//------------------------------// // An Apology Pt.2 // Story: The Storm Dragon Returns // by ShowShine //------------------------------// Spike stood in the backyard, holding a chisel and a mallet. Next to him on the ground, there were different sized chisels and hammers that laid on a white sheet. He wore safety goggles to make sure nothing got in his eyes. In front of him, there was a large block of stone. It towered over him by several feet. "Spike, it's time for dinner." Tempest said from the door. Spike turned around to face Tempest, who was halfway out of the door. "I'll eat dinner later, I'm doing something. Spike stated. Tempest frowned. She was worried about Spike, he had been out a lot lately and hadn't been sleeping well. Tempest let out a sigh. "Just make sure to eat tonight and go to bed early. I'll leave your dinner on the stove." Tempest instructed. Spike nodded head. "Okay Tempest." Spike said before turning around to face the block of stone. He heard the door close and let out a sigh. He was tired but he had to do this to be forgiven. He looked up at the block of stone. It's time to get to work. Tempest walked down the hallway, sleepily rubbing her eyes. She had just woken up from a long night of sleep. It was five in the morning. She had decided to get up early so she could get to work early. Tempest walked down the stairs, listening to the stairs creak. Once she was off of the steps, she made a right run into the kitchen. On the stove, there was a plate with tin foil covering it. Tempest's cheeks puffed out in annoyance and she let out a soft groan. "Ugh Spike..." Tempest muttered to herself. He hadn't eaten any of his food. If he hadn't eaten it, that means he didn't come inside to go to bed. Tempest walked around the kitchen table and approached the wooden backyard door. She opened it to see a very large statue of Prince Rutherford in the backyard. The statue was in a very heroic pose with one hoof outstretched. It was very impressive to do in one night. Spike laid on the back of the statue, with his face buried in the stone. He didn't seem to be asleep. "Spike!" Tempest shouted angrily. Spike quickly sat up, letting out a hum. He looked at Tempest and sleepily waved to her. Tempest glared at him. "Spike, you were supposed to come inside and go to sleep!" Tempest exclaimed. Spike slowly blinked and rubbed his eyes. He let out a long yawn. "Sorry Tempest, I must have lost track of time." Spike apologized. Tempest rubbed the bridge of her muzzle and let out a sigh. "You're staying home today." Tempest stated. Spike's eyes widened and he toppled off of the statue. He opened his wings so he could glide to the ground. "What, why?!" He asked. "You haven't slept in two days, you've barely eaten, and you've been overworking yourself. I know you're tired and you need a break." Tempest explained. Spike crossed his arms and pouted. "I'm not even tired." He muttered, kicking the grass. That was a lie, he was exhausted. Spike could barely stand straight. Tempest looked Spike up and down. "Go to bed Spike." Tempest stated. Spike let out a grumble and uncrossed his arms. "Fine, but I won't be happy about it." Spike said, walking past Tempest. Tempest shook her head and walk inside, closing the backyard door. She was just glad he was getting some rest. Spike laid in bed, tossing and turning. He couldn't get himself to sleep. He felt too guilty to sleep. Spike wanted to be forgiven, not sleeping. He sat up in bed. "I don't want to stay home, I want to give the Yaks and Griffons there presents." Spike whined out. He stood up from bed and walked over to the window. The sun was starting to rise and he let out a soft groan. He wanted to be forgiven but couldn't couldn't do that from his house. An idea popped into his head. Maybe he could just sneak out. Tempest had left over thirty minutes ago and wouldn't be back until late in the day. Grubber was still asleep and Tempest had left him a note telling Grubber to not wake Spike up. Grubber would be leaving early to help Mr and Mrs Cake at Sugarcube Corner for a full day. That gave Spike plenty of time to go to Yakyakistan, Griffonstone, and come back home without anyone noticing he ever left. He hated lying but this was for a good cause. Spike walked over to his closet and swung it open. He pulled out multiple articles of warm clothing. He had to walk up the mountain that let to Yakyakistan because the train there only dropped off at the bottom of the mountain. Once he had enough clothing in his arms, he flew