CHAPTER 4: DRACONIC TROUBLES

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BOOKS FALL AND YOU DIE

A Pony Role Playing Game

It is a sunny day, the sky is clear and the sun is at its peak. You see a tree with glass windows, a door and a balcony: The Golden Oaks Library of Ponyville. Spike the dragon is rumored to be inside.

Do you wish to start the adventure?

Yes? - No?

Player Twilight Sparkle entered the game as Sorceress class.

Checking inventory:
Saddlebag: Gemstones, Scroll to Princess Celestia (sealed), Smarty Pants
Small bag of bits: 15 bits

You stand in front of the door. The Mayor had given you the key, since Princess Celestia had given you ownership over the library as your place of residence. Spike may or may not be inside yet.

Twilight uses "knock" on the door.

Twilight rolls listen: 15

You hear nothing moving inside. There are some sounds around you, but nothing out of the ordinary. The wind is gently blowing and the town is just as busy as it usually is at this time.

Twilight: "Hmm...I guess he's out getting his stuff from the chariot. I'll get started setting the place up."

Twilight cast 'Simple Levitation' on the door.

The door opens with a creaking noise.

Twilight triggered a trap! - Rolls Reflex Save: 20

You see a small rope on top of the door disappearing upwards; quickly you jump backwards, as an enormous wreath, about as big as a wagon-tire falls out of the leaves above. It is covered in tree sap, ribbons and other things that were probably supposed to be decorative. The final result seems to be begging for a box of matches to put it out of its misery.

Twilight: "Is that my old Hearth's Warming wreath?! Did Spike seriously booby-trap the library?! I knew he was having issues with Spyro, but this is ridiculous!"

Twilight enters the library.

Twilight rolls spot: 10

The library is quiet and dark. Rows of books surround you. You decide the middle space would be a perfect working place and study hall. All windows are closed and shutters are closed.

Twilight takes 20: Search!

There appear to be no more traps on this floor.

Twilight: "Spike must be really scared to go to such measures. And if he thinks that Spyro would fit through the door..."

You move towards the door.

Twilight: "I better be on the save side!"

Twilight rolls search: 13

Trap detected: One of the bookcases on the second floor is tilted and a rope is going away from the top of the door. If opened, the bookcase would probably empty itself on the person below.

Twilight uses "Levitation" on the bookcase.

Twilight triggered a trap! - NO SAVE!

The little legs on the back of the bookcase were missing! As soon as it is upright, it falls over, pulling on the rope. The door is slammed open with extreme force! You find yourself between door and wall.

Twilight is slammed into the wall: 10 blunt damage!

Twilight gets the buff 'Flattened!'!

Twilight: "...Ugh...Touché, Spike! But if I trigger one more trap, I'll have Rarity turn your tail into a dragon-scale belt! It will go nicely with the boots she'll make from the rest of you!"

You slowly remove yourself from the wall.

Twilight: "SPIKE! It's me, Twilight! Get your scaly butt out of the basement so we can talk! I don't feel like being smashed into any more walls, thank you!"

A shivering baby dragon slowly crawls out in the darkness.

GAME OVER

You gained 2800 EXP

Level up!

Wisdom +1
7 Skill Points obtained!

You obtain Lore: "Dragons are naturals at booby traps!"

---

There were many things currently on Twilight's mind. Among the first, foremost, and least appropriate were 'HAVE YOU LOST YOUR BUCKING MIND?!', 'WHAT THE HAY IS WRONG WITH YOU?!', and 'You should be glad I can't banish people to the moon!".

And these were the gentlest of all of them.

But not a single word left the unicorn's lips. She wanted to say all of them and a lot more, but the sight of a trembling, teary-eyed Spike crawling up the stairs like a frightened foal, claws chewed on and tail-arrow still a little damp from sucking on it...it just vaporized all her anger. She had never seen the little dragon looked more pathetic in his entire life than he did at this moment.

'He's just a baby dragon! Half my age at most!' She thought to herself, frowning with concern. 'I forget that because he talks, walks around, and can do adult stuff for hours. But in the end, he's still just a baby dragon! I never really gave it much thought...until another dragon shows up and gives me some real perspective.'

"Spike..." Twilight began in sympathy as the dragon finally dragged himself out of the stairwell, wringing his tail nervously. "...H...How are you doing?"

Spike sniffed a bit. "N-Not very good..." He stuttered lamely. "...I-I tried to stay and talk to S-Spyro, and I wanted to! But w-when I saw him: saw how big he was, and how scary-looking he is, I...I just freaked out!" He made the motions with his hands. "So I hid in the library, and set up all these booby traps to keep me safe...as if they would work against someone as big and strong as he is" His stammering turning into a shuttering sigh and he slumped over. "...I must be the lamest dragon in the world..."

Twilight's heart clenched in her chest; not just out of pity, but also out of guilt. After all, it was mostly her fault he was the way he is. Ever since she hatched the dragon pup from the egg, she had done her best to care for and raise him the best she could; being only a few years older than him, it was her parents that did most of the 'raising' (hence why their relationship felt more like sister-and-brother than mother-and-child), but the young unicorn did her absolute best to care for a baby dragon to the best of her knowledge.

Unfortunately, that knowledge had always been very limited: Despite the many encounters the two races had, ponies knew next to nothing about dragons, as they were far too dangerous and scary for the timid-hearted ponies to try to talk to or study. Even Princess Celestia herself knew very little about them, as all of her encounters with them had been on the battlefield to prevent them from destroying Equestria.

As a result, the best she and her family could do was raise them the only way they knew how: as a pony.

And thus that led him to become the dragon he was today, though in reality the title 'dragon' was in body only. Everything else was clearly pony in nature: he talked like a pony, thought like a pony, felt emotions like a pony, socialized with other ponies like a pony...and most of all, lacked the survival instincts of dragon-kind like a pony. By all reason and logic, he was a pony in a dragon's body. And Twilight always knew that one day this would mean trouble when he would have to interact with other dragons.

