It's a beautiful day at Tambelon Castle, and King Nightlight and Queen Velvet are showing around a very special guest.
"It truly is a pleasure to have you here Princess Ember," said King Nightlight with a smile.
"Just Ember, thank you," the small blue dragon said rolling her eyes.
"We're just so happy that the Dragon Lord was willing to have you over," the King continued, "How is the old Grump anyway?"
"Pretty much the same as he always is.." replied Ember looking bored.
The King began looking nervous at how the Princess was responding.
"So.. I believe you remember my daughter Twilight? She'll be so happy to see you again."
The King and Queen led Ember to the doors of the Royal library.
"What do you say we check in on her?" Nightlight said opening the door.
A load roar echoed through the doors, startling the three royals.
"Spike!? Calm down! Get down from there!" Twilight Sparkle shouted.
"Oh no, Not Again!" Spik n Span called out whimpering.
The King and Queen looked in to see the library in ruins. Books shelves were overturned and Library books were missing from the shelves. At the center of the room Twilight and the rest of the girls were calling up to a medium sized purple dragon hanging from a chandelier. He was holding on tightly to a large pile of books, as well as Spik n Span.
"Spike WAAAAAAAAAANT! the young purple dragon shouted out, twice his usual size.
"What in Equestria is going on in here!?" King Nightlight cried out in a panic.
"I beg your pardon your Majesty," said Spik n Span in a panic, "But I'm afraid young master Spike may have gotten himself into the Royal Treasury again.. And he may have over indulged in our surplus gems.."
"What!?" the king exclaimed in a panic, "Don't tell me he's..!"
"Ye'up," replied Apple Jack, "He's hav'n a gem rush!"
"Well don't just stand there! Somepony get him down from there!" The king cried out.
Ember watched in amusement as the ponies struggled to chase Spike around the ceiling, a smile finally appearing on her face.
"Spike," said Fluttershy flying up to the dragon, "What do you say we take a nice deep breath, and let Spik n Span go?"
"Spike WAAAAAAAAAAAANT!" Spike shouted as he threw Spik N Span directly at Fluttershy.
"YeeeeaAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" cried out Spik n Span as he and Fluttershy fell to ground below.
The other ponies quickly and panicked and scattered about trying to catch them as they fell. Finally the two ponies landed directly on Rainbow Dash, slamming all three to the ground.
A furious Rainbow Dash growled under a dazed Fluttershy and Spik n Span.
"All right! That's it! No more Little Miss Nice Pony!" she cried out leaping from the pile, "Come on girls! Evasive maneuvers!"
Pinkie Pie quickly scurried up a book shelf and started throwing books at the young dragon. Spike quickly caught ahold of the books and added them to his pile.
"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight shouted out, "Stop giving him Books!"
"I'm not giving him Books!" Pinkie shouted furiously, "I'm assaulting him with Books! How dare he take the Books!"
While Pinkie Pie distracted Spike, Rainbow Dash flew up Applejack who was swinging her lasso.
"Time to show this cranky dragon the ropes," Rainbow Dash said with a smile.
She quickly tossed her lasso, wrapping it around a surprised Spike.
"How do you like them apples," Applejack cried out in triumph.
Spike gave the ponies a wicked grin. He quickly grabbed ahold of the ropes, and began swinging Applejack and Rainbow Dash around the room.
"YEeeeeEAAaaaaAAAaaaaAAAaaaaAAHH!" cried out the two ponies as they were flung around like rag dolls.
Spike suddenly aimed the rope directly at Pinkie Pie, causing the three ponies to crash into each other. All three quickly fell to the ground, tied up in Apple Jack's own lasso.
"Spike WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT...!" Spike began to cry out.
"Spike the Dragon!" a voice called out.
The larger than usual dragon suddenly looked down to see Twilight Velvet.
"You come down from there this instant young dragon!" the Furious Queen shouted out.
