My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship

by Danieru

48. How to be a Dragon

“C'mon, Fluttershy, it'll be fun!” Twilight assured.

“There's nothing fun about dragons! Scary, yes! Fun, no! ” Fluttershy replied scared while Rainbow Dash forcefully tried to get her out of her house.

“But Fluttershy, the great dragon migration happens only once in a generation! Do you really wanna pass up a chance like that?” Twilight asked trying to convince Fluttershy.

Trying to convince Fluttershy was sometimes a little harder than one would expect.
She never wants to bother anypony by refusing or saying no, but right now, she did everything she could to stay away from any dragon.

“Star Twinkle, could you please try to say something too?” Rainbow Dash asked of him while she still tried to get Fluttershy out of the house.

Of course, Star Twinkle used all his charm and convincing skills to somehow calm down Fluttershy.

“Is it too much to ask that you could join us?” He said in an obviously annoyed tone.

Twilight poked him in the sides to let Star Twinkle know that what he said just now was not wisely chosen.

“I mean, YEAH!
It'll be totally fun and not dangerous at all!” Star Twinkle corrected with his most fake happy face that he could produce right now, making Twilight roll her eyes.

However, Star Twinkle couldn't care less.
All they wanted was for Fluttershy to not miss out on this dragon migration.
Star Twinkle wasn't interested in that as well and only agreed to join in because he was asked to.
But seeing how this whole scene could have played out in his house just proved that he made a much less annoying choice.

The struggle continued in the doorway where Rainbow Dash almost managed to get Fluttershy out.
It was obvious that Rainbow Dash was at the end of her patience so she decided to pull out a photo to remember her that Fluttershy still owned her something.

“Look, Fluttershy, I watched that boring butterfly migration with you, so now it's your turn to watch the dragon migration with me! You owe me!” Rainbow Dash insisted.

However, Fluttershy seemed to be at her limit too and made really angry faced to show it.

“Star Twinkle, could you help Rainbow Dash a little?” Twilight asked of him.

“She clearly doesn't want to so why should we even bother trying to convince her?
It feels wrong...” Star Twinkle thought to himself.

“Star Twinkle!” Twilight repeated, this time a little louder to get Star Twinkle's attention.

“Alright, alright!” Star Twinkle replied before he walked behind Fluttershy in order to push her out of the house.

Strangely enough, both Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash were not strong enough to overpower Fluttershy, no matter how hard they tried.

“Come on Fluttershy!” Star Twinkle said in a heavy voice while still trying to push Fluttershy.

“I... said... no!” Fluttershy exclaimed before she accidentally knocked out both Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash to the ground in her angry rage and escaped through the window to get away from the three ponies.

The two ponies laid on the ground, both feeling a little dizzy by this sudden outburst of Fluttershy.

“Are you two alright?” Twilight said in concern as she walked up to them.

“Okay, I guess I'll let you off the hook this time,” Rainbow Dash replied in her dizziness.

She probably tried to let it look like as if she was letting Fluttershy escape, even though it was clear that Fluttershy overpowered both of them easily, whether it was actually strength or just the fact that it happened so sudden.

Star Twinkle managed to get up again but he was heavily annoyed by how this situation played out and would have preferred if he wouldn't have been involved in it.

“I have the feeling, she really doesn't want to see those dragons, Twilight...” Star Twinkle said.

But Twilight was aware of that too after this presentation of heavy resistance from Fluttershy and decided to gave up as well.

Eventually, the three ponies decided to leave and met up with the rest of their friends who were digging up a little trench not too far away from Fluttershy's house.

This dragon migration was only happening once in a generation so everypony made sure that everything was perfect.

The dragons were supposed to fly over Ponyville which was the perfect opportunity to watch them from inside a small trench on the ground.

After the digging was completed, everypony waited inside of the ground, wearing camouflage colored clothes and headpieces.
Star Twinkle didn't know if it was necessary to wear this stuff but he also didn't bother too much to ask.

“It's so sad that Fluttershy would miss out something special and rare like this,” Twilight said as she kept an eye out for any dragon in sight.

“Yeah,” Star Twinkle replied in disinterest.

