Shining Time

“Come on you guys, how slow can you be” said Pinkie to the group. she had as promised brought evrypony she said she would Fluttershy, Rainbowdash, Applejack, even Rarity had come despite what had happened, she had come to make sure he was all right and now they were about to enter the ever free forest.

“now remember there are wild animals here, that even I can’t tame” said the quiet voice of Fluttershy “oh come on don’t tell me that after you showed that fully grown dragon who’s boss, I mean there’s isn't much scarier than a dragon” said Rainbowdash “Why thank you” said Spike angrily Rainbowdash gave him an embarrassed smile, “sorry Spike I only meant them in general, your different of course.” she said.

  “Hay keep it down, you don’t want any monsters to find us” said Rarity with an edge on her voice, 'it is widely known that she hates most kinds of dirt but she still came for me', thought Spike as they entered the dark forest, the canopy of  trees enveloped them, it was hard to see in front of them so they stuck to the path to Zecoras house.

Spike felt something brush against his side, he jumped as did Fluttershy who had touched him “sorry I thought you where something else” said Spike she nodded shakily, it was obvious that she wanted to be anywhere else but here “don’t worry ya’ll I’m here so you don’t have to be afraid sugar cube” said Applejack “yeah don’t worry Rainbowdash is here to save the day” shouted a certain multicolored mare.

  dash was standing on her hind legs and punching the air, “oh I feel so much safer, “said Twilight under her breath but Spike's keen dragon hearing picked it up and he smiled. Twilight was at the head of the group, followed by Applejack and Rainbow, then it was Pinkie and Fluttershy while Rarity was at the back, treading carefully to avoid the mud. Spike started to slowdown so he could talk to her.

She noticed and looked at him with sad eyes, “hay Rarity i'm sorry we didn't get to finish our talk yesterday, and thanks for coming with me to find out what’s wrong, I don’t deserve a friend like you, not after I almost blew up the whole town and your house.” he said quietly, “Spike it wasn't your fault, I got a letter from Luna earlier, explaining that you wanted to leave us, to leave me because of how you felt and that you helped fix everything you broke.

It is horrible that we can't be together, but they are good reasons, now don’t think that I don’t feel the same way you do, you gave me so much that I can’t return it would cause to much pain for both of us if we did” She whispered hearing this made Spike feel better and worse “heh I didn't fix anything that was Luna” he said jokingly “all ways the little gentlemen, aren't you”.

Twilight looked around for Spike and spotted him with Rarity, at the back with a down turned face. He’s been thought so much lately and from what I'v found out, he got exactly what he hoped for, Rarity had returned his feelings, and still he can’t be with her, and now something else has gone wrong poor, little guy its just one disaster after another.

  She looked ahead to see Zacora’s house just ahead “HAY SPIKE come here a minute” she shouted back at him, “OK” he replied and started walking up to her, “by the way Fluttershy, sorry about the chicken coop” he said as he passed “oh its quite alright” came the faint reply, he caught up to Twilight “what did you want?” he said but not unkindly “we’ll  be there in a minute and I just wanted you to know that whatever this is you’ll always be my oldest and bests friend” she said.

  “your darn toot’en you’ll always be our Spike” said Applejack the others also said similar things to keep his moral up, Rarity walked up “don’t worry Spike I’ll always be here to help” she said with tears in her eyes, she longed to be able to help more. “Thanks you guys this means a lot to me, but we have done this kind of stuff before, and come out fine and we’ll do the same today” said Spike with a large grin his small fangs showing.

He was so happy to have friends, that will always be there for him. The group piled by the door and Twilight knocked, after a few minutes the door handle turned and opened, to reveal the black and white zebra Zecora looking surprised “and what can I help you with today, come in come in” she said in a heavy accent, as she lead her guests in to the main part of her house.

It was a large room with odd masks and shapes, there was a cauldron in the center of the room, “its Spike again something weird is happening to him” said Twilight “is he still growing and stealing things?” asked Zecora “what no, he's right here we stopped him from growing he back to his normal size, but he’s got these weird lumps on his back, on ether side of his spines” said Twilight.

