> Dealt A Bad Hoof
>  by TheHooligan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter: 1



It all started with a typical day in Ponyville, a small but quirky town in the great land of Equestria. Within this town was a large tree that acted as the town's library, and the home of the magically talented unicorn Twilight Sparkle. 

From an early age Twilight had been considerably gifted with magic, she aced her magic exams when she managed to hatch a dragon's egg, she was even the personal apprentice to the revered alicorn Celestia herself. It had only been a few years since she had been assigned to live in Ponyville to act as the town's librarian, and made friends with her fellow wielders of the Elements of Harmony.

At the moment the lavender unicorn was comfortably curled up within the warm embrace of her bed, she had been up rather late the night before for some last minute studying. Today Twilight had a important meeting with Celestia scheduled, and she did not wish to disappoint her mentor. 

But then again this is all rather irrelevant, due in part because this story isn't about Twilight Sparkle the unicorn, and her current dream of impressing Equestria's ruler so much that she would be showered with praise by her idol. No my friends this story is about Twilight's roommate, close friend, and number one assistant Spike the dragon.

From the day Spike had been hatched from his egg by Twilight's magic, he was bound to her, and all of the misadventures she would partake in the day she moved to Ponyville. Though when the duo had first arrived he was merely a baby dragon, these days it was rather hard for any pony to look at Spike, and think the term infantile.

A year ago Spike had underwent a great change within, a change that would push itself outward resulting in a great increase in size, and a significant altering to his appearance. He now walked primarily on all fours, his tail had lengthened enough that it was as long as the rest of his body. His body had also slimmed, and stretched a bit as well as his neck, and his face had began to look much more ' dragon like ' as his friend Rainbow Dash had put it. 

Overall Spike was now in comparison in size to Big Mac though probably shorter by a few inches, and not having as much bulk. After the growth spurt Twilight was able to identify that Spike's exact strain of dragon was a Terra Agilis, dragons that lived without wings, and made up for it by being able to move at great speeds on all fours. 

Spike at this instant was making his way up the stairs to Twilight's bedroom, it wasn't often that she would allow herself to sleep in, and he had decided that it was probably wise to rouse the sleeping mare. After poking his head up from the staircase a grin spread on Spike's face as he took in the sight of the sleeping form wrapped up comfortably in her blankets.

"Time to wake up Twi. Those pancakes I made downstairs aren't going to eat themselves." Spike kept his tone low, and peaceful, the last time he had scared his roommate awake she had accidentally let loose a bolt of magic from her horn, and nearly roasted Owloysius.

The blankets shifted in response, and a grumbled "Five more minutes." reached Spike's ears.

"Alright if you say so sleepy head, though sleeping until twelve PM might be an unhealthy habit unless your wanting to be like Dash." Spike was about to head downstairs, and help himself to that cookie jar filled with emeralds, when a ear-shattering shout replied.

"DID YOU SAY 12pm!!" Immediately Twilight's blanket was thrown in to the air, and a purple hysteric blur sped by the startled dragon, and raced down the stairs.

"MANURE! MANURE! MANURE!" Cried the distressed unicorn as she dashed into the bathroom, and began frantically brushing her mane, and tail using her magic to attempt a look of decency. Spike could scarcely believe the string of obscenities that echoed from downstairs, he had a bad feeling in his gut that this was going to be one of 'those' days.

"Spike we have to go NOW! We were supposed to meet up with princess Celestia two hours ago! She's going to think I'm some tardy pants slacker!" Twilight was now running about the house in a panic, her eyes searching for anything that she may have been forgetting in her rush. " Hurry up, and get over here I'll have to use a teleportation spell to get us to the castle. " 

"You sure about that Twilight, last time we tried that we both got kinda singed." Out of a few things that Spike absolutely abhorred, one of them was teleporting. It was like riding on Rainbow Dash's back while she breaks the sound barrier with a sonic rainboom.

"Don't care! Can't be tardy pants again, grab my tail NOW!" Spike had just managed to take hold of a few hairs on the unicorn's tail before she fired up her horn, and in a flash of light they were gone.

Now the process, and overall experience, of teleporting had been debated since the creation of the spell. While some merely feel a slight electric tingle, and find themselves in another location. Others describe the sensation of being torn apart piece by piece then suddenly being reassembled elsewhere. Spike would describe it differently though, as he held on to Twilight's tail for dear life, his body was assaulted by a sudden burning sensation. His eye's watered from the speed at which they were traveling, and all his eyes could make out were blurs of highly illuminated colors  as they raced past him. These sensations he was familiar with, it wasn't his first time doing this of course, but he didn't remember it taking this long to reach a destination. He closed his green eyes and the was suddenly overcome with the sensation of what he was holding onto suddenly stopping, he sighed in relief it was finally over, until he felt the hair fibers of Twilight's tail that he held onto suddenly snap.

Princess Celestia sat upon her throne with a slightly bored expression on her royal face. Her apprentice was late, unusually late, now for some ponies this wouldn't be that big a deal, but with Twilight this may be a sign of dark times to come. The alicorn was very aware of her student's obsessive need to do things on time, and how she suffered from moments of manic instability when felt the threat of being tardy, or overlooking something of some level of importance. With a shake of her multi-colored mane Celestia was about to send a message to her apprentice via magical mailing system, when suddenly a bright light lit up the room taking her by surprise.

Once her eyes had adjusted Celestia gazed upon the sight of a familiar, and slightly out of breath lavender unicorn standing in the middle of the throne room. Glad to see her apprentice safe, though slightly smelling of ozone, and burnt hair, Celestia spoke to the dazed mare before her. "There you are Twilight, I was about to send a message to you."

Hearing her princess Twilight smiled happily having sensed no real distress from her mentor. "Sorry for being late, I guess I might have slept in a slight bit." She blushed after saying the last part feeling incredibly embarrassed, but overall just happy to exchange words with Celestia.

The princess laughed softly not at all upset wit her student. "I see you chose to come alone, do tell me how are things going for everypony back in Ponyville?" Though she asked only a simple question Celestia's gentle smile disappeared when she saw the look of confusion on the unicorn's face.

"What do you mean? Spike was right here when I teleported." questioned the slightly worried mare. Twilight then started looking around her frantically hoping to see the dragon behind her. "Spike! Where did Spike go?!"

Elsewhere:

A lone Equine galloped quickly through a dark forest, a cape that had been draped over her shoulders flapped furiously in the breeze, as she attempted to escape her pursuers. Not far behind three dark shapes sped after her, slowly but surely gaining on her, it was only a matter of time. After a few more minutes of running the mare found her path blocked by a downed tree, and just as she was beginning to move around it one of the dark figures caught up, and sprang toward her with hostile intent.

The figure was met with a strong pair of hooves striking it in the chest, and knocking it painfully into a tree. The mare turned to face the fast approaching shapes, she wouldn't be going quietly. The horn on her head started to glow as it began focusing magical power, the glow illuminating her face which was set in a determined frown, her greyish magenta eyes narrowed.

Then suddenly there was a bright flash of light, and from out of the sky a shape fell to the earth a few hundred feet away. The flash had disorientated the unicorn, and the price she paid was the two figures both tackling her to the ground, and quickly setting to work on binding the furiously struggling victim. The first figure who was now picking himself slowly off the ground, had noticed the light as well as the falling form. With a quick bark to his comrades, the leader ran towards where he thought the oddity had landed.

Not too far away the figure pushed through some bushes, and came upon a clearing. In the middle laid a crumbled shape that gave off a strange heat, and had smoldering smoke escaping from it's body as if it had been on fire. Walking into the light of the clearing to get a better look at the mass before him, the figure showed himself to be a diamond dog of average height for his kind, and having a brown vest over his black fur. Taking a cautionary sniff at the air, he walked closer to the mass which he could now make out to be reptilian in origin. Whatever it was, it was clearly unconscious; pushing it over with a nudge of his foot the mass was sprawled out showing purple and green scales, that had been slightly singed by some sort of heat.

Hearing a noise to behind him the diamond dog turned to see more of his brothers approaching. The closest being slightly taller, and being grey in color spoke "What is it Grug?" 

Grug looked to his brother, then back to the creature before him before he finally spoke. 

"A Dragon."


End of Chapter 1:
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter: 2



Deep within the confines of a dungeon cell, a figure in the darkness began to stir. Not fully conscious the entity's body began to show the first signs of awakening, limbs stretched out though it's two scaled arms were manacled to a sturdy stone wall, a long tail slowly began to furl, and unfurl. A sentry who had just a moment ago been fighting off sleep derived from pure boredom took notice of the moving mass, and quickly ran off to alert his superiors. Their second guest was finally ending his long slumber, and Grug would want to be present.

With a groan Spike opened his eyes, at first he thought he had gone blind, but slowly his vision adapted to the dim lighting of the cell he now sat in. He moved to stand up, but was surprised to find himself in chains and barely able to move. "Where am I?! And what am I doing here?!"  Spike spoke out loud.

"That's what we would like to know." Said a gruff voice from down a hallway to the left that was becoming more, and more brightly lit. Into the dungeon walked what Spike easily made out to be a diamond dog, three others followed behind each one carrying a torch. The speaker, and apparently the leader walked closer to the bars separating the cell Spike sat in from the rest of the room. 

"Haven't seen a dragon in this region before, certainly none that fall from sky." The lead diamond dog's eyes glowed with intrigue, suspicion, and even a tint of resentment. "You here to take our gems, eat them with your sharp fangs, and burn our dens to ash." Though Spike had a slight issue with the leader's dialect, and accusations, he wasn't entirely surprised by the diamond dog's mistrust. It was a known fact that dragons had a tendency to rub other species the wrong way, diamond dogs especially due to their shared greed for gems and unwillingness to share with one another.

"I don't want your gems, I don't even know how I got here. Could you please just let me go, and I can try figuring out where I am?" Spike's plea fell on uninterested ears, and the leader growled in irritation.

"You lie! Grug has seen what your kind does, no you will be our prisoner till Grug know how to deal with you both." Spike raised a scaly eyebrow at the diamond dog's words, he hadn't taken the time to actually see if he was alone or not. His mind instantly thought to Twilight, perhaps something had gone wrong with the teleportation spell, and now they both were trapped in this cell.

Grug backed away from the bars, he motioned for one of his brothers to hang a torch to the far end of the wall so the room would be lit after their departure. Before disappearing down the hallway they had first entered from Grug turned his mustard yellow eyes back to the chained dragon. "Maybe if you're good dragon Grug will let you eat smart mouthed unicorn." With a laugh the diamond dog exited leaving a frowning Spike, and his silent cellmate.

Once he thought Grug was far away enough Spike swiveled his head around to take in all the features of the cell he sat in. The walls were mostly stone, rusted metal bars separated him from the rest of the room, the dirt he sat in was cold, and littered with random straws of hay, and two his left on the far side of the cell sat a figure cloaked in shadow. Spike's eyes strained to unmask the hidden mass, but all his eyes could make out was that it was a pony, scratch that, a unicorn and that whoever it was the figure was glaring angrily at him.

"It would seem that you've finally decided to join the rest of us in the waking world." The pony's voice was definitely female, and strangely familiar. "You've been sleeping since they found you in a mangled heap out in the woods." 

Spike thought back to what had happened, he remembered the burning, the sudden stop, then feeling like he had been flung with frightening force, then blacking out. The unicorn wasn't Twilight so his first concern now was escaping, and figuring out what had happened to the purple mare. With a growl Spike strained against the chains that held the manacles, even with his draconic strength the chains held stubbornly. His attempts at breaking the bindings only elicited a sarcastic laugh from the unicorn. 

Feeling his irritation beginning to boil over, Spike turned his head to the manacle holding his right hand, and let loose a stream of green fire. The manacle burned red hot, and even with his fire resistant scales Spike could feel the metal burning slightly against his wrist. After a few minutes of continuous burning the manacles still held firm though they glowed red from the extreme heat. Spike growled in frustration, before sighing in defeat.

"Did you honestly think they wouldn't use fire proof material to restrain you?" Spike turned his attention to the unicorn, his frustration edging toward taking itself out on her as she continued to speak. "To think that the Great and Powerful Trixie must share a cell with some dim-witted dragon of all creatures." A look of shock now appeared on Spike's face, the horror of being trapped with the most egotistical unicorn he had ever known outweighing all of his other thoughts combined.

"TRIXIE?! Your telling me that I'm stuck in a dungeon with TRIXIE?!" Spike's outrage, and blatant displeasure was misheard, and the unicorn stood up from her crouching position.

"Indeed, you are fortunate enough to be in the presence of the world famous Great and Powerful Trixie the most magically gifted unicorn in all of Equestria!" stepping out of the shadows, and into the torchlight the unicorn revealed her light blue coat, and greyish cyan mane trying to take a dignified, and powerful stance though the chains that bound her prevented much further movement.

With a groan Spike slumped against the stone wall he was chained to his face set into an annoyed frown. "And how did you of all ponies end up here of all places?" It wasn't that Spike really cared, the question just kind of came out, and he regretfully realized that he might have just sparked one of her  self appreciated stories.

"Well if you must know, The Great and Powerful Trixie was performing feats of unparalleled skill to these uncultured, and unappreciative mutts, when one of them called my abilities into question." The unicorn let out an annoyed huff before continuing on. "Trixie explained that only the offspring of slack  jawed yuppies failed to see her greatness, and that they had no taste in talent."

Spike's eyes widened in sudden understanding to why the unicorn was chained up. "So you basically just insulted a pack of diamond dog's mother." A diamond dog's love for shiny things, and gems was only rivaled by his respect, and love for his mother. It was a wonder that Trixie hadn't been burned while tied to a stake.

The unicorn stamped her left front hoof onto the ground in annoyance. "How was Trixie supposed to know that diamond dog's were such mamma's boys. Seeing that my spectators were quickly becoming unnecessarily hostile, I attempted a hasty retreat, but the fiends had already commandeered my carriage, and chased me into the forest." Trixie's eyes suddenly turned downcast, and her dignified stance faltered slightly. "In the retreat my favored hat was lost to me, and I had to leave it behind." 

Spike found himself more engrossed in the unicorn's story than he had expected, he even felt slightly sorry for her seeing that the hat was very important to her. Of course that sympathy went right out the window when suddenly the unicorn's greyish magenta eyes burned with anger, and leered right at the dragon.

"Trixie was about to escape when a certain dragon happens to come falling out of the sky in a bright flash of light. I was distracted, and even with my great power I was eventually overcome by these dirt covered mutts." The accusatory tone directed at him, didn't sit well with Spike, and he found himself  glaring back at the unicorn.

"Hey! It's not my fault that you got caught, and are getting punished for being a jerk. I didn't ask for this to happen to me; I just got out of the receiving end of a messed up teleportation spell!" Spike now tugged against his chains, and both he and Trixie glared at each other angrily, the two only separated by a few feet of space, and the chains that held them.

"It is so your fault dopey dragon! Without that distraction I would have taken care of those savages with ease using my power." Trixie's bold statement only got an amused laugh from the purple dragon in reply.

"Oh yeah? Just like how you took care of the Ursa minor back in Ponyville?" Spike's words seemed to shock the mare, and she suddenly lost her glare for a moment. She shuffled her hooves nervously, and her eyes let go of the dead lock they had held with his own.

"Y-You know about that?" Trixie was hoping to have outran that minor incident, and had made a point to never return to that town of disrespectful ponies.

"Know about it? Ha! I was there when it happened, I can still remember the day you came to town, and went about boasting about your skill, and challenging everyone to a test of ability. Then Snips, and Snails managed to get that Ursa to chase them into town. You flopped, and Twilight had to save your and all the other ponies flanks from that thing." 

The mention of Twilight's name made Trixie's mind fill with anger, the memories of being shamed, and showed up by that unicorn still haunted her. "Grrr! That second rate spell-caster, and how she had me ran out of that town of bumpkins." Trixie began stomping her hooves in rage, and tossing her mane about angrily. The sight was actually pretty amusing to Spike, until he realized that she had just insulted his best friend.

"Hey! Don't you talk about Twilight like that, your just upset that shes better at magic than you." Trixie stopped shaking her head, though she continued to stomp her hooves into the earth, she now resumed glaring at Spike, but soon a look of familiarization adorned her scowl.

"Oh manure! Your that hack's blasted pet lizard, the one that got those two foals looking for that Ursa in the first place!" The unicorn was now straining against her chains to get in Spike's face, a gesture that he returned in full at the insult she threw at him.

"I'm no pet! I'm Twilight's number one assistant, and a dragon. One fully capable of taking on a talentless magician like you!" An enraged shriek escaped the unicorn's mouth in response, and she struggled all the harder to free herself, and exact her vengeance upon the equally angered dragon. 

"Stupid Dragon!"

"Self-Absorbed Mare!"

"Ugly Toad!"

"Two-Trick Show Pony!" 

"NEWT!!"

"WITCH!!"

The confrontation continued like this for what may have been hours, until both of them were too tired to even hurl an insult. As they lay on the ground panting, Spike was suddenly struck with a crazy idea. Looking back to his manacles Spike gave them an inquisitive sniff. They smelled right, but he couldn't be sure, throwing his dislike for the unicorn panting across the cell from him to the wind, Spike set his plan into action.

"You said these manacles are made to be heat resistant right?" Trixie didn't respond immediately, and looked to be mulling over whether or not to answer the dragon's question. Eventually her curiosity got the better of her, and she obliged him with a irritated reply.

"Trixie may have said something like that, why?" Hope suddenly filled Spike's emerald eyes, his tail swished to and fro in anticipation.

"Well these manacles smell almost like diamonds, is it possible that the diamond dogs might have used something more heat resistant like Moissanite?" The unicorn raised an eyebrow dubiously she didn't really understand what the dragon was getting at.

"Yeah so? If your quite done with asking dumb questions The Great and Powerful Trixie would like to resume sitting here, and wishing you'd just burst into flames."

Trixie was just about to do just that, when she was alarmed to see the dragon open his mouth wide exposing his rows of sharp teeth, and then bite down hard on the manacle that held his left wrist.

"What the hay are you doing?!" Spike ignored the mare's question continuing to chew on the unfortunate manacle, only offering a smirk in her direction.

There was a sudden loud 'ching' and Trixie watched with eyes as big as dinner plates as the manacle came off, and fell to the ground with a large bite mark on it. Spike chewed the piece he had bitten off for a short moment before swallowing, and sighing in satisfaction. Though the metallic part of the manacle would make it a bit harder to digest than other gemstones, Spike knew the mighty stomach acids within a dragon's belly would still make short work of the manacles that had restrained him.

"I'm about to eat my way to freedom, and get out of here." Spike laughed victoriously at the stunned unicorn beside him. Almost immediately he was assaulted by the mare's outraged cries that he free her as well. "And why should I do that? You're mean, you insulted me, those diamond dogs, and worst of all Twilight."

Trixie's mind raced through her thoughts, and memories trying desperately to find something she could use. Then it hit her, an answer so simple that in all her greatness she was surprised she had overlooked it to begin with. A self confident smile spread on her face, and her eyes twinkled with dangerous mischief.

"Oh that's easy, because out of the two of us, only The Great and Powerful Trixie knows the way out." She allowed herself a hearty laugh at the horrified look that appeared on the dragon's face, obviously he hadn't thought of that. 

With a growl Spike chewed off the other manacle restraining him, and stalked toward the smirking show pony. He was about to free her when he realized something else, the entire time he had been awake she hadn't once tried using any magic. Though he had doubted her skill in comparison to Twilight's, he still would have thought someone as vain as Trixie would have at least attempted to escape on her own.

"Why haven't you tried using your magic to get out of here?" Questioned Spike, the answer he got being an overly dramatic roll of the eyes from Trixie, and a annoyed sniff.

"If you must know, these chains that bind me are made specifically to stunt my great magical abilities. I'll hand it to those dirt covered dogs it was a smart decision, with these on my magic is virtually nonexistent." A look came upon Spike's face, and he mulled over a idea in his head. He needed Trixie's help escaping this place, and she was next to useless in those chains. He wasn't going to like this, and he was sure Trixie would abhor the idea, but he was out of options.

"Alright I'll free you, but there's going to be a catch." Trixie's annoyed expression changed to one of outrage, and indignation. How dare this lowly dragon try to use the situation to his advantage, and gain some kind of leverage.

"Before I brake these chains, you have to swear to me that you'll help me escape, and not ditch me or something like that. Got it?" The tone of Spike's voice was deadly serious, and his eyes were set in a determined glare. Trixie grit her teeth slightly, not because her plan was to ditch him from the get go, but when a unicorn swears to something they have to uphold that, even The Great and Powerful Trixie wouldn't dare go back on her word. But she needed some insurance of her own, the dragon before her was strong, and she was sure they would face some resistance in their escape.

"Trixie will swear, but only if you in return swear to protect her, and help her reclaim her carriage." Trixie's greyish magenta eyes locked with Spike's emerald ones, and slowly both reached a hand, or in her case a hoof to seal the deal.

His scaled talons gently, but firmly wrapped around her outstretched hoof, and they shook. In a flash Spike let loose a narrow spout of bright green fire, and burned off the chains that held Trixie captive. Now free Trixie gathered magic to her horn, and blasted the locking mechanism that held the bars in place into oblivion. The dragon, and unicorn shared another locking of eyes, their gazes both distrustful, yet silently hoping that the other wouldn't let them down.

A powerful partnership had been forged down in that dank, dark dungeon that day, one that neither participant could fully comprehend, and one that would turn their worlds upside down.

End of Chapter: 2
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3:


"You sure we're going the right way?" Whispered the dragon as he followed the unicorn down the narrow and dimly lit hallway. They had been quietly making their way down the same hallway they had seen Grug and his followers exit the dungeon for at least a dozen minutes, and were lucky to not have ran into any diamond dogs on patrol. 

"Of course Trixie is sure, now shut up before someone hears you." Trixie's reply came out louder than she had planned, and her eyes looked side to side hoping that she hadn't been heard by some unseen entity. In truth the unicorn had no idea where the exit was at this moment, when they had first been brought in Trixie did manage to see a wooden door with some chicken scratch handwriting written on it, and a large room that she was sure was where her carriage was being held. But then after so many left, and right turns, and boring walks down dark corridors she lost track. Now she was certainly lost, and would have to at least pretend to know where she was going in front of this aggravating dragon.

"Maybe you should take your own advice oh Great and Loudmouthed Trixie." Spike chuckled in a hushed manner after seeing the insulted mare turn around to glare daggers at him. A short lived victory though since almost immediately after he started to laugh his snout started to sting from being struck by a sharp flick of her tail. The next few minutes passed by in silence as the duo continued to creep down the hallway, until they found themselves faced with a fork in the road.

To an outside observer the image of the two escapees staring down the two possible pathways, then back at each other, then back to the pathways may have been a comedic sight. Of course since this is a serious situation, and teamwork was key to their freedom, the two arguing over which direction to take wasn't a possibility right?

"Left!" 

"Right!"

Oh well bullocks to that then.

Both speaker's whirled around on one another, eyes narrowed and full of challenge. Spike's tail whipping about, and Trixie's cape rose a few inches off of her back, the slow draw of magic she had begun causing it to levitate.

"Left?! Are you serious?!" Spike questioned, in all the books he had read while working in Twilight's library turning left typically ended in agonizing torment, slow dismemberment, and overall hurt feelings. 

"Trixie is always serious scale for brains, try to keep in mind that Trixie was actually awake when we were dragged down here in the first place." Trixie tipped her nose up to the air, and added "Besides going right first qualifies you as a grade A idiot." 

"Oh really? On what grounds?" Spike was once again at his wits end with the high, and mighty unicorn. Was it actually possible that somepony could really be this irritating? 

"Because The Great and Powerful Trixie said so." The unicorn smirked in satisfaction as Spike groaned in exasperation, and began rubbing his temples to calm himself. The dragon silently wished that his friend Twilight was at least ok.

Meanwhile:

Twilight Sparkle was in no definition ok, her mane was a mess, her mind overcome with concern over the disappearance of her dragonic friend, and at the moment the purple unicorn was curled up on the floor muttering incoherently in the middle of Celestia's throne room.

"I'm the worst friend ever. I just sent my closest friend on a one way ticket to anywhere, and I have no idea where he might end up. Oh poor Spike, poor, poor, loving Spike." Having seen enough princess Celestia gently nudged the quivering mare's form with her hoof. 

"Calm your thoughts Twilight, the situation most certainly won't improve with my most capable apprentice muttering manically in the middle of my throne room." At once the purple unicorn was silent, and the frantic gleam in her eyes began to fade. After taking a moment to file away her thoughts, and stabilize her breathing Twilight stood up, and smiled apologetically.

"Thank you princess, I needed that." Having rectified her foalish behavior, Twilight could now focus all her problem solving skills on Spike's plight. After the initial shock of realizing that Spike hadn't appeared alongside her within the Canterlot castle, Twilight had quickly deduced that something had gone wrong when she had teleported. The possibilities were countless ranging from Spike merely not reacting in time, and being left back at the library, or even his dragon body just not being able to sustain proper function during the warp resulting in him being blown to tiny smithereens. As all magically inclined ponies were well aware errors in teleporting could result in any form of catastrophe.

Luckily the list of terrible misfortunes that could have befallen her assistant was cut short by a small slowly ebbing pain near her tail. Then it all clicked together, Spike had indeed been aboard when she teleported, but given his greater size, and the rushed state that she herself was in proper calculations had not been made. It was at that moment when the answer struck the poor unicorn, which resulted in her little breakdown earlier.

"Princess Celestia, from what I can gather Spike lost physical contact with me during the teleportation resulting in.." Celestia's eyes widened as her thoughts immediately found the name that Twilight herself had trouble saying.

The name belonged to a specific reaction that takes place when this kind of things goes awry in a teleportation spell. In fact it had gained great infamy in the magical community the day the exact same thing had occurred to Starswirl The Bearded's own apprentice. The hapless young unicorn who's name was Weststar had also been disconnected during a teleportation alongside his mentor, which resulted in the magical momentum flinging him far across the land. All had presumed the young colt deceased, until he returned from an arduous journey across a handful of distant lands a few years later. Once he had settled back in, and reconciled with his distraught mentor, Weststar would go on to dub this particular incident which from that day on was referred to.

"The Weststar Sling!" Spoke both Celestia and Twilight, this would mean that Spike could quite literally be anywhere. As Celestia called her royal guard, and ordered them to spread word to their most distant outpost in Equestria to be on the lookout for a young purple dragon, Twilight deeply wished with all her might that in the least Spike was in good hands.

That's Funny:

Spike was most certainly not in good hands, in fact he was doing his hardest to stay out of a dozen very bad hands, or paws given their owner's origins. His potential speed limited by the ungodly corridors that he now attempted to escape down, and the task of having to slow down for Trixie's sake. It really should have came as no surprise when the two's arguing had gained the attention of a nearby patrol of diamond dogs. And now here he was running for his life, while still shouting at the pony behind.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Spike yelled before ducking his head to avoid a low hanging piece of wood jutting from some structure that kept the ceiling secure.

"NOT AT ALL, IF YOU WOULD JUST DO AS I SAY WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS!" Trixie narrowed her eyes at the dragon in front of her, of course the moment she was struck by a inspirational plan to save them he would have to be uncooperative.

"THERE'S NO WAY I'M DOING THAT! ITS STUPID, AND ONLY BENEFICIAL FOR YOU!" As he shouted Spike's vision spotted a exit at the end of the passageway, hopefully a possible way out.

"IT IS NOT! IT IS A GREAT PLAN, AND WILL WORK FLAWLESSLY. THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE PROMISES!" The light azure unicorn turned her head momentarily to spy the crowd of angry diamond dogs giving chase, they would catch the duo eventually if this continued.

"SINCE WHEN IS ' DRAGON JUMP BETWEEN ME, AND THOSE ACCURSED MUTTS SO THAT I MAY ESCAPE ' CONSIDERED A GREAT PLAN?!" Spike spoke in outrage before passing through the exit, and finding himself in a large room. There was a large number of doorways that probably led all over the place, and a few large tables in the center. Spike figured that this must have been where all passages eventually met up, and probably acted as a conference room of sorts. Of course any further speculation was halted when a certain unicorn came running into the room, and crashed into the distracted dragon. The two rolled across the floor, before finally colliding with one of the tables resulting in a painful halt.

"Get off of me!" Spike found himself trapped under the azure mare, and with a hoof uncomfortably rubbing against his nostril.

"You first! Trixie wasn't aware that dragon's had such fat, and heavy tails." Trixie growled in annoyance as said tail flicked her across one of her eyes.

"You could talk! Geez your heavier than two colts, and a Pinkie Pie after an all you can eat cupcake contest." hissed Spike, and in reply Trixie screeched in indignation, and used all her strength to push herself off the ground, which resulted in losing her balance, and an even more embarrassing entanglement of limbs, and bodies. 

A tad bit dazed from that last action Trixie was suddenly met with a rather unusual feeling against her flank. Common sense thrown out the window, the unicorn cried in outrage, and began kicking about wildly. "DON'T YOU DARE YOU VILE, DEPRAVED DRAGON!" 

Spike who was now being beat mercilessly by random hoof strikes from the panicked unicorn, could only yell in response his face turned a deep mixture of purple, and red. "ITS MY TAIL! MY TAIL! OW! AN ACCIDENT YOU CRAZY FOAL!" Having had enough Spike managed to right himself, and deposit the red faced mare beside him. Not looking in her direction so he could better hide the blush on his face, Spike growled in irritation at the the accusation. "Seriously get over yourself, like I would ever wan..." 

Spike was cut short due by the oddly timed arrival of the diamond dogs that had chased them into the room to begin with. Trixie, and Spike both inwardly sighed in relief at least this would do as a distraction from the earlier incident, and help vent some built up anger.

Three of the most fearless, and battle eager diamond dogs from the group charged forward, having chased the duo this far dismissed any idea that they might actually be in for a challenge. The horn on Trixie's head lit up the moment the offenders had moved, and the lightest of the three diamond dogs suddenly found himself with no control of his body. With an aggressive toss of her mane Trixie sent the now possessed diamond dog's body crashing into his fellow sending both to collide with a nearby table. 

The third diamond dog taking heed of the unicorn's magic power chose to lunge toward the young dragon instead. Spike sidestepped the oncoming mass, and on reflex wrapped his tail along the blue collar the diamond dog wore around his neck. With a quick flick Spike sent the surprised assailant to land ungracefully on the ground beside the previous two.

The rest of the crowd of diamond dogs shifted nervously, three of them had already been downed with what looked like minimal effort from the unicorn and dragon. It looked like the group might actually turn tail, and run to fetch reinforcements, which would buy the duo plenty of time to escape.

That is until another group of diamond dogs just so happened to come strolling down into the room from one of the many passageways. There was a brief moment of silent pause as the new group quickly began comprehending the situation at hand, the old group started recalculating their heightened odds, and Spike and Trixie both unconsciously began edging toward a doorway.

With a challenging bark the first group all broke formation, and bounded toward the escapees, and a moment later the second group did the same. With barely any time to react Spike breathed a cone of bright green fire before him scaring off the attackers nearest to him, but not dissuading the entire pack who in turn moved quickly to go around the flames before them. Trixie levitated a nearby table, and used it to shield herself from the bodies that hoped to collide with her, her eyes narrowed and beads of sweat trickled down her forehead as the diamond dogs banged against the sturdy wood.

Spike seeing Trixie in trouble, grasped a diamond dog that had gotten to close by the scruff of it's neck, and flung it into the group that was tasked with breaking through the magically levitating table. The flying body hit it's mark and the diamond dogs were sent hurtling in different directions giving the unicorn some breathing room for the moment. Trixie, noticing Spike's assistance looked, in his direction, but her eyes widened at the oncoming threat that careened toward the unaware dragon.

Spike, confused by Trixie's expression, had no time to react to a sudden weight crashing into his torso, and sending the two rolling across the dirt. Another diamond dog had crept close and pounced forward using all his weight to bring the dragon down, and now he could feel the weight of his comrades joining his hoping to pin the scaled beast to the ground. The pile had grown eight bodies high before a loud growl ripped through the room, and Spike threw all of the attackers off of him but one that clung stubbornly to his neck. 

"Let go!" The diamond dog shook his head in refusal, and tried biting down on the dragon's scales. The resulting pain felt more like a pinch than anything to Spike, who was glad his scales had matured to the point where such a attack would be just about negated. With a quick toss of his head, Spike sent the dog flying across the room, but it stubbornly rose back to its feet a moment afterward.

