Spike where are you
By Reading Rainbow
‘Rarity I love you,” the small dragon spike sat in front of one of his friends whom he had a crush upon waiting for a response from his true love Rarity.
There was a silent pause spike waited for which seemed like an eternity to get a response from his beloved Rarity.
Rarity was looking at the ground trying not to make eye contact, she responded with a deep breath, “I am flattered you would think of me that way but I am also very sorry but I don’t want to have to put you through heartbreak.”
Spike raised an eye brow wondering what she meant exactly Rarity responded based on the little dragon’s clueless facial expression “You see the problem of the matter is that I am a pony and you are a young dragon.”
Spikes face changed from cluelessness to sadness now realizing that he being a dragon was the biggest problem. For the fact is that he would not only be sad after he grew to the point where it would be dangerous to even try and kiss her, but the fact that he would easily out live her was the biggest problem.
Coming to the realization that it would never work out between the two of them. Tears filled the young dragon’s eyes as he retreats with tears coming from his eyes like rain filling a dam. He did not stop or look back as rarity called out to him from the distance.

Finally, Spike saw a large tree before him, with windows, his home; he walked inside the tree home to see nothing but books everywhere and a familiar purple pony in the center of the pile, using her unicorn magic she made several books float in the air “reshelving again twi?”
The small purple dragon asked, but it seemed like the pony was too caught up in what she was doing, so with a sigh he said to himself “no pony seems to love me”, and went to his room and locked the door so that he could be alone and wallow in his own self-pity.
His moments of sulking were very short lived for the fact his friend Twilight Sparkle tried to comfort him, once the dragon was calm Twilight asked, Spike “why are you crying spike”.
After he informed her of what happened he began to sniffle and twilight once again used her magic to make a tissue box float over to spike. As spike grabbed one of the tissues and blew his nose and as to no surprise it was burnt to ash as always.
Spike then thought to himself “why do I have to be a dragon I just want to be a pony so I can be with Rarity.” Spike thought to himself once again “why do I keep saying to myself I want to be a pony when I already know that I have Twilight Sparkle the strongest unicorn around as a best friend who has enough magic to make my dreams of becoming a pony come true in her sleep if she wanted to”.
And with that thought in mind he turned to Twilight with an expression of glee. Twilight looks at Spike as if he had gone crazy. In worried tone she says “for someone who just rejected by the mare of your dreams you sure seem to be taking it easy” then spike looked at her with a grin and replied with a confident voice saying “why would I still be upset I have the answer to my problem right in front of me.”
He then looks at twilight with a twisted sort of grin twilight asks “what exactly do you mean” and Spike replies with a giant smile on his face “Twilight can you turn me into a stallion so that I can be with rarity, please I have no one else I can ask to help me.”
Twilight’s expression changed from a look of pity to a look of astonishment as to what spike asked she looked at him and said “I’m sorry spike but you were born a dragon and you should stay a dragon, plus if u became a pony who would be my number one assistant and send all of my letters of what I learned to the princess”.
Spikes face fell from a big smile to a look of great anger and yelled at her
“OH SO NOW IM JUST YOUR LITTLE MESSNGER IS THAT ALL YOU THINK OF ME AS!”
Before twilight could respond he ran away from her to his room with tears in his eyes and locked the door instead of going after spike she decided it was a good idea to give him closure.
Spike cried until he could cry no longer, as he slowly came to a stop with no more tears left in his eyes, Spike then sat up trying to wipe the tears away when suddenly he had a dynamic realization about a book he recently read on potions.
Spike could faintly remember the name of the book but he remembered exactly what it looked like due to the third-degree burns all across its spine, because Spike wanted to help reshelf some books when he had a cold and sneezed on the book, causing it to all most burn to a crisp.
Spike knew exactly what he was going to do, he waited silently till Twilight fell asleep to go downstairs and get the book needed to make the potion he so desired, once he had the book in his claws he silently crept out of the window to get the ingredients needed for the potion.
If Spike knew anything it was that he knew were to go for the right ingredient’s the only zebra in equestria that he knew of…Zecora. As spike left Pony Ville into the dark ever free forest were there were many monsters and other mysterious creatures that could end his life any second, even though he was scared he was doing this for Rarity and Spike would do anything to be with her and not even the dark ever free forest was going to stop him from becoming a pony so he could be with Rarity.
