Twilight tossed in her bed as her body struggled to keep on sleeping but the stuffy warmth and scent of food draw her to the waking world. She stretched and yawned before using her magic to grab a brush and fix her mane. Her eyes glanced at the small basket at the foot of her bed as it was all she could afford to get Spike, for the time being, at least it wasn’t as awkward as that first night as they shared her bed. It had been a week since that day he arrived and seemed to settle into the job of an assistant pretty well. Her room was now occupied by a small chemistry set in the corner of the room that had strange substances that bubbled and shook on their own.
Following the scent from before she walked to the kitchen and found Spike flipping a pancake while wearing a pink apron which read ‘Gimme some sugar baby!’. She couldn’t hold the giggles that escaped her and made Spike jump.
“H-hey Twi, don’t sneak up on me like that! I could just start making food for myself you know if I thought you could get through a morning without burning down our kitchen.”
“I lived here a whole year already without your help! I can make breakfast with my hooves tied behind my back.”
“Well, that would be because you use magic for everything and you managed to burn water and turn it into a fourth state of matter that I had never seen before.” The unicorn blushed and nibbled on her pancake with a rather cute pout.
“I don’t use magic for everything… and what is up with that apron? Sorry but you aren’t getting any mares with an attitude like that.”
“Oh, now you’re a love expert? Did books tell you that? What if girls like the bad boys?” Spike asked as he smiled and leaned towards his blushing companion.
“I have studied the subject of love in great detail through many forms of media so that is immediately more experience than what you have.”
“I wouldn’t call it experience per se”
“Wasn’t asking you.” The two finished their food with Twilight going to her library and picking a few books. “I want to try out some new transformation magic, is there anything you have planned today Spike?” Spike washed the dishes before drying his hands and shaking his head.
“Not really but I think I’ll go see the Cutie Mark Crusaders as I owe them a visit after bailing on them that last time.”
“Weren’t they going for dragon hunter cuties marks last time?”
“Awe come on that was cute in a morbid sort of way.”
“You came home with a dozen arrows stuck in your back and they tried to give you a poison apple…”
“Oh well, I have a strong stomach and the arrows only stuck in my scales so no harm done. I’ll see you in a while so don’t wait up!” Spike waved at the lavender mare as he left the library, completely ignoring the scooter that nearly hit him as he walked out. He waved at Ditzy Doo as she was putting mail in the Sugarcube Corner mailbox and chewing on several types of muffins that she was balancing on her head. He had written in his journey how there were two beings in the universe that he could study his whole life and never understand, Ditzy Doo and Pinkie Pie. “One day I’ll show Ember this place, I bet she could learn to love it.”
“Ooo you have a friend I haven’t met? I bet Ponyville would love to meet another new friend!” Spike jumped as Pinkie Pie was hopping behind him happily.
“Pinkie! How long have you been there?”
“Since you said don’t wait up and a scooter hit me.” Spike only opened his mouth before shutting it and shaking his head. “So who is this Ember you were talking about? A Canterlot friend?”
“Nah, she is a dragon from my home but she is more of a sister than anything else and she was the only reason that I’m here with you all and Twi.”
“Then when she comes I am throwing one of my super duper thank you parties! We could invite the whole town as I did with Gummy’s party a few days ago.” Pinkie confirmed this by pulling out balloons and blowing on an overly large party horn. Spike smiled and laughed at the thought of a flabbergasted Ember trying to keep up with someone like Pinkie.
“I don’t know Pinkie she is a pretty lone wolf type of girl so maybe a large party wouldn’t be the best plan for her introduction to you all.” Pinkie continued to follow Spike into the woods outside of town while shooting a storm of ideas to him about Ember’s party and a dozen other random topics. Spike would answer or give his opinion on what he knew, ignore what he didn’t, and act like he was thinking hard if he needed a moment of silence.
“Hey Spike, where are we going again?”
“I was planning to spend some time with the CMC to see if they could use me for any of their new ideas to get their cutie marks. So Pink, what do you think my mark would be if I was a pony? I hoped for something really cool like Daring Do’s in that comic book Rainbow Dash let me borrow but they seem to be based off what you ponies feel is something that makes you, well you.”
“Yep our cutie marks can be a story of who we are but maybe you dragons are so good at a lot that you don’t need something like a cutie mark.”
“Thanks for cheering me up Pinkie but I’m not sure about that, I’m fine at a good amount but Alchemy was all I was good for before coming out here into the world.”
