12 Years Later

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About 12 years have passed since the Crystalling, and a lot has changed in Equestria. From technology, to the different kingdoms making peace to one another, and the inhabitants themselves, everything had quickly progressed, almost all for the best. Princess Twilight, the Princess of Friendship, packed her case for the upcoming days she will be spending with her brother and his wife, the rulers of the Crystal Empire. Almost all of her guards were sent back home for the few days, as she didn't need much protection on where she was going. The staff, however, stayed, as they had a special guest arriving, and for the one that will be with them. A knock came to her door, followed by one of her guards entering.

“Your majesty?” He spoke. Twilight turned around. She was a good foot taller than her subjects, but she still had her old manestyle, albeit, longer.

“Yes, Corporal?” She replied in a motherly tone as she closed her luggage.

“Princess Cadence and, your brother, Prince Shining Armor are here.” Twilight looked up to the clock.

“Hm… five minutes and Seventeen seconds early. Thank you, Corporal. Any sign of Ember or Spike?” The guard shook his head.

“Not yet, ma'am.”

“... Hm… knowing Spike, he probably overslept.” She giggled to herself before picking up her luggage and making her way down the stairs. The other guards on patrol stopped what they did, whether it was a conversation between one another or sitting, stood straight up and saluted until she was out of their sight. What was once an empty castle where she and her friends worked and hung out in, became filled with working guards and various staff members, each maintaining order and cleanliness to the castle made entirely out of crystals.

Twilight stepped out of her castle and saw her brother, The snow white stallion unicorn with the blue matching Mane and tail, with his wife, the pink alicorn with a yellow, purple, and magenta, candy looking Mane and tail,stepping out of a royal carriage. One of the many changes was that some carriages began to use a new type of magic that would move all by itself and automatically go to the direction of the rider’s choosing. Of course, there were a few hiccups, and most ponies still prefered the old pulling, but it was still impressive, nonetheless. Shining Armor pulled out their luggage, but Cadence turned to Twilight.

“Twilight!” She exclaimed, rushing to Twilight.

“Cadence!” Twilight replied, rushing to her. It almost became a requirement for the two as they did their dance.

“Sunshine, Sunshine, Ladybugs Await! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

“It's been a long time!” Cadence spoke. “Almost a whole decade.”

“I know,” Twilight replied. “Everything's gone a bit crazy since the last time we've meet each other. How's Flurry doing?”

“She's getting the best education we can give to her. Of course, the foals in her class, and her teachers, may be trying too hard to get onto her good side.”

“Hoping to get some extra bits?”

“Mostly that. How's Spike been doing? Has he really changed that much?”

“Well, not for the worst, luckily. I'm quite surprised how a dragon like him can-” A loud snort interrupted her.

“Mom? Dad? Are we there?” The voice of a little filly asked, which was followed by a loud yawn.

“We're here, Sweetie.” Shining Armor replied as he backed out. “Come on out.” A silhouette of a pony came. With a few steps, the filly showed herself to be Shining Armor and Cadence’s daughter, Flurry Heart. She shared much of her younger self’s features, from her light pink coat to her swirly, purple and blue striped Mane and tail, and her larger than average wings, all somewhat bigger, but still small, nonetheless. She stretched and hopped out of the carriage, looking around her surroundings before looking at Twilight.

“Aww… she still looks like her old self.” Twilight cooed, walking and leaning to the Alicorn filly. “Hello there, remember me?” Flurry looked at her.

“... Aunt Twilight?” She asked.

“Yep! That's me!” Flurry looked at the castle behind her.

“So… where am I sleeping?”

“In Starlight’s old room. Two lefts and a right will bring you to it. Oh, I wish I could spend some time with you, but your parents and I need to catch up with each other. But I'm sure you'll have a great time with Uncle Spike!”

“Speaking of Spike,” Shining Armor added, taking the last piece of luggage out. “Where's the little guy?” It was at that moment the floor shook. It wasn't violent, but it made them jump.

“You may wanna rephrase that, BBBFF.” Another Boom.

“Why?” Yet, another one. The booms became a pattern, starting a bit slow, but was picked up and held in a steady pace. It wasn't until green fins peaked out from the side of the castle that the boomings were slowed down. Walking around the corner was a giant! Not just any giant, but a dragon! While the light green, fin-like scales gave its position away, but all over it's body was was purple scales, and a light green underbelly. The Dragon towered everyone, and, if it wanted to, could easily crush them all underneath it's feet with it's thick, Z shaped legs with thighs that went out, went back in, and stuck right back out, ending with it's three toed claws. The head scales traveled all the way down to it's tail, which curved right up before touching the ground. Despite being covered in scales, it's light green underbelly showed that, upon closer examination, it had six pac abs, meaning that it was fit, but wasn't huge, both in the muscular way, and a chubby way, but it wasn't exactly skinny either. The Dragon looked very much male, with the overall bulk and, also on it's underbelly, but almost unnoticeable, pecs, no sign of breasts. He was sweating all over. Flurry hid behind her parents.

“... T-Twilight?” Cadence stuttered. “Is that…?”

“There you are!” Twilight spoke, flapping her wings and landing on the Dragon’s, canine like muzzle. “Were you sleeping in again?” The Dragon’s cheeks blushed red in embarrassment.

“Sorry, Twi,” He spoke in a deep, booming, but also kinda dorky voice. “I thought I had the alarm clock set up. You know I'm not that great when it comes to using small objects.” Twilight sighed.

“Well, at least you're here. You remember Shining Armor and Cadence, right?”

“Of course I do! Did they bring Flurry Heart?” Twilight turned to the royal family below.

“Don't worry, everypony. Spike might’ve changed, but he's still himself.” Only Flurry peaked a bit, still nervous about seeing her uncle for the first time. Both her parents told her that he was about the size of a foal when she was just a baby, and she saw the various statues of Spike their subjects made. Of course, they knew he'd be bigger, but not gigantic! Spike bent down on his knees, slowly and steadily, not making any sudden movements.

“Uh… Twilie?” Shining Armor asked. “What the hay happened after all of these years?”

“Puberty.” Spike simply answered.

“In a sense, yes.” Twilight added. “Turns out, he's still going to grow big, even if he's not as greedy as other dragons. It started a few years ago, but that was a bit subtle, at least. As the days went, he just began to grow and grow until he got stuck in the doorways. I didn't want to, but poor Spike had to live outside. Eventually, he kinda moved out, but he's still around, still growing, albeit, and thankfully, slower than before.”

“Twilight thinks I'm around 15 meters tall.”

“... Are you sure this isn't some spell?” Cadence asked.

“Trust me, I asked that as well.” Twilight replied.

“Yeah, now where's my little niece?” Spike asked. “... No pun intended.” Cadence looked down at her daughter.

“It's okay, Spike's a good friend of mine.” She spoke gently. Cadence gently pushed Flurry ahead. The filly let out a nervous squeak, now at least a foot away from her parents and closer to the giant. Spike gave a toothy grin, showing his knife-like, sharp teeth.

“D’aww… you still look like a baby.” he cooed, bringing his right hand to her. While each hand may only end with four fingers, they ended with sharp looking claws that, while short, can look like they can slice her. That, and if he wanted to, Spike could crush her with only two of his fingers. Flurry closed her eyes and shivered… only to feel something patting on her mane. She looked up, seeing that he patted her head with only one of his claws.

“As much as I'd like to pet you, I fear that I may hurt you if I did.” He spoke.

“Uh… Thanks?” Flurry replied, unsure how to react.

“Say, where's Ember?”

“I'm asking that as well.” Twilight replied. It was only until a large shadow quickly swooped over them. Flurry quickly ran to her parents. The Shadow over casted Spike till it became smaller and smaller soon a loud boom alerted the whole family a dust cloud had appeared around a large figure, about the same height as Spike.

The dust cleared when the figure’s wings spread, clearing away everything revealing, The Dragon Lord herself, Ember. Her bright, sapphire scales seemingly glowed, rivaling the somewhat dull, long, curved horns that ended at point at the bottom of her jaw. She was noticeably thinner than Spike, but was also much taller than him, with bright white thin spikes lined down her back ending at the tip of her tail. A bit similar to Spike, she had muscles all over, but they were lean, and, she had a more puffed up chest.

“Show off.” Spike joked, crossing his arms and giving a smirk.

“Whatever shorty.” Ember poked at his forehead making him lean back.

“Its nice to see you again, Dragon Lord Ember.” Twilight bowed her head along with Shining and Cadence.

“Just Ember is fine.” Ember bowed her head as well.

Flurry who was still hiding behind her parents, peeking out and seeing the new dragon standing before them. Ember raised her head and eye as caught sight of the alicorn filly hiding, who seemed very nervous and shaken by the two gigantic dragons standing before them.

“Hm… you must be Flurry Heart. Don't worry, I promise I won't bite.” Ember smiled and offered out her right clawed finger as gesture of friendship.

“H,..H,.. Hello miss Dragon Lord.” Flurry slowly and nervously walked up to the claw and grabbed a hold of the claw tip shaking it up and down.

“Seems we're all getting along now.” Spike commented on the sight. “Such a shame that you're all going to be gone for a while.”

“Hey, if it avoids war, I can't complain.” Ember replied, standing back up.

“Yeah, I certainly hope none of your subjects eat the Crystal ponies over yonder; I'm practically worshipped over there, and I hate to have my image ruined.”

“Spike…” Twilight growled.

“What? It's a genuine concern. You see what we like to eat, don't you?”
Twilight sighed. “... Fine. But I hope we can avoid this issue.”

“Nothing that the Dragonlord can't handle.” Ember replied, falling onto all fours before extending her wing to them as stairs. “Unless you can keep up, you better hold on.” Cadence turned to Spike.

“Are you sure you can handle Flurry?” She asked. “We can find somepony else.”

“Pfft! Having a problem with her?” Spike asked. “If she gets us into serious trouble, then I'll have to eat her.” He chuckled at his own joke. Shining Armor and Cadence laughed nervously. Shining walked to Flurry.

“Now behave yourself while we're gone.” He spoke. “We won't be gone for long.” Flurry looked at Spike before turning to her dad.

“But he scares me.” She whispered.

“He's also family. He will take good care of you, protect you, and keep a watchful eye on you. Besides, you can tell all your classmates how you stayed with a dragon.” The idea made Flurry a bit nervous, but also excited to see the look on their faces.

“O-ok.” Shining kissed her on the forehead.

“See you real soon.” He walked up Ember’s wing. Cadence added her own kiss.

“Make yourself at home, Flurry.” She added, bringing her luggage to her. “Who knows, you may like your uncle when this is over.”

Soon the Twilight, Cadance and Shining were on Ember’s back. They held onto the thin spikes as Ember walked away from Flurry and Spike. She flapped her mighty wings, kicking up gusts of wind as she began to hover into the air.

“Goodbye everyone.” Spike waved as Ember took off into the air with the Royal family on her back. Spike and Flurry watched as Ember’s giant form became smaller and smaller as she flied for the Crystal Empire.

A sudden odd silence was all that remained. Spike looked down at Flurry, who starred up at him nervously. She gulped looking at him, Spike gave a small, warm smile.

“So…” he broke the silence. “Wanna take your luggage in before I give you a tour?”

“A,... tour?” Flurry shyly spoke, reminding Spike of a certain yellow pegasus. “Tour of,.. Ponyville?”

“Yep.” Spike lowered his open claw down in front of her. She yipped, leaping back. Spike gave a chuckle. “Trust me, sweetie, you’ll love this town.” He pinched her tail in between his fingers and lifted her. Flurry began to wriggle wildly.

“W-wait! Don't eat me!” Flurry screamed. This caused another chuckle from Spike.

“Eat you? Nah, I'm not like that.” He opened his other claw and placed Flurry on it. She grabbed one of his digits, shivering wildly as she saw how high she was. The Dragon knocked on the ceiling of the roof. One of the staff members opened a window nearby.

“Oh! Sir Spike!... How did I miss you?” They asked in confusion.

