//------------------------------// // Pekoe Nightcap // Story: The Days Passed // by SilverEyedWolf //------------------------------// Spike watched her face carefully. Even he had to, or he'd miss times like now, when Celestia stepped into her mask to hide her true feelings. "That bad, huh," he murmured, burying his face in her chest fur again, blinking the still-coming large tears from his eyes. He felt her sigh, and she lowered her head to rest in between his shoulders. "If that is what you feel is right, then I would be wrong to stop you. But I still don't know everything, Spike. It feels like you're making a rash decision, one that could take up two months of your life at the very least." She pulled away, wrapping one of her hooves around his neck and the other hooking under his muzzle. Gazing into his eyes, her own furrowed. "Please tell me more about what happened?" Spike's lips trembled as he tried to answer, before he closed his eyes and took a wavering breath. "Rarity told me the real reason she broke up with me," he said, voice steady but watery, thin. "She told me why it took use so long to even get together, and- and why she made me leave in the end." "And why would that make you think yourself a danger to ponies, my son, my sun?" she asked, giving that special lilt to the last word that used to make him grin, rubbing his back slowly as he swallowed heavily instead. "It's because I terrified her," he said, letting the words drop like stone from his tongue. "It's because I'm a monster. Because I'm a Dragon." "Ah," she said. He waited for more, but she merely continued to rub his back slowly with the frog of her hoof. "Mom?" he asked. "Oh, sorry," she said lightly. "Just weighing the benefits of Tartaurus and either the Sun or the Moon." Spike, caught off guard, snorted, then flinched as he covered his nose in horror as more than air came out. Pretending not to see it, Celestia craned her head back to look at the ceiling as she floated a cloth tissue over, stage whispering, "Of course, I could always banish her, then send her to a dungeon in the place I banished her. That's a popular one, I hear." Spike snorted again, covering his nose and blowing it in the same moment. "Alright, sure," he said, smiling weakly. "We both know you're not gonna do more than talk to her." Once again her mask slipped on as her smile turned slightly frosty around the eyes. "To begin with," she agreed, and Spike stopped smiling. "Mom, she kind of has a point," he said, raising a paw up to her and placing it on her chest. "I mean, look at what happened less than a week ago. I nearly tore apart an Ursa, just for looking at Fluttershy wrong. That's not a pony thing to do." Celestia looked down at him, still schooled into her plain face. "Spike? You are not a pony, and even if you were, you have never, ever acted like a monster." "Bullapples, mom," he immediately replied. "You didn't see what I did to that Ursa, what I still do to it in my dreams some nights. You weren't there when I turned into that giant monster the first time, when I destroyed the homes of several of my loved ones and terrorized a mare that I was deeply in love with, even then. You weren't-" He lifted his head and flinched, seeing water pooling in her eyes. "Ah buck, sorry mom," he said, wrapping her in a hug. "I know we've talked about how you wanted to be around and that stuff-" "No, no, it's alright," she cut him off, sniffling herself. "This isn't about me right now, sorry..." He smiled a bit as he said, "Like the world itself revolves around you." She snorted, lightly thumping him on his back before he heard her blow her nose. Into her own tissue, he hoped for moment before snickering once. "That's more like it," she said quietly, leaning back and giving him a thin smile. "Alright, now that my mind's straight-" "When did that happen," Spike said, the flesh on his back tensing when he'd realized exactly what he said, looking up into his mom's disbelieving face. "Wait, sorry, that's a Starlight response, uh..." Her mouth split into a smile, her hoof raising to her lips as she giggled. "Sounds like you've been reading into the romance tabloids," she said, her eyes glittering as she laughed quietly. "Better than the smut Twilight has laying around," he said, testing his own smile and finding it sound enough. He looked down at the ground before looking back up into her eyes. "Thanks. I needed a little silliness." "I thought that might have been the case." Looking down at him, she used her magic to levitate over a chair she'd had built specifically for when he visited. "Are you ready to really talk about it, or do you still want to go into the army?" He exhaled through his lips, slouching into the cushioned wood. "I don't even know any more. My head's all a mess. On top of what Rarity said, we were with Cadance at the time, and I'm afraid of what she might have said to Rares when I left. You know how mother hen she can get." Celestia cocked her head, eyes crumpling slightly. "...Did you let them know where you were going? And where were you three that you got here and away