Spike and Twilight return from the alternate world to only see that Spike has not changed back to a dragon. Spike must come to terms with his new form and fight to protect those that come to rely on him.
Spike and Twilight return from the alternate world to only see that Spike has not changed back to a dragon. This Spike isn't a puppy though and must show the world that he isn't a pet but much more. Watch as Spike grows into his destiny as a protector of not just the wildlife of Equestria but the very balance of nature itself. Spike will have to battle against everything from, manticores, hydras, constellation beast, timberwolves, corrupt forest gods, and everything in between.
‘Man it is good to be back home and to my old self’ was all I could think about as blinding light fading reveling our friends and Princesses Celestia waiting for us. As Twilight and I walk towards the girls I couldn’t help but feel somewhat funny but chalked that one up to just coming back from an alternate dimension. That though was quickly dismissed when I noticed how they all had a shocked and confused look on their faces.
“Huh, is something wrong girls? I thought you would be happy to see us.” I asked with a concerned tone. “O-oh we are happy to see you both back save and sound darling. But…”Rarity said not looking me in the eye.
This was when Twilight finally looked over to her right to see what could be wrong. The next few words that came out of her mouth raddled me to my very core. “Spike! You’re still a dog!” Twilight shouted running over to me to getting a better look for herself.
“WHAT!!” I yell as I turn around to look into the mirror and see a gift from our time abroad that I really do not want. There I stood a dog just like in the human world. But I wasn’t the little puppy I was there, I was much larger then I was there. I was just shy of being around the size of an average pony, my ear fins where now normal dog ears (with fur around the ears to match my old fins.). There I stood a purple and green teenage (just taking a shot in the dark on that) dog.
“W-why didn’t turn back to a dragon like how you turned back to a pony!” I shout to Twilight without looking from my reflection in the mirror. “I don’t know Spike. Everything should have gone back to normal when returned” Twilight stated with a somewhat shacking voice. She was clearly racking her brain trying to figure out what could have gone wrong.
“Well tell ‘should have’ to my paws, or to my lack of scales!” I say with a somewhat snarl as I wave my paws in her face.
“Spike calm down I am sure Twi’ didn’t know anything like this could happen when you two went into that crazy mirror” Applejack says in a calming voice as her and the rest of the girls walk over to me. “Yea and besides look at you Spike you make such a cool looking doggie” Pinkie says as she start to pet my head. I have to admit I do like the feeling of being petted but I can’t help but not like the idea of being treated like a common pet. “She is right Spikey-Wikey you do look like a absolutely adorable like a dog,” Rarity says as walk next to me and stroke her hoof against my cheek causing them to turn slightly red. “Your fur is so soft and silky I know some mares that would kill to have their mane like this”
I turn my head away to stop her from touching me and also to try to shack the blush before I speak again. “Thank you girls for trying to make me feel better but I don’t want to be a dog. I want to be a dragon like I am supposed to be.” I turn back around and walk to Celestia. “You can fix this can’t you princess? I won’t be stuck like this right; I spent enough time as a dog in that other world.”
Celestia tried to keep her poker face up to keep me calm but with all of the time I spent with her I could see past it. I could see the worry and sadness behind the mask she spend thousands of years perfecting. “I do know what has gone wrong with your return home young Spike but rest assured that we all will do everything we can to try to return you back to normal.” Celestia says as she places a hoof on my shoulder. Looking into my eyes doing everything she can to try to comfort me in this crazy time.
I sigh as do the only thing I can do at this moment. I accept that I am stuck as a dog alittle while longer till we find a cure for this. “Thanks Princess Celestia, I trust you and Twilight will find a way to get be back good as new.” I say with a weak smile showing off my new canine teeth. My mind can’t stop thinking how did this all go so wrong.
The Princess returned the smile and removed her hoof. “I’ll go to the library to see what I can find to help you Spike. I would recommend taking this time to try to get some rest. You both have been through an experience and even more of a shock returning home. After saying this Princess Celestia disappeared with a teleportation spell.
As I am lost in my own mind I didn’t notice Twilight walking up to me till she wrapped her forlegs around my neck and burry her face into me. I feel her start to cry as she nuzzles into my neck whispering something too low for me to hear till she finally start to speck loud enough for me to hear.
“I am sorry Spike. I am so very sorry. You are stuck like this because you came with me to help get back my crown. If I had been a better princess I wouldn’t have lost it in the first place. I-if I was a better student I would have made sure everything would have been okay for us to go and come back. *sob* I-if I was a better sister I wouldn’t have put you at risk in the first place!”
I feel my heart break seeing her like this. I may be the one in a shitty spot (what else is new) but she is this. I know Twi better then she knows herself, and I know that she will blame herself and run herself ragged to try to fix me back even if she breaks down doing so. There is no way I am going to have her do that to herself not even for my sake, the last thing I want is to see her trying to do everything herself again.
I start to run my paw through her man and stroking her gently to try to calm her down. “Hey, hey Twi I don’t blame you for anything. There is no way you could have seen any of this coming. You are a great princess, student and even better sister. I know you will find a way to fix me but I won’t have you overwork yourself for me. We made it back healthy and alive; I see that as a win in my book.” Her crying turns into slight sobbing as she pulled out of my neck and looked me in the eye. “Besides it is not like I don’t have experience being a dog anyway. Also have you looked at me” I strike a pose straighten out my body to its full height showing off every muscle under my fur. As I am showing off my new stature I turn to Twilight and give her a wink. “I am one sexy beast if I do say so myself.”
This gets a giggle out my crying mare. Unfortunately for me I forgot all the other girls were still in the room. I hear laughs break out behind me, when I turn around I see every one of them at the brink of tears laughing at my little showing. “Ha ha, laugh it up girls. You all just wish you would look half this good if you became a dog overnight.” I say while rolling my eyes trying to get over my embarrassment.
“I- I am sorry Spike it was just too funny seeing you strike that pose like that. But you do seem to be quite a healthy and powerful breed of dog. I would love to give you an examination later to make she everything is okay with you physical.” Fluttershy say as she straightens herself up after her little laughing fit.
“Sure Fluttershy that sounds like a good idea. I wouldn’t want to find out that I am missing like a kidney or something.” I say with a grin that is until I see Twi start to get that worried look on her face. “I am kidding Twilight. I am sure nothing is wrong, in case you forgot I have been a dog before. So I kinda know how I should feel to be a healthy one.” I state to her giving her one my famous reassuring smile.
That seemed to do the trick since I see the worried look fade from her face. I noticed some extra weight on my back and when I turned around I saw Rainbow Dash leaning against me. “It is kinda funny seeing you this big squirt. Not to mention having hair, just think of all the fun new pranks this opens up for me and Pinkie to play.” Dash says as with a smirk on her face. Clearly she is thinking of all kinds of new ways to try to torture me.
If I am going to be stuck as a dog for however long I will not spend that time worrying about what she might be planning for me. So I quick roll my hip to the side making her fall off of me. Before she can grain her balance I turn around and place my paw on her shoulder and press down with some of my weight pinning her to the floor. I look down at the startled Dash with a cocky grin. “Looks like I am not that much of a squirt anymore huh Dash. I wouldn’t get any funny ideas about trying to prank me ether. Who knows what a bad dog could do to something like… oh I don’t know a Daring Do collection or living ‘little’ surprises on your front step” I say with a toothy grin on my face.
The look of pure fear at the mention of her prize collection and being left with unwanted presents at her house almost brought a tear to my eye. “Okay okay! You win no pranks just don’t touch the collection and please don’t shit on my step. That is just super gross!” A disgusted Dash pleaded.
“You have a deal Dash.” I say in between laughs as I let her up off the floor. “Well I don’t know about you girls but I’m starving and could really use a bite to eat. Anyone want to join me?” I say as I walk towards the door. I hear Twilight stomach growl next to me already giving me her answer.
“Sure Spike lets go down to the dining hall and get something to eat as we try to talk and figure out what we are going to do next.” Twilight says as she runs to catch up with me at the door with the rest of the girls following shortly after her.
As we walk to the dining hall I can’t stop thinking about why did this happen to me. I mean I can’t say I am surprised, I am a magnet for shit to backfire on me but this is on a whole different level. I was having a hard enough time being a dragon, having people always being afraid of what I could become at any moment. But at least that doesn’t mean being treated like a pet; I have had enough of people looking down on me when I lived in Chamalot. There is no way I am going to let it start up all over again. Even if I am a dog for now I am still Spike.
Chapter 2 Checkup Part 1 I wake up with the bright rays of the sun shining down on me through the window. “Thanks for the wake-up call Celestia,” I mutter out with a sarcastic groan. ‘I might as well get up and get this day started’ I say to myself as I go to hop out of bed, only to then fall flat on my face. It took me a moment to reboot my brain and remember the events from yesterday, I stood up on all fours and walk to the full length mirror and take a long hard look at myself. *Sigh* “I guess I better get used to looking like this for now on,” My eyes wander over my body taking in every inch, I take some comfort that I am at least not a puppy this time around. “You are one sexy hound dog Spike.” I say out loud causing myself to laugh. Looking at the clock on the wall I see it is around breakfast time so I figure I might as well go meet up with the girls.
As I walk down the halls many of the guards and noble ponies I past look at me with confusion, disgust, or a mixture of both. It is a shame that I can’t say this is a whole new experience for me. This seems to be an almost regular occurrence every time I wonder the halls of the castle alone, going all the way back to my younger days with Twilight. I do have to say though the few mares that thought I was cute and decided to pet me left me with a mixture of happiness and irritation for being treated like an animal. The petting though would always end the second I said a word and for one really cute mare when I ask her to scratch a little lower just to get a rise out of her.
As I walk into the dining hall I see all the girls and Celestia eating their meals. The first things that I notice were the bags and bloodshot eyes of both Twilight and Celestia. They both must have stayed up all night trying to find some way to fix the transformation. I made sure to put on a large smile so they didn’t feel guilty for not finding anything so far. “Hello ladies. How are you all doing this morning?” I say trying to sound as pleasant as possible.
“Oh, we are doing just fine. Thank you for asking Spike. How did you sleep? You must have been so tired after yesterday, if you don’t mind me asking that is…” Shy asked seeming like she is trying not to bring up the fact that I am now stuck as a dog.
“I slept just fine Shy. Thanks for asking. So after your done eating do you want to do this examination to make sure everything is where it is supposed to be?” I ask her while I walk up to an empty seat and take a place at the table. Once there I couldn’t help but think of how I couldn’t use any of the utensils like before, which made me wonder how do ponies live without hands.
“Oh most defiantly. I am looking forward to seeing how you changed and if there is any difference between you and a normal dog.” Shy says with a very cheerful tone. That was until she noticed me tilt my head and raise an eyebrow at what she just uttered which she then took notice of what she said. “O-Oh NO! I am not saying I am happy you are a dog now or anything! I am just saying that this is something that I have never seen before and I want to know all I can to try to help you get through this. I am so sorry. Please don’t be mad Spike.” Shy pleaded as she started to hide behind her mane and retreat into her seat. Really how could anyone ever stay mad at her when she acts like that?
“It’s fine Shy. I get what you were saying. If I was in your hooves I would have reacted the same way. I am just that much more special then I already was before.” I say with a cocky grin as I wiggle my eye brows to try to make the mare come out of her shell and laugh. In which I succeeded when she started to chuckle into her hoof. And as an added bonus, I was able to make every other mare at the table share her outburst of laughter as well. I was even able to get Celestia to crack a real grin, although to her credit she quickly went back into her regal ruler mode.
After everyone stopped laughing and wiped their mouths of the juice they spit out during their little fit Twilight decide to ask me a question. “Spike I was wondering would it be okay if I could also give you a magic examine as well once we finish with Fluttershy’s physical one. I want to make sure the trip back didn’t leave any other effects on you besides the clear one.” Twilight stated as she clearly was having problems keeping herself awake at the table.
“Sure Twi, I don’t have a problem with that. But only if you go get some rest while Shy gives me a once over. You won’t be of any use if you are too tired to do anything, besides do you really want to show everyone their new princess looking so run down so soon into the job?” I ask with a knowing grin on my face.
As if on queue she lifted up her spoon with her magic and noticed just how worn out she looked and quickly started to try to improve her appearance. “I-I think you are right Spike. I will try to catch a few winks so I can be rested to make sure I don’t miss anything during my evaluation of your new situation.” She says trying to make it sound nonchalant as she can but clearly blushing from embarrassment at her current appearance.
After breakfast Shy and I went out to the garden so she can give me my checkup. I figured the garden would be somewhere where Shy would feel the most comfortable which in turn will help her do an even better job. My guess seems to be right on the bit, the second we got away from all the servants, nobles, and guards in the castle Shy seemed to relax a great deal and we got started.
“Okay Spike, I am going to go over different parts of your body to make sure everything is okay. If you feel uncomfortable with anything don’t be afraid to tell me okay?” I give her a nod and she began to examine me. She looked at my eyes to make sure that everything was in order, my ears and my nose came next. Things started to get really interesting when she came to my teeth.
When she told me to open my mouth and say ‘aw’ I did it without any real though but when I notice her eyes become wide with wonder I become slightly worried. “Is everything okay in there? I didn’t grow like an extra paw on the roof of my mouth did I or something?” I asked (or tried to at least) with my mouth still open.
“Oh no it is nothing like that it is just, your teeth Spike. They seem to be the same as when you were a dragon. Your teeth are far harder and sharper than any normal dogs. I would like to test something if you don’t mind.” She asks while looking me over with a look that eerily resembles Twilight's when she finds a new field of study. I just give a shrug, curious as to where she was going with this myself. Shy flies over to one of the suits of armor in the hallway and comes back with one of the steel swords that they are normally holding. She sticks it blade first in the ground so the handle is standing straight up. She gives my teeth one more once over before writing something down in her notes as she then looked at me.
“Okay Spike I want you to bite the blade of this sword. Try to do it slightly how you use to do it when you were a dragon.” She tells me with a serious expression on her face. I can only assume that she is very confident in her request or else she would never ask me to do something that could lead to me becoming injured.
I then take a deep breath as I walk over the sword. When I was a dragon chewing through something like this would be a piece of cake. But when I was in the human world I was a normal dog. So something like this would have lead me to cutting my face like the ‘The Jester’ from the Batmare comic series (my favorite villain by the way). I go down and bend over at the blade of the sword. I see my reflection shining in it, and I looked slightly terrified. I open my jaws and put the blade in my mouth. After taking a deep breath I bite down as hard as I can. To my happy shock the steel shatters like rock candy as I chew it up.
Shy couldn’t believe her eyes even though I figured she suspected this to happen (or at least I hope she did). She then tells me spit it out and reopen my mouth again. I do as instructed to only then have her thoroughly inspect my teeth. “Wow Spike, Not even a chip or anything. It seems that when you came back it gave you back your dragon’s teeth as well. This is really interesting. We will have to try to see what other traits were passed on to your new body.” Shy stated with a very inquisitive demeanor.
The next thing she wanted to investigate where my paws. From any other pony's perspective they would have seemed like any other dog’s paws. To an animal expert like Shy she was able to notice something about my paws, or should we say my claws, the second they were extended out. Like my teeth my claws were much harder and sharper then a normal dogs. She then told me to take my claws and run them across the now ruined blade. Similar to my bite I was able to leave very deep gashes on the shattered steel blade with very little effort.
After the shock from both my claws and teeth the rest of the examination went without much surprise. That was until she got to around my tail. She was checking the hairs and length of it that was until she lifted it up. I start to blush bright as she raised my tail. "H-Hey Shy? I think you are getting a little personal there.” I say with I slightly shaken voice. As I stand there I just keep telling myself this was a normal examination.
Unfortunately I am not that familiar with dog care so I didn’t know what a ‘normal’ examination entailed. “D-don’t worry Spike it will be over in a moment just try to stay still. Shy stammers out seeming like she is trying to keep me as relax as possible, for what I have no idea.
“O-okay? But what will be ov-WHA-WHAT THE FUCK!!!” I shout at the top of my lungs as I feel something slide inside my ass. To both our surprise, as I yelled at the top of my lungs a torrent of green flames shot from my mouth into the sky. This made Shy step back ether from the shock or out of fear. I would have turned around to try to comfort her, if it wasn’t for what I can now only assume is a thermometer shoved up my rear. “S-Shy I am sorry I scared you. I didn’t even know I could still do that anymore. B-but if you could do me a REALLY big favor and remove the tube out of my ASS that would be very much appreciated.” I pleaded with her as I stand perfectly still trying not to move an inch.
This seems to snap Fluttershy back to the realm of reality. She came rushing over and removed the thermometer out of my rear earning a much needed sigh of relief from me. “I am sorry Spike, it is just you took me by surprise when you produced flames like that. Hmm your temperature is around 100 degrees. That is far from normal for an average dog, but that seems like a normal theme with you.” Shy says in a slightly joking manner, I can only think she is doing that to try to make light of the fact she got to know me a little too personally.
“”Yea I noticed that myself,” I turn my head to face her and give her a small smile. “But you do know I am not an animal, right? I could have held the thermometer in my mouth. You didn’t have to treat me like the new guy in prison.” I say through a wider grin as I watch Shy comprehend what I was implying.
Fluttershy started to hide behind her mane once again as she explained why she had to toss my salad. “O-oh no that wouldn’t have worked as well. With your teeth as sharp as they are you would have cut right through it without any effort. Also because of your canine anatomy it is faster and easier to get a reading on your internal temperature from your… rear.” Fluttershy whispered out the last part as she couldn’t look at me at all.
I sigh accepting the fact what is done is done. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get to tease her one more time for good measure. “Okay Shy I trust you; you are the animal expert here. But you owe me dinner after this” I say while I flutter my eye lashes quickly giving her my best puppy dog eyes. Which I guess now would be just my regular eyes now.
Fluttershy cracks a grin at my corny joke as she nods and continues my checkup. She tells me we are almost done. That she just needs to take some of my blood to take to the clinic to get it worked over and checked for anything else that could be wrong. Fluttershy takes my leg and bends it at the elbow as she takes an alcohol whip and cleans the area. As she tries to take the needle and draw some blood we were given another surprise for when she tried to stick the needle into my skin the tip broke when she tried to apply pressure.
We both look at it other with a look of ‘here we go again’ written all over our faces. I crack my trademark grin and ask. “Let me guess, it seems that my skin is made of the same super tough material and texture my scales are made out of, Which will make drawing blood very difficult” I say in a treachery manner pretending to adjust a pair of glasses on my face.
“I believe you are right Spike. Since that seems to be the case we will have to do the blood work later once I can get a diamond needle to draw your blood.” Fluttershy says as she is packing up all her medical supplies and getting her notes together. “I have to say Spike, you are very interesting. It seems that the mirror sent you back as a dog with all of your traits, and the anatomy of a regular dog. However it seems to have also mixed in many aspects from your dragon body as well. From what I can see you seem to me a mix of a canine and a dragon. We will have to wait 'till Twilight wakes up and does her check-up on you to make sure everything is okay internally, but from what I can see you seem to be perfectly healthy.”
“Well that is great to hear I don’t have to worry about dropping dead at a moment’s notice. I wonder if I will be able to still eat gems like I use to, I have this aged ruby I’ve been saving and I’ve been dying to eat it,” I say as I lick my lips thinking about how sweet it must taste by now. “So Fluttershy, do you think you can go see if Twilight is up and ready to get this done. I think I will just stay here and get some rest, we have had more surprises today than when Pinkie made her ‘special cupcakes’ for that one party a few weeks ago.” I say thinking back to that crazy night. I will never have the same relationship with our toaster again.
“Oh sure that won’t be a problem at all, I want to take her these notes as soon as possible anyway,” Fluttershy says while she slowly trots towards the door leading back into the castle. “Try to get some rest Spike; I am sure Twilight will be down after she looks over my notes.” She says as she disappears behind the door. I lay down in the grass resting my head on my forelegs and just think of all the new information that I just found out about myself. I take a small breath and shot out a small sliver of green fire into the air. I grin and say to myself. “Well at least I still have some of my old tricks. Have to be careful not to set myself on fire though.”
As I lay out under the mid afternoon sun I couldn’t help but think about how different things are going to be from now on. I don’t believe I will have to worry about growing giant and having to leave my friends and family anymore which I can count that as a plus. However those wings I so longed for I can only consider them as good as gone now. The really sad thing I realize is that becoming a dog might not affect my life as much as originally thought. When I think of all the ponies that might be put off or the friends that might start to treat me funny due to my new physic; the only ones that come to mind are the girls. The concern comes from the fact that I wouldn’t be able to help them out as I use to. Don’t get me wrong, I do love helping the girls and making sure they are as happy as they can be. That doesn’t take away the fact though that due to my consent service to them I don’t have much of a life myself.
My pondering was cut short when I heard a pair of hoofs coming down the stone floors of the stairs heading towards the castle. One thing I do enjoy about being a dog are these heighten senses, I can hear a bee sneeze down the road with these bad boys. I look up to see who was coming and none too surprising it was Twilight, holding Fluttershy’s notes. She looked much more rested then during breakfast as she dawned a smile on her face.
“Hey Twi, are ready to take your turn to check out all this greatness?” I say with a toothy grin on my face. I see her lift up an eyebrow and the corner of her mouth at my comment. I pay it no mind, just seeing her smile become a little bigger was worth the clear cheap shot that I know I have coming.
“Oh yes Spike, how could I keep my hoofs off of all that purple hotness,” She says as she rolls her eyes… hard. This caused both of use to break out into a laughing spell only to die down after a minute or two. “Seriously Spike from what I can see from Shy’s notes it seems that some of your dragon traits were imprinted onto this new form of yours. This is good news, the fact that there is still some dragon in there means there is a chance we can find a way to turn you back. But for now I want to check you and give you a once over to make sure there is no residual magic in you or if it is effecting any of your internal organs.”
Well it is nice to hear there is a ‘chance’ of me turning back to normal. I sigh just thinking that there is indeed a chance that I could be stuck like this for the long haul. My mind wouldn’t wonder to what those odds could be. “So what are we going to do first?”
“First I am going to look you over and make sure everything inside of you is where it should be and is healthy.” After Twilight said that her horn started to glow with her trademark purple aura. But to my surprise her eyes also glowed as well. The next thing I know I see an aura come out and surround my body. Needless to say it felt very strange; it was like being naked in front of a room full of people. Okay so we are naked most of the time but I am sure you get the idea. I watch as Twilight walks around me, looking at every inch of my body like a fine piece of art occasionally looking back periodically at notes which I can only assume are from Shy's.
“Hmm from what I can see everything seems to be in order. Your internal organs look to be the same as any normal dog. That is excluding your flame gland, but that is located at a spot that won’t cause you any problems.” Twilight said, not looking up from the papers she is holding. It seems she is documenting everything the same way Shy was, not that I mind though.