She just never imagined that day would come so soon.

"Spike, look at me." She told him firmly, holding his shoulders with her hooves as he did so. "Now listen. You are not and never will be any less of a dragon just because you were raised by ponies. You may not know how to act like a dragon raised by other dragons, but that doesn't mean a thing! You were born a dragon, and you be a dragon for your entire life, and no one can tell you otherwise."

"But-" Spike began, only to be cut off by a hoof.

"No! No buts." Twilight insisted. "It's true: you aren't as big or scary or ferocious as most other dragons, but that doesn't make you any less of what you are." She patted him on the head. "And even if the other dragons can't see that, you'll always be a real dragon to us, and that's what really matters."

Even that managed to get the little drake to crack a smile. "You think so?" He asked.

"I know so." She assured him, giving him a warm squeeze. "I have a letter to send to Princess Celestia; you go ahead and send it, and then we can go and meet Spyro together." Spike wiped his nose with his arm and nodded; thus Twilight handed him the scroll, which he blew his green fire on, turning it into magic smoke and sending it on the wind to Celestia.

"There we go." Twilight said, taking his hand with her magic. "Now let's-"

"*ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!*"

And that was how Twilight discovered dragon urine burned as much as their breath as poor Spike promptly pissed himself, his 'mess' eating a hole through the library's wooden floor.

The very building itself shook from the force of the roar, which knocked a number of books across the floor, following by heavy tremors and the screaming of ponies as the sounds of a full blown rampage sounded through the walls. Twilight barely had time to ask what was going on before a blur of yellow and purple zoomed through the front door: the blur turned out to be Zoe, who quickly spun around and slammed the door behind her, barely missing getting crushed by a flung table.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOU HAD A DRAGON OF YOUR OWN?!" She angrily shouted at the top of her lungs.

"I-I was going to introduce you!" The unicorn stammered, freaking out as Spike flopped over, frozen in fear. "Why, what's wrong?!"

"Your pipsqueak's little 'flame letter' just triggered the most complex and ferocious of raw primal instincts, that's what's wrong!" Zoe snapped, fluttering up to Twilight to glare her in the eye (which was easy for her, as she was as tall as a pony herself); a massive crash outside, followed by another earth-shaking roar of rage, shook the library again. "Don't you ponies know anything about dragon social nature?!"

Twilight could only shake her head in confusion; Spike settled for curling up into a ball and rocking back and forth, sucking his tail-arrow like a pacifier.

The fairy face-palmed. "Who am I kidding, of course you wouldn't!" She muttered under her breath, before taking a breath and throwing a hand toward the door. "Look. This is neutral ground, unclaimed by anyone; that means it's up for grabs by any dragon who can either take it for themselves, or have it given to them by the local race!" She explained in a stern tone. "When Spyro arrived and you welcomed him with that ridiculous sacrifice of yours, you ponies unwittingly signed an unspoken contract: you've officially given Ponyville and the land surrounding it to him as a new extension of his territory! Ponyville's land and everything on it is his now!"

She pointed to the comatose Spike, who was shaking so hard his scales were falling off.

"Which means that any other dragon in Ponyville's boundaries without being allowed in first is officially trespassing on his land, and to dragons that's an act of WAR!" She outright yelled at the alarmed pony. "Your little 'assistant' just challenged Spyro the Motherfucking Dragon to a fight to the death!"

"W-W-WHAT?!" Twilight shrieked. "B-B-But that's absurd! Spike's just a baby dragon! And why would Spyro do such a thing?! He's not like that at all!"

"These are dragons we're talking about, Twilight Sparkle! Male dragons, no less!" Zoe snarled, rapping the unicorn's forehead with a fist. "You cannot even begin to comprehend the forces that go on inside their heads! Instincts forged and burned into their brains through millions of years of supernatural evolution and adaptation! Thoughts and reasoning that fire on levels far above anything mortals can ever reach! And enough testosterone and hormones pumping through their bodies to make teenage boys look as celibate as bricks!"

"Well, Wh-wh-what do we do, then?!"

Zoe fluttered back from the unicorn a bit, tapping her chin in thought. "It's too late to sneak him out now; Spyro's already sensed his magical essence in his fire breath." She told her. "So that leaves us with only one other option."

Twilight's ears and Spike's fins perked up with hope. "Yeah? What's that?" The former asked eagerly.

Zoe turned to look her dead in the eye, and the unicorn could outright see her higher brain functions shutting down behind them in preparation of what was to come.

"Spread 'em."

And with that, Twilight's mentality cracked. "...excuse me?"

Zoe rolled her eyes before whipping out her wand and swiping it in her direction; with a blast of light and shower of pixie dust, Twilight gave a yelp as she was thrown head over heels before landing backwards on her back, her bottom half facing the fairy. She barely had time to squeal in shock before two glowing hands made of magic grabbed her hind legs and, as the fairy ordered, spread them wide.

"W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" The unicorn shrieked, face going bright red. But Zoe had already grabbed the wide-eyed, pale-faced Spike, pinning his arms to his sides as she hoisted him up.

"You'll both thank me for this one day." She told them both as she took aim, lining up the baby dragon's head with her target...

---

Spyro swung his tail with the force of a runaway freight train, smashing yet another hut into the ground with an explosion of splinters and pebbles. Fire poured out the sides of his mouth is blazing rivers, his eyes burning with both physical fire and inner fury as she stormed through the town, roaring at the top of his lungs and destroying anything that drew his attention. Ponies scrambled about the street like mice, screaming in panic as his footfalls shook the ground, but he paid them little mind. He was on the warpath, and both his pride and his territory were on the line!

The sorrow and longing he had felt before was long gone, replaced by a new focus and purpose: so, they thought they could sneak in and steal his land while he was drowsy on a full stomach?! Typical, borderline-cliche youngster move; trying to sneak in and steal treasure from a sleeping owner! Well, that trick wasn't going to work here!

