Over the next few hours, Spike got a real workout from Emerald Blaze. The Dragon-Pony was a tough teacher, practically a drill-sergeant. He’d criticize Spike’s short-comings, make him do push-ups, sit-ups, laps around the lava pools, show him various favorite dragon past-times.
Like belching contests (Spike belched up a message from Princess Celestia, which Emerald was forced to burn so the other dragons didn’t notice), tail-wrestling (which was a bit like hoof-wrassling except with tails), king of the hoard (a lot like king of the mountain, except dragons knocked each other off a hoard of gemstones and gold), which Spike almost won had he not slipped at the last second.
All the while, the guys watched the entire thing from the top of the crater-peak, sitting on magically-conjured lawn chairs and enjoying chalices of perfectly chilled Colt Cola or Sprix.
“Is it wrong that we’re enjoying this?”
“I can't deny feeling a guilty pleasure in seeing Spike run ragged. Oh, if Rarity saw this…”
“Are we going to hell?”
“Prob’ly!”
“Well here we are!”
A nearby dragon could’ve sworn he heard laughter but saw no one around.
“URGH! That’s it!” Spike stormed off.
“Where are you going?!” Emerald shouted after him.
“To gather the remains of my dignity!” Spike snapped. “All you’ve shown me so far is how undragon-like I am! I’m sick of the push-ups, the lap-running, the criticism-”
“Okay, go cool off,” Emerald Blaze dismissed him and walked away, leaving a disgruntled Spike.
He thinks he can treat me this way and just walk off? Well he can think again! Spike thought as he followed Emerald Blaze to give him a piece of his mind.
But Spike noticed Emerald was moving away from the other dragons to a rather secluded area. He then noticed Emerald look around and whisper-shout, “You can come out, no dragons around.”
Then Spike gasped as Midnight, Blueblood, and Soarin all shimmered into view, each of them wearing a golden chain encrusted with a sky-blue gemstone, that sparkled with mana.
“How’s Spike doing?” Midnight asked.
“He’s about ready to crack,” Emerald reported. “I think one more nudge will get him to give up and go home.”
“Twilight and Rarity will be relieved to have him back,” Blueblood commented.
“But is it really necessary to be so hard on the little guy?” asked Soarin.
Emerald Blaze sighed and said, “Honestly guys, whether Spike likes it or not, he’s not cut out to live with dragons like Garble and the rest.”
“Is that so?!”
The stallions all flinched and saw Spike giving them the stink-eye.
“So you were just trying to drive me away!” Spike accused. “And you guys were following me the whole time! Lemme guess – Twilight put you all up to this, to make me look like a fool!”
“Spike that’s not-” Midnight tried to say.
“I don’t wanna hear it!” Spike snapped. “I’ll show you all… I’ll show you I’m a real dragon! And I think Garble and his guys will be better teachers than you!”
“Spike, wait!” Emerald yelled but Spike already ran off.
The stallions looked to Emerald who whispered, “That’s not good…”
“Wait, so you wanna hang with us and not Emerald Blaze?” Garble and his cronies leered curiously at Spike, who looked like he meant business.
“Emerald Blaze is a jerk and a liar!” Spike growled. “He thinks I don’t have what it takes to be a real dragon, well I’m gonna prove him wrong! I want you guys to give me a way to prove myself a real dragon so I can rub Emerald’s big dumb muzzle in it!”
Garble and his boys raised their brows and smirked, loving the idea of turning one of Emerald Blaze’s friends against him.
“Alright, Pee Wee, you wanna prove yourself a real dragon? Then let’s see you in a real Dragon Raid!”
The teenage dragons all cheered at the idea as Garble explained, “There’s a nest of Phoenix eggs not too far from here, and we’re gonna swipe `em!”
The idea of stealing defenseless eggs did go against Spike;s moral compass but he was just too angry and upset to care, and said, “Let’s do it…”
“Then let’s fly!” Garble whooped and he and his boys flew off, one of them carrying Spike.
“Oh no…!” Emerald Blaze whispered, having watched the whole thing from behind boulder.
He quickly ran to the stallions, who’d reverted to being invisible, and explained, “Spike’s gone with Garble and his boys to raid a phoenix nest!”
“We have to stop them!” Midnight insisted. “Phoenixes are fierce protectors of their young! Soarin, you’ll have to carry me, Emerald you carry Blueblood!”
“All right, Spike,” Garble whispered as he, Spike, and a couple other of their cronies spied on the next from nearby bushes, a mother and father phoenix perched attentive.
“Since you’re looking to prove yourself here, you get to lure the parents away from the nest.”
“Alright…” Spike inhaled and exhaled as he stepped out into full view, “Here goes…”
He looked up to the nest, slowly picked up a rock, and then shouted, “Hey! Bird-brains, come and get me!”
*WACK*
The father phoenix rose up, angry from the bump on his head and let out an angry scream as he and his mate blazed with fire and dove towards Spike. The little dragon yelped and ran for cover.
“Eyaugh!” Spike screamed as he ran and thought to himself What was I thinking?!
The father phoenix screamed, opening his beak to grab Spike when he heard a distressed shrill and stopped in his tracks while Spike tripped over a rock. Spike balled and shivered, waiting for the punishment, the burning, the scratching and pecking…!