“Okay now that we have that out of way, let’s see if there are any magical side effects on you.” Twilight’s horn started to glow once again as my body was covered in an aura but this time it didn’t feel as intrusive as before. I kept hoping there is nothing else wrong with me. The last thing I need to be is cursed or something while I am stuck as looking like ‘Sassy’ from those old movies.
I started to become very nervous when I saw the expression on Twilight’s face change to one of confusion. “W-what’s going on Twi? Am I cursed or something? Please tell me I am not going to go all ‘Cujo’ on everyone. Please don’t ‘Old Yeller’ me!” I say clearly sounding a little freaked out by her reaction.
“Huh, oh sorry Spike, it is nothing like that there are no side effects from the mirror. There is something else interesting that I did notice about you though.” Twilight tells me while placing a hoof on her chin, clearly she is processing some information in that super computer she calls a brain.
“Okay, so are you going to share what you learned with the rest of the class Twi or am I just going to have to sit here and play twenty questions with you?” I am clearly getting slightly annoyed by the fact she seems to just keep drifting off in her own little world without telling me what is going on.
“Well you see Spike; it looks like your essence is still a magical charged, like when you were a dragon. Also you seem to be drawing in magic naturally and storing it inside you.” She tells me still clearly processing all she has learned about me. “So what does that mean? Am I going to like blow up or something, I really don’t want to end up a stain on the library walls.” I say in a joking tone, but still sounding very worried about what she has told me. She takes her hoof away from her chin and waves away my worry of becoming a dog shaped firecracker.
“No no it is nothing like that Spike. You see every other creature that has magic produces it from inside of their body and releases it. Unicorns and Alicorns can do it at will with their horns. A Pegasus and Earth pony does this sub consciously. From what we know the only creature that draws in magic and can store it in their bodies, are dragons. It is due to this unlimited amount of natural energy that dragons live for as long as they do.” Twilight states almost like she is giving a lecture at one of the major universities in the capital.
“Wait, so what your telling me is….” I start to say only to have her cut me off.
“That is right Spike, you will still live for thousands of years if not longer it looks likes. We can’t be too sure since you do not have the body of a dragon. So we don’t know how the inflow of energy will affect you.” Twilight says with a smile on her face as she places her hoof on my shoulder.
I give her a weak smile back at the news, which see clearly see though. Sometimes I regret having a lifelong partner that knows me better then I know myself. She can read me like a book most of the time. “Spike? What’s wrong? I thought you would be happy to still get to live for such a long time.” She asks me giving me those big concerned eyes that seem to work on me every time.
“Yea Twi, I am ‘so’ very happy that I still have to watch all my friends and loved ones slowly age and die right in front of me without me being able to do anything. I have dreaded the idea of that for years, sometimes waking up screaming after dreaming of watching each and every one of you die slowly in front of me one after another." I give a slight chuckle as I lower my head down as I continue to pour out my worries. “You know for a little while I was thinking that becoming a dog might not be so bad if I didn’t have to watch loved one after loved one die in my arms.” I can feel the tears in the corner of my eyes but use all my willpower to keep them from falling.
It was clear by the look on Twilight’s face she didn’t know what to say or do. But the next thing I knew she ran over to me and threw herself against me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I am sorry Spike! I *sob* I didn’t know you were going through something like this for so long. I didn’t know you were suffering with this so long. I know it hurts; I have had the same fear myself about you. I hate the idea of all of us leaving you alone in this world. But then I start to think and I realize you won’t be alone Spike. We all will have families and you will have your own family, they will be there for you during the hard times. No matter how much time passes we will always be your family, so will our children and our children’s children Spike. Not to mention that you are so loveable that I am sure you will find somepony, dragon, or whatever to be by your side and love you.” Twilight tells me as she is wiping her eyes and giving me a smile to try to reassure me, and I can only assume herself as well.
I take some comfort in her words, I don’t know how much of what she says is true but I will trust her and believe in that future she hopes for me to have. I don’t know about that lover part though, I mean the only ones that will live anywhere near as long as I will are dragons and the princesses. And I find it really hard to believe either one will find me really attractive right now. “Thanks Twi...that means a lot to hear. It is just...that is something that has always been in the back of my mind. But I will believe you, and trust you Twi. I love you and the girls.” I say as I hold her back, I feel her un-stiffen in my arms as I seek comfort in her as well as she does the same with me.
“It’s okay Spike. I can understand how you can worry about that. But one thing you don’t ever have to worry about is how we feel about you. Whether you are a dog, dragon, a little baby or as big as a castle we will always love you Spike and I know every girl feels the same way,” She finishes wiping her now puffy red eyes and gives me her old smile I love to see on her face. “At least take some comfort that you don’t have to worry about becoming a giant monster anymore. That was something that dragons do to show their dominance and to protect their hoards.” “But...wait, I have so many dragon tendencies, and not to mention I also have natural energy flowing into my body as a normal dragon does. How can you be so sure I won’t grow over time?” I ask trying to cover all the bases of my new form, the last thing I want to do is become the next Cerberus because someone took one of my squeaky toys.
“Well let’s see, tell me Spike since yesterday, did you feel any overall urge to hoard or gather anything like you usually do,” This was when I notice she was right, I didn’t have that nagging in the back of my mind I always had before when I was a dragon telling me to take and collect, the horrible voice that I have learned to push back to the deepest reaches of my mind but could never completely silence. I shake my head, this action seem to put a smile on her face once again. “See, you don’t have the dragon’s greed anymore weighing down on your mind making you want to hoard as many thing as you can.”
I decide to take her word for it and enjoy the fact that the thorn in my side is gone now. I stand up off the grass and look at her with a smile. “Well, now that we have this done, why don’t we see what everyone else is doing? Then we can head to library to see what we can find about changing me back.”
It looks like the idea of having a research marathon perked Twilight right up. She nodded yes vigorously. I shook my head with a grin as we both head back inside. As we walk I can’t help but think about what is ahead of me now that I am on this road. If I am going to be stuck as a dog from now on I am going to make the most of it. I won’t be seen as just Twilight’s ‘pet’ or any less from anypony else. But I won’t stop looking for a way to go back to my old self ether.
Chapter 4 Eventful Morning Well needless to say these past two weeks have been an utter waste of time. Twilight and I stayed here at the castle to try to do as much research as possible on how to change me back. But soon we reached a dead end. We tried everything we could think of to try to change me back. I remember one experience where she had tied me to a table and started to smack me with a fish saying this fish's oils are supposed to counteract any negative magic. I personally think that was payback for me accidentally burning one of her new books earlier that week. Anyway after a while we both decided it wasn’t doing us any good staying there, so we decided to head back to Ponyville.
Lucky for me we returned late at night while everyone was asleep so there was no chance of anyone seeing me in all my furry glory. The second we walked in we were spent and decided to hit the hay. Of course my basket was way too small for me now considering I am just shy of being the average height of a normal pony. So I decided to just crash on the couch for tonight till we can figure something out. I can already hear Twilight complaining saying it smells like dog now, which I take offense to. Why I smell like a bed of roses covered in the finest perfumes on a warm summer day compared to how she smells when she does one of her week long study sprees.
As I lay my head down and slowly drift to sleep my thoughts couldn’t help to think of the long day I am going to have ahead of me tomorrow. I wonder how everyone will take it that now I am stuck as a dog. I’m betting that the question I am going to get asked the most is “What did Twilight do this time,” I let out a small chuckle as I also think the second most ask question I will get from every guy is “So…have you tried licking your own nuts?” Which I can say proudly I have not done or have tried. I know it is supposed to be something every guy has tried once in their life but I just don’t think tasting my own nuts sounds very alluring. *sigh* Well I better get some sleep soon; I am going to have a long day when I wake up.
I am awoken to the smell of something burning which causes me to open my eye to see a purple blob running around like crazy in the kitchen. One can only guess that ether Twilight woke up before me and is trying to make breakfast. That or a monster grape is in here trying to burn down the house, and in this town I wouldn’t completely rule out the second one. I rise from my restful stop and gave a large yawn to greet the day. It still takes me a second to really get the swing of things when I finally start moving as I hop onto the floor.
“Good morning Twilight. I see you’re making your signature dish,” I say as I walk next to her and peak at the frying pain “burnt black stuff. Yum!” I say to her giving her my same old grin. After she fans the black smoke from in front of her face and stepped coughing she gave me a very unamused look. This really loses some of its potency when you have puffy watery eyes from all of the smoke. I would recommend her a cookbook, but knowing her she would just sit there and break down poor formatting of the book and its use of grammar. “Ha ha good morning to you too Spike. I was trying to make us breakfast but for some reason the toast ended up burnt,” I walk over and pick up the pan in my mouth and place it into the sink. “I really need to invest into a new toaster one of these days.” Twilight says mostly to herself as she is wiping the ash from her coat.
“I would say that is a good idea. But remember when you used the last one. Somehow you made it blow up cooking a bagel. I mean how you can even do that is beyond me.” I tell her as I shake by head back and forth. Her eyes clearly staring daggers at me but I just laugh it off as I get two bowels out and sit them on the table. “'Till I get full mastery of this body we are going to be stuck having cereal for a while.” I see her give a nod accepting what I have said, but I couldn’t help but take another jab at her. “I mean if you somehow burn cereal then I just plan give up on you.” I say laughing at the way her cheeks puffed out at my low blow.
“You know you’re a real ass sometimes Spike.” Twilight told me as she placed the milk and cereal on the table. If I only had a bit every time she has told me that. I know I am about as sarcastic and a smart ass as you can get; but what can I say when you small you have to be quick with the comebacks. “So what are you going to do today Spike, I am sure this must be very strange for you to be back and have to show everyone the new you.” Twilight says with a look of sadness showing in her eyes. She thinks I don’t notice but I can still see she blames herself for my state and even more so since she and the princesses could find a cure.
“It really isn’t that bad, I can’t wait to see everypony's reaction to the new me. We both know all the mares will be going ‘aww’ when they see a puppy as cute as me come walking up.” I then shoot Twi a wink that almost makes her choke laughing on her breakfast. “But for real, I will probably wonder around town for a little bit getting ponies used to seeing me as a dog and answering any questions they have. I figured it is better to just get it out of the way now.” I tell her as I just figured out I can’t eat cereal anymore with no hands. I facepaw myself for being so stupid again. This keeps happening when I try to do things that I use to be able to do as a dragon. You would think by now I would remember I don’t have hands anymore, but paws. Now don’t get me wrong I have learned to do some of the more precision tasks using my claws as long as I don’t put too much force and shred what I am working on. Still, nothing can compare to good old thumbs.
I walk over the pantry and get out a few gems and put them in my bowel. While I chow down I hear a stallion’s voice come from the living room shouting “I have returned” This causes me to stop eating and look at Twilight who doesn’t seem to even pay it any mind.
“Huh? Hey Twi?” I ask her wondering what is going on.
“Yea Spike? Whats wrong?” Twilight answers while not even looking up from her meal.
“Twilight you’re not expecting company or anything like that right?”
“No Spike. No one should even know we have returned yet. Why?” She ask me clearly looking very confused my by line of questioning.
“So you are telling me you didn’t just hear someone shout from the living room?” I am now starting to get a little paranoid. I stand up and start walking to the living room.
“Hello, is somepony there?” I say as I walk around the living room looking for whoever I might have heard. To my surprise there was in fact a response “A-are you talking to me sir?” The phantom voice sounded almost as shocked that I responded as I was hearing it. “Yes, yes I am where are you? Come on out.” I say trying to not sound intimidating and as friendly as possible to make this mystery pony emerge. Then there was nothing, no response or anything which made it ten times creepier. “Where did you go?” Then I hear something that almost made me jump out of my fur. “I am behind you.” This makes me quickly turn around to see; to my own shock Owlicious perched on the back of the couch looking me dead in the eyes. “Why hello Mister Spike.”
Needless to say, that freaked the shit out of me. Now I wish I could say I handled the situation with grace and elegance…. I did not. After I heard him talk I backed up into the bookcase screaming my head off. “HA!!! O-Oh Shit! Demon Owl!,” I then started to use my paws to throw books at Owlicious, which good thing he is still as fast for his age, he was able to dodge all of the flying text. I then proceeded to run to the couch which I end up running right into the back of it flipping over it then bouncing off the cushion then slamming on the floor. After dragging myself up I see him still flying overhead I grab a pillow with my claws and start to swing the pillow around as I…. squealed. … What! dragon dog things can squeal too. I’ll admit this was not one of my most proud moments. When Twilight walked in she almost lost her shit when she saw the condition of the library. My flailing stopped when I heard something much scarier than a demon owl...a pissed off Twilight.
“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY LIBRARY!!!” She shouted with enough force to rattle my bones. Now this may very well be the fear playing tricks on my mind but I swear I saw her have a celestial mane for a second there.
I straighten myself up and walked over to her, praying to Celestia she doesn’t banish me to some asteroid in the middle of space. “I-It is Owlicious, he talked to me like it was normal. I think he might be possessed by like nightmare or something.” She looked at me like I lost my mind and it if was anypony else saying it I would be looking the same way she is.
Owlicious flies over to his perch and then clears his throat. “Ahh yes indeed I talked to you Mister Spike. It is quite a surprise to me as well. No pony or dragon has been able to communicate with animal kind here in this town before. But I can assure you sir I am not possessed in the slightest.” This took me completely off guard and took me a second to process what I just learned.
“Wow Twilight can you believe this!?” I say as I slowly start to walk over towards Owlicious.
“Believe what Spike? All I heard was you screaming like a little filly then you saying Owlicious can talk.” Twilight said, clearly skeptical of what I just told her, if her face is any indication.
“Okay first Twilight that wasn’t a “filly” scream. T-that was a dragon shout. A dragon battle cry you just don’t recognize it that is all,” I say trying to save any small amount of pride I might still have at this moment. “And second, what do you mean you didn’t hear him just explain he isn’t possessed or anything,” I put my paw to my chin and begin to stoke it as I think. “So if you can’t hear him but I can, that must be because I am now a dog and I can talk to animals! Oh man I can’t wait to tell Shy! She is going to be so jealous!” I say with a big grin on my face at my new power.
“Wow this is amazing I wonder if you can talk to all animals or if it's just owls? This could be a very useful ability Spike, I will have to make sure to write to Celestia about this when I get a chance.” Twilight says as she is pondering all the uses of my new skill. She then heads back into the kitchen to what I can assume is to finish her breakfast before she wants me to send a letter to Celestia. But first, I have a friend to say sorry to.
“Hey Owlicious I just want to say I am sorry for how I reacted when you first talked to me. I didn’t even know I could talk to animals so when you talked I just thought the worst.” I say looking very apologetic. That whole situation could have been handled better on my part. “It is quite alright Mister Spike I can’t blame you for being startled. It was quite a shock for me myself. I never thought you and me would be able to converse like this even though we spend so much time here in the library.” Owlicious stated and he used his wing to jester around the library.
“Ha yea you got that right. I spend more time here with you then I do with Twi, since she is always out with her friends. It is funny now that I think about it, we spent all that time together but we never really had any real talks even though I could somewhat understand what you were saying. But Owlicious you don’t have to call me Mister or Sir. Just call me Spike you have been my friend you’re a long time, there is no need to be formal with me.” I tell him as I reach my paw out for him to shack it with a grin on my face as he does.
“Very well Spike, well then I must say it is finally nice to be able to talk to you like this. But I must ask, how did you end up as a dog?” Owlicious says tilting his head to the side, I don’t know if it is because he is confused or if it is because he is an owl.
Before I could even give a response I hear another voice come from upstairs. “What is with all the noise?! Some of us are trying to sleep!” To my surprise the young adolescent voice I heard came from my friend Peewee. He flew down the stairs and landed on Twilight’s desk. “I was trying to get some rest before big sis and big bro came home to surprise them but I can’t get any sleep with all this noise going on. What is going on Licious?” Peewee asked Owlicious looking somewhat bugged but mostly sleepy. I couldn’t help but feel happy seeing him again. Last time I saw him was when I returned him to his parents.
“Hey Peewee! What are you doing here I thought you would be with your parents” I ask not hiding my excitement.
“Huh, do I know you dog dude? Owlicious did they get another assistant or something?” He asked looking slightly confused by my familiarity with him.
“Why no young Peewee. This right here is Spike, apparently somehow he was transformed into the form we see before us.” Owlicious says pointing at me with his wing as he is smiling.
Peewee shot off the desk into my chest and wrapped his arms around my neck. “BIG BRO!!! I missed you big time! What have you been up to? Where were you? When I came you were gone. Why are you a dog? Does that mean you can talk to use from now on?” before he could get another question out I used my paw to hold his beck so he can stop talking.
“Come on Peewee, one question at a time. First I missed you too. What are you doing here?” I ask as he lifts himself out of my chest and fly back to the desk.
“I am here to stay with you for a while Big bro, my parents said it was okay as long as I come by and visit every now and again.” He says while flapping his wings showing how happy he was that he will be staying with us again. “Now it is my turn. Why you are a dog now? Was it some evil witch? Or some crazy god? Oh oh was it some super strong witch god you had to beat with your bare claws!” He says seeming to become more and more eager as he makes his story all the more epic with each sentence.
*Chuckle* “No Peewee it was nothing like that, even though that would have been really cool to have been like that. It's a long story…” The three of us sit in the living room as I tell them all about how Twilight and I went to this other world and everything we did there, then how I came back but didn’t change back to a dragon. While I was regaling them with my story I couldn’t help be feel somewhat happy again that I am dog. For thanks to this gift I am able to become even better friends with a now old friend and a “little brother”. I wonder how many more animal friends I will be able to make now that I can talk to them and get to know them even better.
Owlicious, Peewee and I talked for roughly about an hour about everything under the sun. Peewee went on and on about the things he did during his time with his parents. He also seems to have repeatedly told them about his cool dragon big bro that protected him when he was still an egg. As Peewee energetically went on and on I started to think that his parents sent him to us to give them a break from the talkative phoenix.
I did notice that Owlicious did not say much during this time. He would just sit there silently and nod with a smile on his face. There were still many things that I do not know about him and would like to learn. We never could ask him questions like this before and his whole past was a mystery to us. I did however decided not to press it, I don’t want try to make him tell me about something he isn’t ready to share.
After our talk Peewee and myself decided it was late enough that we can go for that stroll around town. Owlicious decided to stay behind and help Twilight with her work. It worried me he would rather stay cramped up inside then go hit the town with two other single studs. The idea of dragging him out with us did cross my mind, but was quickly crushed it when I thought that if he wasn’t here Twilight would be making me do it.
So with that new realization I began my stroll around town with Peewee sitting on my back enjoying the ride. The walk wasn’t as eventful as I thought it would be, I was half expecting everyone to come rushing to see what had happened. But most people just looked for a second out of curiosity then went back to their lives. This is definitely different compared to when I first walked the streets here alone as a dragon. Back then almost every citizen gave me a look of pure fear, ready to run with every breath I took. That irritated me to no end seeing people treat me like a monster or a threat when all I was doing was taking a stroll around my new ‘home’. I was happy that they soon got over their fears of me and accepted me into the community.
“So Big bro where are we headed first?” Peewee asked me as he flew up and rested on top of my head.
“Hmm I was thinking of taking a stroll over to SugarCube Corner. Introduce myself to the Cakes and the twins again.” I say while shrugging my shoulders. Peewee gives me a nod as we then go on our way to the sugar rush inducing building.
As we make it to the door I take a deep breath to calm myself for the storm of craziness that I was about to walk into. I push the door open and walk up to the counter to see Mrs. Cake at the counter just finishing up putting out some new treats. She looks down at me and Peewee and gives us that great salesman smile she has honed from years of dealing with guest.
“Well isn’t that just the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a little phoenix riding on a dog. Oh look at the little dear,” Mrs. Cake cooed as she trots from behind the counter and start to pet Peewee on the head gently. “You are just too cute!”
I can just feel Peewee sticking out his chest in pride as she is patting him on his head. “Hey you see that big bro I even make older birds flock to me!” I could only let out a sigh at his comment. I started to would wonder where he would develop an attitude like this but then I remember that he was raised by me. And if I was in the same situation I probably would have said the same thing. That does put a grin on my face; he picked up a lot from his time from me I can only hope he got some of my good aspects as well.
“Mrs.Cake can you cut back on the praise a little please. If his head gets any bigger Peewee here won’t be able to fly.” I say as I hear my feathered little brother let out a huff in protest. Unfortunately thanks to my habit of being a smart flank I forgot I didn’t tell Mrs.Cake who I was or that I could talk.
As I look up at her I see her eyes becoming as big as dish plates while she slowly backs away from me. “H-Honey. HONEY!!!” she shouts as she seems to almost vanish from in front of us into the back room. All I can think is ‘Wow for a bigger girl she really can move. I guess have twins and a Pinkie keeps you light on your feet’.
My amusement at my own comment was cut short when I see Mr.Cake walking out holding a broom in his mouth. The only thought in my head was ‘Oh please don’t do what I think he is going to do’. And I hate that whenever I think this it almost always happens. “Go on get! Get out of here!” Mr.Cake shouts as he walks closer turning his head to getting ready to swing the broom at us. As he twisted his neck making the broom whip through the air. I barely have enough time to duck low enough to keep me and Peewee out of harm’s way. The force of that broom is not joke, with Mr.Cake’s earth pony strength it would hurt like Tartarus if he hit me.
Mr.Cake lifts his head up high and brings down the broom with heavy force. I throw my head to the side to have Peewee take the sky as I jump to the right to avoid the blow. This is starting to not be fun anymore. As I am trying to decide on what to do next that won’t lead to me or Mr.Cake being harmed. I look around to see if there is anything I can use to my advantage but all I can see is that I am stuck in the seating area with a bunch of booths on my left and right. Mr.Cake slowly walks words me clearly getting ready to try to knock me out and get me out of his shop.
I came up with an idea that I hope will try to end this bad ‘Micky Chan’ movie I seem to be stuck in. Once Mr.Cake was close enough for me to put my plan into action I quickly leaped to the left right on top of one of the tables. If Rarity was here she would have fainted at the scene of a dog hoping on top of a table and yell at me for a lack of table manners. Me hoping up on the table only seemed to piss Mr.Cake off more as the then started to swipe the broom at my legs over and over with enough force it would knock me right on my flank if any of them caught me. But thanks to my higher ground he can’t drop any of those heavy drops down on me anymore. When I finally have enough of playing hop scotch with an enraged baker and his broom of death I focus intensely on him to try to read when he will perform his next swing while he is up at base. Once I read the see his swinging motion begin to take action I raise my left paw and wait for it to come close. As it finally did I stopped down on the broom handle keeping it pinned under my weight and strength as Mr.Cake tries to tug it from under me. Wanting to end this little game now I take my right claw and do some of my own swiping and cut the broom right in half leaving Mr.Cake holding barely a stick in his mouth.