“I'm that awesome.” He replied. “But can you guys put Flurry's luggage in her room, please? I gotta show her the town and give her some ideas on what we can do.”

“Ah, some family bondage?” Spike nodded. “Very well, consider it done!” They closed the window. A trail of other ponies exited through the front door shortly (looking like ants from above) and took Flurry's luggage inside.

“Well, with that out of the way, let's explore a bit.” Spike spoke, taking his first few steps into town.

Spike stomped through the streets, watching his steps and making sure not to step on any of the tiny ponies around his feet. He smiled happily, glad to be back in his old town; he had seen some old and new faces. Spike’s eyes narrowed down to Flurry, who was shaking like a leaf, frightened out of her wits.

Spike’s happy expression changed to looking concerned for his little niece. As he walked gently, he brought her to his face. “Eeep! Uh,.. What i,..is it,..” She shivered almost like she was cold.

“Oh nothing.” Spike smiled. “It’s just, the last I remembered you, you just the cutest little baby, but boy were you a hoof,.. Er,.. ah,.. Clawfull.”

“I,.. I was?” She asked looking into the dragon’s massive eyes.

“Yeah when your Aunt Twilight and I first babysat you, you caused quite a bit of damage.” Flurry looked a bit wondered and baffled by the thought of her being a handful as a baby. Whenever she’d ask her Mom and Dad about what she was like as a baby, they’d tend to change the subject.

“Were you a hoof,.. Um clawful as a baby too?” Flurry asked still a little nervous.

“All babies are, but your aunt Twilight raised me when she was just filly herself.”

“Wow. Aunt Twili did a lot, didn't she?”

“Mmmhm. Sure, and all of friends, did great and wonderful things.” Flurry smiled a bit looking down at the town below, seeing the ponies looking up at her and Spike, some pointing and gasping, others waving, which Spike nodded his head as he passed.

“Did aunt Twili have to give you a giant bottle when you were a baby?”

“Hahaha~ I wasn’t that big, in fact I was super tiny when I was baby.” Flurry eyes widened.

“Whoa! Really?” Spike nodded his head and gave a chuckle. “How little were you?”

“Hmm.” Spike used his other hand’s first two digit claws and curved them into a pinch, keeping them apart by a few inches. “About as small as you were as baby maybe smaller.”

“I can’t believe something so small could become you. You're a giant!” Flurry pointed at him. Spike chuckled loudly smiling brightly and gently pet Flurry’s head.

“Believe it kiddo. Just because you're small now doesn't mean you'll be bigger someday.” Spike smiled as he walked. “So sweetie have you ever had Ponyville ice cream?”

“Isn’t it the same as normal ice cream?” Flurry shrugged her shoulders. Spike gasped bringing his claw to his maw.
“Never!? You haven't lived till you’ve had Pinkie Pie’s famous cupcake and muffin ice cream sundae delight!... It's a bit of a long name, but trust me it’s really good.” Spike walked towards the cake looking building in the town.

Spike lowered himself down onto all three, still holding Flurry in his palm as they came to the opening doors of Sugar Cube Corner. He tapped on the door in knocking fashion.

“Oh Pinkie Pie~” Spike voice echoed. In a few mere seconds, out came a bouncy pink mare. Her hazy pink form bounced like a speeding pinball that bounced on each building until it came to a stop on tip of Spike nose.

“Spiiiiiike! Omgoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! You brought Flurry Heart!” Pinkie leaped down onto Spike’s palm landing next to Flurry, who was scooped up into a bear hug by the hyper mare. Flurry was shocked but accepted the hug.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen you! Look how much you’ve grown.” Flurry smiled happily, quickly remembering this bouncy pink mare from many years ago. She hugged Pinkie Pie back snuggling into her.

“Its great to see too, aunt Pinkie.”

“Hehe~ So, ‘Aunt Pinkie’.” Spike joked. “We're here to have some of your famous ice cream.”

“So you’ve all heard the legends, have you? Well then, I hope your long, merulius journey wasn’t in vain.” Pinkie rubbed her hooves together and smiled evilly as she slipped out of Spike’s palm, snake like, slipping into the doors and in a split second, returned with a big bowl of ice cream with one scoop of yellow colored ice cream, coated in chocolate syrup, and on top of that was a scoop of chocolate ice cream, coated in caramel syrup, and on the very top was a scoop of strawberry ice cream with a cherry on top.

Flurry’s eyes widen and her mouth drooled as she stared at the holy sight of the towering ice cream. “Wow.” Spike gently set her down in chair near a table. Pinkie Pie set the bowl down next to Flurry who still stared at the ice cream.

“Go on! Try it. You too, Spike!”

“Oh, I would, but it’ll ruin my diet.” Spike replied

“Aww, come on. You know you want to.”

“I would, but I mustn’t.”

“So, you’re gonna leave Flurry alone with this delicious, literally melt in your mouth delicacy, with the bottom painfully tasting like that of a cupcake, topped with chocolate syrup, which compliments the cupcake’s cousin, the chocolate muffin, with the caramel, and the double strawberry that-”

“Dang it! My diet’s ruined!” Pinkie smiled with a squeaky noise, quickly running back and returning with a giant bowl of the same ice cream, cherry, and spoon. Spike sat down, using a nearby house as a chair. It creaked loudly, but thanks to modern architecture, it was able to hold Spike’s weight… just barely. “You know, Pinkie, I gained three hundred pounds after this snack. Do you know long it took me to lose that weight?”

“Every time you burped?” Pinkie asked. “Because the Calories… couldn’t take the heat!” A drum set was heard, but no one laughed.

“... It took me an entire month.”

“Oh! Well then, dont’cha think you deserved it?”

“... This is why I try to stay with Twilight.” He took the first bite out of his Ice cream. Flurry followed, and froze, feeling as if Elysium was in her mouth. She couldn’t handle it, Flurry wanted more. The filly stuffed her face into the ice cream, loudly smacking her lips and making a mess, up until she felt her brain feeling cold.

“BRAIN FREEZE!!!” She yelled.

“Oh yeah, you might wanna avoid that.” Pinkie spoke.

“Ya think?” Spike replied.

“Ooh! Snarky Spike! Glad to see you still have that in you, you old goof.”

“Snarky?” Flurry asked “What do you mean?”

“Sometimes, when Twilight was freaking out, whether it’d be something small to something large, Spike usually became her common sense! Why, if it wasn’t for Spike, then Twilight may have not became a princess, or even be considered sane.” Flurry turned to Spike. He shrugged.

“Somebody has to be the voice of reason. And it’s not just Twilight, Pinkie. You all act crazy sometimes.”

“Really?” Flurry asked

“Yep. I don’t mean to brag, but let’s just say that this dragon knows a thing or two about controlling yourself.”

“Like the time you became greedy and started to hoard everything in sight while becoming a more terrifying monster?” Pinkie asked.

“... Besides that.”

“Or the time where you had to watch over Twilight as she slept and you used her power to get what you want as ‘order of the princess’?”

“Besides that as well.”

“And to learn what it meant to be a dragon, you left Ponyville, followed the dragon migration, and-” To shut her up, Spike simply tossed his spoonful at Pinkie, effectively covering her in the melting sweet.

“Ok, we get it. I’m not so perfect as I like to say I am, but I’ve been a great attribute to many of their adventures.”

“And your own!” Pinkie’s head popped out of the ice cream. “You should see Spike in action now, Flurry!”
“Pinkie…”

“What do you mean?” Flurry asked.

“Spike’s so awesome! He’s basically this town’s guardian, watching and protecting this land, all because he-”

“And we’re done.” Spike interrupted, picking Flurry up. With his other claw, he pulled out a large bag of bits and dropped it next to Pinkie. “Thanks for the ice cream, but we really have to get going.”

“Okie Doki Loki! Say hi to Rainbow Dash for me along the way!”

“Will do.” Spike walked away. Flurry turned to her uncle.

“What was that about?” She asked “I was interested on what you do.”

“It’s rather simple, Flurry; I’m your aunt’s personal guardian.”

“... You watch over her?”

“Not really. I mean, I can’t watch her all the time, but I am more or less this town’s protector.”

“Protector? From what?”

“Anything that wishes to hurt this town.”

“So… you’re like a superhero?”

“Heh, I like to think of it that way. Oh, and speaking of which, I gotta see if Big Mac has some new Power Ponies!”

“Big Mac?”

“He’s friend of mine. Plus, he’s the older brother to your Aunt Applejack.”

“Ooh! Where is she?”

“At Sweet Apple Acres, the local farm and home of both their famous Zap Apple Jam and Cider.”

“Zap Apple Jam?”

“Another staple of Ponyville that keeps everyone coming. You’ll enjoy it.” He made his way to the local farm. As Flurry saw, rows of trees decorated the hills, each having red, enticing looking apples. To her surprise, the trees were just tall enough to cover Spike’s legs, meaning they were probably half of his size at least, but in the middle of it all laide a dirt path that lead to a classic looking red farm, which had the various sounds of many different animals. Dragging a wagon behind her, filled with tons of apples, was an orange mare with a yellow mane and tail in a ponytail, and wore a stenson on top of her head. She stopped and took a deep breath before looking up and seeing Spike arriving.

“Oh, sweet Celestia! We got some guests!” The mare spoke in a South-Western accent.

“Eeyup.” Another, more silent sounding, stallion added. A small, yellow, teenage aged mare with a long red mane & tail came out of the barn, but rubbed her eyes as she saw Spike.

“What in tarnation!?” She yelled. “Spike! What the hay are ya’ll doin’ here?”

“Just here to say hello,” He replied, crouching to meet them. “Seeing if Big Mac has the next issues of Power Ponies, and giving Flurry a tour of Ponyville.” He lowered his claw, allowing Flurry to get off.

“... Do mah eyes deceive me?” Applejack asked. “Flurry Heart’s here!?”

“Uh… yes?” Flurry asked, hopping off.
“You have fun.” Spike spoke, hopping over them and walking over to the other side of the barn, leaning down, beginning his conversation with someone else below.

“Well, ya’ll look ‘bout the same those years ago.” The orange mare spoke. “Oh, name's Applejack.”

“... Aunt Applejack?”

“Sure is!” She reached over and grabbed the teenage mare. “And this here’s yer cousin Applebloom!”

“Howdy!” Applebloom added.

“And seems Spike’s talkin’ to yer Uncle Big Macintosh.”

“... Why couldn’t I stay with you guys?” Flurry asked. Applejack quickly covered her mouth as Spike looked up.
“Did someone say something?” he asked.

“Uh… nope! We were just chattin’.” Applejack lied. Spike lowered his eyes, but shrugged and continued his conversation. Applejack lowered her hoof. “Don’t you say somethin’ like that, okay? Spike may be nice, but he’s very sensitive.”

“Sensitive? But… Spike’s a dragon, isn’t he? Aren’t dragons tough?”

“Believe me, sugarcube, Spike may be able to take a beatin’, but he’s sensitive to what other ponies say about him. It ain’t about how tough he is on the outside, it’s about how tough he is on the inside, and trust me, even the strongest of ponies, or in this case, dragons, can be brought down by a few words. Ya get me?” Flurry’s ears lowered.

“Oh… I gotcha… but… how tough is he? Physically, I mean.”

“Oh boy, even as a little feller, he was able to take a beatin’, but now… well, he can easily take on anything thrown at him, even other dragons.”

“He fought other dragons?”

“Yep! He’s fought dragons larger than him, and he’s been outnumbered from time ta time, but in the end, he’s won ‘em all.”

“... How?” Applejack pointed at her own head.

“Smarts, sugarcube. Smarts, and a whole lotta trainin’.”

“Oh…” As the country mare traded stories with the little filly, Spike’s shadow covered them as he walked out of the corner, followed by a red stallion with a short, and gruff, looking mane & tail, wearing a yoke around his neck.

