//------------------------------// // The Everfree // Story: Baser Instinct // by Styrofoam //------------------------------// The next morning Spike awoke to a muffled crash drifting up from downstairs in the library. Slowly the dragon stretched, cracked his spine a few times, and wiped the crust from eyelids. “Boy, what a party…” he yawned. He sat there for a moment trapped in a sleepy fugue when all of a sudden another thump even louder than the first crash made him jump up in surprise. “Wha-?” Spike blinked before he hopped out of bed and rushed down the stairs. When he arrived at the bottom step, Spike discovered the source of all the commotion. In the center of the room, Twilight was carefully restacking a tower of books while using her hazy magenta telekinesis. Spike figured that the pile she was working on was the “already read” pile. Several more tomes and pages of hastily scribbled notes laid on the table behind her. “Oh good, you’re finally up,” Twilight said. “Do you mind if you can reshelve these books?” Her hoof pointed to the tower of books she had just finished restacking. “I’ve got to get back to researching.” “Twilight,” frowned Spike. “Have you been doing this since everypony left last night? I thought you said you were going to bed after I went upstairs?” Twilight huffed as she raised her head, obviously put off by Spike’s interruption of her reading. “Yes, Spike, I did say that. But that was before I read a chapter concerning the magical nature of dragons. That chapter about dragons referenced an excerpt from the fifth volume of Care of Magical Creatures, and of course I had to check up on that reference which then led me to a scroll written by…” Twilight frowned as she squinted on a page. “…Clover the Clever of all ponies. I guess I lost track of time.” Spike only stared at the small dark bags which had formed underneath her eyes. “Lost track of time… Right…” he replied. “I’ll go start the coffee.” “But what about the books I asked you to put away?” “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it,” Spike rolled his eyes as he headed to the kitchen. “Honestly, I think coffee and maybe some breakfast is more important right now.” “Breakfast?” Twilight replied, incredulously. “How can you think about your stomach at a time like this?” “Easy!” The dragon shouted back from the kitchen. “I’m hungry.” Twilight groaned. “You’re not being serious about this, Spike! There could be something seriously wrong with you, and neither you nor I know what it is. Princess Celestia doesn’t know a thing we don’t already know about dragons, and I can’t get anything more than a few basic facts and folklore from these books! The symptoms you’ve described to me can’t be found anywhere.” Spike heard the frustration in her voice. He knew that Twilight hated the few times where she didn’t have a solid theory about what was going on and any clue at how she could solve the situation—especially when one of her friends were involved. Twilight always put a little blame upon herself, even when logically there was no reason for her to be blamed at all. It was Spike’s fault that she had gone for so long with knowing, not hers, and it was nopony’s fault for the lack of information out there about dragons, save for the occasionally widely known fact. Spike swallowed a bit of guilt before walking out with a cup of fresh coffee. “Look, I understand where you’re coming from, Twi, but I am being serious. I’m more worried about this than you know—or maybe more than you will ever know because I know firsthoof of the worst things that could happen. Believe me when I say this, but things are different than last time. I have control now; I can make myself snap out of it when I feel something slipping.” He looked down at Twilight who was now staring strangely at him. “Okay, so I know that’s not the best answer, but that’s how it is. What I want to say is that it’s not like last time where we had to race to find out what was happening. We have lots of time. Don’t kill yourself with research like it’s my last day or something.” Twilight was sitting very still when he finished. “Not like last time… Last time…” she muttered to herself, eyes going impossibly wide. “Oh. My. Celestia. Zecora!” Immediately the unicorn shot up, almost making Spike fall back on his rear. “Spike! We need to see Zecora. Right now!” “Right now?” Spike asked, confused. “Right now!” It wasn’t long before the two were facing Zecora’s odd tree hut, deep in the Everfree Forest. Twilight knocked on the door with her hoof, hoping that the zebra was awake since it was still fairly early in the morning. Minutes passed before a shuffling sound was heard, and the door opened, revealing a visibly tired Zecora looking curiously naked without her neck or forearm rings. “Twilight Sparkle…” she yawned. “Please, Zecora, we really need your help,” the unicorn begged. “Could you spare some time?” “To help a friend I always have the time. Please come in and tell me what’s on your mind.” The zebra gestured them inside her home and shut the door. “Thank you, Zecora,” Twilight breathed. She trotted over to the large cauldron in the center of the room containing a bright boiling liquid in an attempt to warm herself after the slightly cool summer morning. Spike moved along with her—not because he was cold, but due to the fact that he was experiencing some majorly creepy déjà vu. “I’m really sorry to bother you, but Spike is having problems again. You were the only one who gave me helpful information last time, and I was wondering could you find out what’s wrong now?” Zecora frowned, then turned her sharp blue eyes in Spike’s direction. Even though he was larger than the zebra, Spike shrunk back a bit. “This time my belongings he does not steal; Twilight Sparkle, certain are you that your fears are real?” “Spike told me so himself,” Twilight answered. “Yeah, it’s true,” Spike admitted. He glanced over at Zecora who was still watching him intently. One side of her head was cocked in curiosity. “Interesting…” the zebra mumbled to herself. She took two hooves and placed them on either side of Spike’s head, squeezing it intently. She drummed his cranium for a bit, leaving Spike with a most irritated expression. “It seems as if the answer you are trying to find is hidden deep within your mind. Come,” she motioned the dragon and the pony closer to the glowing cauldron. “Let us ask the boiling brew to see if it will explain to you.” The three peered over into the depths of the pot. Their reflections shone back at them from the glassy surface of the bright blue liquid for a moment before they vanished altogether. The brew turned cloudy before transforming into an inky black. “Hey, what’s hap-” Spike began, but Zecora quickly shushed him. The black was now being swallowed up by a soft spring green. Said green spread across the surface of the cauldron fairly quickly, but a bit of the black remained far off to the side as if it refused to allow itself to be beaten. “Yes, yes, I had suspected so,” Zecora sounded almost annoyed at this point. “Now tell us what we need to know.” As if the brew itself took offense to that, a large bubble suddenly burst near the onlookers’ faces, making both Spike and Twilight draw back, but Zecora only rolled her eyes. “Such insolence…” she muttered. Spike and Twilight looked at each other and shared a gulp before once again taking their places beside her. The soft spring green was slowly changing now into a stronger emerald hue. Rather than simmer quietly, the liquid began to boil rambunctiously as if it were a colt roughhousing around, but that wasn’t the only thing that changed. The inky black section, somehow sensing that its green oppressor’s strength had waned, began to make forays into its emerald green cousin like long black tentacles. Curiously, there was no integration between the two. “Hmm…” Her brows frowning under deep thought, Zecora turned away from her mixture and paced around the room. Twilight watched her nervously. “Do you have any idea what’s going on here? What exactly did we see?” “We saw that to your problem there is no quick fix. Simply put, your scaly friend must let it mix.” “Wait a minute… ‘Must let it mix?’ Zecora, I have no clue what that even means.” The unicorn rubbed her head with a forearm, trying to mentally digest what the zebra was saying. “Come. I shall tell you what this means. Look here at the black and the green. The black is what all his kind has before they are born; before in this world they are even formed. The green is what he developed during his time with you—the Princesses, the town, and his friends true. But in order for his problem to fix, he must allow these two to mix; for if the way of his kind he continues to reject, his own life he may wreck.” Spike shut his eyes. This was not the answer he was expecting or indeed wanted to hear, not at all. He had to make some sense of it all. “But that isn’t right. You know what would happen yourself, Zecora, if I just sit back and allow it to happen all over again. Do you want to see Ponyville destroyed twice?” At this, Zecora’s eyes flashed, and she stomped her hoof, instantly commanding the attention of all those present in the room. “Now you listen to me for this is true. If not, a sad life it will be for you. Listen now and take heed; a balance is what you truly need.” Spike wanted to counter what she had said. Allow whatever urges he had inside of him to run free? That was suicide--maybe even homicide if somepony got in the way, but at the very least a total disaster--however he could see that there was no use arguing with Zecora. He’d only get confused with more of her cryptic