//------------------------------// // A New Friend // Story: Spike’s Dog Tale // by Phantom-Dragon //------------------------------// Canterlot City "PINKIE PIE!" Twilight yelled in outrage. "What is your alligator plushie doing inside the cage, where SPIKE was supposed to be?!" "Oh! So that's where you've been!" Pinkie Pie giggled happily as she hugged her "pet" alligator, before she looked up and her smile turned to a sad frown. "Oh... Sorry Twilight." "Sorry doesn't help the fact that Spike's out there, lost and alone, all because we've left him behind!" Twilight said sternly. "We've got to go back and find him!" "But we just got back, Twilight!" Applejack frowned sympathetically. "Look, I know you're frantic and all, but we're all tired now from our long drive. We'll look for him tomorrow." "AJ's right, Twi," Sunset Shimmer added. "Right now, the best we can do is to just put up some lost dog posters, and someone's bound to find him and call us." Though frantic and unsure at first, Twilight looked at Sunset for a moment, before she reluctantly nodded, "Right, of course," The frantic girl sighed. "That's at least the most logical thing we could do to finding a lost pet." "Oh, poor Spike," Fluttershy whimpered. "The poor thing must be lost and scared out there!" Meanwhile, back with Spike... "Phew, that sausage pizza really hit the spot," Spike said in content, as he and his new dog friends, Smolder, Garble, and their alley dog posse wandered the streets, with the sun about to set over the horizon. "Didn't I tell ya, or didn't I tell ya?" Smolder asked. "This is the life." "Two more years on the streets and you'll be in touch with your inner wild dog," Garble smiled. "That's great and all, but I should really get going now," Spike said, much to the bewilderment of the other dogs. "Go? Go where?" Smolder asked. "To Twilight, of course," Spike answered. "She must be worried sick about now." "But you said she abandoned you," Garble reminded. "Yeah, but I'm sure it wasn't on purpose," The little dog continued to insist. "Maybe she and the girls were in a rush, and they kinda forgot about me since I didn't came back to them that night. Anyway, it was nice meeting you guys, and I gotta get home." "But do you even know where home is?" Smolder asked, to which Spike came to a halt and looked hesitant. "For all we know, it could be halfway across the world, and it could even take years to get there." "And even if you do know how to get back home, how are you going to get pass the wolves?" Fume asked. "Or bears? Or mountain lions? "Or even the dog catcher?" Clump added. "You're better staying here than out there." Before Spike could reply, Garble suddenly barked in alarm, "RUN!!" With that, the three large male dogs took off running, with Smolder following behind. "Run? From what?" Spike asked. "Spike! Look out behind you!" Smolder barked, as she took off running, following her brother and her friends. The little purple dog quickly snapped his head behind him, just in time to see a net swinging down at him, nearly catching him by a hair. "HEY!" Spike yelped, dodging the net. "Get away from me you jerk!" Spike looked up to see the holder of the net is a tall, rugged man, dressed in dark black overcoat, gloves, boots, and hat. Without a doubt, he must be the dogcatcher the dogs all spoke fearful of. With another sprint of his legs, Spike took off running, yelping in blind terror, as he ran as fast his legs could carry him, desperately trying to get away from the man. He ran into a street where there were crowds of people, ducking and weaving through their legs, desperately hoping to throw the man off. But still, the dogcatcher was undeterred. He chased Spike all through town, during which Clump happened to run out from the side, tripping the dogcatcher. "Run Spike!" Clump barked to the little dog, before he escaped, just before the dogcatcher could recover. Spike kept on running, until he ran down into a subway station, right when a subway was about to depart, "Ah-ha! Subway!" With that, Spike makes a quick dive into the subway, just before the doors closes. Once inside, the little dog looked up to see several people staring at him awkwardly. He simply walked over to a seat, grabbed a newspaper to try and act casual. He peeked over the papers to see he was still receiving the awkward glances, "Creepers..." He grumbled. After he had helped Spike escape from the dogcatcher, Clump ran down an alleyway, where he regrouped with the rest of his street dog friends, "Is