//------------------------------// // New Friends // Story: The Storm Dragon // by ShowShine //------------------------------// Spike swept the floors of the castle, making sure to clean every single spot. He was used to cleaning up after other people so this was no different. He worked in silence, fearing that if he hummed to himself he’d get yelled at for being too distracting. He had managed to make Twilight hire him as an assistant because he was so helpful. “Spike, can you come here for a second!” Twilight called out from somewhere in the castle. Spike held the broom tightly, walking down the hallways. Sunlight came from a nearby window, making the hallway sparkle due to the crystals. Soon, Spike entered the kitchen to see that there were counter various ingredients on it. “Can you help me bake a cake for the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Twilight asked. Spike nodded his head and put the broom against the wall. He walked over to the kitchen counter and stood on a stool. “Who are the Cutiemark Crusaders?” Spike asked. They might be potential threats. “Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom. They’re Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejacks little sisters. You haven’t met them yet. They’re about your age.” Twilight stated. Spike doubted that they were threats, a lot of kids his age could barely fight properly. “They’re opening a Cutiemark Camp so I wanted bake them a cake to congratulate them.” Twilight explained. Spike nodded his head. “What type of cake were you thinking about making them?” Spike asked. Twilight thought for a moment. “I didn’t really think about it, maybe chocolate.” She suggested. Spike thought for a few moments. If he had learned anything over the years, pony names usually matched the ponies personality. “Sweetie Belle sounds like she’d be very sweet so she’d like chocolate. Applebloom is Applejack’s little sister so I assume she’s a hard worker and would like extra energy. And for Scootaloo, she seems like she’d move around a lot so she needs fiber.” Spike thought out loud. “So I’ll make apple granola brownies.” He stated. Spike quickly looked down at the ground. It was a bad to share his ideas. Twilight gave him a look of surprise. “You got there personalities down pretty well, they’d would probably like that.” Twilight stated. Spike quickly looked up in surprise. This was one of the rare times he didn’t get yelled at for one of his ideas. Tempest always was the one who supported him and his ideas. “How about you go deliver the brownies and then you can have the rest of the day off. Go talk to the Crusaders and be there friend. I think they’d like you.” Twilight said. “I’ve never had friends my age before.” Spike stated. That was completely the truth, he was never allowed to have friends his age. Grubber was the closest person he knew who acted like a child. Grubber was still way older than Spike. He was older than Storm King too. Twilight tilted her head. “You didn’t make friends back home?” Twilight asked. Spike shook his head. “No, I lived in a rough place. I was the youngest in my community so I only had two friends who are older than me.” Spike explained as he mixed the ingredients for the brownies. Twilight gave a sympathetic smile. “Well you’ll make some good friends today.” Twilight said with a genuine smile. Spike smiled back. Today felt like it was gonna be a good day. Spike walked through Sweet Apple Acres, holding a brownie pan with tinfoil over it. He looked around, looking for a clubhouse. Twilight had told him that the Cmc’s clubhouse was nearby. Soon enough, he spotted a small clubhouse that was partially in a tree. He could see the shadow of three ponies moving around. “It’s fine Spike, they’ll like me for who I am.” Spike reassured himself. He was great at being fake nice to people but being nice for real seemed like a challenge. He wanted to be genuinely liked for once. Spike walked up the ramp of the clubhouse, taking slow steady breaths. He knocked on the door and it quickly swung open revealing a yellow earth pony who was Spikes age. “Hi I’m Spike, I brought you guys some brownies.” Spike greeted with a forced smile, holding out the brownie pan. Applebloom smiled and pulled him into the clubhouse. “You must be the new dragon in town. Sorry we never introduced ourselves, the party was really crowded. I’m Applebloom” She greeted. Spike gave a small smile and handed her the brownie tray. “Those smell delicious!” A white unicorn squeaked out. Spike assumed that was Sweetie Belle. An orange pegasus nodded her head in agreement. He assumed that was Scootaloo. She grabbed a brownie and took a bite into it. Her eyes lit up. “These are amazing!” Scootaloo exclaimed. Spike gave a sheepish smile. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both grabbed a brownie and took a bite. “Woah!” Sweetie Belle shouted at the taste. She quickly shoveled two more into her mouth. Applebloom looked at Spike for a few moments. “Hey, do you wanna help us set up our Cutiemark Camp? You look like you’re strong.” Applebloom suggested. Spike quickly nodded his head. He could never say no to someone in fear of getting hurt. Applebloom grinned and grabbed Spikes arm, pulling him out the door. “Come on, let’s get started!” She exclaimed, leading Spike down the ladder. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo peaked there heads out of the door. “Can we at least finish the brownies first?!” Scootaloo asked loudly. When she didn’t get an answer she let out a groan and walked out of the clubhouse. Spike, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo entered a run down camp. There was a large wooden cabin that was breaking apart. There was a large flagpole with a ripped and faded flag on top. Lastly, there was a wooden stage that had broken pieces of wood on it. “This place is a dump!” Scootaloo exclaimed. Sweetie Belle nodded her head in agreement. Applebloom gave a small smile. “It may look bad, but we can fix it up by sunset.” Applebloom encouraged. She looked over at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “Sweetie Belle, you go put up the new flag. Scootaloo, we can go clean up the stage.” Applebloom instructed. “Spike, do you mind bringing taking out all of the trash and spare wood from inside the cabin?” Applebloom asked. Spike nodded his head reached into Sweetie Belles saddle bag. He pulled out a large black garbage bag and walked towards the cabin. He entered the cabin to see that it was a mess. The floor was covered in trash and there was broken wood on the floor. “I’ve seen worse.” Spike muttered to himself. He bent over and picked up an empty soda can before tossing it in the trash. He continued to pick up trash and throw it away before he made a clean spot on the floor. His ears perked up when he heard a small noise come from the corner of the cabin. “Hello?” Spike called out. He slowly walked over to the corner, making sure whatever was there wasn’t dangerous. Spike approached a newspaper that had a large mass under it. He grabbed the newspaper and quickly moved it. A grey cat looked up at him and let out a small meow. Spike let out a gasp. “You’re so cute!” He exclaimed. The cat had light scars on her chest and back. She was missing her tail and had half of a right ear. She had big green eyes, just like Spike. Spike quickly turned away from the cat. “Nope, I’m not going to get attached, this is just a mission and if Storm King finds out that I got a cat he’ll kill it.” Spike reasoned to himself. The cat rubbed her head against the back of Spikes leg and started to purr. He quickly turned around and scooped the cat up into his arms. “I’m going to name you Patches and we can live together and I would die for you!” Spike exclaimed, his eyes filling up with tears. The cat gave Spike a happy look and rubbed her face again his. Spike sat down on the floor and struggled to hold back tears. Patches laid down on his lap and continued to purr. The door to the cabin opened, revealing Sweetie Belle. “I’m done with the flag, do you need any help?” Sweetie Belle asked. Spike looked down at Patches and back up at Sweetie Belle. “I don’t want to move.” Spike stated. Sweetie Belle let out a chuckle and approached Spike. “She really likes you, are you going to keep her?” Sweetie Belle asked. Spike thought for a few moments. “Yeah, I will.” Spike sat up in his bed, holding with his magic journal on his lap. ”Dear Tempest, I found some new information. There are three fillies my age, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. They’re not big threats but they’re the little sisters of Twilights friends. If you capture them you can easily make them surrender. Sincerely, Spike” He wrote down. He closed the journal and let out a sigh. He placed the journal in the drawer of the nightstand. Spike pulled his knees up to his chest and closed his eyes. “I’m a terrible person.” Spike muttered to himself. Patches walked over to Spike and rubbed her head on his leg. She wore a light purple color around her neck that had a bell on it. Spike gave a small smile and pet her on the head. “If you like me, I can’t be that bad.”