Spike goes to several of his friends and family with the simple request to aid him become a dragon capable of defending his loved ones.
Spike has hit his growth spurt making him happier than ever before... for about two weeks before he realized he was still the same, just taller and lanky. He still makes most of the chores around the castle, takes notes, reads comics, runs errands around town, and helps his friends whenever he can.
He's the same dragon he was before. The same coloration. The same appetites. The same hobbies. The same likings. The same fears.
The same weakling.
The same coward.
The same Spike.
He decides it's time for that change once and for all. And he knows exactly who to go to for that.
*If you are feeling generous you can buy me a Ko-Fi!!
*Other Tag is there due to the sheer amount of other characters that are involved in the story* **Prequel to You Can Count On Me**
This year's Great Galloping Gala had been a resounding success in every form. The music was on point. The food plentiful, varied, and delicious. The schedule had been reformed and modified so that the four present Princesses, and not just Celestia, welcomed the guests with flexible schedules. The dances were calm and memorable. And most of all there were no incidents that came close to threaten Canterlot or Equestria itself.
Heck, even Discord of all people behaved... for the most part, though thankfully his tricks were limited to harmless pranks thanks to Fluttershy.
In other words, it had been a complete and utter bore of a party. Though given the underlying reason for this year's Gala, that was the preferred result over fun chaos and the usual shenanigans that, more often than not, seemed glued behind his particular family and friends.
And yet, Spike sighed for the umpteenth time as he stood, alone, silently watching the stained glasses that marked and celebrated key heroic victories of Equestria's recent history. The Purification of Nightmare Moon, the Changeling Invasion under Chrysalis, the Defeat of Discord, and several more, including his own stained glass.
They are going to be here any minute now, Spike told himself while he idly played with his thumbs.
Spike moved for the first time in what felt like hours, walking forward until he was able to see his reflection in one of the windows. It had been less than two months since his growth spurt had finally hit him. At first, he remembered with a faint smile how happy he was, thinking everything was going to be different now that he stood at the same height or taller than most of his friends actually. He had honestly thought that all of his problems and insecurities would simply fade away with his new stature.
How foolish he had been. If anything, some of his insecurities only seemed to increase at the end of the day. He stood as tall or taller than his dear friends, but now he felt even smaller than before. Why in the name of Celestia had he ever imagined he was going to become a bulging mass of muscles just by growing up before with growth spurt, he honestly couldn't remember. Gone was his baby fat, but now he looked so... thin. No. Lanky.
If someone blows too hard my way I might fly away, Spike joked looking at his reflection. Oh sure, he wasn't a skeleton, but there were absolutely no muscles below his scales other than sorry excuses that somehow managed to do put up with him and his chores.
He didn't get his wings, he didn't get any braver, he didn't seem to gain anything from growing up aside from his stature and a slightly more powerful fire. Were his dreams of standing up for his loved ones and fight at their side just that, a dream? How was he supposed to defend them if he could barely even defend himself?
He chuckled dryly. That very same morning Twilight had saved him from falling from the tallest bookshelf in the castle. He was ever thankful for avoiding a nasty fall, and so was Starlight moments later after she rushed into the room after hearing his less than manly scream as he fell. The worst part was how they both checked him if he was injured when nothing had happened. He knew they were worried. He knew they meant well. But he felt so damn ashamed and useless because of it. He was still a dragon for buck's sake! That fall would've been at most mildly unpleasant for a few seconds and nothing more.
Spike clenched his fists. That had been the final straw.
He was sick and tired to see himself as the weakest link in their group. He was tired of not being able to protect his friends despite him being a damn dragon! He made a promise to himself to change once and for all, no matter what it took to become useful to himself, his family, his friends, to Equestria and the Crystal Empire, and everyone around him. He was decided to earn, truly and fully, his given title of 'Great and Honorable Spike, the Brave and Glorious'. Determined to be a dependable friend. And most of all, dedicated to being the dragon he had wished and dreamt to be for years on end.
He was going to become his own dragon, inside and out. No matter what it took. No mountain was going to be too big, no ocean too deep, no task too hard, no quest too arduous, no job too menial.
The only problem that remained was the simplest of all: how to begin?
"There he is!"
Spike smiled yet his nervousness returned upon hearing the voice of Pinkie Pie. He turned around to see the mare dressed in a vivid pink, blue, and yellow dress tip-hoofing her way to him with wide-spread arms ready for a hug. Behind her came Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Shining Armor, and to his surprise, Luna, Celestia, and Cadance. He had hope for them to come to meet him after the Gala like he asked, though he figured they'd be too busy with the delegates of Saddle Arabia, Mount Aris/Seaquestria, Abyssinia, Dragon Lands, and the Changeling Empire.
"H-hey guys!" Spike stammered as Pinkie hugged him tightly.
"So, what's this all about a problem we can help you with, Spike?" Rainbow asked with a tiny smirk on her face.
"Indeed, dear nephew, your message was rather vague. Is there something we can help you with?" Luna asked, half concerned, half imposing.
This is it, don't screw it up, Spike reminded himself before taking a deep, calming breath as Pinkie let go of him.
He felt his heart pound so hard it rumbled in his fins, his throat felt dry, his body trembled, and his stomach was doing somersaults. He closed his eyes in order to gain as much bravery as he could. After a minute or so he finally re-opened his eyes, his body had stopped shaking and his gaze was filled with determination.
"What I'm about to ask you, I ask because I know I can count on you above everyone else, even myself." Spike took another short breath of courage before continuing, idly looking at the attentive and concerned faces of the gathered ponies.
"I asked you to meet me here so that I can ask, implore, and beg you all... to please, no matter what you do. No matter what you think of me. No matter what you think it's necessary. No matter what! That you, all of you, my friends and family... please, turn my pathetic self into someone as strong as you are."
I'm starting to think this wasn't such a good idea after all, Spike thought as he nervously stood his ground alongside a line of new recruits for the Royal Guard. The recruits were buff or muscular, even the mares present, unlike his scrawny, lanky self. Understandable, really, since they did enroll to one of the most demanding and tough careers in the whole of Equestria.
Still, watching most of them being nervous just like him was while Shining Armor, decked from head to hooves in his pristine and elegant purple armor, walked up and down the line watching them with a stoic expression. Silently judging and evaluating them with his icy stare.
Spike gulped remembering the small conversation and the questions that followed his request a week ago. If anything, it had gone smoothly. Most of them agreed after he gave them his full motives, even Celestia, his adoptive mother, agreed to help him however she could later on. Out of everyone the one who had argued the most against it had been Fluttershy, worried that he could get hurt in the process and that he was fine the way he was. It took some talking and a tight hug, but Spike managed to convince her it was for his own good and so she ended up accepting and offering her own aid.
With so many helping hands at his disposal, now the problem was how he was going to schedule whatever training or help his friends and family could provide him with and his own chores. Twilight, ever helpful and creative, said he was exempt from his duties for however long it took him to reach the goal he desired. With that out of the way, the only problem that remained was where to start. It was Shining Armor, his big brother in all but blood and species, who volunteered to take the first step into shaping and training him.
And so, here he was, a week later, nervous but ready to begin with whatever Shining had in mind, and apparently, he planned on killing two birds with one stone: train him and the new recruits at the same time. His focus returned to the present and his body went stiff and straight when Shining stopped and let out a heavy sigh of disappointment.
"These? I have to work with these, Corporal?" Shining asked without looking at the grey pegasus behind him, his voice dripping nothing but disdain.
"I'm afraid so, Captain Armor." The Corporal replied.
"I asked for strong stallions and mares capable of handling the task of protecting Equestria, its citizens, and the Princesses with their lives if need be. And what do I get? The most pathetic excuses for ponies I've ever seen in my entire career. They look like they barely stopped taking the teat!" Shining said loudly. He then walked up to a blue-ish earth pony stallion with a white mane. "You make me sick. Your sole presence insults my eyesight! What is your name, recruit?"
"Azure Lane, sir!"
"SIR!? YOU CALLED ME SIR!?" Shining yelled at his face. "I am Captain Shining Armor of her Immortal Majesties Royal Guard! Sir you use to call useless ponies! You shall refer to me only as Captain, do you understand maggot!?"
"Si--Captain. Yes, Captain!" The stallion replied loudly.
"Very good," Shining said in a relaxed tone. "Now, you said your name was recruit Blue Moth?"
"Azure Lane, Captain!"
"Blue Moth it is!" Shining said with a nod.
"Yes, Captain!"
Shining then began walking up the line once more. For his part, Spike was more nervous than ever. Sweet Celestia, Shining wasn't kidding when he said he was going to be tough, Spike told himself as Shining approached him.
"Prick," the insult came out of nowhere but it was audible to everyone.
"Oh?" Shining stopped. "It seems we have a comedian here! Who said that? Who the fuck said that!?" Shining yelled as he eyed everyone in the line.
A tall pegasus mare with yellow coat and grey-ish mane stepped forward. Her posture was secure and firm, it was more than obvious that she carried herself with confidence.
"I did, Captain." She confessed with what could only be described as a smug tone and face.
"Well, look at what we have here, Corporal. Our very own first carpet muncher!" Shining Armor walked up to the mare standing half a head taller than him. "You got balls unlike the rest of these squirming worms. I can respect that! I like you, I like you so much you can come over my house and fuck my sister!" Then, out of nowhere, Shining punched the mare in the stomach so hard she immediately fell to her knees and vomited at Shining's hooves. "You worthless scumbag, I will teach you to respect your superiors and beat your fillyfooling attitude the crap right out of you! I got your name, I OWN YOUR ASS! And you are going to be thankful all the way through my training!" Shining grabbed the mare's mane and roughly made her look up at him. "Do you understand, recruit Dyke?"
"Y-Yes, Captain..." The mare replied painfully. Then her face was shoved against her vomit.
"Corporal, make sure recruit Dyke over here cleans her mess," Shining ordered before continuing his walk.
"Of course, Captain."
The rest of the line was silent, and a certain dragon was fighting the urge to flee. Shining remained silent for several seconds until he stopped in front of a small stallion presenting a few striped lines on his white coat and black mane.
"It seems you are lost, boy. Why are you here? Lost your momma perhaps?" Shining asked.
"No, Captain. I enlisted to become a Royal Guard, Captain!" The stallion replied unphased.
"I see. Then, to what tribe do you belong, little zebra?"
The stallion did a double take and stammered his response. "B-but I'm a pony, Captain, from Germa--"
"Wrong," Shining cut him off. "By the looks of it, I think you must have Zulu or Xhosa blood in you. Tell me, what is your ancestral spirit? Rhino? Lion?"
"N-No, Captain--"
"Are you contradicting me, maggot!?"
"No, Captain!"
"What is your warcry!?"
"I-I don't--"
"Hu-Helee, Mah-Helee!" Shining began to do a poor imitation of a zebrican warcry and soon the poor stallion imitated him. A few seconds later they stopped. "That's what I thought. Henceforth, recruit, I shall refer to you as Zhaka, as a great sign of respect to your people."
"...Thank you, Captain!" The stallion struggled to say. After that, Shining began moving again.
Spike, for his part, was dumbfounded. He said he was going to be tough, not a borderline psychopath! Spike yelled to himself. He knew from stories that the recruiting process for the Guard was harsh, but he never thought it would be THIS harsh. What was worse than that though was the fact that they haven't even begun the actual training. More than that, where the hay had this Shining Armor come from!? He had never seen his big brother, the geek, easy-going, proper-like, and respectful brother he admired act this way. Now that he thought about it, he had only seen him mad twice in his life; once against Sombra and the other when he defended Thorax.
Spike gulped again, Shining was approaching. Doesn't matter, I asked for this. No matter what, this is for my own good! Spike reminded himself just as Shining stopped in front of him.
“And what do we have here?” Shining eyed him several times over. “An overgrown lizard, or maybe some kind of sorry excuse of a dragon?” Shining asked no one in particular. “Look at you, I’ve seen stalks of corn with better physique. What is your name, maggot?”
“Spike Solaris Sparkle, Captain!” Spike replied as firmly and clearly as he could muster, he patted himself mentally for not stuttering.
“S.S.S.? That sounds dirty for some reason. Dirty and worthless like yourself. Recruit, can you carry your own weight?”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Should be easy for you, I’m sure. Corporal, make sure to keep this recruit away from strong winds.”
“Of course, Captain.”
Shining looked up and down Spike a few more times before sighing. “This won’t do,” Shining then touched Spike’s stomach and chest. “Recruit, when was the last time you ate properly?” Spike was about to reply when Shining grabbed his jaw roughly. “Looks like I’m going to give you special treatment. Corporal!”
“Yes, Captain?” The Corporal asked approaching Shining from behind.
“It seems we are going to need the old girl for this maggot. Go get ‘Eavy Betty’ at once.”
The Corporal stepped closer. “Captain, with all due respect, don’t you think that’s too much, even for a dragon?”
“I don’t see a dragon here, do you, Corporal? I see a scrawny overgrown lizard in desperate need for a pounding.”
“...At once, Captain,” the Corporal bowed and then left as fast as his wings allowed him.
“Now… How tall are you, recruit?” Shining asked letting go of Spike’s jaw.
Spike moved his jaw a little to alleviate the soreness before replying to Shining as he stood at his same height, maybe just an inch or two taller. “Captain, six hoof five, Captain!”
“Six hoof five!? I didn’t know they stacked shit that high!” Shining yelled at his face. “Where do you come from, maggot!?”
“From Ponyville, Captain!”
“Ponyville, huh? Lovely place, really peaceful. Now I know why you look like a fucking twig! Only mares and coltcuddlers come from Ponyville and you don’t look like a mare to me, so that kind of narrows it down, don’t you think!?”
“No, Captain!”
“Tell me, you worthless reptile, do you suck cock!?”
“No, Captain!”
“Do you like taking it in the ass like the worm you are!?”
“No, Captain!”
“Bullshit! I bet you are the kind of guy who gives a blowjob and doesn’t have the common fucking courtesy to look someone in the eye while doing so. ARE YOU, MAGGOT!?”
“NO, CAPTAIN!”
“Good!” Shining pulled back. “It seems your little present has arrived.”
Spike stood firm, although his legs were trembling and his heart felt like exploding from how fast it was beating. His face was covered in spit thanks to Shining yelling just an inch away from it. And yet his eyes were focused on the wooden locked chest the Corporal and other two ponies were currently laying on the ground. Shining opened the chest and with his magic levitated a… set of armor?
