Book Bash
Spike heaved a large wooden crate from the ground and lifted it with a grunt onto the trolley. The crate smacked down with a clack and a few books inside jostled about. Books were heavy, Spike decided, especially when they were all in one big box. The crate already had two others in it, so they might have room for one or two more, but at this rate they were going to need to make two trips to get all of the books back to Twilight’s castle. Spike heaved a breath and wiped his forehead in exhaustion, looking back towards Twilight who gleefully piled books into another crate.
The book drive was fostering more success than Spike had expected.The lawn in front of town hall was completely packed with tables, balloons, food, books, and of course ponies. He looked around at all of the various town ponies who were gladly pitching in their lightly-used books. They all seemed eager to help and many gladly donated a few bits to rebuild the library. After all, Spike and Twilight were not the only ones who lost something in the battle with Tirek. The burned remains of the Golden Oaks library must have been a sore reminder for everypony.
Fluttershy was helping by sitting at a table and taking book requests from various ponies, filling out entries into a log book Twilight designed. Applejack was behind the buffet line keeping the pies warm, the sandwiches made, and the cider flowing. Pinkie Pie was doing was she does best, of course. The village ponies seemed to be enjoying the dancing and games quite well. Twilight was standing near the entrance to town hall accepting book donations. Spike, as always, was right beside her helping out any way that he could. At the moment, that was piling books into a trolley that he and Big Macintosh were going to pull back to the castle.
“Alright, thank you very much!” Twilight said with a smile as she carried two more books towards Spike. “Spike? Two more right here,” she called out.
“Great! The trolley’s nearly full, so we’re doing well so far,” he commented and pointed his thumb at the crates full of books. “How are we doing on the fundraising?”
“Good so far. From what the contractor told me yesterday, we’ll need a good amount more to make it work. The town folk are generous, and the Mayor says we’ll get a good amount from town hall, but that only puts us 70% there,” she said looking over her notes and jotting a few lines with a pencil.
“We could always sell the curtains above the windows at home,” Spike suggested.
“No we can’t, Spike. That wouldn’t get us much closer, and selling something from a castle would be more trouble than it’s worth, I expect,” Twilight countered. “It will be hard to find the last bits, and we may need to make some compromises, but we’ll find away to build a library with the bits we have.”
Spike was about to make a suggestive joke about him modeling for playcolt magazine when something caught his eye. Behind Twilight, the trolley full of books started slowly rolling backwards towards her. He jolted up and kicked forward immediately, darting around her and slamming his palms into the back of the rolling carriage and dug his feet into the ground.
“Woah! hrrrk,” he heaved as the weight of hundreds of books fought against him. “Somepony hit the brakes,” Spike grunted as the carriage stopped. He held it from rolling downwards any further and strained his back for a brief moment before he saw a red and white hoof swing upwards and clank the brake lever up. The weight of the trolley froze and Spike heaved a breath.
“Whew, thanks Big Mac. What happened?” he asked.
“Hmm. Guess I didn’t get the brakes on all the way. Sorry, miss Twilight,” he said turning to Twilight who looked at the two of them with thanks.
“No harm, no foul Big Mac,” she said and waved off his apology. “Thank you helping us take care of the books today. Why don’t you take a break and go get some food?” she offered. He happily bowed and, after wedging a stone beneath the trolley’s wheel, walked off towards the catering table.
“My my, Spike, what good reaction speed you have. That cart must be quite heavy,” he heard from behind him. He turned and saw Rarity, dressed in a yellow sun hat smiling at him. Behind her, floating in an aura of blue magic, were two clothing covers made of dark blue fabric. Each one had a zipper and a clothes hanger protruding from the top, probably to hold whatever was inside neatly.
“Hi Rarity!” Twilight said excitedly.
“Hello Twilight. I hope the book drive is coming along well?” she asked.
“Yup,” Spike answered. “We’ve got nearly a library’s worth of books donated already, and everypony seems to be enjoy themselves. What are those?” he asked.
