The Missing Manga
Fluttershy is Best Otaku
Written by TheCrimsonDM
The castle was always so quiet, it used to scare Twilight with just how quiet it could be, but now the silence was a peace that she enjoyed having in her life. That’s why when things began clanging or smashing against the floor from the next room over, Twilight got a little worried. When said clamor did not stop for a half hour, Twilight got a upset.
“Alright,” Twilight said to herself. “I’m putting an end to this.”
She set her book down and trotted over to the commotion coming from Spike’s room. A book flew out of his door, and bounced off the side of her head. That was it, she could handle the noise, she could handle the distraction, but getting bonked in the head with a book was just too much. She stood in the door frame, spread her wings in an imposing gesture and prepared herself to unleash the scolding of a century. A pillow slammed into her head.
“Where is it?” Spike asked himself as he dug underneath a dresser. “Why can’t I find it? I have the complete collection, how can this be missing?”
“Spike,” Twilight said evenly. Her rage boiling just under the surface.
Spike stopped dead in his tracks and turned his head very slowly. Twilight stared at him angrily from underneath the pillow impaled on her horn. He smiled nervously. “Yes, Twilight.”
“Why are you being so loud?” Twilight asked.
“I lost one of my books…”
“Oh, and would you say that is a good enough reason for throwing things about and making a mess?” Twilight asked.
“Um… n-“ Spike began but was interrupted by Twilight.
“NO! the answer is no! You have been making a ruckus for the past half hour, and it’s been so distracting that I can’t even read. Then I get hit in the head by a book and a pillow gets stuck on my horn!” With a mighty toss of her head, Twilight threw up the pillow and blasted it with magic, it’s smoldering ashes hit the floor.
For nearly a minute she stood there breathing heavily as Spike stared at her in terror. Once her breathing calmed down and her anger settled enough for her to begin recomposing herself, she looked down at Spike and suggested, “You probably loaned your book out to somepony.”
Spike looked at the pillows dusted remains and gulped. “You’re right. I think I think I let somepony barrow it. I’ll uh… just go get it.” He quickly ran past Twilight and down the hall.
Twilight stared at him and just before he left her line of sight she added, “And when you come home, you are going to clean your room mister!” Once she was sure that Spike had left earshot she glanced back into his room, especially at the pillow, and let out a deep sigh. “I love him, but sometimes...”
***
Twilight sure can be scary sometimes. I haven’t seen her get this upset in a long time. I hope everything is okay.
As he rested against the wall he took the time to contemplate where his book could have gone. I know for a fact that Big Mac doesn’t like neighponese comics. He doesn’t like how their written backwards. I don’t trust Snips and Snails with my comics either. So who could have borrowed it? Ugh, I just want my favorite volume of Pony Ball Z back.
He sat there for a good long time in complete silence while racking his brain in an attempt to figure out who could have borrowed it. Very slowly his mind began giving him clues as to who could have his book, and when he thought about it, it made no sense to him at first. There was only one mare who had been looking at his collections of various comic books, manga, and graphic novels. Only one mare who had asked if she could borrow some. And only one mare that he had given permission to without actually seeing what she took from his room. That mare was Fluttershy.
He pushed himself away from the wall and faced himself towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Surely she had taken them without realizing just how violent, and sometimes pervy those manga could be. Spike just hoped that she hadn’t actually read them yet, because if she had… he would probably get in trouble for it somehow.
Now determined, he took off at full speed. He was going to get his books back, and if he was lucky, he was going to save Fluttershy from reading them in the process. All he had to do was make it there fast enough.
It didn’t take long for him to reach Fluttershy’s house. On his approach he noticed the curtains were drawn shut and that it was a little quieter than normal. Once he knocked on the door, and waited for an answer the silence began to set in. if it wasn’t for the sound of hooves lightly stepping behind the door, he would have thought nopony was home.
The door opened only a crack and Fluttershy looked down at him with a single giant blue eye. Spike waved nervously. “Hey, Fluttershy. You don’t mind if I come in and see which comic books you borrowed from me do you?”