from them without your wings?" "Oh, uh..." Spike looked around the room. "Uhm, can I borrow a paper and pen? I should probably let them know where I am." Celestia stared at him for a moment before floating over a roll of paper and an inked quill. "You're too much like your sister sometimes." "Starlight isn't my sister," he muttered as he took the writing tools, ignoring her as she gave him a gentle swat to his head with a wing. Scribbling a quick line, then marking through it and writing it a bit clearer, he blew on the ink twice to dry it before rolling it into a tube and breathing fire through it from his lungs and the living mechanisms that made his magical fire- And it was whisked through the cracked window, towards Cadance and company. ***** Cadance felt a familiar tickling around the tip of her horn, and as she looked up a thin scroll materialized just in front of it. Catching it with ease, she gave a small smile at the paper making it up. Lightly, she tapped the crystalline table in front of her with a metal shoe. The other four ponies looked at her, and the scroll she was unrolling. "I know where he went," she said, scanning over the two lines on the page. "Shining, do you want to help me with a quick long-distance? You're still better at pinpointing than I am." "A teleport? Uhm, sure," he said, brain having to switch gears a bit as he pulled his thoughts away from the previous conversation. "Co-ordinates needed for?" "Main hall for the Canterlot Castle." She turned to look at Rarity. "Here, before we go, we need to have a quick talk." Rarity gulped. ****** Spike scratched the back of his neck, looking back at Celestia. "You think they'll take the train?" Celestia merely smiled, looking up at a time-piece on her wall. "Five, four, three-" His eyes widened, and he looked around the two of them as he knelt in front of her. "-Two, one." "SPIKE- "IGNIS- "DRACONIA." Spike flinched as each intonation filled his ears. "I hear Cadance has been working on her royal speaking volume," Celestia said with a bit of a smirk, her magic reaching over to her side table and bringing her cup over. "Mmmm, Ceylawn pekoe." She looked down at him, eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "You're still here? I think you've got, maybe, thirteen seconds to respond." She smiled at him, warm and lovingly. "Eleven." Spike looked around the room, brain locked down in panic, before he saw something on the far side of the room. Pushing down with his claws, he backed himself up to the door behind him before he leaned forward, resting on his paws once again. "Spike, what-?" "You've still got a pond outside of your balcony, right?" Spike asked, wriggling his hips and tail before he pushed down, running on two legs through a pair of lacy, gently wafting curtains. Her laughter followed him down. ***** ***** ***** Shining Armor removed the hooves from his ears, the drums inside still vibrating as he recovered from the wince he'd executed a few moments earlier. He sighed as he looked around at the large welcoming hall they'd arrived in, as well as up the massive marble staircase directly in front of them. "Sweetness, I know we've talked about tinnitus before," he murmured, shaking his head lightly as he turned to Cadance. "WHAT?" called out the white mare at his side, Rarity flinching as he pulled away from her with his ears tucking against his skull. "Oh, uhm, sorry about that," she said, rubbing her own ear. "Thought you were talking to me." Shaking his head, he turned to face towards Cadance, only to gulp and spring forward, covering her muzzle as she was sucking in another lungful of air. "Ah, maybe more than fifteen seconds on this one? I think it's getting on in the night, and I'm sure even Ponyville heard that last one." Her eyes narrowed, her own ears flicking back, and she waited for Shining Armor to remove his hoof before she said, "Thirty. Twenty-nine." "Oh, er, right," he said, looking worriedly towards the other three mares. "Flurry Heart? Can you tell where he is?" Startled, Flurry looked around the hall and nodded, before closing her eyes and lighting her horn, a slow pulse washing out from the tip to disappear into the ether before her. She hummed for a moment, swaying slightly, as she concentrated on the spell. "Twelve. Eleven. Ten," Cadance intoned, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath. "Nine, Eight-" With a twinkling noise, Flurry's eyes opened as she whipped her head to the top of the staircase. "There," she called, flicking a leg up to point at the door at the opposite side of the landing at the top of the stairs. Cadance stopped counting, and the group looked as one up to the door. After ten seconds Cadance's eyes narrowed. After fifteen her ears flicked back. At twenty, she barked out, "SPIKE!" There was a loud thud from behind the door before it cracked, swinging wide and bumping softly against the wall it was mounted in. From behind it Spike stooped through the doorway, dripping water. Stopping at the top of the staircase, he looked down at the nonplussed group, one of his claws swinging at his side as he