//------------------------------// // Humiliation // Story: Cruel Punishment // by Wonder //------------------------------// Spike stared at the broken glass and mangled brass. I am so dead. "Spike!" Twilight called from downstairs. "What was that noise?" The scared dragon tried to sweep the broken pieces with his claws, but they were too small. "Spike?" He heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching. Spike looked around the room for a place to hide the broken telescope, and if that didn't work, a place to hide himself. He spotted a cabinet in the corner of the room and grabbed as much of the debris as he could and forced it in. Now there was only the glass to deal with. A purple aura surrounded the handle of the door. Spike did the only thing he could think of. The small dragon leaped forward and landed on the glass, concealing it beneath his scaly stomach. The door opened. "Spike what was that noise? And why are you on the ground?" "Oh, no reason. Just taking a little rest." "On the ground." He is up to something. "Doesn't seem like the best place to take a rest. Also you didn't answer my first question. What was that noise?" "Hehe, what noise?" Twilight glowered at Spike. He's avoiding the question. He is definitely hiding something. Oh, so you wouldn't mind if I..." Twilight's magical aura surrounded Spikes bed and flung it into the air. "Checked under your bed. Aha! What? There's nothing here?" "Why would there be anything under my bed?" Spike scratched his head. Twilight thought of other places Spike could be hiding things from her. "Just, you know, checking for... bugs! Yeah bugs, wouldn't want them to bite you while you sleep." The unicorn laughed, unconvincingly. Spike felt one of the shards poke into him and shifted his position, but that only made things worse. "Are you ok. You seem to be fidgeting more than usual. Have you got a tummy ache?" Twilight went to pick him up. "No!" He realised he had yelled. "What I mean is, no I'm fine, just a itch." Twilight glared at him. Just an itch, huh? "How about I scratch it for you." Spike didn't know it, but it wasn't a question. Twilight moved toward the baby dragon, like a leopard hunts a Impala. Spike was sweating. "You don't need to do that. Seriously. It's not even that big of an itch." Stop lying to me! Was what Twilight wanted to say. "But what kind of pony would I be if I didn't help my number one assistant." She was only a meter away from him now. "Seriously, it's fine, in fact, it doesn't even itch anymore." Does he think I'm stupid? "Well, even so, I cannot let you lie on the floor. you could hurt your back. She pounced. They rolled across the floor and collided with the wall. "Ugh. Now my back hurts." "Spike! What have you done!?" The drake opened his eyes and say the purple unicorn staring in shock at the broken glass. She turned around and grabbed him by the shoulder, shaking him as she talked. "Where's the rest of it, maybe I can fix it." Spike looked at the cabinet. Twilight followed his gaze, and bolted to it. She didn't just open the door, she tore it off its frame and sent it flying across the room. Pinkie Pie was busy mixing the batter for her next batch of Rainbow Cupcakes when she heard the scream. She had never heard anything so loud before, and that was saying something considering the kind of parties she threw on a daily basis. She stopped her mixing and tried to pin point the location of the sound. It was coming from Twilight's place. "Uh oh. Please tell me Spike didn't break the telescope... I wanted to do it." She grumbled. "Hey guy, can I be in your next story, please?" Um... sure why not. "Thanks!" 'This is bad. There's no way I can fix this." She dropped the bent pieces of brass onto the floor. "That was a one of a kind relic Spike. That was the telescope Starswirl the Bearded discovered Orion's belt with. That telescope was a priceless artefact, worth over fifty-thousand bits. At the least. The lense itself is worth more than all the furniture in the library." "I can explain." "Can you Spike, Can you?!" She was breathing heavily. "It's one thing to accidentally drop a plate, but to destroy a luminary refractive lense." "It wasn't my fault." "I don't care whose fault it was, someone is going to have to pay for this." "I can't really pay for anything, I not like I have a job." Spike said meekly, trying to divert the attention away from the issue. "Oh, you're going to pay for this," She walked up to the dragon, her face full of anger. "One way, or another." "Twi! Are ya home?" Applejack pushed the door open. "I brought back that book ah borrowed from ya." She heard a muffled voice from upstairs. "What is that girl up to?" The farm pony dropped the novel on the foyer table and headed to the second floor. The voices got louder. "Twi? What are you doin'?" Applejack reached the door to Twilight's room, and gave the door a little nudge. The door swung slowly open. Applejack watched, bemused, as Twilight stood over Spike. Spike seemed to shrink back from the opposing unicorn. "Uh, Twi? What are ya doin'?" Spike saw Applejack and quickly ran to her, hiding behind her hind legs as if the work horse was a shield from Twilight's wrath. "AJ, you have to help me." "Just what the hay is goin' on?" Twilight was the one who spoke next. "He broke a telescope!" "Is that what this is all about?" "Let me rephrase that. He broke a priceless telescope that was over a thousand years old, worth a lot of bits. To top it off, it was on loan to me. By princess Celestia." Twilight but emphasis on the last part. Applejack's eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks. "Oh." Applejack reach behind her and pushed the little dragon in front of her and whispered in his ear. "Looks like you are up a creek without a paddle." She spoke so Twilight could hear. "So what did ya have in mind for punishment?" Spike couldn't believe his ears. "Nothing to harsh, mind you. He is only a baby dragon after all." Twilight was a bit shocked that Applejack was being so accommodating, but just went with it. "Well can't replace it. It's not like there is any way to replace a one of a kind artefact. So I have to think to think of someway to teach him a lesson." Spike tried to lessen his punishment. "How about no dessert tonight." And failed. "That's the type of punishment ah give Apple Bloom for bein' lazy. No, you need somethin' more..." "Embarrassing." Twilight smiled. Her smile looked innocent, but her tone conveyed a message, which Spike translated into. 