Chapter 4
Everyone watched as the unnamed raging dragon flew over their heads. It landed on a nearby cliff and roared loudly to make its claim to the land as several smaller dragons scattered.
“Well what are we waiting for?! Get that monster out of here!” shouted one of the large adult dragons as he charged the large brute.
“Everyone else, get the children to safety!” shouted another as he backed up the first one.
Three large male dragons began wrestling the raging dragon. The first one served as a distraction by flying around its head as it snapped at him with its powerful jaws. Another came up behind it and wrapped his arms around its neck while the third one grabbed an arm. Finally the first one landed and tried to grab the other arm, but the raging dragon threw the one on the other side right at him. After it discarded both of them, it reached behind and grabbed the one around its neck and tossed him aside like a ragdoll. It lost some of the loot from the ship it was carrying and began picking up. Several more large adult dragons came in to try taking it down, but they met the same fate.
“Who is that guy?!” asked Pumpkin.
“I don’t know, but he’s obviously the one Dad was out wrangling this morning! He’s got Dad’s crown!” shouted Scorch as he stood over the kids with his wings covering them.
“Scorch, we have to get the kids underground! It’s not safe for them out here!” Barb called as she picked up Chip and Annie.
“What about Dad? Is he even okay?” Spike asked.
“We’re gonna have to find Dad later, Spike!” Singe told his brother, putting his hand on his shoulder.
“Get the little ones to safety! I’ll take care of this brute!” said Chara as she blew smoke from her nostrils and lunged toward the raging dragon.
The dragon saw her and tried to snap at her, but Chara dodged it with grace. In the process, she wrapped her prehensile tail around its neck, grabbed one of its wings to prevent it from flying and dragged it off the cliff. The dragon was pinned down and its loot spilled everywhere. Chara had it with its belly facing down so its arms could not reach her, but her grip on its neck with her tail was slipping and the dragon reached up to untie it. It pulled her by her tail and threw her a hundred yards away where she crashed into a pathway that Barb and the others were headed to with the kids.
“MOM!” shouted Spike and Buttercream as they rushed forward to check on her with everyone else.
“He’s too strong,” Chara said, wearily. “I’ve never wrangled a dragon this tough before.”
“How are we gonna stop him then?” asked Singe.
“Everyone look! IT’S SMITE!!” shouted a random dragon on a nearby cliff.
Spike looked out to the south to see another dragon emerge from the clouds. This time it actually was his father, Smite. Although he was not as big as the raging dragon they were dealing with, he was one of the biggest compared to all the other dragons. He was very large and fat, with a long wingspan. He did bear a striking resemblance to Spike just as everyone had said. He was purple with green spikes, though his shade was a bit darker and his underbelly was yellow along with the inside of his wing flaps and his eyes. Spike wished he could have met his father under finer circumstances, but he was so glad to see him come in to save the day. Smite looked very mad, but it was the look of a powerful king who was not about to let his people down. Even though he did not yet know him, Spike already felt a sense of pride seeing his father like this.
All the other dragons erupted in applause. Spike’s siblings pumped their fists in the air and cheered loudly as Chara put her hands to her chest and smiled.
“He’s alive!” she cried.
The raging dragon was too busy picking up its loot to notice what the other dragons were cheering for, but it turned his head to see Smite getting closer, ready to take him out with a flying kick to the face.
“GET OFF MY MOUNTAIN!!” Smite shouted in a heroic baritone voice.
The mighty king of Nordo Dracos kicked the raging dragon square in its face and pushed its head into the ground. While the dragon was down, Smite lifted it up above his head and threw it into a nearby cliff. Finally, he leapt into the air and did an elbow slam onto the dragon with all his might. Smite picked up his crown from all the treasure that littered the ground before him. He put the crown back on his head as everyone cheered loudly.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, everybody. Complicated business,” he said with a smile as they continued.
“That’s Dad?” Spike asked eagerly.
