Spike let out a frustrated sigh. Despite his best attempts at following the story in the current issue of "Power Ponies" comic book, he realized that he simply couldn't concentrate on what was going on. He just couldn't seem to get his head into the adventures of the heroes on the pages, as his mind continually wandered elsewhere.
It had been raining since he'd woken up this morning. It certainly wasn't the most ideal development in the middle of a heatwave, but there wasn't much that could be done about that since it'd been scheduled by the weather factory in up Cloudsdale. For whatever reason it'd been ordered, and they were stuck with it as Ponyville was turned into a soggy mess as a result, which would eventually become a sweltering mess when the sun came back.
There was a rumble of thunder in the distance, and the crack of lightning following shortly after. It went without saying that nopony would be getting out in this mess today, unless it was absolutely necessary. Which was fine by him, as they didn't have any pressing matters to attend to outside of the palace today.
Unfortunately there were no matters to attend to inside the palace either. Crazy as that might sound, that was actually the case today.
He certainly appreciated having downtime as much as anypony, but right now there was the desire to have something to do; something physical that would allow him to simply stop thinking so much about everything. To stop thinking about Pinkie...
Hearing her tell the story herself, rather than hearing Twilight's recounting of it, had struck them a lot harder than he'd initially believed would be the case, and added a whole lot of context to what they'd witnessed on that fateful day.
He, Applejack, and Rarity, none of them had thought twice about agreeing to let Pinkie have as much time as she needed to sort things out and figure out how she wanted to proceed in this whole mess with Twilight. They knew they couldn't pressure her into making an immediate decision about it, and they weren't about to try either.
Whatever decision Pinkie ultimately made on how she wanted to proceed, it didn't really matter to him either one way or the other since it didn't affect him. All he really cared about was her talking with Twilight to let her know what she wanted, so the latter could make an informed, rational decision based on facts rather than assumptions. No matter what happened, in the end Twilight was still going to be Twilight, and that was all that really mattered.
But still. Whatever was going to come to pass, there was the desire that it would do so sooner rather than later.
For three long days now, he'd been as anxious as a foal on Hearthswarming Eve, eagerly anticipating the morning to see what was in all the presents. And trying to appear calm so as to not make Twilight suspicious, while at the same time being anxious about what was going to come to pass, was not an easy thing to do. Nor was it getting easier with each passing day.
He wouldn't begrudge Pinkie needing time to sort things out for herself. But he still couldn't help but wish that she'd hurry up and come to a decision already, so he knew how things were going to proceed. The longer things took to be resolved, the longer he had to speculate blindly.
"It's useless," he sighed and unceremoniously tossed the comic book aside, paying no attention as it fell to the floor of his room. Try as he might, he simply couldn't distract himself from his own lingering, anxious, uncertain thoughts.
Another rumble of thunder sounded in the distance, reminding him of the fact that it was still raining outside.
And then an idea came to him. If there was nothing that he could do to take his mind off things, then he was simply going to do nothing, and catch up on some much-needed rest while the temperature wasn't totally unbearable. Twilight had already said she didn't foresee needing him for anything today, so why not?
"Maybe I can talk to Princess Luna about this..." he muttered as he laid down and rest his head on his pillow. Knowing the Night Princess was both aware and supportive of Twilight being a nudist made things a lot easier, as he didn't have to worry about unintentionally dreaming about matters that'd be pretty hard to explain if she were to visit him for whatever reason.
With her being in the know, that might actually help them even more. If he could get in contact with Princess Luna, and explain the situation to her, maybe she could pay Pinkie a nocturnal visit, and provide her with the help that she needed.
"Maybe-" he started, but yawned before he could finish voicing his thoughts. He hadn't realized it previously, but now that he was actually comfortable, both he and his eyelids were feeling the full weight of just how tired he really was.
Before he even fully realized the fact, he was already out like a light.
"... Spike... Spike..."
Exactly how long Spike had been asleep for, he didn't have a clue. He didn't actually remember falling asleep to begin with. He didn't even remember any dreams he might've had during that time he'd been asleep.
"Spike. Wake up, Spike..."
As the haze of sleep slowly lost its grip over him, he realized with equal slowness that somepony was addressing him. Along with poking him in the stomach with something that felt vaguely hoof-shaped.