everyone here?" Clump asked. "Yeah. Did you lose him?" Garble panted heavily. "The dogcatcher?" "I think so," Smolder barked in response, before she realized they were missing someone. "Wait, where's Spike?" After the subway had came to a stop, the doors slid open, allowing its passengers to depart, including Spike, who walked out of the subway, carrying the newspaper in his mouth, acting like a normal dog, making his way out of the exit and into a different part of town, when his ears perked up to the sound of a voice. "HELP!" A voice screamed, to which Spike turned his head in the direction of a large warehouse. "IS SOMEBODY OUT THERE?!" Someone was in trouble. Naturally, Spike's good-nature instinct kicked in as he sprinted into the warehouse to the rescue, as he followed the voice, "Hello?" He barked, answering the call. "PLEASE! HELP ME!" The voice answered, sounding more frantic than it was before. With another sprint of his legs, Spike took off running into the warehouse, following the sound of the voice. "Where are you?" He barked. "UP HERE!" the voice replied. "Inside the cage!" With that, Spike quickly followed a flight of staircases, climbing onto a large platform as he looked across to see a large room of cages that appeared to be made for animals. "What happened to you?" Spike asked. "I was out hunting for food, when some bad men captured me in one of their cages, and took me here!" The voice answered. Spike's interests piqued, as he climbs on top of some boxes and walks over to the top of a large cage, where the roof was opened up, "So you're an animal then?" He asked, looking into the cage to see that it was pitch black, obscuring the identity of the caged animal. "Are we really having a conversation right now?" The voice asked. "Sorry. Just hold on." "Hang onto what?" "Just give me your paws, and I'll pull you out!" Spike said, holding his paw out for the creature. "Trust me," Without warning, a gray-white mountain lion burst out from the darkness of the cage, startling poor Spike, "AH!!" Spike screamed, falling into the cage with the lion. "Why didn't you tell me there was a lion in here with you?!" He screamed, throwing several raw meats and bones at the big cat. "OW! I am the lion, dummy!" In appearance, the mountain lion has a dark gray blue coat, with white spots decorating her face, and judging from the tone of her voice, she is about Spike's age, standing at least above his head. "Predator! Deceiver! Carnivorous big cat charlatan! AAAAAAHHH!!!" Miffed, the lion pounced on top of Spike, grabbing him by the collar, thrashing him about before she threw the little dog out of the cage. "Y-Y-You saved my life!" "Yeah, and I kinda expected some rescue payback." After a moment of collecting himself, Spike looked around for something he could use to rescue the lion. He looked up to see a control large control panel, and hanging above him is a large metal hook, connected to a long wire. "Okay, just stay where you are," Spike said to the lion. "I'll be right back." "Hurry it up!" The lion called back. "It's really cramped in here, and I don't like to be in small, dark places!" Spike hopped up onto a stool and was perplexed to see a mess of buttons, flashing light bulbs, switches, and levers. "Okay, Spike," The little dog said to himself. "Let's see, this reminds me of the remote control Twilight used to work with the TV and some of her machines back home in her laboratory." Spike turned to look at a large lever on the panel, "Could this be it?" With a push of the lever, the crane suddenly came to life. It moved to the right at a fast speed, accidentally knocking down one of the crates stacked on top of a tower, causing it to fall to the ground, breaking it open into broke pieces of timber, spilling out a content of strange fabrics that are colored and textured like those of an African lion, a tiger, and a bear. "Oh my!" Spike whimpered. "Hey, what's that?" The voices of men sounded. Without a doubt, they must be the guards of the warehouse and were on their way to investigate the commotion. "Hey! Are you going to help me out, or not?" The lion called. "I'm working on it!" Spike replied as he moved the lever, trying to get the hook to hang directly over the lion, knocking more of the crates in the process, until he finally got the claw to where he needed it to be. "Okay, let's see. How to drop it?" Spike turned to a button with a down arrow, which he immediately pressed, lowering the hook down, until it was hanging over the lion. "Okay! Grab