down when she noticed it was just Spike who was behind her. "Oh, thank Celestia it's just you Spike, how did your meeting with Luna go?" Asked Fluttershy.

Spike sighed. "She told me about Ponyville." Said Spike, he then pulled the shy mare into a hug. "I'm sorry that happened to you guys." Said Spike as he started to cry.

Fluttershy sighed as she gave her friend a rub on his back. "Shh, it's ok Spike, I know the Guard and Knights will save them." Said Shy, trying to comfort Spike.

Ember was surprised to see Spike crying, she had seen him do a lot of things, but cry wasn't one of them, and for some weird reason, it irked her that she didn't know how to help. But clearly Fluttershy did.

Soon Spike stopped feeling so bad and released the mare. Spike wiped his eyes and nodded. "Thanks Shy, but that's our mission, after we make 2 stops, we're going to the location of the ponies and breaking them out, so I need you to get ready for some training." Spike looked to all the girls. "Girls, were going to do some training, you have 5 minutes to get ready, that's an order."

All the girls nodded and started getting ready to move out, Spike looked at Fluttershy. "We're going to save them." Said Spike.

Fluttershy smiled as she ran off to get into her I.T.I. Spike looked at Ember. "What are you standing around for, we have one week to train the girls to think like Storm Dragons."

Ember sighed. "I swear you like seeing me do paperwork, don't you?"

Spike smirked. "Well, yeah, but it's mostly because if I wrote anything, Torch would know it's a lie."

Ember sighed as she just walked away to get her hydra ready. Spike walked over to the ship’s intercom. "Attention all members of the Flame Wing, we are going to be doing a little training today, the sky is clear, the winds are light, but the defense system is going to be aiming for you, so if you want to make it back for dinner, I suggest you learn quickly. Can Smolder and Gar-Gar please report to the rear gem canons and shoot anything that takes to the sky, except me and Ember, we're going to be doing Ariel fighting."

Smolder responded back. "But what about your wing, it's still super charged?"

Spike nodded. "Right, Smolder, I'm taking your Paragon so don't shoot it. Ruby, once you're done breaking Moondancer in your workshop, get off your tail and plot the fastest course to Atom. Spike out." Said Spike as he walked over to Smolder's area, and sitting inside of it was a dark orange Paragon, it had a great system, but unlike Spike's it was a little smaller, perfect for a dragoness the size of Smolder, but for a quick training session it would be fine. Spike hopped onto the wing and started moving it out of the hangar, waiting for Ember to show up.

She did soon after with her Hydra ready. "So, what's the plan?" Asked Ember.

Spike shrugged. "We go out, ahead of the girls, and we try to beat them, but keep an eye on how they work together and where they fall apart, and please do hold back a tad, they're guards, not knights."

Ember huffed. "Fine."

Spike smiled as he pulled the throttle on Smolder's wing and flew out to the sky. Ember did the same and joined him in the sky waiting for the girls to get ready.

5 minutes later Spike and Ember were joined by all the girls in their I.T.I's. Twilight was in a Alicorn, Rarity was in a white Unicorn, Fluttershy and Pinkie were in a heavily modified Earth Pony, with Fluttershy acting as pilot and Pinkie as a support gunner, Rainbow was in a stripped sky blue Pegasus that looked more ready for a race than combat, and AJ was in an orange Earth Pony. Spike looked at the odd combination of mares and there were some serious concerns. "Ok, first off, what the hell are Pinkie and Fluttershy in?"

Pinkie smiled. "Meet the Butterfly, a fully customized Earth Pony I.T.I, that acts as an emergency repair, and medical station. A design built by yours truly, but we're still trying to find a place for the picture of a stick of butter with wings on it." Said Pinkie as she hummed.

"Ok, after we're done you have to show me how it works." Said Spike.

Pinkie nodded. "Okey dokey."

Spike looked to Rarity. "Ok, Rarity, we're going to change that paint job when we land as well, you're too much of a target in that."

Rarity smirked. "How about now?" Asked Rarity as she used her magic to do something making the Unicorn change colors to a muted gray. Spike was surprised which made Rarity giggle. "A Twilight original, magical camo, just a little magic and I can blend into the sky without being seen."

Spike nodded as he looked at AJ's. "Let me guess, you're the tank?" Asked Spike.

AJ smirked as she deactivated her flight mode and changed into hover mode, letting a arsenal of gem guns and cannons pop out and show Spike. "12 blasters, 4 cannons, 5 inch thick armor, and enough gems to level a city."

Spike nodded as he inwardly freaked at how much fire power AJ was sporting. "Ok, keep in mind this is training." Said Spike. "Rainbow, that hunk of metal better be quick, because I don't think it could take a single blast."

Rainbow growled as she sped off into the sky and got back in less time it took Spike to figure out that she was gone. "Never been hit once, and never going to be." Said Rainbow.

Spike was impressed, but he needed to make sure Rainbow knew that never was not always a thing, so he moved onto his older sister. "Ok Twi, I'm just going to take it that you did a lot of work on it, so tell me about it later." Twilight huffed, she wanted to tell Spike about her Alicorn. "Ok, today we are going to be your opponents, me and Ember are going to try and knock you off your I.T.I's while Garble and smolder will try to shoot you with the ships defense cannons. If you can all stay up for 15 minutes, we'll call it a day and I'll cook dinner for everyone, fail and we'll go until mom lowers the sun. The training area is the back of the Flame Wing."

All the girls looked confident that this was going to be a piece of cake, they had been on dozens of missions and they worked great as a team. "Fine, let’s start." Said Twilight.

Spike smirked. "Garble, Smolder, activate triple gem defense cannons, they're ready to start."

"On it." Responded Garble. This made the girls a little less confident, but still pretty sure they were going to be fine. "Should I switch to wide spread blasts?"

"Sure, make it a little interesting, in fact activate the secondary single gem blasters as well, we don't want to make it too easy." Said Spike.

Garble shrugged. "Fine, it's your head." Said Garble as he activated the secondary defensive blasters. "Ok, all set Spike."

Spike nodded as he dropped the communication. "Ok, training test 1 starting now." Said Spike.

Author's Note

It doesn't go well for the girls. Sorry about the little updates to this one.