“Maybe it could be something like that or a flaming scroll as Twi said you have been an amazing assistant to have around.”
“She really said that?”
“That and a bit more than she didn’t need to say out loud.” Before Spike could question this they arrived at their destination, the CMC’s clubhouse. After knocking on it the sounds on the other side became silent and Spike smiled as a voice trying to sound mysterious spoke.
“Who dares walk on the forbidden haunted grounds of this ancient place?”
“Spike the Dragon and Pinkie the Pie.” Pinkie shouted enthusiastically while Spike chuckled.
“Oh well, what is the password!?”
“Ooo is this a riddle? I bet I can guess! How about cupcakes?”
“Riddle? I said password.”
“Is the password password?” Spike asked as the voices became silent and began to argue with themselves.
“I thought it was password?”
“No, remember it was rainbow!”
“Ah remember it being cutie mark?”
“How about the password is a lot of words? The rainbow cutie mark password!” Pinkie smiled as the door opened and the three fillies all checked each other for any sign of a cutie mark.
“Anything?”
“Nope”
“Nada, ah guess the password making cutie mark plan failed. So what brings ya coming over to us Spike and Pinkie?” Applebloom asked as the three backed away to let their friends in.
“I wanted to see if you three needed any help with any of your plans as I was a bit bored and I owed you after ditching you last time. Pinkie was following me but I bet she’ll help too.” The CMC tapped their chins and pulled out a list that was as long as a full-size pony.
“Well looking over a lot of this we can do on our own but how about treasure hunting cutie marks?! There are old mining tunnels nearby and seeing that my big sis is always finding new jewels for her dresses I bet we can too right girls?”
“Right and if we get treasure hunting cutie marks maybe we can become like Daring Do! I bet if I was like her then Dash would love me!”
“Ah think she already loves ya Scoots.”
“Well… yeah… but even more! Maybe then she’ll make me her protege!” The three fillies grabbed mining helmets that had some lights on them while Spike took a bit of time to make some simple illuminated potions that would glow when they were heated and tied them to two sticks for himself and Pinkie. They entered the mine tunnel with Spike pulling their wagon behind him for the jewels they could find but Pinkie used it, for now, sitting in it and balancing the glowing stick on her nose and singing a silly song.
“Hmm, these mines seemed to have been picked dry…” Spike said as he examined a wall, claw marks in the stone seemed to actually be recent as when he touched them there was dust and excess debris that seemed to still be there. The CMC were unperturbed as they only entered farther.
“I bet we’ll find some great lost treasure in here! The whole mine couldn’t have been emptied.” Sweetie Belle said and thought of finding a jewel that would knock the socks off her sister and maybe she would be allowed to help her more in her work.
“Ah’m hoping to find a crystal apple for the farm! Applejack’s birthday is comin soon so maybe Ah could give her that?” driven by their imagination, they ran ahead and Spike shouted for them to slow down before he got his foot stuck in something and fell. He found he had tripped because of a hole, one that had a familiar jewel collar buried in the dirt. Shivers went up Spike’s spine as he looked ahead and cursed.
“Pinkie, I know why the caves here are empty of jewels! It’s that Diamond Dogs gang that I fought last time. I heard they escaped but didn’t think they would come so close to Ponyville. I need you to go get the others and I’ll look for the girls.”
“Okie dokie loki! Be back in a jiffy!” Pinkie rushed to find the girls as Spike took a deep breath and rushed forward, he had brought no useful potions or anything really as he hoped everything would go as planned for once. The CMC finally found something of interest when they found a collapsed mine cart that had a fair amount of multicolored jewels scattered on the ground. The girls cheered and looked over their find before several approaching voices brought them back to reality and they all hid in the mine cart while the voices could be heard.
“I can’t believe that we’re still in hiding! We used to be respected and had thousands of gems all for ourselves but now we are treated like second hand thugs. We’re like rats digging for seconds all because of that dragon… he hurt Rover’s confidence and now we are all suffering. Pick up this cart and get those jewels back to the hideout! I also want one of you idiots to find my collar!” Spot shouted to the large guards that were at his side. The girls trembled as they realized that these were some of the bad guys that Spike must have fought before and now they were alone.
As the first guard lifted the cart, he glanced under it for any more stone but was met with Scootaloo and Applebloom bucking him in the face. Sweetie Belle ran out and jumped off the head of the injured guard and headbutted the other guard in the face with her helmet. Spot jumped and laughed when he saw it was only fillies, whistling as several more guards arrived.