It was not like he desperately wanted to see those dragons in the first place.
It was more because all his other friends decided to come and watch.
He felt like he had to come as well, as a friend.

But that didn't change the fact that he was a little bored.
The group was way too early.
Not a single dragon flew past them so far.

“I'm just glad that you decided to come, Star Twinkle,” Twilight said in relief as she smiled at him.

Star Twinkle didn't felt like it was something special but Twilight might have seen this a little different and appreciated that he would accompany her and her friends.

While they were already in a conversation, Star Twinkle took the chance to ask away why they needed to be this early.

“This way, we can watch every moment of the migration without bringing any unwanted attention to ourselves!” She almost whispered back at him.

However, this quietness was broken after Rarity colorfully showed up, accompanied by a red carpet and confetti flying in the air to underline her appearance.

Unlike the others, Rarity wore colorful purple and yellow dress with camouflage patterns on it and made sure that everypony would recognize it.

“What do you think? Am I the toast of the trench or what?” She said while she presented her dress in front of everypony.

“You'll be toast alright when the dragons see you parading around in that getup,” Applejack replied, referring on how this dress will draw the attention of every dragon in sight.

Twilight quickly removed the confetti and the red carpet with her magic and asked of Rarity to lower her voice a little so that they all could down the trench and hide in case if one dragon decided to show up.

Pinkie Pie was the first one who finally spotted a dragon over their heads and alerted the group quickly.

“Ahoy, maties! Dragons ho!”

Everypony quickly grabbed their binoculars to take a closer look at those dragons.
There were probably hundreds of them flying over the heads of the group.

Even though Star Twinkle did not want to come at first, he had to admit that it was impressive to see so many grown up dragons up that close without being a danger to them for once.

While everypony watched the dragons fly by impressed, Rainbow Dash tried to play cool.

“Pfft, pretty lame move. Is that all they've got?”

That was until two dragons got into a little fight, causing one of them to breathe fire dangerously close to the trench where the group was hiding in.

“Duck!” Star Twinkle exclaimed in panic, warning everypony to take cover for the incoming blast.

“A duck?
Where?” Pinkie Pie asked excited, as she looked out of the trench before Star Twinkle moved her her head inside of the trench again before she would get hit by the fire breath.

Thankfully, nopony was hurt.
Except for Rainbow Dash, who didn't take cover and got some of her face slightly burned.

“What do ya think of that 'move', Rainbow Dash? Still think they're lame?” Applejack said amusingly, referring to Rainbow Dash's previous complaint.

“Uh, not so much. The word 'fierce' comes to mind,” she replied slightly nervous after this presentation.

“And 'formidable',” Rarity added admirably.

“And 'super-duper scary'!” Pinkie Pie added while cowering on the ground in fear.

As far as Star Twinkle's knowledge goes, dragons are indeed very dangerous.
But they don't seem to be on bad terms with ponies or other creatures.
They are probably well aware that they are a force to be reckoned with but they seem to distance themselves from other races and take care of their own.

All this knowledge was kinda hard to believe in...
Especially since one particularly baby dragon was inside of the trench with the group, wearing a pink apron and serving everypony sweets.

Star Twinkle couldn't help but smile a little after seeing Spike right after seeing the group of dangerous and grown up dragons.
It didn't get better after Spike's next words.

“Yeah. Us dragons are definitely a force to be reckoned with,” he said before he gave Pinkie Pie a cupcake to calm her down again.

Apparently, Star Twinkle wasn't the only one to found it amusing to compare Spike with the dragons above their heads.

“Yeah, right, Spike. That's one of the scariest aprons I've ever seen!” Rainbow Dash said before she burst out in laughter on the ground along with Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

This, of course, caused Spike to defend himself.

“What's wrong with wearing an apron? You won't be laughing when you spill blueberries all over your scales...
Feathers.
That's one tough stain!”

“One tough stain against one lame dragon,” Rainbow Dash replied, still laughing on the ground.

Spike was not happy to hear that.
In fact, he looked a little angry.
Rarity noticed and defended Spike from Rainbow Dash's words.

“You leave him alone, Rainbow Dash! Spike's style is unique. He doesn't have to look like other dragons,”

“Or act like them,” Twilight added.

“My little Spikey-wikey is perfect the way he is,” Rarity said while rubbing his scales.