Zecora moved closer to Spike, “now let me have a look at him”. She moved her hoofs and gently prodded one of the strange lumps, Pain leapt up his spine, causing him to cry out and fall to his knees. And the spot that she touched throbbed painfully, Twilight moved forward and hugged him until he regained his composure.

He stood up and faced Zecora, “pleas don’t do that again” he said shakily, “don’t worry I got the information I needed just give me a few minutes its been awhile since I learned about dragons” she said walking over to the other side of the room and began to pace her steps, Spike turned to his friends, “so what was that about?” Asked Rainbow concern on her face “well it felt like lightning on my spine and my back burned but it’s not so bad now” he replied

“Don’t worry y'all we’ll figure this out” said Applejack the rest of them nodded in agreement. Zecora walked back over to them with a smile, “so do you know what’s wrong with him?” said Rarity suddenly, “no” said Zecora “what do you mean no! If you don’t know who will” said Rarity flabbergasted but Zecora continued to smile  “wow I’m starting to feel dizzy” said Spike as he swayed on the spot, and threatened to fall, had Twilight had not caught him at the last moment. She levitated him on to her back and kept him in place.

Rarity glanced over at him, she had never seen a dragon look so tired, he had deep bags under his eyes and his tail hung lifelessly by his side, it was such a change from the normally hyper jumpy Spike she knew, turning to Zecora “HOW CAN YOU SAY YOU DON’T KNOW WRONG WITH HIM” shouted Rarity, “hay chill out getting angry won’t solve any thing” Rainbow cut in Rarity backed away ashamed that she had lost he self-control.

“As I was saying said Zecora, now a little irritated, I don’t know what’s wrong with him because there’s nothing wrong with him” the surrounding group almost fell over as their jaws dropped and all most hit the ground “wh-what do you mean?” asked Twilight “Well I think its because he suddenly went to an almost fully grown dragon and back to a baby. I think his body is trying to catch up with him.” said Zecora “so you mean he's going to turn back into that huge monster again” said Fluttershy In a scared voice.

“Well not nearly as fast and he should keep his senses this time” replied Zecora “how long are we talking here” said Twilight “I'd say about eight to ten years, until he’s back to the size he was a few days ago” she said “ten years huh, well that’s much more reasonable” said Applejack “ok ok so he going to grow big again, fine but what’s happening to him now?” said Twilight unhappily “I think that those lumps on his back are wings there starting to form, you see since he went straight to full size his body didn't have time to grow his wings and now his body is catching up so to speak” replied Zecora.

“Really all this time I just thought that his type didn't have wings” said Applejack “so so so how long till there fully developed, huh” said Pinkie in a flash “my guess is about a week maybe but it will be very tiring for him, since this isn’t the normal process so don’t make him do any work, or the stress on his body might cause his wings to not form properly, and that will be disastrous.” said Zecora.

“But then who will help me study, I need my number one assistant” said Twilight “don’t worry sugar cube, we'll all help you for the next week” said Applejack “besides don’t forget about Owloysius” added Fluttershy  “yes that’s right I suppose that's true, now is there anything else I should know?” said Twilight sounding slightly calmer.

“Well since Spike body is growing quickly, he’s probably going to need to eat more. What type of food douse he normally eat?” asked Zecora “well he normally eats gems, and sometimes hay but I don’t think we have enough gems, I mean they are hard to find.” Said Twilight “oh don’t worry darling I have lots of gems, helping you and Spike is the least I could do for my friends, I’ll send you a box right over” said Rarity smiling.