He then came across a wide clearing in the forest as spike walked across the empty field he stumbled across some blue flowers “I remember those Twi and the rest of her friends got infected by them I think it was something called poison joke I probably should go around.”
Spike then noticed a gnarly old tree similar to the library he and twilight lived in except it belonged to a so called evil enchantress that he came to know as Zecora, it wasn’t nearly as big as the library twilight and spike came to know as home instead of books lined across the room there were things from her homeland it had had many masks inside the home and tons of ingredient’s for fixing up a good brew there were jars and bowls of all sizes sitting all over, some hanging from the sealing down to the floor.
Spike then took a deep breath then he slowly but surely snuck his way inside, seeing the zebra scared him so badly he was frozen in place until he noticed she was still asleep just with her eyes wide open “creepy” the small dragon said quietly to himself shivering slightly.
Then Spike used his claw to pick the lock to the cabinets that held all of Zecora ingredients, trying not to make a "sound he slowly took out all the ingredients needed to make the potion with one of his claws while he held the book close to his face so that he could see exactly what was needed and in what order exactly the ingredients needed to be added."
After a few moments of rummaging through the cabinets for ingredient’s he said to himself “time for the finishing touch” he plucked a scale off of himself and put it into the cauldron as the liquid before him bubbled and changed colors from brown to blue as the last ingredient was added.
His face was filled with glee he knew twilight would be upset but it would be worth it as long as he got to be with rarity and with that cheers he said quietly as he drank every last drop until there was no more than an empty bowl left.
But for some reason he didn’t feel any different but before he could figure out what happened he heard a yawn and a figure stretching before getting up he realized that it was Zecora starting to wake up. Before he knew it he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him leaving the book on the floor and all the ingredient’s he used behind him he ran out of Zecora house with only one thought in his mind “I got to get as far away from here as possible.”
As spike ran for which seemed like an hour he stopped on an open field to rest but couldn’t due to a mind numbing pain inside his head which had grown till the point he fell to the ground thinking to himself “I think this is one of the effects from the potion I made” as he fell to the ground unconscious.
The next morning spike woke with a terrible head ache up wondering where he was as well as who he was but all the thinking he could do was no help. Basic speech was the only thing he could accomplish but that didn’t matter at the time the only thing of importance to him was trying to figure out where he was.
As he surveyed the area with the utmost focus he noticed he was in an empty field were there were many beautiful small apple trees there was a sigh that said sweet apple acres which made him feel very hungry.
Spike then tried to walk towards one of the bigger apple trees but he had stumbled face first into a puddle noticing he was a pony from looking at his own reflection he was not sure of what he was before but he knew he was no pony or anything close as to the matter.
Spike looked at himself in the puddle on the ground and noticed he had a short emerald green mane with purple at the tip of his mane; his coat was a dark purple that somewhat shimmered from the sunlight the last thing he noticed was his cutie mark on his flank is looked like a scroll with the sun and moon circling it.
Spike did not get to finish looking at himself because him belly began to growl from hunger making him force himself to stand for only a couple seconds before tumbling to the ground like a new born after several minutes he got the hang of walking slowly.
As he began walking towards the apple tree that he determined to be the weakest but still bore fresh fruit he reared back to buck the tree for it marvelous looking apples but a lasso wrapped around his hind legs yanking him to the ground.
Laying there he noticed an orange pony with an apple shaped cutie mark on her flank who also wore a cow boy hat covering her beautiful sunshine yellow mane and she had an apple on her flank.
“Why in tarnation are you trying to steal apple family’s property” the orange pony circled him several times before speaking again what cat got your tongue.
The pony that was on the ground hopelessly struggling to get out the rope then stopped and spoke “I am very sorry but I’m just kind of lost and very hungry I didn’t mean to try a steal your food honest.”
The orange pony looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity in them with a great big smile she replies with “why didn’t you say so and by the way my name Applejack” after Applejack untied the mysterious pony she asks “since you aren’t a thief here to steal apple family property then who are you?”
The mystery pony looks as if he had his name on the tip of his tongue but just couldn’t remember and replied with a frown. “I am very sorry Applejack I just can’t remember” the orange pony stood their staring at the mystery pony and replied with “sounds to me like you got yourself a memory bug but as my friend Twilight told me it was a big word called amnesia. Applejack then offered the mystery pony a hoof and said “since we don’t know your real name how about we think up a nickname for you.
