//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16: Through the Hunger Pain and the Sorrow 
// Story: Daughter of Magic 
// by Moon Glow 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 16
Through the Hunger Pain and the Sorrow


"Oh, no. Not again. Why can't I get rid of this?" Aurora thought in frustration as she turned a page in her book.

Monday had arrived and with her aunt returning to the Crystal Empire the day before, Aurora and her friends decided to use the day for studying the books in the Golden Oaks Library. The reason being that the Ruins needed maintenance and since they had planned on having the ruined fortress be their secret hideout, they had to learn how to properly build and repair buildings.

Safir found plenty of books but found it hard for him to hide their plans from Spike. So Safir had to keep the dragon librarian off his tail by reading other things, which enabled him to find books he figured his friends would like.

Gareth was reading a book about famous pony explorers and adventurers. The library also had his favorite books series, "Daring Do," in stock, so Gareth was quick in opening the first book of the series, "Daring Do and The Quest for the Sapphire Stone." Aurora had also asked him to read books on survival tactics.

"I can't save your hide forever, Feather Duster." She told him, giving him one of the many nicknames she kept in her mental library.

Pound Cake was looking into combat maneuvers and battle strategies. It was the previous Saturday that Aurora learned that Pound's name wasn't just because he came from a family of bakers. When Pumpkin and Spike found Pound, he was comparing fighting maneuvers with Gareth in a field near the Everfree Forest. In fact, they were so into it that both unicorn and adult dragon thought they were actually fighting. After lectures from both Pumpkin and Spike, Pound agreed to let his family know he was going to visit friends. That still didn't curb his interest in martial arts and athletics. Of course, he opened a joke book every time he finished a book.

Pumpkin Cake started looking into cooking with what you can find in the forest. She knew that there was no electricity in the fortress, so she had to figure out what mushrooms were edible so she could prepare lunches while they work. She also looked into medical books to find out how to heal various wounds. Of course, she learned where babies come from in one of those books and when her friends asked what she had read, all she could say was "Wait 'till we're older" while having a very red blush on her face.

Aurora, meanwhile, was looking into the various history books and geography maps of the area. The other day, Granny Smith was telling her how the Apple Family founded Ponyville, which made her question the existence of the Ruins. Her late father taught her how to tell how old a building was by the architecture and in comparison to her world's history, the fortress looked like it was older than Granny Smith. Unfortunately for Aurora, while the history of ponykind was interesting, there was nothing in relation to the Ruins. Of course, that was not what was bothering her this day. What was bothering her was a craving.

She was craving meat.

Aurora never told her new friends this, but she ate meat back in her birth world. While her mother tried to keep her on a vegetarian diet with eggs and milk, Aurora loved to eat meat, especially seafood. As an island-born, the main source of meat on the Divine Archipelago was the sea. Twilight wasn't one for meat, but somehow she endured watching her husband and child eat seafood right in front of her. In fact, she let her husband tend to the meat dishes while Twilight tended to the rest. Perhaps the two exceptions Aurora had seen her mother eat were bacon and eggs.

The centauride remembered her mother once telling her that when she was pregnant with her, Twilight had an unusual craving that she could not place without John's help. After going through many vegetarian dishes and unusual combinations, the father-to-be was making himself bacon and eggs one morning and the smell attracted his wife who found the smell very pleasant. Despite knowing she was of the vegetarian sort, he gave her a plate of eggs and bacon, which she ate with such ferver and satisfaction that John was completely blown away when Twilight happily asked for more.

With the knowledge she had gained in the past week, Aurora now understood why her father was perplexed. Now, Aurora was craving meat, especially her three favorite meals: Fish Tacos, Stuffed Shrimp, and Crab Cakes.

She tried to put the delicious seafood out of her mind, but it was clear that she was getting very sick of eating apple-related foods every morning and she was getting sick of sweets. She did find some solace at the Hayburger, but she couldn't eat any of the hay-related products. Despite the new body, she had no desire to eat hay and her meat craving was growing stronger.

She wondered if Gareth and Safir ate anything else other than sweets and gems. Alas, she had yet to put together a question that wouldn't give away that she was an omnivore, especially around ponies.

"I've should have thought this through before moving here. I can't eat sweet, fruits, and vegetables forever. In fact, if I continue to eat like this, I'll get sick of sweets!"