“That’s our dad! That is the mighty King Smite!” Scorch replied, proudly.
As Singe and Barb were clapping and whooping, Buttercream had donned a cheerleader’s outfit she pulled out of her satchel. She started waving pom-poms and dancing.
“S TO THE M TO THE I-T-E, WHO’S THAT DRAGON WE WANNA SEE? GOOOOOO SMITE!”
Smite hadn’t noticed Spike or the ponies yet in all the commotion, but he started walking forward while addressing the crowd.
“Unfortunately, I think we’re gonna have to send this guy to Oster Dra…uh oh.”
As Smite spoke, the raging dragon got back up and lifted its head to shake off the pain. Smite turned around to see his fighting had barely any effect on it. The dragon roared in his face and Smite reached forward to grab it by the jaws. They both tugged at each other until the raging dragon gained the upper hand. It threw Smite into a cliff where he just barely missed a group of young dragons. Some siding from the cliff crumbled and plummeted toward them, but Smite reached out and grabbed the rock before it could land.
“Kids, get somewhere safe! This guy’s a real loose canon!” he ordered.
“Yes, King Smite!” said the kids as they rushed toward their mother.
Smite turned around to see more dragons step in to fight the raging dragon. They would need all the help they could get and Smite had an idea.
“EVERYONE HOLD HIM DOWN FOR ME!” Smite called before throwing the rock at its head to distract it.
Five of them grabbed the arms, legs, neck and tail of the dragon as Smite flew high up in the air. He let himself fall onto it again with far more force than before. This put the dragon out momentarily, but it was still moving so Smite started pummeling it with several powerful punches. This only made the dragon angrier and it managed to pull its tail out from the grasp of one of the dragons helping to keep it down. It wrapped its tail around Smite’s neck and threw him down before Chara and the others.
Smite skidded in front of them and stopped right before Spike, groaning as Chara tended to him. He opened his eyes and saw a small chubby purple and green dragon before him. He wasn’t sure who this was at first, but then he remembered something: Buttercream had told him that she figured out that Princess Twilight Sparkle’s assistant was the missing purple egg they had lost years ago. Smite shared glances with the little dragon that resembled him in color and physique.
“Dad?” Spike asked.
“Spike, it’s…it’s you. You came to us.”
“I had to.”
“Spike, I…”
Smite was interrupted by the sound of rocks falling and dragons roaring and grunting. He was so distracted by meeting Spike for the first time; he nearly forgot about the raging dragon behind him.
“Spike, I’m sorry, buddy. I’m a little busy right now. We’ll talk later; I promise.”
“Ok, Dad.”
“Chara, get everyone inside the catacombs. That guy might come after our little equine visitors.”
Smite pointed to the kids and Spike’s siblings began picking them up. They took off flying in the opposite direction of the fight so they could circle back around and head to the entrance to the underground passages. Smite watched them as they left and then turned back to see all his fellow dragons still attempting to wrangle the raging dragon.
“SMITE!” called His Elevated Eminence. “Bring him to me! I’ll take care of him!”
“Got it! Everyone, bait him toward His Elevated Eminence! He’ll use his beams!” Smite called to the others.
The dragons all started blowing fire simultaneously at the raging dragon. It finally got annoyed with them and carried its precious cargo to the northern end of the mountain range where His Elevated Eminence was. The dragon noticed the mountain peak with a face and began flying towards His Elevated Eminence, but his eyes turned red and fired a powerful beam at the dragon. The beam hurt it, but did not stun it for very long. It picked up some of his loot and ducked down behind some cliffs to avoid the beam. Although this dragon was in rage mode, it was smart enough to figure out how to avoid being hit again.