Mr.Cake backs away from me clearly startled by just how sharp my claws are and at the loss of his weapon. He takes a more feral stance near the counter trying to block me from getting to the back of the shop where I can only guess his family is. He clearly has the look that he is ready to fight to the death and that is a fight I want no part of. I start to frantically look around for another way out as Peewee lands back on my head. The next thing I hear is a loud BAM come from behind Mr.Cake.
“WWWAAIITT.” was shouted so loud it could have woken Luna all the way at Canterlot. I look to see who has those gold lungs; low and behold it was none other than Pinkie running out from the back pulling out Mrs.Cake and almost knocking over Mr.Cake as she runs in front of me with her arms up. “Stop fighting Mr. Cake. This isn’t some meanie monster or anything. This is our little dragon buddy. Well I guess now you are no longer a dragon, or little anymore huh she says looking back at me with her classic smile on her face.
“No I guess not anymore but now I am your furry dog buddy huh.” I while finally relaxing from my time in the sugary battlefield I found myself stuck in for the past few minute.
“YUP! But you have to get off the table silly. The Cakes really don’t like it when you stand on them… trust me.” Pinkie tells me as she finally put her harms down seeming to relax a good bit as well.
I hop off the table to only then to have a pink blur wrap itself around my neck and nuzzle next to me like I am a big stuffed animal. “But I do have to say you are a lot more comfy to hug now Spike. Not that you weren’t before but now you are warm and furry.” Pinkie tells me after she finally lets me go.
I couldn’t help but laugh at that statement never even considering how hugging me felt like when I was a dragon. I guess it must have been like hugging a leather jacket right out of the oven, smooth and toasty.
After I finish pondering my cuddling factor I look over at the Cakes who had confused looks on their faces. I slowly, very slowly, walk over to them and tried to do my introduction all over again. My hope is that Mr.Cake doesn’t go for the knives and try to make me the daily special.
“Good Morning Mr. and Mrs. Cake. It is me Spike, there has been kind of an accident so I am now stuck as a dog for now.” I say with as pleasant of a tone I could muster. Most would be more than a little mad that Mr.Cake tried to treat them like a piñata for the past 10 minutes. But I can understand, he saw me as a threat to his family and I can’t hold it against the guy for trying to protect them. Once what I said seem to finally sink into the sugary couple there shared look of confusion turned into one of shame, for Mr.Cake it was more on the lines of horror what he had tried to do. I could only guess what going through their minds at this moment. Mrs.Cake was the first one to walk over to me with a look that told me she was holding back tears.
“Spike sweetie I am so sorry for how we acted. I was just so scared when you started talking and with all the craziness that happens in this town I just acted without thinking first. I am sorry Spike can you ever forgive me.” Mrs.Cake said as looked at me with eyes that only a remorseful mother could muster.
“Mrs.Cake it is fine really. You should have seen me early when I first heard Owlicious talk for the first time. Needless to say you handled the situation much better than I did,” I look up at Peewee on top of my head and grin. “And besides Peewee would never forgive me if I made a cute mare that complimented him sad.” This comment earned a slight blush and a smile from her. Peewee on my head started to shack his head up and down agreeing with my statement which earned a giggle from the mother of two.
I then saw Mr.Cake slowly walk up to me with his head hanging low as he won’t even look me in the eye. Once he made is way in front of me I already knew what it wanted to say. “Spike… I-I don’t know what to say, I am sorry. I don’t know what came over me I just…” I cut him off by putting a paw on his shoulder and giving him a smile with a very understanding look.
“Mr.Cake it is fine really. You were doing everything you can to protect your family and home. There is no way I would ever hold that against you. I would have done the same if I was in your place. In fact I am the one who should be saying sorry for making a mess of the restaurant and breaking your broom.” I say with a blush on my face as I rub the back of my head.
“Oh no it is quite alright Spike, we all were caught up in the moment. Don’t worry about any of that. We needed a new broom anyway that thing was a piece of junk.” Mr.Cake state as he finally looked up from the floor.
“Okay, but man Mr.Cake you were crazy with that thing. I would have to see anyone that tries to rob you,” This comment sparked a blush on the yellow stallion. “Be honest Mr.Cake how often do you say lines like ‘I am sweeping up the trash!”
Before he can answer Mrs.Cake cut him off. “All the time, he has a whole book of catchy one liners by the bed,” This got everyone to burst into laughter at the expense of the poor stallion. “I mean really ‘Say hello to my little friend’, when would that ever catch on?” Mrs.Cake says as she leans in and kisses her husband on the cheek.
“H-Hey it could happen!” Mr.Cake stammers out trying to salvage any pride he has lift. After everyone finishes laughing we all start to clean up the mess we made as I tell them all about the other world and why I am now a dog. Needless to say they were very shock to hear that there were versions of them in this alternate universe filled with these creatures we know of as only a myth.
After spending some time there I feel it is time to go and say hello to a few more people before I finally head home. The Cakes gave me a cupcake as a sorry gift and Peewee some sunflower seeds they were going to use for their sunflower cookies. As I am walking out I poke my head back in the restaurant and say, “I’ll be back.” As the door was closing I heard Mr.Cake mutter “Hey that is a good one. Have to remember to add that to the book.”
As Peewee and I stroll down the street thinking where we could head next I heard Peewee finish off his seed. “Hey bro”
“Yea Peewee, what’s up” I say as I lick the remaining frosting from my face. Man even as a dog a gem cupcake still hits the spot.
“I was just wondering during your epic battle with the baker of death why didn’t you just talk during it and tell him who you were to get him to stop?” He asks me with his head tilting slightly to the side.
There was a quite as I just stop moving and look into nothing this. I stood there and didn’t move as I just process what my little buddy has just told me. Then only one world and thought run through my brain. A thought so strong I have to verbalize it.
Peewee and I decided we will go to Sweet Apple Acres to see if the CMC are there so we can show them the new me. Figured I would get the three terrors out of the way so they don’t decided to attack me in the middle of town thinking I am some kind of monster dog. We were cutting through the park to get to the Apple’s home when we heard a lot of noise coming from the middle of the park.
When we arrived he saw many of the filly and colts from the school and their teacher Miss. Cheerilee practicing some dance routine. As I walk past them I see Snips and Snails sitting on a bench watching them preform.
“Hey Peewee.” I call out to the little phoenix lying down on my back.
“Yea bro, what’s going on?” He asks me not getting up from his comfy stop.
“Nothing but can I get a minute I need to talk to some friends real quick?” I ask him as I keep walking towards the guys.
“Sure just call when you’re done.” And just like the Peewee took off to the trees overlooking the fountain.
I walk up behind them on the bench. They are staring very intensely at their class as they practice their dance with Cheerilee leading the performance. There was indeed a lot of flank shacking and fancy footwork being done by them all.
“Hey guys. What is going on here?” I ask them as I lean up on the back of the bench. I was suspecting them to turn around and be startled by the sight of talking dog behind them. Hey didn’t turn around at all though, there eyes never left the group dancing.
“Hey Spike. Our class is putting on a performance in a few weeks and they have to get down their dance.” Snips says while his eyes bounced back and forth following the performers.
“Okay, but then why are you two not over there dancing like it is Boogey Fever as well.” I state almost shocked that they haven’t turned around and looked at me yet. Man these two have no manners.
“We got put in as stage hands so we are just really helping with the behind the scenes stuff, not the on stage performance.” Snail tells me with a grin on his face. I first thought the grin was from them not having to be on stage. But then I looked at the dancers and as they are shacking their flanks back and forth. That was when it all came together for me. My eyes narrowed and I got the kind of grin a fellow bro could get on their face.
“So… Who are you watching?” I ask as I find a target for my eyes as my lips part to the corners of my face.
“Twist” Snips says as his head bounces up and down.
“SilverSpoon” Snail tells me as he licks his lips. No need to guess what is on his mind.
Needless to say those are interesting choices. I look over at Twist as she dances. She is not the best dancer out there that is for sure but I do agree there could be something there. Twist has a nice figure. Only minor cosmetic things distract from her possible cuteness. When I look at her my time with Rarity kicks in and I start to fix up the little things that could make her very attractive. You know give her some contacts, do something with her hair, some would say speech lessons, but I find that part of her charm. I would classify her as a diamond in the rough.
My vision then shifts to Silverspoon. She was indeed a better dancer then Twist but she kept stumbling trying to keep up with the little pink manure ball that is Diamond Tierra. I give her the once over as well. She also as a pretty nice when it comes to the body department. There is always an allure of a mare with glasses, and with the braid she pulls off the look well. Spoon does have a nice smile. I didn’t know flank kissing could be so great for ones teeth. I might have to tell Colgate to start informing her clients on the positive effects. If she would dump her baggage I am sure many more colts would approach her.
“Yea I guess I could see that. I have to admit you guys at least have pretty good taste in fillies.” I say as all three of us tilt our heads to the side as they do this new dance that just came out called “Twerking.”
That was a sight indeed. So much so it made us all lean to the right and in unison say “DDAAAMMMNNN!!!!”
After we regain or composer, and I see Snails cross his legs, they decided to bring me into bring me in on the discussion.
“So Spike… Who catches your eye?” Snips ask me as he gets a smug grin. I can only think he is planning on picking at my chose and trying to find flaws in her.
Now normally when there are any mares around I do my best to be a gentledrake…dog whatever. But right now there are no mares in earshot and I can for once really say what I think. Hey, you try being one of the only guys in a society that is mostly mares. It might sound great but one slip up and word travels fast. You will end up on their black list before the day is out. It made me think of Welch Jelly. He got caught cheating on a mare and ended up on the black list. Now the only thing he can get any action from is his own jams… needless to say that affected his sales greatly.
“I am liking Cheerilee” I say and for some reason when I look at her as she dances with her class I let out a small growl. Funny how it is different than being a dragon, when I was a dragon I would start to give off heat to the point I would make those around me sweat. Both Snips and Snails tip their heads slightly to the side as if confused my chose. They then just shrug and go back at look at their respective eye candies. But knowing those two that won’t be the end of it and they will have more to say.
“Really? Why would you like Miss. C?” Snip asked while his head bobs up and down in tune with Twist jumping to the beat.
I give a shrug they can’t see since they aren’t looking at me, still, by the way. I swear if I was an assassin I could steal money out of their front pockets then kill them before they even notice what is going on.
“What is not to like, she has a cute face, nice mane, great figure and do you see that flank,” as I make that statement she then shook left to right almost making me cross eyed following it. “You could bounce a bit off of it and wait for it to land then watch it ride on that booty as it still shakes.” What can I say I have always been a flank man; it was one of the things that drew me to Rarity. That flank is like two overstuffed pillows being pushed together, just want to get a claw… guess now it would be a paw full.
“Well yea she is not that bad for an older mare.” Snail says not really sounding like he is convinced of that himself.
“What do you mean? She's not that old.” I say trying to protect the honor of the mare I am ogling like she is the gem of the day.
“What do you mean Spike we are only 14, she is way too old for you.” Snip say like it is a fact. That is when I realize they thought I was the same age as them. Oh this is going to be fun.
“Sorry to burst your bubble guys but I am not 14, I am really 18.” I say with a shit eating grin on my face. I am suspecting them to turn around to face me shocked but to my surprised they didn’t. I will give it to them when they really want to focus on something it will take an Ursa Major to pry them away.
“What!” They both shout in unison. The shock of my true age must have really taken them by surprise.
There shout though drew the attention of Miss. Cheerilee and she started to look our way to see what that noise was. This caused a slight panic in the two boys sitting on the bench. I see Snips reach from behind him and pull out a black hat with 2 white strips going down it.
“Here Spike put this on!” Snip tells me as he reaches behind him with the hat, still refusing to turn around.
“Why would I put that thing on?” I ask him wondering why he even has it in the first place.
“Everyone knows mares like a guy that wear hats. It shows he has fashion sense now put it on.” He pushes the hat in my face.
I figure I might as well humor him so I take the hat in my claw in my paws and put it on my head. We look over to see her looking at us. One can only imagine how stupid we must look, two slack jawed colts trying not to stare at some fillies and a huge purple dog wearing a hate. I wasn’t surprised at all when Cheerilee started to laugh in her hoof at the comical sight in front of her. Once he turned back around to the rest of her students I pulled the hat off my head and threw it down on the ground. I have to remember those two owe me a gem, a big one I can eat like a jaw breaker.
“Huh thought that would work. Oh well but Spike why didn’t you tell us you were so old. You could have been buying us Playcolts this whole time!” Snails said sounding slightly upset by the fact I couldn’t be their porn trafficker.
“Well first that hat was a dumb idea. I can’t go giving you Playcolt, I could get arrested for giving that to minors. And I didn’t tell you because it didn’t seem like it mattered. Why would you think I was your age in the first place?” I ask genuinely wondering how they came up with the idea I was a 14 year old.
“Well because of your size and the fact you talk to us.” Snail says as he places his hoof to his chin like he was deep in though. I really doubt how deep his thinking was considering he hasn’t broken eye contact with SilverSpoon’s flank in the past 3 minutes.
“Guys I am a dragon. 18 year I am still in my infancy but we don’t age the same way you ponies do. We can walk and talk in a few months of being hatched, and besides Twilight hatched me when she was 4 she is 22 now.” I say while rubbing my temples, I started to think how many other people in this town must be thinking I am some cute baby running around.
“Okay, okay we get it.” Snip says as he lifts his arms in surrender.
“Alright guys I have to go, catch you two later.” I tell them as I start to walk off towards the fountain to pick up Peewee and be on our way.
“Alright see you later Spike.” Snip says as he wave at me still not looking away from the fillies working up a sweat in front of them.
“Yea talk to later.” Snails give me a quick nod and re-gluing his eyes back to all the bouncing flanks in front of them.
I walk off shaking my head thinking that if those two don’t learn the art of rubberneck then they will end up on the blacklist. If that happens they might just end up an item themselves. The very thought send shivers up my spin.
Once I reach the fountain I look around for Peewee. I spot him sitting up in a tree seems to be talking to a few robins and a blue jay. Now I may be new to being a part of the animal kingdom on this level but even I could tell the blue jay clearly has a thing for my little brother. I was happy to see him being able to have the girls flock to him like that. Even if it did bug me that he is having better luck with the girls then his older brother. And now that I am a dog I don’t see my luck getting any better.
Once Peewee sees me waiting for him he waves at his friends and lands back on my head. We start to walk off towards the CMC tree house but I had to ask him about his little buddies up there.
“So who were you talking to up there Wee, some friends of yours?” I ask like it is no big deal.
“Oh they were just some birds I met as I was waiting for you to have your talk.” He tells me as he start to do some straightening on his wing feathers.
“I see, it looked like to me that the blue jay had a thing for you Wee, thinking about going for it?” I was genuinely curious if he was interested in dating at all at his age.
“Naw, I mean don’t get me wrong she was cute. Had some great tail feathers but I have always had a thing for older birds. It is just something about a girl that can teach you a thing or two.” He tells me as I just know he is giving me the trademark ‘bro’ grin.
It is surprising me more and more how much of me seems to have rubbed off on Peewee. He even shares similar taste in the opposite sex. I am starting to wonder if he is more like a son to me than a brother. But that doesn’t really matter it is just nice to see him happy and enjoying life.
As we started to walk towards the tree house we started to hear faint screaming in the distance. I stop moving and started to focus on where the sound was coming from. I slowed my breathing to as shallow as possible as I closed my eyes and put all my attention to my hearing. I felt my ears twitch at every sound around me from the wind blowing through the trees to the sound of the crickets chirping signaling the fall of dusk.
Then I finally heard it again, a faint cry for help in the direction of the Everfree forest. I took off in a sprint throwing Peewee off my back with the sudden sprint. He flew up to catch up to me with a confused look on his face.
“Bro what's going on? Why did you just take off like that?” He looked confused onto why we were going moving like my tail was on fire.
“I heard somepony crying for help near the Everfree. We have to go see what is going and see if we can help!” I shout at him as I try to go even faster hoping I can make it in time.
“Peewee I want you to fly up ahead and see if you can spot who needs help once you do signal to me so I can be there as fast as I can.” I instruct him hoping the air support will make finding the pony that much easier.
“You got it bro just keep an eye out for my beacon!” Peewee shouted just before he took off higher into the sky to try to spot who is in distress. Man this is not how I planned to spend my first day back home.
I kept running trying to pinpoint where the cries are coming from. All I can see are the apple trees looking like a blurs as I ran past them. Once I finally make it to the edge of the Everfree Forest all that is running through my mind is ‘where are they are and who would be dumb enough to go into the Everfree?’ As I began to sniff the air to try to see if I can pick up any ponies scent I see up in the sky I bright little fireball shining in the sky looking like a second sun. I crack a smile and say, “Peewee I so owe you a whole bag of sunflower seeds after this.” I take off in the direction of the sky ember.
I weave between the trees as I run in a full sprint hoping I am not too late. After running as fast as I can I finally make it in time to see who was crying for my help. I wish I could say I was surprised who was out here all alone in danger but I’ve never been one for lying.
There sat Applebloom on the forest ground. She was covered in dirt and clearly tired from running for her life. In front of her was her family pet dog Winona. She was a Border Collie with brown fur on her head and back with white patches of fur on her face, paw, and tail. Winona was down in a feral stance ready to attack anyone that got close to her owner.
One thing that really caught my eye was the small ball of fur that Applebloom was cradling in her arms. It was a small white ball of fur and as I look harder I see two horns sticking up out of the top of its head along with big floppy ears. I remember that the creature is called a Jackalope. I learned about them from Fluttershy since she has a cream-colored one that likes to stop by for a booty call with one of her rabbits.
The bunny wasn’t the problem here in this situation. The issue is the Timberwolf that has trapped the trio in a corner with large rock walls on both sides. The only way out is past the big bad wolf himself. This wasn’t some little cub ether; this wolf was slightly larger than the average wolf, not as big as the one that came after me and AJ before but still big enough to be something I don’t want to mess with.
It’s looking like I won’t get that option as I see him stalk closer and closer to them. The snarl on his face shows he is out for blood. The intensity in his glowing ghoulishly yellow eyes showed that he won’t want to stop and discuss this over a spot of tea. Too bad really after all that running I could really use a drink. It is clear that Winona couldn’t take this big guy down and with him blocking the only way out they were like candy in front of Pinkie. But unlike those poor innocent sweets I will stop this bloodbath.
Before the Timberwolf made it to the three I rushed out of the tree line and slammed into him at full speed with my shoulder. The force of the blow combined with my body mass knocked him off his paws and sent him tumbling into some nearby bushes.
I turned to the three to make sure they are okay. Applejack look confused as to where her purple savior came from. Winona on the other hand stayed ready to pounce if I took a step closer to them. This is understandable considering I could very well look like another predator coming to steal the kill. The Jackalope looked more relieved than anything that their woody friend took an abrupt trip.
My thoughts were cut short when I started to hear rustling in the bush, I figure it was our old friend getting over the shock of what just happen and is going to come back more pissed than before.
“You three have to get out of here right now!” I shout at the three behind me as I drop my stance trying to prepare just in case he decide to lunge at us.
“D-did that dog just talk? That is awesome!! How did you do that Mr.Dog? Can ya teach Winona here how to do it as well?” Applebloom asked exactly. As to why I thought she would just see the seriousness of the situation is beyond me.
“Look we don’t have time to play who is the dashing dog Applebloom. You guys have to get out of here now before the walking lumber yard shows back up. I tell her as I let out a sigh trying to temper my growing annoyance at the situation I just dropped myself into.
Applebloom backed away from me getting closer to the wall. I hear her voice shack with a mix of curiosity and slight paranoia, “How do you know my name?”
I hear a growl go louder and loud as the bush started to shake more violently. It is clear we only have a few more moments before our guest returns from his potty break.
I turn my head and look back at them with pleading eyes. Pleading for them to just go and get somewhere safe. “Please just get out of there. I will hold him off as long as I can but I can’t fight while trying to protect all of you as well. NOW GO!!!” I shout at them making them all slightly flinch at my tone and intensity.
I then hear a quiet voice I do not recognize come from behind me. “I think we can trust him. We don’t want to be here when the wolf gets back on his paws.” Turning around again to see who was just talking to my shock it was the Jackalope speaking on my behalf.
Winona seems to trust the Jackalope and gave it a nod. She got behind Applebloom and started to shove her to make her start to move. After she finally got the hint Applebloom put the Jackalope down and took off past me headed back towards the town.
As they passed me Winona didn’t say a word but instead just growled at me. I can only assume she still didn’t trust me near Bloom and wanted to make sure I didn’t try anything. This made me laugh, that I am risking my life and I am still being looked at like the bad guy.
This made me chuckle at the fact. “I guess the lady doesn’t want to talk to a tramp like me.” I say with a toothy grin on my face. To my surprise a slight moment I thought I saw a grin appear on her muzzle for a second there.
Once they made it past me our old friend thought it was the perfect chance to jump out. The timberwolf came flying out the bush running full speed at the group. He was only seconds from being on top of Winona as she stopped to try to buy Applebloom and the Jackalope time for their getaway.
Luckily enough I made it just in time to give the walking stick figure a hard headbutt, pushing him away from the herd dog. This hit didn’t have the same force as the last one so this time he only went sliding to the side but still on his feet, and clearly really pissed, but with me… yippie.
I move in front of Winona to try making sure he doesn’t try that again. I gave her a nod so she knew to get out of here as I cover her. I hear her take off running only to then notice that she stopped. What could he be thinking it is only luck that he hasn’t already pounced at us again? I hear in a southern accent much like all of the Apples have but this voice was very feminine. It didn’t have the gruffness that AppleJack seems to carry in her tone most of the time.
“Don’t die.” Was all Winona said to me before she took off running after Applebloom and the Jackalope.
I breathe a sigh of relief that the three of them made it out of here without getting hurt, but now I have a much bigger, scarier, and very pissed off problem to deal with now. The timberwolf walks up to me with a snarl on his face and pure hate in my eyes.
“You made me lose my kill you pathetic excuse of a mutt.” The timberwolf growled at me making sure he shows his fangs as he did so.
“Okay first ‘ouch’, I am not a mutt from what I know of,” Hmm on second thought I don’t know my parent’s lineage for all I know I could be a mutt. “And second I am sorry about spoiling your meal but those were friends of mine so I couldn’t let you eat them like they were the early bird special.” I tell him, doing everything I can to keep my eyes glued on him as he start trying to circle around me.
