//------------------------------//
// Talk of the Town 
// Story: Another Hatchling 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	As Spike and Rainbow stepped out to prepare for their race, Twilight stepped up to Samus.  "I...I suppose I should make more formal introductions," she pointed out.  "First contact and all."

"Please don't," Samus replied.  "Spike's my son, just as he's yours.  That makes us family.  Please don't make it awkward by letting our being from different planets get in the way."

Applejack chuckled.  "I like the way ya think, Miss Samus," she said.  She doffed her hat.  "Name's Applejack.  Ah run Sweet Apple Acres, the family farm.  Spike's a dear friend o' the family."

"Just Samus," the armored bounty hunter replied.  "I don't put much stock in formality."

"Well, my name is Rarity," Rarity introduced herself.  "I run the local fashion boutique.  And I must say, your armor...it's quite delightful.  However did you get it to look so smashing?"  She reached out to touch one of the spikes on the arm.

"Don't touch," Samus said quickly, pulling back.  "Those are...actually a part of me."

Fluttershy gasped.  "Oh my goodness!  How did that happen?"

Before Samus could speak, Pinkie bounced up.  "No spoilers!" she shouted out.  "I wanna hear the story in order!"

That brought scattered laughs from everyone.  "I think you have a valid point," Samus agreed.  "It wouldn't be good to give you details out of order.  It would just confuse things.  Don't worry, you'll hear about it in time."

"Well, I know you said you can't take your armor off until you adjust to the lower gravity," Twilight pointed out.  "But is there anything we can do to help you get comfortable?  Maybe a chair sized to your dimensions, or-"

"Actually," Samus interrupted, "since I can't eat with my armor on, anyway..."  Walking over to a nearby wall decoration, she removed a large spherical crystal from It's place in a claw like setting, curled into Morph Ball, and bounced into the setting.  "This is actually quite comfy," she said calmly.  "Feels a lot like resting in the hands of a Chozo Statue..."

"...more spoilers?" Twilight asked.

"Not really," Samus replied.  "The Chozo were a race of bird like space travelers.  They knew more about the universe than nearly any other species in the cosmos."

"Were?" Pinkie asked curiously.

"After they'd reached a certain point in development, a large portion discarded their physical bodies, and now explore the spirit plane and others," Samus explained.  "However, on every world they had a presence, they left behind statues - carvings of stone, machine, and spirit - that carry their legacy and watch over the worlds, their anchors to this dimension.  Curled up in Morph Ball in the hands of a Chozo Statue..."  She sighed nostalgically.  "It's like getting a hug from Old Bird or one of my other caretakers."

Flapping up to the decoration, Fluttershy hugged Samus.

"...this is pretty nice too," Samus murmured.

"So...can the Chozo spirits eat when they manifest?" Pinkie asked.  "Do they like cupcakes?"

Samus was silent for a time.  "Honestly, I have no idea," she replied at last as Fluttershy lifted her down to be held in her wing.  "Next time I meet with one, I'll ask-"

"Never mind, they do!" Pinkie said happily.

Samus froze.  "Wait, what?"





After a time of racing across the sky, Rainbow Dash pulled back to where Spike was trailing behind her.  "Come on, Spike!" she complained.  "Samus said you were awesome in the air!  This can't be the best you can do!  I'm not even pushing myself and I'm leaving you in my dust."

Spike grinned as he flapped steadily through the air after Rainbow.  "This is as fast as I can go without disengaging my armor," he explained.  "And I won't do that except in a combat situation, and only then if I have to to keep others safe."

"Aw, come on!" Rainbow complained.

"I have my reasons, Rainbow," Spike countered firmly.

Rainbow harrumphed, crossing her forelegs.  "They'd better be good ones," she grumbled.

"Besides, I'm more an endurance and power flyer than a speed one," Spike explained.

"Really?" Rainbow asked.  "You think you can outlast me?"

Spike smirked.  "Easily."

"We'll see!" Rainbow grinned, powering on.





As the sun started to lower over the horizon, Rainbow's wings started to ache.  Before long, she knew she would have to rest on a cloud...or the ground, as they were over the Badlands to the southeast of Appleoosa, and there wasn't a cloud in sight.

Spike, on the other hand, continued his steady sky eating pace, his wings flapping regularly without any sign of tiring.  "You can take a break if you want, Rainbow," Spike pointed out.  "You're still the fastest in Equestria.  You never claimed to be a marathoner."

Rainbow gasped for breath as her wings started to give out.  She pulled to a halt and hovered.  "Guess you're right," she admitted.  "But I still wanna see what you mean by a power flyer."

Spike glanced around, then pointed.  "See that hill?" he asked.

Rainbow looked where he was pointing.  "Actually, I think that's more of a plat-"

Spike dove.

Rainbow's eyes popped as she saw him shoot towards the ground like a bolt of lightning, wings folded tight to his side as he aimed for a spot almost directly in front of the plateau.  At seemingly the last possible moment, he flared his wings and turned his dive into forward momentum, smashing straight through the plateau without slowing, causing the rock formation to collapse into rubble behind him as he swooped back up into the air, flapping his wings steadily as he started to lose momentum as he returned to the air.

Rainbow's jaw hung low.  "Dude..."

Spike smirked.  "That's a power flyer," he said smugly.

Rainbow managed to get her jaw up.  "L-let's find somewhere to relax for a bit," she commented.  "I could use a drink, and I need to rest my wings before we head back to Ponyville."

Green lights played over the eyeshield of Spike's face plate as he scanned their surroundings.  "There's a river pretty close by that way," he points out.  "Some gem deposits further down the river so I can have a snack, too.  Come on."  He turned to lead the way.

