A Clone Gargoyle's Equestrian Tale

Royal Lessons: Pet Caretaker/Games Inspector

S3 Eps 11 and 12 combined! I was gonna do them separately but then figured why not combine them? Just for Sidekicks for the beginning and end and Games Ponies Play for the middle. But soon we'll close the book on this season finally with Magical Mystery Cure!

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Malibu one cheerful day had decided to go and visit Spike, Shadow on his shoulder. He was rather happy this morning because him and his other friends were called to the Crystal Empire for an important task.

He couldn't wait to see Cadence and explore more of the empire, before soon Malibu nearly ran into Fluttershy who had Angel on her shoulder.

"What's going on, Fluttershy?" Malibu asked curiously. Fluttershy lowered her head a little.

"Oh, uh, just visiting Spike too," She said nervously as the duo reached the library. But before he could knock, a shout was heard from inside. "WHYYYY?!" It sounded like Spike.

He and Fluttershy looked at one another in confusion as Malibu tried to knock again. "Spike? You there?"

The door opened, revealing Spike looking quite downcast while holding a bowl of what looked like cake mix to Malibu. "Hey." He mumbled, Fluttershy gasping a little. "Oh! Oh goodness, I-I hope I'm not interrupting anything," She said in fear.

Spike shrugged. "Well... I do have this cake to not bake." He said in a sarcastic sounding way.

Malibu swished his tail. "I'm sorry if we were interrupting," he apologized, backing up while Shadow squeaked on his shoulder at Owlowiscious who hooted back in greeting.

"Uh, inside joke. Talk to me." Spike invited with a smile. Fluttershy flushed, talking again.

"It's just that... Princess Cadence needs us to do a great job welcoming the Head of the Equestrian Games when she visits the Crystal Empire tomorrow—." She started, Malibu cutting her off.

"We already know," He muttered under his breath, gesturing to Spike who looked rather downcast. Spike kicked the ground. "Oh, yeah. As if I wouldn't be any help at welcoming..."

Fluttershy's ears lowered. "I don't know what was I thinking. Of course you might be upset for not being invited, and... here I am coming to ask you for a favor. You were probably going to say no anyway. All I had to offer you in exchange is one little jewel," She said sadly, which perked up Spike's interest almost instantly.

"What was that?" Spike yelped. Malibu watched Fluttershy pull out a large green jewel. "All I have is this jewel.

Malibu noted Spike's eyes fill with lust for the jewel which made him chuckle. "That's-that's a really big one!" He took it in his claws. "A really big, juicky, perfect-for-a-cake-topper jewel!"

Fluttershy smiled in hope. "So does that mean you'll do it?" She asked. Spike nodded, stroking the jewel, more focused on that than what Fluttershy had on mind. "Yeah... sure..."

"Oh, thank you, thank you! So while I'm gone, you'll take care of Angel, and tomorrow is Tuesday, which is his tail fluffing day, and it's really important for him to look good." Fluttershy offered then as a task.

The former gargoyle clone felt startled a little that Fluttershy would trust Spike to look after her beloved bunny since before he wasn't quite the animal whisperer. But... since he seemed to be the only available friend remaining behind. Possibly, Malibu could leave Shadow with him, just to test to see if he could take care of the animals better this time.

Spike however was not quite pleased. "Wait, what? You want me to take care of him?" He said in an annoyed voice, Angel blowing a raspberry. Shadow narrowed his eyes too. He himself, being a bat never fancied Angel much but enjoyed the company of Owlowiscious, Opalescence, Winona, Tank, and Gummy the most.