One week later and a day, after Spike's birthday, Rainbow was flying over Sweet Apple Acres when she suddenly heard two ponies yell "Help!" She figured that if it was a big problem then she'd get her costume later. So she swooped down and found the two ponies to be Twilight and Applejack, both tied to a tree.
Thus she falls over laughing. "Haha-Don't tell heh me! You tied yourselves up?!" Rainbow asked while laughing.
"Get us out o' this right now!" Demanded AJ, but before Rainbow could say anything, they heard a loud scream. "What was that?" She asked worriedly.
Rainbow hovered off of the ground. "Sounded like Fluttershy to me." She said, now serious. She untied Applejack and Twilight and they all ran to Fluttershy's.
Once they got there Twilight called out for Fluttershy. "I'm here." Fluttershy said, peeking out of a bush.
"What happened?" Twilight asked Fluttershy.
Fluttershy stepped out of the bush, her scars from a week ago still visible. "I was... Uh, watering the flowers when suddenly, a giant rampaging dragon stormed through." She said shakily.
"That was Spike." Twilight admitted.
"Spike? But why would Spike steal my chicken coup?" Fluttershy asked, confused. "He just pulled it out of the ground then filled it with a bunch of apples and stuff." Just when Fluttershy stopped talking. They heard a scream.
"That sounded like Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow informed the others.
"C'mon girls." Twilight said, leading them to Pinkie.
Once they got to Suger Cube Corner they saw Pinkie throwing cakes at Spike.
"Pinkie Pie, stop giving him cake!" Twilight yelled.
Pinkie looked at Twilight. "I'm not giving him cake, I'm assaulting him with cake!" After she said that, she continued with the 'assault'.
Now Rainbow had a good look at Spike. 'Woah, he's way bigger than he used to be' Rainbow mused. Spike then took all of the cake from the shelf that Pinkie was sitting on, making her fall over. Pinkie got up. "How dare you take the cake!" She shouted at Spike, but her anger turned into surprise when Spike suddenly grew, breaking the roof of Sugar Cube Corner. He then ran off.
"He's completely out of control." Said Twilight. "Who knows where he'll go next!" She started chasing after Spike, Rainbow and Fluttershy right behind. Meanwhile AJ had to drag Pinkie out of the broken Sugar Cube Corner. They eventually found Spike only to find that he was even bigger and that he captured Rarity. Rainbow decided to play it smart.
Both Rainbow and Fluttershy flew up to Spike. "Don't worry Rarity, we'll save you." Said Fluttershy.
"Put her down." Demanded Rainbow.
"If you wouldn't mind that is." Fluttershy pitched in.
The dragon didn't seem to care.
"I mean it!" Rainbow threatened.
"We'd be ever so grateful if you could possibly consider putting her down."
Spikezilla was done with them pestering him, so he took a few steps back, turned around and started whacking his tail at them. Rarity said some things, but nopony could hear her. Eventually Rarity's cloak caught Rainbow and Fluttershy, broke and then Fluttershy and Rainbow fell into a river. Rainbow used the opportunity to leave, get her costume on, then come back in a blink of the eye as The Weathermare.
The Wonderbolts then showed up and tried to hit the dragon, instead they just sliced some of Spikzilla's spines off by simply flying through them. They went for another strike, but Spikzilla dodged rather easily, then made his way to a small nearby mountain. He started climbing it, but the Wonderbolts went in for another attack, again missing, but they cut the spines even shorter.
Spikzilla saw a cave a little bit up the mountain, so he climbed up to it and dumped his treasure into it. Once he finished, the Wonderbolts go in for another strike, once again missing. The Weathermare flew closer to the Mountain, but decided to continue watching from afar. The Wonderbolts go in for a straight on attack, but Spikezilla caught them in the water silo he was previously using to hold his treasure, then slammed the silo into the mountain, trapping them.
Weathermare decided that now was a good time to jump into action. She released a cloud from one of her cloud pouches, then punched it, sending a lightning bolt right at Spikezilla. The dragon barely even flinched as the lightening hit him. He scratched at Weathermare, but she narrowly avoided it. She flew up to his face and kicked it, barely doing any damage. The dragon was about to attack again, but suddenly what seemed to be a pony smacked into it's face. The pony that hit the dragon was The Mysterious Mare do Well.
Mare do Well threw two smoke bombs into Spikezilla's eyes, making it drop Rarity. Weathermare swooped down and caught her, then set her on the ground.
"Thank you darling." Said Rarity. Weathermare nodded, then saw Mare do Well get knocked into a building by Spikezilla. She picked up Rarity again and took her further away from the dragon, while doing so she heard Spikezilla roar. She put Rarity down again. "Do you know where that dragon came from?" Rarity asked.