"How do you know that?" Rainbow asked.  "You been here before?"

Spike tapped the face plate.  "Sensors in the helm," he explained.  "Pretty effective ones, too."

Shrugging, Rainbow followed.

Eventually, they arrived at the river Spike had detected and spiraled in for landing.  "Take a drink," Spike said calmly.  "I'm gonna dig up some of those gems."  He dove into the river and swam downstream.

Shrugging, Rainbow bent over the river for a drink.  The water was cool and clear, and quite refreshing.

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice spoke up, causing her to sit up in surprise and a little fear.  Spinning around, she caught sight of a face she hoped she'd never see again.  "What have we here?  One of those namby pamby ponies!"

"G-Garble!" Rainbow snap, fear warring with anger.  "Back off!  You don't know who you're messing with!"

"Oh, I think we do," Garble hissed as his purple and brown cronies stepped up on either side.  "A weak little pony on our turf again...only this time, she's got no unicorn to teleport her to safety."

Rainbow backed up, flapping her wings to prepare for flight, but winced as her right wing spasmed, the muscles overworked.

Garble smirked as he stepped forward.  "Whatsa matter?" he asked cruelly.  He brought his foot down on her left wing.  "Too worn out to fly?"

Rainbow winced, then cried out in pain as a pop informed her that her wing had just been dislocated.  Cruel laughter from her tormentors greeted her pained cries.

"Back off."  That voice was Spike's, but it wasn't how Rainbow remembered it, either from before he went missing or since he came back.  There was none of the playfulness or kind nature that characterized the young dragon.  Only pure, unadulterated malice.

Garble turned, stepping off Rainbow's wing.  "Oh look, it's the wannabe dragon all grown up in pony armor!"  He and his cronies laughed.  "Need your pony armor to feel tough?  Well..."  He leaned over Spike menacingly.  "Whatcha gonna do if I don-hurk!"

Rainbow's eyes popped.  She could have sworn she saw an imprint of Spike's fist expand through Garble's back like in those action anime Scootaloo liked so much.  Garble toppled over, coughing up blood as Spike drew his fist back.  "Last warning," he said, his voice more menacing than before.  "Next time, I use my claws."

Garble growled as he pushed himself to all fours.  "Get him!" he barked as he lunged for Spike.  His cohorts backed him.

"Shi'cho-kra!(1)" Spike barked.  His armor dimmed, and a hum Rainbow wasn't even aware she was hearing ceased.  Spike vanished before her eyes.

"What the-?" Garble began, only to be cut off by a tail to the face that embedded him in the side of a nearby plateau.

His two cronies turned to go to him, only to be caught around their throats by two purple foreclaws.  Spike looked them right in the eyes, fury burning green in his own, the snarl on his face transforming a normal gentle drake into a visage of death.  He then shot up into the air, an energy contrail trailing behind him as he shot all the way into the outer atmosphere of the planet in seconds.  As soon as he saw the dragons in his grip starting to lose their breath, he growled deep in his throat before diving.  Three seconds later, he slammed the two dragons into Garble just as the red dragon started to get to his claws again.  The force of the impact drove all three dragons ten feet into the ground, leaving a crater around them like a meteorite impact.

Spike flipped back, landing on all fours.  Opening his mouth, a stream of green that was too focused and intense to be called flame anymore erupted, searing all three dragons and melting a tunnel through the plateau behind them, fusing the rock beneath into magma for hundreds of feet past.

Had they been anything other than dragons, Garble and his cronies would have been reduced to ash.  As it was, none of them had any fight left.

Spike leaned down over them.  "Come near my ponies again, and I'll have you for lunch!"  He then lunged forward, snapping his jaws together millimeters from Garble's nose.

Garble and his cronies fled, alternately yelping like whipped dogs and crying like fillies.

Having watched all this, Rainbow could only find one way to react.  "...woof."

Sighing, Spike walked back over to Rainbow.  "And now you know why I don't disengage my armor unless necessary," he explained, standing over her as he leaned in with his long neck to examine her dislocated wing.

The speed of her heartbeat after what just happened, the strength of his musk after his exertion, the fact that he wasn't even breathing hard, and the heat from his body so close all combined to leave Rainbow speechless.  It was only sheer force of will that kept her from swooning like the mares in Rarity's trashy romance novels.

Opening his mouth, Spike extended his hot tongue and wrapped it around the base of Rainbow's dislocated wing.

Rainbow's face turned bright red as her breath became rapid.  She couldn't find words or even noises to make.  Then she heard a soft click.  Turning, she saw Spike withdrawing his tongue, and saw that her wing had been reset in its socket.

"Take it easy on your wings," Spike said softly, gently - almost daintily - lifting Rainbow to his back.  "I'll get us back to Ponyville in a half hour or so.  Just hold on tight to the back plate."

Rainbow nodded, gripping it tightly.

As Spike took to the air, the energy contrail once more trailing behind him, he smiled softly.  "Say Rainbow...think we can keep this a secret?  I don't think we need to worry the others about Garble and his ilk, since I dealt with them."

Rainbow chuckled.  "That's for sure."

"Besides..."  Spike gulped.  "I'd rather not face Mom's wrath for releasing my limiters before my body adapted to the new world."

Rainbow smiled.  "Sure Spike.  It'll be our little secret."  Leaning in, she nuzzled the spine closest to her face.

Spike blinked, a little confused by Rainbow's behavior.









(1) A Luminoth word.  Roughly translates to "Unseal".