“Don’t just stand there, get them!” The CMC ran as the dogs dug into the ground and gave chase, not really paying attention to where they ran the group found themselves going deeper into the tunnels and shouted for their sisters. All three kept turning corners as dogs appeared to block their paths until they ran right into the arms of Fido who held each one up by their tails.
“I got em Rover!” He showed them to his boss who sat in the shadows on a throng made of dirt.
“What do I care for useless fillies, get rid of them.”
“I-if you do this you’ll be sorry! Our family and friends are coming!”
“Oh, we are just going to run off in fear. Let them come.”
“Oi, one of our friends is someone you may know! His name is Spike! Ya better let us go or else he is gonna come down ere and…” Applebloom was struck silent by the sight of Rover standing and grabbing the three. He raised them to his face where they could see half of it was horribly burned and his left eye was blinded.
“He’s going to do what kiddies? What else can he take from me? Oh, but now I will get my chance for a bit of payback…”
. . .
Spike wandered through the caves before he heard screaming from deep in the tunnels. He ran to the sounds and found disturbed ground where something big must have been under the dirt and next to it were tracks of small fillies. Spike hoped that Pinkie would be able to see this before it vanished, as he spilled one of the illumination potions on his tracks and made the others glow dimly in the dark. He pushed ahead into the dark until he heard voices and he climbed on the walls with his claws, sticking to the shadows as he snuck closer to the voices. He glanced into the room with the voices and found there were two guards and the CMC were tied up in the corner of the room while struggling and fighting against the rags in their mouths.
He crawled until he was over one of the guards and dropped on one, the other panicking and tried to hit him but Spike moved and he knocked down his friend while Spike sliced at the guard’s knees and hit him in the face with a rock. Spike smiled and rushed to his friend but only managed to ungag them before Sweetie Belle shouted.
“It’s a trap! Behind you!” Spike rolled as Fido crushed where he had been. The dragon smashed the second potion that was on his stick and it made a small cloud of dust that made everyone start coughing, giving Spike a moment to take one of the helmets from CMC and smashed it into Fido’s face and threw the second at Spot like a frisbee. He smiled before he turned back to the CMC and found Rover holding a claw to Applebloom’s throat.
“W-we’re sorry for bringing you out here Spike… we’re scared…”
“No, no this is my mistake and I promise that you’ll all get out of this.” He glared at Rover and smoke began to bellow from his mouth. “You won’t hurt them!!” Rover sneered and made a small cut where a drop of blood ran down Applebloom’s neck and Spike stopped. “Stop this! They didn’t do anything to you!”
“No, but you did and unless you wish to harm these little angels then you are staying right where you are.” Spike gritted his teeth before nodded and Rover gave the girls to Fido and Spot as he walked up to Spike and cracked a knuckle, delivering blow to blow on the young dragon. The girls screamed their resistance but were ignored as Spike was beaten and cut, dodging best he could to make the hits less fatal but deep claw marks appeared on his chest, back, arms and one grazed his neck. Crimson liquid seeped from the cracks in his scales and he shouted out when Rover hit him with a rock in the face and knocked him to the ground in pain. “How does that feel!? Maybe next time you won’t burn half of someone’s face!!”
Spike spit out some blood and struggled to see and hear through the ringing and blurry vision. After a moment, he forced himself to his feet and leaned on the wall for support before he looked at his foe. “Y-you deserved it and much more… I would do it again if I could, besides I thought they could heal you…”
“Oh, they were going to until that witch took the city and left me with no care for a magical wound! Your fire destroyed my face, eyesight, and confidence! My gang is nothing now because of you!” Spike yelled again as he was hit in the stomach and doubled over. Rover was distracted for a moment as one of the guard dogs said that ponies were attacking the others and he smirked. “No matter, this will be over soon so do anything to stop them!”
The CMC couldn’t take it anymore as they struggled and teared up at the beating of their friend. Scootaloo saw that Spot and Fido were distracted and tried inch her way to Sweetie Belle, leaning back and falling so her teeth were on Sweetie Belle’s rope. She gnawed on it until it snapped and Sweetie Belle shook the ring off her horn which kept her from doing magic. She freed her friends and the three all took one of the Diamond Dogs.