“You worthless scum, quit dragging your hooves around and keep the line steady! Honestly, look at you, you can’t even handle a few laps and you hope to protect your Princesses!? HA! Don’t make me laugh. If it were up to me I’d make you run at least another hundred laps. What am I saying? Of course it is up to me! GIVE ME ANOTHER FIVE HUNDRED LAPS, YOU SACKS OF SHIT!” Shining Armor yelled at the jogging recruits all around him.
Spike huffed and puffed with each step he took leaving yet another marked stomp on the ground. Set of armor my scaly ass, what in Tartarus is this thing? Spike asked himself as he struggled to walk, much less jog like his fellows, while he carried a heavy log while wearing ‘Eavy Betty’. At first, he thought it was just a regular Royal Guard armor with a few extra pieces, but after he began putting it on… the damn thing wasn’t anywhere near being like one.
The armor was heavy, even for him, though nothing he couldn’t carry for long periods of time, easily weighing at least one hundred kilograms. But that wasn’t the biggest difference. If anything, that was only the tip of the iceberg. The damn thing had restrains attached to strings in practically every joint point, making even walking or stretching or carrying anything a difficult task. But that was not all. The armor covered his entire body minus his tail, feet, hands, eyes, and snout. Everything else had been covered by the tortuous set of armor.
The worst part was that despite being told it was a set of ‘training armor’, it was only meant to be used to discipline unruly recruits or by only the strongest of Officer Candidates for their promotion rites.
He had not even the slightest idea what Shining Armor was thinking by making him wear the damn thing, but he trusted him enough to do so without reproach. I asked for this, I asked them to do whatever they thought would help and do whatever it took, Spike reminded himself as he struggled to continue his laps. Like him, the other recruits were wearing Royal Guard armor, though a lighter version of it for the meantime.
“Your worth is less than the dirt beneath my hooves. You are nothing but maggots, ticks, parasites! The lowest forms of life on the entire planet! Listen up you dung-beetles, I take extreme pleasure in seeing you suffer. I will have plenty of wet dreams tonight as I recall your worthless bodies crawling and squirming on the dirt like the filthy pigs you are!” Shining then conjured a magical whip and crack the dirt behind a pegasus stallion that was slowing down making him jump in panic and return to normal speed.
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing! Not even a thousand laps so far and yet you are panting like old ponies!? Why are you even here and not in a retirement home is beyond me!” Shining cracked another whip at a mare. “Keep up the pace, recruit Dyke, or you won’t be eating your rations tonight! That goes for all of you, you lowly life-forms!”
For several minutes it went on until Spike fell to the ground.
“What are you waiting for, recruit Lizard? Get your sorry ass up and continue your laps!” Shining shouted cracking a whip centimeters away from his face.
“R-Right away, Captain!” Spike yelled back, fighting and struggling against the restrains and the armor itself to get up. However, once he managed to get on all fours he couldn’t get up and remained that way for several seconds.
“Heh, pathetic. Looks like that is how far your determination goes in the end. In that case, why don’t you go running back to your bed and keep on living as the sorry excuse of a dragon, nay, sorry excuse of an Equestrian that you are? Are you telling me this is as far as you are willing to go, is this the extent of your bravado, recruit Lizard!?”
“No, Captain!” Spike yelled back, shutting his eyes as he slowly but surely managed to get on his feet once more. Using his tail he picked up the log, put it over his shoulders, and resumed his jogging. “I-I just tripped, that’s all!”
“Good! Now finish up your laps or you don’t get to eat tonight! MOVE IT, MAGGOTS!”
Spike looked at his meal, confused. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting… okay, he knew exactly what he was expecting; grub, dehydrated food, protein bars. Something like that. Not… not what he was seeing.
“Is there a problem, recruit Lizard?” Shining asked as he oversaw his recruits devouring their rations with gusto.
“N-No, Captain. It’s just that,” Spike picked up his plate. “Meat sparkled with gem shards and a salad? I’m not complaining and my comrades are eating something similar. I was just… not expecting it, that’s all.”
“Recruit Lizard, we are the Guard, not the Army. We are the best protectors of Equestria, those that protect the Princesses personally. We are the best Equestria has to offer and for that reason, we cannot allow weaklings in our ranks. You are a dragon or something that looks like a dragon at least, and you need meat more than we ponies do. You never did answer me, when was the last time you ate meat?”
“During the Gala, Captain,” Spike replied seeing the logic behind his words.
“And before that?”
“Around six months before the Gala, Captain.”
“Then stop wasting my time and eat, recruit Lizard. You will need the energy,” Shining looked around the dining room. “Listen up! Because it was your first day I went easy on your sorry asses. Don’t expect to eat like this every day, or even eat anything every day, you parasites! Finish up your meals and go to sleep, for tomorrow the true training begins,” Shining Armor grinned widely looking down at Spike.
“Did I say you could get the armor off, recruit Lizard?” Shining Armor said looking at Spike with a raised eyebrow.
“No, Captain. But how am I suppose to bathe without taking it off?” Spike asked confused as the rest of his comrades were in a similar position as he was after Shining forbade them from taking their respective armors off.
Three days. It had been three days so far since this torture called training began and not once had he or any of the other recruits had taken off their armors. That morning Shining had come to announce them that they were going to take a bath and honestly, everyone was relieved and thankful for it.
“That is quite easy, recruit Lizard,” using his magic Shining removed a large black cloth that covered a small pool wide enough to fit about ten to twelve adult ponies inside. “Each one of you is going to jump into the jacuzzi, cross it, and climb out squeaky clean! Don't worry about the water, it's enchanted so it won't rust your armor. Unlike you maggots, those armors are valuable! You better hurry while the water is warm!”
It took a moment for Spike to register those words. Sure, the pool didn’t look deep enough to drown him or even Zhaka, the shortest amongst them, but still…
He shook his head and moved to the edge of the pool. He then closed his eyes and jumped into the water. At least Shining told the truth, it was warm.
“Right now you are all less than ponies, less than sapients even! You are nameless slugs, and if by some miracle sent by the Divine Creators themselves you survive my training, then and only then you will become something resembling value! For now, know your place you worthless maggots, you are little more than my personal pleasure objects!”
Spike grunted as Shining yelled from the side of the mud-stained track he was currently crawling on under barbed wire enchanted with electric sparks. He grunted feeling another jolt of electricity hit him below the armor. Despite that, he continued crawling under the wire towards the other side… still five hundred meters away.
“I despise and look down upon you all! Hate me all you want, but be sure that I will find every single weakness inside yourselves and rip it out like a weed! The Royal Guard doesn’t have time to let useless cocksuckers like yourselves join our ranks!”
Another jolt, another grunt of pain. He was tired, sore, in pain, he hadn’t bathed in at least a week, it had been two days since any of them last ate and as much since they slept, and yet Shining was pushing them to their breaking point.
In the past month, he had crossed swamps, climbed mountains and hills, ran countless laps, carried boulders to one side of a field to the other and then repeat once all were on one side, climbed ropes and trees, done mock fights, had lost count on the push-ups, sit-downs, jungle gym climbs, rope pulls, and other dozens of exercises he had no idea even existed. And all of it without taking his armor off.
“You call that effort? Don’t make me laugh, you pathetic loser scum, the best part of you stayed behind that rotten egg you spawned from!”
Spike looked at Shining glaring down at him. He gritted his fangs before crawling faster despite the jolts of electricity.
“Yes, Captain!” Spike shouted back determined to finish the course.
“Where does the Captain get his energy from?” Blue Moth said as he and Dyke helped Jetro, a pegasus stallion, continue jogging by lightly supporting his weight. It wasn’t done for outright comradery but rather because if anyone fell unconscious they wouldn’t eat after their run, again.
“I’m sure he absorbs all of our suffering and pain,” Zhaka said jogging at their side. “Why do you think he gets earlier than us every damn morning? After a full night of sweet sleep, he must be ravenous for his nourishment.”
“Quiet you two or he’s gonna hear you,” a thestral pony stallion said nearby them.
Spike said nothing as he ran just a little behind the front group. His vision was blurry from the strain two and a half months of this Tartarus had put him through. From the seventy-four recruits that had enlisted twenty-six had given up and left. He couldn’t blame them. Each day was packed with nothing but training, exercises, obstacles, marathons, gear cleaning, mock battles, excruciating and pointless tasks meant to simply be repetitive and arduous, and more. And each damn day only got harder and harder.
Suddenly, he stumbled and fell to the ground, exhausted beyond his limits.
“Quit dragging your hooves, you quitters! If I hear so much as a whimper from your blowholes I swear you’ll clean the latrines with your own toothbrushes for a week!” Shining stopped at Spike’s side.
Spike didn’t pay attention to him, he couldn’t even see him clearly. In front of him, he saw the group leaving him behind and soon after those on the rear of the group passed him. That didn’t matter. I have to get to base… I have to finish the run… Spike told himself over and over again while huffing harshly against the dirt. With all the effort he could muster he began dragging himself forward. After a few seconds, he saw a white and purple figure leave him behind while shouting something he couldn’t understand.
Spike didn’t know how long it took him, didn’t know when it had gone dark, he only knew he had arrived at the base by dragging himself the rest of the way. When he reached the entrance of the barracks, the door opened to reveal Shining Armor himself holding a plate of food and a glass of water.
“Well done, recruit Lizard,” he said before placing the food and the water in front of him and then closed the door.
Spike smiled as he ate his meal; food, plate, glass, and dirt altogether. He didn’t care. Once he was done, he fell asleep instantly.
"That spear is the only lover you'll ever need! Touch it, feel it, praise it! It shall be your only companion in cold, lonely nights and your sole confidant at every moment! If you need to fuck something that bad, imagine its alive and polish it with all your might!” Shining yelled at the remaining thirty-eight recruits he had left after four months of grueling training. All of them were sitting on the ground, holding spears in their hands and cleaning equipment at their sides.
“You are beautiful, Sundown Splendor,” a sleep-deprived, starving, exhausted unicorn stallion said as he polished the spear he was handed.
“You are so stiff, aren’t you, Silverdeep?” An earth pony mare said after.
“Naughty, naughty~ You like how I touch you here, Shawn?” Dyke murmured as she polished the tip of the spear.
While almost everyone else were murmuring their own fantasies, Spike and a few others still had enough clearness left in them to remain silent.
Four months… it has been four months and yet they had felt like an eternity, Spike said to himself while he moved to clean up the tip of the spear. How long was this going to last, he wondered. Just two more months of Tartarus left, he remembered. W-Why was I here in the first place? Honestly, he couldn’t remember right now. Barbara needed her polish, after all.
"You heard me, maggots. You will climb that cliff, and those who make it to the top will graduate and become full-fledged Royal Guards. Or you can give up now and return home like the sad, pathetic, weak, worthless cowards you truly are." Shining grinned. "Go on, prove me right and leave once and for all. Not a single one of you ever deserved to become a Royal Guard in the first place. Run away with your tails between your legs back into whatever dark, damp hole you crawled out from! Shame? HA! You can't lose what you never had! But make no mistake, if you decide to climb that cliff and reach the top, all your effort will have some meaning at least. So now, go home and lose nothing, or climb and become something more than maggots. What will it be, recruits?"
All of them remained silent watching the Canterlot Wall in front of them.
The Canterlot Wall, a cliff nine hundred and twenty-two meters tall situated behind the Canterlot Mountain. A private spot for training the Royal Guards recruit, the knew the terrain well at this point but had never considered that the damn cliff was going to involve one of their training sessions. At most they had used some of the far, far smaller ones nearby for climbing purposes, but they had used ropes those times and now…
“Captain, you can’t be serious, you want us to climb the Canterlot Wall without ropes or support?” Blue Moth asked eyeing the massive cliff.
“I want all of you to decide if you are going to climb it or not,” Shining replied with a smug grin.
“...Fuck it. I didn’t last this long to back out now,” Dyke said walking towards the cliff.
“I forgot to mention, no magic and no flying, those that use any of it while climbing shall be expelled. Pegasus, Unicorns, Thestrals, you may take your armors off. Earth Ponies, you will not. Recruit Lizard?”
“Yes, Captain?” Spike replied as he was working on taking off the locks first.
“You are also forbidden from taking your armor off.”
Spike looked at Shining with wide-open eyes, then at the cliff, and then at the armor he was wearing.
“Understood, Captain,” he said before making his way to the base of the cliff.
“And one more thing,” Shining smiled darkly at his thirty-five remaining recruits. “If you fall, you will be rescued, but you will have to start over again from the bottom, so do be careful. Should be easy to climb that little hill for you, worms.”
To Spike, the next two hours were arduous, to say the least. There were almost no places to get a good grip or have a strong footing, the wind was doing him no favors, and ‘Eavy Betty’ was being the usual bitch he had come to grow familiar with. Each stretch was agony on his aching joints, each meter ascended a monumental task, and each ragged breath all the more strenuous to take. But finally he was near the edge, less than fifty meters left. He could do it. He was going to reach the top!
“FUUUUUCCCCKKKK!”
“Wha--SHITUuuufffffff!”
Spike heard the cursing and the yelling above him. There he saw two figures falling right on top of him. He instantly recognized them both as they approached. The first was Mango, a thestral stallion, and the second was Teats, a rather busty unicorn mare.
“Hang on!” Spike yelled instinctively. With his tail he managed to grab Mango by a leg, strongly coiling his tail around it as to not let go, while he was barely able to grab Teats by an arm.
“What are you doing, Lizard!? Let us go and finish up, we’ll see you at the top!” Teats said as Spike did his best to place her on his back.
“Teats is right, man. Just let us go and finish the climb!” Mango added.
“If I let you guys go you’ll have to start right over again!” Spike argued. “We all know it's going to be near impossible for you to climb up before the wind really gets going!”
“Screw the wind, man. All of us are going to fail if you fall. Just let us go and finish the climb!” Mango said trying to undo the coil around his leg.
“You want to become Royal Guards, not me! I already told you I’m here to become stronger. If you fail these six months would’ve meant nothing for you, and I’m not going to allow that if I can help it!” With a loud snarl, he managed to place Teats behind him finally, her arms going around his neck. “Now hang on tight! It’s only a few meters away and you're my extra luggage!”
With that said, Spike resumed his climb up the cliff, but he knew that he was weighing too much. It was only a matter of time before he grabbed the wrong place and he’d end up falling alongside two comrades.
In that case, he thought looking at his left hand and more specifically, his claws. I just have to make my own support!