the hook!" Spike called, watching as the mountain lion leapt up at a tremendous height and grabbed onto the hook with its strong paws. With that, Spike pressed the button with an up arrow, lifting the lion out of the cage, just as some men arrived. "What the–" They exclaimed, upon seeing the lion escaping. "The lion's loose!" "Quickly! Get the tasers!" The other man said, as they ran off to get their equipments to recapture the lion. After the lion was lifted out of the cage, she lets go of the hook, dropping herself down to the floor and began her escape. "Hey! The exit's the other way!" Spike called out to the lion, watching as she navigated her way, blindly through the warehouse, until she was surrounded by the men, carrying sticks that cackled with electricity on their end, while one of them carried a long stick with a noose at the end, and another was holding a gun. The lion let out a roar and swiped her paws at one of the men, to which one of them reacted by swinging his stick at the lion and tightens the noose around her neck. "Hey!" Spike barked at the men. "Leave her alone you big bullies!" "Who's there?" One of the men barked, looking around the warehouse, searching for the source of the voice. "Show yourself!" He demanded, searching for a person. Little did he know, however, he was talking to a magically enchanted dog. Turning the lever, Spike made the crane move, causing it to smash into one of the crates, causing it to fall down on top of the men, causing them to release their hold on the lion, allowing her to pry the noose off of her. One of the men tried to shoot her with his gun, only for him to be jumped on by a dog, causing his aim to be thrown off, and he accidentally fired a tranquilizer dart at one of his colleagues. "AH!!" The man shouted, upon being hit by the dart, before he passes out. "What the–" The man who fired his gun looked down, and gasped in horror as he inspects his downed partner. "Freddy?" Spike ran as fast as his little legs could carry him until he was at last out of the warehouse, and took refuge behind some more larger crates to catch his breath. This is also where he happened to regroup with the mountain lion cub he had rescued. "YES! You rock little dog!" The lion roared happily, startling the little dog. "Please don't eat me!" Spike whimpered. "Are you kidding me? Why would I want to eat you?" The lion asked rhetorically. "After you saved me life and everything? Besides, who would want to eat dogs? Too much fur," The lion turned to Spike, but was perplexed to find the little dog was nowhere to be seen, "Hello?" "Uh, I believe you," Spike called, while revealing he was hiding behind a trashcan, keeping his distance away from the lion. "But I'm just going to believe you from all the way over here." "Y'know what? Believe what you want. I'm going home," The lion proceeded to leave, before she stopped. "Now which way would that be?" Upon realizing that the lion cub was lost, just like him, all of Spike's fear for the big cat melted away and he only felt sympathy for her. A part of him wanted to go home soon and back to Twilight, but some other part of him wanted to help the young lion return home to her family. Breathing a long deep sigh, Spike muttered, "I just know I'm going to regret this," Walking over to the lion, Spike began talking, "Hey, uh... I couldn't help but notice that you're lost and all. So, would you like some help getting home? Where is it?" "I...I...I don't know," The lion frowned, with her ears folding back to further emphasize her distress. "I was caught by those bad men and I was put into one of those large machines on wheels, when they took me here. I don't know where I am, and none of these sights or smells are familiar to me. I can't find my way back home." Spike nodded in understanding before he barked, "Well, I'm lost too. And I'm trying to find my way back home. Why don't you come with me? Maybe we can help each other find our way home." "You mean it?!" The lion asked hopefully. "That'll be great! It'll be a lot more fun to travel with a friend!" The lion cub's ears suddenly perked up, when she turned to the warehouse to see a commotion was stirring. "Uh, let's get out of here first. I don't want to be put back in that awful cage again." "Yeah, let's go," With that, Spike proceeded to lead his new lion friend out of the warehouse and into the city. "By the way, name's Spike." "I'm Gabriella," The lion replied. "But you can just call me Gabby!" "Nice to meet ya, Gabby." "Same to you, Spike!"