You want my land, or my treasure, you better be ready to fight for it! TO THE DEATH!

"SNAP OUT OF IT!"

With that yowl, Hunter pounced from the roof of a nearby building, latching onto Spyro's head like a facehugger, wrapping his arms and legs around it to force his jaws shut, thus cutting off his fiery rage before he could burn anything. "You're going crazy over nothing!" The cheetah yelled, even as the dragon violently thrashed his head back and forth in an attempt to throw him off. "There's no dragon in this world strong enough to challenge you!"

No sooner did these words leave his mouth did something clamp onto Spyro's tail; Rainbow Dash held onto the thrashing extension of his spine with all her might, trying in vain to pull it and him backwards. "Seriously! Chill the buck out! Spike's not trying to steal anything from you; he's just a baby dragon!" She yelled at him/

But their words fell of deaf ears, and with a rumbling grunt, Spyro finally dislodged Hunter's grip, and with a fling of his head sent him flying through the air with a very cat-like caterwaul; the cheetah ended up crashing headfirst into a nearby stall of carrots, where the yellow mare with the bouncy orange mane could only wail in despair as her goods were crushed. The dragon then lifted his tail and whipped it with a lashing 'CRACK', sending the pegasus soaring over the buildings, landing with a scream into a fountain with a heavy splash, soaking all the ponies standing nearby.

Rainbow groaned and rubbed the newly-formed bump on her head, but Hunter was back on his feet immediately and drove right back into the chaos. Grabbing the tarp of the smashed stall in his mouth, he ran up to the rampaging dragon on all fours and took a running leap; in that single motion of the jump, he flipped over Spyro, snagged the end of the tarp on his horn, and flipped around, swinging around under the dragon's jaw and back up around. Spyro didn't have time to react before Hunter landed on the back of his neck and pulled the tarp taught, wrapping his head up like a mummy in a makeshift muzzle.

Spyro roared against his muzzle, both blinded and jaws clamped shut, as he swung his head and stumbled about, trying to claw at his bind; his tail whipped sideways as he spun in place, tearing through the walls of numerous buildings lining the road with loud crashes, sending the ponies inside fleeing out their back doors in panic.

For all the thrashing, Hunter remained clamped to the dragon's neck, holding the tarp taught. "For crying out loud! Going into a rage on the first day?!" He growled, not at all amused by the situation. "And you wonder why their princess gave you shit from the start!"

With a warbling bark, Spyro threw his head up with enough force to dislodge the cheetah again and send him skywards, flinging off the tarp with a sharp 'RIP' as it was torn off his horn. Hunter flipped back around as he fell to land of his feet, only to see a pair of saurian jaws open wide below, and the fiery orange glow of his throat turn into an icy blue.

"Oh, you BASTA-!" That was all he got out before a beam of bright-blue energy erupted from Spyro's mouth, engulfing him in a frosty blast and sealing him in rapid-forming ice instantly. When the beam stopped and the jaws closed, a giant chunk of ice fell onto the roof of the hut, the cheetah suspended solid inside.

Rainbow Dash recoiled in shock. "What the hay was tha-ACK?!" Was all she got before another beam of icy-cold engulfed her as well, freezing her and the fountain solid.

Snorting in approval, Spyro then continued to storm through the town, looking to all the world like a miniature kaiju on a rampage, locking his sights on where he detected the intruder use his fire-breath: that large tree building toward the west.

Of course his friends tried to stop him; tried to get him to see the 'logic' and 'reason' to this decision. Bah! What did they know?! They were mortal! Weak! Frail! Simple-minded! They could never understand the sheer level of audacity this wingless whelp had dared wrought upon his pride and honor as one of the sons of Akatosh! The grievous mistake it had made defying his dominion over this world; defying the law bound by the sacrifice of virgin blood! Mortal's petty sympathy and mercy held no place in the matters of dragon kind!

The intruder's blood would paint the ground red, and his honor as Jendovahzoor would be restored once he sent his foe's soul to the void!

He was still breathing heavily, a sudden weight descending over his mind, when his next obstacle got in his way, in the form of Elora and Rarity running up alongside him on his left and right respectively. "C-Come on, Spyro, this is getting ridiculous!" Elora tried to coax in a friendly manner. "You're Jendovahzoor! The purple dragon! Surely there are more important things to do than to make a fuss over one little hatchling, right?"

"Indeed, darling!" Rarity said herself, looking as nervous as the faun was. "Certainly a big, strong, handsome dragon such as yourself can afford to overlook such a simple mistake, can't you?"

An angry hiss that rattled everyone's bones was all they got as an answer.

Elora gnawed nervously on the back of her finger, eyes darting left and right as she tried to think of any way she could get the rampaging dragon to stop. This was getting crazy; she knew that it was the instinct fueling his rage, but the ponies were going to get hurt if he kept this up! They had to stop him before he did something that he wouldn't be able to fix; something that would forever scar his reputation with the world he had to save.

But how? The instincts were the drive this time; unbending to reason and their bearer too strong to be stopped by brute force...

...so maybe instincts would fall to ever stronger ones.

Ones she knew, with a coy smile, he couldn't resist.

"~You know, Spyro..." The faun began coyly, adopting a flirtatious look. "I heard what you said about you like in women back at the sacrifice. If that's what you like..." She wrapped her arms around her lower torso and learned forward invitingly, both actions making a certain pair of her anatomy appear to swell in size. "...~well then, there's a nice big pair right here, just for you ."

That got Spyro to halt mid-step, finally breaking his gaze away from his target.

Rarity nearly tripped over herself, caught so off guard she stumbled mid-step. "A-Are you seri-?!"

