> Urbanization
>  by 8-Bit
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> Prologue
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	"It was a good party, wasn't it Spike?" Twilight asked me as she closed the library door. She looked at me, smiling, and hoping for a compliment. After today, I think she deserved it.

"Yeah, it was a good party. I'm glad to be back home, though. It's been a long day." She smiled again, and began to walk towards to her desk.

"I am pretty surprised that you were the one who planned the party, though." I said. Twilight was a great friend, but she tended to be a little bit... awkward with social events. I was absolutely sure that Pinkie had helped her pull it off. 

"Well," she said, a bit smugly, "I did read a book about planning parties. And Pinkie Pie helped me out a little." I know her way too well. 

"Speaking of books," I replied, "I thought that I'd be getting one from you today. Looks like you finally learned your lesson!" 

Twilight's eyes widened. I knew that look. That meant she had meant to get me a book, but had forgotten because she had been busy planning the party. She laughed nervously, and said, "Yup, I learned my lesson. I thought that this party would be enough of a gift for you." I need to get out more. I read her way too easily. I could have called her out on it, but I really didn't feel like struggling through another book. So, I decided to let it slide.

"It was a really great party." She smiled at that. "But," I mused, "I wish that Ponyville was bigger. Don't get me wrong, I like our friends, but it gets a little bit boring seeing the same people every single day. That's what I liked about Canterlot. Every day was a new experience." I turned back towards Twilight. "You know what I mean?

Suddenly, she stopped. She stared at me for a moment, and paused. "Yes," she said slowly, "I think that I do. And I think I just came up with a birthday present for you!" My mind began racing, and my heart was beating like a hammer. And not in the, "Wow, this Fire Ruby is going to taste amazing!" kind of way. It was more like the, "Queen Chrysalis has returned, she's standing on my porch, and she wants to know if she can crash on my couch" kind of way.

"Umm... Twi? What are you planning on doing?" I asked nervously.

"Well, Spike," She answered as she trotted over to her books, "You wanted to live in a city, so I'm going to make that happen."

"So, um, what exactly does that mean?" The claws on my right hand began to twitch. 

She walked over to her desk, a stack of books floating on each side of her. She placed them on the floor next to the desk, and said, "There's a spell that I read about where with a lot of concentration, I can create a fictitious world, and have someone enter it. I think I can hold the spell open for a day, and then you can visit Pony City for a day!"

"This um... Pony City?" I questioned.

"It's a good name, right?" She grinned as she spoke.

"Well, uh.. it's not a bad name, I guess, but..." I mumbled. Then I snapped back into focus. "Look, the name isn't the important thing. You want to create a whole world?"

"Yeah," Twilight said with her nose in a book. "That's right. And it'll be filled with all of our friends from Ponyville, plus a bunch of other ponies that I'll create."

"And you don't see the problem with that?" I said incredulously. "You're going to create ponies out of thin air, and then destroy them for a birthday present?"

"Mmhmm.", she replied, not bothering to look up. 

"Isn't that called playing God? Not to mention unethical!" I exclaimed.

Twilight dragged herself away from her reading, turned to face me, and gave me her most withering stare, as she said, "You've been talking to Applejack too much."

At this point, I was at a loss of words. I really had no idea what to do. So I shocked myself as I said, "So when will it be ready?" Hey, unethical or not, I had to admit that it would be cool to see Pony City. Even if it couldn't have a cooler name.

Twilight flashed me a smile, and said, "That's the spirit, Spike! I knew you would come around." She resumed reading, and said, "I'm going to spend the night working on it. I should be done by morning. But, I need to focus completely on my spell. The slightest distraction could have catastrophic effects."

"Figures." I muttered. 

"What was that, Spike?" Twilight looked up for a moment.

"Nothing. Just wanted to wish you good luck!" Hopefully, she wouldn't need it.

"Thanks, Spike! But, hopefully, I won't need it." She resumed reading. Let's face it, at this point, I really needed this break. 

