//------------------------------// // Spike Log: Entry 1 // Story: Another Hatchling // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Once the mares finished cooing over the first baby video file, Spike cleared his throat. "Alright, I think that's enough," he scolded. "Can we move on now? At this rate we'll be here all week." Twilight gasped. "There's that much?" she asked, shocked. "About 18 years worth," Spike replied. "I'll try to focus on the highlights, but there's a lot to cover, after all." Noticing Twilight's eyes sparkling, he swallowed nervously. "What?" "18 years worth of extra-planetary knowledge and experience!" Twilight squealed. "There's so much for me to learn!" As the other mares, giggled, Spike rolled his eyes. "Well, let's keep going. The first major highlight will be when I can start filling you in on what I actually remember." As they all nodded, he pulled up the next entry. Entry02b I have no idea what this creature is. It doesn't exist in my database, nor in the creature logs the Chozo provided me with when I first left Zebes. I don't even know what he eats. I only know he's a he because I was able to scan the XY chromosome pair of his genetic code. Thank goodness at least a portion of his genetic structure uses the same basic four enzymes as humans, Chozo, and most of the other sapient species of the Galaxy. Old Bird, I don't know what you were thinking putting this creature in my care, but the least you could have done is provide some care instructions. As they read the entry, Twilight chuckled. "I remember how I was the first time I had care of you all by myself," Twilight reminisced. "I was just as panicked, and searching for a book on how to care for a baby dragon." "How old were you at the time?" Spike asked. "Eight," Twilight replied. "It was shortly after I got my Cutie Mark." Spike smiled softly. While normally he would mind interruptions in story telling, each time Twilight brought up a memory of their time together, he remembered those moments afresh. It was the same with when the others talked about their time with him. Their presence and words were unlocking the memories of his prior life. "Mom was 20 at the time," Spike explained. Twilight's eyes popped. "Twenty and still panicking?" she asked, shocked. "Oh, panic is a perfectly normal reaction for first time mothers," Fluttershy pointed out. Chuckling, Spike loaded the next entry up. Entry02c I finally figured out what the little guy eats. Right first he refused literally everything I offered him. In desperation, I threw a pair of clip on sapphire earrings and fragments of his own shell at him. The earrings had been a gift from an unwanted admirer, after it got revealed that the most badass bounty hunter to ever fly the solar system was a woman. (The look on the general's faces when I disengaged my power suit to collect my bounty was priceless.) The little guy immediately tried to dig the sapphires out of their setting with claw and teeth, trying to get one and the piece of his shell into his mouth. While I have no idea why he would eat gems, deep scans indicated his shell fragments had a unique enzyme in them that - when consumed - jump started his digestive tract. As a result, his first meal was a mixture of powdered gemstones and shell fragments. Shortly after, I discovered he could in fact, eat things other than gemstones, which is lucky. Keeping a supply of gems on board - even uncut stones or ore - would be both costly and necessitate a much bigger ship's cabin. The connected video file played. Samus sighed as she finally finished powdering the gems and shell fragments. While the gems had been easy enough to reduce to a powder - her ship's part assembler was easily programmed to do it for her - the shell fragments proved more difficult. The ship's systems proved ineffective. Her beam weapons had no effect on the shell. Even missiles and super missiles failed to even scuff the outer shell. "Whatever race you come from," she muttered at the curious infant, "they knew what they were doing when they evolved this as your egg. But how did you break out?" Eventually, she discovered that the combination of an ordinary stone pressed against the shell plus a bit of the infant's saliva caused the shell to break down into a powder. As a result, the meal was produced with an ordinary mortar and pestle. And I told Old Bird I'd never have a use for this thing when he insisted I make it and take it with me, she grumbled to herself. Wherever he is now, I'm sure he's chuckling knowingly at me. He did that a lot. Once the powder mix was prepared, the young reptile eagerly devoured it a spoonful at a time as Samus fed him. She was rather pleased to see that he waited patiently between mouthfuls rather than whining demandingly as most infants