"~That's right..." Elora purred, slowly sashaying backwards in a sensual manner, hunching her shoulders in a way that pressed her breasts closer together, making them bloom out of her corset just shy of indecent exposure. "...how long has it been since I embraced you with my flesh? Since you experienced the warm, soft, fullness of your most valuable treasure? I certainly know...and I must say..." She bit her lip, running her hands up her torso and tensing as an outright orgasmic moan escaped her lips. "...it's been far too long ."

Rarity's jaw dropped so hard it dislocated with a painful-sounding crack.

Yet for the sheer audacity of the situation, it was working: Spyro, even in his animalistic haze, was visibly struggling between the two instinctual drives fighting against each other in his mind. The raging urge to tear the other dragon's flesh clashing with the steadily growing fire of lust; the more he watched his faun friend move, her silky-smooth skin gleaming in the sun and her pronounced curves swaying and bouncing hypnotically, the more the outrage of his violated territory faded, and the space left behind rapidly filling with an ancient and powerful desire...

...and behind her sultry expression, Elora gave a mental whoop of victory as the dragon finally gave into the temptation and turned to pursue her, the fire in his eyes fading into a deep glow as they locked onto her form. He followed her to the side of the road, allowing the ponies hiding on the other side to escape and flee to safety.

"~That's a good boy, Spyro..." The faun moaned, beckoning him with seductive motions. "Forget about that silly little hatchling; what good is wasting your energy over something so small and petty, anyway?" She reached her arms out, ready to take the dragon's head in her arms. "All that truly matters is just You. And. M-YIPE!"

*CR-SPLAT!*

Unfortunately, she was so focused on the dragon that she lost focus of her surroundings and back right up into a compost wagon. Arms flailing, she fell back into the wagon with enough force to break one of the wheels, sending her and the wagon flipping over onto the ground with a messy crash of breaking wood and a splash of vegetable munch, which buried her with a gross-sound 'sploosh'.

And just like that the magic was broken; at the sight (and smell) of Elora drenched in goop and covered in rotten plants, Spyro snapped out of his trance, gave her a disgusted 'blech!', and turned away with a frustrated snort, returning to his warpath to the Golden Oaks Library.

Rarity waited for the dragon's tail to slither out of the way before rushing to the faun's side. "Oh my goodness, are you alright?" She asked, using her magic to pick and remove bits of compost from her hair. "That was quite the unfortunate fall."

Elora sighed, peeling a sticky piece of rotten lettuce out of her cleavage. "Were this meat or baked goods, that would've done it: Spyro would've forgotten about your friend, and we'd be going at it like rabbits right now." She said flatly, giving the piece she was holding a glare.

"That was truly a brave thing you did there." Rarity told her as she continued cleaning her. "I mean, risking your very innocence to that beast, just to save us Spikey-Wikey from his wrath! I mean, just imagine what he would've done to you if you hadn't fallen into this mess!"

However, instead of cheering it up...she only made the faun pout even further, giving a pathetic whine as she did so.

I am..." She told the unicorn, staring longingly after the dragon. "I truly am..."

The houses in front of the Golden Oaks Library exploded with a fury of fire, wood, and stone as Spyro plowed through them like a runaway freight train, roaring with a fury that had reached even greater heights. Now he was truly enraged: his land had been trespassed, his pride as a dragon violated by an intruder, and now he had been blue-balled by his favorite female! His patience and tolerance had been completely and thoroughly wrung out and dispelled to the winds. He stepped out into the open street, the Golden Oaks Library just across it from him.

His eyes burst into flames once more, changing color from purple to red.

He wanted the intruder's blood and he wanted it now!

With an angry roar that shook everything around him, scattering the birds to the air, he stormed forward and stomped across the street...but barely made three steps in before a blinding burst of sky-blue magic erupted in front of him, making him recoil with a pained shriek, before that burst engulfed the area around him and solidified into ancient runes. And before he could react, giant magical beams burst from the runes and connected above him, flattening out and fusing to form a large hemispherical bubble of semi-transparent magic, trapping him in place. He roared angrily, his tail whipping behind him and striking the side of the bubble; it crackled with a burst of arcanial discharge, but remained solid.

"That is enough!" A familiar voice shouted, and he turned to see Bianca standing on the outside of his prison, hands outstretched with runic circles floating around them; from her palms poured a constant stream of magic into the bubble, keeping it strong and solid. "You're completely out of control and not thinking straight! You have to calm down!"

Spyro roared in defiance, backing up as far as he could go before charging into the shield with enough force to level an entire building. There was a solid crash, and a huge burst of discharge; the shield cracked in the spot of the impact like glass, the splits forming out like a spider web, but remained firm.

Bianca cringed as the blow resonated through her magic, almost making her knees buckle from the force, but she gasped for breath and held firm. "You're going to hurt people if you keep this up!"

He slammed into the side of the bubble again, making the cracks spread even farther.

"Please! Don't do this!" She cried. "I don't want to fight you!"

It was the sheer desperation in her voice that finally reached the dragon, and he stopped mid-charge, stumbling on the spot. His breath heavy and labored, he turned his head to look at her with an expression of confused aggravation.

Seeing her chance, she cautiously she stepped forward, approaching the weary dragon until her palms touched the bubble's pulsing surface, which she leaned against to look him directly in the eye. Spyro stared right back at her, his eyes sharp as his teeth and his pupils narrowed into perfect slits, and his jaws hanging open as his breath came in labored and heavy, his body weak from exhaustion.

"Look at you: frothing like a rabid animal and on the point of collapse." She spoke in a firm yet sympathetic tone; she motioned to the dragon with a toss of her head, frowning in disapproval. "You think this is what a hero is suppose to look like? You think this is what it means to follow your destiny? To endanger the ones you swore to protect and destroy their homes like a crazed monster?"

Spyro growled glaringly as he tensed for a pounce...

"You are above instincts, Spyro!" The rabbit continued, unflinching and eyes hard as stones. "Above the barbaric urges of your dinosaur ancestors! That 'trespasser' you're hellbent on killing? He's just a hatchling! A baby, with no intention or desire to steal anything from you! You probably didn't know that before, but now that you do, are you really going to go through with killing him? Do you really consider murdering a helpless infant to be an honorable, heroic thing to do?"

