Be Generous
Be Kind
Be Honest
Be Loyal
Spread Joy
Be like Twilight
These are the first six lines of Spike's Noble Dragon Code, the manifesto Spike trust to guide his actions. So what's a dragon to do, when the code lets him down?
A big thanks to Lanehugo and FamousLastWords for thier help in getting this story off the ground. And HMXTaylorLee for his usual pre-reading and editing services. (Also, thinking of yet another title for me. Seriously if you ever can't think of a title just shoot him a pm).
Chapters (10)
This looks promising. I'll be expectantly waiting for the next chapter.
Love the Dragon Code! Much better than it was on the show!
On of the hardest parts about life is realizing that living by our virtues can, at times, cause us as much pain as surrendering to our vices.
You certainly have something here, and I look forward to seeing where you go with it if you decide to continue with this experiment.
I totally did not notice that Dragonheart reference, but I thought it was very well implemented anyways.
I'm hearing Sean Connery as Spike now.
This is interesting.
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Poor Spike.
5675524 The undisputed king of Spike fics has graced me with his presence, I'm honored to have your approval.
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5675829 Thanks for the feedback.
Oh Poor Spike, his test starts in 3, , ,2, , ,1 Phitttzzzzzzzzzz
Looks like Spike has learned how to blow things way out of proportion from Twilight.
So far so good, can't wait to see where your going with this.
Interesting start, I'm eager to see where this story goes.
This can only end in... ...
...actually, no, for once this could go several ways, from comic hilarity to tragedy.
Welp, gonna have to wait and find out, aren't I?
I am very much enjoying this premise. I am curious to see how Spike will handle his feelings, and if anything actually will develop between Rarity and Treble. You have another reader, should you decide to continue.
Here's to another chapter? Please?
The way this is written makes it seem like Twilight knows something she's not sharing with the audience, or with Spike.
5754447 obviously i can't answer that, but I'm just curious why do you say that?
She knows Spike's a Denver omelet with extra ham and cheesey
5754507 It just seems to me like she's visibly making a much bigger deal of what Spike is doing than Spike has given her reason to do.
Very nice chapter!
5756343 Thank you, it's nice to get some feedback on this one.
Very interesting story. Can't wait to read more.
I guess he learned to have mental breakdowns from Twilight.
Ah Dragonheart... now I feel old.
For what it's worth, I hope this story gets continued one day. I feel it has a lot of potential.
6184393 It will be
After Spikes little lesson on dragons he left . . .
Don't think Spike is going to like what he finds. . .
If I'm not mistaken, forges almost never use temperatures above 2,250 °F [1,550 °C] , and that's only for the high end carbonized steel, but can be as low as 450 °F [230 °C] For things like Tin, while, on the other hand, lava can only be a liquid between 1,300 and 2,200 °F [700-1,200 °C]
Minor gripe, I know, but it's hard not to get invested in good stories
But more to the point: at this point, I feel that Spike should reply that was unfortunate that his initial, bad impression on his species was sadly correct, and that he's glad that he isn't a monster that cares nothing about others, like he now sees all dragons are... and I highly doubt there's gonna be a twist where the dragon says that Spike passed his test... shame, but I can't wait to read more
6258234 you do realize that the obvious answer to this is that we know very little about the geology or metallurgy of Equestria. It's entirely possible that the lava in Equestria is around 1500 degrees F but that the metal doesnt become pliable until temperatures of over 2000 degrees.
Those two superfluous paragraphs were a waste of my time. You could've conveyed the information you needed to in two or three sentences.
And the comma in this sentence gives it a completely different meaning from what you intended.
6887479 Thanks for the comment, I've fixed the comma issue. I have a tendecy to throw commas in my writing I'm not sure why.
Regarding the other critique I have to disagree. Yes the exact conent of the letter is a little superfuous, but those kinds of details help make stories richer.
Had I just written
the paragraph loses some flavor. Yes it could have been less wordy, but I stand by it.
A wild update appeared!
6895591 and goes more or less unnoticed.
I was quite enjoying this before... I'm glad I can find more.
I'm looking forward to what Spike makes out of pony morality and the pragmatic but unkind dragon morality.
Good story, I like how Spike has decided to forge his own identity.
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Quality of readers over quantity, my dear chap...!
Spike himself grew enormously without eating or drinking in the "Secret of mine Excess"; so now, Saddle Rager gaining mass when she gets mad is not so strange.
Thanks for sticking with this story even when it's not your most popular.
Is the debatening with Celestia beginning?!
I hadn't considered Spike might have gotten the alternate sight from Celestia, though.
I wonder what she'll make of Spike's feeling that he's been shortchanged by not looking out for himself...
But it may require some drilling to get there.
