//------------------------------//
// 8. Breezy Town Arc - Story of Spike and Friend 
// Story: The Strongest Man in the World 
// by Vesperia 
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Have you finally decided to come back to us Twilight?

This wasn't creepy at all. It's one thing to watch a movie and see the text write itself, it's a whole new thing to see it for real and in person. But, my curiosity was peaked and I simply had to see it through to the end. I quickly darted my head around, looking for a pen. This was a lab, there had to be one somewhere.

I shoved drawers open, paper flying out and dust exploding out in a grey cloud. I coughed and waved a hand in front of my face trying to clear the air, my mustache was probably stained with dust now. "Damn it, where's a maid when you need one?" I complained.

I found a pen after a few minutes of frantically looking around. It was in a box in one of the shelves on the wall. After grabbing it I quickly rushed back to the book that I placed on an empty table. I looked back down at the page and the text was still there.

"Alrighty then, let's see... This obviously belongs to someone else, and this person thinks I'm that person. Now the question is... how should i go about getting some answers?" I said and placed the pen close to the paper, thinking hard.

"Huh, I can't think of anything..." I looked down in thought before shrugging, "Oh, well. Let's go with the truth!"

"Sorry, I'm not this Twilight you speak of. Who is this?" I wrote.

The book was silent for a moment before words started writing on its pages. "A long lost friend of ours. Perhaps you could help me find her?"

Right buddy, like that didn't look suspicious at all. I wrote back, "I apologize, I don't know who this is. But if I find anything, I'll let you know."

The book was silent. I was a bit uncomfortable and tapped the pen to the book as I thought about what to do next. Sighing, I closed the book, stuck the pen in the pocket of my pants, and silently walked out of the lab with the book in hand. There wasn't anything left to look at in here, figured I'd leave and go see what my new first mate wanted to tell me.

I only heard the sound of my footsteps as I walked down the empty hallway, as quickly as I left I found myself back outside. I looked up and noted that the moon hasn't shifted in its position much. I still had plenty of time, I laughed and shook my head. I didn't know why I was laughing, I guess it was because my entire mini adventure was all for a book. Granted, it was a magic book that talked back but still. A book.

I turned right from the doorway, remembering the direction where I assumed Spike's little holdout was. Grumbling about how I had to trek through the forest once more I set off into the relatively unknown.





I finally forced myself through the forest and entered a small clearing by the river. A small run down looking cabin greeted me, I guess that this was the place. It also explains why Spike was stealing food, those two probably weren't all that rich, if they even had money. I stepped fully into the clearing and sauntered down to the cabin. I reached the door and politely knocked.

Scrambling was heard going on in the cabin, I must've scared one of them with the sudden knock. The door open after about a minute of noise and Spike greeted me, he seemed genuinely surprised to see me.

"You actually got away from the Marines? You're pretty tough for an old man."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, I'm gonna get that a lot. Now, you said you'd explain some things right?"

Spike nodded and stepped inside. I stood awkwardly at the doorway, Spike seemed to notice me not moving and turned to look at me in confusion. I rose an eyebrow and pointed to all of me and to all of the cabin. He seemed to sheepishly smile and quickly jogged back outside. I snorted in amusement.

"Heh, right. Sorry, forgot how big you were for a second there."

I shrugged, "Eh, don't worry about it. Now, let's talk eh?"

He nodded, "Yeah, just give me a second. We need one more for our group." He stuck his head into the cabin and called out, "Hey Twilight! The big dude is here!"

I was shocked that I heard the name of the person the book was looking for. I heard a shout of agreement and saw the small girl from before rushed out. Her cloak and hood was gone now, revealing an anthro unicorn with purple fur, a purple horn, and purple a lot of things. She even had a dark blue mane and tail, along with a dark pink highlight and a purple highlight on her mane and tail.

I nodded in greeting at her, wondering what the book wanted with a little girl, and asked, "Well, it's nice to actually see your face now. Why were wearing a hood and cloak?"

Spike rubbed his head, "Yeah, that's part of what we are going to tell you. Some of it will probably shock you."

Oh? Well this is getting better and better.

"Well let's not keep waiting!" I sat down on the ground, the other two following my example, and set my bisento against the wall. "Let's get to story telling!"

