//------------------------------// // There and Back Again // Story: One Small Favor // by Regidar //------------------------------// Spike was running through the Apple Orchard when he remembered he hadn’t eaten for at least two days. His hunger pains growing, he dashed into the library, shoveled down several rubies that were laying on the counter, and sighed in pleasure as his hunger decreased. Then he cringed, realizing what he had done. Cursing himself for not realizing this at the beginning of his quest, he ran with the pillow over to Lyra and Bon-Bon’s. Bon-Bon took the pillow happily, and Spike grabbed the rainbow crystal. “Bon-Bon, do you know where Greyhound is?” “I dunno, probably staring at Rainbow Dash somewhere.” Spike rushed outside, only to spot Greyhound talking to Rainbow Dash. “Come on Dash, we’d be a great pair!” “Hah! You’re kinda a dweeb, no offense. Also... I’m not the romantic type. So nice try.” Spike ran over and gave Greyhound the crystal. Greyhound presented it to Rainbow Dash. “Look! I’m going to use this to make you one of the best necklaces ever someday!” Rainbow Dash blushed. “I-idiot! I- I... It better be a nice necklace!” Rainbow Dash flew away, giggling slightly. Greyhound hugged Spike. “Thank you so much!” Spike squeezed away, and ran off to find Lyra. Lyra was still waiting near the cave. “Jeez, Spike, could you take any longer?” “Ok, I gave Greyhound the crystal! Can you please unfreeze Tank?” Lyra nodded, and the two walked into the cave. Unfortunately, the cockatrace was waiting for them. Screeching, it charged Spike. “Augh!” Spike jumped to the side, and grabbed a rock, bravely chucking it at the monster. Spike is not the best rock chucker, and it hit Lyra in the side of the head. “Oops.” Lyra, stood up, seething. Picking the rock up with magic, she threw it back at Spike. Lyra is not that talented in the art of rock throwing either, and it clocked the cockatrace right in the beak, knocking it out cold. “Well... that went better than expected.” Lyra nodded, and went over to Tank, unpetrifying him. Spike grabbed Rainbow Dash’s pet, and ran back down to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was flying above the town, humming to herself. “Dash!” Rainbow Dash looked down, then landed next to Spike. “Hey Spike! Thanks for helping Greyhound out. I kinda like that kid... he’s nice. Oh, hey! You found Tank! Thanks for that!” Rainbow Dash put Tank on her back. “Ahem... the weather forecast?” “Oh! Right... tomorrow it’s gonna rain. Pretty heavily too. Alright, see yah!” Spike walked back to Sugarcube Corner. “Mrs. Cake! It’s going to rain tomorrow!” Mrs. Cake looked worried. “Oh dear, that means I’ll have to reschedule the picnic me and Pinkie Pie were going to have with the twins... thank you so much! Here’s the T.R.A.S.H. you needed.” “Thank you, Mrs. Cake!” Spike took the ropes, and rushed off into the Everfree forest, passing by none other than Twilight Sparkle. “Spike! Come back here right- oh, nevermind.” Spike rushed into the forest, and looked around for Mr. Timn before coming upon a gravestone. “R.I.P. Mr. Timn ????-2011” was engraved upon it. “What the heck? The year is 1002, not 2011!” “Acute observation there, fella!” Mr. Timn had seemingly appeared from nowhere. “Augh!” Spike fell on his face, then got back up and gave the odd stallion the T.R.A.S.H. “Here’s your stupid ropes! Now, stop flying so close to The Hive!” “Will do, boy! I’ll- Do you hear that?” “Hear what?” “It’s the sound of three thousand timber wolves grating cheese to the tune of ‘Under Pressure!’” Mr. Timn’s eyes grew wide. “I gotta get out of here!” Mr. Timn rushed off once again, and the same noise that had accompanied his first ‘death’ followed. Spike shrugged, and went back to The Hive. Climbing into the large insect nest, he approached the queen with the good news. “So, Mr. Timn won’t be bothering you anymore.” “Excellent, small reptile, as promised, here is some honey.” A guard bee gave Spike a jar filled with honey. Spike saluted, then scampered away to the Head Druid’s flower bud. The unopened bud turned to look at him. Hello. Have you acquired the necessary honey for the favor? “Yup! Got it right here. Let’s get going.” Alright. Please step into my bud. The flower opened, and Spike climbed back into the flower. Being squeezed through reality was quite pleasurable, he’d have to go back and do it again sometime. Stepping out of the Druid’s flower, he presented the honey to a smaller, nearby druid, who took it and left. There. By the time you reach the fountains, it will have been cured. “Thank you so much!” No, thank you, dragon. You have done better over the last few days then you’ll ever know. Spike headed back off to the fountains, and found that they had indeed been cured. The guard stallion saluted the dragon, and let him harvest the moss. Running back to the druid, he used the strange creature to once again transport himself back to the Everfree Forest. Becoming extremely tired of running everywhere, Spike fell facefist into Zecora’s cottage, then held up the moss. Zecora took it, and threw it into her brew. “Spike, the potion will be ready soon. For your help, accept this special brew.” Spike was given some red potions. “Energy pots?” Zecora nodded as she stirred the potion with her ladle. Spike smiled. These would definitely come in handy... “Ah, yes, now the brew is done. Now go off, young dragon, and have your fun.” “Thanks Zecora.” Spike took the Tartarian Flu cure and ran off to the Train Station. His fatigue gnawed at him, but he drank an energy potion, and he felt energy flow back into him. Buying a ticket, he waited for twelve minutes before the train to Canterlot came. Jumping aboard, he saw that the same conductor who he had dissed earlier was there. “You...” The conductor eyed him, but Spike just gave him the ticket, along with three extra bits. “Here’s some extra bits for your trouble. I’m sorry for being such a jerk earlier.” The conductor look at the dragon, then smiled. “You’re a good kid, y'know?” Spike smiled, and watched the sun set over Canterlot as the train chugged away towards the mountain which the city sat upon. He could feel himself slipping off into sleep again. His dream was odd. He dreamt that Rainbow Dash had disappeared, and ended up in the care of a strange creature in a dark and depressing world. Upon waking, he thought back to the odd dream. “That would make a great story... it was kind of sad though.” Spike blinked a few tears from his eyes. Really, why did he have such an odd dream? The train came to a stop about an hour later, and Spike ran to the royal chambers. Knocking upon Shining Armour’s door, the Captain of the Guard answered. “Hey, Spike! Jeez, did the Apothecary really take that long to make it?” Spike considered telling Shining about the story of his travels, but decided against it. “Yeah, he was kind of busy.” “Oh well, Cadenza appreciates it! Also, her fever spiked right after you left. She could have died if I had gone by myself.” “Yeah, thanks Spike! You saved my life!” Cadenza’s voice was sore and throaty. “Oh, really... it was nothing. Wait, aren’t you immortal?” Spike realized this as the conversation resonated in his ears. “Immortal doesn’t mean invincible, Spike,” Cadenza offered back. “Me, Luna, or Celestia could easily die from a sickness if it were bad enough, and a powerful enough assassination attempt could take us down.” “Oh... I see.” Spike felt bad for asking. “Hey, Spike... you’re a great dragon.” Shining Armour hugged the purple dragon. Spike smiled. Maybe all of this was worth it. Spike saluted, and left to go back to Lit Blowtorch. The sun was rising in the east, and the shops would be open soon. Reaching Lit Blowtorch’s Armour Emporium, he saw that it had just opened. “Hello there, Spike! Took a little while, but I can think it’s safe to assume it hasn’t been stolen, as Shining Armour informed me that you had delivered it!” Lit Blowtorch was working on a necklace with the crystal that used to belong to Lyra inlaid in it. “As promised here are the cages.” Spike took the cages, and another swig of the energy potion. He then went back to Dinkleberg’s farm. The farmer was polishing his pitchfork as Spike approached with the cages. “Ah! Finally brought the cages! Well, let me get yah your chickens.” Dinkleberg left for the chickens, and returned shortly. “Tell Turner I said hi!” Spike advanced to the diamond dog dens, and gave the chickens to the diamond dog guard. “Thanks for da chickies! Here’s dah winged horsie as promised!” The guard released Klaus. “Thank Celestia I’m free... I owe you, big time!” Klaus hugged Spike. “I don’t care how long it took you, I’ll be forever greatful to what you did! They were going to eat me, you know...” Klaus let Spike ride on his back as they flew back to Manehattan. Landin down outside the diner, Klaus rushed inside. Spike followed, and saw the two siblings embrace. “Klaus! Are you ok? I’ve been worried sick!” “I’m fine, this little guy saved me!” Spike had already left for Sunny’s. As much as he would like to stay, there was no time to waste. Getting to the train station and using the last of his bits to buy another ticket, he was finally heading back to Ponyville. Upon reaching Ponyville, the little dragon rushed to Sunny Boulderair’s house, drinking the rest of the energy potion on the way. Finally getting there he knocked on the door. “Hello? Oh, hi! I thought you forgot about me! Is Klaus alright?” “Yeah, I rescued him from diamond dogs.” “Diamond dogs? Oh dear. Well, thank you so much for saving him! Here, I cooked up some food for you while you were gone, I’m a cook in my spare time. Also, here’s the ink you needed.” Sunny gave Spike some very appetizing looking stew with some opals in it. “I know dragons eat gems, and those opals aren’t going to eat themselves, you know.” Spike grinned up at the pegasus. “Thank you!” Sunny smiled back. “Now run along. Somepony named ‘Twilight Sparkle’ wanted you to get back to her.” Oh, I’ll be back soon enough Spike thought, making his way back to Bound Leather’s bookstore. “Spike! I thought you’d left me hanging!” The old stallion joked as Spike returned. “Here’s all the stuff to fix the book, hope you can make it quickly!” Bound Leather got right to work. Spike was amazed at how fast he worked, his horn levitating strings and ink into their proper places. It was like Rarity making a fine dress, except it was a book, and much faster. “There you go. Hope Twilight finds it to be satisfactory!” Spike grabbed the book, and ran back to the library. Twilight wasn’t there, so he just grabbed the book, and ran to find the gems. After pulling up some very nice rubies, he went back to the Carousel Boutique. Rarity heard Spike coming in, and she turned around to greet the little dragon.” “Hey Rarity! I got your rubies!” “Oh, Spikey! I’m sorry, you just took so long I went and did it myself!” Spike had a feeling this was coming. “So all that hard work...” Spike sat down, and felt as though he were going to cry. “What hard work? It was just one small favor.” Spike left the Boutique, feeling his tears slide down his cheeks. Twilight walked up beside him. “You found out, didn’t you?” Spike nodded sadly. “That’s what I was trying to tell you...” “All my work... wasted!” Twilight put her hoof over Spike. “Oh Spike... Shining told me about what you did. Your work wasn’t wasted! Think of all the ponies you helped! I’m sure you did more then just Cadenza a favor.” Spike looked over to see Greyhound and Rainbow Dash walking together, talking and laughing. He thought back to the Boulderairs, the poisoned fountain, the bees, Mr. Timn, Tank (who would still be a statue if it weren’t for him), and all the numerous others. “Come on, Spike. You know it wasn’t a waste.” Spike looked up at Twilight, smiling, and blinking the tears from his eyes. “You know, you’re right. Oh! Did you know the druids are still alive?” Twilight’s mouth dropped open. “No way! Really? What were they like? Tell me!” The two started to walk back to the Library. “Oh, it’s all going to cost you a lot of Ice Cream...” The two laughed as they headed off, and a small odd coated foal with a broken horn watched them. He smiled. “That dragon will turn out good, yes, and that unicorn too. I foresee a good future for those two...” The colt trotted off to parts unknown, with no pony but a small blonde maned, black coated colt who listened to the lovely musing of Kurt Coltbain all day seeing him as he left.