For the Ones we Love

by FlimFlamBros.

The Dragon

It was another sunny day in Ponyville, as it always seems to be. Birds were chirping as everypony was getting ready for another fantastic day. The sun rays peeked through the windows of a tree house, the Ponyville library, as the light penetrating the eyes of a sleeping unicorn.

Twilight Sparkle slowly turned in her sleep, trying to avoid Celestia’s shining rays. But it was no use, she was already awake. Twilight slowly lifted herself up from her bed, letting out a loud yawn. Her deep purple mane was frayed and disheveled in a classic bedhead mess. Her face was groggy and bags drooped under her eyes. She had stayed up late that night studying again; she really needed to stop doing that.

She slowly crawled out of her bed. It was colder this morning, so she dragged her blanket with her, wrapping it around her shivering body. Twilight approached her mirror and sat down as she levitated a brush through her messy hair. Staring at her reflection, she noticed how tired she actually looked. Bags under her eyes, unwanted facial hair, acne! All sorts of blemishes that she could live without.

As soon as she was done brushing her hair, she placed the brush back down on the table and began to focus on her reflection. Her horn began to glow with a strong purple aura as her face was illuminated with a similar colour. A moment later, there was a flash of white light and Twilight closed her eyes. When she re-opened her eyes, her face was completely clear of all pimples and hair. Her bags were gone as well.

“Picture perfect!” she said to herself cheerfully. She got up from her mirror and headed downstairs. She was surprised at how large the mess was. Books laid scattered around the floor, a pile of scrolls rested in the corner and a tipped over ink vial was still dripping a jet black liquid onto the floor.

Twilight just rolled her eyes. She clearly must have gotten out of hand with her research last night.

“I guess I better wake him up,” she sighed, heading towards the basement door. A few years ago, her companion had made the case to get his own room, being too old to sleep by her bedside or something. It took a bit of adjusting, but she learned to sleep without him by her side.

She knocked on the door. “Come on, get up!” She knocked harder. There was a loud groan from the other side of the door. “I’m coming in, so you better be decent in there!” she called as she opened the door.

She was greeted by the foul stench of goat cheese pizza and stale cupcakes. She looked around to see what use to be her basement. Empty pizza and ‘Joe Donuts’ boxes littered the floor. Stale cupcake wrappers laid on every surface and empty bottles flooded the room. The walls, which use to hold wall to wall of books, now hung an assortment of pin-up mares. At the back of the room was a large mess of hay and blankets, a small trail of smoke emitting from the pile.

“Wake up Spike!” she called to the pile. There was a shift in the blankets. Slowly, a large purple claw rose from the blankets. It gave a little wave to twilight before sinking back into the blankets. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she sighed, her horn glowing again as she shot a bolt of purple lightening straight at the pile.

A large purple and green dragon erupted from the bed of hay. “AHHHH! DAMNIT!” he cried as he clenched his bottom, a small black singe marking him. “What’d you do that for?”

“Why do you think?” Twilight muttered. “It’s time to get up.”

Spike began to whine. “Aww, c’mon Twilight, you know I need my sleep.” He grumbled.

“Nooooo,” she began. “Baby dragons need their sleep, and last time I checked, you weren’t a baby anymore.”

It was true. Over the last couple of years, Spike had grown to quite a size. He was still in his late teens, but Spike was still taller than any pony in Ponyville. He was almost as tall as Princess Luna herself. Spike let out a thunderous belch, a strong stream of smelly green fire blasted from his mouth. From the ashes, a letter formed.

Twilight quickly snatched the letter from the air and opened it up. “What’s this? I’m not expecting a letter from the princess today.”

Spike quickly snatched the letter back. “It’s mine!” he said quickly.

Twilight just rolled her eyes. “Why do I keep you around again?”

Spike gave a dopey smile. “Because you looooooove me,” the dragon said sarcastically.

Twilight let out a little chuckle. “Don’t remind me. Now come on, we have a lot of work to do,” she said before heading out.

