The Days Passed

by SilverEyedWolf

7:15 to Ponyville

Spike was the first one to see the sleepy(-ish [mostly]) little town, smiling to himself as the top of Twilight's castle crested the horizon as they passed around the Canterlot mountain, the background sky freshly colored salmon, peach, and tangerine with the rising sun. Soon the nearly uniform pale green of the birch trees around them gained the rough and vibrant green of the wild trees of the Everfree, and then the train was slowing, the noise of the magical breaks jolting Rarity out of sleep and Fluttershy from her book.

"Are we just now hitting Neighagra Falls?" Rarity asked with a yawn, cuddling into the cushion of the seat on the wall.

"No, that was a couple of hours ago," Spike said with a smile, standing and stretching his arms to the top of the car. "This one's our stop. We're home," he said down at the sleepy mare, blinking up at him as his paws pressed on the ceiling.

"Oh, that's nice," she said blithely, blinking up at him as he smiled at her. He crooked his eyebrow and she blinked hard, her ears perking. "Oh! Already? I must have dozed all the way from the Crystal mountains!"

Grinning, Spike raised a paw and tilted it back and forth in the air, earning a chuckle from Fluttershy as she pushed her book into her small in-car bag.

"It's okay Rarity, you only snored a little bit," Fluttershy said, smiling gently at the other mare.

Her irises shrinking, Rarity placed a hoof on her nose and looked back and forth at the other two until Spike's austere face broke into a grin. She attempted to scowl at Fluttershy but only managed a half-stern grin.

"Have I told you that you're hanging out too much with Rainbow Dash?"

Fluttershy merely nodded with the same serene smile as she finished packing away her book and the large lunch that they'd shared, which had been resting on an empty seat.

"I think you might have said Spike once, even," she said, her smile deepening at Rarity's flushed cheeks.

"And you've learned a thing or two there as well I see," Rarity said primly, still struggling with the smile on her muzzle as she left her seat to check over her own carry-on.

Spike took a moment to run his muzzle over the base of her mane and the tops of her shoulder, smiling as she shivered before leaning further and doing the same to Fluttershy, who paused in her packing to run a hoof gently over his jawline before continuing to pack.

Spike stood around for a moment, watching Rarity root through her bag and Fluttershy get hers ready to tote before he scratched the back of his head and walked to the door. Sliding it open, he glanced around to see a couple of other compartments with open doors and a few ponies milling about in the aisle that were waiting on the train to stop.

Most of them glanced idly his way as the door slid open, and all but one waved as he smiled awkwardly down at the group.

The last pony, the one who merely nodded, was a toned mare with close-cropped mane and a heavy braided tail that laid close to her flank. She had a flinty look in her eye, and Spike could tell she was sizing him up.

"Guard?" he asked her, smiling a little as her pupils dilated while the rest of her showed no reaction. "Special assignment or just moving over from another town?"

She gazed up at him for a moment before she spoke, her tone clipped and blunt as she responded, "Both."

Spike blinked awkwardly, sensing that the conversation wasn't quite welcome.

"Ah. Well, have a good day I suppose," he said, withdrawing his head through the doorway and looking down at Rarity who was looking up at him, confused.

"Ponies these days," he remarked breezily, shrugging his shoulders and turning away before she could see him grinning at her perplexed expression. "Need any help with your bags? Fluttershy?"

"Oh I'm okay," she said, smiling up at him. "I'll bet Rarity will let you carry hers, though."

Rarity sighed when Spike looked back at her, the same lightly amused look on his muzzle, before offering up her carry-on with her magic. He lifted the strap over his head, snaking his neck through, before looking down to settle the lavender print bag on his torso.

"Masculine," he quipped with a smile, adjusting the strap further.

There was a loud hissing noise, a displacement of air, and the train shuddered softly before they felt the movement below them cease. Seconds later, they heard the outside door clunk and slide open, then the clicking of hooves as the rest of the train departed.

Spike straightened Rarity's bag and reached over to grab his own from the thick wire shelving above the seats, then moved out and into the through-way, then out of the train completely.

He moved to the side, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a prolonged sigh.

He smiled at the familiar scents playing in his nose; the wet smell of dew-laden grass, the fresh smell of bread from the shops in town, the older and wilder smell of the hay and wheat fields carried by the wind into town.

Then he blinked, and his eyes were filled with magenta irises.

"Hello Dash," he said, blinking at the fluttering pegasus before him.