Spike's expression quickly changed to one of fear. He quickly slithered down a nearby bookshelf, a crawled up to the queen.
"Honestly, how many times do we have to go through this?" the Queen said lecturing a whimpering Spike, "You know what eating all those gems does to you! ..And right on the day that Princess Ember was due for a visit! You should be..!"
"Hehahahahaha.." the Queen was interrupted by the chuckling of Princess Ember.
"Wow," said Ember approaching Spike, "I've seen a lot of cases of Greed Induced Bigness, but this is by far the worst I've ever seen.
Everypony in the library looked at Princess Ember confused.
"You have a Dragon living with you, and you've never heard of Greed Induced Bigness?!" stated Princess Ember in disbelief.
"Um Ember," said Twilight approaching the dragon princess, "This is Spike. He's kind of adopted into the family."
"A Dragon living with ponies?" Exclaimed Ember with a raised eyebrow, "No wonder he's having such a bad reaction.."
"Well it's kind of a long story.." started Twililght, "..Wait! What do you mean reaction?!"
"Ugh," said Ember placing a claw to her face, "I was sent here for diplomacy, not a lecture."
The King, Queen, Twilight and the rest of the ponies sat down in front of large chalk board with Princess Ember in front of it. Spik n Span was holding onto a still enlarged Spike with a leash. The young dragon tried to reach for a book, and Spik n Span quickly slapped his claw away.
"Okay listen up," explained Ember, "because I'm only saying this once.. As you all know dragons are a brutal and violent race.."
She sketched a picture of a baby dragon on the chalkboard.
"Therefore from the moment we're hatched were taught to grow big and strong.. Cause the little guy always get crushed by the big guys.."
She drew several larger dragons surrounding the baby dragon.
"I don't know if that's the kind of message they should be teaching their children," Queen Velvet whispered to her husband.
"So many of the smaller Dragons use a little trick to help them grow large faster.. Greed Induced Bigness!"
She drew numerous jewels and jems around the small dragon.
"Basically the more items we possess.. The bigger we get.. And the faster we get big.."
She quickly erased the baby dragon and replaced it with a sketch of a dragon much larger than the others.
"In fact, most of the dragons in the Dragon Lands have entire troves of jewels and treasures that they've gathered over the centuries.."
"Um excuse me," said King Nightlight raising his hoof, "I've been to the Dragon Land's quite a few times myself.. And I've never seen any Dragon change the way Spike has?"
The ponies looked over to Spike who was starting to bite at Spik n Span's leg, much to his chargain.
"Well duh," said Ember exasperated, "You think treasure is easy to get ahold of in the Dragon Lands!? You got this little guy, surrounded by everything a dragon could ever want! With only a couple of puny ponies to fight him back! I mean, how many times has this happened!?"
The ponies all looked at each other gritting there teeth.
"Well," said Twilight nervously, "There was his first birthday party.."
"Then there was that time at the Appaloosa Rodeo.." continued Apple Jack look downward.
"Not to mention the Wonderbolt's show.." stated Rainbow Dash.
"Ooh," said Pinkie excitedly countering on her hooves, "Then there was time that I baked him the giant gem cake, and the time that Rarity took him to the movies, and the time that he found the Fire Ruby, and that time at the Grand Galloping Gala..!"
"Okay she get's it!" exclaimed Rarity putting a hoof over Pinkie Pie's mouth.
Twilight Sparkle shook her head, "I don't suppose a solution for us?"
"Of course," said Ember, "Take him back to the Dragon Lands!"
"NOOOOOOOO!" shouted both the King and Queen at the same time. They quickly rushed over there larger than usual son and hugged tightly, much to his confusion.
"You are not taking away are baby from us!" exclaimed the Nightlight squeezing Spike's neck tightly, "Not Now! Not ever!"
"You do realize how dangerous it is to have a full grown dragon living with you, right?" stated Ember in disbelief.
"Um, are you sure there's not a simpler solution," said Twilight looking at her panicked parents.
