//------------------------------// // Foal Follies // Story: The Dragon that Would be Pony // by The Dragon Warlock //------------------------------// Twilight was up and about early the next morning. She made some scrambled eggs, toast, and orange juice for her and Spike. The lilac unicorn quickly ate her meal and went to go pack a magnifying glass, scrolls, quills, and a map of Ponyville into a brown saddlebag. Twilight went back to the kitchen and saw the breakfast she made for Spike was still there. She was about to call Spike for breakfast, but a loud knock came from the door. Twilight went to the front door and opened it to see Applejack standing there with a smile. "Oh, hey there Applejack. What are you doing here?" "Howdy there Twilight." The orange mare said. "Ah'm here t'git Spike and take him to the farm." Twilight raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "What do you need Spike down at your farm for?" The lilac unicorn asked. "I thought we were all going to meet up and discuss on finding Rainbow's attacker." "We still are sugarcube. Ah just need t'git Spike down to the farm b'fore we git the other girls and meet up at Rainbow's house." "But why do you need Spike?" "He did tell you last night didn't he?" "Tell me what?" Twilight asked scratching her head. Applejack's smile faded into a frown and her eyes narrowed a little. "Y'all mean t'tell me that he didn't tell ya last night?" She asked with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. "He didn't tell ya that he had to repay mah favor today?" Twilight's eyes narrowed a bit and said, "No Applejack, he didn't. In fact he hasn't even come down for breakfast. We'll both talk to him about this when we find him. We'll check the bedroom." Applejack and Twilight made their way up the library steps towards the bedroom and opened the door. They looked to see that Spike's bed was empty, but the sheets were still messed up and the purple pegasus was nowhere to be found. The two mares went over to the closet of the bedroom and opened it up to see a bunch of winter clothing from coats to hats, but no Spike. Applejack noticed four purple hooves at the bottom of the floor amidst the snow boots. She nudged Twilight to let her know what she saw. The two of them pulled aside the clothes to see Spike with an awkward smile and holding a piece of red clothing. "Uh...need a scarf?" The purple pegasus asked and chuckled in embarrassment. Twilight pulled her assistant out using her levitation magic. "Spike, why didn't you tell me that you had to repay Applejack's favor last night?" She asked with annoyance in her voice. "You can't avoid responsibilities like this." "Twilight, you don't understand." Spike said in a pleading voice. "Applejack she...she wants me to do the imposs...imposs...uh something hard for me to do." "Oh, Spike what could be so hard for you to do?" "She wants me to...do...do..." Spike couldn't finish the sentence as his eyes widened. "Foalsittin'." Applejack said in a stern voice. "He's gonna be foalsittin' fer me today Twi." "Well that shouldn't be too hard then." "No it won't!" Spike shouted. "It's...it's 'them' Twilight." "What are you talking about Spike?" Twilight asked with a confused look on her face. "It's the Cutie Mark Crusaders Twilight." Applejack said. Twilight looked back at Spike with an annoyed look on her face. "This is what you're so scared about Spike? I know the crusaders can be a bit of a hoof full, but they're not that bad." "But Twilight, you don't..." "Simmer down there Spike." Applejack said. "Y'all promised to repay me if Ah didn't tell the others who 'Sparky' really is. Now am Ah gonna have to hogtie ya and drag ya to the farm, or are ya gonna come quietly?" Spike tried to find a way to get out of it, but knew Applejack had a point. He nodded in defeat and said, "Alright Applejack, I'll go down to Sweet Apple Acres." His stomach rumbled in hunger and looked back at his friends with an embarrassed smile. "Can I at least have breakfast first?" Twilight and Applejack nodded as Spike was released from Twilight's magic. The three ponies went down to the library kitchen. Spike saw his breakfast sitting there and ate all of it rather quickly. Twilight levitated the dishes and placed them into the sink. They all went outside the library and into the warm summer morning air. "Alrighty then Twilight." Applejack said. "Ah'm gonna take Spike erm...Ah mean Sparky here down t'mah homestead and git him acquainted with the crusaders. Y'all go and git the others and Ah'll meet ya at Rainbow's house." "Got it Applejack." Twilight said with a nod and turned to her assistant. "Spike, please for our sake try to be nice to them. I know you've had problems with them before, but I'm sure you'll do fine." 