//------------------------------// // Eventful Morning // Story: Purple Guardian // by DragonPony //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Eventful Morning Well needless to say these past two weeks have been an utter waste of time. Twilight and I stayed here at the castle to try to do as much research as possible on how to change me back. But soon we reached a dead end. We tried everything we could think of to try to change me back. I remember one experience where she had tied me to a table and started to smack me with a fish saying this fish's oils are supposed to counteract any negative magic. I personally think that was payback for me accidentally burning one of her new books earlier that week. Anyway after a while we both decided it wasn’t doing us any good staying there, so we decided to head back to Ponyville. Lucky for me we returned late at night while everyone was asleep so there was no chance of anyone seeing me in all my furry glory. The second we walked in we were spent and decided to hit the hay. Of course my basket was way too small for me now considering I am just shy of being the average height of a normal pony. So I decided to just crash on the couch for tonight till we can figure something out. I can already hear Twilight complaining saying it smells like dog now, which I take offense to. Why I smell like a bed of roses covered in the finest perfumes on a warm summer day compared to how she smells when she does one of her week long study sprees. As I lay my head down and slowly drift to sleep my thoughts couldn’t help to think of the long day I am going to have ahead of me tomorrow. I wonder how everyone will take it that now I am stuck as a dog. I’m betting that the question I am going to get asked the most is “What did Twilight do this time,” I let out a small chuckle as I also think the second most ask question I will get from every guy is “So…have you tried licking your own nuts?” Which I can say proudly I have not done or have tried. I know it is supposed to be something every guy has tried once in their life but I just don’t think tasting my own nuts sounds very alluring. *sigh* Well I better get some sleep soon; I am going to have a long day when I wake up. I am awoken to the smell of something burning which causes me to open my eye to see a purple blob running around like crazy in the kitchen. One can only guess that ether Twilight woke up before me and is trying to make breakfast. That or a monster grape is in here trying to burn down the house, and in this town I wouldn’t completely rule out the second one. I rise from my restful stop and gave a large yawn to greet the day. It still takes me a second to really get the swing of things when I finally start moving as I hop onto the floor. “Good morning Twilight. I see you’re making your signature dish,” I say as I walk next to her and peak at the frying pain “burnt black stuff. Yum!” I say to her giving her my same old grin. After she fans the black smoke from in front of her face and stepped coughing she gave me a very unamused look. This really loses some of its potency when you have puffy watery eyes from all of the smoke. I would recommend her a cookbook, but knowing her she would just sit there and break down poor formatting of the book and its use of grammar. “Ha ha good morning to you too Spike. I was trying to make us breakfast but for some reason the toast ended up burnt,” I walk over and pick up the pan in my mouth and place it into the sink. “I really need to invest into a new toaster one of these days.” Twilight says mostly to herself as she is wiping the ash from her coat. “I would say that is a good idea. But remember when you used the last one. Somehow you made it blow up cooking a bagel. I mean how you can even do that is beyond me.” I tell her as I shake by head back and forth. Her eyes clearly staring daggers at me but I just laugh it off as I get two bowels out and sit them on the table. “'Till I get full mastery of this body we are going to be stuck having cereal for a while.” I see her give a nod accepting what I have said, but I couldn’t help but take another jab at her. “I mean if you somehow burn cereal then I just plan give up on you.” I say laughing at the way her cheeks puffed out at my low blow. “You know you’re a real ass sometimes Spike.” Twilight told me as she placed the milk and cereal on the table. If I only had a bit every time she has told me that. I know I am about as sarcastic and a smart ass as you can get; but what can I say when you small you have to be quick with the comebacks. “So what are you going to do today Spike, I am sure this must be very strange for you to be back and have to show everyone the new you.” Twilight says with a look of sadness showing in her eyes. She thinks I don’t notice but I can still see she blames herself for my state and even more so since she and the princesses could find a cure. “It really