//------------------------------//
// The Wrong Crowd 
// Story: Spike the... WHO? 
// by AngelShy24 
//------------------------------//

	After the uninjured stallion guard went back to the Crystal Kingdom to get help, Cadence sent out a small medical team to help out the other stallion that was injured. But when they got there, they noticed that Spike wasn’t with him. The injured stallion told them everything that had happened and it was soon reported to Cadence. Immediately, Cadence sent out a search team to look around the place where Spike fell and then went out to scour the forest. Twilight soon heard about it herself and literally transported to the location to help Cadence search for Spike.
They did everything they could to find Spike, but for some weird reason, he was nowhere to be found. Not even Twilight’s tracking spell helped at all. The sun was soon setting and it was beginning to get dark. There was still no sign of Spike and both Princesses were becoming very worried as they were looking over the forest from atop the cliff where Spike fell from.
“I’m sorry that we weren't able to find him, Twilight,” said Cadence, “Somehow… I feel like this was all my fault.”
“Of course it wasn’t your fault,” said Twilight, “How could anypony see this coming? You’re not to blame.”
“Your highness… ess,” said a crystal pony soldier that came up behind them with a few others, “We’ve looked everywhere in this forest, but we still could find anything.”
“We did see a nice waterfall though,” said another, “but… there was nothing behind it.”
“Thanks anyway,” said Cadence, “We appreciate the help.”
Although, Twilight was still itching to continue the search as she hovered off the cliffside, “Come on, we can’t give up. I-I’ll just summon an illumination spell and we can continue to…”
“Twilight,” said Cadence suddenly, “I know you’re worried… we all are; but… we’ve been searching for hours and it's getting dark. I’m sure Spike will be fine. He’s a strong and tough little dragon. You out of all of us should know that. Let’s regroup back at my palace and figure out what to do next.”
Twilight back at the forest hoping that she would see something at the last minute; but she soon gave in and agreed, “You’re right. Let’s… let’s go.”
Cadence signaled the other soldiers to fall back and return to the Crystal Kingdom. And as they flew off, Twilight looked back at the forest in Lament hoping that Spike was okay.
‘Don’t worry, Spike. We'll come back for you… I promise.’
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“Heh, check it out; he's finally waking up.”
“He’s going to soil himself once he sees us again.”
Somewhere in the forest unknown to any of the ponies, Spike was okay. Although, he was completely unconscious from hitting his head on a giant rock. But after much time went by, he began to wake up. He heard some voices that were around him as he was opening his eyes; but he was groaning and holding his head from a slight migraine. But when he fully opened his eyes, he saw three strange creatures looking down at him with mischievous grins.
“Heya, Spike. Remember us?”
It was three dragons that Spike had encountered from before when he went to the dragon lands; a big brown horned one named Clump, a slightly taller blonde and purple one named Fume, and the main one… a red and yellow one named Garble.
Spike was startled and shouted, “AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” as he cowered a bit looking around, “W-w-where am I!? W-w-what’s going on!?”
“What’s going on?” said the one named Garble, “What’s going on here is that me and the boys here found you out cold in the forest out there and then brought you here in this secret cave behind a waterfall that very few know about. So no one knows that you’re here except us. And now that you’re awake, it's time for a little fun; right, boys?”
“Oh yeah!” shouted the other two dragons.
Spike was looking at Garble and the other two dragons and he felt that there was something off about them; but then he lost whatever he thought and scratched his head as he hesitantly asked, “Um… wh-who are you?” Then he looked at himself and became confused as he added, “Wait… wh-who am I? What… am I?”
Garble picked Spike up by the scruff of his neck and held him to his face and said, “Don’t play the dumb card with me, squirt! You know darn well who we are! That’s Clump, that’s Fume, and I’m Garble! You humiliated us with that phoenix egg heist we took you on and got help from those equine friends of yours!”
Once again, Spike said in a confusing tone, “E-e-equines?”
“You made us look like idiots! So now, it's time for some payback! But don’t worry, I’m sure you can take it.”
Garble raised up his non-holding fist and was about to plant it into Spike’s face; but Spike suddenly held up his claws and shouted, “S-s-stop! I don’t know what you’re mad about, but you got the wrong… whatever I am! I seriously have no idea who you are!”
“Don’t listen to him, Garble,” said Fume, “it's probably some trick to get you to let your guard down!”
Garble was looking at Spike’s terrified eyes and partially noticed that it might have been a different kind of terrified. But then he just tossed Spike down on the ground and scoffed, “Y-yeah, of course. Nice try, Spike, but delaying us won’t allow you to avoid your beat down.”
Just then, Spike was taking a closer look at Garble and the others and then looked at himself and noticed that they had a lot of similarities. “Hey, wait a second! You have spines on your back… just like me! You also have a tail… just like mine! And you seem to have sharp teeth and claws… just like me!”
They all looked at him in a confusing manner; and Fume questioned, “What’s he going on about?”