When she closed the door behind her, Spike turned his attention to the letter. Carefully, he opened it up, and read:

Dear Spike

I know how terribly busy Twilight can make you, but it would be ever so nice if you make some time for us today! I just got another order from Sapphire Shores and I need Ponyville’s number one assistant to help me look for gems! I sure hope you can find the time!
Don’t keep a lady waiting… XOXO

Rarity

Spike quickly jumped out of his bed; of course he would help Rarity! He quickly ran to his mirror to make sure he was decent. He really had grown a lot: broad shoulder, extended snout, sharper teeth and claws, and more muscles than he knew what to do with. “Well, aren’t you a sexy dragon?” he said to himself as he basked in the glory of his reflection, flexing his muscles.

“Spike!” Twilight called from beyond his room. “Will you hurry up?” Spike stopped posing in the mirror and headed out of the room and straight to the front door.

“Sorry Twilight, I’ve got things I need to do!” called the dragon as he left the house. “Later!”

“SPIKE!!!” she hollered at him. But it was too late; the door had already slammed behind the dragon. Twilight let out a groan. “Ugh, teenagers….”

*****

Spike squinted to shade his eyes form the overwhelming light of the autumn sun. He started heading down towards the Carousel Boutique. It was usually a short walk, but today he decided to take the scenic route into Ponyville Square. After all, he did run out on breakfast.

It was still fairly early, but the town square was in full bloom, with ponies out and about shopping for food and flowers and other things that would tickle their fancy. The dragon walked into the street. Many young of the young mares whistled and waved back at Spike, and he gladly, not to mention sensually, waved back. He knew that he was considered a bit of a catch in the female community. A catch a few of them were lucky to snag. He was particularly fond of his relationship with Colgate, but after their little falling out, he decided to just enjoy single life for a while.

“Hey Spike!” called a pale green unicorn. She was sitting at a small café next to a cream coated pony with a puffy blue mane and a pink streak running through it. “Over here!” she called out again.

Spike walked over to the two. “Hey Lyra, Bon-Bon.”

“So where are you off to today?” asked Lyra. “We haven’t seen you around town recently.”

“Yeah Spike, what gives?” said Bon-Bon, slouching down on the table, twirling her bouncy hair with her hoof.

Spike scratched the back of his head. “I’ve been busy,” he said casually. “Twilight has really been working my ass recently at the libr-“

“Or maybe someone else has been working it,” Bon-Bon giggled.

“Yeah, we’ve seen you over at the Misses house a lot recently,” said Lyra, giving Spike a sleazy look. “Tell me, does she use the horn?”

Spike jerked back in shock. “What are you two talking about?”

Lyra rolled her eyes and smiled. “You know exactly what we’re talking about.”

“We’re talking about R to the A to the R to the I to the T to the Y!” sang Bon-Bon. “What’s that spell?”

“Spike’s marefriend!” finished Lyra. The two of them laughed uproariously at their little song. Spike didn’t think it was so funny.

“Hey waitress!” he called out to a nearby pony dressed in the formal attire, hoping to change the subject. “We're ready to order now!”

The waitress walked casually over to their table. “What can I get you ponies…” She looked awkwardly at Spike. “…and dragon?” Flipping open her little order book, she readied her pencil in her mouth.

The three of them quickly gave her their orders before she walked away. Lyra immediately returned focus to Spike.

“So, how is the little misses recently?”

“She’s not my misses,” Spike said, trying to hide his playful smile. “We're just friends.”

“Yeah, friends with benefits!” cooed Bon-Bon. Lyra laughed again.

Spike sighed “Nice one Bon-Bon,” he said sarcastically. “Hey, isn’t that what you two are?”

“Were,” corrected Lyra, scootching closer to Bon-Bon, who slid closer to Lyra. “Until that fateful day…” She gently took her mare’s hoof.

“When we knew we were meant to be together,” sighed Bon-Bon, gazing into her lover’s brilliant amber eyes.

“Together forever,” Lyra said as the two of them nuzzled. Spike face-palmed and dragged it down his face.

“I think I just lost my appetite,” groaned Spike, staring at the two ponies. Lyra broke off from the nuzzle, giving Spike a dirty look. “I still can’t believe you two escalated so quickly.”

“Well, what do you expect?” stated Bon-Bon, still not breaking away from Lyra’s face. “Ninety percent of Ponyville is female!” Spike looked around. She was right, there did seem to be a large gender gap. “I’m surprise there aren’t more fillyfoolers in town.”