“Oh, I didn’t borrow any comic books…” She looked around with her eye. “Are you alone?”
Spike nodded.
She shut the door, quickly undid the latch and opened it up. Before Spike even knew what was going on, she had wrapped a hoof around his neck and dragged him inside before shutting the door and locking it again. When she was done she turned to face him and smiled, her cheeks turned a little pink.
“S-s-sorry about that. I just don’t want anypony to know what I was doing,” She explained.
“Uh…” Spike replied.
“Okay, you want to see the manga that I borrowed this morning?” Fluttershy asked. At Spike’s nod, she lead him over to the couch and sat down. On the table Spike saw at least five volumes of Pony Ball Z lying on the table, the one with pony wearing the orange gi and the spiky blond mane informed Spike that he had found his missing manga.
“So… you haven’t read these yet, have you?” Spike asked nervously.
“Oh my yes. The second I got home I closed my curtains and began reading them all right away. I finished them a few minutes ago,” Fluttershy said excitedly. “I never got to read Pony Ball Z, I only own the original Pony Ball manga. I couldn’t believe that he was actually an alien.”
“Wait… what?” Spike asked. His mind felt like it had been scrambled.
“I-I-I know. But I always thought he was a monkey pony, and that the green guy was demon… but aliens. That surprised me,” Fluttershy admitted. “Oh but I did have enough time to draw them.”
Fluttershy pulled out a notebook with sketches of all kinds of manga characters, there were so many and yet Spike only recognized a few of them, Ranma ¼, Sailor Pony Moon. He even saw the main cast of Pony Ball Z right away, and he had to admit, she was really good at drawing them.
“Oh wow, you’ve got real talent,” He complimented. “Have you ever thought about drawing your own comics?”
“Oh no, I’m not that good. Besides I wouldn’t want all the attention,” Fluttershy admitted.
“You could be a ghost artist. Use a fake name and everything,” Spike suggested.
“I haven't thought about that before.”
“Why are you hiding your love of manga though?” Spike asked. “Shouldn’t you want to share it with your friends?”
“Well… it's just that I really like the manga with the big fights and weird romances… I don’t think the others would understand. If it's in a manga it doesn’t feel real, but I’m afraid that Rainbow Dash might think I like real fighting… you know,” Fluttershy said. “I tried to show them my drawings of the characters once, but none of them said anything… so they obviously don’t like it.”
Spike laughed a little. “You shouldn’t be scared about that. I read comics all the time and you never hear them talking badly about me.”
Fluttershy looked away and quickly said, “A-a-anyway. It’s nice having somepony who understands this. Maybe we could be secret manga friends.”
“Sure. I’d like that. Don’t worry, Fluttershy, I’ll keep your secret,” Spike replied.
“Thanks,” Fluttershy said.
***
Later that night Spike returned to the castle and got to work on cleaning his room. He regretted making such a mess now that he was responsible for cleaning it up. Finding his books and a new way to connect with one of his friends was really nice. Even if it had to be kept secret.
With his collection all nice and cleaned up, he smiled in appreciation of it all. It was good to be home. A quiet knock on his door made him to look over and see Twilight staring at him.
“I’m cleaning my room,” he said.
“I know… and I’m sorry for getting so upset earlier,” Twilight apologized.
“Yeah, but I did throw a pillow at you,” Spike replied.
“And a book… Anyway, did you find your book?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah it was over at F-“ Spike had to cut himself off. “I left it over at a friends while visiting the other day.”
“That’s nice. Well, whenever you want to call it quits I ordered pizza for the two of us,” Twilight explained. “I’m going to go heat some up right now.”
“Oh can you heat me up a piece, or two… or three?” Spike asked, his stomach choosing now as the opportune time to tell him how hungry he was.
“Will do,” Twilight said with a smile.
She trotted off leaving Spike alone in his room once more. He stared at the books on his wall and shelf. Out of all the ponies in ponyville, who would have guessed that Fluttershy would be the secret otaku? What’s next? Rainbow Dash secretly liking girly musicals?