“There we go!” Spike exclaimed, holding a comic book issue in between his thumb and finger claw, looking rather comedically small for his size. “Can’t wait to see how the Power Ponies defeat the Maneiac’s robot, the PON-3000.” He knelt down to the three. “Applejack, did Flurry try out some of your Zap Apple Jam yet?”

“Oh shoot! Ah nearly forgot we had a spare jar!” Applejack quickly ran out into the house, returning a few seconds later with a jar that was filled with a rainbow colored jam. “Here ya go, sugarcube. Ah would give you some bread to try it out, but we’re unfortunately out. Perhaps Fluttershy can help… if her animals hadn’t eaten it all first, that is.”

“Eh, it give us more of a reason to travel around town.” Spike lowered his right hand down and opened it. Flurry hopped on, quickly bracing herself as Spike stood right back up. She looked down to the Apple Family.

“See you soon!” She waved.

“See you real soon, sugarcube!” Applejack waved back as Spike began to walk away. She turned to Big Mac. “Ya’ll asked Spike if Flurry can join your Ogres and Oubliettes, didn’t ya?”

“... Nope.” Big Mac replied, looking around, sweating, and scrunching up his muzzle.
As Spike walked, Flurry began to ask him some questions.

“So, where do you live?” She asked.

“Where do I live?” Spike replied. “Well, not that far away.”

“No, I mean where do you live, exactly?”

“Well… since you are family, I live in a volcano.” If Flurry were drinking anything, she’d spit it out in a spit take.

“WHAT!?”

“Hey, relax, it’s a dormant one.”

“Dormant?”

“There’s lava inside, but not enough to cause some eruptions.”

“... But, aren’t you worried about it?”

“Pfft! No! I’m a dragon; Lava to a dragon is like a hot tub to ponies. And, no, I don’t swim around it all day, I live in a cave with my own built in lava-jacuzzi.”

“Lava what?”

“That’s what I call it. It’s basically just a crater with some fresh lava inside it. A great place for me to relax, especially after a hard day.”

“And exercises?”

“Oh yeah… wait… did Applejack tell you what I did?” Flurry could only grin.

“Maybe… and perhaps what you do.”

“... We’ll talk about this later. There’s the cottage.” Flurry turned and saw what looked like a house built into the side of a hill. All around it, animals of all kinds roamed freely, all in harmony, with prey and predators not showing any signs or hunger or contempt. However, as soon as they saw Spike, they all fled, hiding behind the house.

“... That was strange.”

“It’s normal.” Spike allowed Flurry to slide off his hand. “Give the door a few knocks. I’ll be back in a few moments.” He walked into the forest nearby, not necessarily disappearing, but only his head was present. Flurry shrugged and knocked on the door.
“WHO DARES KNOCK ON THE DOOR!?!?!?” A very loud and deep voice demanded, nearly blowing Flurry away.

“... Uh… It’s me… Flurry Heart.” She answered “I came to see if Fluttershy has some bread.”

“BREAD!? WE DO NOT OFFER- No! Wait! Don’t open it!” The door opened. A butter-yellow pegasus with a really long pink mane & tail answered the door.

“Oh, I’m so sorry for that,” she replied in a very gentle, mother-like tone. “Discord gets really sensitive when it’s out Tuesday Tea sessions.” A strange creature, mixed with bits of other animals, appeared behind Flurry.

“Hmph! I should’ve know it was you, ‘Princess’.” He spoke in a very sly way. “I always wonder; does being a princess make you an alicorn, or does an alicorn make you a princess?”

“... What?” Flurry asked.

“Don’t mind him.” The mare replied. “But oh, you are so cute! I remember when you were just a baby.”

“A baby that nearly destroyed an entire kingdom!” Discord snickered.

“Discord!”

“It’s the truth, Fluttershy.”

“... Aunt Fluttershy?” Flurry asked.

“Oh, that’s me,” Fluttershy replied “but where’s Spike? I thought you were supposed to be with him.”

“Well…” Flurry pulled out her jar of zap apple jam. “I was, but Spike dropped me off here before he went into the forest. Do you know where he went.”

“Ooh! I do!” Discord spoke. “It’s probably the same reason why Fluttershy’s animals hid.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I really don’t-” It dawned upon her like that; his size, teeth, and why the animals hid from her, it meant one thing. “... You… you mean he-”
“It’s ok,” Fluttershy cooed, patting her head. “He may be a carnivore, but he knows not to let everyone see it.”

“So he really-?”

“Of course he does, but he has full control of himself, and, as much as I don’t like it, it’s how nature intended.”

“... But… we had ice cream together with Aunt Pinkie.”

“Really? Well, he should be full in a few moments… and there’ll be some more animals. Oh, but do come inside, I have plenty of bread you can use to try out your Zap apple jam.”

“Zap apple Jam sandwiches!” Discord cheered, flying into the house. Flurry walked in, blank faced as she realized what Spike was doing. Fluttershy opened a cabinet as Discord opened the jar and conjured up some butter knives. The filly just sat on a kitchen table, still having her wide eye stare.

“Is there something wrong?” Flurry stared ahead.

“... Was he always like this?”

“Like what?”

“Did he… did he eat… meat?”

“Oh no! Not at all! When he was here, he ate whatever we ate… with the exception being gems, of course.”

“So… he was like everypony else?”

“More or less.”

“But… when did this began?”

“Oh, sometime during his growth spurt. He tried his best to be like everypony, eating the various fruits, veggies, and sweets we had in our town, but it wasn’t going to work.”

“Why?”

“It’s rather simple.” Discord answered “He would’ve became diabetic if he had nothing but sweets, and, if he were to eat his fruits and veggies, he would need to eat a lot, but in turn, everyone else would’ve starved.”

“Starve!?”

“Mhm… And while yes, I can summon more, but not only would it take all of my power to just feed everyone, but I would’ve also needed to feed Spike as well.”

“Oh yes,” Fluttershy added. “But please, don’t be mad at him; He chose this path, and so far, it’s really good.”

“And I hate to admit it, but I want those abs.”

“It’s been really healthy for him. And while it would seem morbid, it’s actually a great way to keep some animal populations from growing too big and, well… they starve as well.”

“... Huh,” Flurry spoke. “Never thought of that… but… did he… you know?”

“Did he what?” Fluttershy asked, putting a Zap Apple Jam sandwich in front of Flurry.

“... Has he… eaten anypony?”

“Oh no! Not at all! He may be a carnivore, but he refuses to eat any sentient creature, no matter how small they are.”

“... That’s a relief.” She took a bit out of her sandwich. A surge of electricity ran through her body, but it wasn’t painful, rather, it felt great! “Whoa! What’s up with this jam!?”

“It’s made from Zap apples. They come once a year, but are so great, thanks to Granny Smith and her… unique ways of preparation.”

“Granny Smith? Where is she?” Both Fluttershy and Discord had embarrassed looks on their faces. Discord shoved his sandwich into his mouth and chewed loudly while Fluttershy got up.

“I, uh… gotta check on Angel.” She ran up the stairs.

“... You’re both weird.” A loud belch was heard outside. Flurry looked out of the window and saw green flames firing out of the forest like a geyser. Discord swallowed his sandwich.

“Oh! Looks like your uncle’s full now!” He hovered and gently shoved Flurry away. “Goodbye! See ya later!” As soon as Flurry was out, he slammed the door shut. Flurry blinked before knocking on the door.

“Can I have my sandwich and jam?” A bright light puff as the sandwich was on a plate and the jam next to it. She picked both up. “Thanks.” She continued to eat her sandwich. The loud cracking of trees were heard as Spike came back, letting out another loud, fiery belch. He was surprisingly clean, with the exception being water around his mouth. All he did was pat his belly, stuffed, probably by some unfortunate animals, and leaned down.

“Sorry about that,” he spoke. “Had to get a quick bite with a friend of mine.”

“... And was that friend ‘hunger’?” Flurry asked.

“Yep!” He lowered his hand down. “So, how was your Zap Apple Jam sandwich?” Flurry hopped on.

“Pretty good… how was your deer?” Spike brought her closer to his face.

“What did you say?”

“What did you have? Deer? Bears? Wolves?”

“... Flurry-”

“I’m not stupid, uncle! I know what you did! You eat other animals!”

“... I do, but you understand why, don’t you?”

“... Yes. Aunt Fluttershy told me. But surely there must be a better way!”

“Oh, I wish there was, I truly do, but this is the best I can do. But, if it makes you feel better, I only go for animals with the most populations, as well as the sick and ones near death.”

“Y-you do?”

“Yes. It’s mercy; they can go away in peace, and I get filled.”

“But… how can you tell?”

“Well, for the first, I actually ask Fluttershy about that. The animals with the highest population is what I go for that month, but the other ones are what I see during my hunts. I can tell the sick ones because of how skinny they are, slight discoloration, and how weak they are. I would let them go, but in the wild, there’s a low chance for survival, so it’s mercy… even if they taste nasty.” he shivered at that mention. “And for the heavily injured… well, you can already guess what that means.”

“If an animal is fatally wounded, you eat them?”

“Yep. Again, it’s mercy. The only exception I have is when there’s some equipment around or somebody is trying to help them out.”

“... Glad to hear that… Spike?”

“Yes?”

“When you fight… do you eat them when you win?”

“Excuse me?”

“You fight other dragons, don’t you? I heard that when dragons fight each other, the victor wins by eating the loser. Is that true?”

“... To an extent, it is… but I do not do that.”

“... Why?”

“Because I’m merciful. And unlike them, I don’t seek out fights. I aim to become strong, but I only use violence as a last means effort.”

“... You try to talk your way out?”

“I do. It’s worked a few times… but they were mostly scared of me.”

“Oh.” Spike used his other claw to rub her head.

“Hey, don’t be so scared. Yes, I may eat other animals, but you’re my family; I would never hurt anyone that I consider as a part of my life.” Flurry blushed.

“Aw, you mean it?”

“I mean it.”

“... Say, where did you learn how to fight?”

“I took some lessons from your Aunt Rainbow Dash during my growth spurt. Knowing her, she’s probably napping on a cloud somewhere.”

“Perhaps her home?”

“... I don’t see why not.” Spike made his way to Rainbow Dash’s house.

“So, you and Ember seem to be getting along.”

“Yeah. It’s a long story, but I helped her become dragon lord, and she became one of my best friends.”

“But do you like her?”

“Oh yeah! She’s a great friend! Sure, she’s more like a dragon than me, but she’s learning about friendships with other creatures but dragons.”

“No, I mean as in you like LIKE her?” He stopped and held her closer to her face.

“Like Like?”

“You know…” Flurry bounced her eyebrows. “Like Like.”

“... Meaning?” Flurry perked her lips and made kissing noises. Spike blushed. “Flurry! N-No! That’s absurd! She’s much older than me and taller than I am!”

“So? Discord and Fluttershy seem to be okay with it.”

“They’re different! I… I think that…” He began to sweat a bit. “We’re just friends, okay?”

“I think otherwise.” She taunted.

“It’s not like that! It’s… nevermind.” He stopped at what looked liked a mansion made entirely out of clouds with rainbows pouring out from the sides. The top of it was close to the very tip of his head scale, but, it was floating in the air, so there’s that. Spike crouched down and looked through the windows. Inside of the windows, he saw Rainbow Dash, wearing headphones, running in place as her wings lifted some dumbells.

“Is she napping?”

“Nope. She’s exercising… Not sure if she took that note from me.”

“Note from you?”

“Yeah… did you honestly think I look like this because of my growth spurt and meat?”

“... Yes.”

“Well, there’s more to that, but just like Dash here, my home is also my gym.”

“You made your home a gym?”

“Yeah. Of course, there may be a lack of music… or even state of the art gym equipment… but I work with what I have.”

“And those are?”

“Rocks. And not just any rocks, but boulders I use to get these muscles, as you can see. Of course, I have my cheat days, but I try to better myself and use the larger boulders to make myself much stronger than before.”

“... And how has that been?”

“... A few ups and downs, but it’s been steady.” He watched as Rainbow Dash stopped for a bit, wiped some sweat from her head, grabbed some water and drank it. Without doing anything, Dash turned to look outside, only seeing the large eye of Spike peaking in.