This fight wasn't going well, there was just too many attackers, and they had home field advantage. Trixie's hooves impacted painfully against the side of a diamond dog that had reacted too slow to her suddenly striking out with her hind legs, and as he went flying against a support beam Trixie was struck by a sudden idea. She looked to Spike who was currently handling the larger fraction of the attacking crowd, and from the looks of it could manage well enough for a few more minutes. After taking a moment to gather the necessary energy her plan required, Trixie fired a bolt of concentrated magic toward a wooden support beam. The beam splintered to pieces, and a few clods of dirt fell from the ceiling above.  Trixie's plan was merely to bring the ceiling down, hopefully in the chaos it would be possible for her...and the dragon to escape.

As Trixie continued blasting different support beams, Spike fought on against the diamond dogs, another blast of emerald fire scattered the crowd, and bought him a few seconds of reprieve from the onslaught. A sudden movement to his left, and Spike quickly turned in time to strike down another assailant hoping to crash into him. Turning back to the group Spike spied Grug in the back issuing commands to his brothers, apparently Grug was the alpha to this pack which made sense since he was the one who questioned the dragon in the first place. As Spike's green eyes locked with Grug's mustard yellow ones the dragon started noticing that there was a lot of dirt falling from the ceiling.

"Spike! The whole room is going to cave in!" Trixie yelled urgently as she blasted one final support beam. Having heard the mare Spike moved to join her, but was side-tracked by a handful of still rearing to fight diamond dogs. With a sweep of his tail Spike moved the would be obstacles out of his way, but a large piece of the earth ceiling gave way, and fell to the ground between Spike and Trixie with a loud crash.

Dust, and dirt was thrown everywhere obscuring Spike's vision he could barely make out the form of the beckoning pony, but had no problem seeing the large mass of rock, and dirt that separated the two. The attacking diamond dogs began scrambling for cover, as the very real threat of being crushed by falling debris set it. With all the shouts, barking, and all the rocks pelting everything around him Spike did the best he could to navigate towards the unicorn.

"SPIKE LOOK OUT!" Hearing Trixie's warning the dragon flung himself forward narrowly avoiding an untimely demise beneath a boulder sized piece of dirt. Rapidly running out of escape routes Spike made a quick gambit, and raced toward the closest hallway exit he could see. Right behind him the entire room collapsed in on itself burying everything within.

After taking a few moments to cough up dirt, and catch his breath, Spike picked his head up off the ground. The entrance behind him was completely blocked off by dirt, and stone, which he knew wouldn't hold off the well renowned diggers that were the diamond dogs for long. All he could do was trudge forward, and hopefully find an exit. It crossed his mind that Trixie wasn't with him, hopefully she had escaped the room, and was wandering one of these hallways herself, and that they would just run into each other eventually. That thought made Spike produce a annoyed snort, he couldn't believe he was actually hoping to run into her again, let alone worry about her well being.

The unicorn in question was at the moment dusting herself off, doing whatever it took to rid her mane, and cape from the specs of dirt that clung stubbornly to her form. "Oh Trixie you're going to need a good hot bath when this is all over." She was sure that the dragon had managed to stumble into another entrance, so his well being wasn't particularly weighing on her mind. In the least she was alone, and wouldn't have to bother with some idiotic dragonling, or flea-bitten diamond dogs at the moment.

After a fair deal of wandering Trixie found herself in front of the large room that she had spied when they were first being dragged deeper within the diamond dog's cave. For the most part the room was empty except for a few mine carts, and a large map. Then at the far end of the room hidden behind a few crates there it was. Trixie squealed in delight as her eyes took in every physical feature that was her carriage, in truth it wasn't much more than her little room, and the harness used to pull it, but it was home to her and she had missed it so.

With superpony speed Trixie was instantly beside her beloved carriage checking it over for any blemishes, or signs of abusive. "Oh Trixie has missed you so! Did you miss Trixie? Oh of course you did ahh." Once she was sure all of her belongings were still safe, and untouched the unicorn donned the harness, and started pulling her carriage out of the room, and down the hallway.  

Down the hallway, a left, a right, and another left from where Trixie was currently walking, sat a befuddled Spike. In front of him stood a door with some odd handwriting scribbled on the front, though his fluency with the diamond dog language was rusty at best, his gut was telling him something of interest laid within.

With gentle care Spike eased the wooden door open, much to his surprise and good fortune instead of finding any hostile diamond dogs he found a large pile of assorted gems. With watery eyes as big as dinner plates Spike gazed at the shiny treasure horde, before him bright red rubies twinkled seductively, and sky blue sapphires beckoned to him with silent promises of unparalleled flavor.

"Hello my pretties, my name is Spike and I would very much enjoy eating every last one of you." Spike wiped away a stray tear of joy, and found himself slowly making a beeline toward the buffet before him. All other troubles in his life suddenly fading away as his inner draconic instincts began to assert themselves. Just as Spike was about to reach the pile of goodies, a gruff voice cut through the quiet.

"Grug knew dragon couldn't keep filthy claws away from treasure." Spike was snapped out of his gem fantasies, and whipped around to come face to face with the diamond dog alpha himself. Grug stood before the door blocking any attempts Spike might have made for a hasty escape. Yellow eyes narrowed, and a teeth revealed in a half snarl, Grug's paws were gripped tightly around a shimmering sledgehammer, one that Spike instantly recognized.

Within Equestria there were many tales of ancient, and forgotten artifacts. Forged from deep, powerful magic, made for purposes greater than any one soul could comprehend. Most were merely things of legend, fabricated so make believe heroes had a Deus Ex Machina at hand for stopping make believe villains. Others though were very much real, hidden away by those who understood the damage such relics could do to an unwary time. And the weapon that Grug currently had in his possession, and was very willing to use against Spike, was indeed one of those relics.

The hammer had no name, only a long list of those who fell before it's mighty blows, and a short list of those deemed worthy enough to find, and wield it. Years spent wasting the day away filing books, and from time to time leafing through the ones with interesting names had made this weapon, and its possibly real brethren past known to the dragon. Spike couldn't help, but take a cautionary step back.

"Grug sees that you know this weapon dragon. A family heirloom passed from first born to first born, never have to use till now." Grug's eyes were unblinking, and locked in a determined glare, but his voice sounded..uncertain. 

Spike could literally feel the murderous intent that the hammer radiated, it was a tool of pain, and glory and it ached to be used again. With a weapon like that in his paws, a fight with Grug would likely be the end of the young dragon, something he hoped to avoid at all costs. Running out of ideas Spike considered an alternative, it was crazy but there were no other feasible options at the moment.

With a gulp Spike eased away from the glittering pile of gems, his first goal was to make himself less of a threat, step out of such a hostile light, and hopefully into one where a compromise could be made. "A-Alright there Grug, lets not be to hasty now." Having moved a few feet away from the treasure, Spike could see Grug relaxing his hold on the weapon slightly.

"Look I'm here on complete accident, and really don't want to cause any trouble. Now I know relations between dragons, and diamond dogs aren't the best right now." Hearing this Grug's ears flattened against his skull aggressively, and his grip tightened again, much to Spike's dismay. 

"B-But maybe this can be the start of something, we put aside our differences, you let me go, and I tell every dragon I run into that Grug and his pack are worth reckoning." Spike was hoping to appeal to the alpha's view on a bigger picture, and the thoughtful gleam that passed through the diamond dog's yellow eyes filled him with optimism.

"Neither of us are really looking for a fight here right? You just want to make sure your treasure, and family is safe, and I just want to get on my way home. There's no reason that any blood has to be shed when we can just go our separate ways, and go on with our lives." Spike tried his best at a honest smile, but his fang filled mouth probably didn't help much, all he could do is stare pleadingly at the thinking creature before him.

There was a long pause, and just as Spike began losing hope a sound reached his ears. It was the sound of Grug letting loose a tired sigh before he set the shimmering hammer on the ground beside him. With a haggard look in his eyes the diamond dog's frown turned to a small smile as he looked up at the dragon.

"You speak sense dragon, Grug no want to risk life, and family over quarrel with you. If dragon promises to leave den in peace, and not touch treasure he may go." Spike sighed loudly in relief, finally he could get off of here, and try to figure out what had happened to him to begin with. 

"I promise you'll have no trouble from me Grug, put er there." With a smile Spike brought his hand up for a hoofshake, and after a suspicious pause from Grug, the diamond dog walked closer and returned the gesture.

As the two firmly shook hands in goodwill, Spike spied an object laying on the floor away from the treasure pile. A remembrance of it's importance to a certain hard to deal with unicorn chimed insistingly until the dragon was forced to act.

"Hey Grug whats the deal with that hat over there?" Spike's question drew a confused look over the diamond dog's face until he turned his head to stare at the discarded cloth. A growl escaped Grug's lips as he remembered the horned pony, and her unforgivable words.

"Hat belongs to magic pony, keep as reminder to warn Grug of phony baloney ponies, and to never forget the insults she spat to the pack." A deep frown settled on the dog's face, and his hoofshake slightly tightened. Spike cursed mentally at himself, he was about to make things a lot harder on himself for Trixie of all ponies sake.

"Any chance I can snag that from ya? Might make for a nice souvenir to remember this whole experience by." Spike cursed again as he felt Grug's grip on his scaled hand tighten more so, and the diamond dog's eyes began to narrow.

"No can do dragon, if smart-mouthed pony gets away pack will need something to track her scent with." Grug's voice was quickly losing it's tired tone, and was rebuilding into one of hostility.

"That's a shame Grug cause I could really use that hat." Spike's emerald eyes narrowed, and stared into Grug's a small tint of challenge beginning to grow on the edges. His grip tightened on the hoofshake as well, and both participants looked like they were eager to squeeze the other's hand off.

"Hat stays, that final." Grug's words were more growled in threat than spoken, and Spike caught Grug's eyes darting quickly to where the hammer laid just a few feet away. Spike decided that if he lived he might very well incinerate the hat in front of it's owner just to make her pay for what he was about to get into.

With Grug separated from his winning card, and a plan already formed Spike glared into the diamond dog's eyes, and the words that he spoke at that moment burned with equal heat to the emerald flames he could spit out at that very moment.

"I'm not leaving here without that hat." 


Trixie just could not catch a break, only moments after finally reuniting with her carriage she found herself once again being chased by a mob of angry diamond dogs. Her hoof falls sounding like thunder in her ears as she ran for all she was worth down the corridor hoping to find an exit.

Suddenly the smell of fire burned in her nostrils, and a distant rumble almost made her break her stride though it did succeed in loosening a few pieces of rock, and dirt from the overhanging ceiling. Using her magic Trixie deflected any falling projectiles that threatened to hit her, or her cargo as she continued onwards. The mob chasing behind lacked her magic abilities so were pelted with falling debris, and soon stopped chasing her altogether.

A warm golden light in the distance made Trixie redouble her efforts, she could practically taste the warm outside sunlight, and winds of freedom. Within a few moments Trixie stopped to gaze out the cave den entrance, and bathe in the solar rays that beamed down upon her from the sun above. She started moving forward when a magical tug pulled at her legs.

Perplexed the cyan unicorn turned around, and was merely met with the sight of the diamond dog den entrance, the inside looking shockingly dark in contrast to the bright sunlight she now stood in. Then she remembered, a huff of great annoyance escaped her as she thought back to the promise she had made to that infernal dragon barely hours ago. The tug would continue until either the deal was fulfilled, or she swore the deal broken. Though unable to truly keep her in place or tethered to the beast she made the deal with, the tug would annoy her without end.

"Hurry up you slack jawed newt, Trixie will not wait here for much longer. With or without your scaly hide." Her words fell on deaf ears, and just as she was about to turn to leave a large purple mass exploded outward from the den entrance. Caught completely off guard Trixie tripped over herself in surprise, and from her position on the ground she glared up at the emerald eyes that hung over her.

"I heard that, though I am surprised that you actually waited for me." Spike's gaze moved from the frowning unicorn to the carriage she was standing next too, his eyes beholding the familiar sight for a few seconds. "You still fit in that?" 

A quick look of outrage spread on Trixie's face at the question, and she quickly stood up to glare at the dragon. "Of course I do! Are you insinuating that the Great and Powerful Trixie wouldn't be able to fit within her own travel room?" 

Feeling another argument coming on, but lacking the time due to an approaching threat, Spike quickly shoved the unicorn aside, and began fastening the harnesses for the carriage to himself. Something that earned a cry of anger from Trixie, and a half flanked apology from Spike in response.

"And just what do you think your doing dragon?!  Trixie has aided in your escape, now begone from my sight you are no longer my problem."  The moment the dragon had stood there above her moments ago Trixie felt the magical tug of her deal vanish, and she wasn't going to deal with this peon for another second.

"I'm going to pull this thing, and get us out of here. Unless you want to be escorted back inside the den by Grug, and his gang again?" A quick worried glance toward the den entrance which now echoed with the barks of the diamond dogs was all Trixie needed before letting out another huff, and climbed hurriedly inside her carriage. "Good now hold on this is going to be a bumpy ride." 

Trixie had scarcely shut the carriage door behind her, before everything lurched forward suddenly throwing her body none to gently against the door, and knocking a few of her possessions around. She was about to shout to the dragon to be careful, when she caught sight of the the pack of diamond dogs exiting the den, and giving chase.

Free of the constraints that had encumbered him within the dimly lit passageways of the diamond dog den Spike was able to reach an improved level of speed. The carriage that he pulled groaned, and squeaked loudly having never been pulled so fast before, and the enraged shouts from within it cause a smirk to adorn Spike's face. It never felt so good to be outside as the rays of sunlight warmed his scales, and the fresh air filled his lungs. Though there was no real path where he ran, Spike followed a narrow dirt trail doing his best to avoid obstacles that might harm him, or the carriage.

Soon the diamond dogs were left in the dust, and all the leader Grug could do was swear loudly in the language of his people, in anger he raised the hammer that he held in his paws, and with all his might smashed it into a nearby tree. Instantly the tree's bark exploded into tiny fragments, sending pieces of wood everywhere. A sharp pain ran up Grug's arms after the blow, wielding such a weapon required something he did not possess, which is why he had lost the scuffle with the dragon earlier, and had been punished by the weapon both then, and at this moment.

With a growl Grug looked to his brothers and motioned for them to follow him back home. They had lost their quarry, and there was no use in continuing to give chase.

Almost a mile away Spike finally slowed his sprint down to a stop, he unfastened the harness, and rolled over on the ground with a thud. He was finally free, and could get to business on how to get home. Of course it would help if he actually knew where he was to begin with, waking up in a dungeon out in the middle of nowhere certainly wasn't any help. A groan coming from the carriage brought the dragon out of his musing, and with a sigh he stood up, and headed to check on Trixie.

"You alright in there?" From within the carriage a long string of curses emitted from the irritated unicorn, and Spike merely sat outside with a bored expression until she finished. The door flew open, and her grey magenta eyes glared lethally at him, the glare worsened as she watched a grin spread on the dragon's face, before he started laughing to himself.

"And what do you think is so funny?!" The unpleasant ride had jostled the poor mare around quite a bit, and her mane was an absolute mess, that plus the angry expression on her face made for quite the comedic scene. Having heard enough laughter at her expense Trixie's horn flared up, and a rock found itself levitated and hurled right toward the chuckling dragons noggin.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Spike rubbed his smarting skull, and held back a few curses of his own for the moment. Trixie now busying herself with tidying up her mane using a mirror inside the little room laughed in return.

"No one laughs at the Great and Powerful Trixie, especially you." Looking herself over Trixie smiled in satisfaction at her reflection, but it disappeared instantly when she looked back toward the dragon still sitting by her carriage. "Now what do you want?"

Spike rubbed his head sheepishly, as much as he would have like to be rid of the obnoxious unicorn he had to face the fact that he had absolutely no idea where he was, and he certainly wasn't cozy with the idea of trying to find his way home alone. With a sigh Spike decided to try and play his hand, despite how bad of a hoof he was being dealt. 

"Well I know our deal to escape that den together is over and stuff, but I was kinda hoping that you might help me find my way back to Ponyville." Before he had even finished speaking Spike was ready for her reply, and just as he assumed she was as blunt as she could possible be.

"No! Your annoying, you're the lackey of my most hated rival, and I hate you." The entire time she spoke Trixie wore a small smile on her face, though the tone she used was of barely contained anger. "Plus why should I, sure Trixie may have been in a bind down in that dungeon, but what possibly could you have to offer that The Great and Powerful Trixie would want?"

Trixie smiled victoriously, and Spike kept his eyes down toward the ground. It was true at the moment the unicorn was holding all the cards, and was feeling much less generous than the dragon had earlier. It would seem Spike had no other choice, but to play the ace he had up his sleeve, or in this case wrapped protectively in his tail. With a grin Spike looked up from the ground, and locked eyes with the smirking mare before him. The grin on the dragon's face quickly wiped away her look of superiority, and she nervously wondered what he had planned.

"Oh I'm sure I have something that you want without a doubt." The venom, and self assured triumph in Spike's voice chilled Trixie to her core. A huge thing she was growing to dislike about this dragon was how he always seemed to match her wit for wit. "The real question here oh Great and Powerful Trixie, is how badly do you want it?" And with that Spike's long tail unfurled behind him to show a purple hat covered in stars, a hat that matched perfectly with Trixie's cape. 

There was a long silence as Trixie's pupils shrank, and all the color seemed to drain from her face. Her lost, and prized magician's hat now hung before her in the grasp of some infuriating dragon. She would have to go about this with practiced ease, and caution.

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! GIMME MY HAT BACK! I'LL DO ANYTHING JUST GIVE IT BACK TO ME!" Strangely enough Spike had thought that she would have played that one a little closer to the vest, but ah well. Spike fought down the urge to laugh at the nearly crying unicorn that hugged at his feet, and legs with big teary eyes pleading that he return her beloved hat.

"Then its a deal! I give you this hat back and you help me figure out where I am, and help me get back to Ponyville." And just like that Spike gently placed the hat on Trixie's head who broke out into a stream of thank yous, and hugged the hat to herself lovingly. 

Maybe it was just because of the stress of such a long day, or maybe that fight with Grug had taken more out of him than he had expected. But Spike couldn't help but think for the tiniest moment that the smiling unicorn before him might not be so bad after all. Heck maybe in the right light she'd be easy on the eyes.

"Eww my hat smells like dragon! This day has completely exhausted the Great and Powerful Trixie, for now until Trixie says otherwise you shall have to pull the carriage. Now then while Trixie dignifies herself, go fetch me something to eat." 

And just like that it was gone, out the window, set ablaze and stomped out in imaginary rage. Rubbing the temples on his head, Spike began to realize just what he had signed himself up for. With a groan the dragon covered his ears, and tried to think joyous thoughts as he laid down in the sunlight. He was in for a very, very long trip.



End Of Chapter:
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4:


Spike desperately wished this long day would come to an end already. After waking up in a dungeon, teaming up with the one of the few ponies he had next to zero tolerance for, and just barely escaping the diamond dogs he could honestly say that he had his fill of tense situations. Alas cruel fate smiled deviously upon the tired dragon and had thrust him into his worst predicament yet.

“Keep it together Spike,  remember no sudden movements and wait for an opportunity.” His thoughts brought little consolation as his emerald eyes locked with the irate foe before him. Irises devoid of any hints of mercy glared right back at him, and an uncomfortable feeling that his very soul was being perceived crept all over his scaled body. Stalling for time was quickly morphing from a good idea to a fatal one as Spike realized he was just giving his opponent more time to deduce the appropriate strategy to end him.  At this point any idea would do, and the purple dragon was once again going over his list of possible options.

“Intimidation!” Spike flexed his claws, and narrowed his eyes hopefully making himself look more trouble than it would be worth to tangle with. No reaction besides an ever more piercing leer being focused on him. 

“Intensify intimidation!” Spike bared his rows of diamond munching, ruby crunching, razor sharp teeth and steady puffs of smoke escaped his nostrils. The cruel eyes widened slightly, but then a eyebrow raised and for a slight span of time Spike's show of ferocity was met with a dubious stare. 

“Alright Spike lookin good, keep it up and you have this in the bag... oh horse apples.” Spike's snarl faltered slightly as the questioning gaze turned to one of sudden enlightenment. A ill intentioned smirk made the dragon's blood run cold, and suddenly without warning the smell of ozone filled his nostrils. Spike tensed his muscles, and readied a mouth full of pain inducing emerald heat in case of an attack.

No attack came, instead a pear that sat atop the pile of edible things Spike had managed to find levitated into the air, and drifted toward the unicorn before him. She knew exactly what he wanted, and she planned to make this as agonizing as possible for him.

A loud crunch cut through the tension induced silence, and Spike flinched from the sudden sound. With no need for the flames that he had built up, Spike willed the fire to snuff itself out though the aftermath resulted with a unplanned coughing of smoke into the air. Greyish magenta eyes gazed uninterestedly at Spike, the smirk now lost in the machinations of chewing the still floating fruit. 

In an effort to save face Spike reached out cautiously for the food pile between them. He eyed a few mushrooms at the side of the pile that he had checked before hand to make sure they were safe to eat. Seizing them between his claws Spike blew a small flame to his hand roasting the fungi yet leaving himself unharmed thanks to the heat resistance of his scales. Another loud crunching drew his attention back to the chewing mare, and he wondered if she was purposely doing that to drive him mad.

As they ate in silence Spike's thoughts drifted to the bigger predicament at hand. He had no idea where he was still, he lacked any scrolls donning the royal crest that would give him the ability to send any messages to Celestia, and to further the matter he had received none from the princess yet which meant either Twilight herself hadn't reached the princess, or he was too far out from the alicorn's circle of magical influence for any of her messages to reach him. If the ladder was true then that meant he was no longer within the borders of Equestria, another chill went down his spine at that thought. “Just how far from home am I?” 

His thoughts were only met by his traveling companion's continued chewing, which sparked another question. Spike's eyes riveted back to the cyan unicorn as his train of thought began to pick up momentum. If they truly were outside of Equestria's borders, what the heck was Trixie doing out in the wilderness performing for diamond dogs?

So many questions, but no way of getting answers without first breaking the law of silence that had settled since his return from foraging. If this was any other pony Spike would likely be speaking his mind, and having pleasant meal time conversation. Trixie though was no other pony, she would instigate some sort of argument and he would just find himself rubbing his temples in a desperate attempt to sooth a threatening aneurism.

“Argh! Just say something already whats the worse that could....” Spike already knew the answer to that, speaking first would be an admittance of defeat, of no longer being able to take the silence. As stupid, and worthless as such a victory would be, Trixie would take the greatest of delights from it, and Spike just couldn't allow such a thing to transpire at his expense. No he could handle this no matter how much he wanted to ask questions, and just hear something besides the obnoxious sound of her munching away on that hapless pear. Eyes narrowed, and willpower replenished Spike reached out for a lone daisy only for it to move out of his reach thanks to unicorn magic. 

With a silent growl Spike looked from the floating flower to the smirking unicorn. There was no way that had been accidental, and now he looked silly reaching out to an empty space. “What kind of sick, twisted mind could possible operate within this mare?”

“Silly dragon, flowers are for foals or in this case all powerful unicorn mares.” The outraged look that sprouted on Spike's face nearly had Trixie rolling in laughter. It was even funnier that this dragon dared to hope that he could beat her at their little game. He wanted to talk that much she was certain, but he wanted her to break the silence first and that wasn't going to happen. So instead she resigned herself to merely torturing her scaled beast of burden. The quickest way to victory would be to get him mad, but the trick to it was to do so without speaking. A glance to the floating daisy beside her brought a delicious idea to her mind. “This will be fun.”

Slowly the daisy floated toward Trixie, and once she was sure Spike was looking she nipped off one flower petal. “He hates me.”

She could see his emerald eyes burn with frustration, at least he was smart enough to realize she was doing this purposely to annoy him. Another bite relieved a second petal from the poor plant, Trixie's eyes glinted in cruel glee. “He hates me a lot.” For kicks and giggles, Trixie faked a look of complete amazement at the taste of the flower and pretended to be blown away by it's taste. Scaled brows furrowed in anger, and Spike's eyes burned with envy.

This ill spirited game continued till there was only two petals left, and as she bit off the second to last one remaining a devious idea 'dinged' within her thoughts. With a stoic face Trixie levitated the remainder of the daisy toward a now shocked looking Spike. The flower danced within reach of his snapping jaws, and she donned an apologetic smile when his green eyes jumped from the offering back to her. 

A full minute passed as Spike pondered whether this was a trick or not. All evidence pointed toward this being a cruel prank, and that the mare before him was actually some vile, despicable monstrosity merely disguised as an arrogant unicorn. But maybe just maybe she had felt bad for her previous actions, and was trying to apologize in her own way. The look on Trixie's face wasn't beaming with bad intentions like usual and this did seem like a lot of effort just to further infuriate him. 

The corners of Trixie's mouth twitched involuntarily as she watched the conflicted dragon. She could tell he was giving in, perhaps he was hoping that she was turning a new leaf or something. “Fat chance at that!” She almost giggled in glee as a defeated look flashed across the dragon's face, and his eyes gazed into hers with a hopeful gleam. 

As Spike opened his mouth and neared the floating daisy he dared to think that maybe traveling with Trixie might be more bearable than he first assumed. Just as his jaws began to snap together to entrap the apology gift, he noticed to his horror that Trixie was wearing a devious smirk. A fang filled mouth closed on nothing but air, and the speeding flower darted back toward it's magical puppeteer.

With a vicious chomp Trixie ate the rest of the daisy, and offered a big grin toward the now fuming dragon. “Victory in three...two...one!” 

“Argh! I buckin knew that you were going to do that!” Spike's angered shout not only cut through the silence surrounding the two, but also caused several birds quietly roosting in the nearby trees to fly off in a panic. And just like that Spike had lost the game, pupils shrinking in realization, and a look of pure humiliation settled upon his face. 

A smug smile was plastered on Trixie's face as she watched the embarrassed dragon. The daisy had actually tasted exquisite, even more so thanks to the fact that Spike had wanted it to begin with, but even better than that was the sweet flavor that came with another victory. Her magenta eyes locked with his emerald green ones, and she briefly wondered if perhaps she shouldn't push him any more so than she already had. 

“Problem?”

And within an instant the distance between them was closed, and a pair of angry green orbs glared into her own eyes now separated by only a few inches. Perhaps other ponies would have been afraid, or at least made nervous by the sight of an enraged young dragon looming right in front of them. Trixie on the other hand smiled and laughed in Spike's face at her own reply, she was enjoying this immensely.

“I dislike you with great intensity right now.” Spike had meant to sound as angry and menacing as possible, but the long day had already sapped most of the fight out of him. With a long sigh Spike returned to his previous spot and settled for gathering his thoughts before speaking again. Now that the whole silence thing had been dissuaded, Spike could focus on more important things. Like awkward small talk with a pain in the flank unicorn. 

“So....hows the life on the road treating you?” Spike could already feel a headache coming on as Trixie laughed again and fixed a 'are you serious?' look upon her face.

“...Really? That's what your gonna open up with?”

“Shut up, would it kill you to have a conversation without starting a argument?”

“Would it kill you to have something intelligent to say?”

*Sigh* "Just humor me for a minute.”

“Very well, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall try her best to listen to your babbling.”

Despite wanting to smash his head into a tree due to Trixie's rudeness, Spike was glad to be doing more than sitting and eating. At least he now had a chance at getting some questions answered, despite his lack of faith in the unicorn's honesty.

“Any chance that you know where we are?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie likes to just go where the wind takes her.” Spike rolled his eyes and sighed out of frustration, the light blue unicorn sure knew how to dodge around the words 'completely lost'.

“So I take it that we'll be just wondering around till we either come across Equestrian borders or some sort of settlement then. How long have you been trotting around outside of Equestria anyways?” Spike was hard pressed to believe that Trixie had survived as long as she had without help from somepony, even with her magic.

“A few seasons, The Great and Powerful Trixie decided some time ago that she should be exposing her unparallelled greatness to lands beyond that of simple Equestria. Trixie has seen many interesting things in her travels though nothing nearly as interesting as herself of course.” Trixie's cape began to ignore gravity's rules once again as her natural need to put on a show started to overcome her.

“So you've been on the road for a few years I take it. Don't you ever get tired of traveling all the time?” Spike tried to imagine himself going to foreign lands, seeing the exotic sights of neighboring kingdoms, and the stories he would tell his friends back home when he returned. 

“No Trixie never tires of the life of an adventurer, the world was made for her to explore, observe, and hold an opinion of. As for the first question, a few years would be an understatement since Trixie has been living a life on the road for a long, long time.” Though her voice held its superior tone, Trixie's eyes now seemed to have trouble focusing on a single object as they darted from place to place. Even her cape began to droop lower to the ground as if her magic was some how being directly affected.

As enthralling as the life of an adventurer sounded to him, Spike couldn't imagine partaking for a long period of time. He'd get homesick, would miss his friends and family, and ultimately believed that such an existence would be shrouded in loneliness. The purple dragon also found it odd that a mare like Trixie, would live this way by choice when she enjoyed making such a show of herself in front of others.

“Don't you ever get lonely or miss you're friends, and family?” Spike's question sparked a sudden change in Trixie's demeanor as her uncertain eyes morphed to a steel glare, and she stomped her front left hoof onto the ground.

“Never! The Great and Powerful Trixie has no need, or desire for insignificant things like friends or family!” Trixie's anger was made quite evident by the harsh tone of her voice, and the sudden displacement of objects within a hoof step of her. Random rocks, twigs, and leaves hovered in the air around her and seemed to shake in coordination with her growing fury. 

Spike couldn't help but gulp in unease, the piercing gaze from the agitated pony told him that he was probing a very sensitive subject. A change of topic would be vital at this moment, luckily enough Spike had an idea that would play right along with Trixie's self-promoting mind set.

“S-So has the Great and Powerful Trixie made any changes to her act since the last time I had the good fortune to witness it?” Lacking the energy to clash with an irate unicorn at her possible magical peak, Spike instead hoped that a bit of ego stroking would calm the mare down. As much as he hated the idea of enabling her boastful attitude Spike lacked any alternatives that didn't end with an explosive after dinner fight to the death.

“Indeed Trixie has, though she must admit to the difficulty to improving an already perfect show.” And just like that the quaking sticks, and stones fell to the earth harmlessly. Trixie's glare changed back to a familiar all knowing and superior than thou smirk as the unicorn stood to her full height and continued speaking. “As Trixie's power grows, so does the magnificence of her performance, the unmatched feats of magical excellence Trixie has at her disposal is mind-boggling.

As the unicorn carried on boasting about the magnitude of her abilities, Spike already found himself missing the awkward silence. "At least then I could hear myself think.” The dragon couldn't help but chuckle at his own thoughts, though he found himself growing slightly curious about just how much Trixie's skills truly had grown since last he had seen her. 

“So it's safe to to assume that you stopped going from town to town challenging ponies to a silly 'anything you can do, I can do better' contest?” Trixie rolled her eyes and trotted toward the dragon till he found his personal space being invaded by her. His confused emerald eyes stared into her now challenging dark violet ones.

“Not at all, that part of the performance is still Trixie's favorite, and most well known of her feats.” There was a subtle tone to her words that caused Spike to growl in response, she was trying to get a rise out of him that much he was sure. A smirk grew on his face as Spike already came up with a reply that he knew would unbalance the smug unicorn. 

“Even more well known than your supposed clash with that oh so fearsome Ursa Major? Or was it the Ursa Minor?” Trixie's smirk was wiped off her face by Spike's words, and quickly replaced by a teeth-gritting snarl. Violet eyes shined with utter loathing, and disdain. While orbs of forest green flashed in defiance, there was a moment of silence before Trixie spoke.

“Anything a fledgling dragon like you can do, the Great and Powerful Trixie can do a million times better.” The snarl was slowly being replaced by an eager grin, there was a twinge of excitement that Trixie always felt when she faced a self assured challenger, and she was tickled pink at the thought of adding a dragon to her list of defeated competitors.

“We'll just see about that won't we? Just remember I'm the assistant of the one pony that one-upped you in front of the entire population of Ponyville, so I'll know a real magician when I see one.” Spike inwardly laughed as he noticed Trixie's tail whip around in anger at his words, though he reserved a small amount of respect at her for being able to keep that grin on her face. For some unexplainable reason a hot-blooded sensation began to spread through his scaled body, something about this challenge seemed oddly exciting to him. 

Spike's thoughts were brought to a standstill when Trixie moved even closer until her head was alongside his own, and a racy whisper entered his ear. “Keep in mind little dragon, Trixie doesn't plan on going easy on you, even if it is your 'first time' going against her.” 

“W-WHAT?!” Spike reared his head back in surprise as the scales on his face tinted a darker shade than usual. His blush grew even more unbearable when the sound of Trixie's ridiculing laughter rang into both of his ears. 