Their food finally came, two dandelion sandwiches and a large slice of chocolate fudge cake. They thanked their waitress as she left to tend to more hungry customers. Spike looked down at his slice of cake and greedily licked his lips. In an instant, the entire cake had been shoved into his mouth, thick brown icing splattering all over his face.

“That’s so gross,” cringed Lyra, wiping off some chocolate that landed off her face.

“Umm Lyra, you still got a little on your nose,” said Bon-Bon.

Lyra stopped eating, she stuck her tongue out, trying to reach her nose. “Id eei et it?” she asked with her tongue still sticking out.

Bon-Bon gave a little smirk. “Here,” she said in a sultry voice. “Allow me.” Bon-Bon stuck out her own tongue and slowly dragged it slowly across her marefriend’s face, making sure that her tongue ended up in Lyra’s mouth.

Spike just sat there, awkwardly looking at his two friends making out with each other. “Yeahhhhh,” he said nervously. “I’m just going to leave.” He dug in some loose scales in his coat, grabbing a few bits that he hid in there and throwing them on the counter. “That should cover my cake.” He got up from the table, the two ponies still in romantic embrace. They were getting more and more intense as they began feeling each other up, letting out small moans of pleasure. “Later,” he said, quickly walked away.

As the dragon walked away, the two kissing ponies fell from their seats, still going strong with their passion. The waitress looked over to the green and cream couple and sighed.

“Not again.”

*****

Spike continued down towards the Carousel Boutique, constantly being harassed by old mares he once dated and new ones that wanted a to take a shot at the well grown dragon. He was able to ditch the crazies as he finally reached his destination: a large, light pink and purple building that was sort of the shape of a giant wedding cake.

Spike approached the large purple doors of the shop and gave it a thunderous knock.

“Coooooooommmmmmmiiiiiiinnnnnngggggggg!!” a familiar voice sang. The sounds of hoofsteps approaching the door. Slowly, it swung open. “There you are Spike! I see you got my letter!”

Rarity looked just as amazing as she always had. Her perfectly groomed white coat was as fine as snow. Her mane always a beautiful shade of dark purple that hung from her head so gracefully. And that face, that beautiful, beautiful face. A face that looked like it was carved by angels, so beautiful that we could get lost in her enchanting gem like eyes…

“Spikey? Are you all right?” she asked him. Spike shook away from his trance, unaware that he was smiling stupidly.

“I’m fine.”

She smiled. “Fantastic, oh and I’m so grateful you were able to come help me on such short notice,” she said as she headed back into the shop.

“Anything for you Rarity,” he said dreamily, staring at her flank, her perfectly shaped flank…

“Oh I was just exhilarated when I got the word from Sapphire!” She went on talking about the famous singer, and all the ideas that she had for dresses. Spike just stared at her, dumbstruck by her beauty.

“Uh-huh…” He mumbled, not really paying attention.

“….. And I have just the finest idea for a ruby red dress with the gemstones lining around the skirt.” She gave a little laugh. “But listen to me, rambling as you wait so patiently.” She started to head upstairs. “If you will excuse me, I need to get my bag.” She looked back at Spike. “Don’t worry, I’ll just be a minute.”

“Take your time,” Spike said, watching her head up the stairs. He couldn’t help but feel his heart melt as she swayed up the staircase.

With time, his little crush had evolved into something so much more. As he got older he was able to experience feelings in a new way. He still was a child at heart, and that’s what most mares loved about him. He moved over to one of Rarity’s several mirrors, checking himself out. He had no idea why he’d fallen so in love with his own reflection. Maybe it was his increase in height, maybe it was his newfound muscles that engorged his body, maybe it was the way that his spines and scales were shiny and slick, like his body was covered in purple and green gemstones. “My, you are a sexy dragon,” he whispered to himself.

“You sure are,” giggled Rarity, slouched over the railing of the stairs. Spike face quickly turned red.

“Rarity!” he gasped. “I didn’t see you there!” He tried to act casually but he ended up tripping on his tail. “Oomph!” he grunted as he fell to the ground.

Rarity tried to muffle her laughter as she watched the dragon pick himself up. “Oh, Spike…” She shook her head slowly. “You are looking fine today. In fact, you’ve never actually told me how you stay so…” She examined the dragon’s body. “Toned…”

Spike smiled at her complement, but quickly lost it as he tried to explain himself. “Remember my birthday? About ten years ago? When I got really big and destroyed half of Ponyville?”