“GAH!!!” Dash screamed, running out of the room.

“Oops.” Spike stood back up as the door opened, revealing the rainbow mane & tail colored pegasus inside.
“Spike! Privacy! I seriously thought you were a random dragon for a minute there!”

“Sorry about that. I’m just showing Flurry Heart around town.” Spike lowered Flurry onto the cloud porch. She hopped off, sinking into the cloud a bit, but bounced back up.

“Flurry Heart?” Rainbow Dash inspected the filly, and suddenly her face lifted with a smile. “Hey, you’re Twilight’s little niece aren’t you? I haven’t seen you since you were just a little filly! How are you, kid?”

“Hey, Aunt Rainbow Dash. I'm doing just fine. Uncle Spike has been showing me around town, and I've learned quite a few things about him.”

“You did? Like what?”

“How you taught him Kung-Fu.”

“It's karate!” Spike and Dash groaned in unison.

Flurry Heart giggled. “Whatever. So, are you gonna tell me how you trained Uncle Spike, Aunt Dash?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes uncertainly. “I don’t know, kid. If your parents or Twilight find out you were learning how I taught Spike how to throw a punch, then they’d have me sit through a week-long boring lecture on being a bad influence on kids by teaching them about violence.”
Flurry Heart decided this was the right time to use her secret weapon. She looked at Rainbow Dash with big pleading eyes that glimmered with moisture. “Pwease, Auntie Dash? Pwease tell me how you taught Uncle Spike to fight?” she begged in her cutesy voice. “Pwease, Auntie Dash? Tell me how you twained Uncle Spike. I wanna heaw all about it. I pwomise I won’t tell. I pwomise.”

Dash stared at the filly with skepticism and suspicion for a moment, but sighed in defeat; she couldn’t resist the look on the little filly’s face. “You're starting to sound a lot like Scootaloo. Alright, but if they do find out, Spike?”

“We only use it for defense.” Spike spoke along with Dash.

“Good.”

“Though, I seem to be the only one who follows it.” Spike commented.

“Hey! I was defending my friends during those moments!”

“Right.” Spike smirked crossing his arms, Rainbow Dash cleared her throat she brought her hoof to her chin thinking a bit.

“Well, when your uncle was just starting on his growth spurt, he was only a foot taller than Scootaloo, his arms and legs were starting to stretch out he came to me asking if I could teach him how to use Karate.” Rainbow Dash snickered “Not gonna lie, he was pretty bad; he got his little scaly butt kicked over and over again. But, eventually, he started getting better; he could break boards with just one snap, and soon with my teachings he was kicking butt and taken names.”

“I,... I wasn’t really going around beating up everyone,... “

“I know, dork. I’m just trying to make you look tough for your niece.” Rainbow chuckles playfully punching the side of Spike’s foot.

“So how long do you have to train to be a Karate master? Did you get your teachings from a old stallion with long tin white beard and did he make you catch a fly?” Flurry excitedly asked.

“Pfffftt. Hahahaha!” Spike and Rainbow Dash both laughed loudly.

“You’ve been watching your Dad’s old movies huh.” Spike giggled.

“.....Maybe,...” Flurry rubbed the back of her head. “Hey Spike could you show me some of your moves?”

“Hmm. Well I don’t know...” Spike scratched his chin.

“Pleeeeeeeeease~”

“... Tell you what, if I ever get into a fight with another dragon, or any other giant creature, then you will personally get a front row seat… away from the danger, of course.”

“Aww!” She pouted.

“Hey, chin up, if you’re lucky, one may just happen soon enough while your parents and Twilight are away.”

“Yeah,” Dash added. “Besides, he’s not even a black belt, like me, but he did make his own Martial Arts… kinda.”

“Not really. Ember taught me some of her own moves… albeit, I changed it up a bit, incorporating your moves with hers. It’s worked so far.”

“Yeah, I can tell.”

“Oh, and Pinkie says ‘Hi’.”

“He remembered!” Pinkie shouted, somehow popping out of Spike’s ear and running away in a pink blur.

“... What just happened?” Flurry asked.

“Don’t ask.” Dash replied. “It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.”

“Right… I kinda knew you’d ask Ember for help, Uncle.”

“... What?” Spike asked in a rather confused tone.

“Don’t be so shy; you asked Ember to help you to not just be better, but you REALLY wanted to spend time with her, didn’t you?”

“Uh… no… it was the first. I needed to be faster, and Ember was the only one that can help a friend who’s willing to listen. Plus, it’s better than just relying on one form of fighting instead of two.”

“Yeah, like crushes.” Rainbow added with a snicker.

“I don’t have a crush on Ember!” Spike’s cheeks blushed.

“Yeah, just as believable as how you didn’t have a crush on Rarity.”

“I was still a child! Besides, it wouldn’t work out.”

“But it worked for Fluttershy and Discord.”

“They’re-!” He let out an annoyed groan. “Now I’m just repeat, aren’t I?”

“Yep.” Flurry answered. “Are we going to see Rarity?” Spike sighed in defeat.

“Well, she is your final Aunt. Starlight would be it, but you’ve been with her and Sunburst, haven’t you?”

“Yep! So, how are they?” Spike lowered his hand to her. She jumped on yet again.

“They’re doing really well. I can tell they really like each other… like you and Ember.”

“For the last time, I don’t have a crush!” Spike marched away, leaving Dash to get back to her exercises… or naps.

“Whatever you say… though, Starlight does miss you.”

“... She does?”

“Yeah. Besides Sunburst , Twilight, and Trixie, you were probably one of her close friends in Ponyville… even if she did manipulate you in some areas.”

“Old habits die hard. Such as my sugar tooth… and pride, of course.”

“Yeah. I can only imagine what she’ll act like when she sees you like this.”

“Probably with some hyperventilation and finding a spell that will revert me back to my ‘normal’ self… or shrink me… give or take.”

“Hm, that sounds a lot like her.”

“Yeah, but she reminded me a bit of Twilight… albeit, angrier, and… well, tried to make everypony equal.”

“Oh yeah, I learned about that ordeal..… Did you also like her?” Spike facepalmed himself.

“Ugh,... Not in a crush. She was pretty good friend to me, and Thorax. If it wasn’t for her, Thorax wouldn’t be the Changeling King.”

“Wow. I think I remembered the day I met Uncle Thorax... he sure looked different. But he was very nice he always read me changeling stories too.”

“He always was a sweet changeling.” Spike smiled.

“The stories he read, not so much… I never knew their stories were so violent.”

“... I’ll have to look into that if I ever visit the changeling kingdom… right after they stop screaming at the sight of a 15 meter tall dragon walking to their castle casually.”

“I can be there to help, if you want.”

“D’aww… that’s sweet of you.” He patted her head before stopping at the building that looked a lot like a carousel. “And I guess this is the final stop for today.” He licked his free hand and adjusted his head scales to look nice he huffed out some of his fire breath smelling it making sure it didn’t stink. With a kneel, he lowered his hand, though Flurry jumped right off and knocked on the door.

“Coming~” A soft voice called out. The door opened and there stood a white unicorn mare with a swirly, yet elegant looking mane & tail. She wore a new looking, beautiful dress, shaded in a light blue color. Her purple eyes blinked showing off her eyelashes and smiled brightly at Flurry Heart. “Flurry!? Aw, look how much you’ve grown. You almost remind me of Sweetie Belle when she was your age.” Rarity scooped up Flurry and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug.

“No hug for your Spikey Wikey?” Spike asked playfully.

“Aw, of course you big baby!” She released Flurry and hugged one of his claws. “I could tell you were here, Spikey; those footsteps aren’t so subtle as you think.”

“Who says I was being subtle?”

“Fair enough.”

“Did Uncle Spike have a crush on you, Aunt Rarity?” Flurry bluntly asked. Rarity and Spike both blushed bright red looking away from each other when Flurry spoke.

“O,.. Oh,.. Well Spikey Wikey was,.. “ Rarity blushed, smiling shyly as she tried to speak. “He and I were very close friends,.. “

“I,.. I,. Um well I re,.. Really enjoyed my time with Rarity,” Spike added “but… well, uh-”

“He was a child.”

“... Yeah, that.”

“But, it didn’t meant I didn’t enjoy his company. He was always a gentleman, willing to help out in the blink of an eye.”

“Yeah… Much better than Blueblood.”

“An infinity times better than that uptight snob.” Rarity huffed. Spike smiled and started to chuckle, with Rarity chuckling along with him. Soon, their
chuckles became laughs. Both Spike and Rarity laughed loudly leaving a very confused Flurry sitting in the middle of them.

“Oh darling, you must stop by more often.” Rarity smiled patting Flurry on her head. “I must have you around when I make my new dresses you will look so wonderful in them.”

“Hmm, alright aunt Rarity. I’d like that a lot.” Flurry smiled happily giving Rarity a hug. “But are you jealous that Spike has a crush on Ember?”

“Oh? He does?”

“NO! I DON’T!!!” Spike defended himself. His purple scales turned red as he started to have an embarrassed look on his face.

“Oh, Spike, I don’t mind at all.”

“... You don’t?”

“Nonsense! It wouldn’t work, both for age, and… well… height, reasons.”

“... But Fluttershy and Discord are doing well.”

“They’re different than us.”

“Did I just enter a parallel universe?” Flurry asked

“I assure you, you didn’t. Besides, I’m certain Ember will be fine with a handsome fellow like you, Spikey.”

“Uh… are you sure?” Spike asked, poking at his belly. “Should I lose some more weight? Gain a few more? Will training harder work? Is there anything I should-”

“Ahem!” Spike looked down at her.

“The key you should know is to just be yourself, and better yourself, not for her sake, but for yours only.”

“... So… are you angry?”

“Oh, nonono! I thank you a lot Spike, but I’m already meeting somepony else.”

“... And that is?” At that moment, a dark gray stallion with a lighter colored, mowhawk styled mane, exited the building.

“What’s wrong, Rarity?” He asked, but stopped as he looked up and saw Spike. “... Uh… hi.”

“Thunderlane!?” Spike asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Spike,” Rarity replied “But he’s a real gentleman past his look.”

“Yeah, and Rarity loves a stallion in a suit.” Thunderlane added. “A Wonderbolt suit, that is.” Spike turned around and grumbled to himself.

“Spike, don’t be so rude. Besides, I still have a present for you.”

“... Another gem?” He asked.

“Nope, even better. But you have to come down.”

“... Why should I?”

“It’ll be a great surprise.” Spike huffed and lowered himself. “A little bit lower.” His stood on all 4s, his legs, surprisingly, remained the same. “Just a bit lower.” Spike’s face was close to the floor.

“This is as low as I can get. What is it?” Rarity gave him a kiss on his lower lip. Spike felt the passionate kiss and blushed. Flurry gagged at the sight.

“That’s your gift; A kiss for good luck.” Spike giggled like a goofball.

“Ugh! This is getting sappy!” Flurry spoke, walking to Spike and climbing on top of his head, using his ‘ears’ to get on top of his head. “Come on, can you show me where you live, at least?”

“Well, we have plenty of time, so I don’t see why not.” Spike stood right back up and stretched his arms high in the air. Flurry held onto his head’s scales as he did so, kinda regretting getting on his scalp, but was amazed to see at how small everything was where she was at. “And since you’re up there, you may want to hold on.”

“Uh… ok.” She gripped onto his head scales with all her strength. Spike rolled his neck and arms, cracking some bones in body, as he got into a crouching position. Everypony who saw this knew what was going to happen and parted ways, giving him a clear path. Then he sprinted. Everything went fast for Flurry; Spike, while not as fast as Rainbow Dash, got out of the town in less than three seconds, leaving only a trail of his footprints behind. In those seconds, Flurry saw that Spike had passed the various buildings, including the castle itself. Soon, the town was gone, and instead, it was a forest. Flurry ducked, unsure where her uncle was taking her, but not liking it with each stride he took. After a few more seconds, they were out of the forest and in a plain field, running towards one of the mountains. Spike slowed down, but walked around the mountain, following a large dirt path up the side of the mountain. Looking behind, Flurry saw that Spike's footprints were gone; the dirt was so loose, it easily covered Spike's tracks. Turning back, Flurry saw the wall of the mountain.