“Getting a little hot under the scales are we?” With a victorious smile Trixie trotted back toward her carriage, opened the door, and hopped inside. Spike fumed in self disgust for falling for such a cheap trick as the sounds of Trixie rummaging through her belongings filled the air. After a few minutes had passed Trixie let out a loud “Aha!”. Luckily Spike's scales had returned to their proper color, and he kept a straight uninterested face even when the unicorn's head popped out from within the carriage with a large grin on her face. “Just what Trixie was looking for, a scoreboard so she can keep track of her wins during this little contest.”

A small chalkboard, along with a long stick of chalk floated from within the carriage to rest on the ground in front of Spike's feet. After sparing the items before him a quick glance, Spike raised a scaled brow to the mare in front of him. “So we're going to be at this more than once then?” 

A cheshire smile widened on Trixie's face, and her hat seemed to straighten a slight bit. “Of course! Trixie plans on dragging this out until you realize just how foolhardy it is to match wits, or power with her. You don't have a problem with that do you?”

Eyes blazing with an inner dragon fire, Spike stood to his full height, and stalked toward the smiling unicorn until they were only a few inches apart. “No problem at all Trix, in fact having an exact number of how many times you're ego gets you in over your head sounds like a great idea.” Spike allowed himself a toothy smile when Trixie's left eye twitched in annoyance at the given nickname.

“Well now that we have the foreplay out of the way, shall we begin?”

“Mares first.”

“Oh a gentledragon! Trixie believes she'll be enjoying this more than usual.”

“That makes two of us then.” Oddly enough Spike wasn't feeling quite so tired anymore.

Elsewhere:

Dozens of theories written down, hundreds of variables accounted for, and a hoof full of Canterlot's greatest equine minds hard at work produced a heaping amount of...nothing. Even with all of Celestia's resources at their disposal, Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia where no closer to ascertaining Spike's whereabouts than they had the moment they began hours earlier.

Twilight scowled in irritation at the notes, and papers she had been using for reference on her latest hypothesis on Spike's probable trajectory. The hapless dragon could have been sent halfway across the planet, and at this very moment be in grave danger, and all Twilight could do was make a guess at which pony settlement he might have made a crater closest too. Just the mere thought of the possible hazards she may have sent her best friend hurling towards caused another wave of tears to cascade down the unicorn's face, and onto the multiple parchments below her. 

“For crying out loud Twilight!..Y-you need to keep it t-together, Spike needs you now more than ever!” Doing her best to wipe away the tears from her vision, Twilight tried desperately to continue working, but once again nothing she found provided a creditable solution. With the tears threatening to rebel once again, and her guilt stabbing at what little concentration she had left, Twilight felt a small snap. A sudden flash of emotion swept through her, and before Twilight knew it she was throwing all the papers to the floor in frustration.

“It's useless! Nothing here is helping at all!” Twilight's horn flared up and she was only a second away from funneling all of her emotional turmoil into a dangerous pulse of magical energy, when she was stopped by a second presence.

“It pains me to no end too see you like this Twilight.” Celestia's shining visage entered the young mare's field of vision, and soon after she felt the warmth of her majesty's magic spread across the room. The once scattered papers rose into the air, and flew to a nearby desk to lay neatly. Books that had been left open or thrown aside due to their lack of relevance to the situation, glided toward a bookcase by the window, and set themselves in order. The window itself which had it's luxurious red curtains closed to block any view of the outside world now opened to allow a view of a now setting sun.

“Your mind and body are weary from worrying, and frantically trying to force answers where they can not be found. Please Twilight allow yourself rest, while I do what I can to find him.” A long blanket levitated into the room, and gently wrapped itself around the exhausted unicorn. 

“No! I can't sleep knowing that somewhere out there, Spike is lost, confused, maybe even hurt. It's my fault this happened to him, I won't rest until he's back in Ponyville safe and sound.” Even amid her protest Twilight felt the blanket levitate again, bringing her along with it as it slowly exited the private study and enter a large bedroom. She tried to squirm, and struggle to free herself, but she was too tired, and she knew nothing she could do would break the alicorn's magical hold.

“Spike won't have anything to come back home too if you work yourself to death. I understand your grief, but don't let that blind you to the distress you may cause those closest to you.” The blanket wrapped Twilight softly landed on the bed, and Celestia nuzzled her mane gently. “Twilight Sparkle in all your years as my student, and close friend have I ever done anything to make you lose faith in me?”

Heavy-lidded eyes threatened to close as Twilight gazed upon the solemn face of her mentor, and princess. “No princess Celestia, you've always done everything you can to keep everypony in Equestria safe, and happy.”

“Then for the rest of the night fret no more, let your princess do her part while you sleep.” And with that Celestia departed the room out into the hallway. Making sure to close the door behind her gently, the alicorn made her way to the royal guards conference room. Within a matter of minutes every royal pegasi was informed to fly out to the farthest pony colonies outside of Equestria, and spread word that a close friend to the princess was missing, and any information regarding his whereabouts would be greatly rewarded.

As her thoughts grew distant, her eyes closed, and she slowly sank into the unconscious realm Twilight wished with all her might that Spike would be ok until she found him.

Back Where We Began:

“Achoo!”

“Eww! Cover your mouth next time dragon!”

“Not like I meant to do that on purpose.”

“Enough of your babbling, whats the score?”

Taking a quick look from their current competition to gaze at the chalkboard a few feet away Spike was reminded of just how bad of an idea this had turned out to be. Given that the only spectators were the actual competitors themselves every loss, or victory led to a ten minute argument over whether or not said victory had been won fairly or not. There was no denying the slight tinge of amusement Spike received during these debates, but at this point the scoreboard had become illegible with tally marks, rude comments, and ever ruder depictions of unicorns and dragons attempting to cheat at random tasks.

“...Uhh I think it's a tie.” A loud growl reached Spike's ears as Trixie was fast losing her patience for their most recent competition.

“Liar! Trixie was at least ahead by seven points, either way its you're move so hurry up.” 

Spike brought his attention back to the crudely drawn square between the two of them. At the moment they were playing one of his personal favorite games, Chess. During her last turn Trixie had taken a bishop, but at the cost of leaving her king dreadfully exposed. Mind tempered from the multiple times he had played this back home with his friends Twilight, Celestia, and on one very odd occasion where he lost to Derpy in a shocking seven rounds. Taking advantage of Trixie's unnoticed flaw in her strategy, Spike moved one pawn forward, and said with a toothy grin.

“Check.”

Trixie's eyes narrowed, and a scowl appeared on her face as she glared at the makeshift chess game in front of her. After a few minutes she moved her king to a different position, and fixed Spike with a challenging leer. “Your move dragon.”

Spike shrugged and without any hesitation moved a knight down a few spaces. An innocent smile plastered on his face as he took his claws off his chosen piece.

“Check.”

Greyish violet eyes twitched in anger, and Trixie bit her bottom lip to avoid letting out a loud curse. Jumping up from her sitting position, Trixie circled around the square taking in every angle, and pausing to glare accusingly at an amused looking Spike. Once she was sure she had taken in every viewpoint that she could Trixie walked back to her previous spot, and moved her king again.

“You sure you wanna move there?”

“Shut up!”

“I'm just trying to help that's all.”

“Trixie doesn't require your help, now take your turn!”

With another shrug Spike moved his queen, and with a proud tone announced. “Check again!” The smile was knocked off his face when a rock surrounded in a blue aura collided with the side of his head. 

“What was that for?!”

“You cheated!”

“Did not!”

“Did so!”

“DID NOT!”

“DID SO!!”

Before opening his mouth to shout back at the irate unicorn, Spike regained his senses, and realized that they had once again stepped back into the pattern of one winning, and the other declaring foul play. With a sigh Spike shook his head, stood up, and moved to gather the scoreboard. “This is stupid.”

“YOUR STUPID!” Trixie was still riled up, and more than willing to argue all night if it came down too it, or at least she would be if the fatigue from all of the annoying situations this dragon had dragged her into hadn't started to all pile up at a moments notice. Suddenly her legs felt wobbly, and her horn which was glowing brightly had started to fizzle till the magic within went out completely. To her horror she realized that she was completely tapped out on energy, it would take a great stroke of luck if she managed to stay standing for another five minutes.

“I didn't say you were stupid Trixie. ( at least not out loud ) I was just saying that this argument isn't going anywhere, and I don't know about you but I'm beat. How about we finish this later, or at least when we have a third party to decide the winner besides us?” With the chalkboard in his tail's grasp, Spike turned back to see a very tired looking Trixie barely able to stand on her hooves. With a smirk the purple dragon made his way toward the weary eyed unicorn then stood beside her for a moment.

“Looks like somepony has stayed up past her bedtime.” Spike's smirk was met with a tired glare, and Trixie looked as if she would have liked to tell him off if she had the energy too. “Magical depletion huh? Yeah I recall a time where Twilight attempted an experiment with duplicating herself magically, failed miserably and Twilight couldn't move for two days. Well I'd be more than happy to help, but I know how you feel about accepting help from others.” And with that Spike started to make his way back toward the carriage leaving an almost completely immobile Trixie behind.

“No problem at all, the Great and Powerful Trixie can handle getting to her carriage all on her own.” With that thought echoing in her head, Trixie commanded her legs to move forward without a moments hesitation. A muscle twitched, and her front right leg raised upward, then suddenly the other three gave out underneath her earning an unpleasant collision with the ground.”Oof!”

Seeing the predicament she was now in caused Trixie to consider options that she was less than enthused to go through with. With Spike getting farther and farther away and the very real prospect that while she was left to sleep in the dirt like some sort of commoner, that damned dragon might get his dirty claws all over her things, Trixie painfully swallowed some pride. “H-Help.”

“Did you say something just now?” Spike turned his scaled head back to the unicorn with a raised brow, and a wide grin. Of course his ears had heard the plea perfectly, but he was still a little sore over an early incident that involved Trixie nearly crushing him under a tree during their 'Who can reach the top of the tree faster' competition.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie requires....assistance.” In a heartbeat Spike was now standing alongside his fallen associate looking down at her while his grin widened.

“...Are you sure?”

“Yes! Trixie is sure now are you going to help or what?!”

“Certainly! Under one condition.”

Trixie gritted her teeth in frustration as she glared daggers at Spike and that annoying grin on his face. She was growing unsettled by the number of times in which this dragon has had her at a disadvantage in the past twenty-four hours. “And what pray tell is this condition you speak of?”

“Say your sorry.”

“WHAT?!” 

“You heard me, I want you to apologize for the way you've been behaving since we busted out of that diamond dog den.”

“You can go buck yourself!” 

“Real classy, but seeing as how you're currently face down in the dirt I don't think you have the leverage to be making remarks like that.”

“You can't possibly be serious?! Trixie has been nothing but compassionate and level-headed since we began this charade of a honest deal.”

“You purposely ate the daisy that I wanted just to annoy me, you dropped a tree on me, and you won't even call me by my name. A puff of smoke escaped Spike's nostrils at the end of his sentence, and his grin deflated into a small frown. “If you can manage an apology then I'll help you, otherwise I'll be more than happy to get nice and comfy in whatever bed you have stashed inside that carriage of yours.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie...does..not...apologize. And if you dare go near Trixie's carriage it'll be the last thing you do on this plane of existence before Trixie turns you into an unpleasant stain in the dirt.” Despite the overwhelming numbness that enveloped most of her body, Trixie was able to gain enough muscle control to firmly plant her hooves into the ground, and stand up to her full height. The world through her eyes seemed to sway drunkenly as everything but her defiant will demanded immediate sleep. 

Spike's emerald hued eyes were once again deadlocked with Trixie's purple ones as they glared at one another. “Is it really so hard for you to be civil with someone else Trixie?” Spike would probably have had an easier time convincing Applejack to sell oranges instead of apples than getting the slightest ounce of manners from this self-absorbed unicorn.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is.....falling again.” The force of her rebellious will was no longer sufficient enough to keep her legs under her control, and once again Trixie could feel gravity dragging her down for another less than soft embrace with the earth. 

But the embrace never came...or at least not the one that she had been expecting. Once her eyes refocused, and her mind could make sense of her current situation, Trixie realized that something had caught her. 

“I can honestly say that I've never met anything as stubborn as you.” With an annoyed sigh Spike had quickly caught the unicorn in his arms as gently as he could. With a slight adjustment Spike now was carrying the surprised mare over his shoulder as he headed back toward their camp site, scoreboard still wrapped securely in his tail.

“W-What are you doing?” A slight blush started to grow on Trixie's face at the unexpected close contact, coupled with the slight embarrassment of being carried around like a doe-eyed filly.

“Carrying a spoiled diva to her carriage despite how much I want to wring her neck.” Spike's grumblings would have continued, but a sudden scent began to waft it's way into his nostrils. An odd combination of jasmine, ozone, and something else that he couldn't put his claw on. Either way the smell was absolutely divine, and seemed to be coming from the pale blue mane hairs that covered Trixie's head. “...Wait!” A sudden shudder went down Spike's spine as he came to terms with the fact that he had been smelling Trixie's mane...and DIDN'T utterly hate it. He swiveled his head around to see if Trixie had noticed anything, luckily enough his gaze wasn't met with that of an outraged, and for once completely justified glare. Instead most of Trixie's face was obscured by her hat, and the hair from her mane, her one unobstructed left eye was trying it's best to stave off the sleep that her body craved.

For a few moments the only sounds that were heard were the steady padding of Spike's feet against the dirt, the occasional crunching of twigs, and the forest inhabitants that were either going to sleep or about to begin their nocturnal agendas.  A breeze swept through the numerous trees, and bushes and much to Spike's dismay sent more of that scent to dominate his sense of smell.

“Why are you helping Trixie?” Spike managed to at least stifle the oncoming shudder brought on by Trixie's sudden question, he had been sure that the troublesome unicorn had fallen asleep.

“Because even though you act like a jerk sometimes, we still have a deal. And if I'm gonna be stuck with you till I get home, I ought as well just try to tolerate your attitude. Now try to get some sleep it'll be a little bit before we're back at camp, we did wonder off a bit during those competitions.” At that moment Spike passed a fallen tree giving it a look of absolute disdain while he did, then he walked by it's stump which had been used for a not so friendly arm-wrestling match.

“...thanks, and......sorry.”

“What was that?” Even with his heightened hearing Spike was just barely able to hear the quiet whisper that escaped Trixie's lips.

“Nothing...now shuddup dragon, Trixie is trying to sleep.” Trixie's whisper was now a grumpy growl and she whipped her tail against the side of the dragon's head to emphasize her need for him to stop talking. 

“It's Spike, my name is Spike.”

“Don't push it.”

After a few more minutes Spike's ears picked up the sound of light snoring, happy for some relative peace he continued toward where the carriage awaited them eager for a good night's sleep, and to continue on his way home.

End Of Chapter:



> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5:



“Dad, why do you always wear that silly looking hat?”

“Because I'm a magician, all great magicians wear cool capes and hats. That way when other ponies see us they know just how great, and powerful we are.”

“But why is yours so silly looking?”

Gasp “I-It is not silly looking! I'll have you know that these articles of clothing are artifacts of great power, you little daisy muncher.”

“Really?!”

“Yup, in fact these were passed down to me from your grandpa, and they were passed down to him from his father. A magician's trusty cloak and hat can be just as important as his name.”

“Is that why you're always shouting your name in that weird way?”

“Of course! When strangers hear my name they know that I'm a well respected mage, and take great heed in my words. It's all part of being an amazing magician, well you know besides going on adventures, beating up bad guys, saving ponies, and all that fuss.”

Little filly eyes grow to the size of saucers as the stallion tells stories of travel, and learning powerful magics. 

“Dad do you think that someday I can be a magician like you?”

A prideful smile grows on the stallion's face as he gazes down at his young offspring. She reminded him of a young wide eyed colt who would chase his father around from morning to night insisting that the gruff elder instruct him on the basics of magic. Despite her young age the stallion could already feel the dormant unicorn magic within her building up, she may very well be an earlier bloomer. Even more pride swelled within him at the prospect of so much potential being possessed by a creation of his own flesh, and blood.

“I bet you could be if you really wanted to, though we'll have to start working on a name. If you are going to be a great spell-weaver like your old man, then your gonna need a cool name.”

“Does that mean that I'll have to wear that silly hat, and cape?”

For a brief moment that prideful smile deflated, and a look of dread flashed across the light blue ponies face. “You wouldn't want some old dusty outfit that your dad ran around in all his life. Nope a rising star like yourself is going to need her own garb specially made.” The seasoned colt patted himself on the back for his quick cover up, though his daughter looked up at him in confusion. He wouldn't wish the dreadful responsibility of wearing this hat, and cape on any pony, least of all his own offspring. He was quick to change the subject back to what kind of title his daughter should give herself, hoping that the slip-up would be buried underneath a foal's short attention span, and his stories of magical adventure.

Despite his best efforts, the little azure filly never forgot that brief look of fear that passed over her father's face.





The first thing Trixie became aware of as she slowly awoke to the conscious realm was the sensation of moving, or to be more exact the world around her moving. The familiar creaking of her carriage's wheels rotating, and the sound of said wheels moving over the earth filled the air, and for a brief moment Trixie couldn't figure out why. Then it all came flooding back, her capture, meeting that blasted dragon, that damned deal they made, and everything that followed after.

“The things Trixie gets herself into.”  Moving to rub some of the sleep out of her eyes Trixie realized just how snug she had been wrapped in the thick dark blankets she owned. She easily dismissed the occurrence as her body instinctively doing the best it could to keep her warm even in her sleeping state, though she wondered slightly if the dragon had any trouble sleeping. Realizing that she was showing early signs of concern for another creature caused the unicorn to gag in a very unladylike manner.

“As if Trixie could care less if that rotten reptile sleeps soundly or not.” Tossing her mane about to fully wake up, Trixie attempted to sit up, but the ache from her muscles argued against the sudden motion. With a grumble Trixie settled on continuing to lay in bed while her mind roamed freely, she briefly wondered how long she had been asleep, and how long her acquaintance had been pulling the carriage.

“Not long enough.” The azure mare could just barely feel the trickle of her magical reserves regaining it's former glory, it would probably be a bit more before she could do much. Trixie's eyes scanned over the inside of her carriage to take inventory of all her possessions just to be sure that the dragon hadn't soiled anything with his dirty claws. Nothing looked molested and Trixie was pleased to see that her hat and cloak were placed safely on her dresser with no noticeable marks or stains. The faintest signs of a chance that she might think of the purple dragon in a less despised light were beginning to emerge on the edges of her mind, but were quickly brushed aside when a grumbling in her stomach took precedence in her thoughts.

She was hungry, and decided that fixing something to eat was beneath her. But Trixie knew just the dragon to force the task upon to start her day.

Earlier that day:

Despite the previous day's multiple conflicts, near-death situations, and countless headaches Spike at least woke up in better shape than the day before. Once Trixie was within her carriage, and peacefully snoring up a storm, Spike was out like a light within minutes. Truth be told he would much rather have something a little more comfortable to sleep on beside the cold, hard ground but at least he wasn't in a dungeon, and his travel companion's snoring wasn't nearly as maddening as when she was insulting him.

The night had been slightly cold forcing Spike to raise his body heat by using his inner dragon fire the majority of the night, but doing so had left him considerably low on energy. When he first awoke with a fang-filled yawn, and the sun's rays warming his scales he felt pretty alright, but then the consequences of his self heating dawned upon him as he was assaulted by a terrible clawing within the empty pit that was his stomach. 

Though a dragon could metabolize just about anything it managed to get into it's mouth, factors such as taste, and the actual energy it was able to get out of what it ate always varied.  To put things simply a dragon could survive off near any substance, but to remain healthy a dragon had to be more precise with it's eating habits. With his hunger distressing him so, and knowing full well what could happen if it got out of control Spike quickly, and quietly checked the carriage for a bag, or pack to carry anything he found in. Luck was on his side as he found an old burlap sack amid Trixie's traveling gear without displacing anything else or waking the still sleeping mare. Clenching the bag between his teeth Spike bolted away from the carriage, and into the forest to quickly find something to eat.

A few mushrooms, and a small patch of wild flowers had taken the edge off his hunger, but Spike was still in incredible need for something to digest. Sadly his senses hadn't picked up on any nearby gems, well despite the ones that Trixie used to clasp her cape, but the purple dragon had enough sense to not count that as an option. So now he found himself looking up at a large tree, his eyes focused on a birds nest with unreadable intent. As a dragon raised by herbivores he felt a inner conflict with the choice presented to him, there was always the feeling of despicable sin when his predatory instincts took him down this road, but meat did considerably better for a dragon's metabolism than plant life did. 

“One bird equals up to a few pounds worth of hay sandwiches Spike.” An inner voice at the back of his head pleaded for Spike to find another option, but time was of the essence and the nest above would make an easy target. Trying his best to push the voice in his head out of hearing by drowning his guilt with logic. “Nothing wrong with this Spike, it's just the circle of life. Dragons need to eat just like everything else, and since there isn't any rubies or sapphires to munch on...” As his claws gripped into the tree bark, and he hoisted himself upward into the branches of the large oak, Spike spared a few sad words as he approached the nest. “I'm really sorry.”

A short time later Spike  returned to the carriage, his hunger now gone, the rest of him aching to head home, and the bag filled with a few things he figured a grumpy unicorn might eat. Trixie was still fast asleep, and Spike knew better than to disturb a female unicorn when she was resting. A bitter chuckle escaped the dragon as he realized that he had thought the exact same thing a day or two ago back when he was home. “I hope Twilight isn't too worried, she's an absolute mess without me.” Spike's brows furrowed as it dawned upon him that the longer it took for him to get home, the worse off his best friend might be. Fastening himself to the carriage's harness quickly, Spike set off down the dirt path in a brisk walk.

A few hours after he had first started walking Spike's ears picked up the sound of something stirring within the carriage. Though he said nothing, and continued moving onward the purple dragon was actually dreading what his travel companion might do or say once she was fully awake. Though the night before had ended on a somewhat neutral note heck maybe even friendly, he was convinced that her bad attitude would be back in full swing.

“Oh come one Spike, what's the worst she could do?” Spike's brain had a good point, even if she was a aggravating mare with a superiority complex what harm could she possible do tucked away inside her carriage. As long as Spike kept pulling the carriage, and hadn't done anything to tick her off, she'd probably just quietly ignore him until her mood was at a bearable level...Right?

“The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that you pull her vessel smoother, scale for brains unless you plan on buying her a new one!”

Wrong!

Spike inwardly groaned as he slowed his pace a bit, and was now just moving at a leisured stroll. An unlatching sound, and the creak of wood was his only warning before he felt a familiar glare on the back of his skull. Taking a moment to turn his head Spike was now staring into a scowling Trixie's eyes as she watched him from an opened window. If not for the hostile look in her eyes Spike would have asked just how many potential openings this odd carriage was equipped with. Such thoughts were quickly set aside as the azure unicorn began to speak.

“Morning dragon.”

“Uhhh it's more like the afternoon Trixie, you were pretty knocked out.”

“Do not correct Trixie, especially if the first thing she has to see in the morning is your scaled mug.”

“Well if you're going to insist on being wrong then I really can't be faulted for trying to correct you. And like anyone would be happy too start their day with laying eyes on that bedhead mess you call a mane.”

Spike stifled a chuckle as Trixie's eyes widened in realization, she hadn't taken the time to check her appearance and her current look was quite the sight. Her usually well maintained mane now stuck out in unusual places, and was frizzled to the point that one would think she had recently undergone shock therapy.

In half a second Trixie's head was back inside the carriage, and the window slammed shut. Spike continued walking as the sounds of items being moved quickly, and hair being brushed rapidly filled the air. After a few minutes the sounds stopped, and Spike's ears notified him that Trixie had reopened her window, and was probably glaring holes into the back of his head.

“At least Trixie's problem can be fixed, it's a shame we can't say the same about you.” Trixie smirked as Spike visibly flinched at the remark, she was sure that the dragon had been put in his place with her use of wit.

“I guess you got me there Trixie, now if only there was a way to make you at least half as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside.” Spike congratulated himself on that quick rebuttal, but knew that there would be consequences for allowing himself to stoop to her level. A loud growl followed his words, and Spike's ears heard a few whispered curses, and threats toward him. Taking a look at the sunny sky above him that was now only partially blocked by the tree line Spike sighed knowing that even though he won another unnecessary argument, it was going to be a long day.

“Well now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, Trixie is hungry.” Despite hating that the purple dragon had beaten her at her own game, the azure unicorn couldn't ignore the grumbling of her own famished stomach.

“Oh really, I could sworn you were great and powerful.” Stopping in his tracks Spike reached for the sack that he had slung around his neck for safe keeping. Using his tail Spike gripped the bag, and handed it towards the awaiting mare who held it using her magic that had started returning gradually since she had woken up. “This is all that I could find while you were sleeping, it should be enough until the next time we stop.”

Trixie withdrew her head back inside the carriage bringing the sack with her. Once inside she peered inside the bag, and took notice of a few flowers, one mushroom, and a slightly underdeveloped pear. As she began eating the first flower, which happened to be another daisy Trixie wondered what Spike had eaten. Her thoughts instantly went to the pear since it would have had to come from a tree which would have more unless the gluttonous reptile had eaten them all by himself leaving her the runt of the litter.

“So dragon, is it safe to assume that your breakfast consisted of delicious ripened pears, while poor Trixie has to make due with scraps?” Though completely inside her carriage Trixie had left the window open, and spoke loud enough that she knew his sensitive ears had heard her.

“That was the best one I could find, the rest weren't nearly matured enough for you to get anything out of, so I left the rest alone. Once their ripe enough they'll doing more good for the wildlife, then they  would for a few passerby's like us now.” Spike would have loved to engorge himself on the pears if he could, but underdeveloped fruit would just leave a bad taste in his mouth, and he didn't see any sense in robbing a small part of the ecosystem just to still be overwhelmingly hungry afterward.

“Then what pray tell did you eat?” Trixie had a hard time believing that a creature similar in size to a large stallion had fed on anything less than an entire bushel of apples, or at least half his weight in some stash of gemstones he had come upon.

“U-Uh you know this and that, found a few acorns, and dug up some rubies.” Spike picked up his pace slightly, and concentrated his gaze straight ahead of him. A dragon's diet wasn't something he was very comfortable talking about with a pony, but a chill down his spine told him that the conversation wasn't over.

The Great and Powerful Trixie may have been lacking in some social graces, but she was no fool when it came to picking up on sudden tension, and unease regarding a topic. Taking her time to chew on the mushroom, Trixie debated on just how she planned on probing this delicate subject. She could try being subtle but that would take too long, and she certainly wasn't going to try being nice until he felt comfortable to just spill the beans on his own. She decided that simple blunt force would be enough, and if it wasn't, she would just use more.

“For some reason Trixie doesn't think you're being entirely truthful with her.” Spike's eyes narrowed as he tried to concentrate harder on the path ahead of him. The extra effort proved to be in vain as Trixie's voice continued to carry out from within the carriage to his ears. “Trixie wonders just what kind of dragon she's made a deal with here. A deceitful one that's taking advantage of her charity, or maybe a big dumb forgetful one that just can't remember his last meal.”

Spike's lips curled back in a slight snarl, and his pace began to slow again. The prying unicorn couldn't possibly understand this problem he had to deal with, how could she fathom the moral dilemma he had to suffer through earlier. He wished that she would understand that the answers she was trying to drag out of him would just complicate their partnership, possibly even ruin it. As loathe as he was to admit it he had no idea how he would get back to Equestria without the boastful unicorn to guide him, even if she was doing terribly little in that field at the moment.

“So dragon are you going to tell Trixie or not?” Trixie was now appraising the small pear before her, though she had moved back to looking out the window so she could better gauge Spike's reactions to her words. His walk had slowed, his legs moved with a tenseness that displayed his growing levels of discomfort, and from her position Trixie thought that she could even see a slight baring of fangs. Rolling her eyes in annoyance Trixie decided that she would have to play dirty to get what she wanted.

“Either tell Trixie, or she won't help you get back to that middle of nowhere town Ponyville.” The carriage rocked roughly, as it came to a sudden halt. Spike's head wiped around, and his blazing emerald eyes burned into her own, though she kept a mastered poker face displayed on the outside, Trixie shrunk ever so slightly on the inside.

“I ate a bluejay, and it's three eggs ok!” Spike's voice was level but dripped with emotion, his eyes now alight with an inner fire that swirled with anger, and guilt. “Are you happy now? I was so hungry I climbed up that tree, snapped them all up, and went looking for something that you could eat.” Now that he had given his answer Spike hung his head, and wrapped his tail around himself. The dragon closed his eyes, and prepared for the outraged cries of disgust, and shrieks of terror from the now enlightened unicorn that would surely hate, and fear him for his actions.

“....And?” 

Well that was unexpected too say the least.

Spike's eyes popped open in surprise at Trixie's reply, he looked up to see her gazing at the still uneaten pear with a bored expression. It took a moment for Spike to even get his head on right enough to say anything back. “A-And?! I ate a defenseless bird, and it's eggs! I just ended another creature's existence just to further my own!”

The pear now floating in the air thanks to Trixie's magic began spinning in midair like an air born top, as Trixie tried to entertain herself. Her violet eyes glanced toward the flabbergasted dragon before her, than refocused back onto the pear as she readied her next words of wisdom. “So what?”

Spike had to physically restrain himself from face-palming in frustration, obviously this mare wasn't understanding. “That's a terrible thing to do Trixie! I'm a dangerous monster that has to eat other living beings to survive! Why isn't this bothering you?!”

With an annoyed sigh Trixie caused the spinning pear to suddenly start peeling by using her magic as a sort of knife, though now her eyes were staring straight into Spike's very own. “Why would Trixie be bothered just because you ate some dumb bird? It's not like you tried to eat Trixie, which wouldn't go well for you by the way.”

“B-But...”

“Dragon's eat stuff big whoop, not like ponies didn't know that before.” Trixie though understanding to a degree couldn't figure out why Spike was making such a big deal out of a biological function. It's not like she felt bad every time she ate a hay sandwich, or a nice looking tulip.

“You don't know anything about dragons, so stop acting like this is such a simple thing.” Spike's guilt was slowly giving way to just full on anger, and frustration.

“Then perhaps you need to explain to Trixie why you're being such a drama queen about this.” Trixie really couldn't care less, but she recognized that this dragon had a chip off his shoulder that needed dealing with if they wanted to get back to Equestria in one piece.

“Fine! As you probably know dragons can pretty much metabolize anything organic, and even a good number of things that aren't.” Trixie nodded her head in affirmation, this was pretty basic knowledge for anything that knew what a dragon was. “The thing is though we can eat most anything, what we get out of what we eat varies dramatically depending on the food source. When a dragon exerts it's body he  draws from the last thing he's eaten as fuel which burns up at different rates depending on the fuel, and even the dragon itself.” Trixie's interest regarding the matter grew slightly, now this was something she hadn't heard before, though that could be blamed on the fact that her interest in dragons was scarce, if not entirely nonexistent.

“Gems for a large portion of the species do the best, which is why most dragons have hordes of treasure. That way they have a fuel for their bodies that doesn't burn quickly, and are less likely to have to go looking for large quantities of a less efficient food source to keep them going.” Spike's anger was slowly ebbing away now that he was lost in reciting knowledge of his draconian heritage. Trixie picked up on the dragon's improving mood, and nodded again to insure that he knew she was listening.

“The problems arise from when a dragon doesn't have enough of that most efficient food source, lacks the capability to get that food source, or in some cases when young dragons misidentify their bodies need for that food.” Spike thought back to the 'Greed Growth' episode he had undergone years before, his gathering of random items was caused partially by an influx of hormones, and partially because of his own body's confusion on what it's most efficient food source had been. Having been raised by ponies it was obvious that he wouldn't be around meat, and had to supplement his bodies need for it by eating large sums of pony food, and gems when he could. The gems had done a great deal in keeping him in check, but due to his love for them Twilight and the others compared them to candy so he was only allowed so much every now and then.

“When a dragon has no fuel left to burn it's body goes into a sort of panic mode which disregards vital things like reasoning, and depends more on instinct.” Spike visibly shuddered when his thoughts drifted to what could have happened earlier if he hadn't dulled the clawing of his hunger with the few things he had found, when he had...eaten the bird his systems were brought back to a safe level for the time being. 

Spike's musing were suddenly interrupted when he noticed Trixie suddenly raise a hoof in the air. He was surprised that she had a question, and even more so that she had been polite enough to raise her hoof, instead of loudly speaking her mind.

“Uh do you have a question Trixie?”

“You said that young dragons misidentify their bodies needs. So what, do they just run around eating random things until they can figure out what they like?” The question was more of a way to keep the dragon talking since Trixie noticed Spike shudder, and how his face darkened slightly over whatever he was thinking about.

“Not exactly, you see young dragons go through what we call 'Greed Growth' which is a series of chemical reactions that cause the dragon's body to jump alarmingly in size based on the amount of things it possesses, and how badly it's body is reacting to it's lack of  stimulating food source.”