'Easy for you to say. You aren't the one who's looking after three troublemakers.' Spike thought to himself with a look of disdain on him. Spike felt two hooves push his right side and looked to see it was Applejack. "Come on sugarcube." She said. "We're burnin' daylight and Ah've got to git ya down to the farm quickly." Spike hesitantly nodded and followed Applejack went down to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight went off to Carousel Boutique to go get Rarity. Spike and Applejack said nothing as they walked down towards the apple farm. The purple pegasus couldn't help but feel that Applejack was looking at him. The farmer pony broke the silence and said, "Ah know ya don't want t'do this Spike, but Ah..." "So can't I just do something else? Repair a fence, do some applebucking, or feed some animals?" The orange mare placed a hoof on Spike's mouth and shook her head. "It doesn't matter whether y'all were gonna do this or not. Ah was gonna take the crusaders t'see ya anyways and introduce them to ya since they weren't at the party the other night. Ah know ya had yer run ins with them and yer awfully saddle sore about them, but they want t'see ya." "So no matter what, I was going to meet them?" Applejack nodded. "Spike, all Ah ask is fer ya to give'em a chance. They don't know ya and they're really riled up to meet ya." The purple pegasus thought over what the orange mare had said and couldn't help but trust her. "Applejack...I'll do not only for you, but for my secret." "Don't ya fret Spike, Ah'm sure y'all can do this, and they won't give ya such a hard time." The farmer pony said with a gentle smile. 'I hope you're right Applejack.' Spike thought to himself. On the edge of the Everfree Forest, Jordan stepped out of the shadows and carried a camouflaged saddlebag. He pulled out a pair of black binoculars and looked around in the sky. 'Come on, the Ponyville Weather Patrol should be out by now as well as him.' He thought to himself. As Jordan continued to scan the skies for "Sparky", he heard two ponies speak to each other. He quickly hid in a bush by the Everfree Forest. He popped his head out and saw Applejack, but his blue eyes were staring more at his target, "Sparky." 'Gotcha now you foal, You won't be getting away from me this time,' The stallion thought with a sinister smile on his face. Jordan followed the two ponies into Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack and Spike reached the brown homestead of the farm. The orange mare went inside to get the little foals and told him to wait here. As Spike waited, he tried to keep himself calm and remember about what Applejack and Twilight told him about giving the crusaders a chance. He wanted to believe them, but he was still a little bit wary. The door to the homestead opened up and Spike's eyes grew wide with nervousness and fear as he saw three fillies. Spike instantly recognized them as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Girls, Ah want ya t'meet Sparky." Applejack said with a smile. "Now be don't ya be shy now. Go on and say hello to him." The three fillies went over to "Sparky" with grins on their faces and looked at him with wonder. Spike was trying his best to keep a forced smile and slowly extended his hoof to shake with them. None of the crusaders though shook his hoof, but looked at him suspiciously. "Say...Ah know who ya are." The yellow Earth filly said in a southern accent similar to Applejack's. "Uh...you do?" Spike asked feeling a little nervous. "Yeah...we know about you." The orange pegasus said in a cocky attitude. "We've heard about you Sparky." The white unicorn said sounding a little sinister. Spike could feel his stomach twisting in knots. He looked at Applejack who tried to keep a straight face, but was looking worried. The three fillies suddenly jumped on Spike, making him yelp in panic. "It really is him!" The three fillies shouted in unison. "I-I can explain I...wait, what!?" Spike yelled in confusion as he struggled to break free. "Yer the one who saved Rainbow Dash! Yer Sparky right?" The yellow earth filly. "Ah heard about it last night." "Applebloom!" Applejack shouted. "Were y'all spyin' on me again!?" The yellow pony and her friends broke the hug and nodded. "Sorry Applejack, but Ah did hear what ya said last night while Ah passed yer room. Ah had to tell Sweetie Belle and Scoots." Applejack shook her head and said, "We'll deal with this later lil' sis, but let me get Sparky here acquainted with y'all." She turned to Spike. "This lil' pegasus here is Scootaloo, this unicorn here is Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom here is mah lil' sis." "Uh...hello there." Spike said still feeling a little nervous. "Hi there!" They said in unison. Scootaloo went up to Spike and said, "That was so cool of you of how you saved Rainbow Dash. Well...you're not as cool as her, but still you saved her. That makes you good in my book." "Thanks...I think." Spike said with a tinge of annoyance in his voice. He turned towards Applejack. "What do I have to do with them?" "It's as simple as pie sugarcube." The orange mare said. "Y'all just have t'play with the crusaders." She turned back towards the three fillies. "Now girls Ah want y'all t'have fun, but don't give Sparky here a hard time okay?" The three fillies nodded and put on innocent smiles. Spike cringed in disgust from the sight. "Sparky, Ah'll be with the others at Rainbow's place. We'll be checkin' out the area fer clues to this attacker." The purple pegasus gave a nod and smiled feebly. Applejack tipped her hat and took off for Rainbow's house while Spike and the crusaders waved goodbye. Spike looked back at the Cutie Mark Crusaders who all had eager smiles on their faces. "Don't ya