Chapter 6: Odd Offers and New Friends
Chapter 6: Odd Offers and New Friends
“So this is where you teach your young… foals?” Spyro asked with a raised eyebrow, shifting his curious gaze from the quaint schoolhouse they were approaching to Cherilee. “Or is that the wrong word?”
“You’re partly right,” Cherilee offered. “Yes, foal is a word used for young ponies, but only those under two years of age... the two words you’re looking for are colt and filly, colt for young school-aged male, and filly for young school-aged female.”
The normally deep purple dragon’s cheeks flustered pale red, prompting small giggles to escape the lips of the two mares who were walking beside him in his examination of the building.
“Uh, sorry about that…”
Cherilee just laughed and put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. “No harm in making a mistake, every student does and that’s how we learn after all… besides, given you’ve only been here a day, I’m surprised how much you’ve picked up.”
Fluttershy nodded in approval of Cherilee’s statement, and a smile returned to Spyro’s face; he admitted he had learned a lot today thanks to the knowledge of the local school teacher, everything from general pony customs and etiquette, to the history of Ponyville since its beginning, although the immense amount of memorizing and recalling had left his brain saturated with random thoughts and him with a dull headache.
Plus his tail still hurt from the rather interesting visit to Fluttershy’s cottage. He'd faced more enemies and evils then most dragons would care to imagine, and defeated them all, but today he had met his match in the most unlikely of places; a small but VERY protective white bunny known as Angel.
Still, it was worth it, if the first impressions he had gained from the two mares meant anything, Equestria was sounding to be a very interesting place.
“Yeah, learning fast is something I’ve had to do a lot of over the years… anyway, are we allowed inside? I’m actually quite curious to see what your kinds’ learning environment is like.”
“Of course you are,” Cherilee said in an amused tone, trotting up to the door and pushing it open. “Although I swear you’re the first pony- well dragon in your case, who’s actually been interested about what I do here.”
The purple dragon stopped in the doorway, and then let out a breath.
“I… had a mentor named Ignitus when I was learning and growing up, amongst others… and to me he was both my teacher, and a sort of father figure I guess...”
Fluttershy was no Applejack when it came to being able to tell the difference between a truthful pony, and a lying one, although she didn’t have to in order to see there was more to his story of tutor and student then Spyro was letting on; however, she was the element of kindness, and could see in Spyro’s expression a heavy mixture of pain and still raw sadness, hence she didn’t think it right to pursue the matter further.
As the young dragon soon discovered the ‘learning environment’ the ponies were taught in was far different than his own, and by far different, he meant the only thing similar to the way Ignitus, and the other dragons had taught him over the years, was that the ponies had a teacher in front of them.
The room Spyro found himself walking into was roughly rectangular, filled with small wooden desks and chairs arranged in neat rows that faced a black board, and bore the overpowering combined scents of paper, chalk and fur; wandering around the schoolhouse he noticed that most of the walls were lined with bookcases and shelves, while here and there a colourful drawing or poster would hang about for all to see.
“So what do you think of it?” Fluttershy asked as she walked around the room with the curious dragon, who to her seemed content to stick his snout into anything that caught his attention. “If… you don’t mind me asking that is.”
“It’s different from the way I was taught… usually a dragon would only take a single pupil at a time. If you could manage this many students at once then you’d be a legend in the eyes of the mentors I’ve had.”
The mulberry mare blushed and giggled behind a concealing hoof, still watching the strange scene from the comfort of the doorway. “I try my best, but really my students are generally well behaved, bar a few… exceptions, and I don’t have many pegasi students either. They’re the really energetic ones.”
The purple dragon tore his attention from a book case. “Why is that?”
“Most pegasi are sent to flight school in Cloudsdale,” Fluttershy offered, spreading her own wings, and hovering just above one of the wooden desks. “When we’re born, we’re not used to conditions at the high altitudes we usually fly at, so pegasi are schooled and taught to fly in Cloudsdale, just so our bodies become used to those conditions… oh, and Cloudsdale is a floating city made of cloud... I mean, if you were wondering that is.”
The dragon’s eyes arched in surprise for a moment, and the next a board grin spread across his face as he shook his head.
