//------------------------------// // Dragon Showdown // Story: Her Knight in Shining Scales // by The Dragon Warlock //------------------------------// Along the streets of Ponyville, Spike was running as fast as his legs could take him. He didn’t care about the snow covered streets and the gusting wind and focused on getting back to the Carousel Boutique. Another pony that was with him, though, wasn’t doing as well as the dragon. The pony was a yellow pegasus with a lime green snowcap to cover her pink mane, had a heavy, very puffy, teal coat on, blue snow pants, red mittens, and brown snow boots. Spike and the pegasus ran as fast as they could through the streets, but as the dragon looked back, he noticed something missing. Spike stopped running and looked around. “Hey Fluttershy, where’s Pinkie Pie?” he asked the pegasus. “I thought she was run behind you when we picked her up.” “I’m not sure Spike,” she said as loud as she could over the wind. “She was right behind me when we were passing the post office. Do you think she got lost or something?” “I don’t get how she can get lost when she was-” “Here I am!” shouted a mare’s voice. Spike and Fluttershy looked to the side and saw, to their surprise and bewilderment, Pinkie doing a backstroke against the snow like she was swimming. She dived into the snow and popped her head out a few minutes later to spray some water. Spike and Fluttershy looked at each other with awe on their faces, but the dragon quickly broke out of it. “Come on Pinkie!” he shouted. “This is no time to be messing around and doing . . . whatever it is you’re doing! We need to get to Carousel Boutique so we can figure out how to save Twilight!” “Oki doki loki!” she shouted as she popped back up next to the others. She shook the snow off to reveal that almost every part of her clothing was as pink as her mane. The only things that weren’t pink were her sky blue snow pants and gloves and her yellow snow boots and earmuffs. “Besides, I think I got my swimming in for the day.” “I’m going to ignore what you just said,” said Spike. “Anyway, if we go around this corner we’ll be at Rarity’s place again. Now come on, we’ve got no time to lose.” The three friends ran back up the streets, rounded a corner, and came across the large building again. They all picked up the pace, or in Fluttershy’s case jogged quickly, and opened the door. Spike looked around frantically for any sign of Rarity, but he didn’t see them. “I guess Rarity is still trying to get Rainbow and Applejack,” sighed Spike. “I hope she hurries back soon so we can figure out what to do.” “We’re way ahead of ya sugarcube,” said a southern mare’s voice. The door to the kitchen opened to reveal a tall, rather muscular, orange mare. She was wearing a brown Stetson hat, a thick forest green jacket, faded blue snow pants, red mittens, and worn out brown snow boots. “Rarity and I have been waiting for y’all for a lil’ bit Spike,” she said. “Applejack, am I ever glad to see you,” said Spike as he went over and hugged her. He released his grip on her and looked around. “But where’s Rainbow Dash? I thought that Rarity got her as well.” “She’ll be here in a few minutes darling,” said Rarity as she came through the kitchen door. “She said something about talking to a few pegasi and took off. I didn’t exactly here what she said.” “Alright, well I’ve got an idea,” said Spike. “Rarity, can you get me a piece of parchment and a quill please?” The white unicorn nodded and used her magic to bring the items over. “I take it you’re calling for Princess Celestia?” Spike nodded and said, “Yeah, this blizzard is getting really bad and I think we’ll need more help. I’m sure the princess will send some guards to assist in the search.” He finished writing the letter, took a deep breath, and breathed a small column of green fire. “There, we should hear from her soon,” he said. “So anypony want to tell me what in tarnation is going on here?” asked Applejack. “Why would Twilight run out of town without saying a word?” Before Spike could say anything else, he noticed something peculiar and looked out one of the boutique’s windows. “Hey . . . do you all hear that?” asked Spike. “Um . . . no Spike,” said Fluttershy. “Are we supposed to be hearing something?” The dragon went to the entrance of Rarity’s shop and opened the door. “Spike, wait, don’t let the wind and snow come in!” she shouted very softly. The group braced themselves for the blizzard as Spike opened the door. They quickly noticed though that they didn’t feel the cold sting of the wind, nor the snowflakes pelting them. They opened their eyes and saw that the blizzard was over now, but it was still very cloudy. The group stepped