Letting out a deep growl, Spike plunged his claws into the cliff piercing easily. He smiled. It worked!
Spike climbed the rest of the way in the same way until he finally reached the edge of the cliff. Spike felt how Teats was taken away from his back and after he secured his upper body on the solid ground, he brought Mango up who was also helped by Royal Guards. He then crawled until the rest of him was laying on the ground breathing heavily and deeply.
“Get up, recruit Lizard!” Shining Armor called.
“Yes, C-Captain. I was taking some air, is all!” Spike grunted and groaned as he got up. Now, he was standing in front of Shining Armor while he gave him a proud smile.
“Take off your armor, Spike.”
Spike… it’s the first time in six months he calls me by my name. Damn, I missed it, Spike thought as he slowly undoes the locks of his armor and gently took ‘Eavy Betty’ off piece by piece.
“Congratulations, Maggots!” Shining Armor said out loud eyeing all of his thirty-five recruits. “Today, you have transformed yourselves from worms to sapient life-forms! Your training is now complete. Welcome, fellow brothers and sisters, to the Royal Guard.”
The now-graduated group of freshly baked Royal Guards cheered, cried, sobbed, and thanked the heavens for their triumph, except for one.
Spike undid the last lock holding his chest piece together and removed it with his arms, gently, almost with veneration, put the armor on the ground with the rest of it. He sighed a happy sigh of relief feeling lighter and freer than he ever thought possible. He then felt a hand land on his shoulder. Turning back he saw Shining Armor looking at him with tears in his eyes and a wide, proud smile.
“You did good, little brother. You did good,” Shining Armor said letting fresh, warm tears flow freely. “Look at you now.”
“Thanks, big bro…” Spike replied with a smile of his own and for the first time in six months, he was able to look at his own body. “...Those weren’t there before…” Was all he could muster upon seeing not his scrawny, lanky body. What he saw now was a lean, athletic, and agile body. He could see and feel for the first time ever all the muscles below his scales. He brought an arm up and flexed, seeing a noticeable bulge form in his forearm… and small ripples of muscle on the rest of his arm for that matter.
“Now… now you’re ready,” Shining embraced his little brother in a tight hug.
“Thank you, Shining,” he said returning the tight hug to his big brother.
In all honesty, he had expected that some of his friends and family would call upon others to help him out with his request. In this case, it had been his own mother, Celestia, calling both Fancy Pants and his lovely and charming wife Fleur de Lis a mere three days after his training with Shining Armor had been completed.
After he rested and slept like a log for an entire day Spike had seen himself in the mirror and for the first time ever, he believed he actually looked good. Better than good. He looked… fit. Powerful. And he felt right about it but knew this was only the starting point of his path and there was a long way to go. Who knows what else his friends could teach him?
“My word, Spike my boy, is that really you?”
Spike turned to see the prim and proper stallion he met so long ago when he was but a hatchling. His perfectly kept mustache curled into a smile as he approached him with open arms. Behind him walked his wife looking him with wide eyes.
“Fancy!” Spike greeted the white-coated stallion meeting him with a hug of his own; effortlessly lifting him up a little. “It’s good to see you again!”
“I’d say!” Fancy replied with a laugh. “Look at you. When Princess Celestia informed me you went to take the Royal Guard training course I could hardly believe it. My boy, it seems you passed with flying colors!”
“Hello, Spike,” Fleur greeted taking her chance to grab Spike’s chin and plant a firm kiss on his cheek. “I agree with my husband; you don’t look like the dragon I danced with during the Gala.”
Spike blushed a little. Fleur was very affectionate and incredibly caring with him though he didn’t understand the full reason as to why. He had fond memories of her teaching him how to dance, started giving him his finer lesson in writing, though big words were always difficult for him, and was endlessly loving towards him, kinda like Cadance, but more. In a way, Fleur was like a cousin or sister or a mix of both to him. So, he didn’t feel any hesitance or shame when he returned the kiss with one of his own and a tight hug.
“Fleur!” Spike nuzzled her a little, then he ended the hug to stand in front of both ponies. “I only passed the physical part of the training. The other graduates are now studying the rules, logistics, and conditioning parts. Though I won’t lie, the training was Tartarus.”
Fleur giggled while Fancy laughed like the proper gentlestallion that he is.
“Indeed it is! Come, my boy, Princess Celestia contacted us and told us about your request. We can discuss what we have in mind for you during dinner?”
“But of course!” Spike replied noticing Fleur subtly asked for his arm which he gave a moment later. Soon the trio left with a very happy mare in between her husband and Spike.
Spike was going to be taught ballet and fencing by Fleur and Fancy respectively. And as such, he was finishing putting on the fencing suit Fancy had made weeks ago for him.
He couldn’t understand why oh why would they teach him ballet and fencing of all things? He already knew ballet when he practiced with Twilight when they lived in the castle and he was very good at it, too. Heck, he even practiced from time to time because he enjoyed it. But he knew next to nothing about fencing, which he explained during dinner last night.
Even though he didn’t understand why he had to learn fencing and increase his skill in battle, he didn’t complain nor he would be found lacking in his effort. He wouldn’t question their reasoning or their motives. Spike had just put on the mask when Fancy tapped his shoulder.
“Here, my boy,” he said handing him a high-end sabre of exceptional quality. “For now, I will teach you the basic stances and positions. Then we will move to steps and the proper handling of the sabre, understood?”
Spike was a bit surprised to hear the usually soft-spoken stallion sound so serious but nevertheless, he nodded and took hold of the grip. They both walked to the center of the training room with Fancy standing a meter or so in front of him.
“First, I will show you the first three basic sabre stances, you will imitate me,” Fancy said before taking a slightly crouched defensive position: right leg forward; left leg behind for support tilted to the side and better center of gravity, which was further supported by his left arm lifted a little behind his middle-line in a V-shaped form, his hand doing a half-fist or simulating he was holding some kind of bottle or round object. The right hand, however, was in front of him, angled but upright, his hand angled is such a way that the sabre Fancy was carrying faced down.
It took Spike a few seconds to realize something that was painfully clear once he saw it: Fancy had no openings, his center of gravity was well protected, his balance impeccable and, in his position, he could either defend or attack with ease. Shaking his head, Spike clumsily imitated his friend’s stance, finding it a lot harder to do than it actually looked.
“This position is known as Pronation Prime, it is the most basic and the first position to learn when sabre fencing. Feel your weight, the weight and balance of the sabre, your own breathing. Find your center of gravity and stand firm, Spike.”
Spike did as told, though that was a bit harder to accomplish. As he slowly adapted and found his ground, something came to mind. “Hey, Fancy, you keep mentioning ‘sabre fencing’, are there different kinds of fencing or something?”
“Indeed so, my boy. There are two others: Foil and Épée. If everything goes as planned, then I will teach you Épée, too.” Fancy smiled. “Good, that’s a good posture. Use your tail to aid you, Spike. Yes, just like that. Now,” Fancy moved his right hand down to his midsection with a semi-open gesture; his sabre pointing slightly downward but firm. “This is Pronation Seconde.”
Unlike the first time, Spike was able to notice the change immediately. Especially how Fancy DIDN’T move an inch outside his right arm. Now his stance left a wide-open spot on his defense, but this was a trap he also noticed. Fancy may have traded his defensive stance for a more aggressive one, but he also gained reach, speed, and forced his opponent into a one-way corridor to attack.
A couple of hours passed and Spike had learned the nine basic positions of sabre fencing. Fancy then ordered him to keep training while he had to go to an urgent meeting. And so, he did. Repeating the process over and over, determined to learn them in full with the same zeal he used during his training with Shining.
By the time Fancy returned a couple of hours later Spike had burned into his memory the stances. The next two hours were spent with Fancy teaching him how to properly balance himself when doing a simple side-step and back-step.
This is going to take a while, Spike thought grinning behind his mask.
Another day came and surprise met him. Spike thought he would resume his training with Fancy, but instead found Fleur already dressed in her ballet leotard doing light stretching. When she saw him, she immediately levitated his leotard.
Spike put it on. Maybe it was a side-effect from having grown up and being surrounded by mares almost all his life, but he really didn’t understand the whole concept of things being girly or not. He had worn suits, dresses, skirts, baby outfits. You name it, he had worn it. So a leotard was nothing. Not that it mattered. While he could understand the appeal the usually skin-tight clothing was known for, the fact was that they were similar to a set of armor: they outlined your joints, let you know how much and how you could bend and stretch, and most importantly it gave the freedom the body needed.
And again, he was surprised it was tailored to his specifications and even the material was far more accommodating to his scales. He smiled. There was only one mare he knew capable of doing such a thing.
After that, he began stretching and warming up alongside Fleur, both often helping each other when needed and doing small talk in the meantime. When they were done, Fleur voiced a single command: “Show me your best”.
And so he did.
By the Divine Creators, he was so… light. Doing the routine had never been so easy. Each step, each twirl, each jump, each swing of his arms and tail. Everything was far easier now, and not just because of his new size and longer limbs, but he could feel his muscles moving and dancing alongside him now.
Why on Equestria had he stopped dancing for so long again?
With a final leap, spin, and landing with his arms extended above him, he finished.
“C’était magnifique!” Fleur said with a happy squeal. “I knew you had some experience, but I didn’t know you were this good!” Fleur clapped her hands together. “You’re a natural dancer, Spike.”
“Thanks, Fleur,” Spike replied blushing a little from the praise. “I always enjoyed the ballet lessons more than Twilight ever did. She’s pretty good herself, but she’s an awful regular dancer. How is that possible, I don’t have the faintest clue.”
Fleur giggled knowing full well Twilight’s dance ‘moves’. She moved forward to trace her hands over Spike’s body: arms, chest, neck, collarbone, tail, legs, hands, even his ass and groin for a second or two. Not that it mattered, his genitals were secured inside him and he knew Fleur, while flirty, would never be inappropriate. When she was done she looked at him with a small frown.
“Strange…,” Fleur hummed. “Spike… your muscles are… I don’t know how to say this. But your muscles, your whole physique is powerful, but that’s a natural given since you’re a dragon, but compared to other dragons, and even with the Royal Guard course, I believe you are… strong but not in brute strength alone. Your body is far more mobile, agile, nimble, and resilient than other dragons I’ve seen. I don’t have another way to say this Spike, but your body is perfectly suited for speed and agility, reach and flexibility, over raw strength.” She smiled broadly. “It has been so long since I’ve had a proper practice partner! You already skipped most of what I had planned, so let’s move to what you need: proper control and command! And while we are at it, we shall fix your posture each time you spin!”
Fleur stretched her hands popping a joint before offering her palms to Spike. “Un, deux, trois, Spike! We shall start with the Nutcracker!”
Spike and Fleur danced for hours on end. Both of them happier than ever.
“Remember: balance is the key. It’s always the key. Lose your balance and you lose the fight. Again. Right hoof, left hoof. Forward. Back. Side. Side. Good, now go even faster and as you move, always keep your eyes on me.”
Spike panted. Fancy was a great teacher, excellent even, but he was relentless. He never gave him a moment of respite, always pushing him, always training; there was never a dull moment, every step, every breath, every single action had meaning and consequence. He began noticing small quips of information, like when Fancy’s muscles tensed, or the brief periods of relaxation in between each step and movement. He began to wonder if that was a happy accident or if that was really the intent of Fancy’s training all along.
“Parry. Parry. Thrust. Parry. Side. Good!” Fancy gave out the orders and Spike followed. “When you parry you have to decide if you are going to divert the flow or endure it. If possible, divert it. You’ll save your strength for when you counter-attack, and when you do, pull your entire body into the attack!” He said lunging with a mid-section thrust and Spike was able to parry it to the side without orders. “Excellent. You are progressing greatly, my boy.”
Spike grunted back in response, unable to properly reply due to the continued attacks from Fancy.
By now two weeks had passed since he started his training. One day he would train with Fancy and the next with Fleur. His training with Fleur was his favorite and with each session, his control over his own body increased as well as his own agility. Meanwhile, his training with Fancy was harsher, harder, but good in its own way. At first, after he mastered the basic steps, positions, and stances they began doing small practice battles with Fancy dictating every command, stance, and action. A week ago he couldn’t for the life of him parry correctly when ordered, now he was able to parry by reflex most of the time.
The previous class Spike noticed something he had been neglecting: his body. So far he had been imitating Fancy, but after he decided to adapt the stances to his own body things have turned easier for him. Of course! How could he forget he had a damn tail even after Fancy constantly reminding him of it!? Fancy had a perfect stance and balance due to years of training.
But I have a tail, Spike realized. His center of gravity could shift ever so slightly, his balance could be better handled and defended. And once he started using it he saw a firm and ample smile appear on Fancy’s face.
That didn’t make Fancy any easier though. If anything, it made the stallion press him further.
“I can use ballet in battle?” Spike asked incredulously.
“Of course, it’s really a matter of how to utilize them. I myself have never used them as such, but I have seen colleagues do so. They won’t work in every kind of fight, but against disarmed opponents, it is highly effective.”
“So, like, using it like martial arts?”
“No, no dearie. Ballet is a thing of beauty, not battle, but you can use it for battle.”
“Oh… oh! Like, integrating it to other forms!”
Fleur nodded. “Exactly.”
“But in fencing would be useless, right?”
“Very much so, yes. But that doesn’t mean that what you have honed,” she said touching his forearm. “Can’t be used. Think about it. Why not use your reach and flexibility to your advantage?”
Spike sipped his tea, thinking deeply about what Fleur said.
Spike parried another blow, stepped back and took a Sixte stance, his favorite by far. He then lunged, feinting two attacks before thrusting for Fancy’s chest. The stallion replied with a disengage, two feints of his own, and a compound attack which Spike again parried.
After the third week, his training with Fleur changed to one out of three days while his training with Fancy intensified. Now, at the end of the fifth week, they could battle without instructions and freely. Spike had learned to use his peripheral vision, how to breathe properly, how to judge the distance between him and his opponent, and his reflexes sharply improved. Fancy had also started teaching him Épée fencing, and while it was good and helped to further improve his wrist moves, they both preferred sabre fencing overall.
On the sidelines stood Fleur who had taken a liking to watch them fencing. So far, Spike had won a grand total of zero of their matches, but with each one he grew faster, more cunning, more perceptive than the last.
With a feint attack followed by a point-in-line when Fancy lunged gave Spike the opening he needed for a solid attack to the side. After contact, Fancy moved back with a disengage which much to his surprise was parried by Spike and immediately follow suit with a riposte, earning a second strike and with it, victory.