“wow really thanks Rarity, that’s the nicest thing I've ever seen, I can’t thank you enough” replied Twilight, Rarity blushed and smiled but said no more, Twilight felt the weight on her back disappear. Spike had fallen off and was seconds from hitting the ground when a pink flash scooped him up out of the air, “hay now Spike I'm not about to let you fall” said Pinkie … she paused and looked down at the baby dragon “oh” she said

With her back to the group hiding Spike from view “what is it Pinkie is he ok” said Rarity sounding worried “he’s” replied Pinkie “what what’s wrong” said Applejack  “he” said Pinkie “WILL YOU PLEAS TELL US WHAT’S WRONG” shouted Twilight angrily, “he fell asleep” said Pinkie turning around so they could all see Spike sleeping soundly in her hoofs “pleas don’t scare us like that, I mean if you don’t mind, but we are all worried about him, but as I always say the best medicine is love care and rest and Spike has had a long day and he needs a comfortable rest, don’t you agree Twi” said the faint  voice of Fluttershy.

“yes your right thank you for all your help Zecora but I think that we should go now, besides princess Celestia needs to know about this” said Twilight tacking Spike back from Pinkie with her levitation magic and once again placing him on her back, but this time she took better care to hold him in place so he wouldn't fall off again “don’t worry I understand, come get me it his condition changes” said Zecora “thanks I will” said Twilight

she and the others said there good byes and departed. Once Twilight was home she was surprised to see that it was almost dark, “wow I guess that we spent more time in the forest than I thought “well I got to be going to the old home stead” said Applejack, one by one her friends wished Spike a fast recovery, the group in front of Twilight's library dwindled smaller until she thought they had all left she turned to open the library door and was about to walk inside.

“Twilight” surprised she looked around and saw a grave looking Rarity “make sure you tell me if anything happens to him” she said with wide eyes and with that Rarity departed, Twilight walked into the library, up the stairs and placed Spike in his basket and pulled the small blanket over  him “maybe Spike was telling the truth about Rarity she did seem a lot more worried about him than usual and she’s giving him all the gems hell need, but that also means that what he said about them no being able to be together, oh man the poor little guy can’t get a brake with all that’s happening at the moment” she thought to her self.

“hmmmmmm now there must be some way I can help him, she thought for a moment I know I’ll go through every thing in this library about dragons and find out how to help the situation” she said quietly to her self and walked down stairs again to the section marked D “I’ll start here and work my way around” she thought and started pulling books of the shelf reading the coves and summery's to see if they had anything of use and discarding them if they didn't.

  Leaving an ever-growing pile of books in her wake. Owloysius suddenly flew in the window “hay can you help by putting all the books on the floor away for me its to help Spike” said Twilight “who” was the only reply “you know the little baby dragon who lives with us” said Twilight “who” replied the bird “forget it just pick up the books” said Twilight furiously and continued to look thought all the books on the shelves.

Spike awoke to find himself tucked in to his basket, with a blanket draped over him despite having just woken up he still felt more tired than normal, looking out the window he saw the sun high in the sky, guessing it was about noon “so after all this and I'm still going to grow into that monster, but with my mind still intact, but that doesn't matter I’ll still be to big to hang out with my friends safely so one day I will leave but at least I’ll have wings” he thought to himself while getting excited.

“I always thought that my breed didn't have wings. ha soon Rainbowdash and all the other Pegasus wont be able to taunt me about being the only dragon who cant fly” the thought bringing a smile to his face, he looked over at Twilights bed and was surprised to see her asleep In it “huh that’s strange Twilight never sleeps in late, she always wakes up early to study” stretching Spike got up and out of his basket and walked to the bathroom to stand by the mirror he looked at the two lumps on his back they had almost doubled in size and where now at the same level as his spines.

After he surveyed the rest of his body he deduces that he hadn't changed, other than his developing wings. He walked back to the bedroom and poked Twilight in the side she woke up drearily “how come you still asleep you never sleep this late and why didn't you wake me for work?” “when did you fall asleep yesterday” said Twilight “ right after Zecora told us that these  wings” he said pointing at his back then twilight explained everything he missed last night, that he had the week off “and your not to start cleaning up or helping me, it may cause your body irreparable damage, since this is not the normal way a dragon matures” said Twilight with a stern face.