“Please, you are more pathetic than I thought, talking about friends with creatures of such caliber. That pony is good for nothing but food for us blessed by the forest. The horned one is a vermin that is encroaching on our Mother Forest’s lands. And that bitch is of such lower breed she wouldn’t even be worth changing into one of us to be used for breeding.” This all seemed like a joke to the wooden jackass as he then started to laugh at his own elitist bullshit.
All he did was piss me off with the shit she was saying. “Oh that is big talk coming from useless spirit that doesn’t even have its own body and has to possess a bunch of firewood to even give himself any wood.” I tell the self-entitled bundle of sticks as he stops circling me. It would seem my comment struck a nerve with him.
“How dare you address me that you’re better that way you ignorant pup. I am Deeproot an Alpha male class timberwolf. The species blessed by Mother Forest to be the top of the food chain. I will not have a filthy pet talk down to me. I was going to make your death quick but now I will make you suffer.” Deeproot gave me the traditional bad guy speech that I kind of just drowned out.
“Yea well I am Spike of the kick a bunch of dirt and twigs ass species. And I won’t let something that is better suited to be used as toothpicks then a wolf get the better of me. If you think I would let the likes of you kill me then there must be some poison joke in you as well. I don’t care what your Tree Mother says!” I growl back at him knowing there is no way to get out of this situation but to fight.
It seemed that insulting his mother was not a good idea. I don’t know many situations where it is a good idea. The next thing I knew he was charging at me full speed. Unlike his name he moved like he was running on the wind for he was on me before I could think of a response. Deeproot rose on his hind legs and struck me right across the muzzle with his left paw.
The force of the blow knocked my head to the side and caused me to stagger as I pulled back to give myself a little distance to regroup and think of what to do next. I could feel that the bridge of my snout had a cut on it and was bleeding. Even with my thicker skin he was still able to draw blood which shows me his blows are no joke. If I had been a normal dog or pony that would have took off the whole front of my face leaving me looking like Mareael Jackson in the later years.
“Oh seems you are slightly tougher than I thought you would be mutt. No matter you will die here and your body will be used to feed my mother.” Deeproot said with a confident grin on his face as he then licked my blood off of his claws.
I start to think of a way to try to get the upper hand on this asshole. My face is still thumping from the slash he put on it, there must be splinters inside of it because it feels like a bunch of small needles drilling into my face. I remember I still have my fire breath and I try to stir up my inner flames. But to no good, ‘damn it must be slightly different to use it then when I was a dragon,’ I thought to myself.
My next move was to charge at him to see if maybe if I can throw my weight around and get the advantage on him. Once I got close to him he lowers himself down to a more feral stance and waited for me to come closer. The second I was in his range he rose up from under me as I tried to get on top of him knocking me down on my back.
Deeproot lunged for my throat as I lay there on my back; I had enough awareness to roll to the side before he came down on me. I scurry to my feet and try to regain my composure. It is clear that he has far more fighting experience than I do. Not to mention that he is far more used to fighting with and against a something with a body like mine.
“You are just sad to watch. Have you ever fought a day in your life? Even for a filthy dog you shouldn’t be flopping around like a newborn pup. That bitch would have put up a better fight then you are. I almost feel bad killing someone so defenseless.” Deeproot taunted me not really knowing how right he was since I never had to fight for myself before much less for my own life.
Well so what, even with no battle experience, doesn’t mean I am going to lie down and let this tree sap take me down. I won’t die as a dog; there is no way I am going to bite the big one before I get a chance to confess to Rarity. I can’t die and leave Twilight alone; the girl would be dead in a month. So let’s think of a way to take this guy out.
Guessing Deeproot grew tired of waiting for me to make a fool out of myself again he pounced at me. I bet he thought he was going to finish me of here and now. As he charged at me with the clear motivation of putting me down I came up with some quick thinking to give me a chance to return the favor for hurting my pretty face.
I look down and see a rock resting right next to my paw. With only a second to spare I take and kick the rock right at the charging batch of kindling. The rock hits him right dead center in the forehead. Draconic strength is nothing to sneeze at considering how the force of the blow made the alpha wolf cringe and miss me as he goes charging past me.
Seeing an opportunity I leapt after him and landed on his back leg. I dig my claws into his hind legs and drag them down his thighs figuring I will take away that speed of his and make his a match of power where I have more of a footing against him.
I feel my claws dig into the wood that made up his hip. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling when my claw dragged through his wooden flesh causing it to scream out in pain. To my surprise there was greenish blood flowing from now the gashing on his legs. I figure since whenever we dealt with them before he would just use blunt force and not sharp bladelike weapons we never saw if they could bleed or not.
My celebration over the damage inflicted upon him was ended when he twisted his hips and shook me off of his back. I catch myself so I didn’t lose my footing completely as I was supporting my own weight again. I was a little pissed because it I didn’t do as much damage to his legs as I was hoping. He was still able to move even as he stood back up and had a death gaze locked on me.
With the hope of taking advantage of the damage I have done and praying that I had the upper hand in maneuverability with the damage on his legs I charged at him. Experience in battle can make up for any disadvantage because it was clear he anticipated what I was going to do. As I came in for the bite, thinking this is where the struggle ends, he was able to move under my bite and go right for his target.
Deeproot was able to make it to my hind legs and impale me right on my leg joint with his claw. The pain was unbelievable, I howled in agony as I felt his paw clinch digging his splinter ridden claw into my joint. I think that stupid mirror for giving my dragon-like skin or else he would have ripped my whole leg off with that.
The pain caused me to buckle slightly from the pain. This turned out to be a very bad thing since Deeproot took full advantage of my moment of weakness and brought his other claw down on my back carving into my lower back. This was the final straw that brought me down to the grass under us.
Deeproot pounced on me in a matter of moments, I thank Luna that I had enough sense to roll over on my back and throw my legs up to stop him from coming down on me and finishing me off right then and there. I rack my claw across this throat as he run his paw across my arm that is causing him pain.
I can smell his breath as each snapped his powerful jaws come down inches from my face and neck every time he dives down on me from his superior position. We wrestle with each other, scratching and clawing at each other just waiting for the other to make a single mistake that could cause the other to lose their life.
Deeproot looks down on me with hate burning in his eyes. It was clear that I wasn’t on the top of his friends to come over and watch a hoofball game list since I refused to roll over and die. And like every other bad guy does when they feel that they have the upper hand… they taunt.
“You fought better than I thought you would mutt, but this is where you shall die,” Deeproot says in between snaps at my muzzle. “I will kill you, gather my kind, we will storm that pathetic pony pack and kill every last one of them. I will personally kill that small pony cub and that rat. Then I will enjoy that bitch before I put it down like I did its master.” Deeproot glares into my eyes seeming to take enjoyment at my anger at what he was saying.
I keep fighting against him, keeping away every fatal strike that comes my way but even with my life only inches from being taken all I can think about is what he said. Deeproot gathering his pack and attacking the town, killing everyone I love in it. I feel my hate growing more and more. He wants to take away what I treasure, the ponies I care about, and he wants to take them all from me. I won’t let him; I won’t let anything hurt the ones I care about. There is no way In Tartarus I will allow that. I am Spike, I may be a dog but I AM ALSO A DRAGON!
That was when I felt it, my fire; my fire was burning bright inside of me to protect the things I see as important to me. This caused me a grin to form on my face as I then started to laugh as I was keeping Deeproot from taking a chunk out of my neck yet again.
“What is so funny beta male? Is the fear of dying so strong it has driven you insane? Pathetic.” Deeproot says with disgust in his voice.
“Oh no Deepsuck, I am not laughing because of that. I am laughing because I am about to show you a trick that just ‘burn’you up and I call it ‘fire bending’!!... No no that’s stupid, hmm whatever I’ll name it later.” I say as I let go of my inner fire but to my surprise it didn’t go shooting out of my mouth like last time or when I was a dragon.
Instead my whole mouth caught on fire, it didn’t burn me however but I could see the fire flowing from my jaw. I could also see the shocked, confused, and terrified expression on Deeproot’s face.
Deciding not to miss my chance I force my head up and bite down with as much force as I could muster right on Deeproot’s throat. I felt him try to shake me but my bite was too hard and my teeth cut into his wood body like butter. He screamed as my bite was crushing the wood of his throat. The biggest issue for him was the fact my fire was slowly spreading on his body. I could feel the heat of my green fire start to travel all over his body. I let go of his neck but just wanted to be safe I jumped on top of his thrashing boy and bit down on the top of his neck and dragged him to the ground.
I watch as the flames spread till they bathed his whole body and the wood around his throat were completely destroyed. But I think the thing that will haunt me forever will be looking into his eyes and seeing fear, fear of dying. Then I watch as the glow from his eyes faded till there was nothing left but a pile of burning wood.
I did it, I won, and I killed Deeproot. Killed. I killed something, no matter if he was a giant wooden asshole he was still alive and I killed him. And for some reason I just knew it, I just KNEW it, he wouldn’t be reforming and coming back like I have seen them do before. My guess is because dragon fire is magic by default it stopped whatever spell let them come back.
I can’t just sit here all day and watch a pile of wood burn. My body is covered in wounds and some of them are pretty deep. If I don’t get some medical attention soon I don’t think I will make it. I force myself up which is far from easy considering Deepbitch tried to tear one of my leg off and fucked up both of my forearms during our little struggle.
As I go limping back towards the direction of town I could feel my blood pouring from my legs, back, and face. I can’t smell a thing other than my own blood. My eyesight is starting to get blurry. The only thing I can make out is a little golden ball of light coming barreling at me.
“Big Bro…” I hear a sound coming from the direction of the ball of light but can’t make out what it is.
“Big Bro” I hear it slightly louder this time but still can’t quite make it out. By this time I can’t walk anymore and I collapse right there on the cold grass.
“Big Bro!” I grin when I finally figure out what I was hearing and see who it was that has been calling out this whole time. As well as lavender blob that is running behind the golden ball.
I only have enough energy to say one thing before I pass out.
“You are getting two bags of seeds” Then everything goes dark.
Well I know I am not in dead, the dead don’t feel pain so I guess that is a plus. All of my limbs are throbbing with pain; my back is killing me, not to mention there is all this bucking noise all round me so I can’t rest. So all in all it is still better than being timberwolf shit right now. But I am still very cranky and whoever is making all that noise is who I am going to take my discomfort out on.
“Whoever is making all that noise I swear I will beat you harder than a fifteen year old does his own junk.” After my colorful commentary I decided to try to open my eyes to see who is the one refusing to let me sleep.
Oh course when I finally get my eyes open I see that I am in Fluttershys cottage with the poor girl looking slightly confused at my comment. I thank Celestia that she is so dense when it comes to things like sex. It does make me wonder if she will be like some 40-year old virgin if she stays like this. She already has the cats…and dogs, bunny, birds, hell even a bear.
“S-sorry Spike… Spike! Oh I am so happy you are awake. We have all been so worried about you.”Fluttershy says slightly hysterically as she runs over and hugs me. I would be happy to have a mare hugging all over me if it didn’t cause me so much pain to have her do it.
I wanted to ask her to let go but I didn’t have the heart too, especially after my little comment I made before I opened my eyes. I lift up my leg and go to wrap them around her to return the hug. I see my arms are wrapped in green bandages while I look down and see my torso is wrapped with in red bandaged with yellow clips holding them together.
“Yeah, thanks Shy. There is no way I would go down from that four legged toothpick and leave you girls alone. I mean who would be the pretty one of the group then.” That got Shy to chuckle as she removed herself from her hug.
“Please tell me that Applebloom, Winona, and that Jackalope got away to safety?” The concern in my voice and face was as clear as Pinkie is crazy.
“Don’t worry Spike they are fine. They were able to make it back to the farm and Peewee was able to make it to get Twilight just in time. If you were left out there bleeding out even you wouldn’t have made it out alive.” That final comment clearly hurt Shy to even consider one of her few dear friends dying out in the middle of the woods.
“Well it is a good thing I have such good friends to come and give me a hoof when I need it and can patch me up when I decide to play a game of tag with a timberwolf.” I tell her showing her the biggest grin I can muster trying to relieve her mood. I see a slight blush form on Fluttershy’s cheeks at my compliment.
“O-oh no I didn’t really do anything anyone else wouldn’t have done if they saw a friend in trouble.” She says as she then found the floor to be the most interesting in the world.
“Don’t sell yourself short Shy. Who else in town has the knowledge and skill to patch up a dragon dog as good as new,” I lift my head up and start to stroke my chin. “Hmm I can think of only one pink hair mare that can do such a thing.” I say as I give her a smile. We both break out into laughter as I then heard a bunch of hooves stomping up the stairs.
The door swung open to reveal all of the girls, the CMC, and Peewee all standing in the hallway with looks of shock and happiness from my resurrection. Twilight was the first one to move as she pushed past everyone and ran into the room. She jumped on the bed and wrapped her arms around my neck.
It was painful to have her crash into me like that but the pain was dwarfed by me seeing her burying her face into my bandage chest. When the she started to soak my bandages with her tears, I knew the little pain I felt was nothing compared to the need to comfort her. I then wrapped my bandage legs around her and pulled her closer to me to try to give her some feeling of safety.
“S-Spike, I am so glad to see you are okay. We were so worried about you. When I found you in the forest and you were covered in cuts and bleeding so much. I-I…” She couldn’t even finish her statement as she then started to sob even harder at the memory.
“Hey, hey it is fine Twilight. I am fine. What matters is you did find me and helped me. You don’t have to worry anymore I am safe,” I start to run my paws in her mane as I looked around the room. “You brought me to our own little white mage here and she used a phoenix down on me and got me as good as new.” That time I had to shake my head at what has to be one of my nerdiest comments I have ever said.
Almost all the girls, and one phoenix, had a shared look of confusion on their face about what I was talking about. To my surprise not everyone was lost to my reference as Rainbow Dash, Scoots and even more shocking Twilight all looked with eyes of amusement at what I said.
“I get it.” All three of them in unison as I couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing. But with each laugh a sharp pain would shoot through me body.
“Ha *ouch* ha, I-It.. It hurts to laugh. Ha” I say as I hold my side with one paw and wipe tears from my side. Twilight looked happy that I was able to laugh and seemed okay so she let me go and walked over the girls.
The next one to walk up to the bed was Applejack. Once she got next to me she took off her hat and placed it against her chest with her head down. She seemed to be remorseful that I ended up in this state due to her sister.
“Spike I just want to say thank ya so much for saving my sis and Winona from that varmint. I don’t know what I would have done if I would have lost ether one of’em or you.” I could see her doing her best to hold in her tears.
Everyone thinks of AJ as this unshakable mare that nothing can ever get to her. I realized a long time ago that isn’t the case. She is strong that much is true but she cares a lot about her family. AJ worries about them all the time and wants them to be safe. So the idea that she could have lost two of them must be terrifying to her. As I look at her trying to hold back her tears I decided she doesn’t need to pretend with us, her friends. I then lean over and pull her into the bed and pull her into a hug.
“It is okay AJ. Bloom, Winona, and I are safe. We are not going to leave you any time soon. You are stuck with us.” I tell her as I pat her on the back while I rest her head on my shoulder.
This was enough to break the dam as I then felt her start to sob lightly and began to squeeze me in her arms. I started to regret trying to be cool right now as I felt her almost break me in half with her crazy strength.
“Thank ya sugarcube. Thank ya for bringing my family back to me” She said as she was sniffling trying to get back her composer. I let her out of my legs and she did the same, whipping her eyes as he pulled her hat down to cover her red shot eyes. Even when we have a touching moment she has to try to keep up her appearance.
Once she walked back to the others I notice three little fillies slowly walk over to me. It was clear that they all have been crying before it the puffy eyes and red noises were any signs. While Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were looking at me with smiles on their faces Applebloom wouldn’t look up at me.
“Go on Bloom.” Scoot said as she pushed Applebloom to the forefront of the trio.
“S-Spike… I just wanta tellya I am sorry. I am sorry for almost getting all of us really badly hurt by that big bad timberwolf,” she started to tear up again and it was kinda breaking my heart. I would have saved her no matter what. “I was out there because I was following that Jacka-whatever after I found him on our property. But before I knew it me and Winona were in the Everfree and that timberwolf came out of nowhere.” She confessed her reason for being out there while the tears run down her face.
I reach over and started to pat her on the head. She flinched when I first started to pet her. Bloom them looked up at me with puppy dog eyes that beat mine out tenfold. All I could do was give her a smile.
“Bloom it is fine, it was no one’s fault that it happened. I am happy this happen, if me not being hurt means you would have been, I would happily have fought ten of those walking planks and beat them all…. But don’t you try to test that!” I tell her trying to keep her from trying to set me up with a fight against a whole pack of timberwolves.
My sudden panic causes the young filly to giggle. She seems to be comforted by my words as she started to smile like Celestia just gave her a cutie mark personally.
Now that the tension was gone, Sweetie and Scoots ran up next to their friend and both had grins on their faces as well. I may have just taken down an Alpha class timberwolf alone but looking at those three was terrifying.
“Now since that has been taken care off. We want to reward you, Spike, for saving one of our Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Sweetie said as she started to jump up and down.
“That is why we would like to give you this,” Scoot held out in her hoof, a metal that was black with a large yellow ‘S’ in it. “With this you are now the honorary hero of the CMC!” Scoot shouted as the all through their forelegs in the air.
“It was close between giving it to you or Dash but with your recent action you earned it… barely.” Scoot just had to tack that on to try to appease her hero.
“Thanks girls, this really means a lot,” I take the metal and clip it on to my bandages around my chest. “Hey Dash check it out I beat you in something. You will need to become 50% cooler to beat me now.” I stick out my chest and point the medal on my chest.
This raised a laugh out of everyone in the room, all but one skittle haired mare that was now floating with her arms crossed and a slightly bugged look on her face. But it didn’t last.
“Ha ha good one, and it only took you almost being killed by a bunch of tree bark to do it. But for real good job there Spike, That wolf better just be lucky I wasn’t there or I would have took it down with a wing tied behind my back.” Dash shows her combat skills by throwing jabs in the air.
“Oh I am sure you would have showed him who is in charge. You can do it by giving him heartburn as he is using your feather as a toothpick.” These comments seem to make Dash flinch slightly at the idea of being eaten by the wolf…. Wow that just took my mind to the gutter really quickly.
“Hush now darling, Spike here is a hero for saving two young damsels in distress valiantly.” Rarity comes to my defense. It always makes me happy when she shows me extra attention and doesn’t treat me like a background character. I will show her that I am hero of this story one day.
“You are right Rarity! Spikey here is a hero and heroes get a party. A ‘Spike is a hero for beating the mean old timberwolf and saving Applebloom and Winona’. OH OH we also have to have a party for Spike becoming a dog a ‘Welcome to being a dog Spike’ party as well.” Pinkie shouts at the top of her lungs as she throws her forelegs in the air to show how epic these parties will be.
“I think first we need to let little Spike here rest. Here I brought you one of my extra sleep masks. I figure you having to say here overnight you might have problems falling asleep somewhere that isn’t home.” Rarity stated as she used her magic to drop a black and white sleeping mask on my lap.
“Thanks Rarity I will make sure I use it tonight.” I tell her as I hold it in my paws.
“Hey big bro I knew I had nothing to worry about with you fighting that big dumb tree stump.” Peewee chirped as he flew and landed on top of my head.
This caused me to laugh. Knowing him I bet Peewee really did think there was no way I could lose even though I came so close to dying so many times during that fight.
“Well of course I would win the heroes can’t go down that easy now can they.” I tell him to raise his spirit, not having the heart to tell him that any moment during the fight if I slipped up once I would have been used to feed that ‘Forest Mother’ Deeproot kept talking about. It took me a moment to notice that all the girls in the room besides Twilight looked at me like I was running around with my forelegs sticking out as I make whooshing noise with my mouth.
“Huh Twi why is Spike talking to himself? Did he hit his head harder than we thought?” Dash says as she leans over trying to whisper into Twilight’s ear.
She then shakes her head no as she then informs every one of my new skill. “No Dash, You see Spike can now talk to animals.” Twilight tells them all not aware of how that would make Fluttershy’s eyes bulge out of her head.
“YOU CAN TALK TO ANIMALS!!!” To everyone surprise Fluttershy shouted as she then come right up into my face.
“Y-yea. It seems I can talk to any animal.” I say slightly taken back by this newly aggressive Fluttershy.
“What do they say? How do they sound? Do they speak like us? Who have you talked to so far?” Fluttershy started asking question after question to me. I couldn’t keep up with all her requests. I let out a large yawn. I wasn’t trying to be rude but I was still recovering and was still tired. It looked like Fluttershy notice this and started to blush how forward she was being with me.
“Everyone I think we need to let Spike get some sleep. He should be okay by tomorrow but for now he needs to rest. Do you mind if I talk to you about your gift tomorrow Spike?”Fluttershy asked still blushing over how she was before but still looking very eager to talk to me in the morning.
“Sure Shy, have no problem with that at all. I will see you all tomorrow.” I tell them as they all walk out the door waving and saying their goodbyes. I take the mask and put it on my face.
I am happy she gave me a present but that ‘little’ comment kinda bugged me a little. I’ll just count that as a slip from how I use to be in fact little. I am just happy that I was able to help those two out and no one was hurt… well no one but me. As I slowly drifted off to sleep little did I know that I was going to have a rough night ahead of me.
I lay there trying to get some rest from the long tiring experience I have just gone through. My sleep was not sound for every time I started to drift off I would see Deeproot’s face as he died by my paws. The look in his eyes as the life slowly left his body while my flames engulf him. When he looked at me I could feel a shiver ran up my spin. Did I become the monster I have been fighting for years?
I started pondering what would the girls think and say when they find out what happen. I know they will be terrified of me. Killing is not something that is a normal occurrence here. The only things that kill normally are predatory animals for meals and the very rare dragon attack. So any time a sentient being kills something it is looked at with disgust.
Sure they will try to put an understanding light on it to try to protect me. They will tell me that I had no chose and he was going to kill us all if given the chance. Even with that logical reasoning I fear that they will be scared of me or start seeing me as a wild animal. Man I don’t know what would be worse.
As I sigh and lay deeper into the bed it made me think what would Fluttershy say when she finds out. She never hated or even disliked timberwolves. Shy just saw them as another animal, a very scary and dangerous animal, but an animal none the less. It almost breaks my heart to see the look of pure terror on her face as she looks at me. This is the last thing I wanted from any of them; I don’t want them to see me as a killer.
My inner turmoil was ended when I felt a force slam down on my chest. I couldn’t tell what it was but whatever it was had fury feet and wasn’t that heavy as it rested on my chest now. As I slowly open my eyes and remove the sleeping mask I say Fluttershy’s main pet a bunny named Angel standing on my chest with a carrot handing out of his mouth.