outside and saw, to their relief, the visibility had greatly improved throughout the town. “My word, did Rainbow Dash actually do this?” asked Rarity. “You got that right!” shouted a voice. Spike and the others turned to see a familiar sky blue pegasus with a rainbow mane descending from the sky. She was wearing a dark blue ski coat with her cutie mark as an insignia on it, black ski pants, gloves, boots, and a blue snow cap. The pegasus landed near them and flashed a cocky smile at them. “Rainbow, that was amazing!” shouted Spike. “How did you even manage to get rid of the blizzard and wind so quickly.” “Duh, I’m weather manager here in Ponyville,” she said. “I told the guys to stop the blizzard and wind. I’ve got them divert it all away from here. Unfortunately, the clouds here are so thick that we would be wasting a few good hours on clearing the sky, so we didn’t bother with it. Besides, I’m sure you all can see just fine without all that snow. Now then, what’s this I hear about Twilight running away?” Spike was about to say something, but felt something burning inside him he looked up and belched out a scroll from his mouth. He took the scroll, opened it, and read the contents in it. The others crowded around him and read the letter along with Spike. Dear Spike, It’s very troubling to hear what Twilight has done and I’m deeply concerned for her safety. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of a meeting with some of the regional governors in Manehatten. Thankfully, the meeting ended right about the time your letter came and I’m currently on my way back to Canterlot to form a search party. Captain Armor is currently visiting the city to train some new recruits, but I know he’ll gladly help in searching for Twilight. In the meantime, I want you and your friends to continue the search for her. We’ll join you in Ponyville as soon as I get everything ready. I wish you all the best of luck in finding my student and will see you all very soon. Princess Celestia Spike looked at the others, who were finishing reading the letter as well, and said, “Alright, we need to hurry and find Twilight before it’s too late. Rainbow, you and Fluttershy take to the skies and find her. Applejack and Pinkie, you check the southern end of town for her. Rarity and I will head north and see if we can find her. I’m sure she couldn’t have gotten too far, but you never know with her. If you all do find her though, hollar for us as loud as you can then.” “Hold on a minute there Spike,” said Rainbow. “My question was never answered. Why did Twilight decide to run away?” The group looked at Spike with anxious looks on their faces. The dragon looked back at Rarity, who seemed a little worried. He looked back at the others, took a deep breath, and said, “It’s . . . complicated, but I’ll tell you all later, okay?” “No! None of that Spike!” shouted Rainbow. “What did you do to Twilight!?” Spike backed up as the sky blue pegasus leaned towards him with a glare on her face. “Rainbow Dash, stop that right now!” shouted a rather loud Fluttershy. The group looked at her with surprised looks. “If Spike wants to tell us later, he’ll tell us later. We should go find Twilight instead before we ask him what happened.” She suddenly blushed a little and looked down. “Um . . . was I being too forceful again?” she asked in her small voice. Rainbow looked back at Spike and sighed. “Alright . . . I’ll let him go for now, but you owe us an explanation later Spike. But if you did something to her that causes her to be hurt or die, I’ll rip those scales off of you. Come on Fluttershy, we’ve got some flying to do.” She took off into the sky and flew away from Carousel Boutique. Fluttershy soon followed and quickly tried to catch up with her friend. Spike let out a sigh of relief and turned to the others. “Well, what are we waiting for? Hearth’s Warming Eve? Let’s split up and look for Twilight. Come on Rarity, we’ll check on the outskirts of town. Maybe she’s headed towards the Everfree Forest or something.” “Well y’all be safe now okay?” asked Applejack. “Pinkie and I are gonna go to the other side of town and look there. Ya ready Pinkie?” “You betcha!” shouted the pink mare. “I even brought along my favorite safari hat and binoculars. I keep some binoculars and hats around town in case of emergencies.” She adjusted a tannish brown safari hat on her head and held a pair of black binoculars in her hand. “Well, we’ll catch you later Spikey!” She grabbed Applejack’s hand and the two ran down the road and out of sight. Spike and Rarity looked at each other with raised eyebrows. They both shrugged it off and turned towards the outskirts of Ponyville. The two of them ran