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// Chapter 6: Fight Club in The Library and Bonding Time 
// Story: The First Five 
// by Epimetheus 
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	Twilight and Thomas were walking down the main road in Ponyville, having split from Fluttershy and the others before entering town. Thomas was the first human to see a town built and operated by ponies, and he was duly impressed. These ponies seemed kind and courteous, saying and waving hello’s to their friends and Twilight a number of times. The sun shown brightly, giving the mismatched colors of the buildings and the ponies themselves more vibrancy than he thought possible. He saw ponies in cafes eating daisy sandwiches, grass and clover omelets and, of all things, a tofu burger with what seemed to be strips of fried hay. The smells, although slightly unappetizing, reminded him of how he hadn’t eaten since dinner. His stomach grumbled, causing a nearby pony to look around in confusion. 
This should have seen the first thing to tell him something was off, but he paid no mind, there was too much to see. Pegasi were flying over, moving clouds and racing, unicorns were magically carrying plates and bags as regular ponies were going about their everyday business. Except for the one that was ballooning and deflating, stretching and shrinking as they did their best to run. Towards him and Twilight. 
“Um, Pinkie, is something wrong?” Twilight asked carefully. Seeing her friend’s body defy the laws of physics once again was not something she particularly enjoyed.
“Hi Twilight! There’s a dozy coming, I just know it!” She was beginning to contort again, this time becoming the size of Volkswagen beetle and then a watermelon. At this point, three things happened at once; Pinkie looked to the left of Twilight, smiled and as soon as she did, promptly stopped changing shape, Twilight followed her gaze and to her horror realized that Pinkie could see Thomas, and then a pony bumped into Thomas, distracting him from Pinkie or Twilight’s reactions.
“My apologizes.” He told the grey and blonde pegasus, manners kicking in on reflex before he could think.
“No, it was my fault. I’m the one who should be sorry.” The mare rubbed her nose without looking up and walked on. She got three steps before she stopped and spun, her eyes wide, and facing opposite directions Thomas noted, but before he could see anything else, Twilight teleported them into the library, panicking at what was happening. 



Spike was startled by the sudden appearance of Twilight and the strange creature, coinciding with the sound of the shades being drawn and the front door locking, but seeing the look of abject terror on her face was enough for him to react. Thinking she was in trouble, he launched himself off the ladder he’d been using to put books away and land of the creatures head, knocking something off. 
As soon as he landed, the creature began to scream and run around the library. Spike clawed at the creatures head, scratching its face with his claws while the thing tried to pull him off and hit him against the walls. A sudden pain sprang from his head and he loosened his grip for a second. The creature seized its moment and flung him against the far bookcase. Spike slammed into it, his spines shattering the shelf and causing books to tumble down and cover him. He quickly got up and saw something that he would later deny didn’t scare him. The creatures face was smeared in blood from his claws and its hands wiping it clear of its eyes. But it was the eyes that terrified him. They were an emerald green, and filled with rage. There was a pack by its feet and a knife a good four inches long in its hand and it was griping it so hard its hand was white. Then Spike noticed the rather large brass knuckles attached to it. The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before launching towards each other, prepared to maim the other, or worse.
“NO!” Twilight screamed, her horn reacting instantly. A purple barrier came into being between them and when the two hit it, they were flung back with equal force, slamming into the walls and bookcases, sending pictures and books flying, one of which smacked Twilight in the head, stunning her out for a few moments. The barrier still stood independently, a testament to the unicorn’s skill as a mage.
Thomas was dazed for a few moments as well, but he recovered sooner. Groaning in his mind, he got up and slowly approached the barrier, wiping blood from his face as it dripped near his eyes. Tapping it with his knife, a soft thudding noise was made, like it was knocking against wood. He gripped the knife so that the blade was facing the ground and began pressing gently. Nothing happened, so he put his body weight on the blade, and it began to slowly move through. Thomas’ body soon followed suit, and he looked at Spike, who was horrified at the sight of one of Twilight’s barriers being broken so easily. As Thomas advanced on Spike, a cold, vacant look in his eyes, Twilight woke up and saw what was happening. 
“Thomas wait!” Her voice was riddled with abject terror as she pleaded with the human. “Spike didn’t mean it!”
“You know this creature?!” Spike and Thomas said in tandem. They didn’t take their eyes off each other or the sharp objects in, or on, the others hands. 
“Yes! And he’s harmless!” She removed the barrier and moved between the two, facing the human.