Angel was the traditional bunny in almost every way. He had white cute, big buck teeth, long ears, bushy tails, Eyes of a little devil with the soul purpose of making my life a living hell
I have always figured he hated me for my little pet sitting miss hap before. I could understand him being alittle pissed about all of that but it felt like he hated me for it. Whenever I would come over to help Shy Angel would come and kick my leg or throw a carrot at my head. For a bunny he has great aim.
“Who are you and why are you in my master’s den?” Angel growls out with pure venom spilling with each word.
“Angel it is me Spike. Some things happen and I am now a dog. It is nice to see you again.” I tell him with a friendly tone. I hope this is just him being protective of Shy. I mean I am not what one would call too normal looking. Even though I think I pull off the whole canine look pretty well.
This seems to throw Angel slightly as he looked at me like I grew a second head. But as he looked me over it seemed that he started to notice the similarities between this me and my dragon form.
“So you are that green lizard that master thought could watch me before, huh?” Angel says with a smug attitude as he bit into his carrot.
I don’t like being called a lizard one bit. Even if I am not a dragon anymore it still rubbed me the wrong way and to have a bunny looking down on me didn’t sit right with me at all. Now that I think about it why am I letting him still stand on my chest?
I started to roll over so I can get up from my sleep possession I toss Angel off of me over to the other side of the bed. He popped up clearly pissed that I just flung him off of me. To be frank I didn’t really care I could tell that even being able to talk directly to him he still had an attitude problem.
“Yea that is me and the name is Spike.” I tell him as I watch Angel pull himself up from being removed off of me. I couldn’t help but grin at the irritated look that grew on his face.
“So what are you doing here flee bag? Besides making one of my master’s rooms stink.” Angel spits out as while he picks up his carrot and put it back into his mouth and continue to eat it.
“I got into a fight with a timberwolf and had to get Shy to patch me up.” I point to the bandages on my body to illustrate my point.
“You couldn’t take one little wood doggy without being hurt this that extent. Some big bad dragon you are.” Angel says with sarcasm in every word as he rolls his eyes at me while he crosses his forelegs.
“This is coming from someone that wouldn’t have even been able to take it down at all. You would have just been a white puff in some timberwolf crap right now.” I say as get down to Angel’s eye level and gave a big toothy grin.
My comment seemed to not affect the bunny at all. He just kept eating his carrot while meeting my gaze in full force. What happen next I really should have saw coming but I was too irate by the white furball to think things through. After he ate his carrot down to the nub he took and spit it right at my face. It hit me smack dead on the forehead.
Now normally I would have been annoyed by that but would have passed it off as Angel being Angel but being able to talk to him made it so much worse for some reason. I lifted my head up and started to rub the red spot on my forehead as I look down at the little bunny that just assaulted me. Angel had a shit eating grin on his face this time and that really bugged me.
I took and put my paw right in front of him and gave him a small flick with my claw. Not enough to hurt him mind you just to take him off his paws. He took and tumbled down to the end of the bed. Angel shot up from his little tumble and shot me a death clear. But I couldn’t take it seriously because right in the center of his pristine white forehead was a red bump on it much like mind.
I started to laugh at the current condition of Angel. As I was bellowing over cracking up at the Angel came up with a way to pay me back for my treatment of him. If I would have been paying attention I would have saw that Angel was no longer on the bed.
The next thing I knew a thick book came flying through the air and crashed right into my snout. It was like playing brick catch with my face and I was the undisputed champion. Luckily it didn’t cause a nose bleed or anything but it did make my whole snout red as Fluttershy was that one time she and the girls watch that movie ‘Magic Michel’ during one of their sleepovers.
I heard laughing coming from the other end of the room as I looked up I saw Angel standing in front of the bookcase in the room. Once he saw me glaring at him with pure hate in my eye he decided it was time to make his exit and he hoped out of the room. The only thing I could think was…. ‘Of course you realize this means war.”
I stand up from the bed, which to pleasant surprise my legs didn’t hurt anymore. Must be a dragon thing, I seem to heal much faster than a normal dog. This could come very much in handy living in this crazy town.
As I poke my head I see that none of the lights are one and I don’t hear any movement. I listen closely and I can hear low deep breathing down the hall in Fluttershy’s room. ‘Good she must be sleep.’ I thought as I crept out into the hall. I wouldn’t want her to be awake when I throttle that long eared dick.
Slowly I walk down the stairs; I see the floor littered with sleeping animals all over. Man it always takes me back just how many animals Shy takes care of. There must be at least 20 different animals sprawled out across her living room and these are just the ones that live here. I think Celestia need to just give Shy a sainthood or something because no one else I know would be this kind. Guess she lives up to her element and then some.
I then heard some raddling in the kitchen and I just knew it had to be that little fur ball in there. Slowly I crept past all of the sleeping animals when I heard a noise behind me. I turn around and see a frog sitting on the window seal. It was just a normal everyday frog but for some reason he had a can and top hat next to him. I dismissed it and was about to go on my way when I notice the frog jump up on his hind legs and put the top hat on and grab the can. He starts to do high kicks as he began to sing.
“"Hello! ma baby,
Hello! ma honey, Hello! ma ragtime gal,
Send me a kiss by wire, Baby my heart's on fire! If you refuse me, Honey, you'll lose me, Then you'll be left alone; oh baby, Telephone and tell me I'se your own,”
Then just as quickly as he started he stopped and dropped back down to all fours and just started to crock like a normal frog. I-I didn’t know what to say. All I did was stand up with my mouth open and looked around the room gesturing to the frog hoping someone else saw what I just did. I then just decided it to count it as a Pinkie level phenomenon and kept on my way to the kitchen.
Slowly I strolled in the kitchen, on the hut for the pesky rabbit. I looked all around and didn’t see him anywhere but I could smell that his scent was still fresh. The only problem was his sent was everywhere so I couldn’t pin point his location.
“Angel…. Where are you? I am not made at you I just want to talk.” I whisper out trying to lure him out of whatever whole he is hiding in.
I hear some raddling over by lower cupboard under the sink. Smiling I drop down low as I can to the floor as I inch my way closer and closer to the source of the noise. Once I reached it I got ready to pounce as I rose to my hind legs and while I yanked the door open.
“Gotcha!!” I yell as I lunged at the cupboard.
Angel was waiting for me and squeezed liquid soap in my eyes. I don’t need to say just how much that STUNG! I yelp as it started to wipe the soap out of my eyes. As I franticly attempt to clean my eyes Angel lunged at me full force and hit me with both back legs dead center in my chest.
The blow knocked the air out of me but I didn’t say down long as I had to get the soap out of my eyes. I jumped up and ran to the sink and started to rinse my face off. As I kept my head buried under the stream of water I heard Angel laughing on the counter next to me. He was rolling around like it was the funniest thing he has ever seen.
Once I got enough soap out of my eyes to see I quickly reached my paw out and grabbed Angel by the ears. He was less than happy with that.
“Looks like the little bunny missed his bath time” I say as a wicked grin stretched across my water logged face.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Angel looked like he wanted to kick my head clean off my shoulders as he tried to wiggle out my grip.
“Then tell me do you feel lucky punk. Well …do ya.” I then take and dunk Angel under the water. I dunked him nowhere near long enough to drown him or anything just to make him wet like me over and over. I didn’t count on how resourceful he is for when I went back for my third dunk he twisted his body so he was able to make it to the corner of the sink. He then kick the bare of soap out of its tray into the air, Angel kicked the bar hard sending it flying at my head hitting again in the forehead. I swear this bunny must have been a mage sniper or something in a past life with this kind of deadly aim.
I fell back from the blow to the head, I let go of Angel as we both went falling to the floor. Once we both regain our composer we scurried around looking for something else to use. I picked up a rolling pin from the counter while Angel jumped up and grabbed a wooden spoon from on top of the table.
I turned around and swung at the bunny with my baking weapon. Angel was able to leap over it with his impressive jumping skills and started to come down with the spoon ready to strike me like he as a grandmother disciplining a bad foal.
Luckily enough I had enough time to raise the pin and block his strike. I lunged the rolling pin at Angel as he used the spoon to parry my attack redirecting it away from him. He then jumped over the counter to get better leverage against me.
There we went blow for blow with our weapons. If anyone was there they would have spoken of our battle for it was legendary. Every stroke I threw at Angel he masterfully dodges it with jumps and flips.
Every time he would maneuver out of the way from my much larger attacks he would counter with precision strikes of his own. It was only thanks to my dragon instincts and reflex time that I was barely able to stop his strikes.
Angel would use everything around him at his disposal as a weapon to make up for his lack of size and strength. He jumped on a bag of flour making a cloud blocking my vision. The next thing I knew Angel came flying through the cloud the only thing I could see were the black of his eyes and the pink of his nose in the white cloud.
How long our battle of the millennium lasted was lost to me, I was getting tired and so was he. It was clear we were reaching the end of our struggle. I ran towards him and tried to overpower him and win our duel but Angel was ready for me and jumped as high as he could clear out of my line of sight.
I looked around to see where he landed but he was nowhere to be seen. That was when I put it together that he hasn’t landed yet I quickly looked up to see him hanging from the ceiling fan. He then shot down like a magic bolt straight down at me. I got ready to counter his lighting fast strike.
Once he came into range our weapons collided together with a wooden thumb. To both surprise our weapons give way and shatter under our force. Without our tools Angel came flying right at me and he crash right into me. Our forehead bang against each other and we go falling to the floor. We both lay there breathing heavy, wet, tired and just plain spent. Angel was the first of us to get up and we walked over the fridge. He grabs what looked to be a carrot juice and a Yoo-Hoo. To my shock he tossed the Yoo-Hoo at me. I grin and sat at the table with Angel as we drink our beverages.
*Phew “That exculpated quickly. I mean that really got out of hand.” I say as I take a swig of my chocolate milk
“That jumped up a notch.” Angel leans back in his seat which is too big for him and whip carrot juice from his mouth.
“It did didn’t it.” I say as I put the cold drink up against my forehead.
“I was hanging from the ceiling fan.” Angel has a smile on his face as the feat he did.
“I saw that.” I grin remembering my surprise at the white lightning bolt coming down at me.
Angel give a long sigh as the then look back to me. He seems to have a content look to him as he struggles but seat his drink on the table.
“You’re not bad Spike.” I get the feeling that him saying this is a big honor and he hasn’t said this to many animals around here at all.
“You’re not so bad yourself” I smile at the little warrior. Man I am happy Angel isn’t a bigger animal or he would have beat me like a foal that called their mother fat.
“So do you think we should clean up before Shy wakes up?” As I say this I this I see Angel’s eye grow big and for the first time tonight I see fear in his eyes.
*Sigh* “Fluttershy is behind me isn’t she?” I ask already knowing the answer. Sometime I feel like I live in a bad cartoon sometime. I watch as Angel shack his head up and down and hops off the table then take off running.
I turn around and see a very angry Fluttershy looking down at me with those disappointed mom eyes I haven’t seen since I was a hatchling and I colored all over the main hall of the castle. Only one thing I could think to do at the moment. I extended my paw with the drink in it and ask
The scolding I got from Fluttershy was still ringing in my ear as I strolled through the streets that afternoon. After she told Angel and myself off for wrecking her kitchen with our ‘rough housing’ she made us clean every inch of the kitchen till it shinned more than a bald stallion’s head in the summer sun.
Normally cleaning would have been a simple task for me to compete without much stress. But this time every five minutes Shy would come in with a different animal and had me act as translator for her so she could understand what they were saying. I really didn’t mind helping Shy considering I just had a legendary battle in the middle of her kitchen with her pet bunny. That still sounds weird.
Most of the conversations between Shy and the animals where normal everyday stuff anyone would talk about. Some would ask for more food, others would give her advice for dealing with their kind. But there are always the ones that have to be really unique problems.
There was one deer couple that was having relationship problems. The issue was, and get this, the buck kept trying to stick it in her ear. I almost chocked laughing when I heard this, even Shy with her goddess level kindness and compassion had to bite her lip to stifle the laughter that was building in her.
I swear I almost passed out when he looked me dead in the face and was like, “What? All the kids are doing it.” This time I didn’t even need Shy to fix this. I first told him just no, no kids are sticking their dicks in each other’s ear. For real, we would have a bunch of deaf black bears running around if that was true. Which then he told me the ‘new’ saying. “Once you go black bear, you go deaf.”
Had to admit I did laugh a little at that one. But then I decided to talk up his doe, telling him how beautiful she is. I complimented her coat, her eyes, her muzzle, her great physic I told him he would have to be nuts to not want to mate with her and have some fawns with her. I figured it worked because he just nodded and told her to come along, what took me by surprise was before she left out the door she turned around blushing and gave me wink.
I spend the whole morning cleaning and helping Shy talk to her animals. She was so ecstatic from the fact that she now could hold conversations with her animals and speak to them as equals. Once we had the last counseling secession with the woodland critters I said my good byes and went on my way.
My stroll through town was far warmer than it has before. This time everyone knew who I was and said their hellos as well as giving me praise for protecting Apple bloom from the timberwolf the day before. Looks like the CMC and Pinkie made sure to spread the word about my heroic deeds throughout the whole town.
This reminded me of when I saved the Crystal Empire and became their savoir. They were so happy for me I thought they would build a statue of me out of crystal. But I mean come one, what would be the chances they would do that. Never less it did make me happy to have their eye. It wasn’t the praise that I like the most. It was the fact that for once I was in the forefront and not standing in the shadows like I usually do.
Once I reached the center of town I had to decide what I wanted to do for today. I could go to the library. Going back home though would probably mean straightening it up and fixing the mess that I know accumulated over my recovery. Yeah I think not, I would much rather take advantage of my now day off.
I see the Carousel Boutique out in the distance. This puts a smile on my face .Now that I think about I haven’t spent time with the Rarity in what felt like forever. Spending the day assisting her with making her works of art would be a great way for me use a free day.
I arrive at the door to the Boutique about to enter when I was greeted by the pleasant scent of Rarity. This is one of those moments when I am glad to be a dog. With her perfume filling my nose, I walk into the shop with a drunken smile on my face. As the door opens I hear chime go off for me once again. I don’t know how many times I have heard that cling over the 3 years we have lived here but every time it makes me smile knowing an angel will soon be appearing.
I hear from the other room sweet voice sing out from the other room.
“Coming”
Then she appears looking as stunning as ever. I could spend hours just sitting here describing her and how beautiful she is but luckily she stops my train of thought. Good thing to I started thinking about carrying around a gold heart shape locket with her picture in it, I know if I did that I would be all ‘Oh Rarity’ and recite poetry to it. That wouldn’t have been pretty and I would have needed to get some help.
“Oh hello Spikey. How are you doing this lovely day?” She asks me as we walks farther into the room.
“I am quite fine Lady Rarity. I have come to assist you with your dresses today and enjoy your company.” I tell her as I give her a proper high society bow.
“Oh my, what a gentledrake… uh dog,” She tries to catch herself cutely trying to spare my feelings. “I would very much like your company Spike but I must run out and do some errands this afternoon. I should only take me an hour but you are more than welcome to relax here while I make my runs. I am sure you could use the rest after the day you had yesterday.” Rarity walks over to her hat rack and put on this large overly dainty looking sun hat.
“Someone is living up to their element today huh,” we both laugh at the comment as I move towards the carpet in front of her couch and she headed for the door. “Sure Rarity I will wait here for your return and then we can bring some of your amazing creations in to life.” I give her my trademark grin as she smiles back.
“Can’t wait, See you soon Spike.” Rarity walked out the door and I lay down, basking in the smell of her perfume that is still flowing in the air.
I drifted off to sleep dreaming of Rarity as we enjoying each other’s company and the fun we would have together. During my sleep I heard small paw steps on the carpeted floor. Lifting my head up I started to look around to see a white ball of fur hop on the couch. It had a face of pure I don’t care written all over it.
It was Rarity’s pet cat Opalescence or to most we just call her Opal. She was a Persian cat with white fur. Opal had a purple ribbon on the top of her head and a purple collar with jewels on it.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” She asks me not with hostility but more one the lines of a forced interest. Like it was she had to ask.
“Hello Opal, it is me Spike. Remember the dragon that watched you for that one afternoon and that is always over here helping with Rarity.” I life my head up from my resting spot and give the feline a genuine smile.
“You’re that dragon that dragged me all around town and would keep stepping on my tail as he ran round my home like he had no sense.” Opal lifted up her eyebrow as she looked at me with a less then amused look on her face.
“Yea sorry about all of that Opal,” I cringe a little as I slump my shoulders and rub the back of my head. “I wasn’t the best sitter and I wasn’t used to assisting Rarity back then so I kept making mistakes.” I bow down slightly to try to appease the cat.
“Just don’t do it again,” Opal lies down across the cushions and relaxed more that I groveled to her. “So tell me why would you want to become something as atrocious as a dog?” I never thought the whole dog/cat hate thing was real but it turns out it is. Unless Opal just doesn’t like dogs.
“It is a long story but the short version is magic portal.” I smile when I see that she looked happy that I decided to tell her the condensed version of my origin story.
“Fair enough. Tell me then what are you doing here?” It is clear she is just making small talk as she doesn’t really seem to care why I am here.
“I am just here to spend some time with Rarity and help her around the shop.” I couldn’t hold back and I start to grin like a loving idiot at the idea of spending time with Rarity.
*sigh* “Great now I will have to deal with her crying all night.” Opal started to wear a very irritated look on her face. That comment got me to spring right up and go over to her. My sudden rush over to her seem to startled her as she jumped up and started sitting on her hind legs.
“What do you mean she will be crying? Why would me spending the day with her make her so sad.” I get right up in Opal face where my muzzle is inches away from hers. Opal does not like this one bit as the takes her paws and pushes my head away from her.
“Whenever you come over here and offer your help she does that. The second you leave she becomes depressed then starts to sob. She will say things like ‘I am sorry Spike, I don’t mean to lead you on but I just don’t feel the same way about you. I care about you dearly but just not that way. I am afraid to tell you because I don’t want to lose you, you are one if not the best friend I have ever had.’ Then she sits up and cries all night saying variations of that and forgets to feed me.” The last part seems to piss the cat off the most.
I-I was shaken to the very core. Not only did I find out I don’t have a shot with the mare of my dreams. But my affections are causing her pain, the one thing I promise to never do. I just stare off into space not moving an inch. My heart is broken but it has also been slowly poisoning the one I loved.
As I feel the tears start to build in my eyes I hear the lock on the door start to be undone. It was Rarity She is back I can’t have her see me cry, how do I face her knowing what I know now. She doesn’t love me and she never will. Admitting that hurt every time much worse than any damage Deeproot had inflicted on me.
As she slowly walked in I was able to keep the tears from falling. I keep my back to her trying to gather myself. Seeing her is going to hurt so much my heart is aching just thinking about looking at here but there is one thing I know I must do. “Hello Spikey, I hope you weren’t too bored by yourself.” Rarity walks over to my turned back and sits her bags down.
*Deep breath* “Not at all Rarity. Opal kept me company the whole time.” I say giving her my trademark grin. It hurt every second I kept the smile but I have to do this.
“Oh that is great to hear darling. Do you want me to make you something to eat as an I’m sorry for having to make you wait?” Seeing those beautiful eyes and that dazzling smile knowing that they will never look at me with the same love I have for her made my heart feel like it was being squeezed in a vice, slowly constricting squeezing everything out of me. But this is something I must do for her as my final act of love to her.
“No thanks Rarity, I am not hungry. But I know when I use to have a crush on you I would have jumped at the chance to have you cook for me.” I laugh… I so wish this laugh was me screaming away my pain. I finally confess to the love of my life and it is me dismissing it and acting like it is old news while in truth that very flame is burning my alive right now.
My comment seems to completely thrown Rarity off her game. She didn’t know what to do or think. She was so confused that I admitted my feeling for her but instead of me making it where she had to crush my heart she heard me talk about my feeling like they are a thing of past. I must keep going; I must bury this so she can be happy.
“What? Are you telling me you didn’t notice I had a huge crush on you when I first got here Rarity,” I walk over to her using all of my will to keep my legs from shacking from under me. “I mean let’s face it I was really bad at hiding you. I even tried to confess to you before during my birthday remember?” I kept the smile going. It felt like I had needles keeping my lips up so try to free her of the guilt she has been drowning in this whole time.
“I-I did notice Spike. But do you mean you are not infatuated with me anymore?” She asked not able to hide the hope in her voice. That hope crushed my heart. She was hoping I didn’t love her anymore.
“I've got over that childish crush Rarity. I do like our little dynamic we have so I kept up the ‘my lady’ thing since it made me feel like a knight,” I chuckle. “Don’t get me wrong I still love you Rarity but as a friend. I will always love you in that way. And besides it wouldn’t have worked out anyway. You couldn’t handle all of this sexiness.” I then place my paw to my rear and make a sizzling noise.
“O-of course I couldn’t Spike,” She mutters out covering her mouth as she laughs at my antics. I never thought that the beautiful laugh I loved to hear would scratch and tear at my heart like it is doing now. “But I do know that whoever wins your heart will be the luckiest girl in all Equestria.” She looks down on me smiling like ten tons have been lifted from her haunches.
“Soo darling is there a mare that you have your eyes on right now.” She leans over and grasps my front paws. As she holds them all that runs through my mind is all the time and love I spent with her and how none of that could lead her heart to mine.
“No pony at the moment. I want to play the dating pool around a little before I try to settle down. I mean I can’t go locking all of this,” I jester up and own my body. I have to put her heart and mind at ease. Even if each second I do this is like nails on a chalkboard to my own heart. “I have some time to make up for and I plan to do that.”
“Quite right. I don’t have any work due darling do you just want to hang out for a while?” She asked me as she goes to sit down next to Opal who hasn’t paid us any attention.
“That sounds nice and all but I really should be getting home. I stop by to see you and haven’t gone to see Twilight yet.” I start on my way to the door.
“I understand Spike, it was nice having you stop by,” She walks me to the door. Before I could leave out she pulled me into a hug. I would always love her hugs but this one hurt so much I had to bit my lip to keep from letting all these bottled up emotions pour out right here. “Thank you Spike. Thank you for always being there for me and being my best friend. I would never want to lose you.”
“Come on Rarity you couldn’t lose me. You are one of my dear friends and I would do anything to make sure you are happy.” I pull out of her hug and give the first honest smile since she came home. If it is for Rarity I would shatter my own heart to make sure she can be happy. I walk out the door onto the busy street. I turn back to wave at her as she stands in the doorway. She waves back with a smile plastered on her face.
