MONDAY

Spike, with help from his new friends, had successfully restocked his wardrobe, (to a degree) and donated his old stuff.

But Spike still had doubts about going back, all throughout the weekend, Spike had remained in his apartment, no one heard of him, not Discord, not Big Mac, nor the gang, and at this point, everyone close to him started getting worried.

Spike actually spent Saturday in bed, talking with his father, asking him for help.

“So, you want me to tell you how to control your powers?” Smelter asked

“Yes, I don’t want to go all psycho and kill everyone.” Spike said.

“Ok, first that’s not gonna happen, and second your powers will only go psycho if you allow them to.” Smelter said.

“Are you sure?” asked Spike.

“Listen, Spike, I know and understand you’re scared, but, in some things, you just have to be brave, especially when it comes to your powers.” Smelter said.

“So then, what you are telling me to do is, to go out and practice using my powers by fighting?” asked Spike.

“No son, being brave doesn’t mean you go looking for trouble or never being afraid, it’s being afraid and still do the right thing.” Smelter said.

Spike just remained quiet.

“Spike, never forget this quote, it’s possibly the smartest thing someone ever said. “With great power comes great responsibility.” That’s what I want you to be, responsible.” Smelter said.

Spike stayed quiet thinking about it.

“I’m not telling you not to fight either, but I want you to always try to find the peaceful way out of trouble, don’t be a younger me, who thought that blood and gore were the right diplomacies, ok?” Smelter said.

“Alright dad, but, I still feel like if my power is hiding something.” Spike said.

“You mean the abilities.” Smelter said.

“Abilities?” asked Spike.

“Yeah, every type of magic has its own abilities which you can master, do you want me to look into it?” Smelter said.

Spike nodded.

“Alright then… interesting, you have many abilities, but they are all really blocked subconsciously by your mind.” Smelter said.

“Well that sucks.” Spike said.

“Not that much, it seems you can unlock one of them… if I were you, I’ll unlock the ability named “Predator.”” said Smelter.

“Why?” asked Spike.

“Just do it.” Smelter deadpanned.

“Ok, ok.” Spike said and started concentrating really hard, after a few seconds Spike started to feel strange, he felt lighter, stronger, and with a massive headache.

“Well done son, you have successfully unlocked Predator.” Smelter said with joy.

“Thanks, but what is so special about this ability?” asked Spike.

“The ability of Predator is a neurological enhancer… unlike how it sounds, this ability lets you learn and master new abilities by, either seeing them, hearing them or reading about them.” Smelter explained

“Wow, now that’s a bonus, do I have a limit?” asked Spike.

“Only until you feel you have enough skills.” Smelter said.

“Great, now what?” Spike asked again.

“Now that I see these skills… I can teach them to you… I mastered many of them in my life, the other ones you might have to practice on your own. Would you like to begin?” asked Smelter.

Spike nodded, and the training began.

Spike and Smelter trained all throughout the weekend, and by the end of it Spike had mastered various skills.

“Spike I know you’ll be going back to school tomorrow, but I want you to extra careful.” Smelter said.

“With what?” asked Spike.

“I have to stand with your friends Spike. Your new powers can be subject to a lot of things, and not to mention your physical change can also contribute to it.” Smelter said.

“I don’t get it.” Spike said.

“I’m telling you to watch yourself, from the jealous stares all the way to the bedroom eyes.” Smelter said.

Spike just looked at him.

“I mean it. Now I’m not telling you not to forget about sex all together, but I prefer if you do it with someone you like instead of being forced into it and on the other hand, be careful of jealousy. People might turn on you and try to do nasty things if you aren’t on high alert.” Smelter said.

“I will… oh that’s my alarm clock, bye dad.” Spike said.

“Two final things, 1) it's imperative you don’t disclose anything about your other abilities or how you earned them, and I know it’s gonna be hard to because it’s in your school record now, but try to dodge the subject ok?” Smelter said.

Spike nodded and started to dissipate back to consciousness.

