Spike the Brave and Glorious

by Troyjan

Spike the Resourceful

Spike picked himself up off the floor after lying down silently by himself for several minutes. He was still surrounded by the purple magical forcefield that Twilight had made. It took every bit of Spike’s composure to prevent himself from crying. Even with no pony around, it only would have hurt more.

This wasn’t the first time that Twilight had purposely used her magic on Spike in an unpleasant way. But it was the most direct case in which Twilight had done so. Spike had endured far worse before from other creatures. Being a young yet stout dragon with thick scales all along his body, Spike was at least a little tougher than he looked. It was the pony who had done the act is what really hurt Spike so deeply. It was one thing to be tormented by older dragons whenever Spike dared go to the Dragon Lands. It was just as bad whenever he was shoved aside or given a rude remark by some older pony, donkey, or griffon that Spike had the misfortune of encountering. But having Twilight, the only creature that he was close enough with to consider as family, to slam him as she did, made his heart throb.

Spike tried to tell himself that Twilight had acted out of concern for both him, and her will to rescue her friend Rarity. But no matter how Spike tried to think of his recent encounter with her, he couldn’t see Twilight’s act of aggression as anything other than cruel. Spike then began to wonder who he was to Twilight, and how much did he actually mean to her. Surely if Twilight had never cared for him at all, she would have already sent him away to live on his own. But Twilight had never explicitly stated that Spike was ever part of her family either. Spike began to ponder if Twilight merely looked down on him as some sort of pet that she merely happened to hatch and take care of as a filly. Perhaps once Spike was able to read, write, and comprehend instructions, Twilight saw him more as a private servant, than a pet. Or maybe Twilight saw him in a way that Spike had not even thought of before. Thinking again about what had just happened only made Spike feel even more confused.

Once Spike had built up the courage, he would confront Twilight. She will answer for what she did, even if it meant receiving a fearfully powerful blast of magic from an angered alicorn in return. But that would have to happen later. There was another pony that needed Spike far more than Twilight apparently needed him.

Spike attempted to push through the forcefield surrounding him, but the magical barrier did not budge. Spike pounded on the obstruction with his claws, but did not leave a mark. Spike began to wail harder on the barrier, slamming and slashing at it with his claws, tail, and head. Frustrated, Spike attempted to bite down into the surface, but the tips of his teeth that touched the magical hemisphere just painfully bounced off the forcefield. Quickly tiring himself out, Spike decided to his fire breath instead. He let out a deep exhale as he spewed his green fire onto the barrier. Being a young dragon, Spike’s fire was not as plentiful, nor did it burn as hot as the fire from most other dragons. But by being unnaturally hatched from Twilight’s magic from a still dragon egg, and having several magical enchantments placed on him from both Twilight and Princess Celestia, Spike’s fire breath, among other things, contained certain magical properties. When focused, Spike’s fire reacted weirdly with the magical energy field, which caused it to warp in shape and color. Catching his breath, Spike began to strike at the barrier in the affected area once more. While still sturdy, the altered area felt noticeably weaker. Spike began to alternate between using his fire and scratching with his claws. After several minutes, Spike forcefully thrust his claw forward, and pierced the magical barrier. Spike used his other claws to pry at the weak point where several cracks had formed. With all his strength, Spike began to pull apart where he made a partial break, causing the web of cracks to spread. The magical forcefield suddenly shattered into thousands of tiny shards of magical energy, which caused Spike to tumble. The small energy shards quickly vanished into the air.

Getting back up, Spike looked over towards to the larger forcefield surrounded the sack of gems and bits. Now all alone again in the throne in the throne room, with no other creature around to see or hear him, Spike got to work breaching the other forcefield. Twilight had applied significantly more of her magic on the larger forcefield, making it far more difficult to break. But it was nothing that Spike could not undo. Several more minutes later, with one large kick, Spike broke free from the second barrier, freeing the ransom that he collected.

