Bwahaha. Chapter six is in the house tonight, everypony just have a good tim- Oh. Um. Hi guys, didn't see you come in. Here we go with part 3 of the 20% cooler arc! Hopefully, I can make the arc worth the name. See, what happens is that R- erm. Almost spoiled it again. Haha. Silly me.

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Spike toiled relentlessly. If reptiles could sweat, he'd have poured buckets. The dragon was dirty from head to toe as Luna's moon hung high in the sky. He'd only paused to take quick naps and eat an occasional snack to keep up his energy, but despite his best efforts, he was quickly exhausting. While his larger and more mature form had given him more energy, he still was doing a lot of work. He hadn't even really slept in a good week. Even he would have to stop.

But it wasn't for naught. He looked at the full cart and smiled. This was a good bit more than most loads he would usually get with Rarity. His scent tracking and his own ability to dig farther gave him an advantage over the unicorn. While she could find them quicker, he could find gems even further under the ground as he dug others up. They would make an incredible team once all this was over and they could get back to their regular routine.

Even better, some of these gems were bigger than Rarity usually used, so she could possibly come up with new styles. Maybe she'd be so grateful, he'd get another kis-

"Focus, Spike."

The dragon began to dig.

He briefly wondered if the dreamdragon had messed with his body again, enhancing his senses again. He'd already gotten a boost when his body began to grow but now his sense of smell was powerful and his nightvision was ALMOST as good as his day vision. Also, he discovered he had a small degree of control over his sense of smell, picking out specific scents or even reducing it back to what he was more used to. He supposed that was quite a useful skill. It just took focus to use it. Oh well. It used to take a lot of focus to use his teleportation flames, so he figured it would come naturally with time.

The dragon was beginning to wonder how much he would continue to grow, not in size, but abilities. The ones he had were rather terrifying to him when he thought about it. His logical reasoning, his planning and his memory had all become sharper and clearer. His senses were honed, but for what purpose? Spike was really just now realizing how different from the ponies he was. His development was into that of an apex predator.

It was probably thankful he really rather ate gems. He remembered a time in which Celestia had actually provided him meat. It was fish, if he remembered correctly. It hadn't really pleased him much. While the meat had been flavorful, gems gave him a lot more energy and came in many varities and flavors. He was thankful for the extremes his diet could handle. Dragons were ultimate omnivores, capable of getting nutrients from anything.

He had been using his tail as a shovel, likely the easiest but the slowest way to dig up the gems. Using his tail as a jackhammer took up lots of energy, as did burrowing into the ground with his claws. Spike looked back at the wagon he had pulled with him. It was getting quite loaded down. Spike hoped he could pull it back. No. He would pull it back. Rarity was counting on him.

The dragon dug up the last few gems from the hole and threw them on the back of the cart. Sapphires, emeralds, rubies, turquoise... All types of gems were there. He'd even found a few uncut fire rubies. With as much Rarity had loved the last one, he would love to surprise her with some more. The red of the rubies was brought out by the stark whiteness of her coat. He climbed out the hole and got ready to pull the thing, stretching and popping joints.

This haul would be enough tonight. He had gotten much more than he had expected, and the purple dragon felt quite proud of himself.

A quiet sound of rocks hitting the ground caught his attention, and then some instinct roared at him to duck. A large rock came flying at him, which he ducked from just in time. Turning instantly, he focused his eyes to see what was attacking him.

There, behind mounds of dirt, were diamond dogs.

On the bright side? They weren't the smarter type. They were the guard type of diamond dogs, the ones that wore armor and apparently weren't smart enough to talk besides a few words. They mostly communicated in barks, grunts, and growls.

However, on the down side? There were six of them. How did six of them sneak up on him? A quick whiff answered his question. Their scent was almost non existant, matching the earth almost exactly. Very sneaky. With a bark, they ran at him.

"Oh horseapples."

The words barely left his mouth as he jumped to the side to dodge the first dog. He tucked into a roll and used the moment to jump back up. He had no idea what he was going to do here. He figured they wanted his gems and were just trying to scare him off from his horde. They were succeeding quite well, actually.

The dragon began darting back towards Ponyville. He remembered just how badly his fight had gone with only three dogs, and those had been the more intelligent, less strong variety. How was he going to fight off six of the ones bred to fight? He had gotten stronger and faster, but it still probably wasn't enough.

A brief flashback ran through his mind, a mere fantasy of charging into the dens to save Rarity when she had been kidnapped. Then Fluttershy getting threatened by the timberwolves. Twilight having to deal with all the monsters she's fought with only her pony friends and how he had sat on the sidelines anytime she could have used his help. And the one time she had begged him to help, to take Rainbow Dash's place as Loyalty, he'd been anything but loyal.

He'd been making promises to himself that he wasn't going to sit on the sidelines anymore. Spike was tired of being the "baby" that needed protecting. Rarity and his friends all needed him, and he wasn't going to let them down here. Spike was faster than the dogs, but only just, and his exhaustion was showing.

Spike stopped running and turned back to face them.

It was time to buck up, or shut up.

Spike knew he had an advantage in at least one area. He was smarter. If he kept cool and used his brain to help him fight, he'd have a chance. With a deep breath, he exhaled a jet of his green flames, forming a wall that made the dogs stop in their tracks. He used the moment to rush past the dogs. He got down on all fours, using his arms to propel him faster. He had his claws extended, digging into the ground and giving him traction. He couldn't afford to slip up here. Spike had the beginnings of a plan.