“Home Sweet home.” Spike said.

“... Where is it?” Flurry asked. All I see is a wall.”

“Glad to see it works.” Spike walked to the wall, seeing six holes in it. He placed his fingers (except for his thumbs) and pulled hard. A loud grinding noise was heard, as the wall was steadily pulled out. Much to Flurry's surprise, the shape was round, not perfectly, but just enough to look like a circle. Spike pulled his fingers out, walked to the right side, and pushed the large wheel out of the way. Right behind the wheel was a cave, also circlular in shape.

“You live here?” Flurry asked. Spike stopped his rolling.

“Yep.” Spike answered. “It's not the best, but it works.”

“But why do you have this… door?”

“Privacy. Don't want to fight when I'm asleep… nor have anything stolen.”

“... Has anyone tried that?”

“Nope. Not yet, and nor do I plan for it to happen.” Spike walked in, but turned around and rolled the boulder back in place, pulling it back in. Despite the entrance being dark, a dim, red light glowed in the distance. Spike began to walk in, with Flurry regaining her grip on his head scales. All Flurry could do was awe at the interior of Spike's home; nearly everything in the place was made entirely out of rocks. Littered across the floors was various weights, ranging from Dumbells, bench presses, and to just random boulders in various sizes, weights, and minerals. Of course, besides the primitive gym, in the far left side was a single crater that was filled with boiling lava, with some plopping out and drying up quickly on the floor, but was more or less the main source of light. Of course, on the other side, on the right corner, was a large block with an equal sized, hastily stitched up blanket made from other blankets, and a large pillow,also made from pillows. Right next to it, at the foot stand, was a ‘desk’ and a chair, which had two large magnifying glasses with multiple, smaller glasses, as well as several large feathers (most likely from some extinct birds or one of Spike's various meals) and ink. Aside from that, on the other corner, was a cupboard of sort. All of the walls were decorated with old photos of Spike's past, from the day he was hatched, all the way to him finding this cave.

“It's not much, but it is home.” Spike spoke, putting his hand on his shoulders, filled with pride.

“How long did it take you to make all of this?” Flurry asked.

“... About a month or so.”

“How can you tell it's day or night?”

“Like this.” Spike slammed the wall with his right fist. Loud screeches were heard, followed by loud flapping, and various bats began to fly around them. Flurry whimpered, hiding away, but watched as the bats flew upwards, revealing the cave was actually in the volcano, with tons of bright light entering. Spike walked to the cupboard.

“... This is all yours?”

“And my flying snacks. But don't worry, I won't eat them while you're around. They come back with more, something I don't understand, but don't really care.” Flurry looked up.

“Aren't you worried someone will come in?”

“Nah! Those bats provide all the cover I need. I'm usually here late at night, exercising and resting up for the next day, so sorry for the mess.” He opened the cabinet. Inside was tons of precious gems, each easily, but below that was a easily the biggest comic book collection Flurry had ever seen! Spike pulled out the comic book Uncle Big Mac gave to him and carefully placed it in with the others. “I’ll read that later.” His hand went up to the gems. “But I’ll have you.” He grabbed a single green gem and tossed it into his mouth, crunching it loudly, despite his mouth being closed the whole way. He walked over to the desk and pulled a seat out, swallowing his snack, and picking Flurry up by her tail, placing her gently on the table. “Yep, this is my place. Mostly a gym, with a lava-jacuzzi, bed, desk, and storage area.”

“It’s very nice, Uncle.” She looked up to the sky, using her left leg as cover from the sunlight. “Have you ever jumped through the top?” Spike looked up.

“Eh… more like climb my way out.”

“... Is it tough?”

“Just a tad bit. The real problem is not knowing who will be watching me. I only do it in emergencies, and not the bathroom type.”

“Really? Did anyone see you?”

“Oh yeah, some did.”

“Like who?”

“Mostly travelers, tourists, and a few locals. Many of them try to climb their way to the top, but are too scared, thanks in parts to the bats, and whenever I accidentally slam into the wall in my sleep, they think it’s the volcano acting up… or my fury.”

“Including pegasi?”

“Including pegasi. Kinda glad my snoring sounds like roars and tons of smoke comes out… not enough to cover the skies, but just enough to ward everyone off.”

“Did… dragons see you?”

“... Oh yeah. A couple did.”

“But they never went in?”

“If my time with Ember is correct, while yes, we dragons may seem uncivilized, greedy, and want nothing but to fight, but we do have our codes. Unless invited, a dragon can’t enter another dragon’s home… but it doesn’t mean they can patronize each other.”

“You mean… demand a fight?”

“Oh yeah.” His expression went serious. “Especially Garble.”

“Garble?”

“... A real jerk, to say the least. Just the mention of his name gets under my skin.”

“... What did he do?”

“What didn’t he do, is the question I’d ask. I first thought of him as a friend, a brother even, when we first met each other. But that was short lived, though he would still patronize me, all because I was raised by ponies.”

“... He must seem to hate ponies.”

“With a passion, and anyone who would even believe themselves to be a friend of ponies. Really glad I helped Ember became the Dragon Lord, looking back at it now… Celestia knows what it would be like if I ever ruled the dragons.”

“WHAT!?!?!?”

“It’s a long story. Though, I can imagine that, while I would be away from Twilight, and this town, for pretty much the rest of my life, I would have less fights with Garble.”

“You fought each other?”

“Oh yeah! And if you thought Ember was tall, Garble’s a bit taller than her. His size alone, puts me at a disadvantage, but by the fact he can fly, AND is accompanied by at least two of his ‘friends’... well, you can tell how tough it is.”

“And you’ve won them all?”

“... Eh, just one or two; the rest ends with a tie, usually with the two of us tiring out, or Ember stopping us. Still, that’s good enough for me, and for this town.”

“And Ember?” Spike groaned again.

“You’re not gonna let this down, are you?”

“Nope!”

“Figures.” He looked up to the sky, seeing the sun was about just about ready to set. “It’s about to get late. Hop on.” Spike stood up and knelt down, showing his back scales. Flurry walked over, a bit nervous, but hopped on, grabbing onto his back. “Alright. Hold on. You’re gonna love this sight.” With a spring in his step, Spike jumped into the air, and grabbed onto the interior walls, using his claws as axes and cleats, ripping the rock off the mountain as he climbed up. Flurry held on for life, but watched as Spike made their way up, as well as the debris falling to where they once stood. While Spike climbed up, Flurry began to climb up Spike’s back, using his smaller, but more prominent, spikes, as a ladder. Eventually, she reached all the way to his left shoulder, and Spike got out of his home at the top. Spike sat down at the rim of the volcano, and the two looked in the distance; the sun was slowly beginning to set, and the town was in the distance, looking quite small, and almost in the middle of nowhere.

“It’s… beautiful.” Flurry spoke.

“It is.” Spike replied. “Gives you a sense, doesn’t it?”

“Sense of what?”

“Being a giant amongst others.”

“... It does, actually. Everything’s so small from up here.”

“Yeah, but try seeing this practically everyday.”

“... I can only imagine.”

“Yes, but also being reminded on how small, and fragile, everything is.” Flurry turned to him.

“Did something bad happen?”

“... No… not yet… I hope not.” His right hand reached over and grabbed her, but ever so gently, as he reopened his hand. He looked down at her “I may be a guardian of this town, and I may do my best to protect everyone, and I may seem courageous, but the truth is… I’m scared.”

“... Scared? Scared of what?”

“... Losing those I hold dear.” A single tear ran down his right eye. Flurry was a bit taken back; so far, all she heard was how awesome he was, even with his problems, but this was the first time he showed something soft, and personal, about himself. She forced a smile upon her face, flapped her wings (Or, more like glide), and gave her uncle the biggest hug she could muster over where his heart would be. Spike’s was very loud and powerful, yet gentle and soothing… like Spike himself. Truth be told, it was very comforting to her.

“It’s alright, Uncle. I’m here for you.” Spike was a bit appalled by her action, but smiled himself, gently putting his two hands over her and pushing her deeper to his chest.

“D’aww… thanks, Flurry… I sounded a little sappy, didn’t I?”

“... Yes, you did… but I don’t care.” Spike chuckled at her honesty. He looked ahead, many of the town’s lights beginning to turn on. He let out a long yawn, gently taking Flurry off his chest.

“As much as I’d like to stay and watch the sunset, I gotta take you back to the castle for your dinner.”

“... Will you be staying?” He smiled

“Sure.” He let out another yawn. “But I’ll be taking a nap.” Flurry yawned as well.

“I bet I can join you for that afterwards.”

“I don’t see why not.” Spike got up and slid down the mountain, but proceeded to walk back to the castle.
Flurry had herself a very nice dinner, with the salad she and her family had most dinners. When asked by the staff, Flurry recounted her whole day with Spike, learning some of the things about him, good and bad, but still loving him for it. She didn’t tell them about Spike’s fear, as that was more personal, and she didn’t want the staff to make a huge fuss about it. As for Spike, as he said, he laid down on the floor, a good meter or two, away, having one hand behind his head and another on his belly, one leg crouching and the other flat, and had himself a nice nap. Much to Flurry’s amusement, she watched as every time spike inhaled in a snore, the various trees & leaves were pulled into his direction, but every time he exhaled, not only were they blown away, but Spike let out a small geyser of green fire and smoke.

She was quick to unpack her luggage afterwards, but quickly ran outside to get close to her sleeping uncle. He was huge, but walking around his lying form was a bit different than when he stood. Flurry may wanted to sleep with him, but she didn’t want to sleep right by him; she wanted to sleep ON him! Her main way of going up was his feet. Her curiosity, however, made her a bit slow, as she saw more details she didn’t see at first; his uncle’s feet, while dirty and also covered in scales, looked extra thick and more bumpy than the rest of his sharp looking scales. His bottom claws, while sharp, weren’t as sharp looking as his hand claws, and looked hollow. Underneath, rather than just looking like huge bludgeons.
Flurry refocused and walked to the other leg, hopping onto his foot and scaled up to his knee… followed by sliding down, then climbing up his thighs, right where his underbelly ended. Another detail she felt, rather than saw, was how soft his underbelly was to the rest of his body. Sure, it was still tough, even with his muscles, but his pudge made it feel soft to the touch, rather than the rest of his tough-as-nails body. She felt the place rise and fall with each breath, giving her slight shivers, but making her way up to his chest, walking around his hand, and stopping right at his heart area. She would stop, but his snoring caught her attention. Some force must’ve controlled her, but she stopped what she was doing, and made her way to his neck. Spike may have been fit, for the most part, but his neck was pretty thick… not to the point where the end ‘stretched’ to his arms, but it was thick enough. She hopped up to his chin and climbed up onto his bottom mouth. Without much thought, Flurry looked inside Spike’s open maw.

Spike’s maw was a dominating sight to behold. One elongated gaze was enough to intrigue the filly. Flurry Heart noted the inside of Spike’s maw, from his sharp razor teeth, to the undulating forked tongue. Strands of saliva dripped from the roof of the mouth to anywhere inside his lower jaw, and at the very back of it was the uvula, framing the entrance to his throat. Warm blasts of dragon breath washed over the filly, the wretched smell of stomach acids, digesting meat, and melting gems making her cringe with disgust. Yet, she continued to stare, having one morbid thought that stuck with her: How many animals did Spike eat?