“And 2) I really would like to see some grandchildren.” Smelter said as his voice faded and Spike awoke.

“Well, that was a strange request.” Spike said as he got up and went to start his day.

After one hour Spike exited his apartment and headed down to the parkade, he was about to walk to the bus stop when he saw something in the corner of his eye.

He turned and saw his motorcycle, A green Ducati Superleggera, Spike looked at it for a good 10 seconds before running back to his apartment and grabbing his motorcycle helmet, then rushed back down to the parkade and turned on the engine.

The motorcycle roared as it came to life, “Morning love, sorry for not riding you for a while, ready to show off?” Spike said as he accelerated away.

SCHOOL GROUNDS

The school was starting to get crowded by various students, either being dropped off, driving in, or riding the bus.

And It was also easy to start making out the different social groups or familias, all of them were starting to get together and talk, although the only thing coming out of everyone's mouths was Spike.

The only people that weren’t part of a group were Soarin, Cheese, Caramel, and Big Mac (Although no one knows why).

Soarin walked over to Big Mac and said “Hey... uhm… Big Mac, do you know when Spike is gonna arrive? We haven’t heard from him since Friday night.” he asked.

“Nope, I’m in the same boat as the three of you.” Big Mac said.

“Do you think the injuries he suffered were too severe?” asked Caramel.

“Nah, he said that the heat in his body made him heal faster.” Cheese said.

“And you trust him?” said Caramel.

“He trusts us… sort of.” Cheese reminded them.

Just then the sound of a motorcycle attracted the group's attention. The motorcycle in question entered the school parking lot catching everyone’s attention at that point, and came to a halt in front of them.

Spike then proceeded to remove his helmet, and his long hair flew everywhere, now all eyes were on him, and he could feel all of the stares, the stares of surprise, of admiration, of lust, and of course, hate.

“Dude, where have you been?” asked Soarin, as he and Spike fist bumped.

“At home, sleeping.” Spike said as he finished greeting his friends.

“Aight, now the most important thing is, what is going on in this department?” asked Caramel as he pointed at Spike’s head.

“You mean my hair?” asked Spike.

“Yeah, after the fight on Friday you didn’t have any, so… how?” Caramel said.

“More importantly I didn’t know Dragons had hair.” Soarin said.

“I’m not gonna say this out loud, so I hope you can add the points. Have you noticed that many female dragon “Models” have long hair?” Spike said.

It took the others sometime before they finally understood what Spike ment, and quickly nodded yes.

“We male dragons prefer to shave it of and use the scales in our head as hair,” Spike explained

“So wait… those that mean,” started Soarin.

“That all of this time…” continued Caramel.

“You’ve been…” finished Cheese.

“Bald? Yes, yes I’ve been, got a problem with that?” Spike asked.

“You look much better this way.” Soarin blurted out.

“Really?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, but you should cut it a bit.” Caramel said.

“I’ll think about it.” Spike said as he headed inside the school followed by the rest of the group.

While they were walking inside, all of the girls started to whisper amongst themselves, things like “He’s so hot.” “Do you think he’s single?” “Should I ask him out?” “I wouldn’t mind going all the way with him.” And many more I am not allowed to write due to the graphic nature of their fantasies.

Spike walked up to his locker and was about to open it but Big Mac said.

“Are you positive that you’ll be ok? Changes can bring problems.”

“I’ll be fine.” Spike said.

He hadn’t even finished turning to face his locker when a flood of letters fell off it.

“What the fuck?” said Spike.

“Now that’s what I call fan mail.” Soarin said as he bent down to help Spike pick them up.

“Why don’t you read some.” said Cheese.

“Ok. ‘Dear Spike, I know I have been treating you badly for almost a year now, but, I really want to say I’m sorry, I know I was wrong, hope you can forgive me and we can be friends, best wishes, Lyra’ How nice of her.” Spike said.

“Dear Spike, I’m sorry, if you ever need a favor you can feel free to ask me anything, Best wishes Bob Bon.” read Big Mac.

