A Dragon's Tale

by Storm butt


The Timer Starts

I’m in to Florida… that is all…oh yeah, and I’m terrified of lizards… that’s nice… ;_;
And… five days later, this still isn’t finished…FUCK.
ONWARD TO THE SPARITY!
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Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to The Hub, Hasbro, Studio B, and Lauren Faust. I do not own any of these characters in any way or how, nor do I claim ownership to the pony franchise. These characters are simply my toys.

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“I want you to know, I’ll still love you no matter what”

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A Dragon’s Tale
Chapter 2: The Timer Starts

“Keep following her, Spike.”

“Breathe in Spike.”

“You have to keep moving, don’t stop, Spike.”

The little dragon was so numb, that his own thoughts had to direct him on what to do as he followed Rarity, his mind ordered him to put one foot in front of the other when he felt like curling up and sobbing until he couldn’t sob out another squeak. He had no idea where he was going, if Rarity was leading him to her dress shop or back to Twilight’s tree-library, the last place in Equestria he wanted to be.

He sniffled gently, the twilight sky slowly but surely vanished into nothing but a black sky with a starry pattern, Spike found his feet numbly following the marshmallow colored unicorn trotting in front of him. Sometimes he would just stop for no reason, lost in thought with tears streaming down his cheeks, but the unicorn never once tried to rush him, she let him walk at his own pace, only serving as his guide to wherever they intended to go.

His scales slid against one another as he made a fist, his claws poked his wrist, yet his scales were too tough to let them sink through, the letter likely now having holes through it he was gripping it with such force. After reading that letter, he felt more self-conscious than he had his entire life, even more than when Twilight had to explain to him that he was “Different” from all the ponies in Equestria. His claws, his wings, his scales, his fiery breath, the way he stood above everypony around him made him feel… monstrous. He stopped really noticing just how different he was from normal ponies sometime after he tried to find out what real dragons were like, but after that letter…

His thoughts trailed off as he squeezed his eyes shut, attempting to block out his thoughts to avoid sobbing like a baby once more. His mind kept drifting to Twilight, how she lied to him the entire day, how she tried until the very end to keep him from seeing the letter, to keep him from the truth. He clenched his fist tighter, following Rarity numbly as his eyes wallowed in tears he couldn’t control, no matter how hard he tried.

Rarity trotted forward, glancing behind her every few moments to ensure that her little follower was keeping up. Her horn was illuminating a light blue as several bags emitting the same light were floating at her sides. It was likely hard work, to keep the bags afloat for so long, the heavy weight likely killing her head, but it didn’t cross her mind to make Spike carry a bag or two, for he seemed too lost in his own thoughts to talk, even if spoken too.

It only took fifteen minutes to reach Rarity’s dress shop, however with the awkward silence plus all of Spike’s current thoughts, it took longer than a thousand years for him to reach his destination.

All of the bags crashing onto the earth forced Spike to snap out of his hazy state and look around with wide eyes, briefly wondering how or when he came to the dress shop. Rarity’s slight panting made him look at her, but by the time he had turned his head, she was simply adjusting her mane and looked as beautiful as ever. So many times of getting dirty on adventures with the other five must have put her on the spot to look fabulous as quickly as possible, though there were still a few beads of sweat on her brow. “It’s a good thing Opalescence is at Fluttershy’s, I wouldn’t be able to handle him tonight…” She grumbled, more to herself than to Spike.

“Now let’s get my little Spikey-Wikey in and out of the night, he must be exhausted!” Rarity said in her baby voice, turning back to the dragon, making Spike blush furiously despite his sorrowful attitude at the moment. He was pushed in with a gentle hoof that had likely just been polished before she left, making it soft and pleasant to the touch. He tripped into the building, seeing dress upon dress and ponyquins upon ponyquins. He blinked to adjust his eyesight from the blinding lights from above.

“Ew, icky!” Rarity said, stepping in with tentative hooves as she looked with disgust around the room “Gross, simply dreadful!” She cried out, being over dramatic as usual.

Spike looked around the room for a moment, not noticing a bedazzled ribbon out of place until he glanced closer, and saw what the unicorn had been staring at.

“This dreadful dust is everywhere!” She cried as Spike saw a thick layer of dust was covering nearly everything. Normally Spike himself would have offered to carry his perfect princess across the dust onto her bed and then dust the room himself, but at the moment he was rocking himself back and forth where he stood, glancing down at his scaly feet as if they held the meaning of his now pointless life.

