Chapter 1: Shining Armor
I'm starting to think this wasn't such a good idea after all, Spike thought as he nervously stood his ground alongside a line of new recruits for the Royal Guard. The recruits were buff or muscular, even the mares present, unlike his scrawny, lanky self. Understandable, really, since they did enroll to one of the most demanding and tough careers in the whole of Equestria.
Still, watching most of them being nervous just like him was while Shining Armor, decked from head to hooves in his pristine and elegant purple armor, walked up and down the line watching them with a stoic expression. Silently judging and evaluating them with his icy stare.
Spike gulped remembering the small conversation and the questions that followed his request a week ago. If anything, it had gone smoothly. Most of them agreed after he gave them his full motives, even Celestia, his adoptive mother, agreed to help him however she could later on. Out of everyone the one who had argued the most against it had been Fluttershy, worried that he could get hurt in the process and that he was fine the way he was. It took some talking and a tight hug, but Spike managed to convince her it was for his own good and so she ended up accepting and offering her own aid.
With so many helping hands at his disposal, now the problem was how he was going to schedule whatever training or help his friends and family could provide him with and his own chores. Twilight, ever helpful and creative, said he was exempt from his duties for however long it took him to reach the goal he desired. With that out of the way, the only problem that remained was where to start. It was Shining Armor, his big brother in all but blood and species, who volunteered to take the first step into shaping and training him.
And so, here he was, a week later, nervous but ready to begin with whatever Shining had in mind, and apparently, he planned on killing two birds with one stone: train him and the new recruits at the same time. His focus returned to the present and his body went stiff and straight when Shining stopped and let out a heavy sigh of disappointment.
"These? I have to work with these, Corporal?" Shining asked without looking at the grey pegasus behind him, his voice dripping nothing but disdain.
"I'm afraid so, Captain Armor." The Corporal replied.
"I asked for strong stallions and mares capable of handling the task of protecting Equestria, its citizens, and the Princesses with their lives if need be. And what do I get? The most pathetic excuses for ponies I've ever seen in my entire career. They look like they barely stopped taking the teat!" Shining said loudly. He then walked up to a blue-ish earth pony stallion with a white mane. "You make me sick. Your sole presence insults my eyesight! What is your name, recruit?"
"Azure Lane, sir!"
"SIR!? YOU CALLED ME SIR!?" Shining yelled at his face. "I am Captain Shining Armor of her Immortal Majesties Royal Guard! Sir you use to call useless ponies! You shall refer to me only as Captain, do you understand maggot!?"
"Si--Captain. Yes, Captain!" The stallion replied loudly.
"Very good," Shining said in a relaxed tone. "Now, you said your name was recruit Blue Moth?"
"Azure Lane, Captain!"
"Blue Moth it is!" Shining said with a nod.
"Yes, Captain!"
Shining then began walking up the line once more. For his part, Spike was more nervous than ever. Sweet Celestia, Shining wasn't kidding when he said he was going to be tough, Spike told himself as Shining approached him.
"Prick," the insult came out of nowhere but it was audible to everyone.
"Oh?" Shining stopped. "It seems we have a comedian here! Who said that? Who the fuck said that!?" Shining yelled as he eyed everyone in the line.
A tall pegasus mare with yellow coat and grey-ish mane stepped forward. Her posture was secure and firm, it was more than obvious that she carried herself with confidence.
"I did, Captain." She confessed with what could only be described as a smug tone and face.
"Well, look at what we have here, Corporal. Our very own first carpet muncher!" Shining Armor walked up to the mare standing half a head taller than him. "You got balls unlike the rest of these squirming worms. I can respect that! I like you, I like you so much you can come over my house and fuck my sister!" Then, out of nowhere, Shining punched the mare in the stomach so hard she immediately fell to her knees and vomited at Shining's hooves. "You worthless scumbag, I will teach you to respect your superiors and beat your fillyfooling attitude the crap right out of you! I got your name, I OWN YOUR ASS! And you are going to be thankful all the way through my training!" Shining grabbed the mare's mane and roughly made her look up at him. "Do you understand, recruit Dyke?"
"Y-Yes, Captain..." The mare replied painfully. Then her face was shoved against her vomit.
"Corporal, make sure recruit Dyke over here cleans her mess," Shining ordered before continuing his walk.
"Of course, Captain."