I start walking home. Everything around me just seems like a blur. Nothing right matters to me for I have done it. I cut the last string connecting any chance I have to be more than just a friend to Rarity. I am not so naive I didn’t considered that she wouldn’t return my feel but that doesn’t change the fact that it hurt to have it confirmed. And out of fear of hurting me she made herself suffer just because she did care about me in a different way.
I walk right past the library and keep going down the road. Being around ponies, even Twilight, is not what I want right now. My heart is shattered from doing my kindest thing I have ever down. I crack a smile as I think how proud Fluttershy would be of me. All that is running through my mind is that I need some time to re-evaluate things and I need to do that alone right now. So I just keep going down the path hoping I can find somewhere quite to be alone with my thoughts.
I wander aimlessly throughout town trying to avoid talking to ponies the best I can. Dealing with somepony right now is not what I need. When I stop and looked around I see I wondered over to AJ’s place. I remember there is a small lake near here a little ways from the tree line. So I decided to head there figuring that would be a good place to clear my head and try to get past this.
The walk was uneventful; it mostly consisted of me thinking about how much it hurt to have to let Rarity go. I am aware I have a habit of being hard on myself and this was no exemption. I let my selfishness of how I feel… felt about her, cause her to be hurt. After my whole greed growth incident I promised myself I would do everything I can to not hurt the girls or anyone I care about. It seems that I failed that pretty hard.
I finally make it to the lake and it was just what I wanted. It was off the main road, down an old dirt path. The lake was surrounded by trees with a small cliff perfect for diving off of, not that I am in the mood to do a belly flop right now. The water shimmered through the trees. It was the perfect quite place to just sit and think.
Once I found a good spot in the shade I lie down and rest my head down on my paws. I close my eyes and listen to the wind whistling through the trees and blades of grass. With my body now at peace I just had to try to get my mind and heart at rest as well.
When I think about the situation it was clear I didn’t have a chance with Rarity. I mean I spend years going after her and helping her and never saw any signs that she wanted a relationship. This was clear but I still felt that I had a chance since she never turned me down outright.
To admit that I didn’t have a chance with her would also mean that I would have to also admit that I wasted all that time chasing her and trying to get her to love me. All those wasted days off, afternoons, all that sweat and pain I went through to impress her and show her I am worth her time meant nothing.
When I thought of this I started to get angry. I know it wasn’t rational to get angry over this but when has anyone been completely rational when upset. Just why would she keep leading me on if she knew how I felt and knew she didn’t feel the same way. She could have told me and it would have been done years ago.
As I grew angrier I stood up and started pacing back and forth snarling. I bet she kept me going for the free labor and to have a little yes man to do what she wanted at the drop of a hat. I might as well dye my face orange and start singing ‘Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-do’ as I waddled around her shop.
I started to feel my flames dance on my mouth as I build into an even bigger rage. That didn’t register to me though all I could see was red while my fury towards the one that wronged me. What right does she have to treat me like I am some slave or lackey, I deserve better than that!
My pacing leaded me right in front of a tree. I lash out at with by striking it with my claws. Watching as my sharp claws dig into the bark like it was tissue paper and shred away as I swipe my paw away felt good. I do it again and get a release of all of this pent up rage I had in me as I savagely maul the tree.
While I tear into the helpless tree my mind just wouldn’t leave Rarity. Once again I had to spare her feelings and left myself to suffer so she could have it easier. Why did I do it? Why did I let myself be the only one to feel pain while she gets away feeling better?
I should be allowed to be happy for once. Every time something makes me feel good it is taken away from me. Everypony else is allowed to enjoy themselves but I am not, all I get is to feel the pain of what I have to put up with!
My strikes become even more viscous as the fire in my mouth grows even larger engulfing my whole muzzle only my sharp rage filled eyes can be seen through the flames. The tempo of my strike pick up to a frantic pace, wood is going flying all around me as I mutilate the tree before me.
I could take what I want. What can stop me from doing what will make me happy!? No one cares about what I want or desire so I have to watch out for myself. What I care about, I will fight to the death to protect what I claim. What I want is my freedom from all of this pain that I am feeling. I am Spike and I deserve just as much happiness as any pony. I am a DRAGON and I will take what I want!!
As this thought busted from my mind I felt the tree start to give way. I stopped my assault and stepped to side and looked at what I did while I was in my frenzy. There was the tree more than half way cut through with devastating claw marks covering it. With the slight breeze now blowing I watch as the thick mightily tree comes crashing down in front of me.
Looking down at the damage I have done I felt no remorse at the tree I have cut down. And why should I? I am a dragon I can do what I want, when I want, who has the right to tell something more powerful then it what to do. If I want Rarity, why shouldn’t I go there right now and….
“NOOOO” I shout out loud as I run to the nearest tree and hop on my hind legs. I then began to bang my head against it. Each blow is a devastating thunk as I bash my head against it with full force to try to clear these thoughts out of my head. I knew what this was; these were my dragon instincts trying to take hold.
I strike my head against the thick tree seeing some bark go flying in the air from the impact of my head. There is no way I am going to let them take over; I won’t become a monster from this. How pathetic would it look if I lose all these years of control just from a mare not liking me back? I won’t put my friends in danger by letting this part of me out to do as it pleases.
Through my head banging ball I had going on I was able to hear some rustling in the bushes behind me. I stop my self-abuse and turn towards the source of the sound. It looks like I might have overdone it with my head-butting cause I can see a trail of blood running down my face but that didn’t matter right now.
“Who is there? Show yourself!” I shout not really in the mood to have to tangle with another timberwolf or something.
“Just relax will’ya it is only me,” Out of the bushes walks out Winona. She immediately start to look at the mess I have caused and the sorry state I am in. “ I don’t know if you missed it but this is a part of my territory you are standing on.”
“Sorry about trespassing Winona I just needed some time alone that’s all.” I relax from my combative stance and started to sit back on my hind legs. I want wipe the blood off of my face as I wait for the wound to hurry up and close.
“And apparently have it out for trees,” Winona started to walk towards me to the dissected tree lying on the ground. “You must have some real anger issues to be able to do this.”
*sigh* “You could say that,” I couldn’t look at her for I still felt slightly ashamed for almost letting my dragon side take over me. “I have some pent up aggression I kind of had to get out.”
Winona then walked over to me and hopped up on her hind legs and put her paws on my head tilting it down so she could get a good look at the cut on my for head right on the side of my fin. She seemed to be looking, trying to see how bad the cut is. It was slightly still tender but I could tell it was already healing and wouldn’t be too long before it was closed all the way.
“An does this have to do with that aggression of your as well?” She asks me as she lets go of my head figuring the cut isn’t that bad.
“What this,” I try to look up at my forehead as I point to the cut with my paw. “Naww I got this wanting to add more fiber in my diet but forgetting to eat for a while.” I give a smile trying to make light of my little melt down I just went through.
Winona seems not convinced as she lifted the corner of her mouth and raised an eyebrow showing she thought what I was saying was bull. She walked over to me and gave me a light smack on the back of the head. It really didn’t hurt but I still leaned forward and started to rub the stop that she hit.
“How about ya tell me what really is wrong before I drag your purple rear off my land.” She then takes a seat in front of me showing she isn’t going anywhere till I tell her what is wrong and nether am I. The look of pure determination she gave me was something I couldn’t really stand against. I can see how she makes such a good herder.
“You must get that attitude from AJ,” I give a small halfhearted chuckle. “I am just going through some relationship issues right now.” Though now that I think of it I don’t think relationship is the right word since we were never together in the first place.
“So you have having problems with your mate then. What did you do, look at another dog, or call her fat or something?” I can see that the last one really seemed to bug her. I’ll have to remember to not comment on her weight. I guess some things are cross species for females.
“No nothing like that. Trust me those I could deal with. My issue is the one I like doesn’t like me even though I spent three years going after them. I found out that this whole time they knew how I felt and didn’t tell me. Instead of hurting my feelings by turning me down she just kept it bottled up and it was hurting her doing so. So when I found out I told her I was over her a while ago and I saw her as a good friend.” I keep looking down not willing to meet her gaze for I knew they would be eyes filled with sympathy and that is the last thing I want.
I hear some movement coming from Winona. She stood up and walked over to me. She placed a paw on my shoulder and gave me a pat. This is just what I would aspect AJ to do in this situation I laugh to myself. Winona really did pick up a lot of things living with the Apple family.
“It’s alright. I am sure it must hurt but at least you know now. Would you rather be still in the dark and have you both suffering like you were before? At least now you know and put things in motion so you both can move on.” She gives me a small smile as she lifts her paw off of me and stands back up.
“Yea I mean I know you are right, but still. Once again I am the one that has to give up something, lose what is important to me, or just plain go without to make sure others aren’t hurt. It is tiring. I don’t have my own life because I am always working for others. Is it so bad that I just want something to work out for me?” I know that sounded a little like a child’s tantrum but this has been building for too long and this is my first chance to let it out.
“That is what a protector does. They sometime have to go without to make sure those they care about are safe. The pain that their loved ones would bare you takes it on yourself to spare them. It sounds like you have done this a lot for them. You shouldn’t feel upset or angry for this, be proud, be proud that you do so much to protect those you care for so deeply, that you would suffer so much for them.” Winona looked me dead in the eyes the whole time she was talking; she was doing her best to drive her point home to me.
“Thanks that means a lot but even with me protecting all of my friends and family I want to have my own life. I want to do things for myself. I don’t want to live my life in another' shadow; I want to stand on my own two… four paws and tackle life head on.” I stand up to my full height as I try to think of the life I want to have. Even though I can’t think of anything at the moment I do know I don’t want to spend my life in their shadows. I will still always be there for them no matter what but I want to have my own life going on as they lives theirs.
“You sound better at least. No more whining like a little pup that just lost his first crush. I mean you are what like 2 or 3 years old. You can’t go crying over a mate that isn’t even yours. There are more out there then you can shake a stick at. Just don’t really shake a stick at them or they will bite your ass.” This caused both of us to start laughing at the thought of me having to try to protect my rear from becoming some female dog’s chew toy.
“Funny but I am really 18 years old. You don’t have to worry I am not planning on shacking a stick in anyone’s face.” This put a grin on my face but it was quickly replaced with a puzzled look at the shocked expression on Winona face.
“You are 88 years old in dog years. How are you still so young and fit,” She ask me as she looks me over trying to see anything that shows my age. “I have been meaning to ask you, what breed are you anyway? You look nothing like any breed I know of.”
“I am a cross between a dragon and a dog. So I will live for hundreds of thousands of years if not longer. There hasn’t been another of my kind before so there is no way of knowing but it is sure I will live for a long time.” I watch the shocked look slowly leave her face but she still had a look of wonderment in her eyes.
“Well that is a new one for sure.” She then started to slowly start to walk around me sniffing me. This took me by surprised and caused me to stand up and back away from her slightly.
“Huh, Winona what are you doing?” I ask her as she sniffs around my neck and side.
“I am familiarizing myself with your scent and giving you a proper greeting,” as she keep sniffing me she pulls away. “Aren’t you going to smell me as well?” She sounded genuinely confused by my hesitating to shove my face in her rear.
“NO no I am good thank you though, I will stick to just saying hi.” I say trying to conceal the slight blush on my face at the thought of shoving my face into her.
“Am I not good enough to be greeted by you Mr. DragonDog?” Her tone clearly showed she was irritated by my lack of manners in her, well, I guess our culture. I guess I will have to bite the bullet and start brown nosing.
I then start to sniff her. Hate to admit it she had an interesting scent to her that I couldn’t place. One I started sniffing her I couldn’t stop, it was like a whole other set of instincts took over that weren’t my dragon ones.
My sniffing spree came to an abrupt end when she shoved her snout into my rear. I figure this must be payback on some cosmic level for all those times I was working with Rarity I would stare at her flank.
I started to feel uncomfortable I saw her maneuver so that her rear was in range for me to sniff. My logical part of my brain did not want me to stick my nose in her rusty wagon wheel. But my canine urges told me I really didn’t have a chose in the matter.
Once the dirty deed was done I to my surprise it calmed down my anxiety I guess it has to do with the odor dogs give off. I feel like I know her so much better, well better then you can know someone then sniffing their rear. I can tell that she isn’t in heat, what she ate last, hell I can even tell if she is friendly or not.
She started looking at me confused yet again. I bet there is something else strange about me that is about to ask me about.
“Did you eat rocks before?” Winona turned her head to the side and confused why I would do that. I knew she would ask something else.
“No, well yes, kinda. Since I am part dragon I can eat gems like dragons.” I explain to her. She seems like she understands a little but still seems kind of lost. I will have to show her one day for her to understand.
“Oh okay that makes sense. While I have it in mind I just have to tell you thanks for saving me and Bloom. I don’t think I would have been able to protect us that day.” The fact that she couldn’t protect Bloom seems to really hurt Winona.
“No problem Winona. You both are my friends and I will always do my best to protect you all.” I give her a smile as she looked up and gave me a smile in return.
“So do you want to head on out of here and get something to eat back home. I don’t know about you but I haven’t eaten lunch yet.” Winona start headed back to the path and looks back at me waiting for my answer.
“Sure, why not, I could have a bite right about now.” I start off following down the dirt road.
I really can’t say this was a pleasant day. But at least I was able to finally get an answer I have been looking for. It might not be the one I wanted but it is closer none the less. I am not one to dwell on things I can’t change I just need to move on and think what is it I want to do with my life. I came to the realization that I don’t want to be in anyone’s shadow anymore. I will stand on my own and become something I can be proud of.
(For those who don't know this is from willy wonka and the chocolate factory... They all can't be winners lol)
The morning sun dances across my face as I resentfully open my eyes. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night due to my mind would keep coming back to my failed courting of Rarity. I have gotten to the point where thinking about it now doesn’t bring me to crushing sadness or burning rage. Now it is just at a content sadness at the thought of my failed love life. I do not hold it against Rarity or anything but I do feel that I don’t want to see her any time soon since the wound is still so fresh.
I look out the window and see that the sun was just rising. It is too early to wake up Twilight to start her studies. Owlicious was nowhere to be seen; I just figured he went out to go grab a bite to eat. Peewee was sound asleep on the makeshift nest he made on top of one of the bookshelf. It is very rare for me to get a genuine moment of peace here without me running around and helping Twilight with one of her studies.
I decide I might as well take this chance to practice cooking with my new body. Something simple should do, I decided to make some pancakes for breakfast. One of the perks of by new form was that I was much taller then I once was so it is easier to navigate around the kitchen and get to the hard to reach places I would once have to get out that step stool I hated using so much.
The perk of my newfound height didn’t however make up for my lack of fingers though. I found that act of cooking much harder than it used to be. Trying to stir the batter was a real pain, when I tried to use my mouth I would drool way too much and would make a mess. I then came up with an idea, took my claws and plunged them into the wooden spoon. Not enough to slit it but enough so I could get a grip on it and turn.
Flipping the buttery flying disk was another difficult task without my beautiful thumbs to lend me a hand. I tried to use my mouth to turn it but once I put my mouth on the handle I couldn’t get a proper flip and ended up shooting the pancakes on the ceiling. Great something else I will have to clean up.
On the next attempt I tried to use my paw to turn it since I was still fire resistant. That did not work out so well either. From me using my paw it ended up getting hair all over the pancakes. I really don’t think Twilight want to eat a mouthful of my hair…. But I must remember this to give to Dash after one of the girl’s sleepovers.
The solution was finally found when I decided that I didn’t have to do it my old showboating fancy way of flipping it in the air. I found our spatula and did the same thing I did with the spoon even though this time I had to drive my claws through the spatula’s steel handle. It took a few tries and more than one pancake had to sacrifice themselves for the cause but I finally got it down without a problem.
Everything else was simple compared to the trial and error that took place to get down the art of the pancakes. I cooked some hay bacon and got some orange juice ready. Even as a dog I am still a great cook. I should get my own show, I’ll call it ‘Tartarus Kitchen’ and I get to yell at all of my other chiefs. I am sure it would be a hit.
After I finish cooking and got the food presented on the table I figured I might as well start doing some light cleaning to get a head start on the day’s workload. As I was organizing the arcane magic for dummies section I heard a soft knocking at the front door. It must be someone a little too eager to get a book to read.
“Sorry we are not open yet. Come back at 8 and we will be more than happy to help you.” Figuring that would be the end of it I went back to fixing the shelf. I then hear another of round of soft knocking.
“I am sorry but we are still closed. Knocking more won’t change that. You will just have to wait till we are open like everypony else.” Whoever this is must be really antsy to read something. Well they better go read the back of a cereal box because they are not getting in here till we open.
When there was yet another knock I figured this pony won’t take a hint so I will have to go and tell them in dragondog to pony. I put the books down that were in my paws and I walk over to the door.
I open it suspecting to see some hyperactive pony trying to get their fix of literature. To my surprise there was no one there. Looks like they left after my verbal lashing, so taking my small victory over my absent adversary I closed the door.
While I am continuing my work I start to hear some noise in the kitchen. Looking up I see Peewee is still asleep and I know Twilight hasn’t come past me to enter the kitchen. This has peaked my curiosity as I stop working yet again as I go to investigate the mystery at hand.
I slowly crept into the room where all my hard work of food preparation as taken place. I poke my head in to only then be put into complete shock. The breakfast I painstaking took the time out to make was in shambles. Half of the food had been eaten and knocked all over the place.
Once I got closer to get a better look at the crime scene I notice some white hairs stuck on the disembroiled pancakes. It was clear that whoever decided to dig into the meal I made was the one that left the hairs here since no one in the house has white hairs.
“Jinkies a clue.” I say out loud to know one. It just what I felt like I needed to say for some reason.
I then saw a trail of crumbs from the destroyed table that lead back into the living room. Following the evidence left behind took me right to living room couch. Figuring what had ate my cooking must be hiding in under the chair I drop down so my belly was against the floor as I slowly peeked under the set.
Once again there was nothing there. I am starting to think we might be haunted and our ghostly friend just wanted to be an ass. As I start to rise from the floor I feel a pair of eyes on me. All the hairs on the back of my head stood on end as I then went to look up above me.
I immediately wish I didn’t look up to see who was staring me down. There was a pair of black eyes that were looking right down at me staring into my very soul. For a second there I just stared back, those black eyes never blink but just keep looking down on me as I was still on my belly against the floor.
“Holy Celestia!” I shout as I jump back and bang my head against the coffee table. Man did that hurt even with my tougher skin.
Once I finally open my eyes from wincing at the pain I got a good look at the one that almost gave me a heart attack. It was a jackalope, in fact I think it was the same jackalope that I saved when I went to help Bloom.
“Are you okay sir?” The jackalope ask me with concern in his voice as he hopped off the sofa a came right over to me.
“I am fine; you just kind of surprised me that am all.” Man what is with things popping up behind me here. I thought I was supposed to be safe here but every five minutes something is scaring the crap out of me.
“Oh I am very sorry I didn’t mean to do that in the slightest. My name is High Kick it is very nice to meet you sir.” The jackalope then stick out his paw for me to shack.
“It’s alright really, you are not the first one to do that to me this week,” I let out a small chuckle that seems to ease Kick’s anxiety over freaking me out. “My name is Spike, you don’t have to call me sir or anything Kick. But tell me why are you here and why did you eat the food that I made?” I ask as I shack his paw.
“I am sorry about that Spike but for you I haven’t eaten properly for about four days now so when I came here and smelled your cooking I couldn’t help myself,” Kick start to rub his antlers and not look me in the eyes. He was clearly embarrassed over eating the food which to be honest I don’t really mind at least he enjoys it. Twi has a habit of shoveling food in her mouth as she work on her studies.
“It’s cool Kick, I am happy you enjoyed it and I was able to help you get fed. But you still haven’t told me why you are here in the first place.” I pat him on the back to help him get over his nervousness.
“Right. I am here to ask for your help to help save my kind and my family.” Wow this just took a serious tone very quickly. I haven’t even had my morning gems yet.
“Okay you are going to have to back up what is going on with your kind and what can I even do to help you all out?” It is not like I am one of the elements I am just the dude that use to watch their pets and take care of the chores they would leave around.
“You see Spike me and my kind live in the Everfree and there are delicate balances to everything in there. Right now the balance is thrown off because the wolves have pushed into our area and we can’t get enough food to survive. We do not think ill of the wolves because he all respects the natural balance but by them pushing into our land is causing us to not have enough food feed our young.” Kick explained clearly distort over what was going on.
“Okay I am sorry little guy I really am but what do you want me to do. I can’t go and talk to a pack of timberwolves. And as you know I took down one of their Alphas and I really don’t think they will be happy about that.” I don’t want to think about what wandering into a den of them and what they would do to me.
“You are mistaken Spike. These are not timberwolves but the pure wolves of the Everfree. They are not like the ones that are the offspring of the forest but from the wolf god. And we need you because we need you to go and figure out why they have pushed into our land and disrupted the balance.” Kick started to lay back and seem to relax more. It is looking like eating more than his body weight in food is starting to hit the little guy.
“Well that is good to hear. At least I won’t have to worry about having those block heads turning me into their chew toy. But you still never told me why me. I mean something like this sound like the perfect job for the Elements of Harmony they are known for fixing issues like this. I have one of them right up stairs it would only take a second to go up there get her.” I take and point to the stairs to illustrate my point.
“That will not work. The Everfree itself is very much enchanted. Anything that is not blessed with natures tongue cannot enter the true Everfree. When one that does not have nature’s blessing enters they only make it to the very boarder of the Forest. Those that are blessed are the only ones to step foot on its lands. What you have seen of the woods have only been a small fraction of what wonders are in it.” Kick seemed to look off into nothing as he talked about his home. I wonder how fantastic the ‘true’ Everfree really is.
“Well I can understand why you have come to me. But what makes you think they would even listen to me. I am not a wolf, Tartarus I didn’t even know the truth of the Everfree till you just told me.” Is this something that is too big for me? I mean he is asking me to save his kind and stare down a pack of predators. It might be too much for someone who has never really done anything on his own.
“They will listen to you Spike. You are strong and that is something the wolves respect greatly. Not to mention that you also took down an Alpha class male timberwolf. They are not fond of them because the timberwolves see themselves as being superior to their flesh cousins. You have done something only the strongest wolf has been able to do and they would have had much more experience then you have.” Kick is starting to sound desperate to convince me.
“I don’t know Kick, I just don’t think I will be of any help.” My nerves are getting the better of me and I am nervous I wouldn’t be able to help him.
“Please Spike. I know you can help. When you dived at that timberwolf with no concern for yourself but with the only intention of saving us showed that you are something special. Most predators I have come cross only treat those weaker than them as meal or tools to be used. You showed me you are different and that you are willing to help those weaker then you. I beg you Spike help us.” Kick’s eyes were full of grief, worry, sadness, and the slightest bit of hope. Hope that I would step up and help them.