“Oh, you know what these are silly dear,” she said with a smile and floated one of the hangers towards Twilight. “This one is for you, and this one is for your dashing date,” she said and floated the other to Spike who took it in his claw and let it hang just above the ground.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, I only asked for something for me,” he said. Twilight peered up at him with a confused look and her eyes went a little wide as she realized.
“You went to Rarity’s boutique too?” she said. Rarity began laughing at the sight and clarified the situation for the two of them.
“Spike came to see me yesterday. He helped me win over a very good sale and as payment I made him a little something. Twilight, you arrived practically a minute after he left. So soon, in fact, I’m surprised you didn’t pass each other at the door,” she said with her usual gossip giggle.
“So that’s how you knew about where we are going tonight,” she said and clopped a hoof down on the ground. “Spike! You didn’t tell me you were planning on dressing up,” she scolded.
“Neither did you, remember?” he countered, to which she rolled her eyes and smiled at him.
“Thank you so much, Rarity. I’ll take these back to the castle very quickly and I’ll be back in a minute. Would you mind taking donations for me till I get back?” she asked Spike who nodded enthusiastically.
“Allow me, Twilight. This one needs a break, I can tell,” she said and pointed at Spike with a hoof.
“Really? Thanks Rarity!” Spike said and turned to Twilight. “Don’t peek inside, ok? I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Okay, I won’t. Thanks Rarity. I’ll be right back!” she said and took both clothing covers in her magic and cantered into a run, stretching her wings out and ascending towards the castle.
“Oh Spike,” Rarity whispered to him and beckoned him closer with her hoof. He leaned in a little closer to hear her better. “I made you a little something extra to go along with it. I hope you enjoy,” she said quietly and turned on her hoof towards a pony who had three books in tow.
Spike scrunched his brow at whatever she meant by that, but decided it best to brush it off and walk off towards the catering table. He was welcomed instantly by Applejack’s proud smile and warm cooking.
“Well howdy Spike! How goes the book part of the book drive?” she asked.
“Great. I’m taking a quick break before my shoulders explode from carrying crates of books around,” he said giving his back a sympathetic rub.
“Well I bet you’re hungry. What can I get for you?”
“Let’s see. Got any apple pie?” he asked.
“Well a’course we do! We got some right over . . . hold up,” she said and poked her head around behind her for a moment. She whispered quiet curses to herself while looking around in confusion. “Darn it, I could’ve sworn we had at least 3 more pies ready to go. Sorry Spike,” she said disappointedly.
“No worries. I’ll take a zap-apple sandwich with everything on it, a tall cider, and a large ruby for desert,” he jested. The blond mare laughed and shook her head.
“Sorry, didn’t think to serve gems at the book drive for the pony folk. I’ll spot you a slice of pumpkin pie instead,” she said and quickly got to work on Spike’s request. “Thank y’all so much for helping me out earlier this week. I would have slept through the whole night in that haystack if it weren’t for you,” she said and slapped a plate full of food down in front of the dragon.
“And I’d be scales and bones if it weren’t for you. Thanks AJ,” he said and took his plate towards the tables set up in the lawn. He spotted a familiar yellow pegasus quietly eating lunch at a table and decided to join her. He waved at her and approached her table with a comforting look in his eyes.
“You mind if I have a seat?” he asked.
“Oh not at all,” Fluttershy said softly. “I can always share lunch with a good friend.”
“Thanks. I ask because part of me is still afraid of scaring you again. Remember what happened when you first saw me after I got back from Canterlot?” he recalled. He took a large sip of his cider as he watched her remember their reunion.
“Oh . . . yes I do. But I was being such a filly. I should have known it was you, Spike. I was wrong to ever think you were somepony to be afraid of,” she reassured him.
“Thanks, Fluttershy,” he said and took a large chomp out of his sandwich.
“Oh goodness, I almost forgot! I’m so sorry for all the trouble Angel Bunny caused you and Applejack the other night. He’s very sorry for what he did, and I can assure you that he will not be sneaking off in the night or stealing any crops for as long as he lives,” she said in her best assertive-but-polite tone. Spike grimaced, imagining the horrible kind of ‘stare’ that rabbit must have received that night.
