Chapter 1
“Peewee? Peewee, where are you?” Spike called out with a bowl of seeds in his claws. He entered the library’s main reading room on the ground floor, looking high and low, but there was no sign of the fledgling was anywhere. “Huh. Where did that little rascal fly off to?”
“Looking for someone, Spike?”
He turned around to see Twilight walking down the stairs. “Yeah, looking for somebird. It’s supposed to be Peewee’s first meal and I got him something to eat.” He lifted the bowl up towards Twilight so she could have a closer look. “They’re not bird seeds, but sunflower seeds are a good enough substitute, am I right?” Spike once again looked all around the room, but sighed as he failed to find any clues of Peewee’s whereabouts. “Although it seems that he’s gone missing.”
Twilight gave a small giggle. “Maybe he’s just playing hide and seek with you. Phoenixes are known to be very playful creatures.”
Spike shuffled his feet a little with a slight frown on his face. “Ehh maybe, but still I don’t want him to go hungry.”
“Well that’s very thoughtful of you, Spike.” Twilight said as she glanced upward. At just that moment, she happened to see a flash of orange over at one of the windows. “Although I don’t think you don’t have to worry so much. I’m sure if Peewee wants to let his presence be known, he’ll show up. You just have to be patient. That’s all.”
“I guess,” Spike grumbled.
Twilight gave him a gentle nudge. “Hey with all things considered, you’re being a very good caretaker right now. It’s not common for somepony to look over a phoenix. I think you can be very proud of that.”
Spike blushed a little, then puffed his chest up a little. “Aww, well, I am a very responsible dragon.”
“Haha, that you are.” Twilight’s smile then faltered slightly. “But remember that taking care of a pet isn’t easy.”
“Relax, I know that.”
“Alright just making sure.” Twilight began walking towards the front door. “I’m going to be heading over to Sugarcube Corner for something to eat. Getting a little hungry myself. Want me bring you back something?”
“Maybe a sapphire cupcake or two.”
“Okay then. I’ll be back soon.”
“Bye, Twilight,” Spike said as he waved farewell to her. As the door closed behind her, Spike redirected his focus to finding Peewee. The little bird must be so hungry by now. As his eyes wandered, they slowed as they glanced towards the stairs. “Hmm... maybe he’s somewhere up.” It didn’t take Spike too long to find the little amber bird. Just before he was about to reach the second floor, he spotted Peewee at a window sill high above the bookshelves, staring outside.
“Ah, there you are. Peewee, come here!” Spike called out. The little phoenix chirped as Spike got his attention. “Yes that’s right, come over,” Spiked cooed as he held out the bowl towards him. “Don’t you want a taste of these delicious sunflower seeds?”
Peewee tilted its head a little before flying over, settling on the bowl’s rim. He stared into its content with curiosity.
Spike smiled as Peewee took a peck at them, swallowing one. “You’re in for a treat, my friend. These sunflower seeds are top notch quality, grown right in Ponyville.” His smile then went away as Peewee began to cough. “Whoa, whoa, whoa what’s wrong? Are the seeds really that bad?” Spike asked with urgency. He tried to help by patting Peewee’s back, but not too hard.
His answer came as Peewee hacked something up charred into the bowl. It was barely recognizable, but Spike could tell it was a burnt seed. He grimaced as he took a closer look, seeing the slimy, black texture. “Whoa. That looks pretty nasty.” Spike went down to the kitchen along with Peewee and picked out the burnt seed along with the ones that touched it, throwing them into the garbage can. “Well obviously those aren’t good for you. Maybe actual bird seeds is what you need.”
Peewee chirped softly, looking quite discontent with what he just ate. He took one last look at the bowl of sunflower seeds before hopping away from them.
Spike chuckled a bit. “Yeah forget those seeds. Let’s go get you some proper food.” Spike extended his arm out for Peewee to sit on, but the bird chose his head instead. Specifically the first green spine. Spike casted his eyes upward but it was pretty difficult to see Peewee. “Well alright I can’t complain about that. Whatever makes you comfortable.”