Rarity’s eyes grew quickly. Of course she remembered that day. It was the day Spike had tried to confess his love for her. She had always regretted not doing the same. But, as time passed and Spike grew older, he started to date other mares and she quickly tried to ignore her feelings, even though they kept on growing. She had tried to date other colts and stallions over the years, but they were never able to be quite like him. She particularly remembered one time when she caught one of her ex coltfriends cheating on her. She remembered how upset she was, and how when Spike had found out, he rushed over to find her in such a broken state. Spike had tried to comfort her, but when she explained the situation to him, it took everything she had to stop him from going out to find this colt and show him his newfound strength.

“Yes, I do,” she simply said.

“Well, after that incident, I went to see Zecora,” Spike said, stretching out his arms in the process. “She said once I reach my full height, my greed would just continue to grow. She told me that if I didn’t want another episode like that, I’d have to try and keep busy. You know, lifting books, cleaning up the library,” he looked at Rarity, “gem hunting with you. Things like that.”

“Wow,” Rarity was shocked. “I had no idea.”

She felt bad for not knowing all the hard work it took Spike to just live in Ponyville. Suppressing his own primal instincts, just so he could be near the ones he loved. It was so sweet and selfless of him. And here she was exploiting him to find some gems.

“Don’t worry about it Rarity,” Spike reassured her. “If being a bit tired means I can still be around you, then it’s worth it.”

Rarity turned her head away from Spike, trying to hide her face so he couldn’t see her blush. Her heart was saying to act now, but it was being smothered by her thoughts. She did a quick flip of her hair as she ignored her feelings.

“Well, we should make our way out,” she said as calmly and rationally as possible. “After all, it’s such a nice day, and I would hate to have to waste it inside.”

“Then let’s go, my lady,” he smirked as held the door open for Rarity. “After you.”

“Well, aren’t we a fine gentlecolt today.” She smiled as she walked pass the door.

Spike turned to close the door. Despite his rather active love life, his thoughts always came back to Rarity. He knew exactly why he loved her, but he knew that as much as he wanted to tell her, he was always afraid she would say no. That was why he would always just stand by her side, always there to comfort her and take comfort whenever he was near her. Spike frowned as these thoughts came to mind as he closed the door but quickly dispatched it when he faced Rarity.

“Spike, are you okay?”

“Yeah, couldn’t be better,” he lied. He sometimes did whenever Rarity asked him about how felt, mostly to prevent Rarity from worrying about him.

*****

As Spike and Rarity walked across town towards the rocks where most of the jewels were found, they spent time sharing old stories with each other.

“Well, she was a dragon, and a beautiful one at that, with bronze shiny scales that glimmered in the sunset and eyes like the finest rubies,” said Spike, re-telling the tale of one of his ex-lovers. “And, this one time, we sat on top of this cliff and our tails wrapped around each other and then we…” Spike turned to Rarity, the look in her face as she bit her lip told him she was getting uncomfortable. “…Oh, sorry.”

“Oh, it’s quite all right,” she said quickly. “We do after all trust one another to share these sorts of things.” Spike’s face grew redder and redder as Rarity continued to speak. “Besides, you’re a dragon, and she’s a dragon. It’s only natural.”

“No, no, no, no, no Rarity, we didn’t do anything besides kiss.”

Rarity was relieved to hear this, but didn’t dare express it. “Well, then why did you break up with her?” she asked.

Spike grew nervous. He had seen that Rarity was bothered, and he had lived with Twilight long enough to know when to be careful when he spoke to an angry mare.

“Well she was pretty…” He thought about what he was going to say, choosing every word carefully. “…. But there were a few things she wasn’t.”

“What?”

“She wasn’t generous…” Rarity tried to hold back her delight as Spike kept talking. “…Or kind or even half the lady you are.” Her heart nearly exploded. “So yeah, she was pretty. But she was also just a terrible dragon.”

Rarity smiled as the two kept walking towards their favorite hunting spot. She marveled at how Spike thought of her, even when he was with other mares, or females of his own kind. He still thought she was perfect; she was special.