Aurora paled at the thought of disliking chocolate for the rest of her life as she turned another page.

Suddenly, Aurora spotted movement from the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she saw that Spike had come from another section of the library and cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the youths.

"Ahem. I've got to close up shop early today, guys."

A chorus of groans echoed in the library with only the twins having the softest. They pulled out cards from their saddlebags and handed them to Spike.

"Then can we take our books home, Mr. Spike? I want to learn more about finding food in nature."

"And I haven't even had a crack at this new joke book."

With a smile, Spike led the twins to check their books out while Gareth, Safir, and Aurora began putting their books away. Unlike the twins, they didn't have any library cards and even though he was living there, Safir wanted to stretch his legs and get some lunch.

After the quintet left the library, Pumpkin and Pound left for home to drop-off their books. Gareth stretched as his stomach growled.

"Ah. Finally! Some fresh air."

He turned to Safir and Aurora.

"You guys wanna grab a bite?"

Safir was quick to nod.

"Sure thing. I'm pretty hungry myself."

Aurora was hesitant. She wanted to say "yes," but she doubted wherever the two wanted to go was anyplace new. So she shook her head.

"Nah. I gonna stretch my legs for a bit. Maybe later?"

The two young males looked at each other in confusion, shrugging their shoulders before bidding Aurora farewell. As the dragon and the griffin left, Aurora was finally left to her own devices. And she had a plan. Quickly, Aurora returned to Sweet Apple Acres and asked Big Mac to borrow his fishing pole. When asked a simple 'why,' Aurora had to say she missed fishing. When he loaned her his fishing pole, Aurora dug up some bait, grabbed a sharp knife, a bucket, and matches before sneaking away into the Everfree Forest.

A little ways off the makeshift path was a small creek where Aurora was determined to catch a fish and eat it.

"If I can't make my craving go away, I'll just get it myself in secret."

She prepared a campfire but didn't light it as she wanted to not fish while there was a fire going. The last thing she wanted was to attract unwanted attention. After baiting the hook, Aurora settled herself at the shore and cast the line, listening to the sounds of nature as she fished for lunch.

After a few minutes and two more casts, Aurora's mind took a trip down Memory Lane. Back when her father was alive. Every summer, he would take her fishing either on the water or on one side of Fortuna Island where her mother couldn't see. Catching fish was a high point, but she loved spending her time with her father than anything else on their fishing trips. He taught her everything from how to cast a line to how to properly fillet a fish when she was older. Last year, before he left for the dig, they were talking about entering an upcoming father-daughter fishing contest.

That was supposed to be this year when she reached the minimum age limit of ten.

Tears fell down Aurora's cheeks at the memories of her father and the renewed agony of losing him to that accident in Egypt. Now that she thought about it, she rarely had time to grieve during the past year. Her mother's suicidal depression kept her from properly grieving, having her grief for her father replaced with fear and worry for her mother. Her eyes blurred as she began to sniffle and her bobber sank beneath the water.





Spike sighed as he locked the library door. It was finally time for his lunchbreak. He had a light breakfast that morning and he needed to pick up some groceries for himself and his charge, Safir. The older dragon never thought of having a roommate who was also a dragon. A very young dragon, at that.

"Good thing I told Safir where the spare key is hidden. Can't exactly leave him out here."

As he headed out, his thoughts went to the information on dragons he received from the hatchling, receiving lessons on his kind. He learned about the molt a long time ago (though it would have helped if he learned about the predator-attracting scent earlier so he wouldn't have had to deal with that Roc), but he learned about the culture, Greed-Induced Bigness (which he had experienced as a fledgling), and how the Dragon Lord summons other dragons (which explained why his scales had glowed a year ago).

But as much as he liked talking to Safir, he still thought about Aurora and what she had called him. Even though she meant it as a bit of a joke, the statement made Spike think. His relationship with Twilight Sparkle was often debated on. From mother-and-child to sister-and-brother, the debate went on. It wasn't until he was older that he decided that Twilight was more of a sister to him than a mother. Which was fine with Twilight. He may have been her #1 Assistant, but he was also her family.