"Well, I'm going to hit the hay, Twilight." I began to walk up the stairs. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night." She called out. I could tell she was already opening a new book. I just shook my head, and crawled into my nice, warm, bed.




Of course, that's the night that I couldn't fall asleep. But, I couldn't do anything, since Twilight needed to concentrate. But, if I was really quiet, I could probably sneak past her, and get outside. I crawled out from underneath my blanket, and quietly began to walk towards the staircase. I could see Twilight's horn glowing, and a giant sphere of purple light. It looked like she was doing very well, and I couldn't help myself from grinning. Twilight truly was an amazing pony.

And just as I began to descend the steps, the worst thing happened. I tripped. And not just a regular stumble. This was a full out, bouncing off the steps, 'I think he broke his nose' kind of trip. My head ached, and I began feeling the scales near the back of my head, looking for bruises.

Then, Twilight looked up, and said, "Are you alright?" 
"Yeah," I replied. Then, an awful thought ran through my head. "Hey Twi?" I hurriedly said, "Aren't you supposed to be paying attention?"

Her eyes widened, and she immediately began trying to cast some kind of spell. But, it was too late. The sphere began to pulsate, and suddenly came apart in a giant flash. Everything went white. And all too suddenly, everything went black.
> Waking Up
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	You know how when anypony blacks out, they say that the first few minutes is just trying to collect your thoughts? Remember who you are, where you are, what happened, and all that stuff. I guess that doesn't apply to me, since I remembered everything through the blinding pain that was shooting out of my head and through my entire body. Woohoo.

Eventually, my senses decided to leave the world of hurt they had previously been living in. I started to become aware of what was going on. The fact that I did indeed have a body suddenly came hurtling back into my head. I was lying on something that was obviously meant to be soft, since it was covered with fabric. Or, I was just lying on a bag of rocks. It was hard to tell which. Last time I checked, we didn't have a rug, so I wasn't in the library any more. 

Then came my hearing. There wasn't a whole lot to hear. I didn't think anyone was here with me. I slowly inhaled, but something was wrong. The air seemed... dirty. I'd never known that air could be so foul. It kind of tasted like there was a fire,  and the smoke was blowing directly in my face. Finally, my vision cleared up, and I blinked a few times as color started coming back. Only, it didn't come back completely. Everything seemed kind of gray, It looked like one of those black and white movies that Twilight put on the projector sometimes. I stretched out my legs, rolled over, and fell on the floor.

The floor was cold. It felt a lot harder than wood. As the pain receded again, and my head stopped screaming at me, I noticed that the floor was actually stone. Always observing, that's me. I pushed myself off the floor, and realized that it wasn't stone, exactly. It was too smooth to be stone. I'd have to find out about that.

As I got up, I looked around, and got a good look at where I was. The room was maybe 5x5 metric... whatevers. Hanging from the ceiling was a string with a flickering light bulb on it. The walls all looked the same as the floor. In fact, almost everything in the room was the same grey color. The bed was there with a lighter grey, and the door sat on the opposite side of the room as a darker grey. It seemed to be made out of some kind of metal, thicker than any I'd seen before. And it had a giant metal wheel on it. Some kind of lock?. The only thing with any hue in the room was me. I really hoped this room was different from everything else. One way to find out, I suppose. So, I walked over to the exit, and started turning the wheel. It didn't budge an inch. Gee, can my day get any better? I sure hope so!

I dug my claws into the ground as hard as I could, and started pushing with all my strength. Slowly, but surely, the wheel moved. After an eternity of aching muscles, the door gave a creak, and swung open, moving towards me. I got out of the way, mostly. My tail flashed with a sudden agony as the metal monstrosity that some moron called a door crashed into the hard stone that the same moron called a wall. I slid my throbbing tail out, and started walking down the hallway that looked exactly like my room. I ventured off to the rest of this strange place to find new, intelligent forms of life. Or a bowl of cereal. One small step for dragon, one giant leap for breakfast, as Luna would say. On second thought, she probably wouldn't. I was pretty sure that she was being sarcastic about how much fun she had on the moon.