The mystery pony silently nodded showing approval with Applejacks idea “how about emerald because of your emerald green mane” ‘said Applejack’ the mystery pony shook his head and said “that sounds like a girl’s name I don’t want everyponey to think I’m a girl” with that said Applejack sighed and said “you sure are a mystery…” after that is said Applejack continues to analyses the pony in front of her she looked at him with a smile and said “I got it your name will be sky dive”.
“sky dive you say I like it but where did you get that name” the young pony replied with a big smile but the loud rumble of his stomach made him feel embarrassed as apple jack asked “supper should be ready any minute so how about you join” Blaine would have continued asking the question but his ultimate hunger made him just follow her.
As they started to walk mystery felt something dragging on the ground two his sides with great surprise he notices that he has wings then he says to himself oh that’s why my name is sky dive and then a flash of memory goes inside of his head he saw a rainbow manned pony flying across the sky using her wings ever so swiftly and gracefully.
Sky’s pupils return to normal as his flash back ended just an quickly as it came his memory of the pony had vanished except for her name and he says the name for no apparent reason “Rainbow dash” Applejack then focuses her attention once more on Sky with a look of pure confusion and says how “do you know Rainbow dash, are you friends?” sky replies with a tone of confusion in his voice “I’m not sure I just remembered seeing her some were before, then he looked down in his sadness of lost memory’s.”
Applejack yells at mystery from the distance “if you don’t hurry I’m going to eat supper without you” Sky felt his feet move on their own in a sloppy fashion that was supposed to be a run to catch up with apple jack so that he could end the monsters rampage going on inside his empty belly.
As the two of them trotted for witch seemed like half an hour they stopped in front of a pretty big house that looked a little neglected as if had been there for a long time it had a faded paint on the house but it was obviously fixed up every so often it just hasn’t been painted in a long time. Applejack held out a hoof pointing towards the small home and said “welcome to my house I’m one of the future successors of sweat apple acres all the land that you see with an apple tree on it belongs to the apple family”.
When they approached the house Applejack looked at the young stallion’s hooves and said “before you come in and eat can you wash your hooves” with a slight nod Blaine waited patiently for applejack to come back.
Applejack came back shortly with a bucket of water in hoof she sat it on the ground next to Blaine and gestured towards it and said “you can wash your hooves in this” after a polite smile Blaine dipped his mud covered hooves into the bucket he saw as the water changed from light blue to brown as he washed the dirt off all of his hooves.
Applejack then led him into her house as they walked in a big red stallion walked in front of Applejack with a look of puzzlement as he said in a very forward tone “Who is he?”.
Applejack walks up to her brother with an angry glare and says “don’t be so rude I will tell yah’ after supper” the red stallion steps aside and lets the two into the house apple jack looks back at mystery and say’s “don’t mind him none he is just my older brother Big Macintosh” Sky replies with a slight node as he stumbles his way into the house still not perfect when it comes to walking on his hooves.
As the rest of the apple family entered the kitchen except for the green elderly looking mare that was on a couple of pictures that hung around the house.
Applejack noticed Sky staring at the picture of a light green mare with an apple cutie mark hung on the wall and says to him “she is still around if that is what you were wondering she just is on a business trip to settle an unpaid debt on a couple of the apple trees.”
With a smile replies with “that’s good to hear” after supper was over a young filly tapped mystery on the leg and said “excuse me mister why do you walk so funny?” Sky looked down at the ground as he tried to think of an answer but before he could reply “apple bloom” shouted the fillies older sister apple jack with a disproving look on her face.
The young filly named apple bloom looked at Sky with an apologetic smile and said “sorry” Sky looked up at apple bloom, big mac and apple jack then explained to them about his loss of memory.
Big mac looked and to cover up the fact he only under stood half of the things he was just told he replied with “ee’yup” apple bloom jumped into their small talk and said “you lost your memory is that why you walk so funny and let your wings drag to the ground” lost for words he copied the big red stallion and said “ee’yup.”
After a few seconds of silence apple bloom shouted out “I have a great idea how about you let big mac help you get your legs back into shape or at least working condition and I can ask my friend Rainbowdash to give you flying lessons” with a big smile Applejack said “that is a great idea apple bloom maybe if he sees Rainbow dash again he will get some of his memory back.