“It was no big deal. I actually had a lot of fun. I haven’t had much excitement since the whole Miasma ordeal a few months ago,” he said and continued to dive into his lunch.
“Well if you ask me, if that is your idea of excitement, then I’d say you’re better off without it,” she said and giggled a little. Spike smiled at her and dug into his pie as he watched Pinkie Pie lead a team of foals in a conga line. Fluttershy had a point, he concluded. During the fight they had with the Miasma, Spike was using every last bit of his new dragon abilities to help Twilight win. But even though it had been less eventful, the time he spent afterwards was never boring. The simple library-bound life with Twilight was really all he needed to feel satisfied. As he finished his lunch, he heard a weak voice from behind him.
“Spike monster!” a little voice called out. He turned and saw Mr. and Mrs. Cake pushing a stroller carriage towards him. From the edge of the carriage, two little foals were smiling and waving at him. He smiled and excused himself from the table to meet them.
“Hi there my little ponies!” he called out and lowered his head to be at eye level with them. He smiled wide as he saw them reach out to touch his nose.
“Spikey monster,” Pound Cake said with a laugh.
“That’s me. Have you two been good for your mom and dad?” he asked them slowly and clearly.
“A-huh,” Pumpkin said with a nod.
“Good foals,” he said and grew a devious smile. “Cause if you were bad little monsters, I’d have to come over there and eat, you, up! Arrmnomnomnom!” he said and began playful rubbing his snout between them and chomping at their little hooves. The two little ponies squealed in delight as they played off of his snout and laughed hysterically. He brought his face back up and smiled at them before reaching a hand up and patting the two of them on their heads while looking up at Mr. and Mrs. Cake.
“Pinkie Pie told us all about what you did during that storm. Thank you so much,” Mrs. Cake said with a smile.
“Yeah, you’re a real foalsitter. Never thought I’d be so happy to have a dragon with my kids!” Mr. Cake said and laughed.
“It was no problem, really. They’re good little foals, and you would be proud of how brave they were in front of all those spooky monsters,” he said.
“Oh we see that every day now,” Mrs. Cake piped in. “Just yesterday I caught Pound Cake growling at the monsters under the crib. Such a brave big boy, and he wants to be just like you Spike.” Spike smiled at the Cakes who began to tell him stories about the foals and their various baby-habits like teething and escaping the crib when Spike saw Twilight peering at them from the book trolley and smiling at him.
“Sorry, Mrs. and Mr. Cake, but I need to get back to work. Thanks so much and enjoy the book drive,” he said. They thanked him and the little cakes waved at him as he walked towards her. She was wearing a slight blush and wholesome smile as he did.
“‘A real foalsitter,’ according to Mr. Cake,” Twilight recalled.
“Yeah, they’re cute aren’t they?” he said.
“Hey Spike, come here for a second,” she said and beckoned him closer. He leaned down and turned his ear to hear her whisper, but instead she leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek. Spike blushed and looked around quickly at anypony else who could have seen.
“Twilight!” he scolded in a hiss.
“Oh, we’re fine. We’re going on a date tonight anyway, remember? Besides, nopony saw us,” she said and turned back towards the book cart. Rarity was organizing a pile of donated books with a smug smile on her face.
“I did,” she sang in delight, which made the two of them blush deeper.
The book drive finally ended that afternoon after nearly another carriage-worth of books arrived. Big Mac and Spike made one trip with the first load earlier, and now Spike was exhausted by the concept of having to do it again. Big Mac, however, did not seem to mind much. Applejack folded up her food cart and helped Twilight pack up the rest of the supplies and put them away in town hall. Pinkie was waving goodbye to some guests while Rarity quietly organized a pile of books with her magic. He was jotting down a few notes when a strange noise caught Spike’s ear. His right ear twitched and his head perked up like a meerkat towards the forest.
“Something wrong?” Rarity asked him, noticing his stern expression.
“What is it, Spike?” Twilight asked.