“So Trixie is being led to believe that dragon's can change their size depending on how much junk a dragon owns, and how much it's starving?” The subject was strangely becoming more, and more interesting and Trixie was surprised herself that she was still paying attention at all.

“Kind of, though it's less based on how much a dragon owns, and more on how badly the dragon wants it, or how valuable it is to the dragon.” Once again Spike was thinking back to his own incident, after some time Spike found himself questioning exactly how he had succumbed to his greed. He found himself thinking less and less that it was because he wanted lots of stuff, and more on how badly he had wanted both the fire ruby, and his crush on Rarity. It made sense really, his mind and body had been investing in how wonderful the gem would taste, and he ended up giving it to the one mare he wanted perhaps just as badly causing a subconscious reaction he wasn't even aware of until it was too late.

“Sounds like dragons aren't as vicious, greedy, and evil as some ponies may think.” Having fully peeled the young pear before her, Trixie was now inspecting the small fruit for any signs of worms, or other inner issues. Though she now saw dragons in a slightly different light, that didn't change her viewpoint on the matter that they were probably dimwitted, and hardly worth her time. A stray thought raced across the unicorn's mind, and she briefly wondered if there was something weird in those mushrooms that was making her nicer than she typically would allow.

“We aren't..... but a lot of creatures misunderstand, and dragons are made out as horrible monsters. There's always going to be a few bad eggs that ruin it for the rest, but most just want to be left alone.” Spike's spines wilted slightly, and the end of his tail was now busy drawing circles in the dirt as his gaze once again became downcast.

“So what do you think you are then?” Once again Spike was assaulted with an unprecedented question, and for a lack of better words he didn't know how to answer it.

“W-What?”

“Trixie said, what do you think you are dragon! Are you a blood thirsty monster? A timid deer encased in scales? Or a drama queen laying in the dirt because you're too thick to understand the laws of nature?” Spike looked up to glare at the insulting unicorn, but she was gone. The window she had been watching him through was closed, and the sound of movement echoed through the carriage interior. Suddenly the main door burst open, and out hopped the light blue mare now fully garbed with her iconic hat, and cape. 

Trixie had decided that she had heard enough of this lizard's wallowing in self pity, and she was going to apply that extra amount of blunt force right now. The magician now stomped toward the surprised dragon until she was glaring at him only a few inches away, her eyes still demanding an answer.

“N-No, I'm a dragon...a dangerous dragon that just wants to go home.” Spike hated how weak he sounded, but all of this was happening so fast, and he truly thought he was more harm than good at the moment. He dreaded the day that his friends back in Ponyville would eventually find out about the darker side of his appetite, and how much distress it would cause them to know that a potential predator was in their midst.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that you shut up already!” The tables were turned, and now Spike found himself shrinking back as the loud unicorn stared him down. “Do you honestly think you're the only dangerous being around here? Is there any chance that you can comprehend the scale of destruction a single unicorn can unleash if she deems it necessary?” The air around the two seemed to thin, and Spike could sense Trixie's magical reserves skyrocket with every word. Spike was well aware of the potentially dangerous force a magical creature such as a unicorn could bring forth, having lived with one of the most gifted mares in Equestria for a large portion of his life, and having grown up under the tutelage of the mighty sun goddess herself. Yet here he was trying to make himself as small as possible while being yelled at by a two-bit show pony, just now realizing that he never thought of ponies in any form as being dangerous, powerful at times yes, but never truly dangerous.

“Trixie knows from past experience just how dangerous another unicorn can be. Trixie knows the amount of danger she can put others in if she wishes, or if she isn't careful.” With a slight swoosh of her cape Trixie spun around, and with a magically charged jumped, leaped on top of her carriage. Striking what she imaged looked like a stylish pose, Trixie's cape shrugged off the confinements of gravity, and she resumed her leer toward the dragon below her.

“The most important thing Trixie knows though is that no matter what, she will be The Great and Powerful Trixie! If she chooses to turn another pony into an apple and devour it to appease her hunger, she is still Trixie. If she decides on a whim to save an entire town from a horde of basilisk, she is still Trixie. And even if her body was changed to that of a feather-brained pegasus, or some dirt covered earth pony. SHE WOULD STILL BE TRIXE!” If she wasn't so caught up in the passion of her own speech, Trixie would have given herself a pat on the back for having improved such a spectacular rant, but then again she wouldn't be surprised she was Trixie of course.

“All things eat other things, that's just the way it is. You can continue to cry every time you gobble up some rapid squirrel, or fat pigeon, but Trixie refuses to shed a tear whenever she decides to nip some harmless, and defenseless flower. Trixie never looks back because she chooses to do so, it's that ability to make a choice that puts her above other creatures. Now then you stupid salamander, do you have the capability to make a choice?” 

Still completely caught off guard by the unicorn's words, it took a moment for Spike to realize that he had been asked a question. “Y-Yeah I guess so, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“On any given day would you choose to rather eat a single bad tasting jewel, or double your weight in wheat, instead of one tiny rodent?”

“Of course!” Spike's reply had more power to it than his previous words, and his tail started to unwind from his body.

“If faced with either going on some hunger-induced rampage, or snacking on some fish, or possum what's it going to be?”

“I guess the fish, or maybe the possum.” Now Spike was standing up, his spines now pointing out proudly, and his eyes fully locked with Trixie's.

“And why is that?!” Another odd question from Trixie, who stared down at the now more confident dragon like some sort of motivational coach. At least now Spike had an answer, and didn't hesitate to reply.

“Because their just animals, and if I don't then something else might just stroll by and eat them, and I'd much rather that than put some poor pony in danger” It was true, Spike knew that if he was some small little wildlife animal none of the other local fauna would think twice about taking him out on the spot just to fill their own bellies. 

“That's right! Now tell me again, are you capable of making a choice?”

“YEAH!” Spike was now completely caught up in all of the energy, and was briefly reminded of a muscle-bound pegasus by the name of Snowflake...or was it Big McLargehuge? Either way the purple dragon found himself feeling unexpectedly pumped.

“Are you going to quit moping about what you had for breakfast so you can go back to pulling Trixie's carriage?”

“YEEAH!” In her own weird way Trixie had significantly improved Spike's mood, and the earlier choice he had to make weighed a little less heavily on his mind. He didn't want to, and if he had any control over the matter he wouldn't have. He was just playing the cards dealt to him, and he made the best decision that he could at the time. Despite how insufferable she could be, and how sure Spike was that Trixie would eventually go back to being a jerk...he couldn't help but he appreciate the unicorn's mature way of looking at the situation, and how she had chosen to help him.

“Do you suck your thumb when you sleep, and you think that The Great and Powerful Trixie is the most amazing unicorn that ever lived. And it's a privilege to be able to pull her carriage like a common ugly beast of burden?!”

“BUCK YEEEAAH!.....Wait what?!” And now the mood was effectively assassinated by a mare who couldn't deny herself the satisfaction of making a now cheered up dragon look like a complete fool. Trixie's laughter echoed all around as she rolled on her sides, and continued to make fun of Spike's lapse in judgment. Spike was now left to cover his head in shame, and think of the most vilest of revenge schemes to apply while he waited for her chuckles to end.

“Another victory for the Great and Powerful Trixie! Now then dragon, do you feel better?” Trixie's triumphant smile grew more so in size when she noticed the intense hate filled glare Spike sent her way. “Good! Now shall we continue on our journey? Trixie has tuckered herself out from being such a great symbol of motivation, so let her know when we reach a town or find a place to make camp.” And with that Trixie hopped off the carriage roof, and went back inside her room to attend to that still floating pear.

Grumbling loudly Spike reattached the harness, and started pulling the carriage again. As he trudged down the dirt path his thoughts drifted toward what Trixie had said earlier. 'What do I think I am?' Spike was still surprised that someone as thick headed, and self-absorbed as Trixie could ask such a cryptic question, and he wondered if she had truly expected an answer.      

From within her carriage Trixie found herself once again inspecting the bare fruit in front of her. It was a wonder that it hadn't succumbed to the elements around it, but perhaps that was because of the magical stasis she had suspended it in since she had first peeled it. Finally deciding to put the danged thing out of it's misery Trixie willed the small morsel toward her awaiting mouth, as it moved closer and closer she briefly wondered if her ramble had gone too far.

“...Naahhh Trixie's priceless advice is a gift from the heavens, and his life can be nothing short of improved by it. Even if Trixie didn't do much besides state the obvious, and perhaps she did kinda sour the mood with that last jab. It's not like Trixie is here to make any friends, she's just making sure that dumb dragon won't be dead weight.” Despite patting her ego on the back, and squashing any miniscule chance of feeling guilt Trixie couldn't help but notice that her first bite of the small pear was unpleasantly bittersweet.

The next few hours passed by in relative silence, the only sounds made were from the forest that surrounded them, Spike padding against the dirt, and the carriage creaking as the drake pulled it along. The walk had become dreadfully dull, so Spike tried passing the time by reanalyzing Trixie's advice, and his still present fears on the matter. The root of his fear stemmed from a bout of recurring nightmares that had plagued him when his body had first began to change naturally. It would always begin with him searching the tree house in vain trying desperately to find something to eat. Then the hunger would increase tenfold, his empty belly would feel like dozens of snakes were writhing angrily, and attempting to bite their way out.

His eyesight would blur, tinge a dirty rust red, and his fingers would twitch frantically in anticipation of grasping something to eat. His throat would feel dry as a bone, and burn as if he was trying to breathe fire, and for some reason his insides weren't protected from the intense flames. And that's when the dreams would take the worst turn, some poor pony completely oblivious too his ailment would wander in hoping to aid him in anyway he or she could. In the first few dreams he would decline, and clumsily exit the library to escape into the Everfree forest. From there his dreams would just deteriorate to flashes of scenery, and the frightened eyes of startled wildlife.

The dreams only got worse after that, instead of escaping into the forest Spike would turn his red-tinted sights on the unfortunate pony and.... Well for a segment of time Spike started hanging out with his pony friends less, and less too the point where he dug a hole in the ground and stayed there until Twilight dragged him out with her magic and demanded an explanation from him. He wished that he had told her the truth, wished that he had trusted her enough to not have lied and blamed his behavior on his dragon hormones messing with his mind. But he had been too afraid, had seen what his predator instincts would attempt to do to her if pushed to it. So from that day Spike always made sure to sneak a ruby, or sapphire before going to bed, and when nothing else was on hand he would slink away into the forest to deal with himself.

Spike had kept this dark secret all to himself for a year now, and oddly enough the first pony he spilled any of the beans to was one of the mares he despised the most. And still the most alarming thing was how well she took the news, it really made Spike feel stupid for thinking Twilight of all mares wouldn't understand his plight. Twilight would have done research, made theories, charts, graphs, and would try to explain the entire ordeal in detail to her assistant. Then again...Twilght's method would probably leave Spike feeling like some sort of science experiment, or worse one of her friends might possibly weasel the information out of her and then everypony would know just how dangerous he was.

Sigh “Spike keep it together, just let it go and go back to concentrating on the road ahead of you, the sounds of the forest around you, and the faint smell of water in the air.” Spike inhaled deeply letting the fresh air fill his lungs, and getting a much stronger sense of his surroundings. He looked upward to the sky, and couldn't see a single cloud past the tree line that had become much less dense since he had first started walking. Spike found if odd that his fine tuned sense of smell would pick up on the unique odor of H20, but there was no sign of rainclouds or any oncoming storm.

Then it hit him, Spike suddenly stopped, and whipped his head around to and fro trying to pinpoint the exact origin of the smell. Taking a few strong sniffs Spike turned his head to the left and began pulling the carriage off the rudimentary road, and weaved it between the trees before him. The sudden change in direction, and erratic movement of the carriage didn't go unnoticed by his travel companion and all too soon Trixie's confused voice rang in the dragon's ears.

“Hey bird breath, what gives? Trixie could have sworn she told you to pull her chariot more carefully.” The irritated unicorn was already sticking her head out her window, and watched as Spike continued to pull despite her complaints.

“Shut up, I just want to check something out real quick.” The smell was stronger now, and Spike was sure that he was close to it's source. He hadn't had anything to drink all day, and the thought of cool water quenching his thirst took complete dominance over anything else.

“Your going to get us lost you dumb dragon!” The uneven ground, and numerous tree roots that the carriage was pulled over caused the whole thing to shake to the point that Trixie was close to losing her footing.

“In case you didn't know, we're already lost Trixie. I doubt we'll be any worse off than we were a few moments ago.”

“At least back there we have a path to follow!”

“Wheres your sense of adventure? I was given the understanding that the Great and Powerful Trixie was fearless, and had been traversing the road for a long time.” All Spike had to do now was pass the next couple of trees, and he'd be at the source. 

“That sense of adventure is securely locked away in Trixie's brilliant mind, it's a shame that you let yours shift into complete buffoonery!” Trixie growled in frustration as Spike once again blatantly ignored her words, and moved them past the last tree line. For a brief moment both the unwilling unicorn, and the daring dragon were forced to close their eyes shut in response to the bright sunlight that was now surrounding them. Spike was the first to recover, and his opened eyes were greeted with the beautiful sight of a vast body of water stretching for what could have been miles, and miles. The sun's rays shined all over the scenery without a single cloud dotting it, making the blue sky almost completely mirror the water below. 

“So you found a lake, still not worth dragging us off the path.” Trixie had now recovered from her momentary blindness, and her jaw had dropped halfway open when she took in the sight before her. Luckily enough Spike hadn't noticed, allowing her time to don a mask of disinterest, and make a snide comment.

Spike quickly shrugged off the harness, and quickly made his way toward the small beach in front of him. The sand felt good between his toes, and the purple dragon found himself wanting to sun on one of the larger looking rocks that sat on the left side of the cove. Deciding to put that thought on hold Spike reached the water, and without hesitation dunked his head into the life giving substance. A few feet back Trixie watched with another raised eyebrow trying to figure out the dragon's strange actions.

After a few seconds Spike lifted his head back up, and let out a long sigh of relief. Just submerging his head had felt like washing his troubles away for a brief second, and another sudden want surfaced in his brain. Spike eyed his reflection noticing how his head looked leagues cleaner then his dry neck, and most likely the rest of his body. “Well of course spending the night in a diamond dog den would probably dirty me up a bit, not to mention all the running around I've been doing since we broke out.”

If Trixie had been slightly confused before, she was now completely stumped as she watched Spike begin sniffing around the beach suddenly. The dragon now having moved closer to the large rocks began to dig frantically into the dirt, and sand until his head had disappeared into a hole that he had dug. “If you're choosing now of all times to go completely insane, Trixie will just continue on her way, and let you do...whatever it is that you are doing." The awkward feeling mare trotted back to her carriage when a few muffled words reached her ears, and she turned her head back around to watch Spike's head exit the hole with a mouth full of rocks of varying coloration. Trixie was about to demand that the dragon repeat himself, and then pull her carriage back to their original path, when the sound of rocks grinding into each other cut her off.

With a few hard crunches Spike's teeth ground the minerals up into a glittery dust that he promptly swallowed. A small burp threatened to escape past his lips, but it was stifled within the dragon's fang-filled mouth, and now that he didn't have any food in his mouth Spike was able to repeat himself.

“I was trying to say that I found a small stash of Binghamite over here.” Feeling a few stray shards of gem still in his mouth Spike walked back to the lapping waves of water, and rinsed the meal down with a few gulps. Binghamite wasn't really one of his favorite minerals to eat due to it's sour after taste, but it would do nicely for what he had planned. Spike now entered the water until he was deep enough to completely submerge if he wanted, and after giving a quick glance toward Trixie he inhaled deeply.

Though it made some sense that Spike would sniff out some rocks to chew on, Trixie couldn't think of any other reason why the odd dragon would go into the bank afterward. She was in the middle of deciding on if he just fancied water, when a bright spout of green fire erupted from within Spike's mouth to hiss, and rage against the water he was treading. A fog of steam began to rise from the water as the hissing increased in volume. When faced with unconventional situations Trixie found it most reliable to express her opinions in a calm manner.

“What in Celestia's name are you doing?!”

Spike cut short his fire-breath to cast an odd look toward the flabbergasted unicorn, and replied with a nonchalance that most certainly didn't suit the situation. “I'm heating up my bath, duh.” And with that he went back to the deed, bringing the water to a near boiling point, until he let loose a long moan of pleasure. “Oh yeah, I can feel the dirt disintegrating on the spot.” Spike's eyes rolled back lazily, and he stretched his limbs out earning a few cracks, and pops, and the entire time he did Trixie cast forth the ugliest scowl that she could muster towards him.

Even the Great and Powerful Trixie had her weak points, and in her travels a soothing hot bath was hard to come by. And here she was staring down an opportunity she would probably wouldn't get again until they reached the next town, and even then she would have to perform her heart out to even get a chance at it. Once again she was going to have to ask for that ridiculous dragon's help, and barely fourteen hours had gone by since the last time she was forced to.

“Easy now Trixie no need to fret, just demand that he heat the water enough for you to get a well deserved soak, and if he refuses bash his skull in with a rock until he changes his mind.” And with that Trixie trotted toward the edge of the cove until she was just a few inches away from the blue water. She opened her mouth to speak, but at that exact moment Spike suddenly disappeared beneath the water's surface with a splash. A few minutes stretched by, and Trixie now sat staring at the spot where the young dragon had just been bathing, her eyes straining to pinpoint any sign of the drake's whereabouts. The minutes dragged by even more so, and a slight shudder began to creep up the mare's spine.

“Uhhh dragon...are you still there?” No reply reached her ears, and a small frantic gleam started to show in Trixie's eyes as they scanned over the cove's surface in a hurried pace. “Trixie demands that you return to the surface so that you can do her a favor.” Trixie's words echoed across the now silent beach, the only other sound being that of the smalls waves that crept up and down the shore.

An ominous feeling of being watched began to roll over the nervous unicorn like a thick fog, it circled her, pressed against her, and threatened to constrict the very breath from her being. Yet as she quickly spun around nearly tripping over herself, Trixie saw nothing except for the tree line, the beach, and her cozy carriage that seemed miles away. Alarms began to go off in her head, and ancient instincts that had been engraved into her very nature stirred with unease. 

Unbeknownst to the now skittish magician a large form slunk toward her from the large rocks Spike had been looking at earlier. It's footsteps precise and muffled by the sand, and ill intent burning in it's irises. 

The ominous feeling was even worse now, and Trixie's hair stood on end as she felt the presence of another creature nearby. The back of her neck was suddenly assaulted by the sensation of something breathing deeply against her, and it took everything she had not to freeze on the spot.

“Get a grip Trixie, this isn't the first time you've been in a rather....dicey situation. Just turn around and show it why nothing makes a meal out of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie's tail whipped angrily, she let out a small snort, and readied all her necessary muscles. The smell of red hot ozone burned into the air as Trixie's horn glowed, and in an instant the unicorn pivoted around to face her unfortunate foe.

If it was capable of showing fear Trixie's trusty carriage would no doubt be shaking it's wheels in absolute terror right now as it's owner stared it down ready to blast it into splinters at a moments notice. A long minute of silence stretched by as Trixie's pupils shrank, and her horn continued to fizzle with volatile magic. With a sigh Trixie relaxed, and was partially thankful that she was all alone on the still sunny beach. “If that dragon had been here he'd be holding his scaled sides like some sort of ingrate and....Oh Manure!” With her thoughts refocused on her missing dragon Trixie quickly turned back toward the beach, and came face to face with a fang filled maw only inches away from her nose.

“Boo!”

“AIIIIEEEEEHHH!!” And just like that Trixie leaped a surprising six feet into the air with all her hair standing out like a startled cat. Before she had even landed back on the ground Spike's laughter rang loud, and proud as he rolled on the sand. Trixie had only been embarrassed to this level one other time, and that ironically enough had been by the guffawing dragon's keeper. In retaliation Trixie growled in outrage and willed her magic to blast Spike right on the spot. Instead of unleashing a torrent of angry energy, Trixie's horn sputtered, and sparked until whatever magic she had stored up snuffed out.

Completely oblivious to how close he had come to being reduced to purple ash, Spike's laughter had died down to a small chuckle as he wiped a few tears of mirth from his eyes. He wasn't sure what had drove him to swim out into the deeper waters of the cove so he could emerge behind the large rocks, but the end results had been well worth the trouble. Spike honestly didn't think that Trixie would have been so easy to prank, now all he could do was grin and await the angered unicorn's wrath.

Trixie face-hoofed in realization as she figured out why her magic had waned suddenly. Her concentration was shot, the most powerful emotion she was feeling was embarrassment, and nerve-racking adrenaline was still running it's course through her veins. All the things that could ruin an unprepared unicorns connection with her magic, and now she was almost as useless as that still giggling dragon in front of her. “It's not that funny.”

“Depends on which side of the joke you're on, and here I was thinking that you weren't scared of anything.” Spike turned on his side so that he was facing the glaring mare, and it took all he had not to bust out laughing at the still present blush on her face.

“T-Trixie wasn't scared! You just startled Trixie for a brief moment.”

“Startled? Didn't know a startled pony could break the sound barrier by screaming out of  surprise.”

“SHUT UP! A startled pony has no problem blasting that stupid grin off your face. And to believe that Trixie might have actually been worr...” Trixe stopped her sentence right then, and there as Spike raised an eyebrow and gave her a surprised look. A second skipped by before Trixie found the right words to cover her earlier misspoken sentence.”Worried that she wouldn't have some scale for brains dragon to pull her carriage, and fetch her lunches!” Spike didn't look like he was completely buying Trixie's cover up, but his face turned apologetic as he spoke.

“Alright I'm sorry, I shouldn't have scared...err I mean startled you like that. Anything I can do to..”

“Yes there is! Trixie commands you to run her a hot bath this instant.” Pride would have to take a step back as Trixie was in no mood to let this elude her any longer.

“You mean heat up the water like I did earlier? Is that all?”

“Yes! Well you could shut up for a while, now stop yapping and do as Trixie commands!”

With an annoyed huff Spike turned to the water, and belched out another torrent of green fire. Trixie allowed herself a small giggle of glee as she watched the waters simmer, too excited to merely stand patiently the azure mare paced back and forth until Spike stopped. Trixie almost leaped into the awaiting embrace of the heated water when a sudden thought halted her. Spike, now done with his task had plopped down on the sand and was now watching her while his head rested on his clawed hands.

“What are you doing dragon?” Spike seemed confused by the question, and even looked himself over to make sure he wasn't doing anything odd. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary Spike turned back towards the unicorn who was now donning a slight glare.

“Uhhh laying here, is there something wrong?”

Trixie rolled her eyes and stomped her front hooves against the sand in impatience. “Yes there is, don't you think that there is a slight problem with you laying there while Trixie bathes?”

“What? So now you have a problem with a dragon watching while you take a dumb bath.” Honestly Spike couldn't understand this irate mare to any degree, one moment she's giving him advice, and the next she has a problem with him relaxing for a minute. He was just keeping an eye out to make sure he hadn't over-heated the water since he knew ponies were a little less heat resistant than dragons. Trixie gave him a look that screamed 'are you seriously this dense' before her eyes jumped from the water, to him, to her, and back to the water. This continued until Trixie spoke with what sounded like barely contained irritation. 

“Trixie has a problem with a MALE dragon watching her take a bath, stupid!” And just like that all the gears meshed into place, and for a long second the only thing that transpired was the rapid reddening of Spike's face. His forest green eyes now wide open glanced toward Trixie, to the water, and back to himself just like Trixie's eyes had a moment earlier. His frantic gaze settled back on the unicorn who seemed to read his mind, and nodded her head to confirm his train of thought. Several emotions flashed across the dragons face before he jumped to his feet, and stuttered an apology.

“O-Oh! T-that makes sense! Wow I can't believe that I didn't r-realize...Sorry f-for that...I-I'll just go over there!” And with that Spike scampered over to the large rocks, and ran out of sight behind them. Despite the air of awkwardness caused by that situation, and the amount that would surely be present later on Trixie smirked. The only way that could have been any funnier is if the ashamed dragon had tucked his tail between his legs while he scurried off. 

Now that she was alone Trixie eased herself into the still plenty warm water, and for a moment she completely submerged herself to allow all the built up dirt, and filth to dissipate. Her head broke the water's surface a second later, and she whinnied in satisfaction feeling the tension in her muscles being soothed away. “Oh Trixie it's been much too long my dear, a pony as great and amazing as you should never have to go so long without a relaxing wash.” After a few minutes had gone by Trixie could already feel the water's temperature lowering back to it's original level, and she sighed in annoyance. The mare briefly wondered if she should call Spike back, and have him raise the temperature again while she lounged in the water comfortably. But the emerald fires probably wouldn't be discriminant regarding what they burned, and that would be a problem, plus Spike would probably be much to shy to offer his assistance until after she had dried off.

Trixie giggled at the image of a red faced Spike trying his hardest to keep his eyes off of her as he bathed the water with a blanket of flame. If one was willing to look past his wise-guy attitude, somepony might actually find him...attractive. Of course not her! Trixie couldn't stand his rare abundance of wit, or the brilliant way his scales had gleamed in the sunlight before he had ran off.

Before her thoughts could get any more confusing, or hypocritical Trixie became aware of something nudging her back left leg. The unexpected touch had unsettled Trixie to such an extent that she kicked out rather suddenly, making the water murky with displaced sand, and bubbles. Not even a second later the same foreign entity was now poking her sides almost making her succumb to a tickle fit. As she swatted at the unseen limb with a submerged hoof, Trixie's mind jumped to the only creature dumb enough to try something like this.

“Cut it out you overgrown gecko!” Trixie's horn glowed to life and she felt her magic grasp, and constrict around the offending shadow that she could barely make out in the now murky water. “And to think that Trixie might of assumed you had some shred of decency!” 

A loud splash announced the entrance of the magical aura surrounded tail as it thrashed about in vain. Spike must have thought it would be funny to poke, and prod her with his tail in an attempt to scare her again. A forceful tug on the tail's other end nearly dragged the unsuspecting unicorn deeper into the water, but she dug her hooves as deep into the wet earth as she could, and pulled back using her magic. Even though it was covered in Trixie's blue hued magic, the tail whipped about angrily, and whacked her once on the head.

“So you wanna play rough huh?! Alright but don't say Trixie didn't warn you!” And with that the magic surrounding the tail compressed, and shaped until the once rebellious limb now stood stiff as a board. Trixie smirked to herself as she used her well honed magic to bend the helpless tail into an odd, and hopefully painful angle. The tugging beneath the water increased tenfold as Spike must have been thrashing about in agony. “Maybe next time you'll know your place lowly dragon!”

And like that the limb hung limp in defeat, it's other end ceased it's pulling, which Trixie took as a sign of surrender. With a victorious smile Trixie minimized her magic hold until it was down to a ethereal blue ring still gripping the tail by it's tip. Trixie offered a few tuts before she began lecturing the limb turned prisoner, adding as much insult to injury as she could.

“Well Trixie hopes you learned a lesson, never match might, or wits with your superior. Trixie had actually thought that you might have been close to her level of intelligence, now look at yourself. Bruised, broken, and at Trixie's mercy, just like all her other challengers.” Despite her gloating Trixie felt slightly let down, she had hoped Spike would put up more of a fight, but perhaps even a dragon had it's limits. The limp greyish brown tail that she held in her magical grasp lacked the stubborn, wise-ass , and mentally maddening backbone that she had seen the night before...In fact it lacked any of the purple scales, or small green spines that had lined it as well. Now that she thought about it Trixie could have sworn that Spike's tail ended with a small arrow headed tip instead of just a blunt point.

An uneasy feeling began to crawl up Trixie's spine as her eyes followed the dull colored tentacle back into the murky water that it's owner was probably shrouded in. Suddenly from the corner of her eyes Trixie noticed something slithering out of the water, toward where she stood. Another brown limb felt it's away around the wet sand until it found itself prodding Trixie's front left hoof. Before she realized what was happening the second tentacle wrapped itself around Trixie's leg, and out sprang out another three grasping limbs from the water each one reaching toward the surprised mare.

Trixie pulled back as fast as she could, but the second limb held strong, and the original came back to life, and reached out toward her neck with renewed energy. The cove's water level began to swell rapidly as a large mass made it's way toward the surface, and Trixie was transfixed with fright as two large yellow orbs stared up at her from deep below. 

Remembering her magic Trixie fired up her horn, and blasted the grasping tentacle that held her in place, causing it to fry up and release her. But the other tentacles had closed the distance, and Trixie found both of her front hooves being dragged toward the menacing waters, and the approaching entity beneath. The water now swelled high above her, before being burst forth by a large silhouette that eclipsed the sun with it's size.

As Trixie looked up into the pair of hungry yellow eyes, and the cavernous mouth filled to the brim with teeth, her mind loudly shouted within the confines of her skull. “Horse-apples!” While her body rerouted all functions to opening her mouth, and sending forth what could be her final words.

“SPIIIKE!!!”

End of Chapter!:

CLIFFHANGAAA! 

    
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


“Spiiike!”

This was ludicrous, what kind of dumb luck does a unicorn have to be cursed with to finally get a shot at a much deserved bath? And instead of a gross bar of soap with some hair on it or even a cute rubber ducky, you find a giant lake monster in your tub. Of course when that layabout excuse for a dragon took his turn nothing tried to bad touch him, but the moment Trixie just so happens to get her hoof wet. Bam! Big, scary, dumb looking harbinger of death packing a cavernous mouth full of teeth, and for extra giggles, tentacles as well.

As she kicked about in vain in her moment of complete helplessness, Trixie thought back to some of the stories she had been told back when she was just a filly. This would be the moment where the handsome, valiant knight would save the beautiful, selfless damsel in distress in true heroic fashion. Swiveling her head from side to side, Trixie found the entire area lacking of would-be saviors, it was like some cruel, sick joke was being played on her for the amusement of a third party. Luckily when all else fails, Trixie possessed a brilliant Plan B for these kind of situations.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie demands that you release her, before she uses her unparallelled might to cast you into another dimension!” Anyone who believed that said plan would involve humility should excuse themselves at this point. “The Great and Powerful Trixie warns you that she has a fearsome, blood-thirsty dragon as her servant, his size causes Ursa Majors to shriek in fear, and his flames rival the very sun!”

As a rule it's considered a bad habit for one to play with it's food, but the odd creature within his grasp had piqued the Lord of the Lake’s interest. It's not often that a fish would ponder the inner machinations of an insect that had flown too close to the water's surface before jumping out to eat it. In his time this monster had been known by many names, each well deserved through his prowling of this section of the great lake. The Lurking Hunger, Terror of the Shallows, and the Grasping Death, but for the moment let's just refer to him as Homer.

Homer was a classic monster, he hadn't been afraid of anything since he had grown past ten feet, he was hungry frequently, and he liked to stay within the section of the lake that he was familiar with. For the past few decades things have been pretty cushy, well cushy for a top predator like himself. Plenty of food sources frequented the the depths that he stalked, his area was much too shallow for the varying aquatic life that dwarfed even his size, and he could laze about all he wanted without worries. But now here he was intrigued by this squawking morsel caught within his whiskers, if it wasn't making such a racket it might have looked cute enough to keep as a pet. As he pondered whether he could handle the responsibilities of caring for a lesser life form Homer was oblivious to the threats of his captive.

“This is your last final warning you overgrown minnow! Put The Great and Powerful Trixie down, or face the full unrestrained reservoir of her wrath!” Seeing that the tentacles continued to constrain her, Trixie scowled in frustration before she began to concentrate her magic. A blue aura began to surround her horn as she focused every irritated thought swirling inside her head on the monstrosity that loomed before her. Her power was limitless, her intellect without equal, this thing was nothing, and she was everything! The pungent odor of burning ozone perfumed the air as Trixie's horn glowed angrily.

After much internal debate Homer decided that he was in fact ready for the challenge of owning his own pet. He would feed it, and take it for walks... err swims, and love it unconditionally until the day he grew bored of it and ate it. He would name it Chatterbox, and together the two would be the best of friends till the day it displeased him, and was promptly devoured for it's actions. As he focused his attention back to his captive, Homer noticed that the his adoptive pet's head was glowing. For a moment Homer gleefully wondered if his pet knew any tricks.

“Who the hay do you think I am!”

Homer's eyes were suddenly blinded by a flash of light, then a stinging sensation overtook one of his oldest whiskers. When the yellow orbs that were his eyes finally regained their sight, Homer was shocked to find that the whisker that had been restraining one of Chatterbox's limbs had ceased to exist.

With a victorious smirk Trixie stared down the shocked looking beast in front of her. “The Great and Powerful Trixie did warn you, foolish flounder. Now tremble in fear of the most powerful unicorn to walk the land, and pray that The Great and Powerful Trixie shows you mercy!” With the tables turned the triumphant mare actually felt silly for calling on Spike for help. This so called lake monster was a pushover, an empty threat, and...

