The week before for Anim was interesting since he celebrated Twilight’s birthday, but today was another birthday, Spike’s birthday. Anim was doing what he usually does on this day or any other day, he would visit the wooden cross outside of Ponyville and say a few words then return to the library. He stared into the distance, deep in thought of what he and the girls should do for Spike’s birthday, Anim ran out of ideas for celebrating considering recently there have been a lot of celebrations happening more often, especially in Ponyville.
“Maybe we could… no I don’t think he’ll be interested into that,” said Anim as he continued to think.
Since Anim was Spike’s only and only male friend that he hangs out with more often, Anim is very important to Spike since he only hangs out with the girls more often that his same sex, well he is the only dragon in Ponyville so it makes the situation even more awkward.
“What am I going to do,” said Anim, as he sighed.
“You could maybe go out, you and Spike only?”
Anim turned around to see Twilight standing behind him; she gave a smile as Anim smiled back but continued to his thoughts.
“Thought of any ideas?” asked Twilight.
“No, none yet really, this would be so easy if I had more male friends,” said Anim.
“What about Discord?” asked Twilight.
“He’s busy either doing other things or is hanging out with Fluttershy… which is actually the two only things he does and I doubt Spike would hang out with him,” said Anim, lying on the snow.
“True…” said Twilight, as she stared up on the sky. “We could… give Spike, a gift but no ordinary gift, something he’ll really want!”
“Well the only things I can think of are gemstones, but I doubt those would last near Spike,” said Anim.
The two ponies thought hard of a good gift, but are both lying on the snow looking at the clouds.
“You know Twilight, when you first introduced Spike to me, I would of thought he would had wings,” said Anim.
“Really, well he is a baby and all so I don’t think he would have wings now,” said Twilight, placing her head on her hoof.
“Well most dragons I encountered, both two-legged and four-legged ones had wings, all ages but it took the younger ones to fly after a week or month at most,” said Anim.
“Well I hope Spike does get wings, I hate to see him not able to fly,” said Twilight.
The two ponies began thinking, then it hit Anim as he stood up as excitement shone all over his face.
“I’ve got an idea,” said Anim.
I have a bad feeling about this.
Ponyville, Sugarcube Corner; 9:30am
“Where is Twilight at?” asked Applejack.
“She said, that she would see Anim about something,” said Rarity, as she took a sip of some tea.
“Well I hope she can think of something quick,” said Applejack, “today is very special and she needs to think of something, fast.”
Rarity looks at Applejack and continues sipping her tea, Pinkie comes out of the kitchen with a fresh patch of pastries, as she sets them up on one of the stands, the door swings open as Rainbow Dash enters inside.
“Yeesh its cold out there, Pinkie can I have a cupcake,” said Rainbow.
“Okie dokey lokie,” said Pinkie as she tossed Rainbow a cupcake.
“Thanks,” said Rainbow as she took a bite of the cupcake. “So what’s everypony been talking about?”
“Well since Spike’s birthday is today, Anim went to go and think of some ideas,” said Pinkie. “I wonder what kind of ideas he has, because I have a few of my own too, like a cupcake the size of a cake or a cake the size of a cupcake.”
As Pinkie continues to talk, Anim and Twilight enter inside Sugarcube Corner after their talk about Anim’s idea.
“So that’s the plan,” said Twilight.
“Yep, but I need time to finish, that’s why I need you and your friends to distract Spike,” said Anim.
“What are you two talking about?” asked Rainbow.
Twilight turns to Anim and says something to him and signals Rainbow to follow her as the two mares headed with the other girls, while Anim headed off somewhere else.
“So what’s up Twilight?” asked Rainbow.
“Well Anim and I had an idea and we need everypony’s help, so that’s why as I explain the plan to Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie, can you head to Fluttershy’s and tell her to come to Sugarcube Corner,” said Twilight.
“Sure, I’ll be right back,” said Rainbow as she zoomed outside.
As Rainbow headed off to Fluttershy’s, Twilight explained the plan to the girls, Anim in the other hoof headed back to the library and went straight into his room, he went to one of the drawers and pulled out his tome. Opening the book, he skimmed through a few pages to find a certain spell, as he flipped through the pages he found the spell and read it carefully, Anim then closed the book and headed downstairs and used Twilight’s potion-making set to make something.
“I hope this works,” said Anim, as he turned on the burner.
Back at Sugarcube Corner, Twilight finished explaining the plan with everypony, but was slightly eye boggled by the idea… especially coming from Twilight’s own mouth.
“Twilight… are you sure this won’t backfire like your other uhm… spells?” asked Applejack, sweating a little from hearing what Twilight had said.
“Twilight, from experience I know the consequences from these sort of spells, are you sure this kind of spell is safe to use, especially on Spike,” said Rarity, fearing of what could happen to Spike.