“Spike wins!” Fleur chanted happily.
“Good show, my boy!” Fancy congratulated.
“I actually won!” Spike cheered to himself, dropping his sabre and hugging the stallion.
“Great job, Spike. With this, now you know how an Honour Duel fight goes and plays out.”
Spike let Fancy go, confused. “H-Honour Duel? You mean to tell me… that wasn’t real fencing?”
“Not at all, my boy, that IS fencing. But not fighting. But at this point, I think you figured out what I was actually trying to teach you, no?” Fancy took off his mask revealing a gentle smile.
Spike nodded. “Balance. Center of Gravity. Using my body to my advantage. Reading my opponent’s moves. Creating opportunities for an attack. Use of peripheral vision. And the measure of distances.”
“Indeed so, my boy.”
“Honey, why don’t you show him?” Fleur asked with a gentle smile.
Fancy blushed a little but nodded. “Promise you won’t laugh?” He asked looking at Spike.
“Of course not,” Spike said taking a step back. Fancy moved closer to the nearby dummy taking a Septime stance. Or it looked like the Septime stance. The stance was firmer, more straight, and… deadlier? He could see Fancy taking shallow, slow breaths, eyes close, and focused. Before Spike could ask Fleur what was going on, Fancy opened his eyes and Spike could swear he saw a fire in his eyes.
“SILVER CHARIOT!” Fancy shouted, took a simple step forward and--
Spike’s eyes went wide and his mouth went agape. He could barely see the flurry of attacks Fancy was showering the dummy with. He could better see the impacts the sabre made on the dummy. Seconds later Fancy leaped, LEAPED, did a mid-term twirl and delivered a final strike against the dummy tearing it from its support base and sending it crashing against the wall behind it, making it crack.
Fancy landed, let out a small breath, and stood straight holding himself with great poise. He then turned to the astonished Spike.
“You’d be surprised how effective shouting an attack is before doing it,” he smiled.
Spike looked at the destroyed dummy.
He could’ve destroyed me at any time… but that move he did…
“Use them to my advantage…” Spike whispered again, eyes glued to the dummy.
Spike kept training with Fancy and practicing with Fleur for another week, though his training with Fancy had become less physical and more theoretical. He had explained to him the concept of an honor duel in full and the differences between one and a fight.
To say he had been appalled by Fancy’s explanation would be an understatement. He had grown up reading the Power Ponies and other heroes and endlessly seeing his friends save the day time and time again (and two or three times himself). He firmly believed that for a hero, a good guy, to win one’s moral code was imperative. Not… not what Fancy told him.
And yet the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. And then he realized that his own friends, the very icons he adored, were no exception. Twilight was the greatest example, both when she was selfish during Sombra’s return and then after when she wanted to kill Tirek for what he did. She had also lied and manipulated her friends to try and steal the pearl of the seaponies. Sure, she was ever so sorry afterward, but she still tried to steal the pearl.
It was something foolish, but Fancy had opened his eyes to something: honor only existed to those that cared for it and personal morals codes could be bent to win a fight only if one was willing to do so. It was foolish he had never thought about it before, and it was entirely true.
Though Fancy did proclaim that he preferred honor duels and had gone to great extent to explain why. It all could be summed up to a set of rules. An honor duel could only happen in one of two circumstances:
1.- If an offended party declared as such and demanded a duel to be had. In this case, the offended party had the right to choose the place, time, method of combat, and the rewards, if any.
2.- If a party declares a rivalry or challenge is made to another party. In this case, the challenged party has every right to choose the place, time, and method of combat, but not the rewards as they would be determined by the challenger and the duel would only proceed if the challenged accepted.
After that, the complex set of rules for the combat itself basically boiled down to: no cheap tricks, no other weapons or forms of combat outside those previously agreed to, no outside help unless it was a group battle, a third party had to be present as witness and judge, and no ill retribution would fall on any side after the duel.
Spike appreciated the lesson, though he wondered why Fancy bothered teaching him that.
No matter. If anything, he could use one day to his advantage if possible. For the moment he was more preoccupied with his next trainer. He couldn’t help but smile when his mother told him mear hours prior who would be training him next.
His favorite cousin (never tell Cadance he said that), the royal pain in the ass, the worst bachelor in Equestria, the greatest buffon he knew, and the prim and proper Prince he looked up to when he was a hatchling.
“Blueblood!” Spike called seeing his cousin talking with a few noble ponies. It seems it wasn’t something important as Blueblood excused himself, the nobles bowed a little before retiring, and the stallion met him half-way in a tight embrace.
“Cousin Spike!” Blueblood called, elated. “It’s so good to see again! Look at you, Shining and Fancy sure did a number with you!” He said gently punching his chest and upper arms jokingly.
“They sure did!” Spike flexed his muscles a little before adopting a Sixte stance, perfectly balanced. “I’m not scrawny anymore, Blue!” He smiled not standing at the same height if not slightly taller than the unicorn.
“That you are,” Blueblood returned the smile. “I was actually heading back home to prepare for your arrival. Come with me?”
Spike nodded walking alongside his cousin. He glanced at the unicorn, smiling as he did, noticing his golden mane, his impeccable suit, smelling his perfume and oiled coat, his polished horn and his upright posture when walking. All in all his cousin was the embodiment of chivalry. The dragon had to suppress a chuckle.
Chivalry my tail! Spike thought with humor. To Blueblood’s credit, he truly was a beacon of chivalry and one of the most well educated and proper gentlestallions he knew, but he was also a merciless prankster, an insufferable annoyance with unwanted guests and the worst date ever when it came to golddiggers. He could still remember the look on his face when he told him how he had treated Rarity, THE Rarity Belle during their first Gala. After that they became good friends, he was happy to know.
As they walked Spike began to wonder and ponder what his cousin would be teaching him. Etiquette? Scouting as his natural talent was? Royal manners? How to disguise himself as a statue to scare ponies in the Gardens? Whatever it was he knew it was bound to be relaxing and fun!
“Shows what I know, huh?” Spike whispered to himself as he stretched with Blueblood at his side.
“What? Did my favorite cousin thought I would be teaching him something boring?” Blueblood smirked.
“I thought many things, I admit, but not this,” Spike replied looking around the very large room adorned with weights, a few running mills, balance poles, ropes, gloves, teeth protectors, hoof-shoes, rolls of bandages, sandbags, and more. But in the center of the room was the biggest surprise of all: a boxing ring, the ones used in professional events. “I never imagined you’d be a boxing enthusiast, Blue.”
“Enthusiast, practitioner, apasionado, and a fighter!” Blueblood replied with a laugh.
“I never thought you, of all ponies, would be into something that could ruin your fingernail polish.”
“Oh, fuck you, Spike!” Blueblood laughed some more. “Just because I’m prim and proper doesn’t mean I don’t like a good fight every now and again,” he smirked. “And fingernail polish? Really? You dare to make fun of that, Princess Barbara?”
“Low blow, Blue, low blow,” Spike feigned a hurt expression before smirking at his cousin. “Coltcuddler.”
“Wall iguana.”
“Bane of all mares.”
“Worthless reptile.”
“Prince Douchbag.”
“Gem Vaccum.”
“...Really?”
“It has been a while, don’t judge me!”
Both dragon and pony laughed as they continued their warm-up exercises. When they were done Blueblood helped Spike to bandage his hands and after that guided him to the nearby sandbag.
“Okay, no more joking around. Spike, I’m going to teach you first the basic postures and the first jabbing combo, see my hooves?” Spike looked down. “See how they are positioned? See my balance? They aren’t too far apart nor too close, not too squared nor too sideways. Try to do it,” Spike did so with relative ease. “Mhmmm, I see your training with Fancy bore its fruits nicely. Remember, this isn’t fencing, you need to be a bit more firm. Yes, like that. Great, Fancy saved me the trouble of telling you to use your tail. Now,” Blueblood squatted a little bringing his arms up in front of him, his right slightly further from him than the left. “This is the basic guard posture or stance, whatever you want to call it. And this,” he did a slow three hit combo; two light punches with his left before a slightly stronger one with his right. “Is the three-jab punch. Fairly simple and in my opinion the perfect starting point for any newbie.”
Spike nodded, silently imitating the combo and was surprised to see how similar and different it was from fencing. Without a weapon, his timing was a bit skewed but, at the same time, his body itself became a weapon. Spike repeated the combo, remembering to breathe and exhale lightly in between each interval. It took him eight repetitions for him to grow accustomed to the combo and the rhythm.
“Fancy did a fancy work indeed,” he snorted at his bad joke. “Now, I want you to add a little bit of force to the combo and punch the sandbag here. Don’t be afraid to damage it a little,” he turned to demonstrate performing a quick combo and each hit landing with a *smack* not too loud nor too soft. “Like that, okay?”
Spike nodded and did as instructed. He used a bit more strength than Blueblood, but the result was the same.
“Good. Now repeat that five thousand times while I work out.”
To his credit, Spike had to admit Blueblood knew what he was doing. At first, he thought he was joking. He wasn't’. The first week had been grueling and boring; thousands of repetitions of the same exercise followed by another set after he was done. But by now he had memorized all the basic positions and guards, finding the low-guard, mid-guard, extended-guard, and philly shell as his favorite ones, mainly because they suited him so well.
As for the punches, he had taken them all in stride, especially the jabs. He had also noticed something incredible once Blueblood started making the repetitions a bit more complex by mixing different stances and punch combos. What he noticed was that when he moved he felt like dancing, not like when he fenced, but more like actual dancing, like he was doing a water-down version of ballet but not quite.
“Good, good. Use your balance just like I taught you and then strike! YES!” Blueblood cheered watching Spike deliver a heavy gut punch to a training dummy. “I even felt that! After you’re done with that set move to do some shadow boxing and after that move to the pear, you still need to work on your wrist speed. Keep it up, Spike, and you’ll soon be ready for fight practice and mock fights!”
“One-Two. One-Two. One-Two. Keep the flow running, don’t let up. If you need a breather, stand back and catch your breath. Remember to time your punches and exhale accordingly. Don’t overextend yourself but don’t give your opponent the chance to counter!”
Spike could hear Blueblood order/comment/advice as he sparred with one of Blue’s personal attendants. So far the fight was on the pony’s favor; he was obviously more experienced and had better timing than his own. Still, Spike was putting on a good fight despite receiving several punches he barely felt. Not that it mattered much, he was a dragon and he was near invulnerable by conventional and unconventional means. It took stuff made out of mithril or orichalcum to actually harm him. That, or powerful beings comparable to or superior to dragons, such as alicorns. The punches of a pony were little more than mosquito bites to him even when the pony in question was allowed to punch for real.
“Stop. Stop. This isn’t working,” Blueblood lamented on the side. With his magic, he brought up a mouth protector and his gloves putting them on easily. “Stand back, I’ll be his opponent for now. You ready, Spike?” Blueblood punched his gauntlets together.
Spike nodded and a second later he was barely able to dodge a jab followed by two more and a feint gut punch.
“Good reflexes. Why weren’t you using them before?”
Blueblood asked in an icy, serious tone that made his blood freeze. What was going on? Was he mad? Did he do something wrong? Spike couldn’t ponder more as he took a low-guard stance to block to jabs but he couldn’t stop a right cross punch straight to his muzzle. It was fairly stronger than the previous pony’s punches, that was for damn sure but still not enough to harm him.
As the mock fight continued Spike found it harder to dodge his cousin’s attacks, each hit that landed managing to make him flinch a little. He began suspecting Blueblood was using magic but his horn wasn’t lit nor he could feel the familiar tingling that magic caused on him. It had to be something else as he was starting to feel his punches.
Blueblood moved back, took a deep breath and lunged forward again from a low angle moving side to side in blurring motions. Without even thinking it Spike did a twirl to the side evading his cousin.
Or so he thought.
When he stopped the first thing he noticed was Blueblood in front of him… he had read him like an open book. Spike felt a six-jab combo to his face forcing him to take a high-guard and then he heard and saw it. Blueblood pulled his right arm back and he could see his muscles expanding and contracting, veins and arteries marked under his coat and even steam coming out of his open mouth.
“MEGATON PUNCH!” Blueblood cried out delivering a gut punch to Spike’s exposed belly.
Spike’s eyes went wide feeling his entire body tremble, the shockwave of the punch coursing through his bones, muscles, scales, body, and soul. And with it, he felt pain. Pure, raw, undiluted pain extending from his belly to every damn inch of his body. Noise was nothing but a physical form of whiteness, his vision was nothing but a smudge or blur of blackness, and he could almost feel his very soul being punched out of his body... which might as well had been.
“GRAAAAHH!” Spike cried out, gasping in desperation for air. His vision partly returned to him and made a point to notice he wasn’t on the ring anymore but a few meters away from him. He coughed violently only now noticing he was on his knees, unable to stand up as his legs trembled, his torso and belly burned, and he could only now taste the vomit and blood in his mouth.
He looked up to see Blueblood climbing down the ring and walking towards him. Once he was in front of him he offered him a hand.
“Just because you’re a dragon doesn’t mean you can relax and let your enemies hit you! Expect the worst. Always. Or else you’ll end up in the situation you are right now: beaten, bloodied, humiliated, and at the mercy of your enemy,” he said extending a gauntlet to Spike.
Spike nodded taking the offered gauntlet and the promptly fainted.
“I still don’t understand how you did it, Blue. That was the second worst hit I’ve taken,” Spike commented as he trained a little with a punching-bag.
“Years of training, push-ups, sit-ups, and plenty of juice. Also, the second worst? Who gave you the first-- Twilight?”
“Twilight.”
“Magic test?”
“More like magic freak out. Scary stuff,” Spike shuddered. “But seriously, how were you able to hit me that hard. It felt like something touched me and then erupted inside!”
“It’s a bit hard to explain, but I focused all my strength, my momentum, and my weight into a single point and then land the hit into another single point. Kinetic damage can be tricky, even for dragons, your scales were intact, right? But the entire force of the punch still went through them and inside you. The cockiness of dragons is their greatest weakness.”
“I’ll say,” Spike said with a chuckle. “Thank Celestia for dragon regeneration or else I’d been in bed for weeks,” Spike stopped. “But why the name though? Fancy said it helps out, but how?”
“Ha! Easy. It’s a psychological effect. It basically helps you to put aside doubts and fear making your attack more accurate and powerful. I’ve tested it several times and it works. It’s effectiveness increases the louder you say it, actually.”