His relationships with her family varied depending on the relative. He liked how Night Light can be calm and level-headed while Twilight Velvet was creative and motherly. He considered them his parents as they also took part in raising him with Twilight Sparkle over the years. Once in a while, Spike would go up to Canterlot to visit the couple and spend some time with them from bingo with Night Light to bungee-jumping with Velvet.

Shining Armor had been a brother to him as well, teaching him things an older brother should teach the younger. Heck, it was Shining Armor who introduced him to Ogres & Oubliettes that he now plays every Guy's Night with Big Macintosh. Since the first wedding, however, Shining Armor had grown distant, blaming himself for what happened in Canterlot and grieving over the disappearance of his sister, with whom he had not been kind at the time. Cadence would send Spike letters to let him know Shining Armor was ok, but the dragon often wondered if Cadence wrote those letters to keep him calm while something bad was happening with Shining Armor.

Now there was a new family member in the mix: Aurora.

Spike frowned as he walked towards the Everfree Forest, a place he would visit when he developed a specific craving.

"You're gonna have to talk to her, soon. And I don't mean anything formal like asking if she would like a library card. Although that is a good idea…"

He shook his head, trying to keep in the game.

"No! You have to talk to her. She's family, for Celestia's sake! You're, in fact, her adoptive uncle. Why don't you act like one? She definitely needs her family."

As Spike entered the forest, his thoughts went on.

"But how can I talk to her? What should I say?"

A strange smell caught Spike's attention. It smelled like…cooking. Like somepony was cooking something good.

"Huh? What's this?"

Following his snout, Spike followed the scent towards the creek. He paused when he spotted Aurora at the other side of the bushes he stopped at, tending to a small fire. Looking into the fire, Spike could see a couple of fish being cooked on a pair of sticks as Aurora tended to them. The fish smelled delicious, but Spike paused when he noticed that Aurora's eyes were a familiar shade of red and her face was flushed.

She had been crying.

Spike bit his lip at the sight. What was she crying about? Was it somepony in town? Was it her mother? Homesickness? So many questions ran through Spike's mind out of concern. Despite the small thought of running away, Spike stepped out of the bushes and walked towards Aurora.

"Something on your mind, kiddo?"

Aurora froze at the sound of his voice. She slowly turned her head away from the fire and her eyes widened at the sight of the young adult dragon before her. She paled at the memory of the fish in the fire.

"Uh…it's not what it looks like?" She replied with uncertainty.

Beads of sweat fell from Aurora's brow as she struggled to find a way out of this. The last thing she needed was every pony in town panicking because she ate meat. Spike could see the fear and uncertainty in Aurora's face, no doubt about the fish.

He sat down and crossed his legs as he asked, "Mind if I join you?"

Aurora raised an eyebrow but nodded. She kept silent as she kept an eye on the fish. Seeing the fish, Spike spoke up.

"Cooking some trout?"

Looking at the fish, Aurora nodded.

"Y…yeah. I…wanted some fish…and…uh…"

Spike quickly put the pieces together as he scooched over to the centauride child.

"You're an omnivore?"

Aurora gulped and cursed her mother for making her read ten words from the thesaurus every day in her literate life. She nodded slowly.

"Y…yeah. All humans are. And I guess I can still eat meat in this new body."

She gulped as she pulled the fish out from the fire. She heard sniffing and turned to Spike.

"Mmmm. That smells good."

Hearing this, Aurora found it surprising. She thought all dragons ate were gems. Carefully, she held up one of the fish.

"Would you like some?"

Spike smiled as he took the stick with the fish on it.

"Sure thing."

The pair bit into their fish, tearing into the darkened flesh before pulling away to chew. The pair chewed in silence until Spike swallowed.

"Mmmm. Not bad. Could use some lemon juice, maybe some tartar sauce. Otherwise, not bad at all."

Aurora swallowed and looked to Spike curiously.

"You eat meat?" Hearing the surprise in her voice, Spike paused eating and looked at her.

"Yeah. Gems are great, but I can't survive on that alone. And while pony food is good, it's hard to find a place where they sell meat."

"But don't ponies freak out at seeing you eat meat?" Aurora asked, biting into her fish again.

Spike did the same with is fish but continued to talk.

"Once in a while a Unicorn or Earth Pony would panic. Pegasi, however, don't care. They eat fish every once in a while, so it's ok to eat in front of them."

