//------------------------------// // The next two weeks were of reconciliation, the past had to stay in the past in order to move forward // Story: Spike's custody // by Kaliann25 //------------------------------// The next two weeks were of reconciliation, the past had to stay in the past in order to move forward Spike was looking at the window all the way to Canterlot while stayed silent deep in his thoughts. The purple dragon had now a very clear idea of why did they took him away from Twilight, but still he didn’t like the situation. He wanted to be with his older sister, and the fact that he created part of the situation really hurt him. Why the things had to end up like this? Why they couldn’t get back to how it was before? But then he remembered this week was the funniest of his life. And now that he thought about it, why did he stopped going to school? Sure, it was boring from time to time, but he wouldn’t change for anything all the time he spent with the rest of the kids of Ponyville; especially their games during the weekend and the party. Yeah, now that Spike considered it, he regretted all the schooldays and playing he lost for working at the library and doing chores for Twilight and her friends… he always ended up exhausted and he barely had time for himself. But he wasn’t capable to hate his sister, none of them had planned that their relationship end up like that. In the meantime Shining looked at Spike unsure of how to act, he wished Cadence was there, she was good with this things. What to do? How could he comfort his baby brother? He finally decided to hug him. Spike seemed surprised at first by Shining’s contact (unsure and a little clumsy) but he accepted it and cuddled with the white unicorn. Just as Shining, Spike had a hard time dealing with this kind of emotions; he needed Twilight or perhaps his mother. And this was just one of many thing he’ll have to get used to. “Hey Shine, are we staying with mom and dad for the night?” “Yes. We’ll leave to the Empire tomorrow at noon so you can sleep as long as you need to. There’s no need to hurry” Spike smiled weakly to Shining and opened one of the bags of candy Rumble gave him ‘from the Power ponies’ and offered a couple of candy bars, one for Shining one for him. “Thank you buddy” said the white unicorn accepted the chocolate. “Uh, it’s good!” “Nah, it’s just okay, after you spend a week living with one of the best chocolatiers in the world, you know the difference” said Spike. Shining giggled at this. “Maybe, for me the difference is that you can have these ones in any store and the others only for especial occasions” Spike couldn’t argue that to his brother and took a couple of more candies to share with him; a relaxing pointless conversation was just what he needed for the occasion. And soon enough they arrived to Canterlot, where Twilight Velvet and Night Light were already waiting for them at the train station. “Shine, Spike! I’m glad you’re here!” Smiled Velvet. “How was the trip from Ponyville? Have you eat yet?” Asked Night Light. “Nothing since the party” said Spike. “Oh I wish you were there! There was pizza and cake, and tons of candy! Even the Power Ponies were there and let us play with water balloons, we made a huge mess and when we thought it couldn’t get worse Button and Scoots teamed up to soak Rumble and… it was great, I haven’t had so much fun in a while. I loved it!” “I’m glad you had fun with your new friends before you came Spike. Now, shall we go eat something before we go home?” Asked Velvet. “Thank you, I’m starving!” Said Shining. So they picked something to eat in their way home. There was no much to say, finally Spike went to bed and fall asleep immediately. It gave the adults the opportunity to speak freely. “And how was she?” Asked Twilight Velvet. “She said she’ll forgive me if I make sure Spike is happy. But I recommend you go talk to her” said Spike. “Yeah, I guess we must” sighed Night Light. The rest of the night passed without incident, but Velvet and Night couldn’t sleep too worried that they damaged their relationship with Twilight permanently. One more time they remembered when they tried to excuse themselves before Princess Luna. They simply couldn’t. “First you put extremely high expectances on her, too much for even an adult! And she does her best to make you happy, and then what? You didn’t care that the weight on her shoulders was too big for any pony, no, she makes ONE mistake and suddenly you turn your backs on here. That’s not how a family supposes to act. What were you thinking? All of you!!” The reproach kept going and was stuck on their minds since almost two days, and they still didn’t dare to face Twilight. But that was about to end, they had to talk to her before the hearing for the sake of family. The next day the entire family went to the train station; with the two sons in their way to the Crystal Empire and the two parents in their way to Ponyville. “Good luck Spike. Write us as soon as you get there son” asked Velvet kissing Spike’s forehead. “Of course mom, thank you” “Don’t worry, everything will be fine” assured Shining. “We hope so. But Shine, please tell us immediately if you need help. We will be here if you need us!” The two brothers smiled to their parents and after a quick last hug, they got in their train and left. And for the parents they still had to wait ten minutes to get in their own train and went to Ponyville where they headed to the library and rang the doorbell. “Twilight?” Asked Velvet. The lavender unicorn just frowned. “My only question is, it wouldn’t be easier that the three of you come together to apologize instead of coming in groups?” “We know, but there’s a difference: your brother is impulsive and cannot control his mouth when he’s angry. And for us, we are your parents and failed as such. We expected so much from you, and made a terrible mistake by making you mature too fast; so we never realized how wrong were we when we let you take care of your younger brother. It was easier to blame you than accept our part of the responsibility” said Night Light lowering his head. “We failed to notice that you needed help, and hurt Spike in the process. We were neglected before you and we’re sorry. And the worst part is we acted as jerks when the fault was principally ours” sighed Velvet. Twilight just smiled weakly. “We all made mistakes, I failed by not asking help or admitting I wasn’t capable to take care of Spike properly. But this isn’t about us, is about Spike. I want him to be happy, and if I have to let him go in order for him to be it, I