Spike went downstairs and out the front door. He then closed the door behind him and took one look towards the Ponyville marketplace. “Well I could go there, but I don’t really have any bits at the moment,” Spike said. He then gazed towards a cottage on the outskirts of town. “Hmm... maybe Fluttershy can help. She took care of Celestia’s phoenix once before, didn’t she?”
Peewee chirped in response, peering downward.
“Right! Let’s head over to Fluttershy’s house then, shall we?”
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“Oh hello, Spike!” Fluttershy greeted as she saw him walking up the pathway to her cottage. She was inside the a fenced pen that was at least twice as tall as her, tending to a toucan perched on a bird stand that barely stood taller than the fence. “I’m glad to see you.”
“Glad to see you too, Fluttershy,” Spike waved to her. “I also brought Peewee with me. I was hoping you could help me out with him. Would you?”
“I’m more than happy to,” she smiled. She then turned back to her toucan. “You stay good, okay Paz?” The toucan made a ticking-purring sound as she pet it a couple times before flying down towards Spike, meeting him and Peewee halfway. She gently smiled at Peewee and offered a hoof to him. “Hello, Peewee. My name is Fluttershy.” She patiently waited as Peewee stared at her before deeming her to be safe. He then hopped onto her hoof. As Fluttershy began to stroke his head, he let out a soft trill. “Awww he’s so precious. Is this the phoenix that hatched from that egg you brought over?”
“The very same one. The little guy has been a bundle of joy since he hatched.”
“When was that?”
“Just a few hours ago.”
“Has he eaten yet?”
“Err that’s actually why I’m here. Peewee hadn’t had anything to eat since he hatched. I tried sunflower seeds but he coughed them up so–”
“What?” Fluttershy said, her eyes widened and her head reeled back a little. She then looked at Peewee with concern. “Oh my, poor little phoenix, and he must be so famished too. Newly born chicks can survive off the contents inside their eggs, but once they hatch it’s only a matter of time before they start feeling hunger.” A small growl was heard from inside Peewee. He chirped softly at that. “Yep. A definite sign of hunger. Let’s go inside and get Peewee something to eat.”
“Thank you so much, Fluttershy! I could really use the help.” Spike said as he followed her to the cottage. “I mean since you took care of Celestia’s pet and all, I’m pretty sure you know exactly what you’re doing.”
Fluttershy raised her eyebrows as she fiddled with the key she took from underneath the doormat. “Oh, um, well yes I suppose I know how to take care of animals, but phoenixes are a whole nother field.” She unlocked the door and went inside.
“Huh? But I thought you were supposed to know everything about animals.”
Fluttershy closed the door behind Spike and began locking the door. “I don’t pretend I’m an expert when it comes to this. Lucky for you, I do actually have some knowledge on how to take care of phoenixes. I’ve asked Princess Celestia for some pointers during the time Philomena was also here. After Philomena was returned to the princess, of course,” Fluttershy blushed slightly with a tiny grin. As they stepped into the kitchen, she gently ushered Peewee onto a counter and then opened a cupboard. “But the main issue I have is that I’m actually ill-equipped to take care of a phoenix. Only prepared to care for the local animals of Ponyville.”
“Oh, uh, sorry then,” Spike said as he glanced down towards the floor, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought that… well you know.”
“No need for an apology, Spike. Despite the limitations, I’m still willing to help you. We can at least try.” Fluttershy turned around towards him with a sack of mixed bird seed in her grasp with a confident smile. “Let’s try with a basic approach.” She brought out a little saucer from one of the cupboards and placed it next to Peewee, pouring a small pile on top of it. “There you go. Eat up, little bird.” Peewee took a glance at it before craning his head upward, shaking it from side to side. “Oh my, it seems he doesn’t like it.”
“Come on, Peewee. At least try it a little, please?” Spike pleaded with the palm of his claws put together.