There was a room to the left that looked the same as mine, except it had a weird plastic thing with some holes in it on a wall right next to the bed, and a coiled black cord attached to it, with a thin black box next to it.. And to my right was another grey room with a matching grey toilet and bathtub. I'm no interior decorator, but something was definitely wrong with the designer's taste. Finally, in front of me, was another giant metal door. No prizes for guessing what color it was. Thank Celestia it was open.

I stepped through to find that one room was not like the others. This was four times the size of the other ones. But, basically the same in every other aspect. There was a set of stairs in the middle of the wall to my left with the first step starting as part of the wall. There was a fridge, an oven, a sink, and two cabinets in a corner to my right. Awesome! Now I can bake some cramped, grey muffins to suit the rest of this place!

In the left corner were two medium-sized shelves of books. That settled it. There was no way that Twilight was here. I mean, two shelves of books? And medium-sized to boot. She wouldn't survive. She was probably holed up in the closest library. If she was here, anyways. If she was here, breakfast would be ready by now, and she'd be waiting for me, smiling. You never really appreciate what you have until it's gone. The breakfast part, I mean. It might be nice to be away from Twilight, at least for a little bit. 

In the far left corner was a massive colorless metal cabinet that just barely avoided scraping the ceiling. I had no idea what it was, but it felt ominous. Dark and cold, almost like death. I think I'll stick with the kitchen. Finally, in the far right corner was a desk, with some really weird boxes and things like that. I decided just to leave that alone. I made my way over to the kitchen to raid the fridge, when I heard a door opening. My heart skipped a beat. I quickly spun around, and started looking around for who could be entering. Then, I realized. It was coming from the stairs. There weren't any other exits. I'd have to face the intruder head-on. 

As I tried to find a place to hide in the kitchen, I heard the door open. I stared out at the room, getting ready to take them on. I could hear hooves descending the stairs, and suddenly a grey pony appeared. 

"Hey, Spike." The mare said. Then, she looked me up and down, and said, "What's wrong with you?" I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Twilight. But, it couldn't be her. Twilight was purple, and this pony was grey. But, maybe... This was exactly the way that Twilight had looked when Discord had come back. But, why her and not me? What was going on? All that thought ran through my head in about ten seconds. I started to hit Twilight with all my questions that needed answering. Why is everything gray? Where are we? What is this place? What's in the cabinet? What's that weird stuff on the desk? Why are there only two shelves of books? What's with these massive doors? And where is everyone else?

I managed to spit out a feeble "Huh?". Twilight stared at me like I was an idiot. "You look different." She said slowly, like I was a baby. Which, come to think of it, I technically was. "You look really different. And it looks stupid. What did you do?":

Clearly, something was up. This wasn't the Twilight that I knew. So, I lied. "Oh, this? I don't know. I think it means I'm maturing." I crossed my fingers, hoping that she would accept the lie. I didn't think she would. I've never been a good liar. Of course, she wasn't listening. Halfway through, she started walking over to the fridge. 

"I know I asked, but I don't really care." She spoke nonchalantly, like this was a normal thing for her to say. "I just wanted to let you know that you look like a pansy." And with that, she opened the fridge, floated some canned drink out, and walked over to the desk.

"Oh yeah?" I said. "Well you won't be saying that when I'm bigger than this whole stupid place." I closed the refrigerator door, which she had neglected to do. I had so many questions that I needed to answer.

I could hear the disgust in her voice, as she said, "What, you mean our home? If that day happens, I want you out on the street so I won't have to put up with you." Well, that answered one question. How was I going to answer the other ones? And then, it hit me. Today is my lucky day. Well, kind of my lucky day, anyway. 