The centauride raised an eyebrow.

"Pegasi eat meat, too?"

Spike nodded as he bit into the other side of his fish.

"All ponies are capable of eating meat. Just not often. Unicorns gave up the practice because it is considered barbaric and Earth Ponies can grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables with ease. The Pegasi, however, kept on eating meat as a holdover from the time of the Three Tribes, when food becomes scarce that the ancient Pegasi had to resort to fishing for other forms of sustenance."

This genuinely interested Aurora. So she could eat meat in front of ponies. It just depends on the kind of ponies she's with. Still, she had to be careful out of curtesy, so secret meat dinners for a while.

As he finished his fish, Spike asked a question of his own.

"So. How's your first week in Equestria?"

Aurora responded by shrugging her shoulders, caring not to remember that first day.

"Alright, I guess."

Spike raised an eye ridge at this.

"'Alright?' From what I've heard, you've been having a good time here."

Aurora bit her lip as she tossed the fish bones aside.

"Well, you know I've made friends. And the Apples have been very kind in letting me stay with them. And everyone else, too."

Spike continued to keep his eye ridge high. Even with the positives, he could see that there was something she was clearly unhappy about. He did not like to see her this way, but how could he solve the problem without seeing every detail?

He'd rather not follow blindly like before, as that cost him the pony he held dear.

"But…?"

Aurora fidgeted with her fingers, trying to hide her surprise. Could the dragon sense her sorrow? She didn't want to say anything else, but something told her that he'd continue to press until she told him what's wrong. Taking in a deep breath, Aurora made her decision.

"As Dad would say, 'Best rip the bandage off in one pull.'"

"I…I miss my parents. I miss my mom and I especially missed my dad."

Now Spike understood. The child was lonely and needed her parents. It was something he was familiar with ever since Twilight Sparkle disappeared. He had to think. How did Twilight Velvet and Night Light help him when he missed Twilight? He thought about it for a moment before coming up with an idea.

"Can you tell me about your dad?"

It was Aurora's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"My dad? Why?"

Spike shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"When something gets me down, sometimes talking about it helps. I should know. It helped me when…"

He trailed off, his memory silencing him. This alarmed Aurora as she acknowledged his silence.

"When what?"

Spike bit his lip. He wanted to be careful so as he did not want to relay the reason how and why Twilight was exiled to Aurora's birth world so early. Still, he had to say something to get Aurora to open up. Taking in a deep breath, the dragon answered as he stared at the fire.

"…when I lost your mother."

Aurora's eyes widened at the sentence, but kept silent, subconsciously asking Spike to elaborate. And Spike heeded her silent urging to continue.

"You know that your mother hatched me and that I saw her as a sister. Well, she was my very first friend and she was the one pony that I spent most of my time with. She raised me with her parents and brother, she taught me how to read and write, and she schooled me when I was a baby dragon. When I got about a little under your age, I became her #1 assistant with just about anything. Fetching her quills and ink, helping her catalog the books, cooking meals, etcetera. Everywhere she went, I followed. She was there when I needed her and I was there for her."

He paused for a moment, his eyes saddened. 

"But one day, I wasn't." 

Aurora raised an eyebrow in concern, her stomach tying in a knot as she had a good idea on what day it was.

"The…day my mom disappeared? To my dad's world, I mean."

Spike nodded, not even looking at Aurora. This was the part where he had to be careful.

"That day, your mother got into a fight with her friends, her older brother, and Princess Celestia. Some harsh words were exchanged and, well, I got scared. I…end up making a choice that not only made her feel worse, but put her in danger."

He then looked up towards the sky as he continued.

"To this day, I regret that choice. Her friends, Celestia, and especially her brother felt nothing but guilt and remorse for their part in what happened. Everypony tried to help us recover, but the pain is too great. We caused Twilight Sparkle so much harm and we were unable to say 'sorry.' I was told that I had no blame because I was young and didn't know better, but that still didn't make me feel better."

Tears fell from the dragon's eyes as he gazed into the fire. In the flames, he saw an image of his younger self and Twilight Sparkle, happy and together.

"The loss of your mother sent me into a deep depression. One the psychiatrist thought I would never recover from."