Ember shook her head in disbelief, "Well we could always try things the hard way."
High over the dragon lands, a large purple blimp quickly descended next to a nearby volcano.
"We've arrived ladies," said Trenderhoof with a confident smile, "Thank you for flying air Trenderhoof!"
The mane six descended down the ramp of the blimp, with Princess Ember at the lead. Twilight was pulling an irritated Spike on a leash at the back of the line.
"We'll be wait'n here to pick ya'll up whenever you girls are ready," Troubleshoes said with a wave.
Princess Ember led the ponies away from the Blimp, and deeper into the Dragon Lands. The ponies grew nervous as they passed by numerous smoking volcanoes. Fluttershy gripped on tightly to Rainbow Dash, her eyes darting upwards at the numerous dragons soaring in the skies above.
"Beg your pardon Ember," said Twilight pulling Spike along, "But how are the Dragon Lands supposed to change Spike back to normal?"
"The answer is right there," said Ember pointing ahead of her.
She pointed at a small group of familiar looking teenage dragons tossing around a large boulder.
"Pass it over here doofuses!" a snaggle toothed teenage dragon shouted.
A large brown dragon tossed the rock over to Garble, who in turn tossed it over to a scrawny purple one.
"Those brutes are the plan!?" exclaimed Rarity, "Are you out of your mind?!"
"That's right!" shouted Rainbow Dash, "The last time we were here, those jerks nearly creamed us, and Spike into the ground! We were just lucky Enbarr showed up to save us!"
"That's the whole point!" exclaimed Ember, "The whole reason he keeps changing is because you ponies are to soft on him! It's time for some tough love!"
The ponies all looked at each other nervously. Finally Twilight took a large sigh, and removed the leash from around Spike's neck.
"Go ahead Spike," Twilight said pushing him forward.
The medium sized purple dragon looked at Twilight, then nervously crept forward towards the other teenage Dragons. The ponies watched sadly as he stepped forward.
"Trust me," said Ember putting an claw around Twilight, "A few minutes with these guys, and he'll be back to his scrawny self in.."
All of a sudden Garble came flying directly towards the ponies and slammed face first into a rock.
The ponies all turned towards Spike in a panic.
"SPIKE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!" the purple dragon shouted.
Spike was now twice the size that he was before and was tossing around the teenage dragons like rocks.
"Run for your life!" exclaimed Garble picking himself up and making a break for it.
The ponies and Ember took one look at each other and quickly hid behind a large boulder. As they cowered Spike began to pick up several large boulders himself, and began tossing them at the teenage dragons trying to escape.
"SPIKE SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!" the young dragon roared now larger then ever.
"Well that didn't work," said Ember looking panicked for the first time, "There's no way we can send him back to Tambelon like this.. He'd destroy the place!"
"There's got to be something else you can do!" Twilight exclaimed in a panic.
Princess Ember gave a large sign, "Well, there's on last thing we can do.. Which is probably what we should have done in the first place."
Princess Ember led the Ponies to a far off section of the Dragonlands. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash struggled to push Spike along, who was now larger than ever.
"Who's dumb idea was it to come here again?" grumbled Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy whispered into her friends ear, "It was Princess Ember's remember..?"
Rainbow Dash glance at the princess who was giving her a glare. The blue pegasus smiled nervously, and waved.
"We're here," said Ember rolling her eyes.
The ponies gasped in awe at what was in front of them. It was a large cave with a fine temple entrance carved into the stone. Statues of miniature dragons guarded the staircase leading up to the entrance.
"Who built this place?" asked Twilight Sparkle in awe.
"Follow me.." continued Ember as she gestured the ponies to follow.
Ember led the ponies up the tall temple steps, while Rainbow and Fluttershy pulled Spike along far behind them. They walked passed the pillars that guarded the entrance, and continued deeper into the cave. As they moved forward, they upon a large crystal lake with many different waterfalls flowing into it. At the center of the lake stood a tall serpentine dragon, balancing atop of a wooden pole. He was emerald green with long whiskers, and wore a flowing red robe.