“Raauuugh!”

..looked really pissed off! The smirk quickly slid off Trixie's face as her hat was blown off her head from the sheer force of the monster's irritated roar. “...Manure.” With a shriek Trixie found herself being lifted into the air by the tentacle that still held her other leg. A feeling of nausea swept over Trixie as she was swung to and fro for a minute before she came to hang upside down in front of the now glaring leviathan.

To be completely honest Homer should have saw this coming, this he could admit. He was aware that Chatterbox had 'stung' him earlier when he was first investigating the disturbance on the beach, so it really shouldn't have come as a surprise that the undomesticated creature would do it again. Homer realized that if his new pet was ever going to behave, he would have to nip this rebellious behavior in the bud. And the best way to do that was to scare the living daylights out of Chatterbox so that it understood that stinging was not tolerated.

“Seriously, where in Celestia's name is that stupid dragon?!” As terrible of a hero that drake would make, his scale hide would still be better than nothing. As she hung upside down like a mere plaything Trixie scowled as she imagined the purple dragon gorging himself on rocks, and ignoring her request for aid. “The Great and Powerful Trixie swears that if she somehow manages to survive this, the dragon will pay severely.”

“Well, I guess I'll just turn back around and go save some other egotistical unicorn in over her head.”

Both Trixie, and the Homer turned their heads to see a certain purple and green dragon watching them just a few meters away. An odd silence settled over the scene as monster, and captive stared at our nick of time hero, and he stared right back.

Silence is overrated.

“It's about time you showed up! Now hurry up and rescue Trixie, you lazy lizard!” And just like that our damsel expresses her gratitude toward her liberator’s arrival.

“How is it that I'm barely gone for five minutes, and you've already managed to get yourself in this kind of situation?” Not that Spike had expected anything other than Trixie's typical grating attitude, but given the mess she was in a little appreciation would be nice.

“Trixie didn't even do anything! Trixie was innocently enjoying her bath, when this fish popped up out of nowhere and tried to eat Trixie for no reason!” Despite still being dangled in the air by the confused looking lake monster, the blue mare had no problem glaring at the pain in the flank dragon. “Now, shut up and liberate Trixie from this grotesque goldfish before she uses your scales for a new cape!”

Hearing that Spike took a thoughtful expression then looked from the irate pony to her huge new friend. With a toothy smile Spike waved his arms around to get the monster's attention. “Hey big guy, are you sure you want her? Seriously I've been stuck with her for only a few days and I don't think I'll ever recover from the physical and emotional trauma.” Spike nearly laughed when he heard the unicorn cry out indignantly, he figured a little humor at Trixie's expense was worth the sure to come payback.

“Quit joking around like an idiot and save me! Right now!” Trixie might have actually preferred being devoured by a scourge from the deep then have to deal with her traveling companion for another second. If she wasn't hanging here so ridiculously and had her hat, Trixie would just blast both Spike and this fish..toad..thing into dust.

Sighing, Spike rolled his eyes, and decided it was time to be serious. “Fine, I guess if I'm going to have any chance at getting back home keeping you in one piece is necessary.”

For Homer this was certainly a strange twist, apparently Chatterbox had a friend. Or at least he thought they knew each other seeing the way they squawked back and forth. As interesting as the new arrival was Homer wasn't looking to adopt an entire litter of critters, so Chatterbox's friend would have to go. With a deep baritone growl, Homer lifted his prize high above his head and croaked a challenge to the newcomer.

“Twilight is never going to believe me when I tell her about this thing.” The gargantuan monster holding Trixie hostage really was a lake monster in every right, five times Spike's size and looking unwilling to just talk this out. At first Spike thought it had to be some huge catfish with the blank yellow eyes, and multiple whiskers on it's face, but it didn't seem to be having issues breathing out of the water so maybe it was more like some kind of giant newt or frog. Another impatient shout from Trixie brought Spike out of his musings, he had a irritating pony to save. “Alright Mister, I'm only going to ask nicely once. Put the pony down.”

Elsewhere:

She could raise the sun, run the entire land of Equestria from her throne room, and play a mean game of tennis when the mood struck her. But as the alicorn made her way down the countless lavish corridors and passageways of her castle, Princess Celestia sighed at her own inability to track down her distressed student. Celestia had hoped that Twilight would still be in bed once the alicorn had finished speaking with the Royal Guards as well as her younger sister Luna, but upon her return Celestia found the guest room vacated. And now the white alicorn was attempting to track down her missing student before she did something… rash. Having a single loved one lost somewhere outside of her land's protective borders was more than enough, and Celestia wouldn't stand for another to go blindly chasing after.

As the ruler of Equestria it was Celestia's sworn duty to watch over and protect her ponies, and in the alicorn's eyes all of her subjects were family. A sentiment that was expressed strongest when referring to her apprentice, and the missing drake. Her godly creation gifted her with a body that would withstand the ravages of time, but also robbed her of the most magical thing a creature could do. It was the threads of fate themselves that had tugged, and pulled her to that first meeting with a wide-eyed purple filly, a promising candidate for the element of magic that had managed to do something quite unexpected. Hatch a dragon egg, a task that should have ended with said egg shaking slightly before the young unicorn was graded on the intensity of her magical aura.

Instead of what should have happened, Celestia arrived to find a flabbergasted filly, and a baby dragon with no caretaker. To place the responsibility of another life upon a pony as young as Twilight would be ridiculous, and with no other pony willing to take him, the newborn was somehow placed in the Princess's very own hooves. It wasn't supposed to be a permanent arrangement, the hatching now dubbed 'Spike' was only to be in Celestia's care until a more suitable foster family could be found, but once again the threads of fate continued their work. It wasn't long before Celestia was doting upon 'her little Spike' and the two were inseparable, bringing the baby dragon to all of her conferences, and of course to her magic session with the young Twilight.

Celestia could honestly admit that those years had been arguably the best of her long life. Walking the impressionable filly Twilight through levitation spells, while her younger charge murmured incoherently in his sleep as he nestled within her multicolored mane. Soon enough Spike was talking, and following the studious purple unicorn like she was his older sister, Twilight in turn developed a soft spot for the dragon and quickly began treating him like a little brother. A mental image of the three of them spending their time together in the castle gardens settled on Celestia's mind, and suddenly she was struck with inspiration. The alicorn's walk sped up to a quick trot as she suddenly had an idea of where her missing student might have gone.

Meanwhile:


Thud!


“Le gasp! And to think that I honestly believed that you would fail The Great and Powerful Trixie in her time of need.”

Thud!


“Spike you're my hero, w-will you sign m-my autograph book?” The blue mare wheezed.

Thud! “Okay, I get it, knock it off.”

“But Sir Spike, how else can the Great and Powerful Trixie express her overwhelming gratitude for accomplishing such a courageous feat. You have liberated this unicorn princess from her horrible captor and  The Great and Powerful Trixie is ever so thankful.”

THUD! “Cut it out, this is bad enough without you patronizing me here.” Thud!


“Oh to be rescued by such a valiant, and handsome dragon, The Great and Powerful Trixie's poor heart is aflutter with emotion. The Great and Powerful Trixie can't control the thoughts that run through her pretty little head as she gazes upon her champion. To have his scaled arms hold her close, to feel his brimstone breath on her neck. Oh, Spike, I can't control my feelings any longer! I must have your scaled, gem nibbling babies!”

“FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE SHUT UP!” THUD! “...Ow.” Despite his face currently being used to make imprints on the warm sand, Spike could still clearly make out the sound of somepony's aggravating laughter.

“Oh, you're no fun at all, Trixie is just trying to amuse herself while she patiently waits to be rescued...you do plan on rescuing me eventually, right?” Propping her elbow on the tentacle holding her high above the ground, Trixie rested her head upon her front left hoof as she took in the sight below her. Somehow after the point where her 'savior' demanded that this overgrown fish put her down, she was forced to watch the young dragon being used as a whack-a-mole mallet. At first the sight had her gasping for air between her bouts of laughter, and eventually she settled for cheering her companion on...or was it ridiculing? At the least the lake monster looked thoroughly amused, which was better than it deciding to eat them both.

“I'd love to, if I wasn't getting my scaled hide handed to me at the moment!” Quoting a well meaning pegasus that had a unexpected mastery of chess, Spike for the life him just could not figure what had gone wrong. One moment he was hurtling himself toward the monster holding his obnoxious partner captive, the next he was being swung up, down, and all around.

“All kidding aside, you are honestly the worst hero of all time.”

“Well excuse me princess, but you're the worst damsel in distress ever.” Gritting his teeth in agitation at Trixie's antics, Spike was suddenly struck with an idea. It wasn't the most 'pleasant' of plans, but given the situation at hand, Spike really lacked the time to be picky. Taking a deep breath to help steel his mind, (a challenging effort thanks to two surprisingly strong tentacles constricting his limbs and torso,) Spike gave the seemingly amused fish/frog/thing an almost apologetic look, then revealed a mouth full of extremely sharp dragon teeth. “This is going to hurt you a lot more than it'll probably hurt me.”


Surprisingly, Homer was having much more fun with this than he had anticipated. Chatterbox's purple friend was much more resilient than Homer had expected, and made a highly satisfying noise when it met the ground. So caught up in his jolly good time Homer was completely oblivious to the look his newest toy had given him, and the stiletto-filled jaws that were about to close on his whiskers. Chomp! And then the good times came to an abrupt and painful halt.

“Took you long enough, scale for brains.” A small smirk settled on Trixie's face as she watched the lake monster's huge eyes cringe in pain, and it's monstrous form go stiff as a board. “Now let's see what a dragon can really do.”


The metallic taste in his mouth was most unwelcome, as Spike's fangs cut cleanly through one tentacle, and bit deeply into the second. Barely a few hours ago Spike had confessed his disapproval of feeding on other organisms, and now here he was with the sickening tang of copper trickling onto his tongue. Almost immediately his opponent writhed in pain, and Spike was flung across the beach, using the momentum Spike rolled a safe distance away from the no thoroughly unamused creature.

The creature bellowed it's outrage, and tossed it's head to and fro, an action that had the still captive unicorn shrieking in surprise. “Hey, idiot! Get The Great and Powerful Trixie down before she loses her lunch!”

As he picked himself off the ground Spike wondered briefly why Trixie was resigning to the helpless maiden role instead of blasting this thing with her magic like she had threatened to do to him oh so many times before. Taking note that those slithering whiskers were much faster than they looked Spike darted forward like a purple bolt of lightning. Like the time before his charge was met with a dozen feelers eager to seize him, and probably pull each of his limbs painfully from his body. With a last minute hop to the right Spike moved past the spearing tentacles, and was now close enough to actually mount a counterattack.

With no time to draw back, and his whiskers reacting too slowly Homer did the only thing he could. With a groan Homer heaved forward hoping to catch the blasted little purple vermin in his cavernous jaws, he would take a perverse pleasure in tearing Chatterbox's acquaintance to pieces.

The horrendous odor of dead flesh, and mud that met Spike's nostrils nearly made him trip over himself in a fit of coughing, and gagging, but Spike swallowed down the bile threatening to escape his throat and pressed onward. As the ungodly sized mouth filled with teeth bore down on him, Spike couldn't help but notice his stomach grumble uneasily. As the creature's form blocked out the sun, and Spike's eyes peered into the ravenous maw that was more than happy to swallow him whole, the young drake decided that this would be one of those 'trust your gut moments'.

Three things took place at that one moment.

Homer found out the hard way that Chatterbox's purple friend knew some tricks of it's own. As his tongue blistered, and his eyes teared up from the unparallelled agony that came from a mouth filled with dragon fire. His opponent, and his prize were both forgotten as Homer wanted nothing more than to put out the burning pain within his jaws.

With the familiar tingling heat tickling his mouth Spike gazed into the cave of gluttony as it was bathed in emerald green light. Not the most visually pleasing sight to behold, but at least the green tint was a nice touch.

Despite her disapproval with the purple dragon in nearly all aspects, Trixie whistled in appreciation as the air suddenly grew hot, and she watched the lake monster getting a spicier meal than it probably had planned. The constricting tentacle that was holding her released immediately, and Trixie found that gravity had sorely missed her. The blue unicorn scarcely had time to yell in surprise as she plummeted toward the wet sand below, Trixie really wished she had her hat right about now. Though no hat magically appeared back on her head, a consolation prize came in the form of a certain scaled hero snatching her up just before she hit the ground. Vision swimming for a moment thanks to all of the sudden falling, then not falling Trixie shook her head for a moment before making eye contact with her less than willing savior.

“Well, my irritating princess, was that a good enough rescue or not?” Despite how irksome saving her had been, his victory over a huge lake monster had Spike feeling pretty good, and admittedly Trixie's expression pulled a unexpected grin out of him.

Violet eyes finally focusing, Trixie gasped inaudibly as her vision was filled with two bright green orbs looking right at her as well as the ridiculous way the sun in the background was making those purple scales glint. This was the way a valiant hero was supposed to look no doubt, it's a shame it had to be in the form of a know it all dragon. Feeling the damnable hints of heat spreading across her face, Trixie replied with complete professionalism, and grace.

“I-I guess so....for an incompetent dragon. Next time try not to waste time with goofing around alright.” Seeing the dragon's dumb grin sour into an annoyed frown, Trixie congratulated herself for handling the situation with her ego, and image intact. A short lived congratulation as Spike suddenly dropped her his slitted pupils narrowed at her version of a 'thank you'. As she rubbed her smarting flank for moment, Trixie shared a look of mutual dislike with Spike before she picked herself up, and tracked down her hat.

“I'll keep that in mind next time you manage to tick something off, which I'm sure is just a matter of minutes.” With a roll of his eyes Spike growled to himself as he could still taste copper on his tongue and resisted the urge to spit.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie won't need your help dragon, in fact she didn't even require assistance this time.” The light blue mare was dusting off her hat at the moment and had her back turned to Spike as she continued with her task. “Trixie merely found battling that bottom dwelling leech beneath her, she could have vanquished it without even try...”

The sound of splashing cut Trixie off, and barely a second had gone by before Spike yelped in surprise. A chill crept up the magician's spine as she slowly turned around, taking in the sight before her Trixie nearly face-hoofed.

Apparently a mouthful of green fire wasn't enough to dissuade this monstrosity, in fact it looked highly pissed off. Spike scarcely had time to defend himself before he was hoisted into the air by his tail, twirled around like a sling, then tossed over Trixie's head to land in groaning heap next to her wagon.

Homer was mad, not just mad but outright furious. He had tried to be a nice guy, tried settling for crushing that purple thing's bones as a warning, and going about his day with his new found companion. A line had been crossed approximately around the time that his tongue was set alight, and everything began to taste like brimstone. His mother had always told him back in his tiny days as a mere foot long spawnling. “Homer, don't play with your food, it gives them hope that they might escape.” A lesson painfully learned it would seem, but now the kiddy gloves were coming off, and this creature was in for a world of hurt.

“Umm, are you alright dragon?” Not that Trixie cared about the dragon's well being but he had almost hit her beloved wagon, and she needed him conscious for a well deserved berating.

“...Pinkie? W-what do you mean the fourth wall is breaking?”

“Never send a dumb dragon to do a mare's job.” With a roll of her violet eyes, Trixie adjusted her hat, and faced her opponent. The creature was rising up even higher than before as more of it's form began to emerge from the lake's waves. Trixie's horn glowed a light blue as she flexed her magic knowledge within her mind, she was prepared for whatever ridiculous thing the monster would try with it's odd whiskers.

It was at this moment that two large, and webbed hands surfaced from below Homer, and with them he pulled half his body onto the beach. With a croaking roar Homer began dragging himself toward the still down and out dragon almost within reach.

“Of course! Why wouldn't that stupid thing be able to chase us on land too.” Horn now shining with unicorn magic Trixie willed a pale blue wall to materialize between the defenseless dragon and the clawed left hand that was only a few feet from closing on him.

Homer's rage subsided slightly as his hand impacted a solid surface that hadn't been sitting in front of his prey a second ago. Despite a few curious attempts at moving past the wall, or moving it from between him and his target, the shimmering wall continued to stubbornly stand strong, and even moved to block his path. Within seconds the curiosity gave way to agitation as Homer's decision to eradicate the unmoving purple creature was being denied, and with another roar Homer began lashing out with his whiskers alongside his hands.

Tsh! Trixie's magical shield hissed in objection to the multiple impacts from the now raging monster, and in Trixie's mind the wall was beginning to strain under the pressure. Gritting her teeth, Trixie redoubled her efforts concentrating on her own ironclad will, and focusing on the image of an impenetrable wall with her cutie marks insignia engraved into it's center. The magical wall grew in size, and defiantly stood as solid as a mountain while Homer continued to bash away at it.

Despite watching the barrier between him and his prey grow, Homer's assault never lessened in fact his blows began to rain down harder, and harder still as his fury fueled his desire to reduce this odd wall to rubble, then rend the small fire spewer to pieces.

The strain from keeping the raging beast at bay was beginning to show as Trixie grit her teeth, and the sounds of groaning metal began to echo in her head. Despite her might she couldn't stay on the defensive forever, and her confidence began to wane as the implications regarding what else this mutant newt was capable of started to worm their way into her thoughts. The wall crumpled slightly in her head, and the magical one in the real world mirrored the movement Trixie's eyes widened as the blows increased even more so in frequency. “To hell with this, The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't defend. SHE ATTACKS!”


To Homer's surprise the wall crumpled into itself like a wadded up piece of paper, and careened into his head with the force of a angry bison. Staggering slightly Homer's eyes blinked wildly as a far off tree was covered with that same pale blue and then uprooted itself so that it could careen toward him like a giant sized baseball bat.

Wham! The tree's bark creaked in protest, and hairline cracks began to creep up it's trunk from hitting the incredibly solid lake monster. Without hesitating Trixie continued to wail on the now retreating beast with the tree, scattering leaves, branches, and bits of bark all along the beach. The unicorn felt her confidence return as she felt every blow strike true upon the hard to miss monstrosity, hopefully it would turn tail before her procured weapon gave out.

Wham! Wham!


Homer lashed out blindly with his right hand, and deflected another incoming blow. With a few moments time before the tree would surely be back Homer viewed the landscape wildly, he wouldn't lose sight of his target if he had anything to say about it. Instead of the still unconscious drake, Homer's yellow eyes focused on Chatterbox, and the strained look upon her odd face. His vision swam in crimson once more as Homer connected the dots in his old mind. Chatterbox was using it's tricks again, and was defending it's acquaintance from him, Chatterbox would have to be reprimanded harshly for this.

Another roar assaulted Trixie's ears, accompanied by the stomach dropping sound of her tree finally breaking as the monster struck out with both claws. Her magic dropped instantly as Trixie stumbled over her hooves in an attempt to avoid the massive claw that struck the very spot she had been standing on. The monster's bellows of anger shook Trixie's world as she scrambled madly to outrun a dozen of tentacles that slithered toward her, the sand caused her hooves to sink slightly with every step denying the mare from reaching her full speed and causing her heart to nearly beat out of her chest.

The sand beside her exploded as another webbed hand missed it's target, and sand rained down on Trixie's body and mane as she continued to zigzag her way around the beach to avoid being easy to hit. Any luck Trixie might have accumulated ran out instantly, as Trixie found herself tripping over the very hole that damned dragon had dug up earlier. As she rolled across the sand Trixie pulled her hat as tightly to her head as she could while her eyes shut close, she didn't want to see the massive claw finally blot out the sun, and then her life.

The incoming claw struck something with enough force to create a miniature crater where Trixie laid huddling, but not a hair on Trixie's mane had been disturbed. Daring to take a peek from behind her closed eyelids, Trixie's eyes sprung wide open  as she watched a familiar scaled figure stave off the massive claw still training to reach her.

“Now, this feels more like how a damsel in distress scenario should play out.” Spike's legs ached in pain as he tried to stand as solid as Trixie's magical wall while he kept the one claw almost as large as his entire body at bay with his two hands. The lake monster seemed to be so caught up on getting past Spike that it forgot being able to just toss him aside, not that Spike was going to complain.

“...H-how?”

“Hey, don't mention it, Trix. You did save my skin just a moment ago so the gentle dragon thing to do is return the favor at my nearest convenience.” Spike offered a sharp-toothed grin to the still surprised mare, though he felt that his muscles might give out if he stalled for much longer. “I was thinking if you weren't too incredibly busy, the Great and Powerful Trixie might do me the honor of helping me get rid of this overgrown salamander.” Spike's green eyes twinkled almost playfully as he silently prayed that Trixie's would help out thanks to the light ego stroking he was attempting.

Finally losing patience regarding his claw being held back Homer swung his other claw in a slicing arc intent on spilling the purple creature's blood. With all his concentration on keeping the first claw away from Trixie, Spike could only watch as the webbed hand closed in with it's dirty claws poised to dig into his shining scales. The purple dragon blinked unconsciously as the giant appendage stopped mere inches from his face, the hand now encased by a familiar blue glow.

“That's two for flinching, dragon, and The Great and Powerful Trixie looks forward to collecting on that when we are done.” Despite the light blue unicorn getting him again at the most inappropriate of times, Spike couldn't help but mirror Trixie's smug grin with a smirk of his own. With a stomp of her hoof, Trixie willed the claw to draw away from Spike, then crash into it's sibling riding her savior from his burden. The lake monster croaked out another challenging growl as it regained itself, and began to charge the pair. Sharing a nod, Spike and Trixie faced the oncoming foe, the smell of ozone and brimstone spiced the air around them.

Celestia's Royal Garden:


Flowers bloomed, the local fauna filled the air with various sounds of contentment, and the sun shined pleasantly over the landscape. But even the near perfect environment couldn't brighten the mood of a certain purple unicorn as she sat quietly from the balcony overlooking what was once her favorite spot in Celestia's castle. Various memories weaved through her thoughts as Twilight pondered her next course of action. The rest had done her wonders, and she knew Celestia was doing everything in her power, but none of that could quiet the restlessness that raged in her heart. She wanted to gather her friends and brave the alien world that existed outside of Equestria's borders to find her little lost brother, but even she had to admit the slim chances of finding him without any clues or direction to go on. So instead, Twilight quietly watched the garden's residents carry on with their day while the memories of her filly days played within in her mind like an old home movie.

Images of the day Twilight first hatched Spike were followed by the motherly way Celestia would look after the dragonling while Twilight practiced simple levitation spells. Spike's first word had actually been Twilight's name, and his second had been an attempt to say ruby though baby speech made it sound more like he had burbled 'rupee'. In time Spike was speaking full sentences, asking questions (which Twilight loved any opportunity to answer if she had the knowledge), and even assisting the young apprentice in her studies. When Twilight's older brother began his enlistment within the royal guard, and was scarcely around to lend her the brotherly support she craved from time to time, it was Spike who filled the role. He listened to her troubles, more than once dragged her back to reality when her thought process would run awry, and in the end pushed her to make friends.

“I really wish I knew where you were, Spike.”

“As do I.”

So caught up in her thoughts Twilight failed to notice that her mentor was now standing only a few feet away. The Princess herself wore an expression of deep thought as her eyes drifted from the gardens below to fixate on the purple unicorn.

“You can be hard to locate when the mood suits you Twilight, it would seem rest has done little to ease your mind.”

Twilight could only nod quietly as she tried to keep her gaze focused on a familiar fountain that she had spent past days practicing next to in previous years. She could feel Celestia's eyes focused on her, and Twilight had to fight off the urge to shuffle nervously. The sound of a deep sigh caused Twilight's ears to perk up, and she spared a glance toward the alicorn, the exhaustion radiating from the Princess almost caused the purple unicorn to gasp.

“Oh Twilight, please pardon me, I must look a complete mess.” Celestia's mane was disheveled, small bags were beginning to form under her pale magenta eyes, and she rested what was probably a weary head on the balcony railing. Seeing the worried sheen in her young protégé’s eyes, Celestia tried to offer a calming smile, but it had no effect on Twilight's expression.

“Princess Celestia, you look like you haven't slept for days. Wasn't it you who told me that staying up all night worrying would do more bad than good?” It's not often that the sun goddess found herself on the receiving side of a solid scolding, but for a moment all Celestia could do was sit there sheepishly while her apprentice made her sound like a foolish filly.

Twilight might have went off into a full blown lecture if it hadn't dawned upon her just how much the situation was probably affecting her princess. Who knows how many royal duties Celestia had neglected in favor of scouring her archives for books that might have helped locate the missing dragon, or the amount of sleep she skipped so that more time could be spent sending messengers to far off outpost to relay orders to be on the lookout for a young purple dragon.

“If I'm not allowed to drive myself into the ground worrying about Spike, then that goes double for you, Princess.” The rainbow-maned alicorn's smile grew slightly, since the beginning Celestia could tell that the doe-eyed filly that sat across from a recently hatched dragon egg was marked for great things. It only seemed right that her student would be the one to drag the princess out of depression she was slowly sinking into. With that Celestia's mane seemed to brighten slightly as she stood back to her full regal height, and she motioned for the purple mare to follow her into the castle.

“Thank you, Twilight... I needed that.”

Twilight followed her princess into the castle, and before long the two were conversing about recent developments, the weather, and fond memories regarding their beloved dragon. An unspoken agreement seemed to have passed between the two as at the moment both, they would do everything they could to locate Spike, but wouldn't allow each other to sink back into that pit of helplessness they had both nearly fallen into. As they neared Celestia's private quarters, Twilight had brought up the subject of the Elements of Harmony's creation, a question that had sat quietly within her mind for years .

“As much as it pains me to say Twilight, my understanding of the Elements of Harmony is hardly beyond your own.” Noticing Twilight's surprised expression Celestia willed her magic to open the twin doors before them as she elaborated. “Much like the Crystal Heart's purpose is to protect the ponies within the Crystal Empire’s land, the Elements of Harmony are used to keep Equestria's denizens safe. While my sister and I are here to watch over the land, and maintain order, the Elements keep the balance when we are unable to do so.”

“But you used them to banish Discord, and to stop Nightmare moon, so you must have some kind of understanding of how they were made.” Any other moment Twilight would have reprimanded herself for questioning her own princess in such a way, but the purple unicorn was baffled that the all-knowing alicorn before her was almost as clueless as her regarding the most powerful treasures within Equestria.

“The Elements were constructed by a force much more powerful than myself, Twilight, while I came into being to put an end to the various dangers that plagued Equestria, they had been the ones to restore actual balance.” Celestia now moved toward the large cushy bed that her body so desperately wished to lay upon, though she knew that Twilight's questions were far from answered. “When Luna and I first came across the tools to end Discord's reign, it was due to a shared dream we had regarding a bird sitting peacefully within the ruins of an old castle. The same castle that you journeyed too to find the answer to Nightmare Moon's return.”

The pieces all began to fit together and Twilight's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she realized the implications. “B-but when we first went there to find the elements, we couldn't find anything.”

“Perhaps the knowledge you seek can be found, now that the elements have accepted you as their avatars.” A small smile fixed itself on Celestia's face as she watched Twilight's natural curiosity light up the mare's face, it was a look that Celestia always enjoyed to see.

“D-do you think I'll be able to find a way to....”

Celestia understood why the question hung there unfinished, both of them wished for a solution to their missing family member, and a wild goose chase would be a waste of time that could be spent tracking the drake down. But Twilight needed a distraction, unlike Celestia who had an entire land to run, and countless subjects to look after, Twilight only had a library lacking a sorely missed assistant. “I certainly hope so, Twilight Sparkle, until we find out we'll have to trust that Spike can take care of himself.”

Watching Celestia begin to nod off, and slowly enter the realm of dreams, Twilight offered what she hoped looked like a reassuring smile. “R-right! Spike's a tough dragon, I'm sure he's fine.”


Far off in a place that was less than fine:

With a thunderous roar, Homer tossed his head to-and-fro while his hands reached around in vain to grasp the purple thorn that was painfully clawing into his back. Chatterbox was nowhere to be seen, though an occasional large rock would smash into his body, or another strange wall would block his claws when they got too close to where his first problem was. Sand, and water flew in every direction as Homer thrashed about trying to angle himself so that he could crush the purple insect, until an idea bubbled to life within his mind.

After he, and Trixie had first blasted the monster with fire, and magic Spike had taken the initiative and raced toward the flailing beast before them. Whether from sheer stupid luck, or an unknown force smiling upon him, Spike had somehow climbed his way onto the monster's head and attempted to belch more scorching pain. The key word being attempted since all Spike could do was cough out a few embers, and sparks. It would be his luck that at a moment like this he'd be running low on fuel, and he scarcely had time to duck as a massive talon nearly raked him off of his perch. After a miscalculation on his part Spike tumbled down the monster's back into his claws gripped into slime covered flesh, and held him where he was currently placed. He seemed safe enough from the monster's limbs, and was happy to catch his breath until he noticed that the monster, and him were moving toward the lake. “Horseapples!”

Right as the young dragon began to dislodge himself, the lake's waters rose up to his chest as the lake monster brought them both into it's realm. With barely enough time for a quick inhale Spike was now fully submerged into the lake's depths once again. A violent twisting shake wrenched Spike's claws from where they had dug in, and Spike desperately clawed his way upward back to the surface. An ominous chill seized the dragon, and he turned his head back down toward the dark deep to witness the lake monster barreling at him like a freight train filled with teeth. Changing direction as fast as he could Spike swam back down toward the beast, hoping to dart past it and take advantage of it's large body preventing it from taking sharp turns.

After watching both the monster and Spike go under, Trixie galloped from her vantage point back onto the shoreline. Violet eyes searched the water's surface; trying to catch a glimpse of the purple drake, without being able to see either of them Trixie's magic was useless. “Where the hay are you, Sp-... D-dragon!?”

Spike hurdled through the water as his plan came with an expected detriment, though he cleared the jaws, and claws the tail was another matter. Quicker than he had expected it whipped into his frame with enough force to make any lesser creature gasp out in pain, and be caught with a mouthful of lake water. Catching himself, Spike kicked his legs furiously, and tried to get back to the shoreline as fast as he could. Another haunting croak echoed behind him as his claws reached the submerged sand of the beach, his pursuer was catching fast.

Trixie was just about to step into the water when an explosion of water caused her to shriek out, while she back peddled erratically. Spike gasped in a few breaths of air, before he took note of the wide-eyed unicorn in front of him barely a moment past as he realized the danger zone they were both still in.

“Trixie, move out of the way!”

Unaware of the incoming danger Trixie merely blinked in confusion, her heart still pounding through her chest from Spike scar... ermm surprising her. “Wha-?”

From behind them the water exploded again as a much larger form charged out toward the too. Body springing in action before he could conjure a thought, Spike thrust his hands out palms forward to push the shrieking mare out of the way. With the ferocity of one of Gummy's larger, deadlier cousins the lake monster snapped the dragon whole into his jaws, and thrashed it's head about.

Covered in water, and laying on her back from Spike's push, Trixie looked up as the monster glared down at her most likely eager to get to it's next meal. Despite the looming leviathan baring down on her, Trixie's eyes narrowed angrily, and her horn glowed bright magenta. The sand beneath her seemed to pack itself lower to ground from an unseen pressure as Trixie rose to her hooves. Before the day was over that overgrown sorry excuse for a toad was going to wish it had never showed it's miserable mug to her. As her horn sparked furiously, and a low hum seemed to radiate from the air Trixie noticed something odd about the monster.

Despite moving toward her still the monster couldn't seem to move it's mouth right like it was having a hard time closing it's mouth. Then a flashed of purple appeared from behind it's teeth, and looking more carefully Trixie could see a certain dragon in quite the predicament.

Grunting in frustration Spike hunched down within the very jaws of the beast as his scaled arms strained to keep the mouth from closing on him. Somehow he had gotten past the teeth, but if this went on for much longer he'd lose strength, and it would be all over for the young charming dragon. “F-forces unknown...I-I know you've been h-helping me out today a lot. B-but would it be too greedy to ask for a little more help here?” A large flat tongue began to push into Spike's back trying to push him toward the teeth, and to his doom. “...F-freaking figures.” Thinking back to how dumb he probably sounded just a moment ago, Spike was struck with an idea. It was crazy, stupid, and best case scenario incredibly unsafe, but looking back to his alternative Spike decided it was worth a try.

Finally Homer had this pest in his jaws, and couldn't wait for the crunching sound he was sure it would make once he bit down. After several attempts to eat the purple creature, Homer was aggravated to find that even in certain death, this far below him organism would be an annoyance. Somehow it had managed to work it's way into his mouth past his teeth and was refusing to let him fully chomp down on him. Just as Homer felt himself gaining some headway by pushing the cretin with his tongue, the damned thing felt like it had grown bigger all of a sudden. But that would be ridiculous...right?