She already imagined a deer, probably with a broken leg, and sick at the same time, failing to keep up with it's healthier herd members, as Spike casually walked to them. Much as Spike did with herself, she could imagine Spike casually picking up the deer, not even losing his grip as it struggled, perhaps sniffed it, licked his lips (and it), and tossing it unceremoniously into his maw. The idea of how Spike ate made Flurry nervous: did he chew the animals into a bloody pulp, or did he just swallow them? The former was a bit more merciful, as they would pass away in a few bites, but what's not to say that Spike did the latter? With his size, he could swallow most animals with ease, where they would land in his stomach, only to feel a painful burning all over them, failing to breath, and, knowing they'll struggle, would Spike laugh maliciously at their struggles, knowing full well that they're going to become a part of him? When he burps, does the fire come out of his stomach? Will it burn the animal just moments before he burped!?

Her thoughts came to a halt as she saw a green glow rapidly coming from the inside of Spike's throat, followed by intense heat, and the smell of gasses. Spike was going to let out a fiery snore. Flurry quickly jumped out of the way as the geyser of green frames came out; if she had stayed there, she would need a serious visit to the hospital. She landed right back onto his chest, over where his heart was. The beating of his heart was just as it was before, but it has slowed down… which greatly calmed her down. She didn't want to think about it, and knew Spike wasn't a monster as her imagination told her. With a stretch, she laid down and closed her eyes.

WOOSH!!!

A huge gust of wind woke Flurry up! Princess Luna’s moon had just risen, meaning night had just came. She looked around and saw the silhouette of another dragon, but it landed in the forest, disappearing in the process.

“Ember?” Flurry asked herself. She got up and jumped off of Spike's chest, but walked to his right ear. “Psst! Spike! Ember’s here!” Spike only snorted, turning his back to her.

“Five… more minutes… Twilight…” He groggily spoke in his sleep before snoring away.

“Uncle! She's in the forest!”

“Forest… dangerous… never… night…” Flurry huffed. She turned back to the forest, hearing some trees torn down in the process.
“I hope mom and dad are back.” She sprinted ahead.

Flurry slowly began to regret walking into the forest alone, let alone, in the dark, without Spike. She could barely see what was ahead of her, with the only help being the moonlight, but that was mostly blocked by the trees above. All around her, she heard the various howls of wolves, hooting of owls, and other creatures that were associated with the night. However, she heard the sound of trees crashing, with equally loud wings flapping.
‘I bet Mom, Dad, Aunt Twilight, and Ember are just having a camp here for the night.’ She thought. ‘Maybe there will be a couple of discussions about home, but they will be too busy making smores’. She smiled as she followed the sounds of crashing trees, thinking it was Ember, but stopped as she heard other voices.

“I’m so HUNGRY!!!” A very deep, gruff, and stupid voice spoke.

“You think we didn’t hear that, Fatty!?” Another voice, this one sounding very laid back.

“Yeah! Get up and look for something to eat!” A serious sounding voice spoke. Flurry peaked around a corner and, under a clearing, and in the moonlight, were four more dragons! Each of them were male, had wings, and varied in size, but each were taller than Spike. Each looked different than the other, and seemed to be different in some sort of skill than the other. The tallest one, at least, thanks to his head scales, was a blue-purple dragon with magenta colored head scales, with a rather large belly. The other dragon, easily the largest out of all of them, was a brown dragon with blue horns protruding out of his head, and had a mace-like tail at the end, though he had tiny wings that looked rather ridiculous and impossible to carry his large body around. Sticking out of them all was a white dragon with pink scaled on his head & back, a very pale pink underbelly, and rather long limbs than the others. Finally, the last one looked to be the smallest, and scrawniest of the bunch, being a darker shade of purple with a matching underbelly, similar to Spike’s, but had really large wings that almost covered him, and what looked like hair covering his eyes.
“Where on earth is Shakes!?” The brown one demanded in that deep, gruff and stupid voice. “I NEED SOMETHING TO EAT!!!” The Blue-purple dragon smacked him in the back of the head!

“If you kept your voice down,” He spoke in a rather dopey voice. “Then he may be able to GET something!”

“Or you can go find yourself something to eat!” The white one added in that serious tone.

“But that takes work!” Brown replied

“Oh yeah, big baby!” The white one scuffed crossed his arms crossing his arms. “As if hard work’s gonna hurt you.”

“High five to that!” The purple, haired dragon added in that laid back tone, reaching over and giving him a high five, which he gladly accepted.

“Oh! That’s it!” The brown snapped, tackling the small one to the floor.
Flurry stayed quiet as she watched the dragons started to rough housing each other, knocking each other into trees and scaring away smaller animals with their fight. The brown one attempted to leap, only to flop down onto the white and purple ones, both of them, with all of their added body weight, made a loud Earth shaking ‘BOOM!’ causing the trees, the ground, and everything around Flurry to shake violently. Flurry almost screamed when a thin, but tall tree snapped in half falling down right beside her.

“.....Eee….” Flurry winced, trying to stay as quiet as she could. Soon she saw the dragons stop what they were doing and stand up, grumbling and growling at one another.

“You heard that?” The white one asked.

“Yeah.” The Blue-purple added. “Sounded close.” The purple-haired one sniffed the air.

“Yeah,” he sniffed more. “Smells like… ponies!”

“A pony here!?” The brown asked in excitement. “Finally! Something to eat that will scream for help!”

Flurry swallowed nervously and took a step back. She accidentally stepped on a twig.

SNAP!

The dragons turned to her general direction. Without a word, they ran to her! Flurry screamed and turned, running for her life. She had planned to just run like heck, back to the castle, and hopefully, Spike will wake up to fight. … That wasn’t the case. Only about a few seconds into running, a clawed hand came down and picked her up. She whimpered loudly as she came face to face with another dragon, this one, dark grey with a dark green underbelly, same colored hair that showed his face, and white horns.

“Hm… a filly.” He spoke in a monotone voice, almost deprived of any sort of emotion. The other dragons arrived, but stopped at him. “Hello, Puff, Vex, Clump, and Fume.”

“Shakes!” They all growled.

“That is me.”

“Give me that filly!” The brown one yelled. “I’ve been starving all week!”

“... No.”

“NO!?”

“I found her first. She is mine to eat.” Shakes lifted her over his head opening his maw lowering down, Flurry panicked trying to fly away as she saw the sharp fangs, very snake like tongue, and the smell of his horrid breath getting closer.

“Yours!?” The Blue-purple yelled Shakes stopped in mid lower, glaring at them.

“Yes. She’s mine; I caught her so she’s mine, Vex.”

“She was near us! If anyone gets to eat her, it’s me!” Vex growled and stomped his chubby foot.

“You!?” The purple yelled. “I don’t care if you heard her, I was the one who smelt her out, Puff!”

“Too bad. I say I’m eating her!” Puff yelled grabbing for Flurry with his long, white claws. Shakes held her up in the air, avoiding Puff’s claws as he tried swiping and snapping at her.

“BACK OFF, TIGHTY WHITEY!” Shakes hissed, kicking Puff in the gut, knocking him into Clump. The purple one flapped her wing and took Flurry from Shakes’ hand.

“If there’s one thing, it’s that I get to eat her!” He sneered, licking his lips. However, he was punched to the floor by Clump, who grabbed Flurry by her tail.

“You’re too weak! Only the strongest get to eat!” He shouted. A blast of fire hit clump in the face. Flurry was tossed into the air, and Vex opened his
mouth wide.

“She’s mine!” He yelled. He was pushed out of the way as Shakes grabbed her again.

“Now if you don’t mind.” Shakes was about to throw Flurry into his mouth, only to have her snatched out of his claws by Vex who pushed Shakes down to the ground.

“Haha~ Nice try small fry!” Vex brought Flurry to his muzzle. She shivered, still trying to escape and wiggle free. Vex’s maw opened wide, showing off his many fangs, and the stench of his smelly awful breath. Flurry was tossed in and was met with Vex’s smelly and squishy tongue. She was tossed to the back of his throat until-

SMACK!

Flurry was suddenly shot out from the dragon’s mouth landing in Fume’s claws and squeezed like a dog’s squeaky toy and ran from the others yelling. “Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine!” He flew off really fast.

The dragons roared and started chasing after him! They all snapped and swiped, shooting balls of flames from their mouths as they all kicked up the forest, knocking into trees and scratching up the earth under them with their massive feet.

“GET HIM THAT LITT-” Chump yelled but looked up in fear stopping in his tracks.

“ENOUGH!!!” A new voice roared, stopping them all in their tracks. Unlike the others, his voice was very bold sounding, and near leader like. Stomping and pushing trees to the side, lighting a few up in flames, came yet another dragon. He was red all over, save for the orange fins on his head, and the tan underbelly. Unlike the others, he was pretty skinny, and had some muscles showing in his underbelly, with wings that looked like they were in the shape of fire. He looked at Flurry. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? A stupid pony in the middle of the night? Didn’t your parents tell you not to come to the forest at night?” Flurry shivered.

“N-n-no…” She admitted. He cackled at her response.

“Ya here that boys? We got ourselves a joker here!” They laughed with him, making Flurry to laugh with them, albeit, confused and frightened. As soon as he stopped laughing, the others stopped.

“Well boys, you all know what happens to little foals that go into the woods at night, right?”

“Yeah.” The dragons nodded.

“... Uh… y-you know there’s plenty of foods around, right?” Flurry asked. They all looked at her. Her ears folded. “I-I’m just saying… there’s plenty of animals around, y’know? Fish, deer, wolves… bears… fish… deer…”

“Yeah, we know, but...” the red dragon’s claws reached out, snatching right out of Fume’s claws, bringing her to his face. “Ponies are the most delicious of them all!” Flurry shivered fearfully as the red dragon smiled evilly.

“Nice job boys! You got me a tasty snack, and it’s not even my birthday!” The other dragons cheered, albeit, acting like they were happy for him. He looked down at her. “Oh, and wherever you land in, tell them that-”

“GARBLE!!!” Spike’s voice roared. Flurry, and the dragons, turned to see Spike standing there, green smoke flaring from his nostrils, and eyes glowing a bright lime green.

“G-Garble!?” Flurry asked.

“Well, well, well,” Garble spoke with a grin, placing his fists on his hips while still holding Flurry. “If it isn’t Sparkle Warkle himself.” His expression turned serious. “Just what are you doing here this late at night? We made the rules! You do whatever you want in the day, and we do whatever we want in the night!”

“... I know.”

“Then you better get your sad, little, pony woving tail out of here, before there’s going to be a bloodbath here!”

“I’ll go Garble… but not without her.” Garble look at Flurry and smiled he chuckled and soon broke out laughing, as well as the other dragons, who chimed in on the roaring laughter.

“This little morsel? You’re up to save this wittle pony!? Pfffft HAHAHAHA!” Garble laughed so loud, his cheeks turned red. “You must be so desperate after that last fight we had!”

“Don’t listen, Uncle Spike!” The laughter came to a pause. Spike’s expression turned to fear. Garble looked at Flurry with a pierce-like look.

“What did you just say?”

“... Y-you heard me! Uncle Spike will beat you up again! He told me that!” Garble stared at her, but had a sly like grin across his face.
“Oh, he did?” He turned to Spike. “You want this wittle fiwwy really bad?”

“... Yes.” Spike replied in a serious tone. “Flurry… duck.”

“Duck?” Flurry asked. Spike suddenly dashed right for Garble, the earth thrashed up as his feet thrashed the ground under him. He rammed into Garble’s chest knocking the wind out of him and lost his grip on Flurry, who flung through the air. Flurry screamed, kicking as she spinned in the air, and suddenly was caught in Spike’s grip.

“OOF!” Garble landed into the crowd of dragons, knocking them all over. He looked up, seeing Spike starting to him flare his fangs, bared, and nostrils flared. He turn and ran away. “What are you WAITING FOR! GET HIM!”

The other dragons slipped out from under Garble, pushing him aside as they leaped up over and him and even walked on top of him as they all gave chase. Shakes ran to the left, dissapearing into the woods, but the rest chased after Spike, Spike glared back, seeing the dragons catching up with him as he held Flurry close to his chest. The closest one that keeping up was Fume, whose wings flapped over him, licking his chops hungrily as he tried grabbing at Flurry. Spike suddenly stopped he shot his head forward snapping his jaws around Fume’s neck, catching him out of air Fume thrashed trying to get out of the grip of Spike’s jaw. Spike saw Puff nearing and with a swing of his head, Spike swung Fume like a bat, hitting Puff knocking him over!