“Beats me,” said Clump, “I think he’s done lost his mind.”
Spike suddenly looked at them with a shy smile on his face and asked, “Hey, since you guys kinda look like me, maybe you can help me in telling me who and what I am! I am totally lost right now and you would be doing me a big favor!”
Garble was beginning to think that Spike wasn’t acting based on the way he was actually acting. He walked up closer to him and said, “So let me get this straight… you have no idea who we are?”
“Nope, no clue,” Spike responded.
“And… you have no memory of who you are or anything else?”
“Pretty much.”
And for the final test, Garble asked, “Not even… your relationship with those… ponies?”
Spike tilted his head and scratched it as he asked, “What’s… a pony?”
A sudden grin came to Garble’s face as he realized what opportunity had here. He grabbed the others closer to him and walked a little away from Spike as he said, “Hey, uh… could you give us minute to discuss something?”
“Sure, take all the time you need,” said Spike with no hesitation, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Garble got the other two dragons in a huddle circle and then told them, “Hey guys, do you realize what’s going on here right now?”
“Um… you mean that this little dragon has a screw loose and needs medical attention?” Clump answered.
Garble smacked him against his head and said, “No, you idiot! What I mean is that I don’t think that he’s playing around. He really doesn’t seem to remember anything about… anything. Do you know what this means?”
Clump and Fume looked at each other and then looked back at Garble as they both shrugged their shoulders. Garble groaned and answered for them, “Amnesia. Spike is suffering from amnesia!”
“Wait, I heard of that before,” said Fume, “Isn’t that when you lose your memory and don’t remember anything that you normally know abo… oh!”
“Exactly! Which means he’s now like a blank canvas just waiting to gain an identity! What’s even better is that he seems to trust us in helping him gain that identity; so we can mold him into anything we want! And best of all… he’ll no longer be friends with those namby pamby ponies.”
“Ah, I see where you’re going with this,” Clump chuckled, “Smart thinking, Garble.”
“I know, isn’t it?”
“Hey, um… excuse me,” Spike suddenly called out, “I-I-I know that I said you could take all the time you need; but… are you almost done with your um… discussion?”
The perfect plot was stirring in Garble’s head and he told the others, “Just follow my lead, boys.” Then all three turned back around to Spike with positive looks on their faces as Garble said, “O-o-oh yeah, sorry about the delay. Anyway… we were talking about things and now that we’re looking at you more closely… we totally made a mistake. It turns out that… you look a lot like… um, another creature that we’ve seen.”
“Yeah, whose name is also Spike for some reason,” said Clump suddenly.
Garble smacked him against the head again, “Idiot.”
“What?”
“So… my name really is Spike,” Spike pondered, “Hmm… well I guess that makes sense. I’m sure confusion like that happens all of the time.”
All three tennis dragon sighed with slight relief; and Fume said, “Well that was a close one… no thanks to you, Clump.”
Wanting to find out more, Spike asked, “So you guys know who I really am, right?”
“That’s right,” said Garble with a hidden chuckle, “You’re a dragon… just like us! We’re super tough, we do whatever we want, and don’t let others push us around!”
“Awesome!” Spike shouted, “Being a dragon sounds like it’s awesome! Wait, I noticed that you guys have those… winged thingies on your backs. But how come I don’t have that?”
“Well… most of us dragons have these so we can fly,” Garble explained, “But unfortunately, some dragons like yourself don’t. But you make up for it because you have sharp claws, strong tails and you can breathe fire.”
Spike was astonished when he saw all three other dragons take a big breath and blew huge streams of fire from their mouths. “Whoa, I can do that? Awesome!”
Spike flexed his claws, and he felt that his tail was pretty strong; but when he took a deep breath and blew very hard, just a small ball of fire came out and quickly dissipated. Clump and Fume softly chuckled to themselves, but Garble shut them up by whacking them with his tail before Spike heard.
“Yeah, um… you’re still young; so we’ll work on that.”
“Right,” said Spike sheepishly as he lightly blushed from embarrassment, “Wow, I’m already learning so much about myself! I wonder where I’ve lived all this time and what I’ve been doing with my life?”
Garble then looked at the other two and gave them a wink before they all turned back to Spike wearing a fake disappointed expression, “Yeah, about that… this is the part that pains us to tell you about.”
Feeling troubled by Garble’s comment, Spike questioned, “Wh-wh-what do you mean?”
“You see… what I'm trying to tell ya is… that you were taken away from your own kind.”
“T-t-taken Away? “
“Yeah,” said Clump, “We heard that as an egg, you were stolen… and, uh… was forced… to live amongst the race of creatures called… ponies.”
“That word again!” Spike gasped while not knowing what that really was, “Ponies… ugh, they sound dreadful.”
“Oh they are,” said Garble, “They center their lives around stupid boring stuff like love, friendship and harmony; but the way they treated you was anything but. When you hatched, they did nurture you and cared for you well; but once you were old enough, they treated you like a slave. You were forced to become a slave labor to a unicorn pony named… Twilight Sparkle!”