“Seriously?”
“I know, hard to believe, but it is true,” Blueblood shrugged. “Feeling up for a spar?”
“Sure,” Spike and Blueblood walked to the ring. The unicorn levitated two mouth protectors for their use. The walked to the center of the ring, touched gloves, and took stances. Spike took a low-guard position while Blueblood took… no stance? “What are you doing?”
“Sparring,” Blueblood replied before throwing a three-jab combo which Spike blocked. “Good, you learned well. Always keep that in mind, Spike.”
“Avoid getting hit as much as you can. Those hits you can’t avoid, resist it,” Spike said.
“And always make your opponent pay for it,” Blueblood said easily avoiding the five-jab combo Spike threw.
I am so confused, Spike thought as he watched Blueblood lightly jumping with his arms hanging on his sides. Blueblood wasn’t taking any stance to defend himself, yet no matter how he attacked or what combo he used he always dodged, moved back, or quickly countered forcing him into a defensive stance. Was he mocking him? No. Blueblood wouldn’t do that. So what was he doing? The look on his face was enough to convince him he was being serious.
So why in Tartarus is he not using any guard!?
The fight went on for four entire rounds, but in the end, Spike gave up. Blueblood’s style was… it was something else. He was indeed boxing but he never used a single guard aside from feinting using one whenever he thought he was adapting to his style, throwing him off-guard. They sat on the gym’s bench drinking water when Blueblood spilled the beans.
“No-Guard stance,” Blueblood said. “It is a unique style that is incredibly hard to master and emulate. But the results speak for themselves, eh?”
“No kidding, Blue. Why didn’t you teach me that?” Spike questioned.
“After a month I can tell you with full confidence boxing isn’t for you, Spike. Or rather, it fits you, but you aren’t compatible,” he put an arm around his cousin’s shoulders. “But your guard is one of the best I’ve ever seen and your speed, both to attack and to dodge, mixes with your movements beautifully, not to mention your reflexes. Remember when we first sparred?”
“How could I? I still feel the damn bruise.”
“Crybaby. Spike, you dodged my attacks out of reflex without me giving a single warning. That takes skill and good instincts. There’s nothing more I can teach you, but let me tell you that it has been a great month, baby cousin,” Blueblood smiled lightly shaking the dragon.
“Same here, Blue,” Spike returned the one arm hug. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know who is going to train me next?”
“Lady Applejack,” Blueblood smiled. “She said something about ‘Teachin’ Spike what Apple Family Tree Buckin’ is all ‘bout’”
“Ah, Ponyville, it’s good to be back!” Spike exclaimed as he exited the train station carrying with himself a small duffle bag containing his meager traveling belongings. He grinned once more thanking to be a dragon and not worry about any kind of clothing since they were, at best, a nuisance to him (except during formal events).
Taking a deep inhale his nostrils were bombarded by the scent of the village he loved. With a long-drawn exhale mixed with a pleased sigh he began moving into the town.
“Oh, looks like the election campaigns are beginning. Money is on Mayor Mare winning again!” He exclaimed to himself. Honestly, not many ponies had what was needed to delve into the realm of politics, so the experienced mare was a blessing for Ponyville all-round. “Mr. Davenport is having a buy one get one free on quills sale? Twilight is surely going to raid him sometime---”
“Hi, Spike!” Twilight half-yelled appearing right in front of him making the dragon do a jump back in surprise; unconsciously taking a low-guard stance whilst simulating a Sixte.
It took Spike half a second to recognize Twilight but before he could say anything the purple alicorn threw herself at Quills and Sofas, grabbing every quill available with a speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud, teleported a hefty bag of bits on the counter, and flew once more in front of him
“Bye, Spike!” Twilight once again half-yelled before teleporting away.
Spike couldn’t help but smile. “Glad to see some things never change,” he said watching Mr. Davenport take off the sale sign with a beaming smile on his face.
Continuing his walk towards the castle, Spike greeted and was welcomed back by several old friends and town inhabitants; Cheerilee, Ms. Cake and the Twins, Matilda, Filthy Rich, Bulk Biceps, Rumble, Button Mash, amongst many others who were quick to point out both his absence and his visible change in appearance.
Eventually, he arrived at the castle where he was greeted and hugged tightly by Starlight and an apologetic Twilight after their previous, and short-lived, encounter. They spent the next two hours catching up, even though it was Spike who spoke the most. Twilight was genuinely surprised and astonished that her B.B.B.F.F. would be capable of such brutal, borderline sadistic behaviour when commanding his training regime. Starlight on the hand was glad he came out of it not only in one piece, but also better than ever.
The two mares both agreed that his training with Fleur, Fancy Pants, and Blueblood were nothing like they were expecting; more so in the case of Blueblood, of whom they barely knew anything about.
When they were done chatting Spike excused himself to grab a quick shower before leaving to visit Applejack and ask her what she had in mind for him.
“Probably apple bucking,” he whispered to himself in a mirthful tone as he arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. It didn’t take long to find a member of the Apple Family and so it happened to be the one he had come to see in the first place. “Hey there, Applejack!”
The country mare put down the basket of apples she was carrying after hearing Spike calling her name. She wiped her brow as she smiled at him while her free hand tugged at her overalls.
“Howdy there, partner!” Applejack walked up to meet the dragon and hugged him tight managing to lift him off the ground for a few seconds. “Well, would you look at that! Lil’ ol’ Spike ain’t so little anymore! You’re now packing some muscles under these ‘ere scales, ain'tcha?” She said playfully slapping his chest, forearms, and shoulders.
“Yup! I can actually flex now!” He replied before doing that exact same thing in front of one of his dearest friends. “Looking good, Spike! Looking reeeeeal gooood!”
“You ain’t lacking confidence, that’s fer sure!” Applejack said with a little laugh. “Honestly, Spike, it’s good to see you again. We have been missing you like crazy around ‘ere. But Ah guess the results speak for themselves.”
“Thank, Applejack. Gotta admit though, it was murder when I started,” Spike shuddered. “So, need any help around here?”
“Nah, we are about done ‘ere as it is. Why don’tcha come tomorrow morning so we can start working the east fields you an I?”
“Oh, alright then. See you tomorrow then, AJ,” Spike turned to leave but was stopped by the orange mare.
“Wait a second, Spike. Have you seen Pinkie or Fluttershy yet?” She asked.
Spike turned to face her again. “Not yet, though I was planning on visiting them, Rarity and Dash too during the following days. Why do you ask?”
“Spike, didn’t Prince Blueblood tell you Pinkie, Fluttershy and I would be training you at the same time?” Applejack asked back.
“What!? He didn’t mention any of that! He told me you were going to be the next one training me, and I quote, “Teachin’ Spike what Apple Family Tree Buckin’ is all ‘bout’” Spike explained, surprised and confused at the same time.
Applejack gritted her teeth. “That good fer nothin’ scoundrel!” Applejack remarked angrily taking off her stetson hat. “And here I thought involving Fluttershy into the mix would make Discord behave, but no! Dang vermin, Ah outta…” Applejack took a deep breath before putting back her stetson. “Ah reckon that’s mah own damn fault. Shouldn’t have trusted that buffoon in the first place. Sorry, Spike.”
Spike smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder to help her calm down. “I mean, it’s Discord, you know? Hoping to get anything out of him without some chaos is like asking Pinkie to not eat cupcakes.”
“Ah reckon so,” Applejack sighed in defeat. “Anyway, Spike, since we have some pretty tight schedules, we decided to train you all at once: Ah’ll do the morning, Pinkie the afternoon, and Fluttershy the evening.”
“Oh, right, yeah, that makes sense. Soooo if I hurry I might catch up with Pinkie?”
“Why don’t you take the day off, partner? We can start in full tomorrow morning!” Applejack said crouching to pick up the basket.
“In that case, I’ll go visit the rest of the girls and see you tomorrow? To be honest, AJ, I wanted a day off,” Spike confessed scratching the back of his head. “Well, cya tomorrow!”
“Go to bed early, yah hear!” Applejack called back at the departing dragon gaining a waving arm from him.
Dew covering the grass. A fresh breeze blowing all around. The warming rays of the sun barely peeking on the horizon.
All in all, that is your typical Ponyville morning. Fighting rampaging monsters, solving some sort of problem, joining a town-wide musical number, or dealing with general shenanigans and chaos was just a plus on a morning that was close to being perfect.
With that said, Spike was not expecting to see Applejack doing dynamic stretching. Not that there was anything wrong with that, he simply thought she didn’t know about them since it was Fleur who taught them to him given they were a relatively new concept.
“Howdy partner, mighty fine day we havin’, am I right? Whaddaya you say, ready for some buckin’?” Applejack called while doing a side shuffle.
“You bet I am!” Spike replied stopping near her; wordlessly starting to do his own dynamic stretching. “How many fields are we going to clear out, AJ? I’m ready for anything!”
“Ah like that spirit, Spike, that could’ve helped us a lot during harvest season!” Applejack giggled. “We only need to buck one hundred trees clean and that’s it for today. We can take care of the rest ourselves,” Applejack explained offhandedly.
Spike nodded. “Whatever you say, boss,” he replied while continuing his stretching. Another small advantage dragons had over other species was that their muscles were in a permanent pre-warm up mode. While it made it a bit harder for them to properly relax when not sleeping (or swimming in molten lava), and was the main reason they were the bane of all masseurs, it also meant they required less time to be properly warmed up and could act on the spot if need be.
So it was no surprise Spike finished warming up moments before Applejack.
“Whenever you are ready, AJ,” Spike smirked.
“Don’t get cocky now, Spikey,” Applejack smirked back. For five entire seconds, they kept their silent contest going until both broke it with their chuckles. “Alright, alright, enough fun for now. Say, Spike, do you know the Buckin’ Stance?”
Spike immediately took the firm position of the Apple Family for bucking trees. It was somewhat like a squat but it had major differences; with his legs spread apart just wide enough to maintain a perfect balance and give him the room needed to deliver a powerful kick when needed. The upright position of the back was also a key factor as it allowed the kicker to put more power behind the kick and also help regulate said power.
“Wow, this is the first time I’ve done this since my training began… I don’t feel out of balance anymore,” Spike noted.
Applejack hummed in agreement. “Ah’ll say. You don’t look like a twig anymore.”
“Har har, Miss Stubborn,” Spike replied at her slight jest.
“Now, buck that tree good!” Applejack said pointing at a nearby tree full of apples with baskets already placed around it.
Spike nodded heading for the tree. Assuming the position again, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It amazed him how different doing the stance felt compared to before; it was the same feeling he got when he tried it after his growth spurt.
Gotta admit that I looked kinda cute and silly trying to do this stance with my then short limbs and round body! Spike thought with mirth.
Opening his eyes he focused on the tree before him. One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths. Spike huffed as he delivered a powerful but measured kick against the tree. Traditionally, the kick had to be delivered using the bottom of the hoof, but since he didn’t have hooves tradition was out the window. He could hit it with his sole, though it would be uncomfortable and given his strength he would damage the tree no doubt. So, he opted to choose the side-kick to the trunk Applejack and Big Mac sometimes used.
The bridge of his right foot hit the trunk of the tree with a mighty thud that made it shake for a couple of seconds.
Out of the twenty or so apples attached to the tree, only four had fallen.
“W-What?” Spike blurted out not believing what he was seeing. He turned to Applejack and saw her wearing a smug expression on her face.
“Ain’t as easy as it looks, huh?” Applejack smirked.
As Spike made his way to Sugarcube Corner his mind was submerged in the morning events. Try as he might, he was unable to clear a single tree with one kick. His best record stood at eight apples. Once, out of pure frustration, he delivered a solid kick putting most of his strength behind it; snapping the tree in half and sending the top side of that same tree flying a few meters away.
I know she said she wasn’t angry, but I am so paying her back for that, Spike thought giving out a defeated sigh. “I don’t get it… I’m stronger than ever before but I can’t clear a single apple tree? What the hay is wrong with me?” He asked himself looking at his arms. “But what did Applejack mean by ‘knowing the tree as you know yourself’?” Spike questioned out loud as he grabbed the handle of Ponyville’s most famous pastry shop’s entrance.
“I don’t know!” Pinkie Pie yelped behind Spike.
“Gaaaahhhhh!” Spike yelped in surprise and jumping a full two meters high, flailing all of his limbs around. When he landed a second later he placed his hands on his knees and bent forward, helping himself to regain his breath after the surprise scare.
“Hiiiyah, Spike!” Pinkie greeted in her trademark Pinkiness.
“H-hey there, Pinkie,” Spike said in between breaths. In front of his face appeared a pink hand that caused him to smile and accept it. With a pull, he was standing upright once more and this time facing his favorite party mare. Before he could say anything more, Spike noticed that Pinkie wasn’t wearing her usual dress, which consisted of a cupcake printed shirt and blue pants, nor her baking dress; instead she was wearing her workout outfit. “Oh… what’s with the getup, Pinkie?”
“Whhaaaaaat? Were you expecting me to teach you how to bake gem-shard cupcakes? Sorry! That’s my secret recipeee~” Pinkie sang putting her face an inch away from Spike’s. “No stalling, mister! Come on, Spike! Time for your super-duper special workout with auntie Pinkie Pie! Open Sesame!”
“I’m only three years younger than youuuuuuuuoaaaaahahhhhh~” Spike tried to protest but the ground suddenly gave way to a trap door right below his feet. He landed tail first on a slide followed by a surprisingly lightweight something landing on top of his head. The sweet smell of sugar and cheerfulness filled his lungs instantly after; as if more evidence was needed for him to discover that the ‘something’ currently latched to his head was Pinkie Pie, the pink mare began to cheer and keen in her typical high-pitched manner.
After a short-lived ride down the slide, Spike landed on top of dozens of pastry shaped cushions: cakes, cupcakes, cookies, various types of bread, and many more. He felt Pinkie press a single finger against his forehead, light as a caress, and then she was airborne, did an admittedly fancy twirl and then landed in a perfect form. Spike clapped, idly noticing they were in her Party Cave.
“Thank you, thank you, oh, you are such a lovely audience!” Pinkie bowed towards Spike as he clapped. “Right, dragon boy, no time to stall!” Out of nowhere, she pulled a box three times broader than her body and placed it in front of Spike. “Tadaaaaa!” Lifting off the covering lid, the box revealed an assortment of party supplies. “Whaddaya think, huuuh, huuuuuuuuuuuuuhhh?”
