One afternoon at school, Spike was walking over to class before greeting some girls from his class, “Hey, there ladies. Having a good day so far?” he asked, unaware of a green fume escaping his mouth, which traveled past the girls’ nostrils, as they nodded in reply. After smelling his breath, their eyes widened and began watering, until they suddenly started screaming and ran for it.

“Hey, where are you going? I was just saying hi,” Spike said in confusion. “Man. Some people just can’t appreciate it when someone with some sense of humor tries to be nice.” He then continued forward and walked on for class.

He entered the classroom and took a seat near his boys, “Hey, guys. What’s up?” he high fived them.

“Doing good, Spike-aroo,” Snails greeted him.

“Unless you count today’s test,” Snips sighed.

“Come on, it could be worse,” Spike said, as he let out too big a breath.

“Yeah, right,” Rumble said.

Unfortunately the breath went past Snips and Snails, and then the other guys. They then gagged, “Ugh, Spike. You really need to get yourself some breath mints,” Snips gagged.

“Like really,” Button said.

“What?” Spike asked.

“We’re not hurting your feelings, mate,” Pipsqueak said.

“But your breath is starting to wreak,” Snails covered his mouth.

“It is not. I gargled with plenty of mouthwash this morning,” Spike argued.

“I’d say it probably wasn't enough,” Tender replied, while plugging his nose. Snails nodded in reply.

Spike frowned, and wanted to argue some more, but their teacher entered, “Good afternoon, class. I hope you’re prepared for today’s test.” The students groaned. “Now let’s not get excited.”

Spike rolled his eyes and sighed big time, releasing an even bigger whiffing green cloud of his bad breath that started to fill the entire room with a huge green gaseous cloud. Everyone suddenly got caught in the stench, and started screaming and gagging in disgust. Even the teacher was spazzing.

“Ugh, we’re in a gas chamber!” a girl screamed.

“Every man for himself!” a boy shouted, as they all started piling out of the room as fast as they could while panicking and complaining.

As Spike followed, his breath trailed along throughout the school, spreading the odious stench everywhere, including the hallways. This suddenly caused everyone in the building to pile outside, gasping for some fresh air.

“What was going on in there?” a boy asked another boy.

“It’s like the place was loaded with skunks,” the boy replied.

“More like a truckload of dirty diapers,” a girl gagged.

“Or maybe someone hoarding himself in a pile of garbage,” another girl said.

“Or in other terms, a really bad and serious case of halitosis,” another girl beside her said.

“As if,” one more girl said.

Spike then looked around in disbelief, “This can’t be because of my breath, can it? Is it because of my breath?” he asked, as he breathed on some nearby flowers that suddenly wilted. “Ok, this isn’t funny,” he sighed depressingly.

Suddenly, Principal Celestia spoke up, “Listen up. Until we find the source of the smell, the entire school is hereby quarantined.”

“So school’s out?” a boy hopefully asked.

Celestia then sighed knowing that’s all the student’s even cared about, “Until further notice, yes.”

The students started cheering with joy and excitement, forgetting about the horrible stench they unwittingly breathed in. Spike, feeling depressed, however couldn’t bring himself to be happy knowing that he was the cause of all of this, until he now knew what to do, “I got to see Twilight about this.”

Soon enough, Spike had hurried to the club building and informed Twilight and the others about his personal stench problem with his breath. Spike sat down on the couch with his nose and mouth covered by a face mask. The girls were looking at him questionably at how he was trying to conceal his breath.

”It’s official, and I admit it. My breath is cursed. It’s my fault. It was all me. Guilty as charged,” he said dramatically, while admitting and claiming himself guilty for no reason.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Spikey-Wikey. Your breath is not cursed,” Rarity calmed him.

“Really? Then what else can it be?” Spike asked, removing his mask from his mouth. The girls quickly covered their nostrils, not wanting to breathe in Spike’s stinky breath. Spike, seeing this happening, fell into deeper despair.

