//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Raising Spike // by Darth Link 22 //------------------------------// Throughout the day, Spike didn’t leave the house. He didn’t want to go anywhere. He just wanted to cry. He never got the chance to leave anyway. On that day, the entire population of Ponyville stopped by Sweet Apple Acres. Or at least, it certainly felt that way. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were first, arriving just minutes ahead of their older sisters. They covered Spike in sympathy, and it was no more bearable then when Apple Bloom did so alone. Then came the rest of the Element Bearers. Fluttershy’s soothing words did nothing. The large chocolate and gemstone cake Pinkie had baked for him did nothing. Even Rarity’s comfort did nothing for him. Then it was the Cakes, with Pound and Pumpkin in tow. Zecora, who made a beeline for the farm when she heard what happened. Mayor Mare, offering condolences in a public statement to the reporters that followed her, then more privately mourned. Even the Rich family stopped by. Spike could tell Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich’s tears were genuine, but Spoiled Rich was simply a good actor. Berry Punch and her daughter. Cranky and Matilda. Derpy and Doctor Whooves. Miss Cheerilee. Octavia and Vinyl Scratch. Snips, Snails, Featherweight, Silver Spoon, and everypony else from Cheerilee’s school. What started out as a private meeting became an improvised vigil. Plenty brought food, so tables were set up. There was mingling, everypony recalling good times that were had with Twilight. Many came up to console Spike. Some brought gifts, though tentatively after the infamous birthday fiasco. Discord dropped by in the midst of it and announced that Princess Celestia had returned to Canterlot to deal with a few things, but would return the next day. He also promised that Twilight’s family would be in town the next day. Prince Blueblood showed up soon after, looking even more exhausted than he had that morning, but still putting on a good front. He sent his men to buy any meal a guest requested. He announced that Starlight had been moved to a secret holding cell, and that a lawyer had been found for her. He refused to give up the identity of said lawyer, however. In fact, he announced a complete media blackout of the trial. Despite the announcement, everypony was mingling and having fun, or at least helping each other through their grief. But Spike couldn’t join in. When he was sure nopony’s eyes were on him, he slipped into the farmhouse. He made it halfway across the living room before Applejack and Rarity stopped him. “Spike, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked. “I... I don’t want to be there right now.” “Whatever for?” “Because you’re gettin’ tired of everypony tellin’ you they’re sorry.” Both Rarity and Spike looked at Applejack in surprise. “What? Applejack, what do you mean?” “I’ve lost family, Rare, I know what it’s like.” She turned to Spike. “You’re thinkin’ that yer sick of everypony tellin’ you that they’re sorry. It isn’t makin’ you feel any better.” Spike was silent for a moment, but nodded. “Yeah...” “I understand Spike. If you need to lay down, I’ll let ya. But not until you get dinner.” “But I ate breakfast...” “That was twelve hours ago, Spike.” The little dragon blinked, looking at the clock. He really had gone all day without eating. And now that Applejack had pointed it out, he was feeling hungry. “I’ll go outside and get you a plate. You eat every bite, then I’ll let you get to bed, alright?” Spike nodded. “Okay.” “I’ll get you some hayburgers, Blueblood just about bought out that shop in town. And the Cakes brought that cake for you, so I’m fixin’ you up a slice.” Spike actually felt his mouth water. Applejack left, and Rarity wrapped Spike in a hug. “Oh, Spike, I know this is hard, but I hope you at least appreciate having so many ponies who care for you.” “...I do.” Rarity kissed Spike on the forehead. Less than three days ago, this would have sent him into the atmosphere. Now he just felt numb. “...Where’s Twilight’s family?” Rarity blinked. “Excuse me?” “Where’s Shining Armor? And Cadance? And her parents?” Rarity sighed. “Twilight’s parents are still in Canterlot. Discord said Celestia would bring them here tomorrow. I can’t imagine what they’re thinking.” Twilight’s parents had been inconsolable. They wanted to immediately leave on a train to Ponyville, but Luna had insisted they wait. Twilight’s body was being brought to Canterlot, to be buried in the Royal Cemetery, and Spike was in good hooves, leaving little reason for them to go so suddenly. Celestia made the announcement that morning, after raising the sun. Word had spread around Ponyville on its own, but this caused it to spread throughout Canterlot. Messengers had already reached the outskirts of Equestria. By the next morning, there would be nopony in Canterlot who did not know of Twilight’s death. Twilight Velvet and Night Light had no tears left. The entire day was spent sulking, trying to deny it was true. Celestia finally entered the sitting room some time after 5pm. They looked at her, thinking she looked the model of her usual composure. Inside, Twilight Velvet started fuming. What right did Celestia have to be so composed? Her daughter was dead! She opened her