isn’t that bad, I can’t wait to see everypony's reaction to the new me. We both know all the mares will be going ‘aww’ when they see a puppy as cute as me come walking up.” I then shoot Twi a wink that almost makes her choke laughing on her breakfast. “But for real, I will probably wonder around town for a little bit getting ponies used to seeing me as a dog and answering any questions they have. I figured it is better to just get it out of the way now.” I tell her as I just figured out I can’t eat cereal anymore with no hands. I facepaw myself for being so stupid again. This keeps happening when I try to do things that I use to be able to do as a dragon. You would think by now I would remember I don’t have hands anymore, but paws. Now don’t get me wrong I have learned to do some of the more precision tasks using my claws as long as I don’t put too much force and shred what I am working on. Still, nothing can compare to good old thumbs. I walk over the pantry and get out a few gems and put them in my bowel. While I chow down I hear a stallion’s voice come from the living room shouting “I have returned” This causes me to stop eating and look at Twilight who doesn’t seem to even pay it any mind. “Huh? Hey Twi?” I ask her wondering what is going on. “Yea Spike? Whats wrong?” Twilight answers while not even looking up from her meal. “Twilight you’re not expecting company or anything like that right?” “No Spike. No one should even know we have returned yet. Why?” She ask me clearly looking very confused my by line of questioning. “So you are telling me you didn’t just hear someone shout from the living room?” I am now starting to get a little paranoid. I stand up and start walking to the living room. “Hello, is somepony there?” I say as I walk around the living room looking for whoever I might have heard. To my surprise there was in fact a response “A-are you talking to me sir?” The phantom voice sounded almost as shocked that I responded as I was hearing it. “Yes, yes I am where are you? Come on out.” I say trying to not sound intimidating and as friendly as possible to make this mystery pony emerge. Then there was nothing, no response or anything which made it ten times creepier. “Where did you go?” Then I hear something that almost made me jump out of my fur. “I am behind you.” This makes me quickly turn around to see; to my own shock Owlicious perched on the back of the couch looking me dead in the eyes. “Why hello Mister Spike.” Needless to say, that freaked the shit out of me. Now I wish I could say I handled the situation with grace and elegance…. I did not. After I heard him talk I backed up into the bookcase screaming my head off. “HA!!! O-Oh Shit! Demon Owl!,” I then started to use my paws to throw books at Owlicious, which good thing he is still as fast for his age, he was able to dodge all of the flying text. I then proceeded to run to the couch which I end up running right into the back of it flipping over it then bouncing off the cushion then slamming on the floor. After dragging myself up I see him still flying overhead I grab a pillow with my claws and start to swing the pillow around as I…. squealed. … What! dragon dog things can squeal too. I’ll admit this was not one of my most proud moments. When Twilight walked in she almost lost her shit when she saw the condition of the library. My flailing stopped when I heard something much scarier than a demon owl...a pissed off Twilight. “WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY LIBRARY!!!” She shouted with enough force to rattle my bones. Now this may very well be the fear playing tricks on my mind but I swear I saw her have a celestial mane for a second there. I straighten myself up and walked over to her, praying to Celestia she doesn’t banish me to some asteroid in the middle of space. “I-It is Owlicious, he talked to me like it was normal. I think he might be possessed by like nightmare or something.” She looked at me like I lost my mind and it if was anypony else saying it I would be looking the same way she is. Owlicious flies over to his perch and then clears his throat. “Ahh yes indeed I talked to you Mister Spike. It is quite a surprise to me as well. No pony or dragon has been able to communicate with animal kind here in this town before. But I can assure you sir I am not possessed in the slightest.” This took me completely off guard and took me a second to process what I just learned. “Wow Twilight can you believe this!?” I say as I slowly start to walk over towards Owlicious. “Believe what Spike? All I heard was you screaming like a little filly then you saying Owlicious can talk.” Twilight said, clearly skeptical of what I just told her, if her face is any indication. “Okay first Twilight that wasn’t a “filly” scream. T-that was a dragon shout. A dragon battle cry you just don’t recognize it that is all,” I say trying to save any small amount of pride I might