//------------------------------// // Spike Be Nimble // Story: Friendship is Magic: The Adventures of Spike // by Awesome McCoolname //------------------------------// He always liked it when somepony read to him. Celestia would read him stories, silly little things like "Green Oats and Hay" as he learned to speak and read. Twilight Sparkle, however, would tell him old stories about knights and monsters and saving the princess of a far away land. Those had certainly left an impact on him, and he would spend many hours as a young(er) dragon waving sticks at imaginary creatures, pretending to be a gallant warrior in the name of the Princess of the Sun. Stories stay with children, though. They're in the back of the minds of little colts and fillies, and inspire them to leave their own tales upon the world. None of this was going through Spike's mind, however, because Spike was unconscious on the ground, surrounded by a ring of green flames. Also the timberwolves were nowhere in sight, so there was that. Handy, that. -- "Wake up, my little dragon." Said little dragon groggily stood, and was immediately shocked into alertness. This wasn't a forest floor. This wasn't a castle, a home, a library. This was an endless white void, and that wasn't something one expects to see upon awakening. "The heck? Man, I'm never eating fire rubies before bed ever again." "Probably for the best. They give you terrible indigestion and even worse gas," a voice announced. It sounded vaguely familiar, but it wasn't one he could place. "However, Spike, I must inform you that I am not a hallucination caused by your eating habits." As the voice spoke, he felt his attention drawn ahead of him. A bizarre apparition began to form in front of him, and he could only blink in surprise. There was a ghost of a dragon staring him down with a serene smile, and he dumbly waved. It waved back, serenity turning to friendly cheer. The dragon was obviously see through, but he could see pale color coming from it. It was like he was looking at a photo negative, a mostly green dragon with purple spikes. "Hi there!" Spike scratched the back of his head, before waving again. "Uh... hi?" "Oh, Spike, don't look so dull. It's unbecoming of someone with your destiny!" The purple reptilian could only raise a questioning eyebrow. "Destiny?" "Silly! Of course you have a destiny, that's not even a real question! Everyone has a destiny! No one knows what it's going to be though, and that is the fun part!" A small part of him wondered how well this weird hallucination ghost thingy would get along with Pinkie Pie, before purging the thought as he realized the absurdity of this whole situation. But then, Pinkie and absurdity went hoof-in-hoof. In fact, he wouldn't put it past Pinkie to somehow be behind this. "I mean, I appreciate the thought but I'm not Pinkie Pie, nor anything to do with her. This is all you, kid. I'm a part of you. Also, I just saved your life. Gosh, do you not realize how tasty baby dragons are to some creatures? Especially if they feed off magic. All the power of a dragon for the effort of a quick snack run. Things like timberwolves love that kind of thing." "THE TIMBERWOLVES!" It all came rushing back to Spike, who began to process everything in an attempt to figure out why he wasn't currently lunch. "You're welcome, by the way. You weren't supposed to really tap into your power this way, but as a part of you, if you die, I... well, I won't die because I'm a ghost. Huh. What would happen?"it trailed off for a brief moment, before continuing,"ANYWAYS. Long story short, I made it to where we didn't die. I tapped into our latent magic, which, buddy let me tell you, there is A LOT, and you fought them off instinctively. Good job. "W-what?" "You, me, dragons... dragon? BESIDES THE POINT. Anyway, I'm...more or less a conscious manifestation of your magic power, and like I said, there's a lot. Dragons are super scary in a fight and, boy, oh boy, did we live up to that one. That thing you did with your tail? And that cool corkscrew flip! Oh, and your big finisher with the green fire! You do good. We do good... sorry, I don't mean to talk so much but I've gone YEARS with no one to talk to. Like, since you were running around chasing Cadence and Twilight and having an imaginary friend amounts of years." "Wait, you're my imaginary friend?" "Spike, Spike, Spike, you can't just label people, bro. I'm a whole lot of things. But I digress. You're in this state because I triggered your growth as a dragon forcefully. You came out fighting but it burned you out, and you're unconscious. So yeah. Anyway, good talk, but you should probably wake up. Your cute pegasus friend is probably worried sick." Before he could object, Spike blinked, and the void was no more. -- "Wha-where am I?" As he came to, the dragon took in everything he could. No trees, no void, just normal ceiling. He breathed in- so many scents! Familiar but so much stronger than he had ever smelled before. Touch... he was under a blanket, on a bed. Firm mattress. "Oh...Spike! You're