Spike ran up to his room again, and peered into his opened closet. One of the few things that he did not sell, was his armor. The armor laid about in pieces on the floor of the closet, due to never having a rack to rest on. Spike began to put on his armor one piece at a time. He started with the front and back chest plates, followed by the small plates that went over his shins, thighs and hips, then his knee braces, then his shoulder pads, then the plates that went over his upper arms, elbows, and forearms, and the metallic boots that went on his feet. Spike finished it off by placing his knight helmet over his head. Reaching into his closet again, Spike took out a small shield, and a short, lightweight mace. Spike flapped his wings, which comfortably rested outside his back body plate through two narrow slits.

Spike did not bother to sell his personal set of armor or weapon earlier that day. He doubted that any pony or creature would want protective gear that only fit a tiny, bipedal dragon. Well, that, and the fact the Spike’s armor was almost entirely made of cheap scrap material. Spike found the most valuable piece of his suit, his helmet, over a year ago while he and Twilight were helping Celestia’s knights sort the nearly forgotten materials from the deepest depths of Canterlot castle’s armory. They were sorting things that were valuable artifacts that should be preserved, obsolete items that could be either be repurposed or recycled, and things that were simply trash. Amongst their search, Spike found the small aluminum helmet. The helmet was small in size, very light in weight, and had ample space for the eyes. It was clearly designed to be worn by a young colt. It was made during a long bygone era, when it was once acceptable for even young colts and fillies to serve in lower ranks of the Equestrian military. Being in such a rough condition and not nearly as old or important as the artifacts that were already in or being sent to a museum, Twilight reluctantly let Spike keep his find. Spike found his iron mace in the same manner later that day, a long obsolete weapon that was made for armed combat. All of the metal plates that made up the rest of the armor were cut and bent into shape from the pieces of scrapped aluminum sheet metal that Spike had found near a recycling plant after he helped Twilight sort the old armory. The kite shield was cut and bent from the largest and thickest piece of scrap aluminum that Spike could find. The boots were made by taking a pair of old leather boots that Spike owned, and covering both of them in several compacted layers of aluminum foil.

Adding a finishing touch to the armor, Spike completely covered each piece of his suit with black spray paint. He then applied strands of red paint over the helmet, body plates and shield on top of the black paint to give off an intimidating and menacing appearance. Twilight, amongst several others, had told Spike that his armor was “lousy,” “silly,” “was not to be used for combat,” or worst of all, “edgy.” But he didn’t care what they all thought. Wearing his armor made him feel awesome. Whenever Spike put it on, for just moments at a time, he would feel like he was truly an honorable and noble hero.

Sure, even Spike could not deny that his armor, shield and weapon were of questionable quality at best. The thin aluminum plates that even he could bend, would probability not protect him very well or last long against a serious threat. And that didn’t even mention all of noticeable gaps and weak points in his armor, which included the slits where his wings came out. But in crucial times like these, some protection was way better than none at all. And at the very least, Spike’s layout was light enough to allow him to fly around without too much trouble. Spike made a confident grin while raising his eyebrows as he looked at himself in the reflection of the hallway walls. “Surely no diamond dog will be stopping this dragon today,” Spike said to himself.

With newfound moral, Spike strutted his way back into the throne room and towards Rarity’s extremely high, and heavy ransom that he had collected. Spike squatted down, grasped the bag, and carried it off the floor in his arms. After struggling to take just a few steps, Spike realized that there was no way that he would be able to carry it all out of the castle by himself, let alone make it all the way to the diamond dogs by the end of the day. Spike needed a different approach. He placed the bag down, and began to think. Then another great idea popped into his mind.

Spike went to Twilight’s study. He snooped around, until he found Twilight’s potion making equipment and materials, accompanied by a bookshelf of books containing information on potions and various related fields of magic. Spike might not be able to use any magic, beside the limited capabilities of his fire breath, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t make and use some potions. Instead of the teleportation spell that Spike had known Twilight to use to transport herself or other objects far distances, Spike could instead make a potion that he would use to teleport himself and the payment, where they were needed. Surely something like that was possible.

Spike flipped through the table of contents of many of the books from Twilight’s shelf. After enough searching, Spike spotted something that seemed useful. Flipping to the appropriate section of the book, Spike began to scour the text for what he was looking for. Soon, Spike found a simplified recipe for what was most certainly a teleportation potion. Spike reviewed the section multiple times to make sure he fully understood the otherwise magical nonsense that he read. After that, Spike looked through various other books for supplemental information that would confirm his understanding. With most of the instructions clear, Spike got to work.