look so glum there Sparky." Applebloom said. "Y'all are gonna have so much fun!" Fun...that word echoed through Spike's mind as he remembered all the fun times he had with the crusaders when he was a dragon. The first time was when the crusaders messed up the library in an attempt to get their cutie marks in being librarians. He ended up spending the rest of the day and most of the night cleaning up the mess. A few days later, he became a victim of the foals' attempt at another cutie mark hunt when they tried to become dragon slayers. He ended up being chased and beaten up by the three crusaders with wooden swords and sticks. Sometimes he would get caught in some net traps or fell in pits made by them. The dragon ended up with multiple bruises and aches all over his body. A lot of the foals laughed at Spike for being beaten up by some fillies. The dragon felt embarrassed, but mostly angry as well at them. Another incident occurred two weeks after that where they played Castle. Spike was made the "damsel in distress" and was forced to wear a pink frilly princess outfit and a long yellow wig. He heard the crusaders snicker when they saw him in that dress. Unfortunately for him, Twilight and her friends came by to check on them and saw Spike in the dress. They all burst out laughing at this as well as the crusaders. Spike ripped off the clothes in anger and shut himself in the library. Rainbow called him princess several times until Twilight scolded her for doing so. The final straw was when Spike had noticed that the crusaders were playing with a potion set and tried to get their cutie marks as potion makers. One of the potions they made spilled on Spike and changed him into a purple dog. The crusaders decided to take Spike back to their clubhouse and became Cutie Mark Crusader Pet Trainers. They would have him beg, roll over, or other humiliating things while the fillies chuckled. When they realized they wouldn't get their marks, they went back to Twilight's and apologized for messing with the potion set. Twilight turned Spike back into a dragon, but he was so infuriated that he busted out of the library and ran away. He ran out of town and rested on a hill that overlook the town. He went back in the early morning and made sure the fillies were nowhere to be seen. Twilight tried to explain something to Spike about the crusaders, but he glared daggers at her. He made her vow never to mention the incident again. Spike ignored the Cutie Mark Crusaders from then on. Every time he heard they were coming, he would leave the library and stay far away from it until late at night. Whenever he heard them or if he saw them coming, he'd hide himself or take off in the opposite direction. Twilight tried to tell Spike they really wanted to see him, but he wouldn't listen at all. He was convinced that they enjoyed humiliating him in front of others. Spike felt his eye twitch in anger and his teeth started to grind as he pulled himself out of those memories. He looked back at the crusaders. "Y'all alright there Sparky?" Applebloom asked with a confused look on her face. "Y-yeah." Spike said hesitantly. "I'm fine, I was just thinking of something So what do you all want to do?" "Oh, I got something!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Why don't we try to get out cutie marks in Parachuting?" "Hey, Ah thought we were gonna try playin' some table tennis." Applebloom argued. "Ah who wants to do that?" Scootaloo asked nonchalantly. "Parachuting is way better than just playing some table tennis." "But we agreed t'do some table tennis." Applebloom said. "Y'all haven't even tried it yet." "Parachuting is way cooler than table tennis." Scootaloo said with a little anger in her voice. "Table tennis!" "Parachuting!" "Table tennis!" "Parachuting!" The two fillies tackled each other and were throwing punches and insults at each other. Spike just facehoofed and groaned. 'It's going to be a looooooong day.' He thought to himself. The purple pegasus watched as the two fillies fought each other. He had no clue on what to do. "STOP!" Sweetie Belle shouted loudly. The two fillies stoped fighting and look at her. "I'm glad there's no cutie mark in arguing otherwise it'd be hard to be friends with you two. I've got an idea on how to get our cutie marks. How about we show Sparky here around Ponyville?" The two fillies thought it over and both gave a nod. "Yeah, we've never tried that before." Scootaloo said. "Great idea there Sweetie Belle." Applebloom looked at Spike. "So what d'ya think about that Sparky? Can we show ya around Ponyville?" "Well I was already shown around town yesterday by Twilight.". "Aww!" The crusaders hung their heads in sadness and had puppy dog eyes on them. Spike looked around at each of the crusaders. 'Confound these fillies with their sad eyes.' The pegasus thought to himself. 'Well...maybe it won't be so bad. Applejack did say give them a chance.' He turned back at the fillies and said, "You know Twilight actually didn't show me all of Ponyville. I guess it wouldn't hurt to..." Spike felt himself be tackled by the crusaders as they all gave big smiles. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TOUR GUIDES, YAY!" The three fillies shouted in unison. 