Hoennshy

by Fenix

--- Chapter EX - Spike: The Remaining Elements

It had been two days since Twilight had left for Canterlot as Spike arched over and leaned onto his knees, tired but proud. Along with the three young fillies that comprised the Cutie Mark Crusaders and a veritable mountain of animal care books from Fluttershy’s collection, the dragon had finally created order out of the chaos inside of Fluttershy’s cottage. All but a few of the animals were nestled in their beds asleep while the girls were outside, chasing down the final renegade chicken. With a long sigh, he fell back onto his behind and smiled as he relaxed for the first time since the pegasus’ disappearance.

The entirety of Ponyville was its calmest since the incident. With Twilight Sparkle leading the charge to find their fellow villager, life had almost returned to normal. Only a few ponies showed any signs of worry as they went along in their daily business. Both Rarity’s and Applejack’s younger sisters showed their concern as they worked alongside Spike, but seemed as happy and energetic as ever as they helped put the animals in line. All that remained for the dragon to do was to await Twilight’s return.

“Spike! Spike!” a yellow, red licorice maned filly yelled as she burst through the front door.

“Be quiet, Apple Bloom,” Spike shushed her, looking around cautiously to make sure the animals continued sleeping. “We don’t want to wake the animals up again and have to do another two days of work.”

“Oops. Sorry, Spike,” Apple Bloom said, lowering her voice to a near whisper. “I just wanted to say that we caught the last chicken. We’re all done.” She jumped up in joy as her two friends joined her in the doorway.

“Great. Now, I need to get back over to the library and clean up a bit. I still haven’t gotten all those books cleaned up from when I went looking for animal care books the other day,” he said, weaving through the fillies to make his way to the library.

“We’ll go with you,” the orange furred pegasus filly stated. “It’ll just get boring over here with the animals asleep.”

“Yeah, and we won’t get our cutie marks staying here either,” the white, pink swirl maned unicorn filly argued. “I already checked to see if I got my ‘house-cleaning’ cutie mark, but I got nothing.”

The girls pouted as they looked at their still blank flanks. All three had been trying for months to force their special talents to come to light, but had failed in every venture. Spike was just glad he would never have to worry about that.

With a nod of his head, Spike walked out of the cottage. “C’mon, I want to get over and back before anything bad happens,” the dragon stated, letting the girls out before closing the cottage door.

Ponyville bustled with activity as the sun lingered high in the azure sky, leaving the town balmy. The fillies behind him yammered on about their cutie mark crusades, wondering whether having a house cleaning mark would be worth it or not. As they approached their destination, a gray pegasus mare in a blue mail-cap flew down to the front of the library, leaving a scroll in the mailbox. Noticing this, Spike sprinted to the mailbox, getting there just as the mail mare was preparing to leave.

“Excuse me, do you live here? You can’t go around stealing others’ mail you know,” the mare asked, looking at him with her golden eyes, obscured by the frames of a pair of thick, black rimmed glasses.

“I live here with Twilight Sparkle... you see me almost everyday...” He paused for a moment, “Only dragon in Ponyville?” Spike exclaimed, pulling the scroll from the box. “Wait, aren’t those new glasses?” he asked, looking inquisitively at the mare’s spectacles. The mail-pony was a well-known public servant of Ponyville, and her appearance was quite well-known. Why she had it changed, he had no idea.

“Oh, these?” She removed the glasses, showing them off to Spike and the girls. “Yeah, I just got these this morning. They’re supposed to keep my eyes from going wall-eyed. Apparently they’ve been enchanted to eventually fix that,” the mare explained as one of her eyes began to drift slowly upwards. She quickly set them back on her muzzle, letting her eyes return to normal, then giving the four a salute. “Well, the mail has been delivered. I’m off,” she blurted out before taking off for the next house.

“Maybe ponies will call her Bright Eyes again instead of Derpy all the time,” the orange filly wondered.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom interrupted. “It ain’t nice to say that name!”

“That’s what every pony calls her! I thought it was her nickname!” Scootaloo argued, prompting the white filly to join in the argument.

With the fillies now in a heated argument regarding naming conventions, Spike rolled his eyes and decided to crack the seal on the letter, digging his claw into the binding and letting the letter unfurl in his claws. Before he read the first word, he felt a lump form in his gullet, trying to force its way out. He had experienced this many times before, and knew precisely what this was. He let it go freely, expelling the energy out from his mouth with a cacophonous belch, catching the fighting fillies’ attention. The energy swirled in the air and materialized into a letter with a dark blue band binding it. He took a look at the insignia, noticing a white crescent moon where he was used to seeing a bright, yellow and orange sun.