Meanwhile, Barb, Scorch, Singe, Spike, Buttercream and all the kids ran through an underground maze. They heard rumbles and saw dust and stones fall from the ceiling every few seconds. There were glowing crystals to light the way and Barb knew this area well enough, so everyone followed her. This was a special underground village where children and young adult dragons would come for clubs and other activities, but it also served as a safe zone when wranglings got out of control outside. They finally entered a large room where other dragons had gathered. There were a few large holes in the walls meant for large dragons to look through and communicate with the smaller dragons inside. Outside, His Elevated Eminence could be seen and the sounds of the dragon roaring carried through.
“Barb, will they take care of him?” Flurry asked.
“I don’t know, Flurry. I’ve never seen a dragon in rage mode that grew to be quite that large,” Barb said.
“You think maybe he’s gone permanent?” Scorch asked his sister.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Wait, that dragon can’t turn back now?” Spike asked.
“Not if he’s been like this for more than three days,” Barb continued. “Maybe that’s why he’s so huge and hard to keep down. That guy could have been out collecting things and growing for a week now and nobody saw till just this morning when complaints were sent. By the time Dad got there, it was already too late.”
“So what do they do with him now?” Pumpkin asked.
“They’ll banish him to Oster Dracos,” Singe told her. “That’s where we take raging dragons that can’t be reasoned with.”
“That’s what Barb told me and Spike earlier, but how do you guys get him to leave?” Flurry asked.
“Well His Elevated Eminence helps with that,” Barb explained. “He can fire a powerful beam from his eyes that should be enough to stun any dragon into submission. We then tie the dragon up in crystal cords and ship it off on a raft that leads to Oster Dracos.”
“His Elevated Eminence can shoot lasers from his eyes? AWESOME!” Stormy squealed.
“So those lasers should be able to take that dragon down?” Chip asked Barb.
“I’ve never seen a dragon that went permanent, but that’s how it’s supposed to work. His Elevated Eminence should be able to handle him.”
“Um…guys, about that…” Pound said as he looked out of the biggest hole.
Everyone walked over to the hole to see that His Elevated Eminence was firing repeatedly at the dragon, but it was doing no good. The mighty mountain was wearing himself out already and the other dragons had to go back to wrangling.
“Ah great. It’s not working,” Scorch said, gloomily.
“What? How’s that possible?!” one of the other young adult dragons asked. “King Smite said that’s always worked in the past!”
“Well that’s not good. How do we deal with it now?” asked another.
“Something seems a little familiar about that dragon,” Spike said under his breath, stroking his chin.
“What was that, Spike?” Buttercream asked.
“Er…nothing,”
Outside, Smite and several others slammed into the dragon, which caused the ship with all the treasure to fall out. The ship flew towards the hole that everyone was looking through. Barb and the others thought quickly and grabbed the kids to get them out of the way.
“EVERYBODY MOVE!!” shouted Barb.
“FLURRY! TELEPORT!” Spike called to the little princess.
Flurry used her teleportation spell on her friends and several baby dragons in the room to get them safely off to the side. All the larger dragons elsewhere shielded the young ones with their wings to protect against any debris. The ship crashed against the wall and it caved in, creating a large gaping hole. Some of the loot from the ship poured into the room and scattered everywhere. It was mostly gold from the ship, but there were also crystals, uprooted plants, rocks, tree branches, dirt and a few random household items that probably came from Equestria. Spike had Pound and Pumpkin covered with his arms while Flurry, Stormy, Chip, Annie and several baby dragons were behind them. Thankfully, no one was hurt from the barrage, but something on the ground suddenly caught Spike’s eye.
Before him was a white pillow with three grey lines. It was losing some of its stuffing and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. Spike slowly got up and walked over to pick it up. He looked closely at it. This was the same pillow he used to have on his bed years ago: the one that Sludge made off with when he left after admitting he was not his father. Spike looked out the huge hole in the wall and got a closer look at the raging dragon.
“No…it can’t be.”
“Spike, what’s wrong?” Buttercream asked.
“Butter, remember when I told you about Sludge?”
