//------------------------------// // a bad day // Story: Rebuilding the Dark BrotherHood // by mineturtal247 //------------------------------// Spike was having a good morning. He had woken up, got out of bed and headed to the kitchen to make some breakfast. That was, until he stubbed his little toe on the edge of his bedroom door. Whining about the pain, he started hopping on one foot, holding the damaged toe with both hands. He was too busy dealing with the pain to notice a book that was left out by the staircase until it was too late. He slipped on the book, falling backwards down the stairs and tumbled to the bottom. When he reached the bottom, Spike was in a daze from the fall. The room was spinning, making him feel uneasy. With a groan of pain, he picked himself up and placed a hand on his head to help stop the spinning, and placed his other hand on a bookshelf for support. A sudden "creak" came from the bookshelf. Spike forget about the pain when he noticed the bookshelf starting to fall back words. Spike reached out to try to grab ahold of the bookshelf, but it was too late. The bookshelf fell backwards into another one, and then that one fell on to the next one behind that. This resulted in a domino effect, knocking over every bookshelf in the library. When the last of the bookshelf finally fell, Spike could only stare at the destruction of the library. It was just painful to look at. Spike started to panic. He needed to get all of this fixed before Twilight got up. She would never have to know about this. It would probably work. She was a heavy sleeper and she could still be asleep. Maybe she did not hear a thing. "I did not do this! At least not on purpose, it was an accident, I swear, I stubbed my toe and-" Spike tried to explain, but was cut off. "I don't want to hear it Spike, you're going to clean this up right now!" Twilight said. "I'll have to close the library 'til this mess gets cleaned up!" "But... But Twilight I-" "No buts, Spike! Clean this up, will you? I have to go get the 'We are close for to the day' sign!" With that, Twilight headed toward her closet to get the sign. Spike sighed in frustration, knowing arguing would solve nothing. He started to clean up the library by picking up books and placing them in sorted piles of fiction, non-fiction, horror, mystery, romance, adventure, and so forth. He spent about nine hours cleaning the library, putting the bookshelves back up and arranging books in alphabetical order from each genre. Finally, the library had been restored to normal. He was glad that it was over. He felt tired and hungry from all the hard work he had done. He had gone into to the kitchen to make something to eat when a knock came from the front door. Sighing in annoyance, he walk up to the door and opened it to find Fluttershy standing on the other side. "Hi Spike, is Twilight here?" She asked in her usual kind, soft tone. "Yeah, she is in her room studying," Spike said with a bit of anger. "Um... Okay. Can I come in? I need to talk to her." Spike stepped aside, allowing Fluttershy in the library. She thanked him and made her way upstairs to Twilight's room. Spike just stood there for a second before returning to the kitchen. Ten minutes later, Twilight and Fluttershy came down the stairs and walked into the kitchen, where Spike was eating a bowl of crystals. When he noticed them, he said "Hi," and continued eating. "Spike," Twilight said to the young dragon with a smile. "Yes, Twilight?" "You did a nice job cleaning up the library today. I'm proud of you for doing it without much of an argument from you." She continued smiling at the young dragon. Spike smiled upon hearing this. "Thank you, Twilight." "But since you had the library closed most of the day, I am going to add one more chore for you to do. I'm sending you to Fluttershy's place to help her rebuild a chicken coop." Spike's smile instantly faded away. "What?" he yelled. "Now now, I know it's not fair but-" Twilight was cut off by Spike. "Not fair, it's unbelievable! That you want to continue punishing me for something that was an accident! Have I not done enough for today?" Spike protested. "Now Spike, I know that you have done enough for today, but Fluttershy really needs your help. I would help out too, but I'm quite busy studying this spell and I need full concentration for it," Twilight half lied. Spike was having a hard time believing what he was hearing. He had spent nine hours cleaning the library for something that was not his fault, and now Twilight was giving him more work to do by asking him to go to Fluttershy's place and rebuild a chicken coop. That