Spike the Knight

by vadram


Chapter 74 Preparations part 1

Preparations part 1


Spike woke up bright and early the next morning, and, not to his surprise, found Twilight’s bed the same as he left it before falling asleep, empty, so he went downstairs to check on her. He found her still in the lab still examining the bone. He sighed and went about his day.

With no cleaning to do he could use this time to start putting his plan into action, the only problem was that it was too early and most ponies were still asleep at that hour, and the ones that weren’t, namely Applejack and Fluttershy lived too far away for him to make the trip and get to the market before it opened. Not with his short legs anyway. He grabbed the bag he got from Imamu and took some bits with him so he could get some shopping done latter.

“Zecora did tell me not to change unless I have to... And this does count as an emergency...” he told himself, as he exited the library.

Luckily for him the Golden Oaks Library was located close to near the western edge of Ponyville, so instead of heading into town, he headed in the opposite direction and after a couple of minutes found himself standing in front of the small clearing that stood between the library, the train station and the northern part of the Apple’s orchard.

Spike looked around, making sure that there was no pony in sight, before getting on all fours and saying “Spike wants,” transforming. He could not tell if it hurt more or less than the last time he did it, but he didn’t seem to care anymore. He moved around a little as if to get used to his new body before making a run for the apple trees.

The run through the orchard almost seemed effortless compared to his run through the Everfree forest, the trees were almost identical and planted far enough apart that he did not fear running into one, but what made it the easiest was that nothing wanted to kill him. It only took him around ten minutes of running before he got close enough to the farmhouse that he had to stop and turn back. The pain of changing back was not as easy to ignored this time, this change brought with it a lot of pain, similar in intensity to the ones he felt when Imamu forced him to change back and forth.

“I probably shouldn’t do that again anytime soon, probably.”

Spike walked the rest of the way and found Applejack doing some of the chores she had to that morning before heading off to the market.

“Morning A.J.” Spike said scaring Applejack.

“Spike! What in tarnation are you doing here at this hour?”

“I wanted to talk to you. Do you have a few minutes?”

“Umm... I’m kind of busy, but we can talk for a few.”

“Great, cause I kind of have a favor to ask of you.”

“A favor you say?” Applejack asked suspicious.

“Yeah, it’s for Twilight actually. I will be going on a vacation next week and I was hoping you could lend Twilight a helping hoof.”

“A vacation? You just got back and you are already planning on going on a vacation? Spike I reckon you are getting a whole lot lazier.”

“I am not lazy,” he replied insulted. “So are you willing to help Twi or not?”

“First tell me what am I suppose to do,” she said still suspicious of the baby dragon.

“Nothing much, just bring some home cooked food over to the library every morning of the next week.”

“Just take some food over to Twi?”

“You will be paid of course, so you can think of it as a catering job if you want.”

“So let me get this straight, you want me to make some food for Twilight and deliver it to her house, and I’m getting paid for it?”

“Aha.”

“Sure. But I have one question.”

“Shot.”

“Why did you came all the way out here at this hour?”

“Cause I had some free time before the market opened.”

“That’s all?” she asked.

“Aha.”

“No ulterior motive?”

“Huh? Of course not. Why does everypony think I always have an ulterior motive for doing something?”

Applejack looked at him, her head slightly tilted to one side, and with an expression on her face that told Spike that he just asked a stupid question.

“Never mind,” he said. “I am going back now. Bye Applejack, see you later at the market.”

“See you Spike,” she waved at him as he departed. “Hey Granny! We have some new deliveries next week.”

After making sure that he was far enough from the farm and that there was nopony in sight he changed back into his grown up form and headed back into the orchard, this time heading towards Fluttershy. The pain hit him again and he could barely stop himself from screaming.