riddles. “Thanks anyway…” he mumbled. Suddenly he felt the pressure of a hoof upon his left shoulder and looked up to see a sympathetic Zecora looking down at him. “I am sorry, young one, to have ruined your day, but please trust me when I tell you it is the only way.” Spike would have responded to her kind words, but at that moment he felt a familiar hitch in the pit of his stomach. An unbearable wave of gas shot up to his mouth, and the dragon burped up a flash of green flames and a small, neatly sealed scroll. “It could be Princess Celestia with something new about dragons!” Twilight abruptly screeched. In her haste, she caught the letter with her hooves, totally forgetting that she was a unicorn and had magic under her disposal. She did, however, remember enough to open the scroll with her magic, and in a flurry, she sat down to read. “It’s, it’s…” Her smile waned a little. “It’s Princess Luna. She says she’s overjoyed at hearing that we’ll be present for the Midsummer Moon Gala this year.” Although Spike wasn’t in his usual good mood, he had to crack a grin at Twilight’s reaction. “Are you disappointed it’s not Princess Celestia?” he teased. “No!” Twilight gritted her teeth. “It-it’s just that I wasn’t expecting a letter from Princess Luna although that is a high honor too! And now she’s expecting me, and there is no way I can screw this up to let her down, and-” A manic look spread across her face, making Spike lean away from her. “And I have to get home. I have to get ready, and I have to prep Big McIntosh on the correct way in how to address a Princess, and then I’ll have to- Wait. Spike, get out a sheet of parchment. We need to make a list.” Spike shook his head, and the corner of his mouth turned up into a smirk. “Yeah, sure Twi. I think we’re going to have to go, Zecora.” He added. Zecora only nodded once before her mouth twisted into a small grin. “Alright, so does everypony here reckon they're in agreement?” Apple Bloom asked. “All ponies who agree to the plan say ‘Aye!’ All of y’all who don’t agree say-” “But there’s one thing I don’t get. How are we gonna pay for all of those quills?” Pumpkin pointed out. “I know my weekly allowance can’t cover it. Pound’s doesn’t either.” “Hey!” her brother cried. “Don’t tell everypony how much money I have! That stuff is personal.” “Pound, we’re foals. Nopony expects us to have lots of bits.” Pumpkin glared at her brother. Pound glared right back. The situation might have turned ugly at that point until Sweetie Belle wisely chose to step between the siblings. “Don’t worry. I’ve got the bits situation taken care of, you two. What you should really be worried about is finally getting your cutie marks,” she smiled. These words seemed to placate the two while the older members of the CMC looked at each other. “Uh, Sweetie Belle…” Apple Bloom whispered. “If ya don’t mind me askin,’ how did you get enough bits to pull this off?” “Well maybe unlike you guys, I just so happen to-” Sweetie began smugly, but was cut off by the sight of Apple Bloom’s and Scootaloo’s blank faces. “Okay, okay, so I begged Rarity to advance me a couple of bits this month,” admitted the curly haired unicorn. “And she wasn’t suspicious about that… At all?” Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Nope!” Sweetie laughed. “When I got back this morning, she was all excited about some gala thing. I could’ve painted the floor green right under her nose, and she wouldn’t have noticed.” She continued to laugh, and both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom joined in with her, but after a few seconds, the trio calmed down. It was time to get to business: cutie mark business. Apple Bloom was the first to confirm things. “Okay, so we agree to meet at Sugarcube corner at four-” “No, wait! After five!” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “I have to dodge Rarity. She’s supposed to leave at five.” “Jeez, Sweetie, you practically live at your sister’s place. Do your parents even come home?” Scootaloo asked. “Of course they do!” Sweetie countered angrily. “Do-” “Now, now,” Apple Bloom started. Inwardly, she rolled her eyes. Those two were almost as bad as Pumpkin and Pound. “We have to agree on a time. Sweetie Belle, you said after five, right?” “Yeah…” Sweetie said, although she was still giving her pegasus friend the stink eye. Apple Bloom sighed. “And y’all don’t have any conflicts, Scoots?” Scootaloo shook her head. “Nada, my evening’s all clear.” “Right tootin.’ Now to tell our other members…” the earth pony grinned before she turned towards Pumpkin and Pound, her two friends following after her. The twin foals looked up expectantly, both eagerly excited at the thought of getting their cutie marks. “As by right of bein’ senior members of the Ponyville branch of Cutie Mark Crusaders, we have decided that we all should meet up at Sugarcube Corner after five this evening,” Apple Bloom stated in her official CMC business voice. Pumpkin and Pound shared an uncomfortable glance at each other. “Um, Apple Bloom…” Pound began. “…we can’t meet you guys at five. We have to help out mom and dad today.” Pumpkin finished. Apple Bloom facehoofed. “And how long will that take?” “Oh I don’t know… Until seven maybe?” Pumpkin shrugged. “But I overheard my mom say that Quills and Sofas stays open until eight.” “Hold on, are you sure kid?” Scootaloo asked. “No…” Pumpkin admitted. At this, all three of the senior members facehoofed. “Maybe?” Pound added tentatively. “But the least we can do is try, right?” His small face lit up. “Sure…” Scootaloo replied. Her two friends felt the same sinking feeling as she. This day was just not going to go their way. Twilight’s list had grown into a whopping number of forty-seven things to do before they left for Canterlot that evening. Spike was thankful that they’d reached the library before she could think of any more. From all his years of working with the slightly manic unicorn he had gotten used to writing for long periods of time, but even now his talons were a bit sore. What he didn’t expect when they arrived however was Rarity standing right in front of the door which an annoyed scowl on her face. That definitely wasn’t the best thing one could come home to. “Um, wow, Rarity. You’re standing in front of my door…” Twilight glanced around nervously. “Indeed I am,” Rarity frowned. “I’ve been waiting here for over thirty minutes with Spike’s tuxedo jacket and waistcoat that I spent the entire night slaving over while I suppose you two went out for a morning stroll.” As the white unicorn said this, her frown progressively got deeper and darker, emphasizing the dark circles around her eyes and less than immaculate mane. The very fact that she had even ventured out in such a state shocked both Spike and Twilight. “And I did tell you last night to expect your outfit to be delivered around ten in the morning, Spikey. Imagine how utterly surprised I was to find out that you had apparently completely forgotten about it. You’re so usually attentive, and I couldn’t just leave it here for some vandal to carry it off…” Spike blanched. In the rush to Zecora’s he had totally forgotten about Rarity and his formal attire. “Sorry, Rarity. Twilight and I had to rush somewhere this morning and well…” He scratched the back of his neck apprehensively. “I guess I forgot all about it.” For a moment, Rarity stiffened as if his apology had not been accepted, but finally she relented and sighed. “Well, I suppose…” Using her magic, she levitated the carefully wrapped package into the dragon’s arms. “I hope you like it. I implemented something quite unique into its design.” Spike couldn’t help but to smile. Any gift from her, no matter how small, left an imprint on his soul. “Thanks, Rarity,” he exhaled. “You are most welcome, but by Celestia, I have to make a run to the spa. I’m over twenty minutes late for my appointment you know…” Suddenly Rarity trailed off and gave her lavender unicorn friend a skeptical once over. “Twilight, do you wish to accompany me?” “W-what?” Twilight blurted out, taken aback completely. “Well, you aren’t exactly looking your best right now, darling. A trip to the spa just may be the thing you need for tonight, and also, I heard from a trusted source that you’re bringing along a certain red stallion,” Rarity added with a conspiratorial glint in her eye at this juicy piece of information. “Really?” Twilight deadpanned. She didn’t have time for this. “Plus Princess Luna will be expecting her there,” Spike added. “Twi wouldn’t dare let Princess Luna down.” Twilight immediately sent a heated glare in his direction, but the dragon smiled back. At times like these, he couldn’t help himself. “Oh, then you must!” Rarity grinned, now pulling Twilight over towards herself. “I can see it now. A trip to the spa is just the thing you need, but whatever are you going to wear, dear? And before you try to fool me, let me tell you that I have indeed seen what’s in your closet.” Twilight gulped. “Well, I don’t know, Rarity. I was thinking about wearing my old Grand Galloping Gala dress again-” Rarity’s small scream of shock nipped whatever Twilight was going to say right in the bud. “B-but that was years ago. Tell me you weren’t serious!” Twilight groaned. There was no way she was getting out of this. She knew now. “You were serious! Oh, Twilight! That’s it!” Rarity stomped her hoof. “After our spa session, we are heading right to the boutique to see if I can fish something suitable for you. Come along, darling. We’re already late!” Twilight, already accepting her fate, only turned back to give Spike another glare. Spike, however, was already on the ground, guffawing loudly.