“Hello, handsome, just wanted to let you know that I always found you really attractive, and I was wondering if you might want to go out with me, XOXO, Diamond Tiara.” read Soarin. “Interesting.”

“‘If you ever feel alone, don’t hesitate to call me, I wouldn’t mind being in your company.’ and a phone number, Love Aria.” said Caramel.

“This one is a package.” said Cheese as he opened it and a bra and Panties fell from it making everyone red, Cheese saw a note and grabbed it. ‘Here’s a little something to help you in your “Private time”, love Blossomforth.’

“What are you going to do with all this?” asked Caramel.

“The only reasonable thing to do… read them all… oh and Soarin, may you please go find Blosomforth and give them back. I don’t want any funny misunderstandings.” Spike said.

“That’s gonna be quite the problem Spike, If I show up with them and give the package back it might kill her with embarrassment.” Soarin said.

“So then what?” asked Spike.

“Keep them here, and when you leave, dispose of them at home or go to her house and deliver them to her.” Soarin said.

“I’ll take your advice then.” Spike said as he quickly shoved the underwear into his locker and closed it.

“Time to go to class.” Big mac said as the bell rang.

LUNCH TIME

The first half of the day had been as Spike predicted it to be, everyone came over to Spike to talk to him, everyone that wasn’t afraid of him of course, all the teachers started to refer to him as their “favorite student”, and he didn’t stop receiving little notes with someone's phone number or a message saying “I think you’re cute.”

“The shallowness of people.” Spike said in his head as he walked into the cafeteria, and to his surprise all eyes were on him.

Spike stood there motionless for a good 10 seconds before turning and heading towards Granny Smith

“Well, Mornin’ Spike, I hear you became some sort of demon last Friday, might’ve to give you more food.” She said.

“Who told you?” asked Spike.

“AJ, and Applebloom were there, they were really impressed.” Granny Smith said as she gave Spike an even bigger serving of food.

“Thank you.” Spike said as he walked to his regular table, which had his friends waiting for him.

Spike sat down, he could still feel everyone’s eyes on him.

“They really are trying hard to get your attention, aren’t they?” Caramel asked.

“Yeah, but I just can’t believe how shallow they are.” Spike said.

“Don’t worry about it dude. It’s in everyone’s nature, the more attractive, rich, athletic, or powerful you are, the more people want to be near you, we were like that too.” Soarin said.

“But at least we realized that what we were doing was wrong.” Cheese added.

“Glad to hear that.” Spike said as he started to eat.

The table went quiet for a good minute while everyone stuffed their faces with their lunch food.

“So, did you think about our proposal?” Soarin asked.

“What proposal?” asked Big Mac.

“We asked Spike if he’d like to join a band with us.” Soarin explained.

“Cool, can I join?” said Big Mac.

“Listen guys, I did think about it…” Spike began.

“Cool, it’s time to think of our name, what do you guys think of “Death Hurricane”?” said Soarin.

“Isn’t that the name of your special move? What about “Cowboys of Doom”?” said Caramel.

“Not bad, but It almost sounds like the name of a gang.” Cheese said

“Guys, I didn’t finish.” Spike said.

Everyone turned to him.

Spike saw their faces and couldn’t bring himself to say that he wasn’t interested so he quickly came up with a lie “I was thinking… that… maybe we can… form a Familia, too?”

“Even better, so what should we name it?” asked Soarin.

Spike remained quiet, he needed to think of a good name for it, for their sakes, “Let’s see, Dragon… wings, no sounds like food, Fire soldiers, no, too stupid, oh I know…” “What about Dragonknights?” asked Spike.

“Dragonknights?” they all said.

“I like it, it sounds powerful.” said Caramel.

“Glad we can agree on this.” Soarin said.

“Ok Spike, all we have to do is make it official at the Principal's office, the Familia, not the band.” Cheese said.

“I’ll take care of that later. Something wrong Mac, you’ve been awfully quiet.” Spike said.

