"Hey Mr. Monster, I like ya and all," Spike spoke to the beast strangling her with one of it's many tentacles, "but I don't roll that way."
She managed to wiggle her staff out from it's grasp and used her magic to spin it so swiftly that it became a pink blur. When she decided that the speed of the spinning to be adequate, she shouted out the magical words that that always got her out of jams like this, "Buaya Kecang Pukulan!"
As on cue, small balls of fiery light appeared in an octagonal position around the circumference of the spinning staff. Spike smirked as the balls fired from her staff, spiraling together towards the monster's face until they had become a beam of fiery light. When it collided with the beast's face, it created a magnificent explosion, causing the monster to release Spike from it's slimy tentacle and recoil, bringing it's appendage to cover it's ugly, three-eyed face.
As Spike landed, she giggled as she used her hoof to wipe some slime off of her white sailor's top, "Only one thing left to do now!" She pulled a musty tome out from under her far-too-short skirt as well as a small black card, and turned to a page that she had Twilight bookmark for her. With the open book in one hoof and the card in the other, she chanted, "Return to the guise in which you were meant to be! Crow Card!" She tossed the card to the ground and slammed the bottom of her pink staff down onto it, causing light to spume from the card and envelop the monster, swallowing and sealing it inside.
With a smile, Spike flashed a hoof across her amethyst pendant and initiated the transformation sequence. An aura of light surrounded her as her clothes and purple fur dissipated as well as her green mane and furry tail, all replaced by his familiar green spikes, and purple scales. The transformation sequence finished just after his hooves returned to claws and his tome and staff disappeared.
He chuckled and spoke in his familiar young boy's voice, "Man, I still can't ever get used to that. Now, what do we have here?" He picked up the black card of the monster he had sealed moments ago, "Well, well, George Tentaclooney, it's been fun. Hey, Twilight!" He called, "How many is that for us now?"
Twilight answered as she trotted over to Spike, "Thirty-six."
The baby dragon yawned and stretched his arms, "Wow. We've done a lot of monster capturing in a week."
The alicorn raised a worried eyebrow, "You do realize that there's still a hundred more monsters out there."
"Details." Spike waved, "Besides, I'm just happy that I can be useful to everypony."
Twilight chuckled, "That's not what you said week when Celestia gave you this job. You said you didn't want to have anything to do with it."
"Well, that was before I realized I could be a hero and protect the ponies I cared about most." He paused, "...Even if that means turning into a girl and wearing a skimpy, frilly skirt." He crossed his arms behind his back and began turning up some dirt with his foot, "Also, I'm not you; I don't get to do this kind of thing every other day."
Twilight placed a wing on his head and started rubbing as she softly smiled, "Okay, Spike. I just want to make sure your not burning yourself out. As a dragon of your age, you need to take time for some R&R every now and again."
"I hear ya Twi," he began to fiddle with the black pendant around his neck, now with only small traces of it's original amethyst hue, "It's just, Equestria needs me to stop these monsters, y'know?"
Twilight nodded, "Just don't overdo it, okay? I want to you to stay safe above all." She shifted a worried gaze to Spike's necklace and asked, "Wasn't that thing purple when you got it?"
The dragon turned it over a few times and examined it, "Yeah. Not sure what's wrong with-"
It interrupted him with it's familiar ear-splitting screech, signalling a nearby monster. The two covered their ears as Spike shouted, "GAH! I STILL hate that sound!"
Twilight shouted back, "Where is it?"
Straining to gaze into his pendant, he screamed back, "In Ponyville!"
With that, he flashed his claw across the gemstone and began transforming once again. His formed changed to that of a female alicorn as her familiar clothing wrapped around her body tightly, finishing off with a cute pair of boots on her rear hooves.
A black beam shot from gem and into Twilight. She sighed as she began shrinking, "Here we go again." When she reached about six inches tall and her horn had completely disappeared, the black beam stopped. "I'm still not happy about this." She shook her head and huffed, "You ready?"
"Mm-hm." Spike nodded as she unfurled her wings. Twilight flew into her mane and the magical mare took off for Ponyville.
* * *
It didn't long for them to touch down in front of Golden Oaks Library as a dreary, gray overcast hung over Ponyvile. Twilight was slightly relieved that there hadn't been a giant, hideous beast destroying their home. But, it brought another question to her mind: Where was the monster?
"...Hey, Spike?"
"I know. I'm confused too," she replied as she reached for her still-pulsating pendant, its blaring alarm having quieted down some time ago. After taking a few seconds to gaze into it, she tiredly concluded, "This way."
As she trudged along towards town hall, Twilight asked worriedly, "Spike, are you okay?"
"Just..." she replied, "...Just a little tired."
"If you need to stop and rest-"
"I can't, Twilight!" Spike shouted, "Who else is gonna stop this monster?" Twilight remained silent.