“Well that certainly sounds… different,” Spyro chuckled, prompting both mares to glance at each other and laugh along with him. “But I think I’d prefer to stay here on the ground… heh, I swear I could stand here and listen to you all day Cherilee and not get bored. Equestria sounds like a pretty amazing place.”
The red-purple mare’s jaw dropped, and her eyes widened like something either amazing or horrifying had happened right in front of her. “Spyro… how would you like to come to my class?”
“So you want me… to basically be one of your students?” he asked, looking to Fluttershy for reassurance, but only finding her to be equally surprised by the offer. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”
“Well, just think about,” the school teacher chimed, nodding her head to the various book cases and the black board. “You want to learn about Equestria, and probably make some friends while you’re here, right? So what better way could there be? you’d be able to do both of those things at once, plus if you wanted to you could teach the students about dragons and your homeland. That’s a subject I know everypony will be interested in.”
“But wouldn’t your students… um, no offense Spyro...” Fluttershy said gingerly as she played with her font hooves. “Be afraid of having a dragon in their class room?”
The mare shook her head. “All of my students know Spike quite well, Fluttershy, so I highly doubt they'd fear a dragon like Spyro,” Cherilee countered. “Plus, given Spike and Spyro are friends, I’d bet they’d like him all the more. What do you think?”
Spyro didn’t do or say anything as his mind made sense of what Cherilee was proposing; she was offering him a chance to learn about Equestria in the same way the ponies did, which was both an enticing offer, and as he guessed a good use of his otherwise wasted time, the only issue was how his potential class mates would take him.
Still, it was either try his luck, or spend the rest of his time in Equestria bored out of his scales.
“Well… if you think your students won’t mind me… then why not, but on two conditions.”
Cherilee tapped her hooves as she tried to contain herself. “Which are?”
“Firstly, I’d rather not come every day just because… well, hopefully… Twilight and I will need some time to figure out a way to get us home… so maybe every second day,” Spyro replied politely. “And secondly, if possible and if she agrees, I’d like to bring Cynder along from time to time. As much as I love her, she’s... a little introverted when it comes to dealing with others, because of some things she did a long time ago which others usually hold against her. I think something like this would be good for her.”
If not for the fact she was a grown mare, Spyro swore Cherilee would have started bounding around her class room in excited celebration at his answer, as it was she simply reared back on her hind legs, jumped up and down on the spot, and clapped her front hooves joyfully.
“Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I promise this will be worthwhile Spyro!”
The young dragon grinned wildly before answering.
“Of course it will be, because I’ll either learn about your country and make friends…” he chuckled with a sinister smile, showing to her his rows of marble white fangs. “Or Cynder and I will have a free meal if somepony tries to get under our scales.”
The two mares immediately spun around and looked at him with expressions of utter horror, the dragon looking between them as his good mood was replaced by confusion.
“What? Oh come on, can’t you ponies take a joke once in a while?”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Ugh, why do good days always seem to be short, and bad days to last a lifetime,” Cynder hissed to herself in annoyance, glancing at the various quaint examples of pony architecture while she half paid attention to Twilight’s ramblings.
The violet dragoness’s afternoon had been, in her opinion anyway, barely tolerable. Never in her life had she been forced to listen to such a torrential downpour of boring knowledge, and was currently considering banging her head against the nearest building wall in an effort to try and maintain her sanity.
Twilight and Applejack were currently guiding her through the residential part of Ponyville, and being the well acquainted and informed local pony she was, Twilight was spilling to Cynder who to turn to when a potential situation of any and every sort arose. Naturally, however, the dragoness wasn’t paying much attention. Instead of listening, she allowed her eyes and mind to wander around the street aimlessly in search of anything interesting, unfortunately, walking along a quiet strip of pony houses, when there was nopony around at that, meant there was very little she found worthy of gaining her attention.
“…and if you ever need some flowers you should go see Rose or…” Twilight started before looking back at the dragoness, and finally realizing her mind was not there. “Cynder, are you listening?”
“Partly,” the dragoness replied with a lazy yawn, the spreading of her jaws revealing large razor sharp teeth. “No offense, Twilight, but half of these ponies I doubt I’ll ever need to interact with, so I see no reason to even know of them to be honest.”