Even though Rarity tried to make him feel better, Spike was feeling more insecure by the minute.

“I don't act like other dragons?” He asked worriedly.

“Oh, not even close!” Pinkie Pie quickly replied.

“But why would you want to, Spike?” Applejack added.

“Yes. You've got something those dreadfully fierce dragons can only dream of,” Rarity assured confidently.

Spike was eager to hear what that was.
But once again, Rarity's words were a little “misplaced”.

“The cutest widdle chubby cheeks!” She said while she was rubbing his cheeks.

Just hearing that, made Star Twinkle instantly realize what was going to happen next.
He was by far not the definition of manliness but as the only stallion in the group, he knew that being cute is the last thing that you want to hear from a mare.
Especially, if your race is known for being fierce and dangerous.

“Cute?! Dragons aren't supposed to be cute! Right?” Spike asked in a nervous tone that Star Twinkle expected while blushing intensely which was not unnoticed by Rarity.

“Oh, sweetie, you are turning the most delightful shade of red. It is most becoming,” she said.

Of course, that didn't make thing better at all and Spike walked off angrily.

“Oh, isn't he adorable when he waddles off in anger? “ Rarity added as she watched Spike walk off in the distance, almost making Star Twinkle exclaiming that her words didn't make things any better.

In fact, Spike heard those words and screamed in anger as he walked away from the ponies.

Star Twinkle couldn't help but feel a little bad for Spike.
He tried to imagine what he would have done in this situation.
But maybe he already was in this situation...
One stallion in a group of mares...
He would definitely not be happy to hear from them that he was cute.
…
Probably...

The dragon migration continued and the group finished watching the dragons fly by until there was no dragon left.
For Star Twinkle, the perfect reason to leave and go home.

The next morning...

What the girls said to Spike yesterday somehow bothered Star Twinkle.
Maybe Spike had to spend time with somepony who didn't think of him as cute.
Luckily, Spike was walking towards him.
For some reason, he carried a sack tied to the end of a stick with him.

“Morning Spike...” Star Twinkle greeted.
“Uh...wanna do something or spend some time?”

“No time,” Spike replied with a determined look on his face.
“Joining the dragon migration to find out who I really am,” he added as he walked past Star Twinkle.

“Oh, alright,” Star Twinkle replied.

“Looks like he feels better now...
I guess I was worried for nothing...
Joining the dragon migration, huh?” Star Twinkle wondered as he continued his walk.

But he stopped for a moment to fully realize what Spike just said.

“Wait! What?” Star Twinkle said in shock as he turned around his head to Spike.

Before he had the chance to ask Spike, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity walked up to Star Twinkle.
They seemed to be aware of what Spike was up to.
Apparently, Spike was thinking a lot about being a dragon last night, causing him to worry how he should behave or what it meant to be a dragon.
To find that out, he had to spend some time with real dragons.

“And you are just okay with that?” Star Twinkle asked.
“You know Spike.
What if he gets hurt or something?”

“Yes, that is why we follow him.
To make sure that he is okay,” Twilight assured.

“Yes!
We can't let those big scary dragons hurt our little Spikey Wikey!” Rarity said worriedly.

“If you wouldn't have overly comforted him yesterday, then this whole situation probably wouldn't have happened...” Star Twinkle thought, partly blaming Rarity and the other girls.

“How are we supposed to follow him?
I don't think that we can approach all those dragons unnoticed, being ponies and all that...”

“Don't worry, Star Twinkle.
We have already a plan,” Twilight assured.

“Thank goodness that I have your measurements, Star Twinkle,” Rarity pointed out.

“My measurements?
For what?” Star Twinkle wondered.

Later...

Spike was actually traveling a really long way.
And of course, Star Twinkle, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity followed him all the way.
Ranging, from forests, mountains, and swamps, the journey was a lot harder and longer than Star Twinkle was willing to offer but he continued nonetheless.
Twilight knew the exact route of the dragon migration and where they would stop eventually and that was exactly where Spike stopped, in order to confront other dragons.

They all arrived at a big volcano.
There were hundred of dragons flying around it and waiting for the migration to continue.
Spike was walking up to it and entered it from the center, trying to find some dragons to hang out with.