“You mean the guy who lied about being…oh wait, you don’t think-”
“Yes. That’s him. That’s Sludge.”
Spike took another look at the dragon. It was hard to tell at first since his colors were a slightly darker shade and his physique was similar to most dragons going through rage mode, but he could tell it was definitely Sludge. After taking the pillow, he obviously couldn’t help himself with taking other things. The treasure he found at sea probably caused him to start entering his greed-induced state again until he was in rage mode permanently.
“EVERYBODY, GET OUT OF HERE!” Smite shouted to them as he blocked the hole.
“HE’S RIGHT! RUN!!” Scorch hollered.
Everyone left the room where the treasure had spilled. Smite was grabbed and thrown aside by Sludge who began clawing away at all the treasure he lost in the cave-in. Smite came up behind him, but Sludge was so driven now to keep everything that he barely budged when Smite tried to pull him off. Several other dragons came in to help, but Sludge turned his head and blew fire at them till they backed away. He finished retrieving everything and made off again, only leaving behind a few gold coins and crystals. Spike had also managed to keep the pillow from him. This time, Sludge flew quickly out of range of His Elevated Eminence’s eyes so he could not be blasted. He flew up behind the mighty mountain and landed in the top of his crater where he set the ship inside.
“Smite, we are clearly at an impasse,” His Elevated Eminence called. “Let him stay up there and I will concentrate my powers. Perhaps I can chase him away once I’ve recharged.”
Smite sighed and hung his head. He flew down to land in the valley below to rest after all the action. Spike and the others returned to the edge of the cave-in and watched their king as he knelt in defeat.
“Now what?” asked Annie.
“I guess we wait,” Barb responded. “If His Elevated Eminence can concentrate his powers, he should be able to create a surge of magic that will annoy that dragon until he leaves. At least that dragon won’t be able to reach his heart stone. We’d be doomed if he got a hold of it.”
“Yeah, but he’ll just keep trying to take over other mountains in Nordo Dracos regardless. We’ll never get him to Oster Dracos,” Singe said.
“Princess Barb, will we all have to move away from here?” asked one of the female baby dragons, walking up to Barb.
“We’ll be fine, Flicker,” Barb said, kneeling down to console the little dragon. “But I just hope that dragon leaves His Elevated Eminence alone.”
“I think I know how to stop him,” Spike said, stepping forward with the pillow.
“What? Spike, what do you mean?” Flurry asked.
“That dragon is Sludge. This is the pillow he took when he left years ago.”
The kids all gasped as they noticed the pillow. They had all heard this story and knew what Spike was talking about.
“Wait, Spike, are you trying to say you can persuade him?” asked Scorch.
“Yes. It worked with me and Buttercream, it can work with him too.”
“Spike, wait!” called Barb.
Spike flew down to where Smite was kneeling. He had his hand over his forehead and looked very lost. He noticed Spike landing next to him.
“Spike? Son, are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m okay, Dad. Are you?”
“I took quite a beating, but it’s nothing. Spike, I’m so sorry this happened when you came to see me. We’ve never had a wrangling go this wrong before, at least not while I was king.”
“It’s okay, Dad. I think I know how we can stop that dragon.”
“What? How?”
“I know who he is. His name is Sludge.”
“Wait, you know this guy?”
“He came to Ponyville years ago and told me he was my father. Turns out he wasn’t; he just wanted a life of luxury in the castle I was living in at that time. He used me.”
“He lied about being your father?”
“Yeah, but I can’t help but feel like there’s still good in him. Right after he came clean, he willingly took off. All he left with was this pillow. Obviously his greed got the best of him over time.”
“Spike, that dragon’s gone permanent. He won’t turn back. Dragons that can’t be wrangled have to be sent to Oster Dracos to live with the wyverns.”
“But if I could talk to him, maybe he’ll listen. That’s what happened with Buttercream and it worked with me too. All it took was for my old friend Rarity to show me that fire ruby. I gave it to her as a gift and it caused me to remember her.”
