Enkindled Hearts
By The Rated Ponystar
Formerly edited by: Adjudicator
Edited by: Mr.Minimii and ugugg93
***
Before Spike knew it, he had already tackled Garble towards the the bar where they smashed into a table. Garble kicked Spike off him, but the younger dragon was back to attacking with his claws. He tried for a swipe at Garble’s neck, but the elder drake was able to grab his arm and deliver a swift kick to his chest before smacking him down with his tail. Spike soon felt it wrap around his throat as he was lifted up in the air and kept getting punched over and over again.
Taking what little breath he had, Spike unleashed a flame at Gable’s neck. Dragon fire didn’t hurt other dragons, but it was enough to blind the dragon a bit and allowed Spike to free himself from the tail. He responded by stomping on it as Garble let out a cry of pain. Without remorse, Spike took a big beer mug, shoved it into Garble’s mouth, and smashed it by slamming his mouth close. While a dragon’s mouth was powerful in crushing almost anything, the inner gums were still as weak as any non-dragons, and Gable was forced to endure glass in his bleeding mouth before Spike kneed him in the face.
Backing up a bit, Spike tried to catch his breath while rubbing his neck. He checked on the others who were already joining in on the fight. Ruby and U-E were back to back, dealing with their own goons. Ruby and Garble’s lady dragon friend were at each other’s throat, banging each other’s heads against the floor as they rolled around. He finally saw Ruby get up top and started pounding the dragoness in the face over and over again before taking a deep bite on her neck, making her scream in pain as blood started to flow.
U-E already had two knocked out dragons underneath him as he held another by the throat with foreleg around his neck and a fourth dragon on the ground, puking his guts out after a well placed sucker punch. Despite being friends for three years, Spike still couldn’t believe there was anypony out there as strong as U-E, and that testament was fully realized as U-E choked slammed the dragon into the dance floor, sending half of the dragon’s body straight through the floor. The other was picked up and bodyslammed into another table, drinks flying everywhere.
Spike remembered his own fight and turned back to Garble only to get a punch in the face that knocked him back a bit. Although dazed, Spike was able to block the next few blows before trying for a right hook. Garble grabbed his wrist and turned him around before putting Spike in a headlock. Although bleeding out of his nose and mouth, Garble gave a sickening grin as he said, “You know, Spike. After I’m done wasting you and your precious friends, I’m gonna take that stupid marefriend of yours, break her wings, and find the steepest cliff in all of Canterlot to see if she can fly!”
Spike’s response was taking his tail and whipped it right between Garble’s legs. The bully let go and hugged his groin as Spike backed up and spat on the ground, eyes filled with fury. “I am going to kill you and spit on your corpse!”
Eyes everywhere widened as they saw Spike’s scales start to glow blue as small sparks appears. Garble’s mouth dropped as Spike opened his mouth and unleashed a roar, followed by a blue arc of lightning. The older dragon was too stunned to dodge as he was thrown back from the blast and landed right on the DJ’s now broken set. Garble groaned as he slowly got up and weakly pointed at Spike. “H-how?! How does a twerp like you know how to breathe lightning already?!”
Spike smirked. “It pays having an adopted alicorn mother who knows all the elder dragons that were willing to teach their craft..”
This only enraged Garble more as he unfurled his wings and roared. Spike roared back as the two flew towards each other.
***
Fluttershy slowly found herself becoming more and more aware of her soundindings, followed by an intense pain on her muzzle. A hoof landed on her shoulder and she cried out, holding her hooves out in defence as tears lingered in her eyes.
“It’s okay, Fluttershy! It’s me, Octavia!”
Opening her eyes, Fluttershy saw the famous cellist looking at her with worried eyes. Realizing she wasn’t in any immediate danger, she relaxed a bit and looked around to see that she was behind the bar in the club. “Wh-what happened?”
Scowling, Octavia muttered, “Garble hit you, remember? Then, everyone broke out into a fight.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she remembered the big bully hitting her in the face, and started to whimper. Shaking, she asked, “H-how is Spike?”
Octavia looked up and winced. “I... I’ve never seen him fight this intensely before. The two of them are going all out.”
Fluttershy slowly looked up and gasped. Her heart cried out with worry as she saw a bloody and beaten up Spike crash against the floor as Garble, equally damaged, landed on him with both feet. Garble picked up Spike and went for a bite against his neck, but Spike managed to stop his jaws with his claws and push him back. Ducking under another punch, Spike managed to uppercut him into a wall where Spike slammed his elbow against his face and into the wall.