It was then when he noticed how big and scary the grown up dragons actually were and began to have doubts if it was a good idea to follow them.
But Spike spotted some dragons that came closer to his age and decided to walk up to them instead.

With Spike closing up to them, the four ponies decided to get closer as well and stood in front of the volcano, looking over to the dragons.
However, they changed their appearance in order to not stand out as much.
Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity were hiding in a costume, made by Rarity.
It was supposed to represent a long green dragon.
There were jewels on its back, that are supposed to be scales, two horns coming out of its head and two holes on its front, where the girls could look through and Twilight would look outside from it from its mouth.

“Star Twinkle, come up here too!” Rarity said, awaiting that he would arrive on the top of the volcano as well.

“Let me just say...
That I think that this is a really stupid plan...” Star Twinkle said annoyed as he walked up to the top as well.

Like the girls, Star Twinkle also wore a disguise to get closer to Spike without anyone noticing.
He was wearing a slightly better-looking costume, also made by Rarity.
He also looked like a green dragon, with jewels on his back, accompanied by two wings and two horns coming out from his head.
His costume looked a little better but he was unsure if it would actually work.

“Star Twinkle is right!
We'll never pass for real dragons!” Rainbow Dash agreed.

“Oh, pish-posh! Those costumes are fabulous, two of my finer creations,” Rarity protested.

“Can somepony explain why I have to be the one who has to walk around as a dragon?
They never believe that I'm one of them!”

“We only had enough time to create two costumes and because you helped me out in my boutique a few times, I already had all the measurements for your costume ready,” Rarity explained.
“Also most of those dragons are male and sound scary and mean so you would fit perfectly,” Rarity added.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Star Twinkle replied slightly offended.

Twilight quickly put a stop to the conversation and remembered them why they came all this way.
Looking over Spike was top priority right now so they all walked down the crater of the volcano.

Star Twinkle got more nervous, the closer he got to those dragons.
They actually managed to blend in without any of the dragons looking through their disguise.
It was actually the first time that he got so close to a dragon, not counting Spike.
He wondered what they would do to him if they find out that he was a pony.
Just the thought of that scared him.

Meanwhile, Spike was introducing himself to some dragons who looked more like if they were in their teenage years.
They were taller than Spike but significantly smaller than the grown up dragons and didn't look too dangerous for Spike to hang out with.
However, they were a little mean and constantly made fun of Spike.
Whether it was his size, his lack of wings or his behavior.

One of them, a dragon with red scales and orange fins was getting curious and wondered why he never saw him before.
And of course, Spike replied...

“Oh, well, y'see, I live in Ponyville and–“

“Hahaha! Ponyville? That explains it! I knew there was something vaguely pony-ish about you! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were part pony!” The red dragon replied, finding another reason to make fun of Spike.

“Who, me? I'm not part pony! I'm all dragon, see?” Spike protested before he roared at them which unfortunately didn't sound too intimidating, causing the dragons to laugh once more.

“Or maybe you're a pony in a dragon costume,” the red dragon amusingly said before he burst out into laughter again.

The irony was striking in this moment.

“A pony in a dragon costume...!” Another dragon with dark purple scales and blonde hair said while putting his arms around Star Twinkle and the girl's costume, not realizing that there were actually ponies in dragon costumes around.

“...Yeah... hilarious,” Twilight replied in a deep voice, nervously.

“That would be totally crazy...” Star Twinkle added.

Meanwhile, the dragons continued laughing about little Spike which caused, mainly Rarity to get a little annoyed.

“How dare they make fun of little Spikey Wikey!” She said angered.

“Rarity, you have to be a little quieter!” Rainbow Dash advised.

“But we can't let them keep treating him like that!” Rarity protested angrily.

Twilight was thinking for a moment and came up with an idea.

“Star Twinkle, go and help him, please,” Twilight asked from Star Twinkle.

“Me?” Star Twinkle replied confused.

Star Twinkle didn't know if that was a good idea but things didn't look good as they were now.
He knew that Twilight and the rest of the girls would keep asking him so he might as well just do something now before things would get annoying.
But that didn't change the fact that he was having a really bad feeling.