"No time!" she yelled, spreading her limbs and pointing up the road through town. "Come on, we need you over there!" Without another word she took off, speeding through the air and checking over her shoulder.

Sighing again, Spike shed the bags and took off in a sprint, pumping his arms and raising his tail to keep balance. Fluttershy kept pace beside him, a worried look shared between them as they chased the multi-chromatic tail. Spike glanced quickly over his shoulder, Rarity just on the tip of his tail and breathing in a set pattern as she ran, the very face of control in keeping up with them.

They made it most of the way through the town before Spike put on a burst of speed, closing the gap between them and Rainbow.

"What's the situation?" he called up to her, breathing heavily but steadily.

"Situation?" she asked, rolling over to fly upside down and giving him a wicked grin. "I just thought you'd wanna join me on a morning jog!"

Spike blinked, losing concentration on his pacing as his foot came down just a bit too lightly and slid through the loose dirt. His mind comprehended her words as he fell, and it was with a flat and unamused grimace that he planted his muzzle in the dirt.

He felt one of the mares trip over the arms that were now spread to each of his sides and felt Rarity's horn jab into his hide as the panting mare ran bodily into his slumped back.

"Ow," he murmured into the dirt as he listened to Rainbow cackling above the three of them, and he raised his encrusted face just in time to hear the combustion of camera powder as a bright flash forced him to blink several times.

"I dunno Rainbow," he heard Scootaloo say, "it's pretty funny, but I don't think my editor would like it enough to run a story about playing a prank on your buds."

To his side, he heard a Fluttersigh, and a quite groaning came from the weight splayed across his back.

"Hey Rainbow," he called from the ground, his neck stretched flat along the road and his eyes closed. He waited for her snickering to quiet down, then started to call out, "Five. Four. Three-"

There was the noise of the whipping wind, and when he cleared a paw to pull the dirt from his eyes, the only ponies he could see were in the houses and yards around them, not a pegasus in the sky.

With a deep, breathy sigh, Spike arched his back to roll the unicorn off of it, the mare yelping before a quiet thud sounded through the street.

He straightened, wiping the dust and dirt from his face and belly, before declaring, "On this day do I, Spike Ignis, declare a blood feud with the line of Rainbow Dash. As of-"

He was interrupted by a hoof not-quite-gently meeting his shin, and he pulled air in through his teeth before looking down at Fluttershy smiling innocently up at him.

"Don't make me go get the paperwork for you, too," he said with a tone of warning before he turned and picked Rarity up from where she sprawled in the street. He watched for a moment as her slightly vacant eyes rolled in their sockets before he tucked her under his arm and turned back towards the train station. "I don't suppose the train's quartermaster would have put out our luggage?" he asked Fluttershy as she stood and used a wing to brush some of the dirt from her chest fur.

"They probably asked the town's guard to look after it," she said with a nod, extending the other wing to brush the dust from Rarity, who looked to be regaining some of her sense.

"Rainbow?" she asked thinly, blinking as she reached out absently and ran a hoof over Fluttershy's wing as it brushed at her coat.

"I'm composing the letter announcing our feud as we walk," Spike reassured her, patting her on the head as he started walking back the way they came. "Celestia will never have read anything so flowery in her life. It will be an epic that goes on for yards."

"Yards?" she asked, confused.

"Oh, it will be challenging to find a scroll of appropriate length, but I suppose I can always just tape multiples together," Spike said, raising his fist in a challenge to the sky.

"Oh," she said, then continued to let Spike carry her down the road.

After a minute she nudged Spike with an elbow and frowned up at him. "Thank you for carrying me dear," she said with a wiggle, "but does it have to be like a buckball? It is quite undignified..."

Spike grinned broadly as he lightly tossed the mare up in front of him, chuckling as she let out a quiet yip before he slid his other arm under her back and let her slide down to the crook of his elbow.

The oft sought-after Princess Carry. Few stallions had the dexterity to manage it for more than three steps, but Spike found it as simple as walking now that he was set on using just his back legs when possible.

Rarity firmly smacked a hoof against his chest, before wriggling deeper into his arms with a slight blush.

They arrived back at the train station to see a smirking Rainbow Dash, standing next to their luggage. To their slight surprise, they also saw the rest of the group standing there with welcoming smiles. Pinkie was sitting on her haunches with her front legs propped gently on a large box in front of her; Applejack was leaning lightly again Dash with a warm look at the small group; Dash herself there looking slightly red and trying just a bit too hard to keep her smile soft and open instead of smug; and Twilight, her face lit with her smile as she trotted forward, not satisfied with letting the trio come to them.