“Don’t worry girls, Anim said everything’s going to be fine and also he said he used this spell before too and it worked fine…” said Twilight, who trailed off a little. “Well except when he did it, an explosion happened and the ground shook violently.”
Rarity and Applejack looked at each other and gulped, except Pinkie who was enjoying everything she heard and giggled to herself, then Rainbow with Fluttershy behind her reentered Sugarcube Corner.
“Its very chilly Rainbow, did we need to come here in such a hurry,” said Fluttershy, “I didn’t had any time to wear my scarf or boots.”
“Sorry Fluttershy but, Twilight needed to tell you something very important, I’ll buy you some hot chocolate to warm you up,” said Rainbow.
“Oh you don’t need to do that,” said Fluttershy.
“Come on, I rushed you here without even giving you an explanation, you deserve at least something for coming with me,” said Rainbow who bought two cups of hot chocolate for her and Fluttershy. “Here you go Flutters.”
“Th-Thank you, Rainbow,” said Fluttershy as she used her wings to hold the cup and took a sip of her hot chocolate.
“Okay now that Fluttershy is here, now I can explain what exactly this potion I’ve been talking about that Anim is making does,” said Twilight. “You see, from what Anim told me, the potion gives the user the ability of any creature for a temporary time by giving them a temporary body.”
“So it’s like a transformation spell,” said Rainbow.
“Correct but it’s far more complicating than regular Equestrian magic,” said Twilight, “that’s why Anim needs us to distract Spike should he be heading this way soon, so once he comes I need all of you to-”
As Twilight was about to finish talking, Spike entered through the door, covered in snow from head to toe as he shook the snow off his head and shoulders, he then looked at everypony curiously to why they were all surrounding Twilight.
“What’s everypony doing?” asked Spike, as he removed his snow cap.
“Oh well, Twilight was just telling us a story,” said Rarity.
“What, I thought we were planning to distract Sp-” said Pinkie when Rainbow hit Pinkie in the gut to shut her.
“Really, what kind of story?” asked Spike.
“Well, maybe I can tell you later Spike,” said Twilight.
“Okay… by the way do you guys know what today is?” asked Spike in a serious tone.
Everypony looked at each other then looked back at Spike and smiled, after Spike looked curiously Pinkie popped right beside Spike and held a party cannon beside her.
“Of course we do…” said Pinkie, as she fired her party cannon. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPIKE!”
Everypony joined in with Pinkie as they all celebrated Spike’s birthday, Spike thought everypony forgot his birthday but gave out a relieved sigh and joined with everypony. Meanwhile back at the library, Anim continues working on the potion for Spike’s birthday gift as he carefully adds the ingredients together.
“A pinch of salt, then two cups of gems, and finally…” said Anim, as he grabbed the final ingredient. “A pegasus feather from Rainbow Dash and I’m done, now I need to mix them all together, heat it up to one hundred Celsius, then place the liquid inside this gem and get Spike to eat this gem.”
As Anim grabs the gem with his magic and puts it inside his saddlebags, he makes his way to Sugarcube Corner; but with the Mane 6, they try to distract Spike until Anim can get back.
“Say Twilight, where’s Anim?” asked Spike.
“Oh… well he’s coming late that’s all,” said Twilight.
“Okay then, but I have a question, why are you guys so… focused on me?” asked Spike, as he looks around to see he’s surrounded by everypony.
“Oh w-well because, it’s your birthday and we’re just trying to make sure it’s an excellent day for you that’s all,” said Twilight.
“Twilight, are you okay,” said Spike.
Before Twilight could answer, a strange white figure entered inside and everypony freaked out from just seeing it.
“WHAT IS THAT THING!?” shouted Applejack.
“Well whatever it is, it better not cause a ruckus!” said Rainbow.
As the strange white figure slowly trudged forward, it looked straight at everyone as if scanning them or something, suddenly the figure shook violently as flurries of snowflakes went everywhere and then where the figure stood was Anim.
“Hey calm down everyone, it’s me,” said Anim.
“Oh Anim it’s you, what… happened to you?” asked Rarity.
“Well, all I can say is that out there…” said Anim as he looked outside. “It’s a mess, but anyway what I missed?”
“Not much, but anyway what were you working on?” asked Rainbow.
“Well if you must ask, I was working on this,” said Anim.
Anim used his magic and brought the gem out which had the potion he made inside it, Spike saw it and slowly started to drool from just looking at it.
“Is that… for me?” asked Spike.
“Indeed Spike, here you go,” said Anim.
As Anim gave Spike the gem, Twilight pulled him away and started asking if the potion will work or not.
“Anim are you sure this will work, because Spike better be safe doing this okay,” said Twilight.
“Trust me, everything will be okay… however I recommend that we should all take cover,” said Anim as he slowly went behind a table.
“Wait, WHAT!?” shouted Twilight.