Spike gasped again hearing Garble’s lie; but then he froze and then started having a certain thought, “Twilight… Sparkle? Why does that name sound a bit… familiar?”
Even Garble was trying to figure out some to take advantage of Spike was trying to remember; but then Fume quickly said, “Well… b-because it Should! She’s the one that literally owned you! She made you do her chores all of the time, made you clean all around her house, and run many stupid, restless errands! And what's even worse, she even lends you to her friends and let them have their way with you to!”
Spike suddenly forgot was he was trying to remember and actually believed what Garble and his friends told him instead. He became upset a little angry feeling that he was taken from his own kind and was forced to slave labor against his own will.
“I… I-I-I can’t believe it!” Spike exclaimed, “So these pony creatures just took me away from my own kind and made me their… slave?! That’s so not cool! Why didn’t any of you or any other dragons try to save me?!”
Once again, Garble and his companions were thinking of how to counter that question. But then Garble said, “Oh… w-we would’ve, but… once they took you, you were out of our jurisdiction… or something like that. There was nothing we could do! If we did, then… their nasty princess rulers would punish us… severely!”
Spike became a bit frighten by that comment and thought that it was an understandable excuse. “So… what happened? How did I end out here with you guys?”
“We don’t know,” said Garble, “but we’re guessing that you found a perfect opportunity to run away and escape from that town that kept you captive. And somehow, you ended up hitting your head on something while you were trying to get away. That would explain your loss of memory.”
“Wow,” said Spike while pondering on everything that was said to him, “this is all starting to make sense now! I mean… why would I do the bidding of some… pony creatures anyway? I’m a dragon, and dragons do whatever they want, right?!”
“You got that right, Spike!” Garble shouted, “So what are you going to do now that you know the truth?”
Spike thought about it and then came up with a simple solution, “You know what I think? I think we should go down to Ponyville with other dragons like us, capture them and make them work for us! That ought to teach them to mess with my kind! Who’s with me?!”
“Whoa whoa!” said Garble feeling a bit troubled, “Love the enthusiasm, kid, but… why don’t we think on something like that later. Right now we should return to our mainland while there are no ponies searching around for you. Care to see your real home?”
Spike’s eyes suddenly lit up as he said, “Is that a trick question? What are you waiting for?! Lead the way!”
Garble, Clump and Fume a grinned at each other proudly as all three of them got in front of Spike and started leading him out from the cave. Spike boldly followed along feeling eager and excited about seeing a place filled with more of his kind.
“Your plan worked like a charm, Garble,” whispered Clump, “He actually fell for your story.”
“Of course it worked,” said Garble with a mischievous grin, “With his mind being blank, we were able to easily turn that little dragon brain of his against his old beliefs from being friends with those ponies. Will make a real dragon out of him yet.” 
Unknown to them however, Spike still trying to ponder on something on his mind.
‘I’m still curious though… what was it that I was trying to think of before they told me what really happened to me? Heh, oh well. I’m pretty sure it was nothing.’
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Back at the Crystal Kingdom, Cadence and Twilight Sparkle was recuperating in the throne room at the Crystal Palace after looking long and hard for Spike who to them had suddenly disappeared after falling down a cliff hillside. They were going over everything that they have done so far and were carefully thinking of what they could do next.
“I just don’t get it,” said Twilight while pacing back and forth, “How could Spike just disappear like that. Its not like Spike to not at least try to find his way back. With everypony that was helping us search, I figured that we would find something.”
“What about your tracking spell thing?” said one of the guards, “did that help out at all?”
“It did at first, but that spell only works when the subject is moving on its own. My magic led me from where he fell and it led me straight down that hillside. The trail had ended near the bottom; but I suddenly noticed that my magic picked up a single spot on a nearby boulder where he probably was and another on the ground in front of it. Other than that, my magic couldn’t find anything else.”
“That is rather odd,” said Cadence while sitting in her throne, “Perhaps he was propelled into the air during the fall and then landed on that boulder and fell off of it. Maybe he was… knocked out?”
“I don’t know,” said Twilight, “Just thinking about what could’ve happened to him worries me greatly. But like I said before, I’m not giving up. Spike is my friend, and I won’t stop until I find him… no matter what!”
Cadence smiled as she got out of her throne and walked down to Twilight to give her a little hug to comfort her.
“I have no doubt that you won’t ever give up; but do take my recommendation to rest on it before you continue. Besides it’s like I already said, Spike is pretty tough for his size. He can take care of himself until you do.”
“Heh, of course he is,” Twilight agreed, “He can fend for himself when he wants to.”
“So tell me… what do you plan on doing next in finding Spike?” Cadence questioned.
Twilight did have a few ideas roaming around in her mind, but there was one in paticular that stood out as she gave Cadence a little smirk, “Well… out of everything that we did so far, there is one specific method of finding Spike in that forest that comes to mind; and I know just the pony for the task.”