With a grumble, he eventually surrendered to the fact that he wasn't going to get anymore rest and began to stir on his own, simply to bring an end to the irritation of being disturbed by a yet-to-be identified individual.
As his eyes adjusted and focused, he saw that it was Twilight standing by his bed, hoof raised and poised to likely poke him again if he hadn't stirred.
"Twilight?" he asked, before letting out a yawn. "What's going on?"
"You've been asleep for quite a while, Spike. Are you feeling alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm alright, just tired is all," he replied, before pulling himself up into a sitting position. "How long was I asleep anyway? It didn't feel like any time at all."
"Long enough that you completely missed lunch, and didn't even get an afternoon snack. I didn't think it was a good idea to let you miss dinner as well," Twilight explained.
Spike was having trouble believing what he was hearing. Dinner? He'd been asleep the entire day!? How had that even happened? Why-
The growling of his stomach brought an end to his internal questioning of things. If he really had been asleep this entire time, it was no surprise that he'd be feeling this hungry, now that he was awake. It was an empty, cavernous sort of growl, that demanded sustenance be shoveled in now!
"Yeah. Dinner sounds mighty good right about now," he admitted without an ounce of shame. "Have you eaten yet?"
Twilight shook her head. "I planned on waiting for you to wake up first. But..." she trailed off, interrupted by her own stomach releasing a growl of its own, accompanied by an uneasy chuckling in the wake of being outed.
"Oh. Sorry about that," Spike replied sheepishly at the reveal. Shame on him this time around. "Alright, then, let's go get something to eat."
Twilight turned around to leave, but didn't actually move toward the door just yet. He interpreted this as an invitation for a ride to the kitchen and jumped at it, easily leaping onto her back from the bed. Only then did she actually take off and begin moving.
Silly as it might seem, he was thankful for the offer of the ride. Despite being awake now, he was still pretty tired as a result from sleeping so long. He'd need to be up and around for a while to shake that feeling. Plus he'd probably be awake late tonight as a result of getting so much rest this afternoon. But that was alright, at least he didn't have school to attend the next morning when the after effects would be most present.
"So has it been raining this whole time?" he asked as they traveled along.
"To the best of my knowledge. Although admittedly I haven't been paying close attention to the weather," Twilight replied as she trotted along. "You know how it is. You get distracted by other things, and your perception of your surroundings gets completely obscured."
Spike nodded. But whether she was talking about herself, or about him, he really didn't know. They were both pretty guilty of losing track of themselves at one time or another, so it was difficult to tell for sure on this one.
"Pinkie dropped by while you were asleep..."
The shift in the tone of Twilight's voice was almost unnoticeable, but it was evident enough for him to suddenly feel tense as he heard it.
"Yeah?" he asked uneasily, anxious about what she had to say, but at the same time apprehensive in case it was bad news.
Twilight nodded, her pace slowing down considerably as she began talking again. "We had a very long, very interesting conversation while you were asleep."
The tone she was using was making him more uneasy by the moment. If she was going to drop the hammer on him he did, he really wished she'd just get it over with and not drag it out for whatever reason.
"Oh yeah? W-what about?"
"Lots of things actually. Like how you went to Rarity and Applejack to tell them about what we talked about earlier in the day," Twilight stated as her pace slowed to a complete stop in the middle of the hallway, and slowly turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye. "I only have myself to blame for that one. I didn't really tell you not to talk to anypony about the matter."
Spike suddenly felt a lump of nervousness in this throat. "Twilight, I can explain."
Twilight shook her head, dismissing Spike's protest before it could even be formed. "I'm sure you can, Spike, but that's really not necessary. I know what I need to about what you and the others did. You were trying to help me because you thought I needed help, but in the process you wound up helping Pinkie when she was really in need. By bringing this subject to light, she can get the help and support she needs in order to properly come to terms with what she had to go through. "
This was definitely not how Spike imagined this conversation going.
"So... you're not mad then?"
"Oh believe me, Spike, I'm plenty mad alright. But I'm mad with myself rather than anyone else, over just how poorly I managed this entire incident," Twilight admitted.
The next thing Spike knew, he felt himself being levitated off of Twilight's back, and pulled into a hug as she sat down on the crystal flooring of the hallway.
"So many things could've gone wrong here. The only reason they didn't is because you had enough sense to actually get involved; more sense than I had, because I was simply going to let the matter drop entirely. Doing that would've caused more harm than good in the long run, but I just didn't see it at the time," she continued.
Spike didn't understand all of the details that Twilight was currently talking about, or at least referring to, but that really wasn't unusual once she got going. He knew that they'd helped her, and they'd wound up helping Pinkie at the same time, and for right now that was good enough for him. He could ask her for a proper elaboration of the matter later on, but right now it didn't strike him as important enough to be immediately concerned about.
"Thank you, Spike..."
"Hey, it's what I do," Spike replied, uncertain of what else to say on the subject. Uncertain, and seeking clarification on another matter that had yet to be addressed. "So what's this mean for you? Can you go back to being a nudist? Or is that officially over now?"
"Why don't you tell me," Twilight suggested.
Spike had been confused before, and this trend really wasn't showing any signs of letting up; not with statements like that being made. How in Equestria was he supposed to know about what went on when he was asleep, and...
As he was asking himself that very question, he realized that he'd had access to the answer and didn't even know it. He was pressed up against Twilight currently, and before that he'd been riding on top of her back. He shifted, and realized that what he was feeling didn't match what he was seeing. There was no texture of fur, and her "coat" had no yield or give to it as his hands trailed along it, leaving no visible trails behind from individual hairs moving in accordance with such. There was something hard and metal at her neck that he couldn't see, but he could definitely feel as his fingers traced along something familiar.
When he'd awoken from his nap, he hadn't expected anything to be different from the past few days. He simply hadn't paid any attention to what was in front of him when he'd climbed atop Twilight's back. Although now that seemed kinda stupid in hindsight.
Twilight's giggling snapped him out of his exploration and brought his attention back to her directly.
"Your fur's gone," he noted. "So everything's good again?"
"Actually... no, it isn't. Or at least not yet anyway. What Pinkie went through was significant, and that trauma won't simply go away in the course of an afternoon. I honestly don't know if it ever can go away. But it's possible that the trauma can be lessened to an extent," Twilight explained.
"Yeah? How?" Spike asked, intrigued by the idea.
"Ah... well I'd describe it as something of a combination of exposure therapy, and positive reinforcement. Whenever possible, Pinkie's going to be spending time with me while I'm bald, thus exposing her to the underlying trigger of her trauma in a safe and controlled setting. At the same time, we're going to engage in events and activities of her choice around the palace, which will provide her with a degree of security and control over how things proceed," Twilight explained. "The theory we've worked out so far is that the combination of the two should help offset her discomfort, and potentially allow her to associate baldness with more pleasant memories, thus minimizing the impact of the trauma."
"Wow," Spike replied, now feeling somewhat disappointed that he'd slept through everything. "And you think that'll work?"
"Honestly? I don't have a clue. The preliminary results seem promising and all, but only time will tell if these results are sustainable over the long term. We'll just have to see how things go, and adjust our plan accordingly if it proves necessary," Twilight replied. "Somehow, I get the feeling that I'm going to learn how to do a lot of baking..."
"Probably," Spike replied and chuckled at the mental image of how this would likely end. "Well you can count on me, I'll help however I can."
"I know, Spike, and I really appreciate that. I appreciate all the help you've been to me throughout all of this, even when I didn't even know I needed help," Twilight stated and pulled him into another hug.
Spike returned the hug and smiled. He didn't always understand everything Twilight said, but he understood enough when it was important. Twilight and Pinkie had talked things out like adults, and had come to an understanding that could be mutually beneficial. Pinkie was going to get the help she needed from a friend that cared, and Twilight could keep up with her nudist endeavors without having to feel bad about it. As far as he was concerned, today had been a very good day!
"Now. With all that said, you're grounded."
The mood whiplash the statement generated had caught Spike completely off guard, leaving him wondering if he'd actually heard right. He was grounded? Seriously? What for!?
"Huh? Why?" he asked, unable to put anymore eloquence into the question than that. First she was thanking him for his help, and then she was grounding him in the very next sentence? What'd happened? More importantly, how had it happened so quick? "I thought you were glad I got involved in this!"
"Oh, believe me, Spike, I am," Twilight replied quickly and nodded. "No. This is for a different, unrelated matter," she explained.
"What sort of matter?" he asked.
Twilight opened her mouth a few times to respond, but only wound up closing it again. Finally with a sigh, she used her magic to undo the necklace she'd been wearing, causing her illusion to shimmer and fade away, letting her bare skin come into full view.
Spike's eyes went wide with surprise. Twilight's skin was covered in all manner of black graffiti! Nose to tail, horn to hoof, and everything in between, it was hard to find a spot that wasn't adorned with words, or random designs and squiggles, and covered her body like she was an artist's canvas. Not even her face, which currently wore a curly mustache and goatee, with the outline of what looked like a monocle around her left eye.
He honestly didn't mean to. But at the sight of the stereotypical villain trademarks, he snorted with amusement, unable to keep himself composed. "What in Tartarus happened to you!?"
Twilight sighed again, unamused by Spike's amusement at her situation. "When we were trying to figure out the basis for putting this plan into action, I made the unfortunate decision of randomly suggesting we play connect the dots with the freckling on my skin. The idea was so random in fact, that Pinkie utterly loved the sound of it; especially when we got underway, and she found out just how ticklish my bare skin really was," she explained.
Try as he might, Spike could barely keep from laughing as Twilight told the story. The disapproving frown she gave in response didn't help matters any; not with her wearing comic book villain markers.
"But it's alright. I didn't mind doing it for Pinkie. To see her happy, it was worth it. And if she wants to, I'll do it again," she continued and shrugged. "That's not the issue, however. No. The issue is, when I went to the supply room to retrieve the markers we'd need, I didn't realize at the time that the washable markers had gotten mixed up with the permanent markers, and weren't stored in their designated space on the shelf. And I didn't realize the error until I tried to wash up, and couldn't figure out why it wasn't coming off..."
Slowly Spike's amusement died down as Twilight's words started to paint a more complete picture of what was wrong. "Oh... oh crud."
Twilight nodded with his evaluation. "This is why everything in the supply room is labeled and organized, Spike, to avoid mix ups that could lead to such... unfortunate developments occurring."
Spike sighed as everything came together for him. Twilight wasn't grounding him for getting involved in all this, she was grounding him for not keeping the supply room properly organized. It was kind of petty and all, but at the same time he could kinda understand it. If it'd been him that received the mural treatment, he'd be kinda peeved too. If the wrong markers were used on a dry erase board, you could just throw it out and get a new one. But your own skin?
"Alright," he sighed again in acceptance of his fate. "So how long am I grounded for?" he asked, wanting to know what the damage was going to be so he could plan accordingly.
"Well, in light of certain mitigating factors, like all of the good that came about as a result of your choosing to act where I didn't, I'd say... as long as it takes to make sure everything is where it belongs in the supply room," Twilight stated.
He had heard Twilight's words, but he was having trouble understanding it. He was grounded... for as long as it took him to make sure the supply room was properly organized? His punishment was to perform the normal chores that were done when they had to restock things? Was... was she trolling him or something? Was she giving him a hard time in an effort to be silly?
"But first, dinner."
Yep. She was definitely trying to be funny. That was his evaluation as he found himself levitated back onto her back as she started walking again, her necklace and the resulting illusion now absent as her message had been delivered.
"Oh well," he thought to himself and shrugged as he settled in for the ride. He'd still come out ahead in the situation as far as he was concerned. If she was just asking him to do some simple inventory work, just checking to make sure things were where they were supposed to be, he really couldn't complain too much. After all, she wasn't asking for a complete reorganization of the supply room or anything like that. It was just...
Wait a minute...
"Wait a minute," he said, his mouth echoing his mind. "How in the world did you even get permanent markers confused for washable markers in the first place? The ones you order come in two very distinct styles. Even if they weren't put in the right spots on the shelves, you still should've been able to recognize the mistake pretty easily. That's why you get them in two distinct styles to begin with," he pointed out.
Twilight had almost skidded to a stop as he brought this up. "T-that's not the issue, here, Spike-" she stuttered defensively.
"You just assumed, and didn't even bother to check and see if what you grabbed was the right thing, did you?" he asked in an ever-growing accusatory tone of address. The fact that she was flinching, and trying not to make eye contact just further reinforced the fact that he was right on this.
"Spike-"
"Did you?" he asked further as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"... No..." she admitted, sounding ashamed of the fact, "but-"
Whatever she had to say in either protest, or defense of herself, he didn't really care, as he didn't wait to hear it. Instead of letting her try and talk her way out of taking responsibility for her own screw up, he went about tickling her sides, effectively putting an end to her protests as she squealed with laughter. Laughter and wriggling to get away from his claws as they danced over her exposed and vulnerable skin. Wriggling that sent the both of them to the floor of the hallway.
"Say you surrender!" Spike ordered as he quickly climbed atop her again and sat on her furless belly.
"Spike-"
More tickling ensued, a wicked amused grin across his face as he went about assaulting her along her ribs, reducing her to hysterical laughter, with one of her hind legs thumping against the crystal flooring.
"I surrender!" Twilight finally managed to cry out. Not that it really did her much good, as he was showing no signs of relenting. "I surrender! I surrender! Uncle! Uncle! Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!" she continued pleading through her laughter.
The assault slowed to a trickle, but didn't yet come to a complete stop. "Am I still grounded?" he asked as his fingers paused.
"No!" Twilight cried out.
"Is it my fault you didn't check to make sure you grabbed the right markers?" he asked.
"Spike-" she started, only to tense up as she felt his claws beginning to move against her soft underbelly, and knew he was going to start tickling her again. "No! No it isn't!"
"No, I didn't think so," Spike replied triumphantly, before finally deciding to stop tormenting Twilight, and actually let her recover as the aftershocks of his assault ran the course through her system.
"You evil, wicked little dragon you," Twilight gasped out as she was finally allowed to breath again. "You are so going to get it for that!"
It was a declaration that would've carried must more impressiveness, had it not been punctuated by the sound of Twilight's stomach growling loudly, demanding food now. Just the timing alone had been enough to put a sheepish grin on her face, and redden her cheeks significantly.
"But first, dinner. One can't exactly go about planning revenge against their number one assistance on an empty stomach, now, can they?" she asked.
"Nope. Gotta be well fed, along with well rested if you're gonna get the drop on a dragon," Spike stated before climbing off of Twilight, letting her get back onto her hooves once again.
Twilight let out a breath. "All joking aside, Spike, I'm very lucky to have you as a friend. I don't know what I'd do without you. And I really wouldn't want to find out either," she admitted and pulled him into a hug again with one of her forelegs.
"Yeah, it'd probably suck," Spike replied, "meanwhile I'm lucky we've got the friends we do. If Applejack and Rarity hadn't been on board, I don't think I could've pulled this off, and who knows where we'd be now?"
"It certainly is an interesting conundrum to consider. If Rarity hadn't been so supportive, you and the others likely wouldn't know what I'm up to. Pinkie wouldn't have discovered my being a nudist, and we'd never know what she went through growing up. Meaning she'd never get the help she needs, and there's no way of knowing if something else down the line would've reminded her of her trauma, and led to even more disastrous results," Twilight explained. It was so difficult to tell just what would've happened if things had deviated any. But thankfully that hadn't been the case. "I'm so going to thank them tomorrow for how much they helped."
"That, and let them know that everything worked out for the best," Spike pointed out. A thank you was good, but a thank you combined with informing them about how things went would be a lot better.
"Of course, that goes without saying," Twilight agreed and nodded.
How might things have progressed if any of the variable factors in play had been different was a question that Twilight couldn't even begin to try and figure out. If she was being honest with herself, she really didn't want to try and figure it out either. Despite some hiccups and potholes along the way, everything that'd happened so far, had culminated in what was ultimately a positive and beneficial manner. Why risk jinxing it by questioning the how and why of it all?
"Alright then, enough about all of this. Let's go get dinner," she stated.
"You won't get any argument from me on that one! Onward!" Spike eagerly called, before moving to climb up on Twilight's back.
"Onward!" Twilight cried in agreement.