Dragon Sadness

by Lord Dico

Contagious Tears

xxxxxxxx

"Hghnn...dah!"

As sunset was coming, Applejack was having Applebloom help gather fresh apples, as punishment for the trouble she caused. Applejack still had a mad look on her face, as she looked over at Applebloom, who was still having a little trouble and was barely getting any apples of the tree.

"Come on, Applebloom," she called out, "Put more leg into it!"

"I...can't..." she said, panting.

"Well, I'm sorry, but this is your punishment, so you gotta," Applejack said, walking over to her.

Applebloom then got herself together, and prepared herself. She then brought her hind legs in, then brought them out to make contact with the tree. It eventually did work, but then Applebloom suddenly felt a sharp pain in her right hind leg.

"Ow! Owowowowowowow!" she exclaimed out.

"What is it this time?" Applejack asked.

"I think it's a cramp, ow!"

Applejack looked at this, as she was getting the fallen apples into the basket, and her response was kneeling by Applebloom.

"Come on, climb up," she said.

As Applebloom did, Aj got on her feet again, and started to walk towards the house. She looked back at her little sister, who was still holding onto her leg, and still couldn't feel a little shed of guilt.

"Look," she said, "I'm not doing this just to be mean, you know that? But you gotta understand that Rarity was real upset about destroying her room like that, and so was Spike getting blackmailed into this."

"I know," Applebloom responded, still with a sore leg, "Maybe tomorrow I can make it up to the both of them somehow."

"That could work. Besides, Rarity's going to be out of town tomorrow afternoon, so it would be nice to help her fix up the mess before she leaves, AND go over to Twilight's to apologize with something he'd like."

"Okay, Applejack..." she said, then dozing off from exhaustion.

'I sure hope Twilight's doing alright,' Applejack thought, as she was entering the barn.

xxxxxxx

Twilight still kept a good hold on Spike, who was still crying a bit, but had let go when she saw that the sun had finally finished setting.

"Feel any better?" she asked, as the little dragon looked up at her, with teary eyes.

"A...a little..." he said, sniffling.

"Well, you wait here, and I'll get each of us a slice of the cake, Pinkie had brought over."

With that, Twilight started to head downstairs to the kitchen, looking back at Spike, still sad as a hurt puppy. As she reached downstairs, she started to feel a sudden ache in her heart. She didn't know why, but she kept moving on into the kitchen. She then used her magic, to get the cake out, and a knife, when she suddenly started to feel a lump in her throat.

"What the heck?" she said, her voice suddenly cracking, "What's going on?"

She tried not to lose focus, cutting two slices for her and Spike, when she started to see tears welling up in her eyes. As she was heading back to the stairs, she tried to look for a book on dragons, thinking something might be causing it. As she did, she was just close to breaking down, as she found an article on 'dragon sadness' saying:

'Dragon Sadness' is resulted, when a baby dragon has experienced a enormous amount of sadness, whether it be by a loved one, hateful or passing on, it causes it's tears to be contagious to any living creature, who is exposed to a large amount, to feel the same amount of sorrow that dragon has experienced.'

As she was barely able to read it, due to her eyes being watery every five seconds, she was struck by this, and know knew Spike's pain. She had to find something to cure it, but that's when she finally started to break down in tears. Spike, still heartbroken and sad, heard this, and went downstairs to see what was troubling her friend.

"Wh...why are YOU crying now?" Spike asked.

Twilight's response was showing him the book, and his eyes widened and got even sadder. She looked up at Twilight, thinking it was now his fault that he caused her to cry, and brought her into a hug.

"I'm...I'm so sorry, Twilight," he said, then breaking down into tears with her.

"No...It's not your fault, Spike," Twilight said, trying to keep herself together, even when crying, "We'll...we'll find a way to fix things...I...I guarantee it."

After that, both of them hugged each other, crying their eyes out through the night. For them, it'll be a long one.

xxxxxxxx

The next morning, Applejack and Applebloom, who was caring a bag with something she made herself, started to head towards Rarity's, still seeing the big hole in the roof, and approached the door step.

"Now remember," Applejack said, "No funny business with Sweetie Belle, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," Applejack said, ashamed.

As the door opened, in the doorway was Sweetie Belle, still looking sad.

"Sweetie Bell?" Applejack said, surprised, "Where's Rarity? Isn't she still here?"