'Celestia help me.' Spike thought to himself. He felt his flank be pushed by the three fillies as they led him away. Spike sat in a big red wagon tied to a scooter. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle dragged a red saddlebag into the wagon and sat next to Spike. Scootaloo got on her scooter and drove them around town. Spike looked at the crusaders and hoped things wouldn't go wrong with them. He felt somepony poking him and turned to see it was Sweetie Belle. "Don't worry there Sparky." The filly unicorn said. "We're going to show you some of our favorite places around town." "Yer gonna have so much fun." Applebloom stated. "We're comin' up to one of our places to get cutie marks now. Stop here Scootaloo!" The filly pegasus stopped her scooter. Spike nearly fell over, but put his hooves on the wagon's sides on time. . He looked to see he was in front of a large green gate that led to a large field. The field had a few trees spread along it and ponies of all ages playing on them. "This here is the Ponyville Park." Sweetie Belle stated. "This is where families or friends come and play around with each other." "So we're just going to go through the park?" Spike asked. "Oh no we ain't." Applebloom responded. "We're gonna show ya something. Come on girls, we're wasting time!" The crusaders got off the wagon and Spike followed suit. Scootaloo took her scooter and locked it up before following her friends though the park gates. Spike stuck close to the crusaders and looked around a little to see some foals and families playing various games. He kept following the Cutie Mark Crusaders until they reached a rather narrow hill. "What's going on here?" Spike asked. "Just ya wait and see Sparky." Applebloom said as her and the other crusaders went up the hill. Spike hesitantly followed the three foals up a dirt path that went up the hill. The purple pegasus slowly climbed up the hill, but it was getting tiring very fast. He felt like the hill was going on and on, but he reached the top after what seemed to be many hours. "Come on Sparky, you've got to see this." Sweetie Belle said. Spike nodded and looked to see something that made his eyes widen. The area resembled the ideal spot for a picnic and had a tree that looked perfect to sit under and rest. There was also a huge clearing that had a perfect view of Ponyville Lake and at the edge was a cliff leading down to the water below. There was also a breeze blowing through the area that cooled Spike and the crusaders from the summer heat. "Wow, It's so beautiful. How did you find this?" Spike said breaking the silence. "Well mah sister actually showed this to us." Applebloom said. "She said this is where she likes to come and relax fer a while." The three crusaders went over to the edge of the cliff to look at the lake. "Wow...it's just as beautiful as before." Sweetie Belle said. "Hey, are you sure this is safe?" Spike asked with concern in his voice. "That cliff looks a little dangerous." "Ah, it's okay." Scootaloo said waving a hoof. "This cliff is sturdy and can hold us." The orange filly stomped her hoof on the ground to prove it, but then a loud cracking noise from below her and the other crusaders. The ground shifted and the cliff gave way along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Spike quickly responded and grabbed Scootaloo's hooves. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle held onto their friend's rear legs tightly. The fillies each had a look of terror and fear on their faces. Spike could feel Scootaloo starting to slip and firmly grasped her hooves. The purple pegasus looked around to see if anypony was nearby, but there weren't any. He looked back at the terrified crusaders and narrowed his eyes in determination. Spike used all of his strength to pull the three fillies up slowly and carefully. The purple pegasus led the foals far away from the cliff and to get to more stable ground. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom hugged Spike tightly while Scootaloo smiled and gave a nod. Spike felt like he his heart stopped and looked at the crusaders. "What were you girls thinking?" He asked. "You all could've been hurt." The crusaders looked down and felt discouraged. "W-we didn't mean to." Sweetie Belle said in an apologetic tone. "Yeah we just wanted t'show ya the view." Applebloom said in the same tone as Sweetie's. "Well...uh...sorry." Scootaloo said nonchalantly and maintained a straight face. Sweetie Belle looked at Spike and said, "We're sorry about this Sparky. The next place we'll go to won't even have a lake at all." The purple pegasus looked to see Sweetie Belle and the other crusaders giving a pleading tearful look. "Well...I guess it couldn't hurt, but no more surprises like that okay?" "We promise!" The three foals shouted and gave innocent smiles. 'Why do I not feel any better with hearing those words?' Spike thought to himself with a bit of a worried look on him. He suddenly was pushed and looked to see the three crusaders making him move. "Come on now Sparky. We ain't got all day now." Applebloom said. Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders made their way back to the entrance of the park. They got on the red wagon with Scootaloo taking the group away. Spike looked to see Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were still a little shaken, but otherwise fine. He felt himself relax a little despite what happened as he and the crusaders rode along. "Okay Scoots, stop!" Sweetie Belle shouted. The wagon screeched to a stop again. Spike looked to see he was in front of a large red building that almost looked like a barn with a silver bell in a tower above. There was a swing set, two teeter totters, a big green slide, and a field that looked like it was meant for kickball. "Aww, what the hay are we doing at school Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked in an irritated tonw. "Summer vacation started yesterday and the last thing I need to see is school again." "We aren't here for school." Sweetie looked at Spike. "This is the Ponyville School, where all of us foals go to learn things like math and so on. We just want to play here on the playground here." Spike looked at the playground and then at the three foals with hopeful smiles. "Well I guess there's no harm in that." He said. "I'll keep an eye on you girls, but just stay out of trouble." The crusaders cheered and took off towards the playground. Spike smiled a little as he saw the foals play on the swing set and taking turns on the teeter totter. He looked to see Applebloom on a swing and was waving a hoof at him. He quickly went over to her. "Hey Sparky, could y'all give me a push on this swing?" The yellow earth pony asked. "Sure Applebloom." Spike went behind the foal and used his hooves to give her a push. The foal giggled as she was pushed higher and higher. Spike saw Applebloom jumped off the swing and panicked. He quickly ran over to catch her, but it was too late. The yellow Earth foal landed in the mud and sent some of it flying. Applebloom popped out of the mud hole and chuckled. Her friends who came over and saw what she did. "Applebloom, you scar...erm nearly scared me and...*SPLAT!*" Spike was cut off by a ball of mud hitting him in the face that blinded him. He rubbed the mud off his face while hearing giggling from Applebloom and her friends. The purple pegasus opened his eyes to see the three foals have sinister smiles on their faces and a mud ball in their hooves. "MUD FIGHT!" All three of the crusaders cried out and threw mud at Spike. Spike shielded his face and was hit with all three of the mud balls. The crusaders laughed as they played in the mud. "Come on Sparky." Applebloom said waving a hoof. "Yer missin' all the fun." "I don't know if I should...*SPLAT!*" He heard Scootaloo chuckling as another mud ball hit him. He rubbed the mud off his face and gave a playful smirk. "Oh, so that's how it's going to be huh? Well then here I come!" Spike jumped into the mud hole and made a splash that covered all four ponies. They all laughed and yelled as they threw mud balls at each other or splash some mud around. Spike teamed up with Sweetie as they took a large pile of mud and dumped it on Scootaloo. Applebloom retaliated by jumping on Spike and tackling him into the mud. The group laughed for a while until they heard some other ponies laughing as well. They all wiped their faces to see two ponies standing nearby. "Well look who it is, it's the blank flanks." A filly said in a prissy accent. Spike looked to see two foals standing next to the school's white fence with smug looks on their faces. One was a gray filly who had large thick blue glasses, purple eyes, a blue necklace around her neck, and a white mane that was braided. Next to her was a pink filly with a magenta colored mane and tail that was wavy, with a very light magenta streak going through her mane and tail, and had blue eyes. "What the hay do you want Diamond Tiara?" Scootaloo asked bitterly. "Oh, watch that temper blank flank. Silver Spoon and I were just walking around town." The pink filly responded. "We were passing by and saw what you all were doing. What are you trying to get your cutie marks in being pigs? I thought with you living on a farm you'd get that already Appleflop!" "Y'all best watch what ya say." Applebloom said angrily while Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laughed. Silver Spoon then noticed Spike and nudged her friend to point to him. "Hey you! You're the new pony here right?" The gray filly asked in a prissy tone similar to Diamond's. "I wouldn't trust them so much. They've got a nasty reputation of hurting others like that baby dragon!" "What did you just say!?" Sweetie Belle asked in a furious tone. Silver Spoon laughed haughtily. "Oh, don't think we haven't heard about what you've done to...what was his name? Oh, it was Spencer. It's no wonder that dragon avoids you foals. I would avoid you as well if I were being chased with swords and forced to wear a yellow wig. I feel sorry for that dragon." "Y'all take that back right now!" Applebloom shouted furiously. "He's still our friend!" "You want to go you prissy foals!?" Scootaloo demanded with a glare on her face. Spike was shocked by the three crusaders coming to his rescue. He looked to see all three of them with looks of anger and determination on them while Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laughed at them. His confusion turned to a sudden need to help them. He looked at the mud and then back to the two prissy foals. He smirked a little as an idea went off in his head. "Whatever you blank flanks." Diamond Tiara said. "We're just sorry that this new pony has to...