The Lion and the Lamb

by CrazyChickenLady

Chapter Forty-Five: Guy Time

Chapter Forty-Five: Guy Time

A couple of days passed after the incident with the not-quite-disastrous-but-still-awkward “date” and Twilight Sparkle had suggested to the others that they amend the situation by taking Fluttershy to day out on the town. A sort of ladies-day-out, just the six of them.

“… What do you mean I can’t come?” Spike whined with wide eyes, having been hoping to further his attempts in wooing Rarity.

“Well, Spike, that’s sort of the point of a ladies-day-out,” Twilight Sparkle explained, as she and the remaining mares were getting ready to leave the library. “It’s generally something that involves only ladies.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie giggled. “And you’re not a lady, Spike!”

The dragon sighed, eyes downcast.

“Yeah… but… you girls almost always go off and do things together, and I have to stay here and look after the library! I mean, I don’t really mind, but… it’s not fair!”

“Um… you know…” Fluttershy spoke up. “Smokey’s not coming along. He’s at the cottage looking after Chenoa. This would be a great time to see him and spend time with him. You two could do a guy’s thing together!”

Spike lifted his head, face lighting up. He hadn’t even thought of that.

“That’s an excellent idea, Fluttershy,” said the purple alicorn, grin spreading across her visage. “Why don’t you go ahead and take the day off, Spike? And go and see Smokey? I’m sure there’s a lot the two of you could talk about!”

“You really mean it?” he asked and received an affirming nod from Twilight Sparkle. Grinning, the young reptile threw his fist into the air and sprinted out. He already had an idea in mind for what he and Smokey could do -- assuming the older dragon was even willing to hang out.

***

Smokey was cut across the living room of Fluttershy’s cottage after the small griffon. After Chenoa had figured out how to pull her diaper off, she had made a habit out of doing it almost constantly. Before she would relent and allow her parental figures to put it back on, she always started a chase, giggling and frolicking all the while.

Angel sat in the center of the living room with his paws crossed over his chest, the tiniest of smirks playing at his furry lips. Though he had grown to tolerate the chick, his resentment towards the dragon had grown. At first, he had been fond of the idea of Fluttershy getting out more and leaving him with more personal time. But now, he developed a jealousy over him and the attention his caretaker was lavishing onto him that he believed belonged to him. Seeing the draconic being struggle with Chenoa brought him satisfaction.

Once the sound of knocking rang through the room, both draconian and griffon halted, bringing their attention to the door. This temporary abeyance gave Smokey enough time to scoop up the baby before answering.

“Hey there, Smokey!” Spike smiled up at the much large dragon. “I, uh… hope I wasn’t interrupting anything. The girls are having a day out and I was bored and… I was sorta wondering if you wanted to hang out.

“Fluttershy kinda gave me the idea.”

The baby parted her beak, dropping her diaper onto the floor only for Smokey to bend over and pick it up with his free hand after shifting her into one arm. He shook his head as his eyes lit up at the idea of spending some quality time with Spike.

“You weren’t interrupting anything. I would love to hang out! Chenoa would have to come along though,” he said, tilting his head downward at his child. “I hope you don’t mind that.”

‘Oh, no, that’s fine. Chenoa won’t be a bother at all! Heh.”

Spike didn’t often get to play with young ones such as himself. He had handled Chenoa a couple of times, but he was still excited to see the little one -- possibly out of the sense he was still, technically, a baby.

“I see she’s getting into the resisting stage,” he mentioned, recalling something he read while helping Twilight Sparkle study about babies when the mare had intended on possibly assisting Pinkie Pie when she was watching the Cake babies for the first time. The alicorn’s habits had rubbed off on him slightly. “… I think.”

The small dragon shook his head.

“Anyway, I was thinking about finding some gems! Maybe we could make Rarity and Fluttershy a necklace or something!” A brief pause. “And, the… other girls… too… I guess.”

Smokey smirked, tempted to call out the smaller dragon’s crush on the alabaster unicorn, but decided it wouldn’t be very nice to embarrass him. So, he shifted the conversation back to the subject of the child.

“Indeed she is. Since when did you know so much about babies,” he questioned, arching a curious brow.

“Eh, Twilight’s been rubbing off on me,” Spike admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “Kinda happens when you’ve been the number one assistant to a studious pony all your life. I was helping Twilight read up about babies when she was preparing to help Pinkie take care of the Cake babies some time ago. ‘Course, turns out her help wasn’t needed at all, but… y’know. Hey, just in case, right? Who knows, maybe Twilight might have a foal of her own one day. If I’m still living with her by then.’

“Maybe,” said the winged draconian as he adeptly slid the diaper back on the griffon. “I am sure the help of Uncle Spike would be invaluable to Miss Twilight.”

“Uncle Spike, huh? I like the sound of that! Anyway, as far as I know, she’ll grow out of it eventually.” The lavender dragon shrugged again. “About my earlier suggestion. How would you like to go gem hunting? A ruby snack sounds really good right about now, and I know Fluttershy doesn’t keep many precious stones around here.”

“Certainly! That sounds like fun!”

“Awesome! I know a great place where there are piles of ‘em all over the place underground!” Spike turned around, but stopped. Remaining still, he lost himself in thought for a second, but then shook it off. “Naw, Rarity drove ‘em off. I doubt they’d still be there…”

“Miss Rarity drove who off?” Smokey asked with a hint of concern.