*****

The hours went by as the two of them spent the entire day jewel hunting.

“Spike, if you could get this boulder off the ground, there is a big gem deposit under it,” she asked, her glowing horn pointing to a large bolder in the middle of the sandy field.

“Sure thing, then we're done here?”

Rarity gave him a nod as the dragon grabbed the giant rock. He took a deep breath as lifted the bolder with ease, revealing a large deposit of colourful gemstones. Rarity gazed dreamily at the dragon, the way he lifted the bolder with ease was breathtaking.

“Magnificent,” she said, ogling his frame.

“Yeah, they sure are some nice gems!” the dragon said, oblivious to what the unicorn was really talking about.

“Yes…the gems,” she grinned nervously. She went to the gems, levitating only the finest ones into her saddle bag. “There we go, that should be enough.”

Spike dropped the bolder with a thud. “Okay then, I guess we should get going.” The two of them started to head off, back towards the town. “Hey, do you think I could get some red gems, there my fav-” He stopped mid-sentence. Rarity stood behind him, her happy smile quickly changing to a frown. The tall purple dragon began looking to the tree lines, sniffing the air around him. “Rarity, did you hear that?”

“Hear what, dear?” she asked.

“That rustle, I heard something in the bushes…”

Rarity just rolled her eyes. “It’s probably just a bunny rabbit. Really Spike, you can be so paranoid sometimes.”

The ground erupted beneath them, bits of dirt and rocks were flung into the air, raining down upon the dragon and unicorn. Rarity hid behind the massive Spike, the debris bouncing harmlessly off his thick hide. From the cloud of dust, three familiar silhouettes emerged.

The Diamond Dogs.

“Well, well, well.” The diamond dog’s voice was rusty, like a claw dragging down a chalkboard. “If it isn’t the whiny pony,” he looked to the dragon, “and her little helper.”

The larger dog snorted. “Not little any more, but still just as weak as a baby!” he chuckled.

“Rarity, stay back,” Spike whispered behind him, an angry trail of smoke emitting from his nostrils. He turned to the dogs. “What do you mutts want?”

The dogs burst into random laughter, only increasing the rage within the dragon. Rarity slowly began to back away from him. She knew his battle stance all too well, his back arched forward, his teeth gritted, muscles flexed and claws gleaming. He was a sight to behold and few would dare challenge the dragon in this state, but his opponents were slow to learn this.

“Spike darling, please do be careful. You know I hate to see you fight because of me,” Rarity begged the dragon.

Spike turned his head. “Don’t worry about it.” He gave her a reassuring wink. “Have they even come close to you since last time they tried this?”

Rarity didn’t reply, she just stood behind Spike as the three dogs stopped laughing.

“Give us the pony!” they demanded.

“Don’t you guys ever learn?” replied the dragon. “It’s the same story every time. You try to kidnap Rarity, we have a big fight, and you all run away with your singed tails between your legs.”

“We want that unicorn,” demanded their leader.

“Yeah!” said the smaller dog. “We even have earplugs! So she can whine all she wants!”

Rarity gave a little tut. “I did not whine! I complained! THHHHIIIIIISSSSSS IIIIISSSS WHH-!”

“ENOUGH!” shouted the lead dog. He revealed a shiny little piece of silver. It was a dog whistle. The diamond dog blew into the whistle, giving a high pitch ring. From the forest around them, at least two dozen more dogs emerged, all howling and barking like the rabid animals they were. Slowly, they formed a perimeter around their prey. “Try to stop us now dragon!” the dog gloated.

Spike could see that they were out manned. There had to be at least thirty of them, and they were closing in fast. “Rarity, I want you to get out of here as soon as you get the chance.”

Rarity shook her head. “No Spike! I won’t leave…”

Spike took off, sprinting towards a group of dogs with breakneck speed, shoulder checking into the first dog with a bone breaking impact. The two dogs beside him took this opportunity to try and get the jump on the large dragon. Spike had anticipated this, and met the two dogs with a powerful swipe from his claws.

More dogs were drawn to the dragon behemoth. One tried to jump on his back but Spike was quick to turn around and punch him right in the face. A dog trying to sneak around to flank Spike from the side met a similar fate, being hurtled into the air by the dragon’s uppercut. Spike was managing to hold his own, slashing, punching, throwing dogs into one another and slamming them on the ground. He took a deep breath and let out a huge green fireball into a group of diamond dogs. The cowardly curs desperately scurried away from the green flames, leaving a large gap for Rarity to escape through.