would probably take another three or more hours to do. All Spike wanted to do was to take nap from his hard work, but no, he had to go and do this now. "I cant get a break today," Spike thought to himself. With a sigh, Spike got up from his chair at the table and started walking to Fluttershy. He sighed again. "Let's go, Fluttershy," Spike said, clearly annoyed. He walked out of the back door and started heading to Fluttershy's cottage. "Thank you, Twilight, for having Spike help me out with this. It means a lot, not just to me, but to the chickens as well." "It's good, Fluttershy. I'm glad I can help, at least in a way. I wish that I could come over and help for myself, but I really need to study, and having Spike gone would help out. Spike did do a lot today, and I may have gone bit overboard with the punishment, but I'll make it up to him by letting him have a few days off. That should make him feel better." With a nod, Fluttershy walked out the back door with a smile. Her plan was coming together nicely. Now she just needed to go home and fix the chicken coop. "Thank you Spike, for coming over to help me fix the chicken coop. I really needed the help," Fluttershy said to young dragon next to her. "You're welcome Fluttersy" spike side with a bit of tiredness in his voice. He was clearly annoyed by this. "I know you're tired, Spike, but after you help me, I'll make you some tea and cookies. How does that sound for a reward?" Fluttershy smiled. "That sounds great," Spike said with a smile, a bit more glad that he would be getting a treat for his hard work. When they arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, they started work on the chicken coop. Only a few hours went by, and it seemed to pass fairly quickly. It had only started to get dark when they finally finished rebuilding the chicken coop. "Well Spike, we're done! The chicken coop is finish. Now the chickens can go back to living in their new home." Fluttershy smiled. "Yeah... great," Spike said while wiping sweat from his head. They make their way into Fluttershy's cottage. Spike took a seat at the couch and make himself comfortable while Fluttershy went into the kitchen to make tea and cookies for her guest. Thirty minutes later, Fluttershy came out with a tray of cookies and two cups of tea. She placed one cup in front of Spike. He helped himself to the cup of tea and a cookie and took a bite from it. It felt good to finally have something to eat after all that hard work. "I want to thank you, Spike, for helping me with the chicken coop. You have helped me in more ways than one. Did you realize?" Fluttershy said in her usual tone of voice. "Well, you're welcome Fluttershy, I'm just glad that it's over. Today has been one very bad day." Spike took a sip from his tea, washing down the cookie that he had bit into. Fluttershy also took a sip from her tea. Suddenly, Spike felt very tired. The room started spinning around slightly. Although he was siting, he felt off balance. "Hey, Fluttershy, I feel tired. I'm just going to take a nap if that's..." Spike passed out, dropping the tea cup on the floor, shattering it into pieces. "Hmm, the knock out potion took effect a lot quicker than I thought it would," Fluttershy said to herself. "No matter, it worked. Now time for phase two." With a wicked grin, she placed her tea cup down and walked up to Spike and lifting him over her back. She made her way upstairs to her room and approached the bookshelf. She opened the secret door and made her way to the sanctuary. She put Spike down on the floor and walked into the armory room. She put on her armor and grabbed both of her daggers. She walked back to where Spike was laying down and pulled up a chair and simply sat there, waiting for him to wake up. She heard a voice over to her right. She turned to the sound. She saw three figures that were tied up and bound to chairs. The one that had made the noise was a griffin. "What was that?" asked Fluttershy. "I said please let me go! I did nothing wrong. Why are you doing this?" he said with a plea, his voice muffled slightly by the bag over his head. More voices called out similar things, asking to be let go, begging, pleading with their capturer to let them free. Another of the two remaining captives was a female diamond dog. She was wearing a leather jacket and her fur was dark blue. If Fluttershy had not put a bag over her head, she would have remembered the eyes the dog had. Finally, there was an earth pony in a business suit. His coat was a light silver color, and a bag had been placed over his head too. The griffin was the only one of the captives who