Oh Spike We Hardly Knew Thee

by 5u0myn0n4

Chapter 8: Hope Has Faded

Originally published on November 14th, 2017

---

In the last chapter, we saw Twilight's friends attempt to send a letter to Spike. They sent the letter, but didn't receive a response. Celestia sent a second letter herself later on, but it came right back, indicating that the dragon mail spell had been undone. But how? Let's find out.

---

Spike was sitting alone in the cell for... hours? Days? All reference of time was gone. All he could do was sit and think out loud to himself.

"If my friends really do miss me, shouldn't they have found me by now?" Spike thought. "Unless... are we even friends?"
"What if we were never friends to begin with. Think about it. What good have I done for Twilight?" Spike asked himself.

Spike had flashbacks of times he disappointed Twilight, and there were a surprising number of moments.
"The Grand Equestria Pony Summit is just one example. I basically ruined the entire event." Spike said.

Spike sat in the cell, cold, and alone, the loneliest he'd ever felt. When all of the sudden, he felt something in his stomach rumbling.

"Oh man... what did I have for lunch?" Spike said feeling his stomach rumble.
Spike burped up a letter of all things.

And yes, it was the letter from the previous chapter.

Spike gasped.

"It can't be... can it?" He read the letter in his head.

"It's a letter from... my friends... Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Starlight, Rainbow Dash, Celestia, Pinkie Pie and... Twilight... they do miss me." Spike said in tears.

"I gotta reply!" he thought.
Unfortunately, there were no quills or ink in the cell, so he had to improvise.

Spike pulled off one of his scales to use as a quill, but it would not write without ink.

"Oh shoot, come on. What in here can I use instead of ink?" Spike wondered.
The ink already on the letter had already dried, he couldn't reuse it. There was only one other source of fluid in the room.

"Oh man, am I that desperate?" Spike asked himself.
"Yeah I'm that desperate." he answered.

Just before Spike was about to (you know what he was going to do), Henry walked in.

"Uh, Henry! How's it... hanging?" Spike said hiding the letter behind his back.

"What have you got behind your back?" Henry asked.
"Uh... nothing!" Spike answered.

Henry used his magic and yanked the letter from Spike's claws.

Henry read it, crumpled it up and tossed it when he was done.

"So, still pen pals with that namby pamby princess?" he asked mockingly.
"No! I mean, what's it to you!?" Spike exclaimed.

"We'll just have to fix that." Henry said.

Henry stomped on Spike, and forced him against the ground.

"OW! Get off of me!" Spike pleaded.

Henry used his magic on Spike.

"What are you doing-?!" it felt like Henry's magic was strangling Spike. Spike's life flashed before his eyes.
As quickly as it happened, it was over. Henry got up and walked to the front of the room.

"What did you...?" Spike grabbed the crumpled letter, and breathed fire on it, but it simply disintegrated.

"Now you won't be able to send or recieve any more letters." Henry said.
"But... but that's impossible... I can't believe that you just undid that... I've been able to send letters as long as I can remember." Spike said.

Henry just grined. He had removed Spike's ability to send letters.

"Yeah well... well... I can still breath fire!" Spike said.

Spike breathed fire right in Henry's face. The fire scorched his face, but he didn't seem phased by it.

"What? But how...?" Spike was astonished.

"I've been burnt so many times it doesn't affect me anymore." Henry said.
"Well that's... that's something." Spike said.

"Enough horsing around, it's time for your next fight." Henry said.

"No! Not another fight! I don't think I can take a single other one!" Spike pleaded

"For the sake of my time, let's hope you don't." Henry dragged Spike by his chain collar.

"NO! Twilight! Any pony! Help!" Spike pleaded.
"How many times do I have to say it? Those ponies hate you." Henry said.

"You're lying! They wrote me a letter!" Spike exclaimed.
"That letter? That letter was the most insincere thing I had ever read. They didn't even spell out all their names, it just says 'friends in ponyville.' How do you even know that Twilight wrote it? I highly doubt she did." Henry said.

"Stop lying!" Spike yelled.
"Enough chit chat, we're here." Henry said.

Spike was tossed into a small cell, where the floor underneath him collapsed, leading him to the arena for his next dragon fight.

