After returning through the mirror portal - on the run from numerous young ladies who pursued Spike like a pack of wild dogs (Sonata Dusk's metaphor, since they were all saying Woof) - Spike sighed in relief as he returned to the table where the others were waiting.
"So, did you still turn into a dog?" Rainbow asked.
"No," Spike replied. "But I think I turned every female on the other side into one." At the blank expressions directed his way, he sighed. "They were all saying 'woof'...even Celestia and Luna's alternates."
Everyone gasped in surprise. "Even my alternate?" Pinkie asked.
"Well...yeah," Spike admitted. "Except she and that Sonata Dusk girl were saying it because everyone else was."
Rainbow snickered. "Good luck in town later, Casanova."
Spike tilted his head in confusion. "Huh?"
Rarity waved her hoof, dismissing the issue. "We'll talk about that later, Spikey-Wikey. For now, how about a bit more of your story?"
Smiling, Spike flipped through to the next major entry. "Most of these are more of the same, just daily or weekly mentions of how things are going with me. A few video files, but we can watch those later. Ah, here we go."
Entry212
Today, Spike breathed fire.
I don't know what brought it on, or why only now after so long. However, in the middle of feeding him, he belched up a plume of green flame. He found it hilarious. I found it worrisome.
I know what he is now. He's a baby dragon. A dragon like Ridley.
I don't know if he's the same species or not. Either way, the Chozo trusted him to my care. I'll have to do my best to take care of him...and to make sure he doesn't become a monster like Ridley.
The girls were silent for a time. "Ridley?" Twilight finally asked.
"An...old enemy of Mom's," Spike replied. "I'd...rather not talk about him." He idly flexed his wings, somewhat restless.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Pinkie reached over and swept through the entries to the next one with a tagged video file. "Say, the date here's nearly four years later than the date on the first entry...and about 9 years before the date on Entry zero."
Spike nodded. "Yeah. This is...six months before the first time I went on a mission with Mom," he replied, calling up the log.
Final Entry
Spike spoke today.
...I now understand Old Bird's words when he gave me Spike's egg...
That was all the text in the entry, but there was a tagged video.
Samus lifted Spike up from her logbook, where he'd been browsing through the entries of the creatures she encountered on Zebes, and during her time serving under Adam Malkovich as part of his unit, before she quit the Galactic Federation and went freelance. He seemed mostly to enjoy looking at the pictures, though occasionally she found him tracing lines with his fingers. "Come on, Spike," she said softly. "Time for you to go to bed. If I let you stay up reading, you'll be cranky tomorrow, and I don't have any more clothes I can afford to lose to fire from your stray flames."
Spike let out his petulant complaint noise, somewhere between a growl and a whimper followed by blowing a raspberry. However, his struggle was token at best. He was used to Samus getting her way. She was a lot stronger than she looked, and his body was only just beginning to adjust to the 10Gs Samus kept her ship at for comfort. It wasn't as high as the gravity of Zebes, but it was higher than what the Federation ships kept their gravity at. Spike had adjusted well, but he wasn't yet nearly as strong as Samus.
Smiling, Samus carried him to the pile of gold and silver that had once been place settings for all the various jewelry she'd received over her lifetime that she had no interest in keeping. She had given Spike the gemstones as treats, and the metal was now Spike's favorite bed. Samus had placed it all in a large basket for him to sleep on.
"Wait!" Twilight said as she paused the video. "How did that big pile not trigger your hoarding instincts and Greed Growth?"
Spike chuckled. "It did when she first started giving it to me," he explained. "But by then she'd learned just how durable I was even at that age. The minute I tried to swipe something to add to my hoard without permission, she picked me up, threw me into the wall, stuck her finger in my face, and said 'No' very firmly. I didn't try to hoard without permission ever again."
"Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy whimpered. "Were you alright?"
Spike laughed aloud. "The wall took more damage than I did. Literally. She had to stop by a space port to get the dent evened out. I didn't even have a bruise."
Twilight chuckled. "Well, dragons are an incredibly durable race. It takes a lot to even faze one, let alone hurt them."
Smiling, Spike restarted the video.
Samus set Spike down in amongst the metal, and he snuggled in, wrapping himself up in the gold like a blanket. "Goodnight Spike," she said softly. "Sleep well."
"Nai, Mama!" Spike replied, smiling up at her.
Samus' eyes went wide. Tears beaded at the corners of her eyes. She struggled to blink them away, but they wouldn't stop. Bending over, she pulled Spike into a tight embrace, holding him against her.
Several Daws greeted the end of that video. Fluttershy cooed happily, while Applejack and Rarity smiled happily. Rainbow glanced over, obviously hiding whatever tender emotions the moment brought out in her.
Twilight, however, looked thoughtful...and somewhat sad.
Pinkie suddenly spoke up. "Samus seems like a really great lady!" she said happily. "Will we ever get to meet her?"
Spike smiled. "Well, if we can arrange her getting through town without causing a ruckus-"
A window shattered as an orange sphere was propelled through it, slamming into the wall before dropping to the floor. The sphere groaned. "I don't like hoofball..."
"Mom?" Spike asked in surprise.
The sphere unfurled, revealing the Power Suited warrior.
"Hey Spike," Samus replied, leaning against the wall. "You found her?"
Spike nodded. "Mom, this is Twilight Sparkle, my Mother." He beckoned Twilight forward. As Twilight stepped up to his side, he smiled up at Samus. "Twilight, this is Samus Aran, my Mother."
Twilight smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Aran."
Samus knelt down to be closer to Twilight's level. "Nice to finally meet the one who's been in Spike's dreams for so long. Forgive me for not removing my armor just yet, but I'm still adjusting to the low gravity of this world. Right now, my suit's keeping me from accidentally breaking something or someone." She rubbed the back of Spike's head. "Spike's armor serves much the same purpose."
Pinkie's eyes widened. "Just how strong is Spike now?"
"This world is 0.8Gs," Samus explained. "Spike's physiology is adapted to be able to function normally at up to 40Gs."
Rainbow spat out her drink. "But that's 50 times normal gravity here!" she shouted. "I don't even hit that with most of my stunts, except the Rainboom!" She stared at Spike in awe. "If he can fly in an environment like that...what's he like in the air here?"
Samus chuckled. "Go flying with him and see. He's pretty good in the air."
"Then we're gonna race, Spike!" Rainbow said challengingly. "I wanna see what you can do!"
Spike chuckled. "You're on, Dash."
Twilight chuckled. "You'll stick around, won't you?" she asked Samus.
Samus shrugged. "Sure." She spotted the datapac. "How far did you get?" she asked Spike.
"I was about to tell them about Tallon IV," he replied.
"Good thing I'm here for that part," Samus replied.
"So how come ya came flying through that window?" Applejack asked.
Samus chuckled, self-consciously rubbing the back of her head. "I was worried about Spike, since he hadn't gotten in contact with me. I was using Morph Ball to get through the town without drawing attention...and an orange Pegasus challenged a yellow pony with a red mane to see how hard she could kick me."
Applejack facehoofed. "Apple Bloom..."