had armor on. It was light chainmail armor with one large steel plate on his left front shoulder. He also wore a necklace around his neck with a small coin pouch tied to it. It was a good thing that his head was covered by the bag, as, by the sound of his voice, he was crying. Fluttershy felt a little sorry for the griffin, but she couldn't let her emotions interfere with a contract, even if it was a bit sad to see a warrior cry and beg for mercy, even though he knew that she would most likely not relent. It was then that Fluttershy heard another noise, a soft groan from her special guest. She turned her head to see Spike getting up. She looked back at he three captives and spoke. "Shh, all of you. Our guest has awoken. Please be silent 'til I'm done speaking with him," she said as a smile crept onto her face, but no one could see it because of the mask. Spike awoke slowly. His head hurt, but he put that aside when he found himself looking up at a cobblestone ceiling. He shot up, looking around at his surroundings. There were pillars with candles and torches on them, a table in one corner of the room, and a book shelf next that. There were also three doors with signs over them, but he could not make out what they said. He then turn his head and saw something that made him freeze in place. Spike was looking at a mare in black and red armor with a red mask over her muzzle. She had two weapons on her. They look like daggers, and they where sinister looking. They were curved with a sharpen point at the end. "Whe... where am I?" spike asked with a quivering voice. He was scared out of his mind. "You don't have to be afraid, little dragon, I'm not going to hurt you... maybe," the mare said. Hearing that made Spike start to cry a little. "What do y-you mean?" His tears started to run down his face. "I mean, I may or may not hurt you. It depends on the choices you make today," the mare said with a small chuckle. "Can I just go please?" The tears were pouring down his face. This was making Fluttershy a bit sad, but she stayed in character, knowing that she wouldn't actually harm Spike, only break his mind, which would make it easier to indoctrinate him. "No. Like I said, it depends on what you do today. It will determine if you live or not," she said a bit of a harsh tone. Spike's eyes went wide with fear. His life was at risk. Where was Fluttershy? Why was she not helping him? Did this mare do something to her? "Where is Flutteshy?" Spike asked with anger in his voice. "What did you do to her?" "The mare is fine, she is merely napping," the mare said while holding one of the daggers, just in case the little dragon tried something. Spike looked over his left shoulder and looked at the three individuals tied up and bound to the chairs. "Who are they?" Spike asked with fear in his voice. "They are contracts. They are what will decide if you walk out of here or not." "What do you mean?" spike asked. "You must choose who lives and who dies, little dragon." "I... I don't want to kill anypony," Spike side, beginning to cry again. "Stop crying, little dragon! You must decide who lives and who dies this day!" With that she tossed one of the daggers to Spike. Spike caught the dagger and, amazingly, did not cut him self, as he had caught it by the handle. "Impressive that you caught it by the handle. You have good reflexes," the mare complimented. Spike said nothing. He was just holding the dagger and looking at it as though he was under some sort of spell. "Now little dragon, you must choose one of the contracts over there and make your choice. And know that if you try something to harm me, I will kill you without a second thought," the mare said coldly. Spike looked at the mare and then back at the dagger. He knew she that was telling the truth. He stared making his way toward one of the contracts. "What a day this has been," Spike thought to himself. "I stub my toe on a door, fall down the stairs, knock all the books in the library to the ground, spent hours cleaning it all up, and help Fluttershy build a chicken coop. And now I'm here with this crazy mare who wants me to do the unthinkable act of killing somepony! What a bad day this has been." He walked toward the griffin in chainmail armor and the coin purse around his neck. Spike could feel his heart beat even faster. His mind screamed at him to run away. He wanted to, but something kept him going, making him stop in front of the contract. He wanted to know why they where here, and why this mare wanted him to kill one of them. "Who are you, and why are you here?" Spike asked the griffin. "I am Blade Beak, and I don't know