The rest of the line was silent, and a certain dragon was fighting the urge to flee. Shining remained silent for several seconds until he stopped in front of a small stallion presenting a few striped lines on his white coat and black mane.
"It seems you are lost, boy. Why are you here? Lost your momma perhaps?" Shining asked.
"No, Captain. I enlisted to become a Royal Guard, Captain!" The stallion replied unphased.
"I see. Then, to what tribe do you belong, little zebra?"
The stallion did a double take and stammered his response. "B-but I'm a pony, Captain, from Germa--"
"Wrong," Shining cut him off. "By the looks of it, I think you must have Zulu or Xhosa blood in you. Tell me, what is your ancestral spirit? Rhino? Lion?"
"N-No, Captain--"
"Are you contradicting me, maggot!?"
"No, Captain!"
"What is your warcry!?"
"I-I don't--"
"Hu-Helee, Mah-Helee!" Shining began to do a poor imitation of a zebrican warcry and soon the poor stallion imitated him. A few seconds later they stopped. "That's what I thought. Henceforth, recruit, I shall refer to you as Zhaka, as a great sign of respect to your people."
"...Thank you, Captain!" The stallion struggled to say. After that, Shining began moving again.
Spike, for his part, was dumbfounded. He said he was going to be tough, not a borderline psychopath! Spike yelled to himself. He knew from stories that the recruiting process for the Guard was harsh, but he never thought it would be THIS harsh. What was worse than that though was the fact that they haven't even begun the actual training. More than that, where the hay had this Shining Armor come from!? He had never seen his big brother, the geek, easy-going, proper-like, and respectful brother he admired act this way. Now that he thought about it, he had only seen him mad twice in his life; once against Sombra and the other when he defended Thorax.
Spike gulped again, Shining was approaching. Doesn't matter, I asked for this. No matter what, this is for my own good! Spike reminded himself just as Shining stopped in front of him.
“And what do we have here?” Shining eyed him several times over. “An overgrown lizard, or maybe some kind of sorry excuse of a dragon?” Shining asked no one in particular. “Look at you, I’ve seen stalks of corn with better physique. What is your name, maggot?”
“Spike Solaris Sparkle, Captain!” Spike replied as firmly and clearly as he could muster, he patted himself mentally for not stuttering.
“S.S.S.? That sounds dirty for some reason. Dirty and worthless like yourself. Recruit, can you carry your own weight?”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Should be easy for you, I’m sure. Corporal, make sure to keep this recruit away from strong winds.”
“Of course, Captain.”
Shining looked up and down Spike a few more times before sighing. “This won’t do,” Shining then touched Spike’s stomach and chest. “Recruit, when was the last time you ate properly?” Spike was about to reply when Shining grabbed his jaw roughly. “Looks like I’m going to give you special treatment. Corporal!”
“Yes, Captain?” The Corporal asked approaching Shining from behind.
“It seems we are going to need the old girl for this maggot. Go get ‘Eavy Betty’ at once.”
The Corporal stepped closer. “Captain, with all due respect, don’t you think that’s too much, even for a dragon?”
“I don’t see a dragon here, do you, Corporal? I see a scrawny overgrown lizard in desperate need for a pounding.”
“...At once, Captain,” the Corporal bowed and then left as fast as his wings allowed him.
“Now… How tall are you, recruit?” Shining asked letting go of Spike’s jaw.
Spike moved his jaw a little to alleviate the soreness before replying to Shining as he stood at his same height, maybe just an inch or two taller. “Captain, six hoof five, Captain!”
“Six hoof five!? I didn’t know they stacked shit that high!” Shining yelled at his face. “Where do you come from, maggot!?”
“From Ponyville, Captain!”
“Ponyville, huh? Lovely place, really peaceful. Now I know why you look like a fucking twig! Only mares and coltcuddlers come from Ponyville and you don’t look like a mare to me, so that kind of narrows it down, don’t you think!?”
“No, Captain!”
“Tell me, you worthless reptile, do you suck cock!?”
“No, Captain!”
“Do you like taking it in the ass like the worm you are!?”
“No, Captain!”
“Bullshit! I bet you are the kind of guy who gives a blowjob and doesn’t have the common fucking courtesy to look someone in the eye while doing so. ARE YOU, MAGGOT!?”
“NO, CAPTAIN!”
“Good!” Shining pulled back. “It seems your little present has arrived.”