“Listen,” he said and put a hand to his ear. Twilight stood quietly and perked her ears up as well. At first, there was nothing but a slight breeze to fill the air. But, after the breeze died, a faint cry could be heard through the air coming from the forest. The cry seemed to follow another cry, in a distant but unmistakably pony voice. Soon after, a low growl and roar cracked through the air and echoed off of the buildings around them.
“What was that?” Fluttershy asked them, beginning to tremble. They continued to listen, their heads shooting back and forth to find the source, eventually finding it on the edge of town.
“Help!” a voice called out from the Everfree forest. That was all they needed to hear before rushing towards the sounds of the distress. Applejack and Rarity bounded forward on the ground with their hooves clopping loudly on the stone path leading to the woods. Spike and Twilight were in the air flying in front of them, trying to find the source of the voices. Fluttershy flew up high instead of forward, to see if she could get a better view. When they all reached the last house in town, they saw the ponies running away from the forest towards them.
“Applejack!” one of them called out. Fluttershy squinted, and called out to her friends below her.
“It’s the girls!” she shouted as clearly as she could. Sure enough, the one crying Applejack’s name was none other than her sister Apple Bloom. Behind her were her two friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the last of whom was fluttering her wings furiously trying to get off of the ground. Applejack and Rarity both called out to their sisters and began running towards them as fast as they could.
“Run!” Scootaloo called out. Behind them, another low roar reverberated through the air and shook their senses. From the edge of the forest, in the shadow of the tallest trees, a massive figure stalked the three fillies as they ran for safety. The figure lurched upwards onto its hind legs and let out another roar. The advancing ponies froze in their tracks and watched in awe as the giant green creature howled.
“Its a dragon!” Rarity called out. The giant green figure had bright blue scales and growled with fire curling out of the sides of its mouth in anger. It lashed a giant spiked tail from side to side in rage, tearing up a few trees in doing so. Rarity cried out to her sister again and began to charge forward again. Soon they were all charging forward again and Twilight, shouting at the top of her lungs, made a plan.
“Rarity! Applejack! Grab the girls and get them to safety! Spike and I will draw its attention and lead it away from town! Fluttershy, go warn the Mayor!” she called out, and everyone sprinted into action. The two ponies on the ground ran forward towards the panicking fillies while Twilight and Spike ascended to the beast at eye-level.
“Draw its attention?” Spike reluctantly repeated. “How are we going to do that?”
“That dragon is angry. When it is like this, there is no way to negotiate or calm it down. The only way to stop it is to draw its anger elsewhere,” she said and began flying faster.
“So we’re going to make it angry at us. Great,” he said and flew faster. He and Twilight soared upward and banked a turn around the giant reptile’s flank and found his face. The beast continued to roar and thrash with it’s tail, shooting smoke out of its nostrils as black as coal. Once they found its face, Spike put his fingers to his lips and let out a loud whistle.
“Hey! Gigantic monstrous fire-breathing carnivore! Please chase me,” Spike called out waving his arms back and forth like he was trying to flag down a taxi in Manehattan. The dragon did not seem to notice him and continued thrashing about, gradually getting closer to Ponyville.
Spike sighed at his failure and flew downwards to get closer. Soon he was right in front of the monster’s face charging at full speed. The dragon noticed and let out a territorial growl that shook the air. Spike inhaled through his nose, filled his lungs, and held his breath in the pit of his throat as he continued to charge. Just before the dragon could lunge at him, Spike veered upwards and stalled a few feet from the dragon’s giant eyes. Spike opened his mouth, exhaled, and out of his maw burst a flash of piercing light that illuminated the entire forest in front of him for a brief second. The beast roared in pain and clutched his blinded eyes with massive claws and Spike flew back to gauge his next move.
“Good one, Spike,” Twilight shouted.
“That one’s called a ‘flare’. Let’s hope I don’t need to use the one called ‘nuke’,” he said and looked back at the dragon. The giant was glaring back at the two of them angrily and clutched its claws in fury.