The two ponies blinked in utter amazement as the young dragon’s rather cold and un-Equestrian logic.
“Ain’t you dragons ever heard of being neighbourly?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow, stopping her trot and looking back at the dragoness. “Ah’ mean… sure, I don’t have a lot to do with most of em’ either, but that don’t mean I shouldn’t at least try and get to know them for the sake of being friends.”
“So even if you never had a reason to know them… you would still try and make friends with them?”
“Of course,” Applejack chuckled, using her front hoof to lift the brim of her hat from her face. “That’s what makes Ponyville so special. Everypony knows everypony, so when something goes wrong you’ll always have friends willing to offer a helping hoof.”
“Aren’t dragons like that?” Twilight put in curiously, silently wishing she had her notepad.
Cynder sighed and shook her head in annoyance, if these two weren’t careful they’d find themselves treading into territory she’d rather not talk about.
“Look… I’ll admit that most dragons do like to ‘be neighbourly’ with each other,” the dragoness said. “But if you haven’t already realized, I’m not like most dragons; I like either my own company or that of Spyro, so getting to know and befriend each and every pony in your little town isn't high on my agenda.”
The two ponies looked at each other in utter confusion before shaking their heads, both guessing that if they ever managed to figure Cynder and her attitude out, it would be a Celestia sent miracle.
“Well be that as it may, Cynder, it’s important you know who to turn to when the need arises,” Twilight stated firmly as she approached the dragoness, who in return backed up a step or two. “Because although Applejack and I are your friends, we won’t always be around to guide you…”
“Ignitus forbid that day,” the dragoness thought sarcastically to herself, rolling her eyes.
Before she could hear, and fail to absorb any more of Twilight’s ramblings, however, something else caught her attention, and her head snapped around to her right. A scaly claw immediately rose up and laid itself across the surprised mare’s mouth to silence her. All the while, the dragoness’s eyes hunted for the source of the new sound.
She doubted either pony could hear it, especially given that even with her sensitive hearing, the dragoness could only just make it out herself; the ringing in her ears was certainly the barely sensed sound of young laughter, and if she was right, it wasn't the frolicking excited fun kind.
“Stay here,” Cynder hissed, letting go of Twilight’s mouth, before jumping into the looming shadow of a nearby house, leaving the two mares in the middle of the street and staring at where the dragoness had been standing in disbelief.
“How does she do that?” Twilight asked to nopony in particular.
Applejack snorted and shook her head in return. “You’re the darn unicorn here, you tell me.”
The dragoness drifted around the pony dwellings as one with the shadows, seeing everything they saw whilst remaining totally out of sight other than her own shadow, which simply blended in with all the others around her anyway. Like a ghost she drifted in and out of houses and between buildings as she hunted for the source of the noise, which happened to have both caught her attention and annoyed her.
If there was one thing that truly got under her scales, it was the thought of someone being pushed around, because she had endured a twisted lifetime of it under her former master, Malefor.
“Where are you?” she growled to herself as she moved between the shadows of a house and a tree, sharp eyes tracing the length of the desolate street she had quickly found herself in from the safety of the darkness.
“…Oh what that’s little blank flank? I couldn’t hear you… oh well, at least we all know now you’re special talent ISN’T public speaking.”
The moment the words met her ears, Cynder felt like grabbing the owner up in her jaws, and tearing them to pieces; the vocal poison that stung her ears was laced with so much contempt, arrogance, and downright meanness it actually made her want to burn something.
She found the source under a tree across the street; a single bright white filly was backed up against the thick truck, while two others, one silver-grey and the other light pink, appeared to be pestering her, and by the looks of things the situation was far from enjoyable for the small pony who was cornered.
“You’re going to regret that statement you little rat,” Cynder growled as she jumped out of her shadow, quickly and quietly making her way towards the situation without the three realizing it.
As she came closer she could hear some of what was being said, the most obvious being the words ‘cutie mark’ and ‘blank flank’; Twilight had explained that a cutie mark was something that identified a ponies special talent, and if the situation was anything like she thought, Cynder guessed young ponies who hadn’t got their own yet were treated with contempt by those who did.