Rarity glanced over at Spike, her face looking disgusted by the sight of everything in her shop. However, she still knew what was the most important thing to do at a time like this, and it wasn’t dusting. Rarity was the kind of unicorn who got dirty when the time called for it. She glanced down to his hand; the paper he was clenching was so tight it had crumbled up. He hadn’t said a word since he stopped sobbing; the way he was acting was seriously starting to worry the unicorn.

She cleared her throat “Come now Spike, let’s get you to someplace where you can rest, I’ll get rid of this… horrid dust later.” She said, putting both hooves on the back of his shoulders and giving him a little shove.

Spike numbly followed her commands, he felt strange, almost out of place from all of the beauty in this shop. “Sweetie Belle usually uses a spare bed when she comes to visit,” Rarity said, her shoving had ceased and she simply gave the dragon a little nudge with her head, avoiding using her horn of course, when he needed to be directed or simply stopped dead. “It’s lucky I came back a few hours off schedule I suppose, she usually comes and visits me the moment I return, mother and father must have forced her to stay home with the day being so long gone.” Rarity was rambling at this point, simply trying to take Spike’s mind off of that letter, she wasn’t even sure if he was listening.

She sighed, wincing as her hooves stepped on dust with every trot.

It took what seemed like an eternity for Spike to find his way to the spare bed, to which he simply hopped on and curled up in a tiny ball, reading the letter over and over again, trying to find something he missed.

Rarity on the other hoof, was walking around the room with a small feather duster floating around her, dusting off everything “Honestly, leave for a second and everything becomes simply dreadful!” She grumbled to herself.

The letter remained the same, and tears kept falling out of his eyes. He had no idea what to feel, he had little to no idea what the letter was about other than “Equestria’s safety”.

All of his memories of Ponyville were coming to the surface when the letter glowed cyan and it was yanked out of his hands. Apparently Rarity had finished, or at least dusted to the point it would stop bothering her so badly.

“Now now, none of that!” Rarity stated, holding her head up boldly as Spike blinked slowly “B-But I…” He started, only to be interrupted by the unicorn.

“Spike…” She said, resting a hoof on his leg, to which he uncurled from his ball slightly at her gentle, delicate touch “You should stop worrying, I’m sure this has to be some kind of mistake… an unflattering mistake I might add, but still a mistake, that’s all.”

“I doubt that…” Spike grumbled, turning away from the unicorn. He simply closed his eyes and sniffled gently “Why would Twilight act like she did if it was a mistake?” He mumbled, rubbing his knee with his scaly palm, his thoughts tossing and turning like waves in his mind.

“We have a week… correct?” Rarity asked, her magic forcing the blanket on the small bed to come forth and cover the dragons lower half, it wasn’t much, but it felt warm and caring, which was more than enough for the dragon in his current state. Spike nodded glumly “The letter said a week from today… so six days tomorrow…” His eyes watered up in tears once more. He felt like such a baby… it only made him more upset because he couldn’t control himself.

“Ah-Ah-Ah!” Rarity said, bringing up the edge of one of the blankets to dab at the dragon’s watering eyes “We’ll have none of that, no crying, it looks so unflattering on your face darling.” She looked a tad angry, but not at the dragon himself, more at the force that was making him cry without any control.

Spike found himself grumbling as the blanket dabbed his eyes, he felt like he was being babied over. He was a baby dragon, however he was pretty much as mature as the rest of the pony gang at this point, or at least only a few years off. “I…” He mumbled, rubbing his scaly hand up and down his arm, unable to say anything else as he sniffled loudly.

Rarity did the last thing Spike ever expected her to do, she leaned in and kissed his cheek, making the purple dragon blush furiously as his mouth hung agape and his whole body tensed up. “Nopony is putting a single hoof on you…” She said, her eyes narrowing as her hoof kicked the ground “Spike, taking you away for something you can’t control is almost as bad as a crime against fashion, unforgivable!”

Spike blinked. A crime against fashion? This must be serious in Rarity’s eyes. He then looked at the letter Rarity was holding “One Week…” He mumbled. He thought about Twilight again, and then squeezed his fist as tight as he could

“The timer starts.” He mumbled.

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Twilight’s eyes opened to the sound of light whimpering, she glanced around the room a moment before remembering about the tiny basket next to her bed. She grumbled lightly and crawled over to the edge of her bed, seeing a tiny dragon whimper and shiver while he hid under the blankets.

“Spike?” She asked, her eyes drooping with sleep “What are you doing?”

The little dragon hiccupped, which caused his already holy blanket to get another burnt spot. She knew he honestly couldn’t help his breath, he was simply too young to understand why it was bad he burnt the ceiling whenever he yawned.

“Spike?” Twilight Sparkle asked, rubbing her eye with her hoof as she used her magic to force the blanket off of the baby dragon. She saw him curled up with tears running down his eyes, he was suckling on the end of his tail like he used to do when he was younger.

It had been five years since she had hatched Spike, his body had slightly changed from the babyish form to a slightly larger, slightly chubbier dragon.

“Have a nightmare?” She asked, causing the dragon to jump. He glared at her, however his covers were pulled off even more as Twilight sighed, smiling softly as she patted the spot next to her “C’mon, no use trying to sleep with all that sniveling!” She said.

It took less than a second for Spike to hop up on the bed and curl up in Twilight’s front legs. He was about half her size, and was only just now just learning how to read and write. Twilight didn’t say it too often because he became cocky rather easily, but he was becoming a big help as of late.

He sniffled again, and Twilight ran her hoof up and down his back in circles, avoiding his spines as he nuzzled into her flank.

Twilight Sparkle smiled softly, the little dragon’s breathing slowing as his sniffling ceased. She hummed quietly to sooth him off into sleep as he began to settle down.

Taking in a pet dragon on top of her studies, sometimes seemingly paid off more than she realized.

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Spike’s eyes cracked open. The dream he had for some strange reason made him feel all warm and fuzzy, almost like another happy memory, he couldn’t exactly remember. He had been dreaming about those a lot lately. He wondered why for half a second before realizing he didn’t care.

It crossed his mind as to why he didn’t see Twilight glaring over him for slumbering so late in the morning, and instead saw a ponyquin covered in feathers and gemstones. Then it hit him. The memories, the note, flying off, find Rarity, her conveying him to the dress shop. All of the memories hit him at once and he groaned, pulling his head back under the covers.

He tried to get up, only to find his head was killing him. He placed his scaly hand against his forehead as he whimpered gently, wanting to pass back out and go back to the warm and fuzzy dreams.

It was only the sound of humming with a certain tone of an accent that was unmistakable that made him come back to the world. He uncovered his head and glanced over to see Rarity, humming one of Sapphire Shore’s songs “Equestria Girls”. Strange, the dragon didn’t expect somepony like Rarity to listen to something that seemed more of Pinkie Pie or even Rainbow Dash’s crowd. The dragon shook it off, just supposing even Rarity liked get-me-up songs like a lot of ponies did.

He sat up, breathing out in a sigh as he took in her beauty. She was honestly unlike anypony else in Equestria, beautiful, talented, amazing… plus she did the last thing he expected her to do, take in a dragon covered in dirt from crash-landing into her dainty shop. He paused, looking at his scaly feet a moment. He suddenly felt less ‘lovey-dovey’ and a little more depressed. The reality of what happened hit him hard, his light-headed mind plus his happy dream faded as fast as lightning, being replaced with the deep pain in his chest from the previous night.

She glanced over to him, her ocean-blue eyes staring straight at him, looking purer and more beautiful than any jewel he had ever seen in his life. He blushed deeply, wanting to obey her every command. “Oh, my little Spikey-Wikey is awake!” She said happily, trotting forward pleasantly and kissing one of his cheeks, causing him to sigh happily once again, hearts in his eyes. It was obvious she was being slightly more kind to the dragon than usual, his depression lifting slightly was proof enough for that.

The dragon shook his head to get the floating hearts away. He grumbled slightly as he got out of the bed, looking Rarity straight in the eye for a brief moment before blushing and turning away toward the feathery dress on the ponyquin “New dress?” He asked, trying to take his mind off of his thoughts “Didn’t you sleep? You just got back, don’t you think you should take a break?”

“Oh come now darling, don’t you know fashion doesn’t rest a single moment?” She asked, swishing her head to move her curly mane from her eyes before adjusting it with her hoof once more “I have to keep up with the demands of my people!” She said.

Spike blinked, not understanding Rarity’s importance in fashion for a single moment, all he knew was that her dresses brought joy to her, and that was enough for him.

“I spent all night just working on getting the feathers in correctly the right places, but I think that hard work paid off, and they go with the gemstones just perfectly don’t you think?” She asked, acting quite proud of her work.

Spike nodded “It looks… nice?” He asked, simply seeing a dress with feathers glued on, but maybe that was just him.

Rarity rolled her eyes before glancing down at the baby dragon a moment, Spike looked back only to feel something be plopped on his head a moment later, when he lifted the brim a mirror was glowing cyan and was being pulled in front of him. He blinked to see a giant hat with a brim covered in gemstones and several feathers sticking out of the top. He had to admit, it looked alright on him. “You look smashing!” Rarity said, walking up behind the dragon as Spike blushed from his embarrassment.

He saw no guilt in her eyes, none of the guilt he felt when he was near Twilight the previous night, none of the shame or wanting to please him to the point it became creepy. Rarity was genially being herself, with an extra dash of kindness toward the scarred dragon of course. It made him feel… warm… along the lines of his dream, just a little fuzzier.

“Say darling, Fancy Pants wanted five of these new designer dresses in Canterlot by sundown tonight, and I made an itty-bitty lie and told him they were almost finished, I know, naughty me, would you mind helping be complete them?” Rarity asked, pushing the mirror away and pointing toward the feathery dress with her hoof.

“What about the…” He paused, thinking about the letter as his grip tightened on the hat in his hands, pulling slightly on the brim “S-Sure…” He mumbled, forcing his wallowing tears to calm down.

The next few hours were spent with Spike doing something different in Rarity’s shop. He didn’t bend to her every command by sticking needles in his spines nor doing petty chores for her, she let him have his own opinion on the dresses she made. Usually she only received a “Nice” or an “Okay”, but she still seemed to care about his opinions. She wasn’t very bossy either, only snapping at him to grab things quickly when she suddenly got a rare bout of inspiration, which in itself only lasted a few moments.

He hated, and he REALLY hated to admit it, but he was having a good time designing frilly and girly dresses. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t a slave this time, more like an assistant, and he was able to almost see through her eyes the same way he usually acted for Twilight with, plus coming over whenever he could, he almost knew where everything in the shop was better than the unicorn herself.

It took his mind off of the pain in his chest, and he even laughed a bit at Rarity’s over-dramatic way of expressing her mind when a dress didn’t turn out correctly (After she fixed it of course, to avoid the death glare)

Rarity didn’t bring up the letter once, and Spike was more than grateful, for he did not want to start sobbing in front of his crush once more if they talked about it. He just wanted to take his mind off of it, even for a few seconds, even for one second, just to find some peace.

All of that peace however, came to a crashing end.

Spike was busy snacking on gemstones after a long day’s work, it was twilight once more and the sun was just about to go down. Rarity had given him permission to feast upon the remaining few gems to his heart’s content for being such a wonderful assistant. They had finished with time to spare, and Rarity had gone to deliver the dresses. The letter was the last thing from his mind when a knock came to the door. He slowly blinked, looking at the door.

Rarity said to let any customer in, but he still debated, as if opening that door would bring him nothing but trouble. But he still got up, not wanting to think of the scolding he would receive if Rarity found out he didn’t answer. He got to his scaly feet and went to the door, shoving a final gem in his mouth as he gently suckled on it before answering the door “Hello and welcome to Rarity’s dress sho-”

Spike stopped mid-sentence, his gaze locked, the pain and pressure from the previous day had returned full force “Twilight…” He mumbled, looking at the lavender unicorn standing in front of him.

“Spike…” Twilight Sparkle puffed out, her eyes droopy with heavy bags underneath, her mane looked similar to when she was tardy so long ago. She must have been exhausted. “I’ve been… galloping everywhere… looking… for you…” she huffed.

Spike took a step back, not saying a single word as he clenched his fist, however Twilight still came in. Spike saw somepony behind her that made his jaw drop “Y-You said you went to deliver dresses!” Spike shouted, pointing to none other than Rarity, who suddenly bit her lip and hid behind Twilight “W-Well Spike, I can explain, you see I…”

“Spike, I made her tell me, don’t be angry with her…” Twilight said, finally catching her breath. She had to have been out since last night looking for him. Spike supposed he should feel guilty, but all he felt was anger.

She took another step forward, Spike took two steps back “Get away from me!” He cried, looking into the hurt unicorn’s eyes. She had lied to him, she had told him nothing was wrong, she deserved to feel bad, she deserved to worry!

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but Spike could tell the words had likely gotten lost “Spike… The Princess…” She took another step forward, and something, he wasn’t sure what, but something snapped in Spike’s mind.

“I said get away from me!” Spike bellowed, fiery breath coming from his mouth as he absent mindedly took a step forward and reached out his claws.

A scream, a thud, something warm splashing against him. All of these things registered to him, but the reason why his caretaker as on the floor with a giant gash going down her flank didn’t piece together until he looked at his own claws, seeing red blood, feeling the sticky warmth of the liquid.

“Spike, what did you do?” Rarity shouted, galloping forward toward Twilight, who was looking up at him with pleading eyes, she mouthed something, but Spike couldn’t hear the words, everything became numb once more.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Spike screeched, suddenly running past Rarity and Twilight and into the twilight of the night, wings spreading as he took off, tears flooding his face so he couldn’t see. Twilights screams filled his mind, the visions came as he wanted to die right then and there.

Blood, he could still smell her blood.