down the road and headed towards the Everfree Forest. Twilight, wherever you are, I hope you’re okay, thought Spike to himself. I promise you Twilight, I promise to be there for you and to never make you feel alone again. For my sakes though, please be okay. He picked up the pace and looked at the Everfree Forest with a look of determination. Twilight looked around at the three dragons circling around her. Each one of them had a wicked smile on their face and were licking their lips with their forked tongues. Garble stepped forward and seized Twilight’s arm. He brought her inches from his face and smirked. “I’ve eaten a couple of ponies, but nothing satisfies me more then a unicorn,” he said. “I wonder what you’ll taste like.” He opened his mouth, revealing all his sharp teeth and moved forward. Upon hearing the word unicorn, Twilight broke out of her panic and concentrated on her magic reserves. Her horn glowed and a huge flash ignited, causing the three dragons to be blinded a little. Garble suddenly felt the grip he had on Twilight is now nothing but air and though his vision was impaired, he could see she was no longer surrounded. He looked around and saw a purple figure running off in the distance and towards Ponyville. “Get her boys!” barked Garble. “Stop acting so confused and chase that unicorn down!” Matchstick and Boiler rubbed their eyes and gave a salute to Garble before taking off. The two dragons flew closely to the ground as they quickly closed in on Twilight. The lilac unicorn looked back to see the dragons extending their arms out to grab her. She charged up her horn and shot out two magic bolts, hitting each dragon and causing them to lose control of their flying and crash. Twilight ran as fast as she could through the snow, but the foot deep snow wasn’t making things any easier for herself. She looked back again to see Matchstick and Boiler had gotten up and took off again after her. The two dragons split up and surrounded Twilight on her left and on her right. They both closed in together to grab her again, but Twilight realized what they were trying to do and ducked to avoid them. Matchstick tried to get out of the way of Boiler as they were about to collide, but the effort proved futile as the large brown dragon smacked right into him and sent them both crashing to the ground again. Twilight looked up to see both dragons were groaning and quickly got up and ran off. He charged her horn to teleport away again, but before she could a red blur tackled her from behind and was sent to the ground. Twilight looked up to see a furious Garble holding her with one arm and using his other to dig for something in his pocket. She tried to teleport again, but Garble noticed this and hit her each time she tried it. He then pulled out of his pocket a large black bracelet with a small silver lock on it. He tried to place it over Twilight, but she was thrashing around wildly and kicking Garble in his shins. Twilight’s horn glowed brightly again, but Garble hit her again before she could do anything. BANG! A loud noise suddenly echoed throughout the field, causing Garble to look around to see what happened. He saw nothing but snow and the surrounding forest near the large field. He shrugged it off and placed the bracelet at the base of Twilight’s horn and locking it. Garble released his grip on Twilight and shoved her to the ground. The lilac unicorn panted and tried to steady herself from all the blows she received from the red dragon. She tried to once more teleport away, but this time she didn’t feel her horn charging, nor any glow from it. She tried again, this time concentrating deeply on her magic reserves, but only got a tiny spark to come out of her horn. Garbel laughed a little and said, “What’s the matter? Losing your spark so soon?” “What did you do to me?” asked Twilight. “Why can’t I use my magic anymore?” “That’s because of that bracelet I put on your horn,” said the red dragon. “My cronies and I got that during another attempt to eat a unicorn. She was some blue stage magician that managed to get away from us using some sort of flash to blind us. She ran off of on us, but forgot some of her equipment, including some of those bracelets like what you’re wearing. We found out that these bracelets can stop a unicorn from using their magic and no magic for you means no way to escape.” Twilight slowly got up and tried to punch Garble, but he merely laughed callously and punched her, knocking her unconscious. “Nice try you purple pest,” he said in a smug tone. “But unicorns aren’t really known for their strength and you’re an excellent example of that fact. Matchstick! Boiler!” The two dragons got up and quickly ran over