mouth to yell at her. Then, in front of her eyes, Celestia became a different pony. There was no transition, it was more like someone had flipped a switch. The Immortal Princess suddenly seemed to age decades in a few moments. She slumped, her eyes filling with tears. “Please, let me get some tea,” Celestia said. “I’m so very, very tired.” Both ponies were stunned by the sudden vulnerableness. Celestia poured her tea, and drank. Not sipped, drank. After a moment of silence, she spoke again. “I’m going to have to ask you not tell anypony about this. In times like this, it helps that ponies think I’m still strong.” Celestia’s voice was wavering. Actually wavering. Silence followed for a bit. Finally, Night Light spoke. “One of the servants told us that Spike was signed into Applejack’s custody. Is that true?” “Yes,” Celestia answered. She poured herself another cup and drank. “Somepony needed to watch him until we got everything straightened out. Are you going to want to take custody of him?” Neither pony answered right away. Spike was a bit of a foreign entity to them. His birth coincided with Twilight moving into the Palace. Following that, Twilight had never lived with them again. This wasn’t to say that they stopped seeing Twilight, but as an infant Spike was left with the palace staff while Twilight was away. Dragons came into reasoning slower than ponies, a side effect of their long life spans, and by the time it happened Twilight was already a teenager, almost on her own. Friends weren’t the only side effect of Twilight’s love of books over ponies. “I suppose we should... he was pretty much Twilight’s son, wasn’t he?” “He called her Mom.” Celestia’s statement caught the pair off guard. Twilight Velvet spoke. “What? We never...” “When she died... we pulled the memory out of his head... he called her Mom... for the first time...” The tears were finally leaving Celestia’s eyes. Velvet stood up. “We need to get to Ponyville...” “He has the others to care for him at the moment. You should wait for your son to show up...” As if on cue, the doors opened, and Shining Armor entered, followed by his wife. Celestia began rising to her hooves. “Shining Armor, I’m sorry we had to meet...” “What’s really going on?” Celestia was stunned. Even the most aggressive foreign diplomat wouldn’t dare cut her off, let alone her well disciplined captain. “Shining Armor?” “The messenger you sent was mistaken. He actually told me Twiley had died. Or maybe you just told him to say that to keep up the ruse. Now what’s really going on? This is a plot to catch Starlight, isn’t it?” “Shiny...” his mother started to say. “It’s no trick.” “Oh, you even left my parents in the dark? Come on, we can handle the truth, we can...” “We’ve seen the body!” Twilight Velvet yelled. The room became quiet. Shining Armor looked at her mother like what she had just said was undecipherable gibberish. He looked at his father, who only lowered his head sadly. Cadance had seen it too. Almost immediately her legs gave way. Her retainers caught her as she began sobbing. As they moved her to the nearest cushion, trying to tell her the stress wasn’t good for her unborn foal, Shining Armor spoke. “It has to be an illusion...” “It is not.” Shining Armor looked at Celestia. Tears were leaving her eyes. “Twilight is gone.” “...Show me the body.” “Shiny...” his father began. “Show me the body!” Applejack pulled the blanket over her charge, who barely registered it as he fell into much desired sleep. The Earth Pony only looked at the snoozing dragon for a bit. Finally, she leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. The dragon stirred a bit, but did not wake or change expressions. Sighing, she turned around and left the room, leaving it in darkness. She trotted down the steps where her friends waited. Ponyville had dispersed, going home to privately mourn. Apple Bloom had gone to her room, with Sweetie and Scootaloo following her. The parents agreed to a last minute sleepover to deal with their grief. Granny Smith had gone to bed, and Big Mac, withdrawn as usual, had gone for a late night walk. That just left her usual group of friends. She walked in and saw the table. Whenever they had a meeting, they always sat in the same places, almost like they had been assigned. They had assumed these places as usual, which meant there were two gaps there. One for her, and one for Twilight. She had later found out that Rainbow Dash had set the table, setting up six chairs out of habit. Once it was there, it seemed disrespectful to take it away. Applejack wondered if she was also secretly hoping Twilight would suddenly enter, having somehow recovered. Five mugs were present, all filled with something. Applejack could tell it was alcoholic. “What is this, cider?” Rarity shook her head. “No. It was a gift from Prince Blueblood.” It was the first time since the first Grand Galloping Gala that she spoke that name without cringing. “Apparently, a special wine is brewed up for graduates every year. This was from the year Twilight graduated and began taking all her lessons from Celestia. He thought it might make for a good toast.” Applejack sat, then lifted her mug. Her friends did the same. “To Twilight.” “To Twilight,” the group repeated. They all took large swallows from their drinks. Even Rarity was foregoing her polite sips. “So... what happens now?