From twilight’s supplies, Spike took out an empty glass bottle, some containers of fluids, some strange minerals, and some bizarre looking dry herbs. Spike first carefully measured out the appropriate quantities of the minerals and dry herbs. Spike began to crush each of the ingredients into fine pieces, and mixed each of the solid ingredients into one pile. After that, Spike measured out the various different fluids, and poured each fluid into the glass bottle. Spike then added the dry ingredients to the solution, and vigorously stirred the mixture with a glass rod through the bottle’s narrow neck. At last, Spike finished, and sealed the bottle with a piece of cork. Looking at the table of contents again of the book he followed, Spike found some other things that looked like they could be of potential use. Spike read several more sections of the book before eventually putting it back on the shelf where he found it.

Spike left Twilight’s study with his newly made potion, and an atlas of Equestria in his hands. He figured that once he freed Rarity, Spike would escort her directly to her home after paying her ransom, so he would only need to teleport once to get his bag to the diamond dogs. Spike recalled that the diamond dogs were expecting Rarity’s ransom somewhere by an old, twisted log in the meadow between the eastern boundary of the outskirts of Ponyville and the local Gem Cave mountains. Flipping through the atlas, Spike eventually spotted the boundaries of the meadow that the diamond dogs must have been referencing. Knowing exactly where he was going, Spike made his way back towards to the throne room to pick up his bag. Once there, Spike noticed the time. It was already more than half an hour past four. Suddenly, Spike heard a set of hooves running along the main hallway of the castle.

“I’m sorry I’m late Twilight,” called out a voice that sounded like Starlight Glimmer’s. “A wall collapsed after you left, and I had to allocate the budget to fix it and to find an alternative space for that class. Then there was this highly important meeting to resolve some administrative issues that I just had to attend, and it went on even longer that I thought it would.” Starlight Glimmer ran through the large doorway, into the throne room. “I’m here now Twilight. Would you please…,” said Starlight Glimmer, before cutting herself off. She looked around and saw only Spike.

“Did Twilight and the others already leave?,” asked Starlight Glimmer.

“Oh, no, they’re still going over their plans in the map room,” answered Spike.

“Thank you Spike,” said Starlight Glimmer. Before turning to leave, she looked at Spike once more. “Spike, may I ask why you aren’t with Twilight. I’d imagine you would be more concerned about saving Rarity more than any pony else.”

“Oh, Twilight told me to stay in here. I’m keeping watch of Rarity’s ransom payment that I’ve collected,” answered Spike, while placing his claw on the large sack resting on the floor.

Starlight Glimmer turned her head and looked at Spike in mysticism. It was more than dubious seeing the small dragon standing guard all alone in Twilight’s throne room, wearing his shoddy looking armor complimented with a shield and mace. Adding to that, he was holding Twilight’s atlas of Equestria in one claw with some foreign looking potion in his other, while standing in front of a suspiciously large bag that allegedly contained Rarity’s ransom payment.

“I must say Spike, you sure do look like you’re ready to face some trouble.”

“I’m just doing what Twilight does best, and preparing for the worst.”

“That she does,” said Starlight Glimmer, rolling her eyes. “You don’t have any plans of your own, do you Spike? I sure hope you aren’t going to try to rescue Rarity all by yourself.”

“What, no way, I would never do something like that,” said Spike, trying to sound as convincing as possible. “I just got bored waiting around for Twilight, so I decided to be proactive.”

“Well, I’m sure Twilight and the others must be close to figuring out what to do by now, so I doubt you would need to wait around much longer,” said Starlight Glimmer, as she turned to leave.

“Wait!,” exclaimed Spike. “I have a question.” Starlight Glimmer turned back around.

“What is it Spike?”

“While I was waiting, I spent some time reading about potions. I read that for the effects of some potions to be activated, some sort of magical essence needs to be applied first. But I thought that potions were meant to be used for creatures who couldn’t use magic. Would you please explain to me how this works?”

“Why sure Spike. As you said, most potions can be used by those who don’t have magic. But some potions still require some form of magic to function. If the magical essence cannot be supplied directly, it must come from somewhere else. For most applications, nearly any source of magic would do for activating such potions, whether it be some form of reside of a magical source, or some magically volatile substance. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes, it sure does. Thank you very much Starlight,” said Spike.

