Spike the Brave and Glorious

by Troyjan

Spike the Selfless

Not wanting to waste another moment, Spike ran to his private quarters. Without hesitation, he unlocked his large wooden chest, containing all of the gems and bits he was savings. Then, Spike went over to the wall of his room, and removed several loose bricks from a particular spot on the wall. Behind this hole was a small room containing most of his valuable items, including another small hoard of gems. Spike dumped his chest and the bin containing his hoard into one pile in the middle of his room. He got to work sorting the gemstones into categories, and ordered them by mass. Realizing that even with all he had, Spike was still short several gems in some categories, and had absolutely no pearls at all.

Putting all his bits into his largest and strongest sack, Spike carried his bag down the stairs, and ran to Ponyville’s local jewelry store. There, Spike found several giant pearls on display, along with the other types of gemstones that he was looking for. Spike reviewed what remained on his list, went up to the counters of the jewelers, and described his order. After weighing several pearls and examining the quality of several gemstones, Spike brought his order to checkout and spent the majority of his bits on his purchase. With the deal made and done, Spike put everything he bought into his sturdy coin sack, and ran back to his room in the castle. There, Spike laid everything out.

After going over the collection spanning the entire floor, Spike was certain that he had all the gemstones. He had to get 180 diamonds, 132 Amethysts, 96 Sapphires, 84 Pearls, 60 Rubies, 48 Emeralds, 24 garnets, and 12 Opals. To reach these quantities, Spike to split some of the oversized gemstones into multiple pieces. While some of the small gems weighed slightly less than 8 ounces, many others weighed more than the minimum weight to compensate. Having no other practical options at that point, Spike just accepted what he had, and hoped it would be good enough. However, Spike knew that he also needed the 48000 bits to complete the demand. Spike crawled back into the hole in his bedroom wall, and took out a ceramic piggy bank. Spike closed his eyes as he hurled it into the brick wall, as the very last of his savings scattered around the floor. Counting what he had left over from his trip to the jewelers, and what lied within the pile of broken ceramic shards, Spike was still several thousand bits short from 48000. He knew that it was now time to liquify.

Spike took every last belonging he had in his room that could be of any meaningful economic value and bundled it all together into one large pile. This included the entirety of his hoof-ball card collection, his sets of his rare graphic novels which he got signed by the original authors, and a wide variety of baubles, trinkets, and decorations that he had collected over the years. Going down into the castle’s storage, Spike took out a massive crate, and filled it with everything that was in the pile. With one last sorrowful look, Spike placed the lid on top, and carried the heavy box out of the castle. Slowly but surely, Spike made his way to Ponyville’s commercial district. Spike’s first spot was the thrift store, where he unloaded the majority of his things for a heap of bits. Nearby, Spike stopped off at several special bookstores and hobby shops, where he was able to haggle a solid price from his more eccentric possessions. After everything was sold, Spike had carried his crate full of bits back into his room in the castle. Taking out one last possession, Spike took out his small, and now completely empty, steel safe, from the secret space behind his bedroom wall. It was the first gift he received from Twilight after they first moved into the castle. After one arduous and very tiring trip, Spike hauled his safe to Ponyville town square, where he put it up for auction. Luckily for Spike, some stallion was willing to pay more for the item and Spike could have haggled for on his own. With the last bits in his claws, Spike went back to his room, and counted the pile of gold coins.

Unfortunately, Spike was still almost 2000 bits short. Then Spike remembered that Twilight, being a Princess with her own castle, had multiple reserves of bits hidden away, which included her own private savings. Spike crept into Twilight’s bedroom in the castle, and with some searching, found one of such reserves. Going against his better judgement, Spike took the remainder of what he needed, and left a written note detailing how much he “borrowed” from Twilight. There were several thousands of bits in there already, and he was only taking some to save Rarity. Spike thought that surely Twilight would understand. Rarity was her friend too. If anything were done about it, Twilight would just dock his official wage as her personal assistant, until his debt was paid off.

At long last, everything was in order. All the gems, and all 48000 bits were piled high in Spike’s room. Spike took another very long look at the pile of gemstones he had gathered. Spike’s mouth began to water as he began to focus on a particular diamond. His stomach let out a growl. Spike had not eaten lunch, and the particular diamond was looking very tasty to him at the moment. Spike reached out for it with one claw, before slapping it away with his other. Spike did not forget what he was doing, and why he needed every last gemstone he had collected. If just one were missing, it might possibly be the reason that Spike would never see Rarity again.

To satisfy his hunger, Spike went down to the castle’s kitchen. Reaching into the cupboards, Spike took out some potatoes and several containers of Twilight’s old leftover food. While undercooked potatoes and the almost overdue leftovers tasted nasty, it more than sufficed for a filling lunch. Finished with his meal, Spike went back to his quarters one last time. Reluctantly, Spike began to put the huge sum of bits, followed by the heap of gemstones, into the sack that he used earlier that day. After shifting the contents around, Spike sealed the top of the sack with a rope.

Spike let out a sad sigh as he looked around his room. Save for his bed, some furniture, and the work related stuff on his desk, Spike’s room was almost empty. Spike was beginning to regret on insisting that he be the one who pay Rarity’s ransom. But then he suddenly remembered the reason he was doing all of this.

In the deep recesses of Spike’s mind, he began to fantasize. He imagined being a far larger, stronger, and handsome dragon than he was now. He imaged that he had large muscles along his entire body, enough to make even that huge bully of a dragon named Garble, cower in his presence. Spike would infiltrate the diamond dog cave on his own, effortlessly fighting off the waves upon waves of the hostile, subterranean canines with nothing but his bare claws. At last, he would make it to the lowest pits of their cave systems, where he would confront Rarity’s captors.