over to the window. He opened it and took in a breath of fresh air. This plan was going to work like a charm. Spike walked off of the train, pulling a cart with the statue in it. He had chosen a bedroom car so he didn't take up too much space. Spike approached the foot of the mountain and stared up at it the path. Luckily the Yak's were kind enough to make a path that led up to Yakyakistan. It was the shortest path that was an hour and a half walk. Spike reached into the cart and pulled out a hat, a scarf, a jacket, and mittens. Rarity had made it especially for him. After Spike put on his warm clothing, he put his hand onto the handle of the cart. "Okay, I can do this." Spike said to himself. He started to walk up the path, the snow crunching under his feet. He dragged the cart behind him. It felt as if it weighed several thousand pounds. Maybe it was because he was going uphill. Maybe it was the fact that it was literally stone. "Come on, you're stronger than this." Spike whispered to himself, struggling to pull the cart up. He had only made it up a few feet. He took slow steps as he tugged onto the cart. This was agony. He was hungry, tired, and his body ached from constantly moving around for two days straight. He wasn't going to rest until everyone had forgiven him. Spike made it to the entrance of Yakyakistan, panting heavily. It had taken him three hours to make it up the mountain. The statue had slowed him down a lot. Spike walked past the wooden gates and entered the town, looking around. This was the first time he had been in Yakyakistan. All of the houses were made of clay and the roofs were made of hay. He walked past yaks who were talking to each other, and breaking stuff. Spike's eyes landed on Prince Rutherford who was hopping on logs to break them. They shattered under his hooves. Spike approached Prince Rutherford and cleared his throat. "Prince Rutherford, I hope you accept my gift of forgiveness. I worked very hard on this." Spike said with a bow. Prince Rutherford turned around and looked at the statue. Even though his eyes were covered by his bangs, Spike could tell his eyes widened. "Yak love statue. Yak will put in town center!" Prince Rutherford exclaimed happily. Spike let out a sigh of relief. HE was glad that he was forgiven. "Statue so good that small dragon will be honorary yak!" He said with a smile. That caught Spike by surprise. Pinkie Pie was the last honorary yak and that was because she had saved Yakyakistan from behind buried in snow. Prince Rutherford was egotistical so maybe a statue of himself was worth being an honorary yak. Spike took a step back and shook his head. "I can't accept that." Spike said with a nervous smile. Prince Rutherford scrunched up his face before shrugging his shoulder. "If small dragon changes mind, dragon can come back to be honorary yak." Prince Rutherford said. Spike gave a shaky smile. He didn't really deserve to be an honorary yak, he didn't do anything heroic like Pinkie Pie did. Prince Rutherford stood up on his hind legs and leaned on the side of the cart. He slipped the large statue between his horns and leaned back, holding balancing the statue on his head. Spike gave a look of surprise. That statue had to be over a three hundred pounds. Prince Rutherford walked over to an empty spot in the middle of the down and placed the statue down, which made a loud bang. Yaks started to gather around the statue, staring at it in awe. Spike smiled and went behind the cart, starting to push it towards the exit. The cart was much lighter, put still had some weight to it because it held his present to Griffons. Spike walked out of the entrance of Yakyakistan and pushed the cart at the edge of the path. He flew into the cart and comfortable sat down in the cart. He leaned on one side and the cart. The cart started to roll slowly before speeding up. Spike peaked his head out of the racing cart. The snow blurred past him and cold wind blew in his face. Spike squinted as the air hit his eyes. He could barely see anything in front of him. The cart got faster and one of the wheels started to wobble. Spike had no way of slowing the cart down. He just hoped that he made it to the bottom of the mountain where the ground leveled out. One of the front wheels flew off of the cart and flew into a snowbank. The cart flipped over Spike flew out of the cart. He rolled across the ground, rapidly going down hill. He gripped onto the mountain path, being able to stop himself. Spike clutched onto his chest, trying to catch his