“I'd really like a couple of emeralds right now.” The delicious visage of a ripe, bright green emerald materialized in Spike's mind, and he focused on just how much he wanted one right now. Spike's muscles swelled painfully, and he could feel a few more spines sprout between the ones he already had. The plan was working so far, and despite the jolt of pain that wracked his body every time he grew Spike could feel the mouth slowly becoming easier to hold open. It was risky, every jolt felt more painful than the last threatening to cause him to give out from the stress, and if he grew too much he might get stuck.

Trixie's eyes widened as she witness Spike nearly double in size within the monster's jaws, she could easily see him now as he held the mouth wide open gritting his teeth in concentration. The monster merely growled, and gurgled in frustration as it couldn't shake Spike loose, and was using it's hands to keep it poised upright. Sensing an opportunity, Trixie came up with a brilliant idea of her own, and quickly set to work imagining her own hoof. Beside her a giant pale blue hoof materialized into existence to the magician it radiated greatness, beauty, and just a hint of world traveled wisdom. It was beautiful enough to almost drag a vain tear from Trixie's eyes, and was perfect for what she had in mind.

“Almost there Spike... just a little more.” Spike was now large enough that he hoped that he could force his way out of the mouth, without coming into contact with the various teeth that could probably still dig deep into this scales. Just in time because the thing's breath was making Spike want to hurl in the non fire making kind of way, all he needed was just a few more seconds.

“BEHOLD THE MIGHTY HOOF OF TRIXIE!”

“....oh please no.”

“WORSHIP IT'S ELEGANCE AND TREMBLE BEFORE IT'S MIGHT!”

Gripped with fear from whatever hair-brained scheme the blue unicorn planned on unleashing, Spike tried to call out to her from his position. “Uh, Trixie, there's no need to do anything crazy now.”

“FEAR THE HOOF YOU TOAD!” So caught up in her speech Trixie was unaware of her companion trying to get her attention.

“Seriously Trixie I got this! Just let me...”

“TRIXIE'S GONNA KICK YOU IN THE GUT!”

“Horse-apples!”

Homer had finally realized that all he had to do was head back to the water, and the purple pest would either drown or finally dislodge so that Homer could snap him up when suddenly a tremendous force crashed into his stomach. Immediately the self-proclaimed lord of the lake felt something rise from within his belly to his throat, as Homer's eyes teared up from the pain, he could just barely make out the sound of something crying out in horrified outrage.

“ARE YOU BUCKING SERIOUS?!” This is so gross!”

Swept up in the bile that came rushing from within the monster's gullet, Spike fell out of the monster's maw, past the thrashing whiskers, and landed with a disgusting splat onto the beach. Spike's twitching eyes focused on the posing unicorn a few feet away even while the monster behind them writhed in pain.

“I guess you could say that monster doesn't have the stomach for a fight with The Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie laughed at her own joke merrily while Spike plodded toward her with unclear intent.

“......I will get you back for this.” Spike deadly serious threat fell on deaf ears as Trixie continued to pat herself on the back, even going so far as to prance past him to mock the downed monster.

“That's right grovel for The Great and Powerful Trixie's mercy, you worm. You mess with the Great and Powerful, you get the Trixie!” Feeling as confident as ever the blue mare turned her back on groaning nightmare, and looked over what was most likely a very appreciative dragon. “No need to thank me, The Great and Powerful Trixie only asks that you remember this next you even think about handing out any backtalk, dragon.”

Spike's eyes continued to twitch in barely contained fury as he came to terms with just how full of oneself some ponies could be. “Why would I thank you?! I would have been fine, and not covered in freaking monster puke if you'd have just let me handle it myself!”

With a roll of her eyes Trixie merely huffed in indignation, like it would have killed him to say thank you. “Last time The Great and Powerful Trixie goes out of her way to save your scaled butt, ungrateful dragon.” Whipping her head into the air Trixie decided that Spike can enjoy the scathing gift that is her silence for the rest of their journey.

Spike suppressed the urge to growl at Trixie's antics, of course she assumed that she was in the right and he was in the wrong that's exactly how her egotistical mind would work. Seriously who else could try making a dragon that was nearly three times her size feel bad when in all truth she hadn't really helped at all. Still an entire childhood spent with the wise goddess of the sun as his mother had it's lasting marks within his thought process. It was a curse really that his mother figure had managed to imprint her ability to see past selfish ideals, and forgive even those who probably didn't deserve it. So personal dignity, and self respect would have to take another hit as Spike prepared to apologize to a unicorn that in his mind didn't deserve it.

He groaned. “Alright, look...”

Trixie's eyes glanced in his direction, and a small victorious smirk began to grown across her lips. At least the dragon was smart to eventually realize he was wrong, and as it should be she was right.

“...I'm..”

“RAAUUUGGHHH!”

Homer may have been down but he wasn't out, with a furious roar he reached toward the closest thing that he could get his claws on. Pulling backwards toward the lake's waters Homer was happy to see that it was none other than Chatterbox itself that squirmed within his grasp. Taking heed to loosen his grip so as not to break his pet before he could do so at his leisure, Homer vowed to return and finish his dealing with the aggravating purple splotch.

With a speed unnatural for it's size the lake monster spun around, and began to dip back into the lake's waters with a screaming Trixie in tow. Instincts kicking in Spike dashed frantically forward, and latched his talons into the giant's skin, the entire time Spike kept his green eyes locked on the helpless Trixie. Despite his greater size Spike's strength was scarcely enough to halt the monster's movement as his claws merely ripped along it's skin creating long red lines that bled, and even dragged him forward until he was ankle deep in the water. Most of the monster's head was submerged at the point, and the huge webbed hand was making toward the lake's surface as Trixie struggled in vain to pry herself free.

Half her body submerged into the water Trixie tried to will her magic life to free her, but the growing terror in the back of her mind was making it hard to concentrate. As her horn fizzled, and only managed to create a few half-hearted sparks, Trixie locked eyes with the dragon that was still furiously trying to drag the monster and her back to the beach. “...”

“Don't you worry, Trixie! I got ya... just hang in there, okay?!” The water was up to Trixie's neck now, her cape floated above the lake’s surface, and instead of continuing to struggle Trixie opted to use her free hooves to hold her beloved hat onto her head.

“Don't you dare, Trixie you stupid, annoying unicorn, you're not going anywhere!” Spike dug his claws deeper into the sand, and deeper into the monster's skin. “Come on Spike, concentrate! I want gems. I want lots of stuff. I want a warm bed to sleep in instead of the damn dirt!” A jolt caused Spike's to spasm slightly as he grew just a little more, but with an agitated croak the monster moved forward again and Trixie disappeared beneath the lake's surface.

Most of the creature was now beneath the water alongside with it's catch, and within a few seconds so would Spike.

“No!” With a horrified growl Spike forced his claws deeper still into the beast's flesh his claws coated with crimson blood. “Nonononono! There's no way I'm letting you out of here before you take me home! I still have to say I'm sorry for no bloody reason!” Spike frantically tried to conjure up more things that he wanted, but the list was running short. “I want to go home! I want to see my friends, and Twilight, and Cele..my mom!” Another painful jolt caused Spike to snarl in agony as he grew again his weight causing him to sink into the sands, and he pulled as hard as he could. He still wasn't large enough, and Trixie probably only had seconds left before whatever air she managed to inhale ran out.

“Give..Her...BACK!” The straining of his muscles, accompanied by his body screaming at him in protest from the constant growing left Spike nearly unable to finish his sentence.

“SHE'S...” He was out of time, but still Spike kept at tugging as hard as he could. He wasn't going to give his charge up without a fight. As much as she annoyed him, belittled him, and made him want to bash his head in with a rock. Trixie was the closest thing he had for a friend in this world outside of Equestria. Trixie was his unwilling companion, his egotistical mare, and like it or not his responsibility.

“..M-MINE!” That familiar fire roared into life as Spike felt himself inflate like one of Pinkie Pie's balloons at a party. His vision blurred from the pain, but Spike could feel the mass he held onto give slightly as he pulled. He needed more, wanted more, whatever it took to save that blasted mare.

“MINE!” Another burst of fire in his belly, this time reaching out to the back of his mouth, he was able to actually pull more of the monster back to him. Spike's thoughts jumbled around erratically, and he found himself unsure of why he was pulling this thing, then he remembered that there was something he wanted on the other end.

“SPIKE... WANT!” In a voice several tones deeper than his original Spike spoke to himself as he pulled with all strength, His massive hands held steady as he pulled a now thrashing mass onto the beach. Vision slightly hazy for reasons the dragon couldn't fathom, Spike could barely make out the form of a creature slightly larger than himself, as well as another smaller creature that was currently coughing up water. The smaller creature sparkled before Spike's eyes, it’s odd pale blue form beckoned to him, more than enough reason to take it from the roaring monster that currently held it.

Trixie thanked her ancestors that something had managed to bring her back to the free air right as the lake's water began to seep into her lungs. A baritone version of Spike's voice pierced through her coughing, and a moment later something massive crashed into the lake monster that still held her. The arm holding her suddenly swung to the side to avoid the scaled purple hand that reached out to her, despite the frantic movement Trixie's eyes focused on the purple, and green giant that grappled with her captor.

The two giants exchanged blows back and forth as the huge dragon seemed hell bent on reaching the unicorn prize that the lake monster held just slightly out of reach. With a furious growl Spike lunged forward and sank monstrous teeth into the lord of the lakes arm causing it to groan in pain as well as drop the mare in it's hand.

“Can't anything just place Trixie on the ground carefully?!” A second later ,Trixie found herself caught, and carefully entangled within the grasp of a familiar albeit large purple tail. Before she could catch her breath Trixie's nearly lost her lunch at the speed the tail whipped back behind the dragon with her in tow, a second later the lake monster's teeth snapped on the location it had been earlier.

Using both hands Spike smashed into the lake monster's back, forcing it face first into the ground, he had what he wanted but needed to do away with this foe. Stomping a massive claw into the groaning monster's back, Spike opened his massive jaws wide and bathed the downed adversary in an inferno of emerald flames. With a final surge of strength, and energy Spike grasped the huge still smoldering mass, and will his might tossed it into the air over the lake.

As he flew in the air, limbs thrashing about wildly, tip of his tail to his huge noggin singed painfully, and pride wounded like never before, Homer wished he had never crawled out of bed this morning. Chatterbox had broken his heart with it's betrayal, the small purple pest apparently called in a much larger family member to beat the daylights out of him, and now Homer was really hungry. Being a bit of an optimist Homer was at least enjoying the weightless sensation that came with swimming in mid air like the birds, and various insects he used to enjoy eating. Twisting his body slightly Homer was now able to look down toward the large expanse of brilliant blue below, it was odd how you might not truly appreciate something till you see it from a different angle.

As Homer gazed lovingly down toward his watery home, he noticed a immense shape moving underneath the lake's surface. Homer gulped nervously as he recognized the dull yellow orbs that stared up at him, his mother had never possessed the keenest of memories, and from her angle Homer probably looked like..

As a cavernous maw large enough to swallow Homer whole rose from the depths toward him, Homer pondered the various levels of irony that permeated the air around him. As jaws that probably belonged to his own mother closed around Homer's form, the once mighty lord of his small slice of the great lake wondered what his mom would think if she knew she was about to devour her own offspring.

A pointless thought, as it wasn't often that the matriarch of the lake would ponder the inner machinations of anything that had flown too close to the water's surface before jumping out to eat it.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has a great idea, how about we leave this lake before something else shows up?” Despite still being held within Spike's tail Trixie had no problem seeing the ridiculously large leviathan that just made a meal out of the monster that had tried to do the same to her.

A oddly familiar voice dragged Spike's attention from the lake toward the small still sparkling creature within his grasp. He couldn't for the life of him remember why this creature had been so important, but a deep rumbling from within his stomach quickly brought an answer.

“What the hay are you staring at?” Even if the giant sized Spike had just saved her, Trixie couldn't help but shudder involuntarily when his large slitted irises focused on her with a predatory tinge. The way that the dragon's forked tongue licked it's chops reminded Trixie of a dragon related conversation that she had just shared with her hungry looking companion a few hours ago. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will remind you that eating her would be a very bad idea.

Unimpressed by his captives words Spike opened his fang filled mouth wide eager to satisfy his hunger.

“Wouldn't you rather snack on some tasty gems instead of stringy, tasteless Trixie?” The dragon paused for as moment as Trixie's words seemed to catch his attention, with no time to lose Trixie frantically pointed toward the still present hole that Spike had dug up earlier. “The Great and Powerful Trixie wouldn't steer such a mighty dragon wrong, right over there is a stash of the best tasting rocks... err gems that a dragon could find.

Gems did sound good, so with a shrug of his massive shoulders the dragon turned his attention to the tiny hole that the mare pointed too. Needing to take only two large steps Spike's massive head hovered over the time mineral deposit, after taking a curious sniff Spike dug a large trench into the sand with single swipe from his clawed hand. A deep growl of satisfaction rumbled from Spike as his eyes took in the small pile of Binghamite that lay exposed to the world, without a second thought the entire pile was scooped up in the dragon's mouth, and after a few brief chews was swallowed. After burping rather loudly, the dragon planned on returning his focus back to the unicorn still caught in his tail, when his large eyelids began to feel heavy.

“Okay, you got your dumb rocks, are you going to let me down yet?” Trixie's question was answered by a long yawn, and the dragon making it's way back toward her carriage. Finding a suitable spot the large, purple dragon curled up in the sunlight, and brought his tail to rest next to his massive head, Trixie was now in quite the predicament. While this was preferable to being eaten by far, the blue unicorn hadn't exactly been looking forward to being cuddled by a giant fire-breathing reptile. Lucky enough for Trixie a few minutes after Spike's large green eyes closed his body began to shrink back to size, his tail was no longer big enough to restrain her, and the mare happily embraced her freedom.

“Zzz..Trixie..I'm...sorry..zz” Spike mumbled in his sleep while the mentioned unicorn watched from a safe distance. Not that Trixie was scared of her sleeping vassal, she just needed some much deserved space after all of the days events. After taking a cautious look around, Trixie opted to go back to her carriage, and wait for her beast of burden to awake from his slumber.

After hanging her hat, and cape to dry within her carriage, Trixie opened up a side window that gave her view of the sleeping dragon. She could easily blame him for all that had transpired today, but decided that it could as least wait until he was conscious, and pulling them back along the trail they had wandered from. A grin settled on her face when she remembered that she still owed him two for flinching, and looked forward to cashing in on that gag. In a whisper so quiet that even dragon ears couldn’t hear them, the words “Apology accepted.” Escaped from the watching unicorn’s lips.

End Of Chapter:




> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



“Zzzzz”

“...Dragon?”

“Zzzzzzzz”

“Dragon!”

“Zzz”

“Hey, wake up! Trixie’s getting tired of listening to you snore all day!”

“...What?” Deep within the dark depths of subconsciousness a spark of higher functioning began to stir, it’s sleep disturbed by an annoyingly familiar voice. As Spike roused back to the land of the living the first sensation to assert itself was a painful throbbing that made him hiss out in pain, and to make matters worse something immediately began prodding his skull. With an aggravated grumble Spike half-heartedly swiped at the unseen tormentor, and finally cracked open his eyelids to see a most unexpected sight.

With a disinterested expression on her face The Great and Powerful Trixie looked down at the waking dragon, her hat blocking out the sun, and strands of her pale blue mane hanging close enough to tickle his nostrils. A stunned silence set over Spike as he found himself unable to find any words at all, and just as he nearly grasped a semi intelligent batch of words the unicorn’s horn glowed and something the size of his fist levitated toward his face.

“Eat this.” 

“Huh?”

“Last time Trixie checked you dragons eat rocks so here.” Focusing in on the light blue aura that floated before his eyes, Spike could make out what must have been the remaining survivors from the binghamite stash. Despite his stomach beginning to growl at the prospect of receiving a quick treat, the drake couldn’t help looking past the floating gems and setting a questioning look upon the mare. Trixie turned her head to look toward her carriage apparently unwilling to meet Spike’s gaze, meanwhile the blue aura disappeared allowing the binghamite to follow into a waiting outstretched hand. 

“Uhhh... thanks?” Immediately Spike popped the small snack into his mouth and crunched away though not loud enough to drown out Trixie’s reply.

“Save it, Trixie’s just making sure that you don’t go trying to eat her like you did earlier.” 

Trixie raised an eyebrow as the sound of Spike choking followed her sentence immediately, turning back to the mentioned dragon the mare nearly smirked at the sight of surprised expression facing her.

“I did what?!” He coughed. Guilt spread over the dragon as Spike wracked his brain trying to remember everything that had happened after he pulled the lake monster out of the water. Despite his efforts his mind only managed to conjure blurry images, and vague feelings of anger, greed, and hunger.

“After you surprisingly enough banished that gargantuan nuisance, you seemed to have your feeble mind set on making a meal out of Trixie.” Seeing Spike don such an apologetic look nearly made Trixie regret bringing up the subject. Mentally scolding herself Trixie turned away for feeling a wave of displeasure, she’d been feeling less than herself since the end of their monster problem.

“I am so sorry... I didn’t hurt you did I?” Though the headache had ebbed away, and the offered gems did a good job at banishing his belly’s grumbling, a small sinking feeling grew within him. Trixie might have been the bane of his existence since they met, but he’d hate himself if he learned that his greed form had harmed a single hair on the mare’s head.

“Of course not! Trixie outsmarted you the moment that she felt you appraising her with those huge green eyes.” Trixie briefly wondered if she could have worded her sentence better, but from the corner of her eye she noticed a flash of embarrassment spread over Spike’s face. An ill-meaning grin spread on the mare’s face as she decided to poke a little fun for her own amusement. “Though after you gorged yourself on more rocks you did try to spoon Trixie.”

“What?!” Scales tinted darker from a large blush, and ears morphed to an odd mixture of the colors green and red, Spike turned toward the lake in an attempt to hide his face. Frowning at his inability to remember the chaos his greed form might have exacted, the dragon’s back stiffened when something began to lean onto his left side.

“Not that Trixie blames you for the incident, The Great and Powerful Trixie is well aware that her great and powerful form is akin to a goddess in the eyes of all others.” A wicked smile was plastered onto Trixie’s face as she watched the purple, and green scales tinge red before her eyes. Who’d have thought that teasing the young dragon would rival how fun it was to insult him flat out? Deeply enjoying Spike’s obvious discomfort, Trixie came up with the perfect way to finish her tormenting.

Frozen in place thanks to Trixie’s unexpected close proximity, and the unexplainable flustered feeling that ran rampant through him, Spike willed himself to ignore every word that came out of the mare’s mouth. At least that was the plan before he picked up the disarming scent of jasmine, and a spine shivering purr entered his ears.

“You know... Spike, there’s been something Trixie has been wanting to tell you since you woke up.” 

“...!” Though he remained silent Spike’s mental voice turned from his own into that of Twilight’s as it listed every reasonable explanation for Trixie’s behavior. The unicorn must have been setting him up for another cheap shot at his less than prepared psyche, or she had developed something close to admiration toward him for saving her life. Dozens of long-winded scientific theories sped through Spike’s mind within the time span of a few seconds, only to end on the most unlikely one of all just as Trixie began to speak again. “Its not like she...”

“Well it’s just that... you...”

“...but what if she?” Suddenly Spike was quite interested in hearing the end of Trixie’s sentence, his ears perked up, and his green pupils darted to the left to see her.

“You still smell like monster vomit.”

The Twilight in his head didn’t hesitate to recite an “I told you so” as Spike covered both his ears to block out Trixie’s laughter. Shrugging the guffawing unicorn off of his shoulder did little to halt her sounds of mirth, and giving his arm a sniff Spike’s gut churned when he didn’t smell roses. With a defeated sigh Spike trudged toward the lake’s edges, faintly hoping that the extreme scrubbing he was about to give himself might attract something big enough to eat him, and his overwhelming embarrassment.

Trixie’s mocking laughter had continued on past Spike’s angered bath, was still going strong as Spike pulled the carriage back to the dirt road they had abandoned, and showed no sign of stopping a mile down the road. Eventually a boiling point was reached, with a growl Spike stopped dead in his tracks, and whirled around to face a still giggling Trixie.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than cackle at me all day?”

“Why? Are the dragon’s feelings still hurt from Trixie’s little joke?” Though she stopped laughing a large smirk still adorned the mare’s face as she looked Spike in the eye from her window, head propped up on her hoof in a relaxed manner.

Rolling his eyes Spike averted his gaze to hide a small blush that began to form, much to his irritation. “No! I just think it’d be a better use of your time to do something helpful, or at least somewhat productive instead of bugging me while I chauffeur you around for free.”

“And what pray tell, should the Great and Powerful Trixie do that would be be classified as productive?” 

Optimistic that perhaps he was finally making some good natured ground with the mare, Spike tapped a claw to his chin for a few seconds before replying. “Well... you could walk instead of just riding along, that would make pulling this thing a lot easier.” An outraged gasp immediately met the dragon’s ears as well as the feeling of something burning holes in the back of his head. “...Uh oh.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?!”

“Uhh, nevermind dumb idea.”

“...Indeed... Lazy drake.”

Not wanting to drop the ball completely, Spike tried thinking of something else for Trixie to do in the her free time. “You could tell me where we’re going, that’d would at least give me an idea on just how far away from Equestria we are.”

“Do you really think Trixie would be performing for drooling dogs in the boonies if she actually knew where she was?” From her position Trixie contemplated finding something to levitate and bounce off Spike’s head, his suggestions were getting more and more idiotic and she could use a good laugh.

“Maybe you should work on your act then.” Already running on empty regarding ways to keep the unicorn occupied so that he could get a little peace and quiet, Spike was starting to accept that it was a pointless endeavor and started to resume pulling the carriage, until an even more outraged noise stopped him in his tracks.

“Do you dare insinuate that the mind blowing spectacle that is Trixie’s gift to all lesser creatures could be flawed in some way?!”  No longer leisurely watching Spike from her window, Trixie had disappeared into her carriage one moment, only to loudly exit it once again from the main door. Spike couldn’t help but flinch a bit from the loud *bang* that announced the door being slammed shut, followed by the mage’s loud hoof stomps as she made her way toward him. Now glaring up at the dragon from right beside him, a quiet crackle emitted from Trixie as if her very magic itself had been offended.

“Trixie could have sworn that you said something profoundly more moronic than the usual blathering that escapes your lips, would you kindly repeat yourself, toad?” And with that gone was Spike’s concern for crossing a line, as well any chance of a civil conversation emerging between the two for the moment.

Puffing a few green embers from his nostrils out of annoyance, Spike’s head whipped around to begin another tense locking of the eyes with the equally angered female. “I said that your ego driven farce of a performance needs work, maybe if you spent half the time actually being entertaining or good at magic instead of just showboating what little skill you have, you wouldn’t be such a laughing stock back in Equestria!”

“Insolent newt!” Raising her head higher up so that she was butting heads with Spike who had lowered his own during his reply, Trixie growled loudly as she inwardly debated using her magic to attempt turning Spike into something small and squishable. “What makes you think that you have any clue about the mind blowing intricacy that involves The GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE’S act?!”

Returning the daggers that Trixie’s violet eyes shot into his own with just as much force, an idea popped into Spike’s head resulting in a toothy grin that spread across his face. “Well from listening and watching you I think it’s a pretty safe bet that it goes a little like this!”

Quicker than Trixie’s eyes could see the dragon’s tail whipped above his head, and lashed out at her. Caught completely off guard by the dragon’s sudden aggression Trixie didn’t even think to will up a protective barrier, but instead winced from the incoming blow. 

A few dozen seconds passed before Trixie realized that despite her failure to avoid the strike, or to block it that she felt relatively unharmed, daring to look back up the mare noticed that Spike had an even larger smirk upon his face than the one that had appeared before his lashing out. Taking a cautionary step back as well as getting ready to stain the path with the satisfied looking drake’s ashes Trixie couldn’t help but noticed that Spike appeared different. Dark violet eyes scanned over the dragon’s form before they narrowed, and focused on something that should not have been there. Through gritting teeth an almost inaudible command hissed from Trixie’s lips, as she glared at the dragon harder than she had ever done before.

“Give... it... back!”

Donning an expression of surprise Spike looked wildly around him as if not knowing what the mare was referring to, after a few moments Spike’s eyes peered up to settle on the all too familiar purple hat that now sat comfortably upon his head. “Oh! You mean this?!” 

“Trixie is not kidding with you dragon, return Trixie’s hat or you’ll find yourself enduring a level of pain unlike any that you’ve ever known,”

“Dragon?” Narrowing his eyes slightly Spike raised his snout into the air in mock outrage, crossing his arms like a pouting foal. “Surely you must be some uninformed yutz not to have heard of...” Standing on his back legs, raising his right hand above his head, while holding his left far in front of him Spike looked back towards a now surprised Trixie. Taking a large intake of air Spike exhaled through his nostrils producing twin geysers of emerald fire as he bellowed loudly in faux arrogance. “The Stupendous and Spectacular Spike!”

In a flash the growing inferno of anger that glowed behind Trixie’s eyes snuffed out as the little gerbil in her brain tripped over itself on it’s wheel, and proceeded to be spun around and around helplessly. She knew her eyes weren’t deceiving her, was confident that her ears worked perfectly fine, but her mind refused to believe the image, and sounds that now faced her. Another silent moment passed as the gerbil finally resumed it’s running though at an uneven pace at first, and her left eye twitched as the fire sprang back to life.

“...”

“For my first performance I shall make a complete flank out of myself by pitting my might against that of a newborn foal, then I shall share the story of the time I let loose a spout of fire so hot that the sun itself nearly put itself out from shame.” Emphasizing his words Spike hopped on one foot a few times before planting his fist at his sides, and laughing loudly to himself.

“That’s not funny.”

“What was that, little mare? You say that you want The Stupendous and Spectacular Spike’s autograph?” Scaled face set into a smug grin, Spike leaned forward till he was nearly touching noses with a now red faced Trixie.

“That is not how Trixie sounds, now give me my hat back!” Giving another growl Trixie lunged forward trying to swipe her beloved hat with her hooves, so caught up in her annoyance that she seemed to have forgotten about her unicorn given talent.

“But it looks so good on me, plus admit it; I nailed your attitude perfectly.” Like a huge, scaled feline Spike easily avoided Trixie’s attempts at claiming her possession, darting backwards quickly and taunting the mare by blowing a raspberry.

“HA! Attempting to mirror the sparkling personality of the one and only Trixie is leagues beyond your scaled brain, unlike your simple mindset the inner machinations of Trixie’s mind are an enigma.” Despite the verbal lashing that Trixie was sure would have stumped the young dragon long enough for her get her sorely missed heirloom, the mare found much to her annoyance that instead Spike congratulated her for actually knowing a big word.

“Enigma huh?” Clearing his throat for a moment while also making sure to keep an eye on Trixie who was prowling forward with her eyes dead set on Spike’s newest fashion choice, the dragon pretended to primp invisible locks of hair before speaking in his attempt at a feminine voice. “I the Great and Powerful Trixie enjoy acting like a bigshot because I suffer from poor social skills, and can’t comprehend being civil with anything besides my own reflection.” Spike could hardly keep a straight face as the unicorn ceased moving forward in favor of shooting him a dirty look.

“Two can play at that game you peon.” Adopting a dopey look upon her face, and standing on her hind legs (with some difficulty I might say) Trixie rubbed her left hoof on her head and spoke in a deeper tone. “My name’s Spike. I’m fat, lazy, love to complain, and burst into tears every time somepony says something that isn’t a compliment because I’m a complete momma’s colt.” Unlike Spike who had attempted to hide his amusement at Trixie’s earlier irritation, the mare had no qualms about bursting with laughter from the way the dragon’s grin soured into a large frown.

“I AM NOT A MOMMA’S COLT!” Much to Spike’s personal embarrassment images of Celestia spoon feeding him crushed gems, kissing better boo-boos gained from childish games, and the fact that his mother still wrote to him to remind her son to wash behind his frills emerged in his mind. And just like that Spike was stalking toward the still guffawing Trixie, and once she noticed him coming towards her the ladder was on her hooves and marching in his direction. In an instant the dragon and unicorn were face to face locked in another staring contest, and both unwilling to stop the mounting tension that coated the scene like a thick fog.

“Hey lookit that Quirk, I’ll bet my left wing that the those two are about to pitch the proverbial woo.”

“I’d would merrily take you up on that bet Odd if not for two things. One I’m in complete agreement with you brother, and two I don’t believe you have a left wing...or a right one either.”

“Then it’s a bet I can’t lose!”

Though their faces remained in place Spike and Trixie’s eyes were pulled away from one another and focused on what appeared like two pony shaped figures watching them a couple meters down the path. A silence permeated the area for a moment before the mare, and dragon both adopted a reddish tinge to their face, the traveling acquaintances of course knew that their close proximity was only due to a deep seated resentment for one another... nothing else, but to an unknowing passerby the moment could appear...

“Ope! Sorry to ruin the moment strangers, we were just having a walk and heard voices so well...” The speaker happened to be the left earth stallion or more appropriately colt, his hair; a light purple, was brushed to the right on his head yet stayed straight along his tail, though it curled at the tip, and all between was a body painted a rusty red.

“We couldn’t resist investigating, now could we Quirk?” The right colt was actually uncannily similar in appearance to the left, though his voice was higher pitched and carried a tone of amusement instead of the inquisitive one that his fellow possessed. Also, while his fur was the same in color, the mop of purple on his head was brushed to the left instead of right, and his tail was strangely puffed halfway through instead of staying primarily straight. Both twins possessed a matching set of teal colored eyes as well as fetlocks that looked in dire need of some trimming. “Didn’t mean to intrude on your romantic tension any.”

“IT’S NOT LIKE THAT!” In unison Spike and Trixie shouted out a much too late explanation while they scrambled away from one another as fast as they could. “I HATE HIM/HER! HE’S/SHE’S THE BIGGEST PAIN I’VE EVER MET!” Continuing to speak at the same time Spike and Trixie turned from the new arrivals to glare at one another having heard each other’s insult. “HEY!”

While the travelers bickered the left colt dubbed Quirk looked to his brother, raising an eyebrow at the couple’s antics. “Now that is quite the interesting pair, wouldn’t you agree Odd?”

The right colt nodded his head quickly with an entertained smile painted across upon his face as he replied. “How could I not? Those two would certainly shake things up back home, and the town could do with a little excitement.”

Flashing a smile to match his twin’s Quick raised a hoof toward Odd while continuing to watch the the argument that had deteriorated to a one-sided scuffle. “I was thinking the same thing dear brother, now how about we get things moving before we only have one guest instead of two.”

Odd excitedly raised his own limb so he could hoof-bump his brother, then proceeded to approach the dust cloud that had been kicked up by a combination of Trixie’s magic randomly reacting to her anger, as well as Spike’s tail swishing to and fro in an attempt to balance himself when a certain mare grew tired of his uninterrupted possession of her hat.

“Not to interrupt, but perhaps my brother and I could borrow a few minutes of your time?”

The insulting, and tumbling stopped long enough for the dirt to settle, and to show an agitated Trixie currently wrenching Spike’s left arm behind his back while he used his right to keep her hat out of reach. Remembering that they were still very much not alone the duo stopped fighting long enough to begin picking themselves up, or in Spike case he was halfway there before his head was used as a stepping stool so that Trixie could reclaim her hat, and whip his face with her tail while she jumped off of him.

Seeing that they had the duo’s attention Odd nudged his brother prompting the colt to speak before the level of civility began to deteriorate again.

“You see our village lies not too much farther down the road, and I can’t help but believe that you two might be able to aid us with a problem.”

With an uninterested snort Trixie placed her beloved hat upon her head, and set to work adjusting it to her liking while rolling her eyes in the twin’s direction. “Nope.”

“Nope?” Amusement gone from his face Odd’s eyes began to water slightly in response to Trixie’s answer. “B-b-but why not?”

Raising an eyebrow at the emotional colt’s apparent displeasure, Trixie merely raised her head upward while her magic set to work dispelling the few patches of dirt that had gotten on her during her victorious battle against the beast of burden. “Because The Great and Powerful Trixie has much better things to do than offer her time to simple village folk.”

Seeing the colt dubbed Odd growing closer to what looked like letting loose a flood of tears, Spike picked himself up and turned toward his hat obsessed associate. “C’mon Trixie, we can at least hear them out.”

“Oh shut your snout dragon, Trixie has little patience for some bleeding heart routine.”

“Cause merely listening to somepony’s problem, and considering the option of helping out makes one a bleeding heart these days.”

“You catch on quick, there’s hope for you yet dragon.”

“It’s Spike!”

“Who?”

