//------------------------------//
// Pick of the Litter Part 05 
// Story: The Shadowbolts Adventures 
// by DragonShadow 
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The room was dark, but the moon was bright, so Spike didn't have any trouble seeing when he opened his eyes. His sensitive ears could hear Twilight's breath falling into a rhythmic sleeping pattern, something he had started picking up on ever since that magic ray had hit him at CHS. She was fast asleep until morning, though she was also kind of a light sleeper. This was good... he didn't want her to wake up. At least, not until he was ready.

His tail was still on the bed as he sat on the mattress by her head, staring down into her peaceful face. She had raised him since he could remember, cared for him, fed him, exercised with him... she had always been there. He could barely imagine what his life might have been without her, cold and alone on the streets like those other dogs you might see on TV sometimes. He would always be grateful to her... he would always love her.

And yet, even this couldn't stop him from turning away from her and padding his way rapidly towards the window. He had been practicing for a while to use his claws to unhook the latch on the window, and gently push it open. He hesitated for a brief moment, glancing back at Twilight's sleeping form out of the corner of his eye. But it was only for a moment before he hurled himself out into the night, and into the waiting embrace of the tree beside the house.

The branches snapped and split under his weight as his tiny body plunged through them, but he managed to reach the bottom and land of the grass with only a soft thud and a yelp as his side planted into the ground. He barely even allowed himself to register the  pain. He could hear Twilight's voice from the bedroom, awakened by the commotion, so he whirled to rush away from the house as fast as his tiny legs could take him, making a straight line for Lemon Zest's place.

He reached the house within a few minutes with his tongue flapping in the wind. He didn't even slow down before racing to the gate leading into the side yard, towards which he flung himself high into the air. His paws pushed against the bars of the gate until he hurled clean over the top, flopping through the air to the other side to resume his trek around the house and towards the back door. He didn't have time to think. He'd been making this plan since Twilight told him the truth, he knew exactly what he had to do.

He could hear Lemon Zest's voice from through the back door, muffled by the wood. So he flung his body against the door to create a massive thumping sound.

"Eeep! I just heard something!" Lemon Zest squealed from inside. Spike dove off of the small stairway behind the back door, tucking himself into the stairs' shadow just before the door opened and Lemon Zest stepped outside in a pink nightgown with her cell phone against her ear. "I thought it was the door, but I don't see anything... are you sure this is where he's-hey!"

Spike darted inside and rammed his body against the back door to slam it shut. He hurled himself into the air again to click the lock with one of his claws right before he heard Lemon Zest yanking on the door handle and pounding on the wood.

"He just locked me out! Spike, open the door! This isn't funny! Spike!"

Ignoring the pounding on the door behind him, Spike raced upstairs to Lemon Zest's bedroom, where he found Mina and their puppies asleep on the carpet at the foot of Lemon's bed. He raced up to her with a worried whimper and nuzzled his cheek heavily into her side.

"Mina!" Spike hissed as loudly as he could without awakening the babies nearby. "Mina, we have to get out of here!" Mina lifted her head with a curious whimper and responded with a deep yawn. "I'm not going to let them tear us apart. We're going to Equestria, where we can be safe as dragons and nobody will try to separate our family." He marched around her and gently plucked the babies off of the floor one by one, setting them on Mina's back and nudging her with his nose until she rose to her feet. "It's not ideal... but I don't want to lose any of you."

Mina barked in what he had managed to figure out long ago was agreement. Her tail was wagging despite her letting out one more yawn and stretching out with her puppies lying peacefully on her back. Spike nuzzled her cheek with his own, then rushed out into the hallway and towards the front door. Mina padded her way along behind him more carefully, so as not to spill their babies all over the carpet.

They reached the front door, where Spike leapt into the air to unlock it, then leapt again to grip the doorknob between his forepaws. The door clicked open just enough for him to drop to the tile floor and pry it the rest of the way open with his claws. As soon as the door was wide enough, he stepped aside to wave Mina out onto the porch, then stepped out himself.

"Mina!" Lemon shouted from the side yard, where she was straddling the top of the locked gate. "Spike, stop! Please!"

"Crap! Come on Mina!" Spike darted across the lawn towards the street, looking back only once to make sure Mina was on his tail. She was following as close as she could, but she couldn't run at full speed with her babies nestled on her back.

The wind was howling through his sensitive ears as they left Lemon Zest's house behind. His heart wouldn't let him stop or slow down, pounding so hard he could barely think at all. All he could think of now was reaching that mirror, through which he could see the salvation of disappearing into another world.

"Spike! I mean it! Stop!" Spike yipped in surprise and looked back to see Lemon Zest hurtling towards them at full speed on a pair of roller blades, sliding them on so fast she was still wearing her nightgown and no padding whatsoever, though she did still have her cell phone clenched in her palm. "Get back here with Mina! We just want to talk to you, okay!?"

"I know what you want!" Spike panted sharply. "You want to take my babies away! Well I'm not letting you! We'll go away and be a family!"

"We don't want to do that, Spike!" Lemon Zest rolled up beside him, slowing to keep pace with the two running canines. "We want to keep your babies! And we'll find a way that you won't have to give them away! I promise! Just come back!" Lemon Zest skated closer and took a swipe at Mina, who yelped and jerked sideways away from her, barely dodging it.

"Hey! Leave my mate alone!" Spike threw himself at Lemon Zest, clamping onto her ankle with his teeth and yanking on it with all of his might.

Lemon Zest howled in pain and surprise as her skate slide right out from under her and she collapsed to the street, where her body bounced across the cobblestone road for several feet before coming to a stop on her back. Spike could taste the small bit of blood on his tongue as he leapt over her for Mina, who had come to a stop and begun whimpering at the sight.

"Spike...!" Lemon Zest rolled to her side with a painful grunt. "Please don't take Mina away! I love her!"

"So do I..." Spike stuck his chest out. "That's why I have to get her away from all of you..." He approached Mina and gave her a slow lick on her cheek before walking past her. For a brief moment Mina looked back and forth between Spike and Lemon, before finally turning to follow him once again.

The sun was beginning to rise by the time Canterlot High School came into view. It had been a long run through the night, but they were finally here. Freedom was in sight... but his heart sank slightly when he saw that, so was Indigo Zap's car, just coming around the corner behind them.