Twilight walked in carrying a book, “It’s actually quite that simple. According to this, bad breath is normal for a dragon. It means your fire breathing glands in your throat are somehow maturing at this point.”

Spike then spoke, while rolling his eyes, “Now I know why they call it dragon breath.”

“Hey, you also did us all a favor, Spike,” Rainbow spoke, “Thanks to your bad breath, we won’t be having classes for a few days.”

“Oh, joy. Now I feel so much better. Thanks a lot,” Spike said sarcastically.

“Don’t worry, Spike. The bad breath is only temporary,” Twilight assured him.

“Really? For how long?”

“According to my research, it usually takes about one to two weeks, or possibly three, depending upon on how it really works.”

“What?! Two or three weeks?!” Spike snapped, as he jumped off the couch, “I can’t live with this bad breath for two or three weeks! Because if my parents did smell my breath, they’ll have to wash it out with soap!”

“Oh, my. That would be very unfortunate,” Fluttershy said.

“Indeed, darling,” Rarity said. “I for one don’t wish for anything to happen on my little Spikey-Wikey.” She then laid his head against her bosomy chest to comfort him and stroked both his hair and shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I know a solution!” Pinkie spoke up.

“You do?” Spike asked hopefully.

“Sure. We’ll just put you in one of those quarantine bubbles,” Pinkie beamed, “You can be our bubble boy!”

Spike looked freaked and saddened, “But I don’t wanna be a bubble boy!”

“Uhh, I’m pretty sure that won’t work,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I can relate,” Applejack said.

“And you won’t have to,” Twilight said, “Because for what I’ve seen right now, I now know that none of us would want you to be miserable with bad breath for two weeks. So I thought about this in my laboratory and whipped up a little something for you.” she then held up a vial containing a glowing pink liquid.

“What’s that?” Spike asked.

“A special remedy that’ll help with your breath problem. I call it the cleansing elixir, meant for any type of cleansing of personal hygiene in any way. In order for this to work, wear it around your neck and there will be no trace of that repulsiveness in your breath,” she then placed the vial around his neck.

As he felt it working, Spike smiled in joy, “Twilight, you’re the best!” He then pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Spike, easy,” Twilight giggled, as he hugged her so close her breasts were pressing into his cheek.

When Spike realized what his action was doing, he smiled and thought while smothering in her chest, ’I don’t wanna let go of her ever again.’

“Spike, you can let go now,” Twilight noted.

Spike sighed, knowing he had to do it. He then released Twilight, and spoke, “Thanks for this, Twilight. I owe you big time.”

Twilight smiled, and spoke while putting a hand on his shoulder, “I’ll hold you to that, Spike.”

Spike then breathed out a sigh. “So how does it smell?” he asked the girls.

Pinkie smiled, “Mmm… Minty fresh.”

“Absolutely refreshing, darling,” Rarity said in agreement, as Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

Spike sighed in relief.

Applejack spoke up, “Well, y’all. Since school’s being disinfected, what do you think we should do now?”

“I say we go grab a bite, because I was thinking about maybe getting some pizza together,” Rainbow suggested, “How about it, Spike? Feel confident enough to step out in public now?”

“Are you kidding? With this thing around my neck, I won’t have to worry about my breath at all.”

“Well, maybe tuck it in your shirt,” Rarity suggested, “How would it look for you if people started to see you wearing that?”

“Hmm, you do make a good point,” Spike said, as he tucked it into his shirt.

“And just so you know, the elixir won’t last forever,” Twilight warned him, “It’s good enough to get you through those one or two weeks. After that, it’ll be totally useless.”

“Hey, if it holds out by how long my dragon breath is supposed to last while maturing, I can’t complain,” Spike replied.

“I understand, Spike. But please, just be careful,” Twilight said.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got it under control,” Spike said.

“Well, come on, let’s go,” Pinkie said, as they left the building to the pizza parlor.

