All's Fair

by Equestria Buck Yeah

Chapter 5

Her purple hooves softly touched down on the balcony. Twilight didn't even remember the entirety of her return trip from Carousel Boutique. All she was able to do was stew in a wave of conflicting emotions, grit her teeth, and wonder if what she was doing was appropriate.

She desperately needed to undo the knots in her stomach. Despite being close to lunchtime, a desire for food wasn't what was causing her to feel a touch queasy. The worn-out mare sighed long and deeply before turning away from the doors in front of her and relaxing at a nearby banister.

Was a distraction ever needed. Twilight glanced down at the streets, studying the few ponies she happened to spot going about their day. From time to time, even long before she ever became a princess, she'd envy the common folks who didn't seemingly have the weight of the world on their shoulders. To be fair though, they likely had their own issues to deal with back home and probably envied her right back for various reasons.

A gentle breeze blew by, the crisp late morning scents filling her lungs. Looking up, the empty blue skies – save for an occasional cloud – greeted her. It relaxed her more than she expected. The sky didn't know how lucky it was, not having to worry about...well, anything really. Granted, it and the wind weren't sentient beings, so they wouldn't exactly have the capacity to feel anything to begin with and...

Ugh, there went her thoughts again, running around in random, nonsensical directions. At least she had calmed down some. Rolling her eyes and stifling a chuckle at her own...eggheadedness, as Rainbow would probably put it, she got back to her hooves, ready to head back inside and face whatever Spike was ready to give her.

Twilight stepped through the towering doors and found Spike sitting on one of the chairs in the particular study room, his arms folded and his eyes narrowed at the wall. Across the way, Rainbow was lazily stretched out over both arms of her own chair, her obvious boredom written on her face. It may not have been the most exciting favor in the world, but Twilight appreciated it nonetheless. Upon seeing her purple friend, the high flyer leapt into the air and glided over.

"Hey. So, how'd it go over there?" Rainbow Dash asked.

The momentary bliss Twilight was feeling evaporated as quickly as it came. "Not so good," she groaned.

"What happened?"

The princess curled her lips as she sauntered past the speedster and plopped down at the desk beside the first of numerous bookshelves. "I ended up telling her to stay away from him for now."

"What?!" the dragon snapped. "You can't do that!"

"Well, I did," Twilight retorted. "Spike, what she's doing is wrong, I already told you that. You're far too young to be involved in such...activities."

"Oh, will you stop handing me that line?! How do you even know that?"

With growing frustration, the princess left her chair and marched up to her assistant. "What kind of question is that?! You're barely older than the Crusaders! I hatched you, remember?"

Spike hopped off his own seat, fuming harder with each step as he met Twilight in the middle. "But you've said it yourself – you don't know much about dragons! Heck, I didn't even learn that much about dragons when I went on that migration last year! Aside from when I got super big because of my greed, how do you even know when a dragon is considered mature, huh?! Maybe we hit maturity a lot earlier than ponies! Nopony seems to know around here, but at least Rarity found it in her heart to stop treating me like a child!"

"You are a child!" Twilight hollered, puffing her wings out in a display of dominance.

"Yet how many times have I had to step in and make sure you didn't go completely nuts over something stupid? Is that something a child is capable of doing?!"

"Whoa, Spike! Take it easy, bro!" Rainbow interjected. "She's just doing what she thinks is best for you."

A furious claw pointed at the pegasus. "Don't patronize me, Rainbow Dash! I'm old enough and smart enough to make my own decisions! Maybe if everypony stopped dumping on me for once, they'd realize it! And speaking of making my own decisions, I'm deciding to end this conversation. I'm getting out of here."

"And just where do you think you're going?" No answer came as Spike stomped his way to the door. "What, are you going to go see Rarity?"

His eyes narrowed at the name. How dare Twilight speak of her! "So what if I am?"

"Uh uh! You're not allowed to go over there either, Spike." Finally reaching her boiling point, the alicorn took to the air and landed right behind the young drake, snatching him by the arm. "I'm talking to you, mister!"

"Let go of me!"

It wasn't Spike's defiance that sent heart-stopping fear into the mares or how rudely he yanked his arm away but his display of razor sharp teeth and his deep, feral growl. As Twilight wisely crept back, Spike let out a threatening snort and continued out the door, leaving the stunned pair to ponder what in the world just happened. A few more slammed doors rang through the longs halls as the furious dragon departed.

"Do...do you want to go after him?" Rainbow whimpered.

It took a few minutes for Twilight to collect herself. Heartbroken at the sudden turn of events, she dragged herself over to the chair Spike had been sitting in and collapsed. "Let him go." The mare buried her face in her hooves, desperately trying to forget the last several days. "What did I do wrong, Rainbow Dash?"