“ Ok so I guess some good did come from my new wings all ready” he said “ that’s not funny Spike, a lot of pony’s are giving up their time to help us” replied Twilight sternly “ ok ok I was just trying to lighten the mood” said Spike with a smile.

“will you please send this to princess Celestia it’s a letter explaining the situation” said Twilight Spike took the scroll from her and focused on Celestia and bathed the parchment in green fire dematerialising it and sending it on its way “you still haven answered my question, why where you still asleep” said Spike “well I was up late studying all the books I could find about dragons, to see if I could help you more by leaning about dragons in general” said Twilight.

Spike looked skeptical “what did you find?” said Spike already knowing the answer “absolutely nothing useful the only things to do with dragons where fiction story’s and ridicules legends and I went thought every section of this library ” she said  with an embarrassed smile “Twilight I may not know much about dragons but I know that they guard there secrets heavily and rarely share them” said Spike twilight opened her mouth to say some thing but a sharp knock at the door silenced her.

Rarity was waiting outside the library, with a big crate hovering beside her and she knocked on the door impatiently and after a few minutes a surprised looking Twilight open the door, “well hello Rarity, nice to see you care to come it?” said Twilight and moved in to the door way to give her gust room “of course I would darling oh I bought the gems you needed” replied Rarity as she walked past the threshold, with a large wooden crate following her “is Spike awake yet?” said Rarity

Glancing around the room “yes I am, nice to see you” said Spike as he descended the stairs, Rarity looked over at him   “Spike good to see your doing ok” embracing him in  while being careful not to touch the lumps on his back she still managed to crush the air out of him “it nice to see you to Rarity”

Said Spike blushing slightly, she let go of him and placed the crate on the floor nearby, this caught Spike’s attention “what’s with the box?” asked Spike. Looking over “oh that’s for you” she replied Spike walked over the box was almost as big as him, he pulled of the top and let it fall to the floor and gasped, the crate was filled to the brim with gems of every shape and color.

“B-but why would you give us so many of your gems don’t you need them for dresses?” said Spike surprise written all over his face “well” said Rarity shifting slightly “ Zecora said that you’d need to eat a lot more because of your body is growing a lot faster, and I know gems are expensive so I bought over what you would need I can’t have my Spiky wiky  not at his best” said Rarity with a wink.

“But how can I repay you for this kindness, you’re the best Rarity” said Spike running up and hugging her now it was her turn to be crushed. After about a minute Spike released her “so since we just got up would you like to join us for breakfast?” said Twilight starting toward the kitchen “I’d love to I had to skip mine so I could do some last minuet changes to my dresses” said Rarity.

With a grin Spike walked to the kitchen, with the others following closely. He opened the cupboard and pulled out two normal bowls and a slightly larger one for himself, he filled the other bowls with hay and dandelions, while Twilight and Rarity took there seats on the table and waited, Spike then put three spoons on the table and passed Rarity and Twi there bowls.

Then put some gems in his bowl and added some herbs then stird it and took his seat at the table and they began to eat, after a few minutes Rarity looked up from her food, “ doesn't your back hurt I mean your future wings look bigger that yesterday?” said Rarity with a small smile Spike put his spoon down “well no my back doesn't hurt its just uncomfortable but it’ll be worth it” he replied.

“Oh whatever do you mean how can going through all this pain be worth anything” said Rarity looking surprised “well soon I’ll have wings, something I always thought would never happen, soon I’ll be able to fly anywhere and I won’t need a ladder to get the books Twilight needs so I wont fall off because she accsidently nudges the ladder” said Spike looking slightly at Twilight who had an embarrassed smile.

“Well there’s not much room in there sorry” said Twilight with a blush “well at least I won’t have to worry about that happening for the next week” said Spike quietly witch made Rarity smile  as she looked at spike, his face practically stuck in the bowl in front of him “always the joking, happy, dragon you never change and you always seem to be there when I need you” thought Rarity to herself.

