Courage the Cowardly Dog In: Dog Days

by lunabrony

10 - Open and Closed

Rainbow Dash flew overhead in the large underground room, which in itself was almost as big as a football field, and accelerated with such force that for a moment, Twilight feared for her little dragon's health.

"Don't hurt him!" Twilight shrieked. "Spike's still in there somewhere!"

As it turned out, she needn't have worried. The pegasus circled several times, before flying and trying to grab the dragon. Spike leaned back his head and spat some sort of gooey purple plasma at her, an attack of which Spike alone would surely have no claim. Rainbow Dash went down, wings heavy and sticking to the floor uselessly. "H-Hey! Not cool!"

Twilight teleported behind Spike when he had turned his attention on Dash, and tried to grab him. She managed to get both forelegs around him, pinning him for just a second and he squirmed out of her grasp.

"Don't touch me," Spike hissed. She knew it wasn't really him, but hearing it in his voice broke her heart a little. "You had your chance. You missed it."

Twilight looked confused at this. "What are you talking about?"

"You never pay attention to your dragon. Either you're studying too hard, or running around with your friends to other places and leaving him behind. Did you ever wonder how I managed to possess this dragon in the first place? He was wandering the streets while you were on one of your little errands, looking for you after having a bad dream. But you weren't there. You never are."

Twilight looked as if she'd been slapped.

"Don't listen to him, Twilight!" Rainbow said. She'd gotten to her feet, but was still sticky and very much unable to fly. "He's just trying to get under your skin!"

"But... I..."

Courage and Don had moved in from the far side now, and Don glared at him reproachfully. "Why do you need these childen?"

"For labor," Spike said, as if it was the most obvious answer. "Your blasted princesses destroyed my body, and it will take energy harnessed from an enormous amount of gems before I can reanimate another polluted lake and reform. What the children have collected is a good start, but I NEED more."

"And why children?" Twilight asked.

"Have you ever tried to get a full grown adult to do heavy work like this? They become tired, or their back gives out, or they need to take arthritis medication. Any number of excuses. There are plenty of children. I can work them until they drop, and then simply get more."

Courage leaped upon Spike's face when he heard this, enraged.

"That's enough!" Courage yelled.

Spike staggered backwards, trying to pull the dog off him. Courage was almost as big as he was, and the force of the pounce had very nearly knocked him over. Twilight glared with anger, although one supposes there wasn't any other way to glare, and charge up her horn, which began sparking and crackling with powerful energy.

Spike threw the dog against the wall, and Courage yelped. Then he turned his attention back on Twilight. "What are you doing to do?" He grinned. "Go ahead and hurt me, see what happens. If you hurt this body, I'll need another one. And the only other acceptable host here is you."

"You're absolutely right," Twilight said. "But I have a secret something you forgot about."

Spike frowned slightly. "And what's that?"

Twilight blasted an enormous, crackling shockwave from her horn, which began to sizzle and vibrate as it hit the ground next to her. Swirling, dancing, pink light rose up from the ground next to her with increasing intensity, and Spike staggered backwards again, shielding his eyes. "What are you doing?!"

There was a sound like a muffled sonic boom as what appeared to be a long distance teleportation reached its conclusion, and the dancing pink light faded away, leaving in its place...

"You?!" Spike spat.

"Me," Cadance agreed, and both alicorns charge up their horns and blasted him with pure, energized love. Spike howled with rage, and a large puddle of purple slime began pooling around his feet like a melting candle.

"You're doing it!" Don said excitedly. "Smooze can't handle it!"

"You may be stronger physically," Cadance said.

"But I'm stronger emotionally!" Twilight finished.

Courage was dancing around Spike's body, trying not to let the purple sludge touch him. He pulled out a large, old fashioned metal milk container from the hammerspace behind him, just as Pinkie had done on countless occasions. This was followed by a shovel, and he began shoveling the slime into the container with a wild grin.

Rainbow Dash stared at him. "How do you DO that?" She asked.

Spike was pinned against the wall now, Cadance and Twilight advancing on him, blasting him with their bright pink energy. He howled with rage.

"I've never been very good at the whole appointed guardian thing," Twilight said. "But I still love you! And there's nothing you can do about it!"

The pink blast intensified, and reached a violent climax with a showering of small red hearts. Spike collapsed to the ground, motionless, and Courage shoveled the last of the purple sludge into the container, and sealed it. "Yes!" He exclaimed.

Twilight and Cadance exchanged a glance.

"I didn't believe your scroll at first," Cadance admitted. "It just sounded... I don't know. Too incredible. But you told me to come, and I'd never leave my sister behind." She grinned.

"I appreciate that," Twilight sighed. "But he was right, I've neglected him something awful these last couple days. I've been so preoccupied, and now I feel terrible."

"We all know you didn't mean it," Cadance said. "That's the important thing. But don't dwell on it too harshly. We've still got a lot of work to do. Come on. You wanna get these kids back to their families?"

"Yeah," Twilight said. "I do." She looked at Courage. "You almost ready to go back home after all your help, champ?"

Courage nodded as well. He did like it here, but things were just a bit too overwhelmingly chaotic for him. At least at home... well, at least at home things had died down significantly in the last few years. Here, it seemed like something bad was happening all the time.

Twilight looked around, and noticed that whatever trancelike influence that Smooze had cast over the children was gradually wearing off. Most were looking around in confusion, and still others were throwing down their tools in defiance.

It was a welcome sight.

Comments

[Neko Majin C]

"What are you doing to do?" He grinned.

"Doing" should be "going."

Spike was pinned against the wall now, Cadance and Twilight advancing on him, blasting him with their bright pink energy.

Actually, Cadance's magic is a blueish hue.

But you told me to come, and I'd never leave my sister behind." She grinned.

Oh, good, they dropped the whole "in-law" thing.

With all the drama behind, this seems to be the penultimate chapter. Strange that chapter eleven would be the last one.

~KBO.