"Yo, old Dragon Shin! Wake up!" the dragon princess shouted.
The old man opened his eyes looking annoyed, "Princess Ember.. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?"
Princess Ember pushed Twilight Sparkle, "Princess Twilight needs help with her pet Dragon!"
"Spike's not a pet," said Twilight stated furiously.
"Ahem.." the voice of the old dragon coughed nervously.
Twilight Sparkle turned and smiled nervously, "Anyway sir.. My friend Spike here.."
The old Dragon suddenly raised his claw, halting Twilights explanation. He then gestured the pony forward, who approached the lake nervously.
"Now you may speak," the Dragon stated.
"Well Mister Shin.." Twilight began.
"Master Shin, Princess.." said the old Dragon raising an eyebrow.
Twilight sighed, "Master Shin.. My friends and I are in desperate need of your help.. You see, my friend Spike a baby Dragon.. And he keeps growing bigger and greedier.. And Princess Ember said you might know how to stop it..?"
Master Shin raised an eyebrow, "Well, where is this young Dragon?"
"YeeeeEEAaaAAAAH!" cried out the voices of Rainbow Dash and Flutters as they held onto Spike for dear life.
"SPIKE WAAAAAAAAAAAANT!" shouted the giant purple dragon as he burst into the center of the cave.
Everypony cowered in fear as he roared. All except for Master Shin, who simply stood atop his pole perfectly balanced.
"I do beg your pardon, but 'want what' exactly?" the old dragon asked matter of factly.
"SPIKE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!" The enraged Spike repeated.
"I cannot give you anything, if you will not tell me what it is you desire," Master Shin repeated calmly.
"SPIKE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!" the giant dragon now angrier than ever charged directly at Master Shin.
Everypony desperately tried to get out of the way as Spike charged forward. Master Shin simply waited atop his pole at the center of lake. Just when Spike was about to pounce on him, the old Dragon leapt into the air. Spike's giant Purple body splashed into the water, as Master Shin gracefully floated back down.
As Spike lifted his head out of the water and shook it, he suddenly noticed that Master Shin was balancing atop of the his large purple tail.
"I am confused.." stated Master Shin mockingly, "We're you attempting to attack me?"
"SPIKE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!" the furious dragon roared as he swatted at his tail.
Master Shin leapt with ease. When Spike's claw returned to him, he realized Shin was on top of it.
"SPIKE WAAAANT!" stated Spike swatting at his claw.
Master Shin then landed atop Spike's nose. The purple dragon glared both his eyes at the Dragon in front of him.
"SPIKE WANT!" he shouted as he punched himself in the face, only for Shin to dodge.
The ponies and Ember watched in awe as Spike continued his struggle to attack Master Shin.
"I don't believe it.." stated Twilight as Spike's giant size began to shrink smaller and smaller.
Spike continued to struggle to attack master Shin. With his size decreasing, he began desperately trying to pounce on him, but every time Master Shin dodged with ease. The ponies looked on in amazement at the old dragon's swift and stealthy moves.
"That is just awesome!" said Rainbow Dash cheering Master Shin on.
Spike was now beginning to grow shorter than Master Shin. Desperate and tired out, he began swiping at the old dragon with practically no avail. As he panted desperately, Master Shin suddenly blew onto him, and the exhausted Spike fell backwards splashing into the lake.
Now back to his medium size, Spike struggled to pick himself up from the water, "How did you do that..?"
Master Shin looked down at the larger than normal baby dragon, "Balance.."
"Whu..?" said Spike looking up at him confused.
"Balance young Dragon," said Master Shin pulling Spike up to his feet, "I have it.. You lack it.."
Spike scratched his head, looking at Shin in confusion, "I don't get it.."
Master Shin rolled his eyes, "Come.."
Master Shin led Spike, Ember, the ponies further down the cave. Eventually they came to a large oriental tapestry, depicting numerous dragons soaring through the air majestically.