“You got his attention. Move!” she called and they both separated to dodge an upward swipe from the dragon’s claws. “Get them out now!” she called back towards the others.
Applejack and Rarity sprinted forward and caught up to the three scrambling fillies. They reared around and began running with them. Rarity caught up next to Sweetie Belle and kept her gaze forward. In an blue flash of magic, she lifted her sister off of the ground and placed her firmly against her back. Applejack took the lead in front of Applejack and Scootaloo and shouted back at the two of them.
“Hop on,” she barked, and Applebloom kicked off of the ground with her back hooves and scampered on to her sister’s back. Scootaloo fluttered her little wings and quickly did the same. The two fillies bounced and jostled as Applejack continued to sprint forward next to Rarity and Sweetie Belle. The two of them ran back towards the stone path towards Ponyville to get the fillies to safety.
“They’re clear!” Spike hollered to Twilight. They both flew quickly in circles around the dragon in opposite directions. The Dragon swiped and swung with his claws, but the two fliers disoriented him and he angrily roared and stumbled about. They hovered a safe distance away as he regained his balance.
“We need something to get him away from the town. Something he would chase,” Twilight pondered.
“You mean besides us?” Spike offered.
“Something he would want more than eating ponies,” she retorted. Spike thought for a moment, and quickly realized what he would want.
“Gems. We need gems,” he said.
“Get to Rarity and see if she’s got some that would catch his attention,” she said and looked back at the dragon. The beast was looking back up at them now, much angrier than before.
“You can’t hold him off on your own,” he said worriedly.
“I can handle him, Spike. Just hurry, ” she said and looked down at the dragon. He was taking a deep breath and rearing his neck back .
“Go!” she called and pushed Spike with her hind legs. The two of them flew in opposite directions as a massive pillar of flame erupted from his mouth and flew between them. Twilight felt the heat of the flames on her skin as she dodged it carefully. Spike dove and called back to her.
“I’ll be back in 90 seconds!” he shouted and his wings kicked backwards. He blitzed forward and curled up from the ground at lightening speed, headed directly where the others were taking shelter. Twilight threw a few bolts of magic at the beast’s flank to get his attention, then soared upward and turned and weaved around more fire blasts. She made sure to keep above him so the flames would go into the sky instead of into town.
Spike was in front of Rarity’s face a half a second later.
“Rarity!”
“Guah!” she gasped.
“Do you still have gems?” he said quickly.
“Well, yes back at the boutique,” she began.
“Sorry!” Spike said and kicked off the ground and hovered just above her. He clasped his hands around her torso and lifted her up onto his shoulder in a quick jolt.
“Wha? Spike!” she said, but before she could protest any farther, they were both rocketing towards town at blistering speed. “Waaaah!!” she screamed as the air rushed past them and he weaved back and forth between the buildings. As they approached Rarity’s carousel boutique, Spike took her off his shoulder and held her facing forward.
“Door!” Spike called out. Rarity, in a disoriented shock, looked forward and watched as they approached the boutique without slowing. She gasped and shut her eyes in fear before lighting her horn up and opening the door at the last second. They both flew in and Spike kicked his tail up and beat his wings forward, toppling a few manikins and slowing them to a stop almost immediately. Rarity dizzily put a hoof to her head and groaned.
“Where are the gems?” Spike asked frantically but as softly as he could given the circumstances. Rarity shook her head to snap herself back to her senses and pointed towards the chest behind the counter. She floated a key from behind her mane and used it to open it up. Spike jumped to the chest to see what he could find.
A decent sized emerald, a few rubies, a hoofull of turquoise crumbs, and a fair number of diamonds as well. The whole collection was enough to make a dragon like Spike to salivate, but would not be enough for a full grown greed-sick monster.
“Take this,” she said and thrusted something shiny into his claws. Spike looked down and his eyes immediately went wide.
“Where did you get . . . are you sure about this?” he asked hesitantly.
“Just get going!” she barked and threw one of her hoof sewn duffle bags at him.