Spike propped Rarity on one arm as the alicorn approached, falling gently to his knees as Twilight reared back to wrap her hooves around the base of his neck, Rarity giggling as she was pressed into a group hug with the three of them. They were quickly joined by a set of pink forelegs and yellow wings, two mares standing apart but near and chuckling at the group.

"Hey guys," Spike murmured into the group, his neck allowing him just enough leverage to nuzzle against a few of the group. "Nice welcome you got there, mostly," he said with a glinting look towards Rainbow.

"I didn't know which train you were on," Twilight said back, "so I asked Rainbow to keep an eye out. The rest of it was her, though," she stage-whispered with a glance back at the mare, whose smile was getting more and more strained.

"Speaking of, I need to borrow a sheet of your longest parchment," Spike said, wincing only slightly as a hoof connected once again with his shin.

Giving him a confused nod, Twilight gave him a last squeeze before letting go to stand back. Pinkie took an extra moment to nuzzle against Spike's side before she bounced back towards her white and red wrapped box. Spike placed a hand against Rarity's barrel and tipped her out of his arm, setting her gently on the ground, before standing upright.

Twilight watched him for a second, shaking her head when he gave her a questioning look.

Pinkie took the opportunity to pronk over with the gift on her back, taking a moment to nuzzle both Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Congratulations~!" she called in a sing-song tone, bouncing in a loose circle around the trio. "I took the opportunity to decorate Spike's place for a Welcome Back party! Whenever you guys are ready, there's cake and ice cream!" Dropping into a whisper, she glanced around with narrowed eyes, muttering, "They said I couldn't make breakfast ice cream, but I proved them wrong, oh so deliciously wrong..."

Spike chuckled, trailing a hand over to muss her always immaculately curly mane. "Sounds fun Pinkie. Everyone coming then?"

There was a chorus of assent, and Spike walked over to grab most of the easily handled luggage, the rest hefted easily in a light mulberry field. He turned and led the procession towards his rented abode, talking easily to the questions they floated him about the trip.

"Yes, Cadance and CO are doing great, she says hi to everyone of course. Shining is getting back into the Fantasy buckball drafts; yeah, he got Flurry this year too Twilight. Yeah, the kingdom still looks great as usual; I didn't get a chance to see them but I think Fluttershy did? Rarity showed up a little late into the trip (thanks again Twilight for sending her, I appreciate it more than I thought I would), but we still had some time together on the train."

Then Rainbow asked the question.

"So, uh, what's going on with you three? You doing a group thing or-"

AJ was swift and merciless in applying her hat to the top of Rainbow's head, Dash scowling at her and rubbing the spot with a hoof.

"Short answer, kind of?" Spike said, trying to keep his tone light. "I'll let Rarity answer those questions, there's a bit of personal stuff I'm still not sure about."

Rarity let out a soft sigh and smiled a little. "I'm not sure any of us are really sure about what's going on," she said, "but I think we're all looking forward to what comes of it. I know I am."

Then Rainbow questioned the legality of marrying two mares, and Spike did his best impression of a walking tomato while Twilight did her best affectation of a law book, rattling off legalese while they finished the walk to Spike's.

Spike dug under one of his scales, the one he used to keep the key Twilight had enchanted to open almost every one of the doors in her castle, then sighed and pressed his forehead against the wood of his door.

"The key sort of disintegrated last time I used it, after I grew the second time," he murmured to the group. "Twilight, Pinkie, can you-?"

Pinkie nodded and, before Twilight could unlock it with her magic, pressed a hoof onto the doorknob. The tip of her tongue sticking from the side of her mouth, her teeth lightly biting down, she closed her eyes for a moment before a clicking was heard and she turned the knob before pronking in.

"When you asked her how she did that last time-?" Spike started to ask Twilight, but she just shook her head.

"I remember that she told me, and at the time the words made sense, but now it's just a bunch of trash syllables in my head," she said with a frown. "Something about manipulating the magic inherent in frogs, but not the ones on our hooves?"

"Ah," Spike said, letting the word draw out a bit as he nodded. "Of course."

Twilight glanced up at him, he shrugged, and they moved on. Literally, into his living room.

She looked up at him as he sighed and retook his familiar four-legged stance, feeling slightly awkward now. He couldn't quite remember how to move his arms right, and his elbows felt like they were sticking out at strange angles.

"I think this will have to be the only month I rent this one," he said to her with a chuckle. "Not quite as tall as I'm used to being right now."

"I've been meaning to ask," Twilight said, question heavily implied in the short sentence, but Spike shook his head.

"Later Twi, for sure, but I'm feeling a bit tired from the long train ride right now," he said, giving her a small smile that lent a feeling of promise to his words. "I'm just learning to feel some different things right now, and my walk is part of it."

Still looking unsure, she nodded nonetheless, before glancing into the kitchen where the rest of the group was. "Just remember, you can talk with me about anything, anything at all," she insisted.

He smiled and leaned against her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing her briefly. "Always."

With that they wandered into the kitchen where Pinkie was explaining the breakfast she'd made, gesturing to the loaded table and counters as she explained each item.

"Potato pancakes," she said, gesturing at several towers of non-uniform circles cooked to a delicious golden-brown, "and that bowl is whipped tangy cream with chives, careful with them if you don't like garlic though. And over there," several glass dishes filled with a series of confections, "are three breakfast cakes; one's cinnamon and raisin, that one's blueberry, and the last one is raspberry with macadamia nuts.

"And then," she said, conspiratorially with a magnificent grin, "the pièce de résistance, something I've been working on for a while..." She trailed off purposefully as she moved gracefully over to the ice box in the corner and pulled out a white tub, holding it up in a hoof as a splinter of light came in through the window and lit the ice crystals on the outside of it, lighting up the tub with a rhinestone sparkle.

"Omelette du Fromage," she exhaled, reverently. "The culmination of years of breakfast research sciences."

Rarity pulled a face, Twilight looked curious, AJ and Dash looked lost, while Spike just adopted a thousand-yard stare.

"Cheese omelet?" Fluttershy asked, intrigued and lost in equal parts. "Is that... egg and cheese ice cream?"

Pinkie nodded slowly, reaching up with her other hoof and removing the top of the cylinder to reveal a sunny yellowish-orange cream, calling to mind a richer, deeper orange creamsicle.

"Try it," she said, lifting a hoof and pulling a set of spoons from the air.

The rest of the group looked among themselves, before shuffling forward and taking a spoon. They dug into the cream and, as one, shared a final glance before placing the orange mound in their muzzles.

There was a silence, lasting many moments, before Spike pulled the spoon from his mouth, looking as clean as though it had gone through a dishwasher.

"Pinkie," he said slowly, his somber eyes resting on her cheery ones, "how in Tartarus did you make egg and cheese ice cream work?"

She grinned up at his question, heavily self-assured beneath eyes that danced in joy. "I'll tell you, Spike-

"It wasn't much," she said, her grin spreading and becoming almost insultingly smug.

Spike groaned at the one-liner, reaching out and giving the now giggling mare a gentle shove to her chest. "I'm never letting you check out those comics again," he said, unable to help the laugh spilling from his muzzle. "But hey, really, gimme a bowl of that."

And then they fell onto the breakfast feast, sitting around the kitchen with only a table, no chairs, and eating in between making small talk as the food steadily disappeared.

Author's Note:

A horse-apple-eating grin if you will, but I didn't know how to make that fit in with the narrative. Sorry for the large gap between chapters, this covid bullshit is messing with my steeze and making it difficult to find a quiet moment to sit and scrawl. All that said, bite me, love you, hope this lightens up your weekend, and don't be shy about letting me know where you want this story to go. I got ideas, but I'm a flexible mother (B_25 knows, don'tcha sweetie ) so incorporation will happen if it jives with me.

...Man, what the fuck am I even talking about anymore. I'm signing off now, laters babes

Comments

[DarkDMan]

Very nice!

[Bloody_Tofu]

Ah home again home again faceplanty... wait a second.

Glad to see more of this.

[Love Moth]

Hell yeah

[Wydril]

"Omelette du Fromage," she exhaled, reverently. "The culmination of years of breakfast research sciences."

Shoop da woop, longcat is looong! Just not feeling it, the chapter is cute and then it hits this line and stops the flow of everything. Not really sure why you used this to be honest, this story is better than that.

[Vinyl_Scratch-14]

Ayee finnaly I've bin going threw withdrawal lol love that chapter