---

And thus the cycle continued. A nightmare cycle that Spike had been living through for what felt like a few days at least. The letter incident happened relatively early on, but the fights went on for days thereafter, maybe weeks.

No matter how many dragon fights Spike had to endure, it never became easier.

Spike was pulverized by Whip's tail. Torched by Fume's... fumes. Smashed by Clump's tail. Slashed by Snake's claws. Constricted by Baff's tail. Rex chewed up and spit Spike right out. Vex's horns made quite the impression. And those were just a few examples.

Despite how brutal these beatings were, Spike still would never attempt to fight back. How could some pony pit fellow dragons against each other in such a cruel way? Spike refused to fight for that reason, but the other dragons didn't see it that way.

There were many questions Spike had on his mind. How did Henry managed to capture all these dragons? Why were they all doing as he commanded? The mystery was made deeper by Princess Ember, who was not in captivity at all. She wore a black cloak and seemed to wander the facility freely. But why?

The fights were devastating. After each fight, Spike was battered and bruised. Spike was then chained up, muzzled, and dragged by to his room to be scolded by Henry. Henry put a shock collar on Spike early on, but he didn't use it very often surprisingly. Mostly he let the dragons do the damage, but from time to time he'd shock Spike.

Here's just one of example of a typical conversation following a fight.

"You are such a miserable pile of defiance." Henry said.

"You can crush my bones, and you can crush my limbs, but you can't crush my spirit." Spike said struggling to stand up.
"Give it up already." Henry said fiercely.

"I will never, do as you say." Spike said sternly.
"AAAAAHH!" Spike screamed. Henry activated the shock collar.

"You can't resist forever." Henry said.
"Watch me." Spike said.

"The longer you resist, the longer our agenda will take." Henry said.
"All the more reason to not do your bidding." Spike said.

"If you don't lift and claw and fight back against those dragons, I'll make sure your next few fights will be your last." Henry said, as he slammed the door behind him and exited.

After Henry left, all that was left for Spike to do was sit and cry. Soon thereafter, Ember would walk through the door and visit. At least most of the time. She would visit to comfort Spike, which was about the only thing keeping him going.

Here's how their latest conversation went down.

"How are you doing Spike?" Ember asked.
"Oh you know, the usual." Spike said with sass.

"So how's that plan of yours Ember?" he asked.
"It's uh..." Ember said.

"You have no plan do you?" Spike asked.
"I'm working on it okay! "Ember exclaimed.

"Okay..." Spike said.
"Don't give up Spike..." Ember said.

"I'm trying..." Spike said.
"Your friends miss you." Ember said.

"And I miss them even more. I wish I could see them again, even just one more time." Spike said.
"I'm going to reunite you with your friends Spike. Trust me." Ember said.

"Can I trust you? You still haven't explained why your fellow dragons are being held captive while you aren't. What's with that?" Spike asked.

"I don't have time to explain during these meetings. All I have time to do is comfort you briefly." Ember explained.
"Mmm hmm." Spike said skeptically.

"I have to go." Ember said.

"Oh no you don't, I'm getting some answers. I'm sick of being in the dark, both literally and figuratively." Spike said.
"Okay. What's on your mind? And make it quick." Ember said.

"Your fellow dragons are being enslaved and forced to fight each other! But you, you just wandering around and let Henry get away with it!" Spike said.

"I realize that..." Ember said looking away.
"Why? Why haven't you done anything about it yet? Why hasn't he locked you up? What's your affiliation with Henry?" Spike asked.

"..." Ember didn't say anything.
"Is Henry the real villain? Who's really behind all this?" Spike started asking harder questions.

"..." Ember covered her mouth she didn't want to speak.
"Answer me!" Spike demanded.

"...It's complicated." Ember said in tears.
"Ember?" Spike noticed Ember was getting choked up.

"I just let this all happen... I'm a terrible leader." Ember said on her knees, and covering her face.
Spike walked over and hugged Ember.

"Oh Ember, we're both victims aren't we?" Spike said.
...yep." Ember said.

"I've never seen another dragon cry before." Spike said. "It's not like dragons to be all vulnerable."
"I guess your pony friends have rubbed off on both of us." Ember said.

"I'm glad we have each other." Spike said.
"Me too." Ember said.

