//------------------------------// // Sleeping Through the Night // Story: The Days Passed // by SilverEyedWolf //------------------------------// Rarity dismissed herself as soon as her friends let her go, running straight towards Twilight's first floor guest bathroom. Fluttershy made to follow her, but Pinkie stopped her. “I can help Rarity with her makeup, silly filly. Go sit with Spike.” “Are you sure?” Fluttershy tried to ask, but Pinkie only smiled as she walked away from the group. Fluttershy looked towards Spike and smiled slightly, the two of them shrugging in tandem. Pushing herself into his side, she let him walk them into the castle as she leaned heavily into him. They both sighed, and then glanced at Rainbow as she giggled. “Long day, huh?” she asked, looking up into the sky. Zooming up and snagging a cloud, she pushed it down to speaking level, before stretching out on it. “How're you doing, big guy?” “Well, how do you think he's doing, Dash?” Applejack snapped. After a moment of everyone looking at her in surprise, she sighed and lowered her gaze to the earth. “Sorry Rainbow, that was uncalled for. Just a lot of stress finally catching up, I guess.” Spreading her wings, Rainbow pushed the cloud over to her marefriend, nuzzling AJ behind an ear. “S'okay AJ, I get it.” Spike cleared his throat, smiling at the two. “I think I'll be fine enough, with some rest. You two should head off as well, relax before nighttime gets here.” Fluttershy pinked, coughing slightly. Spike looked down at her, lifting an eyebrow as the other three blushed, Rainbow chuckling. “Well now, I don't think that's any of your businesses,” AJ said primly, before winking at the other couple. “C'mon Dash, I've got some chores I need to finish up in the barn.” Groaning, Rainbow waved at Fluttershy and Spike before kicking the cloud she was laying on apart. Floating down the three or so feet, she landed beside AJ and hip-checked her before starting down the path towards Sweet Apple Acres. AJ lifted her hat to the couple before turning and trotting to catch up to Rainbow, giving back a hip check before the two pressed their sides together. Together, they walked out of sight, talking amicably about something the remaining couple couldn't hear. “They're really cute together, aren't they?” Fluttershy said quietly, not realizing that she'd spoken out loud until Spike answered. “Not as cute as you are.” Blushing, she gently pushed a hoof against his side and looked away, until she heard a thud. Looking back over, she saw Spike wincing as he laid on the ground on his side. “Oh Spike, I'm so sorry!” “It's fine,” he said quickly. “I was mostly doing it for a laugh,” he said as he pushed himself up, “but it hurt a bit more than I thought it would. I guess all this messing with my size has me feeling tender.” Fluttershy took an arm and pulled him upright gently, Spike leaning on her gratefully. “Uhm, can you help me get home? It's not… too far from here,” Spike said, looking into Ponyville. “Maybe a few hundred yards?” Fluttershy looked up at Spike, then pointedly back at the castle. Spike snorted, shaking his head as he started limping towards the rental he resided in. “No use in having my own bed if I'm not going to use it, is there?” He made sure to keep his face turned away from her as he grimaced at the half lie, before he schooled his expression into a light smile. “Besides, there's more than enough room in that bed to cuddle…” Blushing, she looked back and forth for another quarter minute, giving Spike enough time to hobble another few yards towards his house. Sighing, she caught up and slipped under his left arm, settling him against her right side. “Okay Spike, but I hope you'll tell me the real reason soon,” she said, looking up into his eyes. Wincing, he instinctively looked away, before forcing himself to meet her gaze and nod back. “I'll try, Fluttershy. It's just a painful possibility, nothing concrete yet.” She nodded, squirreling away the thought for the moment and focusing on helping her dragon friend home. The normally half-minute flight from Twilight's tower took them about twenty minutes to walk, the houses and limp hindering their time. It might have been fifteen, maybe ten minutes, except for Spike's walking speed and Fluttershy's insistence he not tire himself out. By the time they reached his house, they were both slightly sweaty. Spike had tripped a couple of times, and had bent one of his scales badly enough it needed to be trimmed now. Fluttershy had attempted to catch him the first time, and a muscle in her back twitched painfully whenever she moved her wing the wrong way. Both had heard offers from other ponies for help, but this had become a personal struggle for the couple and all were rebuffed gently. Pulling his key from under a scale, he shoved it in the door, then sighed when it turned into powder as he twisted it. Pushing a claw in, he managed to turn the lock and open the door, letting them both in from the coming dusk. “I can't believe it's only been one day,” Spike muttered, opening the door to his bathroom. “My shower isn't as big as yours, you want first dibs?” “I'll be quick,” she whispered, nuzzling his nose before kissing him and slipping into the shower. Humming, he walked into the kitchen, moderately stocked for guests, and started pulling together something that didn't require cooking. By the time he had finished chopping up the last of the lettuce, Fluttershy walked into the kitchen with a stern face. Holding his arms up and smiling, he ducked to kiss her before moving into the shower himself. Soaking up what hot water Fluttershy had left, Spike found himself leaning into the wall, trying not to fall asleep. Turning off the water, he used a towel to wipe the moisture from his scales before walking into his bedroom and flopping heavily onto the reinforced crystal frame. Fluttershy walked into the room with a bowl of the completed salad, but Spike shook his head at her. “All for you, love,” he muttered, grinning as they both blushed at the new name, “I'm not hungry at