to their leader. “Go get some firewood so we can prepare dinner. I’m in the mood to have some roast unicorn tonight. And who better to have it then with the princess’ student?” He picked up Twilight’s body and turned to head for the woods with his cohorts. Just as Garble was carrying Twilight into the forest, he suddenly heard a whooshing sound. He shrugged it off as some wind blowing through the field, but he suddenly saw a blue blur tackle Matchstick and Boiler and were both sent to the ground. The red dragon looked around and held onto Twilight tightly. “Where the buck did that come from!?” he barked. “Who’s out here!? Show yourself right now!” Almost as soon as he was done asking, the blue blur appeared again and hit Garbel square in the nose, causing him to yelp. He let go of Twilight to massage his nose, but as he did he heard some footsteps. He turned to see six figures, including the blue blur that landed next to them, stepping forward, each with determined looks on them. “Sorry, but I think that dinner is going to have a change in plans,” said a voice. “The only thing you’re getting is a knuckle sandwich.” Garble’s eyes narrowed as he looked upon the figures and instantly recognized that voice. He looked in the middle and saw Spike glaring at him. “You . . . what are you doing here of all places?” he spat. “I could ask you the same thing Garble,” he said. “But what I want to know is why you’re trying to do this to Twilight.” “You and your loser pony friends are to blame for this!” barked the red dragon. “After you escaped us, we went back to our clan and were approached by our clan leader. He was angry at us for not only hazing you, but for also attempting to kill those ponies for no reason and trying to kill some defenseless eggs. He said it was dishonorable to do such a thing and we were exiled as a result. We’ve been wandering through Equestria ever since that incident.” “Well you did that to yourself,” said Spike. “You didn’t need to do any of that stuff at all. It looks like you still haven’t learned anything since the last time I met you.” “But how did you even find us!?” asked Garble. “We’re far away from that loser town of Ponyville! You wouldn't be able to find us that quickly!” “Let me ask you something Garble,” said Spike. “Did you by chance hear some sort of loud bang like a firework going off?” The red dragon nodded curtly. “Well I think you better look up to see where that bang come from.” Spike pointed his claw up to the sky as well as the others. Garble looked up and stumbled back a little as he saw something glittering in the sky. There, high in the sky, was a large purple and magenta shape that looked exactly like Twilight’s cutie mark. He looked back at Spike, who was smirking a little, and gritted his teeth. “Like it Garble?” he asked. “That’s a unicorn signal flare spell. It acts like any other signal flare, but creates the cutie mark of whoever casts it. When we all heard that bang and looked up, we saw the signal and knew where Twilight was. Now I’m only going to tell this once. Let go of Twilight and take your cronies out of here this instant.” “You want her so badly? Then come get her then.” Garble tossed Twilight’s body behind him. “Matchstick! Boiler! Get up you two! We’ve got some uninvited dinner guests!” The two dragons slowly got up and ran next to Garble. “Show no mercy upon them! Let’s teach them a lesson about what happens when you mess with real dragons! Not some pathetic dragon who was raised by ponies!” Spike looked to the others and said, “Applejack, you and Pinkie go after that brown dragon. Rarity and Rainbow, you both go after that one skinny dragon. Fluttershy, when an opening presents itself, go get Twilight’s body and tend to her wounds.” “What about you Spike?” asked Rarity. “I’m going for Garble,” he said. “He hates my guts and wants me dead. I’d rather let him face me then let him go after any of you and possibly kill one of you. I can handle him though; I’m not the same dragon he faced a year ago. Now come on, we need to save Twilight before it’s too late.” The others nodded and braced themselves for whatever the dragons had up their sleeves. Matchstick was the first one to make a move as he took off with his fist clenched and flew towards Spike. Rainbow though quickly counterattacked by flying towards him and punching him square in the cheek, sending him to the ground. Rarity quickly joined up with her and used her magic to shoot some energy bolts out. Matchstick noticed this and quickly rolled out of the way of the bolts. He noticed Rainbow flying towards him again as he got up and quickly got out of her way. He grabbed Rainbow by the tail and spinned her body around for a