//------------------------------// // After the Prom: Spike and Scootaloo // Story: The After Years // by thewaffler //------------------------------// When we last left our group of intrepid teenagers, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had won prom prince (in this case princess) and (other) princess with Spike and Scootaloo coming in second place. Shortly after the award ceremony the two had ducked into the Canterlot Gardens. It was deep within the recesses of the Canterlot Gardens hedge maze the morning after the prom; the ground was littered with torn clothing, broken branches and burned grass. Laying upon the chaos and destruction were the garden's temporary residents consisting of an orange pegasus and a purple dragon cuddling in a lovers embrace. Their peace couldn't last forever as Celestia’s moment killing sun hit the exhausted pair. "Mmm...morning Scoots." Spike whispered half asleep as he wrapped his arm around the pony beside him. The mare responded by nuzzling into her drake as she breathed in his scent. Eventually the pair began to stir, not because they particularly wanted to, but because they needed to head back home before Twilight and their friends sent out a search party. Spike began to place the ruined remnants of his suit on his person and Scootaloo did the same with her own ripped and clawed dress. The disheveled couple then faced each other and in an aura of perfect timing began to laugh at one another’s appearance. "BWAHAHAHAHA...you...you look like...like a hobo that got into a fight with a can of whup ass...hahaha..." "HAHAHAHAHAHA...you're one to talk, you're like a crazy cat lady...heheheheh..." Then he began to imitate a crazed feline obsessed vagrant complete with crippled walk and speaking in gibberish as he wiped the tears of mirth from his face. Once the two had settle down the moved on to more pressing issues like how in the holy f@!k were they going to get out of the maze. "I could hover and find us the right way out." Scootaloo shrugged as she levitated herself above the maze for a few brief seconds only to see that they in their hormone lust filled minds had somehow wondered deep into the green labyrinth. "Yeah, this ain't gonna work." Then an area struck the drake. "Watch this." The pegasus watched awe and her boyfriend began to claw through the maze as if he were Daring Do using a machete to cut through jungle overgrowth. Yeah, it was cheating by puzzle standards, but at that point the couple couldn't care less as right now they want to go home and grab a bite to eat, not necessarily in that order. Sometime Later Spike and Scootaloo had made their way to the entrance of the maze leaving behind a lot of broken branches and one very pissed off grounds keeper. After looking at the perfect clear sky and the adjacent Gala Hall that only a few hours earlier had held a mass prom for several schools along the eastern coast of Equestria and the mess that came with the event. It was beautiful day, too nice to sit in a stuffy train all day for the trip back to Ponyville and with that the two came to a singular decision. 'Do we have to go home right away?' The pair thought unanimously. "It really is nice out and I'm sure if I send a letter to Twilight, she won't be too mad." "Doesn't bother me, Fluttershy is still at her family reunion." Scootaloo shrugged as she tried to keep her dress in one piece. "Plus, it's been awhile since we've been on any type of real date." All Spike could was nod, offer a tender hug and pull out a napkin from his jacket and ask a nearby member of the palace custodial staff for a pen. After a few seconds of scribbling, he burned the note sending it up in a puff of green smoke. Meanwhile in Ponyville "That drake is in so much trouble." Twilight was on the verge of bursting into merry flame after being up all night waiting her young ward to come home. Donut Joe tried to defuse his fiancé’s anger with a light shoulder rub with his magic because he knew well enough that when the element of magic was pissed it was best to keep a fair distance. "Relax babe, what's the worst that could happen?" "RELAX?! WHAT'S THE WORSE THAT COULD HAPPEN?! WHY HE COU--" Her rant was interrupted with a paper napkin materializing in front of her. "Oh, a letter from Spike." The message read: Hey Twilight, me and Scoots are gonna go do the tourist thing today, we'll catch a train tonight and be back tomorrow morning. Sorry, if we made you worry. Love, Spike After reading the note, the purple mare's anger almost seemed to entirely dissipate which made her stallion very confused to say the least. "You're not mad anymore?" "Oh, I'm mad Joey. It's just that with the letter I'm less mad, that and this massage for lack of a better word feels magical." Twilight purred as Joe's aura softened her tense muscles. Back in Canterlot Spike and Scootaloo were making their way through the Gala Hall and deeper into the castle towards the Royal Dining Hall. Being hatched by one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria as well being partially raised by the demi-goddess of the sun has its perks. One of said perks includes a free continental breakfast. The couple walked/trotted into the ornate Dining area to find that the two princesses and god of chaos were already seated at the table or in the case of the draconequus levitating six feet off the ground upside down. Luna seemed to be enjoying her dinner whereas her sister Celestia was the exact opposite grumbling and mumbling to herself. "Heart healthy....stupid grapefruit... note to self make growing grapefruit punishable by death..." Discord could help but look on Celestia and with amusement as he ate a bowl of chocolate covered cotton candy and broken glass. Eventually the dining gods noticed the pony and dragon in the room. "My, my, you two look like you had fun last night. Let me guess, Night Moves minus the summer time?" Spike and Scootaloo both turned a bright shade of red. "Please sit, young ones. Tell us did we do well in making sure that merry making was had at the adolescent ball?" The pair nodded awkwardly before each being offered a seat by one of the many palace servants that catered the dining table. Once the initial weirdness passed they ate their breakfast of muffins, gems, and waffles all while having polite conversation with the three immortal beings. Just as they were about to leave the table to enjoy the rest of their day, the solar princess caught their attention. "Oh and Spike, I took the liberties of arranging travel arrangements for the two of you back Ponyville via my private car." "Uh, thanks princess." Both wondering how Celestia knew what they were planning to do later that day, but the two just shrugged it off as Spike with his arm dragged over Scootaloo's shoulder as they left the castle and made their way through the market district of downtown Canterlot. They could have just discarded their torn and mangled clothing as ponies and dragons didn't wear clothes normally anyway. And while this was usually the case in Ponyville, Canterlot residents tended to wear some type of garment. It was with this mindset that the interspecies couple entered the closest thing Canterlot had to a generic retail clothing outlet. "We don't serve your kind here!" Scootaloo was the first to be offended by that statement and was about to beat the store clerk into paste as she was held in place by her partner. "What's wrong with dragons?!" "Dragons? This has nothing to do with dragons. We don't serve the homeless." "We're not hobos, here's my card." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "You're not pulling that dragon code thingy out again?" "My Drag..." Spike looked slightly confused before he remembered that silly code card he used to whip out at a moment’s notice. ”No, no *shakes head* this is my debit card." The Drake turned to the retail associate, "we got into a slight altercation that may or may not have involved a hedge maze, fire and firm yet gentle claws." Spike whispered that last part as he winked suggestively to his mare causing her to blush a deep shade of crimson. Being oblivious and to too tired to notice what was happening between the dragon and the pegasus. "My apologies, my name is Hard Time, feel free to look around and if you need as help please hesitate to ask." It wasn't too much later that Spike and Scootaloo left the store, but not before making Hard Time's day a little bit miserable as Spike had cut the price tags off of most of the shirts in the male section. They went through the rest of the day visiting the sites and in general acting like any other young couple as they continued their trek through the city. They finished their day by going to the Wax Works wax museum, which was the crappiest wax museum in all of Equestria. Why? Because why waste bits to gush over accurate and perfect models of celebrities and historical figures when you could look at sculpted monstrosities. Yeah, it was pretty popular with the hipsters, teens and anyone that wanted a good dose of irony and laughter. "Is that, Star Swirl the Bearded?" "Looks more like Rowdy Macho Stallion. Ooooh Yeeeeaaah." Spike's pretty spot on impression earned him a giggle from the orange mare. "What about this one?" "I think it's a purple hoofball with green bottle caps super glued to it." Scootaloo had got around to reading the label attached to the wax figure and found it very difficult to compose herself. "Um...*snicker* you might wanna read the description..." "This yadda, yadda, yadda, Spite: pet to the elements of harmony!" "Pfft...It gets even better..." "He is fueled by jelly beans. Yes, his favorite food is jelly beans. Twilight saved the Crystal Empire by throwing him into the jaws of the black pony shark monster named Sombrero." At this point spike was positively fuming because while he was raised by ponies, he was still a dragon and dragons naturally are very prideful creatures. The only thing that kept him from turning the museum into sea of melted paraffin was calming himself down and hatching an idea so clever that it should have been done in the Cutie Mark Crusader former clubhouse. With that in mind he and the still giggling mare went to the models of the Canterlot royal family. "Hey wanna see something truly funny?" He gave a brief pause for his rhetorical question. "Watch this." Blowing fire onto his claws he, super heated this till they were red hot and began to press his digits into the face and backside of the wax dummy. "I present Prince Blue Blood in all his glory." Scootaloo and several of the other patrons erupted into a choir of heavenly laughter as Spike's handy work had sliced and attached the muzzle eyes and ears of Canterlot's biggest douche bag to his flank. Yeah, the two of them were promptly kicked out of the museum. Deciding that there was much else to do in the capital city, the pair concluded their date with a trip to the train station. Their reservations had been for Celestia's seldomly used private car. Which was the most awesome car ever, complete with mini-fridge, churo dispenser, queen sized bed and pinball machines. Sadly, the exhausted drake and mare would get a chance to use any of those things, because once on-board they promptly passed out. Yeah, four hours of sleep in almost fourty-eight hours will do that to you.