Spike stared at the box for several seconds. Using a finger, he pointed at the box and looked at Pinkie in confusion. “Pinkie… what are we going to do with these supplies? I thought we were going to work out… or something?”
“Preparing for upcoming parties is working out, Spike! Or working in, since we are in my secret Party Cave, after all! Or is it working cave? Cave working! Out caving!” She giggled as she grabbed a rather long balloon, took a big breath, and in a single blow the balloon was filled, with Pinkie looking no worse for wear.
“But I thought--- you know what? Nevermind. Pass me one of those balloon boxes, please,” Spike said a bit disappointed, though he didn’t show it in his voice. Helping any of his friends was always worth it in the end, no matter what they needed or the situation.
The duo worked hard and long blowing up balloons, cutting up and packaging streamers, loading party cannons, testing party joke toys. Nearing the bottom of the box, Spike found, to his surprise, that he was tired but not in the same way he felt when bucking apple trees or from his previous exercises.
What the hay is going on? This is nowhere near as bad or difficult as the other stuff, but I’m still getting tired, Spike thought while filling up another balloon. Looking at his side he saw Pinkie, her short fur covered by a light film of sweat, yet she didn’t try at all; not when she blew another balloon twice her size in a single breath yet again.
“How do you do that?” Spike asked dumbfounded. He could easily chalk it up to Pinkie being Pinkie Pie, but this was neither random nor physics-defying; this was her being constant and un-Pinkie. It was only now that he realized they had spoken maybe a few words during… How long have we been down here in the cave anyway? Spike thought.
“Silly billy, that’s easy! I take a big breath,” she did just that. “Fhen I poosh out my cheeks fike dis!” Pinkie explained showing Spike how she did it. “Fhen!” She then pushed her lips against the opening of a new balloon and it was filled in less than two seconds. “I blow out the air and tadaaaa~! The balloon is ready to rock the parteeeehhhhh! Get it? Because it’s shaped like a rock!”
“...And you don’t feel tired or dizzy after filling up that balloon, like, at all?” Spike asked eyeing his own barely started balloon.
“Nope!” Pinkie cheered and giggled. “I have pretty big lungs!”
“No kidding,” Spike chuckled. “But aren’t you tired after everything we’ve done?”
“Ehhh, a little. But all I need is a quick chocolate milk glass to keep this pink train going strong!” She giggled. “Besides, I can control my stamina however I want!”
“You seriously love choco-- Wait, what? You can do what!?” Spike blurted out, forgetting the balloon he was blowing.
“I can do many things, silly, you should know! I can play ten instruments at the same time, makes the bestest parties in Ponyville, bake the most delicious triple-pudding-chocolate-moka cake ever! Princess Celestia orders one every week! Oh! And I can touch my tummy with my tongue--”
“That’s very good and all, Pinkie, but you can control your stamina!?” Spike asked pushing the box aside.
“Well, duuuhh~ I grew up in a Rock Farm, Spikey!” Pinkie replied cheerfully.
“Please teach me how to do that!” Spike threw himself to the ground and resting his face on Pinkie’s thighs; looking up to her with his best puppy eyes.
“Of course! The Party Maker training I had planned can wait!” She replied, patting the crest of her dragon friend.
“I love Pinkie to bits, but trying to get her to explain anything without her getting distracted is near impossible,” Spike said as he walked down the path leading to Fluttershy’s cottage. “Though, to her credit, she did her best to show me how to do it. I just need to focus and manipulate the flow of my energy and strength at the same time… somehow,” Spike sighed in defeat, even with Pinkie showing him how it was meant to be done, he barely understood anything.
After another sigh, the dragon finally saw Fluttershy’s cottage once reaching the small wooden bridge that separated Ponyville from her home. Spike felt a gratifying calm surge from within him as he approached; after two spectacular failures in a single day, he was more than ready for an easy lesson.
“Hiiiiyyaaaahhhh!”
“Huh?” Spike stopped when he heard the battle cry. “Hey, Shy, you okay?” Spike called reaching the front door of her cottage. What answered him was a rumbling roar of defiance. “Fluttershy!” Spike rushed around the cottage in the blink of an eye, the roar coming from Fluttershy’s private garden/animal hospital.
Spike didn’t feel tired nor he was able to register jumping over a fence and nearly colliding against a fully grown lion’s back.
The lion didn’t even notice him as it was busy roaring at something else. It’s roar turned into a panicked cry an instant before it was flung across the garden. Immediately after, Fluttershy came into view wearing a green sundress and under them a pair of khaki shorts.
“Oh, hi Spike!” Fluttershy greeted the dragon with a beaming smile. Then she launched herself up in the air with a bat of her wings and dove straight towards the lion. She performed a frontal spin midair, ending with her pointing a hoof at the lion.
The lion was rubbing its head when it noticed the incoming yellow and green missile, but it was too late for it to do anything about her. Her hoof made contact with its forehead, sending it to the ground with a loud *thud*.
Fluttershy landed on top of the lion’s exposed belly with her characteristic grace. Then she dropped to her knees to pat its stomach; following it with a quick and soft push. The lion’s eyes went wide instantly, and a moment later it burped a giant ball of fur.
“There you go, Alexander, doesn’t that feel much better now?” Fluttershy asked rubbing its tummy.
“Grrrrrooooooogggggg!” The lion purred agreement.
“Now, be a good boy and make sure to clean yourself, okay?” Fluttershy asked jumping off of the lion. The lion, Alexander, got up and waved a paw before running off to the Sanctuary.
“That was amazing, Fluttershy!” Spike finally reacted after getting a first-row view of the entire display. He ran up to his shy friend, who was doing her best to hide a blush behind her mane. “I always forget you can kick serious butt if you want to!” Spike praised.
“I-It was nothing special, Spike. Alexander needed some help but he was a teeny, tiny, tinsy bit scared. I only did everything I could to end his tummy ache,” Fluttershy said smiling at the dragon.
“I’ll say,” Spike replied looking at the barfed up ball of fur. “The animals here sure are lucky to have you around, Shy,” Spike smiled at the shy mare causing her to blush a little more.
“Dr. Fauna says the same every time we work together, but she’s so much more knowledgeable than I could ever be. She’s a true professional and loves animals as much as I do!” Fluttershy said, sidestepping the compliment.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Shy. You can talk to animals, how cool is that?” Spike hugged Fluttershy closed with one arm across her back. “And you can wrestle down bears, lions, manticores. Heck, you even took down a hydra that one time! Not many can claim to do half as much as you do, Shy,” Spike tightened the hug until he was gently rubbing his cheek against her.
Fluttershy giggled, returning the gesture with gusto. “In that case, Spike, I accept your sincere compliments.” Pulling a brave and forward act of her own, she leaned her head to the side and planted a chaste kiss on Spike’s cheek. Pulling back, Fluttershy smiled mirroring Spike’s blushing face. “Enough silliness for now, Spike. I cleared my afternoon schedule, so we can practice in peace and tranquility,” she explained gently guiding Spike to a small clear area of her garden.
“Soooo… are you going to teach me how to do those moves you did back there?” Spike asked, hope and excitement clear in his tone.
“Not quite, I’m afraid,” Fluttershy replied, coming to a halt. Turning around to face Spike, she took a deep breath and began to hum, clapping her hands together as she did. “Repeat after me, Spike.”
Spike blinked. Fluttershy rarely said anything in a serious tone, except when a situation needed it. Deciding to obey the shy mare, Spike began imitating her despite not knowing what he was doing.
After several minutes of relative silence, Fluttershy’s sweet, melodic, and calming voice reached his fins.
“Spike, do you know how to control your own strength?” She asked gently.
“Of course, Fluttershy. If I didn’t know how to, I'd break every glass I grab and hurt everyone I hug,” Spike answered.
“How do you do it?” Fluttershy asked in that same gentle tone.
“I just use less strength when I do something delicate or don’t put much effort into it. I know I can be dangerous to those around me,” Spike replied in a weaker, hushed tone.
“I’m happy to hear you know how to limit yourself, Spike. But limiting oneself and knowing how to control one’s strength isn’t the same thing. I may be weak, even for a regular pegasus, but my hooves can break bones and if I’m not careful, I could seriously harm any of my animal friends,” she explained before placing a hand over Spike’s heart.
“What are you…” Spike was cut off when he felt Fluttershy’s palm push back against his chest with the softness of a feather... and then shove him back. Spike landed on his ass, his surprised palpable as he stared at Fluttershy. “H-How did you do that? I didn’t even feel you pushing me back.”
“That’s because I know how to use my strength, Spike, and use it when I need it the most,” she extended to him the same hand she used to shove him down.
Spike accepted the aiding hand and was quickly on his feet again. “Wait, is that the reason why you can take down much bigger and stronger animals without using The Stare?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Exactly. Though, it’s not that simple.”
Spike raised an ‘eyebrow’. “There’s more to it? Like… ohhh… ohhhhh!” Spike suddenly realized something. “Y-you don’t hurt them, at all! I mean, now that I think of it, Harry never showed a single bruise before, right?”
Fluttershy nodded again. “I have to control my strength to do what I want to do without harming anyone or anything.”
“You truly are the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy. Never change!” Spike cheered with a laugh. “But there’s one thing I still don’t understand,” Spike said crossing his arms.
“What would that be, Spike?”
“What is this training for, exactly? There must be a bottom line to it, no?” Spike asked rolling a hand.
Fluttershy giggled. “I already told you, Spike. I’m going to teach you how to control your strength,” she then resumed her humming and clapping technique, with Spike imitating her soon after. “To control your strength, you first need to restrain it.”
“Restrain, huh?” Spike mumbled as the two of them continued their calming exercises.
Spike was lying on his bed, catching up a proper rest after a hot shower. Another day of training with three of his best friends had come to an end; another day with little progress on his part despite his effort.
“At least I can take down eleven apples at a time and I haven’t splintered nor damaged a tree in two days, so that’s something. Good grief, tree bucking is way more exhausting and difficult than I thought! Good exercise, on the other hand,” Spike chuckled to himself.
Placing his hands behind his head, Spike hummed. “Pinkie’s training is another thing entirely, though. Gotta give it to her and her family, they must be geniuses to come up with a practical way to use their stamina at their will. But I guess I’m getting the hang of it,” he sighed, a smile appearing on his features. “Bless Luna for Fluttershy. Without her special kind of training, I would be completely lost with Pinkie’s methods and practices,” his smile faltered, replaced by a serious expression now.
“I do wonder, however, how long will it take me to adapt to their training? And after I’m done with the training, what comes next? Who comes next? Everypony so far has taught me something unique they are good at, but Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy are going further than that. Everything before this point was mostly learning about my own body… but this is different, in a good way.” Spike hummed closing his eyes. “I better get some shut-eye for Applejack tomorrow.”
“Damn it all!” Spike cursed. “I hate this bucking horseapple bullsh--” Spike sighed in frustration as he glared at yet one more chopped down apple tree. That was enough to make him angry, but what drove him over the edge was that the vast majority of the apples were still hanging from the tree.
“They make it look so easy! How do they do it?” Spike muttered to himself in the lonely field. Applejack was on another area of the orchard doing her daywork. She was kind enough to teach him and give him pointers, but in the end, she was neither a real teacher nor the best pony at explaining how to do something she knew by heart. And she certainly didn’t have the time to stand by, peering over his shoulders and watching him make an utter fool of himself.
He had tried to apply Fluttershy’s training, but something felt off; as if something was missing or not connecting properly to his two other training programs. During his free time, he applied it to what he had already learned and found it incredibly useful.
“So what is wrong?” Spike asked out loud while picking up the tree and updating the amount of bits he owned Applejack so far.
“You ain’t bucking properly, Spike.”
Spike turned around to see his tall, muscular, overly buffed close friend, Big Macintosh, carrying five barrels full of apples over his head as if they were pillows.
“Big Mac!” Spike called dropping the tree and running to meet his friend. “Are you bringing those barrels to the barn?”
“Eeyup!” Big Mac replied proudly before gently putting the barrels down with a single hand. “Ah see you having some problems bucking them trees, eh Spike?”
Spike sighed. “You don’t know half of it, Mac. I don’t understand how you do it, honestly. You Apples make Apple Bucking look so trivial and easy! But this is hard…” Spike sighed once more. “...I already owe Applejack twenty trees. Twenty! There goes my entire monthly stipend.”
Big Mac smiled putting a hand on his dragon friend's shoulder. “Apple Bucking takes time to get used to, Spike. No need to feel embarrassed over it.”
“Easy for you to say, Mac. You can buck apple trees in your sleep,” Spike grumbled.
“Want some help?” Big Mac asked sincerely.
“You sure Applejack will be okay with that? You know how she can get about others helping her with her work,” Spike looked up at Mac with a disheveled expression.
“Good thing this ain’t work, then,” Big Mac smiled widely before stepping back. “Go on, show me the proper Apple Bucking stance.”
Spike nodded and took the stance Applejack had taught him. He remained still as Big Mac walked around him, touching him a few times and humming while his eyes analyzed him with painstaking detail.
“Good muscle control you got there, Spike. Now then…,” Big Mac looked around searching for something. “Aha!” He let out before grabbing Spike by the neck and lifting him.
Spike remained silent and entirely focused on maintaining his stance until Big Mac put him on the ground right in front of an apple tree. The dragon watched in silence as the big red stallion looked the trunk up and down for a few seconds. Then, Big Mac pointed at a spot in the trunk just below its midsection.
“Kick there,” Big Mac ordered.
“You sure?” Spike asked not too sure of himself.
“Kick there,” Big Mac repeated.
Spike nodded. He took a deep, long breath just like Fluttershy had taught him and exhaled slowly. Spike felt his muscles, his pulse, and his entire body become at ease immediately after. Opening his eyes, Spike’s stare turned fierce and focused, and with a short exhale of steamy hot breath he delivered a kick to the spot Mac told him to kick. Spike missed by a few inches, but the tree nonetheless shook violently for a mere two seconds. The tree then stopped shaking and twenty-seven of its thirty-two apples fell to the ground.
“...What…” Spike muttered in disbelief. He dropped to his knees immediately after his initial shock wore off. Spike inspected the trunk and found nothing wrong with it. The bark was immaculate, the trunk was fine, there wasn’t even a single scratch made by his scales.
The tree was in perfect condition as if it had never been kicked in the first place.
“H-How… Every time I bucked a tree… how!?” Spike looked up at Big Mac with big, wide, imploring eyes.