“I just can’t take you seriously with that long hair of yours, you need to cut it.” Big Mac said, making everyone nod.

“I told you I know nothing about hair and shit.” Spike said, getting angry.

“Then ask someone.” Said Big Mac.

“Who?” said Spike.

“Well it has to be someone with an impeccable taste in fashion.” Soarin said

“Someone, that loves to help people look better.” Cheese added.

“Someone, who knows the best salons and clothes shops in the whole world.” Caramel added.

“But who?” finished Big Mac.

The group continued thinking for a good minute until they heard a voice in the distance.

“Oh, Darling, I just love your new earrings, they make you look so fashionable.”

“RARITY, OF COURSE!” they all said, scaring Spike, who hadn’t heard them talk due to his headphones.

“What?” he asked.

They all pointed to Rarity.

“Oh no, there is no way I’m going to ask her, she hates me.” Spike said.

“Do you know that for sure?” asked Mac.

“I suspect so. She hasn’t been exactly friendly.” Spike said.

“Well you don’t lose anything, plus if she refuses to help you she’ll be the one in the wrong side of the sword.” Caramel said.

Spike just looked at them, feeling defeated he got up and walked towards her.

Rarity had her back to him, so she didn’t see him come up to her.

“Um, excuse, Ms. Rarity, may I ask for a favor?” Spike said as Rarity turned around.

When she did Rarity didn’t scream or shoo him away, instead she turned red and had trouble looking at him in the eyes.

“Sure, you can ask me anything.” She said

“May you please tell me where is the best hair salon in town, as you can see my hair is way too long and it’s not exactly my style, also can you tell me where I can go to buy fashionable clothes, if you don't mind.” Spike said as he looked at her nervously.

Rarity remained quiet, not because she wanted to be rude, but because she was star struck, you see, Rarity had actually had a crush on Spike ever since the seventh grade, but her own fear of rejection made her be cold or avoid him, so, his transformation to his true self had made it hard for her to control herself near him.

“Sure, Darling, I’ll give you my number and I’ll give you some ideas of where to go, does that sound good?” she said as she got her phone out.

Spike just nodded, and gave her his information, he thanked her once again and started walking back to his table.

“That wasn’t so bad, right?” Soarin said.

“No.” Spike answered as he went back to eating.

5 minutes later Spike felt someone tap his shoulder.

He turned around and was surprised to see, none other than, Twilight Sparkle standing there

“Can I help you?” Spike said in his emotionless voice.

“Can I borrow you for a minute?” Twilight said.

Spike nodded, got up and followed Twilight out of the cafeteria to the empty hallway near the auditorium.

“So, I’ll ask again, can I help you?” Spike said.

Twilight turned and gave Spike an envelope.

Spike took it, opened it and started reading, “I Twilight Sparkle, leader of the Elements of Harmony, and Princess of Friendship invite you to join the Family, welcome aboard.” Spike finished.

“Seriously?” asked Spike in his emotionless voice.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s only natural, you and I used to be friends; to be honest I didn’t even know you still attended this school. So what do you say, you will actually be placed as one of the heads of the familia, doesn’t that sound nice? It’ll be like the old time, when you used to be my number one assistant.” Twilight said as she stretched her hand towards him to seal the deal.

Spike looked at her hand, and then at the invitation.

What he did next surprised Twilight.

Spike grabbed the invitation with his both hands, and ripped it to small pieces.

‘Wha…” Twilight said.

“What I’m I doing? The right thing.” Spike said.

“I was your friend for 14 years Twilight, your BFF… your only friend in fact, the only friend who always stood up for you to bullies, the only one to make you feel better everytime someone called you “egghead,” or “nerd,” and many more, heck I even took beatings for you, but then your powers awoke and you changed, everytime I tried to get near you, you shooed me away like a dog, you even denied knowing me, saying I was just a ‘Nobody, who was trying to suck on your popularity.’” Spike said.