“Harmless?! Do you seem what it did to my face?!” Thomas wiped blood from his eyes and held out it to Twilight as proof.
“He thought I was in danger and he’s very protective.” Twilight stepped to the side so the two could look each other in the eye. Their eyes locked, trying to get a read on the other. Standing there, Twilight couldn’t tell if they’d start fighting again. Thomas turned his torso and tossed the knife to his pack and kept his eyes on the dragon. Seeing this Spike got up slowly and put his claws behind his back as a sign of disarmament. Thomas knelt down to the dragons level, and spoke calmly.
“Hello Spike, my name is Thomas.” He extended his hand to the dragon, who slowly brought his own back out from behind his back and shook it. They held onto the other for a second longer than a casual hand shake before slowly retrieving their respective hands.
“You’re quite a fighter Spike.” Thomas commented.
“You too. I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you? You have hands that are and aren’t like mine, you walk like me and yet you’re soft like a pony, and still yet you have fur on the top of your head only.” Spike was flat in his tone. 
“I’m a human. I come from a different planet.” Thomas responded in an equally flat tone. Spikes reaction was nothing like Applebloom’s to hearing this. Instead of getting excited, he remained flat and emotionless.
“Where?”
“It’s called Earth.” Seeing the two become some what civil, she relaxed a little, and began to repair the shelves and return the books, still keeping a close eye on the two. A few had blood on them, so she set them aside. It was at this time a pounding occurred at the front door. Twilight quickly shoved Thomas through another door and ran to the other, but didn’t open it.
“Um,” she tried to remain calm, doing some deep breathing before continuing. “Who is it?” A rather regal voice answered her.
“Twilight, this is Rarity. What’s going in there? We heard screaming and crashing!”
“Uh, Spike was having a growing pain and I’ve had to sedate him. Dragons apparently have rather nasty ones. He’s ok and so am I.” She said the first thing that came to her mind, earning a glare of death from Spike. 
“Oh poor Spikey Wikey. I’ll come back tomorrow with some gems, I’m sure he’ll feel better after that.” Spikes glare stopped, replaced by a toothy smile. “Oh, and I was told to tell you to stop teleporting in the middle of town, you scare ponies.”
“I’ll be sure to tell him when he wakes up. And I won’t do it again; you can tell everypony I’m sorry. Have a nice day!” She hoped that Rarity wouldn’t pick up the panic in her voice and get suspicious.
“You too!” Rarity said and the resulting silence convinced her that she’d left. Breathing heavily, she turned to the door where she’d shoved Thomas and realized she’d shoved him into the bathroom. She was too flustered by recent events to feel sorry about this and opened the door with her magic. Thomas emerged, his face even bloodier and his shirt beginning to turn red as well. Seeing him, she gasped and used teleported into the kitchen to fill a pot with water and grab a sponge.
“Oh Celestia Thomas! Spike, help him sit down and remove his shirt.” She ordered, teleporting back into the main room with the items.
“Thanks Twilight, I’ve had to close my eyes and if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be able to see anything anyways.” Spike grabbed his hand and guided him towards a chair near Twilight and helped him with his bloody garment. The blood had seeped through and his shoulders were smeared with it.
“Lean forward.” Twilight placed the pot under Thomas and turned to Spike. “Please grab some towels.” she said curtly. Spike trotted off and promptly returned with towels as Twilight soaked the sponge and began to wipe the blood from him. The blood didn’t stop as she did, and she could see his jaws clenched in pain as she wiped the blood from his cheek. 
“How bad is it?” Spike shuffled his feet, realizing the full consequences of his actions.
“Well, I think he’ll need a few stitches, and I don’t think any healing magic will help.” Twilight said rather firmly.
“Oh. Why not?” Spikes voice sounded like a small child’s when knew they’d done something terrible.
“Well, the invisibility spell I put on him was wearing off in town and he was able to walk through one of my barriers. I’m beginning to think humans are resistant to magic.” She explained tersely. She was royally pissed at Spike for his behavior and had the mind to punish him later. 
“Oh, ok…” Spike began to put books back slowly as Twilight pulled out a needle and thread from a first aid kit from the kitchen and began to sew up Thomas’ scars. The blood slowed and eventually stopped between the combination of the sponge and stitches. There were six long, deep scars on his cheeks, one on each side going to his temples and two smaller ones that went from his chin to his bottom lip but thankfully didn’t cut the lip. Smaller ones peppered the skin on his face, but didn’t need immediate attention.