“Mmmmm,” Big Mac rubbed his chin for several seconds. “It is as I told yah, Spike. It takes a lot of time to get used to. But Ah guess you can say I can tell where to hit the tree. It’s like ah ‘feel’ where to hit the tree without hurting it, you know?”
“Of course I don’t know! That doesn’t even make sense!” Spike sighed in defeat. “Don’t tell her I said this, but Applejack is awful at giving instructions. You’d think she’d be better after the whole List of Useless Instructions and Steps she had about her daily chores. Apparently I am wrong. All I got from her were random instructions on how to buck the tree and that, and I quote, “Feel in your heart of hearts the heart of the tree yer about to buck. You gotta know the tree as you know yourself.” end quote.”
Big Mac chuckled loudly. “Darn right toothin’ she is! Now, Spike, I think I can help you out here, give you a hand, ya know?”
“Yes please, I’ll take anything that gets me close to this,” Spike implored pointing at the recently bucked tree.
Big Mac nodded. “Righty then, pardner. Yer kick was good, but still off the mark by quite a bit. Let’s see ‘ere,” Big Mac looked to the sky and turned to the sun for a glance. “‘Bout nine and a half. Here’s what you’ll do, Spike. Yer gonna stay still for three hours, that’s until the Sun is over yer head, doing the Apple Bucking stance. After that, you’ll start bucking at the tree without hitting it right in the spot I told you to hit for about two hours. Then you can leave for yer training with Pinkie.”
Without any further adieu, Big Mac turned around, went to pick up the barrels he was carrying, and left Spike by his lonesome once more.
Spike watched Big Mac leaving; eyes wide open and jaw hanging open at the sheer ridiculousness of the stallion’s order.
Once Big Mac was gone, Spike let out a long, drawn-out, exhausted, and defeated sigh before doing as he was told to do.
“For three entire hours?” Pinkie asked tilting her head to the side.
“Three. Bucking. Hours.” Spike spat each word. “During my training with Shining Armor, I got a taste of standing still for hours on end, and while bad and boring, these three hours blow standing still out of the water any day. Who knew standing still and staying still doing a stance or pose for so long could be that different and difficult? I swear I have a few cramped muscles I didn’t even know I had!” Spike puffed out a cloud of ashen-smoke. “And don’t even get me started on the two hours I spent not bucking the tree, Pinkie…”
“That sounds like no fun at all! But you did it in the end, didn’t cha?” Pinkie asked offering Spike a gem-encrusted cookie.
“I had to after Big Mac was nice enough to give me some advice and kinda show me how it’s done,” Spike wrapped his tongue around the cookie and ate it. “Pony feathers, your cookies are the best, Pinkie,” Spike moaned contently.
Pinkie giggled in response as she sat on top of the large boulder Spike was lifting. The party mare grabbed another cookie with her mane and offered to Spike, who in turn accepted it with delight.
The two of them were near the Ghastly Gorge performing Spike’s stamina control training. The Gorge was the perfect place for them to do so as it was secluded, away from prying eyes, and no shortage of rocks, boulders, granite, and other formations for them to use as they wished.
When Spike began this training, he was completely lost. If he thought Applejack had been vague with her teaching methods, Pinkie was exactly the same just ten times more confusing.
I refuse to believe that’s not a family quirk of theirs or something, Spike thought letting out another puff of ashen-smoke from the effort alone.
To Pinkie’s credit, she did her absolute best to explain what she was doing, how, and the way she learned to do it. But her explanations were very graphical, noisy without details, and were closer to a game of charades than actual instructions. Which, to him, was ten times more frustrating since he was a Charade Champion, and he still couldn’t figure out much aside from ‘lift this, move there, break that’.
But at least her training methods, even if he still had no clue how to control the flow of his energy and strength at the same time, were enjoyable and he got a nice exercise out of it. Not to mention the tasty, tasty gems and treats Pinkie fed him constantly.
“And that’s one hundred, Spike!” Pinkie cheered jumping off the boulder and landing perfectly in front of Spike.
Spike dropped the boulder, a rock almost as large as him and weighing just shy of two tons, making a small dust cloud.
“Let’s seeeeeeee~… Pick the boulder, check. Run for ten laps around the Gorge while carrying it, check. Do one hundred push-ups with the boulder on your back, check. Do one hundred lift-ups, check. Next up is breaking the boulder in a single punch!”
“A single punch?” Spike repeated whilst eyeing the boulder. “Pinkie, this… in a single punch? I can’t even do it in the usual three tries.”
“Of course silly! All you need to do is go ‘Ahhhhhhh!’ and then ‘Owuuuuuuu!’ and then ‘Blaaaaaammmm!’” Pinkie explained as she did various poses like she was powering up, like in the Power Ponies comics, and doing over the top punches.
Spike stared silently without a single clue as to how to actually manage that. He knew what she meant, he had seen her punching and kicking rocks into dust before… but he didn't know how to do it himself or even how she did it in the first place.
“C’mon, Spikey! You can do it, I believe in you! Channel your inner Saitama!” Pinkie cheered.
“Thank you, Pinkie. I’ll do my-- Excuse me, channel my what?” Spike asked confused.
“What?” Pinkie stared at him innocently.
“...”
“...”
“...Right… I’m gonna try breaking the boulder now,” Spike turned to the boulder and began breathing just like Fluttershy had taught him. After a few repetitions, Spike adopted a mid-guard position using his left arm for defense and for aiming. Meanwhile preparing his right arm to deliver a powerful punch; his fist already clenched and slightly shaking under the pressure of his strength.
Spike took one last deep breath before letting out a loud roar and, with it, delivered his punch.
The impact upon the boulder was powerful and the resulting impact echoed all around the Gorge. But the boulder itself, while cracked in several places and even a few chunks of it dropped to the ground, it remained unshattered.
“Hey, look at that, that’s way better than I’ve done so far!” Spike said excitedly.
“Way to go, Spikeeeeyyyy!” Pinkie latched onto him, giving the dragon a gigantic and tight bear hug.
Spike hugged her back and even spun her around a few times making the pink mare laugh and giggle. When their little celebration ended, Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out another cookie and gave it to Spike.
“What’s next~? Break the boulder in a single punch, kinda check. Call in Maud for help is next!”
“Wait, Mau--”
“MAUUUUUUD!” Pinkie hollered.
“No need to shout, Pinkie, I’m already here,” Maud said with her ever-present, non-emotional tone as she stepped out of a nearby cave entrance.
Spike could only stare at the stoic big sister of Pinkie, Maud, making her way to them wearing her trademark dull grey dress; contrasting Pinkie’s training outfit. Pinkie wasted no time in greeting her adored big sister with a great hug. After the greeting, Maud continued walking towards the now smiling dragon.
“Oh, hello, Maud. I didn’t know you were coming to help us out today,” Spike greeted offering a hand, which Maud took and shook softly.
“A pleasure as always to see you, Spike,” Maud nodded at the dragon. Then, she shifted her attention to the boulder. “Did you do this?”
“Yeah, pretty neat, right? I only punched it once!” Spike let out a short-lived victory laugh. “Though I know it’s nowhere near what you can do, Maud.”
“Hmmm,” Maud hummed in reply while she inspected the boulder for a few seconds. She then tapped it a few times near the spot Spike had punched the boulder. “Lucky hit, Spike. You almost got it right.”
Spike’s smile fell and transformed into confusion. “What do you mean ‘lucky hit’? I punched it as hard as I could…”
“And that was your mistake. You wasted your strength,” Maud explained before pulling out a piece of chalk out of her dress and used it to mark an X about half a meter below and a few inches to the right from where Spike’s punch mark was. “Try punching it there,” Maud said stepping aside.
“You’re the boss mare,” Spike began repeating the process he used to punch it the first time and by the time his fist started to shake, Maud spoke up.
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“Uhmmm, preparing myself to punch the boulder, as you said?” Spike replied with another question.
“Are you trying to punch it or buck it?” Maud asked dryly, blinking once.
“...Oh, Tartarus… you’re right…” Spike let out.
I’ve been using the Apple Bucking stance without me noticing… how? How didn’t I notice that until now? I’ve been mixing a mid-guard stance for my upper half and the Apple Bucking stance for my lower half… how did I miss this? Spike thought.
“You can buck rocks, too. But punching and bucking are different. It won’t be as useful if you mix them up and you’ll end up wasting more energy that way,” Maud explained now standing next to Spike. “Pinkie told me everything. All you need to do is reach deep down inside you. Breath, exhale. Feel your muscles contort, expand, and contract. Find your balance and mold it as your own. That way you will use less energy and get better results.”
“...How do you know all of this?” Spike asked, amazed at the simplicity of the explanation.
“We grew up in a Rock Farm. If you waste too much energy you’ll be exhausted quickly,” Maud explained as if it were the most natural thing in the world for them to know.
“So, what do I do? How do I ‘reach deep down’?” Spike asked.
“You already know how to do that, you just need to mold your energy properly. Do you notice how your fist shakes? You’re putting too much strength behind it and it makes you unbalanced; you waste your energy and with that, your stamina drops down and you’ll tire yourself out easily. Here,” Maud took a solid yet relaxed stance barely parting her legs.
Spike imitated her, even though he didn’t quite understand what she meant by ‘molding’ his energy.
Maud raised a fist to her shoulder level, her breathing was focused, controlled, relaxed, and tranquil. It was a form of breathing, an example of control over one’s self honed over years of rigorous training and work.
Spike mimicked her movements and did his best to emulate her breathing, ever minding and avoiding focusing too much strength into his fist. He was partially successful as his fist barely shook, though it took him a constant effort to control himself.
“Now, punch the mark,” Maud ordered.
Spike obeyed without complaint; his fist flying true and directly at the mark, missing by a mere inch to the side, but the effect was instantaneous. The boulder shattered completely and utterly into, scattering thousands of tiny rocks and pebbles everywhere around them.
“...You have got to be kidding me…” Spike turned his trembling head at Maud. “I-I-I I didn’t even put half the effort as I did the first time…”
“Told you soooooo~” Pinkie called from behind them… lifting a boulder twice the size Spike had been using so far with surprising ease, even for an Earth Pony.
You didn’t tell me jack! Spike shouted in his mind.
Maud nodded. “But that’s only half of what you need. Even if you know how to control your energy, strength, and stamina, it’s all pointless if you don’t know how to use it,” Maud said as she picked up a rock the size of a normal pony’s head. “Where to apply it.”
Spike had a sudden flashback of his first session with Fluttershy. How she shoved him on his ass without him feeling her putting any strength behind it at all.
Limiting oneself and knowing how to control one’s strength isn’t the same thing, Spike thought what Fluttershy had told him before.
Spike watched as Maud touched the rock a few times, moved it around, and then with a flicker of her middle finger near the top of the rock… it cracked and moments later fell apart as mere pebbles and gravel.
Maud turned to face Spike. “Do you understand now, Spike?”
“I… I think I do, Maud. I think I do,” Spike looked down at his hands and clenched them. “Thank you, Maud.”
Maud shook her head. “Don’t thank me, Spike. Thank Pinkie, she is the most adept in our family and she even learned to control her body at will,” Maud smiled a little as she saw her pink sister drill a hole through the boulder she was playing with… with her mane.
Spike walked breathing and exhaling calmly as he made his way to Fluttershy’s cottage. The lessons and teachings learned were mixing inside his head with ideas and thoughts and questions. While he still had many doubts so much had been answered thanks to the unexpected help of Big Macintosh and Maud; both had showered light upon many of his questions, and while he still didn’t quite understand how to do what they were capable of doing, he at least got a basic idea of it.
“But one thing still bugs me… limiting myself isn’t the same as controlling my strength. I thought I was advancing the most with Fluttershy and her training, but I think that’s the one I’ve been the most lost. I haven’t even begun to try to restrain my strength until Maud told and showed me how to…” Spike crossed his arms. “But what Maud said about how to apply it sounded eerily similar to what Fluttershy does… and… and…!” Spike’s eyes went wide. “And what Applejack and Big Mac do when Apple Bucking!”
Spike smiled widely. “Maud and Pinkie can sense where a rock is most vulnerable and know how to use their strength and stamina with deadly efficiency. Applejack and Big Mac know how to employ their strength and they know how to restrain it. More than that, they know where to hit the tree without harming it. But unlike Maud and Pinkie, they never touch the trees; they ‘feel’ them with their hearts… they know where to buck it just by looking at it,” his smile furthered. “And Fluttershy is a master when controlling her strength, energy, and how to apply it… of course! She is a pegasus and way weaker than me! Ugghhhh!” Spike slapped his forehead as he broke into a fit of laughter.
“I’m so stupid! I’ve been trying to limit myself like I always do from the very start instead of letting it flow through me evenly…” Spike looked down the road to find he was already meters away from the cottage. Seeing the door open, Spike broke into a run and as he entered the house he heard the gentle humming of his shy friend coming from her garden. He made his way there and found Fluttershy watering a few plants.
Fluttershy turned just in time to see a blotch of purple scales tackle her before she began spinning around.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Spike chanted over and over again while Fluttershy, while surprised at first, once she noticed he was the one hugging and spinning her around, she started to giggle.
It had been three grueling weeks of arduous training after Spike realized what he had been doing wrong. Ever since that moment, his efforts only intensified with matching results. While it had been incredibly difficult at first to recognize when he was limiting himself rather than restraining his strength, after some time he learned how to separate them and ultimately disregard his limiting tendency in favor of restraint.
How could he not when restraining his strength wielded the same benefits without the drawbacks of limiting himself?
With Fluttershy’s help, he even began to properly control the flow of his energy after asking her dear friend, Tree Hugger, for some advice in that area. With that knowledge and his newfound focused and perceptive mind, Spike had thrown himself into Pinkie’s and Applejack’s training regimes individually. And while he made great strides on each, the moment he thought about combining both lessons, finding a vulnerable spot and feeling where it laid, he found himself amazed at how easy it was to, more or less, identify where said vulnerable spot was.
“Apple Bucking Kick,” Spike muttered as he delivered a seemingly powerful kick on an apple tree’s trunk. The tree shook from the hit for only a moment before it stopped, and then twenty-four out of twenty-six apples fell to the baskets below.
“I can’t believe it really works…” Spike said with a little blush adorning his cheeks as he knelt next to the tree’s trunk. He inspected the spot he had kicked and smiled. The bark was intact, the truck was undamaged, and not a single mark left by his scales could be seen.
It had been a true and proper Apple Bucking Buck.