"Long ago, we dragons were creatures of balance.. Strengthening not only our bodies but our minds as well.."
He continued to show the ponies the tapestry, depicting images of dragons practicing skillful moves and learning in large classes.
"Amazing!" said Twilight her eyes practically sparkling.
"Oh brother," stated Ember rolling her eyes.
"Over time," Master Shin continued, "Our ancestors began to choose strength and power, over skill and wisdom.. They used greed as shortcut to allow themselves to grow larger in size, and greater in strength.."
Shin showed them tapestries of dragons growing larger and more violent.
"This was ultimately our undoing.." Shin said sadly shaking his head, "We unbalanced.. Uncivilized.. Undisciplined.."
Princess Ember shook his head in disgust, "Oh please.."
Spike looked at the tapestries in confusion, "I still don't get it.."
"Allow me to make it simple," said Master Shin eyeing Spike, "The bigger they are.."
He suddenly swiped his tail beneath Spike's feet, causing him to fall to the ground.
"..The harder they fall," Master Shin finished.
"Well I could have told him that one," Apple Jack chuckled to himself.
Spike looked up at the tall green dragon in awe.
"Please Master," he said falling to his knees, "Teach me how to be like you!"
Master Shin glanced down at Spike, and then over to the ponies. All of the ponies were giving the old Dragon pleading faces from behind Spike.
"Oh alright," Master Shin replied.
Spike sat on the floor at a large table in Master Shin's kitchen. The still larger than normal dragon was shaking in anticipation, trying desperately to hold in his excitement.
"This is gonna be awesome," Spike stated shaking his claws, "What are we gonna do first? Some of those kicking moves? How about some of the cool jumps you performed?"
Master Shin shuffled through a large cupboard and pulled out a large tray with a teapot and several tea cups on it. He approached the table, and set the tea set down in front of Spike.
"Steep the tea.." Master Shin said gesturing toward the tea set.
"What..?" asked Spike, eyeing Master Shin with confusion.
"Take the teabag out of the Teapot," explained Master Shin, "and place it in the teacups one by one.."
"Um.. I know how to steep tea," said Spike in confusion, "But what has that got to do with training?"
"Do it with your tail," said Master Shin with a smile.
"My tail!?" asked Spike in disbelief.
"Did I stutter?" Master Shin stated.
Spike grumble in annoyance. He carefully lifted his tail and grabbed ahold of the tea bag from the teapot. One by one he steeped the numerous teacups, which was rather difficult as he'd never used his tail like this before.
When he had finally finished Master shin picked up one of the teacups and tasted it.
"Hmm.." the old Dragon said tasting the flavor, "Again!"
Spike dropped his jaw in disbelief. He grumbled and picked back up the teabag once again.
Throughout the days Spike performed numerous other tasks for Master Shin.
On one day Master Shin had Spike picking up large boulders and moving them in different positions around his cave.
"Hmmm.." said Master Shin, as Spike set down the heavy rock, "No! Over there!"
Spike growled as he was forced to lift up the rock and move it to the other end of the cave.
On another day, Spike was balancing atop of large stilts as he struggled to scrape moss from the top of the caves roof.
"Careful young dragon," said Master Shin as he sipped his tea, "You would not want fall.."
Spike rolled his eyes. Just as he lost his attention from his work, he began to lose his balance and crashed down to the cave floor.
On another day Spike cleaned out moss from Master Shin's lake..
Another day he dusted the floors of the caves..
Another day he dusted the oriental tapestries..
Spike was quickly becoming annoyed.
About a week later Princess Ember led the ponies back to the cave.
"So how do you think Spike's training has been going," Rainbow Dash stated.
"I'm sure the little guy has learned plenty from his time with Master Shin," Rainbow Dash replied.
Ember gave the ponies a sly smile, trying not to giggle. As the ponies walked up the steps and entered the cave, they came upon Master Shin meditating on a pillow.