The dragon opened his mouth, his throat beginning to glow orange...

"Because Ignitus certainly didn't."

The change hit Spyro like a lightning bolt, every muscle in his entire body locking up and his fire snuffing out instantly as her words punched through his clouded mentality and awoke memories old and powerful, his eyes flashing with recognition as a strangled reptilian gurgle escaped his throat.

Bianca's eyes softened, and she placed a hand up higher on the shield, as if to pet him on the head. "When Ignitus found you amongst the other eggs the thieves stole, an outsider amongst the rest, he could've followed his instincts and crushed you before you even hatched...but he didn't." She gave him a warm smile. "He fought against what his very blood was commanding him to do and took you under his wing, and because of that we're all here now...I'm here now, fighting by your side instead of following the Sorceress' footsteps. Isn't that good?"

Spyro gave a soft warbling croon as he shifted back out of his defensive stance, wings folding against his sides, his pupils slowly widening to their original shape as the sparkle of his true self began to return in them.

"That's right. It is." She continued, and despite everything in her head screaming otherwise, she cautiously withdrew her hands and allowed the shield to lower and disappear...and it paid off; Spyro remained standing where he was, no longer focused on reaching the library. "Your dad took a chance on a lost egg, when anyone else would've smashed it, and the entire dragon world has become a better place for it."

She reached a hand out, holding it up to show it held no weapon or magic; Spyro tensed slightly, his mental state still on the animalistic side...but in the end he won out against his inner beast, and lowered his head to allow his friend to gently pet him on the end of his snout.

"You've helped me find a better way; let me help you do the same..." Bianca told him, running her paw up to his forehead...which lit up with a sky-blue rune. "Somnum."

With a burst of bright-light, a cast of magic pulsed out from her palm directly into Spyro head, flooding his brain. The dragon wrenched his head away and rose up with an startled, upset roar...which quickly trailed off into a wheezing garble as he stumbled to the side. His legs were trembling, wings and tail falling limp and dragging along, and his bleary vision faded into black as the physical exertion of last night and the morning all came rushing in at once like a tsunami of pure exhaustion.

He took one shaky step forward...another stumble of a step...and with a drawn-out groan, the exhausted dragon finally caved in and collapsed to the ground with a earth-shaking crash that rumbled through the entire town.

Bianca waited long after the shocks faded into the distance, watching the motionless saurian form with baited breath...until a deep rumbling snore broke through the tension, allowing her to give a truly deep sigh of relief. Running a paw through her hair, she lowered herself next to the sleep Spyro's head and shifted her legs beneath her, sitting on her knees; smiling fondly, she softy patted the dragon's scaly brow.

"You once saved me from doing something I would've regretted for the rest of my life." She told him in a gentle voice. "Now I've gotten to return the favor."

*BANG!*

With a slam of a door against wood, the Golden Oaks Library door burst open as Zoe zoomed back outside, carrying a sticky and hollow-gazed Spike in her arms. "Okay, I got Spike here ready for incorporation; now we just need Spyro to-!" She trailed off when Bianca sent her a death-glare, motioning to the sleeping Spyro in question with a clear 'shut the fuck up' expression. "...hold on...you actually knocked him out?!" He hissed in a whisper. "How?!"

Bianca sighed, gently petting Spyro's head again. "When I trapped him in my shield rune, he tried to break out; at full strength, he could've easily punched through even my strongest barrier...but when he hit it once, he just managed a small crack." She turned to look at the fairy with worried eyes. "He was barely able to stand when I finally cast a sleeping spell, which took effect almost immediately...he's exhausted, Zoe."

Zoe frowned in concerned, setting Spike on the ground before fluttering up to the sleeping dragon; she unhooked her wand from her belt and held it over Spyro, resting one hand against his scaly forehead while using the other to slowly wave her tool back and forth across it. "Let's see..." She began under her breath, her one pulsing with different colors. "...vitals...natural reserves...mana level..." Her wand suddenly flashed red, and her eyes widened in alarm. "How in the Tree...?"

"Are you KIDDING ME?!" The sheer volume of Twilight's scream made the two flinch in fear, especially at the sight of Spyro shifting in his sleep. "After all that you did...after putting Spike and I through...T-THAT, and YOU PUT HIM TO SLEE-?!"

The unicorn barely made it two steps out the library door before she was outright tackled by Zoe, who knocked her against the dirt and forced her down with magic; Twilight began to scream in alarm, but was abruptly cut off when the fairy jabbed her dangerously-crackling wand against the base of her horn, glaring her down with outright murderous intent as she stood over her.

"Talk! Now!" She demanded. "What happened during the fight with that Nightmare Princess?!"

Twilight remained frozen, eyes wide with genuine fear. "W-W-What's going on?! Why are you-?!" But was cut off again as Zoe bonked her head with her wand, which she pulled away from her and pointed to with her free hand.

"You see this?!" She outright demanded, pointing to its red glow. "This tells me Spyro's physical and magical reserves are CRITICALLY LOW, to the point where we could knock him out with a single sleeping spell! He never reaches this level unless he was forced to do something incredibly drastic to drain both his strength and magic completely dry!" She pointed the wand to her again, the tip crackling with lightning. "So talk! What. Happened?!"

"I-I don't know!" Twilight cried, shielding her face with her hooves from the magical sparks. "He seemed just fine after the fight! I mean, that last attack did blow his head and arm off, but he grew them back! Hydr-"

The color drained from Zoe's face. "HIS ENTIRE HEAD AND ARM?!" She shrieked in horror as she spun back to Spyro, the emotion clear in her expression and eyes; she slapped her face with her free palm, gritting her teeth in anger. "Spyro, you fucking idiot! No wonder he gave into his instincts and went berserk!"