"Whatever's on your mind, you can tell me." Spike said.
"But I can't tell you everything." Ember said.

"Is it because you can't tell me? Or you don't want to tell me?" Spike asked.
"...I must go. I've spent too much time here." Ember said.

"Aww... but I feel like we're finally getting somewhere." Spike said.
"The less you know... the better, for now." Ember said.

"But I want to know what exactly is going on." Spike said.
"I'll tell you everything, but now's not the time. Once I break us both out, I'll tell you everything." Ember said.

"Okay..." Spike said.
"You trust me right Spike?" Ember asked.

"I'm not sure who to trust anymore. Reality feels so skewed." Spike said.
"I understand. Good night Spike." Ember said.

"Good night Ember." Spike said.

Ember walked out of the room. It was dangerous for Ember to stay in the room for too long, so there was no time for exposition.

And once Ember left, the cycle would repeat. Fight, then scolding, then Ember, and then maybe an hour to nap if Spike was lucky, but it never felt like long between fights. It was like an endless nightmare with no end. The cycle went on for days, maybe weeks at this point. No sign of hope, just bruises.

---

And that brings us to now. Spike sat in the cold cell, when Henry entered.

"It's time." he said.
"Yeah yeah yeah." Spike. At this point he knew what to expect.

Henry dragged Spike by the chain to the arena.

"What's your big idea anyway? How and why have you captured all these dragons? And for what? You're just making us fight each other. What's your plan? What's the goal here?" Spike asked.

Henry did not answer, he just threw Spike into the arena.

Spike's next opponent, was a rematch with Garble. The first rematch surprisingly.

"So squirt, back for another beating?!" Garble said?
"Why do you insist on fighting? Can't you see this is wrong!?" Spike pleaded.

"But beating up defenseless pipsqueaks like you is too much fun." Garble said.
"That's the most horrible thing I've ever heard! Henry's the one you should be fighting!" Spike said.

"No can do. We've all tried individually, but Henry is untouchable." Garble said.
"How do you know? Have you tried team work? If you and the other dragons teamed up, you could probably overthrow-" Spike was interrupted when he was punched in the face by Garble.

"You use big words for a dragon who doesn't fight. Now fight!" Garble demanded.
"I don't want to fight! I refuse!" Spike yelled.

Henry and his two hench ponies watched from the sidelines.

"I just don't know what you see in this dragon, boss. Maybe it's time to call it quits on him." Jeff said.
"Watching the little guy get clobbered is painful to watch. You should just put him out of his misery now." Sawtooth said.

Henry growled, he was clearly getting impatient.

"I've had enough of this. Hit your opponent!" Henry yelled.
"NO!" Spike yelled back.

"This is your last warning! Either fight that dragon, or I'll make you!" Henry threatened as he held up his remote control.
"Never!" Spike asserted.

"Have it your way." Henry said, he then turned up the dial, activating the shock collar around Spike.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Spike screamed in agony at the pain and collapsed.

"Shocking your own dragon to death? Fine, just get this match over with." Sawtooth said.
"Boss, are you so sure about this?" Jeff asked.

"Trust me, I got this." Henry said, as he dialed his remote to continue the shock.

Spike continued to be shocked.
"Just make the pain go away!" Spike exclaimed.

Spike threw his fist forward, and miraculously hit Garble square in the chest, knocking him back, onto the ground. Garble was out cold. The shocking stopped.

"Oh my gosh are you okay?" Spike ran to Garble's side, but he was out.

The moment was interrupted by the sound of applause over a loudspeaker, followed by gems raining down on Spike.

"G-g-gems?" Spike was surprised to see gems raining from the ceiling, his eyes widened. He picked one up, and put it in his mouth.

"Yum. Maybe things aren't all bad." he said.

---

After the fight, Spike was still dragged to his room, only now Henry's hench ponies Jeff and Sawtooth dragged bags of gems into Spike's room.

"So, what does victory feel like?" Henry said.
"Mmm, these gems taste great, but you still suck." said Spike.

"I see you're still being a bit rebellious, we'll continue to work on that." Henry said.
"Work on nothing! This doesn't change anything, you can't bribe me into working for you with just a few gems." Spike said.
Henry smirked.