'You will regret messing with me.' "Hm." Applejack tapped her chin in thought. "How exactly do you embarrass a dragon?" Spike tried to inch his way towards the door, but Applejack moved to block his path. "You're not goin' anywhere until we figure this out." Spike crossed his arms and plopped onto the ground. "What if we shaved off his scales?" Twilight grinned. The work horse tilted her head. "Can you shave off dragon scales?" "Oh, right. This is harder than I thought it would be." "How about we put him in a dress and march him through town?" Applejack giggled, which startled Spike. He had never heard her giggle before. The closest thing she ever got to it, was a chuckle. "That wouldn't work. He already wears a pink apron whenever he cleans, and besides, we would need Rarity to make the dress. That's it! Rarity!" "Ah don't think Rarity would want to help us punish Spike." "Oh, she wont be helping. She'll be doing all the work for us." Spike saw a glint in Twilight's eyes. He didn't need any time to make his next decision. He got up as quickly as he could and made a break for the door, but before he could even move 2 meters, he was yanked back. Spike looked down at his stomach and saw a rope tide around him. "Where did you even get this?" Spike said, trying to pull the lasso off him. Applejack smiled, genuinely happy with herself. "Ah never leave home without one." "Applejack, hold him still." "Uh, aren't ah already?" Twilight ignored her comment. Slowly the unicorn walked up to Spike. Spike readied himself for whatever punishment she would give. But apparently, 'whatever punishment', didn't include what happened next. She sat on him. "That should stop you from running." Twilight sneered. Spike felt the wind get knocked out of him and it took him over half a minute to talk again. "What the heck Twilight. You weigh a tonne!" He felt a hoof connect with the back of his head. "What was that for Twil- Applejack?" "You know very well what that was for." Applejack frowned at him. "So, what now?" She said, now directing her attention to Twilight. "I need you to go and get Rarity. We wouldn't want her 'little Spikey Wikey' to get lonely would we?" The earth pony grinned. "You've been hanging out with Pinkie too much. Okay, I'll be back faster than you can say 'Zap Apples'." Spike struggled to move underneath Twilight posterior, but he only succeeded in getting his left claw stuck beneath her as well. "Will you stop moving. It's irritating. AH!" Twilight smacked him with her magic. Spike looked up and saw her face go as red as Big Macintosh's coat. What's her problem. The door of the Carousel Boutique flew open, hitting the bell above the door, the sound of the bell resounded throughout the store. Summoned by the chance of a new client, Rarity appeared as if out of nowhere. "Welcome to the caros- oh, hello Applejack. How may I help you." Rarity was already measuring her. "Uh, I'm not her for a dress." Se replied. "Twilight wanted me to tell you, that she need ya at her place." "She does realise I have a business to run, right?" Applejack didn't want to push the subject, but considering the circumstance, she decided to continue. "She does, but it's about Spike." Rarity stopped what she was doing. "Oh, what's he up to that requires my attention?" "He's kinda in a spot of trouble." Well, she technically wasn't lying. Rarity sighed. "Fine. I'll go. You girls are lucky that I am so generous with my time." Applejack turned and rolled her eyes so Rarity couldn't see. "Get off me!" Spike tried again to push the unicorn off him, but she was too heavy. Twilight had learned to ignore him, and was busy focusing on book. Books mainly focusing on repairing and restoration. "Twilight, this isn't funny, you're crushing me." "You should have thought about that before you broke the telescope." She responded, not even taking her eyes away from the book. From downstairs they heard the sound of the front door opening. "Took them long enough." "He's just upstairs?" Applejacks voice echoed from downstairs. "I really don't see why he could need my help. He has Twilight for that." Spike's reaction was instant. Spike doubled his efforts to escape from Twilight, but she held him firmly in place. "Please Twilight, don't let her see me like this. She would lose all respect for me. Find your equinity!" "I told you Spike, you have to be punished." "Please Twilight. I'll do anything." He could her Rarity's hoofsteps getting closer. "It wasn't m-" "Any last words before Rarity gets here?" She interrupted him. "Please, no... I'm sorry! I'm sorry." Spike felt the weight on him alleviate. "Really, that's all I had to say?" Spike glared at her. "Yes. But Rarity is still expecting an injured dragon, so hold still." Spike was only half listening, as he got to his feet. "Hold what?" Twilight reared up on her front hooves and bucked Spike with her hind legs. Needless to say he went flying. "Oops. That might have been a bit too hard." The door to the room opened and Rarity walked in. "Okay, where is the little guy." It sounded as if she didn't really care about how sick or injured Spike was, that is, until she saw him. "Oh my! Spike!" She galloped over to where spike lay crumpled. "What happened to him?" She was rubbing his head comfortingly. Applejack glared at Twilight. "Yeah Twi, what happened?" Twilight smiled nervously. "No please, get off me." Twilight was wedged underneath Applejack. "Please, don't do this." Rarity trotted over to her, patting her Spike as she went. "I'm sorry Twilight, but this has to be done." Twilight tried to prop herself up, but Applejack was just too heavy. "How did you even get so heavy!?" "Muscle, from years of apple buckin'." The workhorse smiled proudly. The door opened downstairs. "Twilight, are you home." A voice called from below. "Just up here." Applejack yelled. "She's just doing some readin'." Twilight now new the terror that Spike had felt. "Sorry, I'm sorry. Now please get off." "Not gonna work this time Twi. You're getting punished." "Please no, no. She can't see me like this." "See you like what?" The door opened. "What could be so ba-" The mare froze. Celestia broke into a fit of laughter.