“Oh!” Spike blushed lightly upon realizing what he had just uttered, meaning to only keep his last sentence to himself. “Uh, there was this group of mangy mutts called Diamond Dogs underground below the field where Rarity and I were searching. They kidnapped her and I ran to get help, but by the time I brought the others to rescue her… she… pretty much rescued herself.”

Smokey blinked as he shut the door behind him. Hearing a click coming from the lock and assuming Angel had locked the door, he allowed his fellow dragon to lead the way towards their destination.

“Really? Now how did she do that?”

“From what she told us, she used her feminine charm on them. But, Pinkie later told me she just whined at them until they did whatever she wanted them to do.” Spike snorted, following it with a laugh. “Seriously. Rarity? Whining? Could you imagine such a thing?”

“Actually…” Smokey grinned, chuckling at the mental image of the fashionista whining her way out of the clutches of shadowy canine figures. “Yes, I can.”

Spike was a little irked, but decided to slide it off. Now that he thought about it, Rarity could be vocal about matters at times. It wouldn’t surprise him if it tended to work more often than not, as she probably only resorted to it as a last measure. The only occasion that came to mind was when he… wasn’t quite feeling like himself.

Smokey became concerned at the silence. Judging by Spike’s facial expression, he guessed he wasn’t pleased with his response. Did he say something wrong? At that thought, he began to grow anxious.

“Something… wrong, Spike?”

The younger dragon seemed to snap out of it as he shook his head.

“Hmm? Oh! No, I was… just thinking… Have you ever had a day where you… didn’t feel like yourself?”

“Well… yes, but… hasn’t everypony had a day like that?”

The scarlet reptile’s query was more of a knowing statement than a question, but he still felt the need to verbalize it. He knew his animals had off days of their own, and not just himself.

“Yeah, but… It’s not everyday something like that happens, but it’s also not everyday you… um…” The purple dragon gave pause, kicking at a pebble in the dirt path. “This may sound personal, but have you ever greed-grown? I mean, you got so greedy you literally changed because of it?”

Smokey’s eyes grew round for a quick moment, reverting back to their normal size after the aforementioned time lapse and leaving a look of puzzlement on his face.

“Erm… no. I am guessing this is another thing dragons do?”

Spike nodded.

“Yeah, it’s supposed to be a rare occasion if not raised properly, from… what little I understand. Apparently, if greed grows in a dragon and is left unchecked, they’ll grow up to be really big in a short period of time… and…

“… Bad things happen.”

Smokey nodded in acknowledgement. Why was Spike so sensitive about this topic, he wondered.

“Spike… did… you witness this at the dragon migration?”

“No. I lived it.”

While he was uncomfortable with it, he steadily admitted that during his last birthday he had gotten a bit more grabby and covetous than he liked. He did grow up big and strong like he always wanted, but he had found as his avarice grew, he became more mindless and bestial… until Rarity, of all ponies, managed to snap him out of it.

Smokey was surprised, to say the least. Spike -- this sweet little dragon had actually succumbed to greed? The red-tinged dragon was finding it hard to believe.

By the end of the recollection, he put on an expression of empathy.

“That… must have been difficult to cope with…”

“It was,” Spike said. “And it’s not something I want to go through again. I’m just really thankful Rarity was able to bring me back to my senses. If I hadn’t, I…

“… I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

The larger dragon frowned, his heart going out to the child.

“You poor little guy…

“How long did it take for the ponies to accept you again?”

“That’s what blew me away! Once everything was explained, they brushed past all that and they forgave me without any problems!” A pause. “Most of them did, anyway. Twilight and the others did. So did Cheerilee. And Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.

“Now that I think about it, it was probably more like a week or two, I think. I don’t know, I didn’t really go out much after that. It wasn’t very long. Even Mayor Mare and Princess Celestia gave me an official pardon. Whatever that is.”

“A pardon is letting somepony off the hook,” Smokey informed, smile returning to his face. If Spike had been forgiven just like that, then perhaps… he had a chance to fit in with the rest of the town after all!

“Really? Huh. And here I thought it meant something else. But, yeah. I was really sorry, and I did have to apologize to everypony. I made sure to help with the clean up and rebuilding when I could. Or, whenever Twilight tossed me outside to keep me from moping over what I did.”

A small chuckle managed to slide out of Smokey.

“I’m glad everything turned out all right.”

He wondered what else Spike thought a pardon was, but decided not to ask.

“Yeah, same here,” Spike stated, before realizing that, as they conversed, they had arrived at the area he and Rarity had originally been digging at when she had gotten foal napped. “Wouldja look at that! Already here! I was so caught up in talking, I wasn’t even paying attention to how far we were!”

“Nor was I! Since we’re here, let us get started,” the red-scaled dragon recommended as he shifted Chenoa into his other arm, waiting expectantly for Spike to explain how to hunt for gems.

Comments

[Drakengarde]

Just when you thought there would be more interaction between Smokey and Fluttershy!

Not this chapter, mes amis!

[Sky Hooves]

4472949 It's not so bad. Fluttershy and Smokey got a lot of interaction. But spending a bit time with another Dragon guy is maybe the right thing for both of them.

[Dan50]

Took me a few weeks to read all this but YAY! Can't wait for the rest!

[LunaisleavingFimFiction]

4488137

It only took me 2DAYS to read up to here. Guess I'm just a fast reader!

[Meadow Feather]

4488137 lol wow what's with the dislike? Hating much?