minute before letting go and sending her flying to the ground. Boiler took off into the air and flew high up before coming back down and trying to divebomb Applejack. The farmer pony quickly got out of the way as the brown dragon missed her by inches and steadied herself. Boiler went high up into the air again and turned around to do another divebomb. Applejack suddenly heard a whistle and turned to see Pinkie patting her hand on top of a small blue cannon. She smirked a little and nodded before turning back towards Boiler, who was seconds away from hitting her. Applejack jumped to the side to reveal the cannon was pointed directly at Boiler. “Time to party!” shouted Pinkie as she grasped the string attached to the cannon. Boiler’s face contorted to a look of panic and tried to fly away. Pinkie though pulled the string and fired out some confetti and a tiny cannonball. The ball hit Boiler in his stomach, causing him to cry out in pain and be sent flying briefly through the air before crashing into a tree. Pinkie turned to Applejack and shared a high five with her. They both ran off towards Boiler to subdue him. Spike and Garble stood across each other and glared at one another. Each dragon was waiting for the other to make the first move before trying to counterattack. Garble took in a deep breath and shot out three red fireballs at Spike. The purple dragon jumped out of the way of them, but as he regained his bearings, he looked up and saw Garble flying towards him. He delivered a punch to Spike’s face, causing him to stumble a little and rub his nose. Garble then went behind Spike’s back and wrapped his arm around his neck tightly. Spike gasped for air as he struggled to pull the red dragon’s arm off, but the more he pulled the tighter his grasp got. Unable to pull his arm off, Spike threw his head back and hit Garble in the snout, causing him to grunt a little but still held on. The purple dragon did it again, only this time he used his elbow to hit Garble in the stomach. The combination attack caused Garble to grunt again, but release his hold on Spike. As he was shaking off the attack, Garble was tackled by Spike and were both sent to the ground and rolled around in the snow. Fluttershy looked on nervously as she waited for her chance. She looked to the left to see Matchstick flying around and breathing a column of purple fire down at Rarity and Rainbow. Both of them ran away from the flames, but Rainbow turned around and smacked Matchstick in the mouth. To her right, Boiler had gotten up and managed to get a few hits in on Applejack and Pinkie. Applejack was bleeding from her nose and had bruises while Pinkie had a few scratches from the brown dragon’s claws. The farmer pony raised a lasso and managed to rope one of Boiler’s arms, causing him to thrash around and shake her off. Fluttershy looked ahead and saw Twilight’s body in the distance with neither her friends, nor the dragons in the way. She took a deep breath and quickly ran towards the lilac unicorn’s body, but just as she was within reach, a wall of red fire suddenly blocked her path which made her scream. She looked to her right to see Garble was still struggling with Spike on the ground, but saw what happened. He punched Spike in the face and got up and ran towards Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus screamed and took off in the opposite direction. “You’re not going to get her that easily!” shouted Garble. “It’s going to take a lot more than a distraction to-OOF!” He was suddenly cut off by a punch that hit him in the back of the head. Garble fell to the ground and showed it was Spike standing behind him. “Hey, your target is me, not her!” he shouted. “Fluttershy, get Twilight now! Get her as far away from here as possible!” The yellow pegasus nodded and ran back towards her friend. She quickly picked up her body and placed it over her shoulders. Fluttershy struggled to carry Twilight away, but ran as fast as she could. Garble opened one of his eyes and saw what Fluttershy was doing and quickly got back to his feet. Spike tried to stop him, but the red dragon punched him in the stomach before turning back and flying towards Fluttershy. She looked back to see Garble glaring at her as he got closer and picked up the pace. He extended his claws out to grab her, but he suddenly felt a sharp tug at his tail and was tossed to the side. Garble groaned as he got up and saw Spike was charging at him with his fist clenched. He narrowly avoided the purple dragon’s punch, but raised his own fist and delivered a punch of his own to Spike’s face, causing him to cry out in agony and fall to the ground. Applejack was struggling with trying to keep control of