still have at this moment. “And second, what do you mean you didn’t hear him just explain he isn’t possessed or anything,” I put my paw to my chin and begin to stoke it as I think. “So if you can’t hear him but I can, that must be because I am now a dog and I can talk to animals! Oh man I can’t wait to tell Shy! She is going to be so jealous!” I say with a big grin on my face at my new power. “Wow this is amazing I wonder if you can talk to all animals or if it's just owls? This could be a very useful ability Spike, I will have to make sure to write to Celestia about this when I get a chance.” Twilight says as she is pondering all the uses of my new skill. She then heads back into the kitchen to what I can assume is to finish her breakfast before she wants me to send a letter to Celestia. But first, I have a friend to say sorry to. “Hey Owlicious I just want to say I am sorry for how I reacted when you first talked to me. I didn’t even know I could talk to animals so when you talked I just thought the worst.” I say looking very apologetic. That whole situation could have been handled better on my part. “It is quite alright Mister Spike I can’t blame you for being startled. It was quite a shock for me myself. I never thought you and me would be able to converse like this even though we spend so much time here in the library.” Owlicious stated and he used his wing to jester around the library. “Ha yea you got that right. I spend more time here with you then I do with Twi, since she is always out with her friends. It is funny now that I think about it, we spent all that time together but we never really had any real talks even though I could somewhat understand what you were saying. But Owlicious you don’t have to call me Mister or Sir. Just call me Spike you have been my friend you’re a long time, there is no need to be formal with me.” I tell him as I reach my paw out for him to shack it with a grin on my face as he does. “Very well Spike, well then I must say it is finally nice to be able to talk to you like this. But I must ask, how did you end up as a dog?” Owlicious says tilting his head to the side, I don’t know if it is because he is confused or if it is because he is an owl. Before I could even give a response I hear another voice come from upstairs. “What is with all the noise?! Some of us are trying to sleep!” To my surprise the young adolescent voice I heard came from my friend Peewee. He flew down the stairs and landed on Twilight’s desk. “I was trying to get some rest before big sis and big bro came home to surprise them but I can’t get any sleep with all this noise going on. What is going on Licious?” Peewee asked Owlicious looking somewhat bugged but mostly sleepy. I couldn’t help but feel happy seeing him again. Last time I saw him was when I returned him to his parents. “Hey Peewee! What are you doing here I thought you would be with your parents” I ask not hiding my excitement. “Huh, do I know you dog dude? Owlicious did they get another assistant or something?” He asked looking slightly confused by my familiarity with him. “Why no young Peewee. This right here is Spike, apparently somehow he was transformed into the form we see before us.” Owlicious says pointing at me with his wing as he is smiling. Peewee shot off the desk into my chest and wrapped his arms around my neck. “BIG BRO!!! I missed you big time! What have you been up to? Where were you? When I came you were gone. Why are you a dog? Does that mean you can talk to use from now on?” before he could get another question out I used my paw to hold his beck so he can stop talking. “Come on Peewee, one question at a time. First I missed you too. What are you doing here?” I ask as he lifts himself out of my chest and fly back to the desk. “I am here to stay with you for a while Big bro, my parents said it was okay as long as I come by and visit every now and again.” He says while flapping his wings showing how happy he was that he will be staying with us again. “Now it is my turn. Why you are a dog now? Was it some evil witch? Or some crazy god? Oh oh was it some super strong witch god you had to beat with your bare claws!” He says seeming to become more and more eager as he makes his story all the more epic with each sentence. *Chuckle* “No Peewee it was nothing like that, even though that would have been really cool to have been like that. It's a long story…” The three of us sit in the living room as I tell them all about how Twilight and I went to this other world and everything we did there, then how I came back but didn’t change back to a dragon. While I was regaling them with my story I couldn’t help be feel somewhat happy again that I am dog. For thanks to this gift I am able to become even better friends with a now old friend and a “little brother”. I wonder how many more animal friends I will be able to make now that I can talk to them and get to know them even better.