The flames then changed to a young Spike, sitting down, hugging his knees and crying. The older dragon could still hear his younger self's echoing cries. The flame-vision then changed again. This time, it showed Twilight Velvet placing a motherly hoof on young-Spike's shoulders, a gentle reassuring smile on her face.

"Your grandmother, Twilight Velvet, kept me talking. Her voice helped me out of that dark place. She said that talking about our experience with tragedies help us with the grieving process. She and your grandfather helped me in a way no one else could. I didn't want to talk at first. It took some coaxing to get me to talk about what happened. Even today, I still find it hard to talk about that day without grieving."

The flames dispersed into their natural state, allowing Spike to wipe his tears.

"One of the things your grandparents told me to do was to hold on to the hope that your mother would return. And once she does, I…we all…can apologize to her. Do everything in our power to show her how sorry we are. And…hopefully…repair friendships broken by our stupidity."

Aurora didn't say anything. She didn't need to. She took everything and slowly but surely processed it. Her aunt, Cadence, had told her of this fight but wondered about the severity of the consequences. Now, she was listening to someone who had gone through it and was struggling to express his pain for her. She felt bad about bringing it out. The more she heard about this mysterious fight, the more she wished to not hear of.

She then looked to Spike, looking miserable. Upon hearing his story, she understood his pain. She had her own regrets, ones that made her upset. This included her decision of coming to Equestria. With what that snobbish pony said about her and her mother that day at the boutique, she felt like she should have stayed where life was normal to her. Where she understood everything. But of course, she would regret not coming.

But this wasn't about her. This was about the dragon next to her and the pain he was feeling. Aurora felt like she had to do something, but what?

At that moment, instinct took hold of her as she stood up from her spot, walked over to Spike, and gave him a hug. The movement was so swift and slightly muffled that Spike barely had time to react. Still hugging him, Aurora spoke over the dragon's shoulder.

"Well, with what you've told me, I'm sure Mom would understand and forgive. Heck, she might even say that there's nothing to forgive."

She hugged him tighter.

"If Mom loved you as much as you say she did back then, then I'm sure that she missed you, too. And…I'm also certain she'll want to patch things up as much as you want to. Just ask Miss Applejack and Miss Fluttershy. They got the chance to talk to her, so I'm sure they'd agree with me."

Fresh tears fell from Spike's eyes upon hearing Aurora's words. Not just ones of sorrow for his missing sister figure, but tears of joy in the confidence in Aurora's voice when she told him her mother would want to see him again. To mend their bond. These were honest words that he had been seeking for years. Without further hesitation, he embraced Aurora, hugging her as he allowed his grief to pour out of his soul. After a few minutes of hugging, Spike let out a chuckle as he released Aurora.

"Funny. Here I was hoping to make you feel better. Not the other way around."

Aurora smiled at him, scratching the back of her head.

"Yeah. Funny how things turned out."

She then grabbed her fishing pole and motioned to the creek.

"Since you told me your grief, how about some fishing while I talk about mine?"

Spike smiled as he joined Aurora by a spot at the creek.

"Sure thing, kiddo."

He then remembered something as he sat at the creek's shore.

"One more thing, Aurora."

Aurora tilted her head as she prepared the bait. "Hmm?"

No longer feeling awkward about the situation, Spike finally spoke what he wanted to say.

"Remember when you said that I was your uncle, too?"

Embarrassment appeared on Aurora's cheeks as she remembered that joke.

"Yeah?"

Spike continued to smile as Aurora cast the line.

"Well, you can call me that, if you want. I mean, I see your mother as my sister. And that way, you'll know you have family in Ponyville, too."

Aurora thought about the idea for a moment before smiling at the idea.

"Really? You don't mind if I call you 'Uncle Spike?' Even in public?"

Spike chuckled as he answered. 

"I won't mind at all. In fact, that would make me very happy." 

Aurora grinned back at his response, allowing the line to settle.

"Alright then. 'Uncle Spike' it is, then."

For the rest of the day, the dragon and his niece talked about anything and everything. Both gained something that day.

For Spike, it was the assurance that there was hope for rekindling his friendship with Twilight. Plus, he got a niece.

For Aurora, she found someone who she can express certain sorrow to. Someone she could ask for advice regarding these matters.

And a friend who also likes to eat fish.