Spike stood firm, although his legs were trembling and his heart felt like exploding from how fast it was beating. His face was covered in spit thanks to Shining yelling just an inch away from it. And yet his eyes were focused on the wooden locked chest the Corporal and other two ponies were currently laying on the ground. Shining opened the chest and with his magic levitated a… set of armor?
“Say hello to ‘Eavy Betty’, recruit Lizard.”
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“You worthless scum, quit dragging your hooves around and keep the line steady! Honestly, look at you, you can’t even handle a few laps and you hope to protect your Princesses!? HA! Don’t make me laugh. If it were up to me I’d make you run at least another hundred laps. What am I saying? Of course it is up to me! GIVE ME ANOTHER FIVE HUNDRED LAPS, YOU SACKS OF SHIT!” Shining Armor yelled at the jogging recruits all around him.
Spike huffed and puffed with each step he took leaving yet another marked stomp on the ground. Set of armor my scaly ass, what in Tartarus is this thing? Spike asked himself as he struggled to walk, much less jog like his fellows, while he carried a heavy log while wearing ‘Eavy Betty’. At first, he thought it was just a regular Royal Guard armor with a few extra pieces, but after he began putting it on… the damn thing wasn’t anywhere near being like one.
The armor was heavy, even for him, though nothing he couldn’t carry for long periods of time, easily weighing at least one hundred kilograms. But that wasn’t the biggest difference. If anything, that was only the tip of the iceberg. The damn thing had restrains attached to strings in practically every joint point, making even walking or stretching or carrying anything a difficult task. But that was not all. The armor covered his entire body minus his tail, feet, hands, eyes, and snout. Everything else had been covered by the tortuous set of armor.
The worst part was that despite being told it was a set of ‘training armor’, it was only meant to be used to discipline unruly recruits or by only the strongest of Officer Candidates for their promotion rites.
He had not even the slightest idea what Shining Armor was thinking by making him wear the damn thing, but he trusted him enough to do so without reproach. I asked for this, I asked them to do whatever they thought would help and do whatever it took, Spike reminded himself as he struggled to continue his laps. Like him, the other recruits were wearing Royal Guard armor, though a lighter version of it for the meantime.
“Your worth is less than the dirt beneath my hooves. You are nothing but maggots, ticks, parasites! The lowest forms of life on the entire planet! Listen up you dung-beetles, I take extreme pleasure in seeing you suffer. I will have plenty of wet dreams tonight as I recall your worthless bodies crawling and squirming on the dirt like the filthy pigs you are!” Shining then conjured a magical whip and crack the dirt behind a pegasus stallion that was slowing down making him jump in panic and return to normal speed.
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Not even a thousand laps so far and yet you are panting like old ponies!? Why are you even here and not in a retirement home is beyond me!” Shining cracked another whip at a mare. “Keep up the pace, recruit Dyke, or you won’t be eating your rations tonight! That goes for all of you, you lowly life-forms!”
For several minutes it went on until Spike fell to the ground.
“What are you waiting for, recruit Lizard? Get your sorry ass up and continue your laps!” Shining shouted cracking a whip centimeters away from his face.
“R-Right away, Captain!” Spike yelled back, fighting and struggling against the restrains and the armor itself to get up. However, once he managed to get on all fours he couldn’t get up and remained that way for several seconds.
“Heh, pathetic. Looks like that is how far your determination goes in the end. In that case, why don’t you go running back to your bed and keep on living as the sorry excuse of a dragon, nay, sorry excuse of an Equestrian that you are? Are you telling me this is as far as you are willing to go, is this the extent of your bravado, recruit Lizard!?”
“No, Captain!” Spike yelled back, shutting his eyes as he slowly but surely managed to get on his feet once more. Using his tail he picked up the log, put it over his shoulders, and resumed his jogging. “I-I just tripped, that’s all!”
“Good! Now finish up your laps or you don’t get to eat tonight! MOVE IT, MAGGOTS!”
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Spike looked at his meal, confused. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting… okay, he knew exactly what he was expecting; grub, dehydrated food, protein bars. Something like that. Not… not what he was seeing.
“Is there a problem, recruit Lizard?” Shining asked as he oversaw his recruits devouring their rations with gusto.
“N-No, Captain. It’s just that,” Spike picked up his plate. “Meat sparkled with gem shards and a salad? I’m not complaining and my comrades are eating something similar. I was just… not expecting it, that’s all.”
