Scaled Foal

by ColtKit Productions

Ch2: First Day of School

Spike grinned as he posed in front of a mirror. He wanted to look good for his first day of school so he put on some of the custom clothes Rarity made for him. Not the formal stuff of course as he didn't want to be TOO dressed up, just a white Power Ponies T-shirt and red jacket (open of course otherwise he wouldn't be able to show off the large print of the Power Ponies on his shirt). The red really brought out the purple of his scales.

Twilight had to order all his clothes as custom. With his dragon bone structure he couldn't exactly wear the mass produced clothes of his favorite characters, not when they were designed with ponies in mind. That was okay because Rarity's clothes looked a thousand times cooler and it was pretty awesome to have one of a kind shirts. Ponies (and Dragons) might spend most of their days naked but it was nice to wear something.

"Spike!" Twilight called, "Hurry up, you don't want to be late,"

"Coming," Spike grinned.

Truthfully it wasn't school that put him in such a fine mood. It was the fact that today marked the end of his grounding. Twilight, in her true Twilight fashion, completely over analyzed the whole school thing. She wanted to wait to send him until his grounding was over so he wouldn't feel like School was part of his punishment.

It also defeated the purpose of going if the only reason was for him to make friends. You couldn't exactly make friends when you weren't allowed to hang out after school. Plus Twilight said she wanted Spike to feel excited about school so having it start immediately after he got off grounding would make it seem like a reward, not further punishment.

Spike didn't know about any of that but he was excited about finally getting out of the castle. Now he knew how those poor dragons felt in all those fantasy stories where they had to stay locked up in a castle forever to guard it.

When Spike got downstairs he gave Twilight a quick hug as she gave him a bagged lunch filled with gem stones. However Spike frowned when he actually got outside and found the Cutie Mark Crusaders waiting for him.

"Hi Spike," grinned Apple Bloom, Apple Jack's little sister. Rarity's little sister Sweetie Belle was with her and so was Scootaloo, the little disabled Pegasus Rainbow Dash had adopted. Spike never really talked to Scoot about it but he did understand. Spike was a dragon that didn't even have wings. He could understand what it was like to be a flying creature that couldn't fly.

"What are you guys doing here?" Asked Spike.

Sweetie Belle shrugged, "We figured we'd walk you to school."

"Errr, thanks but you really don't have to," Spike insisted, "I know where it is."

Sweetie Belle insisted, "Rarity says you should never let a boy walk somewhere by themselves. It's unlady like."

Spike rolled his eyes, "Wanna carry my books for me then?"

Scootaloo snorted back a laugh.

Spike smiled and started heading towards school with the Crusaders right behind him. It was a strangely silent and awkward walk. Usually the Crusaders were very chattie.

"Spike," Apple Bloom finally spoke up again after ten minutes of silence.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry," Apple Bloom informed but for what Spike couldn't imagine.

"We're sorry," Scootaloo corrected.

Spike raised an eyebrow, "For what?"

Apple Bloom flushed in shame, "For never inviting you to our clubhouse."

Spike rolled his eyes, "It's fine."

Scootaloo insisted, "No, it's not."

Well Sweetie Belle said, "We never meant for you to feel like we weren't your friends."

Apple Bloom nodded, "We really do think of you as our friend, we're just pretty lousy ones."

Spike dismissed, "It's okay," thinking their sisters were making them say this, "I'm sorry I got you in trouble."

"This isn't about that," Insisted Scootaloo, "We aren't just saying this stuff cuz our sisters yelled at us. We really do mean it. We should have been better friends to you."

Spike sighed, "Look it's not like you were actually 'lousy friends'. I'm pretty sure you need to have at least one actual conversation to qualify as 'friends'. We never hang out without our siblings around, we've never-"

"That's going to change," Scootaloo insisted.

"What if I don't want it to?" Spike shocked the Crusaders, "I don't have anything against you gals but I don't want you to start hanging out with me because you got in trouble. Besides we have absolutely nothing in common. I'm a lot younger than you and I'm a major comic book nerd and you guys are WAY too active for my lazy butt to hope to keep up," and Spike really didn't want to hang out with ponies who were being forced to associate with him.

The Crusaders looked down with an odd look of shame well Sweetie Belle said, "We didn't realize we hurt you so much."

"You didn't," Spike assured, "Honestly I'm completely fine."

"Could we try please?" Scootaloo asked, "Like you said we weren't 'lousy friends' so much as we weren't friends at all but could we try to be? We'll do better this time."

Spike growled, "Fine you can tell you're sisters we're friends,"

###

"He thinks we're just using him," Apple Bloom moped as they sat at their desk at the school house.

Spike wasn't even sitting with them. He was on the other side of the classroom, fitting in the back looking bored out of his mind as he waited for class to start.

Sweetie Belle shook her head, "I really did think of Spike as our friend," she insisted.

"We just have to prove to him that we are real friends," Scootaloo puffed up her chest.