"She left to deliver the clothes to Canterlot last night," she explained, "She was so frustrated after you guys left, she realized that she was late to deliver them early."

"Deliver them early?"

"Yeah, she wanted to get it over with, since the princess and her nephew were taking care of some things in Philly-delphia."

"So, I guess fixing her room will be kind of a surprise for her," Applebloom said, a little excited.

"It would, but she kinda put a spell on the door, so we wouldn't enter, until she gets back tonight."

"Man, Twilight's REALLY been teaching her a lot of spells, hasn't she?" Applejack said.

"You're right on that."

"Well, we might as well head over to Twilight's anyways."

With that, both sisters started walking over to Twilight's, hoping she could help, and for Applebloom to get things straight with Spike.

As they arrived, Applebloom knocked on the door, baked goods still in the bag, and as the door opened, they saw Twilight, eyes red and saggy, and tears still spilling out of her eyes.

"Oh...hey guys," she said, sniffling a bit.

"Twi, are you okay?" Applejack asked, "What's wrong?"

"Well *hic* I think it's best if I show you..." she said, leading them in.

As the walked in, she used her magic to bring the book from yesterday to the others. As Applejack read the article, she had a confused expression on her face.

"Is that why you're all upset?" she asked, "Seems a little weird if you ask me."

"If...if it was stupid, then *hic* why don't you go up to Spike and find out for yourself."

"Alright then," Applejack said, "Applebloom, come on."

They both passed Twilight, and went upstairs to find Spike, still in his heartbroken state, hugging his jeweled bow-tie, which looked to be incomplete. Their guess was that, he picked some of them off. But the reason why, is what they were going to find out about.

"Spike?" Applebloom called, in a quiet tone.

As the little dragon turned around, they both saw his tear-stained face, and were in a bit of shock at it.

"You okay, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"*sniff*...no," Spike answered, sniffling.

"S...Spike?" Applebloom said, pulling off the bag she had, "I came to apologize for getting you into all this trouble...I'm sorry."

He brought the bag closer to him, to reveal some muffins. He sniffed them, teardrops falling onto the crust, and looked up back at Applebloom.

"Th...thanks, Applebloom," Spike said, still choked up, "I forgive you, but...I don't know if it's gonna make me better."

"Then what's troubling you then?" Applejack asked.

xxxxxxx

3 minutes after explaining, and many tear-shedding moments later...

xxxxxxx

After explaining why he was upset, and many tear-sprinkling moments later, he finally broke down again, most of his tears spraying over the others, and even they started to cry, now affected by the exposure to dragon tears. They then walked downstairs towards Twilight, who was still crying as much as they were, and hugged Applejack, as she did the same. It was then, another knock at the door came, and before one could answer it, Pinkie Pie and Rainbowdash were pulling another prank, leaving a basket at the doormat, and hid by the bush. As Twilight answered it, she noticed the basket, and saw that part of Rainbowdash's tail was sticking out.

"Rain-*hic* Rainbowdash, I can see you in," she said, still in a croaked voice.

The two ponies then came out of their hiding place, a little bugged that they were found out, and came out of the bushes.

"Look you two, I *sob*...I'm currently not in the mood for any pranks today, alright?"

"Why? Something up?" Rainbowdash asked.

"Well...*sniff* If I tell you what it is, then you might get caught into this mess too."

"Twilight, if you're a little upset about something, then there's nothing that a little party can't fix!" Pinkie said, stepping in with a ton of party supplies.

xxxxxxxx

Another 3 minutes later...

xxxxxxx

Pinkie then exited the door, crying a river (literally), and hugged onto Twilight, who was too now bawling her eyes out. Rainbowdash was confused by this, and decided to go check on this herself.

Along the path, Scootaloo, who was going to get some shopping done, sees Twilight and Pinkie and tears, and decides to investigate. As she grabbed a nearby ladder, she got it positioned near the bedroom window, and climbed up.

She then saw Spike, who was sadder than before, tell Rainbowdash what he was upset about, and she got sprayed by Spike's tears, an then she started to cry too. Scootaloo's eyes widened as she heard this, and rushed back home, before anyone could see her.

'Oh jeez,' she thought, 'I have to tell Sweetie Belle about this, quick!'

xxxxxxxxx