breath. That was terrifying. Spike slowly stood up and held himself up straight. He saw that the cart was tipped over and all of the bits and gems that were in the cart were spread out across the ground. He took a step forward but a sharp pain came from his right ankle. "Ow!" Spike exclaimed. He must have sprained it during the fall. That didn't matter, he needed to go to Griffonstone and give them the bits. He limped over to the cart, wincing with every step. It was over a thousand bits he had earned up from helping people. He was going to give them all to Griffonstone to pay for the repairs for the town. Spike pushed over the cart, only for it to lean at a weird angle. He looked down to see that the left wheel was gone. He looked around to see that wheel was nowhere in sight. Spike let out a sigh and started to scoop the money up, placing it in the cart. After several minutes of not finding any more gems and bits, he grabbed the handle of the cart and started to limp away. It was time to go to Griffonstone. Spike limped through Griffonstone, pulling his broken cart behind him. The cary was scuffed at the bottom due to one of the wheels being gone. He made his way to the leader of the town. Griffons didn't have a mayor or a royal leader. Instead, they had an old man who just bossed people around. He had no official or legal title, he was just an old man. Spike let out a sneeze making a small flame shooting out of his mouth. He might have been getting sick from the lack of sleep, lack of food, and constant movement. His throat was starting to hurt and his nose was running. He approached a broken down two story house. It looked like if Spike knocked on it, it would fall apart. He limped to the door and lightly knocked on it. Before he could back up, they old door swung open. An old Griffon glared at Spike. The feathers on his head and face were balding and his eye had a scar over it, just like Spike's. He seemed to be blind out of that eye too. "What do you want?" He asked rather rudely. Spike gestured to the cart. "I'm donating some money to the town so you can fix things up." Spike said with a friendly smile. The Griffon looked Spike up and down and squinted. "What's the catch? You look like a hooligan child. You probably got those scars from doing pranks." He said in a judgemental tone. Spike blinked in surprise. "There is no catch, I just want to make this town a better place." Spike said, pushing the cart a little closer to the Griffon. He peeked into the cart and his eyes lit up. He pushed the cart in his house. "Well, thanks for the money kid!" He exclaimed before slamming the door shut. Spike frowned. He hoped that all of the gems and bits went to a good cause. Realization hit Spike; he hadn't taken any money out of the cart so he couldn't buy himself a train ticket. He let out a soft groan. He had to walk all the way to Ponyville. Tempest walked into the house, closing the door behind her. She peeked into the living room to see Grubber sitting on the couch, reading a book. "Hey Grubber." Tempest greeted. Grubber looked up from his book and waved. "Is Spike still asleep?" Tempest asked. "He wasn't home when I got here so I'm gonna guess he's out doing something." Grubber explained. Tempest let out a groan and rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. "I told Spike not to leave the house. He hasn't slept in two days and I'm worried he's going to stress himself out." Tempest said with a sigh. Spike was so grounded when he got home. The front door creaked open, making Tempest turn around. Spike hobbled into the house, closing the door behind him. Tempest turned to face him and gave him an angry look. "Spike you were supposed to stay inside and relax!" Tempest scolded angrily. Her face softened when she saw that Spike looked off. He was leaning against the wall and leaning on one leg. He stared at the ground and didn't seem to have a reaction to Tempest scolding him. She looked at his ankle to see that it was completely red and swollen. She took a step closer to Spike and felt his forehead. "Spike you're burning up!" Tempest exclaimed. Spike stood straight up to show he was perfectly fine. "No no I'm fine." Spike slurred out. He took a step forward, only to start to fall. Tempest caught Spike and picked him up, placing him on her back. She turned around and made her way upstairs. "You're not fine, you're sick. Now you're going to bed and you won't leave the house until you're better." Tempest said sternly. Spike frowned. That wasn't very good.