Boiler, but he was thrashing around so much she was flailing around in the air. A whistle noise suddenly rang out which made the brown dragon turn his head a little. Pinkie had her party cannon out again and pulled the string, releasing a bunch of ropes towards Boiler. Before he could react, the ropes had wrapped all around Boiler’s body and immobilized him. Applejack took this opportunity to run up towards him, jump up, and deliver a kick to his face that caused Boiler to cry out in pain and fall down. Applejack and Pinkie took a look at the brown dragon and saw he was knocked unconscious from the blow. They smiled at one another and shared another high five over their victory. “WAHAHA!” screamed Rarity. The white unicorn was running away from Matchstick’s flames that were raining down upon her. He laughed coldly as he flew down from the sky and let out another burst of fire at Rarity. He was about to swoop down and grab the white unicorn, but a loud whistle stopped him dead in his tracks. Matchstick looked up to see Rainbow with a black cloud next to her. The blue pegasus moved the cloud directly over the dragon and raised her legs. “You look like you could use a shower!” shouted Rainbow. She kicked the cloud, causing it to start pouring rain down upon Matchstick. The dragon was immediately hit with water pouring all over his body and shrugged it off. All of a sudden, Matchstick felt a deep chill surround his body and started to shiver uncontrollably. He fell to the ground and was shaking like he was experiencing an earthquake. “Freeze Rarity!” shouted Rainbow. The white unicorn looked up at her friend with a puzzled expression. “Rainbow Dash, this isn’t the time to be playing cops and robbers,” she said. Rainbow slapped the palm of her hand into her face. “No Rarity, I mean freeze him with your magic!” she shouted in an exasperated tone. “Well all you had to do was tell me to,” she said. A blue aura formed around Matchstick’s body as Rarity’s horn lit up. The water droplets around the dragon slowly froze up and immobilize his joints. Soon, his entire body was covered in ice and couldn’t move at all, except for his eyes. Rainbow landed near Rarity, who thanked her for what she did with a hug. Rainbow blushed a little and returned the hug as well, albeit not for long. Spike stumbled back a little as Garble punched him again. The two dragons panted as they recovered their strength and glared at one another. Spike was covered with many scratches around his body and had a cut on his right cheek that was bleeding. Garble too had many scratches all over, but had more bruises on him and his nose was bleeding. Spike tried to charge at Garble with another punch, but the red dragon moved out of the way and used his right hand to grab him by the neck. Garble lifted Spike up into the air, who was struggling to break free, and laughed callously. “Why don’t you give it up already Spike?” asked Garble in a smug voice. “A pathetic dragon like you can never be able to stand up to a real dragon like me. I’ll give you one chance and I mean only one chance for you to beg for my mercy. Scream for it you pathetic excuse of a dragon.” Spike, who was gasping for air still, said in a small determined voice, “Never . . .” “Then I’ll give you a punishment worse then death,” said the red dragon with a sinister smile. “I will . . . ACK!” He was suddenly cut off with something hard hitting him in the back of his head. He turned and looked down to see a rather large rock was next to him. Garble looked up to see an exhausted Twilight slowly getting up. Fluttershy was trying to hold her friend back from doing too much, but the lilac unicorn ignored her. She glared at Garble and walked towards him slowly. The red dragon had smoke blowing out of his nostrils and tossed Spike aside. He marched towards Twilight with his fists clenched and smoke billowing out of his nose. “That’s going to be the last thing you ever do!” he barked. “I’m going to chew you up and . . . WHOA!” Garble suddenly felt something around his legs that prevented him from moving. He looked down to see Spike’s tail had actually wrapped itself around both his legs. The red dragon tried to break free of Spike’s tail, but the purple dragon pulled on it and made Garble fall down to the ground. Both dragons got up quickly, but before Garble could do anything, Spike was on him in an instant. The purple dragon delivered an unrelenting barrage of punches at Garble, making him stumble back and yelp in pain. Spike then did an uppercut on Garble, which caused him to fall to the ground and pant. A dark shadow suddenly fell over him and looked to see an infuriated Spike. “You want to chew on something!?” he