Watching what looked to be another fight about to begin, as well as consoling his sniffling brother Quirk cleared his throat loudly enough to regain the center of attention. “Might we add that your time will be rewarded generously.”

Shooting another scowl toward Spike the blue mare’s head quickly turned back toward the twins while a predatory smirk grew on her face. “While selling her services is typically beneath Trixie’s high standing morals, your story has touched her heart. Please young stallion do share your grievances with the compassionate and empathetic Trixie.”

“Well you see-”

“Especially the part pertaining to how many gifts you plan to offer as tribute to Trixie.”

“...Well you see, our home suffers from a great ailment. It has affected all pony inhabitants from the young to the old, and the hard working to the layabouts.” Nodding toward his still glassy eyed brother Quirk lowered his head to the ground while his vibrantly colored coat seemed to darken. “Since before me and Odd’s times, our village has suffered from...”

“BOREDOM!” Flailing away from his gloom twin Odd wailed loudly as he raised himself onto his back legs. “Mind-numbing, soul-wrenching, earth forsaken BOREDOM!” Through teary eyes Odd looked toward the travelers with a forlorn expression that definitely looked out of place on his cheery face, his vision conjured up an image not of two concerned individuals, but instead of a twitchy eyed mare and a confused drake.

“...What?”

“What my brother speaks of is most true I’m afraid to say.” Raising his head from the ground Quirk wore a look on his face that mirrored his twins... minus the tears and mucus. “Nothing exciting ever takes place, and the worst of all our fellow villagers are becoming... OKAY WITH IT!”

At this both twins wrapped their forelimbs around one another and let loose a shared sigh of depression. In response Spike scratched his head due to a sheer lack of understanding how something like boredom could cause such distress, and Trixie impatiently stomped her hoof down. “Trixie is still waiting to hear about the reward, so she abstains from telling you just how idiotic this sounds.”

Wiping his nose on his left hoof Odd narrowed his teal eyes in Trixie’s direction. “Oh the woe we must suffer through dear brother, at the mercy of your average greed driven unicorn and her draconic lover.”

“Hey!”

Ignoring the shared cries of outrage from our favorite duo, Quirk wiped a tear from his left eye while nodding in agreement to his brother. “I unequivocally agree Odd, but we must not judge others by their kind’s nature, or their choice in sexual deviancy.” Ears twitching in response to the louder outburst of irritation that followed his words Quirk sniffled one last time before he raised his right forelimb to his head dramatically while sighing letting out a loud sigh. “Perhaps these humdrum travelers are more dull than we thought, and do not wish to be buried in the vast bounty of our undoubtedly appreciative village.”

Hearing enough, Trixie growled loudly before her horn glowed angrily with a light magenta aura, almost immediately the twins were raised into the air, and their heads conked together. “Trixie will have you know that she is THE MOST INTERESTING thing your backwater village will ever have the good fortune to witness.” Dropping the two onto the ground Trixie turned around so quickly that her cape whipped into the air nearly catching a less angered but still irritated Spike on the tip of his nose. “Dragon, get to work on pulling Trixie’s carriage, I’ll give these bumpkins a show so great they’ll forsake every dirt-derived god they praise in favor of Trixie’s left hoof.”

“What about the reward?” Though less interested in getting payed for his assistance than the outraged mare, Spike felt less than charitable after being called ‘humdrum’.

“Whatever this village is willing to pay, Trixie wants it DOUBLED!” After slamming the door to her carriage shut Trixie immediately set to work on going through a few props of hers within a trunk next to her bed. “Nopony calls Trixie dull!”

Shaking his head towards Trixie’s carriage, Spike let out a sigh before setting to work on putting the harness back on. After finishing Spike peered in the twin’s direction so see both of them wearing large smiles as well as wagging their tails about excitedly. Almost instantly the gears in Spike’s head began to spin, and an frown grew on his scaled face. 

“You know I’ve witnessed what happens to folks who decide to upset that mare... that whole act could have gotten you turned into crickets.”

Shooting an amused grin to his brother Quirk chuckled to himself before slowly walking down the path towards his village. “And what fine crickets we’d probably have made mister uh... Spike. But your marefriend certainly had us backed into a corner there, and the village sorely needs something to liven things up a good deal.”

“She’s not my marefriend.”

“Sorry to hear that friend, she does seem a bit hard to deal with.” Quirk’s words was quickly reciprocated with a snort, and a small laugh from the young dragon.

“More like arrogant as they come, short-tempered, and suffering from an inferiority complex.” Pulling the carriage forward to follow Quirk down the road a small puff of green fire escaped past his teeth as he remembered that it was Trixie’s ‘hard to deal with personality’ that seemed to be causing all of the trouble he was experiencing. “Trust me Quirk, she’s a lot to handle.”

“Oh I bet she is you ol’ fire-spewer!” Jumping up right next to Spike, Odd gave the drake a wink then whistled appreciatively reminding Spike of a few colts friends he knew back in Ponyville. Oblivious to the way Spike had rolled his eye at his earlier comment Odd nudged the drake with his shoulder with a still amused grin on his face. “Well if you two aren’t butter and bread then do you mind another drago-... er stallion taking a wing at her?”

Initially the colt’s question had caused a frown to begin forming on Spike’s face, but after catching himself as well as questioning why he would even care, the drake saw a way to get a good laugh as well as get back at Trixie for earlier... “By all means go ahead, but warned she’s a feisty one, you’ll have to be persistent.”

“Persistent is my middle name... or was it Timothy?” Shrugging to himself Odd slowed his pace until he was even with the carriage. “Miss Trixie, excuse me for not stating it earlier but you have the most spectacular cutie mark I’ve ever seen.”

“If Trixie catches you staring her flank, you’ll be your brother’s twin sister for the rest of your existence.” Hearing the mare’s threat caused a panicked look to cross Odd’s face and he quickly dashed past Spike to hide behind a snickering Quirk.

Amidst his fit of laughter a tinge of curiosity struck Spike, and once he had managed to reign in his chuckles the dragon’s inquisitive side took the wheel. “So what’s the name of your village anyways?”

 Twin sets of ears perked up in reply to Spike’s question, and both colt’s turned to face the dragon with a familiar set of large smiles. Stamping their hooves in place Odd and Quirk whinnied with pride before Quirk offered a wink, and spoke.

“Hibiscus Grove my good friend, the humble beginning from which our kinds greatest heros have hailed.”

Quickly jumping in to pick up where his brother left off, Odd kicked his legs about excitedly as a merry tone colored his words. “The very earth we commune with sings praise to our line, for only a true pony of the land whose inner magic transmutes into the sweat and toil he offers to the soil can trace his roots back to our home.”

“Hibiscus Grove, the village from which the mighty war horse Comanche strode out of a mere colt, and returned a stallion among stallions.”

“The oldest and most trusted farming techniques owe their first steps to the hardworking citizens of Hibiscus Grove.”

“The birthplace of the beloved hero Chancellor Puddinghead, before her untimely betrayal at the hooves of the calculating assassin of the unicorn king, and the war mongering chief of the pegasus clan.”

As entertaining as the twin’s praise toward their village was, Spike neither slowed his pace down the dirt path, or missed what sounded like a gross error in historical events. “Betrayal? Are you talking about the founding of Equestria?”

Immediately halting in their jovial exclamations the twins set dubious looks toward Spike, an expression made near comical since they were now walking backwards. Odd looked to his brother and motioned toward the drake with unsure look upon his face, prompting Quirk to reply. “Indubitably so, that day marked the creation of the unicorn pegasus empire as well as ushered in the splitting of the earth pony’s civilization.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“As sure as Halle Maree’s horrible decision in playing lead role in the comedic tragedy ‘Feline Mare’.”

“....What?”

“Chancellor Puddinghead braved the wilds of an unknown land so she could free our kind from the shackles of forced cooperation with the unicorns and their illusions of controlling the sun. She ended up discovering that deity blighted land, as well as saving the incompetent flanks of Princess Platinum, and Commander Hurricane.”

“Once again, say what?”

“In her wisdom Puddinghead offered a hoof in friendship to the two overlords, and motioned that the three tribes work in unison without forcing goods from one another. The generous, and soft-hearted mare was quickly stabbed in the back, and her advisor Smart Cookie brainwashed into telling our kin that this ‘Equestria’ was a place of equality and prosperity.” The entire time Quirk spoke his brother Odd nodded enthusiastically, cheered each time Puddinghead was mentioned, and booed when the other two pony’s names were said.

Spike having heard enough shook his head, and gave a quick glance to the carriage behind him wondering if Trixie had heard any of the rubbish being forced through his ears. “I’m pretty sure that isn’t how it went down guys, if this was true how would anypony know?”

“When the naive, and easily mislead half of the earth pony tribe left it was our ancestors who saw beyond the veil of deceit that the unicorns, and pegasi had crafted. When the stories had reached our village about how Chancellor Puddinghead had cast the first stone, our forefathers knew it to be some kind of unicorn plot, or pegasus fib so they formulated the most likely scenario that would have taken place.”

The twins galloped to a nearby bush pulling out a few loose branches, some leaves, and a large rock which Odd rolled back to the center of the road. With his path blocked Spike had to stop and attempted to figure out why Odd licked a short stick and stuffed it between the hair on his head, for what purpose was a crude face drawn onto the rock as well as two branch covered in leaves placed behind, and more importantly why Quirk had a light blue marker hidden in his tail.

After poofing up the hair on his head slightly Quirk strode forward, struck up a regal pose, and placed a hoof to his chest. “I, the mighty and wise Chancellor Puddinghead, born among proud farms of Hibiscus Grove do claim this land in the name of not just my beloved earth pony kin, but instead for all three of the clans! Let our tribes no longer quarrel, and instead work together for a better tomorrow where they can all trot hoof in hoof for friendship and empathy.”

Behind Quirk his brother who was made to look like a unicorn (though badly from Spike’s point of view) drew behind the earth pony stepping on the tips of his hooves in a sneaky fashion. Oblivious to Odd’s actions Quirk continued to speak, his eyes looking over Spike, the carriage and the road behind them as if inspecting a new land.

“Yes, this is a fertile land, and together we shall thrive. Looking to his left Quirk nodded as if listening to some unseen entity. “I agree, advisor Smart Cookie, we will have to name this wondrous place.” Looking back toward Spike, Odd placed a hopeful and determined look upon his face before stomping his left hoof down dramatically. “We will rule over this land, and we shall call it....’This Land’.”

Only a few inches behind his twin now Odd let loose a sinister chuckle before hissing loudly. “I think we should call it.....YOUR GRAVE!” Odd then immediately began poking his brother’s side with the stick on his head while switching between laughing maniacally, and shouting “Pew! Pew!”

In response Quirk gasped dramatically, and flopped onto his side kicking out his legs in mock pain while his brother began to prance about in victory. “Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal Princess Platinum!”

“Ha Ha HA! Mine is an evil laugh... now die!” Odd then dramatically placed his makeshift horn to Quirk’s heart and shouted “Thundaga!” Which caused Quirk to spasm as if electrocuted, as well as cause Odd’s ‘horn’ to fall out of his hair.”

After a few moments Quirk suddenly picked his head off the ground with a serious expression looking straight toward Spike. “And that is how our beloved hero met a grisly fate at the hooves of the treacherous unicorns.” Eyes quickly darting from one side to another Quirk placed a hoof next to his mouth as if to whisper to the bemused dragon. “All the while the pegasus commander watches from the sidelines... biding his time and preparing for his civilizations time to strike.” To this Odd quickly moved toward the the rock and used his hooves to block out the sun so the pegasus stand-in looked shrouded in shadows.

Both colts looked toward Spike who out of appreciation for the twin’s passionate performance clapped his hands together though he rolled his eyes at the same time. “Well that was certainly... something.”

“Did you like it?” Shaking his head until his poofy hair resumed it’s original state Quirk offered a small bow as did his brother.

“We actually got an award for that a few seasons ago during the “Remembering Great Figures in Earth Pony History festival.” After his bow Odd’s smiling face switched to a small frown, and he pawed at the ground a bit. “Though all we got as a ‘good job’, and a basketful of onions.”

Sighing in response Quirk nodded to his brother before adding with sarcasm. “One of the greatest honors our village can give.”

Chuckling at the twin’s antics Spike stretched his limbs before continuing forward, as he passed the still standing in place twins Spike opted to jump back to the current issue regarding historic accuracy. “As interesting as that was guys, every book I’ve read through states that there was no backstabbing, no brainwashing, and that it was Smart Cookie who voted on equality for all equines.”

Turning around and keeping pace with Spike, Odd cocked his head to the side raised an eyebrow. “And how would a dragon know so much about pony history?”

Mirroring his twin Quirk trotted alongside Spike as well an inquisitive look plastered upon his face. “You know brother that’s an incredibly good question, strange enough to see a dragon in these parts, but now we have a dragon that courts unicorns and claims to know about the going-ons of past events regarding our kind.”

Fixing a scowl toward Quirk for his ‘courting’ comment Spike turned toward the read ahead with a far off look on his face. “Probably because I’m from Equestria myself.” Noticing the matching expressions of shock that appeared on the twin’s face Spike sighed to himself before continuing. “I was born in Canterlot where I spent most of my childhood till my sister and I moved to a place called Ponyville.”

“Are you saying dragons like you live in Equestria just like the ponies?”

“Well... I haven’t met any dragons ‘like me’, but yeah there’s a few dragons that live there though they mostly keep to themselves and sleep.” Spike paused to glance at the colt’s when they both gasped in surprise, apparently their understanding of Equestria was somewhat... dated. “What’s the big deal, all kinds of creatures live somewhat neighborly in Equestria. There’s mules, goats, buffaloes, griffons, diamond dogs, and the occasional peryton.”

“...Interesting.” Quirk brought his hoof to his chin as if in deep thought, his brother on the other hand began to skip as he trotted next to Spike.

“Exciting! You see, the two of you will be a hit!” Looking toward his twin Odd sped around the drake, and extended his hoof toward his Quirk for another hoof-bump. 

“Even more so than the time those nomadic zebras passed through, and we chose to ‘liberate’ that caged Nandi bear they were transporting.” With a large grin growing upon his features that matched his brothers Quirk quickly reciprocated the hoof-bump.

So wrapped up in deducing the levels of havoc a newly freed bear might have wreaked upon a village of ponies, Spike was caught off guard when another voice joined the conversation.

“Trixie is starting to become less and less enthused about doing any favors for these two mischief makers.”

The twins who lacked any understanding of the many windows, doors, and tricks that Trixie’s wagon had installed wore matching expression of surprise due to the unicorn’s sudden appearance through her window. Though the mare’s sudden entrance nearly caused Spike to miss a step, the dragon opted to continue his trek forward while he replied.

“For once I have to agree with you Trixie, but they did mention a reward and maybe we can get a better bearing on where we are if the village could provide a map.”

“Speaking of rewards... have you negotiated the actual size of the bounty Trixie is to be given?” Spikes’s imminent silence combined with the the snicker that emitted from Odd caused Trixie to let out a small growl of irritation. “Of course you haven’t, too busy wasting time with nonsensical small talk.”

“Hey! I was ju-” Spike’s attempt at explaining himself was loudly interrupted by a few ‘Tuts’ from Trixie as well as a rock surrounded in her magic bouncing off of his head.

“It would seem Trixie will just have to do EVERYTHING that requires a degree of intelligence doesn’t it?” With a smirk from seeing the drake bristle at her remark, Trixie fixed a leer toward the twins and continued. “Now then. How much is the Great and Powerful Trixie being paid to waste her time at your silly town?”

Happy to be addressed by the blue unicorn, Odd was more than eager to prance beside the cart and offer a small bow before speaking. “Well oh so enchanting one, I’m more than sure that our village will gladly present you with it’s finest produce as well as a large bag of pieces.”

Crossing her forelimbs, and proceeding to lazily rest her head upon them Trixie raised an eyebrow in Odd’s direction. “Trixie prefers to receive an actual number regarding the number of pieces you plan to pay her, keep in mind the greatness of Trixie’s performance is impacted by how cheap your village tries to be.”

While he pondered about the value of something called a ‘piece’ Spike had to nod his head in approval of Trixie’s business sense. Though she was headstrong, vain, and irritating most of the time, the mare certainly knew how to get what she wanted.

“I’m sure after an exciting performance our fellows will be happy to pay your requested dues. Isn’t that right brother?” Feeling his knees wobbling from gaining the unicorn’s focused attention, a small blush formed on Odd’s face while he set to work on telling the mare anything she wanted to hear.

Seeing that his enamored brother was quick to write a check that they truthfully didn’t know if Hibiscus Grove would be willing to cash Quirk rolled his eyes, waited in place until he was alongside Odd, and bopped his sibling on the head.

“Ow! What in polka dotted sassafras was that for?”

Nudging his dismayed brother aside, Quirk cast an apologetic look toward the dubious unicorn. “What my enthusiastic brother means to say is, we wholeheartedly believe that the villages payment will be appropriate to your level of performance.” Seeing Trixie’s curious expression begin to morph to one of outrage at his less than pleasing answer Quirk was quick to cover his flank. “N-not to say that anything you did for our village wouldn’t deserve a worthy prize, but neither we or our village have any proof to your abilities besides your word.”

Horn glowing from a sudden surge of her magic Trixie levitated a nearby rock willing it to float between herself and Quirk. “Do you not believe that Trixie’s word is enough?”

Eyeing the flying stone warily Quirk gulped before looking back to the smirking unicorn. “Perhaps we do, but we can’t say the same for a village full of our kin that are less than trusting of unicorns and their magic.”

Trixie appreciated the colt’s truthfulness as well as the provided information that she would be putting on a show for a village of lowly magic fearing earth ponies. Looking to Spike, Trixie noticed that his ears were poised to hear the conversation the three were having, but oddly enough he had stayed silent since her reprimanding. The young dragon looked strangely less irritating when he wasn’t arguing with everything Trixie had to say, and an odd calmness overtook the mare as she debated tossing the rock at his head... to hear him complain of course.

Just as Odd was about to jump back into the conversation both he and his brother let out a small gasp of surprise as the glowing rock began to chip away before their very eyes. As if being carved by an invisible edge, slivers and small bits of the stone began to fall to the earth the entire time a bored expression was painted on the mare’s face though her eyes seemed fixated on the quiet dragon.

After a moment the stone resembled a small grey figurine crafted in the image of the very dragon that still pulled the carriage along, finally processing the twin’s gasp in her preoccupied brain Trixie pulled her eyes from the drake to see the product of her unharnessed magic. Trixie wasn’t surprised that even without even meaning too she was capable of making something eye catching out of a simple rock, but after realizing what the miniature statue resembled the unicorn frowned and quickly turned it into nothing more than glittering dust.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will put her faith in your village’s ability to properly pay for her services. Now how far away is it?”

“Odd and I will run ahead and see.” Elbowing his brother who had been sneezing from a nose full of dust, Quirk nodded toward the unicorn before the two siblings galloped past Spike and around a nearing bend ahead. Once the twins were out of sight Trixie sighed loudly hoping to prompt some sort of response from the still quiet dragon.

“...”

Not surprised that the slow-witted dragon was unable to pick up on her attempt at starting conversation, Trixie rolled her eyes and coughed into her left hoof.

“...”

Eye twitching from the drake’s continued refusal to say anything Trixie uncrossed her forelimbs, and glared darkly at the back of Spike’s head before clearing her throat loudly.

“Something wrong, Trixie?” Refusing to turn around because of the toothy grin that was plastered on his face, Spike luckily had managed to hide the amusement in his voice.

“Of course not! Why would something be wrong?”

“It just sounds like you might,” he snickered, “want a glass of water or something that’s all.” Spike felt the glare intensify so he plastered on a neutral face and turned to face the mare.

“...So smart-flank, what do you think about those two?” Trixie could have sworn she heard the Spike let out a small laugh before turning, and the dragon was obviously struggling to keep his bad poker face from cracking, but the unicorn wasn’t in the mood to get into it with her scaled companion.

Spike scratched his chin for a moment as he mulled over Trixie’s question. Quirk, and Odd were certainly... strange, but they didn’t look dangerous and a village full of expectant ponies eager for entertainment certainly beat one full of unicorn suspicious citizens who might chase the two out before Spike learned anything about their location. 

“I think that it’s a better idea to make friends than enemies given our situation, and if you think that you can truly give them a great performance without agitating the whole population supplies would be really nice right now.”

“Are you calling my abilities into question again?” 

“Actually no.” A small smile formed on Spike’s face as he watched Trixie’s narrowed eyes open wide in surprise. “I’m just saying that hopefully you’ve come up with something that won’t end with a town full of earth ponies burning you at the stake.”

“...W-well it’s about time you admit to Trixie’s greatness, and don’t worry your scaled brain dragon, Trix-”

“We’re back!” Returning from around the bend Odd followed by his brother pranced toward the carriage with a large grin on his face. Coming to stop next to Spike, Odd was practically dancing on the tip of his hooves while his brother caught up and began to speak.

“It would seem in our short travel together that we’ve entered the very outskirts of Hibiscus Grove, just around this bend the trees will dwindle in number and you’ll be able to see our homes.”

Raising an eyebrow Spike looked back toward a contemplative Trixie before turning back to face Quirk. “Surprised we’ve gotten this close without bumping into any of your friends.”

Piping up before his brother could muster a response Odd hopped up and down in barely contained excitement. “Me and Quirk completely forgot that today is Jubilation Day!”

“What?”

Seeing the matching looks of confusion on Spike and Trixie’s face, Quirk stepped forward and picked up where his brother left off. “Jubilation Day is the time of year where our village’s proud citizens gather together to feast on the bounty of our hard work, as well as listen to our lord retell stories of our town’s accomplishments.” An excited glint flashed in Quirk’s eyes as a wide smile grew across his face. “Everypony in the village is gathered at the town square, so the timing is perfect for our special guest, don’t you agree?”

From her window Trixie’s eyes twinkled with the excitement that came with knowing that she was about to shock, and awe entire population with her special brand of greatness. Casting a large grin toward the twins and wink toward Spike, Trixie quickly came up with an entrance worthy of ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’.

“Here’s what Trixie wants you to do.”

A few minutes later:

Within the humble village of Hibiscus Grove all of it’s hard working citizens were hard at work putting the final touches to one of it’s oldest traditions. Booths were set up where individuals, and families would sell their wares to one another at discount prices, the spirit of the celebration at hand convincing even the greediest and proudest to lower their requested payment in good spirit to their neighbors. From the ponies that toiled for hours in the fields to grow crop, to the artsy shut ins who spent a few smug moments staring at a canvas just to splotch a few drops of paint and dub it a masterpiece, every pony in town was gathered and happily sharing the fruits of their varying levels of labor with one another.

At the moment the village’s highest noble Archduke Tapioca Brain the Third overlooked his towns ponies happily enjoying themselves... within agreeable procedures, and guidelines. Since Tapioca Javen Brain’s grandfather had begun his own regime many, many years ago the ponies of Hibiscus Grove were instructed to reign in all desires to ‘fly off the handle’, ‘carry on insistently’, or ‘behave unnecessarily’ in any scenario. The reasoning was partly due to Tapioca Brain the First’s small heart condition, his inability to take a joke, and his disagreement with any levels of excitement. So with the use of strict ruling, and the subtle spreading of propaganda that stated that high levels of unrestrained enthusiasm acted as beacons for trouble-making witch ponies, and violence hungry winged ponies by the time that the First passed his title down to his eldest son Tapioca Brain the Second, the denizens of Hibiscus Grove were calm, and highly believed in a no nonsense lifestyle. All in all the rules set in place seemed to be for the good of the village, accidents were always low, emotions never ran high, and all of the villagers were content... just not overly so. Thrill-seeking pegasi never bothered to visit, hearing that the Grovians were boring, and tended to abhor excitement. Unicorns seeking to widen their magical views of the world avoided the town thanks to common knowledge that it’s population of earth ponies feared the visually appealing, and titillatingly cool abilities that their horned cousins possessed.

Dull grey eyes glanced at the marble statue that sat in the middle of town center, with a smile Tapioca Brain wondered how proud his ancestor the wise Chancellor Puddinghead would be of him and his father for keeping the town safe, and it’s ponies happy. Like the lords before him Tapioca wore the large hat shaped like a bowl of bland, and tasteless tapioca pudding, when he was young Tapioca Brain often questioned the wearing of helm that depicted something so unexciting, and devoid of flavor, in return his father shared a tidbit of lunacy that had been passed down to him from his own father.

“The grandness of Tapioca pudding lies in it’s blandness my son, for you see when dining on such a dish you know what to expect so a pony can never complain of a bad taste because frankly they exactly what to expect the moment they dip in for the first bite. When our subjects look upon our iconic hat they are reminded of the greatness that exuded from our ancestor Puddinghead, and then can rest assured that there will be no unexpected change in flavor from us. We are bland, our intent is easy to ascertain, and we are unchanging; truly we are symbols of leadership that ponies need in these troubling times.”

Eventually Tapioca Brain the Third came to understand his father’s words, and now proudly shared the same image of blandness that his forefathers represented. His rule was fair, his village prosperous, and it’s citizens abiding to his grandfathers laws... well most of them.

The Peculiar Twins... brothers born from Tapioca’s grandfather’s sister’s unusual son. A constant nuisance, and embarrassingly enough close family of the ruling nobles. While all other ponies strived to work toward a long life of humdrum tasks, and unexciting missions in doing what was expected of them in Hibiscus Grove’s society, the twins were always trying to inspire unnecessary moments of excitement, and were at the heart of anything interesting that went down without proper regulation. It frustrated Tapioca to know that his cousins bared a closer resemblance to their shared ancestor Puddinghead than he did, their hair and tails exhibiting curls and poofs while his merely hung straight and uninspired.

“Brothers and Sisters of Hibiscus Grove! It is I, Odd Peculiar!”

“And me, Quirk Peculiar!”

“And the two of us are here to provide you with something unlike anything you’ve ever bore witness too.”

It would seem that thinking about the troublesome twins for more than a second had summoned the duo, and now with a large sigh Tapioca rolled his eyes as he watched his cousins gallop around the town center while spouting nonsense.

“Our love for this grand ol’ town, and it’s wonderful citizens has possessed us to search far, and wide to present you with unparalleled wonders, and we can happily say that we have succeeded.”

Both colts let loose laughter fitting that of a maniacal scientist, or perhaps a victorious villain as they stood proudly next to the beloved statue of Chancellor Puddinghead. 

Raising his left hoof into the air while his brother Odd raised his right, Quirk beamed happily at the crowd before speaking loud enough for the whole staring population to hear. “So then fine ponies of the earth. WHAT SAY THEE?!”

A stunned silence followed soon after, fillies and colts had their mouths shushed by their parents who themselves cast plate sized eyes toward the twins. Ponies close to the brother’s age began to gather to one another intent on whispering about just how wacky Odd was, or how how weird Quirk tended to be, while the elder’s felt their hearts begin to race in a fashion that seemed distant but familiar. For a long moment only the sound of Archduke Tapioca groaning to himself, and slapping a hoof to his face dared to pierce the eerie calm before the storm.

“I say quit acting like a couple of screwballs, and do something productive for once!” And like that the silence was over and the stunned expressions were beginning to morph into ones of agitation.

“Yeah! How come you two gotta be rockin the dang boat all the time?”

“By the lords of soil and sediment, is this going to be like that time you convinced that group of traveling minstrel donkeys to expose the town to their whole second album? Most of us are still recovering from that!”

“What if they hired another so called super hero? Remember Puma-Mare?”

“Don’t even kid about that, Crow! Her costume was ridiculous, and last time I checked pumas don’t fly.”

Tapioca Brain held his head in his hooves for a moment as he watched what had started out as a pleasant, controlled level of happiness inducing celebration turn into what could possibly be a full blown riot. He raised his left hoof in preparation for commanding his guards to escort the twins from the area, when Odd let out a merry laugh loud enough to quiet the angry ponies.

“HAHAHA! Oh you silly colts and fillies, truly your shouts of disagreement will change to cheers of praise once you see....” A sound similar to the squeaking of a cart’s wheels began to grow in volume from down a path leading into the forest.

“The Great!” The sound of wooden wheels traveling down the road, and past where the town’s gates stood was now loud and clear for the entire crowd causing numerous heads to turn toward the sound.

Standing next to his brother, Quirk flexed his two forelimbs as he shouted above the approaching sound. “THE POWERFUL!” Before the very eyes of the entire population of Hibiscus Grove a large carriage raced into view, pulled by an invisible force that the watching villagers could hear impacting the ground with quick, solid feet. Suddenly the carriage leaped into the air as if possessed by an unseen power, the vehicle coming high enough to block out the sun and cover the watching crowd in it’s shadow. Finally the carriage returned to the earth, it’s wooden wheels creaking in protest and it came to a stop before the statue of Puddinghead herself just as the twins raised their forelimbs into the sky while shouting.

“TRIXIE!”

The carriage emitted a sound like that of a firecracker, as three of it’s walls split apart and fell to stand splayed out like a stage. A mysterious light blue smoke hissed from the still standing wall, blocking the population’s view of the carriage’s innard, and from within the smoke multiple glowing missiles rocketed into the air and exploded bathing the watching ponies different vibrant light. The loud sound of hooves tapping onto the wood of the cart brought the mesmerized eyes of the audience back toward the carriage, within the now dissipating smoke the form of a pony began to become recognizable.

As the light blue mare donning a large smirk became visible for all to see, mutters of interest began to arise from the earth ponies.

“Quite an entrance..”

“Is she a unicorn?”

“I really like her mane.”

“This is a nightmare!” Rubbing a hoof on his throbbing temple Tapioca Brain was already pondering the levels of the unregulated excitement the twins were about to cause.

Clearing her throat to make sure she had every ponies undivided attention, Trixie strode forward till she was at the end of her stage her violet eyes flashing as she began to speak. “Ponies of Hibiscus Grove! The Great and Powerful Trixie has been called upon to provide you with the greatest show that you have or ever will see!”

A series of gasp emitted from the crowd as Trixie’s cape fluttered in a non existent wind, and behind the mare ethereal shapes began to form, and contort until they looked like see through, blue diamond dogs. The beasts numbered at nearly a dozen and they sniffed about the stage, growling, and snarling at ponies that stared at them for too long, the entire time Trixie gauged the crowd's response while she looked upon the mass of earth ponies.

“Known as one... if not the most powerful sorceress in the land it was I The Great and Powerful Trixie that rid the far off northern roads of a vicious pack of diamond dog marauders, and banished them back to the holes in the ground from whence they came.” One of the lead dogs flashed it’s see through fangs, and made a dash for the edge as if to leap off the stage and maul a filly who stared with wide eyes. Just as the dog sprang forward, and the crowd let loose cries of fear and worry for the scared stiff filly a sudden bolt of magic struck the creature causing it to whine pitifully before it exploded into a blue mist that tickled the filly’s nose and caused her to sneeze. 

After allowing the crowd to let out a shared “D’aww..” Trixie tilted her hat, just as the rest of the magically created dogs began to work themselves into a frenzy and charge her. The crowd now fully caught up in the excitement cried out toward the mare who seemed unaware of the approaching danger, but the mixed “Watch out!” and “Turn around!”s quickly changed to “oohs” and “ahhs” as Trixie pivoted on her left hoof and willed a wall of magic to appear just in time for the dogs to comically splat against it’s surface.

“That’s totally not what happened!”

A moment passed during which Trixie narrowed her eyes at the familiar voice of the only creature willing to nick-pick at such unimportant bits of information. Quick on her hooves so as not to lose the crowd Trixie willed two large twin orbs of glowing magic to dance above her hat, and as they floated to and fro the orbs left lines of light that trailed in the air for a few seconds before fading. With a smirk Trixie raised a hoof into the air, and a few watching ponies clapped their hooves as the audience watched the orbs spiral around one another, separate, and fly about until the glowing lines the marked their paths painted an image of a small beach beside a large lake.

“Not very far from here lies an immense lake, it’s size bordering that of a sea or ocean.” The orbs stopped leaving a trail behind them and stood in place side by side in the middle of the lake giving the appearance of two large glowing eyes peeking at the spectators. “Within the lake a monstrous sea creature lies in wait for any unsuspecting traveler who comes near.”

Fearful whispers emitted from the crowd since many of the villagers had heard rumors of the great beasts of the lake only a days travel away from their home.

“This beast was large enough that it’s head nearly touched the clouds, and a single sweep of it’s fins could cause tidal waves!” Lines began to twist, and turn as the image of the lake warped into that of a large monster rearing it’s head from out of the lake’s surface, and reaching a large webbed hand toward a tiny pony now drawn onto the beach. “That very beast made the grievous mistake of picking a fight with Trixie.”