Here’s my chance, thought Rarity as she ran as fast as her legs would carry her, jumping gracefully over the green embers of Spike’s extinguished fireball. “I’ll go get help!” shouted Rarity as she headed towards town.

But she did not get far.

“Well, hello there pony,” the diamond dog said, blocking the white mare’s path. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To go get help?” she asked innocently.

Spike could see from the crowd of dogs that Rarity was in trouble. He let out a roar as he tried to escape from the pile of mutts upon him. He grabbed two dogs by the necks and slammed their heads against each other. “Rarity!” he called, desperately trying to reach the mare.

He was so preoccupied with the dogs, he didn’t see the big one come around from behind, and he was carrying a really big stick. It took three strikes to the face of the dragon before Spike finally went down. The large dog laughed, happy with his victory as he dropped the now shattered stick. The remaining dogs quickly jumped on the downed dragon.

“Rarity! Run!” he called out, trying to wiggle out of the Diamond Dogs grasp, but to no avail.

Rarity was still frozen in fear as she heard her friend tell her to run. She quickly snapped out of it. She hated to have to leave him in such a state, but she knew that she had to and Spike would be fine. She hoped.

“You’re coming with us, pony!” the dog screamed as he lunged towards Rarity, claws extended. Rarity shrieked as she gave a quick kick straight to his gemstones. The dog clutched the throbbing pain between his legs as he cried in agony.

“You don’t touch a lady like that!” she barked at the diamond dog.

The dog slowly got up from the ground. “You really shouldn’t have done that.” His voice was a few octave higher. “Now you’re gonna get it!” He quickly snatched the pony by the neck, lifting her off her hooves.

“P-put me down you, you brute!” she gasped, struggling for air.

“Shut it!” he shouted, glaring at the pony.

“Make me!”

The dog smiled. “Gladly,” he said, right before striking her in the face. Rarity’s left eye quickly began to swell, a small trickle of blood pouring from her ear. “You like that?” he asked devilishly, striking her again, her once beautiful white face now covered with red and purple bumps. The dog snickered as he threw the defeated pony to the ground.

Rarity looked up at Spike. It was taking six dogs to hold him down, even though he looked like he was hit by a train. His body was covered with blood and bruises, his face was disfigured, his snout all bent in a jagged pattern, wooden splinters in his cheek and blood dripping from his nose. “Spike…please… Help me…”

“Rarity…”

The leader walked up to Spike’s defeated visage, a big toothy grin on his ugly face. “Well, well, well, it looks like the big bad dragon is out for the count!” The other dogs laughed, egging him on.

“Go…go to Tartarus…” the dragon muttered.

Howls of laughter came from the dogs as their leader flexed his claws. “What was that?” he asked, taking one of his long and jagged claws and placing it over Spike’s right eyebrow. “I couldn’t quite hear that.”

He slowly and painfully jabbed the nail into the dragons skin. Spike tried his best not to show any pain.

“Make him squeal!” shouted one of the dogs, the rest of the pack agreeing with more hellish howling. The lead dog smiled, looking at the dreary eyes of the dragon.

“Well, dragon? You gonna squeal for us?” he asked Spike. The drake said nothing. “Well then…” He twisted his nail around in Spike’s wound, right before slashing down across his eye.

The dragon grunted in pain as blood poured over his eye.

“This won’t do it,” sighed the lead dog. He turned to Rarity, she was being held by the large diamond dog. “Maybe his marefriend can help us.” He grew another devilish grin on his face.

“Not…my marefriend…”

“Oh,” said the diamond leader, a terrible idea forming in his mind. “Then I guess you wouldn’t mind…” He took a hold of Rarity, slamming her face into the ground. “You see…” he said as he looked back at Spike, “here’s what we’re going to do. First we’ll have some fun with your little pony.” Spike’s heartbeat began to increase. “And then were going to kill you.” Spike gritted his pointy teeth. “Then, she’s going to work till she finds us all the diamonds in Equestria.” Spike was growling. “But don’t worry, she’ll have plenty of breaks.” He looked at his pack. “We have needs after all!”