Star Twinkle walked up to the group, in hope that no one would look through his disguise and tried to support Spike a little.
For that, he coughed up a moment to get their attention and changed his voice a little, even though they didn't know him in the first place.

“I'm sure there is some way for him to prove himself as a dragon!”

The dragon with the red scales looked doubtful at Star Twinkle, making him a little nervous if his disguise already failed.

“And...you are?”

“Oh, my name is Sta-”

“Wait!
My name!
Star Twinkle is not a dragon name, is it?” He thought as he realized that he didn't think his plan through enough.

“Sta...what?” The dragon asked still awaiting Star Twinkle's answer.

“Come on think!”

“Sta...Stan!
My name is Stan!
And I come from really far away because I really wanted to join the dragon migration!”

They all looked at him with judging eyes, clearly noticing that something was suspicious with Star Twinkle.

However, the group of dragons didn't care much about him and wanted some more convincing from Spike and decided to held some typical contests to let him prove himself as a real dragon.

They started with a belching contest.
Every dragon was taking a deep breath and spat fire in front of each other and trying to impress everyone with the size of their breath.
Star Twinkle didn't know what was considered a good belch but every one of them seemed to do decently.
It was up to Spike to leave an impression.

But Star Twinkle figured that it wouldn't go too well since he saw Spike breathing fire before.
He also forgot that every time when he did a letter from Princess Celestia was showing up.

And that is exactly what happened...

The moment when the letter appeared, the red dragon picked it up and attempted to read it.
Once again giving him and the other dragons another reason to make fun of him.

“Ha! Get this, guys! Spike's pen-pals with a namby-pamby pony princess!”

And of course, the other dragons laughed.
After that, the dragon threw the letter into the lava and Star Twinkle could just feel Twilight's blood boil from inside of her costume.
She was probably thinking that this letter was something important or that they should not disrespect the princess like that.

The contest continued with tail-wrestling.
It was much like hoof-wrestling just with...tails.

But the competition didn't look too balanced.
Spike was the smallest dragon of them all and naturally, his tail was the smallest as well, making his chance of winning really slim.

However, help was nearby in the form of Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

“I challenge Spike to a tail wrestle!” Twilight said in a deep voice.

Just like with Star Twinkle, the dragons instantly realized that they were not...normal.

“Who's this weirdo?
You know this guy, Stan?” The red dragon asked.

But Star Twinkle was not getting used to react to that name and didn't answer at first until he noticed how he was being looked at.

“Oh!
Yeah!
I mean, no!
Must be from another country,” Star Twinkle replied nervously.

“I think he's Crackle's cousin,” another dragon then said, pointing at a dragon that almost exactly looked like the costume that Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity were wearing.

“You gotta be kidding...” Star Twinkle thought.

Meanwhile, the tail-wrestle between Spike and Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity began.
It was obvious that they would let him win in order to make him look really strong.
But Spike seemed to have some difficulty in lifting the fabric made tail.
Luckily, the girls made it somehow look like they were beaten and fell to the ground, letting everyone believe that Spike actually won.

“Spike's the winner!” The red dragon said as he lifted Spike above the ground, causing everyone to cheer for him.
“Nice going, little Spike! Maybe you are a dragon after all!”

“Yeah! Maybe I am!” Spike replied, starting to build some confidence.

The contest continued further with the red dragon dragging Spike up on a tower made out of gems.
Star Twinkle was not sure what this was about and waited.
But moments later, Spike was thrown off from the tower and the red dragon began to scream.

“King of the hoard!”

Every dragon was now climbing the tower and attempted to throw each other off.
Star Twinkle figured that this was supposed to be some game.
The last one on top would most likely be the winner so it was obvious that Star Twinkle had to help Spike getting on top.
But for that, he had to push of the other dragons first.

Star Twinkle climbed up the tower and slowly got to the top while keeping an eye out for Spike who was close behind him.
However, another dragon was climbing up to him and attempted to push him away.
Thankfully, the girls were around and knocked him away so that Spike could continue.

Star Twinkle arrived at the top where the red dragon was waiting for him after he pushed away another dragon.
He growled at Star Twinkle and strongly intimidated him before he attempted to grab Star Twinkle who defended himself with his hooves.
The dragon was way stronger and Star Twinkle had problems keeping his balance.
There was no way that he could overpower him.

