“Mmmmm, splendid dinner as always. What was that sauce you put on the chicken?”
“Thanks, it was a mixture of garlic, paprika, brown tourmaline, and red wine. But I think I went a little overboard on the tourmaline.”
“Well I thought it was fantastic. Care to go back to our place on the couch in front of the fire? I’m missing my snuggly pillow.”
“Oh, alright, just don’t go dreaming of a world made of gems. Your teeth are sharp you know.”
“I said I was sawy.”
“Aw... how could I not forgive that face,” I said as I leaned over and kissed her briefly while leading her to the couch for another peaceful night of her asleep in my arms which I don’t think I will ever get tired of.
But I don’t think that’s why you’re all here, you’ve been waiting patiently for the rest of the story, hopefully not angry after that sudden interruption.
Now where was I? Oh yes, it took me hours longer than it usually took to get home, didn’t help that I started walking in the exact opposite direction, but either way I found myself on the familiar route back to town. But little to my knowledge at the time, the news of my actions were spreading like wildfire in a desert of dry wood, and it all started with Fluttershy.
Well, I wouldn’t really say it was her fault, she was really more of a pawn in a game that nobody willingly played. She was actually out to gather some fresh herbs for tea that she and Rarity were going to enjoy when she spotted me, so it was technically Rarity’s fault, but I highly doubt she intended what happened, or could have even guessed that when she arrived at the timid pegasus’s house that she would be so frightened out of her mind that she could barely form words, let alone sentences.
Yet after some calming breaths, Rarity did managed to gather that Spike killed and ate something, she also heard that the shy yellow mare saw its hooves shake with each bite. Both Rarity and Fluttershy could barely keep her stomach down when she recounted it, but Rarity still needed to ask if it was indeed Spike, to which she got an affirmative nod.
What immediately followed was a mystery to me, so many different tellings, so many different ponies, it was hard to tell whose mouth spoke what first, but no matter what, the result was the same, an angry mob. Unfortunately this wasn’t the typical angry mob, there were no torches, no pitchforks, only the loud yelling and rough banging on the doors of both the Library and City Hall, so much so that the council that was meeting that day was forced to deal with them.
Twilight, Mayor Mare, and four other officials were nearly barraged by a sea of angry ponies, all condemning the baby dragon assistant for crimes of murder and cannibalism. To which Twilight attempted to ask for proof of such allegations and was quickly discarded with the telling of how Fluttershy witnessed the act and has been too frightened to come out of her house since, as well as tales of ponies always being frightened of the ‘beast next door’, which Twilight could not refute. She knew he was always seen this way from ignorant ponies, always getting stares, always being avoided, always being picked on and harmed because of what he is, rather than who he is, but with this many, even a few of her personal friends among them, she had no choice. She used the Royal Canterlot Voice she learned from Celestia, to quiet the crowd and alert them that Spike is to be brought before her without harm and is to be judged for his alleged crimes, which seemed to please the crowd for now, allowing them to disperse without causing further damage to the building, and allowing the second larger crowd in front of the library to learn of her announcement.
It wasn’t until about an hour or so later that I finally made my way back, first attempting to stop by Fluttershy’s house to try and talk with her, I knew she wasn’t going to answer because of her deathly fear of adult dragons and as I started walking back to town, I was trying to think of a way to talk with her, but the citizens didn’t give me much time to think before I was tied, gagged, and forcefully drawn to the center of town where they yelled for Twilight to come out.
She appeared from the courthouse in a timely and regal manor, shouting towards the crowd about the rumors they’ve been hearing are finally going to be confronted of their truth. She walked to me, still tied and gagged and undid the gag while shouting again, asking if I was in the Everfree Forest earlier today. I answered yes and heard an almost roar of murmurs and hate filled glares that stopped when Twilight asked if I saw Fluttershy there. I knew I had to be honest, so I said that I saw her just before I started heading home, and once again the crowd bursted with murmurs and glares that died as Twilight asked what I was doing when I saw her. I said I was eating when she saw me, and the crowd rushed me, only being restrained by Twilight’s loud shout to stop, pausing before asking her final question.
It was one of the questions I dreaded hearing, one that I hoped this entire mob was not forming over, but it was, she asked me if I was eating something I killed. The crowd was silent, waiting for my answer with agonizing patience, like they were waiting for the signal to strike, and they got it: a faint, whisper of yes.
They didn’t wait an instant to lunge at me, hooves closing to me faster than I could think possible, but they never reached me. They had been stopped by Twilight and her magic, placing a barrier between me and them, staying only long enough for her to lift me off the ground and place me down next to her, still tied motionless. She explained that if she would have let them do what they were going to, that they would be no better than they thought I was, which put serious pause to most of the group, and she said that I was to be banished from Equestria, never to come back in all my years, and was to be escorted by her herself to the border with all of my belongings, so I would have no material reason to come back and they seemed to think of this as the best option, but did not let up with their pursuit of us as Twilight levitated me to the library
Finally, after she closed the door, she undoes the bindings around my hands and feet, and alerts me that she casted a sound proof shield spell, so nobody will hear or disturb us, and I thanked her for that. But it wasn’t long after when she could no longer hold back her tears, throwing herself to my feet and apologizing for what happened, saying that it was just that everyone was so furious and she couldn’t think of anything else to do without hurting me and I could only pat her on the back saying it’s alright, even if it wasn’t.
I held her until she regained herself enough to speak coherent thoughts again, but I still wish she hadn’t, she said that one of the reasons she’ll be sad is because of all the work she’ll have to do now that I’ll be gone, but I tried not to take it to heart saying that she could get more help, but her retort was that she didn’t have the money to spend. I tried to be casual, I tried to be polite in saying that she could pay them with what she was using on me, but she responded with the fact that she only gave me a dog bed and “table scraps” as if she thought nobody would ever work as much as I did for those few things.
I don’t have any idea why she said it that way, I still have no idea, maybe it was because she was under so much stress and because she was losing her oldest friend, but at the time I didn’t want to take it. I went off on her, yelling about how little she gives me by using her own words against her, telling her all the work I do that she didn’t even know about, screaming about how rarely she even talks to me anymore, and shouting that she not only threw me out of our home, not only out of our town, but out of the entire country we live in, only because she has no jurisdiction over more. To which she only sighed in defeat, still on the verge of tears, knowing that it was all true, but thinking to herself that I would be alright in the end, fooling herself to think that I will find better friends than the ones here and now, which is true in a sense.
But regardless of the fact, I was only enraged as I went back up to our room and grabbed the few gems I had stored away, as well as my journal with a few pens and ink, and lastly a framed picture, one I still occasionally look at today, It shown the six of them, having a good time together, if I had a single picture of them with me, I would’ve taken that one, but I didn’t. I was almost out the door when Twilight came to see what I took, almost saddened that I left my bed, and when she asked why I didn’t grab it, I took a deep breath and engulfed it in flames, to which she didn’t hesitate to try and put out while I made my way out.
Outside there was still a crowd of ponies shouting, accusing me now of killing Twilight and trying to go for me again, but stopped by Twilight’s magic as she made her way back out of the library while trying to retain her regal stature, a lesson I dreaded she learned from Celestia that royalty must never show emotions, even in the most troubling times. I made my way through the crowd with little difficulty, as if I was escorted by the royal army itself, but I would think that they could stop a rock from slamming against my head, knocking me to the ground momentarily before continuing on until the forest’s edge.
It wasn’t the most pleasant farewell, but to the untrained eye, one might say it was ceremonious in a sense, if not for the anger in the crowd as Twilight spoke to me one last time, saying that I am to never return to Equestria after leaving its borders through this unforgiving forest, and how I was going to be punished if I were to return. But I didn’t really pay attention, I was only focused on the unknown darkness before me.
“Mmmm... such a big emerald... don’t mind if I...”
“Oh damn, not again! Honey! Honey!”
“Mmmm, oh. What? What!?”
“You started biting again.”
“I’m sorry, I guess I was more tired than I thought. How late is it?”
“Just in time for bed.”
“Hm, alright. At least that way I get to snuggle up even closer to you.”
“Sounds perfect.”