During the nighttime later on, Spike had returned home and went upstairs to his bedroom so he could go to bed. When he got into his pajamas and laid down on his bed, he held the vial in between his thumb and index fingers, “Thanks for everything. With you on my side, you’re gonna help keep me from scaring the girls off with my foul breath,” he chuckled, before tucking himself underneath his covers, turning off his lights and going off to sleep.

Meanwhile, out in the city by the local grocery store downtown, a large mysterious figure was lurking around the empty streets in the shadows, before it started peeking around a corner of the store with three heads looking.

“This is it, girls. Our main course. Ready to feast?” one asked with a growl to their voice.

“Yes. I’m so hungry,” a second voice asked with a bleating sound.

“I am too, as well,” the third spoke with a hiss.

“Then tonight, we feast until nothing is left. Now let’s chow down!” the growling voice said, as it ran into the market with the three voices laughing and eating everything in sight.

The next morning came, as Spike heard his alarm go off, and then hit the snooze button. He then got out of bed while looking at the vial with the cleansing elixir hanging around his neck to keep his dragon breath in check.

“Morning to you, my friend. Still keeping my breath nice and fresh, aren’t we? Yes, sir,” Spike commented, as he started getting ready for the day. Since the school was still quarantined and being disinfected, no thanks to his dragon breath, he had a free day off from school. So he got dressed and went downstairs, before he saw his dad in his chair watching the morning news.

“Hey, dad. Anything new happening in the world today?”

“Just the usual, son,” Johnathan answered, as Spike took a seat on the couch to enjoy the news with his father.

The news anchorman on the TV spoke up, “And in latest, a break in at the market. Late last night there was a break in at the local market where the perpetrators left the whole place in a mess. We’re going to you now live with a story with Jennifer Corvette.”

The scene cut to a reporter live on the set at the market that was taped off to the public until further notice. The reporter stood inside the wrecked market with food splattered everywhere and shelves knocked down or taken apart viciously.

”Patrick, as you can see, I would call to say that this shopper’s gone quite madly insane... But only if it has been done by shoppers,” the reporter began, “All food and produce are now gone, but a few more are somehow splattered everywhere, leaving the store in shambles and a complete mess. Luckily, we have footage of this event from last night caught by the store’s security system, but we’re still not exactly a hundred percent sure about what we’re really dealing with. But if we go right into the footage, we might catch something useful about what or how this happened.”

Spike and his dad watched as they played the security footage from the cameras seeing a strange looking creature moving through all of the aisles and tearing up the place while eating any food it could grab and making a mess out of everywhere in its sight. Spike was somehow oddly confused, seeing from the footage that it somehow appeared to have looked like a wild animal of some kind.

The footage ended, as the reporter continued as she stood before one of the check out stands where the registers are normally used, until she saw that each of them had big claw marks in it and left a trail of footprints but looked very strangely odd, “Was this a lion, a tiger, a bear, or some strange beast we have no record of? Even the police are absolutely baffled about this. But one thing’s for sure is that there is indeed a wild animal loose in the city. So until this mess is officially cleared up, local authorities have made an announcement that all citizens in the county are advised to be careful when going outside, particularly at night. Back to you, Patrick.”

Spike’s dad looked completely astonished, “Whoa. Now there’s something you don’t see happening every day. Wonder what kind of animal left claw marks or foot prints like that?”

Spike pondered, “I was thinking the same thing, Dad.” Suddenly, his cellphone rang, and he answered it, “Hello? Twilight? Yeah, I just saw the news. Really? Ok, I’ll be right over.” He then hung up, “Dad, I’m taking off for awhile. Be back later.”

“Ok, son. Just be careful out there,” his dad warned him.

“I will,” Spike answered, as he hurried out the door to go meet up with the others.

Spike had flown to the meeting room by the school and went inside seeing the girls present, “I’m here.”

Twilight spoke, “Good. Now, you all saw the news footage from this morning about that break in and destruction in the market?” The group nodded.