why A am here!" the griffin said fearfully. "Blade Beak? I've heard of you," the pony in the suit spoke. "You're the one who put a whole town in a small church! Mares, stallions and foals! It was in Konja, south east of the griffin kingdoms. And then you burned the whole building down, along with the town!" "That was a long time ago! I was different then! I'm a changed griffin! I have not pick up my sword in ages!" the griffin said. "Then why are you wearing your armor then?" Spike asked the griffin, anger in his voice. "I wear it because... because I was celebrating the day I got out of the griffin army!" he lied. The griffin was lying and Spike hated him for it. Lying about what he had done made him further into a monster. He should not be alive. "Wait, what am I thinking? I can't think like that," Spike thought to him self. "No matter what he did, I should not be thinking this sorta thing." He walked up to the diamond dog. She was wearing a leather jacket and had a few scars showed on her hands, indicating that she had been in a number of fights. "Who are you?" Spike asked the diamond dog. "I am Iron Paw, I am nobody," she said in a soft, kind voice. For a little while, Spike felt bad the she was here. She looked like she been though so much and had no life left in her. It was like she wanted to die. "You are Iron Paw? If you're here, then we are all going to die," the griffin said, sadness in his voice. "Why?" Spike asked. "She is the most wanted diamond dog slave trader in all of Equestria! I'm surprised that you did not know!" said the earth pony in the suit. "She sold foals, mothers, fathers away, and took buffalo tribes to work in the mines for them, and even has gone as far as to execute an entire family just to make an example!" "And you are?" Spike asked with more rage building inside him, now that he felt bad for a diamond dog slave trader. "Money Banks Mcloud" he said, Spike noticing his Manhattan accent. "And what do you think you're here for?" Spike asked. "Well, my mother did not raise me to be a lair like a diamond dog or a griffin, so I will tell you. I am a scammer! I scam bits from ponies, and make great money out of it. And I have started my own bank, thus the my name of Money Banks, get it?" "Why would you do something like that?" Spike asked, rage boiling inside him. "Because I make a killing doing it!" he said, clearly proud of it. "But you ruin pony's lives by giving them false products! What if you sold medical supplies to hospitals and-" "The only question there is is which hospital has not bought medical supplies from me," the pony chuckled. "What?" Spike yelled, angry. Venom now seeping from his mouth from pure rage. "Yeah, idiots will believe anything. I sold my supplies to many hospitals, even a medicine that made out that it could cure any cold. All it was was water with sugar and a bit of bleach in it!" If Spike could see the face of the this pony, all Spike would see would be a smile on his face as he thought about how much he had made from the hospitals. Spike could not believe this. Here was a pony who sold false products to the public and to hospitals that would just cause more harm to ponies who needed the product for medical reasons. Why was he never caught by the royal guards? "Little dragon, you must decide who it's going to be. It's your only way out of here!" the mare said. Spike was now walking back and forth in front of the contracts. He did not want to hurt any of them, yet his mind was telling him "End them all, all of them! They don't deserve to live for what they have done, none of them!" Spike tried to block out what his mind and feelings were telling him to do. But he could not do so because of his anger with the contracts. Spike continued to pace back and forth with rapid speed. The contracts were telling him to untie them, and the shouting at him to do so was making him more unstable. Rage was building up to it's breaking point. He finally snapped. "SHUT UP!" Spike yelled, swiping the dagger into one of the contracts. Spike looked in horror at what he had done. He stepped back, muttering to himself. "No no no this can't be, I...I did not mean to I... I..." he fell down crying as he beheld the result of his deed. "Wha... What have I done?" Spike said to himself between his sobs. The body of the griffin had the dagger lodged in the side of its neck, and blood was flowing down on to the ground. The griffin tried to breathe for air, but only got a sick "gurgle" sound escaped his beak. The last thing the griffin saw was Spike crying in the fetal position, rocking back and forth. There was only darkness after that.