• Published 22nd May 2016
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Spike's Dragon Code for Cuddling - Kevinltk



Spike learns that he has to cuddle with his friends because of his dragon code.

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Twilight Sparkle

Spike looked back and forth between Twilight and The Ancient Guide to a Noble Dragon’s Code floating right beside the alicorn. He recognized the frown on Twilight’s face. It was not her “The world is ending” frown, nor was it the more ominous “I’m going to be tardy.” No, it was much worse. It was the “Spike, you’re in trouble” frown.

“Um, what’s up, Twilight?” Spike asked.

“Spike, I know what you have been doing, and I must say…” Twilight’s frown faded, and her attention switched to Starlight, who had gotten off the bed and trotted toward them. “Oh, Starlight, you’re looking better. How are you?”

“I’m fine now, for real this time. Thanks for asking,” Starlight responded with a smile. “I know I’ve been pretty out of it the whole day, and I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“I’m just glad that you’re feeling well now. What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Just me still holding onto the past. I’ll tell you more about it later.” Starlight ruffled the top of Spike’s head. “Just know that this guy helped me out of my funk. Spike here really went all out to cheer me up.”

Spike giggled and playfully nudged Starlight’s hoof away. “No problem, Starlight. Always happy to help a friend.”

“Um, does that mean you two, um… cuddled?” Twilight asked.

“Uh, yeah?” Spike replied. “How did you know?”

Twilight shook the floating book that was still held in her magic.

“Oh, right…”

“I also know that you cuddled with all of our friends.”

Spike’s eyes widened. “W-what? How did you find that out?”

“Pinkie told me.”

Spike blinked. “Pinkie? She was here? I didn’t even hear the front door or anything.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “You know her. It’s Pinkie being Pinkie. She somehow got in without even using the door. Anyway, she told me how you cuddled with her, and apparently, all of our friends are talking about your times with them as well. The main reason she came over was to drop off invitations to a special party that you inspired, Spike.”

“What kind of special party?”

Twilight sighed and buried her face into her hoof. “It’s… Here, just see for yourselves.” Two envelopes wrapped in her magic floated into the room and toward Spike and Starlight.

Spike grabbed one of them and opened it, releasing a burst of confetti straight into the air. He pulled out the invitation and grinned when he saw the words written in many different colors.

“Oh, cool! She’s actually doing the cuddle party!” Spike cheered. “Glad she also listened to me and is keeping it inside our circle of friends.”

“Not sure what’s going to at a cuddle party, but I want to go,” Starlight said, reading her own invitation.

“You guys, this is serious,” Twilight interjected. “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

Spike stared at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “Twilight, do you not like cuddling or something?”

“I’m not against cuddling.”

“Sounds like you’re against cuddling,” Starlight chimed in.

“I’m not against cuddling!” Twilight shouted. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, and exhaled as she stretched out her hoof like Cadance taught her. “Look, I’m just concerned that this situation is getting out of hoof.”

“Out of hoof?” Spike frowned and folded his arms across his chest. “Twilight, we’re just cuddling with our friends. It’s not like we’re doing anything bad.”

“I know, but it’s just that I've read about the various reason ponies cuddle. To some ponies, cuddling could even be seen as a romantic gesture. I just don’t want anypony accidentally rushing into anything and then end up regretting it.”

Spike had to resist the urge to facepalm. “Sheesh, Twilight, I know I’m a baby dragon, but I’m not actually a baby. I already knew that cuddling could be considered a bit lovey dovey, but I made sure to talk things over with all of our friends before we actually did. We all knew what we were getting into. Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do, Spike, I was just…” Twilight sighed. “Spike, I’m sorry that I made you feel like that, but I’m just really worried about this cuddling thing.” She brought the book forward. “This all started because of this dragon code book, right?”

Spike nodded and recited the verse ingrained in his head. “A noble dragon makes sure to cuddle with his closest friends.”

“Well, you see, um… Look, Spike I know you really took this book to heart, but after I looked through it, I’m afraid that there’s an approximately ninety-eight percent chance that this book is a fake.”

Spike’s heart dropped. “F-fake? What… What do you mean?”

“It’s the author of the book.”

“Author? But I didn’t find anypony’s name on it.”

Twilight set the book down on the nearby desk and flipped it open. A magnifying glass appeared over the book with a burst of magenta light as Twilight pointed at a corner with her hoof.

Looking at where Twilight’s hoof was, Spike did find something written in the corner. It was both tiny and faint, which would explain why he missed it before.

“Written by Dr D. Sico,” Spike said out loud, reading the miniscule text. His brows furrowed. “Dr D. Sico? What kind of name is that? And isn’t sicko supposed to have a 'k' in it?”

“Perhaps this will answer your questions.” Twilight shot a thin beam of her magenta magic at the name in the book.

Spike watched as the letters slowly moved by themselves, rearranging into a different word. When they stopped moving, Spike let out a loud groan when he saw what was left behind. “Discord…”

“Discord is that weird draconequus that likes to hang around Fluttershy, right?” Starlight asked.

Twilight nodded. “And a notorious jokester. I’m sorry, Spike, but it looks like Discord was the one who sent all those books, and he put this so-called dragon code book in as a prank.”

“S-so all that cuddling I did was for nothing?” Spike asked, his whole body drooping with disappointment.

Starlight patted Spike on the shoulder. “I wouldn’t say it was for nothing. I was really feeling down in the dumps just a few moments ago. Talking with you helped, but the cuddling was what made me so grateful to have you as a friend. It showed me that you really cared about me, not to mention how pleasant it felt. And from the looks of it, you also were enjoying yourself. You had a good time, right?”

“Yeah…”

“If it’s any consolation, Pinkie was literally singing how great of a cuddler you were,” Twilight chimed in, patting Spike’s other shoulder. “And from the sound of things, the rest of our friends also greatly appreciate their times with you. While I don’t know what Discord is up to, it does look like you did some good despite his deception.”

Spike thought about all he did yesterday. While almost all of his visits to his friends had a rocky start, they all ended with an incredibly gratifying cuddle session. The gloom he was feeling was dispelled when he remembered the warmth of his friends’ smiles. The best part was that he did indeed feel closer to each one of his friends. Prank or not, Spike was really glad that he cuddled with his friends.

“Yeah, I did do good. Didn’t I?” Spike said, a grin growing on his face. “All the cuddlings were awesome, and I do feel like I understand all of our friends better.”

A quiet growl made everypony turn in the direction of the noise, which just so happened to be Starlight’s belly.

Starlight blushed. “Uh, I guess I did not really eat enough while I was feeling down. I’m just going to head for the kitchen, if you two don’t mind.”

“Sure, Starlight,” Twilight replied with a nod. “Spike and I are going to figure out what to do with this Discord matter.”

“Alright then, let me know how that turns out,” Starlight said as she proceeded toward the door. “Oh, and Spike? Put me down for another cuddle session after dinner.”

“Starlight!” Twilight cried out.

Starlight snickered and exited the room, but not before shooting a wink back at Spike after Twilight turned her back toward the unicorn.

Stifling a chuckle, Spike asked, “So, what should we do with Discord?”

“I suppose we could go talk to Fluttershy. She knows him better than any of us and can help us figure out what to do with him. At the very least, she can tell us where he is.”

“Right.” Spike glanced at the book, and he noticed something was off. He moved closer and saw that there was another faint scrawl on the opposite corner. He grabbed the magnifying glass and inspected his discovery.

“What is it, Spike?” Twilight asked.

“Just looking at the other little thing that’s on this page.”

“Other little thing? But there was only…” Twilight moved behind Spike to also look through the magnifying glass. “Turn to page seven? That wasn’t there before. It must be another one of Discord’s—Wait, Spike, don’t!”

Spike needed to find out what Discord was trying to do with him, and he flipped to page seven before Twilight could stop him. Again, he found another note. “Turn to page thirteen.”

As Spike proceeded without her consent again, Twilight sighed. “I have a bad feeling about this. Be careful, Spike.”

Spike, once again, found another note. “Turn to page two hundred fifty-six… What the? This book doesn’t even have half that many pages!”

The direction on the page disappeared, as though an eraser was used on it, and a new instruction appeared in its place.

“Well, that’s not suspicious at all,” Spike said dryly when he and Twilight witnessed the correction. “It wants us to turn to the last page.”

“Discord is probably doing this for a cheap laugh and trying to waste our time. If there’s nothing after this, we’re leaving for Fluttershy’s.”

Spike nodded and went to the last page. He immediately backed away when he found a picture and shielded his eyes. “Eww! Eww! Eww! What is Discord… How is he… Eeewww!”

“D-Discord!” Twilight cried out, her face all red and her eye twitching.

The Discord standing in the picture started moving, and he started rolling around on the paper as though in laughter. A speech bubble appeared above him with the words “Ha! Ha! Ha!” in them.

Twilight growled and picked up the book in her magic. She held it high up in the air and violently shook it until a miniature Discord fell onto the ground with a splat.

Still as flat as paper and the same size he was in the picture, Discord flew up to Twilight and Spike with a smug smile. “And that is why you really need to stop reading so many dusty old books, my dear Twilight. You never know what you may find.”

“Discord, what are you up to?” Twilight demanded with a glare that promised many rainbow lasers in the near future.

Discord stuck his tail into his mouth and began to blow, inflating himself until he was back to his usual size and three-dimensional self. “Why, whatever do you mean?” he asked innocently.

“You sent me a fake book about the noble dragon code!” Spike shouted, giving his own glare at Discord along with pointing an accusatory finger at the draconequus.

“But is it really fake?” Discord asked. He held up a finger, and the book appeared on his fingertip and began spinning. “From what I have seen, there is no actual dragon code, and the one you have been using is of your own making.”

“Even if there’s no official dragon code, the one Spike made for himself is very important to him,” said Twilight. “You shouldn’t treat it as a joke.”

“Who said I did?” Discord asked, condescendingly patting Twilight on the head with a claw. The same claw popped off his arm and continued to pat Twilight by itself when Discord turned to Spike and added, “If I did my spy-er, research right, everything I wrote is more or less stuff you already did, correct?”

Spike slowly nodded, remembering what he had read. “I guess…”

“See? I was just helping out by putting it all in a nice book. No harm done, and I wrote a riveting masterpiece. Would you like an autograph?” The patting claw plucked a feather from Twilight’s wing, eliciting a yelp from the alicorn, and floated back to Discord. He opened the book, and using Twilight’s feather as a quill, he scribbled something with wild strokes onto the page. When he was done, he flipped the book over, revealing a crude caricature drawing of himself.

“Yeah… No thanks…”

Discord scoffed and threw the book over his shoulder. “No appreciation for the arts these days.”

“What I want to know is what’s up with that cuddling thing you added?” Spike asked. “I definitely didn’t have that in my dragon code before.”

“Ah, yes, you see every now and then, it feels like there’s a period of several months where there’s no adventures or anything exciting going on. It feels like a hiatus or something like that.” Discord paused and scratched his head. “Or is it more like several weeks? I don’t know, I lose track of time so much, I’m thinking of getting a leash so that it would stop flying away from me.”

Twilight loudly cleared her throat.

“Do you need a cough drop, Twilight dear?” Discord asked, extending an open claw. A small box of candy that were making coughing sounds appeared in his claw with a pop.

“No,” Twilight replied, pushing the coughing drops away. “We need you to tell us why you tricked Spike into cuddling with all of our friends.”

“Oh, right. Well, to put things simply, I was bored.”

Twilight and Spike shot Discord deadpan stares. “You were bored…” Twilight repeated in a flat tone.

“Yep.”

“And how was me cuddling supposed to entertain you?” Spike asked.

“It was a harmless little experiment. I wanted to see what would happen if all of you stepped out of your comfort zones.” There was a flash, and Discord was now sitting on a lawn chair with a bag of popcorn in his claw. “And I must say that you put on quite the show, Spikey Wikey.”

Spike shuddered as he imagined Discord spying on him while he was cuddling with his friends. “Dude, that’s creepy.”

“Creepy?” Discord threw away the popcorn and kicked away his chair. He stood up with his claws on where his hips probably were. “And what’s so creepy about doing a good deed for my friends? Fluttershy said I should try and do more nice things for all of you, and that’s what I did. Granted, all I did was give you a little nudge, and you did all the work for me, but it was still fun watching you get into all sorts of shenanigans just for the sake of cuddling.”

“Discord, I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation here,” Twilight pointed out.

“Gravity?” Discord groaned. “Yeah, gravity and I don’t get along. Always trying to tell me what to do, not to mention being a huge downer.”

Twilight let out a huge sigh of exasperation. “No, what I mean is that while cuddling might seem harmless, it can send the wrong message. Some ponies might mistake it as a sign of love! It could have caused so much trouble!”

“Ah, love,” Discord sang with a dreamy sigh. “Just thinking about all the chaos it causes makes me feel all tingly inside. And to think, I may have managed to hook up our little Spikey Wikey with six new marefriends. Maybe I should take Princess Heartbutt’s job instead.”

Discord snapped his fingers and he was now sporting a pair of pink wings on his back, a tiara on his head, a mane with the same style and color as Princess Cadance, and he was now wearing a pink shirt that said “Discord is best princess.”

“Discord, I’m serious,” Twilight growled as Discord chucked his attire out the window. “You could have caused a big fight between our friends. You are very lucky that there were no accidents or misunderstandings when Spike was out yesterday.”

“Oh, give the boy some credit, Twilight.” Discord pinched Spike’s cheeks. “Our little Spikey Wikey knows how to care for himself. Nothing went wrong, and even if something did happen, I’m sure all of you, being the goody-four-horseshoes you all are, would be able to solve the problem and come out as better friends in the end. The way I see it, no matter what happened, the experience would make you all better friends.”

“So this prank was in the name of friendship?” Twilight said, her eyebrow rising with skepticism.

“Why don’t we ask Spike here?” Discord grinned. “Spike, do you think that persuading you to cuddle was a good thing?”

Spike fidgeted under the gazes of a purple alicorn and a draconequus. “Well… as much as I hate to admit it, Discord is kind of right. I really do feel like I’m closer with all of our friends. Also, cuddling feels so awesome.”

“See? See? See?” Discord chanted with a big grin as he poked Twilight’s cheek with each word.

Twilight sighed and slapped Discord’s claw away. “Fine, I suppose it was a harmless enough prank, and some good did come out of it. I’m still telling Fluttershy though.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ll do it myself. In fact, I’ll be doing that really soon since it’s almost tea time with dear Fluttershy. She’ll probably congratulate me on a job well done. Maybe she’ll bake me some of those scrumptious cookies as a reward.” Discord reached out with a claw, and a doorknob appeared out of thin air. He turned the doorknob, opening a door that also suddenly appeared. He waved goodbye to Twilight and Spike with a “Ta-ta!” before walking through the door and slamming it shut, leaving no trace of him or the door.

“Well, that just happened,” Twilight stated in a weary voice.

“Yep…” Spike replied. He was still processing Discord’s explanation. One important question did come to mind though. “Twilight, do you still think I shouldn’t cuddle?”

“I never said you couldn’t. I just thought you should be more careful, but it’s clear to me now that you are being responsible with it. I’m guessing that you’re planning to cuddle with our friends again?”

Spike chuckled nervously. “Um, maybe?”

Twilight smiled and gave Spike a one-hoofed hug. “I trust you, Spike. Just promise me you’ll keep being cautious and that you won’t go overboard.”

“Of course.” Spike returned the gesture with a brief hug on Twilight’s foreleg. “And thanks for looking out for me, even if you were being a bit overprotective.”

Twilight chuckled. “I sometimes forget that even though you’re a baby dragon, you’re also a growing baby dragon.”

“So… about Pinkie’s cuddle party…”

“Yeah, yeah, you can go.”

“I was actually wondering about you.”

“Oh, um…” A small bit of red appeared on Twilight’s cheeks. “I’ll think about it. This all still seems pretty odd to me, but if it’s for friendship, I might give it a try. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to my room for a bit. It’s been a long day, and I could use a breather.”

“Sure, see you later, Twilight.”

Once Twilight departed, Spike picked up Discord’s book and began thumbing through it. Despite being fake, the book did push him to have all sorts of memorable moments with his friends and discover the wonders of cuddling.

When Spike found the page Discord had drawn his autograph, he found that the drawing was gone and was instead replaced by a short message.

“You know you want to do it.”

Spike sighed. Despite the vague sentence, he knew exactly what it meant. Spike knew that Discord was crafty enough to already predict what was going to be on his mind.

He wanted to cuddle with Twilight.

Even though the reason he started cuddling was just a prank, Spike did not feel any regrets cuddling with his friends. In fact, he was more than willing to do more of it in the near future. However, he had cuddled with six of his close friends, but the closest one of all still had not experienced the wonders of cuddling.

Spike looked in the direction of his best friend Twilight’s room. It was obvious that Twilight was kind of nervous about the whole prospect, but at least she did not flat out reject it. Just like when they took their first hoofsteps into Ponyville, Twilight just needed to step out of her comfort zone to try something new, and Spike was just the dragon to help her with that, especially with Pinkie’s cuddle party coming up.

Spike would also be lying if he denied that he really wanted to cuddle with Twilight.

After taking a deep breath, Spike walked over to Twilight’s room and knocked on the door. “Hey, Twilight, could I talk to you?”

“Sure, Spike,” Twilight replied, and the door opened with her magic.

Spike walked in to find, unsurprisingly, Twilight reading a book on her bed.

Setting the book aside and sitting up on her haunches, Twilight looked up at her visitor. “What do you need to talk about, Spike?”

“About you going to Pinkie’s cuddle party,” Spike replied as he climbed up onto the bed to sit next to Twilight.

“What’s wrong? I already said that I would think about it.”

“I know, but I want to make sure you do go. You’re going to be the only one not there if you don’t.”

“You really think everypony else will go?”

“After what we been through yesterday, yes. All of our friends pretty much said they would be more than glad to do it again, and you should’ve seen the happy looks on everypony’s faces when I left them. I’m telling you, Twilight, cuddling is the best. I don’t know why you’re being so reluctant about it.”

“I’m just being cautious. I mean, this whole thing started because Discord pranked you.”

“But after talking with him, we know that he wasn’t really planning something bad or anything. Plus, we also established that I handled the situation very well.”

Twilight chuckled. “Yes, you are a responsible dragon, Spike, and yes, it did seem like Discord doesn’t mean us any harm.” She sighed and looked away. “To be honest, Spike, I would like to see what all the fuss is about. I just… I just guess that I’m nervous. Knowing that Discord started this series of events, harmless or not, is certainly not helping. Also, despite how well you interacted with our friends, I still can’t help but constantly think of all the possible social and intimate implications cuddling has.”

“So in other words, you’re thinking too much…” Spike flatly pointed out.

Twilight huffed. “Like I said, I’m just trying to be cautious.”

“Come on, Twilight, it’s nothing dangerous, and it’s not like you’re going to mess up anything with our friends. We’re used to your antics.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks, Spike…”

“I’m serious, Twilight. There’s nothing for you to worry about. Cuddling will help you relax.”

Twilight tilted her head. “Why are you so insistent on getting me to cuddle?”

“Because I really would hate for you to be left out of all the fun. And well… the other reason is because I really would like to cuddle with you again.”

“Again? What do you mean? I don’t recall cuddling you or anypony lately.”

“When we were young, don’t you remember?”

Twilight blinked several times, her eyes never leaving Spike. “Yes… Yes, I do. When it was just you and me whenever we stayed at the castle for one of Celestia’s lessons…”

Spike slowly nodded. “The big castle with all the grown-ups was kind of intimidating to us back then, but our cuddling times made it all better. All the cuddling I have been doing recently reminded me of those good times, and I miss that.”

“Spike…” A small smile blossomed on Twilight’s face. “Things were a bit simpler back then, huh?”

“Yep. And that’s one of the main reasons I want to cuddle with you. To remember those good, old days, as well as showing you how much I appreciate you being my best friend for all these years.”

Twilight opened her mouth and then closed it. After a moment, she uttered, “Okay…”

“Okay what?”

“Okay, I’ll cuddle with you,” Twilight said with a smile.

“Really?!” Spike cried out happily.

“Yes. I almost forgotten how we used to cuddle, and like you, I would love to rekindle those memories. You’re also right about me not wanting to be left out if all my friends are going to start cuddling more. I admit, I’m still a little bit nervous, but who else better to help me ease back into cuddling than the dragon I used to cuddle with.” Twilight leaned forward and wrapped her forehooves around Spike in a hug. “Most of all, I want to show you my own appreciation for being both my best friend and my number one assistant.”

“Thanks, Twilight,” Spike replied, moving his claws to circle around Twilight’s neck.

Never letting go of each other, the two of them moved to lie on their sides. Spike snuggled closer to Twilight, burying his nose into the base of Twilight’s neck.

He was doing it. He was actually cuddling with Twilight. Feeling Twilight’s hooves gently move to lock themselves behind his back, Spike sighed blissfully as they were pressed together. Slowly running a claw around the parts of Twilight’s back he could reach, Spike did his best to soothingly stroke Twilight. While Twilight was slightly bigger than their friends, thanks to her alicorn physique, it only meant that there was more for Spike to cuddle.

Even though they had plenty of bonding moments over the years, Spike never felt closer to Twilight like he did right now.

“This really does feel amazing,” Twilight said as she unfolded one of her wings and draped it over Spike like a warm blanket. “Why did we stop doing this?”

“We grew up,” Spike replied. “As we got older, we found other ways to cope with things. You also started spending more and more time with studying and research, which meant that I also needed to assist you more.”

Twilight sighed and tightened her hold on Spike. “Another thing I neglected before we moved to Ponyville. I’m sorry, Spike.”

“It’s not your fault, Twilight. I didn’t do much to keep us going either. I even thought cuddling was too girly for me before this whole cuddling episode.”

“Well, I’m glad that you wanted to revive the tradition.” Twilight gently brushed the top of Spike’s head with her muzzle, her soft breaths lightly tickling the dragon. “With all the crazy stuff we go through, we need something like this to unwind and remember how much we mean to each other.”

Spike chuckled. “My thoughts exactly.”

Spike sighed happily, a big smile plastered on his face. He was cuddling with Twilight, which meant that he had finally cuddled with all of his friends. He had accomplished his cuddling crusade.

“Spike?”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s not let so many years pass before our next cuddle.”

“Sounds good to me… Does this mean you’re more open to cuddling now?”

“Mhmm.”

“Open enough to cuddle with our friends?”

Twilight giggled. “You’re going to drag me along regardless of what I say at this point, aren’t you?”

“Well, now that you mention it…”

“Har har… Anyway, to answer your question, yes, I’ll join you.”

“Awesome, you won’t regret it, Twilight.”

“I’m sure I won’t. But until then, I think I might need a few more practice sessions before I’m ready.”

“I would be more than happy to help with that.”