shook some of the water off it. "Uh, hey guys," he said, raising a paw as he stepped down towards them. Unfortunately when he'd paused, he'd given the water an opportunity to pool beneath him. As he stepped down into the shallow pool, his heel landed directly in the water and squeaked forward, off of the step. Wobbling, his other paw sought purchase before he overbalanced himself backwards, the remaining paw shooting out as it, too, slid through the water. His arms whirling, his backside landed heavily on the stone step, causing him to yelp and stiffen his legs. Of course he bounced forward from his sudden sitting, his legs straight beneath him as he pitched forward, curling into a ball as he rattled down the staircase. After one of the nastier bounces he landed flat on his back, about six steps up from the bottom, and found his motion harshly arrested. With a groan he wriggled his back gently to figure out what had happened, and discovered his spines had apparently lodged into the stone he'd landed on. Muttering, he flinched as a pink muzzle blocked out some of the light above him. "Dude, you totally just bit it," Flurry said in wonder. "Awesome, stallion. You a'ight?" "Everyone see that?" he asked, pushing down behind himself with his legs and arms. With a clattering noise, he was able to at least sit up. "I mean, only the rulers of the Crystal Empire," she said, sitting down beside him and bringing forth her wings to check off primaries as she continued to list, "your current lady, your ex, I know Celestia and Luna will hear about it because the staff in the hall-" Groaning, he raised a paw and shoved at her head, pushing her away as he grabbed the tip of his tail and pulled it roughly to dislodge the rest of his spinal spikes. "List not necessary, Ranger Heart," he said, stretching his arms above his shoulders and tensing as a loud crack echoed through the hall, after which he exhaled. Opening his eyes, he flinched a bit before he smiled, stretching his arms forward this time and placing a hand on either side of Fluttershy's jaw, the pegasus having taken to the air to hover in front of him with worry on her face. "Sorry about that Fluttershy," he said, rubbing a thumb over the bone he was cupping. "I took a shortcut down from the fifth floor, and there happens to be a pool-" He staggered as she flung herself at him, wrapping her hooves around his neck and her wings around his shoulders, and he had to sit, hard, back on the stairs to not end up tumbling down the staircase again. "You're not a monster," she said from the place she'd buried her face in the side of his shoulder, and he shivered as he felt the first hot tears hit his scales. Spike opened his mouth, felt his long tongue flick through his sharp teeth as it sometimes did, felt her warm fur on his scales chilled by the night air, felt her soft strength push against his long and slender muscle. Felt the lie, the fib that he was okay, that he was alright, lodge in his throat and die on his breath. "Okay," was all he could say, his arms slowly encircling her middle and pulling her closer. "Okay." He felt her shudder, her tears growing into sobs as she clutched at him. He looked down the stairs at the rest of the group, wincing slightly as something white and purple caught in the corner of his eye, and he moved to tuck his head between his love's wings. "Okay Fluttershy," he said, shivering again as she reflexively fluffed her wings. "Okay," he said, softer yet, repeating it aloud as a mantra even as the previous one rung in his head. Dragon, it said, and he heard as though whispered lovingly in his ear. Mine, it said, and he rolled further in on the pegasus clinging to his torso. He shivered when a shadow fell over them, and he looked up into Cadance's face. She pushed her muzzle forward, and he accepted and reciprocated her nuzzling as her soft nose trailed along his jaw to meet his shoulder, the one opposite Fluttershy. "We'll keep telling you that, as well," she whispered, "until you believe it." He bit back the reply, and merely buried his face in her shoulder as he wings spread and cradled both of the ones sitting on the stairs. He heard the gentle clicking of hooves on marble, and raised his head to watch the last two ponies approaching. He focused on the left side of Cadance as Shining came to stand by his wife. The stallion smiled at him, nodding solidly, before clearing his throat and nodding to the other side of the alicorn. Slowly he stretched his neck until he could just see the mare over Cadance's shoulder. Rarity stood there, face down and tears dripping from her muzzle. With a pang Spike thought, I'm sure getting tired of seeing her like that, before he felt a harsher stab of guilt. Slowly he reached out with his left paw and let it rest on her muzzle, her ear poking from between two of his digits as he used a thumb to trace down the trek her tears had made. "I'm not mad at you," he said, lowering his gaze. "You only said something that's been on my own mind for a while. I reacted poorly, and-" He jerked his paw back as she swatted it away, and his gaze