“Recruit Lizard, we are the Guard, not the Army. We are the best protectors of Equestria, those that protect the Princesses personally. We are the best Equestria has to offer and for that reason, we cannot allow weaklings in our ranks. You are a dragon or something that looks like a dragon at least, and you need meat more than we ponies do. You never did answer me, when was the last time you ate meat?”
“During the Gala, Captain,” Spike replied seeing the logic behind his words.
“And before that?”
“Around six months before the Gala, Captain.”
“Then stop wasting my time and eat, recruit Lizard. You will need the energy,” Shining looked around the dining room. “Listen up! Because it was your first day I went easy on your sorry asses. Don’t expect to eat like this every day, or even eat anything every day, you parasites! Finish up your meals and go to sleep, for tomorrow the true training begins,” Shining Armor grinned widely looking down at Spike.
“Welcome to the Royal Guard.”
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“Did I say you could get the armor off, recruit Lizard?” Shining Armor said looking at Spike with a raised eyebrow.
“No, Captain. But how am I suppose to bathe without taking it off?” Spike asked confused as the rest of his comrades were in a similar position as he was after Shining forbade them from taking their respective armors off.
Three days. It had been three days so far since this torture called training began and not once had he or any of the other recruits had taken off their armors. That morning Shining had come to announce them that they were going to take a bath and honestly, everyone was relieved and thankful for it.
“That is quite easy, recruit Lizard,” using his magic Shining removed a large black cloth that covered a small pool wide enough to fit about ten to twelve adult ponies inside. “Each one of you is going to jump into the jacuzzi, cross it, and climb out squeaky clean! Don't worry about the water, it's enchanted so it won't rust your armor. Unlike you maggots, those armors are valuable! You better hurry while the water is warm!”
It took a moment for Spike to register those words. Sure, the pool didn’t look deep enough to drown him or even Zhaka, the shortest amongst them, but still…
He shook his head and moved to the edge of the pool. He then closed his eyes and jumped into the water. At least Shining told the truth, it was warm.
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“Right now you are all less than ponies, less than sapients even! You are nameless slugs, and if by some miracle sent by the Divine Creators themselves you survive my training, then and only then you will become something resembling value! For now, know your place you worthless maggots, you are little more than my personal pleasure objects!”
Spike grunted as Shining yelled from the side of the mud-stained track he was currently crawling on under barbed wire enchanted with electric sparks. He grunted feeling another jolt of electricity hit him below the armor. Despite that, he continued crawling under the wire towards the other side… still five hundred meters away.
“I despise and look down upon you all! Hate me all you want, but be sure that I will find every single weakness inside yourselves and rip it out like a weed! The Royal Guard doesn’t have time to let useless cocksuckers like yourselves join our ranks!”
Another jolt, another grunt of pain. He was tired, sore, in pain, he hadn’t bathed in at least a week, it had been two days since any of them last ate and as much since they slept, and yet Shining was pushing them to their breaking point.
In the past month, he had crossed swamps, climbed mountains and hills, ran countless laps, carried boulders to one side of a field to the other and then repeat once all were on one side, climbed ropes and trees, done mock fights, had lost count on the push-ups, sit-downs, jungle gym climbs, rope pulls, and other dozens of exercises he had no idea even existed. And all of it without taking his armor off.
“You call that effort? Don’t make me laugh, you pathetic loser scum, the best part of you stayed behind that rotten egg you spawned from!”
Spike looked at Shining glaring down at him. He gritted his fangs before crawling faster despite the jolts of electricity.
“Yes, Captain!” Spike shouted back determined to finish the course.
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“Where does the Captain get his energy from?” Blue Moth said as he and Dyke helped Jetro, a pegasus stallion, continue jogging by lightly supporting his weight. It wasn’t done for outright comradery but rather because if anyone fell unconscious they wouldn’t eat after their run, again.
“I’m sure he absorbs all of our suffering and pain,” Zhaka said jogging at their side. “Why do you think he gets earlier than us every damn morning? After a full night of sweet sleep, he must be ravenous for his nourishment.”
“Quiet you two or he’s gonna hear you,” a thestral pony stallion said nearby them.
Spike said nothing as he ran just a little behind the front group. His vision was blurry from the strain two and a half months of this Tartarus had put him through. From the seventy-four recruits that had enlisted twenty-six had given up and left. He couldn’t blame them. Each day was packed with nothing but training, exercises, obstacles, marathons, gear cleaning, mock battles, excruciating and pointless tasks meant to simply be repetitive and arduous, and more. And each damn day only got harder and harder.