awake!" a quiet voice interrupted his thoughts. A voice that was very familiar to him this time. What a relief. Fluttershy hovered over to him. Now realizing he was in her bed, he sheepishly made to get out. "No, sir! You get back down and rest, mister. You could be hurt!" It was a tone that, despite it coming from the shiest of ponies, left no room for argument. He didn't really have the energy for it, either. He was quite exhausted. "Are the bunnies okay?" "Oh, yes. Thank you for helping me keep them safe! You're very brave!" Fluttershy nodded with enthusiasm, to reinforce her point. Spike sighed happily, "Good, good. Always glad to help...", as he dozed back off. -- "Dude, he's so much bigger now!" "I have no idea where I'm going to get a bed for him this short notice" "Y'don't reckon he's gonna turn into a huge monster like last time, d'ya?" "Nah, he's been his usual Spikey self!" "Oh, dear, I do hope he's okay." "I couldn't find anything wrong with him, so I'm sure he'll be back to normal in no time!" Spike began to awaken again, this time to many voices and a much more familiar site. This time, he was on Twilight's bed, and that meant he was home. Crowding around him were the six ponies who the world around them seem to revolve around. His friends. "Hey guys...anyone catch the ID of the mountain that hit me? Yeesh." -- So, he filled them in. Over dinner, of course, because as soon as he was really aware of himself and the world around him, he realized that he was very hungry. Thankfully, the girls were always very generous with snacks when he did a good deed, and saving a family of rabbits in front of Fluttershy was an open invitation to his stomach to go to heaven. He kept the bit about his imaginary friend unleashing his magic quiet, because that was just a silly dream, and embellished the parts of the fight he could not recollect in the slightest. "So you promise that you're not doing anything to make you greedy or anything?" Twilight asked. To be fair, she had every right to be cautious. Last time he put on size he had destroyed half of Ponyville single-handedly. "Nope. Not that I'm aware. Unless I'm sleep walking or something," he said in between bites of various sandwiches and gems, "but it's definitely given me an appetite. I appreciate all the snacks!" "Oh, it's not a problem, Spike. You did a very brave thing for Fluttershy today and it was the least we could do," Rarity spoke with a smile, causing the dragon to blush slightly. The dinner continued with small talk and laughs. You could almost miss the fact that there was any tension, fear, and worry from the six ponies. -- As the next few days passed, Spike had found himself with too much energy to remain indoors. Debating between going to help Applejack on the farm or find something else, he eventually went back to Fluttershy's cottage. After all, he had never gotten around to apologizing for making fun of her flying, and his sense of honor wouldn't let that stand. A few questions here and there to Rarity and Pinkie had him with a half dozen of her favorite kind of cupcakes as an extra present to sweeten the apology, so to speak. And this was how Spike found himself helping Fluttershy take care of her animal friends. He had never really hung around the shy pegasus by himself before, but he found it to be quite the treat. He certainly learned a great deal more about the mare. For instance: Fluttershy didn't just take care of random animals. She was more or less running an animal shelter and rehabilitation clinic for the town. She made her money from mostly charity donations, though the funding from the government was nothing to sneeze at either, and she made quite a bit as well. It was a testament to her kindness that she chose instead to live in near poverty to make sure she had enough bits to care for any and every animal that came her way. Learning this made him feel even worse about his criticisms of her flying. Fluttershy was such a genuinely kind soul, and he felt like a total heel. She appreciated the help. Spike, for all his flaws, was a quick study, and his new size came with more strength. Some of the more wild animals were a lot more hesitant to wrestle with a dragon, even a young one, than they were with a small pegasus, and the ones that did want to tango were put in submission by the duo. In return, she helped him care for his own pet, the phoenix chick he named Peewee. It was good experience and it also got him used to his new body. Two months eventually passed. Twilight had been thrilled at the idea of him helping Fluttershy, as she appreciated anything that helped her ward become more responsible and mature. She had helped him organize a schedule that allowed him plenty of time to relax, but also kept him working with Rarity and herself along with his new duties with Fluttershy. Since Rarity was in a slow season of dress work, he had ample time to do all these things without overworking himself. Two months, and things had really settled. Things were nice. Things were going really well, actually. For now.