And given she had endured similar treatment, that made her angry.
“That’s the dumbest comeback I’ve ever heard,” giggled the pinkish one after an unheard reply, who, as the dragoness noted, was also wearing a tiara. “Your special talent mustn’t be debating then either.”
“Or speech making,” the grey one put in, the counterparts laughing between themselves as the marble white filly hung her head. “Oh cheer up, Sweetie Bell, you’re good at something… that something’s just probably not very good is all.”
More laughter followed, but it was overshadowed by something that concerned Sweetie Bell a lot more that then the current teasing she was undergoing; just as the Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon burst into another round of amused giggles at her lack of a cutie mark, a deathly growl rippled between them.
Upon raising her head and opening her eyes, Sweetie's gaze was met by a sight that both amazed and terrified her.
Standing right behind the two bullies, crimson wings flared, claws readied, and fangs bore, was a violet dragon, its shadow encompassing the three of them as its emerald eyes burned like hot embers. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon soon turned around to confront the disturbance of their fun, only to have their tails drop a little between their legs as they saw exactly what stood over them.
“You both have some nerve,” Cynder hissed, voice dripping with venom as her fangs drifted in front of the two fillies. “Two against one is hardly a fair fight.”
“Wh-who are you?” the silver pony gibbered quietly, cringing as Cynder’s stone cold green eyes fell on her. “Please don’t eat me!”
Before Cynder could get a word off the pink earth pony jumped in.
“Oh mare up Silver Spoon, she’s not going to eat you,” the other filly snipped, giving her comrade a disappointed glare before looking up at Cynder. “Look dragon, I don’t know who you are, other than an apparent friend of Spike’s according to every idiot in town… but let’s get something straight, you lay an ugly claw on either me or Silver Spoon, and my dad with have you thrown in a Canterlot dungeon…”
Cynder’s eyebrow twitched menacingly as she resisted the urge to burn the filly to ashes; she could deal with being feared, she could tolerate being avoided, but she WOULD NOT put up with some self-important, smart mouthed little ball of pink fur being rude to her.
“So you’d better…”
“You stop right there!” the dragoness snarled, snapping her jaws closed a hair’s width from the pony’s face, her green eyes blazed with angry fire. “Now you listen to me you annoying little brat. If I hear one more distasteful word come from your mouth, I’m going to take that pretty little well groomed tail of yours and set it on fire! Now do me a favour and get out of my sight before I lose my temper with you and do something I’ll regret.”
“You wouldn’t dare…” Diamond Tiara started as she locked eyes with Cynder.
“Try me,” Cynder snapped in return. “I DARE you!”
“Diamond, let’s just go,” Silver Spoon jumped on, looking nervously between her friend and the fuming dragoness. “W-we don’t want any trouble.”
“Then scram before my mood gets any worse!”
Obviously annoyed at being told what to do, but realizing it was best, Diamond Tiara sighed and followed her friend, casting a hateful glare back at Cynder and Sweetie Bell as the two of them disappeared down the street.
“You haven’t heard the last of this!” the pink filly called over once she was out of sight.
“A downright pair of pains in the tail if I ever met one,” the dragoness snarled once they were out of ear shot, slowly turning to the unicorn filly, and suddenly feeling a little out of place. “Are you…ok?”
Being what could be described as 'sisterly' to someone she didn’t know wasn’t something Cynder made a habit of doing, but given the no doubt traumatic experience she had gone through, she decided to at least try to comfort the small filly who was currently in her protective charge... which she guessed probably wouldn’t be easy, given they were of completely different races.
“I’m fine,” the filly replied as she got to her hooves, running her eyes curiously over the taller dragoness. “Thanks for getting rid of them…?”
“Cynder,” the dragoness replied, not entirely sure herself why she was being so open, or why she felt good about it. “Are they always like that, you know… painful?”
“I’m Sweetie Belle… and yeah, they only do it because my friends and I don’t have our cutie marks. They like to remind us about it every chance they get.”
Cynder was now finding herself angrier and angrier at the two juvenile bullies. She admitted that when it came to getting along she wasn’t brilliant, but she didn’t under any circumstance go out of her way to hurt others like her own master had done to her.