"Um, excuse me," stated Twilight Sparkle trying to get the old Dragon's attention.
Old Master Shin opened his eyes, "Ahh.. Princess Twilight.. You and you're friends must be thirsty after your journey.."
Master Shin raised a tiny bell and rang it, "Young Dragon.."
Out of a far corner of the cave Spike appeared wearing an apron, and carrying a large tray of teacups. The look on his face could show how deeply annoyed that he was.
Rainbow Dash and Ember's eyes began to water, as they desperately fought back the urge to burst out laughing.
Twilight looked at Spike confused as he approached the ponies, passing out cups of tea to them.
"Um, is it just me.. Or is Spike the exact same size he was when we left him here?" Twilight whispered to her friends.
"Is it just me.." said Rarity, "Or does his training look more like chores for Master Shin?"
"Yeah.. About a day of this is all I could go through," said Ember leaning back and sipping her tea.
Spike approached Master Shin, preparing to hand him his tea cup.
"Here's your tea Master," said Spike through gritted teeth.
Master Shin took his teacup, and took one long sip from it.
"Hmm.." the old Dragon said tasting the flavor, "Again!"
Spike's face quickly grew red.
"That's it!" he said throwing the tea tray, "I came here to get some training! So you could teach me how to control my greed! But the only thing I've learned here is Jack SQUAT!"
The furious Spike shoved his bright red face directly into Master Shin's. The old Dragon eyed him lazily, and then slapped the young dragon's face with his tail.
Spike was taken aback by what Master Shin did. Regaining his bluster, he lifted up his own tail, and swung it directly at Master Shin. Just when it was about to hit him, Master Shin blocked Spike's tail with his own.
Spike glanced at the old dragon in disbelief.
Master Shin gave a small smile, "Steep the tea young Dragon."
A look realization began to cross Spike's face, followed by a small smile.
The two dragons began darting their tails back and forth, dueling with them like swords. Each one tried desperately to get their tail past the others. The fighting got so intense that Master Shin was forced to stand in order to keep up.
"Careful young dragon," stated Master Shin, "You would not want fall.."
Spike placed both his feet firmly on the floor, as if trying to balance atop to stilts.
The ponies and Ember watched in awe as the two dragons continued to spar.
"Now sweep the floor!" said Master Shin raising his claws.
Spike raised his claws with a smile. The fight went from tail to tail, to claw to claw.
Both dragons seemed evenly matched, although Master Shin was clearly holding back. All of a sudden one of Spike's blows managed to make it through.
The ponies gasped in awe, as Spike managed to smack Master Shin in the face.
The old Dragon, gave the nervous Spike a large smile, "Now you are ready."
The ponies and Princess Ember watched as Spike and Master Shin both balanced atop of large poles atop of the crystal lake.
"The time has come for the final step of you're training young dragon.." Master Shin stated calmly.
A serious look crossed Spike's face as he balanced atop of the lake, "I'm ready master.."
Master Shin smiled, "Look into the waters below.."
Spike stared at the water below his feet, but the only thing he saw was his reflection.
"Stay balanced young dragon.. Focus only on you're reflection.. And on nothing else.." Shin continued.
The ponies watched as Spike stared down at his reflection in the lake for a long time. After about an hour, Spike was beginning to get bored.
"Um master," Spike said looking up, "I'm not sure how this is..?"
To Spike's horror, Master Shin was gone, in fact everyone and everything was gone. The only things that remained in the inky blackness, was Spike and his reflection.
As Spike looked down at his reflection below, he suddenly noticed it's eyes were glowing green. A fierce look came across the reflection's face as it grew larger and larger. Soon the monstrous reflection of Spike rose up from the waters and growled ate his much smaller counterpart.
"SPIIIIIIIIKE WAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!" the monstrous reflection roared as it swiped it's claws down.
Spike just barley managed to avoid his reflection's attack.
"What is going on here!?" Spike stated in a panic.