Suddenly, he stumbled and fell to the ground, exhausted beyond his limits.
“Quit dragging your hooves, you quitters! If I hear so much as a whimper from your blowholes I swear you’ll clean the latrines with your own toothbrushes for a week!” Shining stopped at Spike’s side.
Spike didn’t pay attention to him, he couldn’t even see him clearly. In front of him, he saw the group leaving him behind and soon after those on the rear of the group passed him. That didn’t matter. I have to get to base… I have to finish the run… Spike told himself over and over again while huffing harshly against the dirt. With all the effort he could muster he began dragging himself forward. After a few seconds, he saw a white and purple figure leave him behind while shouting something he couldn’t understand.
Spike didn’t know how long it took him, didn’t know when it had gone dark, he only knew he had arrived at the base by dragging himself the rest of the way. When he reached the entrance of the barracks, the door opened to reveal Shining Armor himself holding a plate of food and a glass of water.
“Well done, recruit Lizard,” he said before placing the food and the water in front of him and then closed the door.
Spike smiled as he ate his meal; food, plate, glass, and dirt altogether. He didn’t care. Once he was done, he fell asleep instantly.
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"That spear is the only lover you'll ever need! Touch it, feel it, praise it! It shall be your only companion in cold, lonely nights and your sole confidant at every moment! If you need to fuck something that bad, imagine its alive and polish it with all your might!” Shining yelled at the remaining thirty-eight recruits he had left after four months of grueling training. All of them were sitting on the ground, holding spears in their hands and cleaning equipment at their sides.
“You are beautiful, Sundown Splendor,” a sleep-deprived, starving, exhausted unicorn stallion said as he polished the spear he was handed.
“You are so stiff, aren’t you, Silverdeep?” An earth pony mare said after.
“Naughty, naughty~ You like how I touch you here, Shawn?” Dyke murmured as she polished the tip of the spear.
While almost everyone else were murmuring their own fantasies, Spike and a few others still had enough clearness left in them to remain silent.
Four months… it has been four months and yet they had felt like an eternity, Spike said to himself while he moved to clean up the tip of the spear. How long was this going to last, he wondered. Just two more months of Tartarus left, he remembered. W-Why was I here in the first place? Honestly, he couldn’t remember right now. Barbara needed her polish, after all.
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"We have to what?" Zhaka asked in disbelief.
"You heard me, maggots. You will climb that cliff, and those who make it to the top will graduate and become full-fledged Royal Guards. Or you can give up now and return home like the sad, pathetic, weak, worthless cowards you truly are." Shining grinned. "Go on, prove me right and leave once and for all. Not a single one of you ever deserved to become a Royal Guard in the first place. Run away with your tails between your legs back into whatever dark, damp hole you crawled out from! Shame? HA! You can't lose what you never had! But make no mistake, if you decide to climb that cliff and reach the top, all your effort will have some meaning at least. So now, go home and lose nothing, or climb and become something more than maggots. What will it be, recruits?"
All of them remained silent watching the Canterlot Wall in front of them.
The Canterlot Wall, a cliff nine hundred and twenty-two meters tall situated behind the Canterlot Mountain. A private spot for training the Royal Guards recruit, the knew the terrain well at this point but had never considered that the damn cliff was going to involve one of their training sessions. At most they had used some of the far, far smaller ones nearby for climbing purposes, but they had used ropes those times and now…
“Captain, you can’t be serious, you want us to climb the Canterlot Wall without ropes or support?” Blue Moth asked eyeing the massive cliff.
“I want all of you to decide if you are going to climb it or not,” Shining replied with a smug grin.
“...Fuck it. I didn’t last this long to back out now,” Dyke said walking towards the cliff.
“I forgot to mention, no magic and no flying, those that use any of it while climbing shall be expelled. Pegasus, Unicorns, Thestrals, you may take your armors off. Earth Ponies, you will not. Recruit Lizard?”
“Yes, Captain?” Spike replied as he was working on taking off the locks first.
“You are also forbidden from taking your armor off.”
Spike looked at Shining with wide-open eyes, then at the cliff, and then at the armor he was wearing.
“Understood, Captain,” he said before making his way to the base of the cliff.