“Glad I could be of some help,” said Starlight Glimmer with a smile. What that, she left the throne room, and met up Twilight and her other friends in the room across the hallway.

“Okay Spike, you known what you have to do,” he said to himself.

Spike uncorked the teleportation potion he made. He then poured the contents of the small bottle over top his bag and his own body, carefully to evenly distribute the liquid over the combined mass. Spike placed down the atlas on the floor, and intensely focused on the specific coordinates of interest. With the specific location in the forefront of his mind, Spike tilted his head down towards his body. Being extremely careful, he blew a thin stream of his green fire onto some of the teleportation potion he had applied to his armor. Suddenly, the solution on him began to glow brightly, as small currents formed in the air around him. Magical sparkles formed in the space around Spike and his bag. Spike clenched his eyes shut, and continued to focus on where he wanted to be as he held onto his bag and shield, with his mace tucked beneath his other arm. In a flash of light, Spike vanished.

Meanwhile, within the deepest depths of the diamond dog caves, Rarity was being carried around the dimly lit tunnels on her litter. At every new bend, Rarity would use her gem finding spell to locate uncovered gems hidden deep within the rock. She would indicate each potential find by magically projecting a dim light at each place to dig. Accompanying Rover, Fido, Spot, and Rarity were several other diamond dog workers. Some were equipped with picks, shovels, and gloves on their forepaws that they used to bore through the rocks and dirt. Other workers would haul wooden wagons around, and would place the chunks of precious rocks and veins of minerals that were taken from the ground, into their respective bins. A few larger diamond dog guards surrounded them, each of them wearing armor and wielding a pike or some other kind of melee weapon. The guards watched over the operation to make sure nothing was hoarded, as the rest of workers did their jobs.

As Rarity would eventually learn, these gem hunting operations were just one of the diamond dog colony’s means of sustainability. When they weren’t mining, the diamond dogs would spend the rest of their days hunting and foraging for food or other coveted resources. Unlike Rover, Fido, and Spot, Rarity noticed that the other diamond dogs seemed even less sophisticated in their education, their mannerisms, and their speech. Instead of speaking with words, the other diamond dogs communicated with barks, grunts, growls, and bodily gestures. Rover, Fido, and Spot seemed to possess the most authority, intelligence, and knowledge of outside civilizations, then the other diamond dogs. It was rather frightening for Rarity as she slowly realized that those three were likely some sort of leaders among the colony.

Every so often, Rarity would look down at the ground beneath her. She cringed as she imagined all of the dirt and bodily filth that the diamond dogs would track throughout their tunnels. There was no sign of running water, or any visible measures of cleanliness amongst the gem caves. Rarity knew better than to think of the diamond dogs as a bunch of low, dirty animals. They were intelligent, organized, and civil in their own ways. But Rarity still could not help but think about how easily diseases would spread amongst the workers, given their living conditions. She was very glad that she was being carried, and not walking on her own hooves through the tunnels.

“I say that we unearthed more than enough for now,” said Rarity as she looked at the wooden wagons being pulled behind her, which were now overflowing with gems.

“Yes, today was very good,” said Rover joyfully. “It may have taken us years to find some of those gems on our own. We are very thankful for your services Mistress Rarity. We diamond dogs will make sure that you are rewarded with your share.”

Rarity looked over at the wagons once and made a gleeful smile. She would most definitely be getting first picks from the day’s haul. But that would barely compare to what was to come later. Once this whole ordeal was over, it will have been definitely worth the trouble.

Rover, Fido, and Spot began to take Rarity back into her cell, while dragging one of the wagons behind them. On the way, Rarity heard some sort of clamor coming from one of the tunnels. The noise sounded like the combined barking of several dogs. However, the sounds were rhythmic and harmonious. It almost sounded like some sort of chant.

“May I ask what is going on down there?,” asked Rarity.

“We diamond dogs like to sing sometimes,” said Rover. “It makes the work of digging go by much faster.” Suddenly, Rover’s face lit up. “Hey, isn’t our other guest here today,” asked Rover, looking towards Fido and Spot.