As Spike chomped down the gem, he began shaking then trembling with his eyes open wide, suddenly a bright light started coming from Spike as everypony started to take cover, an explosion happened in the center of the room, a burnt mark appears in the exact spot that Spike stood.
“Wha- WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?” shouted Rainbow.
“ANIM WH-WHERE IS SPIKE!?” shouted Rarity as she began shaking Anim.
“Uhm everypony,” said Fluttershy.
“Okay Anim, where is Spike?” asked Applejack.
“Look I swear the potion should of worked, I have no idea where he is,” said Anim, now starting to panic.
“GIRLS!” shouted Fluttershy. “Not to be rude or anything but, look.”
As everypony followed what Fluttershy was pointing at, they saw that the door had burnt marks all over it as it led outside, everypony headed outside to see a massive circle that had moved all the snow away and something else.
“Wait is that,” said Twilight, as she used her magic to pick up the object.
As Twilight brought the object to her eyes, it was a feather, a pegasus feather which had a familiar color to it, green and purple shades.
“Anim look at this,” said Twilight as she gave the feather to Anim.
As Anim used his magic to see the feather more closely, he realized who’s it could be, he then looked up to the sky and noticed a certain patch of clouds gone.
“I think… I might know where Spike went,” said Anim, as he pointed his hoof to the sky.
Everypony looked up, but as they looked up they heard… screaming.
“What is that noise?” asked Rainbow.
“That would be-”
Before Anim could finish, the sound got louder and turned into screaming as something or somepony rammed right into the group.
“Hey, watch it where you’re flying!” shouted Rainbow.
“Sorry, Rainbow Dash.”
“Well okay- wait, how do you know my name?!” said Rainbow, now a little freaked.
“What you mean Rainbow it’s me-”
“Its Spike,” said Anim, finishing Spike’s sentence.
“Wha-What!” shouted everypony.
After a few minutes of explaining later, Anim explains what the gem that Spike ate did to him and what happened to Spike after he ate the gem.
“The gem that Spike ate altered his physical form into a pegasus, however he still will have similar traits he had as a dragon, but don’t worry this transformation is only temporary until the end of the day,” said Anim.
“This is… amazing,” said Spike as he looked at his new body.
“But however, since this is your first time flying, you won’t learn how to fly that quickly though,” said Anim.
“That’s fine, it was cool to finally feel soaring through the sky like that,” said Spike looking at his wings. “Besides, having the ability to fly is a good enough present for me, thanks Anim.”
“Your welcome,” said Anim as he bowed down.
“Anim, what exactly did you mean when you said that Spike would still have some of his traits as a dragon?” asked Twilight.
“Well, one is that Spike is resistant to fire and his body is denser than steel,” said Anim.
“Really, this is interesting but by any chance that I could… you know, try this potion later on?” asked Twilight, curious of the potions effects.
“Trust me Twilight, some things are best to be left alone, the only reason I made the potion and gave it to Spike is that only certain creatures can consume the potion, specifically the reptilian kind,” said Anim.
“Oh… okay then, but will Spike be safe,” said Twilight.
“Don’t worry, the beings who made the potion are similar to Spike’s physical and mental form, so he’ll be safe… however,” said Anim, as he continued to speak. “There are a few, side effects in which, the user will start gaining visions of some sort, but this is temporary for only a few weeks or so.”
“Speaking of Spike,” said Twilight as she looked at Spike.
Spike was talking with Rainbow about how to fly, the two decided to try and fly, while they were busy everypony else were ignored a little bit, Twilight broke the conversation returning both Rainbow and Spike back.
“Oh sorry Twilight, but is something wrong,” said Rainbow.
“No nothing, but what are you two talking about?” asked Twilight.
“Rainbow was just telling me how to fly before the day ends,” said Spike.
“Well, be careful flying okay,” said Twilight.
As Spike went with Rainbow, everypony looked at each other wondering what to do next, since it was still Spike’s birthday Pinkie decided to go with Rainbow and Spike to give them some refreshments. Rarity and Applejack returned back inside Sugarcube Corner to help clean up the party, Fluttershy returned to her cottage and then Anim and Twilight headed back to the library to think of today’s recent events.
“So… was this your whole plan, Anim?” asked Twilight, as she continued her way to Golden Oaks Library.
“Well, not exactly, yes I wanted Spike to be given the ability to fly and all but…” said Anim.
“But what, is there something wrong?” asked Twilight.
“Spike reminded of… me, back when I was alone, useless, hopeless, when I didn’t belong anywhere,” said Anim, as they reached near the library. “Well no time to be sad, let’s head inside.”
Before Anim could head inside, Twilight stopped him from continuing ahead, she then looked at him seriously.
“You’re not alone Anim, you have us, in here,” said Twilight, as she placed her hoof on Anim’s chest.
Anim stood there speechless of what to do next, but he smiled and gave Twilight a hug in return, they both headed inside that maybe, Anim could finally have something worth to live for… for once.