Apple Bloon blinked, "How do we do that? Even if we invited him to our clubhouse I don't think he'll come at this point. We spent too much time ignoring him,"

"Or treating him like a Butler," Sweetie Belle moped, "He always busted his butt making us treats each time we went to spend time with Twilight and we still never invited him to do anything with us."

Apple Bloom nodded ,"We might have been trying to find our cutie marks but we still could have invited him to play with us. We did lots of stuff I'm sure he would have enjoyed,"

"We could take him snorkeling!" Scootaloo suggested, "That was pretty fun,"

"I don't know," Apple Bloom thought, "Maybe Spike would prefer to do something less active. He runs around helping Twilight most of the day. I'm sure he'll just want to lay down and relax on his off time,"

Sweetie Belle thought about it, "We could take him to the arcade."

"He's got his own private one," Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

"We have to think of something!" Apple Bloom insisted just as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came in.

Diamond blinked spotting Spike on the other side of the room and quietly asked the Crusaders, "What's Twilight's pet dragon doing here?"

Apple started foaming, "You promised you were going to try to be less of a jerk!"

Diamond gaped at the accusation and demanded, "What I do!?"

Scootaloo glared, "He's not a pet. He's Twilight's ward which pretty much makes him the prince of Ponyville."

Diamond was stunned speechless for several moments before finding her words, "Really? I-I always assumed he was a pet."

Apple Bloom insisted, "Dragons are fully sapient creatures just like Ponies. They CAN'T be pets!"

Diamond blushed scuffing her hoof on the floor, "S-sorry," she was still trying to learn to watch what she said but sometimes she still came off as insensitive without realizing it, "... you know my mom is probably going to have a heart attack when she hears Ponyville has a Dragon for a Prince. She already has a problem with that cow colony in our boarders,"

Apple Bloom blinked, "What's she got against cows? Practically all the farms and stores trade with them for milk,"

Diamond shrugged taking a seat next to the Crusaders. Ironically, although they were the ones she bullied the most they were also some of the few kids in class that was giving her a second chance. Paying for the new playground equipment was a nice step in repairing some of the damage she inflicted to her own reputation but it was just a start. Most of the school was convinced that was just her trying to buy forgiveness instead of actually working towards it.

"Mother thinks cows and other species are... 'lesser' then ponies," Diamond was trying to find a nicer word for 'inferior' but none of the synonyms sounded very flattering.

Apple Bloom gaped, "B-but your dad is the one buying up most of the milk!"

Diamond couldn't help but shrug with a defeated expression on her face. Her dad had contracts with most of the farms. He bought up most of their goods, commercialized them into various tasty treats, and sold them around Equestria. Her family's livelihood depended on the various farms in Ponyville including not only the Cows but Apple Bloom's family as well... and Diamond's mother thought so little of all of them.

"Mom doesn't really care about insulting Dad's business partners, even the ones we rely on the most." Diamond sighed, "You know I never really realized how... messed up she was until you guys forced me to take a good look at her. I can't believe I actually wanted to be like her."

Sweetie Belle spoke up, "Family can be infuriating sometimes but they're still your family. There is nothing wrong with loving them. Even when you wish they could be nicer,"

Diamond just looked at Sweetie Belle, a bit shocked at how the foal sounded like she was speaking from experience.

Sweetie Belle groaned realizing she had to explain where that little bit of wisdom came from, "Rarity has her moment's where she's a great sister but she also has ones that make me want to crawl into my bed and cry at how selfish she can be. She might be the Element of Generocity but she is one of the most self absorbed Fillies you will ever meet, not to mention a complete Drama Queen... I think everyone is like that in some way. They aren't defined by one thing. We all have good things about us and bad things that seem to contradict it. That's just how Ponies are,"

Diamond gave a light smile, the 3 were trying so hard to make her feel accepted. They were even trying to get her not to condemn her mom as Diamond tried to better herself, "Thanks..." and she meant it. "Want to come over to my mansion after school."

The Crusaders gave a collective groan.

"Sorry we can't, " Scootaloo informed, "We're trying to figure out what we can do with Spike."

"The Dragon?" Diamond blinked and when the Crusaders started glaring at her she said, "Why don't you just bring him with you?"

Scoot snorted, "And have your mom tell him to his face that he's a 'lesser' being?"

Diamond crumpled well Sweetie Belle glared at Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom piped up, "We weren't very good friends to Spike, to the point he doesn't think we're friends at all, so we have to figure out a way to convince him we are... and he thinks the only reason we're trying to now is because our sisters yelled at us for excluding him,"

Diamond thought on it a moment, "Well all you really have to do is wait until recess. All the foals will crowd around him and no doubt ask him embarrassing questions about dragons. All you three have to do is swoop in and save him and-"

"DIAMOND!" All three Crusaders snapped.

Apple Bloom informed, "We ain't about to manipulate Spike like that."