"I'll give you the version that led to what got us here and now. Our full story is about thirty five years long." Spike said.

I rose an eyebrow, the young girl of the two didn't look that old to me, and to be honest neither did Spike. He noticed my look of disbelief and laughed. "Yeah, I know we don't look that old. But trust me, we are, and there's a reason for her current age."

I nodded, placing my hands on my knees. "Does it have something to do with a that lab a ways back?" I randomly asked.

Both of them looked shocked and spike asked rather loudly, "H-How did you know about that lab?!"

I pointed a thumb in the direction I came from. "I overshot the direction to your house. Ended up a ways back, found a suspicious door in the middle of a forest and followed it." I held up the strange book, "Found this magic book in there too."

Twilight looked sad and angry at the book, Spike not so much, he was all anger. It was an interesting difference, "I see that you guys have some history with this book?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Spike said, "That there is a magic book that let's whoever writes in it to communicate with the owner of it's opposite book. This one was in our hands, the other is with Celestia."

"I take it things didn't work out so well with this Celestia?" I asked, stating the obvious.

Spike nodded, but it was Twilight who spoke next, sniffing, "Yeah. That serum we were developing... we thought it was simply a way to extend one's life by a set amount. A way to improve health and cure disease around the world." She snorted, "Turns out it was simply a way to give the higher ups in the Marines a way to obtain longevity. Militarize it so to speak. Nopony else was going to get a chance for it, and no cures for diseases either. Hay, they even wanted to add a way to increase overall power."

Spike nodded, "Yeah, they weren't exactly subtle about it though. We caught on quickly and tried to flee from the lab, turns out they had some soldiers stationed there. Fighting broke out, Twilight and I did most of it though, the other scientists weren't all that combat capable..."

I rubbed my impressive chin in thought, "Huh, so what happened next?"

Twilight took over again, "After the fighting broke out the lab took the most damage, Spike's fire did most of it though..." She trailed off and stared at a sheepishly grinning Spike. She rolled her eyes and continued, "We were about to make our escape but a lucky stun spell from a Marine caught me in my shoulder. A vial of the serum that I had in my grasp smashed on the ground when I fell over, covering me."

She sighed, "We hadn't perfected it, I was just glad all it did was reverse my age."

Spike snorted, "Yeah, lucky you. You got aged down to a foal, and I've taken care of you for the last decade." He looked at me, "She's around thirteen right now if you must know."

I nodded, "I see. So why are you here on this island now then? Surely you left immediately?"

Spike nodded, "Yeah, we did. Stole a boat and traveled around the ocean, avoiding the government whenever we could. We came here after all this time because we figure it'd be the last place they'd ever look."

Ah, that boat must be the nearly sinking deathtrap in the harbor. "So if my math is correct aren't you, Spike, over thirty? Why do you look around sixteen?"

He shrugged, "Dragons age much slower than a lot of the other races."

Fair point. "So if you've been hiding here for a while... why not the both of you join my crew then?" I grinned when they looked at me oddly, "I'd protect you, anyone who joins my crew becomes family to me! You were so aggressive with me earlier because you wanted to protect your remaining family right Spike?"

He slowly nodded, "Yeah, but I don't want to go around raiding villages and stuff. And I'm sure Twilight would agree with me..."

I waved my hand, "Nonono, I don't do stuff like that." I quickly waved that notion off the table. "I just want to go around having adventures. Being Pirate King to me... is having all the freedom in the world, and simply having fun while doing it."

Twilight smiled at me, "I think it sounds fun Spike. I don't believe he's lying, why not give it a try?" She looked at him as she said that. She then raised an eyebrow, "Besides, do you really want to be stuck in this dump for the rest of our lives?"

Spike huffed, crossing his arms, "Hey! I'll have you know I built this with my own two claws!"

Twilight giggled, and Spike started laughing as well. I looked up at the sky and saw how late it was.

"I think we should get some sleep, you can give me your answer in the morning Spike." They agreed it was time to sleep, Twilight came out with a pillow and a blanket. I was sleeping under the stars tonight I guess, I didn't mind all that much. We exchanged goodnights and I closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to claim me.