Peewee took a look at Spike’s puppy eyes and then tentatively took a peck at the bird seeds. He then had a look of grimace and hopped away from the saucer.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “I guess Peewee doesn’t like it, but why did Philomena eat this with no complaints?”
“Maybe baby phoenixes have a preference of food?” Spike suggested.
“Hmm… well it’s not an outlandish guess. I suppose we could try one of the Princess’ tips. She told me that Philomena had a taste for coals. As strange as it sounds, it does make sense for a bird of fire.”
“Hey it’s kind of like how dragons eat gems,” Spike smiled.
Fluttershy giggled. “Oh yes, maybe. Perhaps it seems you and Peewee have quite something in common.”
“Yep!” Spike said as he held his arm out for Peewee to rest on. Once again, the little phoenix preferred his head. “I knew me and Peewee had such a good connection. ”
Fluttershy smiled at that, but then it was reeled back. “Unfortunately I don’t have any coal on me right now, so we’ll have to go to town to buy some.”
“Oh, alright then.” Spike nervously grinned as he grinded some of his toes against the floor. “Oh and, uh, I hope you don’t mind if I don’t have any bits on me right now.”
“That’s okay,” Fluttershy said as they made their way to the living room. “I’m alright with buying. I needed to go into town to buy some more firewood anyway.”
Fluttershy unlocked the door and they all went outside of the cottage, but didn’t continue until she locked the door behind them. Spike couldn’t help but notice that this was the first time he ever seen her locking doors. In fact that last time he was here, he didn’t notice she even had any. As they walked past the fenced pen with the toucan inside, Fluttershy checked on the gate before continuing on. It had a padlock on it. Looking all around the other pens where the chickens were kept, Spike could see that there were some locks on the door of the chicken’s house too.
“Alright, ready to go?”
Spike turned to see Fluttershy up ahead, waiting for him. “Um, yeah we’re ready,” he said as he followed along side her. As they walked down the path towards Ponyville, it took a while for Spike’s curiosity to grow before he popped a question. “Hey Fluttershy, something has been bothering me ever since we left the cottage.”
“Oh? What is it then?”
“Um, it’s the fact that you have so many locks around the place now. I don’t think I ever seen you have those before until now.”
Fluttershy’s brows furrowed slightly and looked slightly apprehensive. “Oh right. I’ve, um, been meaning to tell the others about that, but I didn’t want to worry them too much. I believe I can handle this by myself.”
It was then Spike’s turn to look worried. “Fluttershy, is something wrong?”
“I… yes something terrible almost happened to me last night. You see, somepony trespassed onto the chicken pens and attempted to steal Paz.”
His eyes widened. “Who, the toucan? Why would anypony do that? Did any of the animals get hurt? Did you?” Peewee flustered at the outburst, chirping all the while. Spike calmed him down with a few pats. “Sorry for yelling.”
Fluttershy gave him a soft smile. “Don’t worry about me, Spike. I was fine. If it wasn’t for Angel’s alertness to Paz’s cries, I would have never known about it in time. Thankfully, Harry the Bear was around as well. I believe he scared away the would-be toucan-nappers, but other than that I don’t know anything else about them. They didn’t leave much but hoofprints and a couple nets.” Fluttershy then slightly turned away from Spike with a hoof over her mouth. “Still, I was very frightened. I can’t imagine what would happen if they come again. That’s why I had so many locks installed, to make sure that safety for me and the animals are secured.”
“Well that’s very smart thinking, Fluttershy. And I’m pretty sure those criminals won’t try kidnapping your chickens again since they met Harry,” Spiked beamed.
Fluttershy giggled again. “I’m sure he didn’t mean no harm, but Harry can be quite persuasive.”
“Hehe, yeah. Although this is still pretty serious. Are you sure you didn’t tell anybody about this?”
“Well I made sure to tell this to the local guards. They’ve assured me they will be handling the situation and that I should tell them if any more strange things happen.”
“That’s good,” Spike said.