"What's a little manipulation if it helps in the long run," Diamond gave a evil smirk, "Besides, this is going to happen no matter what. The foals are going to be curious about a dragon attending school for the first time since ever and some of them aren't going to be too happy with the idea. The fact of the matter is our dear PRINCE Spike will need someone to look out for him at recess and if it's you three it will help repair whatever damage you did. Or at least be the first step in doing so,"

The Crusaders looked too uncomfortable so Diamond continued, "My cutie mark revolves around getting ponies to do what I want. My special talent is manipulating ponies and in order to do that I need to understand them. Your the ones who taught me I could use this talent for the betterment of others. What's wrong with helping Spike and taking that first step on the road to forgiveness? You're not manipulating him for malicious reasons and in fact you WILL be helping him and all you want to get in return is forgiveness. It's a win / win for everypony involved."

Sweetie Belle shifted in her seat, "Well maybe next time you could make it sound a little less like an evil plot well explaining it."

Diamond blushed and gave a slight smile, "I'll work on that."

###

Spike didn't know why, he really didn't, but he felt his face heat up as a young colt sat next to him. The colt was brown with an orange mane cut in an adorable style and a cute little propeller hat. He hid a 'JoyBoy' device under his desk and was playing videogames on it. Spike tried to peek at just what game he was playing and sneakily got out his own JoyBoy from his backpack. He stealthily got the pony's attention by tapping the desk then held up his copy of 'Fable'.

Spike smiled as the pony looked at him. The young Dragon whispered, "Need a player 2?" and it wasn't long before they were killing virtual hobgoblins together... and continued to play after the teacher came into the room.

Comments

[spike fan 123]

Love this story so far please continue.

[gorillarmy]

Wow , so much hate , and yet this fic has been nearly perfect so far , with the most inportant elements , such as misoginy and the interaction betweben spike and button mash being subtle enough . Wasnt is not subtle however , is the fics description , which needlesly describes the events of the second chapter and makes us believe the tone of the history is different

[ColtKit Productions]

7430566

My Writing style was heavily inspired by Fruits Basket, Naruto, Inuyasha, Gravitation, and various other anime which all have the same tone. Really really creepy, sad, and sometimes even getting a little dark well wrapped up in sweet moments with lots of comedy and silliness. I just grew up watching that stuff so it's how I write. I also like to lore people in with a litter tone instead of having the world fall apart before the reader even knows what the world is like.

Right now the world seems bright and rosy because the boys haven't yet realized their feelings for each other. When that happens things will get a lot harder for them.

As was explained in the first chapter there are very few boys in comparison to girls and because of that same sex relationships between girls is okay but not for boys has society desperately needs them to have children in order to continue. Although boys have equal rights gay boys are shunned and discriminated against.

However even when things start to get serious I'm going to have a lot of happy and funny moments as that's just my writing style. I like mixing drama with a good dose of humor and an upbeat attitude. I don't usually care for anything that's one or the other either

[gorillarmy]

7430697 exactly , your fic doesnt seem to touch delicate themes such as the values of a society for the sake of it . But rather to explore how different characters would develop their lifes around them .

But (at least In my opinion) the description makes this story appear to be like one of the many that portrays people as either , abusers and victicms that conform to the system or protagonists that will end the hipocrisy of the world , and save the so called victicms , even though they are made unrealisticly good so we long for them to be freed from the villians which are portrayed as cartonishly evil even though their actions stem from the ideals of society itself and they werent expected to act otherwise.

a good example of a fic that plays with societies values would be this zootopia web comic , which i cant stop but think about after talking about your work

https://zistopia.com/pages/1/one-of-those-cultures

[ColtKit Productions]

7430800

Well that is definitely not something I would want my fic to convey I'm not sure how to change the description to better explain what is going on well not making it seem all emo. Have any suggestions you'd be willing to let me use?

[gorillarmy]

7430870 Well , you said it yoursel :

the boys haven't yet realized their feelings for each other. When that happens things will get a lot harder for them

and yet the description already states they are in a relationship and how the world is against them .

You could put more emphasis in their interaction as friends , which is inportant on itself becuase spike of the fact that spike didnt have peers his age , which will make button very inportant for him ,and their bonding inportant to the readers .

It could be something like this :

A story about Spike being raised by his Big Sister Twilight. How he is sent to Ponyville's school to make meet friends in order to improve his socialization & finds his best one in the even more socially awkward Button Mash.

Together they will experience many new things , they will live sweet moments , have funny adventures and be together in the sad parts of growing up .

But even with all this , will they get to experience being in a relationship in a female dominant society , when the very issues that brought them together could also deny of the courage necesary to stand against ?

[ColtKit Productions]

7430993

That's seems pretty good. Mind if I tweek it a bit and use it?

[gorillarmy]

7431031 I would be delighted for my suggestions to be used in an ambitus story such as this , when the in the first place i was only giving my point of view to be answered with yours .

[ColtKit Productions]

7431057

I always like to listen to my readers and incorporate their suggestions into my story. Feel free to PM me any suggestions you have for future chapters.