//------------------------------// // The next day was Saturday, a grayer Saturday than usual // Story: Spike's custody // by Kaliann25 //------------------------------// The next day was Saturday, a grayer Saturday than usual Spike sat quietly on the bed Lyra and Bon-Bon prepared for him, looking around in the unfamiliar room. Everything was of very good taste: cream-colored wallpaper decorated with patterns of blue candies intercalated with mint-green lyres, a plain desk in the corner with a small chair; and the bed was big, with pink and blue sheets that reminded Spike of Bon-Bon’s mane. But as much as he tried to focus on the small details, his mind constantly went back to what happened to him minutes ago. Separated out of nowhere from the pony who raised him because somepony said he was being mistreated? What? Was this some kind of sick joke or something? And the worst part was that the ponies who supposedly were protecting him forbid him to communicate with Twilight by any chance and ask her what the hay was going on. “Are you comfortable my friend?” Asked Lyra getting into the room. “I’m not going to ask you if you’re okay because obviously not, but hey, Bonnie have just made chocolate if you want some.” Then Lyra levitated a cup to him with her magic. Spike thanked the gesture and accepted the chocolate in silence. He took a sip, and it was wonderful, it was the perfect balance between sweet and bitter, and the temperature was just, right not too hot but warm; precisely what he needed. “Thank you! This is just great, I don’t want to sound too flattering but this is the best chocolate I ever had!” “I know, right?” Said Lyra relieved to see the boy smiling even if it was a little. “Bonnie is an artist for chocolate no matter if it’s in truffles, bars or drinkable. And I can told you by experience that a cup of hot chocolate is just the right thing after a bad day. Especially Bonnie’s.” Spike agreed while drinking. “Thank you Lyra” he said again, returning the empty cup to the unicorn. “Whenever you want kid.” Said Lyra. “You know? Between us I fell in love with Bonnie first by the stomach and then by the heart, ha-ha!” Spike couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’ll see how everything ends right” assured Lyra giving Spike a small hug. “Before you know it, you’ll be with Twilight again.” “I hope so. And I hope I don’t bother you…” “Don’t worry about that kid, on the contrary we’re more than happy to have you even if it’s only for a little while!” Said the minty unicorn. “Why don’t you try to sleep? I know it’s still too early but I can say you had a long day.” “You’re right, and maybe everything will be better in the morning.” Agreed Spike yawning. But then Bon-Bon entered to the room. “Yeah, go to sleep but not before I change those sheets. We haven’t had guests in a while and I’m pretty those need a wash.” “Let me do it! I always do it at home!” Offered Spike as diligent as he was. But Bon-Bon gently rejected him. “It’s okay, Spike, like Lyra said you had a long day so let us pamper you for today.” Spike obeyed and watched how Bon-Bon changed the sheets making sure the bed was comfortable enough for their young guest. Again Spike lowered his head ashamed since he didn’t wanted to be a bother. But as soon as she finished, Bon-Bon noticed the dragon’s mood and smiled to him. “Don’t worry Spike, you’re not bothering anypony. Lyra and I do this because we want to and also hope that you enjoy the time we’ll spend together.” Spike smiled back to her. “Oh, well, thank you Bon-Bon. I guess you two are right, I could use a rest.” The cream-coated pony winked an eye to him and left the room followed by Lyra. “Good night kid.” “Sweet dreams!” Spike yawned. “Good night.” And he fell asleep almost immediately. Hopefully everything will go better the next morning. The next day was Saturday, a grayer Saturday than usual. It was common knowledge that the day reflected how the Princess was feeling, and a day that started with gray cloudy sky with cold winds was never a good sign. But Twilight Sparkle didn’t mind, she didn’t even noticed when it when Celestia raised the sun, she couldn’t sleep the whole night thinking about Spike, her dear Spike. And suddenly the door violently opened letting pass Princess Celestia. “Good morning Twilight Sparkle” greeted Celestia coldly. Twilight sighed and pulled a couple of chairs with her magic, Celestia accepted the seat and waited while Twilight sat silently on her chair and sighed. “Well, I’m waiting” Said the Monarch of Equestria.   “I don’t know what happened” said Twilight softly lowering her head. Celestia frowned. “I’m not in the mood for that kind of answer Twilight Sparkle. How do you think I felt when in the middle of my daily audiences a letter from Spike comes out of nowhere saying that some strange ponies were trying to force him out of his home? Not to mention that then I received a letter from the ponies who supposedly tried to foalnap him were nothing less than agents from the Child Protection Agency fulfilling their duty. Now tell me what happened and if you say that you don’t know I promise I’ll…” “BUT I TRULY DON’T KNOW!” Cried Twilight. “I DON’T KNOW, I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED!” The lavender unicorn’s attack of crying was enough to soften Celestia, who offered her wing to cry. Twilight then cried under Celestia’s wing for a few minutes. “Sorry if I overreacted Twilight, is just that this caught off guard” “I only care about Spike, is he okay? Where is him? Why did they took him away from me? DO YOU THINK I’VE BEEN ABLE TO SLEEP? I SPENT THE WHOLE NIGHT WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED, AND…” She began to cry again and Celestia hugged her harder. “Feeling better?” Twilight nodded. “Again I don’t really know what happened, but I can’t even communicate with him. All I have is a letter that says I have to go to a hearing in three weeks. They say I mistreated Spike but I assure you, it’s a lie! We get along just fine and we argue from time to time but he’s happy most of the time… I don’t understand what’s happening, all I want is Spike back!” Now calmed Celestia nodded. “Yes, one more time sorry for overreacting my faithful student. It seems that this is just a big misunderstanding but first of all we need to speak with the plaintiff, don’t you think? Before I came here I sent a couple of soldiers to get her. They’ll be here any minute now.” Somepony knocked the door. “Perfect timing!” Said Celestia. “Please come in!” Two soldiers in golden armor escorted a very angry Cheerilee to the library and proceed to retire in silence while the teacher stood there with the librarian and the Princess. “Cheerilee! You did this to us? WHY?” Asked Twilight furiously. “And do you really have to ask?!” Said Cheerilee angrily. “How can you be Celestia’s student if it seems like you have flowers growing in your brain?!” Princess Celestia sent her a warning-glare, but the teacher just shook her head bravely. “Oh don’t you dare to scold me Your Highness. Listen carefully: I love children, I live for them so if there’s something I cannot tolerate is child abuse. Yesterday when I went to the grocery store I found Spike doing the monthly shopping. I mean, what kind of irresponsible pony sends a nine-year-old all by himself with that kind of money?! It’s a kid, something can happen to him! Okay, I know we’re in Ponyville and everypony can trust in each other but still that’s something I can’t ignore. Second, he was about to carry all those bags all the way back to the library, so I volunteered to help him, but again, he’s just a kid. Why was he taking care of something you should, huh? Third: he seemed like he was used to do it.” Celestia’s expression turned cold again as she was glaring at Twilight; and unfortunately for the librarian, Cheerilee was only starting: “Then he told me he was the one who did all the housework, all the cleaning, dusting, cooking, laundry… all by himself! Oh, but if that wasn’t bad enough, he showed me his to-do-list, a very long one and it seemed that once he finished here, he still had to take care of even more chores that your friends gave him. Why is he doing all this instead of go to school and play with other kids as he should? So yeah, I called the social services and I’m glad they took him away from you. And you know what’s worst? That he is too innocent to realize how wrong is all this.” Celestia turned to Twilight that felt her somehow threatening. “I presume he never knew better, right?” Twilight gulped. “But… Spike was happy, he’s just happy to help and…” “It seems that all this time he’s been taking care of you instead of you taking care of him” said Cheerilee angrily. “I only regret I didn’t realize until now.” The Princess nodded drily. “I see. Thank you Miss Cheerilee. You can go now.” The teacher bowed to Celestia and retired quietly. Then Celestia glared at Twilight, who shrank in fear in a corner. “I’m not going to lie, this is no misunderstanding Twilight. I’m furious, but mostly with me since I was the one who thought you were ready to take care of Spike. Since you hatched his egg I felt a very strong connection between the two of you, but I never thought it could drive you to this poisonous relationship you two had. At first everything seemed fine, he was another son for your parents and a new playmate for Shining Armor and you, when did this happened? When he turned into your servant instead of your little brother?” Twilight shook her head. “I’ve always tried to do my best to take care of him!” “As the teacher said, it seems like he was the one taking care of you. Give that to-do-list. Now.” Twilight obeyed, and as soon as Celestia finished with the list, she just stared to Twilight in disappointment. “All the housework, and take care of the library even if that’s your job. No, I wish I realized sooner what was really going on; but this is clearly a case of child exploitation; and the worst part is