As they turned around a building, he could see the store was within reach. Over the door was a red canopy with a picture of a hammer inside an orange oval on it. Over the canopy was a wooden sign that read Hay’s Hardware.
“We should be able to find what we need in here,” Fluttershy said.
Spike opened the door and let Fluttershy go in first. He followed after her as she passed the threshold and looked at the stack of wood, racks of tools, and furniture that that appeared to filled the place. On either side were lines of aisles with the center path heading straight to the wall on the other side.
“You sure? Cause this seem like a maze.”
“You need some help, then?”
Spike looked to his right to see a grey, slightly bulky earth pony standing behind a cash register desk. He wore a white shirt and an apron that held a couple tools in its large front pocket, and his head only had a few strands of hair on its crown, but it seems there was still a healthy patch on the bac. His cutie mark was an steel nut fastener on a washer bolt.
“Oh hello, Mr. Lugnut,” Fluttershy said.
“Hello, Miss. Fluttershy! You need some more firewood?”
“Yes, please. But it’s not just that. Spike also need some coal.”
“No problem. Come with me.” They followed Lugnut past a couple aisles before they made a right. Easily Spike could see stacks and beds of firewood and coal. “Here they are. I’ll go get the wagon for you so you can haul these to the front.”
“Oh that would be wonderful. Thank you,” Fluttershy said.
“Ain’t no trouble,” he smiled before leaving.
As he disappeared around the corner, Spike went ahead and picked up one of the coals. “So this is what phoenixes like to eat? Honestly now that I look at one up close, I can’t imagine this being tasty. At least gems are sparkly.” Peewee inspected the coal closely as he hopped down onto one of Spike’s claws. Then in flash, Spike gasped as Peewee snapped up the coal and licked the rim of his beak. “Peewee, we’re supposed to pay for these first!” The little bird gave him an inquisitive chirp before hopping down on a bed of coal. “Oh no you don’t. You need to be patient.”
Spike reached out towards Peewee so more damage wouldn’t occur, but the little phoenix chirped in defiance and hopped out of his reach, eating more coal as it went.
Fluttershy had both hooves over her lips as she watched the scene unfolding before her. “Oh my, he must be really hungry.” As soon as she said those words, Peewee rustled its feathers, letting loose a few embers. The embers ignited on the coal. “Oh dear, oh dear!”
“No, Peewee!” Spike swiftly caught the phoenix with two claws, albeit gently.
Around the corner, Lugnut walked while pushing a wagon in front of him. “What’s with all the commotion her- Oh sweet Celestia! FIRE!” He then ran away, leaving behind the wagon to slowly roll towards Fluttershy and Spike.
“What should we do, what should we do?!” Fluttershy yelled, although it wasn’t as loud as one would expect.
Spike looked between the wagon and the coals on fire, then down at his claws where Peewee was. “I- I’ll put the coals on fire onto the wagon. At least it won’t spread, I hope!” He then handed Peewee to Fluttershy. “I need you to hold him!”
“O- Okay!” Fluttershy took Peewee from Spike and got out of the way between him and the wagon.
Quickly, Spike did his best to gather as much flaming coal as possible before more burned. Just as he placed his second clawful into the wagon, Lugnut came around the corner with a fire extinguisher in his grip.
“Stand back, everypony!” They did as he told, running behind him and watched as he blasted the fire with white foam, making sure the entire wagon and fiery coal bed was blanketed with it. With no more sign of the fire, he swept the sweat off his brow before turning towards Fluttershy and Spike. “Is everypony alright?” They mumbled that they were. “Okay good, now can somepony please tell me what just happened?”
Fluttershy fidgeted with her hair for a while before saying, “Um… well you see, Mr. Lug-”
“It was my fault! I wasn’t being careful and I had the hiccups. I accidently breathed fire onto the coal and, well, I’m really sorry!” Spike got on his knees. “Please forgive me?”
“Whoa, whoa there, sport.” Lugnut said, motioning him to get up. “Mistakes happen. I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm.”