“What do you think that thing was, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“It’s called a chimera,” Twilight answered.

“A chimera?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes. A chimera is a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature composed of many various parts based off of more than one animal,” Twilight explained.

“Almost sounds like some kind of mutated experiment from Equestria, but not really genetically modified and engineered, except just a regular species?” Spike asked.

“Not likely, but yes,” Twilight replied.

“Why did it go on a riot in the store last night?” Rarity inquired.

“According to the information from the Xenotome, book of the unknown, Chimeras do have incredibly huge appetites of hyenas, and that store was its all you can eat buffet,” Twilight answered. “Because based on the hyena’s behavior, its stomach is never full.”

“And I thought I had an appetite,” Pinkie spoke up, while the girls made unamused looks. “What?”

“So what now?” Spike asked.

“We have to find and hunt down that chimera and send it back to Equestria,” Twilight began, “because if we leave it to run free, then it’ll hit up all of the other food sources located elsewhere in the city.”

“Even my farm?” Applejack asked in worry.

“And Sugarcube Corner?” Pinkie asked in equal worry.

“Precisely,” Twilight answered grimly.

“Then I say we find this chimera and kick its sorry butt straight back to Equestria,” Rainbow took a stand, making an action pose.

“And just how are we going to find it?” Rarity inquired.

“Only one thing: We go to the one place where there’s lots of food in stock on every aisle,” Twilight answered.

“That could be just about anywhere,” Spike reminded her.

“The chimera’s going on a trail. It’ll likely target the next food store closest to the first one,” Twilight said, as she laid out a huge magical map of the city that looked like an aquatic based hologram and touched the screen on the spot where it first struck, “This is where it first struck, so the next food joint should be right... here.” she touched the screen again but on a spot closest to the first mark.

Everyone looked at the location, as Spike spoke, “That’s Briarwood Grocers.”

“So what’s the plan?” Rainbow asked.

Applejack then noticed the look on Twilight’s face, “You have an idea, don’t you, Twilight?”

Twilight nodded, “If we’re going to catch that chimera there, then we’re going to have a stakeout.”

Rainbow looked excited, “All right! A stakeout! Just like in those cop shows and movies.”

“I’ll bring the coffee and doughnuts,” Pinkie offered.

“I’ll have to bring something warm. It’s said to be a cold night,” Rarity noted.

“Well, y’all. Looks like we’ve got a job to do,” Applejack said.

“I just hope it doesn’t get too messy,” Fluttershy hoped.

“All right. Let’s get started,” Twilight declared, as the group nodded in agreement, and started to be prepared for the stakeout tonight.

Later on, as nighttime was arriving, the seven friends were atop a building roof where they got a perfect view of Briarwood Grocers. They sat on chairs by the edge of the roof, as they looked down at the grocers with the perimeter looking normal.

“Ok, everyone’s all here,” Twilight did a head count.

“And I brought the snacks,” Pinkie said, as she brought a few bags of various snacks over.

“So, all we have to do now is just wait until the Chimera strikes?” Rainbow asked, as she got comfortable on a chair.

“I know it may sound tiring to you, or maybe boring, but it has to be done. We have no choice,” Twilight answered.

“Well, I’m good,” Spike said, as he took a seat and started reading from a comic book.

“Let’s hope we won’t be out all night,” Rarity hoped, while wearing a warm blanket.

“No sense in complaining about it now,” Applejack said, as she took a seat and grabbed a beverage to drink from.

And so, the group got comfy in their chairs and began their observation of the grocery store from the rooftop, seeing person after person go inside the store and exit the store repeatedly.

When evening finally came, the group was still atop the roof observing the now closed and locked up grocers. By then, Spike, Rarity, and Fluttershy were looking on the verge of falling asleep, while Pinkie’s eyes were wide open from having coffee, her fourth cup to be precise.