“Is that how you thank a friend that helped you study, that helped you gather your things everytime someone bullied you, protected you from danger? Huh?! Cause I don’t fucking think so!” Spike screamed.

Twilight remained quiet.

“And you know what’s the worst thing? Even after all that I still cared for you, yeah! You heard me, I still did my best to help you. How, you ask? Simple, who do you think gave you a copy of the English assignments, when you forgot to do them, or who gave you the notes that helped you pass Math class, or who found your textbooks in the garbage can, and took them to your locker for you not to lose any marks? That’s right me, silly, old, stupid me.”

Tears started to fall from Twilight's face but Spike ignored them.

“And I did all that hoping that you remembered about me, and we could become friends again, but now I see it was a waste of time. I see now that I was never Spike “your friend” I was and still am Spike ‘Your number one assistant.’” Spike said.

Twilight wanted to say something but her tongue was tied.

“You know something, if you had asked me to join your group when you got your powers, I would’ve said yes, but now it makes me wonder: Was the girl I befriended all those years ago, just a facade, or is this actually your real personality? Cause if it is, I thank God, that he opened my eyes and we are no longer friends… don’t ever talk to me again.” Spike said as he walked away.

Twilight just fell to her knees, grabbed the pieces of the invitation, and held them close to her heart, as she sobbed quietly.

Unknown to her, her friends had been hiding in the background listening to their conversation.

Fluttershy quickly walked up to her, kneeled down and hugged her.

“The nerve of him, how dare he!” Rarity said.

“Hold your horses Rare. Twi, was everything he said the truth?” asked AJ.

Twilight just nodded.

“That explains why he had tears falling down his face as he left.” Sunset said.

“Oh dear, I never thought…” Rarity said, but was interrupted by the loudspeaker.

“SPIKE LANDON, PLEASE REPORT TO THE BROADCAST ROOM.” came Discord’s voice.

HEADMASTER’S OFFICE

“What is this bullshit, why did I lose all my benefits?” Flash said angrily

“I’m surprised you even have the nerve to ask. You bailed on the whole school, you should even be thankful you’re still allowed to be in this school.” Discord said.

“Ha, why should I. I’m the strongest fighter ever. YOU should be thankful I even stay at this school.” Flash said

“WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE, OUR DECISION WAS OVERTURNED BY SOMEONE ELSE!” Discord screamed in anger.

“By who, the Mayor, the princesses, my fans inside the school?” Flash said.

“No, by Spike, the strongest student in this school, and the new captain of the Death Squad.” Discord said.

“The fuck you talking about, that pipsqueak can’t even lift a fork without getting tired.” Flash said confidently.

“I beg to differ.” Discord said as he showed Flash a picture of Spike and his school record, “Does he look like a pipsqueak to you?”

“But… But how? He was so tiny last week!” Flash said in shock.

“That is none of your concern.” Discord said

“And we even have the same grades in all our areas, so why am I an S+ and he is a S++!” Flash said.

“Like I said none of your concern, now if you’ll excuse me I have an interview to do.” Discord said as he walked away.

Flash remained in the office, his eyes firm on Spike’s and his record, scanning to find anything that would tell him Spike was cheating.

After 5 minutes he finally laid eyes on something, but instead of getting even angrier he turned pale, and headed out of the office as fast as he could, running towards the broadcast room.

BROADCAST ROOM

“Hello all of you students, and welcome to another episode of “Know your Idol” today we have Spike Landon, the school’s new number one student and captain of most sports teams and Battle squad leader.” Discord said.

“Why am I here again?” said Spike in his emotionless voice.

“Because everyone wants to know you better.” Discord said.

“They had 2 years for that.” Spike said.

“Just humor them ok.” Discord said.

“Ok.” Spike answered.

“Ok, so I’m gonna ask you some questions and you have to answer them in all honesty. Ok, question one, do you have a girlfriend or someone you are interested in, and if you do, does he or she go to this school?” asked Discord.