But he didn't need to do that.

Spike finally reached the top and slightly pushed Star Twinkle from behind, causing him to lose his balance and falling off in front, taking the dragon with him down on the tower.
This left only Spike on top of the tower so he attempted to say “King of the horde” to declare his victory but he slipped and fell down the tower as well which counted as another fail.

However, the decision, if he was a real dragon, would come in the last contest.
Lava Cannonball.

Whoever, made the biggest splash by jumping into a pool of lava would win.
One after another jumped into the pool until only Star Twinkle and Spike were left.
There was no way for Star Twinkle to jump into that because unlike dragons, ponies were not fire proof.

“What's wrong, Spike? You afraid the lava will hurt your soft pony hide?” The red dragon asked, prompting Spike to finally jump down.
“You too, Stan!
Or are afraid too?”

Star Twinkle got nervous after hearing that.
There were still some full grown dragons on top, watching him with judging eyes so he had no choice.
Celestia knows what they would do if they found out that he was a pony.

“Just a minute!
I think I misplaced my swimming trunks!” Star Twinkle replied nervously before he moved out of their sight.

Spike wondered about Star Twinkle's behavior, due not knowing that it is one of his friends.
Star Twinkle walked up to the girls and asked what he should do now.

“What do I do now?” He asked stressed.
I can't swim in lava!”

“I think I have a spell that should protect you from the lava but it only stays for a little while,”

“Wait...you really want me to jump into a pool of lava!?” He asked even more stressed, closing up his face towards Twilight.

“Hey!
You guys still up there!?” The dragons shouted up to Star Twinkle and Spike.

While Star Twinkle was distracted by those words, Twilight already put the spell on him.
He could feel that there was some kind of aura around him.
Twilight assured that this spell would protect him but it didn't make him feel better at all.

He gulped nervously as he walked up to the cliff from where he had to jump into the pool of lava and looked down where the dragons still waited for him.
Star Twinkle began to sweat just by the thought of what he was about to do.

“Okay...
You can do this...
Twilight's spell will protect me...” he thought as he looked down to the pool nervously.
“Was it always that high up?” He wondered before his vision became a little blurry and his legs began to shake due to his fear of heights.

His body became stiff and he was unable to move anymore.
Spike watched him and wondered why this “dragon” acted so weird.
Before he knew what happened, Star Twinkle tripped forward and fell down right into the pool of lava head first, like a rock.

Shocked that he was swimming in lava, he quickly raised to the surface and hectically waved his legs around until he noticed that he was perfectly fine.

“It's like swimming in water...
I guess Twilight's spell is working...” Star Twinkle figured regaining his calm again.

He noticed how he was still stared at by the other dragons.
They probably wondered why he was stressing out before.
Star Twinkle returned an awkward smile and tried the subject.

“Hey!
I think Spike is about to jump!” He said, pointing up to the cliff.

It worked and the group quickly concentrated their eyes on Spike again.
The little dragon still looked a little frightened but he eventually took all his courage together and jumped down as well.
It didn't look too stylish or professional but at least he jumped.
The landing was by far even more painful than Star Twinkle's.
Spike landed belly first with a painful belly flop and then sunk down into the lava.

Star Twinkle figured that this wasn't enough to convince those dragons and feared that Spike failed to leave a decent impression.
But he was surprised that Spike was praised by the dragons for this belly flop that probably no pony would ever survive.

“I think little Spike has more than enough proven that he is a tough little dragon!” Star Twinkle said, trying to lift things into the right direction.

“Stan is right!
Come on, guys!
We have to declare Spike to a full fledged dragon!” The red dragon suggested, causing the others to cheer in excitement.

They all left the pool and went to somewhere else of the volcano to do some kind of ritual.
Star Twinkle was more than relieved that everything went well for Spike and let out a huge sigh.
The girls walked up to them and shared his relief and also showed their impression because of Star Twinkle's jump into the lava pool.

He blushed a little.
Not because he felt good to hear that compliment but because he couldn't tell them that he accidentally fell down.
He got so embarrassed that he could feel how his head was getting hot.
And his legs...
And his whole body...

“Wow, I'm really impressed how long the spell is lasting!
I thought it would have worn off by now!” Twilight said.

That instantly reminded Star Twinkle that he was still sitting in a pool of lava and that it was getting dangerously hot.
Panic was quickly spreading in his head and he jumped out of the pool with some light burnings on his behind.
Manly screams could be heard.

Later, Spike was going through some kind of ritual.
The dragons were not making fun of him anymore and took this ritual actually a little serious.
The red dragon took it upon himself to dub Spike a rookie dragon and they started a party to celebrate.

Star Twinkle did stay away from almost everyone.
Not only because it was a party, but also to not raise any suspicion.
But he did stay with the girls to have somepony to talk with without blowing his cover.

“You think Spike feels better now?
I mean after being accepted by those dragons?” Star Twinkle said while still rubbing his behind because from before.

“I hope so!” Rarity replied.
“I'm just happy when Spike decides to come home again,” she added in relief.

Star Twinkle was hoping that this will come soon too because he was not ready to jump in another lava pool anytime soon.

The party soon came to an end and every one of them laid on the ground exhausted.

“Man, was that a great party,” Spike said happily and exhausted.

“Great? Huh, maybe by Ponyville standards. Stick with us, Spike. We still got plenty to teach you about being a dragon,” the red dragon replied.

“I'm not going anywhere. The way I feel right now, I could hang out with you guys forever,” Spike then replied.

This sentence shocked the four ponies.
They could tell that Spike was having a good time but hearing him abandon his friends came out of nowhere.

The girls quickly felt responsible for not stopping him before, unlike Star Twinkle who thought that it was kinda their fault, to begin with but he couldn't say that in a moment like this.
Right now, they somehow had to prevent Spike from going with those dragons and remind him of his friends.

But before they could talk to him, the dragons took him with them and flew away to a nearby forest.

Rainbow Dash attempted to fly after them but was restrained from Rarity's costume, unable to lift over the ground so they had no choice but to follow them on their hooves.
But that more challenging than they thought.

The dragons were flying for a long time and the four ponies lost them after a while, making their frustration grow rapidly.
It also wasn't helping that it got dark, making it even harder to track them.

Luckily, some bright light emerged from far away in the forest, making it possible that this where Spike was.
Twilight pointed out that it must have been the light from a phoenix.
This only raised the question what they were planning with Spike.

They followed the light and eventually, found Spike and the three dragons that took him but what they saw wasn't what they exactly expected.
Spike hold an egg above his head as if he wanted to smash it to the ground while the other dragons stood there excited while repeatedly demanding him to smash it on the ground.

The girls were shocked by this sight and quickly ran towards him, in order to stop him.
However, Star Twinkle stopped them.

“Wait!” Star Twinkle said putting his hoof in front of the girls to stop them.

“What do you mean, wait?
Don't you see what they make him do!?” Rainbow Dash replied.

“We need to stop him before he does something horrible!” Rarity added worriedly.

Star Twinkle didn't know why he was acting like that all of the sudden but he felt like sharing his thoughts on this whole scene and what he thought about it.

“I hate to say it but...
Should we really interfere?”

“What do you mean?
We can't let Spike smash this egg!” Rainbow Dash replied, slowly starting to get angry by Star Twinkle's behavior.

“Spike came here to find out what it means to be a dragon so is it really up to us to decide?”

Twilight seemed to have given Star Twinkle's words some thoughts.
She decided to give her opinion as well.

“I think Star Twinkle is right...
If Spike wants to stay with them and live as a dragon, then we don't have the right to stop him...” she said, thought everypony knew that it was hard for her to say.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at each other worriedly because they knew that she was right and lowered their heads in sadness.
Rarity was even close to tearing up a little.

Star Twinkle hoped that this was the right choice and that he wouldn't regret it.
It was coming from his personal point of view.
It is what he wanted to do if he was in this situation and he certainly didn't want anypony to decide about his life.
At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

But now everything was already set and the four ponies could only watch what was about to happen next.

“Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it!” Could be heard by the dragons, putting more and more pressure Spike.

Spike did struggle to do it and sweat was coming down from his head.
He most likely was aware that what he was about to do was not right and had some inner conflicts with himself.