“I’ve met all of your terms, and I have easily bested all of your finest fighters. Now, you will free Rarity or I will do so myself,” Spike would say, in a deep and attractive voice.

The last three diamond dogs would cover in fear, as they handed Spike a key. Immediately, Spike strutted over to one of the cells, undid the lock, and flew open the rusted metal door. Around the corner of the cell, was a pristine, majestic white unicorn mare. She was wearing her finest dress, complimented with matching horseshoes, and the finest jewelry that money could buy. Rarity would see Spike, immediately run towards him, and grasp his body with her forelegs in a tight embrace.

“Spike, have you come all this way to rescue me!,” Rarity would say.

“That I have, Lady Rarity.”

“Is it true that you had given up nearly every last possession you have owned, and have risked life and limb just for me?”

“Yes I have. There is no price I wouldn’t pay to see you safe and happy once more, Lady Raity.”

“Oh Spike, my honorable handsome hero, my lovely knight in shining scales, I knew you would never abandon me.”

Rarity would hold Spike closer, and stare straight into his gleaming, emerald eyes. With one swift, passionate movement, Rarity would lock lips with the dragon. Spike would be overtaken by an overwhelming euphoria, as the surroundings around him became irrelevant abstractions to the loving touch of his true one and only. It was something worth any price.

Spike shook his head, bringing himself out of his fantasy. That last part would have to wait until later. He looked back up at the massive bag of valuables he had accumulated. The next step was to bring the monstrosity down the stairs and into the throne room.

As soon as Twilight left the castle, she flew over to Sugar Cube Corner. She asked Mrs. Cake, who was running the register, if she had seen Pinkie Pie lately. She claimed that neither she nor her husband had heard from Pinkie Pie for months. Twilight began asking other ponies around town if they had any idea where the pink pony was. Each time, Twilight would be unable to get even a single piece of useful information. After enough time, Twilight gave up on finding Pinkie Pie.

Twilight quickly made her way towards Flutteryshy’s cottage. Upon relaying the news of Rarity’s abduction, Fluttershy agreed to meet Twilight by the front of the Caste of Friendship within the hour. Afterwards, Twilight flew her way to the School of Friendship, which was run by her appointed Head-mare, Starlight Glimmer. Entering the main office, Twilight briefed Starlight Glimmer of the emergency. Unlike Fluttershy, Starlight had never encountered any diamond dog before, and had no idea what to expect. Being the principal of the school, Starlight Glimmer agreed to help rescue Rarity only after her school’s dismissal time, when she was free from her professional obligations for the day.

Twilight flew back to her castle, and landed on the pathway to the front entrance. Rainbow Dash was already there waiting for her. “Ready to kick some canine tail?,” boasted Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash, I know we did this before, but this is still a very serious problem. We should wait for the others, and come up with a plan before we do anything rash,” responded Twilight.

“Whatever,” said Rainbow Dash, blowing her own mane out of her face.

After several minutes, Applejack came rushing along the dirt roads. “Hey Twilight, Sweetie Belle and her friends told me everything, and I came as soon as I could. They should be here soon.”

“I hope so, I’ve been waiting here for a while already. When are the others coming Twilight?”

“I couldn’t find Pinkie Pie anywhere, but Fluttershy said that she would arrive soon, and Starlight Glimmer said that she would come at three-thirty at the earliest.”

“Come on Twilight, Rarity is waiting for us. We can’t take that long,” complained Rainbow Dash.

“Let’s at least wait for the others a little longer before we do anything,” suggested Applejack.

After a few more minutes, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom came running down the dirt through Ponyville. The three seemed more than exhausted from running around town for the past few hours. Following from behind was Fluttershy, carefully soaring her way to the meeting spot.

“We… made it… Twilight,” gasped Sweetie Belle, between breaths. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were taking similar deep breaths.

“Oh dear, I hope Rarity is still all right. I can’t bear to think if she had gotten hurt,” said Fluttershy.

“For the time being, Rarity should be just fine. Let’s all head inside the castle, and talk about this some more,” suggested Twilight. “Hopefully Princess Celestia got my message and was able to send back a reply back through Spike by now.”

Spike was carrying the massive bag of money and gems in his shaking arms, which altogether was at least four times his body weight. Spike had just managed to clear his bedroom doorway as he continued down the short hallway, and towards the stairwell. His arms, legs, and torso continued to tremble more intensely with each passing second. Needing a break already, spike placed down the load and sat down on the top of the stairs. Spike suddenly felt a very familiar discomfort in his chest, before letting out a fiery belch. Out of his mouth came a letter from Princess Celestia, addressed to Twilight Sparkle. Spike went down the stairs and placed the message on Twilight’s desk in her throne room. When Spike returned to the stairs, he timidly looked up at the heavy bag which rested ominously at the top. Knowing what he had to do, Spike puffed his chest, and continued what he started. With no need to lift it off the floor, Spike began to slowly slide the dense mass down each single stair at a time. He let out a sigh of relief as he finally reached the ground floor, only to realize that it was still a fair distance to the throne room. With the last of his strength, Spike began to carefully slide the bag across the smooth, crystal floors. At long last, Spike got the bag into the throne room as Twilight has requested.

Catching his breath, Spike took a look at the time. The throne room clock indicated that it was already a few minutes past three. Spike’s heart began to race again, as he realized that there was less than nine hours left remaining to save Rarity. Twilight already should have been back by now. Suddenly, Spike heard the castle doors open, followed by several sets of hooves walking through the main hall. Spike looked around and saw Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy, followed by Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo.