//------------------------------// // Spiked Third Wheel // Story: My Little Pony: Friendships and Magic [Season 1] // by Alpha Wolf 4500 //------------------------------// It was a dark, gloomy night. Kama Talon (Chad), who was dressed in red and purple rogue clothing was walking towards a very tall castle. In his belt was a wanted poster for Garbunkle (Spike). Inside the castle, Garbunkle was waiting as his pursuer got closer. He looked out of the window of the tall castle. He smirked as Kama Talon walked through the doors. Kama walked into the dark room where he was. Only being illuminated by those light behind the door he just opened. At least that's what it looked like from an outside perspective since he could see in the dark. "Well well well. What do we have here?" Garbunkle's voice asked. "Garbunkle, the great dragon wizard. I have been traveling for miles and miles to look for you." K. Talon said as he walked towards the throne Garbunkle was sitting on. "Kama Talon. Greatest bounty hunter in the land. What brings you to my castle?" Garbunkle asked. "I have been waiting for a moment like this." K. Talon said as he used his magic to pull out his pair of daggers. "It's time for us to end this." "Ha! Enough talk." Garbunkle responded, drawing his staff and sent a spell towards him. K. Talon rolled to the side To avoid one spell and then brought up his sword to block another 1. "What's a Rogue to a Wizard?" Garbunkle taunted before K. Talon through down a smoke bomb and moved through the shadows. "The wizard's end." K. Talon said. Blades were then thrown from the smoke. Garbunkle brought up a shield quickly. K. Talon dropped down from the ceiling to Garbunkle with daggers at the ready. At least that's how it was seen in their imagination. In reality, the two were playing with Ogres and Oubliettes, with action figures dressed like the heroes they were playing as. They were on a table next to a jewelry shop. "You're no match for my skills." Spike said, moving his action figure. "Well that may be, but I got the lucky rolls on my side." Chad said as he rolled a 20 sided die. "15 plus and i get rewarded double damage." Chad said. Then he saw Spike snatch it mid air. "Hey! Spike, you're supposed to let it land!"  "Who is Spike?" He asked, staying in character. "15 plus and your damage is halved" He said before then rolling. Chad took it back before getting the number.  "10 plus and the damage is tripled for me." He said, to make up for Spike taking his turn. This time, he had to hold onto the die as Spike tried to take it from him. Neither of them were letting go. "You rolled last time!" Spike said. "No I didn't! You grabbed it mid air!" "Let go!" "You let go!" Chad exclaimed. However, the two of them let it go by mistake and the die went flying right into the glass window of the jewelry store. The egg twins gasped and went wide eyed. "Oh no!" Spike exclaimed.  Chad stared in disbelief before gulping. "Okay okay. We can fix this. We just have to-" Chad looked at Spike and saw he was gone. "Huh?" He said as he looked around. "Not it!" He called. "You coward!" He exclaimed before seeing the jewelry store clerk look at him. Then he sighed and walked towards the mess. My Little Pony, My Big Changeling too Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh… [Bandit] (My Little Pony) We used to wonder what friendship could be (My Big Changeling too) [Twilight Sparkle] Until you all shared its magic with me [Rainbow Dash] Big adventure [Pinkie Pie] Tons of fun [Rarity] A beautiful heart [Applejack] Faithful and strong [Fluttershy] Sharing kindness! [Lightning Sprint] Motivate the team [Bandit] Heroics makes it all complete You have my little ponies [Bandit and Twilight] Do you know you're all my very best friends? Chad finished cleaning up all the glass. Using a brush and a dustpan to get the glass off the floor and throw it away in a trash can. "Sorry about the window." He told her. "Not a problem. At least you cleaned it instead of running off" She said to him. "I'll try to pay for the window when I can." Chad said as he threw the glass away. "Or repair it. I'm still working on restoration spells."  She smiled at him. "That's really kind of you." Chad bowed and put the brush and dustpan back in his hoodie. His surprisingly spacious hoodie. "Am I good to go?" He asked. "Of course." Chad began to walk out of the store. He looked at the board and figurines as he placed the die back onto the board. He places it all away and stuff it into his hoodie. As he began to make his way back to the library, his shell shook and he turned around and caught a ball that was headed towards him. "Sorry!" A voice called from nearby. Chad picked up the ball and looked for who threw it. A small white pinto colt with brown patches around his body, and a brown mane. He was also much smaller than Chad which wasn't a surprise considering Chad was bigger than the average colt, but considering the colt's size, he was smaller than the average colt. The small colt ran in his direction. "You found my ball!" The colt said, speaking in a cockney accent.  "Oh, this is yours?" Chad asked as he tossed it back. The colt caught it. "Thanks. My name's Pipsqueak." The colt introduced in a friendly manner. "Chad. Short for Kama Ezio Clyde Armasta Laska Chadwickson the IV." Chad said with a grin. Pipsqueak had a bit of a dumbfounded look on his face. "Wow. That sure is a mouthful." He said. Chad nodded with pride. "You wanna play?" Pipsqueak offered as he rolled the ball over to him. "I was playing by myself over there for a few minutes but you look like fun."  "Sure! Go long!" Chad said as he picked up the ball. Pipsqueak started to scamper off to a long distance. Chad throws the ball to him. Pipsqueak continued running, stumbled a little and jumped to catch it.  "Good catch Pip!" Chad exclaimed, already nicknaming him. Pipsqueak looked back at him with a smile. "Thanks. Here it comes." Pipsqueak said as he threw it back. Chad did a backflip before catching it. Pipsqueak's mouth went agap and he began clapping his hooves.  "That was amazing!" He exclaimed. Chad did a smirk and a bow before throwing the ball again. Pipsqueak wiggled and tried to do the same thing, only to land flat in his back. Chad gasped and ran to see if he was okay. "Hey, are you alright?" He asked as he got to him. "I'm okay." Pipsqueak said before laughing. Chad gave a warm smile before laughing himself.  "You're fun to hang out with Pip." He said with smile. "You are too Chad. I just moved here from Trottingham, you're making me feel really welcome here." "To be honest. I haven't been in Ponyville that long either. I only got here like what, a month ago? These chapters don't exactly have a time frame other than a few weeks." Chad said. Pipsqueak tilted his head. "All i understood from that was you weren't here that long." Pipsqueak responded.  "Wanna play some more?" Chad asked as he wagged his tail. "You bet!" Pipsqueak exclaimed. The two of them began to run off. Back at the library, Bandit was putting away the last box, which officially moved them in. "That's all of them. We are now OFFICIALLY moved in." Bandit said with a prideful smile. "The first couple of weeks didn't count because?" Twilight asked. "Because I finally unpacked the last box, making it official." Bandit said as he booped her nose. Twilight giggled as a response. "Wonderful" Twilight said, clapping her hooves. Bandit turned to the door as Spike walked through, trying to sneak downstairs. "Hey Spike.....Where's Chad?" Bandit asked, making Spike freeze in his place and turn to him with a nervous smile. "Well you see... the thing is-" Spike started before sputtering a bunch of excuses that Bandit could tell, didn't add up. He walked to Spike and lowered himself to roughly Spike's height. "Spike...where is Chad?" Bandit asked again. "Well. We were playing by a store and... may or may not have broken a window." Spike said, trying to sound like that wasn't what they did. Bandit's eyes widened. "You broke a window!?" "We didn't mean to!" "Did you try to fix the window at least?" Bandit asked. Spike gulped and rubbed his arm. "Well.... I kind of.... ran." Spike answered. Bandit gave off a disappointed sigh. "Which means that you left Chad behind. Come on Spike, you know better than to do that." Bandit told him, his voice stern.  "I'm sorry Bandit I-" Spike tried to say. "No no, don't apologize yet. Go get Chad, right now." Bandit told him in a stern tone. Spike nodded and ran out the treehouse. Bandit facehoofed and looked at Twilight.  "That wasn't too harsh was it?" He asked. She simply shrugged "Stern but fair if you ask me."  Outside, Chad was stalking Pipsqueak in a bush. Pretending to hunt him like a Predator. Pipsqueak looked around for him. Chad moved slowly towards Pipsqueak, stalking closer with every step. Pipsqueak was none the wiser. "Chad?" Pipsqueak called. Chad smirked as he was close enough for the 'attack'. Chad pounced on him with a tiger roar. Pipsqueak yelped as he was tackled, but he soon began laughing. Chad grinned. "Oh, you wanna laugh? I'll give you something to laugh about." He said before tickling his stomach. This made Pipsqueak laugh louder. "Falter before the might of the tickler!" He said as he tickled his pits as well. Pipsqueak kept laughing as he wriggled around. "I surrender!" Pipsqueak exclaimed. Chad smirked and slowed to a stop. He then flopped to the side to give Pipsqueak a shot at revenge. He jumped at the chance and began tickling Chad's stomach. Chad's leg shook as he laughed heavily. "Hahahahahaha!" He squirmed. "My turn tickler!" Pipsqueak exclaimed as he continued to tickle him, as a result Chad's leg continued to shake as if he was a puppy. Pip eventually allowed him to breathe. Chad rolled to his hooves with a smile before giving Pipsqueak a noogie. "Chad!" Spike was heard calling. Chad's ears perked up, he turned to look towards Spike before hiding to scare him. "Chad! You here?!" He called out. Pipsqueak hid with Chad. Chad smirked as he got ready to pounce on Spike. Wiggling his body as Spike walked into view. Chad let out a hiss and pounced on him. Pipsqueak jumped out too, but didn't land on Spike like Chad did. Chad hissed in his face, loudly. Spike let out a terrified yell and tried to get away. Chad snickered before getting off. "I reckon that's pay back." Chad said with a wink. "Ya think?!" Spike said as he sat up, dusting himself off. "Miss me too much?" Chad said, nudging him. Spike playfully shoved him. "With every fire ball so far." Spike said before noticing Pipsqueak. "Hey, Who's this?"  "Spike, this is Pipsqueak, my new friend." Chad said proudly. "Nice to meet ya." Pipsqueak said, offering his hoof. "Yeah, likewise" Spike said as they shook. "Met him after I finished cleaning up the glass." Chad said, which in turn, made Spike look and feel a bit guilty.  "Sorry about that." He said. "Nah, don't worry about it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the die. "Here's your die back." He said as he tossed it to him. Spike caught it and smiled. "Thanks."  "Come on Pip, let's play catch about the park." Chad said as he picked up the ball. Spike perked up a little and wanted to be involved. "Can I come?" Spike asked.  "If you're not busy. But I have to warn you, we haven't exactly adjusted for 3." Chad said. Spike looked kinda saddened at that statement. "Oh, I know. How about monkey in the middle? We always-" "It's alright." He interrupted, pausing for a moment. "You guys go."  "Are you sure?" Pipsqueak asked. "We can try to come up with another game if you-" Chad tried to say, Spike shook his head. "No no. Honestly. You guys go." Spike said. Pipsqueak looked at Chad, shrugged and began to walk to the park. Chaf looked at Spike before he followed, right as Bandit arrived. "I see Chad made another friend. You okay Spike?" He asked. Spike didn't even look at him. "Yeah. I'll just.... go clean up." He began to glumly walk away. Bandit gave a sympathetic look before going to follow him. In the park, Pipsqueak threw the ball to Chad. The two of them were being watched by Pipsqueak's mother, who went by the name Cherry song. Chad jumped up to catch it with his tail and threw it back. The two of them were having a fun time as Twilight came over to them. "There you are Chad. I see you're having fun." Twilight said with an approving smile.  "Sure am Twilight!" Chad said as he wagged his tail. "Did Spike come looking for you?" Twilight asked. As these two spoke, Pipsqueak ran back to Cherry Song, talking about something else, something that had Pipsqueak excited.  "He did back when I was by the jewelry store." Chad answered.  "Did you talk?" Twilight asked, a bit concerned. "For a little bit. He didn't seem too happy. He was kinda bummed out." Chad admitted as he took a seat. "I mean, I'm good at reading emotions, but the why of the emotions. I think he felt guilty for running away when I needed his help, but I forgave him for that. Do you know why?" Twilight simply looked at him for a moment, almost feeling like she couldn't put into words what she wanted to say. "Spike feels replaced." "He does?" Chad asked with a head tilt. Twilight nodded. "Why is that? I've only been friends with pipsqueak for like 20 minutes."  "Well, he ran off, you got blamed and then ended up making a new friend. In his head, he probably thinks you did it to get your own back on him." "Using someone as a form of payback? Come on twilight, Spike knows me better than that." Chad smiled as he brushed it off. "Bandit is chatting with him now. I'll go talk with him too." "Thanks Twi-" His shell shook, making him look towards the ball bouncing towards him. Twilight ended up catching the ball that was thrown.  "Thanks Twi!" Chad said as Twilight gave him the ball. Pipsqueak got to Chad and whispered in his ear. Chad gasped as Twilight was about to walk away. Chad zipped in front of her. "Twilight. Pipsqueak said he wants to have a sleepover at our place! Can we Twilight!? Pretty please?!" He asked with the puppy eyes. Twilight rolled her eyes with a smile. "I'll ask Bandit. If he says yes then you can." Twilight answered.  Back at the library, Bandit was having a little heart to heart with Spike. "Look spike, you and Chad have grown up alongside one another. You know he wouldn't just up and replace you for any reason." Bandit told him. Spike was still kinda down. "That's just it. We've always been together. Maybe he's just tired of me" Spike said. "Don't think like that. Come on Spike." Spike just sighed. "Think about it okay Spike?" Bandit asked. Spike nodded in response.  Bandit walked off as Chad came running in right as Twilight arrived. "Bandit! Pipsqueak wants to have a sleepover here." Chad said. "The timing couldn't be worse." Bandit muttered under his breath. "Can he Bandit? Can he spend the night, pretty please?" Chad asked. Bandit looked at Spike and gulped.  "Sure." Bandit said. Chad ran out and opened the door for Pipsqueak.  "I told you they'd say yes." He said as Spike silently left the room.  Pipsqueak walked in with his sleeping bag and a bag with pajamas. "This is fantastic!" He said. "Huh, so this is why your name is Pipsqueak." Bandit said as he looked down at him with a snicker. Before getting an ear pull. "Seriously?" Twilight asked. "Owowowow!" He exclaimed. Trying to get his ear back. She eventually let go. Bandit rubbed his ear. "You gotta stop that." Bandit said. "You give me no choice." Twilight responded with a glare. "Imma get you back for that."  "I'd like to see you try." Bandit glared at her before laughing and nudging her playfully. She began laughing too. "I'm gonna make dinner. Any ideas?" Bandit asked. "Gumbo. Delicious gumbo." Twilight said. Bandit nodded and walked off. Chad was downstairs with a chess board, playing chess with Pipsqueak. So far, they were evenly matched. Pipsqueak smiled as he took a pawn of Chad's. Chad moved his bishop to take his knight. "Good move." Pipsqueak admitted. "Thank you thank you. Spike and I play this game a lot. We are both practicing to beat Bandit one day." Chad asked. "Who's won more out of you both?" Pipsqueak asked as he moved his took to take Chad's queen. "It's a draw. We never did play the tie breaker. I always declined." Chad said as he got Pipsqueak in check with his knight. "You did? Why?" Pipsqueak asked, moving the king out of Check. "I felt like regardless of who wins, we would stop playing with one another." Chad responded as he moved his bishop. "Why's that?" Pipsqueak asked. Moving his Queen to block the bishop. "Whenever one of us wins a game, we try to find a different game to beat the other. Chess was the last game on the list. Well, the last competitive game." Chad responded. As he moved his knight again. "Oh. I see." Pipsqueak said as he moved his king backwards. Chad moved his rook and to the end of the board, ending the game. "Checkmate." He said. "Wow, you are good at this." Pipsqueak said as the two shook hooves. "Wanna play another round or you wanna play video games?" Chad asked. "Video games sound fun." Pipsqueak said. Chad walked upstairs and returned with 2 controllers. Upstairs, Bandit was cooking dinner for everyone.  "Spike, can you pass me the carrots?" Bandit asked. He had Spike with him to help him get his mind off of Pipsqueak and Chad. So far, it was working. "Coming at ya." Spike tossed them to him. Bandit caught it, chopped it up and placed it in the pot. Spike watched with a half smile. Bandit took out a scoop and offered it to Spike. "Care to do the honors?" He asked. Spike eagerly nodded his head. He tilted his head back with his mouth open as Bandit poured the scoop into his mouth. Spike ate the food happily and licked his lips afterwards.  "This is amazing." He said with a smile. Bandit smirked and started to pour bowls. "Go get Chad and Pip." He said, hoping that Spike's mind was now clear of jealousy. And considering how Spike was eager to get moving, his plan worked. For now. Inside of Chad and Spike's room (down stairs), Chad and Pipsqueak were playing Minecraft and had just finished building a two story house. The two of them were talking, preoccupied to the point where they didn't hear when Spike knocked on the door before poking his head in. He started to head into the room. "So your birthday is tomorrow?" Chad was heard asking. "And you want me to come to the bowling alley with you tomorrow for the party!? I would love to go!" He exclaimed. Spike stopped in his tracks. "I'll be your main hype pony...er, Changeling." Chad said. That was usually something he did for him and Spike's birthday. "That's our thing..." He muttered quietly. He then walked out of the room with his head down. "I promise, I'll make your birthday worth remembering." Chad said. Then the smell of gumbo hit his nose. "Gumbo's ready." He and Pipsqueak quickly ran out of the room. Spike was behind the door as they ran past. He walked back into he and Chad's room and took one of the books off of the shelf. It was their picture book. Photos of the things the two had done together through the years. Spike welt up as he slowly began to cry. Later that night, an envelope was placed on Spike's bed, as he was cuddled close to the book. It kept falling off, so the magic lifted up his arm and tucked it underneath. Chad, the one who was placing the invitation, smiled before walking back to his own bed. Too bad one late night shuffle was all it took for the envelope to take a journey under the bed. The next day, Chad was at the bowling alley, with Pipsqueak and he was hyping up the party. "Fillies and Gentlecolts! Put your hooves together for the birthday colt himself! Pipsqueak!" Chad said on a microphone. The crowd cheered for Pipsqueak as he stepped forward. He was a bit nervous since the only ones he actually knew were his mother, and Chad. But upon hearing the ponies celebrating as he came around the corner, he was a lot less nervous. "Enjoy the party everyone and have a fantastic time!" Chad cheered as he stepped away from the microphone. However, as he looked around, he saw that Spike wasn't around. Pipsqueak walked over. "What's wrong?" "I don't see Spike anywhere." He said.  "Now that you mention it. Neither have I. Did you give him the invite?" Pipsqueak asked. "I could've sworn I did." Chad answered. Chad walked over to Bandit and Twilight.  "Twilight,  Bandit, Where's Spike?" Chad asked. The two looked at each other and then at Chad. "We thought he came with you to help set up." Bandit answered.  "I thought he would be here." Chad said with an ear flop. "Did you give him the invitation?" Twilight asked. "I tucked it under his arm last night." Chad said. Bandit's eyes widened and then squinted as he realized what happened. "Of course it's that type of Clichè." He muttered before turning to Twilight. "Twily, I know what happened, I'll go check on Spike." Bandit said as he flew back to the library. At the library, Spike was sitting at the end of his bed. Definitely bummed out about not only missing out on Pipsqueak's birthday party, but in his eyes, he wasn't even thought about or invited. Bandit walked into the library, and made his way down the stairs. He got to Spike and Chad's room and peeked his head in. "Spike? You in here?" Bandit called right before looking at Spike as Spike looked towards him. "Spike. Chad's looking for you. Why are you in here?" Bandit asked as he walked over to him. Spike hung his head again. "Cause I wasn't invited." He answered. "But he you were. He left the invitation on you last-" "I didn't see an invitation." Spike interrupted. Bandit wasted