“Come on, Spike...
You know what's the right thing...right?” Star Twinkle thought worriedly, awaiting what he would do next.

The dragons also waited for Spike's answer excitedly but Spike began to tear up and grabbed the egg tight to himself, making the decision that Star Twinkle and his friends waited for.

“No! It's just a defenseless egg like I was! And I'm not gonna let you hurt it!”

Needless to say, the dragons were everything but happy to hear this response and got angry really quick.

“No one says no to me,” the red dragon replied before he attempted to slowly get closer to Spike in an attempt to get the egg.

Spike slowly backed away in fear but kept the egg close to himself to protect it.
A few steps later, he stopped after walking into something.
He turned around and fund out that it was the girls in their dragon costume along with Star Twinkle standing next to them.

They then all took off their costumes and revealed themselves to be ponies in front of the three dragons and Spike, all of them raising their hooves in an attempt to fight them.

“Nopony's gonna lay a claw on him!” Rainbow Dash said determinedly.

“That's right!” Twilight added with the same determination.

Even Rarity seemed to be ready for battle.

“Fighting's not really my thing, I'm more into fashion, but I'll rip you to pieces if you touch one scale on his cute little head!“ She exclaimed angrily as she waved her hooves in front of her as if she wanted to hoof-fight them one by one.

However, those dragons didn't seem to be too impressed to be threatened by one baby dragon and four ponies.
In fact, they burst out in laughter.

“Ooh, scary, hehe! Spike, are these namby-pamby ponies your friends?” The dragon with the red scales asked while still whipping away some tears in his eyes due to his laughter.

“Yes, they are. And they're better friends than you could ever be. Now, if you don't back off, you'll see what us ponies do when confronted by a huge group of jerky dragons,” Spike said as he confidently walked up to the red dragons face.

“Oh, yeah? What's that?” The dragon replied, not showing any signs of impression.

“Run away?” Star Twinkle guessed.

“Run away!” Spike screamed before he ran past the four ponies in order to escape from the dragons.

“Well, that's an idea I can get fully get behind with!” Star Twinkle said before he followed Spike, leaving the girls behind.

But a few moments later, the girls were behind him as well followed by the three dragons, flying behind them.

The group barely outran the dragons but they came dangerously close and almost caught up with them.

“Twilight, It might be a good idea to get us out with some little teleport spell!” Star Twinkle exclaimed nervously while running away.

“I'm trying!” Twilight replied as she concentrated her magic.

The dragons were now dangerously close to the group but Twilight had her spell almost ready.
A purple light could be seen for a second and before Star Twinkle knew what was going on he suddenly found himself outside of the forest with his friends and far away from the dragons.

“Phew, that was a close one. Thanks, you guys,” Spike thanked relived.

“Of course. What are friends for?” Twilight replied happily.

“You're more than friends,” Spike said beginning to tear up in joy.
“You're my family,”

After these words, everypony hugged the little dragon and was happy that he made the right choice.
Star Twinkle would lie if he would say that this moment wasn't heartwarming for him.
He was relieved that Spike decided to stay with his friends.
He was also glad that his previous choice to not interfere didn't fire back.
Back then he was sure that it was the right thing but the question was if he would have accepted Spike's decision as well.
Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about that.

They all returned to Ponyville as fast as possible and Spike decided to take care of the egg until it hatched so that he could return it to its parents after a while.
Of course, Twilight would help him with that, meaning that Star Twinkle didn't have anything to do with that anymore.

The day when he finally returned to Ponyville, Star Twinkle's first reaction was to lay down on his bed.

“Would I have accepted it if Spike decided to stay with the dragons?” He wondered.
“Losing a friend like that must be hard...
Yet...
I already feel like I know how it must feel like...
Why?
I never had any friend before...”

He turned around on his bed and faced the ceiling while still thinking about all that.
But he was way too exhausted to go into any more detail of that and closed his eyes to take a nap.

“I can't believe I jumped into a pool of lava...” he mumbled to himself before he was drifting away into sleep.

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Please make sure to leave a review, a like, a commentary or whatever behind (depending on if you read this on FIMfiction or Fanfiction.net) to let me now if you did!

I really hope to see you in the next chapter.
Bye ^^.