"We can worry about that later! We have to get him some help!" Bianca cried.

Zoe nodded in agreement. "Get Hunter and Elora out of whatever messes they've gotten themselves into; I'll stay here and get his mana back up to where he can actually wake back up." She shook her head in exasperation as the bunny bounded off, giving the sleeping dragon an outright indignant glare as she fluttered back to him and began working her magic.

Twilight hesitantly stood back up, looking nervous and worried as she watched the fairy pour two streams of raw magic from her hands, which were being absorbed into Spyro's chest. "I-Is there anything we can do?"

"Gather as many unicorns as you can to help me give mana so Spyro's heart doesn't lose the strength to pump blood and force him to go into hibernation." Zoe told her, not looking up from her work. "Once he's stabilized, we need to get him indoors and so Elora and I can give him proper treatment." It was only then she briefly looked up. "We'll explain everything when we get there."

The unicorn looked torn, but nodded and galloped off to find help all the same.

Spike remained sitting where he was, his body stiff and immobile yet trembling and chattering, his mind thoroughly broken by the acts of sheer unspeakable horror he had been forced through...all in the name of living to see the light of tomorrow, and avoiding a fiery, wrathful demise that even the worst monsters of Tartarus didn't deserve...

Nope. Still not worth it.

---

Nurse Redheart had seen a lot of weird patients come into the Ponyville Hospital during her time.

Ever since she first graduated with full honors from Canterlot Medical School, and eventually was sent to work at Ponyville Medical Center as Doctor Stable's personal nurse (mainly because, despite her near-perfect grades and performance record, the unicorn nobility of Canterlot had made some very vocal complaints about an earth pony working in medicine: a normally unicorn-only job), she had seen her fair share of a wide and diverse crowd. Thanks to Ponyville's location on the Everfree Forest, the town was famous for a near-daily amount of monster attacks and other natural disasters; and as a result, many ponies came in on a similar basis to have wounds, poisons, illness, and Faust knows what else fixed and/or cured.

And over the many years and many monster attacks she had endured, she had seen just about everything Equestria had to offer: the most common patients were earth ponies, due to Ponyville originally being an earth-pony town, but she had also seen her fair share of pegasi and unicorns as well. And she had seen plenty of non-ponies that either lived here or came to now via trains. Cows, donkeys, mules, and horses were the most average non-ponies to visit, but she had also tended to griffons, deer, boars, a buffalo or two, and even once set a cast for a thestral, the rarest of all Equestria's races.

Yet for all the different races she had seen and treated, she never imagined she'd one day tend to a dragon.

But there he was, lying his side on the tarp they had laid out across the hospital room they had cleared out to fit him in, body curled up in a loose hoop like a giant cat, snoring away in a deep, enchanted slumber. The group of Beastfolk and...miscellaneous help add to the uniqueness of the situation, along with a number of ponies watching from the side: the cheetah beastman and Rainbow Dash, the latter a more common patient, were set up on the other side of the room, teeth chattering and noses red from cold as they sat half-submerged in large tubs of steaming-warm water, bundled up in heavy blankets and looking just as upset as the goat-thing, rabbit beastwoman, and breezie creature did.

"His entire head, and an entire limb on top of that..." Elora muttered aloud as she ran her hands over Spyro's side, spreading a green, nature-element magic (the magical sparkles took the form of glowing leaves) across his body in deep pulses. "I'd smack him when he wakes up, but I'd doubt he'd actually feel it."

"That's not stopping me." Zoe growled as she sat on Spyro's head, sending her own magic directly into his brain. "He's done dumber than this in his time, and I didn't let him forget it then either." She sent a glare to the ponies watching. "Though I'm pinning partial blame on the horses: oblivious to the world and arrogant to boot."

"Now just one moment here! How were we suppose to know we were giving Ponyville to Spyro with that sacrifice, or that dragons didn't tolerate each other on a level of outright genocide?!" Rarity objected in their defense. "A sacrifice, need I remind you, that SOMEPONY orchestrated behind our backs without our knowledge or consent!"

"Hey, I was only trying to make my party as dragon-friendly as possible!" The thoroughly bruised and battered Pinkie snapped, still nursing the wounds she got from the mob of vengeful virgins she provoked. "I didn't know it had any deeper mumbo-jumbo dragon meaning! I mean, come on! It was a party!"

"And that's why I blame you." The fairy said, giving them a condescending look. "Dragons have shared your lands for eons nows, and the average population doesn't even have what we of the Dragon World consider basic knowledge; things you should know if you insist on sharing a word with them." She snapped at them. "I'm guessing that your ancestors made bad first impressions with dragons, or perhaps that dragons are different in this world, and either way you never achieved the means to obtain this knowledge...but fear is not and never will be an excuse for enabling blind arrogance."

"*AH-CHOO!*" Rainbow Dash sneezed, before blowing her nose of a tissue one of the nurses levitated to her. "*Sniff*...Oh ye'h? W'll, if yoo're soo sm'rt, why dougn't yoou toll us w'at the bock happened oot there?" She moaned through a stuffy nose.

Zoe gave a heavy sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "Well, we are going to be working together in the future...what do you all know about the Law of Arcane Compensation?"

Twilight's ears perked up. "Spell Casting 101: 'For ever magical action taken, an equal magical payment must be given'." She quoted, almost on pure instinct. "It's basic knowledge all unicorns learn about casting magic: even the smallest and simplest of spells, like basic Levitation, has to be 'fueled' in order to cast. It works in the same way physical strength does: we need energy to move and act, and we use the energy in our bodies whenever we do. When unicorns cast spells, we fuel it with our natural mana, and when we use it all up we 'exhaust' ourselves and can no longer cast magic until we replenish our supply."