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Are we still going to be able to use Rainbow Power? Is somepony going take over as Princess of Friendship? And is AJ going to take care of Spike from now on?” Applejack’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t thought about that first one.” She rubbed her hoof with her chin. “I reckon we should be able to. The Elements all needed to be together, but the Rainbow Power isn’t the Elements. Sides, who could represent Magic as well as Twi?” “Moondancer!” Pinkie quipped. “Um, Discord, maybe? He’s learned a lot.” Fluttershy shuffled. “I would have guessed Princess Celestia would take over, or maybe Luna. Cadance, even.” Rarity guessed. “As long as it isn’t Trixie...” Rainbow Dash said. “Well, that’s a bridge to cross later,” Applejack said. “As for a new Princess of Friendship, Blueblood visited this mornin’ an’ told me that the position is still open an’ Spike is lookin’ to inherit it. But there are some of those hoity toity ponies that want it, an’ think they deserve it more than Spike.” “But that’s crazy!” Rainbow Dash said. “Spike has every right to it!” “That’s what the Princesses think, an’ Prince Blueblood too. But you know the Elite. They ain’t gonna give it up without a fight.” “That is so unfair!” Pinkie pouted. Rarity brushed her chin. “A thought occurs to me. If Spike becomes the Prince of Friendship, could he also use the Rainbow Power?” The other ponies brightened at that. “Hey, yeah,” Pinkie said. “He’d be a super cool hero! And he’d look real pretty!” “He could come with us on all our adventures!” Rainbow Dash said. “Going to weird places, seeing amazing things fighting... evil...” the cyan Pegasus felt her enthusiasm diminish. “Always getting put in danger,” Rarity said what was now on all their minds. They had always known the risks. But now there was a constant reminder of it, one that couldn’t be ignored. “What if one of us goes next?” Rainbow Dash said. “I’d... Scoots... what would she do without me? Who’d take care of Tank?” “Please don’t talk about death,” Rarity said. She was starting to hold back tears as well. Applejack’s mind went racing, quite against her permission. Would the farm survive without her? Big Mac was strong, but even he couldn’t do all the heavy work alone. Would Apple Bloom be able to handle losing her after already losing her parents and Twilight? And... “We should be talking about Spike.” Fluttershy’s words caught them off guard, and the seven turned to look at her. “He’s a child that lost his mother. We can’t fall apart about that now. We need to decide what to do about him first.” They stared at Fluttershy for a moment. But as their surprise wore off, they realized she was right. They nodded. “You’re right,” Rainbow Dash said. She turned to Applejack. “Did Blueblood say anything about what was going to happen to Spike? Are you keeping him forever?” The cowpony shook her head. “He told me what was goin’ on, an’ gave me access to his trust fund, but he didn’t say if Twi’s family were gonna take him.” “Well, isn’t it obvious they are?” Rarity said. “If Twilight was his mother, shouldn’t Shining Armor or her parents take him?” “I don’t know,” Applejack said. “I really don’t. We don’t know how close Spike was to the rest of Twi’s family. But fer the time bein’, I’m just gonna move forward like he’s stayin’ here. I did get access to all his stuff after all.” She took a deep breath. “But... there’s so much about raising a dragon that I don’t know. I... I suppose I am a little worried.” There was an uncomfortable silence. “You know,” Rainbow Dash said. “When Spike’s wings come in, someone is going to have to teach him to fly. It can’t be that much different for a dragon than a Pegasus. I could probably help him with that.” “And if he’s going to be royalty, he’s going to need to learn etiquette,” Rarity said. “That happens to be my specialty.” “And he’s going to need some cheering up!” Pinkie said. “And someone to spoil him rotten! I’ve always wanted to be an auntie!” “Um... I could babysit sometimes... and help out in any way I could.” “It looks like we’re all on board,” Rainbow Dash said. She lifted her still half full mug. The others did the same. “We’ll all be Spike’s family.” Applejack smiled, raising her own mug. “Then that’s that. No matter what happens, we’ll all be there for Spike. It’s what Twilight would have wanted.” And they all tapped their mugs together. It took nearly ten minutes for Shining Armor to accept what he had seen. He would not allow the mortician to pull the cover back over his sister. Twilight Velvet stepped forward. “Shiny... please...” “Where is she?” “...What?” “Starlight Glimmer. Where is she?” “I can’t tell you that,” Celestia said. “Why not?” “You’d kill her.” “That’s the idea,” he roared. “Tell me where she is!” “Shining, please, you’re going through...” What happened next went by too quick for Twilight Velvet and Night Light to comprehend. Shining Armor moved forward, and his outbursts of anger were enough of a reason for the Royal Guards to interfere. They tackled their former captain to the ground. Shining Armor put up a fight, but it was no good. His grief made him vulnerable to the stoic guards. In moments, a dozen sleeping spells had knocked him out. “Confine him to a suite. Hopefully, he’ll be more calm after he wakes.”