asked. “Then chew on this!” Spike raised his foot and brought it down hard against Garble’s jaw. CRACK A deafening crack echoed throughout the field as well as a painful scream. Garble thrashed around in pain as he held onto his jaw and had blood pouring out of his mouth. He tried to yell something, but each time he tried to move his jaw, it made him scream and thrash around more. After a couple of minutes, Garble stopped rolling around and groaned in agony softly. Spike and the others got a closer look to see, to their shock and horror, what had happen to Garble. His once sharp teeth were now mostly shattered. Some were pressed inwardly and into his gums, causing blood to pour out. His jaw seemed completely limp now and was nothing more then a bloody and bruised mess. Spike heard another moan and turned to see a dazed Twilight. He quickly ran over to her and embraced her tightly. The others soon joined in on the group hug and they all smiled at one another. Twilight looked up at Spike and couldn’t help but let some tears run down her face as she smiled. The purple dragon wiped the tears away and rubbed his head against hers. All of a sudden, a couple of gold chariots surrounded Spike, his friends, and Garble and his cronies. Several white and gray stallions in gold armor stepped out with swords and spears drawn at the ready. They all circled around the group of dragons and ponies and didn’t move a muscle. The crowd then parted to make way for a tall and muscular white unicorn stallion in royal purple and gold armor. The unicorn looked around with a stern look on his face before shifting his attention to Spike and the others. “Alright freeze!” shouted the unicorn. “Already on it,” joked Rainbow, earning a punch in the back from Applejack. “Always the joker, aren’t you Rainbow?” asked the unicorn. “I can see why Twily is friends with all of you.” “Hey wait . . . I know that voice,” said Spike. “I hope you haven’t forgotten about me,” said the unicorn as he stepped forward. “After all, who else calls Twilight by that nickname?” Spike and the others gasped as they looked upon Shining Armor himself. They all bowed briefly before getting back up. “There’s no time for getting all happy yet,” he said in a more stern tone. “Where’s Twily at anyway? Have you all found her?” “Here she is,” said Spike as he carried her towards him. “She looks pretty banged up from those dragons that tried to kidnap and eat her.” Shining Armor looked up at Spike with anger etched on his face. “Kidnap!? Eaten!?” he barked. “Who are these dragons anyway!?” “That’s them over there,” said Rarity. “That horrible red dragon there said something about eating Twilight.” Shining Armor quickly ran over to Garble, who was moaning and twitching a little. He furrowed his brow as he looked at him and was deep in thought. After a few minutes, he looked towards one of the guards. “Corporal! Check one of the chariots for a folder containing wanted posters!” He ordered. “Bring the one that had the sketch of the dragons to me immediately!” “SIR!” the white pegasus shouted as he saluted his superior. The guard ran to a nearby chariot and quickly ran out with three wanted posters in his hand. He gave them to Shining Armor and looked at the first one in his hand. He made comparisons to both Garble and the picture in the wanted poster for a few minutes. The white unicorn then got up and turned to Spike and the others. “I don’t believe this at all,” he said. “That dragon there, he’s actually wanted for attempted murder of a unicorn and other disappearances in regards to eight other ponies. Some stage magician told us about what happened and how she fled from them using some blinding magic. The composite sketch we made from her description is very similar to that dragon there. In fact, those other two dragons are most likely the accomplices she described to us.” “Well we were glad to help catch these varmints,” said Applejack. “And I’m glad to see everything is now okay,” said a gentle mare’s voice. The group turned to see a tall, skinny, curvy white alicorn with a wavy rainbow mane and tail and was wearing a white gown with some jewelry and a crown on. They all bowed down respectfully to one of their rulers, Princess Celestia. “Princess Celestia, am I glad to see you,” said Spike as he got up. “Twilight’s hurt and she needs help now.” The white alicorn looked down to see an unconscious Twilight laying in Spike’s hands. She nodded and said, “We’ll take her to the hospital in Ponyville then since it’s closer then the one in Canterlot. Captain Shining Armor?” The white unicorn saluted and said in a commanding voice, “I know what to do your highness. Alright, I want a group of guards to load