"Dragon powers, both physical and elemental, work the same way." Zoe explained. "When Spyro uses his power, he fuels it with his own natural energy as well. Normally this isn't a problem: a purple dragon's energy reserves are so large and quickly-refilling, that he normally doesn't even notice he lost any before it's recharged itself...but last night he was forced to use it in a drastic manner that drained it past the point of natural regeneration."

"You mean when he had to regrow his head and arm when he was fighting Nightmare Moon." Rarity concluded. "But he healed himself just fine, and won the fight right afterwards."

"All Power comes at a Price, even dragon power." The fairy directly pointed out. "Spyro might have the hydra dragon's ability to regenerate lost and damaged tissue, but the larger and more fatal the wound, the more time and energy it takes to completely heal it." She placed her hand on Spyro's forehead, gently patting the scaly skin. "There were two ways he could handled it: He could've either waited for it to slowly grow back over time and save himself the energy, or he could tap directly into his physical and elemental reserves to force his flesh to grow back at a much faster pace. Given that he was in the middle of a fight, I think it's safe to assume he chose the latter, and in doing so with wound that large drained both his physical and elemental energy to dangerously low levels, but not to the point of collapse."

"He told us all about his adventures after dealing with Nightmare Moon." Bianca explained as she worked her own magic; the rabbit beastwoman was sitting on a chair next to Hunter, using a heat spell to warm him and Rainbow Dash. "If he had just rested a bit after his fight, or speed up his regeneration drawing energy from the elemental forces around him, he could've regained his strength there and moved on without consequence...but then everything else happened."

Zoe nodded in agreement, giving a heavy sigh of disapproval. "Encountering the damned...flying hundreds of miles back to the mountain to pick up us, and then making the trip back to Ponyville with all of us in tow...and finally his rampage after that pup of yours, all without stopping to rest or recharge even once."

"Not bad for a first day, I suppose..."

All eyes in the room went wide, and every head turned to Spyro just as he opened his eyes and shifted his head around to look at them, looking tired yet content.

"Yay! Spyro's awake!" Pinkie cheered with a happy bounce as the other ponies all exclaimed their surprise and relief.

Elora was in front on him in seconds, dropping down on her knees and cupping his lower jaw with her hands to tilt his gaze up to hers. "Are you alright?" She asked him in a worried tone, her face a mix of emotions. "How do you feel? Any pain or fatigue?"

Spyro's body tensed as he gave a small stretched, opening his jaws and baring his teeth in a soft, warbling yawn. "Tried, and a bit sore, but you know I've been through much worse." He told her.

"Good to know." She stated, the faun giving a satisfied nod...

*Wa-POW!*

...before she promptly slugged the dragon across the forehead. Spyro gave a warbled bark, more out of surprised than actual pain, as he shifted backwards from the blow; his tail swished across the floor, almost knocking over Hunter's and Rainbow's buckets, as he rolled over onto his stomach and pawed at the spot of the punch, one eye closed and the other meeting the searing glare Elora was giving him.

"What the heck were you thinking back there?!" She snapped angrily. "Of all the times to go into a rage, you had to choose being mentally exhausted to do it!" Her frown faltered with worry. "Why didn't you tell us what happened during your fight?"

Spyro gave her a glare of his own. "Because none of you needed to know." He snapped, raising his head up to its default height to look about the room at everyone. "I've dealt with much worse than simply getting tired, and I was handling it just fine..." His glare broke away from his friends and cast its fiery light on the crowd of ponies nearby, namely the purple unicorn in the front. "...until someone decided to defy Dragon Law and allow an trespasser onto my territory!"

"Now hold on just one moment there!" Applejack bravely objected, only backing up slightly when his narrowed gaze landed on her. "W-We had no idea that Pinkie's mess meant we were handin' ov'r our town to ya!"

"And Spike was here before you even knew Ponyville existed, and he never meant any 'defiance' or disrespect!" Rarity added. "He's just a baby dragon as well!"

"Irrelevant." Spyro growled darkly, completely unmoved and unswayed, the area around his form rumbling darkly as his chest glowed a dangerous orange. "You may have been arrogant to our kind's ways, but you willingly gave yourselves into its binding power none the less. Ponyville is MINE now, along with everything in it; Bianca may have helped me see reason, but as long as our deal remained bound, I will not tolerate those who defy my rights as a Dovah!"

"Now...where is this 'Spike'?"

"Right here, big guy!" Every pony in the room gaped in shock and disbelief as Zoe promptly entered the room, the wide-eyed and struggling Spike in her arms, whom she promptly plopped down in front of the larger purple dragon. "Here lies the one who defied your rule and tainted your land. Go nuts!"

Spyro stared down in an almost animalistic silence at the dragon pup, who stared back up with eyes wider than dinner plates while curled up into a nervous ball and shaking like a leaf. His face was calm and expressionless, and for a moment it look as if everything was going to be fine...

...until his pupils narrowed in thin slits, and his face slowly twisted into a murderous snarl, teeth bared and eyes glowing as a dark growl rumbled from his throat.

Twilight's heart seized in her chest, a cold horror washing over her, as Spyro shifted his body up, his wings spreading as much as the room would let him as he towered over the now terrified Spike like an glowing-eyed angel of death, his eyes and mouth glowing with fire. Rainbow Dash tried to get up and stop him, but her legs gave out and she fell back into her tub, shivering with cold. Applejack looked ready to jump forward herself, but was held back by a confused Pinkie Pie, who had been there to catch Rarity as she fell in a dead faint. Fluttershy had collapsed onto the floor, shaking like a leaf herself. A deep emotion took hold of Twilight's mind, and her horn fired up with purple electricity...

...until Zoe stopped them all with a single word:

"Wait!" She ordered, not looking away as she and everyone else remained frozen as Spyro lowered his head down to Spike...bore his teeth...opened his jaws...

...and then suddenly stopped mere seconds from eating him whole.

