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Act One2,236 words
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Act One

Assistant Hindrance

Written by Matthais Unidostres

Twilight and Spike looked down at the newly awakened, and slightly dirty, dragon.

"Who are you? How'd you get here?" Twilight asked.

Heathspike stood up and said in a british sounding accent, "It is my destiny to forever serve the Princess who picks my magic flower."

"Oh," Twilight said, glancing at the flower in her telekinetic grip, "But why were you buried in that dirt?"

Heathspike shrugged, "To me, if I'm not dutifully serving a Princess, then life isn't worth living!"

"Wait a minute," Spike said in confusion, "You mean, if you're not serving a Princess, you just. . .sleep?"

"Indupatedly!" Heathspike replied with a nod.

"Indupa- wha?" Spike said.

Heathspike rolled his eyes, "It means 'yes.' Forgive me, but I get impatient with those not as smart as me."

Spike ground his teeth and got close to the new dragon, "Are you calling me stupid!?"

"Calm down, Spike," Twilight said as she pushed the pulled the purple dragon back, "I'm sure he didn't mean anything bad."

"Hmmph!" Spike said as he folded his arms grumpily and turned around to head up the stairs. "If you need me, I'll be drowning my frustrations in seven hours of bubbly goodness."

"Hold it right there Spike," Twilight said sternly, "You're not the only one that needs a bath." She turned to the blue dragon and said with a smile, "And I think our guest should go first."

"WHAT!?" Spike exclaimed.

Heathspike bowed respectfully and said, "Thank you, your Majesty. And to prevent any confusion in addressing myself and the vocabularily challenged one, I suggest you refer to me as Heathspike."

"That'll be fine, Heathspike," Twilight said brightly, "And feel free to call me Twilight."

"As you wish, Princess Twilight," Heathspike replied.

Twilight filled the tub with water and bubble solution, and soon it was filled with white foam.

Heathspike scratched his chin, "Hmmm. . .I actually have memories of having a an extra good bath quite a while ago." He grinned, "Let's see if I can't relive that experience!" He then jumped up high and dived right into the tub with a splash, sneding water and foam flying. Twilight used her magic to create a shield, but Spike was hit in the face by the water.

"Pfft! Oh come on!" Spike said as he spat out bubbles.

Heathspike floated up on the surface of the water, whistling as he began scrubbing his toes with a bath brush. "Wash-a-runi, I know you don't mean to stare! I know that you're wondering what's under here!" Heathspike sang, "Just trust and see! And soon I'll be! Feeling good! Feeling good!"

Spike ran up to him and slammed his claw over the other dragon's mouth. "GRR! Your voice is terrible! Stop singing! NO MORE SINGING!"

Twilight used her magic to pull Spike away from the tub, and the two of them left the bathroom. "Heh-heh-heh!" Twilight laughed nervously, "Sorry about that. We'll just let you enjoy your bath, now, okay? Good."

Twilight closed the door, and then turned her attention to her faithful assistant and friend, "Spike! What was that!?"

"Did you even hear his voice!?" Spike exclaimed, waving his arms around and then putting them over his ears in emphasis, "Scootaloo sings better than him!"

Twilight sighed, "Yes, he's not exactly at Sweetie Belle's level, I'll admit that. But you don't have to be rude! He's a guest in our house!"

Spike scoffed, "Yeah, a guest who probably has been sleeping under this place for years! He's pretty much has the world record for trespassing!"

Twilight groaned and face hoofed, "Look Spike, I'll talk to him and try to discover who exactly he is and what this is all about. But for now, just try to be nice, please? Don't you remember what happened when you got upset with Owlicious?"

Spike turned to see the owl sleeping peacefully on it's perch. Spike sighed, "Yeah, I got so angry and jealous and it was just a huge mess."

Twilight hugged the little dragon and smiled, "So you should know that you have nothing to worry about."

Spike smiled back, "You're right Twilight. I'm sorry. I'll be nicer to Heathspike, I promise."

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened, and out walked Heathspike, his scales shinny and free of dirt. Even his claws sparkled white like pearls. His purple mohawk was also well groomed and vibrant.

"Good as can beeeeeeeeee!" Heathspike sang out triumphantly.

Spike ran over to Heathspike and said, "Look, I'm really sorry about what I said about your singing-"

Heathspike suddenly spun Spike around and pushed him into the bathroom while saying in a hurried voice, "Yes,yes, apologies accepted, sticks and stones and all that, you need a bath much more than I did, and a longer one too, such dirt and stench shouldn't be hanging around a Princess, give yourself a good scrubbing!"

"Uhhh," Spike said as he stumbled into the bathroom and turned around to face Heathspike.

The blue dragon smiled at Spike and waved. "Parting is such sweet sorrow!" He quoted, and then he slammed the door shut.

Spike blinked in shock, "What just happened?" Spike then shook the cobwebs out of his head and sighed as he turned to the tub, "If there ever was a time for a seven hour bubble bath, this is it."

Meanwhile, Twilight and Heathspike were headed downstairs to the first floor of the library.

"Who's this?" Heathspike said as he pointed to the sleeping owl.

"That's my pet owl, Owlicious. Shhh! Let him sleep," Twilight said softly.

Heathspike just shrugged uncaringly, and soon the two of them were sitting across from each other at a table. In the middle of the table was the magic flower.

"So tell me," Twilight began, "How did you end up under this Library?"