Although she was worried for Spike, a part of her couldn’t help but be... scared at this side of him. She knew he was a dragon, and dragons were violent, but Spike rarely ever went this far. Normally, he was polite, funny, and emotional at times, but this was...
“Brutal,” Fluttershy whispered as she saw Spike throw Garble into the fake lava pool and dive in after him.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Octavia dragged her down as Vinyl flew above them and crashed into the bottles on display. Blood and glass covered her entire body as Octavia was right there beside her wife, hoof against her mouth as her eyes watering. “Vinyl are you okay?!”
Vinyl, her shades now in pieces, looked up and smiled weakly. “Hey Tavi...” She coughed a bit. “Mind giving me a drink? I need something to dull the pain.”
Octavia smiled before kissing her wife on the forehead. “Idiot. Just stay still, I’m gonna take over, okay?”
She turned to Fluttershy and asked, “Watch her for me, please.”
Fluttershy only nodded before an enraged looking Octavia jumped over the counter. Vinyl started chuckling as Fluttershy took some clean towels nearby and started putting them on her wounds. “You shouldn’t laugh. You’re only gonna make it worse.”
“S-sorry,” laughed Vinyl. “But those guys are gonna get their butt whooped so bad.”
“What do you mean?”
Vinyl grinned. “You’ll see.”
Fluttershy looked up and saw Octavia hopping from table to table towards Limestone. Limestone was barely standing as he wiped off the beer that had gotten on him during the fight. Vinyl had just been thrown into the bar and was sure to be out for the rest of the fight, leaving him to deal with these remaining three dragons who were cracking their knuckles.
Just before they were gonna charge forward, Octavia appeared, landing on a nearby table from her jump from the bar. She glared at the three and asked, “Which of one you bastards hurt my wife?”
The three looked at each other, laughed, and then pointed at themselves. Octavia narrowed her eyes. “Guess I’ll just have to beat up all three of you just to be sure!” With great speed, she jumped up into the air and screamed before kicking one in the face. When she landed, one of the other dragons tried to grab her, but she quickly got behind him with a spin and bucked him towards Limestone. Wasting no time, Limestone delivered a hard clothesline that knocked the dragon right off his legs.
The other two tried to attack Octavia from behind. She ducked down, avoiding their grabs and elbowed them in the back before raising her hindquarters and bucking them in the face. She flipped back to her rear hooves and stood up on them, her forelegs spread out in a fighting position.
“W-who are you?” asked one of them, growling.
Octavia growled, “I’m the mare that plays double bass that’s gonna kick your ass!”
With unexpected speed, she charged forward and flipped both dragons over. One of them tried to get up, but just as he did he was met with Octavia’s right rear hoof to his face. This was followed by the left one, and a spin kick that knocked him into a chair, breaking it.
The other got up and tried to attack, but Octavia’s feet were quicker as she lifted her rear left leg over and kicked the dragon in the face over and over again, his head knocking back with each kick. The previous dragon got up, groaning, but Octavia back kicked him with the same hoof and he went down again. With a final spin kick, the other dragon was knocked out, and Octavia put all hooves down and sighed. “I hate violence, but sometimes you have to take out the trash.”
Fluttershy sighed in relief seeing her new friend okay, but then gasped as she saw Garble holding Spike in a death grip. Before she knew what she was doing, Fluttershy grabbed a bottle of wine and threw it at Garble’s head, knocking him back as he let go of Spike.
***
Spike didn’t know who it was that threw that bottle, but he owed them a drink after this. Getting up, he glared at the bully, images of Fluttershy crying guiding him as stomped forward. Garble, backing away and growling, shouted, “Why don’t you just give up! I’m a true dragon! You’re just a brat raised by a bunch of ponies!”
Stopping in place, Spike growled. “You’re right. I was raised by a bunch of ponies. Ponies who loved me and took me in when I had noone. Sure, I was treated like a beast by some, but I had those who always saw me as a friend.” Looking at his blood covered claw, Spike clenched it and growled. “You have no idea how hard it is to control myself. I can burn their houses down, crush their bones with my strength, rip their skin off, and more. I’m dangerous, and I learned that the first time I lost control of my greed and became a monster. I nearly destroyed my home and got one of my friends killed. Since then, I’ve been working hard everyday of my life to control what lies inside of me. I’m stuck in a glass house and all that I touch can shatter into pieces if I’m not careful. I’ve never even once gone all out. But just this once I’m gonna show you just how much of a dragon I really am!”