accept it” “Twilight…” said Velvet softly. “Ehem, you can hit us if you want” said Night nervously. “Just promise me we’ll concentrate in Spike’s well-being in the hearing” They nodded and hugged each other, but again it was a quick hug. There was nothing more to say, the family relationship was starting to fix but it would take some time. Spike and Shining arrived to the Empire around five o’clock, where Cadence received them happily. “How are you dear, okay?” “I could be better, thank you” smiled the purple dragon. “Anyone would take some time to recover after a situation like you’ve been; but give it some time and you’ll see how everything gets better” “I guess so, thank you Cadence” smiled Spike shyly. So they went to the Palace where Cadence showed Spike his new room: it was bigger than Lyra and Bon-Bon’s guest room, with walls painted in light blue, with beautiful purple-crystal windows and in the center of it, a big bed with a night table aside. “I hope you like it Spike, I know it looks empty but I preferred to wait for your arrival so we can fill it together. What you think?” “It sounds great! Thank you Cadence!” “Whenever you want Spike” At the next day, after having breakfast in one of the fanciest restaurants of the Crystal Empire, where Spike’s presence was a sensation (after all he was the one who saved the Empire from King Sombra), they spent the whole morning wandering around stores buying everything Spike needed for his new room; he loved the idea to decorate his room as he wanted, but it also saddened him a little, because he realized it was also a sign that he would never return with Twilight. Spike didn’t liked it but at this point he knew it was the best for the two of them. “And let’s not forget about your books and pencils because tomorrow you’ll start attending to school” reminded the pink alicorn. “I guessed so, and how are the schools around here?” “Big, really bit, but hey, you’ll judge it on your own tomorrow, don’t you think?” Spike smiled, yeah, he’ll judge it on his own. The rest of the day passed normally, with Spike getting used to his new room and decorating it along with Shining and Cadence. At the next day he was up at first hour ready to go to a new school, where he was walked to by Shining alone since Cadence had audiences to attend from early. “Do you think I’ll adapt fast?” Asked Spike. The Prince seemed to consider it but just winked an eye to the dragon. “Let me see, you’re a dragon, the hero who defeated Sombra and also the Prince’s little brother. Yeah, I think you’ll be fine!” Spike chuckled and they both entered to the building where they were received by a nice earth pony with green fur and sky-blue mane, the principal, who gently guided Spike to one of the classes. “Miss Rolling Bubbles, here’s your new student” A sky-blue colored Pegasus with electric blue mane received Spike with a warm smile. “Okay kids, from today we have a new student. He came from Ponyville and he’s just getting used to the Crystal Empire, so give a warm welcome to Spike Sparkle. Spike, what can you tell us about you?” The dragon blushed a little but he thought in something quickly. “Well, I’m nine years old and love rubies…” “Hahahahahaha! So you wear jewelry like fillies?” Mocked a kid. The other kids giggled at this, mostly the colts, but Spike didn’t mind. “What? No! I always considered a waste to wear gems! I love them as a snack, they’re delicious!” And that made the whole class to mute in astonishment. “Wait, wait, wait! You’re telling us you actually eat rubies? What else? Diamonds and emeralds too?” “Also sapphires and some quartz from time to time, but that one is too dry for my taste” said Spike. “Oh and I love pearls! Especially when they’re fresh as good seafood!” And after a general laugh, the teacher showed Spike his seat. The dragon sat and a school day as any other began; he missed his friends from Ponyville, but that mixture of mumbling suffocated chuckles and the sound of the pencils on the notebooks felt very familiar. It proved Spike that wherever he was, kids were still kids. And then it was recess, Spike sat on a bench when the same colt who mocked him during his presentation sat aside him. “Ey, don’t tell me you have gems for lunch!” Giggled the kid. Spike opened his lunchbox and effectively he showed the kid a big ruby that he ate in one bite. “Need more proof?” Smiled Spike. “What? But how’s that possible?” Asked the pony. “Seriously, did you just ate that? How?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know much about dragons, right?” “I guess not. By the way I’m Jumper, Sky Jumper” “Spike. Spike Sparkle” “It’s a pleasure to meet you Spike” said Jumper taking a sandwich from his own lunchbox and starting to eat. “Hey, do you play soccer?” Spike’s eyes widened. “It’s my favorite game!” “Cool! Let’s hurry to eat then!” They did and went where the two teams were organizing. Cloud Crafting, the captain of the team where Spike was just looked at the dragon and shrugged. “New kids go to the goals” “Precisely my favorite positon!” The kids began to play, and that was what Spike needed to feel like home. and of course by the end of the day he have made new friends like Sky Jumper, Cloud Crafting and lots of more foals. So it was a good day for the dragon. The time had passed and Spike was getting used to the life at the Crystal Empire: going to school, hanging out with new friends and doing homework with Cadence’s help. He started to like the routine and if he still missed Twilight, she wrote her daily and he answered immediately; it was the advantage of the messenger breath. On the other side, the things in Ponyviller were getting better. As with any other scandals, ponies lost interest in Twilight’s problem and started to treat the girls normally. Even Pinkie Pie was allowed back at the counter, a huge relief for her since she loved to attend ponies. Yes, everything was getting better, even Princess Celestia cae to apologize with Twilight. “I know I should came earlier Twilight Sparkle, but at that time I wasn’t on my best mood and I released my frustrations in you. I’m sorry Twilight; and if you need help with your hearing, I’ll help you. It’s a promise” “Thank you Princess Celestia but I’m ready to say goodbye to Spike. I don’t want to take away his childhood again and I know that my brother and Cadence will take good care of him” “Oh Twilight, that’s…” “Spike deserves to live his childhood happily. If he’s happy I’m happy” The time continued and everypony kept living their lives, until it came: the day of the hearing. The circle finally closed.