Heathspike shrugged again, "I couldn't tell you. Being asleep for thousands of years can affect your memory."

"Thousands of years!?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Oh yes. At least, I think it's been a few thousands years," Heathspike said calmly as his tail snaked up and grabbed the stem of the flower, wrapping it around his tail until it was secure, "I mean, when my last Princess' time was through, it was my destiny to sleep until a new Princess found me and picked my flower. You can imagine how slim the chances of me being found are. I'd say, perhaps, 1 in 132.175 million?"

"Wow. . ." Twilight said, "So. . .your destiny is to serve a Princess?"

"Yes, Princess!" he replied with a bright sunny smile.

Twilight stared at Heathspike's wide blue eyes and cute smile. Twilight though hard as she looked at the young dragon. Soon, the only choice became clear to her. "Heathspike," she said, "I hereby appoint you as Secondary Royal Assistant."

Heathspike bowed down low and said, "Oh, my beautiful Princess! I am so truly honored and solemnly swear to serve you-" he suddenly stopped sort and he stood up straight, "Wait, Secondary?"

"Yes," Twilight said with a nod.

"Who's the Primary?"

"Spike."

Heathspike stared blankly at Twilight, but then he suddenly burst out laughing and fell flat on his back, kicking his legs and swinging his tail. After a minute or two of laughing, Heathspike opened his eyes and looked at the serious and slightly angry facial expression of Twilight Sparkle.

"Ummmm. . .you're serious?" Heathspike said as he got back up on his feet, "I mean, with me around, you won't be needing that little juvenile-"

"Stop right there!" Twilight said, slamming the table with her hoof, "Spike is the best assistant anypony could ask for. No offense, but neither you, or anyone in Equestria could come evevn close to Spike. He's irrepalacebale, and I want you to know it."

Heathspike's hair and ear flaps seemed to droop in shame, "I am sorry, Princess. Please excuse my talking out of turn."

Twilight saw how sad the dragon has become, which caused her angered expression to calm down. She sighed and placed a hoof on the dragon's shoulder. "It's okay, I understand how you feel. Serving a Princess is your reason for living, so there's no way I could turn you away. So as long as you work with Spike and be nice, I'd be happy to have you here."

"I understand you completely, Princess!" Heathspike said with a smile.

"Very good," Twilight said as she brought out a scroll and quill with her magic, "Now, Spike is going to be busy for seven hours, so we can set up your duties and get a few things done around here." Twilight giggled happily and clapped her hooves, "Yay! It's checklist time!"

"Excellent!" Heathspike said, "Shall I serenade you with a checklist song?"

Twilight's eyes widened and sparkled. "You know a song about making checklists?!" she practically squealed.

Heathspike nodded enthusiastically and sang, "Do you want to write a checklist? . . ."

Seven hours later, Spike walked out of the bathroom with a towel on his head. He pulled the towel off and tossed it into a nearby clothes' hamper.

"Ahh. . nothing like a nice warm seven hour bubble bath to wash away all your worries," Spike sighed contentedly. The purple dragon ran down the stairs and called out, "Twilight! I'm finished! What are you and HS up to?" When Spike got down stairs, he saw that the library was empty.

"Where are they?" Spike asked.

"Hoo," Owlicious said.

"Twilight and HS."

"Hoo."

"Twilight and Heathspike."

"Hoo."

"Nevermind. . ." Spike groaned.

Suddenly, the front door opened and Twilight and Heathspike walked in.

"Oh, Spike, you're done with your bath," Twilight said.

"Yeah. Um. . .where were you?" Spike asked with slight suspicion.

"Well, since you were busy for seven hours, Heathspike and I went an mapped the old Castle of the Pony Sisters," Twilight said as she tapped her saddle bags.

"Huh?" Spike said with wide eye innocnence.

"Hoo?"

"Not who. Huh," Spike corrected the owl.

"Umm. . ." Twilight said nervously. She then looked down at Heathspike and gave him her saddlebags, "Heathspike, go ahead and store all this cartography away."

"Yes, Princess Twilight!" the blue dragon said with a bow, and he gathered up the bags and ran up the stairs.

Spike watched the other dragon run up the stairs, and then turned towards Twilight and demanded, "What's going on here?"

Twilight put on a wide desperate smile, "Spike, how would you like to have a trainee?"

"You didn't tell him he could work for you, did you?" Spike asked in horror.

Twilight narrowed her eyes and put her hoof down, "Spike! He's been asleep down there for thousands of years! Serving a Princess is all he knows, and all he wants to do. If he doesn't have a Princess to serve, he will fall asleep again, maybe for a thousand, or even ten thousand years! He won't be able to make friends in Ponyville or live life or anything! You don't want that to happen to him, do you?"

Spike's horrified expression gave way to one of concern. "Wow, when you put it like that. . ."

Twilight put a foreleg around Spike and held him gently, "I knew you'd understand. Just remember that you're still my number one assistant and friend. But Heathspike needs us, and he needs us to be his friends." Twilight then smiled gently and said, "And you know. . .he is the same age as you. I was thinking . . .maybe. . .you could be like a brother to him?"

Spike's eyes widened, "A brother?"

Twilight laughed nervously, "Well, it was just a thought. I-"

Spike suddenly scampered up the stairs laughing and cheering, "Alright! I got a brother now! This is great!"

Twilight breathed out in relief and smiled. Owlicious, however, closed his eyes and shook his head in a very grave manner.

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