I started thinking of what I have done with my life. Sure I have saved the Crystal Empire but let’s face it I didn’t really do anything back then. If Twilight was free she would have done it herself and I would be right there back on the sidelines letting others do everything as I am helpless. But here I am given the chance to help someone, this is something only I can do and lives depend on me stepping up and doing everything I can to protect a whole species from suffering.
“I’ll do it. I can’t let you and your kind go through that kind of pain Kick. I will do everything I can to try to solve this issue with the wolves.” I give him a smile, a smile that says I will give it my all to help you.
“Thank you Spike. Thank you so much. You don’t know what this means to me and my kind that you are willing to do this.” Kick jumped up and hugged me. I could even feel the slight pugged in his small stomach from over eating.
“Okay okay I get it. So when do we go Kick?” I struggle to try the little guy off of my neck without hurting him.
“We can go right now. It will be a slight walk to get there. We should be there a little before mid-day.” Kick hopped off of me and started to pull on my leg towards the door.
“Alright let’s go.” I stood up and picked up Kick. After throwing in on my back I bolted out the door.
…. I then came rushing back into the kitchen and raided one the cookie jars on the counter and pulled out a shiny rubies.
“Can’t go on an adventure without my Spikey snacks.” I say to myself as I then ran out the door.
After about an hour or so we finally made it a good way into the Everfree Forest. Nothing so far seems to be any different from any of my other trips into this death trap. Kick jumped off my back and took the lead.
“Follow me Spike.” Kick then took off into the brush.
I followed close behind him. I am happy I had a guide because I knew I wouldn’t be able to find my way through all of this if it wasn’t for Kick. We kept going deeper in while the whole time I was being smacked by sticks and poked by thorns. Then he just stopped.
“We are here.” Kick was sitting there facing a wall of thorns. The amazing thing was I couldn’t tell where the thorns began and ended. While the tree canopy blocked out all but a few rays of light from shinning down. It was a true wall of nature keeping everything of the modern world out.
“This is the barrier to the ‘true’ Everfree. You have to open it to get to where we are going,” Kick walked up to the wall and stood directly in front of it, “Please open your embrace Mother Forest.”
After he finishes his plea all the thorn covered vines started to shack. I watched as they began to part slithering away like snakes. Once the vines finish moving they left an opening large enough for the both of us to enter through. Kick looked back at me and saw me looking on with wonder. He then hopped off into the opening. I followed him to see what other wild things are waiting for me on this journey.
As we walked through the newly unlocked section of the forest I couldn’t help but feel a difference vibe then when the area of the Everfree I was in before. Where before it felt chaotic and dangerous like evil was around every corner just waiting for you to make one slip up to get you. Here it felt more at peace, there was still a level of anxiety traveling through here but it didn’t feel like I was in Tartarus itself. This felt more like the land was in balance, no good no evil just pure nature.
As we went deeper into the woods I couldn’t help but be surprised by all the other animals running around. There were many that I haven’t ever seems. Some of them I am sure that shouldn’t even be able to live in an ecosystem like this one. With how many fascinating creatures I have seen I wouldn’t be surprise if there wasn’t even a human running around here. But would be the chances they would be there.
It was about two hours into our walk that Kick started to clearly become nervous and antsy. He kept looking around very shifty. This started to raddle my nerves as well. What could have had him so spooked? Then I put it together and accounted where we are going.
“We are in the wolves territory right now aren’t we.” I ask pretty sure my concern was heard in my tone. “Yes we are. I only hope that we can make it to the den and speak to the pack leader.” Kick clearly did not like being here. I mean who could blame him. He was an appetizer wondering into a pack of stomachs with teeth.
“Why wouldn’t we be able to get there?” I felt like there might be something Kick hasn’t told me. This turned out to be true.
Before Kick could get a chance to explain we got an unwanted visitor. Well I guess in this situation we would be the unwanted visitor. A wolf came walking out of the brush and blocked our path. It was slightly smaller than me; it had reddish tint fur with white highlights and crimson eyes.
“What do you two think you are doing in our packs territory?” He stayed on high alert clearly ready to act at any moment.
“We would like a word with your pack leader. We don’t want any trouble or anything.” I try to sound as least threating as I possibly can.
“No outsider can walk into our den without permission,” He leaned in our direction and began to sniff the air. “Not to mention you stink of those ponies. You aren’t even a native of these lands. Leave before I make you.” He made an effort to sound threating as he made that last comment.
“Look there is no need to get violent here. I am here to just act as a mediator for my friend here,” I point to Kick as he slightly hides behind my leg. “So why don’t we just go to the den and talk like grown up. I really don’t feel like rolling around in the dirt.” I give him a smile as I kick up some dirt to make my point.
“I told you before ether one of you is going to enter our den. Now get out of here before have you and your little cotton ball there as my lunch and then use his antlers as a toothpick.” He drops down into a combative stance starting to snarl at us. Now I don’t mind him picking a fight with me but threating to kill a buddy of mine is not something I take lightly.
“Now listen here cherrycream. Do not, and I repeat do not go threating my friends okay. Now I am trying to be nice since I am a guest here but you and your bad attitude is really starting to rub me the wrong way. Now be a good little guard dog and take us to your leader or I will have to just walk past you.” I start to take deeper breathes to get the blood flowing in my veins. He is much smaller than the Deeproot so I am sure I can overpower him quickly without hurting him.
“How dare you insult me outsider. I am Scarlet Claw and I won’t have some wolf like you dishonor me like that!” Claw then charge at me with reckless abandonment.
Thanks to the little battle experience I have earned the last few days I was ready for his charge. Once he got close enough I was able to sidestep him and get to his left. He clearly didn’t see that coming as he turned to look at me in shock.
I decided to take advantage I started to flex my muscles and I gave him a shove with my shoulders. The difference in weight and power really showed as he went flying into the dirt, not hard enough to hurt him but it made it clear I was far stronger than him.
“Now I told you I don’t want to do this Claw. So how about we forget all of this before it gets ugly and we go talk to your pack leader. I don’t want to fight you if I have no reason to.” As a sign of good faith I go to offer him my paw so I can help him get up.
“You think I will let you dishonor me like this and just forget it ever happen,” He then jumped up and swatted my paw away. “I will take you down and your little rat there too”. He got ready to attack again.
It is looking like I won’t be able to get out of this with my words. I started to get my internal fire going figuring if I give him a little scare or at worst case scenario he will end up with some light burns.
Claw was growling at me and clearly wanted this to turn into a bloodbath. Before our little disagreement could become something bigger we were thankfully interrupted.
“Scarlet Claw stand down this instant!” I heard a female voice shout from in the brush that Claw came from.
From out of the trees came another wolf. This one was roughly the same size as Claw but instead had a stunning silver coat. The way the sun hit it made it look like she was shining in the light. Her eyes were a light blue that look like two sapphires.
The look she gave me reminded me of Celestia though; it was one that was a mix of both power and grace. It I could tell that she was in a league all her own. This also made her slightly intimidating to be around as well.
“What have we told you Scarlet about going into combat with others without permission? You have been warned about not thinking, it is clear this stranger is stronger than you. If you took a second to really sniff him out you would have smelt he is far from normal.” She scolded Claw like he was nothing but a puppy.
“But Silver he said he they wanted to go to the den to speak to the leader. We can’t just let outsiders into the den.” Claw kept his head down and acted like a child that got caught with his paw in the cookie jar. I had to admit I was enjoying it.
“Then you should have signaled me and I would have made the call. You were just a scout your job was to look out for any threats and let me know not to go and send anyone away.” Her glare intensified on him to shut down his counter argument.
“I am sorry Silver. It won’t happen again I promise.” He bowed his head down to her as she then turned and started over to us.
“I would like to apologize for Scarlet Claw’s demeanor. He is still very young and is still learning.” Her apology sounded sincere. It seems that she is the one I will have to convince in order to get my audience.
“It is fine really all we had was a game of tag that is all. My name is Spike it is nice to meet miss…” I give her a smile as I try to come off as friendly as I can to better my chances.
“Silver Moon, my name is Silver Moon. It is nice to meet you. I would also like to thank you for not hurting my page here. But I do have to ask you what business do you have in our territory. If what Claw says is true you want to venture to our den to speak to the pack leader. For what reason would that be?” She was clearly suspicious of our motive to go to her home, not that I blame her.
“In all honest Silver Moon I am here on behalf of the Jackalopes. I am aware that you have pushed into their home and they are now starving from lack of food. I want to find out why you have done this and see if I can fix this.” I am hoping that honesty is the policy.
These seemed to get an interesting reaction out of Silver. She seemed to have a mix of confusion as well as concern. I couldn’t really get a read on how she felt about me wanting to speak about their expansion into others territory.
“Why would you want to speck on their behalf? You are not one of them and this doesn’t affect you.” I didn’t take her comment as a snarky remark but more as stating the facts.
“This little guy here is a friend and he wants me to see what I can to help. I am not here to say who is right or wrong. I am here just to hear your side and to see if there is anything I can do that can leave everyone happy that is all. I want to try to keep the peace.” I just plainly say what I am here for. I figured if I am trying to get them to trust me enough to take me to their home I might as well trust them with my purpose.
Silver and Claw look at each other seemly trying to figure out what to do with the information I have just given them. Silver then walked up to me and looked me right in the eyes. Those sapphire eyes looked right into mine. I could feel she was looking for any hint of a lie or deception in my words. When she saw non she pulled back.
“Okay Spike come with us we will take you meet the pack. I make no promises that they will indeed listen to your plea but it is a chance won’t hurt. I do suggest leaving your companion for his own safety.” Silver then turned and went back over to Scarlet Claw to wait for me to send Kick on his way.
“Alright Kick I will go and see what I can do for you and your kind. Keep your ears cross.” I walk over to him and stick out my claw waiting for him to give it a shack.
“May the mother watch over you Spike and thank you again for doing all of this for us. It really means a lot,” Kick shook my paw before he hoped off. “I will wait for you just outside of the wolf territory just follow this path and it will lead you right to me.” And then he hopped out of sight.
I then walked over to where Silver and Claw are waiting. It sounded like they were having a slight argument. My guess was that Scarlet Claw was unhappy about them taking me to their den. Once they saw me waiting for them Scarlet Claw went ahead as Silver waited for me.
“Are you ready to go Spike?” She asks me not paying attention to Claw going on without us.
“Lead the way Milady.” I do a high society bow being extra dramatic. To my surprise the rigid acting wolf was able to laugh at my antics. Once her small chuckle finish she started to lead me into the brush.
Scarlet walked a good distance ahead of us. I bet it was to stay away from me. Silver stayed right by my side. I do not think it was to be friendly though, it felt more like she wanted to keep me close just in case I tried something funny. Well since I am stuck with them for who knows how long I might as well try to be friendly.
“Sooo Silver how long have you known Claw? He seems to be very friendly; his hosting skills are top notch.” I roll my eyes at my clear attempt at sarcasm.
“I have known him for all his life since we are a part of the same pack. He has just recently gotten the okay to start to go out on assignment so he was place under my care till he can handle himself.” Silver kept looking straight the whole time she answered me. I can kind of tell she is one of those with a stick up her ass.
“Oh so a pack is a very close group huh?” I am genuinely curious of the customs of the Everfree wolves.
“Yes one watches out for the other and we will do anything to protect our kind and get the respect our kind deserves.” Her eyes seem to harden when she was talking about protecting her fellow wolves and being respected by the other races.
“Wow that sounds… intense,” There was kind of an awkward silence between us for a few minutes till I thought of a something to talk about; it is an old one but I figured it still works. “Tell be about yourself Silver, I have to admit you are the first wolf I have ever met. Well not counting cherry up there wanting to get a little too personal.” It seems Claw picked up what I said because I heard a faint growl come from him.
“There is nothing to tell.” Still she refuses to turn from her eyes away from dead ahead.
“Oh come one that can’t be true. You must have things you like to do for fun, something that can make that poker face of yours crack and show some real fun.” I give her a smile like I am trying to demonstrate it to her.
She seem like she really didn’t want to answer. I gave up on trying to be friendly with her. Well there goes trying to get in good with them early before the talks commence. Man I hope the rest of them are at least a little warmer towards me or I fear these talk will fall apart before they even start.
“Os Pass” I hear Silver say, this time though she quickly shifts her eyes to look at me.
“Os Pass? What is that?” I wonder what kind it is if miss serious here can enjoy it.
“It is a game where we take a stick and we have to pass it to your partner till you get to a set point to score. Whoever has the most points by the end wins.” During her description was the first time I heard her talk with any real emotion well anything but anger since meeting me.
“That sounds like fun. I would love to get a chance to try playing a game. It sounds kind of like a game back where I come from called Hoofball. I think I would do much better at Os Pass then I would at that however,” I then lift up one of my paws and wiggle my digits. “I have a slight absence of hoofs.” I start walking again as I give her a grin saying I know my joke was bad but I went there.
“Depending on how this meeting goes you might get your chance later on. That is a very small chance mind you.” She turns and looks me straight in the eyes showing me that she means every word she is saying. Silver then turns her head back to facing forward.
That made me just realizes that I am walking into a wolf den to try to get them to give up the territory they have taken over without the slightest plan. Well I have done it again; I let myself get caught up in the idea of being a hero without thinking it through. Well I guess the first thing I will have to do is figure out why they did the deed in the first place. These wolves don’t seem like the kind to do anything without a reason.
I decided to stop thinking about it and just wing it. There is no going back after coming this far and I wouldn’t leave the Jackalope’s to starve to death. Man let’s hope I picked something up with all that time I spend with Twilight had some of her negotiation skills rub off on me.
“So I told you something about myself it is your turn to reveal something about yourself.” It is clear she is trying to get more information on me. For what reason I can’t be sure just yet, I would think it is so understand her possible enemy. Information is the name of the game the more you have and the less you lose is how it is played. But I will give her the upper hand since I am not looking for a fight… I hope.
“Well as you know I am Spike. I am what you call a dragondog,” Figure that is my ‘breed’ now, might as well own it. “I live out of the forest in a place called Ponyville . I….” Before I could tell anymore about myself Silver cut me off.
“Dragondog? What kind of canine is that? I have never heard of a breed like that?” This seemed to catch her interesting. She let that serious demeanor crumble slightly under her curiosity. She caught herself quickly enough and straightens back up to her pride filled stance.
“Yup I am the only one from what I know of. Being a dragon dog has some very interesting perks that come with it.” I do have some pride in what I am, even if I am a dog I am also part dragon and I won’t shy away from who I am.
“And what would these ‘perks’ be exactly?” She is really digging for information on me and now that she knows I am some rare breed I am willing to bet she will try to get even more information on me.
“I think I will keep that a secret for now. We all have secrets that we hide, just count this as being mine for now.” I give her a big toothy smile to show that I am not saying this out of disrespect but just being cautious.
“Fair enough Spike. I figured it wouldn’t be that easy.” Sliver even cracked a small grin at my foresight to keep my tricks to myself.
We walked for about twenty minutes without stopping. Silver and I would make small talk… really small talk I was lucky to get a full sentence out of her. Claw just kept going not looking back at me. It was a few minutes later that I started to notice that the terrain had started to change slightly. Now that I look around there were a lot more cliffs, large rocks, and some saves I see off in the distance. Overall the land become a lot more rugged around here, I know wolves live in caves or caverns much like us dragons so it only makes sense their den would be somewhere where they would have plenty of places to take shelter.
As we walked I started to hear sounds of something running just out of sight us. There was defiantly more than one of them surrounding us. I could pick up at least twenty different scents in the air. As I take a deep inhale I find out what is following us. They are wolves, considering where we are headed I can only take it as they are these two pack mates.
“Your pack seems to be pretty shy. Why don’t they come out and say hello?” I ask wondering why they are keeping their distance just outside the tree line.
“They are watching you making sure you are not an enemy. If Silver and I weren’t here they would have torn you to pieces for getting this close to our den.” Claw finally speaking up but his tone clearly shows that the idea of me being torn to ribbons humors him.
“Well it is nice to know I will be greeted warmly. I would have liked a cheese platter though.” I am trying to make light of surrounded by nearly twenty-five potential enemies
These did not get a reaction out of the two. They show how serious the situation really is. I straighten up and try to act like I know what I am doing. After a few minutes we come to a large ravine. The sides were stone cliffs that towered into the sky. It was the perfect location to defend from attacks and I am sure they have some escape routes hidden all around.
We walked down the ravine going farther into it. I watched as their pack came out the tree line and followed behind us keeping their eyes glued on me. Their pack seemed to me a mix of males and females slightly leaning more towards male in number. This was way different then the mare run society of Equestria.
Scarlet Claw and Silver moon stopped once we reach an area of the ravine where it became slightly wider. I looked around and saw a number of cave entrances that were in the stone walls. The scent of the wolves filled the air; this was clearly where their dens were.
“Wait here we are going to go get our pack leader. Don’t move.” Silver told me as she then walked into one of the caverns. I sat there waiting for them to come out. Over and over I tried to figure out what I was going to say. I could still feel the eyes off their whole pack watching me waiting to see what I might do and ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. I was broken from my thoughts when I heard giggling coming from the caves.
I turn my head to look where the noise came from. From there I saw four wolf pups come flying out of the den laughing and jumping around on each other playing. They didn’t see me as they kept running and ran right into me. Due to my frame I just shaked a little while the pups fell over on their backs looking right up at me. I could hear the whole pack growl and get ready to attack if I did anything. I turn back and look at the pups as their large eyes stared at me waiting to see what is about to happen.
“ Hello guys. My name is Spike it is nice to meet you four.” I give them a big smile.
“H-hello Spike. My name is Blue Rose.” Said the smallest one of the four. She had a darkish blue color colt with white highlights on her chest and tail and pink eyes.
“Hi I am Burning Wind! Nice to meet you Spike!” This one was really hyperactive. He was slightly bigger then Rose, he had an orange coat with green eyes.
“Greetings Spike. My name is Royal Fang” This formal female cub has a black colt with red fur around his eyes which were amethyst. She was the tallest of the four pups.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Wow this little guy is rude. He was white with gray fur on his back. Wind was the same height as this rude kid.
“Night Howler! There is no need to be rude to our guest!” Fang scolded Howler as she knocked him upside the back of the said.
“But Royal we don’t know who he is or what he wants. He could be an enemy!” Howler tried to defend himself as he stroked his head where Royal hit him.
“That doesn’t give you the right to act like that before we know anything about him. What if he is an ally?” Royal say back. I get the feeling these two must do these a lot considering no one else seems to respond to the two bickering.
While Royal and Howler argued with each other Blue Rose slowly walked up to me. She was clearly the shy type as she wouldn’t look me in the eyes for very long. I get the feeling that puppy dog eyes from her would have me die from an overdose of cuteness.
“U-um Spike. I was just what kind of wolf are you? You look so different then us.” She started to paw at the ground as she waited for me to answer. I swear if I could mass produce stuff animal versions of her I would make a killing from mares.
“Well you see Rose I am what you call a Dragondog. I am very special since I am the only one of my kind.” I lean down so I can look her in the eyes as I give her a reassuring smile. This seems to be just the trick as she then gives me a big toothy smile while her French rose colored eyes shined in the afternoon sun.
“Oh oh! What is that thing on your head?” The little orange ball of energy was jumping up and down. I couldn’t help but smile at what seemed to be their very own mini Pinkie.
“What this,” I say as I touch my fin on the top of my head. “It is my dragon fin. Want to touch it?” I look at the group with half lidded eyes as I then tilted my head give them access to my fin.
Wind did not hesitate to run over and start to stroke his paws on my fin. Soon after Rose slowly crept over and play one paw on my fin and petted it. Royal walked over and wanted a feel for herself. Howler acted like he didn’t want to feel but he kept shifting his eyes back to look at the other pups feeling the strange fin.
“Come on over Howler. Don’t you want to study your potential enemy?” I say with a knowing grin.
“Y-your right I will come over and feel just so I can know more about you and be ready if you try anything.” As he walks over I see Royal roll her eyes as she goes back to touching it.
I had four little pups petting my fin laughing and talking about how funny it feels. Watching my interaction with the pups put the vigilant adults at ease. They didn’t look like they were ready to pounce on me if I sneezed anymore but they still kept a very sharp eye on me.
While I was playing with the pups I was far too notice that Silver Moon and Scarlet Claw returned with two more. There was no way for me to know how long they were watching us play around on the ground.
“ A-hem” was all I heard and I just knew they were back with the pack master. Here I am rolling around on the ground playing with pups. I don’t think this is the best start to a negotiation
I stand up and have the pup tumble off of me with their collective ‘awws’ as I then turned around to face them.
Scarlet Claw still had that pissed off face plastered on but he didn’t look like he wanted to skin me to make a nice fur throw rug anymore. I look at Silver she to my surprise had a very small smile on her face. Guess you can’t see a guy that is willing to play with some random pups as a very dangerous enemy.
That was when I looked at the two new wolves I didn’t know yet. One was clearly female. He had a long slim body with some of the whitest fur I have ever seen. If it was snowing the only thing I would have been able to see would have been her sky blue eyes looking at me. She too had a smile on her face much bigger then Slivers though.
The final figure was the most intimidating by far. It was a large wolf that stood close if not the same to my height. He had a smokey gray pelt that made him look like he just walked through the fires of Tartarus and came out fine. His eyes where a piercing shade of yellow, when I looked at them it was like he could look into my very soul and judge me if I was even worthy to be around him. He was the definition of an alpha male, there was no way he wasn’t the pack leader.
“Go play pups” The large male wolf said with authority pouring out of his voice. I almost felt like I was supposed to go off and play as well. This might be harder than I thought.
“Aww but dad can’t we stay, we were having fun with Spike.” Howler ran up to the gray wolf and gave him his best puppy dog eyes. They had no effect on his father. Man I am really hoping I didn’t mess up by playing with his kid like that.
“ No go inside Howler and take the rest of the pups with you” He looked down on him with what could only be called ‘the father stare’. That got the message through to Howler very quickly as he ran back to the other kids and they started on their way into one of the cave entrances.
Before they went all the way inside they all turned back to me.
“Bye Spike it was nice meeting you.” Rose shouted the best she could.
“See ya Spike! You have to come back and play with us again!” Wind screamed at the top of his lung.
“It was a pleasure Spike. Next time tell us more about yourself.” Royal gave me a slight bow and kept walking.
“Hope we can play again Spike.” Howlers said very quickly clearly embarrass to admit he had fun.
Now me being me and not really grasping the situation I was in did the first thing that came naturally to me. I turned around and yelled at the pup.
“It was nice to meet you all too. Don’t worry we will have fun and play again before you know it.” I said this as I waved at the kids as they walked into the den. It didn’t hit me that I just did that in front of their leader and what I can only assume to be his mate till I heard slight chuckling behind me.