Big mac interrupts nearly yelling the words “again what do you mean again” Sky then explains to big mac how his only link to remembering his past was of him and Rainbowdash and with that said there adventure began…to be continued.
I would like to give special thx to Niklashg for helping me revise my story

Chapter 2
Where do I belong?

Twilight sparkle had been looking for her young dragon assistant spike for nearly two days usually after an argument he would leave the house for about an hour then come back and apologize and the two of them would makeup but this time was different he didn’t come back asking Twilight to forgive him which made her very worried.
“ oh sweet Celestia what could have happened to him he is just a baby he could of gotten hurt or worse, he could have ran into the ever free forest and been eaten by a monster” She said to herself in a panicky tone with a loud upset groan as if someone could possibly hear her.
She looked into the mirror in her room and said to herself in an very upset tone “WHY, why was I being so inconsiderate, why did I say that he needs to stay a dragon because if he is a pony who else will send my letters about what I learned to the princess now he probably thinks that I’m just using him like a tool just my personal dragon mailman.
“He will never forgive me” she said to herself in a sad cry “I had been looking every wear I just can’t find him oh please celestia give me a sigh to where he might be please” the instant those words uttered out of her mouth she heard a loud thud down stairs that made the lavender paranoid unicorn gallop as fast as she could hoping to see her small companion spike waiting down stairs.
But to her great displeasure there was a small fractured picture of her holding spike as a child laying on the ground with glass shards scattered along the floor seeing the picture made twilight wobble to her knees then slowly to the ground laying on her side she cried uncontrollably saying “Spike please come home as if hoping Spike could hear her cry”
Sky went to bed that night ready and determined to find out who he really was, but still wasn’t up to the challenge of getting up so early in the morning, especially before the sun was even above the horizon.
His night was full of pleasant dreams of himself flying above the clouds in a leisurely fashion but for some strange reason it felt as if someone was calling him from afar, then suddenly his dream changed he saw a lavender unicorn crying while holding a picture of something he could not see clearly.
Instead of just standing there and watching her cry Sky knew he should try and comfort the crying unicorn pony but as he approached the mysterious unicorn to speak to her he felt the entire world shake uncontrollably as if him getting too close to her was bringing back a memory of something important.
But before the memory came back to him from his dream, his dream was interrupted by a heavy hoof shaking him until his eyes flew to see a big red stallion that he came to know as Big Macintosh standing over him staring directly at him.
Sky looked around the room trying to remember why Big Mac was waking him up so early in the morning, in a fraction of a second it came back to him, he remembered that he was going to stay with the owners of sweet apple acres the apple family until he recovered his lost memories.
Of course with a price though because of the fact Sky doesn’t have any money to pay for the food he eats and the place he sleeps he promised that he would help with the field work to pay off his living expenses in the morning and start his search for lost memories in the afternoon.
But still did not think he would be working so early in the morning the sun wasn’t even out yet and the room was still dark, with a big long yawn sky lifts himself up from the embrace of the small yet comfortable bed that he went to sleep on the night and trotted towards the patient stallion who waited silently next to the door of the poorly lit room for him to get himself together.
Sky then looked into the eyes of the gentle giant and said “is it time to start working all ready” with a sigh Big Mac replied with “eeyup” instead of arguing and asking for a few more minutes of shuteye he just follows the stallion out of the barn that he has been staying a couple of nights at until he recovers his memories.
“So Big Mac” the tired pony said with a puzzled look at Big Mac who just replied with “so what” Sky looked at the slow pony with a dumfounded expression and said “what do you want me to do to pay off my debt” “buck apples of course what else would you do on an apple farm” replied Big Mac with a smile but before Sky could ask anything further he was cut off by Big Mac “you should probably quit with the questions and save your energy for today’s list of chores.
“Chores” replied the grumpy Pegasus pony Sky “eeyup” replied Big Mac with an annoyed mumble, Sky then looks Big Mac in the eyes with a very drowsy look and with a sleepy voice with a hint of annoyance “where do we start” Big mac just points his hoof at an wagon used for caring apples in the back of the barn.