*SPLAT!*" A mud ball cut the pink filly off as it hit her in the face. She screamed and trotted around aimlessly. "Leave them alone." Spike warned as he prepared another mud ball. The crusaders looked at the purple pegasus with awe. Silver Spoon looked at Spike with furry on her face. "How dare you you no good...*SPLAT!*" Another mud ball hit Silver Spoon in the face that made her scream as well. The two foals wiped their faces off and looked to see Spike and the crusaders had mud balls in their hooves. The group threw the mud and the two foals took off screaming. Spike and the three foals sat in the mud and laughed as they watched them run off. The purple pegasus felt himself get tackled to the ground. He looked to see Applebloom and Sweetie Belle embrace him and Scootaloo punching him lightly on the shoulder. "That was way awesome!" Scootaloo shouted. "You are definitely one of the coolest ponies here in Ponyville." Spike felt himself blush and was rather proud. He heard his stomach growl and gave an embarrassing smile. "Sorry, guess all that mud fighting made me hungry. Let's get cleaned up and eat." "The school has a hose. We'll use that to clear ourselves up." Sweetie Belle said. The group made their way to the side of the school. Scootaloo pulled out a long green hose from a rack and turned it on. The three foals cleaned themselves and played with the hose a little. Spike sat away from the fillies and was thinking about what they said. He felt strange that despite all that the crusaders put him through when he was a dragon, that they regarded him as a friend. Spike recalled all those memories when he was a dragon and remembered that the three fillies showed no real friendship toward him. A cold blast of water made Spike jump and break out of his thoughts. He looked to see Applebloom and her friends all clean and holding the hose. "Are ya alright there Sparky?" Applebloom asked. "Y'all looked like a statue fer a few minutes." Spike nodded slowly. "I was just thinking." "What were ya thinkin' about?" "Uh...I was thinking about that baby dragon those two foals talked about. Spencer was it?" He noticed that the three foals looked down and had sad looks on their faces. "What's wrong?" "Well...actually his name is Spike." Sweetie Belle said. "He was one of our friends, but he moved away." Spike felt confused by the white unicorn filly's words. "What do you mean by that?" "Oh well uh...this was nice and all, but let's get ourselves Sugarcube Corner fer some food." Applebloom said cutting Spike off. The purple pegasus raised an eyebrow as he was escorted back to the wagon. Applebloom pulled out some towels from the saddle bag and gave one to each pony. The dried themselves and put the towels away before heading towards Sugarcube Corner. Mr. and Mrs. Cake welcomed Spike, or in this case Sparky, and gave him and the crusaders some complimentary cupcakes and four small cakes for them to eat. Spike still felt bewildered as to why they were hesitant to talk to them. He tried to ask to them about what with him, but every time he did, one of the foals shoved food in his mouth or just buried their faces into their food. Spike and the crusaders thanked the Cakes and went off to go see other parts of Ponyville. Spike and the crusaders spent the rest of the day around Ponyville. He was shown places such as the Market Square, in particular the shops that sold toys and games. They went back to the Ponyville Park once more where the crusaders tried get cutie marks in football. They tried everything from punting to catching the ball, but they would either kick the ball too far or run into each other as they tried to catch it. They went to the movie theater and caught a mare flick about a filly becoming a princess and finding true love. It left Spike and Scootaloo groaning in disgust as they watched the cheesy romance occurring. The sun was starting to set when Spike and the crusaders left the theater and headed back to the clubhouse. Jordan slowly followed behind them and had an irritated look on him. 'Damn it! It's almost sunset and I still haven't captured that pegasus!' The black stallion thought to himself. He looked to see that Spike and the three foals were headed back to the farm and had an idea. 'I know Lord Sandro said to only capture that pegasus, but I can't wait anymore. I'll just have to capture him and those fillies as well. I'm sure we can find a way to use those fillies for slave work.' He took off and followed Spike and the crusaders. The group reached the well crafted Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse. Applebloom showed "Sparky" the inside of the crusader's clubhouse while the others talked to each other. Inside the clubhouse was a hoofdrawn map of Ponyville with places like the Ponyville Library and Carousel Boutique on there. A small brown table that was covered with papers and crayons showing plans for getting cutie marks stood in the middle. There was a large white wooden cabinet was to the left of the table. A bucket of apples was placed in a corner near the