//------------------------------// // We Don't Need to Whisper // Story: Blonde Moments // by FamousLastWords //------------------------------// The next few days went by in a blur for Spike. He didn’t see much of anypony as he patiently awaited Tuesday. Honestly, he didn’t really want to see anypony. After all, he didn’t really know if he was going to make it past Tuesday at all and spending some time to himself seemed to be the most calming thing for him. Thankfully, the news about his surgery didn’t manage to leak out anywhere. Derpy, Starlight, Twilight… they all managed to keep their mouths shut about it. Even Rarity, one of his most loved friends, remained in the dark. And that’s just how he wanted it. Spike didn’t want the cascades of visitors, pity parties, and greeting cards. That was way too melodramatic for him. Besides, if he came out the other side alright and realized how good and kind everypony was, how was he supposed to tease and mock them with Starlight like the olden times? That simply wasn’t an option. No, he just wanted everything to blow over until it was all said and done. Heck, even if he died he didn’t want ponies to make a big deal about it. Funeral service? Forget about it. He’d rather just be dumped in the Everfree Forest somewhere and let everypony live on with their normal lives as if nothing happened. That was the real way to go out. Let your body give back to nature when you’re done.  He told that to Starlight and she admitted it probably be the most use to the world he’s been able to provide. He was going to miss her sarcastic comments. He was also going to miss Twilight’s borderline psychotic episodes over every little detail out of place in her life. And Derpy? He really didn’t even want to the think about it. No, now was not the time for depressing thoughts. Now was the time to face his fate and danger like a dragon. Because that’s what he was. A dragon. He was an adult. And now, more than ever, it was time to prove it. “No, no, no. Forget the flowers. I want the band aids with the little dinosaurs on them afterwards.” Spike smiled at Nurse Redheart as she attempted to stifle a chuckle beneath her hoof. “Of course, Spike, we’ll have them ready to go for you.” Spike had been laying in the hospital bed for almost an hour now waiting for the doctors to come in and get the ball moving on everything. If they were going to possibly kill him, the least they could do is be punctual about it. This was an enlightened society, after all. He examined the room around him again, still feeling just as awkward and uncomfortable as he did when he first got wheeled into it. Not only was there a random machine in the corner, but also not just one, but two sinks this time. That’s when you know you’re high priority. But, of course, hanging on the back of the door was the usual diagram of the mare’s reproductive system. Some things never changed. “So,” Spike spoke up. “Do you know how long this is gonna take? The surgery, I mean. Are we talking like... an hour, in and out, or are we looking at more of an all-day thing? Because frankly, I’d appreciate it if this shindig didn’t end up being my whole day.” Nurse Redheart rolled her eyes. “I suggest you get comfortable, Spike. The surgery itself is scheduled for two hours and then you’ll have to stay in the hospital  for at least an extra night, afterwards so we can make sure everything is going according to plan.” “Aww, that sucks,” Spike said, crossing his arms. “You know, I scheduled this surgery at eleven in the morning for the sole purpose of getting to hit up my favorite burger joint afterwards. But now, it’s kinda like I ditched the opportunity to sleep in for nothing. And that is a fate worse than death.” Redheart laughed and shook her head. “You’ll just have to be patient, Spike. It’ll all be over soon enough and with any luck, you’ll be back to your normal, obnoxious self in no time.” “We can only hope,” Spike replied. Nurse Redheart bounced around the room for the next few minutes, getting things in place for the operation. An array of frankly ungodly tools and instruments were laid out on the nearby counter, their dastardly purpose having no place in polite society as far as Spike was concerned. After a bit more preparation, the nurse finally seemed to be finished with her tasks and she turned to Spike. “You know, I’m actually quite impressed with how well you’re holding up, Spike.” The dragon blushed slightly. “Yeah?” “Mhm,” she said with a quick nod. “I’ve had stallions come in here with papercuts acting like it’s the end of the world. It really is quite amazing.” Spike waved a claw. “Nah, it’s not all that you make it out to be. You’d be surprised how easy it is to accept your inevitable doom when your self-esteem is so low it’s immune to the planet’s gravitational pull.” Redheart blinked a few times. “Well, that was certainly a feel-good story for the whole family.” Spike shrugged. “Eh, I find self-deprecation to be my strong suit in times of distress. Gotta cope somehow, right?” “Fair enough,” she replied. “Now, the Dr. Shavargo is going to be running late back from the dragon lands. The traffic at the border was apparently pretty backed up today.” Spike shook his head and groaned. “Oh, great, another delay. How long must I wait?” “About another two hours, give or take. But, as soon as she arrives, she’ll begin. I promise.” Spike nodded and nestled into his pillow. “Well, it looks like I don’t have much of a choice to believe you then, do I?” “I’m a straight shooter if nothing else,” she stated. “Now, in the meantime, why don’t you get some rest and—“ Knock! Knock! Knock! “Oh, great,” Spike said. “I can’t help but feel like this is just going to be more bad news.” The door slowly creaked open, revealing another nurse. She took a few steps inside and closed the door behind her. “Hello, Spike. How’re you feeling?” He shrugged. “I’ve had better days, nurse. I’ve had better days.” “I understand,” she replied. “Well, something that might make your day just a bit better. A few ponies are here to visit you, if that’s alright?” ‘Oh no.’ It wasn’t necessarily that Spike didn’t want anypony to visit or talk to him. It was more or less that the current circumstance he found himself in was not the best for having an enlightened conversation. That… and the fact that he really didn’t want anypony to see him like this. It wasn’t really his finest moment. And judging by the fact she said he had a ‘few’ visitors, there was no telling what was about to happen. Spike released a sigh. “Okay, send ‘em in.” “Well,” the nurse continued, “it’s hospital policy to only let one in at a time. So, I’ll go ahead and let them know you gave us the okay, and I’ll send one back for you, okay?” He gave her a thumbs up and she left the room. He really had no idea who it could be. Nopony really knew he was here except for Starlight, Derpy and Twilight. And he’d already talked to them about in-depth about everything. Well, he talked to all of them except—“ “Spike?” The door slowly opened, revealing a purple alicorn that had obviously been having a bad week. Her wings were bent out of shape, her fur was matted and her eyes were puffed out to the point it looked like she got beat up. But she was here… to see him… even though they’d been avoiding each other for days at this point. “Hi, Twilight,” Spike said, looking at her slowly enter the room. “It’s, uh, it’s good to see you.” After Twilight took few more steps in, Nurse Redheart inched toward the door. “I’m just going to give you two some privacy, alright? I’ll be down the hall if you need me for anything, Spike.” She rapidly slipped out of the room, leaving Spike and Twilight alone together. “It’s been a bit since I last saw you and stuff,” Spike said. “I guess that’s kinda my fault what with being stuck in my own misery and all. But, like… how are you doing?” Twilight stood stock still, simply looking him in the eyes. Spike cleared his throat and tried again. “I’m really glad you came down here, Twi. I hoped it would’ve been under better circumstances, but you know how it is with hospitals and spur of the moment diseas—“ He wasn’t able to finish his sentence as Twilight was now right by the bed, gripping him in a hug so tight it might kill him before the disease ever got the chance to. But, it was a hug he needed from a pony he loved. “Spike…” Twilight said again, doing her best to hold in her tears. “I’m sorry. I just… I just didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say. I was so scared.” A few seconds later, she finally released the hug and took a step back, resigning herself to sitting on the floor. She had a few tear stains on her cheeks now which broke Spike’s heart. But, this needed to happen and it needed to happen now. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he never wanted to leave this world without saying goodbye to his oldest, closest frie— without saying goodbye to his family. “Don’t be sorry, Twi,” he said, tilting over on his side to get a better angle. “If anything, I should be sorry. After you panicked and ran away that night, I had no idea what to do. I kind of just thought you’d get over it on your own like it wasn’t a big deal.” She violently shook her head. “Spike, never! How in Equestria could you ever think that something like this wouldn’t be a big deal to me? How? Answer me right now!” Spike, a bit taken back by her tone, shifted a bit further underneath the covers. “Well, I uh… You’re a Princess, Twi. You have a duty to the entirety of Equestria, and that comes first these days. I know it and I totally get it. But like, that means everything else has to come second, and that includes me.” She stared at him in shock. “Y-You think that being a Princess is more important to me than you are?” He looked around a bit uncomfortable before nodding. “Well, yeah, kind of. Remember the old days when we used to do stuff together all the time? We’d go to plays, go outside and play catch, visit our friends… all that kind of stuff. Well, ever since you’ve been a princess, you’ve been so busy with your work that we never really get to do anything like that anymore. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad thing. You’re just… busy, I get it. All of our friends get it. That’s why your princess duties come first these days, and everything else kinda comes second.” She continued to stare at him for another few seconds before dropping her gaze to the ground and belting out one of the deepest, most heartbreaking sobs he’d ever heard. “No! It’s not true!” She cried out, not even daring to lift her eyes. “How… how can it be true?” And he did it again. Right when he was making progress, solving a friendship problem, and making things up with Twilight, he had to make her cry again. How was he going to live with himself? “Twilight!” Spike called out. “Stop beating yourself up! You have a job to do and you do it better than anypony else. Why else do you think I’d support you so much with it?” She used her wing to wipe a few tears away from her face and looked up at him. “Huh?” “Twilight,” he continued. “If I ever thought you were mistreating me, or had your priorities wrong, then I would’ve left the castle years ago.  