“Don’t worry about them, if they ever give you any more trouble, I’ll make sure they regret it,” Cynder chuckled darkly as she stared down the empty street, wondering how the two would react to her jumping out of a random shadow at them. “Anyway, what are you doing out here alone? You seem a little young to be…”
“YOU LEAVE SWEETIE BELLE ALONE!!”
“COME HERE YA SCALY BRUTE!!”
Before the dragoness could even react to the two new voices, a pair of colourful cannon balls slammed into her side and sent her rolling, and just as she prepared to right herself and face the new threat, they jumped on her back in an effort to pin her to the ground.
In a fit of rapid struggles her tail arched around in an effort to swat them off, but to no avail, and hence she did the next best thing, dropping straight into her shadow, and leaving the newcomers to sprawl on the dirt as she reappeared a meter or so away.
The normally blunt faced dragoness couldn’t help but smirk when she saw her attackers; one was a bright orange pegasus with a purple mane and tail, while the other was a crimson maned earth pony with a creamy coloured coat. Both were about Sweetie Belle’s size, and were at that moment lying on the ground as they spat bits of sand and dirt from their mouths.
“Well that’ll teach you now won’t it?” Cynder chuckled. “I take it these are your friends, Sweetie Belle?”
“Yep,” the filly giggled as she watched her two friends remove the last of the dirt from their tongues. “Cynder, this is Applebloom and Scootaloo… girls this is Cynder, she’s a friend of Spike’s.”
The dragoness mentally groaned; she admitted Spike wasn’t too bad a dragon, but because he and Ember were so alike, describing him as a ‘friend’ was a bit of a far stretch as of yet.
“So you’re the one who had the darn town and my big brother all up and about this morning,” Applebloom said as she got to her hooves and shook her coat. “Big Macintosh said you were something of a might rude.”
“Your brother decided he’d try and test his strength on me, ended up kicking a bookcase instead, and made a complete fool of himself in front of his mate,” Cynder replied dryly and with a light growl. “And that was before I could even say a word to him, so he has no one to blame but himself for that.”
Although it wasn’t nice, Applebloom and her two friends snickered at the thought of a girl making her brother look like a fool.
“That’s sounds to be my brother alright; he’s always been an act first and ask later type,”
“Go figure,” Cynder smirked, a little surprised that the filly wasn’t insulted by her prior remark. “Anyway, what are you three doing out here on your own? Every pony I’ve come across has pulled their young in doors at the very sight of me?”
“We’re out crusading!” Scootaloo chimed, earning her a confused look from the dragoness.
“She means were looking for our special talent and trying to earn our cutie marks,” Sweetie Belle explained. “We call it crusading because we’re…
“…THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!!”
Cynder had experienced a lot of loud noises in her time, but by Ignitus the pure volume of the three fillies abrupt chant just about caused her eardrums to rupture; she clenched her jaws in trying to avoid the sudden heavy throbbing between her ears, even that however did little good to ease the immense pain.
“We work together to try and earn our cutie marks,” Applebloom said as she looked fondly between her two friends. “Since we’re all kind of… well… late earners.”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo sighed bitterly as she shook her head. “Most of the other ponies in our class have theirs already.”
“And I’m guessing that’s why those other two pick on you three?” the dragon hissed as she looked over at Sweetie, Applebloom and Scootaloo looking between themselves and their friend for answers.
“Oh right! Girls, Cynder scared Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon away!” Sweetie Belle announced happily. “You should have seen them, Diamond got all flustered and Silver Spoon was as freighted as a foal.”
Now THAT got the two new filly’s immediate attentions, their eyes rapidly flicking between the violet dragoness and their white unicorn friend as grins spread across their faces. A moment later the dragoness found herself in a position that would mentally disturb her for a very long time... said position being pinned in place by the combined weight of the three overjoyed fillies who were suddenly hugging her.
Hugging was something the dragoness DIDN’T do.
“I guess we owe you an apology for tackling you, Cynder,” Scootaloo smiled excitedly, the width of the grin on her face a little bit unnerving to the dragoness. “Anypony who can teach those two a lesson is awesome in my opinion… but not as awesome as Rainbow Dash, no offense… so…”
“…we’re sorry,” she and Applebloom said in unison, Sweetie Belle just giggling along with her friends.
“Don’t… mention it,” the dragoness hissed through her teeth as she looked down at the colourful equines, resisting the urge to simply try and throw the fillies off.
She really hated being touched.
Unfortunately, before she could get herself free from her furry prison, two distinct choruses of laughter cut through the moment. Upon turning around and glancing down the street, Cynder spotted Twilight and Applejack approaching her with wide grins stretching across their muzzles.
Frantically, the dragoness looked for a way out, but found none, and hence ended up feeling the fire of embarrassment creep into her cheeks as the two mares chuckled at her.
“So that’s were ya got to ya scaly varmint,” Applejack laughed as she pulled off her hat, looking between the dragoness and her young captors. “And I see ya met my sister and her friends, heh, I gotta say if that ain’t an adorable sight, then I don’t know what is.”
“And here I was thinking I’d figured you out,” Twilight put in with equal amusement. “Since when do you make friends Cynder?”
“Since I virtually had no choice in the matter,” the dragoness thought as she rolled her eyes, still fastened to the road by the three pony weights attached to her forelegs. “I have my moments… anyway, when can we go back to library exactly? I think I’ve done enough exploring of your town and meeting its inhabitants for one day, as you can see.”
“Can we come?” Applebloom asked, Cynder looking down the find the three fillies staring up at her.
She really wanted to say no, and get away from them as fast as possible... but then they did the most terrible thing they could possibly do to a stern dragoness; they gave her looks with big, gleaming, puppy dog eyes.
“Grrr! Alright fine,” she snorted, prompting a ‘YAY!” from the three fillies. “I swear I’m going to regret this.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Twilight! You here!” Spike called as he and Ember came in through the now door-less doorway. “Mustn’t be back yet I guess.” he shrugged.
By now Celestia’s sun was just dipping beneath the rolling hills that surrounded Ponyville, and hence after finishing Pinkie’s gifted confectionary in the comfort of each other, and the local park, the two dragons had returned home, or home-away-from-home as it was for Ember.
In Spike’s opinion, this had been one of the best days of his relatively short life thus far, for not only had he made knew friends who were dragons, but somehow managed to woo a rather cute dragoness, and now all he had to do was explain it to Twilight and his other friends that they were together.
That, he knew, was going to be an Interesting experience they would both have to deal with.
“I just hope Cynder didn’t give her and Applejack too much trouble,” Ember grinned as she followed him inside. “She has a habit of being a bit of clawful when she’s grumpy.”
“Trust me Ember, if Twilight can deal with an Ursa Minor, she can deal with Cynder,” Spike chuckled as she scratched the dragonesses cheek, prompting her to giggle. “So, is there anything you want to do while we wait for everypony else?”
“Well… are there any interesting books here?”
“Eh, kind of depends on what you deem to be interesting,” Spike shrugged again. “We’ve got a decent variety here, but it really depends on what takes your fancy.”
“Well… are there any on the princesses?” Ember asked, switching her gaze from the walls of literature to her ‘coltfriend’, a word, as Spike had explained, that among ponies carried less awkward indications than the word 'mate'. “Or maybe you can tell me about them. I mean, you’ve met them both haven’t you?”
“I’ve only met Luna a few times… but Celestia I know really well, if your interested.”
The bright pink dragoness simply smiled in reply and seated herself in the middle of the floor, tapping her tail a few times in an indication for Spike to join her. Once he did, however, she did something he didn’t expect, which was to gently embrace his tail with her own and entwine them as Cynder and Spyro had done earlier in the day; it was an odd feeling, but one he strangely enjoyed, friendly in a way, but intimate at the same time.
“Can I just ask, why do we do that?” he asked as he pointed to his now entangled purple tail. “Dragons I mean.”
“It’s a sign of love and affection between mates,” Ember replied with a slight touch of embarrassment, blushing a little and shying away. “What do ponies do to show affection? I-if you don’t mind me asking that is.”