"Sorry," I quietly replied. "It's just that I think that my body's messing with me. You know how it is, growing up. I can't remember very much." Twilight was already busy with those weird boxes, staring intently at one, and tapping on another one at the same time. What in hay was she doing? Regardless, she didn't care what I was talking about. "Uh-huh." she replied, not even looking away from the boxes. 

"So..." I went on. "I need you to help me get my memory back. You know, remind me what everything is." 

Twilight finally looked at me, with a look that was a mix of confusion and annoyance. "How long will this take? I'm busy right now." Geez. Touchy much?

"Five minutes, I swear." I pleaded. 

Finally, she gave in, and got up. "Alright. We live in the outskirts of Pony City, which is the second biggest crime capital in Equestria. We live in a concrete bunker built by some crazy kingpin back in the day who was afraid of getting taken out by his enemies. That's why it has massive doors, and it's underground. I found it abandoned, and decided to set up base here. And I found an egg in one of the rooms. I decided to open it, and got stuck with you. Now, you're my assistant, and you run errands for me while I make money by hacking. Is your memory back now?"

"Um, a few questions." I answered. She groaned. "What's hacking?"

"Hacking is entering people's secure networks and exploiting it to steal money. I do it all from this computer." I was about to ask her another question, when she sighed, and said "You don't know what a computer is, do you?" I shook my head. "A computer is something I can use to write without paper. It also has the ability to connect with many other computers through something called the internet. People use it to share information, and things like that. And some people store their money in banks, and they can control where the money is using their computer. I break in and steal it." 

"But isn't that wrong?" I asked, a little confused. Twilight would never do that. That was taking away what people had earned. That was wrong. 

"Are you developing morals now, widdle Spikey-wikey?" She said mockingly. "It's only illegal if I get caught." 

Something was up, and I needed to figure out what. The best thing to do would probably be to see the rest of the city. But I'd need someone who knew their way around. And it's not like ponies are lining up to give me a tour.

"Twilight?" I asked. "Can you take me around Pony City? I know it takes away your time, but I'll do anything that you ask if you just help me get my memory back." 

Twilight stared at me, her eyes hard as stone, but suddenly, they softened. "Sure, I'll take you around the city." I smiled at her. Maybe she was starting to get back to normal again. 

"But you owe me. Big time." Her voice got a razors edge to it, and sounded evil. "I'll meet you outside. I need to finish this project I've been working on. I'll be done in no time at all." 

"That's fine." I said gratefully. "And thanks for doing this for me." 

As I began climbing the stairs, I could hear her say "Yeah, whatever, freak." Oh boy, this is going to be fun. After about two flights worth of climbing, I reached a square of concrete, and another giant metal door. This time, it only took about three minutes to open the door. Maybe I was growing up, and getting muscles. Or, maybe this door just wasn't as tight. I sighed. That's probably what it was. 

I stepped outside, and got blinded by the sun. I hadn't seen natural light for Celestia knows how long. When everything stopped being bright white, I took a good look and everything was... grey. I walked from the door across the grey dead grass down to the grey sidewalk, and looked down the grey city street to see grey buildings, grey signs, and grey ponies. I sighed. What had I gotten myself into? I really hoped I was having some crazy dream. Because otherwise, I'd either have to live here,  or fix everything. Neither option seemed good.

I heard the door open, and then slam close again. I called over my shoulder, "Hey Twi, you ready to go?" I could hear her hooves make a dull thump against the dead lawn. "Oh yeah," she said. "I'm ready to go." I heard two loud clacks behind me, and I turned around. Twilight stood there, a grin on her face, and some weird thing floating next to her. It was a long piece of wood with some kind of handle on the back of it, and a small lever right in front of it. On the other end were two tubes, pointed at me, and on the bottom one was some kind of grip, near the back.

"Um, Twilight?" I asked nervously. "What's going on?"

There was a gleam in her eye, as she replied, "What, this? You don't remember what this is either? It's a shotgun. It's used to kill ponies. And I'm pretty sure that it works on impostors, too."