that it’s not only you but your friends as well. None of you ever considered this was wrong?” “But Spike… had never complaint about this…” “In Canterlot he attended to school regularly. Why not in here?” Twilight gulped. “Because… because…” Those magenta eyes usually peaceful and playful seemed now like two dangerous flames. “Answer me!” Demanded the Princess. “…because I realized he was more useful in the library!” Cried Twilight. That was enough, Celestia had to use all her self-control to not hurt Twilight right in there. But she managed to control herself by taking a deep breath. “You have no idea how lucky you are that I decided to not interfere with this cases when the Family Court was invented two hundred years ago; if it was for me you’ll be already… but no, forget it. As I said, I recognize this is mostly my fault and I have no choice but deal with my own stupidity. But Twilight, this is what’s going to happen: they’ll take Spike away from you, there’s no doubt of that. And even if I wanted to, I cannot help you this time. I really hope they keep him as far as possible from you.” So Celestia left leaving Twilight in tears, hopefully at this point she would understand what she have done. It wasn’t that Twilight was bad or something, but she proved to be incapable to raise a child, and the worst part was that Celestia thought everything was okay for a very long time.  “Damn it, how could I be that stupid? Having this whole situation right in front of me and I didn’t even realized.” That day Spike woke up really late, and even if it had been a while since he slept that much, he still felt exhausted for all that happened last night. He look around and sighed, so it wasn’t a dream after all; in fact in his dreams he was with his beloved friends as nothing had happened. But no, it did happened. Luckily for the young dragon, Lyra and Bon-Bon seemed understanding and kind enough, but what Spike needed more than anything at that moment was to see his friends and especially his older sister. However, he better got up and went to the dining room, where Lyra was reading the paper while Bon-Bon was finishing with the breakfast. “Hi kid, did you have a good sleep?” Asked the minty unicorn. “I wish I had” sighed Spike. Lyra didn’t know what to say, but then Bon-Bon entered carrying three platers of chocolate-chip pancakes. “Morning Spike, are you hungry?” “Yes thank you.” Said Spike. “So… chocolate again?”  Bon-Bon smiled to him. “Shall I remind you I have a chocolate store? Anyway, eat as much as you want, I still have more if you want to.” Spike thanked to the cream-coated mare and finished his breakfast in less than five minutes. It was like the chocolate from last night, sweet and warm; precisely what he needed at the moment. “So now what?” Asked the dragon as he finished his breakfast. “What you mean with ‘what’?” Asked Bon-Bon. “It’s Saturday, what you usually do on weekends?” “I don’t know, help Twilight with her readings or Applejack, or Fluttershy… actually I help whoever who needs me. Why?” Bon-Bon frowned and exchanged a worried look with Lyra, who seemed as worried as she was. However, Bon-Bon knew exactly what to do so she nodded to her wife like saying she’ll take care of the situation “I see.” Said the chocolatier. “You know, Saturday is one of my busiest days on the store, why don’t you come with me?” “Sure!” Smiled Spike. Lyra raised an eyebrow but Bon-Bon winked an eye to her, so she stayed quiet. So Bon-Bon and Spike left Lyra doing the dishes and headed to Bon-Bon’s candy store. “So, how can I help?” Asked Spike willingly to anything. “Help me with the mixture while I put the candies on the counter.” Said Bon-Bon giving a bowl to Spike. Spike obeyed happy to help while Bon-Bon waited in silence staring to the door. And suddenly, it opened letting pass Piipsqueak, Feather Weight, Snips and Snails coming for their dose of sugar for the weekend. It never failed, the kids were her more loyal customers. “Hi Bon-Bon! The usual please!” Said Snips putting a bag of bits on the counter. “Sure thing!” Smiled Bon-Bon selecting a few chocolates of all shapes and putting them into a small paper bag. Then she took a tray of freshly made cherry-stuffed truffles. “Also, I just made these, what do you say? Want to try some for free?” “Seriously?” Asked Rumble. “Just like that?” Asked Snails scratching his head. Bon-Bon nodded. “With only one condition: can you invite Spike to play with you for the day?” “Spike?” “The dragon?” “Sure! He’s pretty cool!” Bon-Bon nodded again. “Precisely. Spike, can you come to the counter please?” “Yes?” Asked Spike walking to the chocolatier. “Go play with them. Okay?” Spike seemed genuinely surprised but accepted without thinking too much about it, and the other kids of course welcomed the baby dragon with excitement.  So the group of colts plus one left happily leaving Bon-Bon staring at the door with a disapproving frown. “I promised not to judge but not play with other kids? This is wrong.”