jumped back up to her face. She was glaring at him now, tears streaming from her slit eyes. "Spike, that's not-... That's not the only reason I-I'm teary," she huffed, rubbing a foreleg coarsely across her nose and sniffing heavily. "Spike, Cadance and I had a conversation before we teleported."She whipped her head from side to side, actually gritting her teeth as she looked at him. "Spike, I was a terror to you for so long! So wrapped up in my own Celestia-damned problems that I ignored everything I was doing to you! Why didn't..." She bit her lip, looking down again. "Why didn't I notice?" she asked, putting special emphasis on the noun. "I should have noticed, I could have done something before it got to this-" Once again he raised his paw to her and took her muzzle. She tried to pull away but his claw was large enough to reach under her muzzle and pull her to him. He felt his heart sink, further, when her irises shrank and her breath caught, but she kept his gaze for long enough. "We can trade blame all you like," he said, smiling as his own tears pooled and threatened escape. "You feel bad, I feel bad, it's just a circle-jerk of suck." He snickered a bit as her face wrinkled. "Yeah, I know," he said apologetically. "Point was, though, maybe we could put that aside for now, and stop over-reacting and just sit down for a talk?" There was a snorting sound as she attempted to stop her nose from leaking, before she broke their gaze and looked down as she scrubbed her leg against her nose again. Fluttershy squirmed a bit in his lap, and he instinctively clutched at her as she moved her bottom legs to more fully embrace him. Rarity looked back up, taking his paw in between her hooves and shaking it. "Deal. No more flying away?" He snorted. "Depends on your ability to grow wings, doesn't it?" She punched him weakly in his bicep, before looking at the ball of cuddle on the stairs. "Uhm, would it be too early to, well, 'get in on that', I think Rainbow would say?" Spike looked down at Fluttershy, who looked up when she felt him pulling away slightly. She nodded a bit before burying herself back in his chest. Looking up at her, Spike held his arm out and gestured by swiping his claw through the air towards him. She folded herself into his arm, and her head took up the shoulder abandoned by Fluttershy when she'd tucking into his chest. He pitched forward suddenly as a weight settled on top of his craned neck and head, and he rolled his eyes up to look at the pale pink of Flurry's muzzle. "Ah yeah," he groused, smiling still, "pile on. C'mon Shiny, get in on this." "Oho, art thou having a pile-up on the stairs!?" "Oh gods no," Spike whispered. "Huzzah!" he heard from above him, at the top of the stairs, and he heard a couple of run up steps before a shadow fell across the pile. "Tell Twilight I love her," he said to Shining, who was too busy spinning and bolting away to hear him. He felt Cadance brace herself, and then a great weight hit him from behind and the cuddle pile was flying down towards the landing. With an immaterial twinkling, a sphere gathered from the bottom of of the bunch, light pink and quickly thickening. The lot of them hit the landing and bounced, ricocheting against the far wall and spinning wildly around the bottom half of the room before coming to stop, Spike stuck on the bottom of the whole mess with Luna splayed across the top. Which became important as the sphere was dismissed, landing the group of them on top of the poor drake. A quarter of a minute later, Spike was finally able to stop wheezing long enough to pull in a breath, enough to mutter, "I regret everything, except the comics," before he pretended to pass out. There was some shuffling, before his breathing eased greatly, and he felt a feather being worked across the skin between his nostrils. He snorted at it, his tongue flopping out comically as he let out a quiet, eaughhhhhhhhhhh, then continued to be motionless. "Ah, woe," he heard a serious voice intone above him. "The fourth member of family I have deceased in such a manner." There was a pause, seconds long. "He will make a lovely chair, though." He couldn't help the snort, and soon he opened his eyes as several members of the group started chortling, leaving Flurry to look at Rarity and Fluttershy askance. "Are you guys sure you want in on this?" she asked, gesturing at the two bodies on the floor giggling up at the two looking down at them, giggling back down. "Yes," said Fluttershy immediately, looking up across the floor and over at Spike, who hadn't heard either part of the conversation. Rarity rolled over, looking nervously at Spike, then at Fluttershy, then at Flurry. "Yes," she said, quieter even than Fluttershy, to them. "I think I would like that, if even possible at this point." Flurry stiffened, looking over at Fluttershy for her reaction. She seemed lost in thought at Rarity's words, her eyes glazing for a moment, before she smiled and reached out a hoof. Hesitantly, Rarity stretched out her own, and they met between each other. "We can talk about that," Fluttershy said, agreeably.