“Butter told me about how Nightwatch did something similar, but who’s Rarity?”
“A unicorn girl I care about. She didn’t even know I was the huge rampaging dragon that captured her when it happened. It required barely any effort. I can stop him but I’m gonna need your help.”
“Spike, it’s too dangerous. We’ve only just met and I can’t put my own son whom I’ve been missing all these years in harm’s way.”
“Please, Dad. I want to help. I’m probably the only one who can do this.”
“Will he even remember you? Did he treat you right at all when you thought he was your father?”
“I mean he did take advantage of me, but I think a part of him still cared. Dad, I’ve been brought up all my life to see the good in others. I’ve been like a brother to the Princess of Friendship herself. She’s taught me so much.”
“Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“Yes. And Princess Flurry Heart here has already helped out with reforming two major villains. We even got Lord Tirek to listen recently.” Spike said as Flurry stood next to him.
“It’s true, King Smite,” she said.
“So that was you guys.”
Smite stood still for a while to think. He was too afraid to let his own son he had just gotten to know near such a dragon, but he had a feeling he could trust Spike to do the right thing. He could already see Spike had had a wholesome upbringing. The Northern Drakes had always stressed the importance of family and building close bonds with communities, and much like Buttercream, Spike had been taught to do the same. He looked back to see Chara and the others behind him. Chara nodded her head to let him know she agreed with Spike. Smite finally turned back to his son and smiled.
“Alright, Spike. I’ll go with you. Just stay in my hands and do the talking. I’ll be there in case things get messy.”
Spike smiled back to his father and walked right into Smite’s large claws. Smite spread his wings and took flight, slowly ascending towards the top of His Elevated Eminence’s peak where Sludge had already made himself comfortable.
“I hope he knows what he’s doing,” Barb said, anxiously.
“Spike has a heart of gold, Barb,” Flurry replied confidently. “He’s got this.”
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11491164
Yeah I saw the notification again and yeah I saw it and that's okay accidents happen
Oh okay so he is okay you got me worried there 😅
How in the world did she get all the stuff in the short time
11491167
That rarely happen with me. I meant to click "edit" to get out of editing mode but my finger slipped and I clicked "Publish" instead. They really should have a box come up that asks if you are sure you want to publish or not first.
Whoa I did not see that coming and so he returns but unfortunately that rage mode got the best of him
11490849
The new chapter is up now.
11491088
Also, the new chapter is up. I prefer to release it on a day and time where most people will most likely be available to read.
Holy crap...I'm glad Smite is okay, and it's nice to see him finally meet his long-lost son, even considering the perilous circumstances...But I was not expecting the reveal of who the raging dragon was.
So this is what happened to Sludge after Spike and Smolder forced him to expose his true intentions. He allowed his greed to grow until he became an unstoppable force of rage. I have to give a lot of props for Spike thinking he can reason with his old fake father the way he and Buttercream were brought down from rage mode, but I wonder if Sludge will even have a shred of decency or empathy left in him to accept it. We can only hope...
Glad we finally got to see Spike's dad Smite & that's he's ok! Wasn't expecting that wild rage dragon to be that scumbag Sludge though, hopefully Spike's plan will work to bring this guy down!
Sweet introduction to Spike's dad here Alex, till the next one!
Glad we got the update. Cool to see Sludge here and can’t wait for next weeks chapter
11491247
Yeah, it wasn't exactly how Spike was picturing getting to meet his dear old dad, but it's definitely an interesting way to meet him and next chapter will show how.
Yeah, it feels weird finally letting everyone know that's Sludge cuz I've had several people say something like "I'm so glad Spike is meeting his family after that jerk Sludge tricked him in the show" and I'm all like "Hehe....about that." Well they seem to be taking it well so far. Sludge will be dealt with in chapter 5.