Yeah. Spike is striking on his own.
Oh. There was no further discussion with Celestia at all...
And then it went pretty badly.
Then it went really badly.
Spike does make valid points when he refuses to help Applejack and Fluttershy. Fluttershy faces her fears on a nearly daily basis; yet she never gets over them. Applejack is asking Spike to do some hard manual labor that will profit her much more than him in the long run.
Overall, Spike was right in refusing to help.
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Well, the problem is that he hurt both of their relationships with what he did.
Fluttershy is the simple one: what he did with Fluttershy was just be mean about it. If he less meanly pointed out that she was very safe last time and didn't need his help, it would have been a more positive encounter. He was right but a jerk, and he didn't need to be a jerk.
AJ... is less simple. There was no obligation for him to help her, and she sure would be grateful but probably nothing more than that... So if it winds up that AJ holds a grudge against Spike for refusing to help her... then it winds up almost like AJ was friends with Spike with the expectation that he would help her when asked, and the opposite where she would put in a days worth of work for him is pretty unlikely.
But she didn't say that she was ending the friendship with him. Nor do we actually know that she wouldn't do that (or something similar) for Spike if he somehow needed it.
Of course, treating friendships like series of trades can be bad for those friendships, because the expectation is that you two trade favors and time together out of care for each other, and a desire to help and spend time with each other, rather than out of the idea that it must be a profitable trade... But that doesn't change that if you keep on having bad trades, even if you don't treat it like a series of trades, then you're not doing well, and can wind up resentful or just in a worse position.
7159155 All good points. However, you have to keep in mind that Fluttershy has always needed a less than gentle push to get her to overcome her fears. Spike was a little to harsh but if he was gentle about it Fluttershy wouldn't take the advice seriously. Also I don't see Spike and Applejackas great friends simply because she has brushed Spike off multiple times. When he offered to help she refused. When she wants help, Spike accepts. Spike just hasn't recieved that many benefits from his friendships. Friends help eachother, but usually it's Spike whose the one always helping; only Twilight seems to be the one who actually would help Spike in tough situations.
All in all, I respect your opinion and just have only small issues with it but all these issues arise from a differing perspective.
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Fluttershy has a pretty good chance of taking Spike's advice if he told her she didn't have anything to be afraid of. In fact, Spike encouraging Fluttershy to be more courageous and her taking that advice was part of an episode: Scare Master.
Would she take to it as well if she did not think that it was something that would also help her with her friends, and instead was just "I think you'd be safe if you went alone"? Maybe not, but I don't think we can entirely write this off.
As far as one sided help from Spike... this is down to headcanons, really. We see Twilight (and Rarity, and Rainbow Dash once) helping Spike in a few episodes, but overwhelmingly it's Spike helping the adults around him, as he is the assistant archetype. Beyond that, the writers of the fanfiction can say the time we don't see him is filled with anything.
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7159353 I want to weigh in here but it might spoil future chapters so I'll just say thanks for commenting.
7159732 Don't worry about it. Better unspoiled and thanked than spoiled and thanked. It allows surprise.
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While Spike did have a point in telling Fluttershy to get over her fears, his tone made it less likely she will follow his advice. I'm contrasting Rarity gently coaxing Fluttershy into singing with the Ponytones, versus Rainbow Dash angrily telling Fluttershy she needs to watch the Dragon Migration with them. Fluttershy panics when cornered.
And Applejack does seem to have a regular habit of using her friends for free farm labor, with the understanding that what free time she does have is often devoted to helping out her friends in turn (Pinkie Pie and baking, Rainbow Dash and athletics, etc.) I also think part of why Applejack asks others to help on the farm so often is that it is a good way for the busy farmer to spend time with others without missing out on her own chores. I think that Applejack having to direct a novice on a lot of the farm labor ends up costing almost as much time as doing the chores herself, but she also gets to spend time with her friends.
The problem is that Spike doesn't really have his own projects, his main thing is just doing chores for Twilight. And we know that Spike is kind of insecure about his job, and very resistant to letting anyone help him (if he's threatened by an Owl, he's definitely threatened by another pony). I could go on at length faulting Twilight for raising Spike in a manner that sees his self-worth tied so intimately to his job, but the point is that Applejack and others think that friends help you out when you could use it, and you help out your friends in turn. But Spike never asks for help while also volunteering to help others, so it ends up being one-sided.
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Well put.
Especially that it doesn't strictly blame Applejack for inadvertently benefiting more in this case, and explaining what would be going through each character's head to justify this without the justification being that they're simply terrible to each other, even if by accident.
I'm super happy that you didn't have Twilight just yell at Spike
Some people have morals professionals have standards.
1 be efficient
2 be polite
3 have a plan to kill everypony you meet