After walking along for only a few minutes, it seemed as is if everything seemed to dissipate from under them, replaced with sickeningly ornate flooring with tiny, chalk-drawn dragons scurrying about. The sky seemed to have changed to what seemed to be a roof of a church, painted on by a child. It felt like a nightmare.
"Well, this is new." Spike commented as she gazed at the new surroundings. A metal clanging sound immediately shifted her gaze to what she knew to be her target: A slim, bipedal creature--she guessed no taller than six feet tall--clad in golden, jagged armor, and a lion-like mask, squishing one of the miniature dragons under it's boot. It's right arm--not to either ponies' surprise-- was a tentacle, while the left was long and slim, probably only about three feet in length, with five small digits on the end of it. That arm wielded a spear whose steel head seemed to dance with lightning.
"Really?" Spike chuckled, "I beaten chumps a hundred times bigger than you! This'll be easy-peasy cider-squeazy!"
"Please be careful, Spike!" Twilight pleaded as she flew out of her grassy-green mane, so as to not be caught in the fray, "You haven't rested in days, and I don't feel too particularly easy about that spear... "
Spike rolled her tired, black-rimmed eyes and smirked as she levitated her staff with her magic, "Please, Twilight! This one only has one tentacle! It should be super simple to take down!"
She took off for the monster and began lobbing spells. Twilight sighed worriedly, "Oh, Spike..."
Then, a familiar, soft feminine voice spoke from behind her, "Hildegarde Ornstein... I've finally found you..."
Twilight turned and saw--greatly to her surprise--Fluttershy, wearing what seemed to be her Grand Galloping Gala outfit, with a vibrant rose-colored gem adorned in a necklace hanging around her neck as a white cat-like creature sat on her shoulder. She gasped, "Fluttershy? What are you doing here? It's dangerous!"
Fluttershy gasped herself and looked around for Twilight for a few moments, before honing her eyes in on her six-inch tall friend. "Twilight? What happened to you?"
"It's a long story," Twilight dismissed, "but you need to get out of here! It's not safe!"
"Why?" The cat-like creature asked with a piercing red gaze. Without even moving it's mouth, it continued, "Fluttershy can handle herself; she's a Magical Mare!"
"What?!?" Twilight was taken aback.
Fluttershy blushed and smiled, "I guess the secret's out on that one. At any rate, Twilight, meet Ichibey."
Ichibey hopped off of the pegasus' back and greeted, "Nice to meet you!"
Twilight's eyes grew wide a she flew to Ichibey's face, "OMIGOSH! You can talk? That is so fascinating! Albeit, a little creepy, but still-"
She was cut off by an an explosion of Spike's that slammed Hildegarde in the chest, then followed up with other bombastic magics. Ichibey gasped, "Fluttershy! That magical mare is using far too much magic! You have to help her!"
"Right!" Fluttershy unfurled her wings, ready to fly towards the monster.
Twilight flew to her friend's face and questioned, "Wait, what does he mean by, 'Spike's using far too much magic'?"
The pegasus froze. Her heart sank and her face showed it. She looked with pleading eyes at Twilight. "No... Twilight, please tell me Spike didn't make a contract! Please tell me that that is not him fighting that witch!"
Twilight raised a worried eyebrow, "Would that be a problem?"
Fluttershy cried as she lowered her head, "N-No..." She took a few steps towards Hildegarde and mumbled, "Spike... You idiot..."
Now Twilight was genuinely worried, "W-What's the matter? And what's a witch?"
As the pegusus' prepared for takeoff once again, she glanced back and Twilight and asked rather coldly, "Tell me Twilight... Was his wish worth it?"
"Wish? What do you mean by 'wish'?" Twilight asked, more confused now than she already was. But Fluttershy was already gone, speeding off to fight the witch.
"A witch is is the embodiment of all the grief of a certain pony. Only a magical mare can locate and fight them." Ichibey spoke, observing the battle between the magical mares and the witch. "Hildegarde Ornstein is a witch."
"Huh? What was that Ichibey?"
The cat creature turned to face Twilight with it's piercing eyes, "You were wondering what a witch was. That is what a witch is."
Twilight nodded, "O-Okay. The embodiment of a pony's grief. But, what's so important about this wish Fluttershy mentioned?"
Ichibey blandly replied, "In order for a pony to become a magical mare, they must create a contract with me in which I will grant them one miracle. It could be anything, from fame and fortune, to ruling a kingdom. I can grant them whatever they want, even what only could be achieved in their wildest dreams! In return, they must slay witches for me. It's a very fair trade, if I do say so myself."
The mini Twilight furrowed her brow and crossed her arms, "But Spike never made a contract you; I was standing right there when he made it, and you were no where to be seen."