A large flash of light temporarily blinded the earth ponies, and when they could see again they witnessed the pony in the picture coming to life and charging at the now moving monster that strained toward the tiny pony. The pony narrowly dodged a massive hand that impacted the beaches surface, and quickly scaled up the creature’s arm before striking the monster dead in the face with a blast of magic.

As the monster let out an inaudible roar of defeat, and sunk back into its watery home, Trixie took a bow prompting the entire audience to clap loudly, and excitedly at her efforts. “Truly there is none greater than The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

From his hidden spot behind the carriage Spike grumbled to himself in annoyance as he was forced to listen to Trixie’s shameless self-promoting as well as note that his ‘assistance’ hadn’t been mentioned at all so far. Now Spike wasn’t one for fame, nor did he seek out the spotlight very often, but he did like to be credited for his contributions to whatever occurrence he ended up wrapped in. Before the grand entrance Trixie had made it quite clear that she didn’t intend to share any spotlight, nor did she need any help from a dragon she could barely stand. So Spike’s role came in the form of pulling her carriage along while under the guise of simple illusion Trixie had cast that hid him from view for a few seconds, and now he was to sit quietly while the egotistical show pony weaved an intricate tapestry of complete goat manure. 

As much as Spike hated to admit it, though her tales were certainly far from the truth Trixie was putting on quite the show, and the audience seemed pretty entertained. Resting his head on the ground Spike let out a small sigh, at least things were going smoothly.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is so great in fact, that she challenges this village’s ponies to match their talent against hers!”

“...No”

“You there! Trixie sees that your cutie mark is that of a rope knot, do you dare defend your honor and try to out knot Trixie?”

“Is this some kind of cruel sick joke?”

The sound of some pony cautiously climbing onto the stage caused Spike to lower his ears in disagreement, and after a moment the crowd let out a small unsure cheer as Trixie undoubtedly managed to beat the poor pony as well as make a bad winner out of herself.

“This is already getting out of hand.” Smacking his right hand onto his face Spike groaned as he heard Trixie accept a challenge from what sounded like an offended stallion. A few moments later Trixie’s laughter rang out loudly, only matched by a mixture of applause and some booing that began to grow in intensity. “Certainly she wasn’t so vain as to be oblivious to the agitated comments, and the sound of pitchforks being gathered at the back of the crowd.”

“Trixie rule Hibiscus Grove!”

“That’s enough.” Growling at Trixie’s behavior Spike stretched his limbs, then proceeded to hop over the carriage wall he was hiding behind, and land somewhat gracefully onto the stage which prompted a gasp of surprise from Trixie... as well as the rest of the audience. Realizing that another reason he was forced to remain hidden was due to the Hibiscus Grove’s citizens having an incredibly small number of run ins with dragons, Spike gulped as he watched the citizens expressions change from agitation to pure terror. “...uhh Hi.”

It was absolute chaos from the point on.
 
“DRAGON!!”

“Sorceress save us!”

“ERMAHGERD DURGAN!”

“You see! This is why I don’t leave my house, the real world sucks!”

Always one to capitalize on an opportunity Trixie reared back on her hind legs and shouted out to the panicking villagers. “Worry not my audience, for this terrifying drake is no match for The Great and Powerful Trixie!” 

“W-wait what?!” Before Spike knew what was happening four magic tendrils manifested before Trixie, and struck out faster than he could react. Within a split second Spike the dragon was now hogtied and looking a wee bit annoyed at the unicorn that placed a triumphant hoof onto his slumped over form.

“You may thank Trixie at your leisure now.” With smug smirk Trixie cast a wink toward Spike who much to her enjoyment grumbled to himself in reply. Now safe from the wyrm’s fiery wrath, the earth ponies let out ‘whoops’ and ‘hoorays’ loudly, while cheering Trixie’s name in praise.

“Hooray for Trixie!”

“Yay Trixie!”

“Slay the dragon!”

That last cheer had prompted Trixie to blink in surprise as well as cause Spike to sputter loudly.

“H-hey isn’t that a bit much!” Spike turned his eyes to Trixie who looked just as panicked as he did, much to the drakes dismay.

“Do it!”

“Yeah, Trixie keep us safe from the dragon!”

“U-uh The Great and Powerful Trixie would much prefer to punish this foul beasts than spill it’s blood on her stage.” After hearing a few cheers, as well as a few ideas from her audience Trixie regained her stage voice, and set to work on circling the still bound dragon. “Perhaps Trixie should force the drake to apologize to my appreciative spectators, or maybe trim it’s claws and spines like one would a naughty feline.” It dawned upon Trixie that at the moment her infuriating travel companion was at her complete an utter mercy, and even if he was able to free himself there was little Spike could do that wouldn’t damage the progress Trixie had managed to make. 

From his position Spike couldn’t help but notice the smirk that had grown into the unicorn’s face, nor could he ignore the sudden shiver that went down his spine. 

“Maybe Trixie shall let the drake go if he promises to be a good little dragon, and admit defeat by Trixie’s hooves.” As she spoke Trixie willed Spike’s bindings to levitate raising her captive while he squawked in surprise until he hung in the air for the whole population to see.

From his new floating position Spike scowled at the mare, and whispered a nearly inaudible hiss. “Hahaha... you’ve had your fun now ease off.”

“Do you hear that my fantastic audience? This drake dares to command the Great and Powerful Trixie, perhaps a quick death would be would be a proper means to silence his serpent tongue.” Once Spike had lost the defiant fire in his emerald eyes, and he finally admitted to her superiority Trixie would be give him a slap on the wrist and send the drake on his way until she gathered him later. “What’ll it be drake? Admit Trixie’s greatness, or let the audience decide how we should best end you?”

“Just put an end to me already then, anything would be better than having to suffer through that last bit you called a performance.” Having heard enough from Trixie, the disgruntled drake chose to at least share his point of view before he was put to the mercy of the watching crowd. The growl that escaped past the frown that had formed on Trixie’s had been expected, but the few chuckles that emitted from the crowd had not been.

From the rear of the crow Tapioca Brian snickered from behind his hooves, true he certainly didn’t agree with the dazzling light show that the magician had put on, or the surge of anxious energy that had been caused by the fire-spouter’s appearance but just like his subjects the archduke was now completely sucked into the spectacle before his eyes. From the sidelines Odd and Quirk hoof-bumped out of pride for how well their scheme had worked out.

“What do you plan on doing for your grand exit? Probably something along the lines of filling yourself with enough hot air to cause you and this wagon to float into the sunset, right?” 

This time the chuckles were full on bouts of laughter accompanied by few whistles, and one enthusiastic stallion shouting “For the love of soil and sediment the dragon tells jokes!”

“I can do a lot more than that if a certain somepony would put me down already.” Spike turned his head to glare at his magical captor who returned the scowl along with blowing a raspberry. A series of murmurs, and whispers went through the crowd as the earth ponies debated authorizing the release of possibly dangerous dragon.

Feeling it was his station to address his subject’s concerns, Tapioca Brain cleared his throat before striding to the front of the audience. “No offense Mister Dragon, but I’m sure you can understand why we’d be less than willing to allow you to run rampant. It was quite lucky for us that the Great and Powerful Trixie was here to apprehend you before you did anything thrilling *cough*... I mean threatening.” The Archduke’s word were immediately followed by multiple sounds of agreement coming from the villagers behind him, something that cause Spike to sweat slightly.

“Oh don’t worry about this lug, folks!” Sliding into view in front of Spike and Trixie, Odd waved his hooves in the air in an attempt to ease the crowd.

“Truth be told we hired our splendid scaled friend here as entertainment, much like our esteemed guest Trixie here.” Quick to follow his brother’s lead, Quirk stood next to the still floating drake, and patted Spike on the head as one would a pet. “Our good friend here merely got overly excited for his turn to excite, and amaze and popped up before we could properly introduce him.”

Green eyes narrowed at the head patting Spike resisted the urge to growl, only because Quirk shot him an apologetic look before turning back to the crowd.

Now the earth ponies eagerly chatted amongst themselves as the prospect of a real life dragon following up a spell-caster had even the elderly twitching anxiously.

“What kind of tricks can a dragon do?”

Spines perking up at hopefully a chance to absolve his less than agreeable situation, Spike nodded his head frantically as he replied. “Well I’d be happy to show you if we can do something about these binds.”

Rolling her eyes at the loss of her fun Trixie flicked her tail to the right in disapproval and the tendrils immediately vanished, but instead of falling to the stage with a crash Spike twisted around and landed with the grace of cat. A portion of the crowd clapped at the dragon’s unexpected dexterity, one of them being Tapioca Brain who was actually more interested in the scene then he’d like to admit.

“Much better.” Stretching his limbs to relieve some stiffness that had built up, Spike cast a long glance onto the crowd before settling his gaze on a certain azure unicorn who appeared to be busying herself admiring her hooves.

Sensing Spike’s gaze upon her Trixie looked up to lock her violet eyes with the drake’s emerald ones, feeling a familiar need to egg her companion on Trixie gave a large smirk in his direction. “Like there’s anything that newt could do that could possible match my performance.”

Picking up the silent challenge Spike snorted causing light green embers to spark into the air from his nostrils causing the watching earth ponies to ‘ooh’ while subconsciously taking steps back. “Let’s see how they like this.”

Taking a large intake of air Spike puffed out his cheeks, and pointed his snout into the sky. A moment passed before suddenly the drake opened his maw, and a near blinding geyser of neon green fire climbed nearly twenty feet into the air. The ponies below were painted shades of green as they basked in the light made by the flames, and from their startled faces a large cheer roared into the air.

“Mares and gentlecolts!” Snapping his jaws close with a loud snap, Spike offered the watching villagers a large hopefully non-threatening smile toothy smile, and gave a bow. “For my first trick...” Spike wracked his brain for a quick moment trying to think of something entertaining besides blowing fire into the air, noticing Trixie glaring at him from his peripherals a light-bulb dinged in his thoughts.

“I shall teach a mare how to fly!”

Immediately the crowd exploded with young fillies, and mares raising their hooves into the air while loudly volunteering to be chosen. The only pony who seemed uninterested was a dubious Trixie who inwardly searched through her magical knowledge on any spells that could give an earth bound pony the gift of flight. 

“Aha! And now I believe we have ourselves a volunteer folks!”

Pulling herself away from her musings Trixie scanned the crowd for the chosen mare, admittedly interested in seeing the poor dolt that Spike would mostly likely end up humiliating. Focusing so hard on picking out a mare that would be jubilantly making her way toward the stage the blue mare was completely oblivious to the scaled form that had snuck behind her.

“On the count of three!” Nearly jumping out of her own skin from the loud voice that rang into her ears, Trixie only had enough time to gasp in surprise before a pair of hands firmly yet gently grasped her midsection. 

“Dragon, don’t you dare!”

“Not my name.” After chuckling at the incredulous look that his reply put on Trixie’s face, Spike raised his head to look toward the crowd. “1...!”

“Trixie will only give one warning you spark-puking, slime-coated...” During her threat Trixie attempted to flail out of the dragon’s grasp, but surprisingly enough Spike was able to keep a good hold on her without harming the mare.

“Tut tut tut Trixie, compliments won’t save ya now.” His captives shriek only served to cause Spike to shudder with suppressed laughter as he once again called out to the audience that had now joined him in counting. “...2!”

“Drag...I-I mean S-spike!” Trixie gritted her teeth as she tried to will a magical fist into existence so she could bash the dragon’s head in, but all her horn did in response was sizzle and spark thanks to her panic ruining her concentration.

“Too little too late, Trix.” Calculating the trajectory he was about to send his hapless associate on Spike let loose two columns of green fire from his nostrils as he, and the crowd let out a loud. “3!”

“Spi-iiiiiike!” And like that Trixie went higher than the spout of emerald fire the drake had let loose moments before, her cape whipping in the wind, and her hat falling off to land gracefully onto Spike’s noggin. A moment passed until Trixie finally took a moment to take in the sight of the area below her; Spike, the crowd, and even her stage looked like ants and for a moment Trixie was caught up in the thrill of being so high up, that is until gravity said hello.

Down below the whole crowd watched in morbid fascination as the Great and Powerful Trixie flailed her limbs about with the grace and technique of a chicken attempting to fly. To add emphasis to the rapidly approaching unicorn Quirk procured a drum set from seemingly nowhere and his brother Odd immediately began to do a quick drum roll.

“So this is how it ends? Reduced to an attractive smear on my own stage by some idiotic dragon, if I survive this... the dragon will pay.” Closing her eyes, and ready to meet her maker Trixie wondered if her eventual collision with the earth would be a traumatic one, or quick and painless one.

“Geez Trixie if I didn’t know better I’d think you were actually worried about hitting the ground.”

Welp that was it, either Trixie had died instantaneously and had gone to the only place the cursed dragon would likely end up in the afterlife, or infuriatingly enough she was never in any danger to begin with. Noticing that she couldn’t smell brimstone, and when she opened her eyes she didn’t see any roaring red flames Trixie groaned angrily at the smirking dragon that had apparently caught her. 

“You might be an annoying unicorn with an ego the size of a lake monster, but as long as I’m around I’ll make sure you don’t hit that ground too hard.” Whether it was a trick of the light, the blood rushing to the mare’s head from going up then suddenly coming down, or maybe just the embarrassment that came with being saved by a possible nemesis, Spike certainly couldn’t help noticing the red hue that began to dominate Trixie’s face. 

“S-shut up!” Trixie might have found the grin on Spike’s face less annoying than usual if not for the fact that she noticed something belonging to her placed upon his head for the second time that day. “And give Trixie her hat back.” 

“...Say please.”

“Hate you so much right now.”

“Tsk, tsk!” With a quick flick of his arms Spike flung the unicorn into the air, caught her, and positioned the mare in a way that made the watching ponies before them believe she was taking a dancing pose. “For my second trick I believe I’ll show my lovely assistant how to dance!” The watching ponies cheered, and whistled approvingly as they found watching the magician being placed at the butt of another's joke quite amusing.

“W-what?!” Before Trixie realized what was going on Spike twirled the mare in place, wrapped his tail around her waist and lifted her above his head. Finally finding herself Trixie kicked her legs about until she felt the tail drop her... back into Spike’s awaiting claws. Scowling at the dragon who grinned at her like a complete fool, Trixie hissed quietly enough so that only her ‘dance partner’ could hear her. “Trixie has had enough of your jokes, dragon! Now release her and continue to entertain this crowd ALONE!”

Stilling grinning at the glaring unicorn Spike tossed her into the air evoking a loud ‘Eeep!’ from the unwilling volunteer, and caught her again this time in one hand which gently fixed her into a dip that caused the watching stallions to whistle, the mares to swoon, and the young ‘uns to complain loudly to their parents about their eyes being blocked by censoring hoof. “But we’re doing such a good job as a team Trixie, surely you can share the limelight for the good of the fans.”

“Trixie works alone, brimstone breath! Now put me down and GIMME BACK THAT HAT!” With a growl Trixie wrapped her forelimbs around the neck of a very surprised Spike, and threw the both of them to the floor.

Quickly seeing where this was going Spike restrained Trixie with his tail, and carefully put a little distance between the two. “Only if you agree to work with me instead of scowling at me from the sidelines.”

“How about instead Trixie makes good on that promise to familiarize you with a new level of pain.” Missing hat aside the mare her lowered her horn toward the watching drake, and the smell of ozone began to permeate the stage.

Near the front of the crowd the Peculiar twin watched with approving grins, a large bag of popcorn between them, and surprisingly enough their cousin Tapioca Brain sitting beside them. As entrancing as the show turned out to be the worry-wort, and family instilled need to be a wet blanket caused the archduke to cast a worried glance toward his troublesome family.

“Perhaps we ought to call an end to this show you two, it’s beginning to look like those two might start wrecking the place.”

In response to their cousin’s cautious comment Quirk merely patted the stallion on the shoulder while Odd stuffed his face with popcorn.

“I’m serious you two! I know I let a lot of your shenanigans slide, but a dragon and a unicorn going at it in the center of town isn’t something that I’ll be able to write off as one of your pranks gone awry.” Tapioca Brian motioned for a few of his guards to assemble next to him as he put more and more thought into ending the performance while everything still remained in one piece.

Seeing that his brother was still happily munching away at his popcorn Quirk rolled his eye before draping his arm around his older family member. “Tapioca, trust me when I say this, but you really need to compose yourself; Odd and I have this completely under control.”

“That’s what you said before that incident with the baby manticore got out of hoof!”

“And we’ve apologized for that lapse in judgement time and time again, but worry not these two are professionals of their trade.” At that exact moment a small explosion from the stage sent forth a shockwave that bowled over Odd, Quirk, Tapioca Brian, and a third of the guard ponies.

“Hey watch it you mad mare! You could’ve blown me to bits with that last shot!” Grumbling at nearly being blasted into smithereens by a certain mare, Spike coughed up a few embers due to having to belch forth a quick torrent of emerald fire at the last minute. Though the resulting explosion had created quite the lightshow, and from the sound of the cheers proved to be visually entertaining for the audience, Spike wasn’t looking to repeat that last stunt.

“That was the idea you reptilian rube!” Without waiting another second Trixie was able to create a single blue tendril that wrapped around Spike’s legs and brought him to the ground with a loud thud. “Given how easily Trixie can beat you with a single thought, you should know better than to tick me off, Spike.”

“Hey that was a cheap shot, last time I checked you still couldn’t even win a game of chess without throwing a hissy fit, also color me surprised that you actually said my name.” A loud “ooh” emitted from the crowd as Spike glared up Trixie from across the stage.

“Is that so? Well then the Great and Powerful Trixie votes that we resume our previous competition...this time we have an unbiased audience.” While levitating her hat off of Spike’s head and back to her own Trixie turned toward the crowd and gestured toward the watching ponies. “How about it? Me and this sad excuse for a dragon will undergo a series of competitions, and you all shall be the judges of who wins.”

Back amongst the crowd Odd clapped his hooves loudly while cheering along with the rest of the audience. “Woooo!” Turning away from the stage Odd shared a smile with his twin, and looked toward Tapioca Brain with an all-knowing smirk. “See dear cousin, the conflict resolved itself and your subjects are further indebted to us for spicing up a rather dull celebration.”

Sighing loudly Tapioca Brain rubbed his temple with his hoof again casting a baleful glance toward his younger cousin. “Perhaps, but I’d be more appreciative if you didn’t have such a track record for spicing things up to the point of ruining the stew for everyone.”

Free of his restraint Spike stood beside Trixie who gave him a heated glare while keeping a hoof on her hat. “I’m game, though I must ask what should be our first competition?” 

All was quiet for a moment as the villagers mulled over a challenge worthy of such rare visitors, until a single voice broke the silence.

“Ah ain’t one to brag none, but ah’ve always found rock sculptin’ to be a good challenge.” In the back of the crowd a large grey stallion with a thick beard and a large mining pick on his back waved his front right hoof for Trixie and Spike to see. “Ah gots a few slabs of stone you can use if’n yer up for it.”

Spike raised an eyebrow and shot a challenging grin toward Trixie. “Sounds good to me. What do you think, oh great and powerful one?”

Snorting at the dragon’s taunt Trixie stomped her left hoof down, and looked Spike dead in the eye. “Trixie thinks that this will be an easy win.” And with that a loud cheer went out once again as the grey stallion and a few others quickly set to work moving two large cubes of rock the size of a teenage colt onto the stage.

“Here’s the rules. Ya’ll have five minutes to carve something, and after that we’ll vote on which one looks the best. Any questions?” 

Both Spike and Trixie shook their heads in reply neither needing any more guidelines than what was given, and after a countdown to three the duo quickly went to work. Trixie’s horn glowed intensely as the rock began to peel away much like a smaller rock she had worked her magic on earlier, while Spike breathed green fire onto his claws until they themselves glowed a fiery green, and he began swiping at the slab. The crowd let out multiple cheers, and sounds of awe from watching the competitors begin to turn two pieces of earth into possible art. Though as most of the village watched with rapt fascination, three spectators were deep in conversation.

“See that, not only is the crowd entertained, but now we have a few privileged ponies that are able to show off their wares while giving more fuel for this show.” Elbowing his nervous cousin from the side Quirk received a hoof bump from his twin who had joined in on trying to convince their noble cousin that everything was going smoothly.

“Perhaps you have a point, but still...”

“Still nothing, Tapioca! You really need to quit worrying so much cousin, all that self-induced stress is exactly what brought Uncle Tapioca into an early grave.” Joining in on the conversation Odd pranced past his twin, and cousin so that he could plop down and put his own arm around the now narrow eyed archduke.

“...That and partly due to that half-baked idea of yours that involved inviting a changeling to dinner.” 

“How were we supposed to know that she’d break your father’s heart, and feed on his emotions.”

A loud cheer went through the crowd as Spike was announced the winner, and Trixie could be heard loudly complaining about brown-nosing the judge with a carving in his image. After some debate through the crowd regarding the complaint, it was agreed that a near life-like statue of the judge was still preferential to what looked like an angry stump. To that Trixie proclaimed that the crowd was blind, and that it clearly looked like a monster that they had never, and would never see.

“One point for the dragon!”

“Uh, for the record you can all just call me Spike.”

“Duly noted! Onto the next competition... RIVER STOMP!”

Watching the two on stage even Tapioca had to whistle in appreciation, who’d have known that the mare was so quick on her hooves. “So uh... where’d you find these two anyways?”

Clapping at how expertly the dragon had landed after what appeared to be an impromptu backflip Quirk looked toward his brother with a grin before answering. “Strangely enough we stumbled upon them while brainstorming a way to bribe a river serpent into sharing his mustache fashion secrets with us.”

“Yeah! We took one turn and next thing we see is the two of them about to reenact some scene from a cliche romance novel.” Odd then proceeded to bump his two hooves together while making mock kissing sounds.

“Are they...?”

“You would think so the way they argue like some kind of married couple, but they keep saying no... plus the mare is sending me a few signals.” At this Odd sighed dreamily, while his brother merely shook his head with a chuckle.

“And the winner is...The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

A cacophony of mixed cheers and boos echoed from the crowd as the dragon pointed out that winking at the judge should be considered as attempting to garner favor. To this the judge along with a fair number of stallions shouted for the dragon to quit being a sore-loser, and to next time work with what he’s got. It should be stated that after the performance most of the mentioned stallions would soon get quite acquainted with their living room couches, while their wives, and girlfriends enjoyed a few nights of sleep without obnoxious snoring, or late night request to ‘cuddle’.

After some debate the next challenge to be chosen was the ancient, and honor-risking tradition... all you can eat key lime pie. For this competition a duo of giggling mares brought forth a large table that Spike and Trixie were to eat at, as well as a colt who pulled a cart of deluxe sized pie.

On the stage Trixie eyed the pie before her as she waited for the judge to announce the start time. She was hungry enough, but....casting a quick glance toward the dragon a cold chill ran down the unicorn’s spine as she watched the way Spike licked his lips.

Feeling watched Spike turned toward Trixie in time to see her sizing him up, though he wasn’t one to brag... often anyway, Spike allowed a wide grin to form on his face before he gave the mare a quick wink.

“I got ten pieces on the dragon!”

“I got forty pieces on Spike scarfing the whole dang table!”

“Enough betting! Commence consumption!”

To say that Spike wolfed down those pie would be an endearment to lupine creatures all across the globe, so rapidly did the unsuspecting pies cease their existence that the two mares from earlier had to chuck their creations into the beast’s maw instead of just placing them before his mouth in fear of being mistaken for a baked good. While the crowd cheered, and applauded the in the name of amazing dragon, and his apparent bottomless stomach one single mare watched with a look that was half appalled and half furious.

“That... dirty... cheating... where is he putting it all?!” Trixie had gotten to her third pie and already that tub-o-lard scaled menace was onto his twenty-fifth, worse yet she was starting to get a tummy ache. This was just like back in the forest, she would win fair and square and he’d resort to some underhanded dragon tactics and cheat for the remainder of the competition. “So unfair...”

“The dragon’s eating two pies at a time!” 

“...Completely... unfair.”

“Now he’s juggling the pie... and catching them with his mouth!”

“RIDICULOUSLY UNFAIR!” With an outburst that was half immature screech, and half bestial snarl Trixie slammed her hoof onto the table with enough force to cause the table to catapult Spike’s current victims in line into the air. The crowd, Spike, Trixie, the twins, and archduke Tapioca Brain watched as half a dozen pies soared into the air gracefully only to bombard with extreme prejudice the statue of Hibiscus Grove’s most honored hero.

A long silence overcame the entire village as Chancellor Puddinghead the hero that gave everything for her subjects, the mare that represented this village with a wisdom only seen once a few generations was pelted mercilessly with key lime pie. From his position on the stage Spike turned his head to count the number of faces that had gone from fascinated to pure disbelief. Trixie who visibly paled after seeing what she had done immediately set to work on pushing Spike off her stage and setting it back into it’s carriage form.

Slowly in unison the crowd of ponies began to turn toward the unicorn frantically running about her home, and the dragon currently picking himself off the ground.

Setting the walls back in place, and magically latching all the proper points Trixie galloped over to Spike and whispered hurriedly into his ears. “Trixie is willing to agree on a tie if you can have those harnesses on in ten seconds flat.”

From the youngest filly to the most decrepit stallion, faces set in expressions of appalled surprise began to give way to eyes filled with burning infernos, and looks of unrestrained anger.

Nodding his head Spike sprinted over to Quirk, and Odd the only ponies who looked more amused than furious. “Uhh, thanks for inviting us, we had a swell time and now it’s about time we continued on our way.” Shrieking in fright in response to a cream colored filly hissing at him like an angered cobra Spike quickly back-peddled until he loudly bumped into the side of the carriage.

From his position next to the chuckling twins Archduke Tapioca Javen Brain the 3rd slowly raised his hoof toward the dragon, and the carriage he had backed into. “...seize them...”

“Oh manure! Manuremanuremanuremanure!!” Spike placed the harness onto himself as fast as he possible could all the while keeping a frantic eye on the large crowd that had started making a sound akin to that of a hundred griffons growling in displeasure. “Uhhh Trixie...”

“Seize them!”

“What, Spike?!” Popping her head out of the usual window Trixie let out an audible squeal as she took notice of the pitchforks, and torches that began to sprout left and right within the villager’s ranks.

“SEIZE THEM!” At this the guards stormed forward their hooves sounding like thunder as their withdrawn sabers glinted with malicious intent between their teeth.

“Make sure to get our reward on the way out.” With that Spike bolted forward dragging the carriage with enough force to send Trixie flying back into the darkness of her carriage, a moment later the guards stomped the very place they stood into dust.

“IN THE NAME OF EARTH PONY KIND, SEIZE THE DEFILERS OF OUR GREAT AND BELOVED CHANCELLOR!” Eyes red and foaming at the mouth Tapioca Brain let out a blood curdling howl as he joined his subject in chasing the dragon driven wagon that raced up and down the streets of Hibiscus Grove. The only ponies still in place were the infamous Peculiar twins who once again shared a hoof bump.

“Best!”

“Jubilation Day!”

“EVER!”

Wiping lone tear that escaped his eye Quirk trembled with mirth as he turned to his equally amused twin. “It’s a good thing we found those two Odd, the lack of excitement was making me glum.”

Nodding his head in understanding Odd looked down toward his bag of popcorn, and pushed it toward his twin. “Well for now we’ve done our beloved village a favor, so here’s to you and me, chum.”

Hearing a noise Odd and Quirk turned to their left to see a familiar dragon pulling a familiar carriage while being chased by a few guards out for blood. As the cart passed the abandoned food stalls, a magical blue aura enveloped a few sacks of food and whisked them into a window that had opened up on the carriage’s right side.

As Spike raced by Quirk let out a small sigh his eye completely filled with envy. “Sometimes Odd I wish we weren’t so darn dedicated to injecting excitement into our village, seeing those two travel toward the unknown I can’t help but wish we could come.”

Hooves hitting the ground hard enough to cause the watching twins to vibrate the lead guard shouted out “Stop right there, criminal scum!”

Shrugging their shoulders in unison Quirk and Odd dusted themselves off, and excitedly began to make plans for their next scheme while hoping that the village would be much too obsessed with catching their latest guest to remember that the twins had set everything that transpired into motion to begin with.

On the other side of town Spike finally found a gate and wasted no time in dashing through it, and down the road. Wherever it lead the pair Spike certainly wasn’t going to complain as long as got them away from the hoard of righteously angry ponies. For a small while the only sound that was made was Spike’s feet pounding into the earth as he pulled the carriage as fast as he could intent on escaping any pursuers still intent on seeking revenge.

Ten minutes of panicked sprinting later:

“I think we can afford to slow down and let you catch your breath now.” Though her head remained within her wagon Trixie’s voice was unmistakable, and for once Spike had no qualms with agreeing with his companion.

He sighed in relief. “Things got a little dicey back there, didn’t they?” Nearly collapsing on the spot Spike wiped a scaled wrist across his brow, the sun was beginning to set, and he was happy for the slight cooling down in temperature.

“Indeed they did, Trixie would thank you if you refrained from any you told Trixie so’s, or yammering at her for causing that last part.”

Surprised by the unicorn’s unwillingness to start a fight Spike stretched out his limbs, and took a seat next to the carriage. “Deal! I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day, in fact I think I’ve had excitement for the rest of this whole journey.”

“...Agreed.” From within her carriage Trixie let out a small yawn and pondered whether or not she could allow herself some early rest. Within a few moments Trixie was curled up within the welcoming embrace of her bed, and just a few seconds from being fully asleep. As she slipped into the unconscious realm Trixie ironically wondered if this quest could get any more tiring.

Elsewhere:

Many miles away back at a familiar hole in the ground the leader of a large pack of diamond dogs followed one of his brothers down a narrow hallway which would lead to an exit two previous escapees had used. Grug had been roused from a well deserved nap by the frantic urgings of his youngest siblings, and was now rubbing the sleep from his yellow eyes while attempting to understand the reasoning behind his brother’s fear filled voice.

“Pugg. What is it that makes you scared like squirrel without a tree, and what makes Pugg want to disturb nap?”

In reply the diamond dog dubbed Pugg merely babbled, and whined fearfully while he attempted to pull his brother along faster and faster.

Finally after a few minutes Grug could see the exit that would take the two creatures out of their tunnels, and into the light of day, though from what Grug could see the sun was close to laying down for it’s own well deserved rest.

After pushing past his brother, and emerging into the outside world Grug growled as his nose picked up a scent he was less than happy to have around his home since the last incident.

“Grug would advise pony to leave in matter of seconds. Grug’s pack don’t like ponies.”

In response a small laugh slithered into Grug’s ears the tone was light and feminine, but for some reason Grug suddenly felt an incredible cold crawl down his spine. 

“Oh don’t worry your flea-bitten head poochy, I’ll be one my way after you answer a few questions for me.” Standing next to a large tree a sea-foam green pony with bright red eyes smiled brightly at the diamond dog alpha, stepping into the direct sunlight the pony looked to be a matured adult, as well as a unicorn.

Growling at the pony for not only insulting him, but for also being a troublesome unicorn, Grug’s eyes scanned the area for his guards that had been stationed at this entrance. A moment later Grug’s eyes went wide as he noticed the pile of bodies that laid off to the left, the scene caused Grug’s growl to turn to a snarl. “Begone horned pony! Grug has had enough of your kind.”

The unicorn let out another amused laugh a sound that reminded Grug of food that had gone unreasonably bitter in taste, and would cause most to empty their stomachs upon eating. “Is that so? Well I certainly hope you can be civil enough to tell me if you’ve seen something of mine.”

“Grug will answer no questions!” With another growl Grug took a threatening step toward the smiling pony, he had endured enough of the creepy cold that crept up his bones, as well as worried about his brothers who only looked to be barely breathing.

“What an ill trained dog you are... we’ll have to fix that, now won’t we?” 

Before Grug would reply his throat tightened to the point of causing him to yelp in surprise before he felt his body go weightless and rise into the air. Grasping in vain at the invisible force that held his neck Grug looked weakly down at the unicorn who had come close enough to touch his nose with her left hoof.

“Now we’re gonna do a little group activity, alright?” Although the amusement was still present in the unicorn’s voice it was now joined with a sliver of venom that further frightened Grug. “I’m gonna ask a few questions, you’re going to be a good dog and speak when I say speak... and he’s gonna break every bone in your body if you don’t.”

Grug’s eyes widened as a large stallion walked into view from behind the tree. Beneath the shade of the tree, Grug could only really make out what looked like a metal mask that covered the stallions face, though it did little to cover the dark violet eyes that stared up balefully at Grug, as well as the horn that glowed a deep miasmic purple.

“Now that you know the rules I’ll ask my questions.” Taking a moment to fix her forest green colored mane the mare looked up coyly at the choking diamond dog. “You see I’m looking for a little lost family member of mine, and a few things she stole from me. Would you happen to have seen her lately?”

End Of Chapter: