Chapter 4
"Thank you folks for putting off your busy schedules for all coming together to discuss Scootoloo's party." Applejack stated into the microphone on a podium in the barn. She was standing on all hooves on top of a soup box. Her family and the main six were all gathered in the barn. Sweetie Belle was by AppleBloom's side."Scootaloo is our friend and we want the very best."
"That's right." Sweetie Belle agreed, taking her turn at the podium. "And from knowing her all of these years, she will want the best, awesomeness party ever and that is what we are going to give her." AppleBloom went back to speak into the mic.
"So any advise for what to give her?"
"And since she's a kid like us, she would be easier to find a gift for." Sweetie Belle looked at Twilight with a silly grin. "No offense, Twilight."
"No offense taken." Twilight responded to her. "Most of my gifts were books and as much as I like books, there is so much about me than reading, not that I'm complaining and I'm not. Go on. Continue."
"So as I was saying, we should all think of Scootaloos' gift and what we are going to do for her party."
"So any pony with an idea, should speak up now. Come on. There are no bad ideas." Sweetie Belle whispered to AppleBloom.
"Actually, there are. They could suggest things for babies and things for kids."
"But we are kids."
"Younger kids. What if they suggest something that Scootaloo detests?"
"Well hopefully, they don't. I trust the adults to remember our ages and keep those in mind, plus we get a say too. That's why we're doing this, remember?"
"You're right. I trust the adults too."
"Twilight?" Applejack said to her. "I couldn't help but notice a lack of Spike's presence."
"Hey, that's right." Pinkie Pie observed, looking around. "We're planning an awesome party. Who would miss out on that?"
"I don't know." Twilight admitted. "He knew that this was today. He knew this was important so he wouldn't miss it. He reminded me of this event an hour ago."
"Because you almost forgot because of Black Rose?" Rainbow Dash guessed. Twilight grinned at her.
"Right. I'm sure he'll be here shortly."
Black Rose came back into the room. A couple of guard ponies were with her..
"I foolishly put you, a fire breathing dragon in here," She began. "and just realized you could just melt the metal bars with your fire breath, so I'm putting you in a new friend jail cell. So I'm putting you in a new room. You stay here, Rainbow Hooves." She didn't know that the cell was empty.
"Uh, Black Rose?" A guard spoke up to her. "They're gone."
"What?!" Black Rose asked and saw that they were indeed gone. She growled though her teeth.
"It looks like the little dragon did what you feared. The bars are melted off."
"Why didn't you guys tell me?"
"We didn't want to interrupt you." The other guard spoke. "That's rude." Black Rose screamed in frustration.
"Get the other guards and find them!"
"Yes, ma'am!" They both said at once and both trotted away.
"My guards will find you and Rainbow Hooves, Spike." Black Rose said to herself. "And then you will be forced to be my friend, as well as the others from Equestia. I'll make sure of that." She then realized something and grinned from ear to ear. "Because I know exactly where you guys went off too." And with that, she walked off with her guards.
"I wonder why Spike didn't show up." Twilight said when she and the other ponies left the barn. "This isn't like him to miss out on something like this."
"Well the most important thing is that we came up with awesome plans for Scootoloo's party!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah, but still…"
"Spike doesn't go to visit Black Rose, does he?" Rarity asked.
"No." Twilight told her. "He's only been to Friendship Valley once. So he wouldn't do that. He doesn't like her that much, remember? He think she's a bad influence on me."
"Why would he think that?" Pinkie Pie questioned.
"I don't know." Twilight said. "He says she's not who she says she is."
"What kind of pony does Spike think she is?"
"Spike says she's bad and is going to trap me in her book and live with her forever against my will."
"Oh. Weird." She then gasped as she realized something.
"Yeah. It's rediculous. I keep telling him that I'm a full grown pony that can make my own decisions. But sadly he is not seeing what I see for some unknown reason."
"Spike told me about this." The ponies stopped and looked at her. "I'm confused. Is Black Rose a good or a bad pony? I gave you that book, so I can't help but wonder." Twilight went over to her.
"She's a good pony." Twilight answered. Pinkie Pie looked at her.
"How do you know? What if she's a bad pony in disguise? I'll feel awful if it was true. I feel responsible in a way because I gave you her book." Twilight was sick about hearing about this, but answered calmly and in a reassuring tone.
"Pinkie Pie. You did nothing wrong. You gave me the gift of friendship. That's wonderful. You're wonderful and so is your gift." Pinkie Pie was touched by this.
"Aw, really?" Twilight nodded.
"Really." She then grew worried again.
"But what if…?"
"Pinkie Pie, how do you know that I'm not a bad pony in disguise?" Pinkie Pie was shocked that she would even say this.
"Ooh!" Rainbow Dash uttered. "Is this a plot twist? Is our friend Twilight not the pony that we believed to be after a decade?"
"What?! You!?" She laughed, "Yeah, right! You wouldn't hurt a fly, Twilight, wait, would you?" Twilight was annoyed again.
"No!" She said. "I'm not a bad pony and Black Rose isn't as well. I just know because I know."
"Right. And I know you're not a bad pony because I just know. Am I making sense?"
"You're making perfect sense to me."
"If you say so! I'm just glad you're not going to hurt a fly. Fluttershy's happy too, right Fluttershy?"
"Right." The Pegasus agreed as they walked on.
"I guess that defeats your plot twist theory, huh, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked her. Rainbow Dash smiled.
"It does," She said. "but I'm glad Twilight's still with us on the side of good." It was Applejack's turn to smile.
"I'm glad too."
"Her parents live in this house." Rainbow Hooves said to Spike as they were both now in front of a tan colored house.
"And you sure they can help me get home?" Spike asked. The rainbow colored pony nodded.
"But you have to hurry. As soon as Black Rose sees that we escaped, she'll send her guards on us."
"And that'll be bad." Again, Rainbow Hooves nodded and the two approached the door. Spike knocked at the door. "Oh, and the two are put under house arrest." Spike looked at him in disbelief.
"She did that to her own parents?"
"Oh, yes. She'll do anything to have stuff her way."
"Yikes."
"Yes, yikes." The door opened up.
"Yes?" A pony asked on the other side.
"My name is Spike and your daughter trapped me here. I believe you and your husband can help me?" The pony frowned.
"Oh. I'm sorry my daughter did that to you as well. You didn't deserve it. No pony does."
"Yes, I agree, so will you help me?"
"I'd love to, but I can't." Both Spike and Rainbow Hooves were shocked and confused.
"You can't? Why? Rainbow Hooves said you could."
"Correct. Normally we would, but with these gadgets on our hooves," She gestured towards the hoof bracelets she had on one of her hooves. "…we can't use our magic."
"But I thought you could." Rainbow Hooves said to Mrs. Rose. She looked at Rainbow Hooves.
"We could at the start, but as time went on, these bracelets had made our magic grow weaker and weaker. Now we are no longer magic. It's all gone." Rainbow Hooves frowned.
"Bummer." He observed. Mrs. Rose nodded.
"Yes, bummer."
"Well, now what am I going to do?" Spike questioned. "I can't escape this book without the portal."
"You can stay here, young dragon." Spike looked at her.
"I can't do that. This is not my home. Equestia is."
"Where's that?"
"Beyond the pages of this book."
"Oh, that might be a problem then." Spike looked annoyed.
"You think?" He saw the looks he was getting and sighed.
"Sorry. I'm just disappointed and stressed."
"I'm disappointed that you are disappointed."
"So looks like we wasted a trip by coming here, huh, Rainbow Hooves?"
"Looks like it." He agreed.
"Who's out there, honey?" They heard some pony ask from inside of the house.
"Just Rainbow Hooves and his new friend." Mrs. Rose told her husband who just came to the door. "The dragon's not from here, got trapped by our daughter and wanted help to get home from my magic. I had to disappoint him."
"Oh, I see." Mr. Rose looked at Spike and frowned. "This isn't like our daughter you know. She used to be not like this."
"I know."
"FREEZE!" Some pony yelled. They all looked and gasped. It was a police pony. "Everypony, stay where you all are and all of you won't get hurt!" More police ponies galloped to the scene. They then saw Black Rose among them.
"Black Rose!" Rainbow Hooves said.
"Correct." Black Rose said. "I realized I sent you two into a faulty friend jail cell. That was my fault. I'm here to correct that."
"It's not too late to change, Black Rose." Spike said to her.
"The baby dragon is right, sweetie." Mrs. Rose told her daughter. Spike wanted to tell her that he wasn't a baby, but chose not to. Black Rose looked annoyed.
"I'm not going to change, Mom." She told her. "For the final time, nothing is wrong with me. This is who I am and you'll just have to enjoy it because you can't and will never change the way that I think." Mr. Rose sighed.
"We know." He agreed. "Still your mother likes to try."
"I don't know why."
"Because, sweetie, you are…"
"Don't go there, Dad." Mr. Rose sighed.
"You're right, I'm sorry. It'll never happen again."
"Because it's and is always pointless to try." He sighed.
"Right."
"I may not know where I'm going," Spike spoke up. "But I know I'm not going to jail."
"Then will you be my friend?" Black Rose looked at him.
"Will you release these ponies and have no more forced friendships?"
"Nope!"
"Then see you!" Spike began to fly away when a guard pounced on him. "Darn it!"
Spike was in a new jail cell at the police station. He tried to use his firebreath, but it didn't work. The bars just stayed the same. Black Rose laughed.
"You will never fry these bars with your fire." She explained. "The cell that you are in is magic proof. So not only can you use your fire breathing powers, you can't use any powers, period. You can try, but it'll be a waste. Well, you know the drill. Inform one of the guards when you want to be friends." She trotted off. Spike looked at Rainbow Hooves in the next cell.
"Why doesn't Black Rose's parents try to convince her that what she is doing is wrong?"
"They tried to before." He told him. "And countless times before that, but sadly, to no avail."
"So they're giving up?"
"No, Spike, they… hmmm, I guess they are giving up."
"That's sad, giving up on your own daughter."
"It is. But if you tried countless times with no luck, what are you going to do?"
"I guess."
Twilight decided to get to the bottom of this. As soon as she said goodbye to by her friends, she raced to her bed chambers to fetch Black Rose makes a Friend. She flipped to a page, but before she could speak, Black Rose's voice could be heard from the book.
"Aw, Twilight!" She said as the portal appeared. "I was expecting you."
"Is Spike there?" Twilight simply asked. But Black Rose didn't answer. "Uh, Black Rose? Yoo-hoo; anyone there? Hello? Hmmm, guess I'll find out for myself." And with that, she stepped into the portal.
Black Rose met her as soon as she emerged from the portal to Friendship Valley.
"Twilight!" She cried. "You wouldn't believe who is here!"
"It is Spike?"
"Yes! How you'd guess?"
"Because he missed the planning of a friend's birthday party and I wondered if he went here instead." She sighed and frowned. "I'm really sorry about him and the trouble he caused." Black Rose was confused.
"Trouble? What are you talking about?" This time, Twilight was confused.
"He didn't yell and accuse you of taking advantage of me?" Black Rose shook her head. "Really? Because he was saying that to me and that you weren't a true friend?"
"Well, he must have changed his mind for he came here for a friendly visit because he was lonely."
"That doesn't sound like him. He was bad mouthing you to me."
"Ponies change. And so do dragons." Twilight smiled.
"I guess they do. I'm glad because you wouldn't have liked all of the mean things he said about you. I guess he was enjoying himself for like I said before, he missed an event that we had planned." Black Rose faked a frown.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I guess that he did. Hopefully it wasn't too important."
"It's no big deal. We we just planning. I can catch him up on the details later." Black Rose pretended to be relieved.
"That's good. I'd hate it if it was something important."
"If he's missed the actual party, he'd regret it. Still, my friends and I all missed him. So, you know where he is?"
"I sure do. Follow me." And so, Twilight followed her.
"The police station?" Twilight asked as they neared the building. "Why would he be here? What law did he possibly break?"
"Oh, he didn't break any laws." Black Rose told her. "Don't worry about that. He just made friends with the entire police force."
"Oh, that's good that Spike is making friends with the police. He doesn't even know the officers of Ponyville."
"Once you step into Friendship Valley, you want to make friends with everypony, even the police."
"At least it's for a good reason."
"That it is."
"Good day, Black Rose." An officer on duty at the front desk greeted. "I see that you brought a friend here. How lovely. What can I do for you two?"
"We're looking for my friend, Spike." Twilight told him.
"Aw, Spike, yes, the um, little troublesome dragon?"
"Yes. He is a little dragon. But he's not troublesome. I was told he made friends with the entire police force. The officer was confused.
"What?! No, I wish. He made quite the opposite, That's why he's locked up in here. You see…" Black Rose faked a laugh.
"He's kidding." She lied to Twilight. "This guy, always with the jokes." He went up closer to him and clenched her teeth as she spoke to him. "Just play along. Let Spike out now, please!" This time, the officer faked a laugh.
"Oh yes, I was indeed telling a goofy joke." The officer said to Twilight. "I'll let that dragon friend of yours out so you can meet him." He left.
"Black Rose is here with somepony else to see you." The guard said when he went to the room with Spike's cell. Spike looked up at him, shocked. He helped Spike out of the cage.
"Does this mean that I can go free?" Spike hoped out loud.
"Don't bet on it, kid." Spike frowned and hung his head.
"Okay." He walked after the guard.
"Spike!" Twilight said as soon as she saw him. Spike perked up.
"Twilight?" He hoped. He then felt like an idiot, Of course it was her. Who else would it be? He beamed from ear to ear when it was in fact her. He ran up and hugged her leg. "Oh, Twilight, I knew you would come to your senses and come and save me." Twilight was confused.
"Save you?" Spike withdrew.
"Isn't that is what you came to do?"
"Spike, I came here looking for you. You missed out on the planning on Scootoloo's birthday party." Spike frowned.
"Oh." His frown then vanished. "Only because Black Rose imprisioned me here."
"Imprisioned? Why would she do that?"
"Because she's…" He sighed. "You know what? Forget it. You wouldn't believe it anyways." Twilight then became mad again.
"No, I know what you were going to say. You still think she's evil and aways will. I can't be with a dragon that thinks that, therefore you are terminated as my advisor." Spike was shocked. His fear had came true.
"But, Twilight, I…"
"No, Spike, I don't want to hear it." She turned away. "Now I don't know what you're going to do next, but I don't want to ever see you again. I'll go and tell Princess Celestia and the other ponies." Spike was crestfallen.
"You're not going home again, are you, Twilight?" Black Rose asked. "You just got here a few minutes ago." Twilight turned to her
"I am. Sorry, Black Rose. I'm not in the mood to be here right now." Black Rose frowned.
"I understand. Darn ol' Spike. It's all his fault. Still I hate to see friends fight and end their friendships. I think you should forgive him. He was only looking out for you." Twilight sighed.
"I don't know, Black Rose. I...I have to go home and think about it." She pretended to be sad again.
"Aw, do you have to?"
"Yes, I think I should."
"Ok, I suppose if you feel like it's for the best. While you're gone, why don't you invite Scootdette and your friends and have her party here?"
"Uh, her name is Scootaloo and I don't think so. And you can't come I'm afraid. My friends don't know you that well, so it might get awkward. You understand that, right?" Twilight didn't notice the evil grin on her face,
"Oh, I understand."
"Great! So come and help me portal home and I'll see you tomorrow."
"No. I'm afraid that's not going to happen." Twilight turned to her, confused.
"What?! Come on Black Rose, don't play games. Help me portal back home."
"I'm afraid I'm not playing games, Twilight. I'm serious. This is your home now. We can be friends forever and ever. Isn't that great?" Twilight gasped.