“Is this from Princess Luna?” Spike wondered aloud, dropping the recently opened letter to pick up the royal scroll. With a swift slash, he tore about the paper band and opened the letter, taking note of the regal, curved letters of ink compared to her sister’s more casual penmanship. His curiosity piqued, he began to read aloud out of habit, “Dear Twilight Sparkle’s dragon assistant, Wait, she didn’t even try to guess my name?” he clamored, making the girls roll their eyes.

“Thou hast been summoned to Canterlot by thine Princesses in regard to the Element of Magic’s excursion outside of Equestria’s borders. We have sent thee a chariot to transport thou to our castle to report on what thou knows regarding the disappearance of the Element of Kindness, and are required to escort the remaining elements to discuss these matters in the Royal Hall.

“Thine chariot shall arrive in two hours, which thou must take by royal decree. We await thy arrival with astute patience.

“The Sovereign of the Night; Princess Luna of Castle Canterlot, Equestria”

“Wait, Twilight left Equestria?!” Spike exclaimed in a panic. “Why does the princess want to talk to me about this? Maybe that’s what this letter is?” Spike picked up the first letter, letting it hang from his claw. He scanned the parchment, instantly recognizing the penmanship. As he read through the lengthy letter, his mouth hung open to the fillies’ curiosity.

“Who’s it from?” the white filly asked.

“It’s from Twilight, saying she left Equestria,” the worried dragon stated.

“Wait, if Twilight left, does that mean Applejack and Rarity went as well?” Apple Bloom wondered.

“I don’t know, but maybe we’ll find out when we get to Canterlot,” he said, rolling up the letter. “So, what do they mean I need to ‘bring the elements?’ Luna calls Twilight an Element, but then tells me to bring them to the castle. All of the ponies who beat Nightmare Moon are gone; how are we supposed to bring them there?”

“What about those necklace things they wore when they came back from beating Nightmare Moon? I saw Rainbow Dash parade it around for a few weeks after that... maybe she meant those,” Scootaloo hypothesized. “We’ll can help you find them, and then come with you! I’ve always wanted to see Canterlot.”

“Me too!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom exclaimed at once.

“Alright, it wouldn’t hurt, I guess. I’ll try to get Mrs. Cake to look after the cottage again; I’m sure she’ll be okay with it.”

“I’m going to Dash’s house first!” Scootaloo exclaimed, galloping off towards the east side of town.

“How are you gonna get up there, you can’t even fly!” Apple Bloom yelled, running to catch up to the enthusiastic filly.

“We’ll meet you back here when we find them, Spike!” Sweetie yelled as she left towards Rarity’s boutique to find her sister’s element.

With a nervous chuckle, Spike barged through the front door of the library, tearing it apart for Twilight’s ornate crown. He first scoured the main room, skimming through each book to see if she had hollowed out space for it there. With every crown sized book searched through, he bolted up the stairs, tearing apart the unicorn’s room and study. He spared no shelf nor nook nor cranny in his pursuit, but wound up with nothing; the crown was gone. Frantically, he searched out on the observatory deck, then rushed back down the stairs and out of the library. With time of the essence, he decided to get things squared away with Mrs. Cake and search for Pinkie’s Element. Kill two birds with one stone.

Spike ran down the road and approached the cake themed Sugarcube Corner. The bakery was the only in town and was where Pinkie Pie made her residence. Mr and Mrs. Cake had graciously rented out a room for her when she came to town from the rock farms of Stone Valley. As he opened the door, he spotted a bulky, blue earth pony mare standing behind the counter, surrounded by various treats and confections.

“Mrs. Cake, could you do me a huge favor? It has to do with Fluttershy’s cottage again,” Spike panted, running up to the counter.

“Oh sure, what is it?” the mare asked with a smile.

“I was summoned by Princess Luna to Canterlot, and I need to bring the Elements of Harmony, including Pinkie’s. I can’t leave Fluttershy’s unattended, so could you go and look after it for a little while while I’m gone?”

Mrs. Cake pulled out a sheet of paper from under the counter and looked it over, nodding and muttering softly to herself. “Well, it looks like I’ll have some time open, so I can do it. If it’s royal business, I’m sure it must be important.”

“Great!” Spike exclaimed. “So... could I go up to Pinkie’s to look for her necklace?”