11491258
Yeah, you and several other people had mentioned Sludge before in a negative light (which is warranted of course), but I kinda got nervous knowing Sludge would be returning in this story towards the end. XD Well it'll all work out well in the end thankfully.
Thanks! This story has been a blast to work on and I can't wait for the reception to the next chapter (and possibly last).
11491285
Thanks! Yeah, we will see more into Sludge's mind in the next chapter. He will be dealt with.
Hmm you think so huh Spike you know what I hope so too
Okay once again I did not expect that to happen so apparently this dragon is the one they had to Wrangle but got the best of the king and starting to attack the other dragons and they tried to stop him was because of his rage mode it was becoming too much for the others and it turns out that Smite showed up and try to stop him but once again still not enough to stop him and some of the young dragons and the young ponies has to hide underneath the cave but Spike found something familiar and it turns out it was the pillow that sludge have stolen and it dawn of him that that Dragon the one who's in Rage mode is sludge and apparently he lost his mind and Spike think that he can reason with him despite that he did took advantage of him but bless spikes heart he's not giving up on him and he's going to see if he can bring him back and it was nice to see Father and Son see each other after all these years hopefully this will be enough for him to stop sludge well we'll find out next time
Smite's entrance was pretty awesome, and it is clear that he is highly respected and loved not just by his family but by all of his subjects. That's the mark of a good leader.
I have to admit, I was shocked to learn that the rampaging Rage Mode dragon was actually Sludge. I had to check the cover image and realized it does look like him. I think it is good that Spike is willing to see the good in someone like Sludge who was just a bully who lied to him and took advantage of him. Normally I would think someone like him had no good and wouldn't be worth saving, but since two major villains have already been reformed in this series, one of them even being Tirek, I guess I don't have much to argue with.
First they need to stop Sludge, then Spike and his dad can have a proper reunion.
Hopefully this works
11491387
I definitely wanted to give him an epic entrance. Unfortunately it doesn't take long to figure out that Sludge is too wild in this form to contain.
Yeah, someone on DA said they figured it was Sludge, but I think another one guessed out loud. Now you know why that dragon is all shadowy on the front cover cuz I didn't want his colors to be too showy. That's also why he almost appears yellow and blue instead of green and purple. I had to mess around with the saturation a bit to fool people. But yes, that's Sludge and this is a villain reformation story also.
11491403
You'll see!
11491427
Alright then!
Well... on a sweet note, Spike finally got to meet his real dragon dad.
That's nice to see, and the overall reunion actually was genuinely sweet too, even in the midst of the considerable mess that this rampaging dragon is making. Although mess could be a very mild term, as it's possible that some of the younger and frailer dragons actually could have died while he was more out of control. And on that matter, props to Flurry not only for being able to do such skillful teleportations at her young age (especially considering that Twilight struggled with them at a far older age), but for also managing to keep relatively cool in a crisis. Massive respect to her.
Back on the matter of dragon dads, though... dang it, is it a surprise that this whole mess started because of Spike's poser dragon dad. And all because he took a pillow when he left! (I guess it makes sense he'd take it, considering that in Gauntet of Fire another dragon planned to pillage Equestria for pillows, but pillows don't exactly look ideal for dragons, considering they'd have to be very quickly replaced, not to mention they'd have to get very big once the dragon grew past a certain point.) I doubt anyone expected to see him again in-universe, and out of it, I didn't really expect to see him either.
That said... massive respect to Spike as well for being willing to try and talk Sludge down, especially considering what Sludge did to him. Granted, Sludge is not exactly an irredeemable monster, but the way he tossed Starlight out of the window without caring she could die doesn't say much good about him, and of course, what he did to Spike himself also doesn't. But on the flip side, he did make somewhat of an effort for Spike, even if it slipped away rather fast. And Tirek did get redeemed, and Chrysalis and Cozy Glow also seem like they have that potential going by Frenemies. As Sludge is less bad than them, it's not impossible he'd have it in him to change at least a bit.