“Twilight, it’s already close to midnight. I hate to say it, but I don’t think our chimera is going to show,” Rainbow said, while on the verge of falling asleep.

Twilight, who was wide awake, spoke up, “Try and be patient, Rainbow Dash. It can’t be that much longer.”

“You’ve been saying that for the last three hours,” Rainbow complained.

Applejack, who was looking tuckered out, spoke, “I hate to say it, Twi, but if nothing happens, then either ya made a miscalculation where the beast would go next or this was all just a wild goose chase.”

Twilight didn’t like the possibility if she made a accidental mistake where the chimera would go next, and was almost ready to call it a night, until all of a sudden, out of nowhere, they heard the growl of a tiger down below.

The sound woke the others up, as Rarity spoke, “You all hear that?”

“I sure did,” Spike confirmed.

“What was that?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight looked down from the roof, until she saw what they were looking for, and answered, “Our creature.”

The group looked down and saw the chimera creature busting down through the locked doors. Twilight then turned to her team. “Let’s go,” she said, as the seven powered up.

They jumped down and landed in the grocers lot before the chimera. “Hold it right there!” Spike called.

The chimera looked back revealing to have the head and front half of a saber-toothed tiger, the head and back half of a billy goat, and a snake head for a tail.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy gasped.

“I was afraid of that,” Spike said.

The tiger head spoke, “Back off, you. We’re just looking to get some grub.”

“Well, looks like you’re gonna have to get it elsewhere,” Applejack warned it.

“Now, either come along quietly or we’re gonna have to make you, and you don’t want that,” Rainbow added.

The goat head spoke up, “Sisters, it looks like these seven are trying to challenge us. Any suggestions?”

The snake hissed, “I sss-ay we teach them a lesson. The hard way.”

“Agreed,” the tiger head said, as the three grinned at the group while hissing and growling.

“Take it!” Twilight called, as the group charged at the chimera, who was swiping its claws at them.

When the chimera swiped its claw at Pinkie, the girl jumped over and launched her sugar bombs at it, but the creature dodged the attack before Applejack tossed a barrel full of water at it, soaking the fur.

“AUUUUUGH! I hate baths!” the tiger head growled.

“Allow me,” the snake head said, as it struck forward to bite them, only to be grabbed out of thin air by Applejack.

“I don’t think so, ya varmint,” Applejack said, as she gripped the snake head tightly, pulled it like a rubber band and then swung the chimera around like hammer throw in the Olympics, before tossing and releasing it.

The chimera rolled on the parking lot pavement before getting up. “No more playing around!” the tiger head growled, as the creature attacked the girls again.

Twilight was launching shots of magic at the chimera, only for the beast to evade each shot, but took some except they didn’t hurt it. “Its hide’s too strong!” Twilight called out. Rainbow Dash flew in, and called, “Taste this, freak! Speed attack!” She then ran back and forth at the chimera delivering a few shocking punches at it, but it wasn’t slowing down.

Rarity used her own magic to create a dome which she placed on top of the chimera and trapped it, only for the goat head to ram it open.

“Rarity, look out!” Fluttershy called, as she used her leaf powered wind manipulation to blow the chimera off course from Rarity.

The chimera looked to Twilight and growled before taking off at her, “Twilight!” The girls cried, as Twilight prepared herself.

Suddenly, Spike flew in tackling the creature away with a delivery of flaming power punches, and avoiding its teeth and slashing claws with his power scales. The two then rolled across the ground, before Spike was on top pinning the beast in defeat.

“Looks like I’m all over this. You’ve lost,” Spike mocked.

The tiger and goat heads both smirked, as the tiger spoke, “That’s what you think.”

Spike was confused, until the snake head unexpectedly wrapped itself around Spike’s neck, and then squeezing his trying to choke him. Spike was now wheezing from losing his air supply, as he tried to remove the coils with much of his strength but couldn’t bear it much longer.

“Spike!” the girls shouted as, they rushed to help him, but only for the tiger head to halt them.