“Straight to the personal things? No I don’t have a girlfriend, and yes I am interested in someone, yes she goes to this school, and we are classmates.” Spike answered.

“Not a chance you can tell us her name?” asked Discord.

‘No.” Spike said.

“Ok, question two, gamer, athlete or musician?”

“All of them, I’m a bit of all.” Spike said

“Ok, next… oh, allow me to take this call.” Discord said as he grabbed his phone and headed outside to talk, unknown to him Flash was rushing towards the room.

“SPIKE!!!” he said as he entered.

“What do you want Flash?” Spike asked.

“I want answers, why did you become better than me at everything, why did you take away my kingdom, and why did you cheat to become stronger!” Flash said angrily

“Pardon that last one.” Spike said.

“Yeah, like I said, why did you cheat to become stronger?” Flash said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Spike said.

“Really, then what is this?” Flash said as he showed Spike his record

Spike went pail

“That’s my school record, what about it?” asked Spike playing it cool

“We have the same rank on everything, but I outrank you in experience, and as you know, experience outranks everything.” Flash said.

“Don’t try to Cpt. Rex me, it means nothing towards what you're trying to ask…” Spike said before being interrupted by Flash.

“Then what is this “Fear factor” ability. I know all of the abilities and…” Flash began.

“Then you know how to obtain it.” Spike blurted out.

Flash remained silent, and quickly added 2 and 2 together.

“Spike did you…”Flash began.

“What do you care, you bailed on the whole damn school. Just because you thought you’re better than them, but in reality you’re just a big coward.” Spike said.

This made Flash angry, who grabbed Spike by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall.

“I’m serious Spike, the only way to get that ability in particular is to be willing to die… Spike have you thought about…” Flash began.

“About killing myself? Spike finished.

Spike remained quiet for a few seconds before replying.

“Yes, I’ve tried to kill myself before, happy?”

“Why?” Asked Flash.

“Why you ask? My life wasn’t good enough to live it, every time I came to school, I was ignored, mistreated, bullied, for God knows why, heck, even my only friend turned her back on me.” Spike said.

“For how long.” Flash said.

“Why do you…” Spike began.

“FOR HOW FUCKING LONG?” Flash said as he bumped Spike to the wall in anger.

“EVERY FUCKING DAY, for the last two years, there hasn’t been a single day where I haven’t thought about it, ending it all.” Spike said.

“I even tried, unsuccessfully, to kill myself many times, but… you were right about me Flash… I am a coward. I never had enough courage to… pull the trigger, to kick the chair away, to jump in front of a car or train, to “accidentally” lose my balance and plummet to the ground, to fall asleep underwater, to cut myself and bleed to death, I was too afraid to commit suicide, that’s why I decided to go into that arena and have Rover kill me.”

“Yeah, I didn’t go in to become “this” I went in to die, not to save anyone.” Spike finished.

Flash couldn’t find his words, he didn’t even know what he was so angry about.

“I’m still ready to die, but not for a selfish reason… If my death means I can give everyone at least one more day of life, then I know it was worth it, that’s why I have the “Fear Factor” ability… also known as the “Suicide” ability.” Spike said as he freed himself from Flash’s grip and walked out of the broadcast room.

Unknown to them, Discord had left the loudspeaker on, and everyone in the school had heard the conversation between them, making them feel terrible for how they treated Spike.

FRIDAY

The rest of the week had gone smoothly, girls were still trying to get into Spike’s pants, and Spike even had a fan group, which kind of annoyed him.

The most surprising thing was that Flash spent the whole week trying to get in good terms with Spike, but Spike ignored him.

Also, Twilight had been avoiding Spike like the plague, she even skipped class on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It was now Friday evening and Spike had finally arrived back at his apartment. His backpack is full of new letters to read.

Spike entered his apartment and quickly threw all the letters in the garbage bin, headed over to his bed and layed down.

“That was a stressful week.” Spike said as his doorbell rang.

Spike got up and walked to the door, he never expected to see who was waiting for him.

“What are you doing here?!”