“Oh yeah, that other pony should be down here,” said Spot.

“It is always fun when that pink pony comes,” said Fido.

“Pink pony?,” asked Rarity. “Do you mean to say you bring other ponies here?”

“Oh no, Rarity. The pink pony is not a captive. She is a nice friend who comes to help us work. She can make even digging fun. In fact, I think you already know the pink pony,” answered Rover.

“I do?!,” asked Rarity, bewildered. “I would like to see this pony. Could you take me to where she may be?,” asked Rarity. She suspected there had to be some sort of mistake. Surely, these diamond dogs were not actually referring to her friend, Pinkie Pie.

“Certainly,” said Rover. The three diamond dogs carried Rarity down the tunnel, where the rhythmic noise was coming from. The sound became louder and clearer as they got closer to the source. The muffled chanting began to sound more and more like singing, along with some sort of percussion melody accompanying it. Steadily, Rarity was almost able to make out audible lyrics from the singing. The voices continued to repeat the lyrics over and over again. Finally, she was carried around a bend, and into an open space, where the voices were amply clear.
“

Hoo hah hoo hah, we chip and chip, the ground away.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we work all night and work all day.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we move rocks, and dirt, and clay.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we work hard, we do not play.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we will all dig, for our pay.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we still work on, we’re here to stay.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we hope for gems, loads someday.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we hope we find, we hope we may.
“

In the vast open cavern were several diamond digs chipping away at the rock in rhythm. Each of them were singing the lyrics in harmony with their strikes. In the center of the space was the pink pony, singing the song the loudest and with the most enthusiasm.

“PINKIE PIE is that you?,” called out Rarity.

Pinkie Pie put down her rock pick, and turned towards Rarity with her familiar smile. “Oh my gosh, Rarity, I never would have expected to find you down here!” Pinkie Pie joyfully hopped over to Rarity. The other diamond dogs continued the chant over again as they continued working.

“Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here?!”

“I’m helping the diamond dogs with their work. I like coming here to meet with them every so often. We have so much fun together,” said Pinkie Pie.

“You mean, you’ve come down here on your own before?,” asked Rarity.

“Yep, I’ve been coming here for years. And it was even more fun to do it in secret. Although now that you know my secret, do you want to join us Rarity?”

Rarity looked down from her makeshift litter, and noticed her friend’s bright pink hair and hooves were completely caked in rocky dust. “No thank you Pinkie, I’d much rather not do any digging,” said Rarity, cringing at the idea. “Although, I am rather surprised that have been coming here all along.”

“It’s true,” said Rover. “The pink pony is a friend of diamond dogs. She comes here to help us dig, and we all sing while we dig. She knows a lot about rocks from her family.”

“Yep yep yep,” said Pinkie Pie in affirmation. She was raised on her parent’s rock fields with her three sisters before moving to Ponyville. In the caves, she could get to put her dormant skills to use.

“Well, I’d love to stay and talk, but I’d love to get back to digging even more. Come on every dog, lets sing through these chores,” said Pinkie Pie, as she darted back to where she placed down her pickaxe. With great vigor, she resumed her tireless process of chipping away the stone beneath her. Taking another deep breath, she picked back up at the next repetition of the verse.
“

Hoo hah hoo hah, we chip and chip, the ground away.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we work all night and work all day.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we move rocks, and dirt, and clay.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we work hard, we do not play.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we will all dig, for our pay.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we still work on, we’re here to stay.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we hope for gems, loads someday.

Hoo hah hoo hah, we hope we find, we hope we may.
“

“We first met the pink pony when she came here for you with your other pony friends,” said Spot. “She first came back a few weeks after that. She kept coming back since.”

“The pink pony may be a little crazy, but she is very nice,” said Fido.

Rarity just laid down on her sofa, not knowing what to think of the situation. “Just take me back to my cell. We’ll sort the gems we found when we get there.”

“Why certainly Mistress Rarity,” said Rover. And with that, the three diamond dogs carried Rarity and their wagon of gems back through the tunnels. The repetitive chanting soon turned back into incoherent muffling, eventually dampening to the point where Rarity could not hear it. Before long, Rarity was back in her cell.