did in her experience. "You're quite the well behaved child once your needs are being seen to, huh?" she asked as he sloshed the next mouthful around in his mouth in an imitation of chewing before swallowing. "Never thought I'd come across a species that was instinctively well mannered." Once the meal was finished, she turned to put the mortar and pestle away, only to hear a wet splut. "What the?" Turning around, she discovered that the little guy had belly flopped into a small chocolate cake and was proceeding to eat his way out. Groaning, she buried her face in her palm. Pinkie Pie was laughing uproariously as the video came to an end. "The Cake Twins do that every birthday!" she shrieked in hilarity. "I always wanted to try it!" "Then we know what we're doing for your next birthday," Rainbow joked through her own chortles. Fluttershy cooed to herself as she watched Spike's infant mannerisms. "Instinctively well mannered?" Rarity asked, surprised. "Well, not based on the other dragons we've met. But still, it certainly fits you, Spikey-Wikey." Spike smiled as he scratched the back of his head. While the nickname was a bit embarrassing for an adult, each time she said it he remembered more of their times together when she called him that. He was beginning to remember why he found himself blushing just to look at her, though the face shield on his armor hid that. "You did that with me, too!" Twilight added, giggling. "When we threw you your first birthday party, you climbed right out of the high chair and dive bombed into the cake before eating your way out of it! it was so adorable...and so messy!" Spike smiled widely as the memory of that event came back to him. Waiting for everyone to calm down, he then keyed in the next entry. Entry02d Bathing him is quite the chore. Not that he doesn't like it, far from it. But he makes a huge mess. He seems to exhibit more canine behaviors than anything else. Chewing on things, chasing a ball and catching it in his mouth, enjoying having his belly rubbed... For lack of any other basis to choose a name, I'm going to call him Spike, since he acts so much like a dog. A few giggles heralded the beginning of the next video clip. Samus lifted her hand as another wave of water leapt from the sink in the ship's galley. It wasn't very large, but neither was Spike at this point, and it made an ideal bath for him. Samus herself used the sonic shower when she wanted to get clean - not only was it faster, but it conserved water, which was always a consideration for a single occupancy space ship - but it wasn't rated as safe for any being under 50 pounds. As Spike only weighed 8, she'd have to wait awhile before he could use it. She hoped she didn't lose too much water from bathing him constantly. Perhaps she could teach him to keep himself clean. Either that, or she'd need to stockpile a lot more water reserves for her ship. But at least he seemed to enjoy it. The small rubber ball the ship's parts assembly had created as a bath toy to keep Spike entertained bounced off her head, and she caught it in one hand. Spike giggled up at her. Frowning, she threw the ball back at him, and he leapt to catch it in his mouth. Rolling her eyes, Samus returned to scrubbing the recalcitrant reptile. At least his scales didn't stain easily. Twilight burst into laughter. "I never thought about it like that...but you did kind of act like a dog before you started talking, Spike! Maybe that's why you turned into a dog when we went through the portal into the human world." Applejack snorted. "Spike turns into a dog there?" she asked in shock, chuckling. "Gonna be a pretty big puppy now!" Pinkie pointed out. Spike groaned as he remembered that. "Talk about embarrassing..." He smirked. "But somehow, I don't think I'll turn into a dog now." Twilight smirked up at him. "Want to go through and check? The portal still works." Spike shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" As Twilight stepped through the portal after Spike, her jaw dropped. He was most definitely not a dog. Standing before her was a tall, lithe, well muscled, purple and green skinned warrior in white plate armor that covered him only partially, and was backed up by a loincloth. She felt like she was staring at a cross between Tarzan and Conan the Barbarian, to go by the characters she'd seen in this world's fiction. "Hey Twilight," Sunset called as she walked up. "We weren't expecting you to visit so soon!" Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Twilight's companion. "Is that your coltfriend? Flash is going to be jealous." "Hey Sunset," Spike said easily, waving. Sunset's eyes widened further. "S-Spike?" she asked in shock. When Spike nodded, she let out a quiet, "Woof," before fainting dead away. Twilight promptly facepalmed.