The fastest guard dog was almost right behind him. Perfect. Spike darted towards the left and spun, using his tail as a flail and slamming the flat edge against the dog's legs and tripping it. It rolled almost comically into one of the deep holes Spike had dug. The dog would have no choice but to dig down to a tunnel to get back up. It was a temporary solution but it would get the job done while he tried to figure out how to deal with the other five. Another had caught up to him and lunged at him. Spike ducked and the dog flew over his head. It landed gracefully and growled at Spike.

Spike felt a strange urge, one almost primal and ancient well up in him. Spike inhaled deeply, and let out a loud roar. Unlike the feeble attempt he had made to try an impress the dragons at the migration, this one was deep and animal-like. The dog paled and ran off, making "yipe" sounds as it cowered.

"Well, two down, four to go."

The gem horde was in sight, thankfully untouched. He was starting to figure out what had happened. The six dogs were probably just patrolling what they considered their territory when they had come across him. If he had left an hour ago, he would bet hard bits that they would have never seen him. If they had had more time to plan this, there'd have been more dogs and more of a plan.

He had seemingly lost the other four, though he was sure they were hiding somewhere, planning to ambush him or figuring out how to handle him. Now that he was at his horde, though, he got an idea.

He had never tried sending anything this large and heavy before. The timberwolves were big, but at the core just a collection of small sticks. These were heavy, large gemstones. Focusing on the shed next to Fluttershy's cottage where she kept most of her animal care equipment and various other things, he exhaled the largest inferno of magical flames he had ever conjured. For a second, it just seemed like the wooden cart was starting to burn, but he saw the gems beginning to evaporate as green flames began to whisp through the air speeding towards Ponyville.

The whole cart disappeared, and all the gems with it. Unfortunately, that had taken almost all of Spike's fire to do and it would be a while for him to make enough to defend himself. His whole body was aching and hurting, and he was panting hard.

"Well... this is it, everypony. Sorry, but it doesn't look like I'll make it back for breakfast, Twilight."

The diamond dogs had him backed against a wall, so to speak, as five of them circled him. The one he had scared off had returned, though it was still a paler color than it had been. He had no where he could escape. The dragon gulped, praying that the dream dragon would come to his rescue and provide him with some new power boost. It never came.

Spike figured it was because he had gone and disobeyed the dragon's wishes by going to dig alone.

Spike closed his eyes, awaiting the end.

"HEY! WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEPONY YOUR OWN SIZE?"

Rainbow Dash's voice rang through the area as suddenly, the blue pegasus swooped in from the sky.

"Yes, we would love for you to... how do they say, come at us?" Spike turned to see the owner of the voice he didn't recognize very well. His jaw dropped to the ground as he looked her over. Large, dark wings. Dark blue coat. Horn. A moon cutie mark. And a Daring Do teeshirt.

Princess Luna had come to save the day.

Faced with the avatar of the night, the dogs promptly did the smart thing. Ran.

Spike turned to the fastest pegasus in Equestria with a curious look on his face. The unspoken question was heard clearly, and the mare with the dyed mane grinned.

"Turns out, Princess Luna here is an egghead like me, and really likes Daring Do. She actually wanted to hang out with me and read the new book at my house, so we were flying back here from the party in Canterlot when we saw your fireworks display! Wow. You've gotten some pretty slick moves in the last little while, huh? It's too bad I already have Tank, because you're definitely cool enough to be my pet," the blue pegasus said, winking at the dragon.

All three began to laugh, and all was well.

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Or at least, until he got home to see one Twilight Sparkle with very bloodshot eyes and a terrifying look on her face. Apparently, she had gotten up early in the night thirsty and had had no idea where he had gone.

"-and another thing! If you ever go out at night again without permission and a chaperone, SO HELP ME I will turn you into a bunny rabbit-"

Twilight, for all her traits and flaws, was at least creative when coming up with punishments.

"-could have been killed, and if it hadn't been for Dash and Princess Luna, you'd be a pair of leather-"

But at least he knew she cared. He remembered the promise he had made to himself over the night. He wouldn't run away, ever again. Spike would get stronger and better until he was capable of protecting his friends. His family. They were all he had. Dash, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, AJ, and Pinkie. Celestia, Luna, and Peewee, too.

Speaking of, Peewee looked adorable with the angry, slightly crazed look he was copying off of Twilight.

"-I'm just glad you're all right, but you better not ever do anything stupid like this again!" Twilight said, breathing hard.

Spike just grinned and hugged the pony around her neck.

"Thank you, Twilight. I love you too."

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Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, and the last couple of weeks, I've learned a bunch of lessons. But I think the biggest two are this.

First, you can always rely on your friends. When Rarity had the big order to fill, all of us stepped in and up to help each other out with what talents we have. Applejack and I would help tend to Fluttershy's animals while she would help Rarity sew. Twilight and I would go and help find Rarity more gemstones to help her fill her orders. Everypony pitched in and now it looks like Rarity's going to get done in time and save her shop.

Secondly, and this lesson was the hardest to learn, you can't let yourself get overwhelmed. Rarity let herself get overwhelmed with work, I let myself get overwhelmed with trying to help everypony with their jobs. I've also let fear overwhelm me my entire life. I've also learned that sometimes, you just have to take a stand, pushing back when life pushes you.

Three lessons, actually. No. Four. I also learned that my friends are the best thing in the world, and I'm going to do the best I can to protect them.

Your faithful dragon,

Spike

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So, um. Yeah. Read and review. Next chapter's going to give a bit of a break. In fact, here's the arc name: Party Spike Anthem.

Now go. Let your imagination run wild as to what the arc title means. Stay awesome, my bronies!