"I don't think you did anything wrong. I've...never seen him like that before. Even when he was bigger than the houses around here, he didn't seem so...angry. He was just a mindless beast then."

"Frankly, I think the way he was just acting seemed a lot more terrifying. That must sound so ridiculous."

Rainbow fluttered over to her friend and laid a hoof on her shoulder. "Not at all. It even creeped me out."

"He...kind of does have a point though. Aside from that fact that a dragon's greed is instinctive and can cause growth spurts, we really don't know that much about his species." A horrible thought suddenly came to mind. "You don't suppose that...other instincts may have a similar effect?"

"You mean like how he reacts to love and stuff?" Twilight nodded timidly. "I don't know. I sure hope not. Rarity would probably just end up making things worse if that were the case."

"Ugh, what do I do about all this?"

Rainbow Dash curled her lips, not particularly happy about the advice she was about to give. It was all she could think of, and she was never a very good dispenser of sagely wisdom anyway. "For now? Just let him be. Let him get it out of his system. Then, maybe after he's calmed down, you may have to, err...talk to him, if you know what I mean. Can't really undo what's been done, so there's no real sense in worrying about it anymore, if you ask me."

"It's just...something just feels wrong about it. Wouldn't Rarity have come to me first if she wanted to start being serious about Spike?"

The pegasus shrugged. "I don't know. To tell you the truth, I don't think any of our friends know all that much about serious relationships except for, well, Rarity, and you probably don't want to talk to her right now, so..."

Twilight stifled a miserable laugh under her breath. "This is probably going to sound horrible, but...I never got a chance to send that letter to the Manehattan police department. Whenever I asked Rarity if she remembered anything else about her attackers, she'd blow it off. I'm not really sure I want to send it anymore. I mean, we've all had our differences, butted heads over things, but I don't think any of us have been so...irate with one another. A part of me is having a hard time forgiving her. I know I'm supposed to be the Princess of Friendship and all, but I don't think I've ever thought about what may happen to friendships if they go down a path like this. I'm not really sure what to do."

"Hey, you're Twilight Sparkle – you'll figure it out. It's what you do, remember?" The alicorn half-smiled at Rainbow's attempt to lighten the mood. At least one of them was attempting to stay positive. "As far as that letter to the police though, yeah, you really ought to send it anyway," Rainbow muttered with disappointment. "Have Spike do it once he's calmed down."

"That's the thing – I don't know the address."

"You've got tons of reference books in this castle. I'm sure at least one of them has it. And if not, why not ask around if somepony else knows? Maybe you could ask Celestia or Luna. I'm sure they've probably stopped by the city before." Her ruby eyes lit up as an idea came to her. It actually sounded like it might be a good one for a change. "You know what? Ten bits says they could help you sort out this whole thing with Rarity and Spike too. Think about it. They've lived really long lives. They've had to have been involved in a relationship or two at some point. Wouldn't be the first time you've asked them for some advice, and we both know they'd be more than happy to help. Again, you're going to probably have to wait until Spike gets back, but–"

"Actually," Twilight interceded, "Celestia showed me a simple spell a long time ago that allowed me to reach her directly when Spike was still very young. That's not a bad idea though."

"Really? Then why is he the one who always sent the letters to her?"

"He thought it was pretty cool and wanted to learn how to do it too, so Celestia cast a spell on him that allowed him to. He enjoyed it so much when he first started mailing her that I just let him be the messenger permanently." The Princess smiled softly as she reminisced, picturing the little dragon's excitement when he sent his first note. Her memory shifted to when his first belch-received letter returned and how he laughed when he said it tickled his tummy. It felt so long ago despite only being a short number of years, but she had the 'now' to worry about. "I better get to writing that letter. Thanks for your help, Rainbow Dash."

"No prob, Twi. I going to head back to my weather duties. They're probably wondering where I am. Things'll be okay, you'll see."

With that said, the daredevil glided out the double door and back to work, leaving her friend to her thoughts and plans. Sighing, Twilight willed a sheet of paper and quill from the desk and began writing. The words came slowly.

-----

Hours had gone by. The sun was getting low in the sky. Twilight spent most of her afternoon pacing about the castle waiting for a reply and for Spike to get home. It wasn't like Celestia to wait so long to respond to a letter. Maybe she was just preoccupied with royal business of one form or another. After all, she and Luna were the rulers of Equestria and things are constantly happening in her courts.

What she didn't realize was that her answer had already come about an hour ago. Unfortunately, she was not the one who received it.