Spike cracked an eye opened, just in time to see Spyro's face falter as the larger dragon inhaled the air through his nostrils. Spyro closed his jaws, his face changing into a frown of confusion, as he stared down at Spike with narrowed but no longer anger-filled eyes; he then cautiously lowered his head down, the sound of crackling flame in his breath as he sniffed the baby dragon, like a dog sniffing something that caught his attention. Everyone watched with baited breath and varying expressions as Spyro stared at Spike for what felt like an eternity...

...until he finally gave a simple grunt of acceptance, turning away from the hatchling and laying back down on the tarp; his eyes had barely closed before he started to snore again, announcing to everyone in the room that he had once again descended into slumber.

Allowing Spike to give a single wheeze of a breath before falling backwards in a dead faint.

"...Ok'y, wa're oll thunking it, soo I'b gunna say it..." Rainbow Dash spoke up as the other ponies all but collapsed from sheer relief. "...whut the BUCK?"

Zoe gave a smug grin, arms folded in victory. "Sense-based Imprinting. A common trick used with animals to get them to accept other members of their species." She explained, petting the worn out Spike on the head. "When Spyro first sensed Spike's fire breath, he automatically assumed that he was an outside dragon sneaking into Ponyville, and that's what made him so aggressive." She motioned to Twilight, who had scooped up her assistant in a tight hug of relief. "But while you all were keep Spyro distracted, I was preparing Spike by covering his body in her scent: when Spyro smelled Twilight on him, his brain made the click that he was Twilight's relative and therefore not an intruder, but an official member of the pack, so to speak."

"That's a trick I sometimes use to get nursing critters to accept orphan babies as their own." Fluttershy stated proudly...well, as proud as Fluttershy would express herself. "It's a means of tricking an animal's brain into thinking another animal is a member of their family based on scent." She then frowned in confusion. "But wouldn't Spyro be too smart to be fooled by such a trick?"

"It's not so much a trick when it's the truth, now it is?" Zoe asked smugly. "Spike is technically a member of Twilight's family, and Spyro's sapient enough to realized this himself; the whole scent-based ploy was to make sure it fully clicked with his bestial parts so something like this doesn't happen again."

"So, this means I'm good with you guys, then?" Spike asked.

Elora gave a warm laugh, squatting on her knees to give him a warm smile. "Kiddo, you never were against us to begin with." She assured him, gently ruffling his scales. "Spyro simply didn't know that until now. But he does now, which means everything's alright now."

"Now hold on another minute!" Applejack suddenly spoke up again, stomping a hoof on the floor. "Are ya'll serious?! In case ya'll forgot, Spyro wrecked half of Main Street throwin' that tantrum of his! Nopony got killed, thank Celestia, but a lotta homes were wrecked and a lot of us got all banged up out there, and ya'll are sayin' everythin' alright?!"

"I'm not apologizing for being what I am." Spyro stated as he awoke to the farmpony's voice, cracking open one eye to give her a glare.

"And we don't expect you to." Bianca told him, folding her arms and giving the dragon a stern frown. "But we do expect you to make up for scaring those you swore to protect and destroying their homes." She pointed knowingly. "You're a hero, remember? And real heroes set things right when they mess up, and that's exactly what you're going to do."

"Agreed." Elora stated. "For now, you're going back to sleep until your strength is completely restored, and tomorrow you're going to do your part to clean up your mess." She closed her eyes and folded her own arms in thought. "I don't expect you to apologize, because getting you to admit you're wrong is harder than giving Hunter a bath, but the repair fees for all the damage you caused is coming out of your hoard."

Spyro bristled with indignation and lifted his head, dragon's greed taking front seat as his hoard was brought into the mix. "You dare to-?!"

"Ap!" He was cut off by the faun's snap, accompanied by her making the 'shut up' motion with her hand. "I don't want to hear it: you made the mess, you do what you can to clean it up. Fair?"

For a tense moment, the dragon looked fit to go on another rampage, but after a stern glaring contest between the two, he finally cave in with a grumbling sigh. "Only for my land. Nowhere else." He told her, turning away and laying his head back down.

Fluttershy frowned in confusion. "One other thing I don't understand." She spoke up. "Sense Imprinting usually works when the infants have the female's embryonic scents on it, like the smell of the yoke from the eggs, to identify them as their own. So how did you...?" She trailed off when she saw Twilight's face, pale and full of traumatic reflection, while Spike suddenly heaved, wrenched himself out of the unicorn's arms, and bolted across the room for the nearest bucket.

And Zoe the Fairy grinned in a way that reminded the ponies of Nightmare Moon herself. "Let's just say I gave the brand title 'Bad Dragon' a whole new level of meaning." She stated coyly.

"YOU CANNOT IMAGINE THE THINGS I ENDURED TODAY!" Twilight finally shrieked in horror.

"YOU CANNOT IMAGINE THE THINGS I SAW IN THERE!" Spike cried between emptying his lunch into the trash can.

"IT WAS MY FIRST TIME! MY FIRST! TO MY ASSISTANT'S LITERAL HEAD!"

"THE WALLS...FLESHY...CLOSING IN AROUND ME...SQUEEZING...AND STICKY!"

"I'VE BEEN VIOLATED IN WAYS YOU CANNOT IMAGINE!"

"IT TASTED LIKE GRAPES! I GET WHY, BUT...WHY?! WHY GRAPES?!"

"Doode, thut's hurdcoore." Rainbow Dash stated.

Spyro's eye cracked open one last time for the day. "That reminds me: I remember what you offered me, and I'll be claiming them when I'm wake up." He told Elora, who went stiff and pale as he closed his eyes and nodded off with four simple words: "Your 'big juicy ones'."

Bianca gave the faun an unamused look. "You really went there, huh?" She asked flatly.

Elora could only squeal in embarrassment.

And Nurse Redheart, who had been watching the whole thing from outside the doorway, officially concluded that these were indeed the most unusual patients she had ever tended to in Ponyville Hospital.

She also concluded she'd be spending the evening at Berry Punch's place trying to forget it.