cabinet. "Y'all stay here Sparky." Applebloom said. "Ah'm gonna go talk to Scoots and Sweetie." Spike nodded, but still had his mind on what the three fillies said about him earlier. "Applebloom, about Spike..." "Whoops uh...sorry Sparky, but uh Ah gotta git to the girls!" Applebloom left in a hurry and slammed the clubhouse door. Spike hung his head in defeat and sat there for a few minutes. The purple pegasus soon got bored sitting around and got up to look around the crusader's clubhouse. He saw that there were some cupcakes covered by some papers on the desk that looked stale. Spike noticed the cabinet near the table had several pieces of paper sticking out of it. He went over to the cabinet and pulled out one of the papers out of curiosity. He looked to see a picture of him? Curiosity and wonder overwhelmed the purple pegasus and opened the cabinet to pull out some of the papers in it. He looked over the papers to see various crude drawings of Spike with hearts near him. He also saw sad looks of the three crusaders drawn on paper. Spike felt like everything was turned upside down. He heard the door to the clubhouse opened and saw Applebloom and her friends come in. "Hey Sparky. How'd y'all like t'stay fer..." "AHH!" Sweetie Belle had a look of panicked look on her. "A-Applebloom, look what Sparky found!" Spike broke out of his thoughts and tried to hide the papers, but was suddenly tackled by a furious Scootaloo. "What the hay do you think you're doing looking in there!?" The orange pegasus asked angrily. "W-well I was just uh...walking around and uh..." Spike said hesitantly and looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Scootaloo stop!" Applebloom shouted. "The least we can do fer him is tell him the truth." The orange pegasus looked at her friend like she lost her mind. "Applebloom, you can't be serious! He looked inside our..." "I know Scoots, but ya know maybe he can help us out." Scootaloo looked at her friend and looked back at "Sparky" before giving a hesitant nod. "Alright, but you better be right about this." Spike felt Scootaloo get off his chest. He got up to see the three fillies look a little upset, but mostly sad. "So what's wrong?" "Well Sparky." Applebloom said. "Did Miss Twilight show ya her library yesterday?" "That's actually where I'm staying." Spike placed a hoof over his mouth when he realized he may have exposed himself. He looked to see though that none of the three fillies' expressions change. "Well did y'all see that baby dragon, Spike?" The yellow filly asked. "He usually helps out Miss Twilight in the library." Spike scrambled to come up with something and remembered the excuse he gave Twilight yesterday morning. "I heard from Twilight he's actually in Canterlot on royal business." "Well at least we know he's not lying again." Scootaloo said. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle just looked at her with annoyed looks on them. "What? It's true." Sweetie Belle looked back at "Sparky" and said, "Do you remember what Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon said earlier?" "Yeah I do." "Well we think that those prissy foals are right." Sweetie said with her voice starting to crack. "Spike may just be avoiding us for what we did to him." Concern flooded Spike as he looked at the three fillies. An idea suddenly sparked inside of his head. "What happened with m...erm I mean Spike?" Applebloom looked up and said, "Ever since he and Miss Twilight came to Ponyville, Ah've seen Spike work harder than mah brother in the fields. Ah thought that maybe he needed some fun in his life since he works so much. Ah got Scoots and Sweetie here and we played with him from time to time. He seems to hate us fer it though." "But why would I...um Spike hate you?" "We first thought that Spike actually enjoyed playin' with us. We would play with him t'git our cutie marks like dragon slayers or potion makers. We had no idea about how he felt until one night after our potion makin' cutie marks attempt." Spike remembered Twilight saying something to him constantly about the crusaders after the potion disaster. "Well go on." The purple pegasus said, but tried not to sound too eager. "What happened that night?" "Miss Twilight was talkin' t'us about our potion makin' accident." Applebloom explained. "She said she was disappointed fer not comin' t'her about what we did, but she also wanted to talk t'us about Spike. She talked t'us 'bout how our playin' around with him was makin' him angrier than a hornet's nest." "What did she mean by that?" "She told us that Spike was feelin' humiliated by our playin' with him. She said that foals have been laughin' at him ever since our cutie mark attempts at dragon slayers. Rainbow Dash would call him 'Princess' after we played Castle and made him the damsel. We thought Spike was havin' fun, but Miss Twilight told us he was upset at us fer what we have been doin' t'him." "T-wilight said all of this?" The three fillies nodded. "So Miss Twilight thought up an idea. She said that we should apologize to Spike and she would try to find him, but that didn't happen." "How so?" "Miss Twilight couldn't find Spike at all that night." The yellow Earth pony said. "Sweetie and Scoots got together with me to make these