all. I think it's something to do with the gems…” She nodded, setting the bowl aside and crawling into the bed. Wrapping her forelegs around his neck, they pulled each other as close as they could and laid there for a minute. Squeezing Spike, Fluttershy pulled away to ask something, only to find his eyes already closed and his breathing slowed. Smiling, Fluttershy pulled slowly away and went to the sitting room, looking for something to read until her own sleepiness caught up with her. 888888888888888888888 Spike yawned and stretched, his tiny arms clearing the top of the basket and moving to almost touch his stumpy tail. He ran a hand over a set of wings he almost remembered having, dark blue with pinpricks of light as though they were covered in stars. The look of them gave him shivers, so he looked away. “Good morning, Twilight,” he said to the purple horse by the desk, much too tall to be his Twilight. She had her back to him, but he could hear the rustling of pages to let him know she had her eyes on a book. “Good morning, Spike!” she said brightly, turning around to show bloodshot eyes and a mouthful of paper. A ruined journal sat on the desk. “Hungry?” Spike shook his head, walking towards the door on his short legs. “No thank you, Twilight.” Opening the door, he ignored the gurgling sound behind him as it swung itself closed. “You couldn't save me.” “I know, love,” he replied, though he was confused. This was an old dream, but the voice was softer and kinder now than it had been. Looking forward, he walked down a short hall and opened a door at the end. “Why, hello little Spikey-wikey!” He smiled thinly at the unicorn, walking around on her hind legs as her magic prepared some sort of pattern, made of metal. “I hope this completes you Rarity, as I never did,” he said, voice full of longing and sorrow and warm compassion. She ignored him, as she often had when his body looked like it currently did, and pressed the metal to a spike of steel before placing it into a fireplace. As he closed the door, the sounds of fiery hissing and a low moan bid him farewell. He turned, standing on four legs now, his wings tucked to his sides. Walking down the hallway, he ignored the muffled sobbing coming from behind Twilight's door as he made his way downstairs. He looked out a window and saw blackness, spotted with stars, covering the landscape. Tensing himself, he opened the front door and walked outside. Spike rose from his bed, held aloft by sparkling black fur, his body writhing to escape the crushing surrounding him. The air pressure changed, and he landed, tossed away from the roaring mass of silver teeth and red, red tongue. Lifting himself, he felt the transformation start again. Moaning, he tore at his scales, pulling them from his skin to release the thorns pushing against the underneath. Black blood flowed before spiking and hardening,  his scales falling away as his skin itself tore into thorns once more. Before the power and endorphins had kept him from feeling anything, but now it seemed unnatural, and Spike felt every point pushing its way out. Panting, transformation complete, Spike looked up and growled, ready for this part again. However, the bear seemed to be gone. Looking around, he spotted a tuft of yellow and walked over to it. A feather spun in the wind, beside the still body of his marefriend. There was a single long gash across her chest, no blood present. Even as his mind whirled, her eyes opened and looked at him through thick, white cataracts. “You were too late,” was all she said, and Spike lifted his head to scream into the abyss that had taken over the sky. 888888888888888888888 Spike startled awake, his back pushing away from the bed, only to be shoved back down by something soft on his chest. His claws flexed, but he stopped himself at swiping at the thing keeping him down and merely looked down. Fluttershy stared at him, pain and tears in her eyes. She had her barrel pressed to his chest, and her legs were wrapped around him. “You saved me,” she said. “Please stop screaming, I'm safe, it's okay…” Spike let his head flop down, panting and coughing slightly around his sore throat. Wrapping an arm around Fluttershy, he pulled her close even as he sobbed into his other hand. Finally calming down after a few minutes, Spike glanced at a bedside clock showing well into four in the morning. Breathing out with a shudder, he picked Fluttershy up in his forelegs and carried her into the kitchen, setting her at a chair as he moved to set a kettle of water and coffee onto the stove. Waiting for the water to boil, he picked Fluttershy up and set her in his lap, holding onto her as he recounted the dream. He decided to leave out Rarity's actions, but told her everything else. “The Twilight part is an old nightmare,” he said. “The rest? I'm not too sure about.” Fluttershy shrugged beneath him. “I'm not sure, Spike. I'm no expert, but I think the first and last parts are about today. My part was pretty obvious,” she tilted her head to give him a kiss, “and I think the old Twilight part is probably because you lost control. You probably reminded yourself of the last time you transformed, bringing back a childhood nightmare.” She shifted uncomfortably. “The Rarity part…” Spike hugged her tightly. “I love you,” he said, burying his snout in her mane. Shivering, she pressed herself into his torso. “I know Spike, and I love you too. But, with what you said in the dream, I think you're still subconsciously pining after Rarity. Or, you're finally starting to give her up.” “Second one?” he said, and they hugged again. The kettle on the stove top started to chug, and the glass bauble on top started to fill with boiling, dark brown coffee. “Toss that out, Spike,” Fluttershy said, stopping him from getting up. “Or put it in the icebox for later. Come back to bed with me.” “I'm not sure-” he started to say, but he stopped and listened when Fluttershy started whispering into his ear. When she pulled away, both were blushing. “Okay,” he said, nodding and smiling for the first time that night.