Soon Spike started running with Flurry in his hands and a thrashing Fume in his jaws.

“UGH! Let go! You’re choking ME!”

“That’s the point!” Flurry yelled back. Fume turned to her, seeing that they were a few feet from each other. “... Uh oh.” Fume hissed and snapped his teeth at her. Spike quickly spotted his attentions and then stopped, swinging Fume’s body into the ground with a swing of his head up and down, left and right, until Fume’s body became limp.

“Uhhh,…. Ow,....” Spike tossed his head aside, throwing Fume into the side of a mountain, knocking him out. He breathed heavily, but was tackled by Vex! The force caused Spike to let go of Flurry, who rolled across the tall grass. She got up and turned to see Vex running on Spike’s back, with his mouth drooling. He fell, as Spike tackled Vex to the ground, having him in a choke hold.

“Spike!” Flurry yelled.

“HIDE!!!” He yelled. “I CAN DEAL WITH THESE BOZOS!!!” Flurry didn’t want to, but she ran into the forest. Vex got up and attempted to throw Spike off. Spike held on, sweating, but not showing any signs of exhaustion. Vex turned around and slammed his back onto the side of a tree; while the branches couldn’t penetrate Spike’s back scales, they hurt a lot to the guardian. It wasn’t until Puff arrived, stomping over to the two. He barred his fangs, grabbing a nearby boulder and stood over Spike’s head, slamming it down onto Spike’s neck, making his head slam into the dirt with a loud BOOM! His vision was blurred, he shook his head… only to be kicked in the face by Clump’s right foot.

As Flurry watched from a nearby safe place, watching her uncle getting beaten up by three of the dragons around him, she couldn’t stand it! She had to do something! She gritted her teeth, biting at her bottom lip. Her eyes suddenly glowed bright with clear white lights, her wings opened, and she flew into the air, dashing down, right for Clump! Her horn glowed a bright blue, and she shot a beam right into his right eye.

“AHHH! MY EYES!” Clump yelled flopping backwards onto the ground, crying and thrashing around, holding his face. Soon, Flurry turned her
attention towards Vex. She flipped her head back and shot a beam. Unfortunately, Puff swiped her out of the air, knocking her to the ground.

“Stupid ponies!” He shouted, picking her up, licking his lips. “Enjoy your stay in my belly!” He opened his maw and dropped the unconscious Flurry.

“RAAAAAAAAAA!” Spike roared loudly, his eyes blazing a bright green beam as he pushed Clump and Vex out of the way, knocking them all aside and stomping over to Puff. Spike grabbed Puff by his throat and squeezed tight, making the dragon’s mouth open and a limp Flurry flopped out into Spike other hand. He squeezed his hand, turning it into a fist, and delivered a powerful punch to Puff’s face, knocking out a few teeth by the force. Spike then slammed Puff’s head into the ground, making the nearby trees shake, and even a few roots pop out from the ground from the force of the impact.

“RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Spike roared more, making the ground shake from his mighty, earth shattering roar. Spike then charged at the other two dragons, knocking Vex down, then quickly grabbing him by the jaw, slamming him over his shoulder. Vex landed on his rear, dumbfounded and sore, but Spike quickly twisted the base of his foot smacking Vex’s face, knocking him out cold.

Clump, with his own good eye, turned to see Spike, looking at him. He quickly turned and tried to run away, but Spike grabbed him by his tail. Spike’s jaws glowed bright green, and out shot a blast of green fire that hit Clump’s other eye.

“MY OTHER EYE!!! AHHHHHH!” Clump screamed. However, Spike began to spin around in circles , each becoming faster and faster! After about a dozen spins, Spike released Clump, and watched as Clump landed roughly on a rather dazed & confused Fume. Spike began to breath heavily, regaining his focus, and calm himself down. He opened his fist, seeing Flurry in it, dazed, but unharmed. However, she screamed.

“UNCLE!!!” A long tongue ensnared Spike’s hand, covering Flurry up with it. Spike turned to see Shakes with his chameleon-like tongue, trying to take Flurry in like a fly. Spike grabbed his tongue with his other hand and yanked him towards him. Shakes was taken off guard as Spike delivered another devastating punch, knocking him to the floor. Surprisingly, his tongue was still around Flurry, who was panicking. With his other hand, Spike got onto his knees, and began to deliver multiple hooks to Shakes’ face. After about twenty ounches, Shakes fell into submission, falling unconscious, and the tongue releasing his hand.

“RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” Spike delivered another roar, one that Flurry had to cover her ears with. A loud cracking was heard. Spike turned to see that Garble came, who looked just as angry as Spike.

“Pathetic! All of you!” He yelled, kicking Puff across his face before turning to Spike. “No problem, then. You guys softened him up for me.” Garble’s claws came out. Spike growled, setting Flurry Heart to the ground before standing up himself, cracking his arms, fists, and neck. Garble followed suit, and circled around Spike. “When this is over, not only is this pony gonna be a great snack like that old one, but you’re gonna be SO filling!” Spike growled.

“I will never let that happen again, Garble!”

“She was old and weak! Consider it mercy… I know you would do the same.”

“Not with my friends and family.”

“They’re NOT your family! They’re weak, useless ponies that you bow down to!”

“They are not weak. You should know this, Garble; One shall stand, one shall fall.”

“Why do you throw your life so recklessly?”

“That’s a question you shall ask yourself.”

“No! I will crush you with my bare hands!” Garble charged at Spike, preparing a right hook. Spike charged back, preparing his own right hook. Both of their fists clash with each other’s faces, knocking their heads to the left. However, they were both determined at winning this feud; Spike and Garble forced their faces to get through the each other’s punch, both yelling at each other, and delivered a left uppercut. They both flew backwards, sliding across the floor, but charged back at each other. Both gigantic dragons leapt at each other, but Garble won, tackling, landing on him, getting back up, and throwing him across, to which Spike rolled across the floor before crashing into a boulder. With a maniacal smile, Garble flew into the air, watching as Spike tried to regain his balance. The red dragon landed nearby, crushing some trees underneath his weight.

“Come on!” Garble taunted. Spike growled, quickly slamming both of his fists into their own boulder and charged right back. Garble returned suit, but Spike delivered many punches to his opponent, knocking him down! The purple dragon delivered many punches across Garble’s face, with each blow breaking the boulders, until Spike showed only his fists again. All Garble did was spit out a single tooth.

“Is that all you got!?” He taunted again. Spike prepared another punch, but was quickly kicked away, making him crash into another mountain. It didn’t help that Garble charged sprinted to Spike once again, pushing him into the mountain even deeper, and delivered his own series of punches.
Despite the literal clash of titans, Flurry followed Spike, watching as her Uncle was getting pummeled by the dragon that wanted to eat her.

“Come on, Spike! You can do it!” She cheered. Garble turned to her with a snarl, then back to Spike.

“You’ve got more help, again?” He asked with a pant. “First, that purple princess, then Ember, and now, a foal!? You must be so desperate!”

“... Says… you…” Spike replied, delivering a headbutt. Garble was staggered, but Spike delivered a right hook. “You!” A left hook. “Big!” A sweep of his tail. “COWARD!!!” He jumped into the air and elbow slammed Garble. The impact made him wheeze in pain, but Garble bit hard into Spike’s skin, making him scream in pain. Garble flipped Spike onto his front, spitting out Spike’s arm and grabbing the other one, cracking the arm backwards, making Spike wail in pain.

“You feel that, don’t you!? There’s more where that came from, worm!” He got up, stood on Spike’s back, and pulled even harder! A louder crack came, and Spike followed with another wail of pain. “You’re weak! You got lucky those in those few fights, but I only need one win to end your life!”

“N-n-never!” Spike attempted to toss Garble off, but the other dragon jumped into the air and stomped on Spike’s spine, breaking a few of his own back spines.

“I’ve seen your moves, Spike! Your pony tricks won’t work on me!” He stomped Spike’s head to the floor. The world became blurry, with a loud ringing in his ear. Garble got off of him and knelt down, grabbing Spike by his head. “You’re probably too stupid to hear this, but you stay here. Your little pony is going right here.” He pointed to his own stomach. “And you will be joining her, right after you listen to her digest away in pain.”

Garble dropped Spike’s head and stood right up. His attention laid eyes on Flurry, who stood a mile between them. She hyperventilated, taking a few steps back. He smiled wickedly. “I do love a good game of cat and mouse. 1… 2…” Flurry sprinted into the forest. “3!!!” Garble got onto all 4s and chased after her!

Spike laid on the floor; his heart raced, but his vision became blurred. The whole world was silent, with only muffled screams of Flurry, and trees crashing present.

‘No… not another one.’ Spike thought to himself ‘I can’t… let that happen… I must… Fight!’ He breathed hard as he got onto all fours. ‘Get up! Don’t let Garble get to her! Don’t fail her! Don’t fail her parents! Don’t fail Twilight! Don’t fail yourself!!!’ Adrenaline filled his body. No help was coming like the others, but those times, he wasn’t ready. His training won’t go down for nothing! Garble will lose. Spike must win!
Flurry quickly hid under a log, covering her own mouth as she could feel Garble getting closer and closer with each step. Garble, even on all 4 legs, slithered around like a snake, looking around each corner.

“Where are you?” Garble hissed in excitement. “Come out, little pony, and I promise you, your death will be swift and painless.” Flurry remained still, tearing up.

‘Why did I do this!?’ She thought to herself. ‘This is all my fault! Spike’s dead because of me!’

“Well, pony,” Spike continued. “I can smell you… I hear your heart beating… I can feel you, quivering in fear… But where are you?” Flurry felt Garble’s movement stop. “Come now, don’t be shy… step out of your hiding place!” Flurry only silently whimpered. Garble turned to a log and walked to it. “You honestly believed that the runt, Spike, could protect you? Save you like those fantasies?” He stopped nearby. Flurry saw Garble’s front claws. “Oh, you poor child… you see… in real life… heroes always DIE!!!” He swiped the log off of Flurry. She screamed, turning and running away, but was quickly blocked by Garble’s arms. “There you are! We can do this the easy way,” he licked his lips. “Or the hard way.” Garble slowly brought his arms closer, dragging Flurry closer to him. He lowered his head and opened his mouth, ready to eat the filly! Flurry screamed, trying to climb away from Garble’s ‘invitation’, but was still pushed in. It was either trying to delay the inevitable, or hop right in. Either way, it was the end. She closed her eyes, held her breath, and braced herself as she felt Garble’s tongue land on the left side of her face.

BOOM!!!

A huge force came, followed by a gust of wind. Flurry remained frozen, but reopened her eyes. She saw Garble on his back, at least a mile away from her, but in that frame was a familiar set of arms. Flurry looked up, realizing that she was under the belly of a dragon. A low growl came from the dragon, but remained in place. Garble got up and shook his head, taken back by what he saw.
“YOU!?!?!?” He yelled in anger. “You’re supposed to stay down!”
“No one. Hurts. My. Family.” The voice of Spike erupted. Spike stood on all fours; his head was down, keeping Flurry at bay, as he used his entire body as a shield.
“... No matter! I will kill you when this is over!”
“And you will leave when I’m through with you.” Garble roared and charged at Spike on all his limbs. Spike roared back and charged back. Flurry ran behind and took cover behind a tree, watching two beasts fight each other to what may be the death. Spike’s mouth glowed green, and out came his signature green flames! Garble’s mouth glowed yellow, and out came yellow flames! The two flames collided with each other, but pushed each other back! It was a test of might between the two; whose flames burnt more than the other. Both of them pushed each other to their limits, almost evenly matched. Garble let out a stronger blast of fire, making Spike take a few steps back. He looked back, seeing Flurry ready to make another run for it. Her concerned look was just enough; Spike turned back to Garble and let out another blast of fire, stronger than the previous! His opponent actually looked surprised, frightened even! A dose of pride came into Spike, making his flames burst even more! Spike’s flames were so powerful, he was eventually covered in green flames! With one huge push, Spike let out a huge roar that made Garble’s flame look like a candle, and it consumed Garble, making him wail in pain! It was his time to end it; Spike charged at Garble, grabbing him and putting him a full nelson! With a flick, Spike bodyslammed Garble into the floor, and rolled him onto his back.

“RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” Spike roared in victory, looking down at Garble. Garble’s fear turned to anger.

“Go on!” He taunted. “Kill me! Eat me! Become stronger now!!!” Spike lowered his head to Garble; their muzzle just inches away from each other.

“I’d rather eat dirt, than eat your filth flesh.” Spike placed his right hand on Garble’s neck and squeezed, choking Garble. Garble struggled to breath.

“Th-then… kill… me!”

“... No. I am not stooping to your level.” He loosened his grip. “But I am altering the deal.”
“W-what!?”

“... I’m going to be fair. It will still be the same; I have the entire forest in the day, while you and your friends stay away from Ponyville and do whatever you want in the forest at night.”

“O-ok… what’s the change?” Spike tightened his grip and brought Garble closer to him.

“If you even try to hurt my friends and family again… there will be blood. Understand?” Garble struggled to breath, but nodded. Spike released him, dropping Garble to the floor. He wheezed and coughed hard on the floor, getting fresh air in his lungs. “Now get out of here.” Garble growled, but turned and flew away.

Flurry watched as the battle was over. She saw what Spike had done, and was eternally grateful. A tremendous amount of guilt was bestowed upon her, along with tears, as she walked to her uncle. Spike stood back up on his hind legs, back to his upright position. His body ached from all of that fighting, but he turned his focus to Flurry, who walked to him in the open with her ears flattened and head lowered. She stopped right between his feet, tearing up.

“I-I’m sorry for this… Uncle Spike.” She apologized. “I-I thought it was Ember returning, with mom and dad. It was stupid of me to go into the forest alone, let alone, in the dark! If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been dragon chow! I would’ve been dead if it weren’t for you! … And you wouldn’t have been hurt, if it weren’t for me.” She looked up, still tearing up. Spike looked down, remaining silent. Flurry swallowed nervously, unsure as to what Spike was going to say.

Spike took a deep breath and leaned down, picking Flurry up by her tail. Flurry didn’t even struggle; if he was going to yell at her, then let it be, she deserved it. However, Spike lifted her even higher, but looked up at her. She noticed, looking down at her uncle.

“S-Spike? What are you doing?” She asked nervously. Her answer came as Spike opened his maw, extending his tongue out, closed his eyes, and let out a loud ‘Ahh’ sound. Flurry began to flail her hooves around. “S-SPIKE!!! Wh-What are you doing!? Snap out of it!” He released her. Flurry freefell into his mouth, where his teeth snapped shut as soon as she entered and landed on his moist tongue. She began to hyperventilate; the place was pitch black, as all she could feel was Spike’s saliva landing on her form, his tongue, and hear his own breathing. Then Spike began to murr as the entire tongue began to move her around. Flurry Heart screamed, unsure on what was going on, and why Spike was doing this. “SPIKE!!! STOP!!! THIS ISN’T FUNNY!!!” Spike opened his mouth. Flurry saw the outside world, with Spike’s teeth acting as a frame to the outside world. She wanted to get up and ran out, but Spike’s tongue lifted into the air, making Flurry fall into the pink and moist muscle. All she could do was look back, seeing the uvula hanging over Spike’s throat, anxiously awaiting for her to fall in with it’s green glow. Her hooves failed to get a grip on the tongue, and she slipped, falling in. “SPIIIIIKE!!!”

GLURK!

Spike’s throat muscles squeezed Flurry’s small form in place. She wanted to move, perhaps climb her way out, but the throat muscles all but kept her cramped. Flurry looked up, seeing the light to the outside world go away as Spike closed his mouth, then look down, seeing her destination: Spike’s stomach.

‘I’m gonna die!’ Flurry panicked. ‘Spike’s gonna digest me! I thought he was a friend… I thought he was family!’ She saw what looked like some muscle opening up for her, about halfway to Spike’s stomach. Flurry fell into the muscle, which took her in; she landed in a fleshy sack of some sort, seeing, though vaguely, the flesh’s ‘ceiling’ move in and out, while hearing the loud booming of Spike’s heart. She quickly stood up and ran to one of the walls, slamming her front hooves, and herself to the wall.

“SPIKE!!! LET ME OUT!!! I’M SORRY!!! I TRULY AM!!!” Spike let out a happy moan and patted just beneath where his heart should be.

“I know,” He replied. “But I’m a dragon of my word. You caused trouble for the two of us, so I ate you.”

“I-I thought you were j-joking. Y-y-you can’t do this! W-we’re family! Y-you said so y-yourself!”

“And we are.” Flurry Heart fell to the ‘floor’ and teared away.

“I r-really thought you c-cared about me… I’m gonna die in here, aren’t I?”

“What!? No! You’re completely safe.”

“Please, don’t lie to me… I’m gonna be turned to bones any second now.”

“No! I’d never truly eat someone who I consider a friend or family member. You’re in my storage stomach.” This got Flurry’s attention.

“Storage stomach? … Is this a means of torture before I get digested?”

“No! Not at all! It is what it’s called; a secondary stomach, which all dragons have, that’s used to carry anything deep and personal with them, whether it’s extra food, treasures, and anyone we consider a friend.” This got Flurry’s attention.

“So… I’m safe here?”

“As safe as a safe.” He began to walk ahead. Flurry braced herself, feeling Spike’s movements.

“H-how did you know about this?”

“Ember told me about it.”

“... Why am I not surprised.”

“Hey, she knows more about dragons than I do. But, I had some help from Twilight and some of her staff members.”

“Help? With what?”

“Controlling the entrance. Twilight was in my stomach-stomach, my digesting stomach, with a protection spell around her. I would swallow any of the participating staff members and control my storage stomach, my safe stomach, to open up and catch them. If any of them fell into my real stomach, Twilight would immediately zap them back to safety.”

“... How long did that take you?”

“Eh, I lost count. Took a lot of time and concentration to get it just right. Though, I do find it a bit annoying now.”

“Annoying? How?”

“Most of the foals now want to have fun in my storage stomach, making it their personal bounce house.”

“... Really?”

“Oh yeah! It doesn’t hurt, at all, but it gets a bit annoying. If you want, you can bounce around in there, just be careful around the entrance.”

“Why?”

“It was a close call, but one of the foals accidentally jumped out of my storage stomach and fell into my stomach-stomach. Luckily for them, I had a lot of soda that day, so my burp was powerful enough to launch them out of my mouth, and my fire was extinguished that day. But, since most kids don’t listen, I lean on my left side to avoid kids from falling in.” Flurry looked at the muscle that took her in. She walked to in and poked at the single flap.

“This leads to your stomach?”

“Oh yeah. Feel free to look inside, but try to be careful.”

“I promise!” Flurry pushed the flap down and looked down. Right below was Spike’s stomach, gurgling loudly, with bubbling acids, and steam rising from the intense heat. A bit of steam blew into her, making her nostrils tingle. She sniffed and gagged at the air; the smell was worse than that of dog droppings, and it stung her nostrils, making her tear up and cough. As she looked down, however, she saw various bones of animals that Spike had ate before, but she didn’t want to focus on that. She looked up, seeing where she came from; the throat muscles, while dripping with saliva, slowly contracted and contrasted in a wave, similar to that of the ocean, or a slithering snake.

“How’s the view?” Flurry heard Spike’s voice boom a lot louder upon asking, and seeing light enter from the top as Spike spoke each word.

“Uh… different, Uncle. And… well, smells very bad.”

“Can’t argue with you there. Probably the only time you can judge someone on the inside.” He chuckled, making the place shake. Flurry chuckled along with him.

“Yeah! It’s REALLY bad in here!” She took a step back, watching the muscle flap get back in place. “So… where is your storage stomach located, exactly?”

“Right here.” Spike poked where Flurry was at, pushing the walls in a bit. “Just below my heart.”

“Below your what?”

“My heart. It’s really weird, but storage stomachs are located just below the dragon’s heart. Have you stopped to listen to the booms, yet? Or wonder why the top is ‘moving’?” Flurry stopped and looked around her surroundings. While the rest of the storage stomach remained in place, barely moving, the top, however, moved in rhythm and with it, a loud, but very gentle, ‘Boom-Boom’ heard every few seconds. She couldn’t believe it, but she was literally close to her uncle’s heart! Just a fleshy wall separated her from what was probably the most relaxing sound that Spike’s body made, next to his breathing. It was probably a one time chance, but she stood on her hind legs and touched the top, which was quickly followed by Spike’s heart pumping, not much as in a response to her touch, but following it’s own rhythm.

“This… this is so cool!”

“Oh yeah, it is.”

“Uh… Spike… where are we going?”

“I’m just gonna tell the staff members that you’re spending the night with me… but mostly to keep themselves calm.”

“Oh… yeah… they’re probably freaking out.”

“I wouldn’t deny it.” He patted his chest area. “Get some rest in there. It’s been a long day, for the both of us.” As much as Flurry didn’t want to, Spike was right. Her eyes became heavy, as she was entranced by the sound of Spike’s own heart and breathing.

“Yeah… I’m just… gonna… rest… a bit.” Flurry laid down with a smile across her face. Spike smiled, feeling her nice and warm within her. “Can you… do this… tomorrow?”

“... Only if you cause more trouble for us.” Spike chuckled.

“I... can… try…” Soon, she was fast asleep within her uncle, safe from harm. Spike arrived to Twilight’s castle, seeing many of the staff and guards looking desperately for Flurry Heart. One of the guards ran and stopped at Spike’s toes.

“Sir Spike!” He shouted. Spike knelt down. “Thank Celestia you’re here! We’ve been searching for Flurry Heart all night! She’s gone in the woods! We must find her, or else-!”

“Relax, corporal.” Spike replied with a yawn. “Flurry Heart’s with me.”

“She is!? Where!?”

“Here.” He patted his heart area. The corporal simply stared.

“Ah… right… she’s safe with you… right.” Spike returned a skeptical look.

“If you don’t believe me, I can swallow you. I have no problem with-”

“Oh no, I believe you… I just didn’t think you’d… well… do it.”

“I’m a dragon of my word. Oh, and do you still have the donuts from Donut Joe’s?”

“... Yes…. At least, we should.”

“I’ll check on that. I really need a snack, as well as Flurry needs some breakfast tomorrow.” The guard saluted.

“Yes, sir!” Spike saluted back.

One of the staff members rolled out a whole wagon filled with donuts, straight from Donut Joe’s from Canterlot. Spike took the wagon and swallowed all the sweet goodies. His Storage stomach only slightly opened, allowing a good portion of the donuts to enter where Flurry Heart slept in, but the rest fell into Spike’s main stomach, where they quickly dissolved and filled Spike up. He let out one of his burps, but the usual geyser-like flames he made was all but gone. It didn’t take him long to get back up and made his way back to his cave.

When he entered, the first thing he did was sit down and relax in his lava-jacuzzi, letting all of the heat to heal his wounds. Of course, he dunk his own head into the lava, and drank a couple of gulps, feeling the hot, semi-fluid rocks go down into his stomach, where he let out another burp, this one, refilling his flames. Of course, he didn’t need to worry about Flurry Heart’s safety; his storage stomach’s opening automatically shut tight whenever he ate something on purpose, and not for protection. After feeling refreshed, he got up, stretched, dried himself off (or rather, flick off any dried rocks off of him) and rested in bed, laying on his left side. He smiled once again, feeling Flurry get comfortable with his storage stomach, both safe from any sort of harm, and with plenty of time together for the next few days.

The End.

Uncle Spike and Niece Flurry

by ShrunkenBro

12 Years Later