Spike laid in Rarity's bed, sprawled out and half-asleep as he usually was seemingly every day since her return from Manehattan. Meanwhile, Rarity herself was in the bathroom washing up behind a closed door and smirking at herself in the mirror. The peace and quiet they were both enjoying, however, was interrupted by Spike suddenly grabbing his stomach and letting out of a loud burp followed by a the appearance of a familiar scroll.

The bathroom door creaked open. "Spike, did you just...where'd that come from?"

"What do you mean? You've seen me receive letters before."

"Oh! Err...yes, of course. Thought you just had some indigestion. What's it say?" Rarity asked as she approached.

Spike unfurled the paper and skimmed it over briefly, mumbling Celestia's reply to himself. Upon finishing, the anger he felt toward Twilight started to return though not as pronounced as before. "Twilight must have sent a letter to the Princesses asking for some advice in dealing with...well, us. Been a while since she sent one on her own. Surprised she remembered how to do so. But still, why did it come to me?"

"I don't know, darling. Does it say anything else?"

"Only that Celestia and Luna are busy with some prior obligations today but are going to stop by the castle tomorrow afternoon so they can talk some." The scroll ended up a wadded, crumpled mess on the floor. "I know it's only been a couple days, but I'm already sick of everypony sticking their nose in our business! Why can't they just be happy for us?!"

"I wish I had the answer, Spikey-Wikey," the unicorn replied, giving her little dragon a kiss. "Perhaps I should stop by when Celestia and Luna are in town. Maybe present our case a little bit. It couldn't hurt."

"Yeah, I guess. I ought to head home. It's starting to get a little late," he said, hopping off the bed. A few feet away sat the ball of paper that was Celestia's letter. Rolling his eyes, he walked over and snatched it up. "Think I'll bring this with me, see what Twilight has to say about it."

"Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow at the castle then?"

"You bet!"

-----

Twilight stood over the stove in the kitchen and switched the oven off, skimming through the instructions in one of the many cookbooks she had for the nth time. The stuff in the pan didn't look very much like the spinach lasagna in the picture. Ugh, she was never very good at baking. She could always rely on Spike to make such delectable cuisine. Now he was spending pretty much all of his time at Carousel Boutique doing things she preferred not to think about lest she lose her appetite. At least the dish appeared edible enough. It'd have to to do for tonight.

The distant sound of a door opening and closing just barely caught her ear over all the noise of utensils and appliances. She hoped it was Spike. Considering the hour, it was likely, but it wasn't like she could see through walls.

In case it was, she fixed up a second plate with her culinary concoction and brought them into the dining room along with a bowl of mashed potatoes and a couple glasses of juice. May as well try and keep the peace as best as possible, even if she was still upset with him. They were still family after all, no matter how mad she may get. Hopefully he'll have cooled off as well.

Thankfully, the dish was nice and hot. It smelled pretty good too despite its appearance. No doubt Spike will come bounding in shortly asking what's for dinner, provided he wasn't already fed once tonight – not that that'd stop him likely. That dragon sure enjoyed his food, no matter his attitude.

As Twilight sat in her seat at the spacious dining room table, her assumptions proved to be correct. A familiar purple reptile strolled in, instantly eyeing the plate he figured was for him. However, Twilight could see it written plainly on his face that he was still peeved. What she didn't notice was the paper he had folded in his claw. A subdued, discouraged frown snuck across her face. She quickly hid it behind a warm greeting.

"Evening Spike. H-how're you doing?"

"Alright," he replied, sitting beside her. "Hm...what's this?"

The princess could feel her cheeks turning red. "Supposed to be lasagna."

"Oh." He took a greedy bite, not worrying about burning his tongue. Must have been nice to be a dragon in regards to that. "Not bad. Probably could use a little more cheese, but still not bad."

"Heh, thanks. I definitely can't cook like you, that's for sure, even using a cookbook."

"Eh, comes with practice."

Twilight helped herself to a scoop of potatoes before continuing. "Yeah. You, uh...you feeling better than you were earlier?"

The dragon shrugged. "Some, I guess. By the way, what's this?" he asked, tossing the letter on the table with a look of annoyance.

A purple glow grabbed the paper and unfolded it. "Oh, they decided to stop by. That's good." The mare blinked curiously. "Wait, why did you get this?"

"I don't know, Twilight. Why did I?"

She paused, picturing sitting her study and putting the letter together. Eventually, her hoof collided with her forehead. "I forgot to tell her to send it straight to me," she groaned.

"Twilight, why can't you just let this go?" Spike fumed. "You talk to me about lying to you and going over your head and now you try and go over mine!"

She went to answer, to defend her decision, but Spike had her by the horn. Maybe she taught him better in the ways of logic than she realized. "You're right," she mumbled. "It's...it's just that something doesn't feel right about all this. I said it before – Rarity comes home after being attacked and she's suddenly all over you without provocation? It doesn't make any sense to me and...I'll be honest, I'm not really sure how to handle it."

"It's love. Is it supposed to make sense?"

"Well...I would think on some level, sure. I just figured I could ask the Princesses for some input on the matter."

"You could just be happy for us and move on, y'know."

A glowing fork poked and scratched at the meal on Twilight's plate. Sighing, the mare explained, "I still remember the day you were born, Spike." Where he had a hard time looking at her thanks to his frustration, her sudden somber tone caught his attention. Some of his anger seemed to wither away as he listened to her story begin. "I was still young – a little older than you are now. I don't know how much you remember, but we played all kinds of games, always ran around together, that sort of thing. As we got older, I knew I'd eventually have to teach you about the world and what other ponies may or may not be like."

"All while we rarely ever left the library," he added with just the right amount of snark.

"Yeah, I know," Twilight agreed. "Coming here to Ponyville really was the best thing that ever happened to us, but so much has happened here that...I-I just worry that I never properly prepared you for it. You've grown up so fast in the last few years, Spike, and there's so much I never got a chance to tell you about thanks to one thing or another constantly getting in the way. I thought I still had a few years to go before I had to start telling you about...relationships and what comes with them. Although, considering I've never really been in one myself, who am I to talk?"

"Look at it this way: A year ago, did you think you were going to be a princess? Were you prepared for it?"

"Err, no. Why?"

"It doesn't matter how much you do or what you know. There's simply no way you can prepare for everything. Maybe me growing up is just...one of those things."

Twilight hunched over in her chair, feeling defeated for the first time in the recent chain of events. Perhaps Rarity was right all along. "Maybe. Maybe I just wish it didn't happen all at once...or at least not on somepony else's terms."

Spike went to take another bite of his pasta but it never made it to his mouth. Instead, he glared again and raised a brow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, like I said, I wanted to be the one to talk to you about...things like sex and other grown-up things when the time came. I know you're not going to want to here this, but Rarity's really taking advantage of you here."

"Oh, come on, Twilight! Do we really have to go there again?" he snarled, slamming his fists on the table. So much for peacekeeping.

"Spike, did you even know what sex was before Rarity...showed you?"

The little dragon fidgeted and looked away. "Not exactly."

"That's my point. I have no idea what it is she wants out of you, but I don't think I have to explain to you what 'taking advantage of another pony' is all about, do I?"

"No," the drake growled as he folded his arms.

A gentle hoof wrapped around his shoulders. Spike glanced back to find Twilight out of her chair and sitting beside him. His angry frown hardened even more as he turned away again.

"Listen, what you two have been doing can be a fun and beautiful thing, sure, but if there's little to no connection–"

"But we do have a connection!" Spike argued. "Why can't you get that through your head?!"

"...Do you want to know how Rarity acted when I confronted her about it earlier?" His defiant silence said enough for her. "I've never seen her so blatantly arrogant before. It was like any of my concerns about you were nothing but a bunch of hot air! If you ask me, that sure doesn't sound like she has your best interests at heart!"

"Except nobody did ask you, and I'm done letting you try to answer for me!" he spat back, swatting her hoof away for the second time that day. He hopped out of his chair, grabbed his meal off the table and made his way toward the exit. "I'm going to my room." Just before he stepped out, he paused and spun around. "By the way, Rarity's stopping by tomorrow afternoon at some point, hopefully when the Princesses are here. Try not to embarrass yourself too much when she shows up."

Never before had the simple closing of a door been so heart-wrenching. It had seemed for a little while that Spike was going to come to see her point of view, and in seconds, what Twilight was hoping for had become completely unraveled; it was the late morning all over again, and if she didn't know any better, he probably hated her by now – just as Rarity predicted...again.

She suddenly didn't feel like eating anymore.

Comments

[Imperator45]

Sparity is awesome just wish it didn't happened under some mind-cotrolling spell...

[Hillbe]

Spikey I'm back from Manehatten.
What are you doing here?
I'm Rarity Spikeys friend
I'm his lover
I will tear you to pieces!
I will kick your flank!
@#@#$*&^$^%#@#@#$%

Spike wut are you doing?
Want some popcorn?

[Equestria Buck Yeah]

5963479 Make sure there's some butter on the popcorn. I'd want to watch that too.

[SFaccountant]

Stupid dragon biology and its disconnection from temporal growth.
You'd think a simple question like "when does a dragon become sexually mature" wouldn't be such a mystery to a species with 1000+ years of history dealing with them.
Hang in there, Twilight. Don't cut the lizard loose. This is just what THEY want!