"You so sure about that? Don't those gems taste good? Don't they make you forget all your troubles?" Henry asked. Spike started to feel memorized.

"Just put up a fight, and more gems could be yours." Henry said in a hypnotic tone.
Spike shook his head.

"No way! Don't think this means I'll pony up and serve you. I still refuse to listen you." Spike said while laying on a pile of gemstones.

"Heheh, we'll see about that." Henry said with a smirk.

Henry and hench ponies left the room, and slammed the door.

"What's his deal?" Spike wondered, and then proceeded to eat more gems.

---

Ember entered the room a few minutes later.

"Are you okay Spike?" Ember asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm doing great." Spike answered while eating gems.

"Wow! What a load of gems you got!" she said.
"Yeah I know. Pretty cool huh?" Spike said.

"Where'd they all come from?" Ember asked.
"I totally beat up Garble in my latest match, and I was awarded all these gems." Spike said.

"Oh no, you're not giving in to Henry's orders are you?" Ember asked concerned.
"What? Nah! Trust me, there's no way I'll ever give in to Henry's orders. I just threw a single punch, and well, Garble's not as tough as he looks apparently. He went down with just one hit. Besides, a dragon's got to treat himself from time to time you know? It's been a while since I've had a decent meal after all." Spike said.

"What are you going to do next fight? Are you going to fight back or...?" Ember asked.
"You know, I didn't think that far ahead. Nah, probably not. I got plenty gems as it is." Spike said.

"Okay then... Mind if I?" Ember reached for a gem.

"Claws off!" Spike said knocking Ember's hand. "I earned these myself! I won all these in a fight. Not you." he said, sounding a bit rude.

*GASP* Ember gasped.
"I mean, um... sure." Spike said, catching is odd and rude behavior.

"You sure you're okay Spike?" Ember asked again.
"Trust me, I'm still me. Everything's fine. Or at least as fine as they can be given we're still stuck here." Spike answered.

"What about your friends?" Ember asked.

"My... my friends?" Spike hadn't thought about his friends in a while.
"Yes, your pony friends. Don't you miss them?" Ember asked trying to remind Spike of his friends.

"You know, you're right. I do still miss them, a lot." Spike said.
"And they probably miss you too." Ember said.

"You're right, they definitely miss me, and they probably aren't feeling too good without me." Spike said.
"That's probably putting it lightly." Ember said.

"Okay... so, breaking out. How's that plan?" Spike asked.
"The plan. The plan's going... good." Ember said.

"You still don't have a plan do you?" Spike said.
"No no, it's in the works. It's almost done actually." Ember said.

"...really." Spike said doubtfully.
"Yeah, I mean it. I just have to check a few things to make sure everything will work." Ember started to back up towards the exit.

"Well anyway, I gotta go. And remember, stay true." Ember said.
"Yeah yeah." Spike didn't really listen, he just munched on more gems.

"Well alright then... bye." Ember said.
"See ya!" Spike said.

---

Ember turned around and exited the room, and was quite worried. Normally Spike is in shambles after a match, and is in need of comfort, but right now he was just enjoying his gems, not giving much thought. Was Spike honest when he assured Ember that he was fine? Or was he starting to slip? And what of all those questions still unanswered? Who is Henry? What's his plan? Why are all these dragons in captivity? Why wasn't Ember of all dragons in captivity? Where is this secret location anyway? Can Twilight and friends ever hope to locate Spike? Just what, happens next? Gotta keep reading to find out.
Stay tuned for Chapter 9!

Comments

[DragonPony]

This was interesting for sure.I think there is a major difference tho between Spike and other dragons is that one he has Ember there to remind him on who he is. Being separated and forced in that situation it is clear dragons will start to lose themselves. But as Spike started to lose himself Ember brought him back and reminded him what is important. That could be a major thing in keeping Spike... Well Spike. And the next thing is that Spike has been taught greed control. He has not only gone though greed growth but he fought back from it. And since then he has been taught and focused on controlling his greed and desires. So I think hunger right now is taking effect but there is a good chance those core beliefs he has created for himself are still there and will keep him grounded. Will he become a harder more steely Spike yeas I believe so but I am hoping he doesn't lose himself fully to some mad pony and their wishes.