"Oh, he most certainly did make a contract!" Ichibey challenged, "In fact, his wish was so powerful, that it bent the laws of nature around him as well, just so he could achieve it!"
The pony gasped, "Then, him changing into a girl and a pony... that was all his wish's doing? Ichibey, I have to know: What was his wish that was so strong?"
Ichibey returned his attention to the battle, "I do not know. All I know is that Spike the dragon made a contract to become a magical mare and is now fighting witches. That is all I need to know."
"But, something still doesn't add up!" Twilight held up both her hooves, "Princess Celestia sent us a letter saying that I was supposed to transform into a magical mare and fight monsters. Tell me, how can you possibly claim your wish theory as truth when we have physical evidence suggesting otherwise?"
Ichibey turned to Twilight and bluntly stated, "Your princess is a liar."
Twilight dropped her jaw in disgust. How could this... this... creature even suggest something like that about Princess Celestia? Twilight growled, "Ha. Ha. Really funny. I'll have you know that Princess Celestia is a benevolent princess and wouldn't outright lie without good reason to do so."
Ichibey shrugged as he gazed back to the battlefield, "My people do not understand your concept of 'humor'. To us, it's simply illogical."
Twilight sighed as she shifted her gaze to the battle as well. Only, she wished she hadn't, as she saw Spike struggling with Hildegarde's tentacle arm. Without skipping a beat, Hildegarde unraveled her tentacle from the magical mare and impaled her straight on through her abdomen with her lightning spear. Twilight's breath escaped her as she watched the spear rip through Spike's back, now stained with her blood. Spike's magical mare form faded as he slumped on the tip of the spear.
A glow appeared around Twilight as she returned to regular size and her horn return. She gagged, trying to force out a cry, "Sp-Sp-Sp-SPIIIIKKEEEEEEE!!!!!"
As Ornstein threw the baby dragon to the ground, she stood up, ready to join the fray. However, Ichibey jumped in front her, "No! Do not interfere!"
Tears blinded Twilight's eyes and her horn flared with her magic, "MOVE, ICHIBEY!" she screamed, "I have to save Spike!"
Ichibey just stared, "Do not interfere! He will be okay! That attack landed no where near his soul gem! He'll be just fine! We have to let Fluttershy finish this!"
"He was impaled with a spear! I have to do something!"
Ichibey shook his head, "It won't do anything! Spike is not the body that just received the fatal wound! Spike's essence is crystallized into the soul gem he wears around his neck. That wound didn't do a thing!"
Twilight was appalled at the many things that were morally wrong with that statement, but she didn't care. She just hoped Spike was alright like Ichibey claimed. She whimpered as her horn flickered out, "...Can't we do anything?"
Ichibey climbed on top of Twilight's shoulder and pointed, "Look! The battle's already finished!"
Twilight shifted a teary gaze to where the white creature pointed. In that moment, she witnessed Fluttershy flying at blinding speeds straight towards Hildegarde, smashing straight through the back of her head, breaking through to the other side. A deafening howl echoed as the witch and nightmarish cathedral dissipated, revealing the peaceful town of Ponyville once more.
Twilight sped off at once and crashed beside Spike, struggling to regulate her spastic breathing, "Spike? C-Can you hear me? P-Please, Spike..." Her tears started falling onto his face, "Please, wake up..."
Spike moaned as he barely opened his eyes, "That was one heck of a trip..."
Twilight broke into a chuckle, tears still streaming down her face. She brought Spike up into a hug, "Please don't scare me like that again, Spike." She tried to wipe away a tear and sniffed, "I don't know what I'd do without my number one assistant."
She let go and he fell into a sitting position. He replied as he weakly waved, "Please, Twilight. I had it in the bag all along."
As a few raindrops began to fall from the clouds above, Twilight chuckled some more, "Sure you did. Hey Fluttershy, thanks for-" she looked around for her butter-colored friend, but neither she or Ichibey were anywhere to be seen.
"Oh... Where did you go?" She shrugged it off and hoisted her assistant onto her back, "C'mon, Spike. It's time that you finally got that R&R we talked about." She softly smiled, "And no distractions! I won't allow it!"
"Um... Twilight?" Spike weakly asked, "Can I go see Rarity instead?"
The alicorn frowned, "You were just impaled with a spear, Spike! I don't think-."
"Please? I'm okay now!" the dragon begged, "I haven't been able to see her since before I got my powers, and I've been meaning to tell her about everything I've done. And I just figured that, since we're back in Ponyville and all...
Twilight sighed and smiled at him, "Alright, but under one condition."
"Anything!"
She continued, "If you run into any trouble at all, please don't fight it. Come get me! I can help, okay Spike?"
He smiled, "Gotcha!"
"Good." Twilight continued to smile as she lowered her head, "Now, go!"
He slid off of her neck and slowly made for Carousel Boutique. He waved, "Thanks, Twi! See ya later!"