Spike groaned, feeling arguably the worst headache he’d ever experienced threatening to knock him back out.
Giving himself a few seconds for the pain to subside, he was able to open his eyes and finally look around.
“Wha? Wha happened?” Spike moaned as he sat up, seeing a castle immediately in front of him. His vision was still a tad blurry so he couldn’t make out all the details. Also didn’t help that there were numerous wisps of smoke drifting around it.
The former drake barely had a moment to question the sight before the door shot open as a black figure bolted out, charging at him.
“No! No-no-no! Get away from me!” He shouted, finally jolted awake by the sudden attack, only to headbutt a nearby Twilight.
“Ow!” They both cried out in pain while rubbing their heads, Twilight especially as Spike had collided with her horn, while Sapphire just watched in confusion.
“"I mi filiikir nomeno gewjle luh di dout nesim?” Spike and Twilight quickly turn to her with confused looks.
“What?” Spike eyebrows rose for what she said, briefly wondering if he was concussed from the impact.
“I jahus yentair ui nomeno luh di dout nesimi persvek nomeno grikor?" She spoke again in the same foreign language, and by that point could see the confusion on their faces.
“Uh, Twilight, did you understand a word of that? Cause I honestly think I have a concussion.” Spike asked, while rubbing his still sore head and fearing his mental state.
“No Spike, I’m hearing it the same as you, unless I’m concussed too.” Twilight quickly did a quick check of all her mental facilities and quickly determined everything was working fine.
“Okay, well good news is neither one of us are hearing things. Seems most likely she’s speaking in a language neither of us has heard before.”
With the problem now identified, her mind immediately tried to cross reference the sounds spoken with various other languages she’d studied in her life…which was a lot.
However, right as she was going over the fifth version of Ancient Ponish, the sound of something being pushed repeatedly got her attention. Her head quickly turned to Spike, not busy trying and failing to push the long mane of hair he now found in his face .
“Seriously, how do you mares get around with this much hair? It keeps getting in my eyes.”
Twilight almost sputtered out laughing at the sight, her prior train of thought momentarily derailed. “Well your hair looks longer Spike, if we have to we can have it cut later. Still…”
Both of their eyes drifted to Mutig on the floor, and also Sapphire standing before them.
“We need to figure out what exactly we’re gonna do with him…which hopefully our other friend here can explain, once we figure out what she’s trying to say to us.”
Twilight’s mind quickly returned back to trying to decipher the stranger’s unusual language, while Spike opted to try and gleam something from their captive.
Taking a few cautious steps forward, he quickly gasped when he got close. He saw Mutig’s eyes were blank, with red liquid dripping from his mouth. Immediately his body started to shake as he recalled a similar looking liquid coming out of his body not too long ago.
“Red water? What….what is this?” Spike asked out loud, causing Twilight to look in his direction and Sapphire to finally try speaking again.
"Bloohd." Spike and Twilight eyes widen hearing Sapphire speak. “Eet's called bloohd. We all 'ave eet.” Everything was quiet when Twilight broke the silence.
“Wait, you can speak our language?” Twilight spoke aloud, needing her brain a moment to reboot, before focusing on the more pressing issue. “Who are you? What was that…creature try-”
“We are called Kobolds.” Sapphire interrupted them. “Zat kobold was named Mutig. I was ‘ired to find and keel him. Apparently he was informed of anuzzer objective. He was waiting for me to do zee same. In zee end I was ‘unted for zee Draxich Di Ileisgar.” As she explained Spike and Twilight were confused again as she groaned.
“How do you not know about this? You're a Kobold too!” She said to Spike, who simply just sighed and dragged his hand down his face..
“Well, looks like the princesses were right. I am a kobold.” Spike eyes widen for finally remembering something. “Oh my goodness the princesses! I completely forgot about them!”
At the mention of the royals, Twilight seemed to come to the same realization and let out a scream. Both quickly forgot about the stranger in front of them and quickly turned and ran in the last known direction of the princesses, leaving Sapphire alone.
The mercenary just stood in silence for a minute, seemingly waiting to see if perhaps either would return. When that clearly wasn’t going to happen, she turned her attention back to the dead body in the room.
“Whelp, wonder if you have anything useful now that I'm stuck here.” She said as she grabbed the body, her cheeks puffing out and turning red with exertion as she started to drag the body.