Spike's cheeks flamed as he quickly realized what the pony equivalent was, and, although it was somewhat awkward, he guessed he wouldn’t mind demonstrating... just since Ember was his fillyfriend, after all, and she had wanted to curl their tails.
“Well… it’s probably easier if I show you then tell you,” he blushed as he faced the dragoness. “But just be aware it’s going to be a bit weird for you, and I’ve never done it before.”
Slowly and somewhat awkwardly, he put a claw on either side of Ember’s face and pulled her close. Slow enough so it was gentle, but fast enough to prevent her from losing her nerve, and hence before she had the chance to fully realize what was going on her lips met his.
Spike admitted first and foremost it was a bit sloppy since neither of them new what they were doing, but the affection was there and that was all that mattered.
Within a heartbeat all of Ember’s unease and fight melted away, and she returned the action, closing her eyes and following Spike’s lead by putting a fore-claw one either side of his face, her pendant pushing against his chest. To her, the crush she'd had on Spyro now seemed like a distant memory of a young hatchling’s foolishness, and Spike’s own infatuation with Rarity was now in his mind definitely over, by anypony’s reckoning.
Unfortunately, as they both had leaned over the years, all good things ended, the ending to this particular good thing being the sudden announced return of Twilight, Applejack, and the various others to the Ponyville library.
“Hello, Spike! Ember! We’r-WHAT IN THE NAME OF SWEET CELESTIA!!!”
“What’s wrong Tw-WOAHNELLY! APPLEBLOOM, TURN 'ROUND RIGHT NOW!!!”
In a frantic act of self-preservation, Spike tore himself from Ember’s embrace, resulting in them both tumbling backwards away from each other. Quickly righting themselves and turning to face the new presence, they the collective group of four shocked mares, three equally flabbergasted fillies, and two very confused looking dragons staring at them.
“Um… I guess we have some explaining to do,” Spike winced, aware that if there was a scale to measure the amount of ‘awkward’ in the room, it would have exploded.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
.
Notes:
Oh Spike what have you gone and done now…
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I'll just say that a large number of missing words, grammar mistakes and forgotten capitalizations are problems.
However, the actual content of the story is enough to save it.
Ember? Who the Hay is Ember?
*Googles* Ah, random dragon from the PS2 era of first gen Spyro. I only ever played the first three games (Awesome) and the reboot (also Awesome).
*Keeps Reading* English Voice Actor... Tara Strong?!? *Tracking* dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Twilight_Sparkle_lolface.png
You not only used Ember, you made her not suck?
Damn, son!
(Mad props for making someone from A Hero's Tail a main character.)
Huh. I was just thinking about Spyro, FIM crossovers earlier today. Love the story, I really do, but feel sorry for Cynder considering
a; The CMC'll never leave her alone,
b; She'll most likely give in to Spyros request she accompanies him to the school
c; The CMC will be IN THE FREAKING CLASSROOM.
d; Oh dear.
1301733 I know, right? Only ever seen one other fic where she isn't an obsessive, bitchy psychopath. The linked story's a bit cliche, but still one of the few good LOS fics I've found.
Ember + Spike
Spember?
This is best dragon ship ever. Of all bucking time.
poor rarity. grate story
*looks at awkward scale '9001'
ITS OVER 9000
Ember is in Equestria less than a day. Is already Spikes fillyfriend. Hmmm, yes, this has my interests.
[img]you_sir_are_awesome[/img]
Wow I can't believe noone caught this.
lord of the rings "one does not simply walk into Mordor"
Holy Luna, Spike you hound dog
(looks at Rarity)
"eep sorry"
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You sir deserve a cookie
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THX
a toast to you and your story (the glass of milk klang
as he dips the cookie in)
Why were Twilight and Applejack so shocked at seeing Spike and Ember kissing? I mean, yeah, they'd be shocked. But it was just a kiss. Why would AJ not want her little sister to see it? AJ and Twilight acted as if Spike and Ember were having sex or something.
And I almost feel sorry for Cynder. Cynder is the last dragon who would want an admirer following her around. And now she has three of them. Before Apple Bloom and Scootaloo butted in, I seemed to me that Cynder and Sweetie Belle were starting to bond. I feel like the other two ruined what could've been a real touching moment.
1301922 Ah, yes. I read that story back when it was still being published. It had me hooked all the way through. And my reaction to finding out that it even had its own TVtropes page was this:
“Twilight you here!” Spike called as he and Ember came in through the now door-less doorway. “Mustn’t be back yet I guess.”
So taking a pause here...
Prediction, Spike and Ember are gonna kiss and the rest of the gang will take that exact same moment to walk
through the doorway...
EDIT:
I EFFING KNEW IT!!!!!~~~~~~
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i Don't think it was kissing.......
HNNNNG
I can't help it, every time I hear exploded, I think of Gabriel Iglesias.
Go Spike!!!
Also misspelled Sugarcube.
chuckle
That has to be the best reaction to two kissing ever! Why? Cause it was just a kiss, it wasn't like they were having sex or something.
4180045 the way spike explained kidding, I thought they were gonna do just that. But it was just a kiss.
Good.
4180045 True that man!!!!
I know it might be a bit late but I'd love to see someone draw a pic of the cmc hugging Cynder in that alley
That'd be adorable
So this chapter starts out with Spyro being brought from Fluttershy's cottage to the school house and doing a pretty good job of learning about Equestria rather quickly.
Wait....So, let me get this straight, Spyro: You've faced an army of Grublins, the King of the Apes, even the Dark Master himself....and it's a bunny that kicks your tail?
Oh......Right...........
After taking in the site of the classroom - and commenting that he could listen to Cheerilee all day and not get bored - Cheerilee offers to let him be in the classroom to learn a few things about Equestria alongside the other students.
"Odd Offer" indeed, Chapter Title.
Yeah, I'd say that's fair. And I'd also say Cheerilee looks even younger when she's clapping her hooves like a little school filly with a fancy new ribbon.
Uh, Spyro? I think Sparx is rubbing off on you....
SHifting scenes to Cynder, who is hardly paying attention to Twilight's ramblings about the town.
Because Father Time likes to troll us like that. Or, in this case, Princess Celestia.
.....................
I am ashamed.......
(My inner voice: Did you just make a Trollestia joke?)
Me:
Moving on.... Twilight and AJ finally notice Cynder's behavior, and the resulting conversation briefly explores Cynder's desire to be either by herself or accompanied only by her closest friend(s) so as to escape from the ridicule of those who she wronged in the past. The two mares are still adamant, but something catches Cynder's attention and she takes off, fast-traveling through the Shadows. (I love that move in the game.)
Oooooh! Definitely a nice bit there; due to her own experiences, she seeks to protect others from the same - or similar - fate. Batman, anyone? ...........I'll go sit in the corner.
Thick trunk. THIS, not this.
And so Cynder intervenes by scaring the crap out of them!!! Of course, Diamond Tiara tries to assert her quote-on-quote "authority", succeeding only in making Cynder despise her even more.
Pissed-off Cynder is my second favorite Cynder. Number one is badass Cynder.
So Cynder takes a moment to try and comfort Sweetie Belle before---
----getting tackled by Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. One quick Shadow-shift and assurance from Sweetie Belle later, they're all hugging Cynder, much to her discomfort. And, honestly, I find this adorable. And apparently, so do AJ and Twilight, who show up before Cynder can get the fillies loose.
So Cynder's had quite enough of meeting ponies today, but the CMC haven't had NEARLY enough of her, and she reluctantly agrees to let them come with her back to the library. Yeah, once a kid has their sights set on you, they're harder to shake off than a missile. Especially with those puppy eyes.......
Back to Spike and Ember, who have arrived back at the library before anyone else. Ember decides she wants to know a bit more about the Princesses and Spike obliges to answer her questions.
At least, until the subject changes when she entwines their tails.
They're gonna kiss, aren't they?
*they kiss*
Minus the size difference - and the age difference, but in most fantasy situations that's irrelevant - this is actually a cute pairing.
Spikie, you got some 'splaining to do!
Damn Spike. You work fast.
Why must adults cover kids eyes whenever kissing is happening?
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Oh no. QUICK, SOMEONE GET A DOCTOR! IT'S ADORABETTES!
(Looks at part)
HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG IT'S TOO PRECIOUS!