…
…
…
“Huh?” Spike cautiously stood up and saw the phoenix parents were gone. “Perhaps they were just giving me a warning or-”
A distant flash of intense light told him otherwise and he heard crashes and groans of pain that could only come from Garble and his pals.
“Maybe I should check out the nest again,” Spike said aloud.
But when he got to the tree where the nest was, he was surprised to see it all messed up and on the ground was what could only be a phoenix egg, blazing orange at the bottom, intense yellow on top, a flame pattern ringing it.
“Hello, what’s this?”
He then heard thuds and saw Garble and his guys had returned.
“What happened?”
“They got away,” Garble growled when he perked at the prize in Spike’s hands. “Hey, you stole an egg? Heh, I guess this raid wasn’t a total blowout after all.”
From some nearby bushes, the stallions and Emerald Blaze watched.
“Well, I guess Spike got what he wanted,” Midnight whispered.
“Not just yet,” Emerald Blaze said with a concerned tone, the guys looking at him. “Watch.”
When the dragon jerks stopped cheering, the fat brown one said, “Well what’re ya waiting for, Spike? Smash it!”
“Smash the egg?!” Spike was horrified at the idea.
“Yeah, throw the egg on the ground as hard as ya can,” said a scrawny purple dragon with blonde hair covering his eyes.
The dragons then began to chant, “Smash it! Smash it! Smash it!”
The guys felt compelled to do something, at least prevent Spike from doing something he might regret, but for some reason Midnight told them, “No! Spike has to make this choice himself!”
He watched as Spike stood there in emotional conflict, burdened by peer pressure and what he knew was right and wrong.
Come on, Spike! Make the right choice…!
They felt their hearts sink, the dragons’ sneers rise, as Spike raised the egg over his head… but then hugged it close and declared, “No!”
“No?!” The dragons echoed in confusion.
“It’s just a defenseless egg, like I was,” Spike remembered. “And I’m not gonna let you hurt it!”
“Did you just say no? To me?!” Garble growled. “No one says 'no' to me!”
Spike nervously held the egg close as he backed away from the menacing Garble, only to feel something.
“Huh?”
In flashes of blue light, their invisibility melted away, revealing Midnight, Blueblood, and Soarin, all looking ready for a fight.
“Back off, pepper breath!”
“Touch one scale on his head and I'll thrash ya!”
“Put `em up, put `em up!”
The dragons all burst out laughing, Garble saying, “Spike, are these namby-pamby ponies your friends?!”
“Yes they are, and they’re better friends than you could ever be!” Spike declared proudly. "Now, if you don't back off, you'll see what us ponies do when confronted by a huge group of jerky dragons!”
“Oh yeah?” Garble snorted smoke into Spike’s face before challenging, “What’s that?”
Spike’s eyes got nervously shifty before he screamed, “RUN AWAY…!!!”
He streaked off, Blueblood and Soarin following him. But Midnight remained, giving the dragons a dark look.
“Oh look guys, at least one of these prissy little ponies has enough backbone to fight!”
“I don’t make a habit of bullying those weaker than me…” Midnight said ominously.
“Us? Weaker than you?!” Garble growled indignantly.
But then Midnight’s eyes flashed yellow and red, his horn enveloped in a golden aura as he took hold of the dragons’ wings and there were sickening cracks, the dragons all screaming as they felt a terrible pressure break their wings, and the pain made them all roar in agonized fury, Garble demanding, “How’d you do that?! Ergh, magic hardly has any effect on dragons… This doesn’t make sense!"
Midnight’s eyes narrowed, his mouth smirked as he said, “Make sense? Heh-heh, now what fun is there in making sense…?”
And with that done, Midnight left the grounded dragons to rage and suffer as he teleported away to catch up with his friends.
The guys, along with Spike and Emerald Blaze, found themselves just outside the Everfree Forest, Ponyville in the distance.
“Glad we got out of that unscathed,” Blueblood ‘phew’ed.
“Thanks you guys,” Spike said, “sorry for the way I acted.”
“No, I’m sorry Spike,” Emerald Blaze corrected. “I was trying to teach you a lesson far greater than anything you could learn about dragons, and I thought being tough was the right way to go.”
“Well, in a way it was,” Spike waved it off, showing there was no hard feelings. “I forgot that what I am doesn’t define who I am, and that made me forget about those who truly care for me. Garble and those guys were creeps!”
“I thought I told you that,” Emerald chuckled.
“Spike, we followed you to make sure you’d be safe,” Midnight explained.
“Because we care about you, because we're friends.” nodded Blueblood.
“And the girls would be devastated if anything ever happened to you,” Soarin added.
“Thanks guys,” Spike held out his arms and they had a group guys hug (don’t ask how that works).
“Well, I gotta take off, gentlecolts,” Emerald announced. “I think I have a few things to report to the princess. Keep in touch, Spike!”
And without warning, Emerald Blaze took flight in a blazing ball of green flame that streaked off towards Canterlot.
“Spike?” Spike face Midnight, who lowered his backside, “Let’s go home.”
Spike laughed as he hopped onto Midnight’s back, and they made their way to Ponyville.
“Hey Spike, you still got that phoenix egg,” Soarin reminded him.
“I think I’ll hold onto it,” Spike decided as he looking happily at the egg. “The little guy that hatches from this, will have a lot to learn about being a pony!”
The guys all laughed while Spike began to consider the letter he'd have for the princess.