“Thank you for the breakfast” said Rarity with a smile as she left the library waving good bye, now that she had ensured that Spike would have enough food, to keep him going she had more important things to do “now that I know he’ll be ok for now I can start looking for a solution for this problem, Spike will live forever being a dragon and I’ll be dammed if I cant spend eternity with him whatever it tacks I can't bear to be apart from him” she thought to herself.

As she yet again walked the path to Zecoras house trying to avoid the mud. “It took longer than I expected with out my friends with me, it wouldn't kill her to move closer to town if figures than the only pony who knows mythological lore has to live in the forest” thought Rarity as she approached the door of the house, she knocked a few times before the door opened “now what can I do for you has anything happened to Spike?” said Zecora  as Rarity walked in “ no nothing he’s fine, I was just wondering of you could help me with something” said Rarity as she sat down on the floor.

“of course, I can help you with almost anything” said Zecora “well I need to find a way to live forever and before you judge, I only need to so I can spend the rest of time with the one I love whom is already eternal” said Rarity with a sad face Zecora had a thoughtful face and it was a few minutes before she answered.

“Well only a few races have been blessed with eternal life dragons, alicorns, that evil discord but as far as I know there’s no way to artificially make your self live forever, even with magic I’m very sorry” said Zecora the hope that had began in Rarity hart had just been extinguished all was left in its place was sorrow “thank you for your time” said Rarity just before she ran out of the house with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Back at the library Twilight had just finished cleaning the bowls, “now I suggest that you go back up stairs and rest Spike you don’t have any chores to do remember” said Twilight “ yes I think I will do that see you later” said Spike he smiled at Twi and went up stairs, as soon as he was free from anybody hearing he let lose a huge sigh and the smile on his face disappeared all the jokes he said earlier where mostly untrue, he was just pretending so he didn’t worry Twilight or Rarity.

“Well it seems that my life has taken a turn for the worst lately, I find out that Rarity loves me and because I’ll grow to big one day and my life span is infinite so we can’t be together” he thought to himself causing a deep feeling of pain “ well at least I’ll have wings” he thought sadly as he curled up on his blanket.

Day 1

For the most part all Spike did all day was sleep, as the strain on his body increased he barley left his basket the lumps on his back doubled in size and became even more sensitive, many of his friends came to visit him Twilight was busy most of the time trying to find a way to help him, while Rarity was also searching for a way to solve her problem.

Day 2

The time seemed to pass slowly to Spike as his wings continued to grow, the lumps extended elongating and expanding until he had long rods of muscle and scales, which made sleeping awkward, Applejack came by and gave him a massive apple pie and wished him luck before going to help the others clean up the library.

Day 3

Spike slept all the way thought the day and night as new bones grew in the rods locking in position as the flight muscles started. He didn’t even wake up when Pinkie came charging shouting, GOOD MORNING into the library to tack her turn at helping Twilight study.

Day 4

Spike had gone through three quarters of the crate of gems, Rarity had given him smaller bones had started to grow out of the flight muscles and extend into long finger like bones, now it was Rarity turn to help Twilight and kept checking on spike every hour and bringing him food, this lifted Spike’s spirit a lot and stopped him from brooding on bad thoughts.

Day 5

By this time Twilight had given up on trying to help Spike, she had looked every where literally and was now helping Rarity at her request, the finger like bones had fully extended, by now they where very long easily double the length of Spike a thin membrane of flesh and muscle was starting to grow in between them.

Day 6

At this point Twilight was forced to levitate spike out of the basket, because he couldn't fold his soon to be wings and they where rubbing on the basket causing him pain, she moved him on to her bed, the muscle in his thin bones had fully developed all that was left was the thin flight membrane to fully cover his wings.

The pain was mostly gone but Spike was too tired to remember what day it was all he did remember was Twilight soft voice in his ear “shhh don’t worry Spike its almost over tomorrow when you wake everypony will be waiting for you and you new wings” that was the last thing he herd before he was embraced by a comforting darkness yes again.