But that wasn’t the case. You’ve been caring about everyone instead of little old me, which shows that you’re an amazing princess that cares about everyone in Equestria.And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, I know how much you love me. These past few days are proof enough. Trust me, you putting your princess duties first is a good thing and I’m always going to support you with that for as long as I can.” “B-But… why would think I didn’t care about you then?” She asked, her wide eyes still locked onto him. Spike let out a deep sigh. “Well, it’s not really that I thought you didn’t care at all. I guess it’s more or less that I didn’t want you to care. I want you to be able to forget about me and focus on your princess stuff. That’s what I want.” Twilight shook her head. “That’s not possible, Spike. I… I love you too much to ever forget you.” He cracked a weak smile toward her. “I love you too, Twi. I really do.” Her lips curled into the smallest of smiles. The first time she’d smiled in days, more than likely. “Spike, I promise, when you’re better, the first thing we’re going to do is go to Canterlot and watch a play together. Just the two of us. Just like old times.” His eyes lit up. “That would be awesome! Consider it a date, then.” Twilight opened her mouth, about to finish her thought when Redheart opened the door. “Oh, Spike, we actually just received word that Dr. Shavargo will be here in half an hour. Would you like to see your other guest before she gets here?” Spike darted his eyes from the nurse back to Twilight, who simply nodded. “Yeah, he’ll see his other guest,” she said with a weak smile. “Trust me, Spike, you’re going to want to.” Without allowing him a chance to protest, Twilight rose to her hooves and kissed him on the cheek before trotting toward the door. “Goodbye, Spike. I’ll see you when this is all over, I promise.” He slowly waved. “I’ll see you then, Twi.” As she walked out the door, Spike felt a sharp pain on his insides. He honestly didn’t know if that was the last time he’d ever see her. And that hurt worse than any sickness ever could. He rolled back over on his side, waiting for whoever the next guest might be. Probably Starlight. She always had to get the last word in on everything and what more appropriate time to do so then the day he might not ever be able argue with her again. After a short period, a small knock finally rang out into the room. Redheart peeked her head through with a warm smile. “Spike, your next visitor is here,” she said. “Oh boy, let’s see who else decided to jump on the pity committee bandwagon.” She nudged the door open a bit farther. “So, normally we have a ‘one visitor at a time’ rule, but I thought we could make an exception, just this once.” “Spike!” His ears instantly perked up at the high pitched squeak of a small filly darting into the room. “Oh, Dinky!” The filly dashed over to his bed and poked her head up over the mattress, just enough where he could her bright eyes and fluffy mane. “Spike, don’t worry! I’m here to help you not be sick anymore!” she shouted, her smile almost too wide to fit on her face. “I appreciate that, Dinky. I really do.” Spike glanced upward to see Derpy walk into the room. She appeared to look much better than last time. Her mane was brushed and she looked like she had at least some amount of sleep. “I told Dinky you weren’t feeling well,” Derpy said. “And she wanted to come see you right away. She barely gave me time to take a shower, hehe.” Spike looked from Derpy back to the innocent eyes of her little sister, who was desperately trying to climb up onto the bed with him. “Well,” Spike replied. “If you wanted to make me feel better, it’s definitely working.” He sat up and pulled Dinky off the ground and onto the bed. After a couple hops born from pure excitement, she stumbled up to Spike and nuzzled him. “My sister says snuggles make everypony feel better,” Dinky said, sitting down next to the dragon. “So I made sure to snuggle you extra good just now.” Spike smiled at her. “Oh yeah, I could totally tell. Just between you and me, I think you’d be an awesome doctor someday.” Spike gave her a sly wink. “Really?” She immediately turned to Derpy. “You hear that? Spike said I could be a doctor pony if I wanted!” Derpy chuckled and nodded. “Yes, Dinky, I heard. Now, we can’t take too much time. The nurses said we only have a little bit.” She pouted. “But… But Spike always spent way more time with me when I was sick! I wanna spend more time with him, too.” Spike shook his head. “Don’t worry, Dinky. There’ll be time for us to hang later, no worries. Besides, just having you come and visit me is totally enough.” She squeaked out a small sigh. “Yeah, but…” “Dinky,” Derpy said. “Didn’t you have a present for Spike?” Her entire face perked up immediately. “Oh! Yeah! Derpy, get the present! Hurry, before we’re out of time!” Derpy reached into the small satchel she was carrying and pulled out a small book. She walked it over to Dinky, who greedily took it and opened it up in front of herself. Dinky turned to Spike. “Whenever you used to read to me, it made me super happy and I felt better. So, I wanna read to you, now.” If Spike’s heart wasn’t completely melted, it was now. “This story is called The Lonely Dragon.” Dinky cleared her throat and began reading… very slowly. “Once upon a time, there was a dragon. He was very sad and un—un… hold on.” Dinky motioned for her sister to come over and she pointed at the word she was hung up on. “Unhappy,” Derpy said. “Oh, right!” Dinky continued once more. “He was very sad and unhappy. He didn’t have very many friends because all the ponies thought he was—s-sc—” “Scary.” “Scary!” Dinky looked at Spike with wide eyes before continuing. “But one day, he met a pony named Star. They became best friends and…” It was time. He couldn’t quite describe how hard it was to watch Dinky and Derpy walk away. But, unfortunately, that was how it had to be. And now, Dr. Shavargo had taken their place, a tray full of tools at the ready. “Okay, Spike, relax and breathe deeply and slowly for me.” She placed a plastic tube of some kind over his mouth. He did as she said, taking slow, careful breaths. Things got fuzzy really quickly. And why was the ceiling spinning in circles? Maybe… Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a second things would get back to normal.