I turned back around and saw the beautiful white wolf laughing into her paw. Claw had his paw to his head shacking it and Silver had a slightly larger smile on her face then before. The leader on the other hand expression did not change in the slightest. He just kept looking at me with those paralyzing yellow eyes. Even though we were the same height somehow it felt like he towered over me. He then stepped forward till he was only about a leg’s length away.
“So you wanted to talk to the pack leader,”… He looked me dead into the eye. “Well here I am.” I gulped.
Well the first thing I try to do is figure out where to start. This is my first negotiation with anyone before and not to mention it is with a species I have no idea what their customs are. The last thing I want to do is insult them. I figure a proper introduction would be a good starting point.
“Hello My name is Spike it is very nice to meet you both and your pack.” I lower my head hoping that is a sign of respect to them.
The large gray wolf did not respond to my greetings. I guess this might be harder than I thought. Luckily enough the white wolf decided to speak up and introduce them.
“It is nice to meet you Spike. My name is Shimmering Lotus,” The then takes and raises a paw gesturing to the other wolf. “And this is my mate and pack leader Shadow Bite.” He raised his head in pride at the mention of his name.
“Tell me what are you want from us Spike? Moon here as told me you are here to talk on behalf of the Jackalopes but that cannot be correct right?” Bite made it sound like it was impossible for me to be here to help them.
“Actually that is why I am here. A friend of mine came and told me you came and encroached onto their territory. I would like to know why. From the way he talked this isn’t something that happens normally around here so I figured there must be a reason for it.” I try to read his read his reaction from what I have told him. He has a great poker face; it is like trying to read a wall.
“It does not concern you dog now go.” Bite goes to turn around and head back into the den but I won’t let it end that easy.
“Wait!” I took a few steps towards Bite. Scarlet Claw, Silver Moon, and Shimmering Lotus all ran in front of me clearly ready to put me down if I made any attempt to get any closer to their leader.
He stopped and turned around to face me. He jerked his head to the side to signal for the three to stand down as he walked back in front of me. Bite still felt like he towered over me. His presence was enough to make one want to submit to him but I have a whole species putting their trust into me.
“Tell me why does this matter to you so much? You are not one of them or are you of these lands. If they are inconvenience or whipped out how does that affect your life or your kin?” His question seemed so foreign to me.
“I am doing this because he is my friend and he needs my help,” I stand up straight looking him in the eye. This is something that I can’t afford to show weakness in. “Not just him but his kind needs my help and I can’t just sit this out when something needs me. It doesn’t matter if it affects me or not I don’t want to see anything suffer.” I stay strong as I look down the older wolf using all my will power to not weaver under his stare.
“So you are trying to be their hero by taking down the big bad wolves. You have come here to threaten us and make us clear off their land is that it.” I can see his gaze intensify under his comments. It is clean I am walking on shallow ground here. One slip up and I could be seeing if he lives up to his name ‘Bite’.
“No I never said that Shadow Bite,” I relax my poster to try not like I am trying to intimidate anyone. “I am not saying you are in the wrong or anything. There are a lot of things I do not know about the lands here and the way things like this is handled. The only thing I know is that jackalopes are having a really hard time. But I also see you are a leader that puts his kind’s need above all else. So I figured there is a reason for what you are doing. I just want to know what they are.” Once again I go back into looking into those yellow orbs he calls eyes but this time instead of trying to show power I am trying to show the honesty in my words.
It seems to work because as he looks into my eyes I see that he start to relax as well. Good even with me being a dragondog I don’t know if I could take him in a one on one fight. That doesn’t include a pack of twenty something wolves.
“Lotus” He calls out still not breaking his line of sight off of me.
“Yes dear.” She stepped forward to his side.
“Give….Spike here a basic run down of the territory rules of the land.” He then walks back as his mate gets right in front of me. It is kind of odd how she can smile at me when not a few seconds ago she was ready to rip my throat out.
“Certainly dear,” She give Bite a nod as they pass each other. “Well Spike most creatures here have regions they like to think of as their territories. This keeps most conflict to a down to a minimum.”
“Most herbivore creatures like to combine their territories and live amongst each other in groups. Whereas kinds like us wolves are very territorial and do not like to share our land. We do co-exist with other species though. Our kind even mainly eats fish in our diet to try to keep conflicts with the other species down as low as possible.”
“The jackelope are an interesting that unlike many of the other herbivore has a special pheromone that they produce that drives out every other creature around them. Only a few creatures have a tolerance to this. It even affects the fish in the river to stay away from their area. They can only eat a special plant that grows in a certain area of a river.” She finishes her crash course of the territories of the land.
“So I take it that area is the one that your kind has now moved into,” When she gave a nod confirming my suspicions. “Okay but that doesn’t answer my question as to why you did it though. It sounds like everything around here runs without anyone stepping on each other toes so why did that change?” I waited to hear an answer to what I like to think was a reasonable question. Bite walked back up to me and started to look at me with irritation I his eyes. But for some reason I feel that I wasn’t the source of it.
“That is a matter for our pack and you have you have no right to know the matters that concern us.” It is clear that there is something wrong and caused them to make this move.
“Please Shadow Bite I can see that something must have happened to cause you to act so drastically to take a land that you knew would doom a whole species. I want to help any way I can but I can’t do that if you do not share what is weighing on you.” I plead with him hoping he sees I am only here to help.
“I said no. You are an outsider to these lands and to our pack. This is a matter between us that call this place home.” He kept a steel gaze down on me. It is clear trying to change his mind won’t be easy to do.
“Perhaps he could be of use to us.” To my surprise it was Silver Moon that spoke up. I wasn’t really a fan of her making me sound like a tool but if it is to help Kick I will put up with it.
“Silence Moon. You know as well as I do that matters of the pack must be handled by the pack. We can’t let an outsider intervene with our doings.” He turned and went to look down on the smaller wolf but she did not weaver in the slightest as she kept her gave as hard as his.
“But father we both can tell he is not the average, run of the mill creature. He is different from us and that could be just what we need.” Man I don’t know if I could be happy how Silver is trying to get my help or be pissed how she is talking about me.
“That doesn’t change the fact that we cannot allow him to know any issues that the pack as for we are honor bound to fix it amongst ourselves.” He spoke like he was stating this from an ancient tome passed down from wolf to wolf, a credo that he would never break.
“Well what if we were to add him to our pack. Then we wouldn’t have any issue in revealing our conflict with him.” Bite raise at brow at the solution his daughter has proposed to him.
“Moon we can’t just induct him into the pact. One must do something worthy of being one of us. Even if he is a rare breed that doesn’t mean anything if he cannot prove he can stand with us as a fellow brother.” For once Bite didn’t sound intimidating but more like a father educating her daughter.
“Besides who would want a freak like that among our kind in the first place.” Scarlet says with a cocky smirk on his face. This caused me to cut my eyes on him. If there is one thing I hate it is to be called freak… or monster. I was about to say something to the arrogant brat but I was beaten to the punch by non-other than Shadow Bite.
“What your muzzle Claw! Spike has shown no sign of aggression or disrespect since arriving and I will not dishonor our pack by doing so to him.” Bite looked back to the younger wolf causing him submit to his pack leader.
I stood there listening to everything they were saying. It seems that if I become a member of their pack I will be entitled to the information of why they did what they did. However I do not know what becoming a member of the pack entails. I really don’t want to have to move out there and live among them.
“Excuse me but what would it take for me to become a member of the pack.” I figure that is the first thing I need to figure out. It might not even be possible for me to become one of them.
“You would have to perform a feat that shows us that you are worthy to be counted among us.” Bite seemed skeptical that there was anything I could do to earn my place.
“Well I did save the Crystal Empire a few years ago does that count?” I hope it will be that easy. But isn’t how my luck goes.
“No that doesn’t count. Saving some kingdom that holds no weight with us. It wouldn’t affect us if that kingdom were to fall. The deed you do must be something that would be deemed impressive by our kind as well as be something that directly affects us.” Bite seemed to really not care, most ponies would be impressed by that claim. Even though most believe it was Twilight and Candence that saved the day.
I take a seat on the ground and put my paw to my chin as I start trying to think of anything that might get me into the pact. Man I really wish I have done more than just clean up a library and help Rarity in her shop. That is when I remembered what Kick told me when he was convincing me to help him. I really don’t want to speak of that act as a positive thing. But I think right now I do not have much of a choice.
“I have killed a male alpha timberwolf in one on one combat before.” I take a deep breath this is the first time I have admitted taking the life out loud. And here I am saying it like it is an accomplishment. It slightly turns my stomach doing this, taking a life shouldn’t be seen as a good thing.
This one however seem to capture Shadow Claw’s attention. He walked up closer to me and started to look me in the eyes again. I can only assume he is doing this to see if I am just saying that to get into his good favor.
“Really and how did you pull that off when only some of my most senor wolves could pull that off and not without walking away badly injured.” He is waiting to see how I respond. It looks like Kick was right taking out such a dangerous predator might just be my in with this pack.
“As Sliver said. I am far from normal and I can do some things that no other wolf can do. And trust me I didn’t come out unscratched but thanks to me being what I am I can heal very quickly.” I say trying not to brag or give away too many details about myself. I still don’t know where this might end and I will need every trick I have to get out of here alive.
“Well then what are you then Spike? You are clearly not a wolf but you are not a dog as well.” He seemed more curious then trying to interrogate me so I figure there is nothing wrong with telling him what I am. I won’t tell him all I can do yet though.
“I am a Dragondog or at least that is what I call myself. I am part Dragon part canine. From what I know I am the only one of my kind and do to this it grants me a few skills unique to me.” I try not to sound like I am bragging but I have to try to sell myself to them if I am going to get into their club. Man it is harder to get into here then the CMC.
That fact I am such a rare breed seem to catch Shadow Bite’s attention greatly as I could see the gears turning in his head. He could be thinking of any number of things from how much of an asset I could be or how I could be a threat and need to be taken out. I really hope it is the first one.
“So father was I correct that he could be a productive member of the pack?” Sliver walked up to us and stood next to her father.
“Yes it would seem so. Someone as young and inexperienced being able to take down an alpha timberwolf is no small feat. There is a chance he might be able to assist us with our problem.” Bite nodded to her admitting she was right. I am happy it seems I am in but I have to make some things clear first.
“I have to let you guys know that I want help you guys and set everything right but there are some things we have to clear up first. I will help with whatever your problem is if I can but if I do fix the issue you must return the land to the Jackalopes. Also I will be a member of your pack but I have a life back home so I won’t be able to live here with you all. But if there is ever anything you need of me I will come running to help. Do we have a deal? I look around to gauge their reactions.
“We agree with your terms now step forward.” Bite said as he took a more serious tone then he had a moment ago.
I step forward to be right in front of him. He then walks over to a sharp rock sitting next to the den entrance. Bite picks it up with his mouth and walks back to me. Then out of nowhere he cut his paw with it till small drops of blood are falling from him.
“ Drink my blood. You must have the blood of a wolf flowing through you in order to join. By taking my blood you pelage to be loyal to this pack and do whatever you can to protect us. You are willing to put your body and life on the line if it means the betterment of our kind.” Bite held out his paw right in front of me.
I had to take a second to think if I really wanted to do this. I would become part of this pack. But then I started to think what that would mean. They would rely on me the same as the jackalopes do. And besides they will only come calling if anything happens, even if none of them will admit is they are desperate right now if they are willing to let me in for a chance to fix this problem. There is only one thing I can do. I open my mouth and tilt my head back. Bite take and put his claw over my mouth, a few drops fall onto my tongue. I can taste his coppery blood which reminds me of the time I fought Deeproot.
After the deed was done all the wolves tilted their head back and howled. I don’t know what came over my but I felt the need to do the same. I let loose a howl from some deep primal part of me that seems to be coming stronger and stronger.
“Welcome to the pack Spike.” For the first time since arriving I saw Bite smile at me with those sharp teeth shrinking from his grin.
“I am happy to be a part of it. So before we have my welcome party why don’t you tell me what is really going on?” Well it is clear I killed me mood quickly for the smile that was on Bite’s face faded just as fast as it appeared.
“If you wish. The reason we took over the Jackalope’s land was because our every own feeding grown was taken over. There is a river to the north of here that we get all of our fish and water from. But last week Boitatá came.” The very mention of this creature’s name caused Bite to growl.
“Who is Boitatá?” I had to ask since that is a name I have never heard of.
“Boitatá is the creature that has taken over the area around the river. We can’t even get close to it and he is far too dangerous to take on. So instead he moved to the river to the south which turned out where the jackalope have to feed.” Silver seemed to not be very proud of this fact.
“We didn’t have a choice in the matter. It was them or us; we must take care of our kind before we worry about others. Due to their ability we cannot live with them because they drive away the fish.” Scarlet Claw seemed to be trying to justify this action to not only me but to himself as well.
“I don’t agree with that Claw but it is this Boitatá guy’s fault all this happen huh. So I need to go and talk to him and try to get him to leave then you can get back your old fishing hole.” Looks like I figured out the source of this disruption. Now I just have to go see this Boitatá and talk him into leaving.
“Boitatá is someone that cannot be reason with. He will kill you long before it ever makes it to that point.” Silver said with a slight level of concern in her voice. I don’t think she want to lose someone as valuable as me so soon after getting me.
“Well I don’t really have a choice but to try. This is the whole reason I came here. And besides I don’t die that easy trust me if I did I would have been worm food long ago.” I gave them a smile trying to calm down all the looks of worry I was getting.
“Very well. I will give you credit for bravery young Spike. Just keep heading down the path to the north of here and it will take you right to the river.” Bite walked up to me and put his good paw on my shoulder.
“Don’t worry I will be back. Silver still has to show me how to play Os Pass.” I see her crack a smile as I then stand up and start headed towards the path.
Alright I didn’t have to fight a whole pack of wolves so that is a plus. Now I just have to deal with some hothead named Boitatá and everything will be okay. How bad could this be?
Man if feels like I have been walking for like three months and have gotten nowhere. All I have seen for who knows how long have been trees and shrubbery. I guess it was too much to ask for this to be a quick mission so I could get home and relax.
It seems that I have finally started to make some headway in my travels since I now can hear the sound of flowing water. I continue down the path towards the source of the sound. The river soon came into view and I have to say that it is a pretty nice fishing hole they had. The river was a decent size and depth I could see a vast amount of fish traveling along with the current.
‘Okay well I finally made it, let’s see if I can find this Boitatá guy and talk him into relocating or even just sharing.’ I thought to myself trying to keep my spirits high hoping that this doesn’t end up like every other thing I try...A cluster buck.
I walk along the river bank hoping to see some kind of sign of him. After a few minutes there was no trace of him around and I started to get bored. I wonder if calling him will be able to draw Boitatá out to play.
“Hey, Boitatá are you around? I just want to talk,” Still nothing man ether he can’t hear me or he is just being an ass. “Boitatá I have some filly scout cookies for you! Hmm they’re coconut!!” Still silence. Well if that didn’t work nothing will. I mean anyone that has had those cookies would chew off their leg to get just a crumb of one.
As I continue looking for him I started to hear something alittle ways off from where I am. Figuring it was the best lead I had I started to head towards the sound.
As I wander towards the unknown sounds I start to think how I was going to convince him to leave in the first place. I mean what I could offer him to get him to move? I could promise to help him find a better place to live. If that doesn’t work I could try talking him into sharing the stop with the wolves, which would probably be my best chance. Worst comes to worse I will have to fight him and scare him off. I was able to beat a timberwolf alone how hard could a Boitatá be?
The noises lead me to a large dark cave. All I could think was ‘well this doesn’t look menacing at all’. I walked slightly closer to the cavern but not getting to close to it just in case. Figuring this is where Boitatá has been holding up. Well might as well get this out of the way and see if he is in there.
“Hello can Boitatá come out and play?” Man I just know one of these days my mouth is going to get me into trouble. Before I could berate myself for my stupid comment I hear a voice come from deep within the cave.
“Who has the nerve to awaken me from my slumber?” The voice was deep and carried a tone of authority to it. It clearly had a ‘don’t buck with me’ kinda feel to it. “I am sorry for waking you I am looking for someone name Boitatá I have something important to discuss with him. Would you happen to be him?” I am doing my best to be polite now to the disembodied voice I am talking to. Kinda rude to stay hidden in the cave and not come out to talk to me but whatever.
“Oh and what would you want to discuss with him? You really think you are in the same league to speak to someone like Boitatá?” Wow I could almost taste the smugness rolling off his words as I am once again talked down to again. Really is it my fur cut why does everyone see me as low class?
“Well that is something that is between Boitatá and me. I don’t think someone as ‘mighty’ would want to discuss his business with a random voice in a hole in the wall.” I am fully aware that there is a ninety-nine percent chance that this is Boitatá I am talking to but this will ether make me look good in his eyes or piss him off that I am dismissing him… I am really hoping for the first one.
“I see your point. Well then why don’t you come on in? You and he can talk about whatever you want to talk to him about.” Now the voice is trying to sound civil with a more friendly tone.
Now in my mind all I can hear in my head is, “ Mmm don’t go in their! Do. Not. Go. In. There! He gonna kill you!’ Like how Pinkie yells at the TV when we have our movie night and Dash bring over one of her horror movies. I can still see Shy shivering in her seat with her face buried in a pillow.
“Yyeeahh. Here is an idea. Why don’t you come out here? It is a great day out here, a pleasant breeze, the sun shining down, I mean look you some flowers right here,” I walk over and sniff the flowers. “I like your flowers, these are some nice flowers. Come out here so we can talk.” And so I can run my ass off if need be.
“Are you trying to tell me what to do? You think you are my equal to order me around?!” Oh no I really don’t’ like the way he said that.
The next thing I know I see a pair of eyes glowing in the cave. They slowly get bigger and bigger as they come closer. My instincts tell me to get away from the entrance of the cave and I tend not to argue with them. The moment I dive out from the mouth of the cave I see this huge creature come barreling out of it. As I pull myself up and shack my head clear after dive and I see the creature I have been conversing with this whole time. The only thing I can think to say is …. “Oh Buck”.
There in front of me was a giant snake, now when I say giant I don’t mean like your friend’s mom that is too big to go down the stairs without a spell to carry her. I mean giant as in will eat the house and your friend’s mom along with it. This fearsome reptile is at least as large as the library. Its eyes where a fierier yellow and orange, it had to long horns that came from the top of his head like a bulls. Its underbelly was this bloodshot red like it just slithered over a pile of bodies. The scales that covered its body where the same fierier color his eyes are. So the short version is he looks like a huge bucking snake that just slithered his way out of Tartarus. Boitatá slithers closer to me as I looked at him still slightly stunned by the reptile that I just so happen to have pissed off a few seconds ago. He lowered his head to look me straight in the eye, which would be a lot better if his head wasn’t the size of my whole body.
“I am out here, so tell me what do you want before I devour you like the pathetic morsel you are?” Well that is kind of mean, I happen to think I am a nice hunk of hot dog…. Did I just think that? I got to stop hanging out with Pinkie so much. After my unfortunate ‘Pinkie pun’ I was able to come back to my senses and find my voice to respond to the huge pair of almost glowing eyes in front of me.
“Buck m.. I mean I take it you are Boitatá? I am Spike and I am here for the wolf pack that uses this area for their hunting.” I am doing my best to not piss off the giant mouth and stomach that is right in front of me.
“Oh and what do those furry bags of meat want?” Wow that is a very creepy way to describe them. This guy might need some professional help… or a lot of electroshock therapy.
“I am here to talk on their behalf on trying to see if you are willing to move to a different location so they can come back here for the fish or if you would be willing to share this spot with them without incident.” I am getting the feeling that this guy will not want to be reasonable about the situation.
Boitatá broke his stare on me to lift his head up and bellow out a thunderous laugh. Well I guess I called it that, anyone that laughs like he just got out of super villain school with honors will not want to coexist with anything.
“That is rich. Tell me you purple meatbag why should I let them into my territory much less leave so those pathetic predators could come here to eat fish? So they can honor some pact made to protect weaklings like them from true predators like myself?” Boitatá says with a level of smugness that makes BlueBlood look like AppleJack.
“Well Boitatá it would be useful to have some allies on your side. It is clear you are powerful,” Man I have puffing up his already huge ego but it might be the only way to get through to this flaming pain in my ass. “But even someone as strong as you will need supporters to help you if you ever need it. The wolves have numbers to be great assets to you and they wouldn’t forget the favor of sharing hunting ground with them without their kind being killed.” Man I hope this doesn’t come to bite me in the ass but I figured I could talk the wolves into a truce with Boitatá easier than it would be into talking him into leaving.
This idea seems to have gotten Boitatá thinking. It is clear by the look into his eyes that he is pondering the deal. Any sane person would see that this deal has everyone win but from my experience the sane solution isn’t always the one that is chosen.
“You make a point meatbag, I could use those wolves to protect what is mine without having to do it myself,” Well this is looking up, he will have to stop talking about the land being his and I might be able to get the wolves to go along with. “The wolves will have to do something for me before I consider making a truce with them.” Well this can’t be good.
“Okay Boitatá, what do you want of the wolf pack?” Please be something reasonable, like a massage or something I am sure being a giant snake must get crazy muscle pains.
“I want them to deliver all their pups to me to be devoured as proof they will be loyal to me.” My jaw hit the ground hearing his insane request. That has to be one of the craziest things I have ever heard and I heard Pinkie want to cover herself in chocolate so she can bring chocolate to everyone she meets.
“Okay how about hell no! What are you bucking crazy, I would never ask them that!” I shout at Boitatá snarling at him the fact he wants to eat all their pups has thrown all my tact out the window and set it on fire.
“You will watch your mouth meatbag, you have no right to tell the mighty Boitatá what to do! Now ether you tell them and they serve me or I go there and I eat their pups and then all of them.” I watch as he eyes lock on me, his eyes seem to be glowing now with a demonic eeriness.
“Or I can tell you to bite my shinny furry purple ass! I won’t tell them to give up their children to a leathery bastard like you. And I won’t let you get anywhere near them to attack them!” I drop down in a more feral stance and start to let my flames dance on my gums.
“Oh you are going to stop me you pathetic meatbag? Well then,” I watch as Boitatá pull himself up and towering over me looking down on me and then it happen. His whole body burst into flames. It was giving off a heat I have never been felt before. The grass and leaves around use started to burn just by being in the vicinity of this inferno. “By all mean try meatbag and I will enjoy torching your body before I swallow you whole.”
As I look at the monstrous flaming reptile in front of me I can only look back at how I got here and wonder why these things always seem to happen to me. The only words that I can think to express the situation I was now in were the words I first though when this all got started.