With an earth shattering roar, Spike charged at Garble and unleashed a punch to his jaw that utterly shattered his bone. The red drake was sent through four tables before landing flat on the wall. Before he could get off, Spike was already grabbing his head and shoving him over and over again into the wall. He then threw Garble away and kicked him in the stomach, sending him onto the dance floor.
Gable tried to get up, but Spike was already by his side. He tried to say something, but all he could manage was spitting blood pitifully onto the glass tiles. Spike took Garble’s tail and snapped it over his knee, causing the drake to scream as tears streaked down his cheeks. Seeing his mouth open, Spike took his claws and began to scrape his talons over his toungue. Gasps echoed around the room as Spike finished, lifting the now broken dragon. He then opened his wings to their full extent and flew up high up to the roof before coming down and slamming Garble on the floor with all of his strength.
Slowly standing up, Spike looked at his prey—the prey that dare hurt his mate. He was going to make him suffer. Make him pay. His scales glowed again before he unleashed the lighting breath again. Garble continued to scream and shake as blast after blast Spike delivered.
Suffer! Suffer! SUFFER! SUFFER AND DIE!
“SPIKE! STOP!”
Like a slap to the face, Spike gasped and stopped. He turned to his left and saw Fluttershy, looking at him with fear and worry as she slowly moved toward him. He lowered his claws and looked at the ruined body of Garble, smoking, burned, bleeding, yet alive. “I...” he said as he looked at horror at what he did. He fell to his knees and nearly puked. “I didn’t mean...”
Everyone, even his friends, were looking at the intense scene before them. Spike closed his eyes in shame as Fluttershy came over and hugged him. Finally, the others came to his side and they left the club. Spike having to be dragged.
It took twenty minutes for somepony to finally call for an ambulance.
***
Both Twilight and Fluttershy were comforting the depressed dragon as he lowered his head in shame. Twilight couldn’t blame him. All his life, Spike had to deal with ponies saying he was a threat to them; a monster lying in wait. Yet, she couldn’t blame him for being angry for what that monster did to Fluttershy.
“How did I not hear of this? Or the other princesses?” asked Twilight, wondering why she wasn’t there for her number one assistant.
“They did,” muttered Spike, getting up and pacing around the room. “Celestia and Luna both learned what happened. I didn’t get arrested because it was self-defense, but I begged them not to tell you about what happened.”
“Spike, why?” asked Twilight as she got up and nuzzled him. “I would have understood.”
“I was afraid, alright!” shouted Spike, rubbing his head. “I was just... afraid... of what I did... what I would’ve done... if Fluttershy wasn’t there...”
Fluttershy now got up, walked over, and kissed him. He kissed back and the two relaxed in each other’s embrace. Twilight smiled before asking, “What happened to Garble?”
Spike sighed and shook his head. “You really want to know?” Twilight nodded. “His father learned what happened after Celestia told him. Because attacking Fluttershy, a hero of our nation, could be a possible act for war, the ambassador took the full blame and resigned. But his son got the worst of it. He...” Spike winced. “He’s dead...”
“D-dead?” gasped Twilight. “Spike you....”
“No! I didn’t kill him! He survived, but...” Spike sighed, his eyes reflecting a sense of pity. “Garble had disgraced himself, his family, and his race by turning back on his honor when he refused to leave me and Fluttershy alone. Because of this, added with all his previous misdeeds, he was fully exiled with no name or anything but the scales on his back. He begged his father to forgive him and give him another chance, but he was all but dead to him. From what I heard, after a week of exile, he was found dead. Nopony knows how or why, but then again none of the dragons cared. An exile gets a graveless burial and forgotten. I may not have liked him, but I never would have wished him dead.”
Twilight and Fluttershy both walked over to comfort him, but he pushed them away and sighed. “I need some air.”
He opened the door and slammed it. Fluttershy sighed and gave a sad smile. “I’m sorry, it still bothers him whenever he talks about it.”
“I guess this explains why he was so... upset before the wedding...” Twilight recalled. “How did you two deal with this?”
“It wasn’t easy, but... well, let me tell you what happened...”