“Right!” he said and turned the crate of gems on end and poured them all inside the bag, adding the last gem on the top. He threw it over his shoulder and picked his wings back up again and vaulted towards the door. Rarity watched him take off towards the edge of the forest again and shouted to him as he disappeared.
“And warn me next time you do that!” she called out, before galloping after him.
Spike sprinted upwards above the rooftops and flashed past the edge of town towards the forest. She saw the dragon throwing balls of fire into the air followed by flashes of violet magic. He saw Twilight using her teleportation to dodge the blasts and skillfully zapping herself from side to side. It was almost like she was toying with the monster.
“I got it!” Spike shouted and flew as fast as he could with the bag on his shoulder. Twilight turned and saw him fast approaching, but failed to see the dragon lunging forward with his teeth bared. “Look out!” Spike called out. Twilight felt a warm ball of fire approach her from behind, so lit her magic up as quick as she could and teleported to the only place she could see, right in front of Spike.
“Woah--oomf!” he grunted as they collided in the middle of the air and began tumbling downward. The bag of gems flew off of his shoulder and tumbled to the ground below. They both spread their wings again and began flying down towards the tumbling sack. The bag collided with the ground with the sound of jangling gems inside. Spike and Twilight were nearly there when the raving dragon took a large breath and snarled angrily at them.
“Get the bag!” Twilight shouted and vered towards the dragon just before hitting the ground. Spike landed quickly and grabbed it before looking up. The dragon lurched forward and shouted a mighty roar and spat flames right towards them. Twilight’s horn lit up once again, but this time she did not teleport. The flames were nearly upon her when they stopped just short and struck a purple barrier of magic. The flames danced away from the wall of magic and poured out in all directions. The stream of flames did not end as the dragon continued to rain fire down upon them. Twilight grunted as sweat began to drip from her head.
“Twilight!” Spike called out. She heaved and grunted as the dragon pushed against her magic harder and harder. Spike quickly threw his hand in the bag and found the gem he had thrown in last. He kicked off the ground and flew up above the wall of magic where the flames were pouring out. keeping a firm hold on the bag, he dove forward into raving flames towards the shouting dragon.
“Spike!” Twilight called, but did not let her barrier waver.
Spike popped out the other side of the flames right in front of the dragon’s face again. He slowed to a hover and held up the gem as high as he could.
“Hey!” he called out and waved the gem in his claws back and forth. “Look at this!” he cried and the advancing dragon finally stopped spitting flames. The eyes of the beast widened and it carefully observed the item in his hand.
“You know what this is, I can tell. That’s right, this is Sprite Sapphire,” he said and let it’s magnificent blue glow shine towards the suddenly curious creature. “Bet you never saw one of these before. I have once, and I got to say, I’ve never seen anything so tasty in my life.” The dragon’s massive head swayed back and forth as Spike teased it in front of his face.
“Mmmmm,” the dragon cooed as it licked a massive tongue around its lips.
“Want it? I’ve got this and a bunch of other gems right here,” Spike taunted and dropped the gem into the bag before zipping it up. The dragon growled angrily at Spike and leered at him. Spike smirked, held the bag out towards the dragon, and released it from his grip. The bag fell towards the ground and the giant pair of eyes before Spike followed it towards the ground. But instead of hitting the ground again, the bag fell into a bright blue cannon with a ‘foom’. With the bag partially protruding out the end and filling the barrel up completely, the pink mare at the controls smiled happily and pointed it towards the mountains.
“Go get it, smokey!” Pinkie Pie and smacked her hoof down on the trigger button. The cannon strained for a moment before exploding in a fountain of confetti, streamers, and balloons. The bag shot past the dragon’s head in a blur and soared upwards towards the mountains behind them. The great beast followed the bag with hungry eyes and kicked with massive legs from the ground and began sprinting after it with thunderous footsteps. Spike continued to hover and watch as the booming of massive strides eventually calmed and vanished into the distance.
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What the gem cannon?!?!
Noooo the gems! I hope Rarity's insured!
Well, that could of been interpreted negitivly
Was that really necessary?
Gem cannons are always necessary.