Spike folded his arms, rubbing them against each other. “I still feel pretty bad about all this.”
“Like I said, it’s alright. I recovered from far worse than this. At least this wasn’t like the time the Cutie Mark Crusaders blew up my shop with their fireworks,” Lugnut chuckled. “Heh, the crazy fillies. Anyway, don’t worry about it. We’re alive and that’s what matters.”
“Thank you for being so understanding, Mr. Lugnut,” Fluttershy said.
“It’s no biggie. I still got some more firewood and coal in the back. I’ll just go get those for you and you can be on your merry way.”
Before long, the jolly stallion got them what they needed and they paid for it, although Fluttershy insisted she paid extra for the damages. Lugnut tried to say no, but the usually shy mare was surprisingly persistent. As they left the store, Spike couldn’t help but look inside his bag with a frown. He didn’t think it would be so much trouble just to get some coal. Was he truly up to the task of taking care of Peewee? Peewee peered down from Spike’s head and chirped softly, trying to get his owner’s attention. Fluttershy then noticed Spike’s glum look and placed a hoof on his shoulder.
“Spike, are you okay?”
The dragon sighed. “No, not really. I didn’t think this would all be so… hard. Just getting Peewee something to eat and look what happened.”
“I see… you also lied to Lugnut so Peewee wouldn’t get in trouble, right?” Spike responded with a nod, looking quite ashamed. “Well Spike, owning a pet is a tough responsibility. I certainly can’t pretend that Peewee is an exception to that fact, maybe even harder.” Fluttershy twirled her mane around her hoof and gently bit her lower lip. “Spike… have you considered bringing Peewee back?”
Spike looked up from his bag. “Huh? Back where?”
“Well… back to his home. His nest.”
Spike stepped back away from her. “Wh- What? B- But I don’t want to see him go! I barely got to know Peewee!”
Fluttershy slightly blushed and her eyes looked slightly away from Spike. “I- I’m sorry, Spike. It was a thought that just occurred to me, but here me out. You have to consider the fact that a small town like Ponyville may not be a good environment for a phoenix. I mean look at me. I wasn’t able to take care of Philomena and I went through a lot of trouble doing that.”
Spiked huffed angrily and turned away from her. “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Fluttershy realized her mistake and shook her hoof at him and head at him. “No, no, no! I didn’t mean it like that, Spike. I’m sorry!” Spike chose to not respond. Peewee trilled softly with a sad look on him. “It’s just that… maybe you should think over about this. Decide if you want to commit to taking care of Peewee, and… I’m sure his parents miss him very much.”
Spike felt something was just lodged into his chest. He shivered. “I… I guess...”
Fluttershy turned away from him. “I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“... It’s okay, Fluttershy. You’re right. I should have considered Peewee’s needs more than I did.” Spike sighed. He looked up to see the sun was close to setting. “I’ll think about it tonight.”
“Okay… good night, Spike.” Fluttershy said before making her way home.
“Good night, Fluttershy,” he called after her.
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“Geez, what a long day,” Spike said, slumping in a cushioned sofa chair. In his hand, he had a carton of ice cream for comfort. Peewee was settled right next to him on the chair’s arm. “You’re more hard to take care of than I thought, Peewee. Still, that doesn’t mean I care less about you, little buddy.” Spike smiled as he petted Peewee before turning his attention back to his ice cream. “Still I wish I knew what to do with you. Is Fluttershy right? Should I take you back to your parents? It seems like the most responsible thing to do.”
Peewee chirped at him before looking at the bowl of coal that was on the chair arm across.
“Hmm? Want another piece? Alright, here you go.”
Spike tossed a piece of coal to Peewee and watch the bird munch on the black nugget like it was popcorn. Then the unthinkable happened, or what should actually be the most expected. Peewee’s entire body burst into fire.
“Dear Celestia!” Spike yelled as the fire spread across the chair’s fabric.