The wagon was small compared to the one Big Mac hitched himself on to but Sky new it was for the better since he could not carry as many apples as the big earth pony, he then entered the barn yet again but not for shut eye but this time just to get the wagon he didn’t notice the first time when he slept, waiting ever so patiently there stood big Macintosh quietly waiting for him to hitch himself up to the wagon.
After about three minutes of trying to get himself hooked up to the wagon without damaging his wings, a miracle occurred sky finally got himself hitched to the wagon after about five minutes that is and trotted proudly out of the barn happy that he was able to do it on his own even if it took longer than needed he was still proud of himself.
With his usual blank expression changed Big Mac looks sternly at Sky and spoke calmly saying “were gonna buck on the west field were the apples are the freshest yet they are a little harder to buck so don’t feel bad if you don’t get any apples to drop on your first try” with a slight nod from sky they headed towards the west field.
It has nearly been four hours since they started bucking but to sky it felt as if he had been bucking for days sweat poured down his coat making it shimmer a bright purple color from the rising sun “you two seem to be working hard” said a familiar voice Sky then turned to see the happy face of his new friend Applejack whom he met the day before. Sky tried to respond with a polite greeting but his fatigue finally caught up to him he tried aimlessly to speak but couldn’t get any words to come out over his heavy breathing so instead he just waved politely.
Applejack immediately understand why he didn’t speak to her “Big Mac you had your time with him it’s time for a break” Applejack said with a stern look at her brother “okay but remember to meet me here tomorrow you still have bucking to do” said Big Mac with a look of irritation towards Sky “enough yapping and come on Sky you have two hours to wash up and eat before we head to Rainbow for your flying lessons” with a slight nod and a wave good bye to his prison ward Big Mac Sky then walked beside Applejack who was heading back to Sweet Apple Acres.
“So” Applejack said with a big smile Sky then gave her a weird look and asked “sooo what” Applejack then face hoofed herself then said in an upset tone “did you and my brother get along or not” If you call an entire one sided conversation getting along then of course” Applejack looked at him with a puzzled look and asked “What do you mean” “Well he only says eeyup and nope”Sky mimicked with an upset tone.
Don’t let it get to you Sky it’s not that he doesn’t like talking to you; it’s just that he has nothing really to talk about” said Applejack “Yay your right I should give him a chance and maybe he might open up a little” Sky said with a small yet reassuring smile Applejack looked at him with confidence and said That’s the spirit now come on let’s go and get some breakfast as the thought came back to sky he realized he hadn’t eaten since last night and was very hungry so hungry that he broke off into a gallop to Applejacks home.
Minutes later he arrived at Applejacks home where he now could call his own at least until he got back his memory, moments later Applejack met Sky at the door were she motioned him to go inside and he did as he was told and was greeted by the sleepy eyes of a young filly he met the day before named Applebloom.
Applebloom looked at Sky and waved a hoof of acknowledgement Sky slowly waved back at her with a big smile; Sky was not only happy to see the filly but was happy to get some food in his mouth as well.
But just the same as last time before he entered the kitchen a hoof blocked the doorway as he looked up he saw Applejack pointing at the bath room down the hall Sky understood right away and headed to the bathroom to wash of the sweat on his coat and the dirt from under his hooves from all of his hard work.
Once Sky finished washing himself and breakfast was eaten he was ready to get started on his flying lessons “Applejack do you know where Rainbowdash is” Sky said with a tone of worry in his voice “of course I do Rainbow and my other friend Pinkiepie should be out pranking around this time and the first person they usually prank is me so we should just wait for them to strike firs” Applejacks sentence was cut short due to the rain cloud above her head covering her in ice cold water.
Applejack looked up to see a familiar rainbow manned Pegasus pony on top of the cloud that just soaked her, Applejack blew her wet mane from in front of her face with a small smile she said “Rainbow your just in time” Rainbowdash was on the ground from laughing so hard but lowered it to a small giggle as she said “I’m just in time for what Applejack?”
Before Applejack could respond to her question she was interrupted by an exited pink cotton candy manned pony named Pinkiepie, pushing past her too friends to meet the mysterious pony behind them she looked at Sky with a huge smile and said to the him “wow you must be new to ponyville because I have never seen you before because I would know if I met you before I would remember because I know everypony in ponyville and I mean everypony.”
