My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship

by Danieru


35. Generous Greedy Dragon

Today was Spike's birthday and Star Twinkle was on his way to the Golden Oak Library to attend his birthday party.

He carried a bunch of presents on his back. In one of them were some gems that he dug out outside of Ponyville. It took him one day to find only a bag full of gems. But it worried him since he thought it wasn't enough.

He had no idea what he should do if Spike didn't like his present.

Trying to find a present for Twilight's birthday a little while ago, wasn't easy either. He knew that she likes books but what kind of books?

He once asked her in a really subtle way in hope that she wouldn't find out. But he had the feeling that she was looking through him and hinted at a specific book.

When he was about to buy the book, that Twilight hinted at, he realized that there were several volumes of this book. Of course, Twilight didn't tell him which volume she had in mind so he decided to buy every single one. All seven volumes...

Star Twinkle didn't even know what the book was about but Twilight seemed to like it. She even seemed to be happy after hearing the story about how he bought the books. She said it was really thoughtful of him.

Going by that logic, Star Twinkle could give Spike a gem to his birthday. Would that be too obvious? And what kind of gem is it supposed to be? Since Spike eats those things. Are there different flavors? Star Twinkle came to the conclusion that birthdays are way too complicated for him.

Because of that, he found some more presents to give him. Ranging from completely random to decently handy ones.

With his presents on his back, he finally arrived at the Golden Oak Library. He was relieved when he saw how the rest of the girls were about to enter the library. That way, he wouldn't have the feeling that he was too early or too late.

“Howdy there, Star Twinkle!” Applejack greeted.

“Are you planning to move into the library or why do you have so many boxes on your back?” Rainbow Dash wondered.

It may look a little strange, seeing Star Twinkle carrying a tower of presents on his back. For a moment, he was wondering how he could balance them all on his back at all.

“Didn't know what you should get for the little dragon?” Applejack asked teasingly.

“How could you tell?” Star Twinkle said sarcastically.

“Star Twinkle, darling, you worry too much about those things,” Rarity said, lifting some presents of off his back with her magic. “A present is more important if it comes from the bottom of your heart. Take this ruby for example,” she said presenting Star Twinkle a red heart-shaped ruby, that she was wearing around her neck. “It was a present from my little Spikey-wikey,”

“Spikey-wikey?” Star Twinkle said confused.

“He was saving this ruby for himself for a long time but he decided to give it to me. It was one of the most kindest and generous things I've ever experienced,”

Her face was filled with pure happiness after retelling this story. In fact, Star Twinkle never saw Rarity this happy before.

They eventually, decided to enter the library together. As they entered the library, everypony gave Spike his presents and wished him a happy birthday. But Spike looked at his presents with a confused look on his face and wasn't sure how to react.

“Don't you know you get presents on your birthday?” Rainbow Dash asked confused.

“Well, actually, this is my first birthday in Ponyville... I usually just get one present... from Twilight. A book,” he replied with a rather bored or annoyed look on his face.

Little did he know, that Twilight was walking up to him from behind with a book strapped in a ribbon. She must have overheard what Spike was saying and then backed away with an embarrassed expression.

“Speaking of presents, this is from my new line of taffeta capes,” Rarity levitated a pink cape over the heads of everypony.
“I'm going to make one for each of you! Oh and Star Twinkle, yours will not be pink of course,” she added with a little giggle.

Star Twinkle didn't saw himself wearing one of those in the future but it was still nice from Rarity.

“I've been inspired by the generosity of my little Spikey-wikey, who gave me this beautiful fire ruby, one of the kindest acts I've ever experienced,” she said presenting her ruby once again.

Spike was staring at the ruby with hypnotized eyes as if he wanted to eat it right away but after Rarity was snuggling him, he quickly forgot about it.

Spike opened his presents one by one and hugged everypony out of gratitude. And since Star Twinkle got him so many presents, Spike hugged him multiple times. Star Twinkle was feeling a little embarrassed after he did that a few times and told him that he didn't have to thank him so many times.

“I know I keep thanking you guys, but I'm just so grateful. I wish this party could last forever,”

“Duh! The party can't last forever 'cause you have to go to Sugarcube Corner, 'cause the Cakes said they have a special surprise for you, 'cause it's your birthday!“ Pinkie Pie said trying to raise Spikes mood even higher. “No way!” Spike exclaimed surprised.