Scootaloo stood up to Fido as he rushed at her and tried to jump on her but Scootaloo flipped forward and dived under the dog. She grabbed the rope that was her binds and used it like a whip as she fought back Fido, smacking his hand and legs until he was against a mine car and she jumped and slapped him hard in the face with the rope. He fell in and Scootaloo pushed the car away with a smirk. “He should have known to never fight someone like me!”
“I may need a bit of help!” Sweetie Belle dodged and jumped away from Spot as he swiped at her with his claws and even tried to bite her but Sweetie Belle used her magic to force a rock into his mouth before forcing her hoof in his eye. Spot yelped and spit out the rock while rubbing his eye, Sweetie Belle feeling herself get angry and using her magic to pull several gems to her. She smiled as she remembered something she heard from Rarity and took aim. “I know Rarity wouldn’t approve but how about kicking the jewels!”
“Wait you’re doing what?!” Spot met his answer as jewels flew at him and hit him in the face and the last one hitting quite a bit lower.
“Oopsie I misaimed that last one. My baaad!” She giggled before she joined Scootaloo and the two rushed to Spike.
Applebloom tackled Rover away from Spike and stood her ground in front of her friend, fear making her legs shake. “Look at you, all scared and weak! You think you can protect him? You can’t even protect yourself!” Rover got on all fours and jumped at her but Applebloom glared at him and spun on her back, pulling her legs back and bucking him in the face with a force that would make Applejack proud. He crashed into a wall and cursed as he was missing a number of teeth and he rushed at the filly when the last helmet smashed into him from Sweetie Belle. He jumped at her when Scootaloo slapped him in the burnt half of his face with her rope. Rover screamed as rage and pain fueled him, grabbing the girls and throwing them into Applebloom. “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!”
“So have I!” Spike stood and flames erupted from his mouth as he grabs the two pieces of rope and he lit them on fire. The two attacked each other but while every blow landed would hurt bad, Spike was more injured and soon knocked down with Rover holding a boulder over his head to smash the dragon. The CMC rushed and bit hard into the dog’s thighs, giving Spike a moment to take a deep breath and hitting Rover in the face with a full-powered fire blast. The leader of the Diamond Dogs fell while he whispered out a curse on the dragon. Spike looked down at his foe and closed his eyes before falling and being carried by the fillies.
They were approached by the Mane Six as they had defeated the army of guard dogs and nearly cried at the state of their loved ones. Rarity was holding Sweetie Belle close and checking her for any wound, sobbing and saying how sorry she was that they were so late. Applejack smiled and teared up as she rubbed against her and listened to Applebloom as she said how they managed to beat the Diamond Dog leaders. Rainbow Dash smiled as she saw Scootaloo trying to act tough but soon she pulled her into a hug and told her how proud she was and that she wanted to make a day special to them where they could just spend time with each other.
Twilight shook her head as she cried, holding Spike in her lap and rubbed his chest and arms. There was so much blood and the injuries seemed to be worse than she ever imagined. Fluttershy was checking him gently and sighed as she looked at Twilight and rubbed her shoulder.
“He will be okay Twilight, he is tired and suffering from mild blood loss but his scales took most of the damage from the attack. The broken ones will fall off and new ones will grow but he will be defenseless for a while… I can try to take care of him at my cottage if you-”
“No! No… I’m sorry but I want to take care of him… I should have been here quicker, maybe he… I should take him home.” Twilight thanked Fluttershy for her help and the shy pegasus said that she would visit and help best she could. She thanked Pinkie for being the one that found them all when she did then she turned to the three fillies. “And thank you three for saving his life… I may not know what your cutie marks are but you three sure have the marks of heroes.”
“He tried to save us, it’s the least we could do.” Twilight smiled and patted the heads of each filly and nodded to their guardians before she carefully lifted Spike with magic and left the cave. “Pinkie I want you to go get someone who can arrest the Diamond Dogs.” Pinkie saluted and ran off again while Applejack said that she would tie them up with Big Macintosh after she got Applebloom home. Rainbow took Scootaloo home with her on her back. Rarity said she wanted to go give Sweetie Belle a bath and something to eat before anything else. Fluttershy followed Twilight home and Twilight let Fluttershy take Spike for a bath to get rid of the dark red stains while she wrote to the princess about what happened. She didn’t think she could handle the sight of blood and Fluttershy knew how to be careful with the broken scales to not harm the body underneath.
Once that was done, Twilight took him to her bed and laid him down. She asked Fluttershy to get the letter delivered as she watched Spike into the night, before falling asleep while laying on her bed next to her dragon and holding him close.