no time looking under the bed. "Here it is." He said. Spike stared in disbelief "Oh..." Bandit gave it too Spike but before he could move, Bandit stopped him. "Spike....don't you think you should talk to Chad? His newly found friendship is clearly bothering you. If you don't talk to him, this is only gonna get worse." Bandit told him. Spike took a moment before nodding his head. Bandit placed Spike on his back and began to walk back to the party. It didn't take long until Bandit walked through the doors and the two saw Chad sitting and looking on at the party. It was pretty obvious he was worried and bothered. Spike climbed down from Bandit, walked towards Chad and cleared his throat. Chad turned to look at him with his ears perked. "Hey Chad." Spike started. "Hey Spike. I'm glad to see you." Chad responded. "Look.... about earlier." Spike began. "How much earlier? Earlier today, last night or-" Chad was saying before Spike simply looked at him. "Right earlier. Yes. About earlier." Spike let out a sigh. "Look. I'm really sorry. About everything. The jewelry store, the whole jealousy thing, not realizing that you've only made a friend. I'm sorry. I should've been a better friend." Spike told him. Chad raised an eyebrow. "Friend? Spike. You and I were never friends." Chad said. Record scratched and Spike took a step back in response. "W-w-we're not?" Spike asked. "Spike, friends are creatures who come in and out of our lives. Creatures we develope bonds over in due time. But you and I Spike. We were never like that. We were bonded together ever since birth. We were brought into this world side by side, faced all our problems together. That doesn't make us friends Spike. That makes us Brothers." Chad told him. Spike felt tears welling up in his eyes. He stepped forward and embraced Chad in a hug. Chad smiled and hugged back. "You're the best dragon brother I could ask for." Chad said. "You're the best changeling brother ever." Spike said. "Awwww." A crowd said, having heard and saw everything. However, the two brothers didn't move until they were ready to. "Come on Spike. Pip has a game for three on bowling. Wanna play?" He offered. Spike was about to accept, but saw Bandit getting out the quill and paper. "Yes, definitely, but there's something I gotta do first." Spike said before running towards Bandit. Chad smiled and went to put Spike's name in the slot. Bandit was about to write a letter. Then he felt Spike tug on his wing. He looked down towards him. "Thanks for getting me to talk things through with Chad." He told him. "No problem Spike." Bandit said as he ruffled his scales. "Wanna write the letter?" Spike's eyes dilated with joy. "Really!?" He asked. Bandit smiled and gave him the paper and quill. Spike jumped up and hugged Bandit, his legs dangling as he held onto him. Bandit smiled and hugged him back. "You're getting good at Jumping." "Learned from the best." Spike responded.  "Who Twilight?" Bandit asked, completely missing the hint.  Spike put a finger on Bandit's nose. "Oh me! Sorry about that. My bad." Spike chuckled and hugged him once again. Bandit hugged him back with one hoof before letting him write the letter. Spike took the quill and scroll, briefly thinking about what he'd write. "Harder than it looks isn't it?" Bandit asked as he sat beside him. "Yeah. I don't know how you and Twilight do it so easily." Spike answered.  "Let me help you. Dear My Loving Mother." Bandit said as he began to assist. "Today, Spike learned That sometimes you close as family members are going to branch out and make more friends. And just because they want to make some more friends, it doesn't mean that they're going to be replacing you. Sometimes they are going to prefer to hang out with the new friendly just made, and that's OK, so long as you're always there for your family.  Sincerely, Your loving son Bandit and honorary brother, Spike."  He smiled as he sent the letter. Spike smiled, running off to find Chad, waving to Bandit as he went. Twilight walked over, standing beside him. "You definitely know how to bring out the best in them." She said, looking at Spike and Chad. "A little something I've learned over the years." He responded as Spike rolled a strike. "Yeah!" Spike cheered happily. Pipsqueak, Chad and Spike all high clawed/high hoofed in celebration.