He then rushed outside of the library. He was probably going to Sugarcube Corner in order to get his surprise.

“I said the party couldn't last forever, but it doesn't need to end right now!” Pinkie Pie said but Spike was already outside and slammed the door behind him.

Everypony laughed because of Spike's excited behavior.

“Spike is sure having a fun time on his birthday party,” Applejack said.

“It is his first party with all of his friends after all. Normally, it was just me and him back in Canterlot,” Twilight explained.

Star Twinkle could relate to that. It was only him and his parents whenever he was celebrating his birthday. And after they went back to Canterlot, whenever it was his birthday, his parents would come to Ponyville and celebrate with a quite party inside his house.

“I wonder how my birthday would look like now...It's still much time until my birthday...I guess I will find out eventually,” Star Twinkle thought.

Twilight walked up to Star Twinkle to made sure if he was enjoying the party.

“Are you having fun, Star Twinkle?” Twilight asked.

“What? Oh. Does that matter? It's Spike's party after all,” Star Twinkle replied.

As usual, Twilight found it hard to read Star Twinkle and got confused by his response.

“But that doesn't mean that you can't have fun too, a party is only fun when you have your friends around you after all,” Twilight explained.

"That's right!" Pinkie Pie added.

“Yeah...I guess your right...” he replied half-hearty.

“That would probably explain why I don't remember my parties being that "fun"...”

The party went on for a good amount of time but since Spike was not there, everypony was a little confused on what to do now.

“Soooo do you think Spike will return anytime soon?” Rainbow Dash asked a little worried.

Twilight was worried too for a while.

“I'll go and pick him up again. You all better go home. I don't know how long it will take to come back,” Twilight asked of her friends.

Everypony did as Twilight said and left the library. There was no point in continuing the party if Spike was not there anymore.

While walking in direction of his home, Star Twinkle waved goodbye every single one of his friends until it was only him and Rarity left. Which was strange since Carousel Boutique was in the other direction of Star Twinkle's house.

Still, Rarity was following Star Twinkle with an absent look on her face. She was mostly looking at the ruby on her neck and seemed to have spaced out for quite a while.

When Star Twinkle arrived at his home and preparing himself to enter, Rarity was still accompanying him.

“Um...Rarity?” Star Twinkle said, trying to snap Rarity out of her daydream but she didn't show any reaction. “Rarity!” He said once more but this time a little louder.

“Huh? What? What is it?” She replied in a panic.

“You do realize that you were walking past your home, right?”

But judging from her confused expression, she didn't.

“I did? Oh. I must have been spaced out while looking at this ruby all this time,” she replied while continuing to look at the ruby again with hypnotized eyes.

“You really like this gem, don't you?”

She managed to look away from the ruby again.

“Don't get me wrong. This ruby is without a doubt one of the most beautiful gems I ever laid eyes on but whenever I look at it all I can think of is how beautiful of a gift it was from Spike to give it to me,” Rarity explained with a really warm smile on her face.

Before she knew it, she was again looking at the ruby with dreamy eyes.

Star Twinkle understood that this gift meant much to her but he couldn't help to think that it was a little creepy, the way that Rarity was staring at the gem.

"Alright! I'm going home now. So I'm afraid that you have to go back home," Star Twinkle hinted at Rarity.

"Mhm," Rarity replied while looking at her ruby again.

Star Twinkle entered his home and walked up the stairs to enter his bedroom. He opened the window next to his bed to get some fresh air inside. When he looked out for a while, he noticed how Rarity was still standing in front of his door, spaced out.

"Rarity!" He shouted in order to get her attention.

"What!? Who!? Where!?" She said, reacting in shock again.

"Go home!" Star Twinkle added after Rarity noticed him.

She was blushing a little in embarrassment but finally walked home now and waved Star Twinkle goodbye.

"Yeah...creepy..."


On the next day...


Star Twinkle worked at the Iron Hammer together with Steel Hammer.

They were doing some repairs on a newly built house in Ponyville. Steel Hammer hammered some nails into a board that Star Twinkle kept giving him.

"Board," Steel Hammer said while focusing his eyes in front of a wall.

Star Twinkle turned around and took one board from a pile of boards into his mouth and gave it to Steel Hammer.