Sky looked at Pinkiepie with a look of surprise because of the pony’s hyperactive nature, he then spoke up and said it’s nice to meet you Pinkiepie my name is Sky” Pinkie shook his hoof in a hyper active manner and said “if you are ever interested in party’s or trying to throw a party come to me because everypony knows Pinkiepie is the best when it comes to throwing party’s Sky then nodded lost for words.
By the time the introduction between Pinkiepie and Sky was over Applejack had just finished explaining the problem with Sky’s memory to Rainbowdash and how she needed Rainbowdash to teach him how to fly.
“Wait wait wait so you want me to teach Mr. Clueless over there how to fly” Rainbowdash said with a look of confusion on her face, after knowing Rainbowdash for so long Applejack knew exactly what strings to pull to get her to agree “come on Rainbowdash you are one of the best flyers I know and who else would be better to teach him to fly other than the only pony to do the SonicRainBoom in all of equestrian history.
Just as Applejack planed Rainbowdash agreed saying well I guess it makes since though pick the greatest flyer in all of equestrian history to teach your friend Sky so I guess it won’t hurt okay then from this day on I’m am your flying instructor Sky” Sky then jumped up with a look of excitement saying “Thanks Rainbow you’re the best” Rainbow looked him with a confident smile and said I am aren’t I”.
Rainbow dash then spoke up with a strict tone and said “okay are you ready for your first lesson” Sky expression changed from happy to serious as he said oh yah sure I’m ready” Rainbowdash spoke seriously too Sky and said “okay first things first show me how much you know about flying before we start anything.”
Sky did as he was told and stood up straight and flapped wildly as if he was a chicken trying to fly away from a wolf “STOP” Rainbow shouted with a strict tone “you aren’t supposed to flap wildly like that you need to flap your wings in a rhythmic pattern plus you aren’t flapping your wing at the same time your flapping your right way before you left try again but with your left and right wings flapping at the same time okay.
With a slight nod Sky did as instructed and flapped calmly and rhythmically to his surprise he was hovering a few feet off the ground “Good now you’re getting it” Rainbow said as Sky slowly lowered himself back to the ground “now that you got the basics of using your wings we are going to get started on your first lesson Sky”
Rainbow then looked at her two silent friends and said “Applejack Pinkiepie you too can go now I got this under control” Applejack and Pinkiepie both said in unison “if you say so” and then the two of them slowly trotted off towards Applejacks home.”
Rainbowdash then looked at sky with a smirk and said “Okay now that they’re gone let’s get our first lesson started” Sky looked at her with a look of puzzlement and said what is our first lesson exactly” rainbow flew up into the sky and grabbed a cloud and brought it down to the ground in front of Sky and said you will find out soon now get on the cloud” sky simply nodded and climbed on the cloud as he was told.
As soon as he was on top of the cloud Rainbowdash lifted it into the sky until the point that ponyville was nothing but a tiny dot from where they were Sky looked at her and said “Dash why are we going so high” Rainbowdash stopped pushing the cloud higher and said “rule number one to my flying lessons stay calm and rule number two don’t die”
Sky looked at her with terror in his eyes he knew what she was going to do but before he could tell her to stop she destroyed the cloud under him and he began plummeting towards the ground completely forgetting rule number one he was flailing wildly trying to catch his balance but he was to terrified to keep it for long then sky closed his eyes waiting to hit the ground but suddenly he heard Rainbowdash yell what are you doing I told you to stay not to die.
As soon as Sky heard her voice his instinct kicked in and he opened his wings as wide as he could cutting right through the wind slowing down until he finally came to a slow glide once he managed gaining his balance he looked down at Rainbowdash waiting on the ground for his return he looked at her with a big smile even though he was a little upset that she tried fly or die but the fact that he started flying made it all worth.
Sky slowly lowered himself to the ground and galloped towards Rainbowdash, she was then knocked to the ground expecting to get hit in the face she blocked her face with her hooves but to her surprise there was no rage in the eyes of the pony standing over her just happiness as he said “thanks dash I thought I was going to die and gave up but your words gave me confidence” and I made it back in one piece
Rainbow got up and said “no problem but enough with the mushy stuff we are just getting started your second flying lesson will be navigation now that you got the hang of flying up and down and gliding” Sky then looked at her with a big smile and said I can handle anything you can through at me dash Rainbow then put her hoof over Sky’s shoulder pulling him closer and said “that’s the spirit now let’s get started”.