The pack of horny dogs whistled and cackled at that remark, echoing in the darkness that was approaching. The clouds had blocked out the sun, and soon it was raining heavily.

“What do you say, boys?” the lead dog shouted. “I’ve never had wet mare before!” He walked behind Rarity and grabbed her flank. She tried her best to resist, but she was just too weak to fight back. She started to cry, looking at Spike for help. The dragon looked like he was crying as well. No, not crying.

Laughing.

“What’s so funny?” asked the leader.

Spike small little chuckle grew and grew into a maniacal laughter. Every dog was staring at him with a strange look. “It’s funny…’cause I know something you don’t…”

“And what’s that?” the dog asked smugly.

The dragon looked up, the blood from his eye drenched across the right side of his face. “Simple,” he began, “I have wings.”

The four dogs holding down Spike’s back were flung into the air, landing unconsciously on the ground. On Spike’s back were two large purple wings, and he had become very good at folding them so they blended into his back. Sometimes, it didn’t even look like they were even there. With the weight of the dogs off his back, he was easily able to crush the skulls of the remaining two dogs in his massive claws.

The large dog charged at Spike. Apparently, he had found another stick. Spike mustered up what little fire was burning in his belly and erupted it in the dog’s face. The large dog screamed as he was burned alive, falling to his knees as he tried to pat out the green flames.

The leader of the Diamond Dogs was all alone. He dropped Rarity, and started to run away. He wasn’t nearly as fast as the flying dragon. Spike grabbed the dog by the neck and flew high up into the air.

The dog desperately tried to claw free. “Mercy! Mercy!” he cried weakly.

“Mercy?” the solemn dragon asked. “Did you show us mercy!” His grip tightened. “DID YOU SHOW HER ANY MERCY!”

“I’m…I’m sorry” he coughed. “Please…”

“NO MERCY!” the dragon screamed as he flew higher into the air. Once he reached a high altitude, he closed his wings and the two began hurtling towards the ground.

As they fell, the dog was finally able to wiggle down enough to bite the hand of the dragon. Spike winced in pain as he let go of the dogs neck. Spike opened his wings to slow his fall, but the dog grabbed his leg.

“I’ll kill you!” the dog screamed as he swung across the dragon’s soft underbelly.

Blood exploded from the dragon’s stomach as Spike gave a thunderous roar. He looked down at the evil grin of the diamond dog, Spike’s blood drenched across his face.

Back on the ground, Rarity was huddled in the mud, letting out little sniffles over what almost happened to her, and what had happened to Spike already. Slowly she noticed new thick drops of liquid falling on her face. She looked up to see it was not rain, but dark crimson blood. She quickly scurried away from the blood rain. Where was it coming from? She thought. She found out soon enough as a large lifeless body fell from the sky and landed in the mud with a messy splat. Slowly, Rarity peeked at what it was. It was the headless body of a diamond dog. Spike descended from the sky and landed next to Rarity.

“Spike!” she screamed as she went to hug the dragon. “It was horrible! T-T-They tried to r-r-r-r” She couldn’t say that last word. She was in full tears as she clung to her dragon.

“It’s okay Rarity…” he said, the sadness in his eyes was clear as he rested his neck on her shoulder. His eyes started to grow heavy. “I’m sorry…”

She looked at the dragon, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Spiky, you have nothing to be sorry about!” She felt his weight getting heavier. “Spike?” The dragon collapsed on the ground, blood still pouring out of his stomach. “Spike!” she screamed at the fading dragon. “Spike get up!” she demanded while crying. “Get up damn it!” She held the dragon’s face close to hers, his big green eyes still shining in the rain. He gave her a weak smile.

“I’m sorry…”

Rarity’s tried to hold her tears back, causing her to hyperventilate. “What?” she asked quietly. “What are you sorry about?” She waited for his answer.

Spike coughed up a little blood, the world was getting darker around him, yet Rarity was as bright as ever. Her face was covered with blood, her left eye had swollen over and she had cuts all over her cheek. She was still beautiful to him. “I’m sorry…I …never told…you…” his words were getting heavier as he spoke. It was harder to breath. “How I……” He couldn’t finish the sentence before everything went black.