Steel Hammer then put a nail inside of the board and hammered the nail into it with his hoof, making it stuck on the wall.

"Board," Steel Hammer said once more, still focusing his eyes on the wall.

Star Twinkle turned around again and prepared another board. But to his surprise, all the boards were gone now.

"What the?" He said confused, looking around to look for the missing boards.

"Board," Steel Hammer said once more, who still waited for Star Twinkle to give him another board.

"They are gone! I don't understand, they were here a second ago!" Star Twinkle said confused.

"And where are they supposed to go? Boards don't just walk away like that," Steel Hammer replied.

Star Twinkle could only scratch his head in confusion.

Steel Hammer sent Star Twinkle back to the Iron Hammer to get some more boards. This annoyed Star Twinkle because it meant for him to do some additional work.

He arrived at the Iron Hammer and went to the spot where the boards are usually at but most of them were gone too. And not only that. Materials, decorations, and tools were missing in the Iron Hammer too.

There was a thief in the Iron Hammer. Star Twinkle informed Steel Hammer about the missing things in the Iron Hammer.

Since they couldn't properly finish their work, Star Twinkle, and Steel Hammer both called it a day and finished work early.

There was no way that Star Twinkle would complain about that. But it gave him a bit more unplanned free time.

"Maybe Twilight has some time to spare?"

He went to the Golden Oak Library. There were some unusual sounds coming out of the library. But against his better judgment, he knocked on the door.

"Twilight? Is everything okay in there?"

But there was no response from her. Suddenly, the ground started to shake. The noises from inside the library became louder and worried Star Twinkle a little.

"I'm coming in!" He said before he kicked the door open with his back legs. The door was slammed open by Star Twinkle and he rushed inside the library out of concern for Twilight.

Twilight was standing in front of another room with her mouth open. Star Twinkle walked up to her and got surprised by what he saw in the next room. There was a big strangely formed hole in the wall.

"What happened? What caused this giant hole?"

"It was Spike!" Twilight exclaimed. He has grown in size overnight!"

Star Twinkle didn't quite understand "Twilight, I know that Spike has grown a year older since yesterday but-"

"No! It's not because of his birthday! It's because he keeps collecting things! The more collects, the more he grows and the greedier he becomes!" Twilight explained.

"I don't quite understand what you mean," Star Twinkle replied.

"Yesterday after he left for Sugarcube Corner, he became more greedy and demanded gifts from everypony. And the more a dragon collects, the bigger he becomes in size, It's in their nature!"

"So we just have to prevent him from collecting more stuff?"

Twilight was reacting a little surprised to hear Star Twinkle say that so casually.

“It's really harder than it sounds...just look at all this stuff!” She replied, pointing at the ceiling of the library.

It was just now that Star Twinkle realized how filled the library was. There were all kinds of random stuff scattered around in the room. He even spotted some familiar things in the bunch.

“Hey! Are those the boards that were missing from the Iron Hammer?” He said while walking up to a pile of boards. “And there are some of the tools too!”

But then something caught his attention and caused him to be a little shocked.

“Comet?” He said after he spotted a fishbowl with his goldfish inside buried under some random stuff.

He quickly rushed to his beloved goldfish and freed him from the things that were above him.

“Star Twinkle, we can't waste any more time! We need to stop Spike now before he grows even more in size and becomes a danger for Ponyville!” Twilight exclaimed to remind Star Twinkle about the situation.

Star Twinkle carefully placed Comet on the ground and looked back at Twilight determent. They both ran outside the library and tried to find Spike. But before that, they both stopped at Sweet Apple Acres to get some support from Applejack.

When they arrived, they found Applejack standing in front of some of her apple trees which were completely robbed of their apples and leaves. Needless to say, Applejack was puzzled by that sight.

“Now who in Ponyville would steal my apples? For that matter, who would steal my leaves? ”

Twilight then rushed in front of Applejack to inform her that Spike was running wild in Ponyville. But Applejack found that hard to believe and began to laugh. Looking back at it, Star Twinkle would probably not believe it too when he would hear that. However, Applejack was quickly convinced after she saw a purple-double-as-big-as-her-dragon walk past her with a bunch of leaves and apples in his claws.

“Get my rope,” Applejack said almost angrily, either by Spike stealing her apples or by the fact that she was proven wrong.