“What in 'ell do zey feed zese soldiers?” Sapphire shouted as she dragged the body to the surface.
Further into the temple, Spike and Twilight ran past the guardians, barely a hint of concern present in either of them as they neared the entrance.
“Twilight is that you!?” They heard Princess Celestia’s voice in the entrance way, causing the pair to quickly pick up speed..
“Princess!” Twilight shouted, feeling a sense of relief as she quickly spotted her mentor trying to wave them over. However, as they started to slow down, Celestia’s expression turned grim and her horn immediately lit up.
Both Twilight and Spike were encased in her golden aura and pulled quickly to her side, the Princess glaring angrily in the direction they came from.
Twilight and Spike were finally able to turn around and saw it was Sapphire she was leering at, the creature in question still dragging Mutig’s body.
Once both Twilight and Spike were behind her, Celestia released her hold and quickly began charging up an attack. However, Luna quickly used her wing to block her sister’s line of fire.
“Sister, don't! Remember she was the reason why we were saved!” Luna spoke firmly, trying to talk her sister down.
Celestia continued to stare at her then looked at the body she saw, which only caused her still glowing horn to shine brighter.
Seeing her sister wouldn’t lower her guard, Luna opted to be the mediator.
“Tell me, did you defeat him?” Luna asked Sapphire while Celestia continued to give her a hostile aura. Sapphire remained quiet as she dropped the body.
With Mutig more visible to the others, Celestia was able to get a good look at him and looked perplexed.
“This is different. Their clothing and weapons don’t match anything I’ve seen before.” She said while inspecting the emblem on his armor. It was the only one that didn’t change.
“Sister?” Celestia shifted her attention to Luna who had a look of concern.
“Have you encountered this before?” Luna asked while Celestia looked away, finally depowering her spell, allowing Sapphire to let loose a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.
The sight of Celestia suddenly going quiet left both Spike and Twilight more than a little concerned, while Luna looked more curious and suspicious.
As all this was going on, Sapphire simply watched, curious to see how things played out, only to be put on alert when she felt something.
Quickly, she pulled out her metal crossbow which was smaller as she began to fire at the trees just outside the temple entrance.
The sudden shooting quickly jostled the others, with Celestia and Luna being on guard while Twilight stood protectively in front of Spike.
After a minute or two Sapphire stopped firing, only to have her weapon immediately slapped out of her hands by Celestia, looking positively livid at the Kobold.
“Are you mad! What was the point of firing near us!”
Sapphire, unfazed by the sudden strike, looked at the alicorn as she slowly picked up her weapon.
A sudden sensation coursed through Spike’s body as he looked to the trees. Listening closely, he could hear a faint rustling causing his eyes to widen. Immediately he pointed in the direction of the sound.
“Look out, they’re in the trees!” Spike shouted, causing Sapphire to immediately point in the direction indicated and open fire. Everypony and Spike covered their ears ready to hear the bang only to hear a click, followed by what sounded like fleeing feet.
Sapphire quickly reloaded her weapon and pointed again, awaiting some sign of movement or attack. When none came, she finally lowered her weapon with a sigh.
"Guess zat was zee scout. Turned tail and ran zee second zings got bad." Sapphire mused and placed her weapon into her pouch.
The others looked grateful for the assist and signal that things were calm for the moment, however, one pony was left with another quandary.
"Spike, how did you know somepony was there?" Twilight asked, with the transformed kobloid scratching his head in confusion.
"I don't know. It just felt..I-I- I felt them." Spike thought as his stomach growled loudly.
A chain reaction seemed to start as Celestia, Luna and Twilight made similar noises.
“Perhaps a temporary retreat is in order. I doubt we’d accomplish much while starving.” Luna posed, trying not to blush at her loud stomach.
“Agreed, we’ll reconvene at Canterlot, go over what we know and hopefully formulate a better plan.” Celestia nodded, mind briefly visualizing some cake she’d enjoy biting into.
"Canterlot? Princess,what about Spike?"
There was a pause among the group, the elephant now on full display. That being Spike’s new appearance and the potential impact it could cause. Even Celestia seemed to realize this, eyeing Spike somewhat apprehensively, which Luna quicked up on.