“Of course, dear, just don’t make it messier than it already is,” Mrs. Cake smiled, watching as Spike hurried up the stairs.

On the top floor, lay two doors: one was closed, and the other was open with the smell of saccharine air flowing from it. With a keen knowledge of Pinkie’s love of sweets, he ran through the open door and found the beige colored room covered in baking supplies, costumes and prank devices. He waded through the mess, overturning every item to check for the elusive necklace, it taking him far longer to check every part of the floor than he had anticipated. He then hurriedly looked under the bed, noticing something with a glint of light lying on the dusty carpet. He reached in and grabbed hold of it, feeling the cool metal in his claws before pulling it out to examine it. It was a gold necklace with a aquamarine balloon in the center, reflecting the sun’s rays throughout the room.

He had one.

With the Element of Laughter in tow, he rushed down the stairs and out the door, sprinting as fast as he could back to the library. As he approached the massive oak, he noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders waiting there with two of the Elements laid down on the grass. He ran as fast as his small legs would take him and joined the three, placing Pinkie’s Element on the grass along with Rainbow Dash’s and Fluttershy’s.

“This is it? That’s only half!” Spike exclaimed in a worried tone.

“Well, I couldn’t find my sister’s, but Sweetie found Fluttershy’s in one of her drawers upstairs,” Apple Bloom stated, picking up the butterfly shaped necklace.

“I couldn’t find Rarity’s, and she’s normally so organized,” Sweetie said, then looked over to Scootaloo. “Hey, Scootaloo, how did you get up to Rainbow Dash’s house? You can’t fly.”

“It’s a long story, and involves a large wooden catapult,” the filly laughed, looking longingly at the red, lightning-bolt-shaped ruby in Rainbow’s necklace. “Rainbow’s house is awesome! There are so many Wonderbolt posters and headbands there,” she explained before donning a white, cloth headband.

“Did you take one of Rainbow’s headbands?” Apple Bloom accused.

“Of course not!” Scootaloo snapped, her stern face breaking into a smile as she touched the band.

Spike lamented over their small haul, but tried to stay optimistic. Surely the princess didn’t need all the Elements, he thought as the sound of pegasi cutting through the afternoon air diverted his attentions.

In the sky, speeding down towards Ponyville were Luna’s royal guards, donned in the black and navy armor of the night guard, pulling a low, aerodynamic chariot behind them. Spike quickly ran into the library, grabbed a cloth bag off a shelf and picked up the three necklaces. As he stuffed them into the bag, he watched as the chariot landed only a few feet from them.

“Are you Spike; assistant to her Royal Majesty of the Sun’s personal student, Twilight Sparkle?” one of the guards asked in a gravely voice.

“Yes, sir,” Spike replied nervously, the spikes on the guard’s armor sending shivers down his spines. The three fillies quickly hopped onto the speeder along with Spike and braced themselves for the chariot ride. “We’re ready to leave, sirs,” he said, prompting the pegasi to spread their wings.

“Are those fillies with you?” one of the guards asked.

“Yes, sir,” Spike repeated, giving the pegasi clearance to begin their take off before climbing into the air.

Spike swallowed anxiously as they sped through the sky, watching as they soared over the Everfree Forest. With blinding speed, Canterlot and the castle came closer as well as his meeting with the royal sisters. Ponyville, the forest and the whole of the northern plains looked like specks as they continued their ascent, leaving all of them but Scootaloo frightened from the immense height. The majestic waterfalls came into clear view as they weaved through them then arched over the cliff face, landing in the royal courtyard.

The young dragon had never been so nervous before in his short life. Not only had he been summoned to the castle, he had no idea what was happening to all of his friends. He hopped off the chariot and approached the large, crimson doors of the castle. A guard was posted on each side, watching Spike and the fillies walk towards them with a small, canvas bag.

“Halt! Who goes there?” a guard bellowed as the four arrived, causing Spike to flinch.

“I-I was summoned by the princess for an important meeting,” Spike explained, taking out Luna’s message and holding it up to the two unicorns.

The two scanned the parchment, checking every inch and side. With a nod, the unicorns opened the castle doors, allowing Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders into the castle halls. “The Royal Hall is up the main staircase and at the end of the hall to your right.”

“Thanks,” Spike said, shaking with nervousness as he stepped into the lavender colored halls of Canterlot Castle.

Comments

[Blahman2816]

Wow. Short, sweet, and plot-pushing. Nice work!

[keaton-furman-prower]

And Spike tries to find his place in the story.