“Come on! Take on step closer, and your dragon friend loses all of his air.”

“What’s it going to be?” The goat head inquired smugly.

The girls, with much unwillingness, had no choice, so they lowered their guard while displaying frowns of sadness and hopelessness. The three heads of the chimera then laughed evilly in victory, until the snake head noticed the vial of the cleansing elixir Spike was wearing around his neck.

“What’sssss thissss?” it hissed. The other two heads looked back, seeing the vial as well.

Spike realized the snake head loosened her grip around his neck and smirked, “Just a little something that you should be afraid of.”

The three heads frowned, as they pinned Spike to the ground with the claws of the tiger front half, “You think we’re afraid of some dragon like you?” the tiger growled.

Spike smirked, as he was able to grab the vial, “Worse than that.” He then pulled the vial off from around his neck and let out his repulsively odious scented breath, “How do ya like this?”

The three heads turned wide eyed as they filled up with tears, “Dragon breath!” The three heads cried in complete nausea, before they started to feel like passing out, landing right on top of Spike.

Spike groaned, “Get off!” he shoved the chimera off him, and got on his feet.

The chimera got back up feeling tired, before it saw Spike inhaling before he let out a spiraling beam of his fire breathing and toasted the chimera, until an explosion appeared, leaving the chimera limping in slight pain.

“Spike!” the girls cried, as they ran over to him.

“Are you all right?” Rarity asked.

“You’re not hurt are you?,” Twilight asked in worry.

“I’m cool. Nothing I can’t handle,” Spike boasted, and noticed the girls backing away from him, “What?”

“Um, Spike?” Fluttershy asked, motioning to his neck.

Spike then remembered he removed the vial from around his neck to defeat the chimera, and was still back to stinky breath, “Whoops. Sorry, my bad.”

“I think you should put that back on,” Rainbow suggested.

“Please. The stench is quite not you, and it’s absolutely revolting,” Rarity pleaded.

Spike put the vial around his neck again, making his breath fresh again, “Much better.” Twilight said.

“Well, girls. Looks like this was some victory,” Applejack said.

“And not only that, we owe it all to Spike’s super smelly dragon breath,” Pinkie cheered, while hugging Spike from behind, making him feel her breasts behind his head.

“How about that? The one thing I’ve been fretting over became my greatest weapon,” Spike chuckled, and soon the others joined in.

Twilight inspected the chimera, “Well, it looks like this beast won’t be waking up for a few several hours. Which is now a good time to send it back.” She then opened a portal with her mystic spell seal, as Applejack and Spike dragged the chimera and tossed it into the portal before it closed.

“Well, girls. What do you say we call it a night, since it’s already late and I’m really bushed,” Spike yawned.

“Same here,” Applejack agreed.

Twilight nodded, “Come on. Let’s all head home and get some sleep.”

“I’m down with that,” Rainbow said.

“Agreed, darling. A lady does need her beauty sleep,” Rarity said, as the group took off for home to get some sleep with Applejack carrying Fluttershy for a piggyback ride and Twilight carrying Spike over to his house like the last time she did.

A week had finally passed, and at the secret club room, Spike stood before the girls and carefully removed the empty vial from around his neck.

“How’s this?” Spike asked, as he let out his breath.

The girls didn’t cringe or gag which was a good sign to Spike, before Twilight answered, “Perfectly normal breath.”

“Finally. I was getting tired of wearing this thing around my neck,” Spike said, as he held the vial.

“Oh, and Spike. If something that involves a personal hygiene thing from your dragon powers happens, let me know and I’ll whip up another elixir or something like that, okay?” Twilight offered before Spike nodded.

“Well, guys, let’s go grab a bite,” Pinkie said.

“Sounds good to me,” Spike said in agreement, as the girls were also in agreement too before heading out to the city for dinner.

Author's Note

Looks like Spike’s dragon powers are increasing in any way.