He quickly got off, spilling some of the ice cream. He set it aside and ran for the kitchen. He grabbed the emergency bucket underneath the sink and quickly filled it up with water before running back. By now, half of the chair was on fire. He quickly threw the water onto the chair and the fire quickly fizzled out, leaving behind a chair that was half-charred.
“Well that’s going to be tough to explain to Twilight.” Spike then realized something was missing. “Where’s Peewee?” He looked up to see Peewee was flying about in a wild pattern, looking very flustered and leaving trails of ember as he flew. Thankfully the embers disappeared before they reached the floor, but then Spike realized Peewee was flying too close to the books.
“Peewee, get down from there please!”
The little phoenix didn’t seem to notice him as he continued to fly around. Spike then realized that he was still on fire. Was Peewee panicking because of that?
‘He’s gotta cool down, but with what?!’ Spike looked around and spotted the ice cream carton he left on the floor. “That’s it!” He quickly snatched it up and then looked at the fiery bird above. A split thought came to his mind and it sounded pretty terrible to him, but what choice did Spike have? “I’m sorry, Peewee. This is for your own good!” He reeled the ice cream all the way behind him and aimed carefully. He then tossed it.
So fortunately, the carton of ice cream didn’t totally hit Peewee and only a few droplets of the dairy treat landed on Peewee, somehow cooling the phoenix down enough to bring Peewee back to normal.
Unfortunately, the carton continued to sail overhead and Twilight just came through the door.
“Spike! Sorry I took so long. Pinkie Pie had this surprise party and I got caught up in the mom-” she was interrupted as soon as the carton landed on her head, giving her a sticky hat. Trails of melted ice cream went down her face. “... moment.”
Spike clenched his claws together and twiddled his thumbs. “Uh… welcome home, Twilight.”
Twilight looked up to see Peewee landing on her tail. He coughed a little after he licked some of the ice cream off her. “So… do you want to explain what’s going on here?”
Spike sat down on the floor and hugged his legs. He could feel the guilty rising up his throat. He couldn’t take it anymore. He retold the tale of how his day went to Twilight, talking about how he almost set all of Lugnut’s hardware store on fire because he wasn’t being mindful of Peewee fiery nature, and what Fluttershy had said to him. When he finished his story, Twilight was humming in thought as she cleaned herself up with magic. Once done, she put away the wet cloth she had in her magical grip and sat next to Spike.
“Well… that was quite a story, Spike. I can see why you’re being very stressed.”
“Uh huh,” he said, staring at the wooden floor.
“Spike… what do you think we should do about this?”
Spike knew what the right answer was. He didn’t want too say it, but he knew what the right answer was. “We… we should probably take Peewee back to his home. His original home.”
Twilight released a huge sigh. “I’m sorry it has to be this way, Spike.” She took a look at Peewee, who flew off to rest on Owliscious’s bird stand. “Well it’s time for bed. I’m going to go take a shower now. We can talk more about this in the morning.”
Spike continued to stare at the floor as she got up. “Yeah…”
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Needless to say, Spike didn’t sleep very well at all that night. After that long, previous day, all the stress caught up to him and disturbed him in his dreams. He imagined Peewee trapped, needing Spike’s help. The little dragon was so close, within his arm’s reach, but whatever evil forces that held the little phoenix kept him at bay, lashing at him with shadowy tendrils. It wasn’t a very enjoyable vision.
Spike got out of his blanket-lined basket and washed up in the bathroom, performing the morning ritual and all that. Afterwards he walked downstairs to go make himself some breakfast. With groggy eyes, he turned towards where Peewee was last night.
With a yawn, he said, “Aaahh, good morning Peewee. We have some important things to talk abo-” Spike stopped in his tracks as he saw the window next to the bird stand was left open, and Peewee wasn’t there. Spike pressed both claws flat against the sides of his head.“No… this can’t be happening. How could this get any worse… TWILIGHT!” He bellowed at the top of his lungs in despair. “Peewee’s been kidnapped!”