Hopefully he actually will do so before Spike ends up, hurt.
Also, to end this on a happier note, the dragon-wrangling scene was awesome, from the way the dragons handled the enlarged Sludge to His Elevated Eminence being able to use those magic rays, even if they didn't work. I loved it!
But that's kind of implied in a sense, because I did love this chapter overall. :) Looking forward to the next!
11491604
The funny thing is, I wasn't originally going to use the whole side-plot with Sludge coming in and going on a rampage in rage mode. Heck, I didn't even come up with the thing about "rage mode" yet until one day at work, tons of lightbulbs just went off and I wrote up a summary for this. It was originally going to just be a story where Spike goes in and meets his family and maybe gets overwhelmed and worried that he'll part from the ponies too much, but they comfort him and accept that he is still an Equestrian at heart. I may use some elements of this, but the whole aspect of rage mode and how it comes into play with Sludge coming in (not to mention setting up for another villain reformation) really helped to add to this and bring in some action. I do still want to do plenty of slice-of-life episodes though.
That pillow was just the start of it. Over time, he wanted a few more things and just took them one by one every so often until his stealing became far more habitual, and years later, he finds that sunken ship and starts going wild. The worst thing is, he did it while he had his wings and a dragon in rage mode with wings is asking for trouble. That's why the Northerns induce rage mode with their young before they grow wings. Of course the bigger issue is that he's been in rage mode to long and is believed to be permanent. Whether or not that can be taken care of will be revealed in the next chapter.
Yeah, that's probably going to get me some criticism. I know Sludge is very hated in the fandom and for understandable reasons, but him being reformed is probably easier to believe than it is with really bad villains like Chrysalis, but I have something interesting planned for her too. The big focus is how Spike is such a kind soul and wants to help Sludge rather than get back at him. I don't want to make the protagonists in this series into nihilists, especially not Spike. After how Spike gave Thorax a chance and sang a whole song about it in front of a bunch of angry ponies, I have no doubt whatsoever that he would do the same for Sludge. That's our Spike!
And now that we've got the action out of the way, in come the water-works cuz it gets more emotional from here on out. Though to be fair, this will be nothing compared to next episode...
11494167
I get you. Sometimes ideas simply strike us out of nowhere, and lead to unexpected developments. The same sort of things has happened to me too.
Thank you for the corrections regarding Sludge's rage mode. Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.
And if it helps, I do agree that as nasty as Sludge is, it's easier to believe he would be redeemed than other villains. Also, even when it comes to villains that is 'generally agreed upon' would be unredeemable, you do have full right to redeem them in your own works, and speaking for myself, I am interested in your takes on their respective redemption processes. I will admit I may not agree with all cases as a general rule, but I still want to see your specific takes on them, and unless they are 'blatantly horribly pulled off', for lack of a better term (and something which I've never seen you do), I'd say I'll accept them. :)
And yes, Spike would do that. He's a good dragon, who was raised well.
Though now I'm wondering exactly what will come regarding the waterworks. But rest assured, I can wait for that answer as well. :)
I think you meant to write Oh Mother, Where Art Thou is the next story.
11496721
Whoops. Thanks for letting me know that.
Hooray! Spike's dad is alright! Good to see he's okay!
That's Sludge? Really did not like that guy.
Here's hoping Spike knows what he's doing. Won't forgive Sludge if anything happens to Spike.
11837536
It's unfortunate they had to be introduced to each other in such a situation, but what Smite gets to see his son do next will really help give a good first impression.
It's hard to like Sludge, but a part of me also feels like he might have wanted to be a dad to some extent. He was mostly nice to Spike until he started freeloading and kicking him out of the castle, but when he did admit the truth, he left without fighting it, albeit taking that pillow. The pillow did set it up for me to use it as a way for Spike to realize who this is though.