"Sister." Luna's voice got Celestia's attention. "It isn't wise to keep him away from his friends. I'm sure they can watch them both." Celestia's eyes widened.
"Both?! Even her?" Celestia all but pointed in the direction of the other kobold in the room. Sapphire remained quiet, unfazed from her voice or accusatory tone.
"Sister, did you forget she helped us? If not for her we’d likely have perished in that temple. It is in our best judgment that we should thank her. The least we can do is offer her some level of trust"
"Princess Celestia, she’s right." Twilight stepped forward defending the group’s savior.
"Spike and I wouldn’t have made it out without her help." Spike nodded in agreement which made the kobold smirk, while Celestial resigned in defeat.
"Very well, but she will be in your care Twilight. I don't like what is happening but we can’t deny one thing. The Iron Claws have arrived in Equestria."
While this revelation was met with looks of confusion from Twilight and Spike, Sapphire’s eyebrows rose.
"So they have arrived here before?" She asked Celestia, whose expression said all that was needed.
"It's best we talked about this later." They decided to leave their location and quickly made for the exit. However, Spike halted when he felt something tapping his shoulder. Specifically it was Sapphire’s tail, and he quickly found a familiar looking weapon held out to him.
"I'm guessing zis was yours."
Spike almost instantly grabbed the sword with relief.
"My sword!" Spike smiled, holding the weapon close for only a moment, before Twilight immediately ripped it out of his hands with her magic.
"What, no, Spike this is-" She didn't realize that the sword had some weight, letting out a scream before faceplanting to the grassy ground.
Spike had to bite back a laugh at Twilight’s impression of an ostrich, her head literally buried under the ground.
“Uh, Twilight. Are you, okay?”
With a couple of yanks, Twilight finally pulled her head free of the dirt, coughing up quite a bit, with Spike again fighting back a laugh at a small patch currently stuck to her horn.
"Spike! How can you even….” Twilight paused a Spike pointed at her head, with her looking up and quickly removing the bit of soil stuck to her before resuming her question.
“How can you pick this up! It’s so heavy!!!!" She cried out, trying to lift the sword with her magic to no success. Spike, confused, grabbed the sword and lifted it off the ground, holding it up as though it were a simple kitchen knife.
"Uh, Twilight, it's not heavy." Spike replied, with his surrogate sister’s jaw dropping to the dirt while Sapphire laughed.
"No surprise you can’t lift it. It's a very old blade. Think they were last issued 30 years ago." Luna’s ears perk up from the news. She turned her head towards Celestia.
"30 years? You told me…"
"We should be going, dear Twilight!" Celestia cut off Luna as she immediately teleported away from them. Twilight and Spike just looked confused while Sapphire just shook her head.
"Seems she 'as secrets of 'er own."
Despite wanting answers, the two just stayed quiet for the moment as they walked. Though the silence quickly proved maddening and Spike mustered the courage to speak.
"You never told us your name. My name is Spike and this is Twilight. The two you met were Princess Celestia and Luna." Sapphire just looked at him only for her to hug him which caught him off guard.
“So adorable!!! I never knew zee person who saved me was zis cute!!!!" She said as Spike let out a gag, unable to breathe from her deceptively strong grip. Mercifully it was brief, as she finally let him go, causing him to drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"My name is Sapphire Lapis Lazuli. But you may just call me Sapphire.” Her eyes seemed to scan over the smaller Kobold with curiosity. “Spike... never 'eard a name like zat before. I'm guessing you must be a Duster."
"Wait, what's a Du-" Spike only got half way through asking before his stomach sounded off again. "Uh, maybe first can we get something to eat!" Spike blushed rather vibrantly and quickly picked up the pace, his hunger overpowering his curiosity.
"Spike! Wait, you don't even know where you’re going!!" Twilight ran behind him as Sapphire just laughed at the situation she was in, following behind them while continuing to observe her surroundings.
“Oh Sapphire, what did you get yourself into?” She muttered to herself as she followed them.
The group proceeded on for a bit, walking in relative silence save for the occasional conversation here and there. Eventually they arrived in Ponyville, with Spike quickly hiding behind a tree.
“I can’t believe I forgot, I can’t just walk into town! What will everypony think of me!” Spike shouted as Sapphire just chuckled seeing his reaction.