"He's Spike." The Weathermare said simply.
"T-that beast is, Spiky-wiky?" Rarity practically shrieked. Rainbow rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway.
"But how did this happen?" Rarity questioned.
"I don't know, but Spike seems to be after you." Weathermare told Rarity.
"But... Why?" Rarity persisted, she was truly dumbfounded as to why Spike had suddenly become so... Not Spike. Weathermare's answer was simply a shrug.
Twilight ran up to them. "Rai- I-i mean Weathermare, Rarity! Mare do Well said she needs your help." She told them.
"With what?" Asked The Weathermare.
"She needs you to carry Rarity up to Spike and" She turns to Rarity. "She needs you to calm him down." Twilight then remembered something. "Oh yeah, and the dragon's Spike." She told them.
"We know." They responded simultaneously.
"Oh... Well then can you?" Twilight asked, just then they heard a stomp. They all turned and saw Mare do Well narrowly avoiding being stomped on. Without warning The Weathermare scooped Rarity into her forelegs and towards Spikezilla.
"Ahhhh! What are you doing?!" Rarity screamed.
"I need you to stay calm. When we get to Spike, you need tell him to stop." Weathermare told Rarity.
"What if that doesn't work?!" Rarity continued to panick.
"Then we'll have t-" The Weathermare stopped both speaking and moving forward, as she saw Mare do Well get crushed. "Oh no." But, to her relief and surprise, Spikezilla's foot started to be lifted up. The dragon took a step back revealing that MDW was completely fine. Mare do Well pointed at The Weathermare and Rarity and the Spikezilla looked up at them.
Weathermare flew a little closer and let Rarity talk. "Spike? Are you there? What happened to the sweet little dragon that was so kind and generous to everypony?" Rarity asked sweetly. Spike seemed to have calmed down and now looked indeterminate.
"You need to stop stealing. Please, for me?" Rarity pleaded. Those were the magic words. Spikezilla turned back into Spike and began plummeting to the ground.
"Spike!!!" Rarity yelled with worry. Thankfully her worry was short-lived as Spike was caught in Mare do Well's magic.
Weathermare flew down and put Rarity on the ground, with Rarity immediately running over to Spike to give him a death hug. Twilight arrived soon after to give Spike a normal hug. However Weathermare noticed that Mare do Well was walking away.
Weathermare flew in front of Mare do Well, stopping her. "Thank's for the help, to be honest I don't think I could've figured that out." She thanked her.
"I was mostly just a distraction, you did most of the work." Mare do Well responded.
"But it was your plan." Weathermare insisted.
"Yes, but that's all it was, a plan. A plan is useless if nopony follows it." Mare do Well dismissed.
'She's way too modest.' Rainbow thought. "... I guess you're right. Still, thank you."
"No problem." Mare do Well said as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Rainbow looked back at her friends. 'I guess I should get going too.'
Roll credits
I don’t think adding “and a day” was very necessary. Just a week later would have sufficed.
The slight divergence from the show’s events here WERE intentional, but that isn’t very apparent since no particular attention is drawn to it. Not totally sure what I could’ve done differently, but there are probably other options.
There’s nothing really illogical here since most of this past sequence was beat for beat the same as the show. However, the prose continue to feel extremely clunky, and the pacing is somehow still too quick. I feel like I wrote down the bare essentials of what the episode contained, then refused to elaborate.
Ah, yes. Wait until after the elite flyers are incapacitated before giving assistance. That’s clearly the best plan! To be fair, the Wonderbolts would have told Weathermare to not get involved if she tried to help, but that could have been interesting to actually include. Would’ve been nice internal conflict for Rainbow. Also, some tenses being mixed up again.
Not sure if Twilight or Rainbow would be willing to put Rarity in peril over what they see as MDW’s hunch. They didn’t know if her plan would work.
I think it would have been a great character moment for Rarity if Twilight and Rainbow were unsure of the plan, only for Rarity to step up and agree to it despite the risks. Her reasoning being that Spike would never normally act this way, and that she believes it’s her duty as a friend to try and help him. “What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help Spike after all the generosity he has given us?” Or something like that.
Some clunkiness with how the last sentence is structured. Two ‘and’s shouldn’t be placed like that.
This would work, but… I guess I just have a problem with how manipulative Rarity comes across earlier in the actual episode. Technically that has nothing to do with my writing here, but it still irks me.
Ultimately, this chapter didn’t really have the chance to screw up thanks to it mostly following the events of the episode. That being said, there were still a few missed opportunities with Rarity specifically. The fact that my story necessarily changes what happens in the original means I have all the freedom in the world to add more character moments. Even though Rarity wasn’t the focus I still could and should have given her some spotlight. Especially since she was the solution to the problem.