Star Twinkle and Applejack then followed Spike with a rope inside of their mouths in an attempt to caught Spike in it.

Spike stood still for a moment to pick up an apple from the ground and the two earth ponies decided to charge into him to capture him but they both missed him and tied themselves to a tree next to Spike.

“That could have gone a little better...” Star Twinkle said after their poor attempt to capture Spike.

Spike noticed how the two ponies were tied up next to him and growled at the two of them before he left to find something else to gather.

“That was supposed to be Spike?” Applejack asked confused.

“I guess...” Star Twinkle replied.

Twilight walked up to the two of them and used her magic to free them from their unfortunate situation.

Rainbow Dash was nearby and noticed how Star Twinkle and Applejack were tied up against a tree. At first, they thought she was gonna help them but Rainbow Dash rather laughed about their misery.

“Don't tell me! You-you tied yourselves up?” Rainbow Dash asked while laughing about them.

Star Twinkle could reply to that but he wasn't in the mood to get into a little argument with Rainbow Dash.

Her laughter was interrupted by a scream. They all recognized that it came from Fluttershy and made haste to her cottage.

When they arrived at her cottage, they found her and a bunch of squirrels hanging from a branch on top of a giant tree in front of her cottage.

Apparently, Spike came through, stole Fluttershy's chicken coops and filled it with all the stuff that he stole this far.

Before the group could explain everything to Fluttershy, another scream caught their attention. This time it was Pinkie Pie.
The group went to Sugarcube Corner, where the scream was coming from. Spike was there, this time, as well as Pinkie Pie who angrily threw cakes at him in order to stop him. This strategy didn't seem to work since Spike only grabbed the cakes and put them inside of the chicken coops that he stole before.

“Pinkie Pie! Stop giving him a cake!” Twilight said.

Pinkie Pie pretty much gave Spike all the cakes that she was throwing at him and since Twilight knew what would happen if he gathers more, throwing the cakes at him was not a good idea.

“He'll only grow bigger if you give him more stuff!” Star Twinkle exclaimed in hope that Pinkie Pie would stop.

But before she could react to that, Spike grabbed some more cakes from a shelf on which Pinkie Pie was standing on.

“How dare you take the cake!” Pinkie Pie shouted angrily.

However, they had much bigger problems now. Spike got another boost in size after he grabbed the last cakes. He grew so big that his head was going through the roof of Sugarcube Corner.

Spike was continuing his search for more stuff to gather and left Sugarcube Corner again.

“What are we gonna do now? He is ten times the size of us now!” Star Twinkle exclaimed frustrated.

“And he's completely out of control! Who knows where he'll go next!” Twilight said worriedly.

Spike continued to rampage through Ponyville and gathered more stuff. This caused him to grow even bigger. He was now the size of a full grown dragon. He reminded Star Twinkle to that other dragon that he and his friends meet not too long ago.

The sirens in Ponyville were already starting to warn everypony who was not aware of Spike this far. While collecting more and more stuff, Spike had trouble holding all his things in his claws. He then grabbed the Ponyville water tank to put his stuff inside, causing a little flooding in the town. But that only seemed like a minor concern with this dragon running wild.

There was nothing that anypony could do against Spike. He was a full-grown dragon now. As if that wasn't bad enough, Rarity got also captured by Spike. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy started an attempt to stop Spike but that wasn't working at all.

Rainbow Dash was threatening him but Fluttershy was asking him politely to stop. This plan was doomed to fail. Needless to say, it did fail.

Spike waved around with his tail to get rid of the two Pegasus, much to Rarity's dislike since she was wrapped in his tail.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were caught into Rarity's cape that was hanging from her dress and fell down to the ground.

“Girls!” Rarity said worriedly. “My cape!” She then added after noticing that her dress was ruined.

Star Twinkle could only watch how Spike rampaged through Ponyville. He was way too big now. Star Twinkle already gave up.

“This is hopeless! How do we stop him!” Star Twinkle said frustrated.

“We can't give up Star Twinkle. We just have to figure out something!” Twilight said, trying to calm Star Twinkle down.

“But what? There is no way that we can stop him now!” He replied even more frustrated.

“Maybe not us! But maybe them!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly. She pointed at the sky. “Look! The Wonderbolts!”

There were three members of the Wonderbolts flying towards Spike. They actually managed to hold him off for a while and managed to at least damage his spiky scales a little.