Twily into a chariot and take her to the Ponyville Hospital this instant! I also want those three dragons in chains and their wings tied up! Also make sure to have some mouth constraints on them to ensure they don’t breath out any fire!” “Sir! What about that red dragon there?” asked a gray unicorn guard. “He looks seriously injured and his jaw looks like somepony ripped it off.” “Take him and his cohorts to the Royal Canterlot Hospital then for treatment,” said Shining Armor. “After they’re discharged, take them into central booking and have them booked for attempted kidnapping and two counts of attempted murder. Now move out soldiers!” “SIR!” the guards shouted and saluted the white unicorn and got to work. A group of unicorns took Twilight’s body out of Spike’s hands and placed her on a red gurney. She was loaded into one of the golden chariots and immediately took off towards Ponyville. Garble and his cronies were all chained up and were placed into the back of another chariot. It took off into the air and disappeared into the clouds as it went back to Canterlot. Finally, Spike, his friends, Shining Armor, and Princess Celestia were the only ones left. “Well I’m glad that’s over with,” said Fluttershy. “Let’s go see Twilight in the hospital and wait to hear how she’s doing.” “Hold on a minute there Fluttershy,” said Rainbow. “Spike here still owes us an explanation as to why Twilight ran away in the first place.” “Spike, do you have an explanation as to why Twilight did this?” asked Princess Celestia. The purple dragon backed up a little as the whole group looked at him with both suspicious and worried looks on them. “W-well . . . you see . . .” “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to Spike,” said Rarity. “No . . . it’s okay Rarity,” he said. “I’ve got to let them know anyway. They’re going to know sooner or later.” “Know about what?” asked Shining Armor. “What’s going on between you and my sister?” “I suppose I better start from the beginning,” said Spike. “I was sleeping in my bed this morning when I heard Twilight making a lot of noise because she was searching for her hat. I went out there and . . .” Spike continued to tell the story about what happened from him finding Twilight’s hidden book to talking to Rarity about the situation. “So that’s all that happened. I know it’s probably weird and unbelievable, but it’s true.” The group had surprised expressions on their faces, with the exception of Princess Celestia who was smiling softly. “You’ve gotta be pulling mah leg Spike,” said Applejack. “Now that’s what I call a doozy!” shouted Pinkie. “Huh . . . never knew the egghead had it in her to find love,” said Rainbow. “I’ve got to admit Spike, you were pretty cool with how you saved her.” “I couldn’t be happier for you two,” said Fluttershy. “Hold on a minute here,” said Shining Armor as he approached Spike with a glare on his face. “You mean to tell me that not only did you cause my sister to run away, get kidnapped, and nearly eaten, but this was all because she had feelings for you?” “Well . . . when you put it that way,” said Spike in a nervous voice. “All I can tell you is this . . .” Shining Armor pulled Spike in for a hug and held onto him tightly for a few minutes. “Thank you . . . for coming to her rescue and saving her,” he said in a gentle tone. “Twily is very smart and I’m glad she chose somepon . . . erm somedragon like you to be with.” “I couldn’t agree more,” said Princess Celestia. “You really outdid yourself this time Spike. She’s lucky to have you around and I couldn’t be happier for the two of you.” “So none of you have a problem with this?” asked Spike. The entire group shook their heads. “Spike, I don’t care if ya date Twilight, me, or Rarity,” said Applejack. “As long as y’all found somepony to love, then I’ll be happy with ya.” “She’s right Spike,” said Rarity. “Whoever you fall in love with, we will not judge you or think of you any differently. You’re our friend after all and we’ll always support whoever you decide to be with.” “Thanks Rarity,” said Spike with a smile. “Well as happy as this reunion is, I think we need to get moving,” said Princess Celestia. “I see all of you are injured as well from the fight with Garble and his gang. We’ll take the last chariot towards Ponyville and get you all patched up at the hospital. Besides, I know you’ll be wanting to check up on Twilight, especially you Spike.” The dragon blushed a little and said, “Come on, I’ve already told you all how I felt towards Twilight and there’s only one pony left now. I don’t want to keep her waiting any longer now.” The group quickly boarded the chariot and took off into the air and towards Ponyville Hospital.