"SPIIIIIIIIKE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!" the reflection roared.
Back in reality the ponies watched as Spike seemed to whimper in his sleep still balanced atop of the pole.
"Is this supposed to happen," Twilight asked Princess Ember nervously.
"Heck if I know, but sure is fun to watch," stated Ember munching on a bucket of gemstones.
Back in his mind Spike tried his best to avoid the attacks from his monstrous reflection, but wherever he ran to his reflection followed.
"Hey buddy! What are you attacking me for?" Spike stated nervously, "We're both the same dragon right? It's you and me against the world!"
"SPIIIIIIIIIKE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!" the giant reflection slammed it's fist down towards Spike.
Spike winced as the giant fist slammed down atop of him. Spike opened his eyes and realized that he wasn't crushed, in fact he was just floating inside his reflections fist. The reflection lifted it's fist leaving a dumbfounded Spike down on the ground dripping with water.
"None of this is real," said Spike looking at his soaking wet claws.
"SPIKE WANT!" the reflection continued to shout as it punched about wildly, splashing water everywhere, "SPIIIIIIIIIKE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!"
"Want what?" said Spike scratching his head in confusion.
"Exactly.." as voice spoke up echoing through the darkness.
Spike looked upwards to the glowing image of Master Shin floating down from above, "If you don't even know what it is you desire.. How can you hope to achieve balance.."
"I guess I never really thought of it before," said Spike fidgeting with his claws.
"Every creature seeks out something," continued master Shin.
The glimmering images of the Mane Six appeared circling around Master Shin.
"You're sister Twilight Sparkle seeks out knowledge of friendship and magic.. You're friend Applejack, honest work and family.. You're 'crush' Rarity, to generously spread beauty to others.. Rainbow Dash, Greatness and Loyalty.. Fluttershy, to Kindness to others.. Pinkie Pie, to make every creature laugh.."
Spike watched as his the images of his friends did what they did best, following the destinies there cutie marks had given them.
"But I'm not a pony.." Spike said exasperated, "I don't know anything about Cutie Mark's or destiny.."
"A cutie mark is irrelevant," Master Shin continued, "All that is relevant is knowing what it is you truly desire.. Above all else.."
Spike thought for a moment, "I guess.. All I really want is to be with my friends in Tambalon, even if I'm not a pony!"
The image of Master Shin smiled, "Now you know what you want.."
Spike's giant reflection suddenly began to calm down. It gently looked down at it's counterpart and reached down a claw to him, touching Spike on the nose.
There was a sudden bright flash of light.
Spike opened his eyes, and to his amazement he was back to his regular size.
"You have achieved balance young Dragon.." said Master Shin smiling, "..and at such a young age too!"
The Mane Six cheered and leapt atop of Spike, so happy to he back to normal. Spike chuckled as the ponies piled atop of him.
Outside of Master Shin's cave, the ponies and Spike bid a fond farewell to Master Shin and Princess Ember.
"Thank you so much master Shin," exclaimed Twilight, "We can't thank you enough for helping Spike control his greed."
"Yeah, it's great to have the little guy back to normal," said Rainbow Dash giving Spike a noogy.
"He-hey! Cut it out!" chuckle Spike.
As the ponies began to walk away, Spike suddenly looked back to Master Shin.
"But Master," what if my greed get's out of control again.
Master Shin smiled, "The journey is never truly over.. It takes a lifetime for one to discover what they truly desire.."
Spike looked downwards looking disappointed.
Mast Shin lifted up Spike's face with his staff, "..But you have friends to held you on you're path!"
Spike looked back to the Mane Six who waved to him, waiting for him to catch up. Spike's expression quickly changed as he happily raced off to join his friends.
As the ponies and Spike walked off into the distance, Princess Ember leaned in to speak to Master Shin.
"Shouldn't you have told him about the Gauntlet?" Ember whispered.
"He'll find out soon enough," the old dragon chuckled, "Why worry him?"