“Spike it’s alright, I’m sure the girls will accept your new appearance, even the town ponies too. We have dealt with this kind of situation before.” Twilight smiled, mind drifting back to the group's less than friendly response to a certain zebra way back when.
Spike just groans. Things had been a little awkward when he first showed up and was the only dragon in town. Granted, everypony treated him more like a fun curiosity than a monster. Now however, he had to deal with being something completely different. It was gonna be painfully awkward.
And he immediately proved to be right.
As the pair stepped forward they quickly attracted several stares from various ponies. Again they weren’t hostile or even scared glances, more akin to surprise, confusion and intrigue.
However, this didn’t help Spike much, feeling so many eyes on him. Thus he quickly picked up speed towards Twilight’s castle, with the rest of the group. He quickly shut the doors and relaxed a little.
Wordlessly he walked over to a nearby cupboard and pulled out a gem inside of it.
“At least you don’t judge me.” Spike took a big bite only for his eyes to widen. Spike spat out the gem, while holding his jaw.
“Waa!? Why can’t I bite into this?” Spike shouted as he continued to spat out.
“Umm, Kobolds don’t eat gems, Spyke. Your jaws aren’t strong enough to break it.” Sapphire explained, with Spike looking utterly devastated as the gem slipped from his grasp. He began to breathe heavily, falling to his knees and placing his hands on his head.
“This keeps getting worse! I can't even eat my favorite food, I used to be a dragon! What else can go wrong?”
And as if Fate decided to play devil’s advocate, the front door opened.
“Twilight!” He heard Rainbow’s voice along with multiple hoof steps. A series of gasps caused Spike to immediately turn around, all to the wide eyes of the remaining members of Twilight’s friend group, all looking at him in shock.
Almost immediately, his eyes rolled back as fell to the ground.
“SPIKE!?”
-Hours later-
Spike awoke as he felt something touching his head. He awoke, being immediately greeted by the blue eyes ofPinkie Pie. The transformed kobold almost immediately let out a shriek before leaping backwards into the wall.
“Spike, darling, please calm down.” Spike heard Rarity's voice as he grabbed his hat to hide his face, mentally hoping the girls were simply a dream.
“Spike, please look at us.” He felt a hoof touching his arms and pushing the hat up, causing him to finally look at the mares. His heart pounded seeing them up close.
“Spike, it's okay. Please don’t cry.” Rarity said as she reached towards Spike's head stroking his hair. Rarity halted the first time as she felt his new grown hair. Momentarily getting over the shock, she found the strength to comfort the dra-the kobold. Spike felt calm from the touch as his ears folded up.
“So Twilight, why does Spike look like that? And who is she?” Rainbow decided to ask the question on every pony’s mind while doing so in the least tactful manner.
They looked at Sapphire who was by the wall unpacking some things. Twilight let out a sigh as she fully explained everything. The girls listened and gasped from what they heard. That Spike was a Kobold, both princesses being defeated and Sapphire saving them along with news of the ‘Iron Claws.’
“So we got new bad guys. Hmph! Well, we can take them on, right girls.” Rainbow Dash boasted as Twilight shook her head at her friend’s rather bold confidence.
“Sapphire what was that device that kobold was using. You seem to have it as well.” Sapphire looked back as she pulled out the pipe crossbow.
"Zis is called a firearm. Eet was an invention for warfare, of which zere are all kinds of variations." She quickly pulled out her other weapon, this one noticeably smaller than the crossbow.
"Zis is called a pistol, small and compact. Eet fires small metal projectiles called bullets at 'igh speeds." The girls listen along with Spike who remembered the loud bang it caused.
“So they were firing those bullets at us? That was the bang?” Sapphire nodded. As she removed the cartridge showing her the bullet.
“Bullets are small, typically cylindrical and pointed, and contain a small amount of a compound that explodes when struck. Each bullet 'as different sizes and looks, depending on zee weapon itself."
At the mention of that, Spike recalled the outburst from Celestia when he tried to touch it in Wilhelm’s cave.
“Do not touch those Spike! Those weapons are beyond dangerous!”
“She dealt with this before.” Spike shouted loudly. “Wilhelm wanted me to stop this!”
Drawing the eyes of the others, Spike slowly started to piece together everything and once he could see the scope of what laid before him…felt his heart start to race.
