“Scruffy... Scruffy, time to get up.” I heard Spike say, calling me away from the soft embrace of the covers.
‘Meh... Five more minutes.' I rolled over on my other side.
“Sorry, but I promised Chef I’d help him in the kitchen today and it’s almost lunch time.” Spike’s claws gently moved under me and lifted me up, “You can sleep on the way there though.” and that was the end of that.
I felt myself being pressed up against Spike’s scales as he carried me away from my bed. A few seconds later and I heard a door shut...
‘Was that a door?’ I finally opened my eyes, fully expecting to be inside the dark castle in the Everfree Forest. What I was not expecting was a dark hallway in the Crystal Tree Castle, ‘When did we get back here?’
“Earlier this morning. You’ve slept half the day away.” Spike chuckled as my mind played catch up, “And before you ask I made a deal with the crusaders for them to keep quiet.”
‘Oh, then I don't have to freak out.’ I layed my head back down, ‘Hope it wasn't anything too bad, I don't think anypony would believe them anyway.’
“Yeah, I'll tell you later, but I’m actually surprised you woke up on my first try. Whenever Twilight had magical fatigue she can sleep for days. Her record is four straight and waking up on the fifth.” I let Spike continue his story as I closed my eyes again to try and get some more sleep, “When she woke up she must of eaten at least a hundred pancakes. Twilight had me run to the store to get more syrup.”
I felt sleep just beyond reach so I tried to keep him talking, ‘You must get paid a lot for all of that...’
“Actually, I lost a bit of my allowance for skipping out on a few chores the days she was asleep.” Spike chuckled.
Slowly my eyes began to open as I felt sleep slip away. My mind was starting up and working and I knew I wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep, ‘Twilight slept away four days and you got a pay cut? Sounds a bit fishy to me.’
“It’s not like I use my bits anyway. They’re just sitting in the bank.” we passed through a set of doors and entered the main throne room. Spike suddenly stopped making me look up. In the center of the seven thrones was a giant table with what looked like a holographic map on top of it, “When did this happen?”
“Hey there Spike, Scruffy.” a deep voice said to their right. Both of us turned to see Chef slowly walking towards us.
“Hey Chef. Do you know what this is?” Spike asked nodding towards the table map.
“Oh that appeared this morning. Princess Twilight didn’t explain much before her and the other elements ran off, but she gave most of the staff the day off so I’m not complaining though I know a few of the guards are from what I heard on the way here.” he stated with a chuckle.
“So Twilight ran off on another adventure while I was with Scruffy.” Spike sighed before looking to Chef, “Do you still need my help today?”
“Nope, but if you're still up for it I'll need some help in a few days to prepare for a charity bake sale.” Spike seemed to brighten right back up, “Now, why don’t you go and play with those three fillies giving the front door guards a hard time?”
“Okay Chef, thanks for the heads up.” Spike said as he walked towards the door and tossed one hand back to wave, “See ya later!”
Chef said his own good byes as a thought struck me, ‘Hey Spike, what was the reward for stopping the giant spider last night?’
“Wha-oh, right, we got a-”
‘Spike.’ I interrupted as a pair of guards walked passed with the usual ‘bored out of my mind’ look, ‘We're supposed to keep this to ourselves. So tell me with this telepathy thing we still got going on.’
“Alright...” ‘Hello? Can you hear me now?’
‘Yep.’
‘Good. For a reward we got a few bags of bits and the spiders said they were going to give us more when their mom said they could.’
I arched an eyebrow, ‘Well it was our first quest, so I guess there wouldn't be much reward. Though after taking down an immortal spider queen I expected some kind of loot.’
Spike started to chuckle as we rounded the last corner before full on bursting out laughing. I narrowed my eyes, ‘What's so funny?’
‘I’m-I'm sorry, but I just thought of you trying to fight something with a sword three times your size using your little paws to hold it.’
The image of me struggling to hold up a broadsword bigger than a pony before falling on my back due to the blades size flashed through my mind, ‘Heh heh, yeah that would be kind of funny, but I'm talking about armor...’
‘Scruffy, I'm pretty sure they don't make armor in your size, or mine now that I think about it.’ Spike said as he put his claw to his chin.
‘Yeah, I thought of that while I said it... wow this is weird, I've never gone adventuring without some kind of armor before... Spike we got to find a blacksmith at some point.’ I stated firmly as we reached the front door, ‘I will not be a glass cannon.’
‘What's a glass cannon?’
‘A heavy hitter who can hardly take a hit.’ the doors were right in front of us now and we could hear three familiar voices on the other side.
“Rainbow was right, these guys don’t move for anything!” Scootaloo yelled as Spike pulled the doors open.
“Well, it’s what they’re paid for.” Spike said as he descended the stairs right outside the door, “What are you girls doing here?”
“Well we gots to give ya both the Cutie Mark Crusaders inishee... inishee-ay...” Apple Bloom struggled with the word.
“Initiation ceremony.” Sweetie Belle finished.
“Ya, that. Now that you’re both Crusaders we gots a few things ya both need to do.”
“And the first is to come to the CMC HQ.” Scootaloo stated happily.
“Um, okay.” Spike said as the girls smiled.
‘Why do those smiles fill me with fear?’
‘You get used to it after a while.’
“Alright!”
“Don’t ya’ll be late!”
“See ya there!” Sweetie Belle said last out of the three of them before they all turned and ran off down the road.
‘Spike, when did we join their guild?’ I asked.
‘It was the one of the way I got them to be quiet about what happened, but what's a guild?’
‘Basically a really famous and dedicated club whose members get mad if you call it a club.’
‘Huh, I think they call it a club, not a guild.’ Spike said as he shut the doors behind him with his tail.
We made our way down the stairs and passed the purple armored guards who I’m sure gave us a couple of silent good lucks. At the back of my mind, I got a feeling that we were going to need them.