“And one more thing,” Shining smiled darkly at his thirty-five remaining recruits. “If you fall, you will be rescued, but you will have to start over again from the bottom, so do be careful. Should be easy to climb that little hill for you, worms.”
To Spike, the next two hours were arduous, to say the least. There were almost no places to get a good grip or have a strong footing, the wind was doing him no favors, and ‘Eavy Betty’ was being the usual bitch he had come to grow familiar with. Each stretch was agony on his aching joints, each meter ascended a monumental task, and each ragged breath all the more strenuous to take. But finally he was near the edge, less than fifty meters left. He could do it. He was going to reach the top!
“FUUUUUCCCCKKKK!”
“Wha--SHITUuuufffffff!”
Spike heard the cursing and the yelling above him. There he saw two figures falling right on top of him. He instantly recognized them both as they approached. The first was Mango, a thestral stallion, and the second was Teats, a rather busty unicorn mare.
“Hang on!” Spike yelled instinctively. With his tail he managed to grab Mango by a leg, strongly coiling his tail around it as to not let go, while he was barely able to grab Teats by an arm.
“What are you doing, Lizard!? Let us go and finish up, we’ll see you at the top!” Teats said as Spike did his best to place her on his back.
“Teats is right, man. Just let us go and finish the climb!” Mango added.
“If I let you guys go you’ll have to start right over again!” Spike argued. “We all know it's going to be near impossible for you to climb up before the wind really gets going!”
“Screw the wind, man. All of us are going to fail if you fall. Just let us go and finish the climb!” Mango said trying to undo the coil around his leg.
“You want to become Royal Guards, not me! I already told you I’m here to become stronger. If you fail these six months would’ve meant nothing for you, and I’m not going to allow that if I can help it!” With a loud snarl, he managed to place Teats behind him finally, her arms going around his neck. “Now hang on tight! It’s only a few meters away and you're my extra luggage!”
With that said, Spike resumed his climb up the cliff, but he knew that he was weighing too much. It was only a matter of time before he grabbed the wrong place and he’d end up falling alongside two comrades.
In that case, he thought looking at his left hand and more specifically, his claws. I just have to make my own support!
Letting out a deep growl, Spike plunged his claws into the cliff piercing easily. He smiled. It worked!
Spike climbed the rest of the way in the same way until he finally reached the edge of the cliff. Spike felt how Teats was taken away from his back and after he secured his upper body on the solid ground, he brought Mango up who was also helped by Royal Guards. He then crawled until the rest of him was laying on the ground breathing heavily and deeply.
“Get up, recruit Lizard!” Shining Armor called.
“Yes, C-Captain. I was taking some air, is all!” Spike grunted and groaned as he got up. Now, he was standing in front of Shining Armor while he gave him a proud smile.
“Take off your armor, Spike.”
Spike… it’s the first time in six months he calls me by my name. Damn, I missed it, Spike thought as he slowly undoes the locks of his armor and gently took ‘Eavy Betty’ off piece by piece.
“Congratulations, Maggots!” Shining Armor said out loud eyeing all of his thirty-five recruits. “Today, you have transformed yourselves from worms to sapient life-forms! Your training is now complete. Welcome, fellow brothers and sisters, to the Royal Guard.”
The now-graduated group of freshly baked Royal Guards cheered, cried, sobbed, and thanked the heavens for their triumph, except for one.
Spike undid the last lock holding his chest piece together and removed it with his arms, gently, almost with veneration, put the armor on the ground with the rest of it. He sighed a happy sigh of relief feeling lighter and freer than he ever thought possible. He then felt a hand land on his shoulder. Turning back he saw Shining Armor looking at him with tears in his eyes and a wide, proud smile.
“You did good, little brother. You did good,” Shining Armor said letting fresh, warm tears flow freely. “Look at you now.”
“Thanks, big bro…” Spike replied with a smile of his own and for the first time in six months, he was able to look at his own body. “...Those weren’t there before…” Was all he could muster upon seeing not his scrawny, lanky body. What he saw now was a lean, athletic, and agile body. He could see and feel for the first time ever all the muscles below his scales. He brought an arm up and flexed, seeing a noticeable bulge form in his forearm… and small ripples of muscle on the rest of his arm for that matter.
“Now… now you’re ready,” Shining embraced his little brother in a tight hug.
“Thank you, Shining,” he said returning the tight hug to his big brother.
Chapter 1 End