The girls quickly began to worry about Spike as they saw sweat start to form on his face and his hand reaching for his chest. Tears also started to form in his eyes and some of the group started to move to offer some comfort.
However, before any could reach him, and Spike looked about ready to have a panic attack, the former drake felt a calm embrace.
Looking up and blinking the tears from his eyes, he saw it was Sapphire who was hugging him as everypony was watching, while Rarity's eyes twitched.
"Calm down. I know zings look bad. But you need to 'ave more confidence in yourself." Spike just looked at her feeling touched by what she said, feeling his heart rate start to slow again. The mood was ruined as Spike’s stomach growled loudly.
“....So, what exactly does a kobold eat?” He asked her while she arose carrying him in her arms like a doll, the ponies in the room quickly following after. She placed him down as she took out a large box with a Iron Claws symbol.
“Why do y-” Rarity stated asking only for Sapphire to cut her off.
“It’s Mutig’s ration and besides he won’t be using this anymore.” Rarity looked positively repulsed at the idea, a sentiment shared by some.
“That is barbaric! Stealing from a fallen individual is positively vile.” Sapphire ignores Rairty’s words as she begins to open the ration box. The box let out a loud hiss, opening revealing a large amount of food inside.
“These are rations?!” Twilight shouted with shock seeing how much food was inside. The ration had a lot of layers of food, looking to have around thirty different types at a glance. Spike himself let out a gasp seeing a candy inside.
“Oh, sweet chocolate.” Spike said, ripping the wrapper, which Twilight quickly grabbed. A quick glance showed it to be covered in some unknown language. Like with when Sapphire spoke initially, the language was completely foreign to Twilight, unable to decipher even a single symbol.
As Twilight continued to try and make sense of the text, Spike was positively demolishing the rations, the pack not even lasting a few five minutes before it was empty.
Spike let out a relaxed chuckle feeling satisfied from the eating with their friends who were shocked seeing the small kobold eat everything in a second.
“Well, hot damn Spike. You just ate about 2 months worth of preserved food in five minutes.” Applejack said with amazement.
Spike blushed a little, even he was shocked by how much he’d consumed, while Sapphire watched, unphased by the sight.
“We kobolds are a warrior species. Our metabolism is quite fast.” Sapphire explained with Spike lifted himself up touching his hair.
“Hey Rarity?” The white unicorn looked at Spike who was touching his hair. “Would it be okay if you cut my hair? Having it this long kinda makes walking difficult.”
Rarity almost immediately let out a very loud squeal.
“Of course darling, it would be my pleasure to give you your first haircut.” This made Spike smile as he took off his robe.
“Don’t worry Spike, I can hold on to your robes.” Spike handed Twilight the robes as the moment her hoof touched them she instantly fell to the ground with a scream, her face again kissing the floor.
“Twilight!” Spike quickly grabs the robe and pulls it away from Twilight, who was able to stand and now rubbing her visible sore nose.
“Spike that robe is as heavy as your sword!” She all but shouted with disbelief. Applejack, curious, grabbed the robe, though due to her Earth Pony strength, was able to handle the weight without falling. Still, it was noticeable, even grabbing his hat felt as heavy as a full barrel of apples. .
“Well ah be. She’s right! And yall never felt this sugarcube?”
Spike just shook his head unaware of the weight of his attire or weaponry. Seemed like it was another quirk of being a Kobold.
Putting that in the back of his mind for the moment, Spike sat on the ground while Rarity pulled out a pair of scissors. Sapphire just watches knowing what’s going to happen next. The scissor levitated above Spike’s head. Once the blades collided with Spike’s hair, the blades completely shattered, shocking everypony.
Sapphire chuckled, pulling out a scissor of her own. She gently pushed Rarity away from Spike, the fashionista glared at her, noting how her scissors were bright and jeweled.
“Probably goes without saying, but we Kobolds are a pretty tough species. We are built for battle, so our bodies are a lot stronger than you ponies, which includes our hair.”
Shockingly, Sapphire’s scissor actually cut the hair, surprising all those watching. Sapphire continued to cut until she set it down and showed the small kobold a mirror as he looked at her with an approving look.
“It’s amazing! Thank you!”
Rarity’s heart sank, wanting the praise herself. Sapphire smiled as she hugged Spike again, unable to resist how cute he was. Rarity silently growls not to trust her.