//------------------------------// // Krack-Fic Kai's The Shared Duty (Estee's "Passing Størm Passing") // Story: Never the Final Word (Vol. 2) // by FanOfMostEverything //------------------------------// 1 A creamy fluid extracted from a plant where caffeine is concentrated more in the flesh of the fruit than the seeds. Coffee exists in the Continuum, but most ponies don't consider it a taste worth acquiring. The breakfast was a quiet affair. Most of the ponies lacked the strength for more than basic speech, and many would have Given Up on Life were it not for a combination of wake-up juice1 and sugar. Even Pinkie was mostly silent as she munched on her pancakes, which were slathered in maple syrup and... not pleasant to watch be eaten. Princess Luna emerged into the room and looked down the table with her usual imperious gaze. That gaze was severely shaken by Pinkie's eating habits, but she soldiered on until she found who she was looking for. "Spike Twinkle. I require your aid." Spike looked up, an action mirrored by those whose brains still allowed them to process language. "Uh, yeah?" "This way." Princess Luna turned and left, forcing Spike to get up and rush after her. "Wait, what's the emergency? Your Highness," he added a moment too late. The last time they'd talked, Princess Luna had insisted on a certain level of informality, but he didn't know if the rules were different at the castle around her guards and staff. Celestia had always made sure they referred to her respectfully in front of others and the Solar Princess was... "easier going" felt safe to say. Spike wasn't afraid of Luna, but the way she carried herself made it feel like she was a little above most of the people he talked to. She felt older and more dramatic than her sister, sometimes. Especially more dramatic. He definitely wasn't going to say that one out loud. "You are Twilight Sparkle's younger brother, are you not?" The princess said. "There are certain... duties you must fulfill." Duties? 2 See The Small Hours. Spike thought back to the last time they'd spoken.2 He'd said that he was scared of Twilight slipping, of her growing more and consumed with her projects and books and barriers that she'd lose her self and— And Luna had said it wouldn't happen. She'd said; "She will not." And that had been a statement. There was another who had made most of his speeches as statements, and Spike had learned to loathe the confidence which declared the world to be something it was not. But this was Luna. "How do you know?" Simply, "Because she is protected." And that had been enough. So he squared his shoulders and nodded. "What do you need me to do, Your Highness?" Princess Luna looked down at the drake and softly snorted. "Our duties as the younger are to our older kin, to be there when they fall short of perfection." They approached the doors to the Solar Chambers. He hesitated, but Luna pressed forwards and forced him to catch up. He stood in the doorways and stared. 3 Calling this Celestia's unenchanted mane a rat's nest is an insult to rats' nests. Twilight shared a bed with the older alicorn, and both of them were completely dead to the world. Celestia (and it was hard to think of her with a title right then) clung Twilight with both forelegs and one wing, and Twilight had nestled under her neck like a baby bird. Due to the size difference, it was impossible not to think of the little alicorn as some kind of stuffed animal that the older used for comfort. Twilight's head was tucked into Celestia's neck, and the older alicorn's mundane mane3 was so large, dense, and tangled that, until he saw Twilight's sides shift, Spike was genuinely worried that she might suffocate. Off to the side was an empty plate, and both of them had smudges on their mouths. Celestia was even drooling a little. "Sometimes," Luna quietly said, "being the younger can be very rewarding." Spike looked up at his fellow younger sibling, watched the predatory smile flow across her face... and felt the same kind of draconic smile on his own. "Okay," he began, "the problem with photographing them is the lighting, but if you can fit sleeping masks over them without waking them up..." Placing the sleep masks required less time than they thought. Neither of the slumbering mares stirred when the flash went off. Immediately thereafter, the posing began...