Spike was climbing the local Ponyville mountain and put his stuff inside a hole in it. The Wonderbolts still attacked him but Spike managed to capture them inside of the water tank and smashed it against the mountain so that they could not escape.

“Yep. It's all over...” Star Twinkle said.

Twilight didn't like, how Star Twinkle was giving up so easily but couldn't find any words to calm him down.

Meanwhile, Spike roared in his victory over the Wonderbolts and Rarity got angrier by Spike's behavior and lectured him.

“Oh, be quiet.” She said causing Spike to actually stay quiet in surprise. “You've got nothing to be proud of. You steal everyone's things, terrorize the town, and use me as a weapon against my own friends! Which, as horrible as it is, I can almost understand because you're a dragon and all. But this!” She removed the rest of her dress, that got damaged before.
“This is a crime against fashion!”

Spike was not listening to Rarity and made some gestures to make that clear. But after Rarity removed her dress, Spike noticed the red gemstone, that he gave Rarity before.

Rarity noticed and quickly came to the conclusion that he was after her gemstone as well and covered it with her hooves.

“Oh no. You are not getting this gemstone! This was given to me by my dear friend Spikey-wikey, the kindest, sweetest, most generous dragon ever. And it is too precious to me to give to a greedy old beast like you!” She said highly praising Spike's generosity again.

Spike was acting a little calmer now. His eyes widened and for some reason, he was touching his cheek.

“Oh, what now? I suppose you'll be eating me or something?” Rarity said in a rather annoyed tone, despite the situation she was in.

Suddenly, Spike's size shrunk down to his normal baby-dragon size, leaving him and Rarity in the air.

“Spike?! You're the rampaging dragon?!” Rarity said surprised before they both fell down from the air.

They both screamed while falling down at a dangerous speed.

“If they fall from that height then...” Star Twinkle said worriedly.

“Somepony do something!” Pinkie Pie screamed in panic.

“On it!” Rainbow Dash replied.

She snatched Fluttershy to her side and they both flew to Rarity and Spike in order to save them. They both grabbed a torn piece from Rarity's cape that was swimming in a river from Ponyville in order to catch both Rarity and Spike.

Spike took the opportunity to tell Rarity something if they didn't make it.

“I've always sort of had a crush-”

But Rarity covered his mouth with her hooves and just smiled with tears in her eyes. She probably knew what he was about to say. Spike returned a happy smile and didn't care what happened to him anymore.

Luckily Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy caught Rarity and Spike in time. They all landed next to Star Twinkle, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

“We did it! I can't believe we did it!” Fluttershy exclaimed excited after she helped to rescue Rarity and Spike.

“All in a day's work,” Rainbow Dash said proudly.

Star Twinkle couldn't quite believe how everything turned out well but he was glad that it did. While everypony was celebrating their success, Spike took a look around Ponyville. He was well aware of what he did and of course, felt bad.

Rarity noticed that and walked up to him.

“Spike, I just have to tell you how absolutely proud I am of you,”

“Proud of me?” Spike replied confused.

“Yes. It was you who stopped... w-well, you, from destroying Ponyville. You are my hero, Spikey-wikey!” She then kissed Spike on the check.

Star Twinkle looked over to both of them silently.

“Huh...” Star Twinkle replied by this sight.

“So, it's all over, huh?” Twilight said teasingly, walking up to Star Twinkle.

“I don't get it,” Star Twinkle replied confused.

“What do you mean?” Twilight replied.

“Why did he turn back again? I thought we had to prevent him from gathering more stuff,”

“Rarity must have remembered Spike of his kindness and generosity. This caused him to snap out again and become his old self again,”

Star Twinkle still looked at Twilight with doubting eyes and didn't understand.

“I guess if you have friends that remind you who you are, you don't have to worry about getting lost,” Twilight explained further

“Remind your friends who they are?”

“Star Twinkle!” A voice shouted from afar.

It was Steel Hammer who walked up to the group of ponies.

“Get your tools we have much work to do!”

“Work? What work?”

“What work? Just take a look around!”

It was just then that Star Twinkle realized that half of the town was destroyed...and that he was a carpenter pony.

“A lot of work?” Star Twinkle asked

“A lot of work...” Steel Hammer replied.

“This is gonna be a loooong day...”