pictures here to show we were sorry. It seems that every time we tried to talk t'him, he'd run off faster than a dog chasin' a stick. Ah've even seen him bolt out of the library when he saw me and the others comin' to the library." "Y-you mean you made this for m...erm Spike?" Spike asked incredulously. "These were for him?" The three fillies nodded and Sweetie Belle said, "We know there probably isn't a cutie mark in apologizing, but I don't care about that. We just want to say we're sorry for what we've done and have our friend back." "It's been nearly a month now, but Ah want t'see Spike as well and say Ah'm sorry as well." Applebloom stated. "I...I don't really care about him...but I want to apologize as well." Scootaloo said trying to sound nonchalant, but had a mix of anger and sadness on her face. Guilt and sadness overwhelmed Spike as he heard this and couldn't find a word to say. He realized that they never wanted to hurt him, they just wanted to play with him. He felt like a complete mule for how he acted towards them and wanted to kick himself. He looked upon the pictures of him and then the sad looks of the crusaders. Spike felt his eyes watering a little, but quickly dried them off. Applebloom gathered all the pictures and took them to a trashcan. "Maybe Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are right. He never wants t'see us again and we deserve it fer what we've done." Spike watched in horror as the earth pony filly took the pictures to the garbage and found some words to say. "Wait, you can't do this!" The three fillies turned to Spike. "Listen...I know you may think that I...uh Spike hates you, but that's not true." "What d'ya mean by that Sparky?" Applebloom pondered. Spike thought to himself quickly about how to go at this and had an idea. "I did talk to Spike before he left for Canterlot actually. He said he was very busy and had no time to play with you girls." "R-really?" Sweetie Belle asked sounding a little hopeful. Spike nodded and said, "He did say he was sorry. He told me that once he gets back from Canterlot, he'll come over and play with you all again." "He really means that!?" Applebloom asked with excitement rising in her voice. Spike nodded and the yellow Earth pony cheered. Spike felt himself be tackled as Applebloom hugging him with Sweetie soon joining in. Scootaloo was pulled into the hug by Applebloom's hoof and struggled to get out of it. "Oh thank you fer tellin' us Sparky." The yellow filly said. "When Spike comes back, Ah'm gonna give him theses pictures and all of us are gonna apologize. Ah hope we can git him t'play with us again." "Eeewww! Can we stop this lovey dovey stuff!?" Scootaloo asked with a look of disgust on her face. "Alright already Scoots." Sweetie Belle said as her and Applebloom broke the embrace. "Way to take such a sweet touching moment and ruin it." Scootaloo was about to say something, but Applebloom put a hoof in her mouth and looked at Spike with a warm smile. "Sparky, would y'all like t'stay fer dinner with me and the crusaders? Mah Granny Smith is makin' her famous mashed potatoes and apple fritters." Spike gave a nod and said, "Sure Applebloom, I'd like to." The three fillies cheered as they heard this and went to the door of the clubhouse. "That's great Sparky." Applebloom said with a smile. "Ah'm gonna go tell Granny Smith about ya. Ya comin'?" Spike shook his head. "It's okay, I need to put these papers away." Applebloom nodded as she opened the door and watched her friends went out. "Alrighty then Sparky, Ah'll see ya there. Oh, Sparky?" "Yes Applebloom?" "Thanks for the wonderful time today! It was so much fun!" The yellow filly went out the clubhouse. Spike gave a satisfied smile and went back to cleaning up. The sky was giving an orange color as the crusaders made their way back to the Apple family homestead. The three fillies chatted as they talked about what happened today. "I guess giving tours and being football players is out." Scootaloo said. "I don't care if we got our cutie marks today." Sweetie Belle stated. "We made a new friend and we even got to throw mud balls at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon." The three fillies laughed at this. "Well, Ah'm might happy that we got to tell Sparky about Spike and that..." *SPROING!* A brown net suddenly went up and trapped the three foals. The three fillies screamed and struggled to get out of the trap. "What's going on!?" Sweetie Belle asked in a terrified voice. The three fillies heard somepony galloping towards them. They looked to see it was Jordan with an insane smile on his face. "I've got you now you little...wait." Jordan looked to see that only the terrified crusaders were in the net. "Where the hay is that damn pegasus!? He was...?" "YOU!" A voice cried out in anger. Jordan looked to see "Sparky" standing behind him. The purple pegasus a twisted look of hatred on him and his eyes seemed to burn tiny flames. "Just who I wanted to see." The black stallion said with a sinister smile. "I've been waiting for you Sparky." "Who are you and what do you want!?" Spike asked furiously. The black stallion smirked. "Fine...I guess there's no harm in that. My name is Jordan. Let's just say that you and I have a score to settle."