She wiped the blood from his shoulder and noticed that, while the fur was nowhere near as thick as it was on his head, there was fur on most of his torso and arms, but most was on the center of his chest and what looked like a belly button. It seemed to be the same color as his head’s. 
“Something catch your eye? Did he scratch my stomach too?” Thomas had noticed her gaze and looked down.
“I swear I didn’t Twilight!” Spike shouted in innocence. 
“I know you didn’t. I just find it odd that your species is predominately furless Thomas. Here it tends to be skin, fur or feathers; no species is a mixture of fur and skin.”
“Yeah, well, it’s kind of a left over from our evolution. And on humans it’s called hair.” Thomas said as he watched Spike put books back.
“Wait, you evolved? From what?” Twilights interest was genuinely piqued and she stopped sewing so he could answer.  
“Well, that’s only one theory on how we came to be. But it’s the one most supported by scientific evidence and it states that we evolved from apes. You know, chimpanzees.” A confused look on Twilight face told Thomas all he needed to know. “You don’t have them here do you? How about monkeys?”
“You’re descended from monkeys?” Twilight couldn’t see the connection between Thomas and the creatures that fling feces, but she’d only just met him a few hours ago, so who knows she thought.
“Eh, we’ve got a common ancestor, but a ways back. How about you ponies?”
“Well, it was more of a guided evolution by the alicorns. They’re the closest things we’ve got to gods here, most of them live for thousands of years, those that die young that is, and they were directly created the old gods. They use their magic to help shape the species and world around us.” Thomas looked at her in surprise. Of all the things to combine, the creation and evolution of sentient species was the last thing he could think of. 
“Well, no magic where I’m from. And every living thing other than Applejack also doesn’t exist on Earth either. I feel like in a children’s cartoon, especially since the unicorn librarian has a baby dragon.” He laughed at the concept, but opening his jaw wide caused pain in his scars and his laugh devolved to into a gurgling pain sound. Hearing this, Spikes spines drooped and his face grew into a disapproved scowl, obviously disappointed with himself. 
“Are you ok?” Twilight asked with concern. 
“Yes” Thomas breathed through his teeth, trying to keep his jaw steady. It was obvious that he was in pain, and unfortunately the only aspirin she had was meant for Spike, so it could possibly kill Thomas from the high dosage. 
“I’ll clean out the pot and sponge and get you something to drink. You should sit back and relax.” Twilight got up and took the pot, sponge and bloody clothing with her, ignoring Spike as she walked past him. Passive-Aggressive, Thomas thought, wonderful. In his mind Spike didn’t deserve it; he was only protecting Twilight from someone he thought was endangering her. The purple and green dragon obviously cared for her deeply, and she was ignoring him. 
With that thought, Thomas wiped the water from his face and shoulders with a towel, grabbed his glasses, and gathered up books to help Spike. The dragon was a little surprised at his assistance, but didn’t say anything. A few minutes later, the two found themselves side by side, Spike on a ladder putting him at eye level as they put books away.
“I’m sorry about what I did.” Spike said softly. Thomas didn’t look at him, but he put his hand on Spikes shoulder and squeezed it as if to say he understood. They worked for a minute more before Thomas, fighting the pain, asked Spike a question.
“How long have you two known each other?” Spike thought for a moment before answering.
“All my life. She hatched my egg as an entrance exam to the princess’s school for gifted unicorns. Since then, she’s cared for me like a mother and I’ve seen her as the closest thing I’ve got to one. There are no other dragons like me in Equestria, I’m all alone except for her. I’d do anything for her, as you now know. And now she isn’t talking to me.” Spike’s voice was quivering as he spoke.
“I see her in trouble and I just want to protect her like she’s done for me for so many years. I can’t thank her enough for all the times she’s been there when other picked on me, made fun of me, and bullied me. I just don’t know how I could have survived without her.” Thomas could see tears welling in his eyes as she finished. A noise behind them caused them to turn. Twilight was standing in the doorway, holding a three bottles with straws in her magic. 
“Spike…” Her voice was broken, her face covered in tears. She and Spike looked at each other for an eternity. Thomas set the books down and walked into the kitchen to give them privacy. He looked out the door a minute later to see them hugging, crying into the others arms/forehooves. He waited another minute or two before he reentered the room and the two were wiping tears from their eyes. The bottles had been placed on a table near the kitchen, so Thomas picked them up as he passed and handed one to each of them before removing the straw from his and sitting in a chair. 
They passed the rest of the day talking, with Thomas writing his responses and questions on parchment provided by Twilight. All three of them knew they were going to enjoy the others’ company.