Spike fell back under the tree’s shadow and grabbing an apple from the basket with the use of his tail. The dragon ate the apple whole and let out a loud, proud belch after he swallowed it. A warm smile adorned his face as a fresh breeze blew around him. With a deep breath, Spike exhaled a cloud of green fire and a moment later a scroll appeared alongside a quill and a small inkwell.
“Let’s see,” he said unfolding the scroll. “With this tree that makes… five hundred out of five hundred, and before noon!” Spike smiled widely. “Applejack is sooooo gonna throw a fit!”
“You want me to what?” Spike asked, incredulous, at Twilight.
“I want you to read that book,” Twilight replied with a smile.
“Twi… I love you to bits. You’re my big sis, I would do practically anything for you… but reading a book isn’t precisely what I was expecting from you when you told me, and I quote,” he cleared his throat. “ ‘Test your limits and patience to the point of madness’,” he chanted, doing his best interpretation of her lecturing voice.
“And it will!” Twilight giggled darkly. “This training almost drove me mad, Spike.”
“Almost?” He joked, crossing his arms.
“You know what I mean, wise guy,” Twilight replied in good humor and punched his right upper arm. She blinked. “Wow, Spike. I didn’t really notice it before, but you’re so… different now. In a good way,” she smiled, hugging her little brother. “It’s quite nice to see like this, honestly.”
“Beefed up and strong?”
“I was going to say content and full of confidence. But I can’t say these new muscles of yours aren’t a welcome sight! I could almost see your bones sticking out before your training with Shiny started.”
“Thanks, Twi,” he kissed her cheek. “It was grueling, but I am quite happy with the results so far!”
“Then let’s not wait any longer,” Twilight nodded, returning his affection with one of her own. “You are going to sit here and read this book until you finish it. I am going to ask you questions about it, so don’t skip over anything.”
“Yes, yes, my mistress. Whatever you say,” he replied with a sigh, taking the book and sitting on the lounging couch in the Castle’s Library. “So… I just have to read this book and give you a report on it to pass your training?”
“Pretty much,” Twilight replied with a shrug.
“You disappoint me, Twilight,” Spike replied with a blank expression as he grabbed the book. “‘The Magical Theorem of Combination, Teleportation, Absorption, and Manipulation of Magical Energies and its Applications.’ I take it back. You are the worst villain Equestria has ever faced,” Spike groaned loudly. “This is going to be more boring than watching a horde of Pinkie Pies watch paint dry!”
“And what were you expecting, exactly?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“Some sort of crazy, over the top, intricately thought out maze of traps, misleads, riddles, and an impossible task to reach the exit of the center of it whilst fighting back against magical constructs or dodging magic blasts?” Spike offered.
“Silly Spike,” Twilight replied, shaking her head. “That’s more Starlight’s or Discord’s thing. Not all training has to be physical! Sorry to disappoint your expectations, but my training is going to be mental.”
“Greeeeeeeaaaaaatttt,” Spike groaned once again. “Hey, can I at least have some snacks?”
“Have fun, Spike!” Twilight said, practically skipping at the exit, ignoring his request. As she opened the door, her horn came to life. “And just another thing I forgot to mention,” she smiled devilishly as she stepped out of the room. “Try and keep focus.”
With her horn shining brightly a wave of lavender magic engulfed the library. The next moment, Twilight closed the door.
“What was that all about?” Spike muttered. Instantly, his eyes widened. The room was silent. His voice had felt uncanny and disturbing. Looking around, he noticed his senses were intact. But he couldn’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable at the total absence of any sound. It was so deep and unsettling that it was immediately almost physically painful.
Shaking his head, Spike opened his book and started to read.
***********************************************
“It was torture, Rarity! Pure torture!” Spike cried and complained as he helped Rarity with her shopping bags. “I could barely keep my eyes on the damn book because I could hear my heart pumping! I could hear my own heart with my ears! And she went through with that!?” Spike sighed heavily. “I barely finished two pages before I quit. How can anyone, other than a deaf creature, focus on anything with t-that SILENCE!?”
“My poor Spikey-Wikey,” Rarity pinched his cheek before gently kissing him. “Twilight can be such an unfeeling mare when she sets her mind on something,” she fixed her hair with a hand. “As an artist and a designer, I absolutely understand the need for ‘working silence’, so to speak. But never to such an uncomfortable degree!”
“I know better than anypony how she can get over things and how obsessive she can become. But come on!” Spike grumbled. “I kind of get what she’s trying to teach me, but couldn’t she find a more… approachable way to do so?”
“And what, if I may know, is Twilight trying to teach you, Spike?” She asked as the two of them arrived outside of her boutique.
“That no matter the circumstances I have to keep the focus on my objective,” Spike pondered. “Or something like that. My head is still aching,” he replied while Rarity searched for her key.
“My poor precious scales,” Rarity comforted. Her door opened as she twisted the key. “Come along, darling.”
Spike walked into Rarity’s house as he carried her several bags of merchandise and other materials. They were quick to make it past the upfront studio and arrived at the storage room. “Where do I put these, Rarity?”
“You can leave them on the floor, darling. Now, follow me,” Rarity invited.
Spike followed her to the kitchen. Suddenly, he smelled something rich. Sniffing at the air deeply, his mouth watered involuntarily with drops of spit dripping down the corners of his maw. Before he could ask what was going on, they arrived at the kitchen and he saw the source of the smell.
“A-Are those seasoned and crown sapphires, rubies, emeralds, a-and a malachite?” his eyes widened. “O--Ohhh…. A jasper… and bismuth… and t-two whole peridots?” He swallowed the ball of spit that had formed in his mouth. “W-Where did you find them!?” Spike asked, smiling widely at Rarity.
“I have my sources, precious scales,” she replied with a warm smile. As Spike reached for one of those delectable gems resting on a fruit bowl, she spalled the back of his hand away, causing him to look at her with confusion. “Ah, ah, ah. I didn’t say they were for you, dear. I’m saving those for a dashing outfit I’m working on.”
“Y-You’re seriously going to waste t-those gems,” he swallowed. “Those… delicious… sweet gems... for a dress!?” Spike protested as he stared at the gems.
“I know. I knooooowww, Spikey, but you know how Sapphire Shores can be about her stage outfits. Oh! Speaking of which,” she got off her vest, leaving her only in her blouse. “I must go change clothes and work on it now. Spikey-Wikey, be an absolute daaaarling and keep an eye on my gems? I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them in my absence! Ta-ta~”
Spike stared at Rarity before she ran out of the kitchen in a flash. Nodding to empty air, he turned her gaze back to the gems. He opened his mouth, but it was overflowed with spit and saliva and several strands fell to the ground.
“R-Rarity… h-hey, Rarity… I… I can’t,” he swallowed again, loud enough for it to echo around the kitchen. A sinking realization materialized in his rumbling stomach and he let out a painful groan.
Defeated, bested, tricked, and deceived, Spike sat on a nearby chair, watching and smelling the delectable gems, knowing he couldn’t touch them… lest he wished to fail Rarity’s training.
“Of all the things Rarity could’ve come up with,” he swallowed again. “Why thi-iii-ii-hiiiis?” He whined.
***********************************************
“Hiiiiiaaayyyaaaahhh!” Rainbow Dash cried as she delivered a powerful kick at a punching bag. “Ya’see, Spike? It’s all about the posture and the momentum, you gotta keep your balance and then strike!” She screamed again as she delivered a quick combo of three high kicks and a roundhouse.
“I see what you mean, Rainbow,” Spike replied, both of them wearing a karate-gi, as they trained in her sparing room thanks to Twilight using the cloud walking spell on him.
Closing his eyes, he focused his balance and his strength. After taking a soft breath, his eyes shot open. “Hiiiaaayyaaaah!” He shouted, delivering a kick to his punching bag much like Rainbow had done, although with lacking expertise, the effect was the same.
“Cool! I see AJ wasn’t kidding when she told me you could control that crazy dragon strength,” Rainbow mentioned, impressed.
“You can thank Shy for that, Dashie,” Spike stretched his arms as did little hops just like Rainbow showed him. “Come on! I can take whatever you throw at me… unless it’s silence or delicious gems!”
“I am not going to ask about either of those, but okay!” Rainbow replied with a laugh. “Hey, is it crazy that I kinda miss the lanky twerp from almost a year ago, before turning into mister hot stuff?”
“What? Good ol’ miss Number One flier in Equestria doesn’t like what she sees?” Spike joked as he flexed his muscles.
“HA! As if! You’re like a brother to me, Spike. That would be just plain gross!” She replied before delivering another kick to the bag. “I would totally kiss you just to get Zephyr away from me, ugghhh,” she shuddered. “But nah. I just appreciate well-built bodies, buddy.”
“Well, I don’t miss my old pathetic self, Rainbow,” Spike said with a smile. “Now… Now I can fight at your side! I can actually do something! I’m no longer just an errand boy!” he cheered as he delivered another kick.
“Is that what all of this is about, Spike?” Rainbow stopped, turning to face Spike. “Did you hate being the way you were before you asked us for help?”
“Of course I hated it!” Spike replied, giving another kick. “I was always the weakest… the coward… the useless one! I couldn’t do anything back then,” another kick. “Now… Now I can help!” Another kick. “ I can do something besides cowering!” Another kick. “I can be useful!” Another. “I can finally make mom proud!” Another. “I CAN PROTECT YOU GUYS!”
With a final kick, Spike tore the punching bag apart, breaking it off its handle and sending its remains flying across the room.
He exhaled a mouthful of steam. “I am strong now. I. Am. Strong.”
“You sure are, Spike,” Rainbow dashed across to Spike, hugging him tight. “You know we never considered you like that, right?”
“I know, Dashie. I know. It’s just how I felt all the time… now I am alright. Now I am like I always wanted to be,” he smiled, returning the hug. “It won’t change how I was character-wise, but now I’ll just improve.”
“As long as you’re our same ol’ Spike, I support you, yah big softie,” she said, nuzzling his shoulder for a moment. “Now, enough with the feelings stuff! Come on! Want to get serious with me? Then let’s get your form up to form, because you make my eyes bleed with those kicks of yours!”
“Let’s go at it then, Dash!” Spike chanted.
“Good. You have the technique and the style down already. After your form is right, we are going to spar seriously and I am going to kick your scaly ass!”
“Just try it, Dash!”
************************************************
Reading a book under the pressure of such deafening silence was a task harder than the grueling training under Shining Armor’s leadership. It was only comparable to the torturous temptation of having such precious gems at an arm’s reach, but knowing he couldn’t take them. And Rarity forced him to watch over them for several hours. Alone.
Overall, his time spent with Rainbow was by far the easiest and the one he enjoyed the most. Using what he had learned with Fancy and Fleur, all of applied with the techniques he learned with Blueblood, and mixed together with Fluttershy’s and Pinkie’s teachings, and he was swimming through Rainbow’s lesson in under two weeks. He had always been quite the fast learner, after all.
But when it came to Twilight’s and Rarity’s trainings, one set to teach him how to focus his mind under a single objective; whilst the other taught him how to suppress his own desires, their trainings were but a step away from being torture. He couldn’t adapt to them or grow used to them, every session was as difficult and suffocating as the last.
But despite all that, he endured, pressed on against the adversity, and fulfilled his first task with a final flip of a page and the closing of the cursed book.
Standing up, Spike walked to the door and then outside the room; relieved out of his mind that the dreadful silence was replaced with ambient silence, peaceful and welcoming. Letting out a tired sigh, he made his way to Twilight’s room and found her sitting at her desk writing something.
“I’m done with the book, Twi,” he said tiredly. “You’re a horrible monster, sis. But thank you. Now, ask away.”
Twilight smiled and clapped her hands repeatedly.
***********************************************
“Aaaaaaand we’re done!” Rarity said happily. Stepping back and clearing her brow from sweat, she stared at the beautiful dress she had finally finished. “Oh, Spike-Wikey, I couldn’t have done it without you!” The mare cheered giddily before throwing herself at the arms of the dragon.
Spike hugged her tightly, smiling ear to ear that the torture was finally over. Looking over the gems had been one thing… to actually touch them and pass them to Rarity as she masterfully added them to the dress was another form of torture, and a test to his will, he had passed with success.
“I’m glad for you, Rarity… and I’m sure Sapphire Shore is going to be delighted with the dress,” Spike replied.
“Oh my~, it seems I missed something rather important, wait here for a moment, precious scales. I will take but a minute!” She said before rushing off to her room upstairs.
Spike waited patiently, admiring the dress and glaring at it slightly. “Sapphire Shores better be damn glad….”
Half a minute later he heard Rarity’s hoofsteps rushing back down. Turning around, he saw her standing at the bottom of the base of the stairs, blushing lightly and smiling warmly at her. Walking towards him, Rarity opened her mouth to speak and let out a single little gasp.
“Spikey, my knight in shining scales,” Rarity started, smiling as brightly as ever; her eyes reflecting a sentiment Spike couldn’t quite identify. “You’ve passed with flying colors. And now… now I feel like it’s the right time to return you this,” she declared as she came to a halt half a meter in front of the drake.
Spike’s eyes widened with nostalgia upon seeing what Rarity revealed to be carrying behind her back.
“Rarity--”
“Please, Spike, take it,” she pushed it a little further up to him. “I can’t, in good mind and heart, keep it any longer. Not as a mare. And certainly not as a friend. It’s time it returned to his original owner,” she smiled tenderly. “And may it find a better holder.”
Spike reached out, unblinking and his mouth partially opened in astonishment. His claws graced its surface and his face reflected on it. For a brief moment, he saw himself as the little, scared, insecure dragon he was back then playing and pretending he was tough. His crush on the mare in front of him. His life before that very moment.
Spike smiled… and pushed the Fire Ruby back at Rarity, confusing the alabaster mare.
“It’s yours, Rarity. It was a gift from the heart. I can’t accept it back. Not in good mind. And certainly not as a friend,” he said solemnly, gently, and smiling warmly at her.
“Spikey-pooooo,” Rarity croaked, her eyes filling up with tears. Throwing herself at his arms once again, Rarity hugged him as tightly as she could. Both friends hugged for long moments simply enjoying each other’s embrace. “Then, precious scales, tell me what do you want. I can get some more gems like those for you as a prize.”
“This is prize enough, Rarity,” Spike whispered back.
Choosing it was the perfect moment to ruin, his stomach grumbled with the might of a famished manticore.
“Buuuut I’d totally accept some hayfries and burgers, though.”
